High Five! Another chapter up already! I'm on a roll!

Now, that you have a better understanding of dear Lona, what do you guys think of her? Like her? I'll admit, she grows on you. I know you guys have been asking for more Scott saving Lona bits and other things...but right now, healing must take place. So sit back, and allow the Tracys and Lona to move through the plot at their own pace. (Believe me when I say this, I thought this story would be done by this chapter...sigh...instead it continues to grow on me. I will prevail and beat it into submission though. I swear.) Please let me know what you think. It means alot to me. Hope you enjoy!

Miss Elizabeth

P.S. Bold words are signed. Italics are flashbacks.

P.P.S. Don't own Thunderbirds. It'd be cool if I could, but ain't going to happen. I'm mearly borrowing with every intention of returning...except maybe THUNDERBIRD 1...though parking space might be a problem.

Chapter 26: Lonely in You Nightmare

-not sure i like this title, but nothing else is coming. Just warning you it might change at some point. On with the story...

Lona's eyes closed and her hands fell limp into her lap. She did not want to go on, she could not go on. Yet, the Tracys deserved to hear the truth; she just did not think she had the strength. A sudden touch on her shoulder brought her attention back to the room. Scott's hand was resting lightly on her shoulder, trying to lend her strength. Her eyes met his, timidly.

"Hey, I know it's rough. If it makes you feel any better, I have to tell everyone how I let some guy drug me, and let the Hood use me as a punching bag. I'll tell everything about our captivity, but we need to know what happened before I got there. I know it's got to be terrible. I was there only there weeks, you were there years; but, we want to know."

I know, Scott. I…it's just so hard…so emotionally draining. I'm trying.

Jeff cleared his throat to get her attention then said, "We know." Smiling, she visibly gathered strength, and plowed on.

When I woke up, I was alone in a cell at his Temple hideaway. Everyday I was taken before him and tortured, as he tried to get the information from me. From the beginning, he would bring my family out and either make them watch…or make me watch as they…That went on for…so long, I don't know the exact length; all I know is that it felt like years. Then one day, the Hood was torturing my dad and making me watch. The slaves were beating him over and over again…I…

The whip flew down again and again, until all Lona could see was the rivers of blood running from her father's skin. She had thought she did not love her father, but to see him, like this, now, was more then she could stand. Sobbing uncontrollably, she yelled incoherently for the men to stop.

The Hood watched the proceedings from his throne. He was pleased with the progress his mental and physical torments were having on the young woman. Soon she would break, and the plans would be his. And, once she was broken… A thin smile split his formidable appearance, as he continued to watch the drama unfold.

Suddenly, the tortured man gave one last scream, and lay still. Lona's sobs caught in her throat as she searched desperately for some sign of life. The slave who had been relentlessly whipping the man, bent down and checked for a pulse, a breath, anything. Finding his answer, he stood and approached his master, paying no heed to the woman staring at him, hungry to know his information, yet scared to hear it.

"My lord, the man is dead."

"No!"

The next day, we were flown back to Kansas. The Hood's men had hidden father's car, and left indications for the servants, so that everyone would think we had left on one of Dad's escape trips. They put Da…the body in the trunk, and tied Mom, Michael, and I in the back seat. We were taken to that lonely spot on the road to our house, you know the one, the overlook spot. The Hood dragged me out and asked me to reconsider.

"This is your last chance, Miss Danvers. After this, the consequences are on your head. I've been more then reasonable."

"The HELL you have! You've hurt my family, tortured them; you killed my father! Any remote, minuscule chance that I might have helped you has been dead for a long time. You're wasting your breath."

"No. You're stealing your family's."

"What do you mean?" Lona frantically glanced towards her family still held captive in the car. Her attention became focused on a group of men doing something in the driver's side of the front seat. When they stepped back, she saw her father's body buckled in. "What's going on!"

"Watch." The car was started and Lona watched as the Hood's minions started to push the car over the cliff.

"NO! No! Stop!" With a huge wrench, she threw the restraining hands off her, and ran towards the teetering car. She could see through the rear window her mother, who was sobbing uncontrollably and her young brother, her beloved Michael, staring at her, begging her with his eyes to save them. Time hung suspended for several seconds and the world seemed not to move at all. Then, the car dipped and was gone.

"NOOOOO!" But it was too late. Lona heard the massive crash as the car hit the ground below, saw the blast of fire and smoke rise from the twisted metal, but it did not seem to register. It was as if her mind had shut off, unwilling to process anymore of the events going on around it.

"Are you ready to give me what I wish, Miss Danvers? If not, I can promise you a much slower and more painful death then your family."

Lona tried to answer him, tried to curse him, rail at him, cut him with bitter sarcasm, even whimper; but there was nothing. She had nothing left to give. Her family was dead, dead because of her and her work, her dream to be in the Air Force. Well, she would not let their deaths be in vain. She would not talk, she would never talk.

"So, from that day, you never spoke again?" John was asking the question everyone else had. Lona nodded.

No matter how much he beat me, I could never talk. Sometimes I would try, try to answer him, tell him what I thought of him, but I couldn't. I still can't. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to make any noise. Silence hung over the room for several minutes, as everyone tried to digest all of the information being thrown at them. Lona, meanwhile, was battling with the upsurge of emotion that the telling had brought. On one level she knew that she was finally safe and could let go of all the emotions that had been welling up inside of her for years, but she had spent so long pushing them down further and further, that she did not believe she could let them out if she wanted to. They were locked away, and they would stay there.

Jeff was the one to finally break the silence.

"So you've been a prisoner of the Hood ever since?" Lona nodded. "Did he continue to torture you?"

Somewhat. It became…more of a…a game for him then for any real knowledge. By then he knew I would have given him the knowledge if I was going to. Year after year I was in that hellhole and I began to believe I would never get out. One time…he let me go and I got as far as the village where Scott called you. That's how I knew it was there. But my escape was all a sham. It was done to break my will, and it nearly did. You all know Mullion, he is one of the best trackers ever. I never had a chance. In fact… Here the young woman found she could not go on. Being raised by the Tracys for so many years, she had picked up so much of their characteristics, including their dislike of showing "weak" emotions and feelings. Not that they did not feel them or hate the show of them, but as a family of boys, they just showed them in different ways from females. Lona had spent so much time growing up with the boys like they were her own brothers, that sometimes people had thought she behaved more like a boy then a girl.

Well, the first time I saw any hope again, funnily enough, was when I saw Scott here hanging from the wall, beaten to a pulp. With a sad half-smile, her hands slowed and stopped. Even if there had been more, she did not have the strength and fortitude to go on. John gave her an encouraging smile, he knew it had been hard for her. Jeff sat brooding for a time, until he noticed the silence pervading the room. Clearing his throat, he threw a glance at his eldest.

"Guess it's your turn now son. Tell us all you can about your kidnapping and imprisonment." Scott studied the ground, trying to gather his thoughts. He did not want to tell his family all that had gone on. It had been a terrible ordeal for him, one that he could not soon forget. It was still so fresh… Glancing up, he caught his father's eyes. Silently he begged him to not make him give his report. Jeff held his eldest son's eyes, and gently shook his head. He did not mean to be cruel, but this had waited too long. If Scott did not tell someone, anyone about his ordeal, he would bury it so deep, he would never get it out until it was too late. Scott sighed and dropped his gaze back on the floor. A small hand gave his arm a gentle squeeze, that was all, but that was all that was needed.

After another couple of emotion-packed hours, the Tracy family had a pretty good idea about what had happened during Scott's imprisonment. As soon as the last words faded from the air, Kyrano stood and announced that dinner would be served momentarily and would they all kindly move into the dinning room. The dark, brooding atmosphere broken, a chuckle ran through the room and everyone headed for the door. Lona was the last to leave. As she made her way to the door, a sound behind her grabbed her attention. John's picture was still on the plasma screen.

"Why didn't you tell them about your dad and the misunderstanding?" Frowning, she shrugged.

I don't know. I forgot about at first, and now…well it's old news and frankly I don't want to bring up that issue! I'm back where I belong, and now that I'm finally home, I can't help selfishly wishing to enjoy it. John smiled, understanding what she meant.

"Okay, I'll leave it be for now, but you eventually need to tell Dad."

Ok, Johnny! Laughing, he shut down the link.

Weeks went by, and everything settled into a routine. In between rescue calls, the Tracy boys spent most of their time with Lona, showing her the island and how they spent their free time. Every morning, Lona would slip out of the house before dawn and take a quick run around various parts of the island. When she got back to house, the family would be up and they could all eat breakfast together. Afterwards, the Tracy boys would drag their friend everywhere, the game room, the movie theater, the pool, etc. As the days went on, Scott began to notice things about his friend's behavior that worried him. For one, she never wore any of the clothes Onaha had bought for on the mainland. She had bought beautiful shorts, tank-tops, skirts, and peasant tops. Instead, she wore jeans and long sleeved shirts from John's stockpile of clothes left on the island. Scott could not understand why she would wear thick, long-sleeved shirts on a tropical island, until a stray memory flashed in his mind. Lona had spent the last few years wearing clothes that barely covered the essentials. Combined with her horribly scarred skin, it was small wonder that she was covering all of her body that she could. Scott made a note to himself to ask Onaha to buy some long-sleeved tops and jeans for Lona on her next shopping trip.

However, this was not the only worrisome action. Lately she had taken to spending large amounts of time by herself, and none to subtly leaving a room when someone started talk with her for long periods of time. She spent most of her time exploring the island, in the weight room, or reading in her rooms. All of the brothers had tried at different times to draw her out, but she would listen politely, smile, and continue doing whatever she was doing. The most persistent, oddly enough, was Alan. Because of the age difference between them, they had never been close, though Lona had babysat often in his early years. Yet Alan had grown up around his brothers and knew the family stories about their "adopted" sister. She had been painted to be as heroic as Scott and a great deal like him in personality. Alan looked up to her like he did Scott, and he longed to talk to her about planes, the Air Force, and various other things. Yet each time, she would gently yet firmly rebuff his questions. Jeff had explained to his youngest that she had been through a horrible experience, and now that she had escaped from the actual place, she had to deal with the mental scars from the terrible things the Hood had done to her. Alan could understand that. He recalled with perfect clarity the horrible nightmares and panic attacks he had experienced in the months following the Hood's attack on the Tracys. Even though everything had worked out fine, Alan had still been loathed to let any family member out of his sight, which had annoyed his brothers no end.

And so life went on for weeks on end. Slowly, Lona came out of her shell, and began to become a part of the family. Jeff found her one day watching motorcycle racing with Alan in his study while debating with him the finer points about the Kawasaki vs. the Ninja (?). The next day, she was helping Virgil mix his paints while exclaiming rapturously over his stack of masterpieces. The day after that she was found waging war with Scott against THUNDERBIRD 1's engines, which had developed a slight malfunction. Jeff smiled. Lona might not be completely recovered, but the old Lona was defiantly fighting with all her strength to prevail.

The next week brought the Tracys' favorite person to the island. Lona was sitting on her balcony reading, when an unidentifiable yet unmistakably pink object zoomed overhead. Looking down at her beverage and wondering worriedly if Gordon had spiked it, she closed her book and made her way down to the lounge. Peeking her head in, she watched as Jeff Tracy talked the pink thing down onto the long runway cutting across the northern part of the island. As soon as the vehicle had landed, Jeff turned and noticed the silent person spying on him.

"You'll get no secrets out of me!" Throwing him a half grimace, half smile, she gestured towards the monitors showing a pink…car sitting sweetly on the runway. "You wondering what the hell is that?" She nodded vigorously. "That's Lady Penelope." With that he walked out of the room, as if those three words explained everything. Lona was to find out that this was indeed the case.

She reached the open aired lounge at the same time as Lady Penelope and her entourage reached it. Lona watched as the woman lightly flirted with every male on the island.

"Alan, if you grow anymore, I do not think it will be proper for me to pick you up from school."

"Gordon, however do you come up with those witty comments?"

"Brains, whatever are you experimenting on Fermat with to make him grow so handsome? I believe I will need some in a few years." Jeff laughed at this.

"Not on your life, Penny. You could never be anything but beautiful."

"Jeff darling, how kind of you to say. Yes, I believe I will be perfectly safe if you allow me use of the Fountain of Youth you seem to have found." This went on for sometime, mixed with Alan and Fermat's friendly banter with the lady's indomitable man servant, Parker. Suddenly, Lady Penelope glanced around, then turned a questioning gaze on Jeff. "And where is the young lady you have told me so much about, Jeff? After I made the arduous journey just to make her acquaintance, it is highly ungentlemanly of you to hide her." At this, Lona slowly made her way to the beautiful lady, standing out like a dove in the midst of pigeons. Slowly stretching out her rough hands, Lona took the soft, manicured hands of the most famous heiress in the entire world.

Lady Penelope was the epitome of beauty and culture. A natural blond, whose hair seemed to be a tamed thing that moved only the way she wished to, her soft features were just sharp enough to hint at a strong personality, but not strong enough to destroy the feminine features. Pink was her color and she wore it with a passion. Her traveling suit fit her trim figure in such a way as to leave no doubt that it had been made for her. The hat that sat jauntily on her shoulder-length tresses made her seem daring, instead of insipid. Lona knew she could not hope to compare to this goddess, and felt like the ugly ducking next to a graceful swan. Sensing this, Lady Penelope sought to bridge that gap between physical features and show her the true side of the lady.

"Lona, you have no idea how long I have waited to meet you. Jeff talks of nothing else but. He seems to think you hang the moon, and I have learned to trust his judgment. I do hope we can be friends?" The easy manner and kind words were enough to win over the darker-haired woman. Giving the elegant lady's hand an extra shake, she nodded and let a soft smile shape her lips. Lona was not quite sure what to make of this elegant lady, but she hoped they could be friends.

That evening the Tracys, Kyrano and his family, and Lady Penelope and Parker were relaxing down by the pool. The adults looked on as the Tracy boys and the children horsed around in the clear blue water. Jeff tested the steaks he had on the grill, and then turned his gaze back on the rowdy hooligans who were busy pushing one another into the pool. He paused, and did a quick head count. Frowning, he ran through the count again, then sighed. Lona was no where to be found. Just at that moment, Penny came up beside him.

"Jeff, dear, where is your young lady?"

"I don't know, Penny. I just noticed she was missing. She, hasn't been herself; not surprising after all she's been through, but none of us seem able break through the protective distance she is building up for herself." The young, elegant lady said nothing, but rested one delicate hand on her friend's arm. When there are no words, actions are the only conversation needed.

Alan glanced around quickly, then slipped away quietly. Skirting the pool, he snuck into the house and climbed the stairs up to the main level. Taking the elevator up, he stopped on the residential level and walked down the hall to the door on the far end of the hall. Taking a deep breath, he made a quick rap at the door. After a couple minutes of waiting, the door slide open to reveal Lona, bundled up in a sweater and jeans despite the tropical temperatures. Giving him a quizzical look, she motioned him into the sitting area of her suite of rooms. As soon as the door closed behind him, Alan launched into full fledge battle.

"What are you doing up here? Everyone is looking for you down at the pool. Come on down and swim with us!" At his first words, Lona's eyes had flew open and her face had flushed. By the time his tirade had ended, however, she was in complete command of her emotions. With her right hand extended toward him, she quickly brought her thumb and first two fingers together, signing a clear and empathic "No". As she turned away to signal an end to the conversation, she felt a hand grab hold of her wrist. Lona was instantly transported back to the Hood's temple and all the mistreatment she had endured there. With no conscious thought, her body slide naturally into battle stance; weight shifted to her right foot, as her left slide back a pace. Her right hand moved to grab the shoulders as her left leg came up to catch the pushed body. As the body flipped over her leg and landed hard against the floor, she brought her left wrist with it, trapping its head between the two arms.

Gazing down, her eyes encountered the frightened gaze of the youngest Tracy. She quickly pulled away, and stared incomprehensible at the small figure sprawled on her carpet. Shaking away her mental stupor, she offered him an arm and he accepted. As soon as he found his feet, her gaze dropped to the ground, as a rosy blush spread across her pale cheeks.

"This is what I was talking about. Are you going to shut yourself away and hope the past will just disappear; cuz, newsflash, it won't! We care about you Lona, Scott and Dad sure do. What we don't care about is what you look like. I know that is why you wear long sleeves and pants. Do you think we don't know about your scars? We saw them when we rescued you all, and you know what? They don't mean a thing, not unless you let them! So quit running around in that perpetual hothouse and throw on that swimsuit Onaha bought for you. Scott said you were a good swimmer, but I bet he was just makin' that up. Maybe that's why you won't swim with us; you're scared of us, your chicken!" With that last insult and challenge flung in her face, Alan ducked out before she could use other martial arts moves on him. Alan wasn't sure if what he had just said would make the situation better or worse, but he was tired of no one doing anything about it. Maybe all Lona needed was a jolt to help her recognize how remote and…well, stupid she had been acting.

Lona stood motionless for a couple minutes, shock etched on her face. Alan Tracy had just lambasted her for not dealing with her fear and guilt. With a wince, she realized he was right, she had been shutting herself away from everyone. That wasn't fair to the Tracys, who had been nothing but supportive to her since they had rescued her. A determined look settled on her face. Running to her dresser, she pulled out her two piece suit and began quickly peeling off the layers she had placed around her body and mind. Soon she stood on her balcony, staring at the pool where the three older boys, minus John, were horsing around. She let out a quick breath and drew ina long, slow one. There would be no going back after this. With a determined grin, she jumped.

See you soon. ;p