The Tracy Boys and International Rescue belong solely to Sylvia and Gerry Anderson
Chapter 23
"Do you want some coffee? I'll make you some," Jenna offered, smiling sweetly.
They should have been suspicious right there and then but you know what boys egos are like, an attractive girl offers to make them coffee and they can't resist!
For some reason, though,Virgil wasn't quite so sure; Jenna seemed to be a funny mood but he couldn't just put his finger on it. "Scott's sleeping, maybe we should just come back later; we don't want to disturb him," he suggested, already backing towards the door.
"Oh nonsense," Jenna replied, with a light laugh. "The poor baby's exhausted, that's all, he'll sleep right through," she added, smiling sweetly at Scott, "Don't worry we won't disturb him." The 'exhausted Scott' had agreed to 'sleep' so she could have some fun. He was going to enjoy this just as much.
Gordon mouthed the words 'poor baby' to Alan with a puzzled frown on his face. "What was going on," he wondered. As if a light had come on his head, he smiled to himself, eyes widening. "Something must be going on between Jenna and Scott and I'm gonna stay to find out what," he thought.
Sure Jen, I'll have coffee," Gordon volunteered enthusiastically.
"Yeah, me too," Alan was quick to say; his eyes lighting up like light bulbs. "And Virgil's gonna have some too, aren't you Virg?" he said, not giving Virgil the opportunity to refuse.
Gordon and Alan promptly grabbed Virgil under each arm and frogmarched him across the infirmary to the spare bed beside the desk whereupon Gordon and Alan hopped up onto the bed, stretched out and made themselves comfortable.
Jenna had to purse her lips together to stop herself breaking into a laugh and trying to maintain a natural composure she smiled inwardly, "I've got you now, boys," and thinking of the saying, "Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly." Looking around as if something were missing she asked, "Is John not with you?"
"Eh no," Virgil all but mumbled, "he..eh..he's doin' some paperwork with Dad." In truth, John was going over design specifications on new components for TB5 with their father and Brains.
"Oh well, never mind," Jenna replied. She then proceeded to ask them how they took their coffee, set about making it and handing it round. Sitting on the edge of the desk she smiled as she sipped hers. "So, what do you boys do with yourselves all day?" she asked quite naturally.
"Eh..well…there's always chores," Virgil answered. "After all, we do live out in the middle of nowhere so there's always a lot of maintenance to do, you know, generators and stuff," he explained, feeling pleased with his answer.
"Yeah, and we do Tracy Industry stuff," Gordon joined in, knowing it was a safe enough subject.
"Hhmmm," Jenna mused seriously, "but wouldn't you guys like to do something really exciting, like…. International Rescue for instance." She watched their reaction from over the top of her coffee cup.
Virgil had just taken a mouthful of coffee and on hearing the words, International Rescue, gulped it down far too quickly, immediately beginning to cough and splutter. Jenna put her cup on the desk, crossed to where he was and gave him a hefty slap on the back. "Oh Virgil, are you all right," she said, feigning concern and trying not to smile.
(Author's Note: Did she mean to give him such a hefty slap? What do you think?)
"Yeah," he croaked, still coughing, "must have gone down the wrong way. He hoped his reaction had not caused her to be suspicious but she seemed genuinely concerned about him, he thought.
"They're a great bunch of guys, though, aren't they?" Jenna sighed, "I mean, look at all the good work they do." She could see Alan visibly puff up with pride.
"Oh, yeah,… great bunch of guys, aren't they Gordy?" Alan agreed wholeheartedly.
"You bet," Gordon added, more than happy at being included in Jenna'a assessment of them.
"You know," she said, lowering her voice and looking around as if there were prying ears, "I have a friend who caught sight of them once." Deliberately not saying any more, she wanted to see how long it would take them before they had to ask. "I'll give them to the count of three," she thought to herself, "one…..two….."
"Really," Virgil replied, trying to sound casual, his voice rising a little higher in tone. "And eh…did this friend…..get a good look at them," he asked curiously, wondering how good a description Jenna got and would she be able to recognise them from it.
Jenna bit her lip, trying so hard not to laugh and to remain serious. "Oh, yes," she enthused. "She really liked the pilot of Thunderbird One, thought he was a real dish," she commented, making sure she didn't look at Scott when she said it, although it was hard not to.
The boys gave a 'Ughh' and rolled their eyes. It was always the same. Young females that were rescued who were not injured would inevitably faint or 'sprain' an ankle in front of Scott in order for him to have to carry them.
"Mind you, though, she did say the pilot of Thunderbird Two wasn't bad either," Jenna sighed as if thinking of someone really good looking.
Virgil's ears pricked up wondering what else this friend might have said.
"She did say…she wouldn't mind being put over his shoulder to be carried out of a collapsing building just so's she could keep an eye on," Jenna continued, giggling like a high school girl watching the school team soccer jocks practice. "Oh, no, I can't say," she added all coyly and then said nothing more.
Virgil could barely contain himself. "Keep an eye on what?" he asked nonchalantly as if he didn't really care.
Gordon and Alan were intrigued and grinning from ear to ear. "Go on, Jen, keep an eye on what?" Alan wanted to know.
She went to say but then changed her mind. "Oh no, I can't, really," she continued shyly, "It's too embarrassing."
Virgil was almost beside himself with curiosity but pretended not to be by taking another drink of coffee. Jenna was really enjoying herself by now and this was the moment she chose to tell him. "Oh, all right then," she agreed. "So she could keep an eye on his nice tight butt," she finally said trying hard to keep her composure.
This time coffee spewed everywhere like a sprinkler watering the lawn, followed by more choking coughs and splutters. Jenna immediately clapped him hard on the back again. "Virgil, you need to be more careful, you could choke," she once more feigned concern. "Maybe this coffee's just too strong for you," Jenna added, looking adoringly towards Scott as if to say it takes a real man to drink coffee this strong.
Virgil caught the implication and frowned heavily. Gordon laughed almost to the point where he rolled off the bed with Alan not far behind him. "So, he has a nice tight butt eh," Gordon repeated, unable to resist glancing at Virgil. "Say, Jen, what's this friend of yours like?"
Jenna could see Virgil redden with embarrassment. "Well, you did want to know," she laughed to herself, then turning her beady eyes on the two pranksters she said inwardly, "Oh, I haven't even started on you two yet."
"Then there's this other friend of mine, now she's really into blondes," Jenna went on, glancing at Alan who was preening himself like a peacock on hearing that. "She says that one of these guys is blonde," Jenna said, still speaking in a low voice as if letting them in on a secret. Again Jenna said nothing more, taking delight in watching Alan's curiosity get the better of him.
"And eh….what…did she think of him?" he asked with a casual air, expecting it to be something flattering about his anatomy.
Jenna laughed. Alan frowned. It was not quite the reaction he had expected. "She couldn't really believe it," Jenna responded, again remaining silent. She knew exactly how to play these guys. It was Virgil's turn now to smile as he thought Alan wasn't going to get as favourable a comment as he had received.
"Couldn't believe what?" Alan practically demanded, still frowning.
"Well, that he was so young,….. too young to be in International Rescue," Jenna answered in mock surprise. Alan's frown became heavier, Virgil's smile got wider and Gordon was trying to stifle a laugh but Jenna continued. "In fact, my friend said she thought he was," Jenna started giggling again.
Alan wasn't sure he wanted to hear anymore but Gordon certainly did. "Go on, Jen. What did she think?" Gordon encouraged her. "This is just great," he thought to himself.
"That he was still in High School," Jenna managed to say before giggling again. Alan folded his arms across his chest and pouted much to Jenna's amusement but she hadn't finished, "She also thought he was a bit……," Jenna hesitated, making them wait, "pompous."
Now it was Alan's turn to start choking and coughing as he tried to get the word out. "P..po…pomp….pompous," he said incredulously as both Gordon and Virgil snorted with laughter.
"Tut..tut," Virgil said in mock seriousness, shaking his head, "Whatever are these guys in International Rescue thinking. Taking on a pompous High School kid."
"Oh Alan, dear, whatever's wrong," Jenna soothed as she rushed to his side. "Here, let me help you," she offered as she gave him a few hefty slaps on the back.
"Yeah, me too," his next youngest brother joined in, clapping him on the back and grinning from ear to ear. Secretly, though, he wondered when it would be his turn and would his comments be favourable or not.
"My friend did say,… you know, the one that was into blondes,…that she did see another one at one time," Jenna sighed dreamily. They knew she must be talking about John. "Said he was a real sweety, tall and slim. Seemed shy too, she thought that was endearing," Jenna continued, rubbing it in.
"Really," Alan remarked dryly, wondering why John gets 'sweet and endearing' and he gets 'too young and pompous'.
Turning her mischievous smile on Gordon she carried on, "I've got this other friend….and she's mad keen on water sports."
"Really," Gordon responded, his face lighting up like a 4th of July fireworks display.
Jenna was in her element, she was having so much fun and hoped Scott was enjoying it, although he could well have fallen asleep.
"Yeah,..there was one she was interested in…said he had gorgeous copper hair and his eyes reminded her of," Jenna simpered sweetly, hesitating again and wondering how long it would take him before having to know. "One…."
It was sounding hopeful so far so, "Reminded her of what?" Gordon asked, trying to maintain an air of innocence.
Jenna giggled. "A cutesy little puppy dog," she whimpered.
Virgil and Alan rolled their eyes in an exasperated fashion whereas Gordon was in his element. Already he had a vision of lying on his back, arms and legs in the air, panting and having his tummy scratched by some beautiful girl; especially if it was a friend of Jenna's, though a horrible vision of Nurse Ruth Hiller came to mind, making him shiver. Quickly putting that thought out of his mind he grinned to himself, "Oh yeah, I can do puppy…yap, yap."
Jenna had to bite her lip to stifle a laugh; she could see Gordon's mind ticking over and guessed what he was thinking, he really was so funny, she thought. "Though she did say," Jenna cautioned, enjoying watching Gordon's expression change.
"What?" Gordon insisted, his grin changing to a worried frown.
"That he was too……short," Jenna said matter-of-factly, shrugging her shoulders.
"SHORT," Gordon gasped as if insulted.
"Yeah, you know, like one of those Bassett Hounds with the big ears and a droopy face whose tummy trails the floor," Jenna sniggered, barely able to contain herself.
Somehow it was not the way Gordon pictured himself but it would do for Virgil and Alan whose sides were now sore. Jenna was feeling more than pleased with herself and she hadn't even started on their machines yet! "Anymore coffee boys?"
(Author's Note: Are you sure you know what you're doing, Jen? Are you really gonna insult their machines?)
