Note - I did a bit of research for this bit, and what John says about kidneys is completely correct. This is much longer than my other pats, but didn't really justify being divided in two either.
The first two days at home John did as he was told and stayed in bed. He let his brothers fuss around him, bringing drinks, food and books. They were more or less in and out of his room all day, as much to reassure themselves than do anything for him. In truth John wasn't up to much bar eating and sleeping. Modern medicine was a wonderful thing and his scar would be relatively small, but he was willing to admit that after fairly major surgery he needed time to recuperate. He felt tired even after he awoke, his abdomen hurt whenever he moved, and the pain meds made him feel spacey. So he allowed himself those two days.
On the third day he heard a call come in: Scott, Virgil and Gordon were dispatched on a rescue leaving Alan as control from the island. Perfect.
John slowly levered himself out of bed. He wasn't going to bother trying to get dressed. Pajamas would have to do, he thought as he draped a blanket around himself. Anyway he didn't want to rush this. Slowly, and with a couple of pauses he made his way into the main room.
"What are you doing up?" Alan asked, one eye still on the display that EOS was feeding information to. "Bed rest means stay in bed you know."
"I know." John slowly lowered himself down onto the couch to avoid putting too much strain on his bandaged stomach. "What's the mission?"
"Cave in, South America. Nothing they can't handle. Seriously though John, you shouldn't be moving about yet." Alan's tone was half stern, half worried.
"Leave it, please, Alan. I'm too tired to read, but too awake to sleep and am feeling restless. I'm just going to sit here for a bit and listen." John saw the dubious look on Alan's face but also noted the flashing icon on the display. "Scott wants you."
That was enough to distract Alan, and John settled in to listen to the rescue. Hearing his brothers go about the rescue with their normal calm professionalism was actually quite soothing. In fact he got so comfortable that he fell asleep, and didn't wake up until the others returned.
"John! Why are you here instead of bed?" Scott woke him with a scowl on his face, clearly not happy with either of his younger brothers.
John gave a yawn. "Just wanted a change of scenery and a bit of company." John saw the look that Scott was turning on Alan, but before he could open his mouth, said "Don't have a go at him, this was all me. Besides, what was he meant to do, wrestle me back to bed when you guys were up to your neck in it and needing him? Would you help me up please?"
Scott grabbed John's outstretched arm, and eased him up with care, despite his obvious annoyance. "You know all the things I'm going to say John, are you really going to make me say them? I would expect this from any of the others, but I thought you were smarter than this."
John grimaced slightly as he caught his balance and noticed Alan trying to sneak away. "Another time maybe Scott, I think it's time for more meds and bed again for me."
Scott's face softened slightly as he realised that John was still in pain and didn't press the issue as he helped him back to his room.
The day after was another mission, and this time it was Virgil who was left behind.
Virgil was eyeing John as he made his way back to the couch, but John just shrugged in return and said with a wry smile "I'm space monitor Virgil, I like to monitor stuff."
John tried not to read too much into those glances, but if anyone would figure out what he was up to it was Virgil, so he was careful and kept quiet and dozed while the others were working. He kept conversation to some words of congratulations on a job well done when all were declared safe. This time he made his own careful way back to bed before Scott could arrive home and give him that 'chat' he had been threatening. Besides, all this walking up and down corridors was more exhausting than it looked, and the medication didn't totally take away the throbbing of he his healing wound. As he sunk back down into sleep he wondered if that was on purpose.
The third mission was Alan once again at the helm of Tracy Island, so this time John bought his tablet with him. "Might try a little reading this time if I can keep my eyes open!" he said, waving the device at Alan.
"Just like you oldsters to have trouble staying awake," came Alan's cheeky reply.
John smiled- things were getting back to normal if the youngest brother was getting his attitude back; he had been way too serious over the last few days.
"Not that way, not that way, shit Alan, come on think."
John had found an article he wanted to read, but was really concentrating on his brothers mutterings.
"What's up?" he asked lightly.
"Oh, erm, sorry bout the language, don't tell Scott ok?" Alan looked guilty for swearing - Scott was like their parents and came down harshly on bad language. From the others at least: John had heard swearing from Thunderbird One on more than one occasion, and was saving that bit of information for when he needed it. "The guys are at a warehouse fire, and I'm looking for a route in and out for them, avoiding some of the nastier chemicals that are being stored there. Nut all the routes I can come up with are actually quite dangerous."
"What about underneath? The sewers Alan!" John said at Alan's blank look. "Most industrial areas have a high capacity sewerage network, which also means it's big and easily accessible."
Alan gave a grin of thanks, quickly pulling up the relevant city's water network. After a few moments study he spoke in his comms "Right guys, I've got your route. It's not going to be the most pleasant but it is the safest by a long way so please don't argue." John allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction - his plan was going to work!
The following week passed in a similar vein: John mostly resting, still spending a lot of time sleeping, but trying to make sure he was in the main room every time International Rescue was needed out in the world.
So he was there when Alan needed advice on how to track weather patterns to predict where the hurricane was going to land. He helped Gordon realign the transceivers to boost a comms signal from deep underground. And it was him - not Virgil - that wrote the code that overrode the malfunctioning factory equipment. As far as he knew none of his brothers had mentioned this surreptitious assistance to Scott: if Scott knew that John was doing more than just listening his rage would fall on them all. They were bound together by the threat of sibling mutual destruction for which John was glad. He needed just a bit more time.
He had been reducing the amount of medication his was taking - gradually, to find the fine line where his head was clouded from neither pain nor opiates. He was also getting out of the habit of having a nap every two hours. He was starting to feel himself again, able to join in mealtimes with others instead of eating whenever he was awake. His ability to concentrate was much better now, and his mind had not felt foggy for a few days, so inactivity was really beginning to chafe.
He was even managing to get dressed every day though he still hadn't made it up a whole flight of stairs without help.
John's slow improvement meant he was also there the day that was one of their busiest for a long time: Virgil was moving containers of toxic waste due for disposal off of their foundering transport ship. Alan was repositioning satellites that had been knocked out of alignment by a small meteor shower, and Scott was providing support to crews fighting a forest fire. That left only Gordon at home, when another call came in.
"This is the yacht Serendipity calling International Rescue! Please come in! Are you there?"
"This is international Rescue, what's your situation?"
"We hit a reef and are taking on water, please help we're sinking!"
"Standby" Gordon frowned at the displays. "They're much closer to us than anyone else, local coast guard won't reach them in time. But I can't go - I'm already trying to manage three missions at once." Gordon slammed his hand down on the desk in frustration.
"Go. I'll handle things here." John said as he stood from the couch where he had been reading. That didn't hurt nearly as much any more.
"No John, you are not ready. You haven't been medically cleared yet." Gordon frowned at him, worry for his brother greater than his worry for those in the sinking boat.
"Don't you trust me?" He knew hew was being a bit of a bastard asking that question as the trust between brothers was one of the few certainties in the Tracy universe.
"Of course! With my life if necessary. With my life frequently in fact." Gordon was rightfully shocked that John would even ask that.
"Then trust me now. Trust me to know my own limits. I am perfectly capable of sitting here and manning the comms. You however are the only one who can save those people."
"Scott will be..."
"Yes, he will, but I'll handle Scott. I've had more practice than the rest of you after all." John reassured in response to Gordon's dubious look.
"Hello International Rescue? Please, are you coming?"
"Fine," Gordon burst, heading towards his subs launch bay "but you are taking one hundred percent of the blame for this one."
Not a problem, thought John as he sat at the desk that Gordon had been at just a few moments earlier.
With a crack of his knuckles he got started - first moving the virtual display around slightly to mirror his usual configuration on Thunderbird 5.
He reviewed each mission status and sent confirmation to the Serendipity that help was on the way.
"EOS, can you bring up details of forest fire burn patterns for the last ten years please?"
"Of course John. I am please that you are feeling better, you're brothers are not nearly as efficient as you are."
John smiled at that - EOS liked efficiency almost as much as Brains did!
Then Scott came over the intercom.
"Gordon I need that analysis you were working on, I need to know how this fire is likely to shift."
John looked at the algorithm Gordon had been writing. Not bad but just a little off, he thought proud of his little brothers skills. He gave the code a few tweaks, added some of the data EOS had provided, braced himself and spoke.
"Just a moment Scott, the programme is running now."
"John. What the hell do you think you're doing. And where the hell is Gordon. Gordon! Come in right now." Scott sounded furious, no, incandescent.
"Err Thunderbird 4 is go?" Gordon clearly thought that half a world away from his brother was a little too close right now.
"Here's you coordinates Thunderbird 4, step on it if you can as a storm is brewing in the area. They're expecting you. Alan, I've got an updated schematic for those satellites, it might make maneuvering them a bit easier."
"Ummm thanks John." Alan very wisely said nothing further.
"Virgil I'm seeing two container ships in your area, they may be able go take some of the load if you need it."
John had always been good multitasking, but his time in space had honed that talent to something near magical to watch. This would be far from the first time he had co-cordinated four separate missions simultaneously.
"And here is your analysis Scott. Keep an eye out to your south west. Now before you explode yourself or that machine of yours can you just take a few breaths for me?"
"You are still meant to be on damn bed rest John! Resting. In bed. I let that slide, and am starting to think that I shouldn't have done. You are in no fit state right now. And Gordon, just you wait till I get my hands on you!"
"Let me worry about my fit state right now, you just worry about the job in front of you." Well, this was going just as well as he had expected. John decided not to make a jibe about Scott's language, that might be pushing him just a little too far.
Virgil pitched in: "Scott, not now. I can understand that you might want to have a... conversation later, but we are all a bit busy and I for one could do without this type of distraction." Virgil, the voice of reason as always. John was glad that it had been Virgil that had taken the call that day.
"Fine, not now, later."
And now that later had come. Alan, Virgil and Gordon had already arrived back and changed, so the they were all assembled when Thunderbird One landed.
"Here we go. Remember you said you'd take the blame, don't hang me out to dry." Gordon clearly wasn't sure about this, but John had every confidence in his plan to win Scott round. Almost every confidence.
"You sure you guys want to be here for this? " John asked.
It was Virgil who answered for the rest of them. "We're going to hear it wherever we are, so we might as well witness it. And maybe we can stop him putting you back in hospital."
"Gee, thanks Virgil" John muttered. Almost every confidence.
Scott had barely stepped in the room before he had begun yelling.
"Now would you kindly tell me what the hell you think you are doing running dispatch on four missions not two weeks after you nearly died from internal bleeding. You're smart John, but even you can't think you are ready for that yet." Scott's temper was beyond volcanic, it was like a solar flare. . It had been a long time since Scott had been this angry, and then never at John. It was very unpleasant to be at the center of that tempest.
"Scott... " John started, his words carefully prepared, but he wasn't allowed to start, let alone finish.
"Do you not understand the risks you took on the missions? What if you couldn't cope? What would have happened then? What if we had lost people?"
Scott rounded on Gordon, still burning with fury and the younger man made an involuntary step back. "And Gordon! Of all the stupid things to do! I understand that there were people in trouble but you can't just leave your post like that, particularly with Kayo and Brains off island."
"Scott..."
"What if something happened to him and we weren't there for him again?"
Ah, thought John, now we get to the heart of it.
"Scott! Stop yelling and let me speak!" John realised that he himself was yelling, but it happened so seldom it seemed to shock Scott into silence. Instead he crossed his arms and with a last frown at Gordon said, "OK, talk, but make this good."
John sighed "It is good, I mean I'm good. I'm sore yes, but no longer actually injured and I can do a hell lot more good sat at this desk then I can sat in my room in bed." He saw Scott make to say something but held up his hand.
"Wait, let me guess." He started counting off on his hands. "First, you say I can't possible be up to this, because of the surgery. Well, luckily sitting in one place is one of the few things I can do with ease right now. Then you mention the effects of the medication, and that it might be clouding my judgement. But I've been reducing that right down and only take it when I need to sleep. And the pain's not that bad any more unless I twist the wrong way - the wound is healing nicely. Next you'd probably mention that I can't possibly just jump into four missions at once. Well I can and I did. That's my job and I'm damn good at it thank you very much, and there's nothing like a week in bed to make the mind rot." John was close to yelling again so took a moment to pause and regather his thoughts, the fine speech he had rehearsed completely forgotten.
"It's hard enough normally when you guys are out risking your lives, and I am sitting so far out of reach of you. At least then I am helping, but sitting in bed doing nothing listening to you four in danger is more painful than anything. And I have something quite recent to compare it to." Scott's expression was still stone - John couldn't tell if he was getting through.
"And to stop you thinking I just jumped into this, I have been testing what I can deal with since I got back home." The others shifted slightly nervously, remembering all the help he had given them.
"Damn it, I should have known something was up, Virgil's not usually that quick at coding." Scott speared his brother with a look that Virgil's sudden faux innocence was useless against. The others were wisely neither saying anything or making eye contact.
John stepped closer to Scott, and was surprised to find that he was no longer angry. "And as for something happening to me - you do know that this was a freak accident right? It could have as easily happened falling down the stairs. And there is no long term detriment to having one kidney. People are born with only one, loose one to disease, donate one for transplant all with no long term effects. I'm going to get Brains to put a bit more padding on the right side of my suit just as a precaution, but in the long term nothing has changed."
"And in the short term? " Scott was clearly calming down now.
"Well I'm definitely not going to space anytime soon, not with these stitches anyway. But I've lost fifty percent of my kidneys, not my brain."
Scott uncrossed his hands from his chest and dropped to sit on the couch. "But why all this secrecy and plotting John? Why couldn't you just tell me that you were feeling better."
"Would you have listened? You respond much better to being shown something than being told it. Anyway, there wasn't time for a discussion today - Gordon was needed and he was needed straight away."
"I suppose I wouldn't have listened at that. I forget you could be such a a sneaky bastard." Scott now had a small smile on his face.
"Yep." John was quite proud of that. "Look, I'm quite aware how close this was, and have no desire to get that close again. We don't take unnecessary risks, but we do take necessary ones, and you need everyone on the team doing all they can to make each mission a success."
"You're right I suppose. Who am I kidding, you're always right." Scott stood suddenly and grabbed John into a bear hug "But I was so scared for you, don't make me go through that again, deal?"
"Deal." John returned the hug.
"Soooooo, does that mean I'm off the hook?" Gordon said nervously.
"Sure does, luckily for you"
"Well that's a relief for sure." Gordon broke into a big smile, and the others were suddenly smiling too, as the two oldest were no longer going toe - to - toe.
"Maybe next time there is less secrecy though, and we all listen and trust each other more." Suggested Scott.
"Would sure be good for my blood pressure" joked Alan.
"Maybe we don't have a next time." That was Virgil. John glanced over as he spoke - he hadn't had a chance to thank Virgil for talking him down from the station, and he promised himself he would make time for that conversation soon.
It was at that moment that there was a series of alerts from the desk. John moved over - carefully - as he was still aware of the scrutiny from his brothers. A scrutiny that wasn't going to go away - but that's just what life was like when your family was as close as the Tracy's were. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
"OK guys, we have a situation..."
And there we go, all done! I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to leave a review - all constructive criticism welcome :)