Down on Earth, at his North American boarding school, fifteen year old Alan Tracy reached over to turn his alarm clock off. Why did classes have to start at seven a.m. That was just way too early!

Alan laid back down in bed and pulled the blanket over his head. Maybe he could just stay here today and no one know the difference.

"Alan, come on! It's time to get up," Fermat, Alan's roommate and best friend, yelled.

Alan didn't need to open his eyes to know that his friend was already showered and dressed. Fermat loved school and was good at it. Alan didn't see the point in it. He would must rather be with his father and brothers on their adventures.

"Alan!" Fermat called again.

"Okay, okay," Alan said giving in and throwing the blanket back. Fermat wouldn't give up until he got up anyway.

"What's wrong with you today Alan. Even you are more energetic than this when it's the last day before a three day weekend."

"Guess, I'm just not looking forward to going home this weekend," Alan said as he grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom.

Fermat stared at the bathroom door trying to figure his friend out. Alan hated school. Hated feeling out of the loop with his family and the activities of International Rescue. He always loved going home. What was with the attitude this morning?

As for Fermat, as much as he enjoyed school, he was looking forward to going home. He loved to spend time with his father and whatever he was working on at the time. He learned a lot with his father, perhaps more than he did at school, but he knew how important school was to his father.

Fermat walked over to his desk and started stuffing books into his backpack. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day.

As he was zipping up his backpack Alan came out of the bathroom, his hair still wet from the shower. Alan grabbed his own backpack and in one motion swept everything off of his desk and into the backpack.

"Let's go," Alan told Fermat. "I wouldn't want you to be late for breakfast. It would ruin you're perfect record."

And with that Alan strode out the door. Fermat hurried after him but on his way out his eyes fell on the calender. September 14th. Everything suddenly became clear

"This is going to be one long weekend," Fermat muttered to himself as he started after his best friend.

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Scott Tracy left the breakfast table early. As he walked up the steps to his room he could still hear the sounds of his father and two brothers talking and laughing. Normally, he would be down there with them but he didn't feel like it. Plus, he had somewhere he wanted to go.

He walked into his room and strode over to his desk, to get his jacket which he had tossed over his desk chair. He knew the weather was cooler back on the mainland. As he picked up his jacket he heard something clatter to the floor. He knelt down to pick it up.

Scott picked the rectangular object up and flipped it over. It was a picture of his mother that he kept. It had been taken on the day Jon had been born. Scott had only been two years old then but his parents had taken him to the hospital anyway.

His Dad had taken the picture. Scott was sitting on the bed next to his mother who was helping hold his baby brother in his arms. He couldn't remember the day but he cherished that picture. He had held each of his brother's in his arms the day they were born. Each time had been special and although he couldn't remember it, he knew that day was special too.

He had always looked out for his younger brothers. Sure he had teased them, played tricks on him, and fought with them all but if anyone outside the family had tried anything he was always there for each one of them. In some ways, he knew how his father must have felt with the five of them involved in International Rescue. He knew his father held himself responsible if anything ever went wrong and one of them got hurt and Scott felt the same way. They had been lucky so far. Even when Thunderbird 5 had been hit by the Hood, Jon had only suffered minor injuries. They were in a dangerous business but they all looked out for each other.

Scott had failed Jon once and he feared every day that he would fail Virgil, Gordon, or Alan. The day of the fire was the worst day of his life.

He had been outside playing catch with Virgil and Gordon when the fire broke out. Telling his two siblings to stay where they were he had rushed into the house looking for his mother and two other brothers. He had found them in Alan's room.

His mother had just picked Alan up out of the bed, where he was taking a nap and she had thrust him into Scott's arms.

"Get your brother to safety," she had told him.

He had turned and hurried back downstairs assuming his mother and brother would be right behind him. It was only after he had gotten outside that he realized that they weren't. Scott had tried to go back in after them but the firemen were on the scene by that time. The only thing he could do was stand there and watch the flames engulf the house with his brother and mother still inside.

At some point, his father had arrived home from work and joined them. It had seemed like forever before a fireman had finally came out of the house carrying his brother who was barely breathing. As the paramedics had left the scene in a hurry with his brother the rest of the Tracy family went back to waiting for information about Megan Tracy. Scott watched the doorway hoping that another fireman would emerge with his mother.

It was then that he saw his dad talking to the fire chief. As he watched, his father fell to his knees and started crying. His father was the strongest man Scott knew. He knew then that his mother was dead. He just knew.

Scott placed the picture back on his desk. Although he missed his mother, he was thankful that the fire hadn't taken his brother too. Even though Jon hadn't been the same after that.

Jon had always been quieter than the rest of them but after the fire, after their mother's death, Jon had become even quieter and more withdrawn. Scott had never mentioned the incident to his brother because he didn't want to hurt his brother further and he tried to make sure the other three did so as well. Their father seemed to want forget about it and put it behind them. Scott figured his father knew best.

Taking one last look at the picture now on the desk, Scott turned and left his room. He headed down to the dock. He was heading to the mainland like he did every September 14th. He wasn't sure why but he always went to his mother's grave the day before she had died. Maybe it was his way of making sure he didn't run into any of the others.

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Virgil sat with his feet dangling in the pool. He heard quiet footsteps behind him. There was no point in looking up as he knew who it was.

Sure enough, a few moments later, Gordon sat down next to him and dangled his own feet in the pool.

"Scott's back," Gordon said quietly. Their oldest brother thought no one knew where he had been disappearing for the last six years but he and Virgil did. They had followed him a couple of years ago out of curiosity. Once they had realized where they were they knew even more that they had to keep Scott from finding out they knew.

Neither brother understood it but their mother, especially her death, was taboo in their family. Their father had never wanted to talk about it and Scott just seemed to follow suit. John had seemed to want to talk about it but Scott had warned them not to bring it up. He had told them it would be to painful to bring up those memories. They respected their older brothers and so had done what Scott had told them to. And none of them knew for sure exactly what Jon had experienced in those few moments that he was alone in the house with their mother. Maybe keeping quiet was for the best.

But they also wanted to talk about what happened. Keeping it inside was just something that the two of them didn't want to do. As a result, they had confided in each other. At first they would hole up in one of their rooms late at night and chat. Eventually they had started finding other places for their private conversations. And every September 15th they would go together to see their mother's grave.

"We going at the normal time tomorrow?" Virgil asked not really acknowledging his brother's statement. Their was no need to. He had heard the boat come back into dock.

"Yeah," Gordon replied. "Do you think they'll ever talk about it."

"I don't know."

"It's not fair to Alan you know. He really doesn't have any memories of mother."

"I agree, but I can't believe that Dad doesn't know what he's doing. Maybe it is better not to bring it up all the time. Maybe not talking about it helps the healing process. Helps you forget because Lord know that things haven't got much easier for me. I still miss her every day."

"So do I ," Gordon said putting an arm around his older brothers shoulders. "So do I."

They fell silent as they heard footsteps. Both figured it was Scott coming up from the docks. They turned toward the steps leading up from the docks and sure enough Scott soon appeared.

"What the two of you aren't swimming," Scott said in disbelief as he saw his two brothers sitting on the side of the pool.

"The water is too cold," Virgil replied although he knew it was a lame excuse. The sun was shining and it was a fairly warm day.

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe," Scott replied looking quizzically at his two brothers. He knew the two of them were up to something but neither appeared to be willing to volunteer any more information.

With a shrug, Scott kept walking past them and headed up toward the house. As he opened the front door he heard the telltale splashes of his brothers jumping into the pool.

'Yeah, the water is too cold' Scott thought to himself with a shake of his head as he headed inside. Those two baffled him sometimes.