Author's Note: Hey guys! Hope everybody's doing well. I don't know about you all, but I have been so stressed lately. But, writing is one of the most therapeutic stress relievers…or it is for me anyway so without further ado (Minus the quick disclaimer of " No I don't own the Thunderbirds or any other cool Universes yet) I present you with …

Chapter 7

Jeff Tracy stared down each of his sons going from oldest to youngest. He was met with defeated looks from Scott and John, defiant looks from Virgil and Alan, and Gordon just seemed to look rather pleased with himself, as if he had done nothing wrong. This was one of those parenting moments that never came with a book or video set. How were you supposed to get onto your sons for saving a whole government facility and their father from a group of terrorists, and managing to engineer some of the machines, he himself had given up on years ago. So he needed to know what exactly happened in the past elven days, before they could move on to their current situation.

"Anyone care to start?" He asked his boys, hoping that one of them would take responsibility.

However all five boys remained silent. He sighed, having been afraid that it might come to this. The boy's had been willing to sacrifice everything to rescue him, but were always ready to defy him at a moment's notice. Yep, these boys were definitely his.

Eight days, 92 hours 30 minutes earlier

Jeff Tracy had worn the red carpet in his office floors by how many times he had paced it in the last twenty five minutes. Thirty minutes ago, he had received a phone call that had shaken him to his very core. Jeff Tracy and Hiram H. Hakenbaker had made a pact, nine years ago, that they would never call each other, ever again. So when he got a call on his personal cell phone and the familiar voice of the highly paranoid Ph.D. was on the other line, Jeff Tracy went from unsettled to panicked in a matter of a second.

"You know I wouldn't call if it weren't important."

Jeff sighed, "What's happened Hiram?"

"The project."

"The one we weren't ever supposed to even think about ever again?"

"The files have gone missing."

Jeff swore profusely. "It's what we get when we trust the government to keep anything safe."

"Those files had both of our names on it."

Jeff sighed heavily again, "You think they're going to come looking for the blueprints."

"Think? Jeff we both know exactly what's happening, it's exactly like last time, only this time, you're the only one with anything to lose."

Jeff rubbed a hand over his face wearily.

"I'm going underground. If I were you Jeff, I'd send your family on a long vacation, and then do the same."

The call ended with a harsh click, and Jeff slammed his own line. And so the pacing began. During the next twenty minutes, he ran through every worst case scenario he could possibly think of and none of them ended well for his boys. The people that were coming for the blueprints would be as ruthless as last time, if not more. It would take them a matter of days to plan, prepare and hit Jeff. They would use the boys against him to obtain the blue prints, and then they would leave no evidence behind. Jeff realized that he was going to have to call in a few unpleasant favors owed to get the boys out of state, or even out of the country for a while.

A knock on the door to the office interrupted his thoughts.

"What?" he asked gruffly.

Gordon's voice came through the other side of the door. "Dad you're gonna want to come out and see this."

Jeff sighed, praying silently that it wasn't something Alan did this time. He was going to have to deal with Alan's behavioral problems eventually. But right now they were a few other concerns that need to be taken care of first. As he followed Gordon into the kitchen, he realized that everything was about to get much more complicated. Gordon smiled as Jeff saw the other occupants in the kitchen.

"Guess who Virgil picked up on his way home from work?"

Two familiar faces stood before him in between his mother and Alan. A blonde with blue eyes, who was the older version of Alan, and a brunette who looked far too much like his mother stood there with smirks that put Gordon to shame.

"Hey dad." Said Scott

Jeff smiled, moving forward and clapping Scott on the shoulder before pulling him into a brief hug.

"Good to see you too Scott."

Jeff repeated the same with John, and while it was good to see his two wayward sons, this made things a lot more complicated when it came to protecting his family from the imminent danger that was coming their way. He decided that the first thing to do was to talk to his mother. He turned to Virgil, Gordon, and Alan.

"Why don't you boys help your brothers get settled, while I'll help your grandmother finish up in the kitchen."

The boys nodded, heading upstairs, Gordon saying, "Don't forget kickoffs at six."

He waited until he heard all the footsteps move above their heads before he turned back to his mother.

"Now, Jefferson Tracy," she said, not even bothering to take her eyes off the stuffing she was making, "are you going to tell me what kind of trouble you've gotten yourself into? Or am I going to have to wait and hear about it in the papers again?"

Jeff knew he shouldn't even ask how she knew. The woman had a sixth sense about these kinds of things. It was a huge asset when it came to catching Alan or Gordon before they even made a plan for a prank. However, when it came to hiding things from everyone, it was a real pain for Jeff. He sighed, explaining to her the situation; he noticed the slight change in her demeanor as he spoke about the stolen files and how Jeff and Hiram's records were with them. She turned around to face him after he was finished.

"You believe the boys are in danger?" she asked

Jeff nodded, "I'm working on contacting some old colleagues of mine to get them out of the country, although I wasn't expecting the older two."

"Well, with your head stuck in your office so much I wouldn't be surprised if you missed a tornado blowing right through your living room."

Jeff sighed, knowing that she was exactly right. She brushed her hands on her apron.

"Well," she said, "you do what you can. But we are all going to sit down tonight, have a good Thanksgiving dinner, and you are going to be as civil as possible."

Jeff knew better than to argue with his mother, and went to make a few more calls before dinner.

Present

Looking back on it, Jeff would have never agreed to start the original project if he had known what it would have led his family to.

"You boys disobeyed a direct order." He said glaring at each one of them, "I specifically told you not to come after me."

"And you actually thought that we would listen?" Asked Virgil, "I knew that you didn't know us very well dad, but I didn't think that you wouldn't know us at all."

Jeff could only stare at his second eldest defiant look for a moment before replying, "This was not something that you needed to be involved in."

"You already involved us." Said Scott, with a cold look on his face, "You involved us elven years ago when you took on the project. "

"You don't think I realize that?"

"No I don't think you do. I don't think you realize much of anything these day s." said Virgil.

"Watch your tone." Warned Jeff.

"Or what you'll ground me?"

"That's enough." Said John, providing a physical and emotional buffer between the conflicting Alpha males in the room. "You both need to stop. We need to focus on getting this whole mess straightened out and we can't do that if you two are going to butt heads the whole time."

Jeff sighed, hating that once again his middle son had to be the level headed one. It was his job as a father to protect his sons and give them guidance, and he had failed miserably on both counts.

"Look, "he said trying to calm himself down, "I know that we're all tired and angry, but we need to put together everything that's happened up till now."

"I agree." Said Scott, "But I think the explanations need to start with the project first. I think it's time you told us what Project: Thunderbirds is all about."

So what do you think? Grandma Tracy totally has superpowers! How else could she have raised Jeff Tracy and all the Tracy boys. As if Gordon and Alan weren't a handful on their own!

REVIEWS? FAVS? Public mocking in the town square?!