Insomnia
Chapter Three
Virgil gently sat John down in one of the seats in Thunderbird Three and glanced over at Scott, who looked scared and worried for their brother. Looking back at his older brother, Virgil saw that John had hid his face in his gloved hands and saw his shoulders shaking as the suppressed tears came free.
"It's ok John, we didn't expect you back up here so quickly" He said with a slight smile to try and cheer John up slightly.
"I'm letting you down, I-I just thought that maybe once she was repaired then I can come back up here and t-take my place back amongst the team" John's voice sounded strained and cracked amongst the sobs that echoed through his body and along his throat.
"Why would you think that John? You're our brother before a member of International Rescue!" Scott said as they were all closer as a family than as a team even though they didn't act like it out in the field.
John didn't answer but coughed quietly, moving his hands away from his face. "I-I-I'm sorry..." He muttered before looking at the floor of the rocket.
Virgil inwardly sighed, "It's ok John, how about we head home and talk more about it there?" He said and took his place in the pilot's seat as John was in no shape to fly Thunderbird Three back to the island.
John nodded and did his own restraints up, his hands shaking badly as he did so. Scott saw this and gave him a hand before going across to his own seat and did his own restraints up, "We're ready here Virgil, though we should call Dad to say that we're coming back early" He said knowing that they should call Jeff so not to catch him off guard.
"Ok Scott, we'll do that once we're through the atmosphere" Virgil said focusing on locking the airlock and leave Thunderbird Five to its set orbit before plotting a safe course back through the atmosphere.
Jeff sighed and sipped on his coffee, looking at the mural on the wall lost in his own thoughts. He could see the smiles on all of his family's faces but most of all, the smiles hit their eyes but Jeff had noticed that the normal twinkle that was in John's blue eyes had been missing since the incident over four months ago.
They all had their fair share of nightmares of the incident thinking of how it could have gone wrong or what could have happened differently but it didn't, Jeff's own nightmares left doubt clouding his heart of wanting his second eldest son returning to space but keeping John away from the space station would be like keeping Gordon out of the pool.
Looking at the clock on the wall Jeff could see that if everything was ok with the geostationary orbital satellite, Thunderbird Five then they would almost be done unloading Thunderbird Three and report in to say that everything checked out fine.
"Thunderbird Three to Base, come in" Virgil's voice called disturbing Jeff's thoughts.
"Go ahead Thunderbird Three, is everything ok?" Jeff asked as Virgil's face came up on the monitor and could see that something had happened between his sons.
"Not exactly Dad but its best that we talk about it once we're home, and it's about John" Virgil said before glancing slightly behind him to see Scott nod, they were keeping their voices down as John had falling into a fitful sleep.
Jeff sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly, "I see Virgil, how long till you arrive back on the island?" He asked setting the now empty coffee cup down on the table.
Virgil hesitated as he went over the instrumentation in front of him and calculated till they arrived back to the island, "I think about a hour and a half Dad" He said and heard a moan from behind him.
"What's wrong?" Jeff asked wondering what was going on in Thunderbird Three with his three oldest sons.
"John is having a nightmare Dad... sounds pretty bad" Virgil said as Scott freed himself from his own restraints to help wake his brother from the fitful sleep.
"Better leave him alone Scott, he may not look strong but he still can be just as strong as you" Jeff warned his eldest son.
"Ok Dad, though it is worrying... he just froze up there" Scott said as he sat back down and did his own restraints back up.
Jeff inwardly sighed, "Ok Scott, we can talk about this better once you have returned home safe" He said sensing a long talk between the three of them coming once they had returned safely back to the island.
"F-A-B Dad, see you soon" Scott replied and closed the communication line leaving Jeff to his thoughts once more.
'Thunderbird Five to Tracy Island, May Day! May Day!' His voice echoed in his mind just before a large explosion rocked the satellite, sending him flying back and landing hard against the bulkhead leading to one of the many gantries of Thunderbird Five.
John could feel his arm screaming in pain as he tried to move it along with his entire body, shaking away the first signs of shock and the dizziness in his head as he battled against the small fires bursting into life in different places of the control room.
The fires filled the control room with smoke as he fought through the fried control panels, shielding his face away occasionally as sparks flew up out of them. A screen filled with static flickered showing the damage done to the outer ring, fighting against the static and the damage along its connections.
John coughed harshly as he found it hard to breathe due to the lack of oxygen and the amount of smoke in the room, he shook his head again wincing as it jarred his bad arm but fought through to keep his remaining systems online for as long as he could.
"J... hang on, we'r. ..most th..e" The communication channel crackled.
Looking over the panels, John winced again as sparks flew out of the communication panel. "I'm loosing all power... I repeat, I'm loosing all power" He called out before giving way to another coughing fit before the station was rocked by another explosion.
Jumping up, he could make it that Thunderbird Three had been hit by another missile. "Dad!" John screamed.
John jumped awake covered in a cold sweat to find Scott and Virgil watching with concerned faces.
"Hey, it's ok John" Scott said in a calming voice as he undid his restraints and walked over to John's side.
"Scotty?" John asked in a small squeaky voice looking lost where he was and just wanted his father to see if he was safe and alive.
Scott took John's hands into his own to find his younger brother's hands were shaking from the effects of the nightmare, "It's ok Johnny, it was just a dream... we're all safe and sound" He said in a calming voice while Virgil focused on piloting Thunderbird Three.
John felt his cheeks and eyes burn once more as tears formed, "I-it was so real..." He muttered quietly fighting against the tears as they formed and rolled down his cheeks.
"But that's where you're wrong, it was only a dream" Scott said in a more stern voice and inwardly sighed seeing John crying due to the shock of the nightmare. 'Must have been bad this time...' He thought to himself as he heard Virgil cough slightly to get their attention.
"Suggest you buckle back up Scott, We've got to go through some stormy weather and make a different approach to what I originally planned" Virgil announced seeing a tropical storm had appeared during re-entry.
"I'll give you a hand Virgil, engine three has been playing up..." John said undoing his restraints and moved across to the co-pilot seat, earning concerned looks from Virgil and Scott.
"You sure John?" Scott asked holding onto what was John's chair for support.
"Y-yeah I'm sure... I think this 'bird better than both of you" John said wiping at his eyes with the sleeve of his uniform to help clear his vision of the tears that had formed from the shock of the nightmare.
"Ok John, I'll radio through to Dad and say about the storm" Virgil said as John did his harness up then activated the co-pilot controls.
"Right Virgil, just hope the booster behaves itself... better strap yourself in Scott! Three hasn't been built for tropical storms" John said as he focused on doing his checks on Thunderbird Three's systems.
Scott climbed in and did his own harness up, double checking the security of it as he watched both John and Virgil as they double checked the tightness of their gloves before working on the instrumentation in front of them.
"Here we go everybody" Virgil muttered as the rocket shuddered a little at the first winds of the storm.
Jeff paced the length of his office, unable to focus on anything including his paperwork after receiving a message from Virgil saying that a tropical storm had appeared along Thunderbird Three's flight plan slowing them down.
'Thunderbird Three lost a booster Dad, we'll never make it in time' John's voice echoed in his mind but got shaken away.
'We fixed that! And besides they're home, they're on their way up here now!' Jeff thought to himself coming to a halt at the large window that covered one wall of his office, giving him a view of the jungle and the distant ocean.
He had transformed the room back from command and control to his office shortly after Thunderbird Three had landed, Jeff had used the systems in command and control to track the rocket back to the island.
"Dad?" A quiet voice called him from his thoughts, spinning around on the balls of his feet Jeff came face to face with his second born son.
Instead of the bright blue eyes with slightly rosy cheeks and the smile that John usually were when around his family was a young man with dull blue eyes, dark patches under his eyes from the lack of sleep and dried tear trails down his pale cheeks.
"John? It's ok" Jeff said with a smile, "You're home, here safe and sound" He said before John hid his face into his shoulder, John's arms around Jeff's back.
"J-just t-thought tha-that I lost you" John's muffled voice said as Jeff held onto his son, inwardly grateful that he had now broken down.
"I'm not going anywhere John, just let it all out and you'll feel better in no time" Jeff spoke softly, leading John over to the couch with slight difficulty.
John felt the softness of the couch as he continued to cry into his father's shoulder, feeling the warmth and security his father's arms gave him as all of the bottled up emotions from all of the nightmares was released.
Jeff just continued to hold his son securely until he felt John become a dead weight against him before hearing a quiet snore signalling that he was fast asleep. 'Hope he sleeps this time with some of his demons banished' He thought to himself before making himself comfortable on the couch to watch over his son as he slept.
To be continued...
