Disclaimer: Nothing has changed since our earlier post. Darn our luck.

Chapter 2

Jeff pushed Thunderbird 3 as fast as she would go, desperate to reach his son's side. He had missed his check in and when they had tried to hail him there was nothing. He couldn't fight down the fear that something had happened to his second born son.

Alan sat beside him, wracked with the same thoughts as his father. He tried to remember the last time he had spoken to John and what they had talked about. He glanced over at his father and could see the fear in those steel grey eyes. He wished there was something he could do to ease his father's pain but only the sight of John alive and well would do that. Working in tandem, they docked Thunderbird Three with Thunderbird Five. All the while, Brains continued to hail Thunderbird Five to no avail.

The first thing Alan noticed as he boarded Thunderbird Five was the silence that coursed around them. He could hear the usual whirring of the machinery but that was it. There was none of the usual noise he heard when his brother was up here. The tapping of his fingers on the keyboard, the faint singing or humming as he moved around the station, it was all missing. They headed straight to the main command centre to find it deserted. The only sign that someone had been in there was a coffee cup beside the computer. Alan touched the edge of it, only to find it was stone cold. Brains moved over to the main control panel and began running a diagnostic to check that there was no technical problems. A sudden beeping from the console startled all three men. Rapidly tapping the keyboard, Brains answered Scott's call.

"Base to Thunderbird Five, come in. Base to Thunderbird Five, I repeat come in."

"Th-Th-Five to B-Base, we're r-re-reading you."

"What the hell is going on up there? Where is John?"

Jeff positioned himself next to Brains and answered his oldest son. "Scott, you know that we only docked a few minutes ago. We'll get back to you in a short while, understand?"

Worried, Scott nodded as communications were cut. Jeff looked around the command centre and had just realized that Alan was missing. "Brains, did you see where Alan went?"

"N-no, Mr. T-Tracy," he answered.

Alan decided to start checking the sleeping quarters that John used first. His eyes naturally moved to the bed first but there was no sign of his brother. He then realized that a strange sound was coming from the corner. Peering into the shadowy corner, he found his brother cocooned in the thick comforter that was normally on his bed. It was then that it dawned on him what the strange sound was. It was the sound of his brother's breathing. Instead of smooth, it kept hitching as if he couldn't get a deep breath.

As John fought for another breath, his head came up and Alan caught sight of his face. Dark circles around his eyes stood out against the deathly pallor of his normally pale skin. But it was his eyes that would haunt Alan for some time. Instead of a lively and bright blue, John's eyes were now a dull and lackluster blue and unfocused as if he were fighting an internal battle and losing.

Alan stood staring down at his brother unable to move or call out for his dad. He only moved when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. "What is it, Son?" asked Jeff, seeing the worry in his son's eyes. Alan couldn't say anything so Jeff followed his son's gaze and gasped. He quickly crossed the room and dropped down to the floor in front of his son. John didn't seem to acknowledge his presence so Jeff gently touched his shoulder.

John flinched at his touch. "No, leave me alone please, stop. Don't hurt me."

"John, it's okay. It's just me, your dad. You're safe now." Jeff spoke softly not wanting to alarm his son any further.

Shifting from the reach of the shadow, John clenched his eyes shut. "Stop it, leave me alone. I'm not bad. I'm good. I didn't do anything, Please stop." His heart wrenching words tore at Jeff's heart. His son was clearly very ill and very confused.

Slowly, Jeff reached out for his son again. "That's right, Johnny, you're good. You haven't done anything wrong. I'm going to get you home so that you're safe."

Feeling something touching him again, John mumbled, "Miss home, miss brothers, miss Dad, don't want to die alone."

Jeff breathed a sigh of relief that John had seemed to accept his touch. "You're not going to die alone, Johnny. Alan and I are going to take you home so that you won't miss us."

He had just pulled his son against him when John opened his glazed eyes. Tears streamed down his face. "What did I do, Dad, to make you leave me here for so long?" With one last hitching breath, he collapsed in his dad's arms, unconscious.

Alan finally found his voice, "What is he talking about, Dad? He has only been up here for three weeks."

"I think it's the fever talking, Son. Let's get him into Thunderbird Three. The sooner we get him home the better." Holding his second-born son close for a moment, he felt a moment's fear that he'd almost lost his boy.

"Is he going to be okay, Dad?" asked Alan as he helped his father get John up off the floor.

"He is going to be fine, Son." Luckily John was the lightest of his sons so they had no trouble carrying him back to Thunderbird Three. After seeing that John was safely secured in the medical unit on Three, Jeff left him in Brains' care. Brains had already set Five to automatic so that any rescue calls would be routed to Tracy Island.