Hey! dodging thrown objects I'm sorry ( i know i keep saying that...but it is true). This story is hitting it's difficult phase...the ending. Not for you all yet hehe but for me. I've been really struggling and little to nothings come out. sigh Anywho, here's the next chapter. Lona actually gets to show you all herself without that nasty Hood around. Hope you enjoy! And please let me know what you think! If you do, i might be able to get my beta reader to fix my many mistakes again.
Miss Elizabeth Blakeney
Chapter 22: Answers…or Questions?
Lona awoke to find herself still in the small room she had woken up in before. Relief flooded through her. She had been so sure it had all been a dream. Stiffly and painfully, she sat up. She was momentarily hung up when one of her IVs caught on the side of the bed. Unhooking the oxygen mask, she placed it to one side. She then set about pulling monitors off her skin and IVs out of her arm. When this was done, she carefully maneuvered until she was sitting on the side of the bed. A brief spasm of pain laced through her right side. As soon as she could breath again, she slid her feet to the floor. Thankfully, her legs supported her.
"What are you doing?" Lona's head whipped around too fast for her recovering body. The room spun and her legs gave out from under her. Before her body could hit the ground, strong arms wrapped around her; supporting her from falling. As her sight slowly came back into focus, she saw that her rescuer was Scott. She grinned sheepishly at him. His eyes lit up, and his lips parted in a beautiful smile. Carefully, he helped Lona back to her bed. However, she refused to lie down. Instead, she sat wearily on the edge of the bed; Scott sitting next to her, one strong arm still wrapped around her waist, supporting.
After a few minutes of silence, Lona lifted her eyes to her friend's face. She was so nervous, she could not forget his words the last time she woke up: "Lona, you and I need to talk." However, instead of seeing the expected anger, she saw pure happiness.
"It's good to have you back, Lonnie. I've missed you more then a bird misses its wings." Lona's face broke into a true smile.
I've missed you too Scottie. More then I could ever put into words, no pun intended. She ended her sentence with only a touch of sarcasm mixed in with the dry humor. With that, Scott grabbed her into a huge bear hug. She returned the gesture with feeling. With that one gesture, years of pain, anger, grief, and uncertainty were wiped away. Not completely, only time and communication would do that; but it was a huge start. They stayed in that position for a time, until Scott's thoughts caught up to him.
Moving himself and Lona until they could look into the other's face, he asked, "Are you ready to go upstairs? We have our main guest rooms all ready for you, but if you think you need to remain down here a little long…" She shook her head so viciously, that she swayed as her equilibrium was offset. As soon as Scott was sure she had not hurt herself, he had to smile. Lona hated hospitals and being sick as much as he did.
"Then, shall we go?" She nodded, and still smiling, took the offered arm. Leaning heavily on it, she walked out of the med center's door into a new life.
After taking the monorail system through the base, they took an elevator to the top floors of the main house. By this time, Scott was almost entirely supporting Lona's weight, as her strength had waned quickly. They were about halfway down the hallway, when he realized he had forgotten to provide Lona with some other clothes. As she had been unconscious, they had not been able to exchange her slave outfit for more practical and pleasing clothing. Scott knew how much she hated the outfits she had been made to wear, and he was loathed to let her spend another minute in those demeaning clothes.
As soon as this thought had entered his head, Virgil came walking down the hallway.
"Lona, are you feeling better? It's so good to see you again." She wearily raised her head and gave him a wane smile, then collapsed. Virgil had to rush to Scott's help to keep the young woman from hitting the floor.
"Virgil, can you help maneuver her into my arms. I'll carry her to her rooms, if you could get Dad and Onaha and some sleep clothes for her."
"What sleep clothes? Neither Onaha's nor Tin-tin's pjs will fit her."
"Get a pair of John's sleep pants and one of…our sleep shirts that you think might fit her. Get Dad or Onaha to help you. I'll not let her spend another hour in these clothes, these chains she is still carrying around." Virgil nodded, and hurried off, leaving Scott to carry the senseless figure. As he carefully maneuvered her through the doorway of her bedroom, she stirred slightly. When she gave no more sign of life, Scott shook her faintly.
"Hey sleepyhead, I need you to stay with me for a bit. Ok? Stay with me, then you can sleep, I promise." Lona nodded, too tired to speak, or sign as the case happened to be. A few minutes later, Jeff, followed by his mother and second youngest son, entered the room. Onaha came right up to Lona and rested a small hand on the scarred shoulder.
" Miss Lona, would you come with me for a bit?" The young woman tried to get up, but her weakened body would not cooperate. Scott carried her into the bathroom, and made sure she was supported by Onaha before leaving. The three men waited in the bedroom, none wanting to speak of how weak and sickly their loved one was. Finally, several minutes later, the door to the bathroom opened and Kyrano's wife quickly called Scott into the room. He quickly lifted and carried the insensible Lona to her bed. The housekeeper moved to tuck her in, but Jeff roughly motioned her away. Gently he pulled the covers out from under the prone figure, and then compassionately covered the sleeping girl.
Sunlight. That was the first thing Lona's befuddled brain noticed. Opening her eyes to mere slits, she glanced around the room. Now she was sure she was dreaming. A beautiful room with large windows framing a scene straight from a tropical paradise greeted her astonished eyes. Her attention turned to herself and her immediate surroundings. She was lying in a queen-sized bed that was more like lying on a cloud. Soft sheets and a thin, yet warm comforter lie over her legs, while she was clad in an unrecognized sleep shirt and pants. Yet, instead of being fearful, she was moved to tears of joy. She knew she was in the Tracy's home, and that meant safety and, most importantly, love. Slowly, she extracted herself from the bedclothes, and carefully stood up beside the bed. Wavering slightly, she walked cautiously towards the sliding glass door that opened onto her balcony.
A slight breeze played with her loose hair as she clung to the railing of the balcony. Her eyes shown with child-like delight as they strove to take in everything at once. The palm trees swaying, the exotic birds calling to one another, the shouts and laughter coming from the pool. Lona focused her attention on the latter, and noticed several of the Tracys horsing around, though some of the people she did not know. Then her vision was caught and held by the blue waters that stretched as far as the eyes could see. For some foolish reason, this made her feel safer then anything else. The ocean was like a huge moat around her world, one she was unsure if she was willing to breach.
Movement behind her drew her attention from the calm waters to the person entering her bedroom. Though she did not know the person very well, a name floated up in her mind from the dream that was last night.
Onaha? She signed, then froze. The Tracys' housekeeper would not know sign language, how on earth could she communicate? The older woman winked, then handed the younger a pad and pencil. Lona grinned back at her. Quickly she wrote: Onaha, right? You're pretty smart.
The Malaysian woman grinned at her, "Correct. And to be a housekeeper here, you have to be. Did you sleep well?" The girl nodded. "Then I suppose you would like to see the family." It was not a question, because Onaha already knew the answer. There was obviously a deep connection between this young lady and the Tracys. Mr. Tracy had talked about it, but the look of happiness Lona gave at the thought confirmed it. Then a frownmarred her smooth forehead. Gesturing to her sleep clothes, she shrugged her shoulders. Then she remembered the notepad.
What am I going to wear? And where did these clothes come from?
"We have some clothes the boys loaned you, at least till Kyrano and I can pick up some for you on the main land. We are planning on doing that later today, if possible. As for the clothes you're wearing, the sleep pants are some of John's, he is the only boy skinny enough for his clothes to at least partially fit you. I think it is all that astronaut food he eats, they won't listen to me when I say we should stock the space station better. And the shirt is one of mine." Lona nodded, taking everything in. Had Onaha said space station? Was John in NASA as he had always dreamed, or did International Rescue have a space station? That would be impressive.
After dressing in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved pullover shirt, Lona allowed Onaha to lead her through the large, unfamiliar house. After going through multiple hallways and taking two elevators, they finally came to the Lounge. Lona had no sooner walked in the doorway, then she was mugged by two bodies. As soon as she had caught her breath, she gave each of the boys a hug.
Virgil, Gordon, it's so good to see you again.
"It sure is good to have you back with us, Lona. We sure have missed you." Lona smiled warmly at Virgil, then nodded. She had missed them too.
"All right boys, let me through. I want to see her too." And Lona was staring into the face of her beloved Daddy Tracy. Suddenly, she felt very shy. She wasn't sure if she should act her age, or throw herself into the arms of the man she had missed almost more then Scott. Almost.
"Am I going to have to beg for a hug, honey?" Laughing silently, she shook her head no, and ran to him. Strong arms encircled her and she pressed her face against his shirt. There was no doubt about it; she was home.
Jeff smiled, but it was a bittersweet one. He had his Lona back, but there was a good chance he would never hear her speak. Scott had told him of her inability to speak, but when he had seen her laughing and yet not heard her ringing laugh, he felt as if someone was gutting him with a dull knife. Smoothing her hair down with his right hand, he tried to be thankful she was alive, and he was, but with a twinge he realized the girl he held was no longer quite the girl he had once known.
Slowly, they disengaged, and Jeff lead Lona over to the sofa that sat on the side of his desk. As he left to sit behind his desk, he noticed Scott sit on one side of Lona and Virgil on the other. He was glad, those three and John were the closest, since both Gordon and Alan had been so young. Each family member came up to Lona and hug her, saying how glad they were she was back with them. When everyone had, she glanced around, nodded to the people she did not know, then continued to look around, as if searching for someone. Scott realized who it was.
"John is…occupied at the moment, but hopefully you can talk to him in a few minutes." Lona glanced at Jeff then back to Scott.
Ok. Jeff was hesitant to bring up certain things, but he knew it was best to not put dreadful things off, but face them.
"Lona honey, I know you have just woke up and all, but we have been waiting so that you and Scott could brief us on what happened while both of you were prisoners. And I don't just mean since Scott was a prisoner either. We want to know how long you've been there." Lona winced perceptively. Then she reluctantly nodded.
How many of you understand sign language? All of the boys nodded, but the rest just stared. When Scott had translated her question, Jeff answered.
"I know some, but not enough to really understand much of what you say. Scott, would you translate for the rest of us?" Scott nodded, and Lona launched in to what she had really wanted to say.
Daddy Tracy, I will tell you what you want to know, if you promise you will explain something. I want to know all about International Rescue. I know you want to be secretive, but I already figured it out, and…but if you don't want to tell me, I understand. Jeff thought for a moment, weighting the possible consequences of his actions. Then he glanced at his fellow members of the organization. What he saw, pleased him.
"You're right. You should know. Particularly since we plan on you being here for awhile. Scott, why don't we start with…" Jeff was cut off by the sound of beeping. All the family looked at the large plasma screen sitting on Jeff's desk.
Jeff pressed a button on the screen, and then called out, seemingly to thin air, "Go ahead, John." Suddenly, John appeared on-screen. He was wearing the uniform with his name on it and a circular pin with different colored lines coming out from it on the upper right. This contained the letters IR in the center of it. The background was sparse and metal, with many different
"Father, a city in Japan has asked for our help. They have had a couple days of torrential rains in the mountains, and are reporting large amounts of flooding. Some people are trapped, and the rescuers are unable to reach them. Shall I tell them to expect us?" Jeff was already nodding. Then he turned to his oldest son.
"Scott, get in your bird. John will send you exact coordianates when you are in the air." Scott shot Lona a quick smile, then hurried off to one side of the wall with a large picture of him in his IR uniform. He walked into the small, circular area, and the section spun around, leaving a busy family and one surprised and confounded woman. By the time Lona's attention was called back to Jeff, he had already sent Gordon and Alan into their elevators, and was giving last minute instructions to Virgil.
"Make sure you land a good ways from any possible landslides or potential flood area. And make sure Scott does the same, particularly with Mobil Control. Oh, and you'll probably need Pod 1"
"FAB." With that, Virgil walked over to his picture and the sequence with Scott was repeated. Stunned, she could only watch as Jeff took his place behind his desk and began running flight control for the two THUNDERBIRD machines. The man she tentatively identified as Kyrano left, returning shortly with coffee for Daddy Tracy, Onaha, Brains, and surprisingly, her. He gave her an understanding smile, then left again. Brains, the man she did not know who wore glasses, was on the radio, answering a question Scott had radioed in. Onaha was talking quietly with the two young people she did not know, then grabbed them both by the hand and lead them out of the room. Lona was torn between following her, or watching first hand how International Rescue operated. She finally decided on the latter and sat back to watch the drama unfold.