"I'm taking a break from the island, is that okay?"
Jeff nodded, "of course, but where are you going?"
"The house in Wellington."
"Are you alright?"
Scott nodded, "yeah, I've just been balancing the rescue life for too long, I need to get in touch with my social side."
"Son, I'm sorry you had to take on the business when I left, it wasn't meant to fall to you until much later in life."
Scott smiled, "oh I know, and it's fine, I just want some fun."
"I get your meaning and I don't want to know," Jeff chuckled as his eldest son grinned childishly.
"I'll be back in a couple of days, I've taught Gordon how to fly Thunderbird 1 if he so chooses."
"How are you getting there then?"
"Jet and then the car," Scott shrugged, "my bag is packed and in Tracy One already."
"Do not take her joyriding Scott, the car or the jet."
"Alright dad. See you soon," he left the lounge and jogged down to the hangars passing Virgil, "it's a yes."
"He doesn't know that we're going too, right?"
"He'll find out the hard way, let's go."
Kayo hopped up into the jet with Virgil snuggled half in his lap and the other in the seat, "thanks for giving us a lift to Wellington."
Scott closed the roof down on them all and taxied out of the hangar, "think nothing of it love birds."
As arranged they flew to the main airfield where Scott had remotely driven the car to meet him, he said goodbye to his siblings who made their way to the terminal to get a taxi into town and he took the car back to their New Zealand residence, the gates opened at his entrance and he drove up the path to the three-storey house parking the car alongside two others; one belonging to his father and the other to Virgil. The inside of the house gleamed in the sunshine and he found a note from their cleaner welcoming Jeff back, he smiled tenderly and closed the front door behind him as he dropped his bags off in the hallway, of course he now wished his siblings were here, but there was a reason he had come alone and that reason lay in the lounge, he opened the veranda doors wide and crossed the floor to the ebony grand piano pausing only by the stool to take out a small pile of sheet music on which was scribbled notation, he sat down on the red velvet padding and opened the fallboard revealing the shiny polished keys, usually Virgil played this when everyone was in the house but recently Scott had been taking solo trips to just play without anyone around to hear him, he opened the sheet music and dropped a couple of pieces of paper to the ground labelled part I, he looked back at the paper in front of him and stretched his fingers before rolling up the sleeves of his shirt allowing a bracelet to hang from his wrist, then with a sigh he began to play. The introduction was melodious and sweet, hands danced over each other across the keys sometimes waltzing at the top and then rumbling in the bottom octaves, he closed his eyes with a smile as he remembered every note he had composed then the music halted abruptly as he reached the new section he had come over to work on, he picked up a pencil off the music shelf and sat forward on the stool writing notes to existing phrases before trying out passages, his phone buzzed on the shelf and he released the pedal as he unlocked the message, his brother appeared above.
"Virg?"
"Hey, are we allowed to come over or would you rather we didn't?"
"I'm only composing."
"So, is that a yes?"
"If you let me get on with it and don't disturb me," Scott smirked as he glanced at his sheet music, "and I mean that Virgil."
"FAB, we'll come round the back entrance and stay by the pool. Does that suffice?"
"Sounds good to me, see you soon," Scott hung up the call rolling his eyes humorously then turned back to the sheet music, it was sounding good but why was the transition not working? The cadence, as Virgil would say, was correct and he had the right chords down, he replayed the cluster and smiled when the transition worked the second time, halfway through the second movement he was composing he heard his siblings enter the house and disappear upstairs then grinned when he heard someone attempting to tiptoe through the lounge.
"Virgil, I know that's you."
"Sorry, I just wanted to grab the scrabble board."
"You don't need to tiptoe, oh but I could use your input. What do you think of this?" Scott refaced the keys as Virgil sat down on one of the chairs beside the piano, Kayo leant on the balcony overlooking the lounge gazing down at her eldest brother and smiled lovingly as he played, only she and Virgil knew why he came here to play as opposed to the island, here, he wasn't interrupted for one matter and two he could play without anyone seeing him, despite his bold personality he was shy when it came to music. The chords were placed down heavily and Virgil moved round to read the notes on the paper Scott was following, he chewed his lip then held his brother's hands still momentarily.
"Try that chord, with these notes."
Scott let his brother place his fingers two intervals apart, "for definite?"
"Uh-huh and use the sostenuto."
"The what?"
"Basic pianist," he tutted, "the far left pedal."
Scott rolled his eyes, "I didn't know it had a fancy name," he moved his foot beside the other and pressed it down.
"Try that phrase again, the rest is sounding really good."
Kayo nodded and moved down the stairs, "he's right."
Scott smiled, "thanks guys, although this is the reason I come here alone usually," he began to play the phrase Virgil had suggested to him and his brother sat back down with Kayo, he reached the end of the section and brought his hands back from the keys, "well?"
"I like it, is this a sonata you're working on?"
"Yeah. How could you tell?"
"You've written part II on the manuscript," Virgil smiled, "we're making coffee, would you like one?"
"I never say no to offered coffee, thanks," Scott wrote up the bars he had just played then sat back on the stool rubbing his fingers gently.
The trio returned to the island a couple of days later and straight into Jeff, Scott left his brother to face the wrath of leaving and went up to the piano placing some sheets onto the music rack, at the sound of his playing Jeff turned round from scolding Virgil and Kayo and just watched his eldest.
"When did he become so good at the piano?"
Virgil shrugged, "eight years is a long time dad," he nodded to Kayo and they slipped out of the room as Jeff continued to watch Scott play.
"I see."
Scott smiled as his father came and stood beside him, "hey dad," he uttered still watching his hands and checking his place in the music.
"I never knew you had it in you son."
"To sit still long enough at anything?"
"No," he chuckled lightly, "to inherit your mother's prowess."
Scott shrugged as he turned the page quickly, "I'm nowhere near as good as Virgil, he practises."
"What's this called?"
"I wrote it, it doesn't have a name yet," he reached up to the top octaves then jerked his head sideways gently to flick back a strand of hair which had come loose, he smiled as his father stroked it back, "thanks."
"Do you mind if I name it then?"
Scott released the pedal as the end of the piece resonated around the room, "sure."
"I want to call it Scott's sonata."
Scott smiled tearfully, "I love it, dad," he choked as a sob cut into his voice and he leant into his father's side.
"I'm so proud of you."
"Ha, it's only a piano piece," Scott chuckled as he wiped away tears on the back of his hand.
"No no, I'm proud of who you've become; a leader, a boss but also another father figure to your brothers' eyes. It's the one thing I agonised over when the Zero X failed, what would happen to you back at home."
Scott smiled up at him from the piano stool, "it was all an inner monologue, what would dad do?"
"I hope you didn't always think that when decision making?"
"There was nothing else to think," Scott brushed his hand across the keys absentmindedly, "it's all I could say, dad. It's what guided me."
Jeff rubbed his shoulder, "it worked son, you came and got me back."
