Standard Disclaimer, I don't own the thunderbirds.

Authors Notes: Thanks for all the reviews, I've tried really hard to get the tense right in this -so I hope it reads OK. I've got the basics of this story finished, just polishing a bit as I go, before putting up each chapter. The following chapter is kinda cute, but hopefully with enough tension to keep it interesting, hope you enjoy. –Please review, so that I know I'm on the right track.

Also thank to Fiona12690 for the inspiration…

TBZ…

Double Trouble

Catfish and catnaps…

Running out of the bedroom and slamming the door, Gordon races to the top of the stairs and jumps down, missing every second step until he reaches the landing halfway between the floors; he jumps down to the fourth stair from the bottom, then with a mighty leap jumps the last steps to land heavily on the hallway floor. Alan following his older brother down the steps jumps from step to step, having reached the same step his older brother has leapt from, Alan crouches ready to leap, swinging his arms back and forth he hesitates then steps one step lower, again he crouches ready to leap, hesitating again he moves to the next step down. Squatting he swings his arms back and with an almighty bound leaps and crashes onto the hallway floor, dropping to his hands and knees as he lands. Getting to his feet he gives Gordon a big grin, "Good one Allie," Gordon praises, "that was a whole two steps."

The boys' race towards the kitchen, slamming though the back door and out into the yard, they hit a solid wall of humid heat, "Wow, it's already hot as hell out here." Gordon exclaims. Alan looking at his brother with awe in his eyes agrees, "Yeah! Sure is hot as Hell!" Gordon frowns at the giggling Alan, "Stop copying me." Gordon grumbles.

"Stop copying me." Alan repeats.

"Stop it." Gordon growls

"Stop it"

"Alan" Gordon's voice rises in annoyance.

"Gordon."Alan's hiccups with mirth.

"Will you shut up?" Gordon yells.

"Will you shut up?!" Alan shouts at the top of his voice.

Gordon stomps off down the yard. "Get lost Alan."

"Why?" Alan asks skipping along behind is brother.

"'Cause" Gordon grumbles as he heads off across the browned lawn towards trees at the back of the yard at a quick trot, Alan hastily follows, chattering away non stop about anything and everything he sees and thinks.

Gordon tunes the chatter out as he looks around the yard for something to do. "I wish Scott was here, then we could go swimming." Gordon eyes the cool blue waters of the swimming pool and looks up towards the bedroom windows, wondering if John is watching them. Maybe they can sneak in a dip. He swishes his hand in the cool water a marked difference to the humid hazy heat in the back yard. His gaze is drawn out across the surrounding fields, a heat haze shimmering about the rows of golden wheat and sunflowers, the sky a clear vivid blue with not a cloud in sight, and the hot sun beating down relentlessly.

Gordon was aware that if he was caught in the pool without supervision by Scott or John he will be grounded for the rest of the holidays, and not allowed to swim at all. "We could ask John" Alan reasons.

"What?" Gordon looks distractedly at Alan.

"We could ask John…" Alan says again. "…to come swimming?"

"Nah, the Brains Trust is too busy for us normal people." Gordon sneers.

Alan furrows his brow confused at Gordon's statement and tone, "Brains Trust?"

"Yeah, you know, Mr Brainiac up there… John?" Gordon looks at the younger boy expectantly, "He's always reading and stuff like that. Borrring."

Alan grins, "Yeah Boooorrrriiinnngggg"

Shaking his head Gordon returns to looking around the yard, there's got to be something they can do to keep cool. He looks up at the Cottonwood trees at the edge of the yard, high in the branches is the old tree house that Scott and Dad built years ago, before Mom died, it's starting to collapse in places and the boys have been told to stay out of the tree by Scott.

'Not allow to swim, not allowed in the tree house, not allow to do ANYTHING.' Gordon grumbles to himself, sighing his attention is drawn towards the shed in the back yard, the door has been left open, just inside Gordon can see the Go-cart Virgil has been working on.

"I wonder what Virgil's doing?" Gordon muses.

Alan smiled, "He's back tomorrow, isn't he?"

"Yeah, don't know why he wanted to go…" Gordon grimaces, "I mean… Music Camp, yuck!"

Temptation too much for the redhead, Gordon trots over to the shed Alan obediently following.

Inside the shed Gordon looks over the Go-cart, it's sits in the middle of the shed, it's metal body supported on bricks, paint gleaming deep green, a bright yellow number 2 stencilled on the front fenders. The high polish indication of the care Virgil takes with his prize, on closer inspection Gordon notices that the two rear wheels are off and that the seat is loose, 'no luck there' he thinks to himself.

Looking around the shadowed inside of the shed, Gordon spies the fishing poles, he hasn't been fishing since Mom died. Climbing over the collection of rubble pushed in to the corner of the shed Gordon reaches for the fishing poles, he digs under a pile of cloths and pulls out a box of fishing tackle, grinning he looks over his shoulder at Alan, "How about we go fishing?"

Alan agrees with a vigorous nod. Clambering back towards the door with his find, Gordon hands the box to Alan, "Com'on, we'll go down to the creek." The boys leave the shed and wandering out the back gate following a winding path into the field of Sunflowers which tower over their heads. Alan holding the open box and poking at the shiny fishing lures. Looking over his shoulder Gordon grabs the box, "Alan careful those are sharp." He closes the box and hands it back to the smaller boy. "Just carry it. We can look later, OK."

"Okey dokey." Alan returns with a giggle.

Neither of them notice the lure that has dropped to the ground.

--

Up in his warm bedroom, John is engrossed in the intricacies of his three dimensional science fair model; he frowns in concentration as he wanders the corridors of his computer based space station, correcting angles of walls, moving a doorway here and port hole there. His mind so absorbed within the artificial world that he doesn't register the rising heat of the room, or the blazing sun streaming through the window, let alone the sound of the vid phone ringing down stairs, after a moment the phone switches over to message mode and silence encompasses the house once again.

He builds his communications space station piece by piece, expounding on ideas and planning the presentation for his masterpiece to be displayed on a big screen with interactive panels and walk throughs, 'I'm gonna nail the first prize this year,' he thinks. Although the school year hasn't started yet, John knows that the Science Fair will be held before Christmas, and wants to get a head start. He imagines himself sitting in the control centre monitoring world communications and watching the stars, 'Gee, I wish I could really live in this thing, no more having to watch the terrible two, no more nagging from Scott or having to listen to Virgil practice scales. I'd be able to watch the stars when ever I want, and it wouldn't matter that Dad's not here.'

His mind wanders as he imagines living removed from the stresses of his family, munching absently on a chocolate bar.

--

As the sun climbs near to its apex, Gordon and Alan trudge out of the field of sunflowers and into the shade of the Cottonwood and Willows by the creek on the edge of their Grandmothers farm. The shadows affording some respite from the vicious heat of the sun, the still humid heat within the trees is oppressive the boys wind between the trees to find a place close to the water, Gordon looks down into the shallow slowly flowing stream. He finds a spot with an over hang and slow deep pool of water, 'Perfect for catching Catfish' he thinks.

"Here Alan put that down." Gordon instructs as he sits to sort out the fishing poles.

Alan drops the box of tackle as he sits down in the grass. "I'm hot… did we get anything to drink?"

Gordon looks at Alan, suddenly realising that he didn't pack any food or drinks, "Damn!" he grumbles. "You'll have to get some water from the creek." Gordon instructs Alan.

Shrugging Alan shuffles towards the bank, he lays down at the edge of the water, hanging his upper body over the ledge and cups his hands in the water to bring mouthfuls to his lips. His entire attention caught in what he is doing he doesn't realise he is slipping further over the ledge, until Gordon grabs his ankles, "Watch it Sprout, you nearly went in!" Gordon laughs, hauling the younger boy away from the edge.

Alan gets to his knees, "Thanks Gordo, don't wanna go swimming." The boys sit side by side, Alan watching Gordon's manipulation of the fishing line as he sets up the poles. Putting the fishing poles aside, Gordon pulls out a small hand trowel, "Ok now we need to get some bait."

Alan wrinkles his nose, "Bait?"

"Yep, worm, bugs, anything small and yummy."

"Yuck!" the younger boy exclaims.

Gordon chuckles, "Com'on, it's not that bad."

Leaving the fishing poles and tackle box where they lay the boys set out following the creek further into the trees away from the farms boundaries, the follow the waters course until they come to a nice boggy muddy patch of bank, "This'll do." Gordon announces with conviction.

He marches out to the centre of the patch of mud, sinking to his ankles the mud leaking into his runners. Alan follows squelching.

Bending over Gordon pushes the trowel into the muck and turns over a trowel full of think dark soil, fat bugs wriggle trying to dig their way back into the damp soil. Quickly Gordon scoops them up.

"How we gonna get 'em back" Alan asks. Scratching his head with a dirt finger, Gordon looks around for something to carry the bugs in, shrugging he pulls his t-shirt out to form a basket and tips the worms into the material. Grinning he digs back in the soil looking for more bugs. Alan crouches beside him watching the wriggling creatures as they are uncovered, out the corner of his eye Alan catches movement in the shadow of the bank, a dark writhing shape, without thinking he dives after the movement grabbing it up with both hands, Gordon looks up surprised by the sudden dive. Alan holds up his catch triumphantly, he opens his hands to show Gordon, only to close them quickly as the creature makes a dash for freedom. Gordon realising what Alan has caught grabs his elbow and pushes him towards the bank, "Quick get up to the grass." Once in the dry grass, Gordon dumps his bundle of bug and trowel on the dry ground and hunkers down beside Alan, "Let's see," He says to Alan. Worried about the squirming creature in his hands Alan opens them and dumps the animal in Gordon's outstretched hands. A small lizard shaped creature lays flat in Gordon's dirty hands; Alan pokes it with an equally dirty finger, "Is it dead, did I kill it?" He asks worriedly. "Nah, it's playing dead so we'll leave it alone." Gordon turns the small critter this way and that looking at it from every angle, being gentle not to hurt it. "What is it?" asks Alan. "Is it a lizard?"

Beaming Gordon looks at his younger brother only now realising Alan is covered from head to toe in muck and mud, "No. It's a mud puppy." Alan screws his muddy face up in concentration, "Mud Puppy," he giggles.

"Yeah, a baby salamander. Probably a Tiger." Gordon informs Alan knowledgeably.

Laughing Alan looks at Gordon thinking he is joking, "It's a baby Tiger?"

Shaking his head and sighing Gordon looks at Alan as if he's stupid, "No! It's a Barred Tiger Salamander in its larval form… a newt?" sighing again he continues, "a baby? Like a frog's tadpole?"

"Oooh" Alan looks awed at his all knowing big brother.

"We better put it back in the water, it's starting to dry out, so it won't be able to breath." Alan looks worried, "Why?" "It has gills to breath so it needs water." Gordon explained, he trots closer to the water and tenderly lowers the creature into the cool depths. Quickly the animal recovers and disappears.

Smiling contentedly Gordon gathers his treasure of bug that have been trying to escape through the dry grass. He looks at the dirty Alan then down at his equally dirt shirt and shorts, and shrugs. They make their way back to the fishing poles and Gordon shows Alan how to bait the hooks. Alan looks at the bugs in disgust, "That's gross." He takes the fishing pole from Gordon and follows his elder brother to the water's edge. Dropping the line into the water, Gordon sits back to wait. Alan fidgets, pulling his line up every few minute to see if anything has happened. "You need to wait Alan."

"But I'm bored."

Sighing in irritation Gordon frowns at his baby brother, "Alan. FISHING takes patience you have to wait for the fish to take the bait, if you keep pulling it out, they won't bite."

Discouraged Alan slumps next to his brother, he rubs his stomach "I'm hungry."

"Yeah me too." Gordon agrees his own stomach rumbling. He looks around at the trees, if he remembers right; Scott said there was an apple tree around here somewhere. "Wait here." He tells Alan and swiftly runs up the bank back towards the farm. Shortly he returns holding four ripe red apples, "This do for now?"

Happily Alan takes one of the apples and starts munching. After getting another drink from the creek, without falling in, Alan curls up in the warm shade, hands cupped to cushion his head, closes his eyes and goes to sleep, while Gordon sits guard over their fishing poles. Before long the heat and quiet creep over Gordon, his eyes drift close, his head dropping to his chest in a drowsy half sleep.

--

Hunched over his computer keyboard John is pulled from his musings by the insistent rumbles of his stomach, he reaches for another chocolate bar abstractedly, as he looks at the time on his computer screen, then double checks it against his watch and bed side clock, '1.30… no wonder I'm hungry.' He pushes away from his desk, while opening the chocolate bar and munching it, 'I'm surprised the brats haven't come looking for food.' He wanders down the stairs into the kitchen, drops the wrapper in the bin and starts looking for something for lunch in the fridge and pantry. Gathering some bread, cheese and tomatoes he lays them on the table, and then goes back to the fridge for the jug of fresh lemonade. Making sandwiches quickly he lays the table with plates and glasses then goes to the back door. "Alan! Gordon! Lunch!" He looks around the yard searching for movement, but nothing stirs. "Alan? Gordon?" He wanders out into the dusty steaming hot backyard looking for his younger brothers. "Where are they?" he mutters to himself. "They can't have gone far, Scott told them to stay near the house."

Quickly John does a search of the yard, not finding anyone, he heads around to the front of the house to have a look, running down the dusty driveway to check the front gate, the hot sun beating down on his blond head, "Whew it's hot…", the boys know they are not allowed down the end of the driveway, but Gordon sometimes forgets. 'No sign of them.' "Damn where have they got to"

Beginning to worry, John retraces his steps, running back up the driveway and checks the house. "Damn, where are they?" He trots through the kitchen, seeing the sandwiches he picks the plate up and puts it in the fridge, then goes back out into the back yard, he starts looking more thoroughly. He notices the shed door open and checks that they aren't hiding under any of the boxes or tarpaulins. 'Where are you?' John's heart is starting to race, 'Maybe I should call Scott? Damn he'll yell at me for loosing them. I promised I'd watch them.' "DAMN. Damn, damn" He leaves the shed and strides towards the trees at the back of the yard, looking up into their branches at the old tree house. No sign of them anywhere. Just as he's turning away he notices the gate in the back fence hanging open. "They wouldn't!" John races over to look out into the field beyond, sunflowers growing high, well above even John's head, sun haze shimmering over the hot dusty path, shaking his head John mutters, "They wouldn't go out there, Scott told them to stay close." At that point of turning away the sunlight blinks on something shiny in the path curious John picks it up, 'a fishing lure', "What's that doing out here?" Abruptly John races back to the shed, the fishing poles are missing, "Damn you Gordon, where have you gone?" John looks back towards the gate and field anger and worry on his red hot face, "The creek, I'm gonna to kill him. NO I'm gonna Kill them both!" Dropping the lure on the bench in the shed, John races out into the field following the path.

--

In Jeff Tracy's home office the vid phone rings again… four rings then it switches to messaging, Grandma Tracy's voice echos out through the quiet room, "Jeff? Jefferson are you there. Oh dear. Jeff dear, I have been caught up, the bus has broken down and they say they can't get us another one until the morning. So I won't be back until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, I hope you and the boys will be alright. I'm terrible sorry darling. But it can't be helped. I will see you tomorrow. Good bye love."

--

Down by the creek a drowsy Gordon is woken from his snooze by a jerking on his fishing pole. He quickly pulls the line tight and drags his catch out of the water, his whoop of delight awakens Alan who jumps to his feet and joins his brother in inspecting their catch, a largish brown catfish wriggles on the end of the line; Gordon quickly unhooks the fish and drops the fishing pole. The boy's shouts of jubilation draw their older brother to them. John finds the two filthy boys hunching over their catch admiring their handy work. "What are you doing here!" he roars. Alarmed the boys jump backward, Alan slipping hangs precariously over the waters edge before falling into the creek. John quickly jumps in after him and drags the spluttering boy from the shallow water. In all the confusion the large catfish flip flops its way to the edge of the water and before Gordon can grab it escapes into the water with a plop.

A dripping John slumps down with Alan in the grass trying to catch his breath; moodily Gordon drops down beside them.

"What…are…you… doing…down here?" John asks between breaths. "Scott told you to stay near the house."

Alan looks at Gordon worriedly; Gordon nonchalant looks at John, "Did he?"

Angrily John snaps, "You know damn well he did." Gordon shrugs. Standing abruptly John glares at the two younger boys, "HOME. NOW." He points towards the path. With feigned reluctance Gordon picks up the fishing poles and tackle box and saunters towards the path. Alan anxious as a result of his big brothers anger grasps John's hand, "So…r..ry Johnny." He mumbles looking at his feet.

Heaving a sigh John looks at his youngest brother, "Why Alan?" With tears pooling in his tired blue eyes Alan looks up at John, "I'm sorry for not staying close to the house." His lips begin to tremble with sobs. Kneeling John wipes the tears from Alan's face spreading grime across his wet cheeks, "Oh Allie, it's alright, I'm not really angry. I was worried, I didn't know where you were and it scared me, OK?" Alan nods wrapping thin arms around John's neck, with a heave John stands up holding Alan in his arms, Alan's legs wrap around his waist and they follow Gordon along the path back to the house.

TBC…

Well all's well that ends well!

But what other mischief with the terrible two get into before the end of the day? -LOL- And what will John do when he hears Grandma's messages, who was the other phone call from…

Things are going to get much more worrying for poor John, and I don't think he's going to be finishing his project anytime soon…

Hope you are enjoying this… Please review.

TBZ