Title: Home Again

Summary: This drops us back a bit to Gordon's days in WASP. This takes place when his accident happens and during his rehab and recovery. Rated for strong themes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Thunderbirds in any way or capacity, anything recognizable belongs to the rightful owners.

AGES: Scott - 28; John - 26; Virgil and Ava - 24; Gordon - 21; Alan - 19

Avalon Tracy hoped to never get a phone call like that again. She always prayed that her brothers would be ok. Alan with him starting to race cars. Gordon with WASP. John with NASA and Scott at the Air Force. Only Virgil was the safest one. He was extending his medical knowledge and he'd gotten a job as an engineer while he did. So the phone call from her father wasn't one she wanted to get.

Gordon's been in an accident. He's broken his back.

Avalon had felt frozen, she can remember asking what hospital he was being taken to.

Yours

Mass Gen, perfect. Although she was in the burns unit she could always pop in on her way out. It wasn't on the way but this would be her brother. She would never make them think she didn't care. But her worst fear was realized. One of her brothers had been hurt.

"How did it happen? What was he doing?" Avalon asked when he joined her father and eldest brother in the hospital room. Jeff looked up at his daughter's voice as Scott wrapped her up in his arms. Avalon could see her family were sad and exhausted.

Her father's eyes were red and puffy, crying in private over the thought of strong, fun-loving Gordon no longer jumping around laughing.

Scott had also been crying, evident by his red eyes. But he didn't hide it as much as her father did.

"He was on a hydrofoil. 400 miles per hour and it crashed. Like hitting a concrete wall." Scott told her quietly.

"B-but he's ok right?" Avalon asked, tears starting to fill her eyes.

"He's in a coma. His head took a beating too. Swelling on the brain they're saying. It'll be a while til he wakes up. But they say he can hear us. So Dad, John, Alan, Virgil and I, we've all been talking to him. Look – go back to your apartment, Virgil, John and Alan are there. Try to get some sleep and come back tomorrow. I guarantee Dad and I will still be here." Scott said, "He'll be fine. You know he's in the best place. I'll call you first if anything changes ok? Good…or bad." Avalon sighed but nodded. Scott was right – like usual. Gordon was in the best place with his injuries.

"Is he awake yet?" Avalon was accosted as soon as she walked in the front door.

"Hello to you too, Alan…he's in a coma. He won't wake for at least a week. That's best case. Worst case he'll be on life support." She said putting her keys on the table.

"Can he hear us if we talk to him?" She sighed heavily and shrugged before answering her big brother.

"We think so, John. It's hard to tell. Sometimes patients tell us they could hear relatives, other times they say they couldn't hear anything until they started to come to. So it's unclear if he can or not." She said shrugging off her coat and hanging it up. At least her twin had the nonce to let her have a few seconds break before he asked her his question.

"Scott and Dad are still there?" She nodded with a small smile.

"I'm not sure if I'll ever get them to leave, Virg. Scott is pale and you could see that if he could break down he would. Dad's eyes are red and puffy – so he's been crying. I'd hate to think of what Grandma is like." She said, she sighed before disappearing into her room and then re-emerging dressed in her pyjamas. She slumped down next to Virgil on the couch. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She closed her eyes and lent her head on his shoulder, she missed her family working here in Boston – but she was close enough to be able to fly home if she so wished it and Lady Penelope, an old family friend, often took her, on the journey to Tracy Island. Any excuse to visit paradise right?

"You should come home more often." Virgil said softly.

"Why? With Dad's conference calls I'd never see him and Al's still in school. I can come home whenever he does." Ava said.

"We'd like to see you more often than just the school holidays." Virgil murmured.

"I'll think about it." Avalon said.

"It'd be nice. On an island there can be a lot of things go wrong." Virgil said.

"I'll bet. Spider bites, some lizards can be dangerous. I hear Komodo Dragons are poisonous." She said off-handedly.

"That's not really what I meant. But you know what Gordon and Alan are like. I'm sure they'll break a bone one day. I'm not always available." He said.

She looked up sharply, "What on earth could you be doing?"

"There's a lot of stuff to do. I could be running on the beach or something. Come on Ava. Come home." Virgil pleaded.

"I said I'll think about it. Maybe I'll move out to the Island. Permanently." She promised, "But I can't say that I am or that I'm not. It will take a lot of preparation on my part. I like my job. I can't just leave them hanging."

Avalon was watching Gordon as he slept. He still hadn't come out of his coma but she talked to him all the time. But today she couldn't find the words to say. She looked down at the book in her hands. It had been the only novel Gordon had ever expressed any interest in.

"I'm lost for words today, so I figured I'd read to you. It's a book you wanted to read but never had the time to. Your crew sent it out." She said, "Deep Six by Thom E. Gemcity. I've never understood why this book had you so enthralled." She sighed as she opened the cover and she began to read to him. She actually found she liked it just as much. It was crime, mystery, love, all of the above. She particularly liked Tommy and Lisa's back-and-forth are-they-or-aren't-they romance. But her favourite character within the book was McGregor. He seemed like the most down-to-earth of the characters. Even L.J Tibbs and Amy didn't seem all that genuine.

"It was a slow day in the squad room, meaning it was cold cases and paperwork. McGregor knew that it sounded a little strange but he almost longed for a case, the whole week had been quiet, that might mean paperwork and cold cases but it also meant it gave Tommy more chances to tease him. Even if McGregor gave as good as he got." Avalon read slowly.

"That the book he likes so much?" She jumped at the new voice that was directly behind her. She turned and locked eyes with a pair of brown eyes that somehow were so different from hers despite being twins.

"Oh…yeah. His crew sent it out to me. Thought maybe I could read it to him. He hadn't gotten very far. We're only on chapter 5. But whoever Thom E Gemcity is, he's a genius." Avalon said.

"Any change?" Virgil asked.

"Not a lot. Increased brain activity is promising. The doctors are cautiously optimistic though. They say that it could be a few more days." She replied.

"So we won't know if there's any brain damage?" Virgil asked.

"Not until he wakes up. But because Gordon's got such a think skull, I'm not sure much damage would happen." She joked.

"Either it's his thick skull or his two brain cells." He laughed.

"We'll just have to wait and see." She said.

"What sort of brain damage do you think is likely?" Virgil asked.

"I'm not sure, Virgil. It could anything from digressing to a younger self, to slurring his words, to not remembering anything." Avalon said.

"He could have amnesia?" He asked, "Will he remember us? Himself?"

"Retrograde amnesia is normal – but total amnesia? Not as likely. It's more likely that he'll slur his words." Avalon said, "It's even more likely he won't recall the accident."

Gordon frowned as he started to come back to consciousness. He could hear voices. A lot of voices. But they sounded far away and slightly garbled like they were trying to talk underwater or on a badly tuned radio. He couldn't tell one from the other but he pushed further towards consciousness and comfort, he needed the comfort he could only get from one person.

"He may be coming round soon." His sister's voice said.

"How did you get transferred here?" Virgil's voice asked.

"Why not? He's my brother too. And I asked. The Doctor swapped me and Gordon's regular nurse so, here I am." Avalon's voice said.

"You actually gave up a shift in the Burns Unit to be here?" Virgil's voice replied.

"Virgil, he's my brother too! I don't understand why you're so angry about this. Gordon is important to all of us. And I deserve to be here!" Avalon snarled. It wasn't often the twins fought but when they did it was with words – not fists.

"But you love the Burns Unit!" Virgil snapped.

"Yes I do. But I love Gordon more." Gordon smiled at the sound of his sister's voice. Yeah, he thought, I love you too, Ava. He drifted off once more, determined that next time he'd see the faces of his family.

Gordon swam towards consciousness again and this time he managed to push through that last barrier and he blinked his eyes so they adjusted to the light. A small gasp caused him to look around the room. Two his right near his door was Scott and John, they turned at the gasp and they were staring at him a little apprehensively. To his left were Virgil, Alan and his father.

"Wh…where…where is Ava?" He rasped.

"She's on her way, Gordon. She was called away for a moment." Virgil said.

"How long?" He asked, inquiring about his stay in hospital.

"It's been a while, Gordo. You've been out for weeks!" Alan said.

"And it'll be several weeks of rehab too. The Doctors say that with hard work you might get feeling back in your legs, but they don't expect you to ever walk again." Virgil said.

"I'll still swim though right?" He asked.

"I expect so." Their attention drawn by the tight and emotional voice of their only girl, "Hey, tell you what. You work super hard and I'll be with you every step of the way. I'll be at every one of your appointments." She accepted the hug from her twin.

"Deal." Gordon smiled.

"Good, because, I'm gonna be your personal cheerleader. I'm going to be there every day for your physical therapy." Ava said with a smile.

"Maybe I should-rethink this. I know you'll be a hard task master right?" He laughed softly, pausing only to cough.

"I won't let you give up, Gordon. Failure isn't in my vocabulary." Avalon told him with a smile.

"Come on Gordon. One foot in front of the other. You can do this." Avalon coached softly, she stood at the other end of the parallel bars as he supported himself as he slowly walked towards her. He raised his head and gave her cocky smile.

"I don't think I'll be chasing any girls at the moment." He told her with a grin.

"Guess I'll have to do for now. Come on." Avalon said.

"I don't think chasing my sister is really what I should be doing." Gordon replied with a chuckle.

"When you get to end you can sit down and we'll get you doing something else." She promised.

"How's he doing?" Alan asked coming up beside his sister.

"Slowly. Come on, Gordy." Avalon coaxed.

"You'll have to chase all the girls for me Al." Gordon said.

"No chance. I chase, I get. I'm not chasing your girls for you." Alan said, Avalon laughed as she braced Gordon's torso and helped him back into his wheelchair.

"Ok, another two weeks of this and then when you go back to the island I want you walking back and forth across the pool. No swimming for another few weeks. Your legs need to work again. The water – with your natural buoyancy – will help your back and legs work again. I can't promise that your back will be perfect again, but it might just be near perfect." Avalon said writing it down on his chart.

"Near perfect is good enough for me." Gordon said with another smile, he would be able to walk and swim again, and possibly even run – but he'd have to work at it, and if nothing else when Gordon set him mind to something he would be able to do it no matter how long it took.

Perhaps the island really was the best place for her. She'd have to patch up her brothers one way or another. If they could keep out of trouble long enough for her to settle in. Though in reality she should know that would never happen. Particularly when International Rescue was explained to her. That would provide her with plenty of opportunities to look after them – and have Virgil assist in giving them all physical exams.

"Ava? Got a minute?" Point made.

A/N: Kudos to anyone of my readers who know where Deep Six by Thom E. Gemcity comes from. Couldn't use a real book so I used a made up one but where is it from?