Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers! Hope you're still enjoying it.

I don't own Thunderbirds or it's characters, just the ones I made up.

The next morning, John stood on the terrace, looking down as Gordon did laps in the lower pool. Gordon's shoulder had healed fine over the past two and a half weeks, and this was one of his first workouts since Virgil had cleared him. Alan sat in the shallow end with Tin-Tin and Fermat, yelling at Gordon to move faster. Gordon replied by diving under and grabbing Alan by the ankles, and now the two were wrestling, each trying to drown the other.

John sighed and ran the beer bottle he held in his hands across his forehead, the coldness of the bottle feeling good against his skin. He looked up as Virgil walked out of the door at the far end, his hair still tousled from sleep. Virgil got himself a mug of coffee and sat down at the table under the balcony. He waved to John, who nodded back.

"Hey Virg! How you doing this morning?" Gordon called out.

Virgil waved back, not looking up from his coffee.

Gordon winked and elbowed Alan. "Get a good nights sleep?"

Virgil frowned. "Yeah, why?"

Gordon swam over to the edge of the pool and grinned up at his older brother. "No reason."

Virgil put his mug down on the table and eyed his brother critically. "What are you up to?"

Gordon batted his eyes innocently." "Me? Up to something? Why would I be up to something?"

"Gordon…"

Gordon merely laughed and dove back under the water. He surfaced a heartbeat later. "Hey Virg, I almost forgot. We did a mail run on the way home. You know that thing you ordered?"

Virgil frowned as he tried to remember if he had ordered something. Not coming up with anything, he shook his head at his brother. "What about it?"

"I don't know how well it's going to work since the 'packaging' got a little damaged. Might cost you a pretty 'Penny' to get it replaced." Gordon wiggled his eyebrows up and down and grinned. Alan, Tin-Tin and Fermat all burst out laughing as Virgil scowled at his brother and marched up the stairs to see John.

"Why? Why did our parents choose to have another child?" Virgil asked plaintively.

John shrugged and took a long pull from his beer. "Beats the hell out of me."

Virgil eyed the beer in his brother's hand and the small cooler at his feet. "Bit early for that, don't you think?"

John merely shrugged again and took another drink. "Why not? It's noon somewhere."

Virgil sighed to himself and followed his older brother's gaze. John was staring out at the horizon, at what, Virgil didn't know. When the silence had gone on too long, he turned to John and pasted a smile on his face. "You're up and around more the past couple of days, how're you feeling?"

"Alright I guess." John answered noncommittally.

Virgil tried again. "You're still pale. You should try and get some sun."

"I'll think about it."

He tried another tact. "Want to help me get back at the twerps?"

"No thanks."

Virgil gave up. "I'll talk to you later then. Get some rest." John nodded in reply and Virgil went into the house in search of Scott.

He found his eldest brother in the lounge, apparently reading. Virgil stood watching in the doorway for nearly ten minutes before Scott looked up. "You know, you'd get more out of that if you turned a page once in a while." Virgil said as he sat down on the couch across from Scott.

Scott smiled thinly and placed the book down on the coffee table. "Morning to you too Virgil."

"Scott?" Virgil called out a few minutes later. "Do you think John's acting, well…normal?"

Scott eyed his brother. "What do you mean?" He asked guardedly.

"When he first woke up, he seemed fine, but lately he's been really quiet. Even for him." Virgil looked down at his feet. His fingers itched for a cigarette. "I had to take his pain meds away." He said softly.

"What? Why?"

Virgil looked up into Scott's eyes. "He was overdosing on them. I found him passed out in his room, the bottle half empty. He claims it was an accident, that his head was killing him and he didn't realize how many he had taken."

"And you don't believe him?"

Virgil shook his head. "It's happened twice more since then."

Scott grew cold, despite the tropical heat. "What did you tell him?"

"That since he was in that much pain, they obviously weren't working and I had better stuff down in the infirmary if he needed it." Virgil shrugged. "He hasn't asked."

Scott was quiet for a few minutes, his forehead furrowed in thought. "Maybe he's feeling better."

Virgil shot his brother a piercing look. "Don't be stupid Scott." He sighed. "He's out there right now, nursing a beer. And it's barely nine o'clock in the morning!"

Scott's frown grew deeper. "Damn." He whispered. "Damn, damn, damn."

"What?"

"I found him in here the other night, polishing off a bottle of whiskey."

Virgil's eyes grew wide. "We need to talk to Dad."

"I'm waiting for him to get back from London."

"Until then, one of us should try to keep an eye on him, without him knowing we're doing so." Virgil said thoughtfully.

Scott arched an eyebrow up at his brother. "Good luck with that."

Whatever Virgil was going to say next was interrupted by Alan rushing into the room. "Scott—Virgil! Come quick!" He panted.

"What is it Sprout?" Scott asked.

"Gordon—and John, they're beating the sh-crap out of each other downstairs!" Alan replied. "Hurry!" He bolted out the door, his brothers following at his footsteps.

Gordon hoisted himself out of the pool and rubbed his hair vigorously with a towel. Alan and his friends stayed in the water, and were now throwing the volleyball around, Fermat being sure to stay in the shallow end.

Gordon glanced up to see John, still standing against the railing above him. Grabbing an apple from the bowl on the table, he jogged up the steps. "Hey Johnny, what's up?"

"Nothing much. You're looking good down there." John replied nodding at the pool.

Gordon shrugged. "Feels alright, just a little stiff." He said, rotating his shoulder. "How about you? Good to see you out here."

John didn't reply and Gordon walked over to stand next to him, his back against the railing. "So, Brains tells me he has the life support systems all back up on Thunderbird 5."

"I've heard."

"How long do you think until the doc clears you for duty?"

"Don't know. Don't care." John finished off the last of his beer, and casually tossed the bottle into a trash can, where it shattered with a noisy crash. He reached down and pulled another bottle out of a cooler at his feet.

Gordon frowned. "Little early to be hitting the sauce don't you think?"

John leveled his gaze at his brother and took a long drink from the bottle. "Seems the right time to me."

"What is your problem John? I mean Jesus, you've been moping around here for a week now. Snap out of it!" He glanced down at the bottle in John's hands. "And you've been drinking too much."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah Johnny I do. I found your empties in the hanger. What do you do? Go hide down there and get drunk where no one can see you?" Gordon shot.

"Fuck you Gordon." John whirled to march away, but Gordon grabbed him by the elbow.

"No way, you can hide from the others but you're not running away from me." Gordon made a grab for the bottle, catching his brother off guard. Before John could react, Gordon had poured it over the edge. "Now. Talk to me."

"Go to hell! I have nothing to say to you. To ANY of you!" John shouted.

"So what then? You're going to retreat back inside? We're in this together John, we can help each other."

John shoved Gordon away from him. "Together? Where was this 'togetherness' when I was stuck up on Thunderbird 5 for two hours? When did you all decide to come and get me? Before or after you figured out it was a missile?"

Gordon gave his brother a shove back. "We were on our way instantly and you know it!"

"What about this last time then? How long did you wait before Dad decided I was dead and it wasn't worth it to come find out? Five minutes, ten?"

"Maybe if you had a set of balls on you and had fired at the missile, we wouldn't have thought you were dead in the first place." Gordon retorted hotly.

John's eyes narrowed angrily. "That's right, this was my fault. As the resident 'liability' it's not really a surprise the way I acted, now isn't it?" John said coldly, watching the blood drain from his brother's face. John held up his arm. "It's called a 'communicator' Gordon. Next time make sure it's off before you run off your mouth." John turned back to the house.

"We're not finished." Gordon grabbed John by the arm again, only this time John reacted with a cuff to Gordon's head. Gordon slipped on the water dripping from his swimsuit and fell. He came up swinging, his fist connecting solidly against John's cheek.

John staggered back, and snarling threw himself at his younger brother. Punches flew wildly, but inevitably Gordon gained the upper ground. He pushed John away, and both stood panting and glaring at each other. Finally John turned away. "That's it," Gordon snorted. "Run away to your bottle again. Wimp."

Instead of answering, John whirled and grabbing his brother by the waist, hurled him off the edge of the balcony.

Alerted by the yelling Alan, Fermat and Tin-Tin looked up in time to see Gordon go sailing over the railing and to land with an ungraceful splash into the pool.

Alan instantly dove to his brother's rescue. Gordon came up on his own, his brown eyes full of murder. He shoved Alan out of the way, leapt out of the pool, and ran back up the steps.

Alan sent a worried glance at his friends and followed his brother.

"You son of a bitch!" Gordon threw himself at John, not bothering to hold anything back. Soon, both combatants were fighting in earnest.

When John slammed his fist against Gordon's nose, making it bleed, Alan slowly crept backwards into the shadows and once out of sight, fled to find Scott and Virgil.

Scott and Virgil arrived on the scene seconds after Alan. Not waiting a moment, Scott waded in and tried to separate his brothers, difficult to do one handed. Virgil went after Gordon, pinning his arms behind his back.

"Enough! Back off, both of you!" Scott shouted.

He was rewarded by silence, the only sounds being the ragged breathing of his brothers. Virgil cast a concerned look at John. He was breathing heavily, his left arm clenched against his ribs. "John, get to sick-bay. Now." Virgil ordered.

"No." John replied sullenly, blood dripping from a split lip.

Virgil glanced over at John's tone, his attention momentarily distracted. Gordon used the opportunity to break free and lunge at John again. Virgil caught his younger brother with an elbow around the throat, and Scott and Alan stepped in front of John.

"Dammit Gordon! What is the matter with you two?" Scott thundered.

"He threw me off the balcony!" Gordon shouted.

Both Scott and Virgil were stunned. "John? Is that true?" Scott asked.

Alan nodded as John glared. "He deserved it." John snapped.

"Like hell I did!" Gordon struggled to break free of his brother's grip.

They all looked up as the Tracy jet circled the island. Scott let out a sigh of relief. "You two go get cleaned up. And John, if I ever catch you pulling a stunt like that again, I'll toss you over myself, got it?"

Instead of replying, John stormed off into the house. A moment later, Gordon marched off in the other direction, shoving Alan out of the way as he went past. Scott sagged wearily against the railing. "What do you suppose all that was about?"

Alan shook his head. "We were down in the pool when I heard shouting. I looked up as Gord came sailing over the edge." He shuddered. "What if he had missed the water?"

"My thoughts exactly." Virgil nodded. "Scott, this is out of our hands. We have to talk to Dad."

Scott sighed. "Yeah, I guess we do."

Alan looked back towards where Gordon had left. "But what do we tell him? If he finds out John threw Gordon off the railing…" Alan shuddered.

"He's dead meat." Virgil finished.

Scott pushed himself up. "Alright then, I suggest we go tell him before those two do." He was halfway towards the door before realizing he was alone. He turned back to Alan and Virgil. "You two coming?"

Both shook their heads. "Nope. Have fun." Virgil told him, draping an arm around Alan's shoulders.

"Why do I get stuck doing this?" Scott demanded. "They're your brothers too."

Alan smiled. "Oldest brother's privilege."

Scott scowled. "Thanks alot." He disappeared inside.

Virgil waited a few minutes before elbowing Alan. "Well Sprout, what are we waiting for? Let's go listen!" He grabbed Alan's arm and together they disappeared into the house.