~#~ (Chapter 11)

Jeff appeared a little less than five minutes later, alone and looking tired and drawn as he wandered through the door to Thunderbird 2's cabin. He pulled Gordon and Alan into his arms and the three clung to one another for several minutes until Jeff held Gordon out at arm's length and studied him. He repeated the process with Alan and then tucked one son under each arm and urged them gently towards the door.

He walked the pair of them out of Thunderbird 2, across the hangar and up into the house. Kyrano appeared behind them just before the hangar door and followed them silently into the kitchen where Jeff pushed the two boys towards their grandmother.

Ruth sped across the room and wrapped Gordon and then Alan into a tearful hug. "My boys," she cried. "Oh my poor boys. What you've been through today…"

The pair clung to their grandmother, seeking reassurance from her as much as she was from them. Jeff stood in the doorway beside Kyrano and watched until it became clear that everything was starting to become too much for Gordon. The red-head had looked tearful from the moment he'd stepped out of Thunderbird 2 but he suddenly became more-so and very clingy.

Jeff stepped in extracted the boys from Ruth's grasp. Ruth gave him a scandalised look which clearly said 'how dare you' until Jeff motioned towards Gordon with his eyes. He raised his eyebrows towards the aquanaut and inclined his head in the direction of the door before smiling at his mother when a look of understanding came over her face. The elderly woman hugged both her grandsons again and suggested that the two of them deserved a nap. She promised to have food ready for them when they were finished sleeping and then stood on her tiptoes, kissed them both and watched sadly as Jeff escorted them out of the kitchen.

~#~

Jeff gently propelled the boys through the house and down into the corridor that held the bedrooms. The large adjoining, folding wall between Alan and Gordon's sitting-rooms had been pulled wide open, making one huge room and the rooms to the bedrooms were also wedged open. Alan stopped dead when he walked in and saw the odd configuration of the rooms but one glance at the silent ghost-like Gordon told him that Jeff's, or more likely Kyrano's, arrangement had been a good idea.

He took Gordon's hand, towed him into his bedroom and gently pushed him to sit down on the bed. Jeff followed the pair and sat down beside Gordon so he could remove his sash, hat and pin while Alan took off his own. Alan then toed off his boots and kicked them under the bed before lying down and pulling Gordon down beside him. It was at that point that Jeff realised that Gordon had left Thunderbird 2 clad just in his socks. He had taken his boots off while talking to Jeff before flying home and had never put back them on.

Gordon remained completely placid and eventually allowed himself to be manhandled under the bedcovers. He pulled his face tight against Alan's neck and remained silent while Jeff turned down the lights in both the sitting-room and bedroom. Jeff then covered the two boys with a blanket and pulled an armchair up beside the bed before sitting down and leaning back comfortably to keep watch over his traumatised sons.

~#~

Jeff had been called away when, several hours later, the nightmares started. Gordon quivered slightly and started shaking before he suddenly let out a scream and launched himself straight out of Alan's arms, off the bed and onto the floor.

He continued to scream as Kyrano leapt out of the chair and hurried around the bed to help Alan who had scrambled to the floor after his brother. Alan was having no luck getting through to Gordon who was still trapped in the horrors of his nightmare so Kyrano tore the blanket from the bed, wrapped it around the aquanaut and effectively pulled him onto his lap on the floor.

Gordon's screams died down almost instantly and morphed into a high-pitched keening cry. Alan took one look at his distraught brother and burst into tears so Kyrano removed his right arm from around Gordon and held it out for the youngest Tracy to slip underneath. Alan didn't need asking twice and scooted across the floor until he was tightly pressed against Kyrano's side, as close to both the Malaysian man and his brother as he could get. Kyrano stroked his hair for a moment and then kissed the top of his head before turning most of his attention back to Gordon.

Kyrano tried speaking to Gordon, patting him, rocking him and gently shaking him but nothing proved successful in breaking through the night-terror that the red-head had become trapped in. The longer Gordon stayed locked in the nightmare, the more upset Alan became and Kyrano had two near-hysterical boys on his hands by the time that Brains and Jeff ran in, alerted by the noise.

Jeff took Alan from Kyrano and held him while Brains pulled back Gordon's flight-suit and injected a light but fast-acting sedative into the muscle in his shoulder. Gordon's cries grew gradually weaker until he fell suddenly quiet and slumped against Kyrano's chest.

Brains turned to Jeff, only to find that the Tracy patriarch was totally involved with his youngest son. Despite being fully grown and slightly taller than Jeff, Alan had managed to curl himself into the space between his father's legs and had buried his face against Jeff's chest. Jeff had rested his cheek on Alan's head to comfort him and then followed Kyrano's lead by wrapping a sheet from the bed around his son's upper body. He hugged Alan to him using both his arms and his legs and then petted him and whispered nonsense to him until he eventually calmed down.

Jeff looked up to find Brains watching him. "Will he be alright?" he asked shakily, nodding towards Gordon. "He…he seemed to take an awfully long time to…um…stop."

Brains nodded and looked at Kyrano who answered for him. "Mr Tracy," he said softly. "Your boys have been through the most traumatic of experiences today. One which I, for one, could not have foretold even just this morning. They are strong, your sons, as they always have been but as you yourself demonstrated earlier today, even the strongest among us have the capability to fracture or split if they are pushed beyond their limits. Master Gordon was forced to remain composed in the face of much hardship and had to remain stoic and professional in front of Master Alan and the fire crews who were assisting with the rescue operation. After facing all that he then had to fly Masters Alan, Scott and Virgil home in a craft which he is not accustomed to piloting alone. I think it was to be expected that something like this may occur at some point or other."

Jeff nodded sadly and looked across at Brains. "Am I to assume, by the very fact that you had a loaded hypodermic in your pocket, that you also expected a breakdown of this magnitude to happen tonight?"

Brains looked sheepish and shuffled over to sit on the end of Gordon's bed. "I…I…I admit to being pre-prepared for the possibility," he said quietly. "Al-although I wa-wa-wasn't expecting it to be G-Gordon that I was se-se-sedating."

Jeff frowned slightly and looked down at the tousled head of hair that he was cuddling. "This one?" he asked softly. "You expected Alan to be the one who…um…broke?"

Alan mumbled something against Jeff's chest. Jeff looked at Kyrano and Brains in a hope that they had managed to catch what had been said but both men looked at him blankly. "Alan," he murmured. "Try again. I couldn't make out what you said."

Alan stayed glued to Jeff but turned his head to one side so his face was partially visible. "I said 'Don't call him broken'," he explained. "He's not 'broken', he's just been through way, way too much today. It's the same reason that we stopped just before we got back. He…he literally couldn't go on. He said that there'd be people waiting to take Scott and Virgil away from us when we got back and that at that point they'd be really gone."

Jeff gently stroked Alan's hair as he looked over to where Gordon was quietly sleeping in Kyrano's arms. "Why do you think I got the pair of you out of there as fast as I did?" he asked. "There were several people waiting to take Scott and Virgil out of Two. They're people who are trained and practiced at dealing with…that sort of thing on a daily basis and I didn't want Gordon having to deal with your brothers any more than he absolutely had to. This end I could, thankfully, do something about that but at the other end, the industrial estate end, unfortunately, I couldn't. Gordon had already seen and been exposed to what had happened to Scott and Virgil so the only course of action I could take in that respect was to protect you from being exposed to it too. While I understand that it was hard for Gordon to see your brothers like that I had to acknowledge that it would have been even harder for you due to your age and lack of military training. Am I making myself clear?"

Alan scrunched up his forehead for a moment before replying. "Not really but I get what you're trying to say. I think. Why…why…um…why did you think it'd be me that would flip though? I don't know…well, I don't really know anything, apart from the obvious. Scott and Virgil are gone but I don't know how or why or...whatever. I mean, I saw the damage to the Firefly so I've pretty much worked out what happened to Virgil but I don't have a clue about, or understand, what happened to Scott. He wasn't in the Firefly when the beam hit it; we heard that much over the radio before we got cut off but after that we didn't hear anything until you and John told us to finish up and get ready to bring Virgil home. John apparently made contact with Gordon at some point after that to tell him to check on Scott and that's when he found…well, you know what he found."

Alan turned his face back against his father's chest and Jeff realised that his son's part of the conversation was over. He continued to stroke his hands through Alan's hair as he thought through the things the young man had said. "It wasn't me expected you to break," he whispered. "I only wanted to protect you from experiencing such a traumatic event first-hand when there was, frankly, no need for it. Gordon had already observed, explained and been upset by your brothers'…condition. He would, no doubt, have suffered an attack like the one we've just seen no matter whether he had gone in there again or not."

Brains nodded and leant forwards to rest his hand on Alan's shoulder. Alan flinched at the touch so he withdrew his arm and sat back on the bed looking slightly hurt. "A-A-Alan," he stuttered. "I-I'm sorry if I d-d-doubted you. I was un-un-unaware that you knew so little about-about what had happened. On a no-normal day, out-out-out of the two of you, G-G-Gordon and yourself I-I-I mean, out of the t-t-two of you I would have e-e-expected for it to be y-you that might…er…flip, as I b-believe you put it. You-you-you have to ad-admit that you're m-more high-high-highly strung than your b-brother. G-G-Gordon is u-usually the most calm-calm-calm and less-less easily riled of you all so-so I would n-n-never have guessed it would be him ra-ra-rather than yourself."

Alan managed to shrug without showing his face and remained quiet. Jeff looked across at Brains and shook his head with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry, Brains," he murmured. "…but I don't think Alan's up to talking any more tonight. Are you, Alan?" Alan shook his head which made Jeff smile tenderly and he pulled Alan even closer and kissed his hair. "Alan, son, would you let me help you back onto the bed? It'll be more comfortable for you there and if you fall asleep down here with me then I'm going to disturb you when I try and move you."

Alan shook his head viciously and mumbled against Jeff's chest for a moment before turning his head to the side again. "Not 'til I know what you're doing with Gordy," he rasped. "If he's not staying in here then I'm not either. If you're taking him downstairs then I'm going too. You're not splitting us up, Dad, not now, no way."

Jeff shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of splitting the pair of you up at the moment," he agreed. "You need each other, now probably more than ever before. As for taking Gordon downstairs…that's not going to happen. The sickroom is…well, let's just say that it's out of bounds until further notice. You must not, under any circumstances, go down there or go inside and I'll be reiterating this to Gordon when he wakes up."

"There's n-n-no reason that Gordon can't s-stay in here with A-A-Alan," Brains offered quietly. "S-S-Someone will need to s-sit and watch him b-b-but it had all-all-already been a-agreed that the two, ah, boys wouldn't be left unattended for a-any length of ti-ti-time. I don't see a p…a p…a problem with just continuing with the original idea of s-s-someone remaining here the enti-entire night."

Jeff nodded and looked across at Kyrano who inclined his head. "I concur," the Malaysian man agreed softly. "…and I, again, extend my offer to remain here during the periods tonight when you are otherwise engaged."

Jeff nodded thankfully and directed his attention back to Alan. "Is that alright?" he asked. "If Kyrano, Brains and myself take shifts in here to watch over yourself and Gordon? I would do the whole night myself but, as Kyrano pointed out, I am unable to do so due to other…um…commitments. I will be here when you wake though. I promise you that."

Alan unwrapped one of his arms from around Jeff's back and reached out to take his father's hand. He interlinked their fingers and squeezed. "I…can I...Dad, I don't want to go back to my own room," he admitted quietly. "I…I want Gordy back in with me. That's…that's how we were, before…" Alan waved his hand vaguely in Gordon's direction. "…before that."

Jeff nodded again. "I know that," he replied. "…and I have no problem with that at all. I meant it when I said I wouldn't split you up, Al and I know you were in here with Gordon rather than in your own room, I helped you put him to bed, if you remember. Let me help get you up and settled then we can get Gordon off the floor and back into bed. I've got a few more things to arrange this evening so I'll leave you with Kyrano but I will be back, just as soon as I possibly can be."

Alan shifted sluggishly but eventually managed to get his legs into a position where he could push himself off the floor. Jeff threw the sheet to Brains who smoothed it back down over the mattress and then held his arm out to help Alan stagger to the bed.

Alan diverted to the bathroom at the last minute before returning and flopping down onto the newly made bed. He watched tiredly as Jeff and Brains lifted Gordon gently up off Kyrano's knee and half dragged, half carried him over to the bed. Alan held out his arms and tugged Gordon tightly against him while Kyrano fussed about, covering them with the blanket that he'd pulled from the bed earlier in the evening. The gentle Malaysian man realised that Alan was watching him and bowed his head slightly before reaching across to gently rest his hand on the young man's hair. He bowed his head further, remained quiet for a couple of seconds and then moved away to sit himself neatly in the chair, just out of Alan's sight.

Alan raised his head up slightly to meet the kiss which Jeff pressed against his forehead. "Go to sleep, son," the Tracy patriarch whispered quietly. "…and I'll be here when you wake up." Alan blinked at him, closed his eyes and then immediately opened them again. Jeff shook his head. "Go. To. Sleep," he repeated. "Gordon's safe and we're keeping watch so you don't have to. Go. To. Sleep."

Alan closed his eyes and this time they remained closed. Jeff stood beside him for several more minutes until he was certain that his youngest son was deeply asleep and then turned sadly away and trudged slowly away through the door, in the direction of his office.