Chapter 14:

A/N: well, well, I managed to get some inspiration during the holidays, and I've managed to write yet another chapter for Blowing Up. Actually, chapter 15 is almost finished too, but 'almost' just doesn't do. ;) Don't expect it anytime soon either, 'cause I'll be leaving tomorrow again! Yes, I'm a busy person. But, as promised, here are the personal thank-you's.

AngelMouse5 – thanks for the review! Read on to find out. ;)

Numbuh 14 – Yes, John's going to tell them. I did have a wonderful time in France, thank you. Now I'll be leaving for a sailing camp. Thanks for the review!

White rose01 – Well, by now you know, I'd say. :p Thanks for the review and the beta-ing!

Gismo – "Je moet een gegeven paard niet in de bek kijken." That's my response. ;) I suppose this is quite soon, given my usual long pause before updating. :p This one is longer, so you should be pleased. Thanks, and enjoy!

Darkhelmetj – No, me neither, but then, I still haven't been able to sit down and read your newest chapter of "WoA"… OK, let's rephrase that. I've spent my time writing instead of reading. Yes, that sounds more accurate. ;) Thanks! Enjoy!

Serveersterlalaster – Hey, by the time you get to this chapter, you'll notice I have updated again. This means a couple of things: a) my beta-reader is back, b) you'll have another chapter to read, and c) you'll have more to comment on. ;) Thanks for the compliments… I /don't/ see references to certain conversations at all, just so you know. Thanks again, and I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. By the way, good luck with the jobs!

SaucerEyes – Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Read on and find out. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too!

And that was it for the reviews today. Enjoy!

"Hey John?" Nicole asked as he re-entered the room and sat down. She noticed he looked much happier, though if she looked closely to his face she would have thought that he had been crying.

"Yes?" John felt her eyes on him and hoped he had effectively 'freshened up'.

"What do you think of going on a hike today?"

"That would be: just the two of you!" Ben interjected quickly. John grinned.

"What a surprise." He said teasingly.

"Well, unlike some people, I have to work and be useful." Ben replied. Nicole swatted him on the head.

"We do useful things too, and unlike some people, we earn our free time."

"I earn my free days too! Or maybe my boss just wants to get rid of me without firing me." He added with a thoughtful expression.

"That must be it." John said. "Though why wouldn't he fire you?"

"Otherwise he would have to fire himself too, as he wouldn't have anything to do either. Now he can clean up the mess Ben makes." Nicole replied before Ben could even think of an answer.

"Oh well, fact is, he didn't fire me yet, and I don't think he will fire me now, but I do have to go to work."

"But yesterday you said you were free today. How does that work?" Nicole asked.

"I was paged around 10 o'clock. Someone has reported in ill, and we were already down two people.

"When will you get back? Tonight, tomorrow?" Nicole asked.

"I don't know yet. I'll call as soon as I know, OK? But it definitely won't be tonight. I think it'll be either tomorrow evening or Saturday morning. By the way, John, when are you leaving again? Not before Saturday, right?"

"No, I'm leaving Sunday."

"So I'll see you before then. That's fine."

"OK. So, John, up for a hike?" Nicole asked. "We can take a two-day-hike, since Ben won't be here before tomorrow evening."

"Yes, that's fine. I just have one question."

"Which is?"

"Do you still have my old hiking shoes somewhere or will my sneakers have to do?"

Nicole thought for a moment.

"I actually can't remember. Ben, do you know?"

"Well, if they are still here, they'll either be in the shed or in the attic."

"I'd go for the shed then. That's where Mum keeps… kept most of the old shoes, in case someone needed them." John rose from the chair.

"The shed it is then."

Minutes later he returned with a pair of old-looking shoes which almost looked like army-boot, and a jacket in the other hand.

"Can you believe this! She even kept my old flight jacket!" Surprise was evident on his face. "I'd told her she could give it away, 'cause I didn't think I would need it anymore." John looked up and was just in time to catch a pointed look from Ben directed to Nicole, whose face was getting a nice shade of pink.

"Well, ehm, actually, I've worn it… on occasion." Nicole stammered. "It just happened to be there whenever I needed something…warm." She quickly explained. Ben made a face.

"Yeah right. You practically ripped it out of Mum's hands before she could even think of someone to give it to. Ouch! Why did you do that!" Ben rubbed his side where Nicole had poked him, hard. His sister was now glaring at him. Ben smiled innocently. John was watching the exchange with amusement, though his mind was wondering whether Nicole had 'kept' the jacket, because it had been his jacket. He quickly shook that thought away. Why would she care whose jacket it had been? Why would he even think there was more behind it that just the explanation she had given him? A voice somewhere in the back of his head nagged: because you really, really like her and want her to really, really like you too?

John again denied it. Yes, he liked Nicole; as a sister. No, that wasn't right. Even though he had never had a sister, he had always considered Tin Tin a sister, and his feelings for Nicole were very different from his feelings towards Tin Tin. OK, so he really liked Nicole, but it wasn't in the way that voice was implying. It wasn't… love. Was it? Nah!

"Yo! John! Wake up." John was ripped out of his confusing thoughts by Ben, who was waving a hand in front of his eyes.

"Whe…what did you say?" He stammered.

"I wasn't saying anything. But sister-dear here did." Ben gestured to his sister who was still sitting, the colour not yet completely from her face.

"I said, you can have the jacket back." Finally John seemed to wake up.

"Oh, but that's not necessary. You use it. I gave it away, and once I've given something away, I'm not asking it back."

"You're not asking, I'm offering."

"It's really not necessary. I have another one, a newer one."

"With you?" Nicole asked.

"Yes, I always take it with me."

"Oh, OK. Well, then I guess it's fine." Nicole said. Ben chose this moment to announce his departure.

"Since you two are sorted out now, I'm leaving. Can't give my boss more reasons to fire me, can I?"

Nicole smiled. "OK, we'll hear from you. Don't forget to call."

"I won't! Be careful you two!" The two astronauts nodded, and Ben gathered his coat and keys and left. As soon as the door closed Nicole turned to face John.

"OK, let's see what we'll need and then we can go." John agreed and both set about gathering the stuff they needed and packing it in two backpacks; two sleeping bags on top. Nicole checked the weather for the days they would be gone.

Forty-five minutes later they were ready to go. Almost. John looked at Nicole's shoes and couldn't help but comment.

"You do know that those are not water-resistant, don't you?"

Nicole looked down at her sneakers and then back up at John, her eyes defiantly.

"They are." John's eyebrows rose.

"I doubt it. Don't you want to take your own hiking shoes?"

"No, I'd have to go to my apartment to get them."

"So? That's not much of a time-waster. We're going for two days. Go get them. Or we'll make a small detour to your house before going to our starting point."

"No. These shoes are perfectly fine."

"OK. Don't say I didn't warn you when you get wet feet."

"I won't get wet feet."

John held up his hands in surrender.

"OK, OK. Your feet, your shoes. Let's go." He took both backpacks and put them in the car while Nicole locked the house. "Who drives?"

"You do." Nicole replied as she threw him the keys.

"OK." John caught the keys and went to sit in the driver's seat. Before he started the car he looked at Nicole. "Last chance to go to your house."

"No."

"Your loss." The engine was started and they were on their way. Soon it became obvious why John was driving; Nicole was rummaging through the front compartment of the car.

"What are you looking for?" John asked, as he occasionally glanced sideways to see what she was doing.

"I'm looking for my camera… and its batteries." Was the muffled reply as the brown-headed astronaut was bent forward.

"Aha. You always keep them in your car?"

"Well, not normally, but when I locked the door I remembered I had put them there when I went to Ben's house for his birthday. I didn't want to forget them at Ben's house, so I put them here. I guess I forgot to take them out of my car afterwards." She frowned and she sat upright again. "Hey, I didn't know I had this here." In her hand she held a hair band. She put it around her wrist and bent forward again. Two minutes later her red face appeared again with a satisfied expression. "Here they are!"

She closed the compartment and set about putting the batteries in the camera. Once that was done she leaned back in the seat, put the camera on her lap and glanced at John. She noticed his amused expression, which was when she realised exactly how she had been behaving for the past five minutes and she couldn't keep a smile from appearing. Her eyes met John's for the briefest second before he looked back at the road again.

"I guess that must have looked pretty stupid." Nicole commented.

"Yup." John said, a smile creeping up his face. "The 'elastic-band-comment' being very amusing to say the least."

Nicole laughed and John smiled. As they continued to chat, they left the commonly used road and drove on a small road which the both of them doubted the municipality even knew of, as the condition of the road was very bad. Luckily they didn't have to go much further. John parked the car close to the tree line so that any other car stupid enough to take the road would still be able to pass normally.

Nicole took out the map of the area and spread it out on the bonnet. They studied it for a while.

"OK, well, we've never been in that direction. It does look like it's very beautiful." Nicole said, pointing on the map. John agreed and began planning out their route.

"If we first go in that direction we can have lunch at one of those hills and decide where to go from there."

Nicole followed his finger as he indicated which hills he meant. "Sounds good. I can't remember ever being on that side of the lake. We always went the other way because we combined the hiking with picking strawberries for Mum, and we knew there was an enormous amount of strawberries there." She pointed at a spot on the map where they had been numerous times. "Anyway, let's follow through with your plan."

John handed her one of the backpacks and secured the other one on his own back. He took a last look at the map, tucked it in his jacket and took the compass out of his pocket. He could have used his watch but had decided not to draw attention to the object. Nicole checked her camera one last time, and then followed John towards the woods.

The hike wasn't difficult at first, the 'path' still quite broad. Nicole sometimes stopped to take a picture of a nice-looking flower or of the sunlight playing through the roof of leaves onto the path. Sometimes she managed to take a picture of John when she figured he wouldn't notice. Fortunately John had put the 'camera-alert' of his watch off when they had left the car. He couldn't have his watch beep every time Nicole took a picture of a flower.

Slowly the path became smaller and more difficult to walk on. Soon Nicole had to put her camera in her backpack, as she had to use both hands to climb over large rocks or to push away branches.

Sometimes they chatted, but most of the time they were silent, both in awe of the beauty of nature. Sometime around half past eleven Nicole's stomach rumbled. Her hands flew to her stomach in an attempt to silence it, but it was too late. John looked around and caught her eyes. He grinned. "Don't worry, it's not far now to our five-star-restaurant."

Nicole grinned. "Want to bet? The view will definitely make it a five-star-place."

John pretended to be hurt. "You mean you don't think the lunch I made is a five-star-meal?"

"That's exactly what I mean." Nicole replied happily. John grumbled.

"And that calls herself a friend."

"Yes. Friends are there to both tease and encourage. You don't seem to be needing encouragement, so you're teased."

"Nice logic you have there."

"I thought so." She said satisfied.

"OK, just a few metres more and then…" John stopped. Nicole almost bumped into him but stepped beside him just in time. Then she saw what stopped him. They were standing on one of the highest hills in the environment, and they had the most beautiful view. The only things preventing them from being able to look around 360 were the trees through which they had come, which occupied about two fifth of the hill.

"Well, I guess we've found a good place to have our lunch." Nicole whispered in awe.

"We certainly did." John replied, still looking at the panoramic view in front of him. After a few minutes they found a good spot to sit down and they ate their lunch in a comfortable silence.

Once they had finished eating they still hadn't had enough of the view. Suddenly Nicole sat up. "I haven't even taken a single picture of it yet!"

John grinned as he watched her scramble for her backpack. "Easy. The view won't suddenly disappear while you get your camera."

His former colleague didn't seem to have heard him as she prepared the camera and carefully started to take pictures, trying to copy every nuance onto the screen. She reminded him of Virgil when he painted. They both looked until they had found the right angle, the right brightness, the right colour combination. It was so similar, that precision with taking photographs, or in Virgil's case, with painting. Though Virgil certainly didn't lack precision during rescues either. Suddenly John remembered that he was now allowed to tell Nicole and Ben. Somehow, probably because of the feeling that the issue had been solved on his family's side, he had been able to forget it during the past couple of hours, but now he remembered. How would he tell them? Would he tell them both at once, or one at a time? He could tell Nicole while they were here. How would she react? And how much would he tell her, or be allowed to tell? He'd just wait and see for that one.

"So, have you figured out where we'll be going next?" Nicole interrupted his thoughts. 'Seems people enjoy interrupting my thinking.' John thought.

"Not yet." 'OK, now or never. At least she won't kill you, being in the happy emotional state she is in now.'

"I have to tell you something." Nicole turned away from the view to look at him when she heard his serious tone.

"What is it?" She came to sit next to him, her eyes not leaving his face.

"Ehm, well. You know how I couldn't tell about my 'job'?"

Nicole's face took on a dark look, still not too pleased about that, despite her brother's attempts to convince her it wasn't her business.

"How could I forget? Is that what you are going to tell me? That you still can't tell. That's nothing new. Come up with something different."

"No, no, that phone call this morning… that was my 'boss'. We discussed this." John took a deep breath. "I work for International Rescue."

Nicole looked at him, mouth agape. Then her face suddenly brightened. "Ha! I knew it! You were the one that Japanese guy talked about! You were the one who they had to call, because you speak Japanese! It all makes sense! Except for a few things."

John was slightly hesitating. Whatever reaction he had expected, it hadn't been this one! Though he wasn't all that surprised that she had figured it out.

"Which are?"

"Well, first off, you said you live on the island with your brothers, but you don't live there half of the time. So do your brothers know that you are with International Rescue? Is that where you go that other half of the time?" She looked at him questioningly. John chuckled.

"As I said, nice logic. But it doesn't work this time. No, International Rescue… oh, hold on." John turned to his watch and turned on the camera-detector again. A quick sweep through the area confirmed that there was no one there who would be able to hear what he was telling Nicole. Meanwhile Nicole was looking at him curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Take a picture." John replied. Nicole looked at him as if he was crazy, but complied nonetheless. Immediately a beep came from the watch, which startled Nicole. "The watch has a camera detector."

"Wow. So every time someone takes a picture, you know? Smart!"

"Anyway, about my brothers. International Rescue consists of my father, my four brothers, a bio-engineer who is really a genius and who basically made it possible for the Thunderbirds to exist, the daughter of the housekeeper, quite some field agents who notify us when something is wrong, and me. The whole idea started with my father."

Nicole gaped at him. "You mean, your father, Jeff Tracy, the famous astronaut, founder of Tracy Industries, and otherwise respected man all over the world, has come up with the idea of International Rescue? He paid for the whole thing?"

John nodded.

"How did he manage to create those machines?"

"Well, Brains, the genius, was the one who actually made the designs for the Birds, and together with my Dad, my brothers and me, he made them."

Nicole looked at him, slightly sceptical. "Yeah right. With the seven of you?"

"Yes." John answered. Nicole blinked.

"How long did that take you?"

"About four years from the very first designs. At first though not everyone helped out. Dad and Brains started it, with our help whenever we were on the island. About a year since Dad had brought Brains in, Gordon had his hydrofoil accident and I quit NASA. Alan was still racing, Scott was still in the Air Force. Virgil was still a pilot, though he was thinking of quitting."

John fell silent. A lot had happened in those first years.

"I remember that time." Nicole said quietly. "You went to help Gordon through the whole physical therapy, correct?"

John nodded. Nicole suddenly said: "There's no way you haven't had anything to do with the designs."

The blond man was surprised by the sudden statement. "What?"

"I know you, and there's just no way, that you would have been able to stay away from the designs of those ships."

"I only really started helping once I had quitted NASA. And Brains and Dad were already working on building Thunderbird 1." John countered. Nicole shook her head.

"You would have worked on those designs during some of your time off. And Thunderbird 1 wasn't the only Thunderbird that needed designs. Admit it, you couldn't not interfere." Nicole pointed at him. John raised his hands. "OK, OK, I admit it. I did give some input into the designs… but so did everyone, on their own Bird."

" 'On their own Bird'?" You mean, you all own one of the Thunderbirds! Which one is yours?"

John grinned. "It's not that difficult to guess… although maybe it is. It's the one which has never been seen by other people. But you should be able to guess."

Nicole glared at him, her brows furrowed as she tried to figure it out. "Could it be… No, it can't be Thunderbird 3, 'cause those astronauts who went on that mission where they ended up coming too close to the Sun, have seen that one. But I'm guessing it has something to do with space, 'cause I was wondering how it came that you were still sometimes in space. Tracy Industries just doesn't work in space."

John smiled. "You guessed right. Though I have to say, Thunderbird 3 is partly mine too. But she's mostly Alan's baby. My Bird is Thunderbird 5."

"What does it do?"

"It's a space control centre. It's a sort of satellite, which picks up distress calls. I spend about half the year there."

"It's manned?"

John nodded. "It has to be. We do have an Automatic Control System, but it can only function during a limited time."

Nicole's eyes narrowed. "And the other half of the year?"

"I sit around on the island, joining in with rescues as they come along, praying that Alan doesn't break anything on 'my' Bird. Just as Thunderbird 3 is partly mine, Thunderbird 5 is partly his. Though he actually doesn't really like being there. He likes the speed of 3, but he doesn't like spending a month at a time being in 5. Which makes Alan the official pilot of 3, and me the official 'pilot' of 5."

"What do you do during a month on your own, sitting in a space station? No wait! I bet that's where you got your readings and information from for your books! There's a telescope on there, isn't there?" Nicole asked excitedly. John nodded.

"Wow." She looked at him for a moment. "You really are doing something useful."

John snorted. "You didn't think I would leave you to do something useless, did you?"

There was a short silence in which John realised what exactly he had said. And looking at his partner's face it was obvious she realised it too. Quickly he added. "Well, I wouldn't leave the crew to handle you all by themselves, if it wasn't for something important."

Nicole glared at him and stuck out her tongue, but in the meanwhile she thought: 'Did he mean that? Could it mean that he cares for me more than he lets on? No, stop kidding yourself. What would he see in me? He thinks of me as a sister, no less, but definitely not more.'

"Well, I'm glad you're allowed to tell me. It certainly clears up a few things."

John nodded. "I feel much more relieved now that I don't have to watch everything I do in order to keep it a secret from you. Especially since you know me so well."

"You were acting quite strange at times." Nicole agreed. "But now I understand why."

"That's good to know." John said. "So, how about planning where to go next? We didn't come here to stay here the whole day, though with this view, I probably wouldn't mind."

Nicole laughed. "No, we're going to give you some exercise. Can't have you become slow in your holiday."

"I doubt that would happen, though of course I can't take my morning run tomorrow morning." Suddenly he smiled. "Poor Phoebe. I hope she won't be waiting for us again tomorrow, or she would be waiting a long time."

Nicole also laughed. "Yes, the little angel. But, you won't be leaving till Sunday, so we could take her somewhere Saturday. We don't have plans for Saturday yet anyway."

"Good plan!" With a wink he added: "That way I'll be able to spend some time with two of my favourite women."

Nicole tried to hide the flush by admonishing him. "You do know that we won't be happy until we are the favourite women."

"Well, you're not far off. Only my mother and grandmother have beaten you so far." John winked, while internally he wondered where all this was coming from, Nicole having similar thoughts.

"OK, now to really get back to the map, this is where we are. Where do you want to sleep?"

They bowed over the map. "This seems like a nice route. We can in that direction and settle somewhere at the edge of the river." John proposed.

"That spot there looks OK to settle, on the map." Nicole said, pointing to one particular spot near the river.

"Well, let's go then."

They gathered their stuff, and, with John leading, they left the beautiful view behind, Nicole turning around one last time, and then she quickly followed John.

A/N: don't worry, there is more… I just figured this was a nice place to stop to catch your breath. I hope you've enjoyed it! Bye - zeilfanaat