22,400 Miles Above

by WillowDragonCat

Perfect is not when compatible people come together, it's when they are opposites but in that way they complete each other. Part Two of the ongoing Opposites Attract Series. I suggest reading that first. (Rated mature for occasional strong language and some scenes of danger, violence, sexual situations. All efforts will be made to add trigger warnings at the start of a chapter)

25. Thirty is the New Twenty

"No, we are not going through this again," Selene said firmly. "I'm putting my foot down." And she did just that, firmly stomping her foot against the gravity ring.

John declined to comment, although one eyebrow rose in a clear challenge, daring her to continue.

"You do this every year," she continued to lecture, "and I'm not allowing you to get away with it."

"Away with what?" he asked innocently, valiantly battling down the smile that was trying to form.

"Dodging all conversations and avoiding making plans for your birthday until it's too late or I take over out of desperation."

"I don't always do that," he argued but it was flimsy at best, outright lying at worst.

Her hands went to her hips and she gave him that look, head tipped to one side, lips slightly pursed that clearly said 'keep digging that hole'.

"Four years we've been together."

"I'm aware."

"That's four birthdays and every single time you have done just that."

"Maybe that's because I was lucky enough to have you here to look after me," he tried, but she didn't look like she was falling for it.

"You're trying to flatter me, aren't you?"

"Maybe a little," he admitted, giving up all pretence. "But I do trust you to arrange something for me, you know me better than anyone."

She melted, just a little, her take no nonsense stance relaxing a smidgen as she let out a sigh. "Babe, I love you-"

"I love you too," he interrupted, wanting to state it early, knowing there was a high chance that she was going to follow the statement up with a but.

"But," she continued as if he hadn't spoken, "it's your thirtieth, and you insisted that I had to celebrate mine. So you do too. We'll keep it small, I promise that I won't let Scott get too involved, or Gordon for that matter, but you have to help me out here."

"I'm trying," he promised, a tiny hint of a whine creeping into his voice that was so damn adorable. "I'm just not good with parties, I've never liked them. I can never think of anything that I actually want to do. Everything just seems like such a big deal or that it has the potential to get out of hand."

"I get not liking parties as an adult, there's drunk people and bad music and body odour from dancing," she said, sitting down beside him on his bunk. "But have you never liked them? Not even as a kid?"

He shrugged.

"Come on, babe, work with me here. You must have liked something, sometime, when you were small. What was your favourite bit of a party when you were little?"

"When everyone went home."

She gave him a look that said she was seriously considering getting a new husband. He didn't take it personally, he'd worn that look himself a time or two in relation to one of his brothers and had rarely ever meant it.

He took pity on her and seriously thought about it for a moment or two. "I guess there were a few that were better than others, but my favourite one was the time we got snowed in with an almost unheard of early winter storm that lasted for days."

"Your favourite birthday was one where you were stuck at home?" She couldn't help but smile, it was just so him.

"Yes," he told her seriously. "The snow had started coming down heavily a few days before. So Dad, who had arranged to go to Tracy College for two days before my birthday, wasn't able to go, and we all got to spend time with him on the farm in the snow. That, coupled with the fact that the few classmates that Mom had forced me to invite, ones that I had no real interest in spending time with outside of class anyway, couldn't come, made it a great birthday. Mom was fretting though, because they hadn't been able to get into town to pick up my gifts and she was so worried that I would be disappointed or upset."

"But you weren't?" Selene guessed, feeling like she already knew how this story would play out.

"Not in the slightest," John said, smiling softly at the memory. He had relaxed back against the wall when she had stopped standing over him and glaring like she was planning on taking out a life insurance policy on him and sat down beside him. Now his head was tipped back, resting against the wall, his eyes closed as he conjured up the long forgotten memories.

"So, how did you celebrate?" she asked, lifting his arm and draping it over her shoulders so she could cuddle up to his side.

"The night before, Mom had been saying how much she hoped the snow cleared in time, but I went to bed hoping that it would stay. I got my wish." He pulled her in a little closer, resting his head against hers when she leaned against his shoulder. "I remember looking out of the window and seeing there had been a fresh snowfall overnight. Mom came in to see if I was awake and to tell me how sorry she was, but I thought it was great. She asked me what I wanted to do, since it was my birthday and I decided that I wanted to do nothing."

"Nothing?" she echoed. "Nothing at all?"

He shook his head. "I wanted a day where I didn't have to make any kind of effort. So I decreed that everyone had to stay in their pyjamas, I always hated the way that you are required to dress up in your best clothes to attend a party or even just to host one, I didn't want that."

"Sound reasoning."

"I thought so."

"What happened then?"

"Mom brought me pancakes to eat in bed, a very rare treat as she hated having to change the sheets because one of us had made a mess."

"So you get that from her then?"

"There will never be a time when I allow you to eat cookies in bed, so stop pouting."

"I will never stop pouting," she argued, but did just that when he turned his head and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Fine, no cookies. Now finish telling me about your birthday."

"It was just a nice, simple day," he said with a shrug. "I ate my pancakes, which I later found out was a cunning move on Mom's part to keep me out of the way for an hour while everyone scrambled to put together some homemade gifts for me."

"Aww that was nice of them."

"Yeah, it was. I still have the book that Virgil and Gordon made for me. Virgil did the art and Gordon apparently wrote the story. It was about a boy who loved space so much that his little brother put him in a canon and shot him to the moon. He wore a goldfish bowl on his head as a helmet. It was quite creative even if it wasn't scientifically accurate."

"That is the most adorable thing I've ever heard, I have to see that book."

"I think it's in my bedside drawer back at the ranch in Kansas," he mused, obviously doing a mental search of his belongings. "That was where we were, so it makes sense that it's there."

"We'll have to go find it soon."

"We will," he promised.

"What else did you do?"

"Since we hadn't been able to get to the shops, Mom and Scott tried to bake me a cake. It was nice but the decoration was a Scott special."

"Ahh, so it was heavy on the buttercream and overly generous with the flavours and sprinkles?"

"Got it in one. But it washed down fine with a glass of milk to dilute the sugar. Mom then raided the freezer and found as many things that might pass as party food, things like mini pizzas, hotdogs, chicken nuggets, tater tots, all the things that are bad for you but taste so good, especially as a kid."

"You had me at pizza."

"No, it's you that had me at pizza. Remember when we were first dating and you ordered one? I don't think I've ever eaten that much in one sitting. I do believe you were trying to lull me into a food coma so I'd stay the night."

"Worked didn't it? I got to spend the whole night with your fat head squashing my left boob."

"Fat head?" He aimed a glare at her, but there wasn't any real heat behind it so she didn't take it personally, she knew he didn't mean it in the slightest.

"And I got to stare at your gorgeous face for hours," she continued, as if he hadn't spoken. Lifting her head to look at him, she was amazed how her simple, and very true, words could still make him blush. "I remember how big a deal it was for you to actually settle down long enough to fall asleep, let alone beside someone. We were watching Dracula Has Risen From The Grave, you hated it, but you put up with it because you know I love cheesy horror movies that aren't actually scary."

"I didn't hate it as much as I said I did," he admitted, "it was worth watching to see how much you enjoyed it. Though as I recall we didn't pay that much attention."

"No, we didn't. It turns out that you have very addictive kisses, Mr Tracy."

"As do you, Mrs Tracy," he retorted. It was still weird for both of them to say that, even after a year of being officially married. Selene had kept her last name on a professional level, but had conceded with such things as her main bank account, on official documents like her drivers license and passport, along with allowing him to change the deed of the flat to include both of them as a married couple.

He had never pushed her into changing her name, nor had he taken it personally when she hadn't done so in public, he knew that it wasn't because she didn't want to be known as his wife, in fact she was always extremely vocal about it. But, he had to admit, he did feel a strange pride when they had done the relatively small, but nonetheless important things that counted.

"I remember the way you took so long to let go and actually give in to sleep," she continued, "and when you did I didn't dare stop stroking your hair or move an inch because I was so afraid of waking you."

"You didn't have to lie there and not move all night, I didn't want that."

"No, I wanted that," she answered, settling her head back on his shoulder. "I looked down at you, looking so peaceful and relaxed and I thought to myself, girl you have to be so careful here, because he would be so easy to fall in love with. Little did I know that there would be no falling because I was already there."

"That's your own fault, you could have gotten out while you had the chance," he tutted, grinning when she gently smacked his knee.

"That's it, I'm done saying nice things about you now, continue with your birthday story."

He held in a laugh as he rested his cheek against the top of her head again, picking up her hand that still rested on his knee, lacing his fingers with hers.

"There's not much else to say really. We started watching a movie but the signal was so patchy because of the storm that we gave up. That was when Dad had the bright idea of digging around in the basement and dragging out the old board games that he remembered playing with as a child that had just stayed down there."

"Sounds like a nice, quiet birthday," she commented.

"It was. The next day we played outside in the snow, which was fun. That's one thing I miss about living on the island, no snow."

"You bitched about it last year when it took us forever to defrost my car, then you said you hated it."

"That wasn't real snow," he argued. "That was English snow."

She snorted in disbelief. "There's no difference, snow is snow."

"No, ours was snow, yours is slush. Dirty, ugly, salt encrusted slush."

She opened her mouth to protest but had to close it again, even she knew when to admit that something was hopeless. "OK, I can't argue with that."

"It's a pre-birthday miracle."

"Hey, no, it's not your birthday for another sixteen days. Besides, you can't use it like that if you refuse to make birthday plans."

He sighed, a deep and very martyred sigh. "Fine, if it'll make you happy you can organise a little something, but I mean little. No extra people, just the family. And to make sure, I've already removed my birthday from all social media. I want a quiet day, a day where the GDF are on call, not us, that way I can stay in bed with my wife all day if I want to. We both know that trying to plan anything never goes well for us, so nothing elaborate, nothing where we have to leave the island and nothing where it's dependent on anyone or anything else."

"You're not making it easy for me."

"Call it payback for the fact that you never make anything easy for me either."

"Unfair but, as it's your pre-birthday, I'll allow it. But you're really not giving me much to work with."

"Well, if you're not up to the challenge..." he taunted lightly.

"I am up for any challenge you set me," she assured him. "But you have to trust me and not bug me to reveal what the plans are, and no sneaking looks at my messages. Deal?"

"Fine," he said, holding out his hand. "It's a deal. But I reserve the right to call down my elevator and leave if it gets out of hand."

"Noted." She shook his hand. "Nice doing business with you."

-x-

"International Resc-" John's hologram beeped quickly into life but Selene was quicker, tossing her work over her shoulder in seconds, the back of the couch obscuring it from view, allowing her to sit innocently waiting for his appearance, "-ue we have a situation."

"What's up, John?" Scott was instantly on alert, but not as much as Selene had been.

"We have an injured mountain biker on the Fight Trail in Nova Scotia."

"Will we need Thunderbird Two for this?"

"Unsure, he said he wasn't too badly hurt, but his bike is totalled and mountain rescue can't get to him before dark. It should just be a quick locate and pick up."

"Got it," Scott said, already making his way across the room to his launch chute. "I'm on my way, save the big bird for the next emergency."

"Let's not tempt fate," John said drolly. "I'll give you the details when you're in the air."

"F.A.B." Scott pulled on the wall mounted light sconces that activated his launch chute and the section of wall he was leaning against spun around, taking him with it. Selene waved as he disappeared from view.

"You look suspiciously innocent," John commented as he turned to look at his wife.

"No I don't," she argued, although even she didn't think she'd done it that convincingly.

"Yes, you do."

"Even if I do, it doesn't matter because whatever I was doing does not concern you." She smiled sweetly at him. He didn't look impressed. She tried again, deflection was often the best way to deal with a curious John. "It's girl related, you know, things that you boys don't understand."

"I am not my brothers, you can't put me off with mentions of periods and the like but, if that's the way you wish to play this, I will back off and give you your privacy."

"Thank you," she said with a nod. "Now go away so I can get back to the thing that I wasn't doing that doesn't concern you."

"That just made it worse, but fine, I respect you enough to not continue to push. I'm hoping to be home for dinner though, so whatever it is you're not doing, make sure it's finished by then."

"Gotcha."

"And it had better not be anything that is related to birthdays, parties or social occasions that I won't like."

"Would I do that to you?"

"I respectfully refuse to answer that."

"Fine, whatever," she huffed. "Just go do your job and leave me to do mine."

"Such abuse from my loving wife," he joked, grinning at her when she flipped her middle finger in his direction. He gave her a little wave before his hologram blipped out, just as the familiar rumble of Thunderbird One's launch vibrated through the floor.

"Has he gone? Like properly gone?" she asked Alan, nudging him with her foot when he ignored her. He took off his headphones and lowered his console in response to the prod.

"What? Oh…" He checked the comm on the table and nodded. "All clear."

"Thanks, boo. You know how sneaky he is and you know the tech so much better than me."

"I'm not just better than you at tech, you're allergic to it."

"I'm not that bad! I've gotten better."

Alan looked like he wanted to say something else but wisely stopped himself in time.

"How are you getting on with that thing?" he asked when she threw herself over the back of the couch, flailing for a second or two as she attempted to reach her work without getting up, although moving to retrieve it would have been decidedly less effort.

"Not bad," she answered, flopping back down with a thump, a big pile of crochet in her lap. She spread it out for his inspection, showing him the original inner section and the outer she was currently working on. "It's getting there, I'm just hoping I get enough time to get it finished by Monday, that will give me a day to wash and dry it before his birthday on Wednesday."

"It's looking good."

"You don't think it looks too weird with the centre being different from the rest?" she fretted, studying the blanket from all sides. The centre was an old project that she hadn't had the heart to finish before and she no longer had yarn that matched the original. She had thought about doing a colour match as best she could but in the end she had decided to pick other, contrasting colours and add some little finishing details.

She had worked like a demon for the past week and a half, rescheduling all but the most dire of client appointments, doing nothing but crocheting every moment that John was away from the Island. He was likely more suspicious of that than anything, usually she would be nagging at him to come home, now she was telling him it was fine if he stayed in space longer. But needs must and all that. Now she had only a day and a half left, she was on the home stretch. She just had to work through the finger cramps, stiff muscles and general project burn out in order to power through and complete it in time.

"No, it looks awesome, the colours are blending really well," Alan promised her, knowing how much the blanket meant to her. "He'll love it."

"Is your gift working out?" she asked, changing the subject because, as always, she was a little uncomfortable with praise of any kind when it came to herself or her work.

"Almost done," Alan said, waving his handheld console in her direction. "I'm just testing it out now."

"You are such a clever little sod," she mock grumbled. "Must be those Tracy genes of yours, you're all geniuses. I swear, if John and I ever do end up having kids and the poor thing inherits my brain cells I'll be begging for their forgiveness until they leave home."

Alan snorted in mild amusement, taking her comment for what it was. That was one thing she loved about hanging out with Alan, he never made a big deal out of anything. Even laid back lad, Gordon, would have pounced on her comment and either grilled her about the kids part or started listing all the ways in which she was also smart, they all would. She understood their need to be nice, to make sure that she fully valued herself, but honestly, sometimes she just wanted to make a joke without everyone leaping on her for it.

They both worked in silence for a while, Selene with headphones and an audiobook, Alan with his game, both taking advantage of the rare moment of quiet. It was nice. Most people thought of Alan as the noisy one, well, not as noisy as Gordon but definitely up there in the disruption category, but she didn't. She loved his calm nature, loved the way that he could be just as hyper focused as John when he had his mind occupied by something that he was really interested in. When he was in that mood he was the perfect companion to work beside.

"I'm gonna go get a drink, do you want anything?" Selene asked almost an hour later. Her fingers were stiff, her back was starting to spasm and she'd made three mistakes in the last five minutes, a sure sign that she needed a break. She'd been working on the blanket so much that she was seeing stitches in her sleep, she'd close her eyes and they would be there. Once the damn thing was done she wouldn't be touching another project for a very long time, she knew that much but, hopefully, it would be worth all the effort she was putting in.

"Yeah, I'll take an OJ if there's any left."

"OJ, got it." She took a moment to bundle up her work and tuck it out of the way, just in case John popped up again while she was out of the room.

The kitchen, it transpired, was already occupied. This was good, less work for her.

"Ah, just the boys I wanted to see," she greeted, grabbing a cup from the cupboard and helping herself to Virgil's pot of coffee.

"We are?" Gordon asked, not a little suspiciously. Brains, as usual, didn't bother to listen.

"Yep, I'll be needing a progress report from each of you."

"Really?" Gordon groaned.

"Yes, really, this is important. It's not every year that your brother turns thirty and I'm going to make sure that he has the perfect day if it damn well kills me, so you had better be prepared to step up to the mark, Fish Boy."

"Tad dramatic, Sel."

"No, it's really not. I know you lot, if I wasn't here nagging you you'd leave it all to the last minute and make me even more stressed, it's what you do."

"I'm hurt, hurt that you would even think such a thing."

"Gords, of course she's thinking it, she knows you."

"Hey, you were included in that!"

"No I...hey, yeah I was!" Virgil turned to look at her. She planted her hands on her hips and raised one eyebrow, challenging him to argue her point. He wisely backed down, knowing there was very little wiggle room in the argument.

"So, progress reports, please tell me that you have at least started? We've only got four days left."

"Mine's almost finished," Virgil promised her, "I've just got to sharpen up a few bits and process it once more then it'll be done."

"Fabulous, that's why you and Alan are my stars. Gordy?"

"Located a vintage one, stripped it down, gathered new pictures and I'm now in the process of making the cards," he said, ticking off items on his fingers.

"Perfect, you can be a star too. And you've both taken care not to leave any evidence around?"

They dutifully nodded.

"Awesome, and what about you?" She speared Brains with a look. His head shot up when Virgil nudged him gently with his elbow.

"I...erm….wh-what was the question?" he stammered, clearly confused at suddenly being the centre of attention.

"Project progress report," Virgil supplied.

"Oh...err...I see." He pushed his glasses back up his nose and pushed a button on his tablet, the small holographic display lighting up. "I've in-installed the needed pieces here, here, and here," he said, pointing to various points on the display. "And I've utilized the equipment already in situ, mo-modifying them to do the job."

"Damn," Selene whispered, peering at the screen. "You really think it's gonna work?"

"O-of course," he sniffed, sounding a little insulted. "I've checked and triple checked the designs and the logic is sound. I'm s-simply building on a design that has been around for some forty years already, just compacting it, improving it and making it more s-suitable for our needs."

"But you got this? Right? It'll be ready in time?"

"M-most definitely," he promised with a confident nod.

"You're a freaking genius," she praised.

"I-I know," Brains said with a shrug, not even a hint of modesty there, after all, she was simply stating the truth.

"Are you gonna let us in on the secret yet, Brains?" Virgil asked, intrigued by all the mystery that was surrounding the project the engineer was working on.

"N-not yet, V-Virgil, I want it to be a s-surprise for everyone."

"Alright," Virgil said with a good natured shrug. "I guess that's everyone then, Sel."

"Everyone but Kayo, Grandma and Jeff, piece of cake..." she screeched to a halt, her face registering total panic. "Cake. I forgot to pick the cake!" She dragged her phone out of her pocket and pulled up her recipe board, dropping down in a vacant seat as she started scrolling.

"Lemon...no we did that last year...choc...no that would probably be a bit rich for him, you know he's not got that much of a sweet tooth…" A recipe caught her eye, one that she had set aside months ago. "What about this?" She turned her phone to show Gordon and Virgil, Brains having gone back to his work.

"Looks good," Virgil said, his eyes scanning the screen.

"I'd eat it," Gordon said with a shrug, he wasn't that bothered as long as he got to try some, he'd eat pretty much anything.

"I'd need to check the pantry, but if I don't have everything will one of you be able to take my car and pick up some bits for me?"

"Consider it done," Virgil assured her.

"Cool," she huffed, letting out a relieved stream of air through pursed lips. "Then it looks like we're on schedule, good work team."

-x-

"Hey, birthday boy, look what I've got for you!" Selene singsonged as she pushed open the door with her hip, backing into the bedroom before spinning around to show off the tray she carried. "Breakfast."

"Huh? Wah?" John grunted, ripped from a pleasantly deep sleep by his darling wife. It was his birthday, was he not allowed to sleep in, just this once? Apparently not.

"Breakfast," she repeated.

She'd made breakfast? His brain tried very hard to force itself into gear to decipher her words. Sleep still fogged his mind, nipping at his consciousness, trying to drag him back under into blissful oblivion. It was so tempting, the thought of rolling over and going back to sleep, but he could hear her shifting from foot to foot, heard the clink of china and mentally pulled himself together. She had obviously gone to the trouble of making him something for his birthday, the least he could do was be grateful for it.

He groaned lightly as he stretched, his muscles protesting the movement, then rolled over onto his back, dragging himself upright to lean against the pillows. Instantly there was a tray on his lap, a tray that practically groaned with goodness. There was a large stack of pancakes, sausage, bacon, some scrambled eggs, a few rounds of toast, orange juice and a coffee pot.

"You're an angel," he sighed happily, his eyes roaming the goodies that had been presented to him as his stomach let out an anticipatory grumble. "But there is no way I'll be able to eat all of this."

"You won't have to," she said, tossing her dressing gown aside and climbing back into bed beside him. "Because I'm going to be right here to help you eat it."

"Definitely an angel."

Staying mindful of the tray she leant over to steal a kiss. "Happy birthday, gorgeous man."

"Breakfast in bed with my beautiful wife, there's no way this birthday can't be happy."

"It's true what they say, men do get more charming with age," she teased. "You'd never have gotten away with that line at twenty-nine."

"Age has to have some advantages I suppose."

"Eat your food," she ordered, picking up a piece of bacon and holding it steady while he took a big bite. "Good?" He nodded in answer, his mouth full. "It's still alien to me to cook bacon this crispy and pair it with pancakes but it's your breakfast, not mine."

"I know, we're heathens," he answered, wiping his mouth on a napkin and reaching for the coffee pot to pour himself a cup. "So, am I allowed to know what you have planned for me yet, or not?"

"Planned?" she asked innocently, one eyebrow quirking up in invitation. "Well, they do say that things start to go south as men age, so maybe I should test you out before we get up, just to make sure you're still in good working order."

"Wife, did you just question my virility and manhood, on my birthday?"

"Never," she promised, but he didn't believe her, especially not when she paired the remark with an unfortunately timed biting of a sausage. He succumbed to an involuntary wince and sipped his coffee.

"As for plans," she continued as if nothing had happened, "you'll just have to wait and see, but I promise you, it'll be fine."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," he warned her. "And if I don't like it all I shall expect you to make it up to me later."

She pretended to think about it for a moment or two, then nodded. "Fair enough. Now eat your breakfast, then if you want to we can take a shower and get ready to start your day."

"We?"

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p' sound loudly as she stole his coffee cup. "It's your birthday, besides, I thought you might need some help washing your back."

"And possibly my front," he suggested innocently, forking up some eggs. "Since it's my birthday."

"Since it's your birthday," she agreed. "We'll call it a birthday treat."

-x-

"Can you at least give me a clue?" John asked two hours later. He was standing, wearing nothing but a towel that was wrapped around his hips, in front of the wardrobe, staring into the depths. "What sort of thing are we doing? What do I need to wear?"

"Nothing," she answered.

"Much as you might like it if I were to stay naked all day I'm pretty sure the rest of the family would have something to say about it. I'm going to need more than that."

"That was your clue," she said. "We're doing nothing, although I'm still leaning towards you staying naked if that is in any way an option."

"It's not," he insisted. "So we're not doing anything? We're not going anywhere?" Surely he had to be misunderstanding her? There was no way that she wouldn't have planned something that he would be expected to go along with. There had to be a catch.

"Nope," she said, rummaging in their shared chest of drawers and dragging out her favourite pair of silky pyjamas, a deep midnight blue with embroidered stars and moons on them. She opened another drawer, selected some underwear, bottoms and a matching camisole top with a built-in bra, and pulled them on.

"What are you doing?"

"Not going naked, since you're not I figured I should probably cover up too."

"So you're not making any effort at all to dress up?"

"Nope."

"And I don't have to either?" he confirmed, hardly daring to hope.

She shook her head as she tugged her pyjama bottoms on.

"This is the best birthday ever. Can you grab me something too?"

Selene nodded, delving back into the drawers and rummaging around, messing up his carefully organised rows.

"Scott spoke to the GDF and they are covering all calls for the next two days, so we are having a lazy day," she continued.

John couldn't help but smile as he watched her pick out a pair of comfy pyjama pants and one of his favourite old T-shirts for him to wear.

"Do you want your dressing gown?" she asked, although she didn't sound too thrilled about it. He nodded, just for the hell of it, even though he didn't really feel the need to wear it. She tossed that onto the pile too.

"I've got no idea what everyone will think of us appearing like this but at the moment I don't care," he said as he dragged on his pants and tugged the shirt over his head, his damp hair sticking up at all angles when his head emerged from the hole.

"Screw what anyone thinks. You wanted a chill day, so you've got a chill day. You deserve a chance to lounge around in comfort and be waited on without having to lift a finger and by the gods you are going to get it and you will enjoy it," she declared, looking so fierce that even he didn't dare argue with her.

"You won't hear me complaining," he told her. "Wait, let me take that for you." He reached out to take the breakfast tray from her but she refused, dodging past him to the door. She gestured for him to open it for her and, seeing that he had no other choice, he did as she bid, letting her go first and following along after her.

"Do you think any of the others are up and about yet?" he asked as they reached the kitchen. Any time there was a guaranteed day off his siblings would take full advantage of it by staying in bed for as long as they could get away with, catching up on some much needed rest.

"I don't know," she answered. Leaving the tray on the kitchen side to deal with later, she busied herself with pouring them some coffee. "The pot is full and hot, but I did make a fresh one before I came up to get you, so that could mean anything."

"I guess there's only one way to find out, though the thought of going back to bed if they aren't up is very tempting."

"Then we'd need another shower," she pointed out, leaning back against his chest when he slipped his arms around her middle.

"That's the point."

"In that case," she practically purred, "we should definitely keep that in reserve." She lent her head back against his shoulder for a kiss.

"Urghh, couldn't you two have done all that in your room? Why must the rest of us suffer?" Gordon's voice came from the doorway, making them jump, but John refused to let go, dropping a soft kiss on her neck, just to be stubborn.

"No, it's my birthday, I can do what I want." He might not like the idea of celebrating but he wasn't above using his birthday to his full advantage, plus it was kinda fun to annoy his brothers when usually they were the ones doing it to him.

"Not in public you can't," Gordon argued. He was still wearing his pyjamas, looking sleep ruffled and grumpy, which probably explained the attitude. "Now get out of the kitchen, people have to eat in here."

Selene had to try very hard to hold in the giggle that threatened to escape. Gordon being stern and bossy didn't happen often, but when it did it was the funniest thing in the world to her.

She scooped up their coffee cups and nudged John with her hip, nodding towards the door. "Come on, birthday boy, let's get out of his way before he has a fit."

"He'd better be a bit nicer to me once he's had some coffee," John grumbled as he stomped up the stairs towards the lounge. And she wondered why he never wanted to celebrate with the family, because they all acted like that.

"Happy Birthday!" a number of voices yelled out as he walked through the door, including Gordon who had run up the stairs behind them.

"What's going on?" John asked, his brain unable to compute the scene in front of him. Every single member of his family, including Brains, were in their pyjamas, although with Grandma it was hard to tell since she was wearing another onesie. But his father, he hadn't seen his dad in night wear since he had recovered from his time in the Oort Cloud. He had said that wearing pyjamas made him feel like he was sick, and he didn't want that. Now, here he was, in a pale blue cotton pyjama set teamed with a robe that looked rather like an old fashioned smoking jacket. John had no idea where he had dug that up from, but for some reason it really suited him.

Kayo was wearing one of her vest top and sleep shorts sets, Alan had on a set that depicted a superhero that John didn't know the name of, Scott and Virgil both had sets on similar to his, of the bottoms and T-shirt variety and Brains, well his still had creases in them where he had obviously just taken them out of a packet. They were an eye watering colour of lime green and far too long for him. Somehow, and John didn't know how it was possible, they were actually clashing with his glasses.

"It's your birthday," Scott answered like that explained everything.

"And none of you are bothering to get dressed up for it?" John found that hard to believe, his family was big on making a fuss and a number of them enjoyed the chance to wear something other than their uniform or everyday casual clothes, especially Scott.

"Not this year. We're staying like this, just as we did when Mom was here."

"Sel said that you wanted a do nothing day," Virgil explained. "So that's what you're getting."

"You've all agreed to do nothing?" Again with the tone of utter disbelief, his family were not the type to laze around without something to do, they got bored easily and generally required some form of entertainment.

"Well, a do nothing day with a few exceptions ," Grandma continued.

"Exceptions?" Why didn't he like the sound of that? He knew it was too good to be true.

Grandma nodded and as one, Scott, Alan, Gordon, Kayo and Grandma dug around under furniture and behind their backs to produce their gifts.

Grandma's was obviously food of some description, since she was holding an old fashioned casserole dish with a lid that you couldn't see through. John visibly paled but kept his 'I am a brave and competent rescuer' face on.

"Don't look so worried," Grandma grumbled as she placed the dish down and lifted the lid. Inside was a selection of chocolate bars, some in English, but many in languages Selene couldn't read.

"Your birthday is national chocolate day, so I thought you might enjoy trying some that were a little different, not to mention something that I didn't make."

"I'm sure you would have made something lovely," Selene soothed, although no one looked like they believed her.

"They're great," John said, standing up and leaning over the coffee table to give his grandma a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you."

"Now mine," Kayo said, pushing her gift forward like she wanted it over and done with. "Selene said we were doing handmade gifts this year and I had no idea what to do. So, if it's rubbish, you can blame her."

"I'm sure whatever it is will be great," John assured her as he picked it up. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me until you've seen it," she warned him.

"Oh hush," Grandma scolded lightly. "It's the thought and the effort you put in that counts and you did a lot."

John tugged at the string that held the package closed and took off the obviously recycled Christmas paper.

"A scrapbook?" He began to flick carefully through the pages, seeing that it was full of printed out articles and pictures.

"It's all the important historical events, births and deaths that happened on your birthday," Kayo explained. "I wasn't sure what to do and I know you like history so I thought that would interest you."

"October 28th 2009," John read out. " NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its short-lived Constellation program. I think I read about that somewhere."

"Cool that it happened on your birthday," Alan said. "What else is there?"

"In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean on his Spanish expedition, the first to circumnavigate the globe. And," John continued flicking through, "the novel Gulliver's Travels was published."

"I read that in school," Grandma said. "Strange book, lots of little people in it."

"In 1886 President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty. This is really cool," Gordon said, reading over John's shoulder.

"Yeah, it is, thanks, Kay."

"It's no big deal," she said, brushing his thanks aside, although the relief in her voice was obvious.

"Heads up," Scott called, tossing a badly wrapped bundle of something at his brother's head.

John just about caught it before it smacked him in the face and ripped open the brown paper that covered it.

"What the…" he trailed off as he held up the plain white T-shirt that had been scrawled on in Scott's handwriting. "I'm smiling because I'm your brother, I'm laughing because there's nothing you can do about it," he read aloud. "Well, this is certainly true." John couldn't help but laugh. "Although I don't know which of us it suits more."

"I'd say it's more to you than for you," Scott admitted, grinning despite himself. "You do tend to act like you'd pick different siblings given the choice."

"If I acted like you were the best brothers in the world I'd never get any peace," John said. "Sometimes I have to lie for my own sanity, but thank you, it's awesome."

"Damn right it is."

"Time for mine," Virgil said, rolling his eyes as he took out his phone, nodding at John to do the same. "Sorry, you can't wear it."

Frowning slightly, John took his phone out and waited. Virgil stabbed his own screen a few times and then waited. Selene squished up next to John so she could see his screen just as a file transfer invite flashed up. Curious, John accepted the file which started downloading to his phone. Once done it popped up with a play button which he tapped.

It started out softly, just a low, lone piano, but the tune was instantly familiar having been originally performed on a piano, although it was the addition of a guitar in place of the lyrics that really pulled the piece together.

Selene glanced at John, loving the expression of delight on his face. It was a song that was quite dear to all of them, one that she knew Jeff loved and had played often when they were children.

It was so well done that even she, with her lack of any kind of musical skills or much ability to recognise songs, found herself humming along, picking out choice lines and singing along quietly as they listened.

"I miss the Earth so much, I miss my wife. It's lonely out in space, on such a timeless flight."

"And I think it's gonna be a long, long time, 'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find, I'm not the man they think I am at home," Jeff finished, singing softly as he joined in with her.

"Who was on guitar?" she asked when the song came to an end.

"Gordon," John answered before Virgil could. "He plays lighter than Scott, but also a little less precise."

"I'm on the next one," Scott tossed in, not wanting to be left out.

"There's more?" John asked, the surprise evident in his voice.

"You didn't think I'd only do a crappy T-Shirt, did you? I'm insulted."

John chose to ignore Scott's apparently insulted ego in favour of turning his attention back to Virgil.

"We did a whole album," Virgil admitted a little bashfully. "We couldn't decide what song to cover, so we chose a few of your obvious favorites and then we each picked a song, either one we liked or one we all knew."

"It's perfect," John promised him, flicking through the songs slowly, playing a little snippet of each.

"This was my pick," Scott told him as they listened to a softer, slower version of the classic rock track, Home Sweet Home.

The songs continued, some with Scott on piano instead, his style a little more jazzy than Virgil's who emanated calm, relaxed energy, with Gordon, and once or twice Alan, on guitar. It was clear that a huge amount of work had gone into recording, arranging and cleaning up the songs, something that would have been hard to accomplish with their schedule at the best of times, let alone doing it in secret and with a tight timeframe. John would have been amazed with just one, but to do an entire album was utterly unbelievable.

"I don't know what to say," he admitted, swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat. He felt Selene lean closer to his side and reached for her hand. He sometimes felt like he missed out on a lot of the family time that others enjoyed, he wasn't always in on the jokes or included in the silly, spontaneous moments that often happened, but it was times like this that proved they still knew him very well.

"Well, I thought, since everyone else gets to put in requests when I play, it was only right you got some songs of your own," Virgil told him, trying to downplay the whole thing, as was his way. Out of all the Tracy boys, Virgil was the most humble, he was so talented but never bragged, even in the light-hearted way that the others did, which made it all the more special when he chose to put his skills to use in a way that would garner him a lot of attention as this was.

"Thank you, so much, all of you."

"You're very welcome."

"Mine next!" Alan ordered, pushing his gift closer, breaking through the more serious mood that had descended.

John carefully opened the box, confusion showing on his face when he saw the, slightly grubby and dented, VR headset inside. He had no idea why Alan would give it to him, especially when he already had his own, much cleaner, one in Five.

"A VR headset," he finally said, "thanks Al."

"That's not the real present," Alan said, rolling his eyes. "Put it on."

Frowning slightly John did as he was told. As soon as it was in place the inside lit up, showing him a start screen he was unfamiliar with, which for him was saying something, since he had played games with Alan almost weekly since his brother had started in International Rescue.

"What game is this? I don't recognise it."

"Just watch," Alan instructed.

Before his eyes a little scene started to play out, featuring two astronauts, one smaller than the other with blond hair and the other taller with red hair.

"Remember all the stories we used to make up about the adventures we would go on when we were old enough to be astronauts?" Alan asked, sounding incredibly pleased with himself. "Well, I never forgot them, and when Sel said we were doing homemade gifts this year, I made them into a game."

"You did this?" John's tone of surprise and disbelief wasn't because he thought Alan wasn't capable of it, he knew that his little brother could do amazing things when he set his mind to it, just like any of his brothers. He just couldn't believe that his brother had put so much thought, time and effort into a gift for a birthday that John had been very vocal about not wanting to celebrate.

"Yep," Alan said proudly, taking the comment in the spirit in which it was meant. "I thought we could play it together soon."

"We will definitely play it together," John promised as Alan guided the character through a few scenes while John watched. "This is brilliant."

"Let me see," Scott demanded, holding out his hand for the headset. It was dutifully handed over, first to Scott and then passed round to everyone else.

"This is so cool, Al," Gordon said, having kept it the longest. "Can you make one that's underwater too?"

"Probably," Alan shrugged, trying to sound casual but obviously loving the praise that was being heaped on him.

"Dammit, it makes my gift look rubbish in comparison," Gordon sighed as John reached for the box that Gordon had given him. John hesitated, waiting to see if Gordon had anything else to add. "Go on, open it, put us out of our misery."

"Way to make it sound like it's going to explode," Scott laughed, seeing the look of trepidation on John's face.

"It won't explode!"

"Are you sure?"

"Nothing is going to explode!" Selene yelled, getting slightly miffed by their insistence on making everything into either a joke or a pissing contest. "What is it with you lot? Can you not just do one nice thing for your brother and not be dicks about it to each other?"

"Woah, stress head Sel is in the house," Scott continued to tease. "We're just being brotherly, if we acted any different he'd think he was special or something."

Selene opened her mouth to argue again but John jumped in before she got more annoyed and tried to smack his brother upside his head.

"It's fine, I'm not taking it personally," he promised her. "Scott's right, this was pretty usual for birthdays when we were kids, it's actually nice to have it like this again. I said I didn't want a fuss, they're just taking me at my word."

Selene narrowed her eyes in warning at Scott and Gordon one last time before sitting back against the couch. "Fine, but I'm watching you two, so behave."

"Can I open this now?"

"Yes," she answered, crossing her arms.

Trying not to laugh, John carefully unwrapped the, rather messily wrapped, box and pulled out a games board. "Guess who? I haven't seen this since we were kids."

He tipped the board forward, making all the little hinged tiles stand upright, expecting to see the familiar faces of the characters they had known as kids. What he actually saw shocked a laugh out of him.

"You like it?" Gordon asked.

"It's great," John assured him, still chuckling. "But I wish you'd picked a better picture of me." Gordon had used a picture of him that had been taken during his bachelor party lap dance, zoomed in on his horrified face.

"It's hard to find good pictures of you," Gordon argued. "Plus I thought it would be funnier this way."

Selene leant over to look, slapping her hand over her mouth to hold in her laughter, although she still let out an inelegant snort. Gordon had changed every single picture to someone they knew.

The pictures of the brothers were truly awful, Scott's had been taken at a party a few years ago when he had been in the middle of stuffing a pizza slice in his mouth and turned to whoever had the camera, the slice dangling from his mouth, his eyes wide with surprise. Virgil was asleep in his, head tipped back in Two's pilot seat, mouth wide open but eyes tightly closed. Alan's showed him sitting on the couch, tongue sticking out at an odd angle as he concentrated on a game level he was playing. Grandma's had her waving a wooden spoon threateningly at MAX, whom she'd obviously been bossing around in the kitchen. Kayo and Selene's were similar, taken at a time when they had been enjoying a late night crime show session and were wearing face masks of bright pink slop. Jeff's was an old one from before International Rescue showing him proudly sporting the most eye watering pink flamingo shirt Selene had ever seen, along with a baseball cap. And Brains's was the time that he had tried contact lenses and obviously been having a bad reaction to them, his eyes red and puffed up like a hamster. Penelope's had obviously been found on the internet at an event, she was standing next to a horse and its rider, presenting them with a rosette but right at the moment the picture had been taken the horse had shifted and trodden on her foot. Parker's showed him after one of his first visits to the island when he had laid by the pool with a knotted hankie on his head as a sunhat and gotten very sunburnt as he dozed on a lounger.

There were other pictures, one of Lee Taylor, one of Brandon, ones of Buddy and Ellie, Fischler, Lemarie, Conrad, Ned, Gladys, Rigby, Colonel Casey, Celia, Adam, Sherbet, Armstrong the cat, and other random people that John would know, including Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Leonard Nimoy. It was the coolest thing that Selene had seen in ages.

"This is…"

"Amazing," John agreed, flicking through the cards that came with it. Gordon had clearly put a lot of time, thought and effort into making the game, in fact it seemed like everyone had. Every gift had been thoughtful and meant so much to him. Gifts were always nice, but they had all gotten to the point of not wanting or needing anything. They didn't lack money or resources, they didn't want for anything, so gift giving times were always stressful. This was something completely different and he knew that they were things he would treasure forever.

"So brilliant," she agreed, unable to stop smiling at the images in front of them.

"We could play it now," Alan suggested.

"I don't know," John hesitated, looking at Selene, his eyes then flickering to his dad and Brains. Although he couldn't see any gifts from them on the table, he didn't want to assume they had anything or ask like he expected something, but he also didn't want to be rude and ignore them if they did. "Would anyone else mind?"

"We're giving you our gifts later," Selene assured him, knowing exactly what he had been thinking. "It's not time for them yet."

"We can play," Jeff said, getting to his feet. "In fact, we have a few things to add."

Selene followed him to retrieve the other games from his desk drawer, coming back with an old game of Buckaroo, Monopoly and Selene's childhood game of Snakes and Ladders.

"Are these from the ranch?" John asked, recognising the games of their childhood that they had spent many hours playing with. "I haven't seen these in years."

"Yup, I went and got them a couple of days ago," Jeff answered. "Selene told us we were having a retro games day like when you were a kid, so I figured we needed the original ones."

"Ah, so that's what this is all about," John said, everything finally falling into place in his head. Honestly he could kick himself for not having figured it out before then. He should have known that his wife would take him literally and make sure he had a perfect grown up version of his favourite birthday, especially when she had asked so many questions about it, wanting all the details. And he'd been thinking that she'd only brought him breakfast in bed as a way of seducing him into staying there longer, not that he'd minded that in the slightest.

"Hey, what's this?" Gordon asked, breaking into John's thoughts by holding up the box Selene had brought from her parents, shaking it back and forth to get her attention.

"What does it look like it is? It's snakes and ladders, have you never played it?"

"No," Scott drawled, taking the box from Gordon to examine it. "We had the proper version, Chutes and Ladders."

"Chutes?" Selene asked, one eyebrow raised, her tone one of pure disbelief. "What the hell is a chute? How does that work?"

"You know, you go along the board, you climb the ladder and you slide down the chute."

"So it's a slide? Like in a playground?"

"Well, yeah, but it's a chute."

"But you slide down it?"

"Yeah."

"Like a slide?"

"I guess."

"Then why isn't it called slides and ladders?" Selene argued, clearly confused and getting rather frustrated.

"Why does yours have to have snakes?" Scott countered.

"Because it's a game of life, and life is full of slippery snake bastards intent on sending you back down every time you get somewhere?"

"Language!" Grandma admonished her.

"Sorry, Grandma."

Jeff was wisely keeping out of it, John just shook his head, even Virgil was trying hard not to laugh.

"Look, are we going to play my game, which the English played before you, might I add, or are we just going to sit around and argue all day?"

"We're gonna play," John said, picking up the Buckaroo game and opening the box to check all the pieces were there. "But if you two are going to argue the whole time I'm banning you from Monopoly."

-x-

After four loud rounds of Buckaroo and two games of Snakes and Ladders, Selene slipped away to the kitchen, leaving John in the capable hands of his family who were halfway through a game of Monopoly.

The second part of their plan was simple, for her to drag everything they had hidden in the third freezer, usually reserved for bulk buys of milk, bread and essentials, and cook it all without John noticing she was gone.

When she had first come to the island she had looked at the catering sized oven, the smaller second oven and the million other gadgets in the kitchen and had thought it was some serious overkill. Go big or go home energy was strong with the Tracy family, but now she had never been more grateful.

Working quickly she laid out every baking tray and dish they possessed and loaded them up with goodies. Everything that John had talked about and more. Mini pizzas, mini corn dogs on sticks, tiny cocktail sausages, nuggets, tater tots, cheese bites, everything was dumped out and thrown into the ovens.

Relying on timers to do the majority of the work for her, she used the time in which they cooked to make sandwiches and decant bags of chips, popcorn and pretzels into easily accessible bowls. And, since it was so near to Halloween, candy corn and bite sized candy bars joined the snacks on the table.

She was plating up the last of the hot food when Jeff stuck his head in the door.

"Anything I can do?"

"Nope, I think I'm good," she answered, dumping the last of the nuggets in a bowl and calling it done. "I've just got to put out the drinks, wash these trays down and put them away, then we can call the birthday boy down for food."

"Let me do that then," Jeff insisted, taking the tray off her and heading to the sink.

"Cheers. How are the games going? Are they behaving themselves?" she asked as she headed to the drinks fridge to start unloading the cans that had been chilling in there.

"I've broken up four fights and put Gordon, Kayo and Brains in a time out where they missed a turn."

"So just as we expected it to, then?" she laughed, lining up cans of coke alongside bottles of John's favourite organic blood orange soda.

"Mm hmm," Jeff agreed, stacking the trays he had just dried and handing them to Selene to put away in the cupboard. "No beers?"

"Nope, this is a children's party after all. This is the 2060's not the 1960's. How many kids do you give beer to?"

"I never gave them any but mine used to vanish with surprising regularity while I was away."

"Who are we blaming for that?"

"Scott and John, Virgil was more likely to steal my good coffee."

"Not surprised in the slightest," she said, closing the cupboard and standing tall to stretch her back out. "Did Brains tell you i-" An eruption of noise from above interrupted her, wild cheering breaking through the disappointed groans.

"Wanna go get them?" Jeff asked, chuckling to himself.

"Sure, lead the way."

"No, after you," Jeff insisted, stepping aside to allow her to go first while he brought up the rear.

"Hey gorgeous," she greeted John, leaning over the back of the couch to drop a kiss on his head.

"Hey, where did you disappear to?"

"Just went to get a drink."

"For," he checked his comm watch, "fifty-five minutes?"

"I drank it down there, you guys were giving me a headache," she joked. "So who won the last game?"

"Virgil, he's a surprisingly shrewd businessman."

"Never underestimate the nice ones," she advised. "You hungry?"

"I could eat," John said. They had been playing for hours and his stomach was very much onboard with the idea of nourishment.

"Guess I should feed you then, since I'm your wife and it's your birthday."

"What about the rest of us?" Scott asked, playing along. "Do we get fed?"

"I'm sure I can whip something up," she mock sighed. "Come on then, follow me."

They didn't so much follow as race ahead, galloping down the stairs, leaving Selene, John, Grandma and Jeff to follow along behind.

"Wait for John!" Grandma yelled after the retreating Tracys, halting them in their tracks before they could fall on the food like a pack of starving dogs.

"It's alright," John started, heading down after them. "We've still got to decide what to eat…" he trailed off, coming to a halt in the doorway, his eyes surveying the spread of food. "Wow, that is a lot of food."

"It sure is," Virgil said, inching towards the nuggets.

"Would be a shame for it to get cold," Gordon added, sneaking a corndog.

"Just eat the damn food," Selene laughed, giving in, she knew that John wouldn't mind.

"You didn't have to do all this," John murmured, his lips close to her ear as his arm slid around her waist, "but thank you."

"I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to, so go eat before they pick the whole table clean."

"Yes, ma'am," he laughed, stealing a quick kiss before he grabbed a plate of his own and started loading up.

-x-

"I couldn't eat another thing," Kayo groaned, leaning back in her chair, her hand on her stomach. Empty plates littered the holotable, around which sat the rest of the family, all in similar states of food coma.

"Me neither," Virgil sighed, stealthily loosening his belt a notch, making room to allow himself the luxury of breathing.

"I can't believe you guys ate so much," Selene said, still in awe that the massive amount of food she had cooked had been consumed to the point of leaving nothing but crumbs. Four years with the family and she could still be shocked, who knew?

"I was expecting we'd be eating leftovers for days, that's how it always was in my house growing up. You'd cook way too much food because you greatly overestimate how much you actually need and then you end up eating sandwiches and sausages on sticks for every meal for the next three days."

"Not with our family," John said, half listening to the conversation and half watching the movie that was playing in the background. He had stretched out on the couch after he'd worked through his second plate of food and was now feeling pleasantly full and dozy. His head was pillowed on his wife's lap, her hand tucked in his where it rested on his chest and he was pretty sure that this had become his favourite birthday to date.

He had to admit, he had been a bit apprehensive when she had refused to tell him anything about her plans. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, or thought that she would deliberately organise something he would hate, but her idea of quiet and his were vastly different. She hadn't let him down before but this was a special case, his thirtieth birthday, and after he had insisted that she had to celebrate hers, and accidentally let Scott plan a surprise party, he had been half afraid that she would seek revenge as she had threatened to do. He shouldn't have worried, he should have known that she would have his best interests at heart and that whatever she arranged would be perfect for him.

He wouldn't have even thought about recreating a past birthday, especially not one that had been so long ago, but she had, and it had been wonderful. While he couldn't say that it had been quiet, nothing ever was with his family involved, it had been relaxed and lacking any of the usual social expectations that made birthdays and parties so stressful for him.

It was clear that everyone had put a huge amount of effort into their part, be it his gifts, the games or refraining from killing a family member for the sake of his peace. Now it was late afternoon, the day was almost over, and the thought of an early night was tempting him far more than he would let on.

"Things are never as I expect in your family," Selene said, bringing him back to awareness of the room around him.

"If it was you'd be bored," Scott laughed. "I don't know what you're all complaining about, I could definitely eat some more."

"Because you aren't a man," Selene started, ignoring his indignant squawk at her perceived bashing of his manhood, "you're a bottomless pit of a stomach with a head."

He opened his mouth to argue that, but stopped, knowing he couldn't. In the end he just shrugged, letting it go.

Everyone settled down, turning their attention back to the movie, only Selene and Jeff noticing the way that Brains kept stealthily slipping his phone out of his pocket, checking something and then hiding it again.

The movie was almost over when Brains checked again, an excited look sparking in his eyes behind his thick glasses. He caught Selene's gaze and covertly nodded. Jeff noticed the exchange and coughed subtly in response. Now it was down to her.

"Anyone fancy some coffee when this is done?" she asked casually.

"I could go for a coffee," Virgil answered, surprising no one.

"Me too."

"Coffee would be good."

"And maybe a slice of cake, since it's someone's birthday and I went to the trouble of making it," she continued, flicking John gently on the shoulder when he neglected to comment, jolting him out of the light doze he'd dropped into.

He blinked up at her in utter confusion, obviously at a loss as to what he was supposed to say or do next.

"Cake?" she simplified.

"Cake?"

"Birthday cake, you know, blowing out candles, making a wish, which is totally witchcraft by the way, but no one will admit it because they don't want to believe that they have been making their kids do spells their entire life...where was I going with this?"

"I wish I knew," John yawned, ignoring Scott's sniggering.

She paused for a second to think, mentally rewinding her last words. "Oh, cake, yes. Cake and coffee when this is finished."

"Sounds good," he mumbled, sitting up slowly and stretching to work the kinks out of his spine from lying down in such a manner.

The credits rolled on the movie and like a switch had been flipped, everyone began to move again, rolling out of their seats, hauling themselves up from the couch, and shuffling towards the door, the promise of more food motivating them better than any rescue ever could.

John trailed along after them when Selene gave him a little shove in the right direction to get him moving, Brains and Jeff bringing up the rear.

The cake, if she did say so herself, was a masterpiece of understated deliciousness. John had what she referred to as a specifically sophisticated sweet tooth. He liked some sweet things, but he had to be in the mood for them, and they had to suit his pallet. He preferred more subtly sweet than full out sugar rush, more of a hint of sweet, not a hit you in the face and rot your teeth out of your head taste, like Alan and Gordon preferred. Grandma had taken this into consideration when sourcing the chocolate for his gift, picking things that were blended with other flavours, like mint chocolate, chilli chocolate, salted chocolate and more of the bitter, dark variety than the milk or white Selene ate. Maybe it was a ploy to make sure she didn't steal any.

Using the recipe she had saved, she'd baked him a caramel carrot cake with a salted caramel cream cheese frosting. Sprinkled with little chunks of caramel, dark chocolate spirals and drizzled with salted caramel sauce it was the perfect mix of subtle sweetness that she knew he'd love.

There was a chorus of appreciative whistles as Virgil, who had helped her decorate it, carefully carried the cake out of the pantry where it had been hidden and slid it gently onto the table in front of John.

"Wow, that looks amazing," John groaned appreciatively as it landed before him and the candles were hurriedly stuck on top.

"Make way, coming through." Scott, whom most wouldn't trust with fire most days, carefully set a flameless lighter to the candles and set them alight, just two numbered candles, a three and a zero, nothing that would be overly intimidating.

"Blow out the candles and make a wish," Grandma instructed after everyone out of respect for John and his wish to not be the centre of attention if he could help it, forgoed the usual singing of happy birthday.

"Alright, although I don't know what I should wish for."

It was funny seeing John agree so easily to what he used to refer to as a silly and rather childish ritual but, now that he had a witch for a wife, someone that regularly lit candles and wished before snuffing them out, he didn't dare refuse.

"You're not supposed to tell us what you wish for anyway," Alan reminded him, "so just pick anything and do it before the cake gets all waxy."

"You do know this isn't hygienic in any way, don't you?" John asked, stalling for time as he racked his brain for something, anything to wish for. He was a simple man, there wasn't anything he particularly needed, he had everything he wanted out of life already, anything else would be a bonus. Eventually, at a loss for anything else, he simply wished, once again, for the continued safety and wellbeing of his family, that's all he ever wanted or needed. With this thought in mind he leant over and blew out the candles to the cheers of those around him.

"Feel like eating this outside?" Selene suggested casually as Virgil poured out coffees for everyone and John cut the cake while she held out the plates to receive each slice.

"Yeah, that would be nice," John agreed with a happy smile. He liked to be outside when he was on earth. As much as he loved living among his stars, he often missed fresh air, the sounds of nature, the feel of the wind on his skin, the warmth of the sun on his face or the refreshing feel of rain. It helped him to stay connected, to feel like he actually belonged there, rather than in space.

"Come get your cake!" Selene called to the waiting Tracys, who were circling like vultures waiting for permission to strike.

"Can I get a bit with extra frosting?"

"Not too big a slice for me, I'm still kinda full from earlier."

"Not too much frosting for me."

"I don't care as long as it's a big slice."

"Who's got the cream, I hate black coffee?"

"Virg, any chance of a latte instead?"

"Latte? What are you, twelve?"

"Fine, I'll take a hot chocolate instead then."

"That's even worse!"

"Will you all shut up? Gods it's like herding cats, toddler cats that won't stop fighting," Selene grumbled, passing down the last plate. "How have you put up with them for thirty years?"

"For a while there were only two of them," John answered, "after that I just had to keep my head down and hope I got out with my sanity intact."

"What a load of bull! Dad, tell him we weren't that bad," Gordon whined.

"Don't drag me into this," Jeff said placidly, forking up a mouthful of cake.

"You always say that."

"Because you always try to drag me into it," Jeff laughed. "It didn't work when you were kids and it won't work now."

"Fine," Gordon huffed dramatically. "But if I develop a complex, I know who to blame."

"You do that, son."

"I will," he retorted, scooping up his plate and vanishing out the door with a cheeky wink.

"Now it feels like a birthday," John said, picking up his own plate and Selene's so she could grab their drinks. "They had better have left us a decent seat out there."

"I'll go and make sure they have," Jeff said, heading outside, taking his plate with him.

"Are you having a good birthday?" Selene asked quietly as they made their way to the door. As always, it had been a bit nerve-wracking to come up with and organise a plan for John. The last thing she ever wanted to do was push him into anything he didn't want to do or to make him suffer something he would hate. She thought she knew him pretty well, but doubts were something you couldn't avoid and she had her fair share of them.

"I am," he promised.

"And you don't mind that we didn't do anything or go anywhere special?"

"Of course not, you know I'm more comfortable at home anyway, besides, to me this is special. You listened to me, you remembered everything I said and you helped recreate it perfectly. It's exactly what I wanted, no fuss, time with the family and no expectations for me to socialise or go anywhere. It's just what I needed."

"Good." She tipped her head back, offering her lips for a quick kiss. "As long as you're happy, I'm happy."

"I'm happy," he assured her, his lips meeting hers in a soft kiss.

"Hurry up you two!"

John groaned softly. "OK, next time we can go away somewhere without them."

"You don't mean that," she giggled.

"Ask me again later and I might."

"Get moving," she said, giving him a little nudge with her hip.

"Fine, fine, I'm going."

Jeff had been as good as his word, saving them a lounger to share. The sun was lower in the sky, giving the promise of a beautiful sunset to come, the air was filled with the buzz of quiet conversation and the cake was good, what more could he want? He sipped his coffee, his eyes roaming the clouds above, mentally placing where the constellations would glow later that evening, relaxing in the quiet acceptance of his family. This was nice, peaceful-

SCREEE SCREEE SCREEE

Every Tracy sat bolt upright, Alan almost falling off his seat in shock.

"What the hell is that?" Selene yelled over the din, her hands over her ears to block out the noise.

"The fire alarms," Scott yelled back.

All around them poles started lifting out of the ground, nozzles twisted on the villa walls, more poles slid out of the villa roof above them.

"EOS!" John yelled into his comm. "Locate the fire!" but EOS didn't respond. "EOS?"

As suddenly as the alarms had started they stopped. Everyone looked at each other in confusion, frozen in a state of what the fuck do we do, what the hell is going on?

Eyes swivelled this way and that, searching for smoke or some sign that something was on fire.

"S-sorry," Brains stammered. "I d-didn't realise the a-alarm would activate t-too."

"Too?" John asked, thoroughly confused. "Did you turn it on? Why?"

"F-for your birthday. W-watch."

There was an audible PFFF sound as the sprinklers activated.

Everyone ducked, covering their heads, preparing for the expected downpour of the fire fighting foam that they usually contained.

"Look!"

"What's that?"

"Yes, what is that?" John asked, squinting to see a little clearer. "If I didn't know better I'd say it looked like-"

"Snow!" Alan yelled, racing closer to the nearest sprinkler. He held out his hand to catch a few flakes. "It's actually cold!"

"So that's what you were up to," Virgil laughed. "You made it snow."

"Brains, this is amazing."

"How the heck did you do this?" John asked, caught between a mixture of wonder and scientific awe. He wanted to marvel at the sight of snow on their tropical island, but he just had to know how the other man had done it first.

"W-well," Brains stammered, looking extra flustered and embarrassed at all the attention he was receiving. "When S-Selene was telling us the plan for your birthday, she told us how you wished to s-see the snow again. And I got to t-thinking. Most snow machines require an ambient temperature of around minus two degrees centigrade or lower in order to operate." As usual the more he spoke he forgot about being nervous, he forgot about being the centre of attention and focused instead on his explanation. He loved his work and was more than happy to talk about it. "O-obviously we do not have those kinds of temperatures, but I recalled reading about a new type of snow machine that employed the use of a temperature controlled chamber and dry ice. I theorised that if it were to be mixed with regular w-water based ice crystals, it would create the look and feel of real snow. After I figured that out it was simple enough to modify the sprinkler system to pump dry ice through the fire foam chambers."

"That's-"

"Incredible," Selene finished for John. "I knew it would be good, but this is just amazing."

"It really is," John agreed. "Thank you, I can't believe you did this for me." He could hardly believe what he was seeing, actual snow on the island, something they could normally only dream about. That was one thing he liked about having another home with Selene in London, the chance to see the seasons again, something he missed on both the island and Thunderbird Five. As a kid he had always loved the way the night sky changed overhead with the seasons, the way the trees grew and lost their leaves, the nip in the air that heralded winter or the gradual warmth that came with the arrival of spring, it made him feel connected to the earth. Now, here on the warmth of Tracy Island he was feeling tiny bites of cold as the snow landed on his exposed skin and it was truly magical.

"Oh, it was n-nothing," Brains blushed, uncomfortable with the attention. "I'll just…" he paused to shuffle a little further away, "be going now." He was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving them with the rest of the family, who were all staring in wonder at the snow.

It was already starting to settle, forming little piles on the ground that the others were unable to keep their hands off, in fact one snowball had already been formed and launched at the back of Scott's head. The air temperature was starting to cool ever so slightly, due to a mixture of the sea breeze, the sun going down and the snow machines, giving Selene the perfect moment to slip away and retrieve her gift, leaving John in the capable hands of his brothers.

"Here," she announced, draping the blanket around his shoulders from behind.

"Thanks, I was getting a bit cold." He pulled the blanket closer, then paused, not recognising it. "Where did this come from?"

"It's your present from me."

"You made this?" he asked, studying the stitches on one corner, rubbing the soft yarn between his fingers.

"Well, some of it," she reached out to smooth a hand down his blanket covered back. "The centre part, the yellow star, was my nan. She started it for me but never got to finish it before she passed. I've had it in a box under my bed for years, so I decided to finish it."

John dragged the blanket off and held it up to study it. It was still in the shape of a five pointed star, the centre in a bright, cheery yellow almost the exact colour of Thunderbird Four, but other colours radiated out from it. The yellow fading into a paler yellow, then a light cream into a white, the white then darkened to a light grey, a darker grey and then a dark bluey black around the outside edges. The darker colours had little white crochet stars sprinkled around, giving the whole blanket the look of a giant star floating in space surrounded by tiny dwarf stars. It was beautifully done and he could see just how much time and effort she must have put into it, especially in such a short space of time.

"It's beautiful, I can't believe you did this."

"I only did part of it," she corrected.

"You said it was your Grandma's? Are you sure you want to give this to me?" He knew how close she had been to her grandparents and how much she still missed them. The thought of her giving away a part of them, something she had kept for years, was unbelievable.

"Yes," she told him firmly, taking the blanket off him and wrapping it back around him. "I'm not giving it away, I'm giving it to my husband, so it can keep you warm when I'm not there to do it."

"Thank you," he whispered, leaning in to give her a kiss.

"You're welcome," she answered, distracting him with another kiss as her hand stealthily reached out to run along the top of the picnic table, scooping up a handful of snow.

"Happy birthday," she said, slapping the handful of snow down on top of his head.

-x-

"Did you have a good day?" Selene asked later that night as they made their way, still shivering slightly, to their bedroom.

"I did," he answered, holding the door open to allow her entry. "But we definitely need that hot shower now."

"And there's really no way I can tempt you into taking a bath instead?"

"I'll think about it." He flicked on the light and tossed his cold, damp dressing gown into the laundry basket. Honestly he couldn't think of anything better to finish off such a perfect day than lying back in warm water with his wife in his arms, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"Well," she sighed dramatically, "I'm sure we can make do, as long as you don't hog the spray like this morning."

"I thought you were too busy to notice."

The smile she slid his way was full of devilish promise with the possibility of an encore performance. He returned the smile with interest, nudging the bedroom door shut with his foot.

"You know, you really should get out of those clothes," he told her.

"Oh, should I?"

"Yes, for your health, obviously."

"Obviously."

"You wouldn't want to catch a cold."

"Not at all. Feel like helping?"

"Don't mind if I do," he growled, grabbing her hand and dragging her into his arms. "Thank you for making sure I had a wonderful birthday."

"It was my pleasure but, since it's still your birthday, I think it's your pleasure I should be focusing on," she purred, sliding her hands up under his T-shirt.

"Yes, I do believe that is exactly what your focus should be on," he agreed, swooping her up into his arms, ignoring her shriek as he tossed her onto the bed. Falling down beside her, he leaned over for a kiss although he paused just before his lips made contact.

"Hey, don't leave me hanging," she bitched lightly, winding her arms around his shoulders to draw him closer.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding towards the bedside table.

"What's what?" she answered, twisting around to look. "I don't know."

Gently disentangling her arms from around his neck he sat up and reached for the box.

"It looks like another present," she said quite unnecessarily, sitting up too. "Who's it from?"

"Dad," John answered, glancing at the label.

"Better open it then."

"Mm." He gently tugged on the ribbon to release the lid. "It's quite heavy."

"Is it?" She leaned closer, intrigued. She'd asked Jeff what he'd been working on but he'd refused to tell her.

John carefully lifted the lid and reached into the box, taking out what looked like a ball wrapped in a dark cloth. Holding the ball in one hand he let the cloth fall open.

"Wow," Selene gasped in wonder. "That's beautiful." And it was. In his hand John held a glass dome in which sat a perfectly carved replica of Tracy Island. It looked like it had been carved out of a piece of driftwood that had washed up on the small beach they had on the island. The island was set onto a base that was made of a porous rock that she suspected had been taken from somewhere deep in the hangars of the island where the volcanic rock was abundant.

Around the base of the island was a sprinkling of white glitter that moved when the globe did, showing that the inside was filled with water.

"Shake it," she whispered, almost afraid to speak loudly and break the spell the beauty of the globe had cast over them. He did so, causing a soft snowstorm to engulf the tiny island. "I guess I wasn't the only one that knew what Brains was up to."

"No, I guess you weren't," John murmured. He leant back against the pillows, taking his wife with him. He rotated the globe again, smiling softly to himself as they watched the snow flakes floating around the island, forever a reminder of the most perfect of birthdays.