Thought after the tension of the last few chapters, some romance and levity was in order.

Technically, the next episode is Martian Invasion. (I'm doing the episodes based on the production.) But I'm not going to do a whole chapter based on that. I'll allude to the events of that episode, but I'm not actually gonna write it out. I don't know how to make it work. Since Christmas is coming up, next chapter's going to be Christmas-based.

I own nothing aside from original characters and plot points.

ENJOY!


Scott hummed to himself, fussing over his slacks and button-up shirt. He was confident that Tin-Tin had everything set up (with some help from Grandma Tracy, of course).

He was finally going to do it. He was going to take Indiana on a proper date. Well, as close to one as they could. They couldn't leave the island. They had to be on-hand in case an emergency call came in. (Although, Jeff did promise that if they wanted a night away to, say, Australia or New Zealand over the next few weeks, it could certainly be arranged.)

"Hey. You missed one."

Scott shot a glare at his baby brother before looking down and seeing that he did indeed miss a button. He still wondered why his brothers were in his room helping him get ready.

Virgil laughed as he came up and helped Scott straighten his collar, "I don't think I've ever seen you this nervous about a date."

"And you laughed at us when we got like this. So, payback is mandatory," Gordon stated wisely.

"Okay. I did not laugh," Scott voiced his objection.

"That's not how we remember it," Alan smirked before asking, "Now, hold still."

Scott obliged as Alan spritzed a bit of cologne on him. Fortunately, he didn't go too overboard with this. But on the downside, he didn't see what type of cologne he applied.

Well, he didn't think anyone would be doing anything to sabotage this date.

Gordon took over, helping Scott with his hair despite his oldest brother's objections.

"Relax, will ya?" Gordon chided with a laugh, "Nothing's gonna go wrong. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah. Grandma supervised the setup and Kyrano made the dinner," Virgil pointed out.

"You just need to act like a gentleman, give her the flowers and the locket and you're good to go," Alan piped in.

"And we'll only interrupt you in case of emergency," Virgil promised, "Everyone knows you are to be left alone unless we get an emergency call. But I don't think that will happen tonight."

Scott could only hope so.


Indiana faced the same thing in her own room. Tin-Tin and Arizona (who had flown into the island yesterday) were busily helping Indiana get ready. Scott gave Arizona a discreet note: don't let her wear a necklace. This wasn't hard for Arizona.

She helped Indiana curl her hair in gentle waves while Tin-Tin fussed over what makeup she would wear. She decided that they would go for old school glamour to go with the navy dress Indiana was wearing, consisting of a soft smokey eye, glossed peach lip and a touch of blush on her cheeks. They didn't want to go overboard with the makeup, knowing that Indiana didn't like that. The maxi-length dress had a square neckline and short sleeves with an elasticized cuff. There was a small side cut-out detail with a drawstring tie, offering Scott the briefest glimpse of the silky skin on her torso that served to drive him nuts. Along with the high-low hemline.

"Are you crying?" Indiana asked her best friend incredulously, looking up at her through the mirror.

"No!" Arizona scoffed, "I just got something in my eye."

"Sure," Indiana drawled.

"Well, this is the first time I've been able to get you ready for a date," Arizona pointed out, "You've gotten me ready for plenty of dates."

"Just don't try to intimidate him," Indiana pleaded, "You don't need to do everything I did before your dates."

"Already took care of that," Arizona shrugged, "Right now, I'm just thankful we had no-heat curlers."

It was only a few days after the incident on the bridge, so some of Indiana's sunburns, like the one on her scalp, were still healing. So, Arizona couldn't use hair curlers that generated heat. Fortunately, everyone dragged Scott and Indiana away so they had all afternoon to get ready. Allowing the curling ribbon a few hours to do the trick.

"So, what will you and Virgil be doing, Arizona?" Tin-Tin asked politely.

"Oh. Just catching up. He said I'll actually get to see Thunderbird 2 this time, so I think that's where we'll be spending a lot of our time," Arizona shrugged.

"Oh God," Indiana groaned, "Whatever you do, don't go to fly it. He gets emotional."

"And Scott's not the same with Thunderbird 1?" Tin-Tin smirked.

"Not as bad," Indiana chuckled, "At least, I get to sit in the pilot's seat."

"Yeah, but I reckon you're not actually doing any flying," Arizona snorted.

The blush that settled on Indiana's cheeks gave her away as she muttered, "I fly. Sometimes."

There was a knock on the door, putting to rest any further remarks Arizona would've had.

"Oh! Wait!" Arizona cried before spritzing Indiana with a bit of perfume, "You'll thank me later."

"Where did you even get that?" Indiana muttered before going to her door.

When she opened the door, there stood Scott, holding a vase with flowers he must've picked from around the island.

"Hi," Scott greeted.

"Hi," Indiana responded in kind.

"You… you look… beautiful," Scott complimented.

"Thank you," Indiana smiled as she accepted the flowers.

Arizona immediately took them off her and placed the vase on her dresser, calling out, "You look nice too, Scott!"

"Yes. Very classically handsome," Tin-Tin nodded in approval.

Clearing his throat, Scott offered his arm, "Ready to go, milady?"

"Why, thank you, kind sir," Indiana giggled as she linked her arm with his.

"Okay. Have fun. Don't do anything I would do, and don't do anything I wouldn't do! There's a little grey area in there. That's where you operate!" Arizona cackled, quoting an early-21st century movie.

"Ignore her," Indiana grumbled as they continued on, "So, what's the plan, Scooter?"

"Well, Ana," Scott began, "I thought this would be a good start."

Indiana noticed that Scott had escorted her to the patio, where a romantic dinner had been set up. It was laid out with a combination of both of their favourite foods. There was a beautiful tablecloth that was a pale blue and white with a rosetta pattern. There was also a small bouquet of orchards in the middle of the table and there were a variety of candles in glass jars spread all over the place.

"This is perfect," Indiana beamed.

Wordlessly, Scott escorted Indiana to her seat, pulling it out for her and helping her sit. With a final kiss, he moved to his own seat.

Tonight was going well.


Brains hummed to himself as he prepared yet another experiment to conduct. The island had been abuzz all day with the date. He just tried to stay out of the way. Romance wasn't exactly his forte. However, he couldn't help but be happy that Scott and Indiana were so intent on doing things right this time.

Brains' brows then furrowed in confusion when he noticed there was something missing in his lab.


Scott and Indiana were laughing as they recalled various stories. The food was absolutely delicious, but they never expected anything less from Kyrano or Grandma Tracy. The non-alcoholic cider (respecting Indiana's choice to not consume alcoholic beverages) perfectly complemented the dish. Everything about the evening was absolutely perfect.

"Okay," Scott laughed as he took a sip of his cider, "If you weren't a doctor, what would you be doing?"

"I don't know," Indiana hummed, "I did enjoy dance with dad, so I probably would've pursued that. Maybe even opened a dance studio. I'd like to think I still would've ended up living in Rochester, though."

"Rochester is a beautiful place," Scott conceded.

"How about you? What would you be doing?" Indiana returned the question.

"I don't know," Scott mused, "To be honest, I never really thought about a life outside of all this. I probably would've stayed in the Air Force for as long as possible. After that, I'd like to think I would do a lot of work helping veterans. Help them adjust to civilian life."

"Noble," Indiana praised, "Definitely suits you."

A bird then flew into the small garden near the patio.


"What did I miss?" Gordon panted, rushing back in with a bowl of popcorn.

"Blackmail material," Alan smirked as he took some popcorn.

"Ooh, I hope this has playback!" Gordon hoped, "How did you get Brains to lend you his new spy device anyway?"

"Easy," Alan shrugged, "I didn't ask."

Gordon hummed in approval, "So, this spy device acts like a regular bird? And it's something that would be native to the island?"

"Yeah. They won't know a thing," Alan proclaimed.


"Okay. I know I asked you what you would be doing if you never pursued medicine, but what about if you never joined International Rescue?" Scott decided to pick as his next question.

"I probably would've had to leave Kessler," Indiana admitted.

"Why?" Scott asked worriedly, "I thought you loved it in Rochester."

"Just before your dad approached me with this, I had another… benefactor pursue me with a job offer," Indiana admitted, "Warren Grafton."

"Warren Grafton?" Scott repeated in disbelief, "You weren't going to take up a job with him?"

"Nope. I would've fled New York to get away from him," Indiana corrected him, "He would've started getting aggressive in his pursuits. If it got to a certain stage, Dr. Millers was going to help me got a job at another trauma centre in another state as far from New York as possible."

"I've heard things about that slime ball," Scott growled.

"Down, boy," Indiana chided playfully.


"Looks like everything is going swell," Gordon observed.

"Yeah. Now, he just needs to give her the locket," Alan stated.

"He said he was going to do that while they were dancing," Alan reminded him.

"Well, can we get to that already?" Alan demanded impatiently.

"Give them time," Gordon chided him, "And try to move the bird in a bit closer."


"You think their date's going well?" Jeff asked Kyrano.

"I'm sure it is, Mr. Tracy," Kyrano nodded with a smile.

"I just hope an emergency call doesn't come," Grandma Tracy grumbled.

"I don't think that will happen, mother," Jeff moved to reassure her, "Anyone know where Virgil is?"

"I believe he was showing Arizona around Thunderbird 2," Tin-Tin recalled, "I do not know about Gordon and Alan."


By this point, Scott and Indiana were finished with the food and, as Gordon and Alan had predicted, they were dancing. A small portable stereo was playing a romantic playlist perfect for slow dancing. The songs were from various moments of history. The song that was currently playing was an early-21st-century cover of a song that had been recorded in the late-twentieth century.

The bird had moved to perch itself on a nearby plant. The bird pretended to preen its feathers, so the couple were none the wiser.

For one thing, none of them bothered to look that closely.

"This is nice," Indiana murmured.

"Yeah. It is," Scott nodded, "I'm just… I'm glad we can do things right this time."

"Me too," Indiana smiled, "As part of that, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Scott answered in the affirmative, trying valiantly to hide his nerves.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Indiana asked directly.

"What was me?" Scott responded in confusion.

"That summer. North Carolina," Indiana pressed, "I remember everything. It was you, wasn't it?"

Scott didn't answer with words. For one thing, he was so overcome with emotion that words would have only failed him. He just grabbed her face and kissed her with all the love he felt for her. He had been waiting for so long. But he wanted her to remember on her own. He wanted the memories to come back naturally. Indiana was grasping him just as desperately he was grasping her.


"OH MY GOD!" Gordon and Alan gaped.

"And to think we were joking about him sneaking off to meet girls!" Gordon gasped, "We were right!"

"Do you think the others know?" Alan immediately asked.

"No," Gordon shook his head before shouting in disappointment, "We're out of popcorn!"

"We'll make do!" Alan declared.


The bird moved even closer as Scott began reaching into his pocket. Indiana's brows furrowed in confusion as he pulled out the gift box and handed it to her. Then, she opened the box and saw the locket Scott had bought for her when he picked her up from Rochester.

"Wow!" Indiana gasped out, "It's… it's beautiful!"

Wordlessly, Scott moved behind her to help her put the locket on. When he had secured the clasp, he bent down and pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck, murmuring, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Indiana responded in kind.

She turned around in his arms and lent up to kiss him…

Then she got a good look at that bird.


"Uh-oh," Gordon muttered.

"You don't think…?" Alan trailed off nervously.

"I hope not," Gordon shook his head in fear.


"Hey. Did you see that?" Indiana asked, gesturing to the bird.

Scott had a similar look on his face as he approached the bird. He let out a silent curse when he took a closer look at it and recognized that the eye was actually a small camera; and remembered that Brains had been working on something like this for reasons unknown.

Letting out a sigh, Scott turned to Indiana and declared loudly, "It's a very beautiful bird. Hopefully, we'll see it around the island more. Maybe even go on a hike to find its nest."

When he approached Indiana, he quietly told her, "We can kill them tomorrow. But for tonight, I have other plans."

"What kind of plans?" Indiana asked coyly.

"I think you know," Scott growled.

She still didn't know, or at least wanted to have them describe them to her. So, Scott whispered in her ear the plans he had for her for the rest of the night and one final, bruising kiss sealed his intentions.


Two days later…

"Alan! Don't move! Whatever you do, don't move!" Virgil scolded his baby brother.

Alan stood in the lounge of the villa, dressed in his racing uniform holding the trophy he had won. They had been able to recover it – and a lot of everyone's belongings – from the wreckage of his stolen car. They did hear word about Victor and Johnny. None of them survived. Johnny had died on impact and Victor died in the hospital the following day. Alan was only sad about the fact it had come to this. It was such a waste.

But now, Alan had other problems. For several hours, he stood there allowing Virgil to paint a portrait of him. Tin-Tin sat near him to keep him company, but it did little to alleviate Alan's foul mood. Actually, it did a lot more than he let on. But there was a certain point where it started getting tedious.

"Look, Virgil, how much longer are you gonna be?" Alan demanded, "I'm tired of having to stand dead still like this."

"How do you expect me to get a good likeness if you don't keep still?" Virgil chided him.

"And smile!" Tin-Tin suggested kindly, referring to the pout on Alan's face, "You can't go down in the annals of motor racing history with an expression like that!"

"And another thing, this trophy's darn heavy," Alan grumbled.

"Well!" Scott began as he walked in with a bright grin, "How's the masterpiece coming along?"

"Well, don't ask me," Tin-Tin shrugged, "Virgil won't let me see it yet."

Scott walked closer to get a look at the portrait his brother was painting. Barely able to contain his laughter, he praised his brother, "Hey, Virgil! That's great! You've really caught a likeness!"

"Yeah. It's nearly finished," Virgil proclaimed.

"Well, hurry it up, Virgil! I had to stand still long enough on that bridge!" Alan snapped impatiently.

Setting aside his brushes and palette, he pressed the button to turn the canvas around so Alan and Tin-Tin could see his painting. Tin-Tin immediately covered her mouth, trying to hide her true expression.

Alan, meanwhile, looked unimpressed.

"Well, what do you think of it, Alan?" Virgil asked with a smirk.

Alan placed his trophy on a nearby table and approached the painting. It was clear that Virgil was inspired by the works of Picasso. He was unrecognizable. In fact, just about the only thing recognizable in the portrait was the racing trophy; and even then, it was clear Virgil took more than a few artistic liberties.

"Hmm, I suppose you guys think this is funny?" Alan asked his two older brothers.

"Not at all," Scott shook his head with a straight face, "I think it's very good, Virg."

"Yeah," Alan nodded in brief agreement before grumbling, "except the technique is about a hundred years out of date."

"Oh, but you must admit that it's really you, Alan," Virgil chortled.

Scott barely squeaked out an agreement before he dissolved into a fit of laughter. They barely heard Alan challenging them to "laugh this one off" before the ground suddenly disappeared beneath their feet.

"HEY! CUT THAT OUT!" Scott called out as he and Virgil fell into the lowermost levels of the base.

"HEY! QUICK MESSING AROUND WITH THOSE BUTTONS!" Virgil called after him.

"How do you like that, Tin-Tin?" Alan asked her.

"Never mind, Alan. Who needs a painting? Especially when we've got the real thing," Tin-Tin lightly flirted.

That comment served to boost Alan's mood.

"WHERE IS SHE?!"

The moment between Alan and Tin-Tin was destroyed when the furious ginger stormed into the lounge.

"Where. Is. She?" Gordon growled.

"I believe Dr. Evans is in the laboratory with Brains and Dr. Adams," Tin-Tin answered.

Gordon stormed off, barely hearing the mutterings about how he didn't know whether to be mad or impressed. Or both.

Down below, Virgil quietly asked his brother, "What did Indiana do to Gordon?"

"Rearranged his room as he slept and played all sorts of weird sounds to affect his dreams," Scott murmured back.

"That's it?" Virgil responded incredulously, "That's rather tame."

"She also put lifesavers in his showerhead," Scott chortled.

"That's more like her," Virgil cackled.

"Thanks for helping me get payback at Alan," Scot thanked his brother.

"Anytime," Virgil nodded.

With a smile, Scott recalled the events of the last few days.

The love was certainly felt all around the island.


There we go. I wanted an excuse for Virgil to do that painting he did at the end of Move and You're Dead. Technically, he probably didn't really need one. But given that Scott was almost certainly in on it in the actual episode, I thought I'd have some fun with it.

Bye!