A/N:

Fanfic only; I don't own or claim any rights to Thunderbirds.

Hope you enjoy

It wasn't often that a member of the Tracy household managed to get any time off for holidays and personal business, not with the lifestyle they led. If there wasn't a rescue to be attended, there was machinery to fix, inventions to be dreamed-up, or for one unlucky 'volunteer' every month – Tracy Industries administration and board meetings to be attended. Sure, they all understood how vitally important TI was in funding their whole operation. Scott especially so, having been made acting CEO while their Father was missing-in-action. It was just that, well, compared to their other roles as International Rescue Operatives, the brothers (and Jeff, though he would never admit to it out loud) just found all that side of things so very incredibly…boring. Despite Jeff having been home and settled back in as the head of the company for some time now, it had still landed as Scott's turn to cover off the next monthly site visit, much to his dismay and as depicted by the terrible 'Tracy Chore Wheel of Doom' (Alan's naming) on which TI business had found a place alongside such other exciting tasks as de-griming the pods and running inventory on the 472,000 nuts and bolts in the silo's supply cabinets. The fact that the Wheel of Doom had no allowances for personal time or leave of any kind in itself was tell-tale enough of the hectic lives the family led, though they didn't complain about that at all. Not one little bit. In fact, they loved it.

And so it was that almost three weeks ago as Grandma Tracy had stood out by the pool in her best sun-dress and hat – no jumpsuit in sight - and announced with a thunk of her suitcase onto the scorching deck of the patio that she was off on a cruise and the family would have to fend for themselves for a while, none were more taken aback than the other. Even Grandma herself looked somewhat surprised by her own revelation but then there she was, fully packed and with ticket purchased and in hand. So, off she went, on her holidays and leaving an utterly bewildered family in her wake.

It was a Thursday when Grandma had eventually called to check in. She had emailed weekly, of course, but this was the first time anyone had actually seen her face since she left and boy did she look happy.

"Did we do something wrong Grandma? You know…to drive you away?" Alan had asked after picking up the call and while desperately trying to keep down John's latest attempt at cooking them all dinner. The spaceman had been corralled down to Earth for a few days to fill-in on rescues while Scott was still away with dealing with Tracy Industries. Despite the memory of Grandma's infamous 'meatloaf surprise' churning his stomach to the point of no return, as Alan looked down on John's somehow even more disgusting culinary efforts on the plate in front of him, he clung firmly to the hope that the woman was calling to say she was on her way home. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

"Now don't you go talking such rubbish young man! I miss you all very much. Truth be told, I have absolutely no idea what it was that moved me to come out here in the first place," (and she really, truly meant that, to the point that it was driving her a little mad), "but here I am and as it turns out I'm having a whale of a time. In fact, I've met someone." she announced.

Alan nearly choked on his 'pasta'.

"You've met someone?" he questioned hesitantly; mouth still stuffed full of food.

"Yes. A lovely man by the name of Bernard. He's a suit salesman, you know. Runs his own boutique. Fabulous merchandise."

"Merchandise…?" Alan blanched at the implications of that statement as Grandma for some reason felt it necessary to accompany her words with an eyebrow raise and a wink. Eww.

"Erm, Grandma…can you hold on a minute - the others will be mad at me if I don't tell them you're calling," Alan bluffed, desperate for someone, anyone, else to be on the receiving end of this particular call.

With the rest of the family hastily rounded up, Grandma had then proceeded to tell them all the tale of her exciting new 'friend' and how he would be accompanying her back to the old farmhouse in Kansas at the end of the cruise so that they could continue their break a little longer. By the time Grandma eventually hung up, loured away by the call of cocktails and conga lines apparently, a stunned silence had descended on Tracy Island, probably for the first time ever.

Three days and a lot of arguments later, it had been decided that someone really needed to go and 'check-in' on Grandma and Virgil had been the one to draw the short straw. Literally. They had actually played for it – Jeff and Brains included, with Kayo being unfortunately preoccupied on another job for the time being. It wasn't that the family didn't want to see Grandma, quite the opposite really. They actually couldn't wait to have her back, if nothing else than to save them from more of John's hideous cooking. For some reason their usually space-bound brother had taken it upon himself to be the surrogate Grandma while the old lady was away, shunning any attempts at help from the others. Apparently being stuck up on Five most of the time had the man craving the more mundane tasks of life, much to his family's dismay. 'A' for enthusiasm but a solid 'D-Minus' for execution, sorry Johnny.

As his jet made its way over the oceans way down below, Virgil did not envy the others back on the island, but nor did they envy him in his task. AKA, Operation Spy-on-Grandma and make sure she isn't about to let any little International-level secrets slip. Of course they all trusted her, under normal circumstances. The woman was the backbone of their very organisation. But on this occasion, something just wasn't adding up. The way she had left, the look of almost constant confusion on her face when she had talked of leaving and then again of not yet coming home…nope, something just wasn't quite right and it was up to Virgil to find out what that was. If only it wasn't for Bernard. Virgil was most definitely not looking forward to meeting him. Particularly given the extreme enthusiasm Bernard had apparently expressed when Jeff had called to let Grandma know that Virgil would be dropping by for a couple of days. Jeff hadn't seen the man for himself, but Grandma had reported that her new friend was rolling out the proverbial welcome wagon and had even joked that Virgil could be calling him 'Grandpa' before long. Jeff had decided to leave that last part out when briefing his son ahead of his new assignment. The boy was already sufficiently unimpressed with having been saddled as the family rep when it came to Bernard vetting. He certainly didn't need that level of weirdness throwing in.

"Just check things out, make sure Grandma knows what she's doing and that this friend of hers isn't up to anything untoward, that's all. You'll only need to be there a couple of days, tops. You can even stay in your old room, go visit some of your friends," Jeff had said to his son before he had left. If only any of them still lived in the area, that bluff might just have worked. "Sorry son, I guess you'll just have to take one for the team," his Dad had continued as John knocked on the office door and slunk past to present him with dinner, or more accurately what could only be described as brown mush with leaves. The muttered "and so will I" from Jeff as Virgil had bid them both farewell, grabbed his bag and left with a smirk did help to make everything seem temporarily better.

Unfortunately, several hours of jet-lag and stiff joints later, Virgil found himself in a frustrated argument with a disturbingly-smiley member of the Kansas Airport rental-car Customer Services team and back to feeling slightly sorry for himself again. Those straws had been rigged, he just knew it. The snort of laughter from Alan and even John as Virgil had pulled his straw had been telling enough, but the overly innocent look on Gordon's face as he announced excitedly how good a job he would do in looking after Virgil's 'Bird while he was gone had said it all. A stunt like that had Gordon written all over it. Stupid sneaky brothers, Virgil grumbled to himself as the woman behind the desk once again checked her computer and announced that Virgil's reservation had, as she had already told him three times, been cancelled and that there were no more cars available.

"But how is that possible?" he asked frustratedly. "Surely only I can cancel the reservation?"

"I'm very sorry Sir, but it says here that the cancellation was requested by your wife."

"My WHAT?!"

Last time Virgil had checked he was most definitely not married, or even the slightest bit involved with anyone, much to his continued disappointment.

"Yes, a Mrs S Tracy called this morning to say that you would no longer be needing the vehicle as you had alternative arrangements."

"Mrs S…Grandma!" The realisation finally struck home, just at the same time as the lady in question appeared at the door behind him.

"Virgil! So glad you're finally here. Come along now, Bernard's parked in a loading bay the poor thing, he's terrified he's going to get a ticket."

Virgil took a couple of seconds to calm himself of the shock of it all, taking one last look at the annoyingly smiley face of the rent-a-car rep in front of him and accepting the fact that he now not only faced a long, confined drive with Bernard, but that he would be solely reliant on the man as his only source of transport for the next two days. There was just no escape. Turning slowly, he hauled his bag back over his shoulder and with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, greeted the woman with a sombre "Hey Grandma." Still, even after everything and the sickly dread that came with the thought of what would come next, Virgil's bad mood instantly resolved itself as he finally set eyes on his beloved Grandmother. Wow, he had missed her. He hadn't really realised just how much until that very moment. Guess that's what comes of living in each other's pockets on a secluded island 24/7. He soon found he was smiling again, fondly returning the smothering bear-hug the little old lady enveloped him in. Suddenly all his other worries were non-existent. That was, until they stepped out onto the sidewalk and up to the car and for the first time, a Tracy other than Grandma set eyes on Bernard's grinning face.

"Hood!"