Fork In The Road
Part 10 – Epilogue
Virgil was released from the hospital two days later. The surgery had gone without any complications and so he was sent back home to the island to recuperate. Scott and Virgil had been able to spend some more time with their mother. It had been very strange for Virgil; even though he had thought he had been prepared to meet her, seeing her had still been quite a shock to him.
Scott wasn't sure how Jeff had managed to explain the whole situation without mentioning once that for a time there had been more than one Scott and more than one Virgil on the island. The version they all agreed upon was that Jeff had managed to get to a gun just as Virgil had showed up and that it had been Jeff who had killed the leader of the pirates. The two guys Virgil had knocked out had been found, and though there had been no obvious wounds on their bodies to explain why they didn't wake up until they were back on the mainland in a cell, no questions had been asked.
Kyrano, Gordon and Joyce had returned to the main house, as soon as they had seen the WASP plane arriving, and Alan had brought them up to speed before the first ship had dropped its anchor, helping them to get their stories straight.
Tin-Tin and grandma were due to return from Europe the next day. Jeff had called them after everything had been sorted out, and though they had wanted to come home immediately, Jeff had told them to finish their trip as planned.
As they really didn't need any more complications, it was decided that Scott and Virgil would return to their home as soon as possible.
So, three days after the pirate attack, the whole family assembled at the entrance of the cave that hid the gateway.
Virgil had his left arm in a sling, but else was doing fine. He had been assured that there would be no lasting effects, though he would need to do some physical therapy as soon as he was allowed to move the arm again. Scott wondered how they would explain this to their family doctor. The poor man had to cope with enough mysterious accidents in the Tracy family as it was. Now having a wound – a bullet wound at that -- without any paperwork to account for it would be a tough one to explain to him.
There had been some communication going on between the two dimensions and the two Jeffs had agreed that after everybody was back in the dimension they belonged to, they would destroy the cave and block up the gateway for good.
Now that the time for good-byes had come, Scott found that he had difficulties to leave his mother. Spending a few days in her company had driven home once again how big a wound her death in his dimension had torn in his family. He would miss her quiet insight and her love. Even though she knew that he and Virgil weren't really her sons, it had made no difference to her.
He had asked himself the question, if he would rather live here in this dimension, where Joyce was still alive, or in the one he had come from. But every time he had thought about it, he had come to the same conclusion: even though he would miss her, this was not his life. International Rescue was. Even for her, he wouldn't give it up. He now knew that there was a place where she was still alive, and he knew that every time he thought of her, this knowledge would help him.
"I'm going to miss you," he said to her as he was hugging her good-bye.
"Me too," she replied. "But what you have done over there, what you are still doing, it makes me proud. Knowing that you look out after you brothers gives me hope for the time that I won't be here. I love you."
"I love you, too, mom," he whispered then let her go.
She gave a hug to Virgil, mindful of his shoulder. Scott didn't listen in to what they were saying, but guessed that there were similar statements exchanged.
He turned to Jeff, holding out his hand. Jeff wouldn't have anything of it and pulled Scott into a hug, which the younger Tracy returned with interest. When he drew back, Jeff held on to Scott's shoulder for a moment.
"You and your brother have given me a lot to think about. This International Rescue of yours, maybe we can do something like this here as well. It's a good thing. I will not forget you."
Scott smiled. He was pleased to think that maybe in this world it didn't need the death of someone he loved to bring out something as good as International Rescue. If it was up to this dimension's Scott and Virgil, it would work out. Since the two had returned from his own universe, they had been talking of nothing else but the things they had seen on the other side. Though Scott suspected that part of 'Scott's' enthusiasm was due to his wish to have a plane like Thunderbird 1 to fly. Anyway, Jeff Tracy had already started a search for his Brains and if he found him, maybe they could pull it of.
"I wish you the best of luck, sir."
He then exchanged handshakes with the brothers, saying good-bye to Kyrano.
"Okay, Virgil, let's go."
Turning away, he climbed down the ladder into the cave, followed by Virgil. Taking a deep breath, he faced the wall that hid the gateway. If he didn't know better, he wouldn't have believed this was anything but an ordinary rock wall.
"That's it," he said to Virgil.
His brother nodded. "Come on, let's get back home."
Together they stepped through the wall and back into the world that was their home.
The end
There it is. The End. It's over. Fini. Ende.
Well, not really. I've already finished a short sequel to 'Fork In The Road', which is waiting for beta, and have another story in the planning stage.
I'm also working on another story, which is very John-centric for all those who complained he didn't show up in this story. As with this story here, though, I will finish writing the story before I start posting, so it will take a little while. Please be patient, but a least you will know the story will have a beginning, a middle and an end.
I hope you all enjoyed reading 'Fork In The Road' as much as enjoyed writing it. It's been a long time since Thunderbirds has been my fandom, and it was really fun to get back to the old episodes after over ten years.
I do apologize to all about the 'Virgil who gets …' teaser. I didn't realize that some might think I would kill him off. For the books, I do not kill off any main character. I might hurt them, in fact I enjoy it, but never killing. Okay, there was one exception, once, a long time ago, in another fandom and it was really only a joke, honestly.
So, just let me know what you think.
Andrewjameswilliams there were a few problems with getting Virgil back to the IR dimension. One, he's not really fit to travel at the moment. Running back to the cave to get back home doesn't work, and they don't have time to get him there on a stretcher before the WASP guys show up. Two, his blood is on the floor, so the non-IR Tracys better provide a body to go with it. They have problems enough to explain who shot the bad guy without mentioning that there were two Virgils. Three, I have plans for 'Virgil' and 'Scott' being in Thunderbirds World (and this does sound like a theme park …)