Family Matters

Chapter 6

"Base from Guns." G said into his comms as he stood in the shadow that Thunderbird 1 cast over the scene of the plane crash in New Zealand. "Scott is just talking to the emergency services. There are a couple of bodies that still need to be taken away, but he's just checking that there is no more need for us."

"FAB." Evie's voice said from the chair behind the desk in command and control. Jeff had left the room not long after G had announced that Laura had died, saying that he didn't want Dominic to see his mum upset. "How's Space Case?" G sighed, looking behind him to where his brother in law still kneeled on the floor, the body of Laura Rogers in his arms.

"He hasn't moved. He isn't taking it very well." He replied.

"I'm not surprised. They've been together since the bank incident." Evie said, leaning on her elbows. "How are you holding up?"

"As good as I can be." He said, nodding at Gordon, Virgil and Alan as they returned to Thunderbird 2.

"Guns." G turned to see Scott walking up behind him. "Time to go." Scott looked over G's shoulder and sighed at the sight of his brother. "I guess I'd better go and talk to him." G put a hand on his arm as he started to walk past.

"Let me. I think it will be better coming from someone he doesn't see as a Smother Hen." He said, his attempt at humour lacking with the sound of his voice. He slowly approached John, kneeling next to him. "John, it's time to go." He didn't bother with code names, since John still had his helmet off.

"I can't leave her." John whispered. He had stopped crying, but his voice held no emotion. He was still cradling Laura's head to his chest, her torso on his knees.

"John, I know how you feel. But you need to let the medical examiners do their job. And then they can let her family know." G said, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"How do you know?" John asked, not looking up from Laura's face.

"Because this is how I felt when we lost special agent Dominic Vail." G said, making John look up at him. "He was kidnapped, and when we finally found him, he was shot right in front of me. I was giving him CPR, but all I was doing was pumping more blood out of the gunshot wounds he had. When Sam finally got me to stop, I just sat there, not moving and not looking away from his face. I know what it feels like. But you have to hold it together and pull through."

"How can I? The only reason she was on this flight is because we stayed here for the night before she flew back to New York. I wouldn't let her leave the hotel, and because of that, she missed her flight and had to get this one. It's my fault she's dead." He said, his voice breaking.

"It is not your fault, John. You couldn't have predicted this." G said, nodding to the coroner that was approaching them. "Come on. You need to let the coroner do his job. And we need to do ours, which is be ready for another rescue." John slowly loosened his hold on Laura, enough for the coroner to pull her out of his arms and place her in the body bag. "Come on." G whispered, pulling John to his feet. They walked back to the 'bird, G carrying most of John's weight. Once on board the 'bird, G got John into the back seat next to Fermat, before taking his co-pilot seat next to Scott. The two shared a look when they saw John lean his head back and close his eyes, but no one said anything for the flight back to the Island.

Back on the Island, Evie turned around when she heard the lifts open up, and saw G, Scott and Fermat exit them, looking grave. She stood and ran straight to G, who wrapped his arms around her, burring his face into her hair.

"Where's John?" She asked as she pulled back, noticing that Fermat had left the room.

"He's in his office." Scott said, referring to the room in the silos where John did all of his computer programming and reports. "He's pretty shaken up."

"How are you?" G asked, noticing the smudged mascara and red eyes.

"I'm fine." She said, making both Scott and G look at her in disbelief. "Ok, I'm not fine. But compared to you guys, I am." She replied. She took out a face wipe and quickly wiped her face, removing all traces of mascara. "Come on. Onaha's cooked for everyone." They walked down to the kitchen, where G immediately took Dominic from Jeff and cradled him close to his chest.

He an Evie sat on the sofa, locked in an embrace with their son in the middle, when an alarm went off, making everyone jump.

"Oh no." Evie said, knowing what that alarm meant. "Onaha, take Dominic." She said, passing her son to Onaha before running to Jeff's office, her husband, father and brothers behind her. She went straight to the desk of the office which was still command and control and opened the video link she needed. "John, what the hell are you doing?" She asked, getting angry when he didn't answer.

"He's not doing what I think he's doing, is he?" Gordon asked, frowning. They all looked up at the sound of an engine and saw Thunderbird 3 taking off. "Ok, he is."

"John, stop now. Turn around and come back." Evie ordered, typing away on the keyboard to try and get control of the red rocket.

"I'm sorry. I need to be alone. I'm sorry." John said before cutting off all communication. They were silent for a minute, before Alan asked the question they were all wondering.

"What do we do now?" He asked, making them all share a look. The answer? No one knew.

Xxx

Evie looked out the window at the sight of Thunderbird 3 landing back in her silo. No matter how angry at John she was, she had to admit that he had some skill when it came to piloting the 'Birds by remote. She went down to the silo and started to do checks on the red rocket, getting even more pissed off when she saw that John had disabled the 'bird.

"What's the verdict?" Jeff asked from behind her, making her jump.

"He's disabled 3! He created a program where the only way we can control and fly 3, is if he controls her from 5. It's going to take me at least a week to fix!" She said, her face showing her anger clearly. She looked at the rocker in the silo that held her son and felt her expression soften as she watched him playing with the wooden figurines of the Thunderbirds that dangled in front of his face, a gift from Virgil.

"What does that mean?" Jeff asked, also watching his grandson with a soft smile.

"It means, that we can't use 3 until I find a way around the program he's created." She said, sighing. "I just wish I could talk to him, but he's creating too many firewalls around 5 for me to even request a video call."

"Don't worry. It'll work out in the end." Jeff said, pulling his daughter into his arms as she started to cry.

"I can't lose him Dad. I can't." She whispered, burying her face into his chest.

"We are not going to lose him, Evie. We are going to find a way around whatever he has done and fix this." He declared. "You need to get some rest. Go to bed. I'll look after Dominic for the night."

"Thanks Dad." She whispered. She gave Dominic a kiss on his forehead before leaving the silo. Jeff picked up his grandson, looking into his bright green eyes and sighed.

"What are we going to do?" He asked, carrying him out of the silos. He walked out to the pool deck and looked at the stars, knowing that his son was up there. "Look after him Lucy." He whispered, looking down at Dominic, who was staring at the stars with big eyes full of wonder. "Oh Dominic. What are we going to do?"

Sorry it's late guys, been busy with deadlines for college and work. I know in the episode of NCIS:LA where Dom dies, it's Sam giving him CPR and G telling him to stop, but in order for G to connect with John I needed to switch their roles.

Let me know what you think

Emma