Wow… so sorry I took so long to update, everyone. My laptop crashed and I lost most of my notes etc on the story, and I was unable to find enough motivation to rewrite what I had lost until now – but as I'm still waiting for my laptop's contents to be copied off I don't think I am going to be able to retrieve the documents anytime soon. I must admit, I have sort of forgotten what I originally thought Gordon did wrong on the rescue, so I will be re-interpreting my story so far to try and remember. My life is a mess! Here's to it clearing up so I can finish this story… with an extra long chapter for you to make up for my lateness.
*Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Just borrowing to play with and will return when finished. They may be a bit ruffled though.
**Remember: Gordon is Scott and Scott is Gordon. 'Apostrophes' indicate their physical body, which is who other people see.
Previously
"Hey Al, what's up? You guys take off well?"
Alan clearly paused before answering, giving 'Scott' a quick once-over. "Yep – everything's fine bro. I just wanted to say 'enjoy the drive home', though you might want to tidy up a bit first. You left Thunderbird One in an unusually messy state for you."
"If you say so, Al..." Gordon signed off, puzzled at Alan's cryptic message. That is, until he reached Thunderbird One and an awful smell awaited him. He'd forgotten all about the flight sickness he'd experienced when he first landed.
"Bugger!" Gordon said aloud, before setting about cleaning up the mess. The horrible pungent smell would not be making his drive home a welcome one.
Scott was going to kill him.
The Treatment: Chapter 4
It was after 1.30pm by the time they'd returned from the rescue site, dirty and exhausted but on a high. Gordon managed to get through the debriefing with the others, where he'd been berated for not dealing with the family members himself. Apparently, his presence in the public eye was required because Scott was usually a calming influence on others as he handled the rescues. By informing the friends and family members closest to the injured of what's being done to save them, they are less likely to attempt saving their loved ones themselves, thereby placing themselves in danger also. Which is exactly what had happened during the last rescue, because Gordon didn't speak with them.
"It was at a mine site," Gordon defended himself. "The family members were over a mile away and I received confirmation that they had been spoken to about the rescue."
"Yes, but not from you personally. You usually set up a video-link if you can't speak to them in person," Jeff spoke.
"Well, I guess I just forgot. I'm sorry for not being my usual, perfect self." Gordon seethed, anger taking the best of him.
"No-one's perfect. I'm sure you did the best you could," 'Gordon' said from his chair. "But you did manage to get the two men out okay, and John checked with the hospital. They're fine now." Aware of the sudden silence, 'Gordon' looked around the table to find the rest of his family staring at him.
"What?" Scott asked.
Virgil shrugged. "It's not like you to console Scott, Gordy, especially of late. It's nice to see, that's all."
"No it's not, it's totally weird. What's up with you two?" Alan asked.
Gordon and Scott spluttered at his bluntness, and glanced at each other before quickly looking away. "Nothing, Al," 'Gordon' finally admitted. "We're fine."
"Yep, all fine here," 'Scott' spoke. "Look, is it cool if we go now? I have things to do, first of which is to take a…shower." he suddenly turned white as he realised something and looked down as he turned his hands over in shock and dismay.
Virgil noticed the bleak look on Scott's face, but was interrupted from saying anything as Jeff spoke up. "Yes, I think we're all done for now, we can re-convene at a later time once everyone's had a late lunch and cleaned up."
Safe from prying ears, Gordon sped up to catch Scott. "Scott! Wait up!"
He pulled up short as he saw his original body turn to face him, irritation showing in his face.
"What do you want, Gordon?"
"What should we do to protect our modesty?"
Scott laughed rudely. "It's not as if I haven't seen you naked before, Gordon. We're both men, we have the same body parts."
"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Gordon said softly. He noticed the tension in Scott's body and was suddenly distracted. "Wait - what are you doing right now?" Gordon asked.
"If you must know, I'm going for a run," Scott stated.
"But you can't," Gordon stressed. "You'll injure your – my – back even more. I have to do the exercises in the water to keep it strengthened."
"Sorry, Gords, but you have your techniques to relax and I have mine; which is with a decent run under my belt for the day."
"Scott, you can't!" Gordon hissed quietly. "It was injured yesterday. Trust me, I've tried running before, but all I did was jar my back – hasn't it caused you any pain today?"
"Nope," Scott supplied easily – after all, it had only been the occasional twinge. "I told you that you were causing a fuss over nothing; your back is fine. What you feel is imaginary pain – it's all mental."
"Scott, that's not-" Gordon cut in.
"So, Gords, I'd appreciate it if you left me in peace, so that I can think about the predicament we're in and what we're going to do about it."
With that said, Scott walked off, leaving an indignant but worried 'Scott' behind him.
Gordon determinedly tried to ignore Virgil's obvious stare as he walked past the kitchen, however it didn't work.
"Scott!" Virgil called to catch up with his brother, leaving Alan behind making the sandwiches. Clearly, the two of them had decided that food was more important than cleanliness. Alan was still in eyesight however and was watching them from the kitchen.
"Yeah?" Gordon turned to him abruptly.
"Care to explain what happened back there?" Virgil asked, folding his arms to indicate his seriousness.
Gordon frowned. "About what? How I forgot the vid-link? Come on bro, you know how it-"
"No, I mean about the mess you made in Thunderbird 1. Alan told me you were sick."
Gordon shot Alan an evil glare, which made his brother flinch and concentrate more on preparing the food in front of him. He groaned. "Oh, that. That was nothing, just a bit of motion sickness."
"You don't get motion sickness, Scotty." Virgil's tone was cold.
"Well, on this occasion I did. But don't worry, Virg, I cleaned it up real good. Can you do me a favour and not mention it to anyone else though? It was pretty embarrassing…" That and also Gordon did not want Scott to find out. He didn't like his chances, but he hoped that his oldest brother wasn't planning to check on his girl anytime soon, as he still hadn't been able to get the smell out. Virgil however, looked slightly appeased by 'Scott's' admitted embarrassment.
"Only if you promise to tell me if it happens again. I don't want you to pretend to be your usual tough-guy self if you're truly ill," Virgil sighed.
"I promise." Gordon spoke as he finally made his getaway.
Looking at his reflection in Scott's bathroom, he glared at his new face in the mirror. Seriously, of all the brother's he could have swapped faces with, why did it have to be Scott's? He leaned forward and pulled a face, then manipulated it further by pulling on his cheeks and poking out his tongue. Even my mouth feels different, he thought as he ran his tongue over the unfamiliar teeth. It was totally bizarre and he didn't like it. Not one bit.
He gave the shower a pensive glance, before admitting defeat and closing his eyes.
Nope, he didn't like this at all. He wanted his own body back.
Scott strode into Gordon's room and grabbed his brother's runners – after all, his usual shoes would be too big for his feet right now. Sneaking out of the house; after all, he didn't want people to realise that Gordon was going running; he did a few warm-up stretches and took off. Since he'd just eaten, he'd only take it lightly today, and hope to God that he would be back in his own body by tomorrow. He couldn't understand how they had come to be this way, in each other's bodies. What were they going to do about it if they didn't change back?
It took Scott a while to get a feel for Gordon's slim body. Thankfully, being that Gordon's body was built as a graceful swimmer, it was quite easy to adjust to the different rhythm – if only he could get over how freaky it was being so much closer to the ground. Although Gordon was only two inches shorter than Scott, right now those two inches threw his whole stride off.
He inhaled sharply as, for the first time, he thought about the consequences of what might happen should they be called out on another Rescue. There was NO way that Scott was letting Gordon drive his 'bird again if he could help it; his brother just didn't have enough practical experience behind the wheel. But then, he chagrined, there was no way that HE would be allowed to drive it either – not whilst everyone thought he was Gordon.
There was no question about it, he realised. As much as he wanted to keep this between them, as Field Commander, he was obligated to advise his supervisor of the situation – in other words, his Father. Scott shuddered, thinking of the dreaded conversation that was going to await him at home.
Feeling comfortable with his balance now, Scott decided to sprint a little bit and upped his pace, and had reached half a mile before-
"Argh!"
With a startled cry, Scott felt pain flare across his spine like a burning flame; in fact, it was overwhelming pain. He collapsed onto his knees, nearly face-planted in fact; and knelt on the ground, trying to relieve the intense pressure. But he didn't know how to... He was acutely aware of someone who did know how to deal with it though.
The question was: was Scott too stubborn to admit that he was wrong and request his help?
Exhausted, Gordon dove into the depths of the pool, relishing in the feel of the familiar water against his unfamiliar body. On land, he felt awkward and gangly in his brother's body; the extra two inches made him feel gigantic, towering over everybody, and he wasn't yet used to the feel of Scott's body when he walked. Several times already today, he'd nearly lost his balance when bending over to pick something up.
Never mind that each time he bent over, he was waiting for the expected sudden flare up of pain that wasn't received. Although his back was generally good and strong for him on the whole, he was always cautious of putting it under pressure and yesterday's strain injury couldn't help but stay in the back of his mind. It was like a little miracle to him right now, to suddenly realise that he didn't have to worry about it. Gordon smiled in anticipation of spending the rest of the day without pain.
But his general balance was still something that Gordon was going to have to seriously work at. He was a swimmer after all, not a gymnast on a balance beam!
He took a gulp of air and started doing his first lap, comfortable in knowing the pool's size and shape down to its every last inch.
He didn't understand why Scott had to be so stubborn – Gordon was sure that his usual back pain wasn't imaginary, as it certainly felt real to him.
Kicking his legs, he began to pace himself, and counted out the number of strokes he had until the turn – he had bet his brother's once that he could do this blind-folded. But that was before…
"Ow! Damn it!" he cursed as his hand slammed into the pool edge – he was lucky he didn't give himself a concussion by face-planting into the wall as well.
Lifting his body up for air, he realised that because of Scott's height, his normal number of strokes per lap didn't apply – and come to think of it, just that one lap had felt more exhaustive to Gordon than as if he'd done 4. What was up with that?
Because this body isn't built for swimming, Gordon realised. In Scott's body, I'm just a normal swimmer – he doesn't have the stamina that I have in the water, just as my body doesn't do great on land...
With a grimace, he wondered how Scott was getting on. If he truly had disregarded Gordon's warnings about taking it easy, it was possible that he could have injured himself.
Pulling himself out of the water, Gordon used his watch to check on Scott.
"Gor... Scott Tracy calling Gordon Tracy."
It took a few seconds, but Gordon finally got a reply – but it wasn't the calm response that he'd been hoping for...
Gordon raced inside to his bedroom, before realising that he needed Scott's shoes. After backtracking and collecting them from Scott's room, he slammed them onto his feet before racing out the door.
Damn! Now this is what I call speed, Gordon thought as he sprinted down the road.
Scott had told him where he was and that he was kinda... stuck. Gordon had given him a sympathetic grin, understanding exactly what Scott was experiencing, and told him to stay put until he got there.
Turning a corner in the road, he saw up ahead Sco - well, himself - curled up on his side on the ground, in obvious agony.
"Scott!" he called out. He came up alongside him and reached out to give Scott his hand. Scott shuddered in pain.
"It's okay, Scott; I know it hurts, but I'll have you better in a jiffy," Gordon sprouted cheerfully. He grabbed Scott's hand and positioned it along his back. "See, if you put your hand here, on this muscle – do you feel it?"
Scott grunted.
"Okay, I'll take that as a yes. If you put pressure on it, the muscle will release in about 30 seconds and you'll be fine. Always push along the muscle in the direction that hurts the least and hold it...there... is that better?"
Since Gordon was more experienced, after showing Scott the stubborn muscle along his spine he grabbed it himself, quickly released it, and slowly watched his body unfurl carefully.
Once Scott was on his back, he released the pent-up air he was holding, "Jeez... wow... that hurt so much, Gords. I don't know how you stand it," Scott spoke with concern.
"It comes with the body, I'm afraid," Gordon shrugged. "After the accident, I just had to learn to live with the pain."
Scott chuckled softly. "Yeah, no doubt." He took a few deep breaths to relax himself, having a new appreciation on his brother's obviously high capacity to handle pain.
"Is that better now?"
Scott nodded. "Much."
He lay there a moment longer as both men sat in contemplative silence.
"Y'know, it's not often that you talk about your accident these days," Scott suddenly said quietly. He looked up to see his old body shrug his shoulders.
"Yeah, but it's in the past. You don't talk about the time you were shot down in Bosnia either, when you were in the Air Force."
Scott chuckled painfully. "Point taken."
Gordon stood up and held out his hand to Scott. "Come on, bro – after a hot bath and your strengthening exercises, you'll be right as rain. We'll jump in the pool and I'll show you how to do them."
Scott reached up and was pulled to his feet. They started slowly walking up to the Tracy compound. "Great – so now I have your daily exercises to do..."
"Hey, I wouldn't complain – you're not the one stuck with them for life."
Scott spoke sharply, "At the moment, I am."
Gordon grimaced. "Yeah, true... but it's not usually this bad – it's just 'cause I strained it yesterday. Seriously, you'll be right to go out on a rescue this evening if we're needed."
"Yeah... about that," Scott looked apprehensive. He turned and looked at Gordon. "We need to tell Dad."
"What? No way! That's not what you said this morning," Gordon looked shocked.
"I know, but as Field Commander, it's my responsibility to. He has to know. What if we're called out on a rescue? You can't fly Thunderbird One again, at least not up to my standard, which Virgil will spot like a shark."
Gordon shrugged. "He kind've already has. But... Father? Really? I'd rather tell Lady Penelope, than him. At least Lady P is in England and can't very well tell the others."
"Yeah, but... he has to know. It could endanger a rescue otherwise."
"Can we at least save it until tomorrow? We might be back to our normal selves by then."
"But what if another Rescue comes in? We were lucky enough to get away with the first one. Which, by the way - that rule about speaking to the family members personally? It's only a recent addition, Father and I decided to include that as a SOP last week."
"Figures." Gordon groaned. He nodded in defeat. "Alright. Let me just say though that he's never going to believe us. He'll think that I – I mean, you – are pranking him. But you're the boss, Scott. If you think we should tell him, then we can at least try..."
Scott paused and gave a small, sad smile. "Thankyou, but... at the moment, I'm actually not the boss. Not officially, anyway. They all think I'm you."
He saw 'Scott's' eyes lit up at that thought, and could tell Gordon had started imagining how he could boss Alan around... maybe do his chores... he heard Gordon's mischievous chuckle erupt from his own, old body and left him to fantasise.
"Y'know, there was one good thing to have come from all of this..." Gordon spoke up, light-heartedly.
"What's that?"
"At least now I know my back pain isn't caused by my imagination."
Scott groaned. "Okay, okay; I admit, I had my foot in my mouth earlier. I'm sorry. Are you happy now?"
"Only slightly, my dear 'little' brother, but you'll get what's coming to you," he took off jogging with a laugh.
Scott growled. "Wait - who are you calling 'LITTLE,' Gords?!"
Later that evening…
Jeff sipped his coffee, glad that the debriefing had finished quickly, earlier in the day. It hadn't gone as bad as he'd hoped after all... in fact, Scott and Gordon had been guardedly civil to each other ever since. Jeff was beginning to consider that maybe the boys didn't need Kyrano's 'treatment' after all and planned to speak to him later about it.
Scott had even assisted Gordon in the pool that afternoon, which was most certainly a first! Although, Jeff was worried that Gordon's back must be giving him more grief than usual, especially if Scott was supervising – he would have to ask them both about it.
A knock came at his door.
"Come in," called Jeff.
Speak of the devil; here came his aquanaut now.
"Ah, Gordon! I was just going to come and speak with you, so you have perfect timing, son."
"Hello, Father. I was wondering if we could speak with you," 'Gordon' started.
"We?"
"Yes, G-Scott would like a word too," 'Gordon' said, as 'Scott' walked in the door and gave a clumsy wave.
"Sure thing boys, sit down. What's on your mind?"
The boys sat down. 'Gordon' looked around before suddenly hissing to his brother something that sounded suspiciously like, "Gordy - get the door!" and 'Scott' leaped out of his chair to close the door.
Seated once more, the two boys looked at each other, obviously wondering where to start.
"Well?" Jeff enquired patiently.
"Well, Father – the thing is; this morning, we – ahh," 'Gordon' struggled how to put it.
"To put it bluntly, Father – we weren't ... ourselves," 'Scott' spoke up strongly, then shared a look with 'Gordon'.
"Oh?" Jeff was confused. "I'm confused – are you trying to tell me that you two didn't make up this morning?"
"No, Father. I mean, yes, it's true that we didn't really make up, but we were kind of forced to, under the circumstances." Scott admittedly felt as though he was starting to regret their decision to come and speak with their Father.
"What circumstances? Spit it out, Gordon, it's not like you to stumble."
'Scott' took a deep breath. "He's not Gordon, Dad... I am."
"…Come again?"
Scott seemed to have regained his ability to speak clearly, for he spoke up; "And I'm not Gordon; I'm Scott."
Now Jeff was flustered with confusion. "What?"
Gordon was nothing if not blunt. "We woke up this morning as each other, Dad. I'm him, and he's me."
"...Right." Jeff turned to his oldest, an amused smile on his face. "So you're saying that you're not Scott. You're saying that you are Gordon, in Scott's body..."
"Yes, Father," Gordon said.
Jeff turned to the redhead. "And you think that you're not Gordon. You're saying that you are Scott, in Gordon's body..."
"Yes, sir," 'Gordon' looked relieved that Jeff was getting it.
"Wait a second. Father, you said 'you think'..." the real Gordon was quick to pick up on his words.
"Well, yes," Jeff said. "I'm waiting for the other ball to drop. Where's the punch line?"
"Punch line?"
"Yes – you're trying to pull one over on me, aren't you… A prank."
"A pra- Wait; Dad, this isn't a prank, this is serious! We're really worried about what's happening to us here," the two young men protested.
"I told you he would never believe us, Scott!" 'Scott' turned to face 'Gordon'.
"And I told you that it didn't matter. He had to know, because it will affect IR!" Scott, in Gordon's body, turned back to his Father. "Dad, you have to believe us; because if we get another call-out, HE can't fly my bird!" he gestured wildly to indicate 'Scott', who looked defensive.
"Now, wait a second, I can too fly One! In fact I already have. Just because I'm not as experienced as you, Scott, I can still handle it. I've been in the simulator hundreds of times!"
"Yes, but usually for Thunderbird Four! But Gordo, I'm the one who handles the public, while you go in and get the trapped people out!"
"Are you saying that I can't do your job? Dealing with the public is easy, in comparison to what I normally do! It'd be a breeze!"
Meanwhile Jeff had first started listening to their conversation with a smile on his face, which by now had dropped off and his face had turned considerably pale, as he realised... they were telling the truth. They were ACTUALLY each other... Jeff was flabbergasted, but quickly put the pieces together in his mind; Kyrano; the boys; the Treatment...
Oh…My…God.
"Boys, stop! I believe you! I BELIEVE YOU!"
The boys stopped arguing and turned to face him. "You believe us?"
"Trust me, if you were yourselves, I don't see how either of you would have been able to pull off that conversation you two just had with straight faces... so yes, I believe you."
"That's great, Father," the relief Jeff could see on their faces was weight lifting.
Jeff held up a hand to get them to stop and indicated that he needed a minute. Thinking quickly, Jeff decided what to do.
"Okay, first off; we should get your brother's in here to-"
"No!" both boys shouted. 'Gordon' continued, speaking quieter. "Please, we really would rather we kept this between us, Father. It would be hard for the boys to believe, for one; and we're kind of hoping that we'll be back to normal by tomorrow."
'Scott' butted in. "Yeah, it's 'Terrifying Tuesday' instead of 'Freaky Friday.' Plus the ridicule that the boys would be able to have at our expense would last them a lifetime... please Dad, you just can't..."
Seeing 'Scott' whinge and plead was certainly an unusual sight for his eldest; but then, Jeff had to remember; it was actually Gordon in there...
"Okay, fine; it's ultimately up to you two I suppose; it's just going to make things more difficult."
"What will?"
"Your jobs... you're going to have to swap roles, to some extent."
"But Dad!"
"Gordon can't drive my 'bird again, it was horrifying enough the first time!"
"Shh! Be quiet, and I don't want to hear any complaints, boys; what I say goes, alright?"
"Right." "Okay, Father."
"So I'm guessing that it was actually Gordon who went to the rescue site this morning?"
At the boys' nod, Jeff confirmed his decision.
"Right. First of all, we'll have to play it by ear as each rescue is called up. But we know from this morning that Gordon can at least handle the basic flying of Thunderbird 1, so 'Scott-'" he looked at Gordon, "or at least, Scott's body, will still fly T1. But!-" he raised his hand to cut Scott off, "you Scott, will officially take Gordon here up first thing tomorrow morning before anyone else is up, to teach him the finer details of flying One."
At 'Gordon's' look of fury, Jeff reaffirmed, "That is, unless you want Alan flying your bird because we've told everyone who you both really are right now?"
Scott closed his eyes in defeat and shook his head.
"Then, should we need a water rescue, Scott or 'Gordon' should I say, can stay with Mobile Control, while 'Scott' takes his place in the rescue. We'll just tell everyone that Scott needs the practise at handling Four."
Gordon looked puzzled but pleased. "Wait – why doesn't Scott just do the rescue? It's not as though he hasn't driven Four himself and everyone knows that I would probably cause an argument if 'Scott' is given seniority during a water-rescue.
"Because your brother is-" Jeff started.
"No, wait – I'll do it, Dad. It'll be a cinch to handle Four."
Jeff looked him over gravely. "Are you sure, son?"
Gordon looked at his old body quizzically as his face showed an unusual dark stubbornness.
"Yes. I can do it."
Jeff nodded slowly. "Okay, then. We'll give that a try. To everybody else then, 'Gordon' will be doing the rescue, should any water rescues come up. With any luck though, Four won't be needed.
Jeff sighed in acceptance of the current events. He'd brought it on himself, really, by accepting Kyrano's 'test'. He just hadn't realised it had started so soon. But since they had been getting along well so far, maybe this was for the best.
"Okay boys, since you are officially taking on each others' roles, I would suggest that you get some practise in at being each other. That means that you are Scott and you are Gordon," Jeff pointed firmly at each of them in turn. "Watch what you say at home but especially out on rescues; we don't want the other boys to wonder what's going on with you two and become distracted at their jobs. To be distracted is to be-"
"-is to be defeated," Gordon and Scott said wearily. It was something that had been drilled into them since before International Rescue began. "Yes, we know, Father."
"Good." Jeff smiled. "Now, I also wanted to chase up about Gordon's back. I saw you both in the pool earlier." He looked at Scott, then Gordon. "Is everything alright with it?"
"Yes Sir, we had a bit of a miscommunication earlier, but hopefully that's all cleared up now. I was in there to show Scott – I mean, 'Gordon' – how to do his exercises correctly." Gordon said. There was no need to worry his father about his back when he knew how to deal with it accordingly.
Scott looked at him. "Are you sure it's fine? Because after being on the receiving end of one of your spasms today, I don't fancy having another."
"Well, now you know so you'll be aware and prepared for it next time," Gordon affirmed. "If you had listened to me in the first place, it wouldn't have happened."
"If you had followed proper protocol in the first place, it wouldn't have happened," Scott spat.
"Boys, boys… Cut it out and get some rest, okay? We can only hope that you're both back to normal by tomorrow. But I'm not holding my breath at this rate…"
"Yes, Dad."
"Goodnight, Father."
"Sleep well, boys."
Watching Scott and Gordon leave the room, Jeff leaned over and calmly pressed a button on his phone. However, his voice was unfortunately a bit too polite.
"Kyrano, can I please see you in my office? Immediately?"
Uh-oh. Looks like somebody's in trouble. Lol.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter above. Is it still flowing well? Does anyone have any ideas for good interaction scenes I should include between any of the characters? I'd love to hear from you...
And again, my most sincere apologies about how late this update is. But hopefully I will get better at them. Fingers crossed! But not to fret! I love this story, so I WILL get there in the end! I have it all mapped out :D