Cause and Effect

By GrumpyMagrat and Magratconvert

Disclaimer: We don't own the Thunderbirds. We wish we did, but it's just one of those dreams that will never come true. We do NOT make any money off this endeavor. It is just for our own pleasure, and (we hope) your enjoyment.

Chapter 34 – Bombshell

Four days later, Gordon entered the sickroom after breakfast. "Well, they're on their way to Five. In a few hours International Rescue will be back in operation." He announced flamboyantly.

Alan laughed at his excited brother. "I guess the world will breathe a sigh of relief. I can't un-un…believe that John didn't set the relays properly. It's not like him to be careless."

Gordon laughed lightly. "Well, that just shows how upset he was. He screwed up something that he should have been able to do with his eyes closed."

"How come nobody realized the m-m…problem before today?" Alan asked.

"Well, during the time that we were shutdown, nobody paid attention to the emergency channel. We had more important things to worry about, namely you. But I will tell you this; it'll be good to get back in action." Gordon replied.

"Did we miss many calls?" Alan asked.

Gordon shrugged. "A few. There was a volcanic eruption in Japan, an earthquake in Peru, a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, and a forest fire in Canada. There was also a sixteen car pile up in Florida and a building collapse in Moscow."

"Was there many deaths?" Alan wanted to know.

Gordon nodded. "There were some, a few in the earthquake, a couple in the auto accident, but the biggest loss of life was in the building collapse. There were twenty-three people killed there, but they were killed in the initial collapse. There was nothing that we could've done to save them."

Alan shook his head. "How is Brian Worth dealing with all this?"

"You mean our 'loyal consumer advocate'?" Gordon sneered sarcastically. "He's keeping a running total of the rescues that we've missed, the death toll, the monetary losses, etc."

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault." Alan responded.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it." Gordon said. "Brian Worth is a self-absorbed jerk. He has made no secret about his feelings about International Rescue even when we were in service. Plus a lot of the 'missed rescues' that he is counting are ones that we wouldn't have responded to anyhow."

"Like what?" Alan questioned.

Gordon sighed. "Like a train derailment that spilled a load of grain. There were no injuries and no risk to the surrounding area unless you count the influx of birds and squirrels that tried to get to the grain. Or he listed a naval ship that hit a shoal and put a hole in the hull. Never mind the fact it was a small hole, and the ship's pumps handled the leak, and the ship limped back into port without any other problems. Plus, he lists every known fire whether or not the fire department has it under control."

Alan shook his head. "What is wrong with that guy? What did we ever do to him? Why is he so hell bent on dragging International Rescue through the mud?"

"We'll probably never know." Gordon answered. "Maybe he thinks that he can make a name for himself but by stepping on the backs others. Maybe he is hoping that we will make a mistake, and he will be 'proven right' about us. Who cares, really? Nothing we do or say is going to change him. I wouldn't worry. We have plenty of other news reporters that are favorable to us. Besides, it really doesn't matter what others think about us. We'll just keep doing our jobs."

"Yeah, you're right. Hey, did dad say why he is keeping John down here?" Alan asked. "We've worked with just three operatives whenever one of us were on va-va…away from the Island or even hurt in the past."

Gordon nodded. "I think it was John's idea. I don't think he wanted to leave you just yet. I know that I wouldn't want to be up on Five right now."

Alan shook his head. "I can't believe that I thought that you guys didn't want me."

"I can't believe it either." Gordon laughed but then sobered. "No seriously, looking back, we can all see how our actions were misconstrued. If I could go back and change things, I would."

"There's no use dwelling on the past." Alan interrupted. "We just have to m-m…go forward from here."

"You're right." Gordon glanced at his watch. "It's almost time for your therapy. Who's going to be helping you this morning? Obviously, it isn't going to be Scott or John since they are gone."

"Actually, it was Scott's turn, but Tin-Tin vol-vol…offered to take his place since he was needed elsewhere." Alan replied.

"Well, I better get out of here before Tin-Tin gets here." Gordon said.

"Gordon," Alan began. "Is there something going on between you and Tin-Tin? Are you guys f-f-f…not getting along?"

Gordon pasted what he hoped was an innocent look on his face. "Now, what would be 'between' us? I just don't want to be accused of keeping you from your therapy."

"Are you sure?" Alan pressed.

Gordon nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure. Hey, look, I'll see you later. I'm scheduled to work with you this afternoon, so if I don't see you before then, you know when I'll be back."

"Okay, Gordon, I'll see you then." Alan said as Gordon left the sickroom.

A few weeks later, John entered the sickroom after the morning therapy session. "Hey, Alan, I just heard the good news. It's about time that you got sprung from the sickroom."

Alan smiled as he packed his few personal belongings in a small bag. "It will feel so good to finally sleep in my own bed again."

John laughed. "I'm surprised that Brains was able to keep you here this long."

Alan laughed along with John. "Believe me, I was trying, but Brains was adamant. I had to be able to move in and out of the wheelchair by myself before he would release me."

"It won't be much longer before you're out of that chair and on your own two feet." John said.

Alan grimaced slightly. "It won't be soon enough."

John encouragingly patted Alan's shoulder. "Patience, Alan, just look at how far you have come in this short of a time."

Alan rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't say that five weeks is a 'short time'."

"It is when you're talking about therapy." John argued but then switched topics. "If you're ready, I can take you to your room."

Alan handed his bag to John. "You carry that. I have to maneuver the chair. It's another one of Brains' stipulations for my release."

"Okay," John said simply as he slung Alan's bag over his shoulder. The two brothers were heading for the door when Tin-Tin entered. "Hey, Alan, Brains said you were being released from the sickroom. I thought I'd come down and see if you needed any help."

Alan shook his head. "Thanks, but John beat you to it."

John laughed. "Don't let him fool you. He was in such a hurry that he was practically ready to go when I got here." He started to hand the bag to Tin-Tin. "Here, you can carry this for him. I'm sure that you two are anxious for some 'alone' time."

"No!" Alan said sharply. When John and Tin-Tin turned to him with shocked looks on their faces, he softened his tone. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. It's just that I need to speak to John alone for a few minutes."

"Are you sure that's all?" Tin-Tin asked nervously.

Alan wasn't sure what to make of Tin-Tin's question. "Yeah, that's it. We can have some 'alone' time this afternoon. Is that all right?"

Tin-Tin smiled in relief. "Sure, that's fine. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't mad at me for something."

"Did you do something that I should be mad about?" Alan teased.

The nervousness returned in Tin-tin. "No! It's just…Well, I didn't know if there was another 'misunderstanding'. I didn't want to…well…never mind."

Alan nodded. "Don't worry about it. There hasn't been a misunderstanding. We'll talk later. I love you."

Tin-Tin smiled. "A woman never tires of hearing that." She leaned in and gave Alan a kiss on the cheek. "I love you too. I think I will go help my father in his garden until lunchtime."

"Okay, I'll see you later." Alan replied, and he headed once again towards the door.

John gave Tin-Tin a small wave. "Bye, Tin-Tin, I'll see you around."

Tin-Tin silently returned the wave as John followed Alan out of the room. She felt the nauseousness returning in the pit of her stomach. Shaking her head, she thought to herself. "You have to get a grip on your guilt. It's making you sick."

Once the two brothers reached Alan's room, John set the bag on the bed and sat down next to it. "Okay, Alan, what did you want to talk about?"

Alan turned his chair to face John. "I wanted to talk about when you are planning on returning to Five."

John laughed lightly. "What are you trying to do? Get rid of me?"

Alan nodded. "As a matter of fact, yes, I am. Things need to get back to normal around here."

John shook his head and teased. "I think that's impossible. There's nothing 'normal' about this family."

"You know what I mean." Alan replied. "International Rescue doesn't need you down here. It's been up and running for the last three weeks, and you haven't been sent out once. It's time for you to get back to work."

"I'm perfectly fine being here." John responded. "Besides you never know when they will need me on a call."

Alan gave John a disbelieving look. "You don't think that I don't know what you're doing? You're staying on the Island because of me. Because you promised to be here for me."

"Or I could just be enjoying this long vacation." John challenged.

"Yeah, right," Alan answered. "You forget. I know you too well. You're just dying to get back up to the stars you love so much. Now, I am really grateful for what you have done, but now I'm telling you that I'm fine now, and I don't need you to stay with me anymore. Please, I want you to return to Five. I want you to start living your life again, doing the things that you want to do. I don't need you as a babysitter anymore."

"Okay, Alan, if that is what you really want." John replied. "I'll talk to dad about sending me back up to Five, but just remember that you can call me at anytime to talk. Just because you're out of the sickroom doesn't mean that you won't still have bouts of depression. Trust me. I've been there. I know."

"I'm sure that I will be taking you up on that offer." Alan said. "You may actually get tired of me."

John laughed. "I really doubt it, but you can try."

It took two days, but John was finally back on Thunderbird Five. Thunderbird Three had left almost an hour ago. John had spent the time unpacking and double checking the safety protocols. Now he stood at the observation window looking out at the stars. Alan was right. He really had missed this. As much as he enjoyed being on the Island around his family, the stars gave him a sense of peace which is exactly what he needed after the past few months.

Over the next two weeks, life on Tracy Island settled into a more normal routine. Alan still had his daily therapy sessions, but the other family members worked on various projects that had been overlooked in the past couple of months. Jeff was making plans to head to the New York office to handle some business. The brothers split their time between their ships and just spending time with each other.

Gordon had spent most of the morning touching up the paint on Thunderbird Four. She had been used on a rescue the day before. A plane had crashed off the coast of Australia, and Four got a few scratches by some of the floating debris. Now that Thunderbird Four was back to Gordon's sense of perfection, he was relaxing by doing some leisurely laps in the pool. As he reached the pool's end, he noticed a shadow that hung over the pool. Stopping, he looked up and saw Tin-Tin standing there. "Hey, Tin-Tin, what brings you out here?"

"I was looking for you." Tin-Tin replied. "We need to talk."

Gordon pulled himself out of the pool and began to dry off. "Okay, shoot."

Tin-Tin shook her head. "In private, can you come to my room after lunch?"

Gordon bowed his head. "Tin-Tin, I really don't think that is such a good idea."

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important." Tin-Tin countered. "Please, Gordon."

Gordon sighed. "Okay, I'll meet you."

Tin-Tin turned and briskly walked away without another word.

After lunch Gordon knocked on Tin-Tin's door, and she let him in. He could tell that she was nervous about him being there which only heightened his anxiety. He took the offered chair and sat down.

Tin-Tin sat on the edge of her bed. Her body faced Gordon, but she would not meet his eyes. "Oh God, this is really hard." She muttered to herself. Clearing her throat, she spoke. "We need to talk about what happened between us."

"No, we don't." Gordon interrupted. "We agreed on that right after Alan woke up. What we did was wrong. It wasn't personal. It didn't mean anything. We can't ever let Alan know what happened, so we can't talk about it ever. It's too risky. It may somehow get back to Alan. So that's it. There's nothing to talk about."

Tin-Tin shook her head. "I know that we agreed not to talk about it, but something has come up."

Gordon stood and began pacing. "I know what you're going to say."

Tin-Tin's head jerked up. "You do?" She asked.

Gordon, though, seemed oblivious to Tin-Tin's question as he continued pacing and rambling. "It's Alan, isn't it? He's been asking you questions about us. I know because he's been asking me questions too. He has noticed that we've been acting different to each other."

Tin-Tin shook her head. "It's not that. It's…"

Gordon continued speaking; ignoring the fact that Tin-Tin was trying to speak. "As far as Alan goes, we just need to start acting 'normal' around him. I know that is really hard to do, but we need to try for Alan's sake."

"Gordon, please, this isn't about…" Tin-Tin tried to get Gordon's attention again, but he just kept talking himself.

"I mean I know that neither of us are real comfortable with each other right now." Gordon continued his pacing. "But that's our guilt wreaking havoc with us. We have to work through this. We can't let Alan suffer for what we did. If I wasn't needed to be here for International Rescue, I'd leave the Island for a while to give ourselves some time to work through this…" Gordon laughed sarcastically. "And you obviously can't go. That would be a dead give away that something is wrong. Alan needs you here, so you have to stay. We will just need to work on it and figure out a way to be around each other without…"

Finally, Tin-Tin blurted out in exasperation. "Gordon, I'm PREGNANT!"

Author's Note - For all our reviewers who pleaded for Alan to never find out...we are soooo sorry. We really did try to fight it, but the muse was adament. Please read the rest of the story before you come after us with stakes and pitchforks. You may actually like how we resolve all this.

Then for all those who reviewed last chapter, we hope that the replies that we sent made sense. We were both suffering from colds, and our brains were kind of clouded at the time we did them. We would have waited, but our schedules this week was kind of crazy, and we wanted them done before this chapter was posted.

Last, but not least, next weekend is the weekend that we will not be posting. We know. We are really bad leaving it for TWO weeks after that ending, but alas, schedules are what they are. (Actually, Convert is glad to have an excuse to hide, and she's NOT telling where she is going.)

We hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Drop us a line and let us know what you think. (But please don't be too cruel if you're mad.) Thanks for reading.