CHAPTER SEVEN.

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Gordon's eyes opened. Not languidly, not groggily as someone does after a disturbed night but, with a shutter speed of 1/250sec. His amber orbs stared unseeing at the ceiling for several seconds as he gathered his thoughts. And in those seconds the full force of the night's events hit him and his heart skipped a beat. Throwing back the sheet Gordon dived for the nearest item of clothing, a tee-shirt off the floor and was half way to the door when it occurred to him that making a good impression this morning might, perhaps, be a good idea, especially in view of his father's mood in the early hours. After all, showering would only take a few minutes, shaving, two more. There'd be breakfast to get through, maybe even a lecture after his latest nocturnal foray that had been scuppered, and after that, on his parent's consent, he had a date. This brought a grin to his good-natured face as he dived for the shower; he wanted to look his best for his first introduction.

"Morning." He greeted sunnily, his face wreathed in smiles. The mood around the breakfast table was more sombre than his own cheerful mood. "Morning Dad, Grandma."

"Son." Jeff nodded.

"What's up with everyone?" he said, dropping into his chair and reaching for the plate of pancakes and piling his plate high.

"Some of us had very little sleep last night…" Scott supplied, watching as his laid back brother scooped liberal amounts of maple syrup into the mountain of food.

"Again!" John finished, as Gordon continued swirling the syrup into patterns.

"Who's eaten all the pancakes?" Virgil moaned, as he entered the kitchen and took his place at the table. His eyes narrowed on Gordon's plate. 'I might have known.'

"Your father tells me you were out of bed again last night."

Gordon stopped chewing, cast a glance at his grandmother, then a peek at the head of the table and swallowed hard. So, that was it. They were still sore about last night. But that was hours ago, 'lighten up guys'.  In his shoes they'd have done the same to get a sneak preview of their new Thunderbird. He was only doing what they all would in the same circumstances.  'Okay, appeasement time.' Adopting his best penitent expression Gordon cast a conciliatory smile around the table, "Sorry about that folks. It won't happen again…..how come you all knew I was down there anyway?" he asked, his eyes on the fresh batch of pancakes Kyrano had just brought to the table for Virgil.

"How come you knew we had something down there you'd want to see?" John bounced back, knowing full well why, but determined to keep the upper hand.

"Okay, that'll do. It's clear Gordon has 'discovered' our little 'surprise'. I for one feel there's no point in keeping him waiting, especially if it means an end to the nocturnal reconnaissances. As soon as breakfast's over we'll take you down there, then you can see for yourself what we've been working on."

"I can come too Jeff?"

Jeff smiled, "Certainly Mother, you too Tin-Tin and Kyrano, if you'd care to join us…..for the 'unveiling.'"

Both readily accepted.

"Right that's settled then, now let me finish my breakfast in peace, thankyou." The head of International Rescue disappeared behind his newspaper to signal the subject was closed.

********

Gordon stood impatiently in the underground boathouse, listening to the water lapping along the edges of the jetty, wondering how much longer he was expected to wait. Breakfast, had seemed to go on for ever. He'd finished ages ahead of the rest, even with a second helping of pancakes, but knew better than to push his father, who seemed to be deliberately taking his time. Even now, he didn't appear to be in any hurry, waiting for Scott to reappear from behind the huge industrial sheet that hid his new TB4 from view. Gordon had automatically turned towards the construction workshop and had been puzzled when he'd been pulled in the opposite direction.

"Hey, where're we going? I thought my new Thunderbird was in Brains' workshop."

"That's what we wanted you to think." Scott said.

"We moved her, she's in the boathouse." Virgil enlightened him.

"Boathouse!"

"Couldn't have you tripping anymore alarms left right and centre could we son?"

Accepting the logic of this, Gordon had allowed himself to be led to the underground cavern.

Finally Scott poked his head from behind the sheet and nodded.

"Ready son?"

"Ready Dad." Scott affirmed.

"Not so fast Gordon," Jeff put out a restraining hand, "there's a few things I'd like to say first……a little 'unveiling' speech if you like."

Gordon shuffled impatiently, conscious of his family around him.

"As you know, we've been working on a little 'surprise' for you. Brains and your brothers' have been working overtime on this, with my full backing. I'd like you to bear that in mind. Your ingenuity at finding out this little 'secret'," (Gordon missed the conspiratorial looks being passed around) "is admirable, so is your conscientious dedication to duty." Gordon beamed. "But it is not for those qualities that I've organised this 'reward' for you. It is for your unstinting devotion to your off duty activities…..so for that reason, and without further ado…..Scott, do the honours would you?"

"Sure thing Dad."

Gordon sensed his family edge forward slightly as the cord was pulled, but his eyes remained firmly locked on the sheet as it dropped. The air fairly crackled expectantly. No-one moved, no-one spoke, all eyes were fixed on the frozen expression of the aquanaut.

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Chapter eight: Gordon's never short for words…….until now.