Silent Tears
By Puzzler
Disclaimer – Thunderbirds is owned by Gerry Anderson and Working Title Films. I'm only borrowing them for fun.
Summary – After the death of their mother, the lives of the Tracy brothers change dramatically. How did they get through this traumatic time, and become the family of heroes we now know? Slightly AU.
A/N – Another chapter, and no long wait this time either (don't get too used to it though. I'm not a very consistent writer)! Quite a lot of this story is now going to be told through short scenes and diary entries / letters written by different characters. I am doing this as I want to concentrate more on the characters' reactions and opinions to things, rather that the events themselves.
If you have any ideas to help me with this, please tell me and I will think about using them. Any ideas generally for the story will also be very welcome. Hope you like.
Silent TearsChapter 6 – Games
"Did you sleep well?" Penelope asked as John, Virgil and Alan came down for breakfast. Alan had woken up very early and decided to try to wake up his brothers, so both John and Virgil looked half-asleep and rather jet-lagged. Not everyone had slept through the whole plane journey the day before.
"Fine, until Alan started jumping on the bed to wake me up." John said, running a hand through his hair. Virgil tried to hide a yawn
"Are Scott and Gordon up?"
"Probably not. We managed to stop Alan before he got to their rooms." Virgil said. "What are you doing up so early anyway?" he asked, noticing that Penelope was already fully dressed in a knee-length, rose pink dress.
"I'm used to it, I guess." Penelope said quickly "Breakfast is ready, Scott and Gordon can have some later."
FABFAB
"Ninety-seven…ninety-eight…ninety-nine…one hundred!" Penelope finished counting as she sat on one of the high backed chairs in the dining room, before getting up. It was put to a vote, and finally decided that they should play hide-and-seek. As Penelope knew the house a lot better than the brothers did, she would count first. "Ready or not, here I come!"
After over 5 minutes, Penelope's search of the ground floor had turned up no one. Sir Hugh had asked not to be disturbed, so they wouldn't be in his office…all of the brothers must have gone upstairs.
Scott was the first to be found. He had hidden in one of the cupboards near his room, behind a rack of towels. "Let's go find the others."
After another couple of minutes, the two of them found Alan underneath the bedcovers that he had thrown off his bed that morning.
"Right, that's 2 down, 3 to go." Scott said, walking back out the room.
"I'm pretty sure that there is no-one downstairs, so they are probably up here."
As the 'searchers' didn't find anyone in the next few minutes either, it was looking likely that John, Virgil and Gordon had hidden in one of the other wings of the mansion. Penelope and Alan were just leaving one of the spare rooms for the second time, while Scott looked in the room opposite, when Alan saw a white trainer from behind the thick curtains, and found John hiding.
"OK Alan, you've found me." John said jokingly as Alan tried to pull John out of the room.
"Me found John!" Alan cried happily.
"Who have you still got to find?" John asked quickly
"Virgil and Gordon."
In the next 10 minutes, none of them were able to find either Virgil or Gordon, and they were about to give up and let them win when Gordon was finally spotted, hidden behind one of the large ornate sideboards in the downstairs hallway. Now, hopefully, they would be able to find Virgil as well.
"Maybe we should look down here again. I might have missed him the first time." Penelope said, walking back into the dining room where she had started.
It wasn't until all the searchers had finally given up and announced that Virgil had won that he came out of his hiding place. He had crept under the protective cover that was on top of the grand piano in the music room. As the cover reached down to the floor, he had been completely hidden under the instrument.
"We should have known that you would hide by the piano Virgil!"
FABFAB
The next morning, at the headquarters of Tracy Industries
Jeff Tracy walks into his office, rather surprising his secretary who had come in to sort out some files.
"Mr Tracy…we weren't expecting you to come in for another few weeks at least."
"I know Kirsty, but I feel that I have to be doing something other than sitting at home all day."
"I guess I can understand that. Anything I can get you?"
"A cup of coffee would be good."
"Coming right up."
She leaves, and returns a few minutes later with two cups of hot coffee. She turns to go, but is called back.
"Kirsty, sit down for a few minutes. How have things been going around here?"
"Pretty well, but it has been a bit hectic without us being able to contact you some of the time." She hesitates for a moment. "No offence, but I still think you should be taking it easy for a while."
"That's what everyone's been saying recently. Not that I don't appreciate the concern, but I'm not the sort of person to stay still for long. Anyway, I am getting a bit of a break. The boys are staying with a friend for the next few weeks, as you helped to arrange." Jeff smiled at the lady gratefully.
"It was no problem. How are your sons taking all this? It must be hard on them."
"John and Scott, the eldest, are taking it pretty well, though they may just be hiding it to try to make an example for the others. Alan's too young to really know what's going on. Virgil and Gordon seem to have been hit the hardest."
"I'm sure that if they're anything like their father, they'll get through this. And don't try to do this all on your own either Mr Tracy. There are a lot of people here who want to help you"
"I know. Thanks Kirsty."
"I'd better get back. There's bound to be something going wrong in this place."
FABFAB
Dear Rebecca
I have been meaning to write to you for some time, but I have been rather busy, and I'm sure you have been too with all the fuss of moving house. Do you like your new house? When you are settled, I want to know all about it.
Life has been hectic recently. Father was asked to do two official openings in London – a sports centre and a house for homeless children – and we had to go with him as 'representatives'. I know why we have to do them, but they are still rather boring.
And then, of course, we are having guests for at least the next few weeks. The Tracy brothers – John, Scott, Virgil, Gordon and Alan, are staying with us to give them a break from being at home after the death of their mother. As Jeff Tracy is a friend of father's, he offered that they stay at the mansion. It certainly seems very unusual to have so many boys around all the time.
They have only been with us a couple of days, but I am beginning to see that they are all very different from each other. Scott is loud and confident, and likes to be the centre of attention. He is getting slightly annoying as he keeps following me around…I'm still not really sure why. Virgil is very artistic. He showed me the sketchbook he had brought with him, and the drawing of the mansion he drew yesterday was incredible. Gordon seems to be a bit of a joker. I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps trying to dunk his brothers when we go swimming tomorrow, especially as John said he is a very good swimmer. John is far more independent than the others. He doesn't mind doing things on his own like reading a book while his brothers do something else. The youngest, Alan, is only four, and I can't really tell what he is like, though he seems to enjoy annoying everyone. I'm sure that when he is older, he, Scott and Gordon will have a lot of fun playing tricks on their quieter brothers…and it is certainly going to be very interesting to see what happens.
What is going on where you are? I'm sure you're making lots of new friends, and I will always be here if you want someone to talk to. I know I will miss you when we go back to school.
Write back when you can.
Your good friend, Penelope.
Penelope put down her pen and read back through what she had written. She was just putting it in the envelope when the door opened and John walked into the library.
"Hello" he said, walking over. "I just came in to put this back." He held up the book in his hand.
"I was writing a letter to a friend from school. She moved house a couple of weeks ago, but I want to stay in touch."
"You should." John answered, putting the book back in one of the many shelves against the walls before coming to sit next to Penelope at the writing desk.
"What are the others doing? I think I heard them come in from outside earlier."
"They were asking your parents if they could play a board game. Monopoly, I think."
"Then I'm playing too. That game is always more fun with more players."
TBC…