Chapter 8

"Can I go home yet?" Scott asked his father who sat in a chair beside him.

"Scott, that's got to be the third time you've asked that in the last five minutes." Jeff laughed, looking at his watch.

"Well I'm bored!"

It had been a week since the accident on Mount Everest. Alan's surgery had been a success; they had removed the bullet and performed a successful blood transfusion. The youngest Tracy was now in a room similar to Scott's, recovering. He had regained consciousness in the early hours of the morning after his life-saving surgery.

Alan's father, grandmother, and brothers had never been more relieved than they were when Doctor Nam had entered Scott's room, informing the distraught Tracys that they had managed to revive Alan after he had gone into cardiac arrest.

Jeff shook his head at his eldest son. Would that boy ever learn to take it easy for once? "You're suppose to be relaxing, Scott."

"Dad, if I relaxed any further I'd be dead…" suddenly Scott realised what he'd said. "Oh God, I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Scott. I know that hospitals aren't exactly the greatest places on earth."

"You're telling me! How's Alan?"

"He's recovering well, I spoke to him earlier; he wants to go home just as much as you do."

"I can't wait to go home, though I'm not particularly looking forward to being put through the 'Ruth Tracy routine'. Scott shuddered at the thought of staying in bed all day with his grandma constantly fussing over him, though he knew that she only had his best interests at heart.

"Don't worry, Scott, you'll soon be back on your feet and into the air." Jeff reassured his son.

"How long am I going to be off International Rescue for?"

"Well your arm will need to be in cast for a month," Jeff explained what Doctor Ling had told him when his sons first arrived at the hospital. "And your leg three months, plus you'll probably need another two weeks to completely recuperate, so it'll probably be close to four months."

Scott's mouth dropped open. "Four months! I can't be off for four months! The guys will need me out there!"

"Calm down Scott, you don't have choice, -unless you have some crazy idea that you're going to be capable of piloting Thunderbird One with only one working arm and a broken leg, because I don't think either the airforce or the International Rescue training taught you how to do that."

Scott sunk into his pillow. His father was right, he wasn't exactly in a good position to go out rescuing people in the face of danger.

"Tell you what," Jeff said in an attempt to cheer his eldest son up, "why don't you take my place while you're recovering?"

"You mean be in charge of International rescue?"

"Sure. It doesn't require much moving around, and it'll give you a chance to get used to the requirements for when you eventually take over."

"Take over! You're not retiring are you?"

Jeff laughed, "No, Scott, I'm not retiring, but I can't head International Rescue forever and I'm also not going to be around forever either. I could croak it right now. Nearly losing Alan made me realise that."

"Ok, this conversation is getting a little morbid now."

"I'm just saying…"

"I know, Dad. I know."

"So, do you want to or not?"

"Do I want to what?"

"Be in charge."

"Sure! But what about Grandma?"

"I'll have a word with Grandma, I'm sure she'll support my idea."

"You hope," Scott thought wryly.

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"Nowremember what I told you, Alan," Ruth Tracy said as her youngest grandson lay in his hospital bed.

Alan mentally rolled his eyes. "Yes Grandma I remember; no moving or working hard when I get home."

"And make sure you keep remembering that."

Alan groaned as a sharp pain shot through his ribs. He knew how extremely painful broken ribs could be, yet he also knew that he was lucky to be alive. However, he couldn't help thinking about his 'meeting' with his mom. Had he dreamt that, or did it really happen?

"Grandma, can I tell you something?" Alan asked.

"Sure honey, go ahead."

"You might not believe me."

Now Ruth was becoming worried. Whatever could her grandson want to tell her, but she might not believe? "Alan, what is it?"

Taking a deep breath, Alan closed his eyes. "I saw Mom."

When he opened his eyes his grandma was staring at him in shock, as if trying to comprehend what grandson had just said. He was right, it was pretty unbelievable. How many people in this world can honestly say that they have been visited by their deceased mother?

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, sweetheart?"

"I'm pretty sure, Grandma. She looked exactly like she did on the day she died and she was wearing a long, silky red dress."

Suddenly Ruth flew a hand to her mouth, tears appearing at the corner of her eyes. Images of her young daughter-in-law flashed into her mind; images of Lucille at her funeral -wearing a red dress.

"Grandma what's wrong?" Alan asked, concerned. "I didn't mean to upset you but I'm telling the truth."

Ruth leaned forward and took hold of Alan's hand, "I know you are, honey. I know because your mom was wearing that red dress at her funeral, your father bought it as an anniversary gift. You were only a baby when she died, and I don't think anyone ever told you what she had been wearing, did they?"

Alan shook his head, relief sweeping through him. "No, no one liked to talk about Mom, and by the time I was old enough to understand it was like they had forgotten what she was wearing, maybe because they preferred to remember her, rather than what she was wearing."

"I don't think your father or brothers ever forgot your mom, they just didn't want you to be upset that you never got to know her, they were trying to protect you. When did you see her?"

"While I was in surgery, it must have been when I went into cardiac arrest. I found myself standing in a meadow, and she was there. I asked her if I was dead and she nodded, but told me that it wasn't meant to be my turn and that I had to go back. I didn't want to though, I wanted to stay with Mom because I wanted to get to know her personally, but she convinced me to go back."

"How did she convince you?" Ruth asked through her tears, as she listened to Alan recounting what happened.

"She told me that my father and brothers needed me -so do you. I realised that she was right. I mean, who would Scott be able to boss around? Who would Virgil annoy with his constant knowledge of Mozart? Who would John talk to about the fascination of space? I know the others would listen to him without hesitation, by I'm the only one who can personally understand what it's truly like because I'm there myself. Who would Gordon have a laugh with about his latest prank? Who would Father constantly chastise about the dangers of risking your neck?"

"You're right about all those things," Ruth said. "Your father and brothers do need you, and I need you as well. Who else would help me make those strawberry sundaes otherwise? I couldn't ask Scott to because he'd eat the strawberries!"

Alan chuckled, "did Scott tell you about what happened with the sundae?"

"No, but Gordon did. I can't believe how much your big brother loves food! I'm thinking about putting him on a diet."

Despite the pain in his ribs Alan burst out laughing, though this turned out to be a mistake as another pain shot through his chest and he grimaced.

"Are you ok?" Ruth asked.

"Yeah I'll be fine Grandma, you know me, I'm a fighter."

"You're a Tracy."

"Exactly!"

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On Tracy island Virgil was playing the piano. It was a tune that John had never heard before, but he liked it all the same. The tune was soft and carried like a breeze, creating a welcoming, cosy atmosphere.

"What song's that?" John asked after his brother had finished, "I've never heard it before."

"I'm not surprised," replied Virgil, "I wrote it myself."

"Wow, Virg that's great! What's it called?"

"I'm thinking of calling it 'Miracle', due to the fact that it's a miracle we didn't lose two brothers today."

"Are you going to play it when Scott and Alan come home?"

"Do you think I should?"

"Of course! They'll love it!"

Just then Tintin entered the room. "I've just been talking to your father."

"What did he say?" John asked.

"He said that everything was ok; Scott's eager to get out of there, and Alan's doing fine as well. He's talking to your grandma."

"Well that's good to hear, Scott's acting like his typical self." Virgil said.

"Oh that reminds me," Tintin suddenly remembered, "your father also told me to tell you that he will be putting Scott in charge of International Rescue, just until he recovers well enough to be able to pilot Thunderbird One again."

"He's put Scott in charge? Does he know what he's doing?"

"You should have a bit more faith in your brother." Tintin admonished Virgil.

"I do have faith in him -a lot actually, but don't you remember what happened the last time he was in charge, during the Seascape incident?"

"He directed a successful rescue if I remember rightly."

"Was that before or after Father gave him a tongue lashing for sending us out when we weren't needed?"

"Scott made one mistake, it was his first time."

"He still made a mistake."

"Did he make a mistake sending you out the second time, when you had to rescue those two men?"

"No," Virgil admitted. "He was great!"

"Yeah he was," John added. " Anyway, he's not exactly going to be able to do anything physical, and this will, hopefully, prevent him from doing what he does best when injured or immobile."

"And what's that?" Tintin asked.

Virgil and John looked at each other and smiled knowingly, "bossing us around!" John answered.

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Gordon sat on the edge of the swimming pool, water dripping off his red hair and running down his back. He couldn't stop thinking about how close he had come to becoming the youngest Tracy.

He was still thinking about it when a shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see who it was. "Oh, hi Brain."

The young scientist stood beside him. "Hi Gordon, are y-y-you ok?"

"Yeah, Brain I'm fine. I was just thinking about Scott and Alan, that's all. I want to know who would do this to them, there's no reason -not one we know of anyway. Do you know who could have done this?"

"I'm a-a-afraid to say I don't G-Gordon."

"Well I hope we find out soon."

"So do I Gordon, so do I."

NOTE: I know there was a lot of chatting in that chapter but those Tracy boys just love to talk.

I decided to put a bit of Tintin and Brain in at the end because we haven't heard from them yet, and I didn't want you to think that they had suddenly disappeared under mysterious circumstances.