Walk on the Wild Side
By Sapphire
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Chapter 5: Milk With Honey Does It Every Time
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It had been a long day and it wasn't too long after the tour that Scott and Virgil excused themselves and went to their rooms.
Even though there were a few minor differences in decoration and the books that lined the shelves, the room here and the room he used on the other side of the dimensional portal were surprisingly similar. Similar enough that when Scott had woken up in this room two days ago, he had had no idea that this in fact wasn't his. Of course, who would ever think that he had moved from one dimension to another? It was a pretty wild idea.
He slipped out of his day clothing and lay down on the bed, dressed only in his boxer short. Folding his arms behind his head, he wondered what the other Scott and the other Virgil were doing right now. He hoped that they were all right.
The day's events went through his head. The discovery of finding himself in a world not his own. The amazement at the things that had been done here. The wild ride that was the return to his own world and the fight with the pirates. The instant bond he had felt at meeting the other Scott. Then their mad rush back to the cave and the return to this world. Virgil's pain on his taking of a life. And this sudden longing to do something like their counterparts had achieved here.
He had been tired when he had lain down, but now he couldn't sleep. He stared at the ceiling, watching the patterns created by the light of the full moon reflected from the surfaces in the room. Nocturnal bird could be heard in the distance and once in a while there was the noise of a small animal passing through the jungle.
All familiar noises, noises he knew from his home.
After an hour of not being able to fall asleep, he decided he had enough. He rose and pulled on his dressing gown. Silently he opened his door and went out into the hallway.
For a moment at a loss where to go next, he hesitated. Then he decided that if he wanted any sleep tonight, a glass of milk would go a long way to soothe his nerves, so he headed towards the kitchen. He didn't bother with turning on the light – the full moon that fell through the windows was enough to navigate by.
In the kitchen, he got some milk from the fridge. He poured himself a mug, added two spoonfuls of honey and popped it into the microwave to heat. At the 'ding' he took it out and nearly dropped it, when a voice behind him said: "Scott, could I have one, too?"
Exhaling explosively, he turned and stared at his younger brother. "Jeez, Virgil, do you want to give me a heart attack?"
Virgil had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry, bro, didn't want to scare you."
"Who said I was scared?"
A small smile played around Virgil's lips, but wisely he didn't make any reply. Instead he asked. "Couldn't sleep?"
"Hmhm," Scott said, while he started to fill a second mug with milk. "It's strange how everything here is so like our home, but then not so."
Virgil nodded. "Downright spooky, if you ask me. That other Virgil, he even has the same clothing I do. Even that awful blue patterned shirt I bought on a bet from Alan."
"The one with the naked girls all over it?"
"The very same. And the stain I've got on it when Gordon spilled coffee over it is there as well."
"Spooky," Scott said.
The grin that had been on Virgil's face vanished suddenly and the auburn-haired young man looked seriously at his brother.
"You think about starting something like they have here in our world, don't ya?"
Scott looked up surprised. "Have I've been that obvious?"
"Only to somebody with eyes and ears. It's clear that you think that whole outfit is pretty cool. You should have seen your face when Alan showed you Thunderbird 1. You were practically drooling."
Scott handed Virgil the now warm milk and honey. He hesitated for a second, then asked softly: "And what do you think?"
Virgil accepted the mug from his brother and took a sip. Scott didn't know if Virgil's delaying tactic was a good or a bad sign.
"I don't know, to be honest," Virgil finally said. "It is a cool outfit and they do a lot of good here. But you should think of what something like this would cost us."
"Cost … hey, dad has money to burn."
Virgil held up his hand. "No, I don't mean money. That's not the problem. I mean, if we do this at home, then, well, what about our friends? What about the life we're used to living? We'll have to spend most of our time here, on the island. We'll need to give up the jobs we have and the people we like. We'll need to be very careful when we meet somebody new. We'll have to look over our shoulders all the time and be careful what we say to anybody.
"Here the world thinks that the Tracys are rich and spoiled and hold themselves above mere mortals. And all that just to keep the Big Secret."
Scott furrowed his brows. He hadn't really thought about that aspect of the operation. For him, giving up his career at the Army wouldn't be too hard. He had had the feeling for some time that he was at a dead end, for when he advanced in the ranks, he would get further and further away from the one thing he loved most in the world – flying.
And for friends – so far he hadn't met the girl of his dreams, the one he would happily settle down with and raise a whole bunch of kids with. Oh, there had been girl friends aplenty, and he had had a lot of fun. He doubted very much that the Tracys on this world were monks.
And his other friends – to be honest, most of them were mere acquaintances. He had always been closest to his family and his best friend in the world was here right with him.
But he also had to think of the others. Virgil had a job he loved, so did John. Gordon had WASP and Alan, well, he had, besides his job at Tracy Industries, the racing circuit and everything that went with it. They all had friends and colleagues they liked to spend time with. John and Alan both led fairly public lives, too. Alan even had a fan club, for crying out load.
But, and that was something he had never thought about before, none of them had ever gone and brought a girl home to introduce her as the next Mrs. Tracy. They all were not too bad looking, they were rich, they were smart and they were old enough (well, maybe not Alan, but he didn't really count). Girlfriends, yes, fiancés, no.
Why had none of them ever thought to start a family of their own?
It was, Scott mused, as he sipped his milk, as if they all had been waiting for something, as if they had known that there was something out there, something they all knew they had to do and that in this vague something, there might be no place for wives and children.
"Maybe," he thought aloud, "maybe, they think that what they are doing here, that International Rescue is worth it. Is worth everything."
Virgil also took a sip, thought for a moment, then added another spoon of honey to the mug.
"Have you thought about that maybe they do it to compensate for the loss of Mom," he said stirring his milk slowly. "I mean their mother here. Image how you would feel if Mom would die the way she did here, with all of us still so young. Maybe there's some kind of guilt complex that runs through the family here and what they are doing is an attempt to atone for it."
Scott looked up, opened his mouth to say something and closed it again. He thought for a moment then shook his head.
"No, not really. I mean, this may be part of it, may be part of why they started this thing. But not any longer, at least not for the most part. Look at Alan and Gordon here. They are both happy doing what they do. They are good at it and what they do it important. From what I've caught from the other Scott he's the same way. And the other Virgil, well, he went out of his way to save Dad without a second thought and risked his life doing it.
"International Rescue is a good thing, Virg. They do it because it's needed and because they're uniquely positioned to do it. And so are we. We could do it – and the more I think about it, the more I think we should do it."
Virgil furrowed his brow, but didn't say anything. Scott could feel that his brother wasn't quite sold yet, but that he was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.
Scott suddenly had to stifle a yawn, and Virgil followed suit. Scott stretched and shifted his chin towards their bedrooms.
"Well, it's time to turn in," he said.
Virgil nodded. They got up, placed their mugs in the dishwasher and headed back towards their bedrooms.
"Good night, Virg."
"Night, Scott."
Scott watched as Virgil went into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.
Then he also went into his room.
Hopefully, he would be able to sleep now.
TBC
(Next chapter: Thunderbirds are Go, Going, Gone ...)