~#~ (Chapter 10)

Most of the journey home was quiet and blessedly uneventful. Thunderbird 1, with Tin-Tin at the helm, shadowed her much larger sister ship the whole way with just the occasional word spoken between the two as each pilot checked on the other's progress.

Shortly before the end of the journey, however, Thunderbird 2 slowed dramatically and began to shake. Alan, who was strapped into the passenger seat, a little way behind Gordon, looked around in alarm. He leaned as far out of his seat as possible and craned his neck to see the control panels in front of his brother but could see no obvious warning lights or problems.

He unbuckled himself and struggled his way to the front of the cockpit only to find that the shaking was being caused by Gordon himself. The aquanaut had his hands clamped firmly around the main control yoke, his eyes were clenched tightly shut and every now and again Alan could see a hitch in his breathing.

"Base to Thunderbird 2. Gordon, Alan, the sensors say you've stopped. Is everything alright?" Jeff's worried voice cut across Tin-Tin's "Tin-Tin to Alan and Gordon. Are you OK?" and for a moment Alan wondered if Gordon had picked up on either message.

Gordon, however, had picked up both messages but was unable to answer either of them. He let out a whimper, deep in his throat and gripped the yoke harder as he bowed his head. Alan gave him a worried look and leant across him to flick a switch on the dashboard. "Give us a moment, guys," he pleaded. "Just…give us a moment."

He flicked another couple of switches to put Thunderbird 2 into an automatic hover mode and then squatted beside his brother. "Gords," he whispered. "Hey, c'mon, we're nearly home. I can just about see the island in the distance."

Gordon let out a pained squeak and bit down hard on his bottom lip as he shook his head. Alan studied him for a moment before reaching up and gingerly wrapping his arm around his brother. "Is it a problem that we're nearly home?" he asked. "Is it because of the people who are going to be waiting when we get there? Is that what it is?"

Gordon cracked open an eye for just long enough to establish that Two's autopilot had been activated. Once he was certain that himself, Alan and Thunderbird 2 weren't going to fall into the ocean he then slowly unpeeled his hands from the control yoke. "Al," he whispered. "Al. I…I…I can't…I just…I can't."

Alan knelt up and pulled Gordon into an uncomfortably tight hug which he found being returned with a crushing strength that left him reeling. "I'm not going anywhere," he murmured. "Honestly, Gords, I'm here for the long haul. You, me and Johnny, we've got to stick together. We can't afford to fall apart. There's just too many people depending on us and…and Scott would've kicked our butts if he'd found any sign that we were letting the side down."

Gordon emitted a broken sob and clung to Alan who could feel his brother's heart beating rapidly against his chest. He rubbed Gordon's back and then sat, patting him gently in a hope that he'd calm down enough to either speak to him or fly them home. "Gords," he said softly. "Gords, you're starting to scare me now. I know this is big and horrible and…and…unfathomable but I can't do it without you. I need you to take me home…in fact we all need you to take us home. It's…there's…I can understand where you're coming from with the going home thing. It'll be awful but…well…we can't hang here forever."

Gordon shook his head and sniffed loudly against Alan's chest. "We probably could," he muttered. "…and much as it sounds like a great idea, I can also see the appeal of not doing so."

Alan frowned at Gordon's quietly spoken words. "What does that mean?" he asked. "You're not making any sense."

Gordon pulled himself back up out of Alan's arms and scrubbed at his eyes. "No," he agreed. "I'm probably not. I…I just need a minute to get my head round this and then we can go. I'm…we…when we land it's…well, it's sort of over. Scott and Virgil, they'll be…I don't know, really gone, I suppose. There'll be people waiting to take them away from us for…for…forever and we'll never see them again. While…while we're out here they're…um…they're sort of still here as well. Scott could be out there in One and Virgil could be doing I-don't-know-what down in the sickbay. Or…or maybe Scott's got himself bashed up like usual and Virgil's down there fussing over him like the big old mother hen that he is or…er…was. Do you get what I'm trying to say? While we're here they're here…even though they're not."

Alan nodded and wiped at the tears that had escaped from his own eyes. "There's five of us now but really there's only three of us. That's what you mean, isn't it?" he asked and then let out a sob. "…and until John gets back there'll only be two. There…there's never been only t…t…two."

It was Gordon's turn to wrap his arms around Alan. "I'm sorry," he cried. "I'm upsetting you when I should be supporting you. I just…it just…" Gordon shrugged and made a low, frustrated growl. "I don't know what it is," he said eventually. "…but it's shit, whatever it is."

Alan let out a strangled, muted chuckle and gave Gordon's chest a tight squeeze. "I think we should go," he murmured as he pulled away. "It's not doing anyone, any good, just hanging here. Yes, it's shit, and yes, it'll be the end of an era but…well…I just think we need to go home and get it over and done with."

Gordon managed to shrug and nod at the same time which left Alan looking a little baffled for a moment before Gordon nodded his head in the direction of the passenger seat. "Strap yourself back in," he said quietly. "I'm taking us home."

~#~

Tin-Tin kept Thunderbird 1 close to Two until Gordon began lowering her down towards the runway and the open hangar door. She then peeled One up and away over the island to drop her into the cavernous hole beneath the swimming pool.

Gordon brought Two to a gentle stop inside her hangar and looked out through the window to see Jeff and Kyrano waiting up on the gantry with a man who he immediately recognised as Father Fletcher. He met Jeff's eyes across the vast space and was rewarded with a small smile and a hand motion that clearly told him to stay put.

Gordon reached backwards and found Alan's hand before pulling his brother around the back of his chair and onto the cushion beside him. "Dad's coming for us," he explained and nodded out of the window to where Jeff could be seen descending the steps in front of them. "That's Father Fletcher with him. Otherwise known as Agent 3. I've got no idea how Dad got him here so quickly but there's a whole heap of planes down there." He pointed to the sidewall of Thunderbird 2 but Alan understood that he meant on the far side of the hangar beyond the green, metallic wall. "…but I couldn't see any other people. Dad's probably told them to keep out of the way so as not to overwhelm the pair of us."

Alan nodded and snuggled in against Gordon's side while they waited for their father.