Epilogue to Signals Part 1. More like a pre-episode log.

Gordon pouted where he lay in bed, it was depressing in his room and he wasn't allowed anywhere near the pool not even to lounge next to. There was a knock at his door and he called out for the person to enter, really hoping it wasn't Scott for the third time in the last hour, so he was more than pleased to see Penelope.

"I've brought you that tea I owed you."

"I thought that was a double meaning?"

Penelope laughed, "not so fast mister, this is a good starting point. It's hot so be careful."

Gordon smiled as she put it down on his bedside table, "what's everyone up to?"

"This and that, I think they're still getting over the scare you gave us."

"I scared myself if I'm honest."

Penelope sat on the edge of his bed and held his undamaged hand, "you sound depressed, are you alright?"

Gordon sighed, "being out of action I guess is taking its toll on me."

"Your brothers won't abandon you. They won't go on a mission without you."

"Yes they will, and I can't stop them. It's their job."

"That's not what I mean. Of course, you can't go physically but they wouldn't leave you wondering what was going on. You could go along as a holographic form."

"Yeah. Damn, I should've seen the Chaos Crew coming. They were never aiming for me, but they knew how to take me down," tears swam in his eyes. "I let them take Braman. I should've fought back."

"No, no you should not have. If you had done that, you might not be here. I'd rather a broken Gordon than him not being here at all."

Gordon began to cry and Penelope moved up the bed closer to him for comfort. "I'm a coward," he whimpered.

"Shh, no you're not, you're anything but one okay?"

Scott walked down the corridor on the way to his room when he heard sobbing, he paused by Gordon's room and looked in, "hey fry, what's up?"

Gordon hid his face in Penelope's shoulder, "nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing," Scott walked over and took Penelope's spot, wrapping his arms around his brother. "It's alright, Minnow."

"No, it's not. John has always told me to stay away from the Chaos Crew, and this time I didn't listen to him," Gordon sobbed into Scott's shirt.

Scott sighed. "Being in here is doing you no favours, let's get you to the lounge." He ran his fingers through Gordon's hair gently as his sobs turned to whimpers.

Penelope smiled as Scott helped her get Gordon to his feet then fixed him up with crutches, "here."

Virgil looked up from his piano as Gordon hobbled into the lounge, "hey Gordo."

Gordon smiled tearfully as he was helped onto one of the sofas, "hey."

Scott propped his brother up against him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, "sorry we left you in there."

Gordon sank back against Scott's side into his arms and smiled feeling a kiss be pressed into his hair, "I'll sleep in there, but not hang out."

"How are you feeling?" Virgil asked as he walked over.

"Pretty crap Virgil."

Penelope sat down in one of the chairs which served as Thunderbird 3's seats, "you're on the mend. In about two weeks, you can have the neck brace removed."

"How is TB4?"

Scott bit his lip, "it's going better than when the Mechanic got his hands on her, but there's a lot of new pieces being added. We could only retrieve the large parts."

Gordon sighed unhappily, "this is my fault."

"I've already assured you it's mine," Virgil shook his head. "I should've gone out in TB2 with you."

"It's nobody's fault," Scott stroked Gordon's head tenderly. "This is the Hood and the Chaos Crew, they'll do anything to stop us. Stop blaming yourselves."

Brains ran up the stairs with Kayo, "guys? Oh good, you're here."

"What is it Brains?" Scott propped a pillow under Gordon's head and stood up. "Have you found something in Braman's code?"

"We certainly have," Kayo smiled. "And it's big."

Grandma walked in with Alan and sat down on Gordon's sofa propping his broken leg across her lap, "I heard an exclamation."

"We've decoded a message from Braman, and it's in our codes."

"What do you mean?" Virgil frowned as Scott sat down beside him.

Brains brought up the swirling letters, "do you see them?"

"FAB?" Scott gasped as he looked at the hologram. "That's ours alright."

"Does this mean dad could be alive?" Alan squeaked.

"Still unsure Alan, this code uh, could've been written anytime. We could be talking years or months, but it's something to go on."

"Is there anything else?" Scott asked as he squeezed Virgil's shoulder.

"I want to check that Zero X footage again, it could hold more answers."

"Or tell us nothing," Gordon remarked earning a prod to his good foot from Grandma. "I'm just saying."

Virgil smiled, "it's best to start somewhere, however painful." He looked at Scott sympathetically as his head dropped.

Penelope stood up and plugged the Zero X footage into the main holoprojector on the table, "let's see shall we."