Chapter 2
"Mommy, they're back!" Lucy exclaimed.
Jenny laughed, catching her daughter before she could sprint down to the hangars, "Woah there Lucy. Give your aunt Kay chance to come in first."
Luke looked up from his book, "Why do you want to go and see them?" He pulled a face, "All babies do is cry a lot and smell."
Virgil smiled, stifling a laugh as Jenny pointed out, "You were a baby once too Luke."
Luke shrugged, looking back to his book, "Not now."
"At least they're living in the cliff house, huh?" Gordon grinned as he ruffled Luke's hair, "No more babies to wake us up!"
Lucy looked over to the stairs, grinning when she heard quiet chatting coming from the lower levels, "They're here!"
She scrambled out of her mother's arms, running to the stairs only to be scooped up by her father, "Where are you off to little madam?"
She peered over his shoulder, "I wanna see the baby!"
Scott laughed and kissed his daughter's cheek, "You didn't miss me then?"
Looking back to her father, Lucy smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug, "'Course I did Daddy!"
"I think all little girls miss their Daddies when they go away." A voice joined from the stairs, causing Lucy to struggle in her father's arms.
"Grandma!" The two boys sat on the sofa's jumped up and sprinted over from the sunken lounge.
Val laughed, crouching down to catch the closest things she had to grandchildren, in her arms. She squeezed them all tightly and ruffled the boys' hair, "Look how you've all grown!"
"I'm still the tallest!" Luke exclaimed with a grin.
"Only just!" Brad protested.
Lucy ignored the boys discussion and looked to her Grandmother seriously, "Did Aunty Kay have a boy or a girl?"
Val smiled as she stood up, taking the little girl's hand, "You'll have to wait and see. It isn't my news to share sweetheart."
Lucy frowned, not happy at the idea that she wasn't one of the first to know the gender of her youngest cousin. She was the eldest, and anything less than being the first to know anything important was a disappointment.
Lucy sighed and curled up on the sofa next to her mother, frowning as an ache made itself known at the back of her skull. Jenny wrapped an arm around her daughter, noticing the uncomfortable look on her face, "What's wrong sweetie?"
"Sore head," Lucy mumbled, hiding her face in her mother's shoulder.
Scott shared a frown with Jenny, mouthing to her, "Again?"
Jenny ran her fingers through Lucy's hair, "Do you want to go to bed sweetie?"
Lucy nodded, "Yeah."
In one smooth movement, Jenny scooped Lucy up into her arms and stood, "I'll be back in a minute."
Scott looked to the two boys, still chatting happily about their school work, "Boys, why don't you go and see if Kath needs any help in the kitchen?"
"Yeah, and if she doesn't how about a swim?" Gordon suggested, pushing himself up off of the floor.
"Yeah!" Both boys exclaimed, following their uncle down to the kitchen.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Virgil looked to Scott, "That's the third time this week she's had to go to bed because of a headache."
Scott nodded with a concerned face, "I hope she's not picked something up."
Val looked between them, "I doubt it's anything serious, kids their age pick up allsorts."
Scott sighed as he looked to his aunt, "I know, but-"
"He's back five minutes and already fretting," Kayo laughed from the hallway, "Listen to your aunt."
The small group all grinned, each getting up to greet the new parents and their new niece. Kayo smiled seemingly unable to take her eyes off of the baby girl. Only when she was sat down did she finally look to Scott again, "Don't worry about Lucy, it's probably nothing."
"You know what he's going to say," John pointed out as he sat back next to her after greeting his aunt, "That it's a father's prerogative to worry."
Scott smiled briefly, "I give it two weeks before you're saying the same thing."
Kayo shook her head, brushing her daughter's cheek before holding her out to John, "I'm going to see if Jenny needs anything for Lucy."
She hesitated in the doorway of the twins' room as Jenny reached out to flick off the lamp between the two beds. The mother stroked her daughter's hair before standing straight, she looked to Kayo and smiled softly as she slipped out of the room, "Her headaches again."
"Scott was saying," Kayo nodded, looking into the dark room, "I wish there was something I could do for her."
Jenny smiled briefly, "I keep forgetting you went through the same thing."
Kayo sighed and looked to the bed, "She'll be fine, it just takes time,"
Jenny shook her head, "Scott was right, I shouldn't have gone on that mission with you."
Kayo rolled her eyes as the pair of them began to walk back to the lounge, "You weren't to know that the Hood would do that," She shook her head, "I hadn't seen him use that trick in years."
Jenny looked into the lounge, "I'm going to have to tell them at some point."
"But first," Kayo smiled, "You've got to meet your new niece!"
Jenny smiled, "Finally, another girl!"
Kayo laughed softly, "She's going to be a little madam, has her father's looks."
"Including the hair?" Jenny teased with a laugh, "Gosh, I still can't believe Finn managed to get the red hair."
Kayo bit her lip with a smirk, "And he's still the only one."
Jenny shook her head, nudging Kayo with her elbow, "Are you sure there's not something suspicious going on?"
"Jen!" Kayo gasped with a smile, "Don't be ridiculous."
Both smiled as the stepped down into the sunken lounge, Kayo took the little girl from John's arms and held her out to Jenny.
The mother of the twins smiled and cooed softly to the little, dark haired girl, "Aren't you gorgeous?"
Scott looked up from where he was showing Luke plans for Thunderbird One, "She's going to get ideas, isn't she?"
The others laughed as Jenny rocked the baby gently, "Oh come on, you loved it too." She looked back to Kayo, "Have you picked a name?"
Luke looked up to his father in confusion, "Dad, what does Mom mean?"
Still smiling from his partners comment, Scott looked down to his son's confused face. He ruffled the boy's hair and squeezed his shoulders tightly, "Your mother thinks she wants another baby."
He laughed again at the face Luke pulled, exclaiming as he did, "Eww! I don't Dad!"
"Why not?" Scott smiled, "Too much hassle huh?"
Luke nodded as Brad called out from across the lounge, "And they smell!"
Somewhere over the discussion of the eldest two boys, Scott's ears tuned into the answer to Jenny's question, "Estelle," Kayo smiled, throwing a glance to John, "Or Ellie for short."
Scott caught his brother's eye, giving him a small nod and a smile of reassurance before his attention was diverted to his son's antics.
John smiled and stood up, squeezing Kayo's shoulder as he did, "I've gone to find Alan."
Kayo looked up to him, "Okay."
He pressed his lips to her hair before heading upstairs, knowing exactly where his youngest brother would be that night to watch the meteor shower.
It had been easy for the older brothers, the women they had fallen in love with had been close all along. John worried about Alan though, he hardly left the island at all apart from for rescues, and he wouldn't wish loneliness on anybody, least of all his own brother. He knew what it was like to be alone when everyone else had their common interests. The majority of his time at school was spent alone, wishing he had the confidence to be like his immediately older and younger brothers. Instead, he'd hidden away from the crowds and ignored the world at least until Kayo had come along. He smiled at the memory of how she'd appeared on the roof of their old home one night and how she'd asked him so many questions about the stars.
He glanced back to the family photo he had just passed with a smile, glad that someone had saved him from the loneliness. He'd sworn to himself that he would let Alan end up like he almost had, and even if that meant leaving the rest of his family to just sit and talk for one night, John couldn't have cared less.
