Scott's head hurt. He had a welt three fingers thick on the back of his skull and it made trying to rest a nightmare. No matter how he shifted it was either being pulled at or something was putting pressure on it.

He didn't remember the flight home, though Gordon had assured him he was conscious. He didn't remember too much of the last twelve hours, other than being asked his name and birthday so many times he was starting to worry about Grandma's memory.

He did remember the fight.

He'd seen a man poking at Thunderbird Two, clearly trying to locate the access control panel. He was way off but his search looked methodical. Scott had called out to him and jogged over, intending to send him on his way. Instead, the guy had swung a haymaker at Scott and he thanked his lucky stars for his combat training. It hadn't been a long fight, but Scott was winning. Then he saw a smirk on the face of his opponent and something had crashed against the back of his head, forcing him to his knees. Shortly after that he'd woken up here. Grandma thought he had probably been struck again.

He'd gotten the gist of what had happened though. It was a set up. His hand curled into a fist at the thought of it. How could anyone be willing to risk so many people just to get a look at their machines? No Thunderbird was worth so much as a single life. Sure, they all took pride in their 'birds, but at the end of the day, they were the tools that let them get the job done. That these people had intentionally endangered hundred if not thousands of people made Scott's blood boil.

"How are you doing, son?" Jeff had pitched is voice softly but Scott still started, unaware that he'd entered the room.

"Better, I think" Scott replied ignoring the fact that his voice was not as strong as it could be.

"Are you up to a conversation?" Jeff asked taking a seat next to Scott.

"Sure, father. What's on your mind?"

"I've informed the GDF of our situation" Jeff said without preamble. "After today we can be sure that there is a credible threat to our organisation. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot they can do. I think this has to be the first time that I've wanted to let Tim know just what it is what we do."

Scott nodded. GDF Colonel Tim Casey had been one of his dad's best friends for a long time. If anyone would help them, he would. But that would mean exposing themselves as International Rescue. Scott's brain might be running slower than usual but the epiphany hit him like a freight train.

"That's why you haven't told the GDF about Oracle" he said. "I've been wondering. You were so sure she was a threat but you never let them know. But you couldn't tell them without it getting back to us."

"Exactly son." Jeff laid a hand on Scott's arm. "Any information gained regarding biomechanoids has to be fully investigated. It's international law. John was able to get a written statement from Virgil, regarding what he'd seen. Fortunately, as it amounted to only the tapes, we were able to dissuade them from talking to him. Or you, for that matter. One of the reasons it took so long for a meeting with Admiral Francis was that he was insisting on speaking to both Virgil and John in person. I couldn't let that happen, not knowing the consequences for John."

"But, it okay now" Scott tried to keep up. "We proved her innocence."

"Yes, son. I do feel like a weight has been lifted. But also like it has been replaced with another." He sighed. "I need to tell you about John's latest communication from Oracle, sorry, Jasmine."

Scott listened carefully as he was briefed. The pounding in his head was getting steadily worse but he knew that his dad needed to talk it out with someone. There was still a wedge between his father and John, Virgil was still in France and father would never burden Grandma with such things. That only left him. Which was stupid really, Scott thought. If only father knew just what Gordon had got up to as part of WASP. But so few did. Scott only knew because of one fateful night where he'd found his younger brother sitting on one of the island's beaches. Scott remembered it perfectly. The night had been startlingly clear, the ocean calm. No breeze. Gordon had been sat at the tide line, letting the waves wash over his bare feet. Scott tried to remember how long it had been since Gordon was released from hospital but he couldn't just then. He just remembered that Gordon had been painful to look at, his athletic build decimated by the months spent in bed and then in a wheel chair. Scott had stared at his younger brother for a long time before he realised that it wasn't Gordon's appearance that was bothering him. It was that he'd been so still. Unsure of what to do Scott had eventually sat next to him. The lack of anything from Gordon had unnerved Scott more than he could say. The younger man just sat, staring at the horizon line. Eventually Scott noticed something clamped in a white knuckled grip. It was his dog tags.

"Willow died today." Gordon said.

"I'm sorry, Gordon." Scott didn't know who Willow was but guessed it was someone Gordon had served with.

"Best damn second in command I ever had."

Scott blinked. Gordon hadn't commanded a unit. His work was largely scientific. That must be what he'd meant - second in command of his research team. Gordon was too young to have been placed on the active roster. He was one of the youngest recruits ever to be accepted in WASP. He was someone they would have wanted to nurture and train in anticipation of a long career.

Scott glanced at his brother and saw unshed tears.

"I was meant to be their CO, I should have been looking out for them. Drake wasn't ready to take on a mission like that." Gordon hung his head, breathing deeply as he tried to hold it together.

"Gordon?" Scott found he couldn't ask the question. Suddenly a lot of things he'd been avoiding thinking about too closely were making themselves known. Such as Gordon returning from training with the ability to kick Scott's arse or how, sometimes, he could calculate demolition mission trajectories faster the Four's computer.

"I can't tell you, Scott." Gordon said. "You know I can't."

Scott had put his arm around his younger brother then and just held on whilst Gordon cried it out. Afterwards, probably without even meaning to, Gordon started to tell Scott what he could. Scott had been in the military long enough to fill in the rest. Gordon had been on active duty almost from the word go, he'd been good at it and promoted fast. Gordon had probably seen more close combat than Scott and his father combined. But he couldn't tell a soul.

"Scott? You still with me son?" Jeff's voice cut through Scott's musings and he realised guiltily that he'd stopped listening to his father a while ago. "How would you feel about that?" Jeff asked. Scott searched his memory but had no idea what his father had said.

"I'm sorry father, I think I zoned out for a bit."

"No" Jeff sighed. "No, son. I should be the one who's sorry. You're clearly not well enough for this conversation yet. We'll talk about it again once you're better. Virgil is home the day after tomorrow, we should discuss it with him as well." Jeff made to leave but Scott made a grab for his sleeve. The sudden movement made his head pulse and his hand twisted in the material as he closed his eyes against the pain.

"Wait. What? What do we need to talk to Virgil about?" This was important. Scott knew it. Maybe something had filtered in after all.

Jeff settled back into his chair, extracted Scott's hand from his sleeve and held it.

"We'll need a cohesive plan should Jasmine provide us with information about the final move to take Thunderbird Two. From what we learned today I think you're the better choice to pilot Two when the time comes."

Jeff gave Scott a moment.

"I'm going to contact the GDF momentarily and see if they might be willing to offer us assistance, but until we get reassurances from them, we have to assume we're on our own. Should something-" Jeff paused here, swallowing thickly. "Should the worst happen then you have the training to deal with it that Virgil doesn't have."

Everything froze for Scott. His ears filled with white noise which seemed to echo around the suddenly too white room. His father couldn't be asking him to do what he thought was, could he? He couldn't go through that again. He couldn't become a prisoner again. He couldn't. He realised he had his father's hand in an iron grip and forced himself to let go. Forced himself to relax, to breathe deeply. He could do it again, because it was better that it was him than Virgil. He nodded to his father, a sharp jerky movement, but it got the point across.

"Scott, this is the backup plan behind the backup plan. We are not going to let things go that far. But of all my sons you are the only one with any active-duty hours. You're the only one who could keep a cool head."

Scott nearly laughed. If those were the criteria for his father's choice then Gordon was the much better option. But Scott wouldn't dream of putting a brother as a shield in front of himself, so he said nothing.

"We also need to consider, as a family, whether or not we stand International Rescue down" Jeff said.

"We can't do that!" Head be damned, Scott pushed himself off the bed. He wasn't going to have this conversation lying down. "We wouldn't even know, if it weren't for Jasmine, that there was a problem. If we alter our behaviour now then they'll know something is wrong. Not only would we lose any chance of stopping them but we'd be putting Jasmine in harms way too. I won't have it, father and neither will anyone else!"

"Scott, take it easy" Jeff had his hands on his son's shoulders and was trying to get him to lie down again. "I can't order you or your brothers into a situation where there is such a great risk of you getting hurt. Look at today, Scott. You're in the infirmary because they wanted to test response times and the versatility of your comm."

"You don't get it do you?" Scott said wincing as his head touched the pillow once more. "You don't order us to do anything. You never have. We do it because we believe in it. We follow procedure because we designed it, as a team, as a family. Do you really think John or Virgil would be happy if they thought this was some formal, spit and polish organisation?" Scott was rambling now but there was something he needed to tell his father. He'd promised Virgil but his concussion meant he was circling it like water down a drain. "You can't just order them around father. It didn't work when they were kids and it won't work now. If you stand IR down, we'll run it anyway." God he was tired. It was leeching into his bones and making his vision blurry. "They already think you don't value them as they didn't serve. Don't prove them right."

Jeff sat in shock as his eldest was pulled back into sleep, a mixture of injury, exhaustion and pain killers finally sapping the last of his energy. How much of what Scott had just said could be put down to his injury and how much as true? If he was honest, he'd been surprised by just how quickly Scott had declined, as though just sitting up had taken the last of his strength. Strength he needed to recover, not to be used to make Jeff feel better, he thought guiltily. Yet, Scott had forced out those last few words on a voice that slurred more and more.

Did Scott really think the other boys felt undervalued?

Jeff valued all his sons. IR wouldn't have got off the ground without Virgil's engineering skills. They couldn't run daily operations without John. Alan was proving to be just as clever as his second son and would prove to be a valuable asset in the future. The few missions he'd been on he'd proven himself reliable and capable.

Jeff carefully replaced Scott's hand on the bed and drew the covers back up over him. He needed to check in with his other sons. Perhaps it was only Scott's head injury making things seems worse than they were. But perhaps not. Virgil had barely spoken to him since Jeff had insisted he take leave and John… Guilt hit Jeff like a sledgehammer. John had been trying to talk to Jeff and Jeff had cut him off more than once. His anger at John's actions clouding his judgement. Jeff had been foolish to let his anger guide him so.

His mind made up, Jeff returned to his office and opened a line to Thunderbird Five.

"There's nothing new to report, father" John said by way of greeting. "I will inform you the moment Jasmine checks in again." Jeff felt his shoulders slump. Scott had been right. There was little cheer in John right now. In fact, he looked more like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Had Jeff really been so callous with him for so long?

"John. I never asked you son. Why are you so invested in her?"

"Father?"

That wasn't quite what Jeff had meant to ask. He tried again;

"Of all your brothers, you believed her from the start. You've always believed her and believed in her. You were right and I was not." The admission came far easier than Jeff thought it would. "I'm so sorry for not supporting you better, for leaving you up there alone. Son, would you like to come home?"

Hope filled John's eyes in a way that broke Jeff's heart. This was John who usually fought against mandatory rotation planet-side. John who gladly took extra days or weeks up on Five because he simply loved it up there. John had very rarely wanted to come down.

John's gaze turned inward. Something every member of the Tracy family was well used to. John would sometimes just work through something in his head and to do that he 'spaced out' as his brothers put it. He was never away for long though. John suddenly nodded to himself.

"I can't father, not yet. Not until the night is over and we know Jasmine is safe. Steven has bounced from announcing that he likes her to setting up some kind of warning for her. He's unstable and she's right in the middle of it. I can't abandon her now."

Pride swelled in Jeff heart.

"Quite right, son. Quite right. First thing tomorrow though, I'll come up with Alan to fetch you."

"Thank you, father." The relief in John's voice was palpable. "How's Scott?"

"He's resting. Your grandmother thinks he'll be fine in a few days. Of course, your brother will decide he's fine much sooner than that." The two shared a laugh then a grimace at the thought of a grounded Scott.

"How did you know son?" Jeff said softly. "How did you know she was telling the truth all those weeks ago?"

"I didn't for certain. But, I listen to people all day. I can tell the liars from the victims. Those who have exaggerated just to get our attention from those who really need it. It's my job and nothing she said, nothing in the tone of her voice, told me anything other than she was telling the truth." John thought for a moment. "What makes you say that I trusted her right away though? I would never have dreamed she was a biomechanoid. If I had then maybe things would have been different."

Jeff looked his quiet, intelligent son in the eyes.

"Her name son. Of all the names you could have given her, you chose that one."

John's lips formed a little 'o' then he nodded and quickly looked away from the camera and Jeff realised with a start that John hadn't expected him to remember. But how could he forget? How could any of them?

The day Jasmine Sinclair had bounced into John's life had been a miracle. At least, that's what Lucy had called it at the time. Seven-year-old John had been struggling at school with bullying. Scott tried his best but he couldn't be around all the time. John was learning the hard way that being ever so much cleverer than your classmates could be a bad thing. Couple that with his lack of interest in sports and general quiet nature and John was every bully's easy target. It had gotten so bad that he and Lucy were considering switching schools. John became more and more introverted and Lucy had worried that they were losing their son. Even little Gordon had commented that Jonny wouldn't play with him anymore. When Jeff has asked John why he didn't want to play John had replied that he'd mess it up and his brothers would have more fun without him. Lucy had cried her heart out that evening as they realised that any confidence John had was being eroded away.

Then John started improving. He'd banter back with his brothers and go outside to play again. Neither Jeff or Lucy had known why until one day John asked if he could have a friend round for tea. They'd agreed immediately and were introduced to Jasmine Sinclair. She was a God send. Naturally quiet but every bit as smart as John was, she hadn't an interest in space until she met him but she soon picked up the bug and in return John suddenly had an interest in meteorology.

John's evenings were now full of star maps and weather maps. He and Jasmine had somehow managed to set up a radio between their two houses and Jeff had spent far too many nights pulling his son off the roof then having to tell Jasmine (via their home-built system) to go to bed as well.

Jasmine had become a permanent fixture in the Tracy household over the next few years and her mother, Helen, firm friends with Lucy and himself. Jeff even remembered overhearing the two talking at a BBQ about young love; Lucy joking that Scott wasn't going to get all the growing-up firsts after all.

Then she'd been snatched away. Mown down by a drunk driver who later wouldn't even remember what he'd done. John's world had shattered and Jeff and Lucy had feared he would relapse to the way he was before. Fortunately he hadn't, though there were times when it had been a close thing. It had taken years and a lot of therapy to get John through it but he'd never been quite the same.

John had thought Jeff had forgotten his childhood best friend. John thought Jeff cared so little about him that something that earth shattering could be pushed aside.

"I am so, so, sorry son, that I've made you feel like you aren't important to me" Jeff said. John's eyes snapped back but narrowed slightly like he didn't believe what he was hearing. "John you are my spaceman. The one who chose to follow in my footsteps and out did me every step of the way. Words cannot describe how proud of you I am. You've grown into a kind, compassionate young man who isn't afraid to give all of himself to help others. It is my privilege to call you my son."

There was a gap as John digested that.

"Dad are you feeling alright?"

Jeff laughed.

"Yes son. I'm just fine but I will be better once we can get you home. I'll see you tomorrow."

"FAB father, see you tomorrow."

John signed off but Jeff caught the smile that played across his features just before he did so. Jeff still had a long way to go to prove himself to his son but this was a good start and Jeff felt good for it.

He only hoped his other sons would be as receptive.