A/N: Curses! My muses have conspired against me! They have forced me to write this second scene/chapter thing, and are holding my other stories to ransom until I do. Which is good because people seemed to like this story. It's bad because I am hopeless at Latin. Therefore, there is no Latin in this chapter.

Special thanks to Amy, who beta'd this chapter in leiu of my usual beta. Kudos to Math Girl for the alien abductee's nickname.

On Deck

The four young men stood in a loose circle, staring at each other and down at the limp form on the stretcher. No one had moved for the better part of ten minutes.

"So…" Virgil glanced at Alan, who looked at Gordon, who watched Scott, who stared at the Latin-speaking weirdo. Scott looked up to Gordon, who had shifted his gaze to Alan, who was watching Virgil watch the redhead. It probably would have been amusing; except that everyone was so busy looking at each other that none of them seemed to actually see anyone else.

Alan coughed, and glanced at Scott, narrowly missing meeting Gordon's eyes. Had Virgil not been busy looking at their avoidance, he would have noticed Scott looking his way.

Luckily, there was a fifth brother, who wasn't currently having a not-staring contest with everyone.

Tired of the awkward silence, John sighed. Loudly. Then he tried coughing. He briefly considered sneezing, but came to the conclusion that more direct action was needed.

"Y'know, guys, while it's all very well and good to stand around doing nothing, Father does want you back at some point this year."

All four earth-bound brothers managed to direct their attention to one person now, though with him not being actually on the planet made not-staring at him difficult. Or easy, depending on your point of view. Moreover, the fact that he was 'there' through a watch face made actually-staring at him all but impossible. However, quite fortunately, his voice was enough to focus the lot of them.

"Right, yeah, okay John. Has Father called in yet?" Scott raised his wrist, allowing face-to-face contact.

"Not yet." John shook his head ruefully. "I haven't actually mentioned Titus there, just in case he was actually an escaped mental patient. No chance of that, is there?"

John sounded so very hopeful, and Scott was reluctant to dash that hope. Unfortunately, it had been a vain wish at best. Most mental patients didn't speak perfect Latin.

"Sorry Johnny, no luck there. No one knew who he was, and he isn't on record anywhere. He's a John Doe."

John sighed expressively. "Okay then. I guess I'll give Father the update, see what he wants us to do."

Scott nodded once, his brother's face disappearing as the blond signed off. Raising his hand, he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying not to think of the possible repercussions of this simple discovery.

"Scott?" Looking up, the pilot noticed his brothers looking at him with concern.

"I'm fine guys. However, we have someone here who isn't."

Four head swivelled simultaneously to look at the still unconscious man lying in the middle of Pod Five.

"So what now? We just wait?" Virgil glanced around the circle, then back to their passenger.

"We could take him home. I mean, at least we'll know he's safe, and Brains and John can both speak Latin, so that's not a problem."

Gordon snorted, eyeing Alan. "Right. Except for the whole secrecy thing."

"Who's he going to tell? The aliens?"

"Who even says that this guy isn't a plant? This could just be an elaborate ruse to find us."

"You don't think they'd come up with something a little more plausible that this? A Latin speaking alien abductee? Real smooth plan, that one. Sure fire, never gonna fail. "

"Well, how else are they going to convince us to take a rescuee with us? 'Cause we're really in the habit of bringing people to our secret base because they ask nicely."

"Fine then. What do you suggest?"

"Leave him here; there are plenty of medical personnel. Dump him and go."

"What?"

"I said let's just dump him and go. It's the safest course of action."

"I heard you; I was just wondering what on Earth you've been smoking to think that's a good idea."

"Maybe it wasn't something on Earth. After all, you're a huge fan of the "aliens" theory."

Scott stepped forwards, halting Alan mid-retort. "Enough guys, this isn't helping."

Grumbling, Alan glared at Gordon, who ignored him, focussing instead on his eldest brother. With more than a hint of pique, he said, "You got a plan then Scotty?"

"Yeah. We wait to hear from Dad or John. Then we decide, as a group. Not bicker like four year olds. Okay?"

"Sure." Sighing, Gordon moved away from the small group, slumping down onto a nearby bench. With that, the tension broke, and Virgil stepped away as well, heading towards the main elevator.

"I'm gonna prep us, make sure we're ready to go soon, whatever the decision. John was right. I do want to get home sometime before I'm thirty." With a grin and a jaunty salute, the engineer disappeared from sight.

I'm glad someone finds this amusing… Gordon resisted trying to pinch away his headache like Scott.

Alan sat down right where he was, not bothering to move the lengthy ten feet to a seat. Mussing his hair tiredly, he watched the cause of their troubles idly. "Hope Dad figures something out soon," he muttered.

"He will." Scott was the only one who hadn't moved, his gaze wandering over the inside of the pod. Most of the equipment was dirty, muddy or charred. Not that he begrudged the people who needed rescuing; he just hated the cleanup. Always tedious, and earthquakes were almost as bad as mudslides, even without uninvited guests.

"Where do you think he's from?"

The question caught both Gordon and Scott off guard. Alan was staring at the man, and it looked like he was contemplating something.

Biting back a sarcastic remark, Gordon shrugged. Keeping his voice as neutral as possible, he said carefully, "Depends if he's a spy or not, I suppose."

"True, that."

Inwardly sighing in relief, Gordon pushed himself up, trudging to where his brothers were. He looked at the man, really looked at him for the first time since being summoned back to Thunderbird Two.

"Huh. Hey, Scott?"

"Yeah Gordo?"

"Why's he wearing a skirt?"

TBC… I think…