Disclaimer: Still don't own it!

Author's Note: A very quick chapter.

Parting Gift

By Bubblegum Thai

Chapter Three

The chilling wind howled through the mountains, blowing heavy snow across the near wasteland. The temperature was far below freezing on the peak of the jagged cliff face. Hidden on a ledge, tucked away in a far corner, was the small mouth of a cave, and huddled inside of its narrow opening were two teenage hikers. Arms wrapped around one another, they shivered as crimson blood stained the thick sock of one and the surrounding snow,

"I…it's so cold…" She shivered, her teeth chattering from behind her blue-tinted lips, "…so cold…" She breathed,

"It's alright Scarlet…someone will come for us soon…I know they will." Replied her black-haired companion, smoothing auburn curls off of her face that had escaped from beneath her woollen hat, "They know that we're up here. Someone must've noticed us missing by now."

"Who could come up here?" She sniffed, "Oh Brett…no one's stupid enough to brave these conditions! We might as well face it, we're as good as…"

"Be quiet will you?!" Brett snapped, "I think I hear something…"

Scarlet silenced herself, sniffling back tears that had begun to spill. A soft rumbling could faintly be heard over the whistling of the freezing wind,

"What is that…?" She whispered,

"I don't know…some kind of plane, perhaps?"

"A plane? They'll never see us in here; we've got to get out there…but…" She looked helplessly down at her broken ankle. Brett sucked in a breath,

"You stay here." He told her gently, pulling his scarf roughly from his neck, "I'll get help." He told her.

- - -

"Thunderbird One to base…"

"Go ahead, Scott."

"I've arrived at the danger zone…"

"And how does it look?" Jeff asked, leaning forwards on his desk, resting his crossed elbows heavily on the wooden surface,

"Uhm…bleak." He stated with a frown, "I can barely see a thing. The snow's pretty heavy and the wind is out of control. I'm having trouble keeping her strait."

"Can you see any survivors or any sign of life…?"

"No, I…wait a minute…"
"What is it? Scott?"

"I think I see someone. Hold on Father…I'm gonna take a closer look…"

- - -

Panting as she struggled through the crack-like cave opening, Brett crawled on his hands and knees through the snow, forcing himself through a mound that had formed at the entrance. Clutching his canary yellow scarf in his fist, he continued until he could stand. Straining to force his cold and weakened knees to straiten, Brett staggered to his feet, shielding his eyes from the wind and snow.

At first he could see nothing, only hear the low rumble of an engine over the sound of the wind, staring into the darkened sky, white swirling before his face, and then he saw it. Looming in the sky before him, a large, silver, rocket-shaped craft. It drew steadily closer and Brett saw his chance. Despite the pain and the freezing surroundings, Brett raised his scarf high above his head, waving it back and forth to draw attention,

"OVER HERE!" He called, cupping his mouth with one hand to project his voice, "OI! OVER HERE!"

- - -

"Father, I've spotted him!" Scott exclaimed, almost dramatically, "I've seen someone."

"That's great, Scott…radio Virgil to update him so the others know what to expect when they get there."

"F.A.B. Father." Scott nodded, more to himself than to his father on the radio, "Thunderbird One, calling Thunderbird Two, come in, Virgil."

"Go ahead Scott." Virgil responded cheerfully,

"How long til your E.T.A.?"

"About ten minutes. What's the situation there?"

"It's bad…visibility is really poor. You're going to have to do a rescue by air."

"How many?"

"One, at the moment…I can't get close enough to see if there's anymore. Listen, the wind is strong, so re-enforce the winch if you can, you got me?"

"Yeah, I hear ya."

"Good. Send Gordon, not Suzan, alright?"

"Alright…" Virgil frowned, "Any reason?"

"We haven't got room for mistakes…we need to make this quick…I don't know how much more this poor guy can take…my external thermometer is giving readings well below freezing."

"Whatever you think's best." Virgil shrugged, though his brother couldn't see. E.T.A. five minutes."

"Good luck." Scott replied gravely, "Keep the radio clear, things'll be hard enough in this wind."

"F.A.B."

With a sigh, Virgil leant back in his seat thoughtfully,

"What's the situation then?" Gordon asked as he emerged from further back, checking the equipment,

"The weather situation's pretty rough."

"I can see." Gordon nodded towards the windshield,

"Yeah…Scott reckons it'll be tricky."

"It'll be fine. We can do it." Gordon said confidently, placing a hand on his shoulder,

"Tell Suzan to re-enforce the winch, the winds are going to be tough to battle."

"F.A.B."

- - -

A few moments after Brett had spotted the first craft, a second one began to loom in the distance. This one had a louder engine and was easier to spot, its forest green mass seemingly ploughing through the whirling snow storm,

"Scarlet!" He cried as loud as he could, only to be drowned out by the sound of the wind, "Scarlet! It's International Rescue!" He called over his shoulder excitedly. The green Thunderbird flew ever closer until it hovered several feet above him. Brett fought against the wind to see what was happening, but it seemingly grew stronger. Trotting through the snow as fast as he could, he headed to cave opening, "Scarlet! It's International Rescue." He repeated his previous statement, "We're saved."

"Hey there!" Gordon greeted as he landed on the snowy ledge, harnessed to thick, iron wires from the crafts vast belly, "How many of there are you?"

"Just two." Brett replied, "Scarlet's hurt her ankle."

"Here," Gordon handed Brett a harness and then another, "put these on."

Once Brett had pulled his harness on, and tightened it with Gordon's help, the red-haired twenty-something un-hooked himself from the wire and fastened it to Brett's harness. He grabbed a small, hand-held radio from his gear-belt, raising it to as close to his face as he dared,

"Two to winch, Suzan."

"F.A.B." Came her chipper reply, "Ready one."

"Go ahead."

"F.A.B." She repeated,

"Hold on." Gordon told Brett, demonstrating on his own harness where the stranded hiker should hold. Brett nodded and slowly, began to ascend into the air towards Thunderbird Two. Fighting the storm in nothing to secure him to anything, Gordon moved towards Scarlet in the save, "Can you walk?" He asked as he moved into the awkward and narrow space,

"I…I'm not sure."

"Here." He offered her his hand, "Let me help."

Struggling, Scarlet used Gordon and the cave wall to rise to her feet. With a wince and small scream of pain, she steadied herself and Gordon helped her on with her harness,

"Lowering winch." Suzan's voice came over the small radio,

"F.A.B." Gordon replied, "Let's get you outta here." He told Scarlet as he aided her outside where the wire was being lowered, "LOOK OUT!" He exclaimed as the strong winds swung the heavy cable towards them. As it did, he grabbed it, the heavy wire wrapping around his wrist as the attachment slapped hard against his arm. Gordon bit back a shout of pain as he felt his bone crack from the force. Using his other hand, now numbed from the cold, he attached Scarlet to the wire, "Go ahead."

"F.A.B."

- - -

A short while later, Scott watched intently through Thunderbird One's monitor, not long before Gordon had disappeared up and back into the other Thunderbird. He was just waiting on Virgil to radio in. He became hypnotised by the spinning flakes of snow outside in front of his surveillance camera, and completely lost track of time until;

"Thunderbird Two to Thunderbird One, mission complete Scott."

"F.A.B. Virgil. Drop them off at the local mountain rescue station and head home."

"F.A.B."

- - -

"…excellent job, everybody. The weather conditions weren't ideal and you handled it beautifully." Jeff beamed proudly which was met by a quiet, mumble chorus of 'thank you father'. John leant over the back of one of the seats, looking on with an amused smile, "Well, off you go! Enjoy yourselves! You've earnt it!" He chuckled, leaning back to rest in his chair. His five children all stood to leave, but Jeff cleared his throat, "Suzan…a word…?"

Suzan looked at Virgil nervously before looking back to her father, nodding in agreement,

"Sure." She smiled weakly, plopping back into the seat she'd been in previously. Jeff waited until Scott, Gordon, John and Virgil were out of the room before slowly opening a drawer in his desk, producing a white, rectangular envelope. He placed down on the desk top,

"I was wondering if you could elaborate on this." He spoke softly, sliding the letter across the desk to his daughter. Embellished in the top left hand corner was the logo and letter head of 'The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine'. It was addressed to her,

"Ah."

"Hm." She smirked, amused at his daughter being caught out, "Johns Hopkins…it's a good school. One of the best, in fact."

"I know."

"Aren't you curious?"

"About what?"

"What it says?"

"A little."

"So open it." He told her. Nervously, she picked it up, pulling the flap open swiftly. Jeff watched on as she pulled out the letter, opened it up and read it quickly. She heaved a heavy sigh, "Bad news?"

"Depends on how you look at it."

"Meaning…?"
"It depends on how you look at it." Suzan repeated in a more assertive tone. Jeff chuckled,

"Did you get in or not?"

"Yes Dad…I got a place."
"That's wonderful news!"

"I'm not entirely sure if I want to go."

"Why not?"

"…I just…I'm not sure."

"You must've wanted to go, otherwise you wouldn't of applied."

"I do want to."

"Then what is it?" He asked, "Suzan? What's wrong…?"

"Promise me you won't blow up at me?" She asked with a cringe. Jeff felt his stomach flip,

"I promise." He uttered,

"Dad, I'm getting married."

To be continued…