Chapter 15:
A/N: Thanks to white rose01 for beta reading. I figured she would have gotten mad by now of correcting my writing, but she's still doing it. My guess is, she likes reading the chapters before anyone else. ;) Kidding.
Thanks to all people who reviewed! I really appreciate them!
Numbuh 14 – Heya, thanks. I'm glad you liked it. More hiking scenes to come. Enjoy!
SaucerEyes – Well, I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long, though it's been a while. I'm glad you like it. Enjoy!
Gismo – Yes, the Big Secret is out. I like the hiking part too. When I lived in France we lived in an area where there was such beautiful silence, and all I had to do to go there, was to walk into my backyard… ;) And about the funny scenes about the information-fishing… well, I'll miss them, but now I can concentrate on the other 'funny' scenes… /evil grin/ Here's chapter 15. Enjoy!
White rose01 – I'm glad you liked it. Here's the next chapter, of which, I'm sure, you'll be 'surprised'. :p
Rachie Loves Donald Duck – Nah, I don't think a lot of bad things will happen… maybe just a few… /evil grin/ I'll have to think about that… ;) Sorry, just kidding. Thanks for the review! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!
Darkhelmetj – Thanks! Well, I just couldn't get John to dance around the subject. He wanted to tell her already, so when the opportunity arose… A wonderful description of love by the way. And I like having them both clueless at times. Now the difficult part for me… get them 'uncluelessed' ;) (yes, I know that's not a word, but I like it nonetheless.) :p Hope you'll enjoy this chapter too!
They had been hiking for about an hour. Nicole was slightly behind. While John waited for Nicole to catch up, his wristwatch started to vibrate. His first reaction was to cut it off, but then he realised he didn't have to hide it from Nicole anymore.
"John here."
"Hey, Johnny!" Scott's voice greeted him. "I didn't expect you to answer this soon! I was already prepared to call you for the second time."
John grinned. "Well, I just told Nicole, so I don't have to be secretive about it anymore. And I figured it could be an emergency again, so… it'd better be good, Scotty-boy."
Scott smiled, but his face grew serious. "Does that mean you talked to Dad, or did you just go ahead and tell it, no matter what Dad would say?"
"Don't worry Scott, I had a talk with Dad this morning… well, I suppose for you guys it was still very early, so you probably were still asleep."
"How did it go?" Scott asked cautiously, though if he read his brother correctly, he didn't have anything to worry about.
"Pretty well actually. Though at first it wasn't looking nice, we did work it out… Dad apologised for his behaviour of yesterday." John looked at his older brother through narrowed eyes. "You wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you."
Scott looked like innocence itself. "Who, me? No. I would never be able to convince Dad of anything other than a mission-tactic."
"So you considered me a mission goal, where you had to convince Dad of the strategy. Nice one." John said as Scott grinned, knowing his brother had him figured out. This was when Nicole caught up with John. From a small distance she looked at him, eyebrows raised, arms folded in front of her chest.
"Is that watch really so interesting that you feel the need to talk to it?" She asked. John looked up.
"Don't worry, I'm not that insane." He smiled.
"I wouldn't say that…" Scott quipped, guessing correctly who was there. Nicole stepped back in surprise, but then curiosity got the better of her.
"Scott, if anyone is insane in our family, it would be you, driving Thunderbird 1 past its normal speed, just to talk to Dad who would probably not be in his right mind."
For a moment Scott was speechless. 'How can he know!"
John guessed his thoughts, and answered without needing the question. "I figured you would pick up on the fact that someone interrupted me yesterday, and that I would call Dad to tell him. From there you would deduce Dad wouldn't be too happy, and you needed to play protector. The most likely way you would do that, would be to push Thunderbird 1 to its limits."
Scott's mouth hung agape, which caused both John and Nicole to chuckle.
"OK," John continued, "I must admit, the fact that Alan said your ETA was in fifty minutes, and I then saw you in the door opening less than twenty minutes later while I 'talked' to Dad, was a great help too."
International Rescue's Field Commander closed his mouth, realising he had been tricked yet again by his younger brother. He now looked at John's side where Nicole was looking curiously at the watch, head close to John's head as she wouldn't be able to see Scott otherwise.
"I don't think we met yet. I'm Scott Tracy, older brother of Mr. I-find-out-everything-and-won't-tell-you-how next to you."
"I'm Nicole Evers, John's former partner at NASA. Nice to meet you, despite the rather… strange setting."
Scott grinned.
"Yeah, I don't suppose you've done that very often."
"No, not really."
"Was there anything else, Scott?" John asked.
"No, just wondering whether you knew when exactly you were coming home."
"Right now the plan is to leave here Sunday morning, so I'll be home…" John made a quick estimation, "around 4 o'clock p.m."
"OK. Thanks. I'll be expecting you then. Keep in touch."
"Oh, Scott, before I forget. When I last talked to Alan yesterday, he seemed a bit… shaken, or uncertain. He wouldn't talk to me, but I told him he should either talk to you or one of the others. I think it has something to do with feeling helpless." John gave Scott a pointed look.
"Hmm, thanks John. I'll talk to him. Anyway, keep safe… by the way, where are you?"
Nicole grinned. "Somewhere in the middle of nowhere," she supplied helpfully.
"Thanks, that narrows it down." Scott grumbled.
"We're hiking, Scott." John explained with a grin.
"Oh, Ok, well, be careful then. Bye."
"We will. Bye. John out." John cut the link and turned his head towards Nicole. Nicole looked up to him, and they suddenly discovered just how close their heads were. They immediately took a step back. They stared at each other in embarrassment as they recalled this morning's sudden tension.
"Ehm, I ehm… the road is that way." John pointed to his left, unable yet to tear his eyes from his partner's.
"OK." Nicole squealed, hating her own voice that very moment. She indicated he should lead the way, as she didn't trust her voice just then. John nodded and went ahead.
They walked in silence for a while. The tension was still there as both astronauts were trying to work out their thoughts.
'What's up with us?' Nicole thought. 'It seems like we sometimes just can't normally look at each other.'
'Well, you know why that is.' A small voice said inside her head. 'It's because you're in lo-hove.'
'Oh shut up! It can't be that. We were partners, not… lovers!'
'But you wish you were. Because you're in lo-hove.'
'Can you stop it! I'm not in love with John… though I admit he is really nice.' Nicole looked at the person in front of her, her mind wandering. Until she realised what she was doing. 'No, I'm not in love with him… Am I?'
John felt her eyes on his back and turned his head around. He caught her gaze, and as she realised she was caught staring, she quickly looked somewhere else. John wasn't sure what to make of it, so he sent her a hesitant smile. She returned one of her own. She suddenly felt the urge to say something.
"So, your boss is actually your father?" She asked. John let out a breath of relief that the silence had been broken.
"Yes. He is."
"Did you have a fight or something yesterday?" She asked, remembering the conversation they had had this morning.
Flashback:
"I'm sorry. I talked to my boss, but he didn't allow me to tell you."
'Are you aware that the safety of our organisation, and with that the safety of people all over the world, is in danger because of two supposed friends of yours!'
Nicole noticed John's face darkening. 'Something's up there. Though I doubt he'll tell me. Sometimes he's too stubborn for his own good!'
"OK, what's going on? Apart from the obvious." She stopped abruptly. John turned around surprised.
"What makes you think something's going on?"
"I can read your expressions like a book, and I'm clearly on the chapter where the hero is facing his worst enemy."
John's eyebrow disappeared under his hairline. "Well, it's not that serious." He mumbled. Nicole folded her hands in front of her, and waited. "Then what is it?"
"Oh, I just…" John closed his eyes as his father's words kept repeating in his mind. "Can we leave this alone? Please?"
End of flashback
John also remembered, though now he wasn't so glad about the direction this conversation was going. "Yes, I did."
"So, what was up then?" Nicole asked, now determined to get this out of him, stubborn or not.
John glanced at her, as she now quickened her pace to come and walk next to him, despite the narrow path. "Well, he didn't want me to tell you or Ben about my job, and he was already… upset about the fact that you caught me speaking Japanese." His voice trailed off, and he fervently hoped Nicole would accept that as the primary reason for the fight. Unfortunately for him, she didn't.
"That's not what upset you though. You were hurt, I know you were, 'cause I could see it. What happened that left you hurt?" Nicole pressed for more. John sighed and temporarily closed his eyes, his father's words echoing yet again through his head. Even though his father had apologised, and he had accepted the apologies, it didn't make the hurt disappear suddenly. John took a deep breath.
"His exact words were: 'Are you aware that the safety of our organisation, and with that the safety of people all over the world, is in danger because of two supposed friends of yours!'. I just couldn't take that. He called you two 'supposed friends' and 'strangers'. He didn't trust me to know for myself who my real friends are." John was staring hard at the ground in front of him. Again he took a deep breath. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned his head slightly.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it." Nicole said quietly, though her own temper flared up at the thought that John's father had hurt her partner. John's breathing had calmed down again, and he added: "That's what he said this morning, during that last call. He said he didn't mean it. That he hadn't meant to let me think he didn't trust me." He sighed.
"It's frustrating. On the one hand I know where he's coming from, thinking of the security of IR, but on the other hand it hurts to hear your own father say he doesn't trust your judgement. As if you're still in primary school, thinking everyone is your friend, and you can trust everyone. Dad can sometimes be so… protecting, that he doesn't realise he's treating us as kids. As if we're not totally grown up yet. And it's not as if we have never experienced being out in the world. We've all had our own careers. We've all been successful in what we've done. And then you're being treated as if you can't make your own decisions yet. And that, that hurts."
Nicole wasn't sure she had ever heard John speak that much about his feelings. "Do your brothers ever talk about those things too?"
"They do. I've all heard them say similar things whenever they felt they were being treated as a child. Even Scott sometimes comes to me to let it all out."
The dark-haired woman intensely looked at him. "And have you ever talked about it?"
Startled, John looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when I hear you talking about your brothers, they all seem to talk to you on occasion about what annoys or angers them. But to whom do you turn when you're feeling angry? Do you even? Or do you bottle it all up, thinking you can deal with it? Well?"
"I… I talk to Scott or Gordon sometimes."
"Sometimes being… once in the three years?"
"Approximately, yes." John replied, exasperated she confronted him about this, and hit the nail right on the head. "I don't have the urge that often to let everyone know what I'm feeling."
"Don't have the urge, or just don't do it?" She asked, certain that she was close on this one. John looked at her intensely for a while.
"I guess I just don't do it that often." He finally admitted.
"Do your brothers have to pry like this as well, to get even the slightest admission?" Nicole asked, mouth slightly quirked upwards. John grinned.
"Even more."
His ex-partner shook her head, not agreeing with his 'strategy', but unable to hide the slight amusement.
"You really are a strange person. But I love you anyway."
And just like that the tension was back. They looked at each other uncomfortably, when John broke the silence. "You know, we should really stop making these strange comments, because, I don't know whether you're aware of it, but it causes a certain tension to arise, and I don't know what to do with it."
Nicole, though still nervous, laughed, as John just stated what the problem was, rather than continuing to dance around it. She let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh, good, so I'm not the only one to feel it. I was starting to think it was me."
"Do you think we should… ehm… talk about it. Because it certainly is strange." John asked uncertainly. Nicole, surprised he offered to talk about something like that, nodded.
"That's a good idea. But maybe we should get to our camping place first, so we won't end up having to pull everything from our bags in the dark." Mentally Nicole was berating herself for putting the talk off, just as he offered to talk. But she really didn't feel like walking down the river in the dark, in search of a good place to spend the night.
"Good point. Here, I'll show you where we are on the map." John pulled out the map, and opened it up in the area where they were at that moment. "This is where we are, and the best way to get to that area, is through these two valleys and then that way."
"OK, well, let's go then. You can lead again. But could you stop slightly more often. I want to take some more pictures."
"Sure. Let's go."
A/N: And that was it for now. Chapter 16 is on its way, but school will start soon, so don't get your hopes up for quick updates. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!