Thank you again for the support with this story, it means a lot to me.

"Boys, will you please hurry up? The plane is leaving in twenty minutes…"

"Dad, chill. The plane isn't leaving until Scott gets on it. He is flying, after all. Well… I guess you could fly, but if Scott isn't there, then it kinda defeats the point of you even going. So I suppose…"

"Gordon?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"Shut up."

John smirked as Gordon snapped his mouth shut, the younger brother grinning as well. John could tell that Gordon was finding it highly entertaining that their father's method of getting their brothers to hurry up was to simply treat them like they were children again.

Scott had always been so good at getting the rest of them ready that he never needed to be told to hurry up. Virgil was a different story, especially if he didn't want to go. But this time, his brothers weren't playing for time – they were both talking to Brains.

It had been two days since the decision had been made. John knew that his father would have left the next morning if he thought he could get away with it. But it wasn't that simple. Procedures needed to be put in place for while they were gone. It wasn't because anyone thought that John and Gordon couldn't cope; it was because they were two men down. Scott and Virgil had the most experience, and while John could keep a cool head in a crisis, he wasn't used to running operations from the ground.

Right now, they were checking with Brains that there wasn't a situation brewing. It was one thing getting caught short, it was another entirely leaving with a crisis about to break.

Despite his brothers never wishing harm on anyone (apart from each other), John knew they were disappointed that the world was quiet. It didn't stop an emergency from coming up at the last minute, but right now, there was nothing they could use as an excuse not to go.

John was certain they were dragging their feet now, hoping the klaxon would suddenly go off before they reached the plane. As his father clicked his tongue irritably, John's grin widened. Gordon wandered off, but John stayed curled up in his chair, a book balanced on his lap. He never got the chance on the station: he was always checking for situations to properly relax with a book.

"You know the more you yell, the slower they'll move?" he mused, causing his dad to send him an exasperated look that said that he was being no help at all. The ringing of the phone stopped Jeff saying anything. From halfway down the hallway, Gordon yelled that he would answer it.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay handling things here?" Jeff asked quietly and John was hard pushed not to roll his eyes. He sensed his dad had been trying to get him on his own to ask since the trip was put into motion, not wanting to do it in front of his brothers, but needing to know the answer nevertheless.

"I know you normally handle things from the station," he continued, "and can co-ordinate a rescue from up there, but it's different being out in the field…"

"Dad, I'll be fine," John said firmly. If it wasn't for things getting out of hand so much with Scott, John knew his father would have never taken both Scott and Virgil off the island at the same time. His brothers might have been stalling, but John was certain it wouldn't have taken a lot of convincing for his dad to try and send them alone so that he could stay to keep an eye on things.

"Besides, I've got Gords…"

"That's what worries me."

Although it was a mutter, John still heard and laughed. "I know how to handle Gordon, Dad."

His dad looked alarmed by John's tone and opened his mouth again. John wouldn't have been surprised if he declared the plans had changed and that he was staying after all, but Gordon interrupted, calling through from another room.

"Dad! It's Alan on the phone. Something about it's really not his fault, the room needed work done on it anyway and no one told him that mixing those chemicals had such a reaction!"

John burst out laughing at how pale his father suddenly went as the man hurried from the room. John was certain he heard a mutter about sons being the death of him and he suddenly wondered when his dad had last acted this way; as their father rather than the commander. Things were more peaceful when Alan was at school. For one thing, Gordon had lost his partner and knew his tricks didn't impress the older ones as much as they did Alan. They normally spent most of their time engrossed in their roles with International Rescue when the youngest wasn't home.

Naturally, as soon as Jeff left the room, Scott and Virgil finally turned up. Scott took one look at John's face and groaned.

"What's the kid done this time?"

"Blown something up by the sounds of it. You guys ready?"

John knew he wasn't imagining the tension running through Scott. In fact, he was certain that if Virgil hadn't been going as well, Scott would have stolen the plane and run off somewhere for a few days in order to avoid this whole situation. Virgil shot John a look, one that said he knew what John was thinking and had the same thoughts running through his own mind.

"As I'll ever be," Scott muttered darkly and Virgil nudged him with his shoulder.

"Yes, we are. You would think," he continued conversationally, "that someone with military training wouldn't make such a mess packing. He claims he couldn't find something, but I think Scotty here was hoping he wouldn't have to go if he never finished packing."

"You know the sooner you get on the plane, the sooner Dad will relax?" John murmured, placing his book to one side and standing up.

It was unnerving seeing Scott nervous. This was the Field Commander of International Rescue and the big brother who solved all of their problems. But when Scott had a problem of his own, he reverted back to a time they all tried to forget. He shut down.

Virgil nodded, rolling his eyes. His expression said it all; that it was the same thing that he had been telling Scott all morning. Scott simply made a noise in the back of his throat by way of answer and tried to sit down.

Virgil, however, moved quickly, grabbing his brother's arm and keeping him upright. Again, John could tell this was something they had been doing all morning. He hoped they would hurry up and leave before the arguments started. At least once they were on their way, neither of them could get out of it.

"He won't get back up again if he sits," Virgil muttered and John forced a grin, knowing it didn't meet his eyes.

"He is here," Scott grumbled. John looked from Virgil to Scott and wasn't surprised to find his older brother watching him, clearly reading his expression and understanding this was just as strange for John as it was for him and Virgil.

John wasn't sure that he had ever been on the island for more than a few hours without one or both of them there, and he knew that he was going to feel their absence. He sighed, putting his hand on Scott's shoulder.

"Everything will work out," he said softly, too quietly for even Virgil – standing right next to them – to hear. Scott looked as if he was going to protest, perhaps even claim that he didn't know what John was talking about, but he dropped his gaze at the last moment and nodded. John gave his brother's shoulder a squeeze and stepped back even as their father and Gordon walked into the room.

Jeff's lips were tight and his eyes angry, although Gordon's grin indicated that Alan had indeed blown something up. John bit his lip, hoping Scott wasn't about to offer another protest or reason about why they shouldn't be going. It wouldn't take a lot to send their father over the edge right now.

"Are you ready?" Jeff asked, narrowly avoiding snapping at them. John knew that although his father wanted this to be over with, he knew how much of a big deal this was, especially for Scott. When both accompanying sons nodded, Jeff exhaled, one hand resting on Gordon's shoulder.

"Be good for your brother."

"Dad, I'm not eight."

"Are mentally," Virgil muttered and Gordon responded by poking his tongue out. John rolled his eyes, tugged Gordon away from their father and simply held the younger man in a headlock. He knew if Gordon wanted to, he could get out and have John on the floor in seconds. But Gordon played along, meekly pushing at his brother before falling still.

"I've got this troublemaker. Think you need more luck with those two."

"Hey," Scott protested, and John grinned as his brother sounded more like himself.

Jeff shook his head. "Come on."

After that, it was just a matter of saying goodbye. They all knew it would only be for a few days, but John was fully aware of just what those few days could mean to Scott. It could get rid of the nightmares for good, or it could make everything so much worse.

It was a relief when the plane vanished to just a speck in the sky and they had the island to themselves. The Kyranos were still around, but John knew they were taking this chance to have some time to themselves for a few days, and no doubt their grandmother would be quick to make her presence known if she thought that something was wrong.

But for now, with a lack of an older brother (two for Gordon) and father around, it felt like they had more freedom than normal. Judging by the glint in Gordon's eye, he was thinking exactly the same.

"No," John said, shaking his head and sitting back down. "Whatever it is you are thinking, no. Go swim or something."

"Spoilsport," Gordon teased, but obediently shuffled from the room. John shook his head fondly, making to pick up his book again. At the last second, however, he changed his mind and reached for the television remote. It was something else that he never did up on Five. Technically, he knew Brains had come up with a way to get a signal, but John normally didn't miss it and they hadn't bothered installing the software. Still, it gave him something different to do at home, and the astronaut settled back and began flicking channels.

In only a few moments, John realised why he never missed watching TV. Absolutely nothing drew his attention. Finally, he settled on the news, wondering what was going on in the world. He only heard about catastrophic disasters, not smaller scale fiascos. But he was already aware of the first few stories and he reached out to turn the set off. But then something caught his eye. Turning up the volume, he frowned.

"…and it has been confirmed that the police are looking for three men, all armed and dangerous after the break out at around 3AM this morning. The public are warned to keep their distance and to call the police immediately if any sighting occurs…"

The reporter continued on about attempts to bring the men to justice but John wasn't listening, his heart hammering. There was something familiar about the prison being shown in the background, something that sent shivers down his spine.

Quickly turning off the T.V, John hurried up the stairs and switched on his computer. He pulled up more reports about what had happened, confirming that three men had broken out (or been broken out) of prison in the early hours of the morning. The reports weren't giving any details about how it had taken place.

But John couldn't shake the uneasy feeling and it took him no effort at all to begin to hack into the police and prison databases. Just because the public weren't being told what had happened didn't mean that he didn't have ways of finding out!

John soon knew that a smoke bomb had been set off and two masked men had burst in, somehow getting past security. No one knew yet how they had done it, but they had targeted very particular cells and freed the three men inside them before all five had disappeared into the darkness and simply vanished. The alarm had been sounded, but there was no sign of the men.

John winced as he massaged his arm, the old wound aching for no reason at all. He hoped it wouldn't flare up – he didn't want to tell Brains or let his father know. But his hands were uncharacteristically shaking as he moved further into the databases to find out the names of those who had escaped. He felt sick, dread rising in him as he clicked through to the right page.

He hadn't heard of the first of the two men but stored that information for a later date.

The third name made him swear violently.

TBTBTB

Jeff had never been so relieved to get on a plane and see the island disappear behind him. He knew his tension had been noted by his sons, and that he wasn't the only one feeling it. The fact they had got off the island without someone completely losing it was a blessing in itself. It was bad enough having to deal with Scott and Virgil, then to find out that Alan was in trouble as well had pushed him over the edge.

As he settled back into his seat, Jeff wondered what would have happened if he had had at least one daughter...

Scott was flying and Jeff was more than happy to surrender control to his first-born. Both he and Virgil were capable of flying to the mainland, but Scott needed the distraction. Anything that would make the next few days easier was fine by Jeff and he hadn't argued when Virgil announced that he was co-piloting. It gave their father a chance to stretch out in the back and grab some sleep. With Scott so distressed, Jeff had barely slept over the last couple of nights, so he switched off his phone, settled back and shut his eyes.

He didn't realise he had actually fallen asleep until there was a hand on his shoulder gently shaking him awake. He opened his eyes to find Virgil grinning down at him and the main door to the plane open.

"We're here, Dad."

Jeff stood, quickly shaking himself to get the blood flowing, and gestured for Virgil to lead the way. A car was waiting for them as Jeff had requested and he– not for the first time – thanked his secretary under his breath.

There would be no business trips when Nicole left on maternity leave, Jeff decided. He would run everything from home, simply because he wasn't sure that he would be able to get everywhere on time without her. It would be a blessing when she returned to work.

"I'm driving," he stated firmly, seeing the look on both sons' faces when they saw the car. Scott looked as if he was about to argue, but an elbow to the ribs from Virgil settled the matter. At least this time, Jeff had genuine reasons - he had got some rest while they were flying, for one thing. But in reality, it was because he couldn't face them trying to cut through the traffic in order to get to their destination quicker. He trusted his sons with some of the most advanced machinery known to man, yet when it came to sitting patiently in a traffic jam, Jeff balked at the idea.

Luckily, both men backed down and slid into the back, talking quietly as they continued their journey. Jeff was hit with a wave of nostalgia when he looked in the mirror. Apart from the obvious fact that they were men now rather than boys, the image was almost the same as it had been when they were young. He had always been able to count on the elder three to distract themselves during a journey – John with a book and Scott and Virgil with each other.

Although the traffic was bad, it wasn't as terrible as Jeff had been dreading and it didn't take them long to reach the penthouse. He had been reluctant to buy it, not being sure what sort of message it sent to the rest of the world, but when his business trips had become more frequent, he had given in.

Now he was glad that he had, as they often had to travel to the city to meet agents. At least with Brains' state of the art security devices set up in the penthouse, they knew they had somewhere safe to go back to rather than having to risk it in a hotel. It also helped keep their presence in the city secret and they didn't have to deal with the media.

It also meant that on times like this, after a long journey not made for the best of reasons, they had somewhere they could consider a home to crash out in. Jeff left the boys hauling their belongings up the stairs while he parked, but they all arrived at the top floor at the same time.

Unlocking the door, Jeff stepped back to let his sons race in, both trying to claim the room with the best view before Scott – as always – backed down and let Virgil have it. There were three rooms, a living room and a small kitchen up here. Jeff didn't think there had ever been a time when more than three of them had needed to head to the mainland at the same time and they spent most of their time eating out so had no need for anything bigger. It was expensive, but under-stated, the decoration plain and everything about it screaming elegance rather than wealth. Hearing a thud as Scott playfully threw a pillow at Virgil in a pretend sulk over the room, Jeff had to wonder why he had ever thought elegance and his sons in one place would be a good idea.

"You've got an hour to clean up and chill out before dinner," he said, moving into his own room and placing his bag on the bed. For a moment, he just sat, glad that the journey was over and the boys seemed to have cheered up. Thinking about the journey made him think of home and Jeff flinched upon realising that he hadn't yet turned his phone back on. He had a separate one for business that he intended to leave off until they had at least had dinner, but being disconnected from the island didn't feel right. He knew if there was a real emergency, then a message would have come through on one of the watches, but he still felt better knowing that he had contact. It wasn't that he didn't trust John and Gordon, he just knew what the younger could be like when he thought that he had some form of freedom.

But when he turned it on and found several missed calls and voicemails already waiting for him, Jeff felt his heart skip a beat. Hitting a button, he started playing the voicemails, hearing Gordon's voice first.

"Dad… you've got to call John. He's totally freaking out about something and locked himself in his room. I don't know what, he won't tell me. Just…call him, 'kay, Dad? He's creeping me out. Laters."

Gordon's message did nothing to calm Jeff, instead having the opposite effect. He had honestly been expecting to hear that they had mimicked Alan and blown something up. But John was a smooth talker and was used to running rescues. He wouldn't freak about something like that, and Gordon wouldn't sound so unnerved. Not waiting to hear the rest of the messages, Jeff immediately called his second-born. He knew not to question Gordon when he sounded like that, and calling the island first would only delay how long it took him to find out what was going on.

It rang only once before John picked up and Jeff knew the cell had already been in John's hand.

"John…"

"Are you alone, Dad? Are Virg and, more importantly, Scott, out of earshot?"

"John, what's going on? Gordon's called me, said something about you not talking to him and totally freaking out about something? You know you're scaring your brother, don't you?"

John sighed on the other end of the line and Jeff could picture the way he would have run his hand over his face as he tried to collect himself.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare the kid, it's just… Can Scott hear you?"

"No, he's in the other room." Knowing that John wouldn't fool around with something like this, Jeff got up and walked across the room. Both Scott and Virgil had disappeared, yet Jeff could hear the sound of a shower running. Satisfied they were out of earshot, Jeff shut the door and made it back to the bed.

"Johnny, what is it?"

"I take it you haven't seen the news?"

"You saw what this morning was like, when would I have had time to do that? Just tell me what is going on."

"There's been a break out from Leavenworth."

Jeff felt as if the temperature of the room had just dropped by several degrees and his throat went dry. John had fallen silent, as if he knew the impact his words were going to have.

"John, are you saying..?"

"He's out, Dad. Blag's out."

John was continuing to speak, but all Jeff could hear were those words running through his head. Blag was out. The man who had torn their family apart, the reason why they were in New York in the first place, was once again at large.

"…Dad?"

Realising that John was waiting for him to say something, Jeff swallowed. He could tell by John's voice that Gordon's assessment was true; he was freaking out. He also sounded closer to tears than Jeff had heard him for years and the father knew that was the first thing he had to sort out. He had let John down before; he had no intention of ever doing it again.

"It's going to be okay, Johnny. The whole state, the whole damn country is going to be looking for him; he'll be caught before the day is over." Jeff knew that his words sounded fake, and he knew that his son wouldn't be fooled by them. But he could hear John clearing his throat in the background and knew that his attempts to try and reassure his son had been appreciated.

"What do we do?"

"We don't let Scott find out for one thing," Jeff muttered. He was glad that John had clearly thought of that from the beginning and that was why he had been phoning his father rather than using the technology that International Rescue had at its disposal. But he knew what Scott was like. His son wouldn't even consider talking to someone if he knew Blag was out, he would simply close back up again.

"Are you coming home?"

Jeff fell back on the bed, thinking hard. He would skip the business meeting in the blink of an eye if he thought it was the best thing for Scott. But his son had clearly spent a long time bottling up how much things were still affecting him, and Jeff knew that if they ran back to the island now, Scott would never open up. How bad would things get if that was the case? Would he ever truly get his son back, or would Scott simply drive himself mad over worrying? Scott would say he could handle things, but considering the fact that they were here in the first place meant Jeff knew that wasn't true.

The memory of what happened still tormented Scott. Jeff was not going to let anything else touch his son.

"No. Scott still needs to speak to someone."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"When the time is right. I need to clear up a few things first. John, you need to tell Gordon."

"No way. He doesn't need that…"

"And you think that he needs seeing his big brother freak out? I don't know how much he remembers, but you need him. Even if he doesn't remember, he can be there for you. And if he does remember, then he has a right to know before he watches it on the news, pieces it together and realises you hid it from him."

"So what about Scott and Virg? They'll find out."

"I'll try and tell Virgil before Scott, I need to have him there to help with his brother and he won't be able to do that if the shock hits him at the same time. But we've got a fairly busy evening - there are some upgrades to do to the security system so I can keep them in without having to make excuses. I'll tell them, when the time is right."

There was silence on the other end of the line and Jeff knew that John was thinking through everything that he had just been told before he quietly agreed. He needed John to agree, needed someone to tell him that he was doing the right thing. Eventually, his son did just that.

"Oh, and John? Make sure you look after yourself, okay? People will be looking for him, it's going to be okay. I would just rather not come back to find a destroyed island." John's weak laugh gave Jeff the confidence he needed to know that they could get through this.

"That was once, Dad, and doesn't count." John tended to like experimenting when he was stressed, sometimes with catastrophic results. But it was good to hear him sound more like himself and Jeff smiled faintly.

"Go and sort out Gords, son."

"F.A.B. And Dad? Good luck."

John hung up and Jeff stared at the phone as if he had never seen it before. He had brought Scott out here in order to help him put the events of so long ago behind him for good. How could this have happened? And how could it have happened now, just when they had arrived in New York? His heart was telling him to get the boys back to safety and back to the island as fast as possible, but his head stopped him. Blag didn't know they were here, and he would be a fool to try and come to New York with so many people looking for him. Running now could potentially lose Scott for good and Jeff was not going to let that happen.

With a sigh, he dialled another number. It also was picked up quickly and Jeff had a feeling the person on the other end had been expecting this call just as much as John had been. Outside of the family, he was one of the only ones who would understand quite what this news meant to the Tracys, especially the elder ones.

"Matt? You've heard..?"