AN: Thanks to all of you who have reviewed. You guys have been so supportive (and this story now seems to be writing itself right now) that I couldn't leave everyone hanging long. I've got somewhere to go though so I won't be able to thank everyone individual but I do appreciate the reviews. Please keep them coming!

Jeff's POV:

This rescue was not going well. The high winds and rough seas made it difficult to rescue the people on the lifeboats. The coast guard was evacuating the rest of the cruise ship. Not to mention the radio difficulties we were having with Thunderbird 1. I was just thankful that John could read us both and hoped that Scott could get the rocket back to base without any other complications.

A high gust of wind rocked the rocket. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Gordon's hands fly over the controls trying to stabilize.

"Virgil are you okay?" I asked him.

"FAB Dad. Tell Gordon though that if he can't fly this thing then he gets to come down here next time," Virgil replied trying to ease some of the tension with the comment.

"Sorry," Gordon said.

"Thunderbird 2," came John's voice over the radio. I could tell something was wrong by the urgency in his voice. "I just got a distress call from Thunderbird 1. Dad Scott just went down."

"Copy that," I replied as I exchanged a look with Gordon. I could see the same worry on his face that I felt inside. "Virgil, we need to get those people aboard as quickly as possibly," I said keying the mike to talk to my middle son. "We have another rescue, Thunderbird 1 just went down."

"FAB Dad," Virgil replied.

As worried as I was about my son, I knew that the civilians came first. Until all the victims from the ship were safe we couldn't do anything about Thunderbird 1. We all knew the risks but that didn't make it any easier.

"John do you still have radio contact with Scott?" I asked into the radio. I waited for a reply that didn't come. "John?" I said again growing a little concerned. Hopefully his silence just meant that he was talking with Scott.

"I got this group on board, Dad," Virgil informed me.

"Acknowledged," I said switching focus to the task at hand. I scanned the area for any other lifeboats from the ship. I spotted one more not far away. "Gordon,"

"I see them Dad," he said before I could finish what I was saying. "Changing course to intercept."

"We've got one more lifeboat in the water Virgil."

"FAB."

"Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird 2," came John's voice.

"Thunderbird 5, I copy. What's going John."

"Thunderbird 1 went down about one hundred miles east of the rescue area. The rocket is on the surface and not taking on water at this time."

"FAB. Tell Scott to sit tight and we'll be there as soon as we can," I replied. If he was east of here that meant that Hurricane Alex was moving away from him which was a good thing.

"FAB."

"Come on boys, lets get the rest of these passengers on board and then onto that coast guard ship. Your brother is waiting on us," I told Virgil and Gordon. This was one rescue mission that I would be glad to have over. I just hoped nothing else went wrong.

Alan's POV:

"Hey John you still there?" I heard Scott's voice come over the radio.

"I'm stuck on a space station Scott, we're am I going to go," John said lightly in reply to Scott's question.

"Good point. Somebody is coming for me right John."

"Yes Scott, as soon as the passengers are all safe Dad and them will be there. Just hang on."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one sitting in a tiny cockpit surrounding by angry seas."

Even I could hear the panic in his voice. I tried to put myself in his shoes and I couldn't do it. I couldn't imagine being stranded at sea alone. I had heard my Dad say before that we had to put the civilians first but the reality of those words was just sinking in now.

"John I think I'm taking on water," Scott said in a panicked voice.

"Scott you're fine. I still show hull integrity of Thunderbird 1 at 100."

"Then where is this water dripping from."

"It's probably just what's being splashed up on top of the cockpit. You're fine Scott just relax." I heard John tell him calmly. "Hey did you see that game last night. I told you the Red Sox were going to do good this year."

"They just got lucky. You don't know anything about baseball John."

"Who's team is undefeated so far, know it all," John countered.

I didn't know how he could do it. How could he have such a casual conversation during all of this. And all the while he was talking to Scott he was still keeping an eye on everything else that was going on.

If I was John I don't think I would have been able to stay so calm. I'd probably be freaking out like Scott.

After tonight, I knew I would never again think that Thunderbird 5 wasn't necessary. I had seen first hand the importance of it. Would Dad even know that Thunderbird 1 had went down if not for the station? Not to mention that without Thunderbird 5 there was no way to monitor the storm they were fighting against.

Did I really have what it took to be a Thunderbird? What if I screwed up? Who would pay for my mistakes?

Suddenly I had a need to be alone. Without a word I left the control room and headed back to the relative safety of my bed.

John's POV:

I heard Alan's retreating footsteps. I glanced over my shoulder to see him disappear down the corridor. I knew something was up with him but I couldn't go after him. Not right now. Like Scott had to wait for rescue, Alan was just going to have to wait himself. That was the hardest thing about International Rescue, when you were forced to put strangers in front of your own family.

I returned my gaze to the monitors in front of me. I scanned the area again trying to make sure no one was missing anything. The coast guard only had their ships in the area. The search and rescue helicopters had been forced to return to base already due to the high winds. Still, the coast guard had gotten the rest of the people off of the cruise ship and one of its boats was heading back toward base. The second boat was still north of the sinking ship waiting for Thunderbird 2 to finish the rescuing of the people in the lifeboat.

That was when I noticed another life boat in the water. It was north-west of the sinking ship and about ten miles out already. It must have been one of the first ones in the water.

"Thunderbird 5 to Thunderbird 2, there is another life boat in the water. Its about ten miles north-west of the Titanic 2."

"FAB, Thunderbird 5. We've almost have the people from this life boat onboard."

"Thunderbird 2, this is the Coast Guard cutter Tampa Bay, we're moving to intercept the last life boat."

"Copy that Tampa Bay," Dad responded. "John is that the last of the life boats then."

I made another scan of the area just to be sure. I didn't want to be the responsible for leaving anyone stranded at sea.

"Yeah, that would be all of them."

"How's Scott doing?"

"He's hanging in there," I told Dad trying not to let on how worried I was about him. I had never seen my older brother anything but cocky, calm and collected or angry. The panic I was hearing in his voice was something completely new to me. Currently I could hear him ranting on about the baseball game last night and how the Yankees had gotten gypped the night before. I usual tried avoiding discussions about baseball with my older brother but in this case it was serving as a good distraction.

Scott's POV:

"Any body could tell that Molson should have been safe. The ump was clearly blind," I told John trying to ignore the angry seas that surrounded me. Whose idea had it been to make the cockpit of Thunderbird 1 completely transparent anyway? I could've done with seeing a little less of my surroundings right about now.

"Kent clearly had the ball in his glove before Molson touched home plate. Face it Scott, the Red Sox beat the Yankees last night fair and square."

"Their first win in what, a year," I shot back.

"So they had an off season last year."

"And the year before that?" I asked. The Red Sox hadn't had a decent season in the last five years. I don't know why my brother kept rooting for them.

I felt a few more drops of water drip down from above me. I looked up to see a wave crash over top of the rocket. As a result more water dripped down.

Just how water tight had Brains and Dad designed this thing anyway? Its not as if they had designed the rocket to make water landings. Did they even consider the possibility of a crash landing at sea. Of course it didn't really matter now if they had or not as I had crashed the thing at sea.

"Hey John, how much longer?" I asked.

"Shouldn't be much longer now Scott," came John's reassuring voice. I had to admit that I was glad it was John up in Thunderbird 5 talking to me. As much as I loved Virgil and Gordon I knew those two wouldn't have been acting as calm as John was right now and he was the only thing keeping me from completely losing it. With Gordon I might have even been the one trying to calm him down and calm was the last thing I felt right about now.

"Of all the places to crash this thing, leave it to me to pick the Bermuda Triangle," I said to myself or so I thought. I must have said it out loud though.

"So much for your perfect flight record," John commented lightly.

"Yeah, I guess you're the only Tracy that can say they have a perfect flight record now John. Which means the rest of us are never going to hear the end of it."

"I'm not the only one. There's still Alan."

"Alan can't even fly a remote plane without wrecking it. I don't give him long before he crashes one of the Thunderbirds."

"Give the kid a break Scott," John told me.

"You always did stick up for him John. I don't know why. The two of you are like night and day."

"Of course we are. He takes after you after all and who was it that defended you to Dad when you would come in way after curfew," John told me.

"Okay so I wasn't the model kid growing up," I told him. Truth was I had gotten into as much trouble as Alan had although I hadn't blown up a school. The worse thing I had done was total my Dad's Corvette which I shouldn't have had in the first place. "So much for the big brother looking out for the younger one huh."

I might have been two years older than John but there were plenty of times where that hadn't been apparent. John had always been quiet and mature beyond his years. When our mother had died John had been the one that held our family together which was something no twelve year old should have to do. He was the one that we would all turn to when we needed help. The only trouble he had ever gotten into had been something Gordon, Virgil, or myself had dragged him into or when he had been trying to keep Dad from finding out about something one of us had done.

"You were a great big brother Scott," I heard John tell me. "I would've gotten beat up a lot more in school if you hadn't been there for me. Billy Wharton comes to mind."

"Yeah, well nobody gets to pick on one of my brothers unless they're family," I said glad I was alone as I could feel my cheeks growing warm.

Billy Wharton had been one of John's classmates when he had started high school. I was in my junior year at the same school and one night John had shown up at my dorm room with a black eye. Once I found out that Billy had done it, Billy had ended up in the ER with a broken nose. He never did tell anyone who was responsible for breaking his nose nor did he bother John again after that.

"Hey Scott, you'll be glad to know Thundebird 2 is heading your way. They'll be there shortly."

"Great. Even that ugly green will look good to me just about now," I told him.

"Yeah and if you had your way all the Thunderbirds would be different shades of blue." John commented.

"Blue is a great color," I replied. "Although we can't touch the color of Thunderbird 5."

"Do I even want to know why?" John ventured.

"Well, the station is more or less yours and the gold fits it perfectly. You are Dad's "golden boy" after all."

"Cute Scott, real cute," I heard him say. I could also tell he was trying not to laugh. Golden boy had been a nickname I had thrown out in frustration during one of Dad's lecture. I couldn't even remember what it was that he was lecturing us about but I remembered Dad scolding me for dragging John into whatever it was. The term golden boy had slipped out without me even thinking and little to say it hadn't gone over well with Dad. However, it had remained an inside joke for me and John over the years. I just made sure Dad was never around when I said it.

The thing about John though, was that it was just his nature. He wanted to make those around him happy. He was never trying to out do anyone and he wasn't perfect. He made mistakes just like the rest of us and he was the first one to take responsibility for those mistakes. He just tended to think things through a little more and had a big heart. It was impossible to stay mad at him long. I know, as I had tried plenty of times but it never worked. I think my record was three hours before I was apologizing and that was only because it took us an hour to find him after he had run off.

I heard a low rumble around me. My first thought was that there was a hull breach and water was rushing in. As I looked up though I saw the ugly green of Thunderbird 2. I had never been so relieved to see that bulky green rocket.

"Looks like the calvary has arrived," I said out loud.