Can't do this without my fab beta! Thanks, Bee!

You never know you have an audience every time you sit and play. You immerse yourself in your task so completely it's like nothing else exists. It doesn't matter whether you are trying to capture the colours of the landscape in front of you, or are striving to hit the keys in a way that only makes sense to you. It doesn't even matter if you are determined to install the new parts of machinery yourself; you give the task your utmost attention. In a way, I am glad you don't realise. You fluster yourself when you know you are being observed, especially when you are playing. While your talent is still there for everyone to see, your best pieces are when you play for yourself, not trying to please anyone.

You have spent your whole life trying to please someone. At one moment in time, it might have even been me. But I am no fool; I know the person whose attention you crave is Scott's. It has been since you were old enough to realise he was there to look after you. In a way, you were the brother Scott wanted, the one he needed. You were the one he could look after, teach things and make sure that everything was alright. He understood things by the time it came to you, and made sure you heard about everything that he was learning so you would understand it too. The bond between you is strong, yet you don't see what you give to him. You are his motivation for doing this. He feels the need to prove himself to you as much as you do to him. You challenge him, make him think and stop him from letting the position of Commander going to his head. You ground him, are his anchor and his reason.

You latched onto him in a way I have never seen. You drank in his every word, even when it was clear that your paths were down separate roads. I knew you had to figure that out for yourself, trying to tell you that would have been like talking to a wall. Neither of you listened to reason when it came to the other. At first, I was worried. The way you hero-worshipped him and believed every word that he said made me wonder. Should I have been forcing you apart a little, making you follow your own dreams rather than Scott's? But I never had the courage to split you up and for that I am grateful.

For what started out as worship soon merged into respect, especially as you realised your talents lay down more creative paths compared to Scott's. You learnt he wasn't necessarily right about everything (something we all know we can blame John for, he never hesitated about correcting anyone, even me) but that didn't stop you listening to him. You had such a deep respect for him and I could see in your eyes the only thing you wanted was for him to respect you back in the same way.

I still see that look in your eyes now. Whenever the klaxon sounds, or you are asked to play at one of my formal dinners. Even when Scott short-circuits the panels in his Thunderbird and you volunteer to be the one to put things back together again. You want him to respect you the way you do him. Do you not realise that he already does? The whole family does? How can we tell you that you are the reason this works? Every single time you fly out there, it is you who saves the day. Scott might co-ordinate, but you are the one in the thick of it all. If it wasn't for your courage, your bravery and your sheer determination, our organisation would be nothing. How do you not know you the one that makes this whole crazy scheme work each time you disobey Scott's orders to be safe and instead plunge yourself into danger to save one more person?

It is true that we may not understand where you get your spark from sometimes, it certainly isn't from my side of the family. You take after your mother in more ways than you will ever know. Your smile, your laugh, your easy-going nature. Your love to create something with just your hands, it all comes from her. But while she might have been the one to truly understand what makes your heart beat faster, that doesn't mean the rest of us can't marvel at it. We live in a world of machines, of parts, cogs and gears, of danger and anxiety. You are our balance. You bring colour, light, music and laughter in a way the rest of us can only dream of doing.

I wonder if you see the tension leave Scott's shoulders when he hears you playing after a hard rescue. Or the small smile on John's face when the communication link is left open. The sound of you playing is his piece of home away from home, for it is the way you have dealt with any problem. Even when all you did was hit wooden blocks far more rhythmically for a child your age should have been able to, it was your way of expressing yourself. And knowing you aren't holding things in is what calms him, knowing your reactions are the opposite of each other.

I never hid the fact I was glad you chose engineering rather than a creative industry. I would have supported you either way, and I hope you know that. But looking back now, I know it was the right decision. It means you still have your love, your passion while at the same time being able to work for International Rescue. You bring skills to the table that no one else can, not even Brains and John combined. They might have come up with the parts, but if you were to ask either of your big brothers to attach it in the right place, we all know full well it would end up the wrong way around at least twice.

I find myself wondering sometimes as I stand in the shadows and watch you play. Wondering if you know how much like your mother you are. Wondering if you realise that while she lives on in all of us, it is in you I see her, it is through you that I know she has never left us. Most of all I wonder if you know the comfort that brings me, each and every time I hear your fingers seek out the keys.

I hope you know. I hope you know that despite your efforts to continue doing so; you have nothing left to prove. Perhaps you feel it is to yourself, for it is certainly not to the rest of us. Certainly not to me and definitely not to Scott. You look for respect but don't seem to realise it has been there all along. Somehow, the knowledge that you will never stop seeking to better yourself makes you even more like your mother than you will ever know.