"May I ask why you think she's in Henry's Forest, Ma'am?" Gordon asked Olivia as she lent against his cab window behind William.

On any other occasion, Gordon would be bursting at seams with pride for having not only the NRM railway's director in his cab but Sir Gresley's Granddaughter.

"You don't have to call me Ma'am Gordon," Olivia said as her eyes roamed the sidings for any trace of Tornado or her crew. "Olivia will do."

"I apologise," Gordon said respectfully. "It's hard to break habits when I am used to addressing people of your standing with utmost respect."

She was very unlike her grandfather, who demanded respect and nothing less. He was a strict man who demanded everything of his engines and rarely if ever gave them praise.

He'd only ever seen him give Flying Scotsman or his A4 cousins praise. Truth be told, it had made him jealous.

Gordon shook off his thoughts of his designer. They would not help them find Tornado.

"When I was Tornado's driver, sometimes if she was really upset, she would ask me to take her to a secluded place, usually a forest or a lakeside and she would just sit there for a few hours," Olivia explained wistfully.

"Why?" Gordon asked, confused.

"To rest, to reflect, to contemplate. Sometimes things became too much for her and she needed a break. At first I was annoyed but then I realised how much she needed it. It helped her," Olivia said kindly. "As Tornado befriended the shunter engines, she did it less and less until she finally stopped. It was just a quirk she had as a baby engine I guess."

Gordon was silent as he contemplated Olivia's words.

It must have been hard to enter a world where everything was old and established.

It couldn't have been easy on Tornado.

"Do you think she's alright?" Gordon asked.

Olivia was silent for the longest time.

"I honestly don't know," Olivia said. "It's been a long time since I was her driver. And all I ever seem to do is give her orders these days. She's changed a lot over the years."

Gordon didn't know what to say. He always felt awkward when it came to speaking to people he admired and Olivia was someone he very much admired.

Maybe it came from her being his designer's granddaughter, he didn't know. But he felt a strange reverence for her, even though she had barely spoken to him.

After ten minutes of travelling slowly in silence and cold winds Olivia suddenly spoke up, catching Gordon off guard with her question.

"You're my Grandfather's experimental engine weren't you?" She asked.

"I- I am yes," Gordon affirmed. "I was used to test and experimented on for his Pacific design."

"What was he like?"

Gordon was silent for a long time. He didn't want to upset Ms Olivia nor did he want to lie to her.

"He was a brilliant designer and engineer," Gordon said hesitantly. "But his bedside manner, as it were, left a lot to be desired."

Olivia smirked.

"Sounds like my own father," she said bitterly. She gave a tired smile. "Thank-you Gordon, that's all I need to know."

There was some hurt behind her words and so Gordon didn't pry. It was none of his business.

"Let's find Tornado shall we, her crew must be getting cold by now," Olivia said, her stern voice returning and she sounded focused now.

Gordon and his crew didn't need to hear her say it but what just occurred was between them and them alone.

"There!" Jesse, Gordon's fireman yelled out noticing the lamp on an engines tender shining dimly in the distance. "In the siding up ahead, overlooking the valley, there's a tender engine!"

"How did you even see that?" William muttered incredulously at Jesse. "Are you like an owl or something?"

Gordon slowed right down and slowly came to a stop at where the siding stopped. Gordon looked across and couldn't see anything. The trees and shrubs were so thick he couldn't even see the shape of an engine.

The perfect place to hid it seemed if not for his eagle eyed fireman.

"Tornado? Are you there?" He called to her.

They heard rustling before, whispered talking and hushed shouts.

"We're here!" A man with a German accent suddenly called back.

"That's Matthias, it's her," Olivia confirmed recognising her driver.

"Tornado can you come out please?" Olivia called to her.

"No," came Tornado's reply. Her voice sounded raspy and had a croak as if she'd been crying.

"Tornado, please come out, everyone is worried about you," Gordon urged her.

"I don't want to," she whimpered quietly. "Leave me alone."

"I'm not going to do that Tornado," Gordon said and Tornado gave a frustrated grunt. "Please come out."

"No! Ms Olivia will just yell at me again!" Tornado snapped suddenly.

"I'm not going to do that Tornado," Olivia assured her. "Not this time, not when you clearly need help."

"I don't need help!" She shouted. "Leave me alone!"

They fell silent as they glanced at each other, trying to work out what to do. They didn't want to shunt her out, that could only make things worse.

"Why did you come here Tornado?" Gordon asked suddenly.

There was silence for a very long time. So long that they began to worry.

"Tornado?" Gordon called concerned.

"I-I- don't know okay, I guess, I just, I don't-" Tornado mumbled between sobbing. "I don't know why, okay! I just guess I'm tired of feeling sad all the time."

Gordon felt a cold chill in his boiler.

"You know… you can talk to me right?" Gordon said quietly. "If you ever need help. Or even Henry, Henry's been really worried about you, he's your friend."

"I don't want to talk to anyone!" Tornado shouted angrily, suddenly blasting steam out of her boiler as her pressure rose.

"Not even Green Arrow?" Gordon suddenly asked.

Tornado fell silent for a long while before she spoke again in a small voice.

"Ms Olivia said I can't see him," she mumbled.

Olivia's eyes widened.

"Will talking to him make you feel better?" She asked kindly.

"No, I don't-" Tornado began to cry, breaking down into tears. "I don't know Ms Olivia. I don't know."

"Will you at least let Gordon take you back to a shed?" Olivia asked her. "If you stay out here, the cold weather will hurt you."

Tornado sniffed, before speaking up in a very small voice.

"Okay."

Ryan had once again been tasked with looking after Green Arrow while Flying Scotsman was out pulling railtours again.

Rail Enthusiasts had flooded the Island upon hearing that the next couple of days would be the Scotsman's last before his full restoration. They didn't know how long it would take to fully restore the Scotsman so everyone had flooded the Island at once.

Not only that but Gordon had given up his express to Bittern, willingly, to cover Tornado who was taking the day off.

Scotsman had said nothing about Tornado's disappearance but he had looked guilty when he had heard that Tornado had had a serious meltdown after everything.

The LNER V2 was still asleep from last night, the events clearly leaving him exhausted.

Ryan didn't mind. He knew that Green Arrow needed the sleep. He was happy to watch over his cousin and make sure nothing happened to him.

The light snow from yesterday still fell and the Castle grounds looked like it was covered in fluffy white frosting. There was a bite in the air but Ryan didn't mind. He didn't mind a lot of things really. Except when Daisy started to treat him like an errand boy.

His attention was drawn to the large dark blue tender engine with large smoke deflectors that was making its way into the castle with a nervous and shy expression.

The engine came up to their berths and stopped just before Green Arrow's, staring at him apprehensively.

"Hello," Ryan smiled at the engine. "I'm Ryan."

"Hi Ryan," the engine spoke nervously. "I'm Tornado. Can I speak with Green Arrow?" She asked.

Ryan looked over at the engine who was still sleeping.

"Well, he's asleep right now as you can see," Ryan said. "I guess you'll just have to wait or come back later."

"Oh, I'll come back later I guess," she gave a huge weesh of steam as she began to back out of the sheds.

The sound seemed to jolt Green Arrow awake and he opened his eyes, looking completely confused and groggy.

Tornado froze, staring at Green Arrow frightened as the small V2 engine slowly came to his senses.

He seemed to take a few moments and although still very out of it, recognised Ryan who was smiling up at him.

You again.

Arrow greeted Ryan and Ryan beamed at him.

"Yes me again!" Ryan peeped happily at him. "Good morning Green Arrow sir! There's someone here to see you!"

Arrow looked puzzled at the little tank engine before he suddenly realised there was an engine in front of him.

He suddenly found himself wide awake as he realised who it was.

Tornado?

Tornado stared at him wide eyed, frozen in shock and not doing anything. She didn't say anything, she just stared.

"Ms Tornado?" Ryan asked concerned. "Are you okay?"

Tornado seemed to pull herself out of it and looked at Ryan before her eyes darted around nervously.

Without a word she suddenly reversed away from them and back out of the castle, avoiding their gazes.

"Tornado wait!" Ryan called out to her but she had quickly departed by then. "What a strange engine."

Green Arrow said nothing, he only stared after Tornado feeling very confused and concerned.

He had never seen her act this way before.

He wanted to go after her but couldn't.

He cursed his burst boiler, that maniac Cain and his two psychotic underlings.

"Tornado?" Henry asked the Young Iron as he found her tender sticking out of Tidmouth Sheds awkwardly.

It was the middle of the day and there wasn't supposed to be anyone in the sheds. Gordon had told him everything that had happened last night.

That they had found the young engine distraught and crying on a siding in his forest and that her meltdown was something that couldn't be fixed overnight.

Henry pulled into the berth next to her, deeply concerned.

"Tornado are you okay?" He asked her kindly. "You can talk to me if you need to. Or I can go get Gordon or someone else if you want."

Tornado was crying silent tears as she looked over to Henry. She didn't say anything for a long time.

"Tornado?"

"I- I- want to talk to Gordon," Tornado said with a stammer. "It's not that I don't trust you it's-"

"No it's okay, you don't have to explain," Henry smiled at her. "I'll go and find Gordon for you."

Tornado sniffed.

"Thank-you Henry," she said with a feeble smile.

Henry beamed and went off to find Gordon.

To say Gordon was pleased to have an excuse to take a break from pulling trucks was an understatement. He'd rushed to Tidmouth Sheds as quickly as he could while Henry took over his slate train until he got back.

"Tornado? I thought you went to speak to Green Arrow?" Gordon asked as he pulled in beside her.

"I tried!" Tornado cried out. "When I got there he was sleeping but then he woke up and then I- and then I- I just couldn't say anything! I just froze and then I… ran away, like a coward."

She sniffed and looked away from Gordon feeling guilty and stupid.

"I haven't spoken to Scott since the incident either," she admitted. "I think he hates me."

"My brother doesn't hate you, he doesn't hate anyone," Gordon assured her. "He can get a bit standoffish and nasty if someone antagonises him or tries to square off with him. Or if you're snow. But otherwise he's pretty forgiving."

Gordon had rolled his eyes as he added the snow part.

Listening to his brother complain about snow was one of the worst things he'd endured. Bittern had teased Scott about it and chaos had ensued with Gordon shouting about how he desperately wanted to shove his brother in a snow drift because he wouldn't shut up.

Scotsman had proceeded to go into a fit of rage at the both of them to which Bittern had howled with laughter and Gordon wanted to stuff his brother's firebox with snow in revenge.

Never had Gordon seen someone hate snow as much as his brother.

It would be impressive if it wasn't so irritating or annoying.

He heard a small snort from Tornado at the mention of snow. Clearly she was familiar with Scotsman's irrational hatred of the stuff.

"I don't know," Tornado mumbled. "I'm just so confused. What should I do, Gordon?"

"You should at least try to speak to Scott," Gordon said kindly. "He was worried about you last night. I believe he would like to speak with you before he leaves for the Mainland. Set some things right."

Tornado hazarded a glance at Gordon and found him looking at her encouragingly.

"Okay, I'll speak to Scott," she said softly.

"Promise, little Sister?" Gordon raised an eyebrow at her.

Tornado gave him a small smile as she felt warm and fuzzy at his words.

"I promise, big brother."

"I'll hold you to it," he said and Tornado smiled at him.

"I know."

"Just don't mention snow and you'll be fine."

Tornado just laughed at that.

For updates, art and small short stories from the Young Iron AU, you can find me at tornadoyoungiron tumblr.