Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds.

Characters: Kayo, Grandma. Rating: K+. Warnings: None

Drabble challenge from moonlight-huntress: "Why didn't you tell us you'd been hit? You almost died." with Kayo.

A soft bed under her was not what she'd been expecting to wake up to, although in hindsight it was pretty obvious where her brothers were going to dump her after she stumbled out of Shadow and collapsed.

Also therefore unsurprisingly, there were five bodies slumped around the room in various positions, four of them clearly sleeping off their own exhaustion. It had been a difficult rescue, that was for sure. Alan was curled up mostly on the bed by her feet - the chair he was nominally supposed to be sat in was tipping alarmingly, and she wondered when it would fall over. Gordon was drooling away where he'd slumped over the neighbouring bed. Virgil and Scott were sitting sentry in their own chairs - or had been, before exhaustion overtook them - and Kayo rolled her eyes fondly at all four boys before her eyes landed on her sole awake companion.

"How are you feeling, dear?" Grandma asked her. The older woman was the only one sitting upright, rather than slumped over in some ridiculous position.

Kayo grimaced at her. There was definitely a lecture in there somewhere. Even if she hadn't been on the receiving end of it before, she'd heard it enough times directed at her brothers. "Sore."

Steely blue eyes regarded her in that no-nonsense way only Sally Tracy had perfected. "I'd say that's a little bit of an understatement," she commented. With the absence of her father, there was only one person in the world that could make Kayo feel small, and it was the grandmother next to her. "Two broken ribs, a broken arm, and a gash that required twelve stitches, Kayo. That doesn't include all the other contusions from your crash landing." She paused, and Kayo knew the disappointment was inbound. "Why didn't you tell us you'd been hit? You almost died."

"It's my job to protect them," she replied instantly. "If they knew, they'd have tried to help." Her brothers would have been in the line of fire because of her.

Grandma's eyes softened. "Thank you for looking out for them," she said. "But remember, Kayo, you're part of this family, too."

With four of her brothers surrounding her bed, that wasn't easy to forget.

Two Kayo prompts in a row! This one was short because I was tired (and also Kayo isn't easy for me to write), but I still like it.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari