Prologue

Another day on Tracy Island was drawing to a spectacular close as the summer sunset bathed its calm shores in a red and orange glow.

Another day in the lives of the Tracy brothers in their roles as International Rescue.

Today had seen its fair share of action with Scott, Virgil, Gordon and Alan involved in a heated rescue which had included one of the largest hospitals on the east coast of North America. A major electrical fault in a nearby factory had resulted in a power failure at the high-profile hospital, as the overheating of emergency generators being used to keep thirty-four premature babies alive resulted in a dire situation for nearly twenty blocks. Ten floors of the maternity section were alight before International Rescue had even become involved and it had taken quick thinking and rapid action to avert a major disaster.

With Gordon working feverishly in the Firefly under Scott's direction, Virgil and Alan had been kept more than just busy evacuating expectant mothers, mothers in labour, the premature babies and newborns to nearby hospitals.

Sweat had poured from Gordon's brow as he'd worked against the clock. He'd known full well that the survival of these tiny humans depended on the retention of the millions of dollars worth of equipment on the floors still in danger above him. Some of it couldn't be found anywhere else in the world. It hadn't helped that Scott had been on edge and had ridden him harder than he normally would. On several occasions they'd exchanged heated words; Gordon hating to be told what to do when he knew how to do it and Scott anxious that he wasn't doing it fast enough. At least Gordon had taken comfort in the fact that Scott was giving his other two brothers the same treatment, barking instructions and demanding they step it up.

The fire had eventually been controlled but not before Alan was given a massive dose of reality as not one, but two mothers in active labour, gave birth to their babies in the hull of Thunderbird Two.

Alan, usually capable in most situations, had wanted to take a back seat, telling Virgil he'd prefer to take over the controls of Thunderbird Two. Virgil had cut to the chase and told him, point blank, to cut the crap and just get the job done. It wasn't the time for anyone to decide what their role was. In the end Virgil had continued to fly Thunderbird Two giving Alan verbal instructions on dealing with emergency childbirth.

Once Thunderbird Two had landed and the paramedics rushed forward Alan said he was the one who needed a bed, not the mothers. The young astronaut who could spin thousands of revolutions in space without giving it a second thought, had returned to Tracy Island knowing there was a lot about the rescue business he still had to learn. During the debrief, he'd said that he'd never be the same again after this rescue.

His brothers had agreed and, worse still, had all said they believed him.

The same astronaut now walked along the darkening shores of Tracy island with his good friend - Tin-Tin Kyrano. Tin-Tin was the daughter of Alan's father's retainer and close confidante, Kyrano. Tonight, they walked hand-in hand, unlike most evenings when they simply just strolled together, happy in each other's company. For Alan it was a sign their relationship was changing. He'd always been drawn to her even as a child but the physical attraction had only really started once they'd graduated from College and their careers began on Tracy Island. However, whether he cared to admit it to himself or not, she was fast becoming more than just an attraction. Alan was worried he was falling hard for his childhood friend and the more he was growing to love everything about her, the harder it was becoming for him to act as he always did.

Tin-Tin too had sensed that their friendship was different. Tonight, the warmth of his hand in hers, cemented this was moving past the point of what she considered friendship. The annoying little boy with the curly blond hair and the cocksure blue-eyed teenager were now nowhere to be found. Alan could still be annoying, and he was definitely still cocksure of himself - but it just wasn't the same between them, anymore.

The waves lapped the beach gently and the tropical flowers from the garden near the villa, gave the air a sense of romance. Alan took the opportunity to put his arm around her to pull her closer to him. He kissed the top of her head softly, without saying a word.

"You're quiet tonight Alan," she observed, slipping a slender arm around his waist. "Did something happen during the rescue?"

Alan sighed a little.

"Maybe."

She stopped and looked up at him. His eyes looked sad, instead of gleaming with their usual mischief and love of life. He cast her a brief half-smile that was meant to reassure her. But this was Tin-Tin and he should have known it wouldn't work.

She looked up him earnestly. "Do you want to tell me what it was?"

He thought about it for a while and then declined the invitation. "No, Tin-Tin. There's nothing you can do about it."

Tin-Tin knew Alan well enough to know that silence was key if she wanted him to eventually admit what was bothering him.

Her patience was rewarded.

"It's not just the rescue, Tin-Tin. You know tomorrow's my birthday and I'm sure you remember what happened here last year."

Tin-Tin bit her lip and looked away awkwardly. Yes, she did remember.

Last year had spiralled out of control inside the close-knit Tracy family and it all had to do with just one thing. Every year Alan shared his birthday with a memory. The anniversary of the day he entered the world and the day his mother had tragically left it. A death that no-one really talked about - especially Alan's father. A gaping wound that had never healed even after twenty-one years. Jeff Tracy still hadn't moved on from the medical emergency that had left him alone to raise his five young sons and last year, he had founded International Rescue in the hope that no-one else would ever have to go through the hard times like he had done. At the age of thirty-five, the former astronaut had been forced to become father and mother; Lucille Tracy dying when Alan was only four hours old.

And in Alan's eyes, every year it was the same. It was his birthday but it was never a real birthday like the others. It was always going to be the day the family travelled to Boston to lay flowers on his mother's grave and last year, the day Alan ended up having a confrontation with his father.

Tin-Tin still saw it.

Still shivered at the the thought of it.

His father had been mulling over past history in the depths of a whiskey glass. Alan had said he was tired of his father being down, every single birthday since he'd been a child. It didn't help when he went on to say that he couldn't pretend to be sad about someone when he hadn't known them in the first place. Jeff Tracy had growled that he needed to respect the fact he'd had a mother and appreciate that she had died to give him life. An argument had erupted and to the dismay of everyone; Alan had threatened to leave International Rescue and Tracy Island. It had taken his grandmother to intervene before both Alan and Jeff agreed that, in this family, no-one was going anywhere. Alan hadn't spoken about it since but Tin-Tin knew that he'd banked what his father had said into the place where he kept his private hurts.

Hurts which had the habit of resurfacing at the most inappropriate times.

"Things will be better this year," she promised him.

He said he wished he could be an optimist and believe her.

"Just one year I'd like to go to bed and not be disappointed." He paused for a moment and sighed. "I know it's only a birthday but still..."

She squeezed his hand in sympathy. "I know, Alan."

Then she smiled at him to change the subject. "But I do have a gift for you."

The mischievous sparkle returned. He prodded her nose with his finger causing her to wrinkle it up.

"Wrapping yourself up for me, then? I told you last year how much I like unwrapping presents." He winked suggestively and grinned from ear to ear, sidestepping her inevitable attempt to slap him.

"Don't!"

He laughed out loud but then they looked at each other, his eyes holding hers as if for a split second the thought had just occurred to them both.

"Don't what? Wish I could unwrap you? Gee, Tin-Tin, fat chance of that!"

She frowned and made a face. "I'm going back to the house if all you want to do is make jokes."

"Who says I was joking?" he teased, pulling at her ponytail.

"Alan! I said…"

He swung her around to face him and brushed her lips with his.

"You said, what?" he breathed and then kissed her again. "Now you can't think of anything to say at all."