Chapter 100.
Happy New Year to all of my amazing readers! 2020 may have sucked, but it was also the year that I started this story and met all of you amazing people. In honour of your kindness and support, I'd like to raise a glass to you all:
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Your support has meant (and continues to mean) the world to me.
-x-
Scott knew he'd overstepped the mark.
His intentions, as usual, had been nothing but good, but that mattered little when one found oneself with four pissed off brothers on one's tail.
Four pissed off brothers who, regrettably, all had terrible track records in the 'letting things go' department.
Scott felt frustration bubble up his diaphragm as he brought Thunderbird One in for her fourth landing of the day. He'd picked another random spot on the GPS, his logic being that enough location hopping would throw his brothers off his scent long enough for him to ask Kayo the very thing he'd been meaning to ask her for the last…he'd lost count.
Thunderbird One's comm channel crackled to life as she picked up a transmission from a local radio station, the ensuing weather forecast revealing their latest destination to be Juneau, Alaska.
Kayo jolted awake from her position in the passenger seat when Scott gently shook her shoulder, "Wha-? 'Whaissit? I wass'unt 'sleep, 'jus restin' eyes…"
It had been a long day. After fleeing Paris, Scott had randomised the coordinates on One's navigational computer and set down in Israel, Nepal, Ecuador, and now Alaska. They'd managed to snatch a couple of hours' sleep after setting down in Ecuador, but things were starting to get dire. Two sleep-deprived pilots combined with a low fuel gauge was, in the immortal words of Lady Penelope, 'rather distressing'.
Scott activated the pilot retrieval system and stretched his arms above his head, shivering slightly when the chilly Alaskan air bit into any flesh not covered by clothing. Kayo followed suit, her ponytail bucking as a strong gust of wind buffeted the hill they'd landed on.
A sigh escaped from Scott's throat, though was drowned out by the wind before it could reach Kayo's ears.
How had it come to this?
He'd been trying to do something nice. Honourable, even. Something that all his brothers would come to thank him for.
Especially whichever lucky one ended up getting hitched first.
Instinctively, Scott reached into his jacket pocket and closed his fingers around the small velvet box within. How something so small could cause so much heartache was a mystery…
The eldest Tracy was well aware of his reputation as the most frugal and cash-savvy brother. What most people didn't realise however, was that he was quite prepared to make generous exceptions for anything that held sentimental value.
Like his mother's engagement ring, for instance.
The avalanche that had ruined five young lives in five short minutes had done more than claim the physical life of Lucy Tracy. The force and weight of the snow had scattered the possessions she'd been carrying on her at the time far and wide. Some had been left to a frosty grave, buried too deeply beneath the ice for any hope of recovery. Some had been damaged to the point of unrecognisability. Others had ended up disfigured to the point of redundancy.
Many precious items had been lost that day, but one had survived, picked up by a metal detector during the clean-up operation.
Her engagement ring.
A large sapphire surrounded by five diamonds. Jeff had had it commissioned for Lucy nine weeks before the accident. The blue of the sapphire represented the blue of her husband's proudest achievement: International Rescue. The five diamonds represented her five sons.
A fifty thousand dollar reward for the ring's safe return had been offered by a despairing Jeff after he'd identified Lucy's body and the few possessions the authorities had managed to reclaim. Aside from a few false leads, the multitude of private searches the Tracy patriarch had commissioned thereafter turned up nothing. It had been Captain Taylor who'd kindly but bluntly informed his friend that the ring, like his wife, was gone.
Except it wasn't.
By some sheer fluke, a resident in the town at the base of the resort where Lucy had been staying found something shiny while watering her vegetable garden. Thinking it was an artefact of some kind, she'd mailed it to the archaeology lab at the university her sister taught at, convinced she'd uncovered a piece of history. A quick radiocarbon test had revealed that the 'artefact' was in fact a piece of modern jewellery. Given it's obvious value, the university had sent it directly to the Aspen Police Department, along with the recommendation that they issue a statement appealing for proof of ownership from members of the public. Kayo had caught wind the second the statement had gone live and dutifully informed Scott, who'd nearly fainted with elation.
An object the size of a dime, migrating through snow, earth and water for over four miles. Lost for fifteen years, only to turn up in a stranger's cabbage patch.
What were the odds?
The diamonds had lost some of their lustre after being submerged in ice and water for so long, however the main sapphire had survived relatively unscathed. On Lady Penelope's recommendation, Scott had scoured the globe for a jeweller who specialised in professional restoration. A search that had led him to Paris and culminated in the rehabilitation of one of his mother's most prized possessions.
Naturally, the gratitude Scott felt towards Kayo was immense. Without her, there was no way any of them would have learnt of ring's survival, let alone acted quickly enough to claim it as their own before someone else did. They'd still be stuck with nothing more than the coat and ski goggles Lucy had been wearing on that fateful day.
He'd wanted to surprise his brothers with the news. Gordon and Alan were too young to have any real memories (which made their participation in the current fiasco laughable), but Scott knew even they would be thrilled at the reclamation of a piece of their mother's legacy. For Alan in particular, it would offer a physical link of sorts.
But security was Scott's new top priority. The odds of such a stroke of luck occurring after all these years was mind-boggling, and the eldest Tracy was determined to enshrine this remnant of Lucy in both a physical and emotional sense. Emotional in that he'd release ownership of the ring to whichever of his brothers got married first. Physical in that he was locking it up and swallowing the key until that day came.
As luck would have it, security happened to be Kayo's top priority as well. After much deliberation, Scott had decided to charge her with possession of the ring until it was needed. Such an act of trust would help to convey the depth of his gratitude, while also eliminating the risk of Celery swallowing the damn thing or Grandma accidentally baking it into a cake.
Scott ground his teeth in rage.
The scene had been set. As usual, he'd outdone himself. A freshly restored ring, a pre-planned speech detailing how his appreciation for Kayo went beyond the light-hearted 'adoptive sister' approach as he prepared to entrust her with the task of safeguarding their mother's main heirloom, a nice dinner to satisfy the 'date' element of the evening…
…well shit.
It was only after replaying the scene inside the confines of his head that Scott realised how the entire spectacle must have come across to anyone who wasn't intimately involved. Granted, his brothers hadn't failed in grabbing the wrong end of the stick, but their reason for doing so was suddenly embarrassingly obvious.
'They thought I was going to propose'.
A breathy laugh of relief escaped from Scott as he revelled in his much-welcomed incomprehension. The ability to finally put his finger on what was causing his brothers to behave so irrationally was almost as purgative as receiving the all-clear after a health scare.
"They thought I was going to propose," Scott muttered, giggling to himself in a way that would have even Gordon questioning his sanity.
Over on his left, Kayo frowned in suspicion, "What was that?"
Giggles gave way to awkward coughing and throat clearing as Scott tried to mask his blunder.
"I said I need to blow my nose."
-x-
John felt the last of his optimism evaporate as Thunderbird Two's telescopic legs groaned under the weight of her descending bulk.
"Alaska," the redhead observed, his tone devoid of all emotion. If there was one thing John Tracy hated more than being earthbound, it was being cold.
Alan meanwhile, looked positively ecstatic, "Awesome! Reckon we'll have time to hit the slopes in-between ruining Scott's day?"
"Not gunna happen," Virgil admonished, stepping up as the de-facto group leader, "We all need some sleep. Our first order of business is to find suitable accommodation and clothing. Making Scott regret every life decision he's ever made can wait until tomorrow."
"C-Can I w-wait here w-while you g-guys go on ahead?" Gordon asked, his teeth chattering violently, "I'm f-f-freezing b-back here!"
Virgil frowned, baffled at how the aquanaut could be cold inside the heat of the airtight cockpit, "You can survive the short walk into town. John, have EOS pull up a list of everywhere with available rooms for tonight, would you? Alan, the answer is still no. We're on family business, not vacation."
The youngest crossed his arms and pouted. He had every intention of using the stretcher from Thunderbird Two's med bay as a sled, regardless of whether his brothers approved or not.
"This one looks decent," John exclaimed, pointing at a list of rental chalets at the foot of Mount Juneau. They weren't the cheapest option on the market, but Virgil didn't seem particularly fussed. One advantage the engineer had over Scott was that he was a lot more generous with the purse strings.
"Come on, Gordo," Virgil coaxed, unclipping his safety belt and rising to his feet. The aquanaut shook his head in protest and wrapped the survival blanket he'd fished out of one of the overhead lockers tighter around himself and Celery, ignoring Virgil's snorts of laughter as he began shivering like a malfunctioning electric toothbrush.
"I know you're a tropical kind of guy," Virgil conceded, his attempts at trying to pry the blanket away being met with bleat of outrage, "But it's not freezing outside. Temperature readings say it's a relatively balmy forty one degrees."
"Forty one degrees?!" Gordon all but shrieked, his eyes widening to such a degree that they almost engulfed half his face, "That's practically Arctic, Virg! I'll be dead within minutes!"
"Not once we get you some warmer clothes," Virgil countered calmly, retrieving the foil blanket and tossing the protesting aquanaut over his shoulder in a fireman's lift, "You can run a hot bath the second we get in and turn the thermostat up to whatever temperature you'd like. It'll be just like being back home."
"Minus one perfidious brother," John muttered, seizing Alan by his shoulder and yanking the zipper of his jacket up before he could waltz out the door.
The redhead was rewarded for his concern with a swat to the face.
-x-
"Good afternoon, and welcome to Caribou Lodge."
John smiled around the stack of bags he and Virgil had been charged with carrying, "Good afternoon. A room for four, please."
The woman behind the front desk began tapping away at her computer, smiling in amusement as Gordon gulped frantically from his third cup of steaming hot takeaway tea, "Not from around these parts, eh?"
Alan let his eyes roam around the warm colour tones and cosy decor of the lobby before answering, "Not exactly. We're islanders."
"Hawaii?" the receptionist asked, her expression curious. Alan's opinion of her rose tenfold when she made no comment about Celery jumping on the furniture.
"We're kinda off the map," John interjected, shooting Alan a warning glare before he could blurt out Tracy Island's location, "We won't be spending much time here, so don't need anything fancy."
A light blush bled across the woman's cheeks as she pulled up the lodge's inventory, "Our honeymoon cabin is currently vacant, however I'm afraid everything else is booked up until the weekend. A pod of humpback whales is due to pass through the Gastineau Channel any day now, hence the shortage. I'm afraid finding other accommodation at such short notice might prove tricky."
"You hear that, Gordo?" Alan asked, pivoting to face his popsicle of a brother, "A whale migration!"
Gordon grunted in acknowledgement, his hands buried in his armpits.
"We'll take it," Virgil announced, intervening before John could throw a hissy fit.
Wordlessly and without question, money was paid and a key handed over.
