Disclaimer: I do not own Thunderbirds in any way, they belong to Gerry Anderson (wonderful man!) and Company.

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone on their great responses to my story. I'm glad "Letters from The Heart" was a success. As my mother so humorously decided to say to me, "The power of Thunderbirds!" (LOL). Sorry I took so long!! Plz r & r.....

Fate

By Suzi Roberts

Chapter Eleven – Twenty-Four hours – Part A

Virgil put down the last letter and brushed away the small tear he'd finally let trickle from his eye.

Sometimes it felt good to let go of his feelings of worry and fear.

He couldn't do that today.

Virgil blinked back all the tears that had suddenly flooded to his eyes and swallowed to rid himself from the lump in his throat.

"Virgil?"

His father's voice came from the lounge.

"Dinner's in ten minutes!"

"OK!" Virgil just managed to shout back without his voice rising to a soprano pitch.

He picked up the pile of neatly sealed letters and put them in the storage cupboard under his desk.

He knew where each one would go when he left for the hospital.

*******

The Tracy dinner table was piled high, surrounded by a mass of eager hands.

Virgil sat quietly at his place, tuning in to Jeff and Gordon's conversation.

He picked at his food, not hungry, taking small mouthfuls here and there, although it all tasted like card.

"So what were you up to in your room, Virg?" Gordon asked with genuine interest. "You were so quiet, we all thought you'd ran away!"

"Oh, I wasn't doing much," Virgil lied. "Reading, mostly."

"Ah, the great intellectual Virgil, eh?" Gordon responded, making everyone laugh heartily.

Even Virgil managed a little smile.

Only Josie suspected Virgil's feelings of unease, and she eyed him constantly throughout the entire meal.

Josie got him to help her clear the dishes and wash them. She closed the door behind them as they entered the kitchen, and then continued to carry the plates over to the sink, where Virgil was scrubbing them vigorously with the wash cloth. Josie observed him quietly for a moment, then cleared her throat.

"Young man," she said softly, "Talk to your grandma. I can tell there's something wrong."

"I'm FINE, Grandma." Virgil scrubbed harder, although he looked up to answer his grandmother.

"Virgil, I've raised you since you were a little boy. I KNOW there's something wrong." She looked at him out the corner of her eye.

"It's the operation, isn't it?"

It was more of a statement than a question, and an obvious one at that, but it worked. Virgil stopped washing and nodded silently.

"And you're worried something might happen to you or your brother."

Another nod.

Josie watched her grandson for a minute, not quite knowing what was going to happen next.

"Grandma I don't know what to do. I'm so stressed about all this...what if something happens to Scott?"

"Now you listen here my boy. I won't let you be thinking like that. That brother of yours is as tough as nails and there ain't no way he's gonna let this get to him."

"But Grandma..."

"No buts, young Virgil. Trust me, I know these things." Josie winked at him.

As she pulled Virgil into a hug, she whispered into his ear,

"And nothing's going to happen to you, either."

******

JUNE 2ND, 2066.

Scott loaded the last of the cases into the back of Tracy 1.

They were going to the hospital a day early, just for the general check-ups and some observations. It had been decided that he and Virgil would go alone for that day, and Jeff would come to the hospital on the mainland the next.

To wait whilst the two young men underwent surgery.

Virgil had read up on the procedure. His part of the operation was relatively simple; but Scott's was quite complicated, despite the hospital using a newer surgical procedure than the general; laparoscopic live-donor nephrectomy. *

The fact that it made the removal of Scott's kidney easier didn't make much difference. It was still worrying the hell out of him.

It was still a high-risk operation.

It was still dangerous for the both of them.

The chat Virgil had had with his grandmother the previous week had eased his nerves a little, but not completely.

Nothing could do that.

The two brothers boarded Tracy 1.

******

If he had one more blood test, he was going to scream.

The day had been a blur of x-rays, blood tests and dialysis. Now Virgil was lying there, attached to a drip, bored out of his mind.

Scott was in another side room some way down the corridor. He'd kept walking up to see Virgil, unable to keep still during the long waits for the doctors' visits.

Virgil chuckled. How was he going to manage resting up for three weeks? What a joke.

He was starving, but had to ignore it; no food for twenty-four hours before surgery. He grinned again when he thought of his brother; Scott could eat vast amounts of food when he wanted; the no eating rule must be really hard for him!

He glanced at the clock. It had somehow reached 10pm. All day, time had had no meaning; it had all been just a rush from on place to another.

Virgil looked and thought about the events of the next twenty four hours.

What sort of situation would he and Scott be in this time the next day?

"I'll soon know," he sighed as he drifted off to sleep.

*******

Scott looked up at the clock on his wall, annoyed to see it still said 10.30pm. Time seemed to go on forever while he was stuck here, bored, with absolutely nothing to do.

He paced back and forth across his little room, sick of sitting still.

He looked longingly at the strong coffee on the nurses' desk. He was tired of drinking plain water.

He'd gone to see Virgil a few minutes earlier, but he'd been asleep already.

"Must have been as bored as me," Scott thought agitatedly to himself.

He climbed into bed and closed his eyes, thinking about the next day. He didn't feel particularly worried about himself; it was more Virgil.

Scott fell into a dreamless sleep, thinking of what the next twenty four hours would bring.

End Note: Yes, I had to look up laparoscopic live-donor nephrectomy! I don't really know how to explain it, it's just a less risky way of having a kidney transplant! Don't forget to review!!!!!