Chapter 87.
John loved peace and quiet.
The raw silence of space was one of the things he missed most about being up in Thunderbird Five. Sure, he'd originally been stationed up there for practicality reasons (and because he constantly butted heads with Scott), but the fact that the giant satellite was quieter than all of her sisters combined was a true blessing for the introverted redhead who piloted her.
It had been wonderful to escape the restrictions of gravity and the noise of civilisation, even if only for a short while. John's brief stint back to his home away from home had been enough to cement his desire to cut short the impromptu 'holiday' he'd been forced into taking as a result of the, still unexplained, lack of rescue work.
The vets opened at seven in the morning, which would allow him five hours of sleep before he could go and collect Celery. He'd already made up his mind to ignore whatever pitiful states his brothers came home in; their problems, not his. With a little bit of luck, he'd be able to sneak out undetected, seize Celery, deposit her in Gordon's room, order EOS to drop the space elevator, then disappear back up into orbit before any of his family regained enough consciousness to notice his absence.
Until then, he had an entire hotel room and five hours to do with as he pleased. It was unlikely that his brothers would be home before three, and he wasn't particularly tired.
After checking his phone to make sure none of the clan had tried to get in touch, John set about his first order of business; a trip to the hot tub in Grandma's Penthouse Suite.
The redhead was in the middle of debating how many towels he was going to need, when the door to the room swung open, impaling itself onto the adjacent wall with enough force to send a light dusting of paint flitting down from the ceiling.
"GET INSIDE!" Scott yelled, dragging Gordon and Alan behind him by their shirt collars. With more force than was necessary, the eldest brother kicked the door shut behind him. A dull 'thump', closely followed by some mechanical-themed expletives revealed that Virgil hadn't anticipated this move.
"WELL?" Scott thundered, shoving Gordon so that the aquanaut bounced off the bed, "ARE YOU HAPPY? Your little drunken gaffe back there has probably cost International Rescue most of its credibility! Have you any idea what kind of backlash we'll now have to deal with, thanks to your little smooching stunt?"
Gordon winced and buried his face underneath the closest pillow, "Ugh…please stop yelling, Scott. It was no big deal."
"NO BIG DEAL?" Scott howled, his face paling to an unhealthy shade of white before flushing with rage, "Gordon, you tried to kiss your brother! You heard what Dotty said! Now the whole world is going to think we're a bunch of inbred weirdos with broken moral compasses!"
John quirked a brow as Alan tried feebly to crawl under the safety of the duvet. The movement caught Scott's eye and offered Gordon a moment of respite as he switched his crosshairs to the younger blond.
"Alan, I'm beyond disappointed,," Scott spat, snatching the duvet so that the youngest was re-exposed to his hawk-like gaze, "You're a fully-fledged member of the world's most elite rescue organisation, yet tonight you behaved like a directionless and clueless teenager. I know I raised you to be better than this. Dad would expect you to be better than this. Mom would expect you to be better than this."
At the mention of 'dad' and 'mom', Alan's eyes misted over. An ugly sniff climbed out of his throat as he grappled desperately with the toxic cocktail of alcohol, teenage hormones and sleep-deprivation that were wreaking havoc on his (relatively small) body.
Much to everyone's surprise, Gordon chose that precise moment to leap to his baby brother's defence.
"Hey, back off," the aquanaut snapped, raising a hand to his head when his vision threatened to swim, "I'm the one who abused my power as the older brother by supplying him with the drinks. Yes, he's sixteen and should know better, but he has the same wants and desires as every sixteen year old on the planet; to have fun. It's not like he gets many opportunities, what with being home-schooled and holding down a fulltime job."
Scott refused to digest the truth the aquanaut's words carried. Alan may have taken after Gordon in the looks department, but Scott was the one who had raised him and was, therefore, the only one qualified to counsel him on matters relating to behaviour and conduct.
The innate desire of wanting, of needing, to be understood and heard wasn't foreign to Scott. He'd gone through the same emotional turbulence that Alan was experiencing during his own teenager years. The only difference was that he'd had both a mother and a father to turn to for guidance.
Alan had neither. Scott and Virgil now occupied the gaps that Lucy and Jeff had left, however there were certain things that, unfortunately, brothers just couldn't handle as well as parents.
"This isn't about having fun," Scott hissed, pivoting back to face the aquanaut, "This is about professional conduct. You failed in your duty as well, Gordon, though I can't exactly say that I'm surprised. Not like it's the first time."
The mischief that usually glimmered in Gordon's eyes suddenly disappeared, replaced instead with something dark and cloudy. Alan had only seen his brother's aura shift so abruptly on two occasions; when their father had disappeared, and when he'd been in the middle of pursuing Havoc.
"Is this going to be another round of you subtly berating me for being the only one who didn't go to college?" Gordon challenged, his face screwed up in anger, "Are you really so ashamed over my refusal to follow in the impossibly large footsteps of my three brainbox brothers? Do you still believe that my affinity for humour is the result of a learning disability? Am I really such a burden on you?"
Scott drew himself up to his full height and glowered, "You could have gone, you know. You had the grades, but you were too lazy. No brother worth his salt would be pleased to have a younger sibling who spends his days bumming around with dolphins and mermaids."
Virgil and John both flinched as Gordon erupted.
"Dolphins and mermaids?! You think I took the easy route!? For the record, I'm the only member of International Rescue who's shaken death by the hand, Scott! I get deployed on some of the most dangerous missions, I almost never have a co-pilot with me, and my Thunderbird is the only one that has to routinely be glued back together!"
Scott retaliated with something about Gordon causing him to go grey prematurely, and in no time at all brothers one and four were nose to nose, crude insults flying on the backs of voices that were rising rapidly in volume.
Alan hated being the youngest of five. The excessive mollycoddling, the way Scott and Virgil refused to let him do anything, the constant need to prove himself, both on and off the field…
…but most of all, he hated the fact that no one took him seriously. If he wanted to make a point, he had to enlist the support of at least one brother to ensure he held the attention of the others. Trying to make a point on his own was like farting against an earthquake.
Gordon was always the one who came to his aid in such situations. The aquanaut always took his side (even if he was losing), always backed him up, and always encouraged him. As he'd famously quoted on their trip back from Europa, 'That's what brothers are for'.
Alan owed Gordon some of the same loyalty.
"Stop attacking him, Scott!" the youngest snapped, wincing slightly when his stomach knotted in discomfort, "I had a drink and went a bit overboard. I know for a fact that you did exactly the same thing when you were my age. I've learnt my lesson and won't do it again. Take a chill pill. Nobody died."
Almost on cue, an aggressive dry-heave wracked Alan's entire body. Instinctively, Scott moved to assist his youngest brother.
"Oh for goodness sake, I'M FINE!" Alan bellowed, glowering at Scott's concerned face with eyes that were slightly glassy, "Seriously Scott, you need to back off! I'm more than capable of looking after myself, thank you very much. The second I turn eighteen, I'm taking Thunderbird Three and getting my own place on the mainland. I'm tired of you wrapping me up in cotton wool all the time. How am I ever going to get anywhere in life with you sitting on top of me like some kind of demented chicken? I'm so sick of living under the same roof as you! You think you're dad, but you're not and never will be!"
Ten seconds of complete silence descended over the room as five Tracys all tried to process what the hell had just happened. In the confusion, no one noticed the forms of Grandma, Kayo and Penelope standing just inside the doorway, their faces frozen in shock.
Alan was the first to move. With one hand cradling his roiling stomach, he stormed towards the door, barely noticing as Penelope scurried out of his way. Head down and shoulders tensed, the youngest Tracy announced his departure with a door slam that sent an expensive looking painting crashing onto the floor.
For a few seconds, no one dared to move. Penelope and Kayo were staring at each other in silent disbelief, while Sally looked torn over which grandson to comfort first. Gordon was rapidly turning the same colour as Thunderbird Two and looked like he wanted nothing more than to toss his cookies. John was staring at the floor and breathing rapidly, a tell-tale sign that he was anxious. Virgil was glancing nervously at Scott, who was staring at the spot Alan had just occupied, his face as white as a sheet.
The silence was broken by a few drops of rain plipping and plopping onto the window sill outside.
"Scott?" Virgil ventured, crossing the room to place a hand on his eldest brother's shoulder, "Are you okay?"
The engineer was soon joined by Kayo, who placed a reassuring hand on Scott's other shoulder. Unsurprisingly, their gestures went unnoticed.
Sally didn't think she'd ever seen one of her grandsons look more defeated. They'd faced the impossible countless times and had hauled people out of the darkest crevices the world had to offer, all while enduring their own personal tragedies. And yet, through it all, her boys had remained a strong and stable unit, devoted to fighting the good fight.
Scott's face was devoid of all expression and colour. The suave confidence he usually radiated had been replaced with a defeated slouch, while the fire in his sapphire blue eyes had been reduced to a dull flicker.
Kayo gently squeezed the eldest Tracy's arm as tears pooled in his now lifeless irises.
"Keep an eye on Alan's tracker," Scott mumbled, dragging a sleeve across his watering eyes as he made for the door, "I don't want him leaving the hotel compound on his own. If it's alright with everyone, I think I'll turn in. There's anti-sickness meds in my bag if Gordon needs them."
Kayo went to hurry after the eldest Tracy, but was stopped by Penelope sticking her arm out, "Leave him be for a few minutes, Kayo. Alan's little rant can't have been easy on his ears. I think it would be prudent if we gave both of them the rest of the night off."
"Agreed," Sally nodded and stepped forward, her heart melting when her remaining grandsons instinctively turned to her for guidance, "Virgil, you stay in this room with Gordon. Look after him, but don't be afraid to call me if you need help. Kayo, Penny, you girls go back to your own rooms. No point in all of us losing out on a night's sleep. John? As Gordon's now in here with Virgil, I'll send Scott in with you when he gets back. That just leaves Alan, and he can stay with me. I'll have a chat with him once he's cooled off."
"F.A.B," came the weary responses. Penelope cast a slightly anxious glance at Gordon as she ushered Kayo out the door. Virgil had slung the aquanaut over his shoulder and was en route to the bathroom, mentally bracing himself for several hours of vomiting, delayed emotional fatigue and general comforting.
Unlike Alan, Gordon had no issues with being mollycoddled.
Sally placed a reassuring hand on John's back as she walked the redhead back to his own room. A quick glance at the tracking software on her phone showed that Scott and Alan were on opposing sides of the compound. Hopefully they wouldn't end up running into each other.
"It'll be okay," Sally promised, patting John gently on the shoulder as she prepared to leave him at his door, "I'll message Scott and tell him that he's bunking with you now. If he wants to talk, do me a favour and listen. That boy doesn't talk enough, and I'm concerned about the demons he's fighting."
John frowned, "You mean Gordon and Alan?"
Sally shook her head, "Inner demons. We all have them. You probably don't realise, but Scott steps up and catches everything that gets thrown at International Rescue. We're a target for all kinds of cruel people, but he works night and day to make sure the rest of you don't have to see the ugly underbelly of the rescue business. What we do may seem noble to some, but it comes with a set of very unique challenges. Challenges that Scott protects you all from."
John felt guilt crash over him. No wonder his eldest brother was always so highly strung…
"And now we have a duty to protect him," Sally continued, planting a quick goodnight kiss on her redheaded grandson's cheek before retreating towards her own room.
"From his demons?" John frowned, struggling to comprehend how Gordon and Alan's little waltz had led to the rather dire situation they now found themselves in.
Sally shook her head.
"From himself, kid."
