Author's Note: Lucia's turn this time and Ellie gets another chapter all to herself in the next one. Going to aim for weekly instalments so I can get a good buffer and can keep posting content for you guys. Once again I hope you enjoy!

Lucia's hands danced across they keys of the piano as she played, the last two weeks had practically been back to back rescues. Today was the first time any of them had time to sit and think let alone breathe and recollect themselves. Perhaps the only thing she had managed to do most mornings was join Scott on his morning run and help Brains with the maintenance on Thunderbird 2 between rescues and sleep. How long had it been now since she had arrived on the island with Ellie. She paused mid song to think about it for a moment and now that she thought about it she realised it wouldn't be long until Virgil had the cast on his arm removed. Which mean it had been about six weeks already. She let that sink in and her playing stopped. Six weeks since the plane had gone down, which meant it was three and half months now since she lost her brother and father. That had passed by quicker than she had expected. It seemed now it was just natural to be here, the air of family and how they looked out for each other both at home and on a rescue. It made her miss her father and brother but at the same time it had been a blessing in disguise. It made her feel needed and part of a family again. There had been some moments where she had felt like it was getting to much but as she promised she had gone to Jeff and he had sat with her and they had talked. They talked about her father and her brother and he talked about Lucille. Talked about her insecurities and worries and at the end of the talk he had walked her back to her room, kissed her on the forehead like a father would and wished her good night. She had come to realise she had more support here than she had back at home. At home she had been hung up high and dry and given nothing but red tape to walk through but no assistance to get through it and return to work. She was supposed to sort it all out herself. Here Jeff was there when she needed someone to talk to, Scott was open and welcoming about having her join his routine morning run. Gordon was always quick to make her laugh and cheer her up if she looked a little down. It was also pretty funny how easily Ellie was startled from behind. Ellie was like the little sister she never had and at the end of the day they talked about everything that had happened that day before going to sleep. She didn't get to see John much in fact she had only personally met him face to face once when he came down for a week and Alan went up. He had accompanied her on one rescue in that time and they had a really good chance to talk. Again he had thanked her for taking care of his brothers and being there when he couldn't. She couldn't really reply any other way but to smile at him. Now Allan, sweet young Alan. Smarter than his own good, cheeky and reckless as his other brothers at times. But he was always eager to show Lucia his inventions, share with her his ideas or work on his school work with her. In six weeks with the number of times he had accompanied her on missions they had become to grow quite close and she fondly looked at him as like a younger brother. She had not seen much of Tin-Tin as she was due to leave the island to go study but she loved to watch the blooming relationship between her and Alan. Her mind then drifted to Virgil. They didn't often talk much aside from the times he came to check on 2 or when he would sit by her when she was playing. Everyone could tell the strain it was on him not being able to help as he wanted or fly him beloved Thunderbird. Lucia was hoping his arm was good enough in the next week they could remove the cast. At least then he could bathe and shower as normal, depending on how his collarbone was going he might not even need a brace on it after the cast on his arm came off. Those little things could make a great difference, he would also not be in as much pain anymore. She knew pain effected everyone differently. A shadow came over the piano and Lucia looked up to see Virgil's bright amber brown eyes looking down at her. She grinned at him as she usually would when he came to listen to her play, this time she was met with a grin as he came to sit beside her with more ease than he had in the past. He leaned his right shoulder into her in a gentle bump, "Guess who gets his cast off in a week." He said, the excitement clear in his voice. It was perhaps the brightest she had heard him since they first met. "Congratulations are in order then." She said with a wink and began to play the happy birthday tune with a laugh. "Okay.. probably not the right song." Lucia added with a sheepish grin. The touch on her shoulder was back and she heard a snicker from him. "I suppose it is a little like a birthday. Still a long way to go though." His merriment and mirth turned a bit sour towards the end. "Yeah I know, but time will fly and eventually it will all be a distant memory." Lucia leaned into his good shoulder and gave his good hand a squeeze of comfort. Reaching out with her right hand she plucked up a cheery little one handed tune. It was perhaps the best she could do. She had noticed the boys were all good for that. If anyone felt dejected or down, someone would have their hand on their shoulder. Just that simple touch and connection. They were like the family she used to have. That kind of love and support was a powerful thing and Lucia could see why the boys all chose to stay, even though Jeff tried to encourage them otherwise.

"Thanks Lucia" Virgil's voice was low and he laced his fingers with hers. "Thanks for saving my life." It was those words that made Lucia's hand drop on the keys suddenly with a chorus of mismatched notes. She could feel the words, 'just part of my job' trying to escape her but what she didn't expect were the words that would come out instead. "If anything you saved mine, you all did." It was a little more truth than Lucia had expected but now that she had said it there was no taking it back. Not that she wanted to as it was the whole truth. While she wouldn't tell the, why just yet but it was the whole truth. He had saved her and together they had all saved her from a very dark and lonely path. The dark thoughts that had tried to overwhelm her for a while now no longer did. She truly owed her life to the Tracy family, she didn't know where she would be without them. "I guess we are even then." Came Virgil's light hearted reply and together they sat there in silence, leaning on each other. They may not have talked that often but they had spent plenty of time sitting side by side at his piano while she played. Like her, he seemed to take solace within music. This had also become the most she had played the piano in some years. No longer were her starts shaky and her fingers danced across the keys when she played now as they once had when she was a child. Slowly she untwined her fingers from his and bought them back up to the keys and began to play again. It was a slow melody, beautiful and almost haunting in its notes. She remembered a few days ago she had heard Virgil at the piano when she had returned from a rescue. Plucking away with his good hand, she had recognised the tune, despite only hearing it played one handed. She had wanted to join him but she had to check over 2 before another rescue came in, which sure enough it did. Lucia had only remembered it then that she wanted to play it for him, in hopes to cheer him up. Though it seemed he no longer needed the cheering up, she still decided to play it for him. Her fingers danced across the keys as she let herself get sucked into the melody. She had not been this drawn into playing since before she lost her violin. There was an awkward note in her playing which drew her back out and she watch as Virgil used his good hand to show her the right sequence, "It goes this way, I didn't know you knew it too." His correction was gentle and his surprise genuine.

Lucia smiled back at him, "ah, string habit sorry." She apologised at first before she repeated what he had shown her and continued to play. "It's one of my favourites" she added shortly after, while she continued to play. "You don't usually play piano?" Virgil queried as he corrected her again on a note sequence, "Violin actually, but I lost it in the crash." It still stung to think of the fact she had lost her beloved violin in the plane crash. However saving lives was a higher priority that day. "Well you certainly had me fooled, didn't peg you for a strings girl." He jested with her and was met with a chuckle in response from her. "I believe you once called me a woman of many talents." She replied sticking out her tongue at him. Their banter was to be short lived though as John popped up on the holo, they had a situation. With a sigh she tried to give Virgil a reassuring smile before she left to find out what the situation was, break time was over.

Thankfully it was another fairly straight forward rescue and Lucia and Scott were home again before dinner was on the table. They all mused about wishing the break was longer but they were glad at least they didn't need all hands on deck this time. Lucia excused herself shortly after dinner, much to tired to be up later in case a rescue came in overnight. After a hot shower she crawled into a pair of pajamas and went to sleep. Thankfully nothing happened overnight and she woke time to change into her shorts and tshirt to go a take her morning run with Scott. He was already waiting by the pool by the time she was dressed and had escaped her room leaving a sleeping Ellie behind. "Yo Lucia, ready to see how far we can get today before we get called back?" he said with a grin and wave when he saw her. "Always." She replied simply with a bright grin as she ran past him with a laugh. She had made it to the beach when Scott finally caught her from behind and spun around with her in his arms. "Nice try, Lucia." His voice was low in her ear as she squealed suddenly in delight before bursting into laughter. He stopped and they stood staring out to the ocean with his arms wrapped around her waist. Leaning down he rested his head on her shoulder. If Lucia were to think on it she couldn't much remember the last time she had been so happy, since the nightmares had begun to abate and she had begun to sleep well again. "Virgil gets his cast off next week." Lucia found herself saying to break the silence that had come between them as they watched the waves come in. "He's pretty excited about it." She added shortly after. She could hear Scott chuckling behind her and he loosened his arms from around her. "So I heard, I was beginning to worry about him." He said as he pulled away and sat down on the sand, patting the space next to him. "He will be okay, it'll take time but he will recover." Lucia did her best to reassure him as she sat beside him on the sand. She could hear the worry in his voice, his concern and need to make sure everyone was okay. After Jeff had told her about how he lost his wife, Lucia could see how Scott would have seen it as his duty to look after his younger brothers. Her own brother was the same when their mother died.

"I know, but it doesn't stop the worry." Scott replied grasping his hands together on the tops of his knees. At first Lucia said nothing but just leaned in against his shoulder, "My brother was the same when Mum died. Hovered over me like a mother hen, when I announced I was going to become a Paramedic both him and Dad were against it at first. They were afraid I would get hurt. They eventually came around but neither of them stopped worrying about me. It's okay to worry, just as long as it doesn't stop you from taking action or supporting them. I wish I still had family to worry about me." The words came from her mouth before she could stop them, she had thought she could be okay with Jeff being the only one who knew about her family. It had been the last few weeks that she had come to realise how trying to hide it was more damaging to her than helpful. She had not expected it to be Scott that she would talk about it for the first time with someone other than Jeff Tracy. His hands unclasped and Scott reached an arm out and wrapped it around her shoulders with a squeeze. "You got us now." He tried to reassure her, "But I won't be here forever and when I leave, I return to nothing." She didn't really want to admit to the fact that finding a job after this would be hard. Even if International Rescue gave her a stellar recommendation. She didn't want to admit to the fact that she would likely have no job to return to. The life after International Rescue was not one she particularly wanted to focus on. Depending on how long rehab took she was looking at six months to a year left on the island before her time was up. "You don't have any family? Any friends?" Scott queried, it couldn't quite be that bad, she would be bound to have someone. Lucia shoot her head, trying to ignore the tears that were welling in her eyes. She had to stay calm, she had to remain in control. "No, my parents were only children and their parents had died before my brother was born. So it was always just us. I thought I did, but none of them will talk to me now. Won't even answer the phone." She said as she tucked her knees up against her chest. "Whatever it is I don't think you did anything bad enough to receive that treatment." Scott's well intentioned words would have been fine, but he wasn't to know how it would affect her.

There was a sort of choking sob from Lucia as the flood gates opened at his words, "I killed him, I kill their friend." She almost wailed as she wrapped her arms around her knees and cried into them. At first Scott didn't know what to do, or say. What was one to say to that? Evidently though she was in distress and if he was going to find anything out he would need to calm her down first. The arm around her shoulder tightened and he pulled her in close. He sat there holding her until he could begin to feel her sobs subside. He vaguely remembered something in the newspaper bought back from a trip to Australia a few months ago. It was about a rescue accident where one of the paramedics and the person they were rescuing were killed when they were prematurely winched up and a wind gust hit. They had debated over the fact on if they should have called them in to do the job or not. Their father however had reminded them that at the time the conditions for rescue could have been ideal, and calling International Rescue unwarranted. He had reminded them that sometimes things happened beyond their control and they had been lucky not to experience it so far. Which then brought to mind the memories of their rescue of Lucia and Ellie. His father had been right. The rescue should have been a straightforward one, in and out and then back home. None of them could have foreseen the events that had taken place. He could still hear the sickening crunch over the coms when the magnet hit Virgil, he could see it even when he closed his eyes. He held her tighter and rested his head on top of hers. "If Dad okayed you then it wasn't your fault." They might not have been the most comforting words but to Lucia, they meant more than the vitriol she had copped from her partners wife when she had discovered why and how her husband died. "Part of it was, I thought I had been given a signal to go up when, I had not. The detective that interviewed me told me after that if I had not of gone up when I had, it wouldn't have been just them in the side of the cliff. How awful it was knowing after the accident. If I didn't go up I would have killed my whole team and there's no guarantee my dad and partner on the ground would be okay but by going up I saved my team but killed my partner and my father. You can't get rid of that guilt overnight." It was perhaps a simpler explanation than she had given Jeff Tracy, but it was perhaps the only way she found herself about to reply.

"I know.. I know but if you had planted yourself into the side of the cliff. Then the people on the plane we rescued you all from may not be here. Virgil may not have been here without you. If you knew before the rescue it was your father and stayed behind, it still could have ended the same. I'm not saying don't blame yourself, but there are just too many variables to solely place blame on yourself. Without you I could have lost a brother, I could have lost two, without both you and Ellie. For that I will forever be thankful." The Airforce was not entirely without casualty or action and even he had seen some horrors when he was in the service. In the years they had been rescuing the had faced some pretty gruesome and grizzly rescues. He could remember John after his first rescue just before he was stationed in 5, he remembered his little brother coming back pale faced and shaking after it was all over. Alan had been the same. He had expected the same from Virgil and Gordon but for the most part it had been covered by music in Virgil's case and poor humour in Gordon's. They usually made a point to talk about it, to debrief and air the feelings after a rescue since then. Scott was thankful at least that since the girls had arrived, there had not been a rescue that had required such a talk after. They sat together in silence after that until Lucia's tears had stopped and she had calmed down again. Her apology had been met with a promise that he would always be there for her. They all would be. They had each other's back, hers and Ellie's included. She had been about to thank him when john came up on their holo bands. There was a situation and Thunderbirds 1 & 2 would be needed. Doing her best to lighten the mood again she forced a smile at Scott before she dashed off with a cheeky "Race you to the hangar." A challenge he easily accepted and took off running after her.