Another week, another chapter. Okay, so just less than a week, not the point. Hehe. Thanks as always to anyone who read or reviewed, especially those who reviewed!

Ms Hobgoblin: Yes, I've updated them all again. They're all complete, lol. I'm not doing anything aside from adding little comments to you lovely reviewers! And the occasional spell check cos my spelling when I was 16, 17 was terrible! As for the rest, you'll have to wait and see.

loonytunecrazy: Hoody is a fab baddie, isn't he? One of those through and through nasty people! Lol.

The Eyes of the Beholder

By Phoenix Sparrow

Chapter Seven – Family Reunited and One Year Later

When they came back ten minutes later, Kari and Mica had properly caught up and she was ready to let them take over.

"Hey Kari."

"Hello, Jeff, sir."

"I told you about that, didn't I? There's no need to call me sir."

"I am sorry; it is a force of habit."

"I see. Can I speak to Mica for a minute, please?"

"Yes, I should think that would be possible."

"Oh, good. Uh, glad to hear it." He smiled as she stood up from the seat in front of the comm. system and sat down on another chair. "Mica, this is Jeff of International Rescue."

"Yes, I know, well, the International Rescue bit, anyway."

"Right. Anyway, I have an inquiry to make. I believe Kari has told you about what has happened in the past year or so?"

"Yes, she did. If I ever meet that son of a-"

"Yes, well, no need to worry about that now, we have neutralised the signal he was using to track her. We need to ask if you will take care of her now. She has no one and nowhere to go."

"Are you kidding? Of course I'll look after her! She is my baby sister! What are big brothers for, eh, Kari?" he called out.

Jeff smiled. "I'm glad to hear it. Thank you."

Later on, they had packed up everything they'd used and were heading out to Colorado. They had arranged to meet Mica in a disused airfield and would contact him when they were nearly there.

As he wasn't needed, Jeff had sent Scott back to base. Whenever he'd looked at his eldest son that day, he could see how tired he was.

Now, Jeff rode alongside Virgil in Thunderbird 2's cockpit while Kari was asleep in a bed in the back cabins.

"Well, at least we know she'll be well looked after. You know, that Mica reminded me of you lot."

Virgil glanced at his father briefly, but kept his eyes on what he was doing. "Father?"

"Well, he was genuinely worried about his young sister's well-being. I remember when a certain group went out after their brother after a race."

Virgil smiled and shook his head. "It's always Alan getting into trouble."

"No, not always, we've had to send help after Scott as well." Jeff laughed.

"Alright, so not always Alan."

"If I remember rightly, we've had to go out after you as well. When… let's see, when was it?" He looked up as if looking at the ceiling would help him recall the memory. "Oh yes, I remember. That time you went out on that painting trip. You were going from place to place painting landscapes and you managed to get yourself caught in an avalanche in Switzerland."

"Dad!" Virgil said, glancing round again.

"Ah, ah, ah! Eyes on the way ahead of you." Jeff started laughing again.

Virgil simply tried to hide his blushed cheeks and continued on his way.

"This is Thunderbird 2 to Mica Hunter. Come in Mica," Jeff said, after starting up the radio link with Mica's phone.

"You know, normally on a cell phone, you say 'Hello, is that…?'"

"Mica, would you be nice to these men. They are the people who have literally saved my life. I would hope you would show some manners."

"Consider myself told! Sorry, Kari."

"Either way, we're nearly there. We will be with you in about…" He glanced at Virgil who held up his hand with all his fingers outstretched. "…Five minutes."

"Right, I'll be ready and thanks again. I doubt anyone coulda given a guy a better gift."

Behind them, Kari shuddered. Even though she could not be traced anymore, she still had her great and terrible gift. She had come into the cockpit when Jeff had gone down to inform her they would be landing shortly.

They landed, the great green vehicle touching down almost soundlessly on the ground in front of Mica.

Behind him by about ten or twenty metres, was a red sports car, presumably Mica's.

The craft began to rise on its hydraulic legs to reveal the pod entrance. The door lowered and Kari ran out into her brother's outstretched arms. "Mica! I have missed you so much!"

"I've missed you, too, kiddo."

Jeff and Virgil watched from the entryway and smiled then headed down to say goodbye.

Jeff crouched down in front of Kari. "I guess this is where we shake hands and part," he said. Kari turned all the way round to look directly into his eyes then suddenly leaned forward and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you so much, Jeff. I am eternally grateful for everything you have done for me in such a short space of time."

Jeff smiled and hugged her back. She looked up at Virgil and grinned. "Thank you for the pain killers!" she said. "My headache has completely dispersed now, thank you. And can you tell Scott thank you as well? I wish he were here for me to say so myself."

"He had to go back to base," Jeff said. He stood up and pulled on the hem of his uniform top, which had begun to rise up when he crouched. "Right, this is where we part company, I'm afraid. Our organisation never rests!"

"Before you go, I wanna say my thank you's too. After nearly a year of sending letters with no replies and phone calls with no answers, I was beginning to think I'd never see her again. Thank you for returning her to me."

Jeff and Virgil smiled. "Any time, Mica. Any time."

One year later

Alan was in the space station and he'd only just taken over from John, so he had a long month of nothing but answering emergency calls ahead of him.

He padded round the control room in his slippers. He still hadn't changed out of his uniform, but he didn't want to leave his big boots on. He wandered round, being the good member of International Rescue, checking readouts, and making sure everything was going as it should be.

He'd done this at least ten times in the past twenty minutes and he was getting more and more bored, but no more tired. He just couldn't get to sleep.

He finally decided he should get out of his uniform. He wandered into the sleeping quarters just next door to the control room, pulling his sash and sweater off as he went.

He was halfway through getting changed when he heard an alarm sound in the other room.

"Oh, shoot!" he said to himself as he fell over trying to pull his pyjama trousers on. "What rotten timing. Stupid people! Can't they wait five minutes?"

He got up and ran into the control room. "This is International Rescue. We are receiving your call, over."

"There's been an accident!"

'No, really?' Alan thought to himself. 'So, same old, same old then!'

"I am a paramedic. We were out on a training run in the moors." That made Alan's ears prick up. Hadn't something happened to them out in the moors last year? "Two of the trainees had to, for want of a better word, rescue the casualties, assess their condition and sort them out, bringing them back if that was part of their assignment. This group was under the shelter of a rock. The two 'casualties' were broken leg victims, falling off this rock. Obviously, this isn't the real part."

'Get to the point then," he thought. 'I'll be here all night otherwise!'

"Anyway, the two trainees and 'casualties' were trapped when this rock they were under suddenly collapsed. We don't know why it did, it's been standing against wind, rain and snow for hundreds of years and now suddenly, it falls."

"Ok, ok. That's not for us to find out. Deliberate or accident, our job is to get them out. We're on our way, sir."