Chapter 7:

A/N: First of I'd like to thank White rose01 who has beta-d this chapter. Secondly I'd like to thank all the reviewers. Thank you!

Math girl - oooh, Hurricane Emily. Sounds like you have your hands full! I very much enjoyed writing Phoebe, so I'm glad you liked her. There will be no Phoebe in this chapter, so there's a bit less on the 'fatherly' part of John. However, he will let his sarcasm show… I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.

White rose01 – Thanks. I'll pass it on to John. ;) No, sorry, he's dead, no can do. About the 'bugging you to update' part… I think you've found out already. :) Again, thanks heaps for beta-reading!

Gismo – Maybe you should thank your sister for enabling you to picture the chapter well. And don't give her sugar before putting her to bed! ;) Yes, it is quite strange, introducing people when you are trying to put it to an end. :p And, the big surprise: I'll be introducing someone else again! Enjoy!

Darkhelmetj – Hello begging reviewer! Thanks for the review! I agree with you. I think he would have made a great parent too… if only he weren't dead. ;) Oh well, maybe in an Alternative Universe? OK, shouldn't have said that! Don't get your hopes up:p

Moonlightbear – Hey, thanks! Sorry, no cute/adorable Phoebe in this chapter… however there will be someone else… Enjoy reading!

And we're on to the story. One little warning: there is a lot of sarcasm flying around here. If you don't like sarcasm, you have been warned. I hope you enjoy; I certainly enjoyed writing it.

Having dropped Phoebe offat school, John strolled back to Mrs Evers' house. It was pretty weird to live there without Mrs Evers. And he could only imagine what it must be like for Nicole. After all, she had lived with her mother for a long time, and she had only bought an apartment last year.

Nicole… Somehow John had the feeling that their relationship had changed somewhat. First he had written it down to the fact that he hadn't been there for her mother's burial. But even after they had cleared that up, there seemed to be a certain tension. Not really uncomfortable, but still a tension that hadn't been there before. Or had it? It was familiar, however faintly, but it was familiar. The difference was that it was stronger this time. 'Great,' John thought as he walked up to the door, 'now all I have to do is find out what it is, and then the case is solved.'

As soon as John opened the door he knew Nicole was in the house. He had locked the door when he had gone for a run and the short twist needed to open it was definitely an indication of an unlocked door.

Ben would never be here this early, assuming he still had a difficult time getting up. He never was a morning person, and it was highly unlikely he would have turned into one over the past two or three years.

"Good morning!" He said as he walked into the living room, finding Nicole sitting in one of the chairs, staring at nothing.

She jumped up. "Oh hey, I was just thinking."

"Anything you want to talk about?" John asked.

"No, just thinking about Mum, and…" she hesitated for a moment, before deciding to just say it, "and about how I've missed you."

John blinked surprised. "How you missed me? You mean, you missed me?"

"No, why would I miss the teasing, the sarcastic retorts, and the sometimes annoying comments?" Nicole couldn't help herself; she just had to respond sarcastically.

John laughed. "No idea. Maybe because it meant you also had to miss out on the quiet, understanding partner with whom you at least had some intelligent conversations?"

Nicole eyed him for a moment. "You're not self-confident at all, are you?"

The blond astronaut responded haughtily: "I'm aware this world needs me."

Nicole burst out in laughter, and John joined in. Immediately they felt like they were back in time. The ease with which they joked around had returned. Looking at each other, understanding passed between them.

"You know… I've missed you too."

Nicole looked up to meet his eyes. "Maybe we should keep in contact a bit more."

John nodded. "I'd like that."

"How will we do that though, if I'm in space, and you're in space, and sometimes we're not. How will we be able to contact each other. Letters is one way I suppose, though they often take a long time, and, as we've recently discovered, they aren't always efficient either."

John nodded, having thought of the problem himself. He could give her one of the secure frequencies of Thunderbird 5, but it could just happen that Alan was up there. What if he… Immediately his mind started to work through a way to let Thunderbird 5's systems recognise the frequency he would give Nicole, so it would be redirected to wherever he was. His brain was so busy contemplating and discarding ideas that John didn't immediately notice when Nicole waved her hand in front of his face to get him focused again.

"Earth to John Tracy. Hello? Could I speak to John Tracy please?"

John grinned. "Sorry, I was just thinking about some possibilities."

Nicole raised one eyebrow. "What kind of possibilities?"

"About the communication problem. I'm trying to see if there's a way to – I got it!" John interrupted himself. While attempting to explain what he was thinking, his mind had just continued to work on the problem, and had thrown out a solution.

The brown-haired woman didn't look convinced, but not entirely surprised of his self-interruption either. After all, the man in front of her had been her partner for more than three years. It had happened often enough that when they had had some mechanical problem, the crew would first brainstorm about the problem, and if they didn't reach a solution, they would move on to another subject. And suddenly John would interrupt the conversation by giving the answer to the problem. She did have to admit that the first time it had happened, Nicole had been slightly annoyed with him, for several reasons. One, he had found the solution before anyone else; two, he had interrupted a conversation. OK, so the conversation hadn't been about something very important. One couldn't exactly say that gossiping about two of the researchers at base was important. And John was entitled to be the one to find the solution first, as he had been the expert on laser-communication. However, she hadn't been a happy young woman at that point, and she had actually told him what she thought about his interruption after they had fixed the problem. Nicole smiled as she remembered to surprised look on John's face when she had confronted him in the small hallway.

Flashback:

"Did you have to interrupt the conversation so abruptly? Hasn't your mother taught you that it's not polite to interrupt someone?"

The brown-headed fury was so annoyed that she didn't notice the quick flash of pain in John's eyes, however it was covered up as quickly as it had appeared. The blond astronaut looked down at the young woman in front of him. She had just joined this team two weeks ago, and already she was giving him a lecture. He was actually quite amused, but he knew that if he showed that, she would only become more furious.

"I'm sorry. I'll try and avoid doing it next time." He said sincerely, though he couldn't keep his lips from quirking up slightly at the ends. Nicole noticed and became even more furious. She stamped her feet in frustration.

"This is not funny!"

Now John just couldn't help himself. He had to laugh before he would burst. She looked so much like a child, trying to get things her way, it was simply impossible to remain serious. If looks could kill, John was certain his team would have lost their laser-communication expert that very second. With difficulty he tried to calm down. He finally managed to say what he wanted to say.

"I'm sorry, but you… you looked so much like my younger brother when he is trying to get things his way." John almost started laughing again. Astonished Nicole looked at him. Then slowly, ever so slowly, a smile spread over her face as she imagined what she must have looked like. It didn't take very long after that for her to join in with John's laughter.

After they had both calmed down, John apologised once more for interrupting the conversation, which Nicole waved off. "Never mind. To be honest, I might have done the same had I come up with the solution. I'm the one who has to apologise for lashing out at you. I'm sorry."

John gave her an easy smile. "Apologies accepted." His head leaned slightly to the right. "So, want to tell me a little bit more about yourself?" He looked around. "Preferably in one of the rooms as these hallways are not very broad."

Nicole agreed. "Well, at least everyone must have heard us throughout the whole station, so they knew they wouldn't be able to pass through this hallway."

John grinned. "That's one advantage, but I think I would still rather talk in a room that has more space… although you would think, out here, you wouldn't be able to stand more space."

Nicole chuckled.

"So, do you want to come into my room? I'll show you some pictures of my brothers. Including the one you just unconsciously imitated." John added wickedly.

Nicole just grinned. "Lead the way."

Instead of turning around, John just reached sideways and opened the door on his right. "Welcome to my humble quarters." John said.

Nicole put both hands on her hips, which was just about possible in the narrow hallway. "You mean we've been arguing in the hallway, right in front of your room? Couldn't you have said that a tiny bit earlier? It would have made the 'conversation' slightly less public."

John thought about it for a moment. "Yes, I suppose I could have. But then, what would have been the fun of that? Now, since we have agreed that conversing in a room is more desirable than conversing outside a room, how about we enter my room?"

Nicole shook her head in silent amusement and stepped through the door, followed by John. Once inside, John closed the door and walked to the bed. 'Walked' being the operative word here, as he reached the bed within two steps.

"I think someone should tell the designers of this station that 'space' means there is ample room to have at least two metres of space between the door and the bed." John muttered quietly.

Nicole heard and chuckled.

"Maybe you should take smaller steps. That way it will take you at least three steps to cross the room. Besides, I don't think it's too bad."

John looked at her. "Easy for you to say. You're not as tall as I am."

A smile crossed her face. "Exactly."

End of Flashback

"Earth to Nicole. Nicole, you there?"

Nicole became aware of a hand, waving in front of her eyes, and she focused on the owner of the hand.

"This is Nicole speaking. How can I help you?"

John didn't look in the least surprised at her answer and responded with a straight face:

"I was wondering whether Ms. Evers was home or whether she was in orbit in her mind. I was unable to reach her for a moment."

Nicole nodded. "If you wait for a moment, I will check in our system." She talked into an imaginary microphone which was situated in front of her mouth, while she searched on an imaginary computer. "Ah, yes, here it is. Ms. Evers was in the Memory Hall for the past one and a half minute. Is there anything else I could do for you?"

"Would you be able to give me the specific section of Memory Hall where she has been doing her research?"

"One moment… yes, it was at the section 'Early-2061, Station 12'. Do you need any more data regarding this subject?"

"No, thank you. You've been most helpful."

"Glad I could be of service. Have a nice day. Bye."

"So, have you had your breakfast already?" John asked, as if nothing had happened. Nicole shook her head. She knew he had correctly guessed at the exact memory she had had moments ago. He wasn't stupid… although 'mentally absent' came to mind. She grinned to herself.

"I was waiting for you to come back from your run." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "By the way, you were taking your sweet time, weren't you! Haven't you been training or something? Or did you start later than normal? No, of course not, how stupid of me! You're getting older. Now you don't run anymore. You just take a walk."

"Hey! Are you calling me old?" John asked indignantly.

"She isn't, but I am." Came a male voice from the door. Immediately John swivelled around, allowing both Nicole and himself to see who was their visitor. John raised one eyebrow.

"Well, I'd rather be old than immature like you."

They held each other's gaze for a moment, then a smile spread across John's face and he walked over to the man. Grabbing his hand he said warmly: "It's good to see you Ben. It's been too long since we've seen each other."

Ben grinned and shook John's hand firmly. "And whose fault is that? But it's good to see you too."

Nicole was watching, her heart warmed by the sight of her brother and her friend/former partner interacting as brothers. However, she was not going to show that right now. Instead she said: "Touching." With which she got the attention of both men. Ben looked at John.

"Do you think she's feeling left-out?" he asked, pretending to be worried.

John looked at her for a moment, seemingly contemplating the question.

"Well… she has been standing there for a couple of moments now, without her brother coming over to her to give her a hug, because said brother was welcoming her ex-partner… What would you think?"

The brown-haired man looked at his sister, still keeping his expression serious.

"You're right. She's feeling left-out. Let's do something about it, shall we?"

"Yes, let's."

The way both men were now smiling at her made Nicole slightly uncomfortable. "Ehm, guys?"

John gave Ben a friendly hit on his shoulder. "Go for it."

Now Nicole started to back away slightly. Ben was closing in on her slowly, a grin still decorating his face. Although she was two years older than him, she was much smaller than he was.

"Ben?"

No answer, just a big grin.

"Ehm, John, want to give me a hand here?" She searched for the eyes of her friend, but as soon as she found them, she knew she shouldn't expect any 'rescue' from that side. Before she could shift her attention back to Ben, she was embraced so tightly that she wasn't sure whether she would still be able to breath. Two firm kisses were planted on either cheek and her hair was tousled up before she could even free her arms.

"Oof," was all she could say once her brother let go of her.

"How are you, Sis?" Ben asked lovingly once she was back on her feet, trying to get her hair back into the ponytail it had been in before her brother decided to 'give her a hand'.

"I was just fine. Before someone hugged me."

"Oh, talking about 'before', you were talking about John being old or something?"

"Oh yeah, that had a reason too! John, why exactly did you take so long this morning? Got lost?" Nicole asked, bringing her attention back to the blond man who had been observing the brother-sister-hug.

"No, I ran into the whirlwind called 'Phoebe', and I've grabbed a cup of coffee there. Talking of which, you said you hadn't had breakfast yet. How about you Ben?"

"I took a sandwich when I left home… which is about an hour and thirty minutes ago. I'd say we prepare ourselves some decent breakfast."

"Agreed. Then you can tell me all about your antics of the past two/three years." John said to Ben, who looked at him with a funny expression on his face.

"My 'antics'? Me don't do antics. Me never did antics. Me will never do antics. Therefore, what antics are you talking about?" Ben grinned, knowing he was driving both his sister and John crazy with his incorrect grammar.

John and Nicole both rolled their eyes in response. "Coffee is in order. Without it, I don't think I'll make it through the day." Nicole stated, as she walked towards the kitchen. John agreed with her wholeheartedly and went upstairs to freshen up and change into more presentable clothes. Ben just smiled to himself. This was going to be an interesting day.