They do not belong to me but it would be nice if they did. Needless to say, I absolutely love borrowing them to indulge my own fantasies especially this one. I have discovered that muddy waters between my two stories give slightly more freedom, I can't apologise because I'm enjoying it too much!

Thank you to Sueemm, CreativeGirl29, Teobi, Math Girl, Creepy-Fish21 & Akimakel18 for reviewing and making my day. And a big thanks to all that have stuck with this one-shot! Which I promise is only a few more chapters off before I can mark my first 'complete' in the summary.

Ch25

As John delivered the brief he could instantly tell his elder brother was distracted, he had obviously taken in the necessary information but he seemed to be looking right through him. True, in his holographic representation that is exactly what he had the opportunity to do but John had always been made to feel that he was in the room with them. Gordon had held his eye during his outburst at the irresponsibility of the tour company that had broken every safety rule in the book and returned with one diver less than the manifest had logged. Usually at this point Scott would join the tirade, berating the useless waste of resources for something that was a preventable situation, but he sat forward, hands linked across his lap watching the corner of the room. John of course could put money on the reason for the unusually placid response from Scott; even he could see the irony at the timing. The Island almost to himself with only the least observant brother to cloud the horizon, Scott must really think the gods were against him. He watched Gordon red faced from his outburst take the chairs for the decent into the hanger, still blustering under his breath about making sure the operator's licence was revoked and then his eyes were drawn to Scott's automatic default function.

John cleared his throat to take the amusement out of his voice as Scott rose heading to the lamps. "Scott are you planning on transporting Four with One's grapples? Unusual choice and not a ride I think Squid will appreciate."

Scott stopped his hands pulling down hard on the lamps, the muffled snort of laughter of Gordon as he descended into the hanger now ringing in his ears as embarrassment tainted his own. Scott shot a look towards John and deflected "Brains completed the Mech upgrade for the uniform switch then? Otherwise I think I just missed my ride with Gordon."

John suppressed the smirk deftly but the twinkle in his cyan eyes had been registered, a silent scowl of retort had been delivered and John figured he was on safer ground explaining the detail "Completed in time for Virg's whirlwind Saga Tour of New Zealand. Both yours and Gords have been loaded to pilot Two." He watched Scott walk across the row of portraits with a thunderous expression on his face, brow furrowed, eyes narrowed and eyebrows almost meeting in the middle, his frame broke his hologram for a second as he passed. "Don't worry we won't take away from your blue eyes with the green sash, its foolproof, your weight on the slide will ensure its tailored just for you." As Scott reached the threshold to Virgil's domain with Gordon safely in the hanger, John thought he may as well verbalise his best guess at his brother's obvious distraction "You catch up with Kayo?"

Scott took his position answering with a defeated sigh "Briefly." He registered the sympathetic smile of his brother as the board started the tilt to send him hurtling backwards before responding "Briefly" Then his usually confident voice returned, controlled, calm and collected and committed to the mission "Thunderbirds are Go"

The unusual decent, flipped backwards head first did nothing to orientate his thoughts; Scott knew what needed to be done, last known co-ordinates of the diver registered, Alan working on updating them with the relevant mission data for their retrieval with no immediate concerns about weather in the area. But as the blood rushed to his head and he literally if not figuratively moved away from Kayo he couldn't help trying to analyse the reason for the unexpected breakdown of the woman he loved. It was certainly not the reunion he had envisaged, that would have played out somewhat differently and without the klaxon gate crashing. As the blood engorged his brain he started to dissect the seconds they had in the hanger. The mechs clicked and whirred around him as he talked himself away from his instinct to think there was something wrong into listening to his gut telling him that everything from now on was gonna be ok if he held onto his nerve. The whirring stopped and the chute re-orientated him, the blood now in a forward facing dive finding it's natural path building into a crescendo in his throbbing temples. He made the jump and grabbed the rail on the hatch pulling it closed, thinking to himself as he found his feet again one last hurdle and home free. Get the job done successfully and as quickly as possible to take advantage of the unusual privacy afforded by the Island he was leaving. Once the house spilled over with additional eyes in all likelihood he had to admit to them returning to the waiting game, dancing around each other while he ensured she was comfortable. Within seconds he considered an alternative, a contingency, if push came to shove he would get them both off the Island for a few days, return the bike to Perth giving them both some much needed privacy. He made his way to the chair smiling to himself, relaxing, now certain that come hell or high water they would get their chance.

Gordon was already in the co-pilots chair with his feet propped against the seat "Ready to go find the forgotten and kick some butt."

Scott took the chair and immediately started flicking the switches that would bring the beast to life "Commencing system checks, ... all systems go, Five we have permission to launch?" Then cast a glance to his brother "Feet off, I don't wanna have to explain the scuff marks to Virgil and I've got a feeling that by now I've already put him through enough."

Gordon cast Scott an amused grin, waggling his eyebrows in acknowledgement at the difficult mission Virgil had been tasked with before removing his feet as instructed.

John confirmed the formalities, before adding "Al's taking mission control on this one."

As the beast hit the launch pad the controls were lit by the holographic representation of both space bound brothers, the cocky smile on Alan's face leaving the two in the cockpit in no doubt that this was going to be a test of their patience if they looked anything other than enthusiastic about the change. As the engines hit full thrust Scott could feel the battle within Gordon to refrain from ribbing his younger brother, the serious look in John's face just managing to control him without a stern reminder that Alan had more than earned his stripes on Five in the last few days.

Scott smirked at his blond co-pilots restraint "The honours are yours Squid, now let's see what Virg's bird can deliver at the hands of the master."

Gordon laughed "Safe to say that with so many miles between you two…..Thunderbird Two is go."

….

Kayo regretted not immediately following Scott for the briefing in favour of hiding her tears from her brothers. By the time she had been certain that the evidence had been fully removed from her face she heard the unmistakable sound of Two's thrusters powering her towards the short strip. Bad timing so far seemed to be the story of her life and just for one moment she thought that for once when she was in the right place at the right time fate had dealt her the hand of a few hours uninterrupted time with Scott. A chance for her to make up for bursting into tears which had not been in any of her returning home fantasies. She was fully aware that she would be more comfortable with the unlikely admission that she had been rocked by her conversation with Penelope, rather than the truth. In all honesty, the relief of Scott meeting her in the hanger, setting her sights on him, had just overwhelmed her, his arms surrounding her casting her unexpectedly adrift on a sea of emotion. As soon as his comforting arms had pulled her into his chest the floodgates had taken her by surprise as much as Scott. She smiled as she considered his restraint in not trying to coax anything out of her to try to fix an unknown problem. His refraining from questioning her in favour of holding her close, not rushing her into talking, letting her sink into him and just let it all out became more of a comfort than the arms themselves.

When she arrived at the ring to find it empty the requirement for a double crew for Two made her heart sink, she instantly admonished herself. After all she only had herself to blame for the extended gap between seeing him. She resigned herself to the wait and switched on her comms to listen to the mission traffic between Two and Five. As Scott and her brothers fell into a relaxed pre mission dialogue it became clear they were not headed to what they would term a danger zone and she settled back on the couch with her feet up enjoying the sound of their voices. The mission in Mauritius could only be hampered by the fact that when they would arrive they would only have a couple of hour's daylight to aid the search but with the best technology at their disposal she fully expected them back in a few hours. She closed her eyes, relaxing into the arc of the couch, smiling at the banter knocking backwards and forwards between Scott and Gordon. Gordon was doing his best to stave off Scott's enquiries about what he could possibly have to talk to Penelope about for over an hour day, smirking as Al chipped in and adding fuel to the fire. Remembering her failure to pass on Penelope's message to Gordon, she reasoned whatever time they got back she should make sure she was up to pass it on. Chuckling to herself at the blatant misappropriation of the truth she'd come up with even to herself she got up to grab some supplies for the long haul. As she rummaged in the cupboards it occurred to her she hadn't eaten, she hadn't the appetite to be bothered to making anything so settled on a large bag of potato chips, soda and grabbing a throw off the side to snuggle into. She returned to Gordon defecting the attention away from himself …

"You got room to talk Scott, Virg gave it away at the pool, you've got someone new hidden away, time to spill the deets"

Kayo nearly choked on the gulp of soda she'd taken as Alan's voice joined the cheery ribbing of his partner in crime "ooooo Scott you're a dark horse, a business trip you said, take it the boardroom wasn't as boring as usual, poor Kayo forced to play gooseberry."

Kayo waited her heart hammering at the sound of her name and dreading what Scott may say next, even though she had no paranoia about who they were talking about. However, with nothing really spoken between them defining what they were she wasn't ready to be part of the public domain just yet, the seconds of Scott's silence were broken by his cough but no denial. The next voice she heard sent waves of relief forging a path through her tense body.

"You taking control of this mission Al or am I sending you for the coffee?"

Kayo sighed her relief at her rescue by John and listened as Alan took on the mission control role, giving the relevant details of last know location, the direction of the currents and metrological reports for the area. She wondered if John had relinquished control to make amends for his comment about him earlier.

For someone that had stated to John any precious hour of solitude would be welcome, kicking around the ring on her own was strangely unnerving. The gentle buzz of the voices over the comms did not make up for usual chaotic bombardment to the ears that accompanied late evening at the Island. When she heard confirmation they had reached the target area and started their sweeps she was struggling with the loneliness of the ring and knew she still had plenty of time to kill before their return. Seeking out Brains for company in his inner sanctum was dismissed as likely to serve only as an annoyance to him while supervising Five mid-mission during the upgrade. Boredom crept in, a restlessness, she needed distraction from the owner of the main voice on the comms, which she found herself zeroing in on and was aiding her to drifting into a replay of his lips brushing against hers. The close call in the hanger was becoming tortuous as her brain struggled to concentrate on anything else. Considering her outburst had wasted valuable time she didn't want to waste any more on his return. The arduous wait for them was compounded by silence and inactivity, as Scott was heavily entrenched in her thoughts she allowed a curiosity to enter about what he had spent a large portion of his time on while she was away. There was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind that Scott may well have preferred to leave the boat under wraps until they were together but once the thought had occurred she couldn't resist it.

Once the decision had been made she retrieved her jacket from her room, stowing the small bag that in a house of so many occupants that disregarded privacy could do with a decent hiding place and took a torch from the kitchen telling herself she would just take a quick look and return. Taking the walk around the beach round into the cove that housed the under used boat house wasn't as easy as she expected by torchlight. The cool breeze coming off the ocean made her draw the leather jacket tightly around her; still she had made it over half way and reasoned there was no point turning back. Stumbling over the last outcrop she made it to her destination, only to be hampered by the glint from the silver padlock bringing her covert operation to an end. Locks did not usually present a problem but making it obvious she had allowed curiosity to get the better of her, announce her interest so boldly was not what she had intended. Residing herself to the fact she had at best killed half an hour of the wait before the company she craved she returned to the ring wrapped the blanket around her processing the details from the mission so far. At least with Gordon obviously now in Four the target had been sighted, they were on the right side of the mission, they would be back within a couple of hours. She had missed them all more than she could have foreseen in the bravado and natural inclination for self punishment she had adopted by default when she had first left them. She had been sure of her ability to continue her life without them, now she knew she wouldn't have lasted a week without her family, just a few hours on her own compounded the fact. Closing her eyes the last thing she heard was Gordon confirming the diver was suffering from exposure, the pod being reclaimed and Scott asking Alan for the nearest medical facility before she fell into a deep sleep.

Scott grabbed the arm of Gordon to silence him on their return to the ring, Kayo asleep wearing the jacket he had bought her in Perth brought a grin to his face he could barely hide.

Gordon took the hint and whispered "Hey Scott you think Penny's been in contact with her? She's never ignored me for so long, well not in the last week anyway."

Scott considered his options with a brother that on the journey back had made several attempts to contact the woman that had recently occupied so much of his head space "Guess you'll find out tomorrow, it's late I we'd better hit the hay."

Gordon could barely hide his disappointment "I could wake her and find out."

Scott smiled "I wouldn't if you want your head still on your shoulders, you head on up and I'll just finish the report."

Gordon shrugged his shoulders and left in the direction of the bedrooms, Scott walked over to the couch, brushed the top of Kayo's head with a kiss before gently lifting her to rest her head on his knee. The report could wait; Kayo stirred her eyes registering just who had woken her before a barrage of pillows and blankets descended on them from above. Lifting herself slightly so she rested against Scott's chest, she smiled as she heard Gordon make a comment about the old man putting his feet up before filing the report. She felt her legs lifted onto those of her younger brother, she had wanted the company and it seemed tonight Gordon had designated it an indoor campout. Rather than announce herself awake to him she snuggled deeper into Scott, turning slightly so her hand could find his under the newly bestowed blanket. Tomorrow was another day, Gordon was bound to make himself scarce at some point, for now she could enjoy resting in the arms of the man she loved with no desperation to claim anything else but his hand.