Gordon set her Birkenstocks by the door and left the kitchen. Maria washed the meat off her hands and plugged in the dehydrator. She removed her watch from the sandal strap and put it on her wrist, then she split her Birkies up and placed a shoe in each apron pocket before heading up the stairs. Sally had said Maria was off duty but the older woman would still need to get up to her room and Maria had told her she was going to be cooking, so it wouldn't be right to just ignore her. She stopped in the lounge to check on her.

Brains was on his way out of the room. "G-Good night, Maria," he yawned and waved sleepily as they passed each other.

"Good night, Brains," Maria replied. He'd been so busy with the mission, she was reasonably sure he was one of the few people right now who was unaware of her recent venture into stupidity.

Only Virgil and Sally were still seated in the lounge. Of all her grandsons, it seemed Sally was closest to Virgil. He saw Maria and spoke first. "Did Gordon apologise?" Ah, so Gordon was coerced into that apology. Poor guy.

Maria nodded. "He did, but he really didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't a date and the shark was harmless."

Virgil's eyes bugged a little. "The shark?"

It was really nice that all these people cared enough to be alarmed, but she certainly wasn't going to let anyone blame Gordon. She chose to swim away because she felt stupid. She had no one else to blame for losing her contacts or messing up her dress.

"Basking shark," she said, emphasising the species name. "And he was beautiful. I'm really glad Gordon pointed him out. I might have missed him."

She saw Sally squeeze Virgil's hand and wondered if it meant anything. Maybe that was code for Maria may be dumb about a lot of things, but she actually knows something about sharks, so it's okay to stop grilling Gordon. Virgil stared with his mouth open. Just as Maria was about to speak, he managed to blurt out, "Well, okay then."

Maria focused her attention back on her boss. "I'm going upstairs to drop off my shoes. You need anything? Ready to turn in?"

"I'll help Grandma up the stairs tonight," Virgil said.

"I'm fine, dear," Sally confirmed. "You going to bed soon?"

Maria shook her head. She didn't want to admit to needing to burn off her angry energy because everyone thought it was anger at Gordon and he'd already been given too much blame. "I've got turkey jerky in the dehydrator and some cupcakes to decorate. I'm thinking about starting some pulled pork. Sixteen hours of slow cooking and it should be nice and tender by dinner tomorrow." Her normal cleaning routine would come after all the cooking and hopefully spend any balance of her self-reproving energy. Once she got all that negativity out of her system, she could sleep.

Sally gave her a sceptical look. Her voice was nearly a mutter: "I bet it would come out just fine in eight hours." At least her boss stopped short of outright telling her to quit cooking and just go to bed like a reasonable person.

Maria smiled and inclined her head. "I'll keep that in mind. I'll be in the kitchen if you need anything."

She left Virgil and Sally to their conversation, ran upstairs, and stashed her Birkenstocks in her room. Back in the kitchen, Maria slathered the pork shoulder in a dry rub, placed it into the crock pot attachment of the automated kitchen module, and surrounded it with barbecue sauce. A pressurised lid and the lowest setting and tomorrow's dinner was practically done. The dirty dishes from the cookies and the cupcake batter were next. A sweep and a quick cleanup of the counters followed. Slowly, her self-loathing drained away. Okay, so she'd been stupid. It wasn't the first time and probably wouldn't be the last, but she didn't lose her job or a limb or anything important. Time to get over yourself, Maria.

The indistinct murmur of distant conversation in the lounge stopped and the lights upstairs went dark. Sally and Virgil must have gone to bed. It was getting a little on the late side, and Maria might even be able to sleep now, but she didn't want to leave the cupcakes naked.

Making multiple pastry bags of coloured frosting always brightened her mood. She didn't think of herself as very artistic, but this was closer to doodling than real art. It wasn't like these cupcakes needed to sell in a bakery. They were snacks for hungry rescue workers who probably wouldn't even pay any attention to frosting doodles on top. Her only requirement was that they look good enough to eat. Beyond that, she did spend a lot of time on them solely for her own artistic outlet. The resulting designs were riotously colourful and intricate, but quite unconventional, even weird.

At some point in her sugary art endeavour, without thinking or using her earbud, she started to softly sing How do you Solve a Problem like Maria from "Sound of Music". It had long been a sort of a theme song of hers. As such, it was just a mindless little mood enhancer to accompany the frosting art, nothing more. She wasn't even aware she was singing when another voice joined her on the last line, this one a deep baritone, rich and harmonising: "How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?" She stopped at "you", shocked and somewhat aghast she'd been heard, but also utterly transfixed by the voice of someone who could sing so well.

Virgil cleared the stairs and finished the song.

She gasped. "Wow, that was beautiful, Virgil. I'm so sorry. I thought you and Sally went to bed." Note to self: acoustics in the house carry much further than previously assumed. Restrict singing to the garden.

"Grandma did. I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh?" She hoped it wasn't any more dredging up the thing with Gordon. She was finally getting over the whole episode. "Hungry? The turkey jerky is probably ready." She lifted the cover of the dehydrator to check on it. The dehydrator fan quickly spread the spicy aroma everywhere.

"Mmm. That smells good." Then he shook his head. "But maybe later."

"Uh, cupcake?" They weren't all frosted yet, but there were plenty to choose from.

He stood over the counter where the cupcakes were lined up in neat rows. "Wow. What are these for?"

"Eating?"

"No special occasion?"

She shrugged. "Doodle therapy. Swirls and bright colours cheer me up."

He turned from the cupcakes and gave her his full attention. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. How much did Gordon hurt your feelings? You can be honest. I know he spent the whole time prattling on about Lady Penelope. I can't believe you didn't tell anyone else how insensitive he was."

"He asked me not to."

"And you kept his confidence even though that was pretty tactless on his part. How long are you going to need to get over him?" Beyond the fact this was a pretty weird question, Virgil seemed sincere and genuinely interested. Five minutes ago, she would have said she was over it. He was the one bringing it up again.

"Actually, I've been on far worse dates. This non-date is probably in my top three best dates, ever. Gordon wasn't making a joke of me or rating my pig-score. He was confiding in me about something that he really cared about, which means he had to trust me and consider me a friend. I don't take that lightly, no matter how stupid I was to think he liked me for more than just friendship. I only thought I had a chance for like, six hours." She glanced at her wristwatch; it had been almost three hours since the fully clothed swim. "I guess three hours of beating myself up for being an idiot is enough. I'm over it now."

Virgil's eyes widened.

Maria frowned. "What? How long do you think I should beat myself up?"

He waved his hands in negation. "You shouldn't beat yourself up at all. I just... I thought you really liked him."

"I do. He's a sweetheart and Lady Penelope would be very lucky to have him, if she wanted, of course."

"So you're not still holding out hope, like waiting to see if the jester comes to his senses?"

She couldn't help laughing. "I can't compete with someone as beautiful and sophisticated as Lady Penelope, and I certainly don't have the emotional energy to carry a torch over a hopeless cause." She'd done that a couple times in the past and it never turned out well.

Virgil's face scrunched up like it did when he was doing something difficult on a mission, but he pushed through. "Okay, I hope you don't think this is too personal, but I have to know: what's with the big stuffed squid on your bed? You leave the door to your room open all the time and it's impossible to miss it. I thought it was all about Gordon."

"Archie?" She laughed again. "You think your brother is a giant squid?"

"Gordon is always talking about his 'squid sense' and we all call him 'Squidy'. What else should I think?"

"You should probably think I'm a nut case for sleeping with a plushie squid! The truth is, I used to teach preschool. I bought Archie to show three-year-olds a more realistic idea of what true squid are like because they think Squidward from SpongeBob Squarepants is real. My plushie is a one-tenth scale model of an architeuthis dux; that's why I named him Archie. He has realistic tentacular clubs, a siphon, and a beak. I've had him much longer than I've known Gordon. Besides, I never heard of his squid sense and the only nickname I've ever heard anyone call him is 'Gordo'—by the way, you're all really lucky he doesn't speak Spanish. I don't leave my door open to try to send obscure symbolic messages to Gordon. I leave it open so I can hear your grandma if she calls me. I'm her nurse, remember?"

His facial expression relaxed. "That makes a lot more sense than what I thought. I'm sorry. I just..."

It finally dawned on her. "You thought Gordon broke my heart." More than that, it actually mattered to him. Her heart started to do that fluttery thing. Stop it, Maria. You've already been an idiot enough for one day.

He got a focused look on his face, like when he was working. "I was willing to step aside because Gordon's my brother and I thought you really liked him. I'm trying to make sure he's out of the picture because I want to ask you out myself."

"That's the most chivalrous thing I've ever heard. Now I wonder if I'm a bit cold and unfeeling for saying I'm over him already."

He chuckled. "Nope. Exactly what I wanted to hear. So will you go out with me, Maria?"

She stared, flummoxed for a few seconds. You better make sure, Maria. You know how stupid you are about these things. "An actual date, because you're actually interested?"

He nodded and looked straight into her soul with those fathomless brown eyes of his. "Yes. Interested in you, not anyone else. And after the date, if we both agree, I want to call you my girlfriend. John can have his 'handball partner.'" Virgil rolled his eyes on those two words. "Six years and he still can't win more than twenty percent of the time. I don't want to play around at this. I want a real relationship—like, like... courting." He bit the bottom of his lip, as if getting all that out had been hard and now he was afraid of the consequences of being so bold.

She smiled. "Then the answer is yes. Absolutely."

It took him a second to process this, like he had fully expected her to hesitate or quibble about it. "Really?"

"Really."

"Uh, okay then, where do you want to go? There are a lot more options in Thunderbird 2 than in Thunderbird 4."

She opened her mouth to argue but decided better of it. The ocean covered 70% of the planet and land only 30%. Thunderbird 4 had more than double the range if they were going to get technical. But he probably meant places where you could actually get out of the vehicle, like cities with restaurants and theatres and silly things like that. She shrugged. "I don't really care where we go. I'm more interested in getting to know you than any destination. I'd be happy with a picnic right here on Tracy Island."

His brows shot up and his jaw dropped. "I offer to take you anywhere in the world, but you want to stay home?"

"I love your island. I don't think you could find another place any more beautiful than right here. You choose where to go. I'll go anywhere with you." After it left her mouth, she thought the last sentence a bit too forward and cheesy, but she couldn't come up with a way to soften how it sounded without watering down the truth. She'd also need to make sure Sally was taken care of, but Virgil would know that and not need her to mention it.

"Would you wear that dress again?" He cringed and ducked like this was an unreasonable request that she would chide him for.

She remembered that he'd complimented her when he saw it. She gave him a smile to assure him it wasn't unreasonable, even as she might be forced to deny the request. "I think it may have been 'dry clean only' and I took it swimming. If it's not ruined, sure, I'll wear it again. I can't do the contacts though. They're at the bottom of the ocean somewhere." At least she hoped they were stuck in sand and not eaten by some poor animal who mistook them for jellyfish planulae. It pained her to think that she had contributed to the plastic pollution of the ocean. "I have to wear glasses or I can't see squat."

"So just wear your glasses then. The dress isn't even that important. You just looked so beautiful in it and Gordon didn't even notice or remember what colour it was. You deserved better than that."

Beautiful? No one ever used that word to describe her. Her mother had always said she was 'plain' which was just a polite way of saying ugly. Yet Virgil didn't even make it sound like 'beautiful in your own special way' or 'beautiful on the inside but we'll conveniently ignore your outward appearance' that she'd heard a scant few times. Maria had no words to describe the surge of emotions brought by that simple sentence.

He gazed out the glass wall overlooking the pool deck and the ocean beyond and then back at her. "Are you ready to turn in yet?"

She needed to finish the cupcakes at the very least, but sleep was going to be pretty hard now with Virgil on her mind. Maria shrugged. "I'm not sure I can sleep right now."

"Then will you go out with me right this very minute? I never know when I'll have a mission and you said you'd be just as happy here as anywhere I could fly us to. We're both available now and there's moonlight on the water. What are we waiting for?"

Did you think I was bluffing? She reached back to untie her apron. "Sounds perfect. Let's go."