12
Alan and Gordon had just arrived back at Tracy Island. They greeted their brothers and friends wearily; each waiting for the dreaded question of how their grand mother was. It was Kyrano that asked as he could see that was what the other Tracy brothers were so desperate to ask but none of them wanted bad news so they refrained. "Mr Gordon, how is your Father and Grandmother?"
By this point they were all sat in the lounge in a group, sprawled across several sofas. Penny was on one with Virgil, Scott and Tin-Tin on another with John. Parker and Kyrano were stood together. Gordon looked at Alan next to him before replying.
"As well as can be expected I guess, he's tired and grandma is exhausted. She is still trying to recover from surgery."
"But we have both spoken to her and she wanted us to say hi from her". Alan tried to put a positive spin on things.
"We heard that you have been pretty busy without us! Double rescues and all!" Gordon waited for them to elaborate but noticed the distinct elephant in the room with obvious tension between Virgil and Scott so tactfully changed the subject. This must be why Dad was so particular as to who should go back on this shift.
"Anyway it's getting late and you should really get going to make the most of your 48 hours! Dad says that Virgil and John are next!"
Virgil and John stood to go and grab their bags (All the brothers had a grab bag packed in case there was an emergency with grandma now).
There had been brief goodbyes all round before John and Virgil left. Scott and Virgil merely nodded curtly at each other which was completely out of character for the both of them, Gordon reflected. With John going Gordon was going to have to quiz the girls rather than risking kicking the hornets nest with Scott. It was the safer option. He hoped they would make up soon, he had only seen them fall out a handful of times in comparison to the rest of them. He and Alan especially fought like Cat and Dog. They were always sniping and jibing at each other. They were of a too similar age dad always said.
Tin-tin and Alan had disappeared together so it was currently just Gordon and Penelope in the lounge together. He caught her yawn out the corner of his eye, she placed a hand gracefully other her mouth to conceal it. "Busy day huh? Your first proper rescue I heard."
"Yes it was, well let's just say I think I did well but I had no idea how taxing it could be!"
Gordon flashed her a smile and watched her for a few moments. Her blue eyes were dancing with concealed excitement; he could tell she wanted to tell him about the rescue in detail. "Come on then, tell me what happened?"
Penelope smiled and her usual calm façade dropped as she explained in detail her part of the rescue. Gordon had never seen her like this; she had vivacity to her that he had never seen before. She was a welcome distraction from the emotions that had surfaced at the hospital and he was very glad of her company. At his request they got up and took a stroll along the beach under the moon and the stars. Although she was tired she thought the fresh air would do her good before bed and Jeff had explained that Gordon had been upset earlier today. He seemed quite recovered now but she wanted to be sure he was feeling better about things. She noticed that the more they walked the more tension she saw leave his body. His shoulders visibly relaxed and he started to walk at a slower pace. The sea air comforted Gordon and along with Penelope's company and he started to feel at peace more than he had in the last couple of days. Penelope had taken her shoes off and was walking barefoot in the waves. They talked about anything and everything apart from international rescue before sitting near the waves in companionable silence.
Penelope was the first to break the silence. "So tell me, how was today really? Jeff sounded very tired earlier and distracted – which is understandable I just hope he remembers to take care of himself".
"I do too, Virgil and John are sure to keep an eye on him though. I just hope I haven't added to his burden."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh I kinda got worked up, you see the hospital that grandma is at is the one I recovered at after my accident. That and the fact that I'm still dealing with the fact that grandma is going to die was just too much."
"Gordon I am sure your father didn't mind he loves you so much, as long as he was able to bring you some comfort then he will be content."
"You really think so?"
"I really do."
Gordon reflected on her words for a moment before noticing her shiver. He forgot how chilly it got her in the late evening sometimes with the strong ocean breeze; the island was otherwise practically tropical. He took off his jacket and handed draped it around her shoulders.
"Thank you, such a gentleman."
"Your welcome, so whilst we are on the subject of today. What happened between Scott and Virgil?"
Gordon stood and took Penelope's hand to help her up; then they started walking back along the beach, using the moon light to guide them.
"Ah, Well I am afraid that I may be responsible for that. I may have disobeyed orders from Virgil, after Virgil disobeyed Scott."
"Oh; well that would do it! God! I bet Scott was raging!"
"As you can imagine; well Virgil still blamed him for not allowing me to stay out of the rescue and then my own choice to make myself very much involved in the rescue without his or Scott's knowledge."
Gordon laughed.
"Gordon it's not funny!" She had a poker face for all of two seconds before she too was laughing.
"It's all right they'll make it up. They always do! I am sure you have probably guessed but Virgil doesn't see straight around you – although don't tell him that because if you thought he was angry at Scott then you haven't seen anything if he found out I told you! Scott knows this too and it probably annoyed him more!"
"I did guess that maybe he does have extra affection for me. He saved me once, do you remember in that train tunnel?"
Gordon nodded.
"I was almost certain I was going to die and Virgil was there with seconds to spare. I saw it then in his eyes." She smiled at the memory.
"You know you'd be great together right? And that my brother would be a lucky man."
"Maybe"
Scott had gone to bed early because he was absolutely beat! He was healing nicely but any kind of healing required a lot of energy and he had many, many injuries to heal. He knew the more sleep he got the quicker he would heal but it was hard to sleep when you were still angry at your brother but worried you had hurt his feelings at the same time. Maybe he should have been easier on him, it was his first rescue with Penny. Scott knew that Virgil had a deep affection for Penelope and maybe it was his fault for pairing them up on a mission in the first place but he hadn't been left with a lot of choice after the space mission call out had arrived minutes after Virgil's call out.
Scott turned on his side and tightened the sheets around him and tried to block out his inner voice, He always over thought things concocting several scenarios but he was generally a quick decision maker which came in handy as a field commander. Scott was missing thunderbird one, to take her out would be a welcome distraction from all of this. He sighed heavily and forced himself to sit up and smack the light on, it just wouldn't do! He thumbed the button on his watch; he didn't care what time it was he needed to talk to him.
Virgil cancelled the first call which was to be expected, the boy could hold a grudge after all. Second attempt and Scott was met with the sullen face of his brunette brother. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up on you."
"Because I'm an idiot and I'm sorry?" Scott deadpanned.
Temporally silenced, Virgil didn't respond. What ever he had been expecting it wasn't that. Scott rarely apologised - being a I'm always right type of person.
"Look I am really sorry, if I hadn't had the space mission come through I would have sent Tin-Tin or John with you. I know how you feel about Penelope and I know that you were just trying to keep her safe."
Virgil waited.
"I'm done grovelling can you say something?" Scott frowned.
Virgil Laughed, surprising Scott.
"What?!"
"There I knew it couldn't last long!"
"What?"
"The apology"
Scott laughed too. "Are we even then?"
"Yes I guess so, I'm sorry if I was rude, turns out I should have listened to you. Now Penelope probably thinks I'm an arrogant fool for not letting her go, she did so well on that rescue."
"Virgil, I may be accused of arrogance from time to time but you could never be. I am sure she still thinks as highly of you as she ever did."
"I sure hope so Scott".
"You all got there ok then?"
"Yeah we are going to see her tomorrow, I'll let you know how we get on. You might get a call from Dad he's getting paranoid about IR again."
"Thanks for the heads up, well good night."
"Night Scott"
The Screen went grey as Scott cut the call. He turned off his light and sighed before rolling over; he was asleep just as he was sinking into the pillow.
