a/n Reworked 3rd January, 2009. Is also on the floor from listening to far too much of her newest favourite song, "Broken", by... "Bobby Dupea".
...goddamnit, he's an amazing musician. :contented moan:
Chapter 10 – Sooner or Later
Gordon beamed, wrapping his arms around Tin-tin's petite waist, eliciting a giggle from the Asian girl.
"Gordon," she murmured, leaning in and snatching a kiss from her secret lover, "We need to be careful. We still haven't told Alan, and we both know no matter how much we explain that he and I were finished, he's going to take this personally,"
"He does that," Gordon leaned his head against Tin-tin's chest and closed his eyes, "But I'm really not in the mood for our bloody murder,"
The girl sighed.
"Why must he overreact?"
"The term's "drama queen", love,"
"Gee, Gordon, and letting him hear that's going to go down really well,"
"I speak only the truth. My brother is a complete drama queen,"
"Charming,"
"No, darling, that one's me," Tin-tin playfully slapped the auburn haired boy upside the head, but his protest was swallowed by the soft lips covering his.
.1.1.
"So, any fresh young ladies caught your eye?" Tara asked, shifting in her bed to face Alan better. The blonde boy laughed, shaking his head.
"No-one, Tari,"
"Really? You and your brothers are quite the sex symbols among my friends," Alan arched a brow, drawing a giggle from the injured girl. She went on:
"Well, Jenny's got a...thing for Scott, whilst Amber has this obsession for Virgil, Charlotte's hot for Gordon, and for really no conceivable reason, Ophelia's developed a crush on John,"
"Oh. No fangirls for me?" Tara let out a small laugh, bringing a smile to Alan's face.
"I'll be your fangirl, Al. But I draw the line at screaming at the TV when rare footage of International Rescue crops up, like the other week," she nudged his arm, making him chuckle in response.
Then what she said actually sank in.
"Footage? When?"
"Back when I was still at school… a couple of weeks, maybe? It was a ship that'd gone down. We watched the rescue on a news report. My entire house went insane and were practically glued to the television,"
"A news report?"
"Yeah. I'd assumed Scott had loosened up and let them film you guys for once,"
Alan's brow creased.
"So let me get this straight. You saw live footage of a rescue on a news report. Live footage of us, and of the Thunderbirds," Tara's brow arched.
"Yes. And I'm going to assume from that tone that this is a bad thing?"
Alan took out his watch and placed a call.
.1.1.
Scott was lying on his bed, absently flicking through a magazine when his watch began beeping. Lazily, he reached over to his nightstand and picked up the clock.
"Alan? What's—"
"Check the ACD,"
"What?"
"Tara saw live footage of us on a news report. Check the ACD,"
.1.1.
The eldest Tracy son swore.
Loudly.
And repeatedly.
He returned Alan's call.
"It's malfunctioning, alright. And it's not the only thing. The HCD's on the brink, the engines are in dire need of a service and the fuel injectors'--! Christ, how did Tin-tin let this happen?"
"Slacking off reading fashion magazines instead of doing her job?"
"May—" Scott stopped abruptly, looking down at his youngest brother's face, "Alan, that's rather bitter of you,"
The blonde man shrugged.
"It could be true for all we know. She fucked up the systems check, evidently, so she was doing something else. Probably something selfish like she does,"
"Real mature, Alan,"
"What? Why am I getting attacked when SHE was the one who fu—"
"Language,"
"—cked up? Christ, I'll never get you all,"
Scott met a blank screen.
.1.1.
Alan hung up and turned to face the blonde girl, who crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow.
"What?"
"I thought you weren't mad at Tin-tin...?" Alan raked his fingers through his hair.
"I'm... not? Not really," the eyebrow crept higher.
"Just a little residual bitterness, huh?" he shot her a weak smile.
"Bound to be some, right? We kind-of parted amicably, but..."
"But breakups suck, I get it," she settled back into her pillows, "What did Scott have to say?"
There was a short bark of laughter.
"Don't even try to pretend you weren't listening in on that conversation, Tara Belle," azure eyes glittered innocently as the teen looked up, an angelic grin dancing over her lips.
"Me? Never," Alan opened his mouth to respond when his watch went off once more. He let out a frustrated groan and answered it.
Jeff's stern face greeted him.
"Alan, I'm calling an emergency meeting. Return home immediately,"
"Yes Father," the connection broke and the youngest Tracy rose with the immediacy borne only from being raised in a household which instilled military discipline in its sons.
"I've—"
"It's okay," Tara shifted slightly, finding a more comfortable position in her pillows, "Go. Just... try not to be so hard on her. I'm sure Tin-tin has a reason – let her justify herself first,"
"I know," he rolled his eyes slightly, "Innocent until proven guilty. God, you Brits are so determined in your human rights," Tara laughed warmly.
"Us Brits?" she spoke with mock offence, "It's in your sodding constitution, you bloody yank!"
Chuckling, Alan leaned down to wrap his arms gently around Tara's lithe form.
"Stay safe, Tari," he muttered into her sweet smelling blonde hair. She smiled softly, returning the embrace.
"You too, Alan,"
He disentangled himself and left her staring after him with an almost wistful curl to her cracked, healing lips.
.1.1.
Jeff dragged a hand down his face.
"Once more for posterity, boys. Someone has footage of an International Rescue operation, am I correct?"
"Yes, father,"
"And Alan," he turned to his youngest, "You believe the fault for this lies at Tin-tin's feet?"
"Yes, father,"
"Because when you ran a diagnostics check, Scott, there were serious malfunctions that Tin-tin seems to have missed in her daily examinations of the ships?"
"Yes, father,'
"Do you believe she may be ignoring her duties, or just distracted from them to notice something serious?"
There was no response, making Jeff's gaze dart from son to son.
Scott and Virgil, the most well trained of his sons, were seated rigidly by their father's desk. Alan was sprawled in a chair nearby, smirking almost contentedly. Then there came his second youngest son, Gordon. Gordon had chosen to sit on the piano stool and was fixedly staring at the closed cover of the baby grand.
Of all of them, Gordon looked the most suspicious.
"Gordon? Any ideas?"
Gordon seemed stunned from his reflections and his gaze flickered to his father. There seemed to be a terrified horror reflected in their depths. However, before he could question it, Tin-tin knocked on the office door.
"Mr. Tracy? You wanted to see me?"
There was the distinct feeling of walking into the lions den.
.1.1.
"Tin-tin, unless you have a reasonable explanation of why this happened, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to seriously reprimand you,"
The dark haired woman swallowed hard and she looked down.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Tracy, I got distracted and I shouldn't have let it happen,"
"Distracted? Tin-tin, what could have possibly distracted you so much that you couldn't carry out your designated work?"
Tin-tin's gaze slid to the auburn haired man seated at the piano.
Without word or warning, he began smacking his forehead against the instrument.
"HEY!" Virgil leapt from his seat, crossing the room faster than any would have thought possible, catching Gordon's forehead before it could smack into the piano lid one more time and shoved it back, "Whatever's wrong with you, don't you dare take it out on my piano!"
(Absently, Scott noted how Virgil seemed to care more for the inanimate piano than for the health and safety of his brother.
...musicians.)
Tin-tin hazarded a glance at Alan.
The youngest Tracy's face drained of colour.
"No..." he murmured, cornflower blue eyes darting between his brother and former girlfriend, "No,"
Tears welled in Tin-tin's burnt sienna eyes.
"I'm sorry, Alan..." she whispered hoarsely as he swallowed hard, his fingers curling into fists in a vain attempt to control his volatile temper.
"You left me for my brother?" his voice was dropping, turning more and more into a savage, violent snarl, "You cheating bitch!" his narrowed eyes took in his elder brother, "And you! My own brother. You do this to me, and I'm expected to trust you with my life?"
"Alan, please, it's now how it—"
"Fuck you!" he roared, lunging from his chair and storming out of the room, he slammed the door behind him.
The silence left in his wake was almost deafening.
Tears streamed down Tin-tin's cocoa cheeks, her eyes bright in her pain.
"I think an explanation is needed, you two," Jeff's voice cut smoothly through the silence, "Which of you would like to begin?"
.1.1.
Tara was lying in her hospital bed, counting the ceiling tiles for what seemed like the millionth time when her (rather attractive) doctor, Dr. Daniel Gale(1) strode into the room, removing his pen from the pocket of his lab coat.
"Good morning, Miss. Creighton-Ward. How are you feeling today?"
"'morning, Doctor Gale, and better. I'm really bored, though. When do you think I'll be able to leave?"
Dr. Gale flicked through Tara's charts, his brow furrowing. He absently scratched his chiseled jaw with his pen.
"From what it says here, it looks like you've only got a few sprains and bruises that are a particular major concern," sea green eyes flickered up in amusement, "Your condition just looks a lot worse than it is,"
Tara let out a small sigh of relief.
"So maybe I'll be free soon?"
"Perhaps. The internal bruising it's a concern, so don't get your hopes up for immediate release, and you're going to require some physical therapy to get your limbs back in proper working order," he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and slid her chart back into the pocket at the end of her bed, "It's still a bit of a trek to go before you're completely healed up,"
Dr. Gale moved to stand beside her and took Tara's bandaged wrist in his gentle grasp. Tara watched his long fingers gently probe her injured flesh, and absently noted how similar his hands were to hers – they were musician's hands.
"As for your boredom," he spoke again, releasing her wrist and shooting her a grin, running his hands through his mop of dark hair, "I hear a friend of yours has organised to have your school work delivered to you in order to keep you "occupied and up to date,"," he let out a deep chuckle, "She seemed rather persistent,"
Tara rolled her azure eyes.
"That would be Jenny. And I think the word you're searching for is "insane"," again, Doctor Gale laughed, before he sobered up and sighed.
"Miss. Creighton Ward, we're also going to send someone down here to speak with you – Doctor Henderson. Dr. Henderson is our resident psychiatrist," the girl's eyebrows shot up.
"Why? I'm not nuts,"
"We never said you were," he soothed, "But it is hospital practice to send someone down to speak to a patient who has been through what you have. We would just like you to speak with her and have her evaluate your state of mind,"
"I'm fine, Dr. Gale,"
"I'm sure you are," he stepped back, "But we need to have Doctor Henderson just back up that opinion, or maybe suggest some medication that might help you, should you need it,"
"Medication," she sat up slightly, "What, like antidepressants or something?" Dr. Gale shrugged noncommittally.
"Perhaps, Miss. Creighton Ward. Nothing is certain until you speak with her, and even then, there are alternative treatments should she see that you need something," he took another step towards the door, "Dr. Henderson should be down to see you either later today or early tomorrow, and I'll come back for a check up this afternoon. I'll have a nurse send in your school work?"
Tara slumped into her pillows.
"Sure. I'm sure pretending I care about planaria for a few hours with assuage my boredom,"
Dr. Gale laughed and left the room.
a/n It must be said. I've OFFICIALLY finished high school, AND I'm pretty much guaranteed a place in my intended university course with my University Admissions Index. At the moment? I'm full of win. Excuse me whilst I slump back into my own pillows and grin.
Secondly, I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season, and a great start to the New Year!!
Welcome to 2009, the year I promise I will finally, FINALLY, get this story finished.
Much love,
xx the Flame Faerie
(1) I doubt many of you would have seen the movie I kindoftotally stole the name and looks of Daniel Gale from. And to those of you who do... oh, come on. Like you can even try to fault me there.
Here's a hint: Daniel Gale (is greater than) the actor's newest character. Probably because he actually seemed to give a damn about Daniel unlike the new guy. Also I have a thing for adorkable men.
But remember Dr. Gale. He's going to come back for a few visits in the future...