After all that good emotional fun in the last one, as the title says...angst is never far off. Hope you guys enjoy this one, and please let me know what you think. I think you will find this one...interesting.Oh, and I don't own Thunderbirds.
Miss Elizabeth
Chapter 31: Trials and Terrors
John watched as his father and Lona embraced. Smiling broadly, he noticed with joy the change wrought on his dear friend. She was standing tall and proud again, and she had truly met his and Jeff's eyes. Always before, she would look around them, but never directly into another person's eyes. She was gaining back her self-esteem and worth. Looking back on the pair still locked in an embrace, he noticed her sharp blue gaze piercing him. Grinning widely, he gave her thumbs up and nod which carried more meaning then words could have at that moment. Blue eyes crinkled and she minutely bowed her head in thanks.
A siren split the stillness and contentment of the two rooms. Jeff hopped over to his desk, closely followed by Lona. John was already turned away, attempting to ascertain the problem. Slapping the intercom, he radioed his younger brother.
"Thunderbird 5 to Gordon. Please respond as soon as possible….This is International Rescue to Gordon, pick up immediately." John waited in breathless silence for several minutes. "Come on, Gordo," he muttered to himself "answer."
Suddenly the control room of the space station was filled with the frantic voice of the second youngest son.
"John, John, do you copy? Come in Thunderbird 5!"
"Gordon, I'm here. What's your status? Why did the emergency siren go off?"
"John, there's been a cave in! We were hoisting the father to safety with Scott being the last to leave. As soon as the dad was to safety, the ground moved and the hollow the family had been in just gave way! We are removing the rubble now…but Johnnie…I don't think…"
"Just keep at it Gordo; it's all you can do. Keep me posted. Let me know the minute you clear that area."
"FAB." John watched as his brother's face winked off the screen. The pain the young face had held… Punching another button, he radioed based.
"Dad, I've got some bad news."
Fingers drummed the consul in front of the seated man. It had been thirty minutes since his brother's last contact, and for John, that was twenty-nine minutes too late. When the alarm sounded, it barely made it through one beep before he hit the connection button.
"Gordon, what's your status?" The words were out of his mouth before he caught sight of his younger brother's face. The golden brown skin that hinted at the amount of exposure he allowed himself in the tropical sun was now a deathly white. His eyes were wide and rounded with a look of horror. "Gordo, what is it?" The eyes fixed on him as incomprehension and sorrow swirled and merged in them. Gradually, the blank look cleared and the wide eyes locked onto John's.
"We, uh, cleared the rubble out of the area."
"And Scott?" Swallowing visibly, the younger man swept the question away with a loss of eye contact.
"We found a connecting tunnel to another cave. By the look of things, Scott was drug into the second cave either right before or during the cave in."
"Who would be down there? Gordon, where is Scott?"
"Um…John? Could you put me through to Dad? I don't think I can say this more than once."
John quickly made the connection and filled Jeff in on the information Gordon had notified him on before. Jeff and Lona traded a worried glance. Both could tell by Gordon's face that the information was not going to be good. Could Scott be…? Jeff could not help but remember a similar event not that many months before. Was this a repeat?
"Dad…we went into the second cave. We found Scott's watch and his pack laid neatly in a corner, waiting for us. On top was a note." Gordon was fighting a losing battle against the tears that were flooding his eyes. "It was from the Hood…" Two sharp intakes of breath could be heard from the two men listening to the report. Lona, on the other hand, had backed away from the screen; her gaze wandering aimlessly around the room before lighting on the picture of Scott that hid the lift to THUNDERBIRD 1's hanger. Walking slowly, almost dreamlike, she made her way over to it, brushing it with her fingers.
Jeff left his chair and hobbled over to her. Lightly touching her shoulder, he searched the side of her face.
"Lona?" He watched as her mouth opened and closed over and over again. As he watched, he began to realize her lips were moving, as if she were trying to form words that would not come. Her breath swept her teeth, whistling out to form a hiss. Her eyes never wavered from the picture, as tears sprang up and over the clenched muscles around her eyes. Her breath began to catch, forming a guttural sound after the hiss. Her whole body shook, as if she were locked in some desperate, unseen battle. "Lona!"
Oh, she was fighting! It had to come out; He had taken everything else from her. She would not let him have Scott! He would not have her! It first came out as a whisper, as the unused muscles protested the sudden use, but rapidly grew into an uncontrollable shriek.
"Scott…Scott…Scott…SCOTT, SCOTT, SCOTT! NOOOOO, SCOTT!" As her body crumpled, Jeff tried to support her fall, leading only to both of them ending up on the floor. Burying her head in his chest, she let the sobs overcome her as she moaned out his name over and over again. Jeff was torn between pure fear for his eldest son and pure delight that this girl who had become like a daughter to him had finally said a word. Slowly rocking her back and forth while rubbing her heaving back, he turned to the screen.
"John, keep us informed will ya? And Gordon, join your brothers in their search. Don't worry boys, we'll find him."
"FAB, Dad. We'll keep you informed. Thunderbird 5, out."
Virgil and Brains were using the scanners on Mobile Control to search for heat sources in the surrounding area, ones that could possibly be human ones. After factoring out the number of rescuers and rescuees, they began scanning within a range of fifteen miles. Brains assured Virgil that no vehicles had left the scene and he doubted that they were further then ten to fifteen miles away from the rescue scene.
"Guys, have you found anything yet? Like a sign saying, Scott is held here?" Virgil grimaced.
"Cute, Gordo. Real cute. Do you think this is the best time to be kidding around?"
"Tense situations always are." Before the two brothers added physical attacks to the verbal assaults, Brains was saved by the scanner.
"H-heat scans have picked up f-f-four or f-f-f-more sources clumped together ab-bout eight miles from here. Here, l-l-let me show you on the map." Pressing two buttons brought up a map overlay. "They're not t-too far off the highway. Probably w-w-w-w lying low until everyone leaves." Virgil was moving before Brains could finish his sentence.
"Right, let's get going. Scott's not going to stay one minute longer in their clutches then I can help."
Jeff sat next to the sobbing girl, cradling her head in his shoulder. Running his hand through her cut off hair, his mouth twitched up. He remembered another incident with this hair.
Jeff walks in the door, and sighs as it closes behind him. It had been a horrible day at work. His accountant had found an error in the bookkeeping and one of his plants was behind in a commission from the government .Opening his eyes, he finds Lucille watching him. With a wane smile, he reaches out and hugs her. After a quick embrace, she pushes him to arms length.
"You need to have a talk with our son and your daughter." Jeff heaves a huge sigh.
"What has Scott and Lona done now?"
"Oh, you have to see it. My description can't do it justice." Smiling, evilly in Jeff's opinion, she walked away. So much for peace and my home, sweet home thought Jeff. He headed for his eldest room where he was sure he would find his son and Lona Danvers, his best friend's daughter, happily entertaining themselves with total destruction. Opening the door, he looked down at the two conspirators playing with planes. Jeff had to chuckle to himself. Of course his son would not be normal and play with cars. He would have to play with planes and swear at six years of age that he would be flying the fastest ones of them. And of course, Lona would follow him. They were just two peas in a pod. Looking down, he caught his son's eyes just as they were raised.
"Hi, Daddy." Lona's innocent blue eyes raised up, mirroring the slightly hesitant air that surrounded his son as well.
"Hi, you two. No need to act innocent with me. My mole, Lucille, has told me you two criminals were up to something today. Care to spill the beans here, or do I need to bring you down to the station and grill ya!" The station, or the kitchen, was an old game the two adult Tracys had played with their sons and Lona. They never let their kids get away with anything, but they had sworn long ago not to intimidate them into telling them. They wanted to make sure the children felt comfortable coming to them and admitting their guilt. It had always worked so far.
The two children giggled, but Jeff saw them exchange glances. Finally, Lona stood up and came over to him. Taking off the baseball cap that had been seated firmly on her head, she let her ruined hair fall down to her ears, chin, and shoulders, depending on the length. Jeff's keen eyes saw that his wife's shears had been put to "good" use. Keeping his expression neutral, he gently grasped the young girl's chin in his hand and turned the small head first to one side and then the other.
"Hum, ahhh, I see. Well Lona, who was your barber, cuz they did a real rotten job with your hair!" She gave him a sheepish grin. "Ok, what were you doing and how bad should I punish you?"
"Scott and I kinda…well…were trying to beat these two other guys in a fight and…well…one of them didn't really play very fair. He grabbed my hair and twisted it really hard. I couldn't get away and it hurt so bad! Scott tried to get him off me, but he held on until my hair just kinda…came apart. We ran and came back to the house, but my hair looked kinda…funky. So, S…I thought we could…fix it with some scissors."
"So…let me guess the rest. You and Scott came into the house through the sewing room window and found Lucille's shears sitting ready for use on a table. Scott was the one to give you your…unique trim and when you realized the great idea was not working out quite the way you thought it would, you hid it under the cap. Would that be just about right?" By this time, Lona's co-conspirator had joined her in front of Jeff.
"Yes sir," both chorused. Both were staring at the floor, their young faces lined with the thought of the punishment for their "bright idea" and the fight they had gotten into.
"Ok, well lets get you two to the judge for your ruling." Leading two very sorry children down the hall, Jeff marched them through the kitchen and into the den where Lucille was waiting. "Honey, we have two very repentant criminals that need their sentences given." Merry blue eyes attempted to look stern but utterly failed.
"Well, lets see. I rule that Lona come with me on errands. We have a short stop to make at the hairdressers." Lona sighed and shuffled her shoes. She hated sitting still in that seat and having the ladies cooing all around her. "As for Master Scott, I think some time in the chair is called for until his father and I have a chance to talk further on his punishment. The rest of Lona's will be up to Mr. and Mrs. Danvers." The rest of the day went pretty much the way Lucille had said. After Lona returned from the hairdressers with a distinctly shorter hairstyle, she joined Scott in a seat facing the wall.
Jeff was in his office, thinking of ways to tell Danvers why his daughter's hair was noticeable shorter when a knock on the door halted his train of thought.
"Come in." The door opened and closed by itself. That limited the number of people it could be to two. A small head peaked it's way around the side of the desk. "Hello, Virgil. I haven't seen you all day. How are you doing, son?" The small boy came beside his father's chair and waited. Jeff knew something was going on, because usually his sensitive son would be holding his hands up, expectantly, ready to be seated on his daddy's lap. "Is something wrong, Virgil?"
The young boy nodded. Climbing up onto his father's lap, he looked up at him with sad eyes.
"Wya yu punish Scott and 'ona?" Jeff's father senses shot straight up. Something was up.
"Why do you ask? Do you know something?" Wide eyes dropped down to small, clutched hands, then moved back up to the kindly blue eyes regarding him.
"Scott and 'ona got into the fyght cuz of me. The bad boyz wuz being mean." Hugging his son close to him, Jeff allowed a proud smile to rest on his mouth. His son and friend's daughter had stood up for young Virgil and done their best to protect him.
That evening found Danvers being greeted with a daughter with much shorter hair then she had originally had and two parents relaying to him the good reasons for the change. Before she left for the night, Jeff gathered Lona up his arms and gave her a big hug. Running his hand through the cleaned up strands of hair, he breathed a thank you for helping his youngest son.
As the memory faded back into the distant past, Jeff looked down at the young lady who was still leaning against him. Lona's tears had slowed and finally stopped, leaving her in that state between unconsciousness and awareness. She was not asleep, but neither was she really aware of what was going on around her. Sitting on the floor with her, Jeff's gaze flew to the desk as the indicator signal turned on. John was trying to contact him. Jeff's gaze ruefully rested on the slim body in his arms and back to the desk that was so far away. With a sudden idea, he grabbed his watch and contacted John.
"John. I'm rather indisposed at the time. Could you switch on the monitor from THUNDERBIRD 5?"
"Sure thing, Dad." When John came on the screen and saw what had kept his father from the screen, he had to laugh. "Yeah I can see where you might be 'indisposed'." Both men looked down at the woman, who had finally gained some measure of peace. "Oh Dad! I completely forgot with all this! Virgil, Brains, and Gordon have found Scott!" The ecstatic father almost leapt up in his joy; before he remembered the resting woman on his legs.
"They found him? Really found him! Is he alright? Did they capture the Hood?" John had to smile at the battery of questions being thrown at him.
"They really found him, and yes, he is alright. He has a good knock on the head,and was groggily coming awake when the boys and Brains found him. I do have some bad news though. They did not manage to capture the Hood. He made his escape while his men tried to hang onto Scott. They have the two associates in custody, but no such luck with that fox. He got clean away." Lona chose this most inopportune time to regain consciousness. Wide, fearful blue eyes turned up to look into Jeff's steady blue eyes.
"S-scott? Got c… away? Hood?" Tears welled up again, and the father realized that she had believed the words meant the Hood had gotten away with Scott. Before more tears could be shed, he shook his head.
"No, Lona darling. Scott's fine. Virgil and the rest got him back for us. They weren't able to capture the Hood and turn him over to the authorities, but in my mind, that's a small price to pay for having Scott back."
A smile of pure radiance beamed up at him.
Wasn't that fun? Did you think I was going to make you go through the whole beginnning over again(aka-Scott prisoner of Hood)?