Chapter 5:

A/N: Hi, my apologies for taking so long to update, but I had a bad case of writers block. -shudders- Anyway, one Saturday evening I suddenly had an inspiration boost coming out of nowhere… of course at the moment that I was lying comfortably in bed, so I couldn't go and type it out. Luckily I had some paper lying around, so I quickly scribbled down the big lines…

And… I know where I'm going with this story now!!

Special thanks to whiterose01 who has accepted her promotion from 'unofficial beta-reader' to 'official beta-reader'.

Thanks for the reviews everyone! They are much appreciated!! Please read and review. I hope you like it.

Gordon stood at the end of the diving board, concentrating while looking at a point ahead of him. The moment he bent his knees to push off, his watch started vibrating. This startled him, threw him off balance and instead of making a nice looking dive, Gordon fell in the pool, causing the water to spatter everywhere.

The redhead gasped for air when his head was free of the water, and he swam to the edge of the pool, resting his arms on it.

Looking annoyed at his watch he opened the line. "What?!" He snapped.

John looked at his brother surprised and then chuckled.

"Did I catch you at a bad time brother-dear?" he asked amused.

Gordon wiped the hair from his face and stared at John disapprovingly. "No, not at all. I was, after all, only practising my new dive."

"Ah. That explains the waves in the pool… I take it you need to practice some more. Good luck." John said with a straight face.

Gordon succeeded in matching the expression. Two totally different men looked at each other with identical looks on their faces. This was one of those rare moments where you could clearly see that they were family.

Finally John gave in, being in a better mood than the last time he checked in with his family. He started to laugh and Gordon soon followed suit.

"All right," the latter said, "how are you doing? You seem less sombre than the last time we spoke." He climbed out of the pool and stood near the edge of the pool.

John grinned. "Well, I did just manage to piss off my little brother… Wouldn't you be in a good mood?"

Gordon snorted indignantly. The grin on John's face turned into a full smile before fading away.

"What has happened today?" Gordon asked, noticing the slight change in the way John held himself.

"Well, we went to Mrs. Evers' grave today…" There was a short silence.

"Difficult?" Gordon offered carefully.

"It wasn't easy, that's for sure… but it has helped me enormously."

The redhead looked at him with calculating eyes which prodded John to continue. With a sigh he complied.

"Nicole blamed me for not being there. Or for not contacting her for that matter."

The pain this accusation had caused John was easily observed by his younger brother. Then John eyes lit up considerably. "We talked it out though. I told her why I couldn't be there and we both apologized."

The blond astronaut caught the short flash of alarm in Gordon's brown eyes and added, "Don't worry, I didn't tell her anything about International Rescue."

Gordon was relieved to find no accusation in John's tone or expression. As quickly as they had sounded, the alarm bells had ceased ringing. John would never betray his family, nor would he break his promise to not tell anyone outside of the organisation about International Rescue. Everyone on the island knew who were the people who were best at keeping secrets and who were no good at it.

Scott and Alan were the worst at keeping secrets, but even they were perfectly capable of keeping silent about their real profession. Virgil was the one who you could tell anything and no one would ever know you had even talked to him. John was not far behind him in that matter. In fact, only Virgil and Gordon would be able to tell John was hiding something and even for them it wasn't always easy. And then Gordon himself. He could keep secrets all right. The only problem was that everyone on the island had learned to recognise the glint in his eyes whenever he was playing a prank on anyone. Out of self-preservation, no doubt.

Gordon almost felt ashamed he had even thought of John telling Nicole about the Thunderbirds. But then, John did seem to trust this Nicole more than anyone else outside the Tracy-family. Gordon shook his head. No, John wouldn't even think of telling anyone, including his former partner. Case closed.

"Sorry I could even think of it. Of course you told your cover story." Gordon apologized.

John nodded thoughtfully. "Actually, it is always hard to lie to people, but I found it especially disturbing to lie to Nicole. She is after all my former partner to whom I've never had to lie."

Gordon could sympathise with his brother. He had been in some situations where he would have had to lie as well, and it was never easy. Especially since Tracy's were men of their word. They had always hated lying, and now they could not even talk about their profession in honesty. Gordon was glad they lived on an island, so the contact with outsiders were kept to a minimum and with that the amount of times they had to lie.

"I suppose it never gets easier. Especially if you've known someone for quite some time. When it is a stranger it is always easier."

John sighed. "I suppose you're right. So, what kind of mischief have you been up to today?"

Gordon's expression changed. "Me? Mischief? I would never do anything mischievous. Ever."

John looked at him through half-closed eyes, raising one eye-brow. "And what did we just say about lying… it's more difficult when you've known someone for a long time. And believe me young man, I've known you for a loooooooong time. So don't go all innocent on me, because that only goes to prove you're not."

A pout appeared on Gordon's face. "Ah, you're no fun!" Then the pout was replaced by a large grin. "Luckily Scott still gets mad when his underwear mysteriously disappears while he's taking a shower…"

"You didn't."

"Well, no, I didn't… I took all his clothes and the towels."

As John imagined Scott's face when he had found out his clothes and the towels had disappeared, he couldn't help but laugh. Especially since the bathroom was at the end of the hallway, and Scott's room was at the beginning.

Gordon managed to keep a straight face as he added, "And grandma just happened to walk by…"

"Ooch." By now John was laughing out loud, and Gordon grinned, thinking back to that moment which he had observed from the relative safety of John's room. His own room wasn't safe, but John's room was the last place they would probably look for him, so he had been quite safe there.

When John calmed down again he asked his brother, "Did he catch you yet? You do know you won't be able to escape his wrath."

Gordon looked at John with an air of confidence. "He hasn't caught me, and he never will."

The blond headed man looked at Gordon, shaking his head as if to say he was badly mistaken.

"You don't believe me?" Gordon asked.

John shook his head. "Nope. Not for a second."

"And the reason for that would be…?"

"Well, for starters, there's an angry looking pilot standing right behind you, seeming non too pleased." John answered dryly.

Gordon kept looking at John. "Has he been standing there for a long time?"

John nodded. "Long enough."

Silence. Gordon cringed.

"Oops."

At this the image of Gordon's face disappeared from John's vision as Scott was giving Gordon a hard time for his prank. All John could see was a blur of arms and legs. He heard some shouts and cries, and finally a large "splash".

The redhead decided to stay in the safety of the water, avoiding Scott's side of the pool, and managed to divide his attention between his assailant and his watch.

"Eh, John, if you had anything else to say, you'd better say it quickly or later, 'cause I'm kind of busy right now."

John laughed. "No, I'm fine for now. I'll check in tomorrow again. Say 'hi' to the family for me."

Gordon nodded, his eyes on his brother who was looking at him as an animal that had just spotted his prey. "Will do."

"And give Scott a hug for me, will you." John added with a smirk.

"John!!" Gordon moaned, his eyes quickly meeting those of the blond man.

"Bye Gordon. Sweet dreams." And with that John broke the connection, grinning as he thought about his two brothers.

A/N: That's it for now. I hope you like it. Please let me know. I'll try and update sooner now, but, no promises.