Disclaimer: I'm afraid I don't own it.
A/N: I'm really, really, REALLY that it's taken me SO long to get this out to you but I havn't been well and overwhelmed with my college stuff! It's just been mayhem!
Thank you everyone who wished me a happy birthday! I hope you're all doing great! Sorry this chappie isn't fantastic, but it's better than nothing, admittedly!
Love you all!
Somewhere In Between
By Bubblegum Thai
Chapter Six: Going Away To London.
It was pitch black by the time the boys all returned, Jeff stood in his dressing gown, awaiting them. As the last of them filed into the living room to be de-briefed, their stomachs seemed to rumble in unison,
"Eh heh . . ." Gordon laughed nervously, "Guess it's been awhile since we ate . . ."
"Hmmm, well, Grandma saved you boys some dinner, it's in the fridge."
"Excellent!" Alan beamed, running off to the kitchen,
"Alan!" Jeff hissed, "Keep it down! The others are sleeping, it's very late!"
"Sorry . . ."
He burst into the kitchen and began raiding the fridge, soon to be joined by his brothers,
"Ah ha!" Virgil muttered, hauling out a large plate, "Turkey! Yes!"
"Oh, hey, share!" Alan gasped, "I am SO hungry!"
"Aren't you going to eat anything, Scott?" Gordon asked,
"Hmmm? Uh . . . I'll just grab a sandwich."
"Tired?"
"Slightly . . . yeah . . ."
"More for us then!" Gordon beamed, playfully wrestling his younger brother for the poultry which he had pinched from Virgil, who had found something far more appetizing,
"Cake!" He beamed triumphantly, trotting off to a distant corner of the kitchen whilst Scott just shook his head, slinking away unnoticed.
- - -
"MAIL'S HERE!" Gordon bellowed, "Oh hey look! There's stuff for John! Oh he's not publishing yet ANOTHER book, is he?" He groaned, placing his face in his hand, "That'll be fun for all the family!" He muttered sarcastically,
"Be nice . . ." Tin-tin scolded playfully, thumbing a lavender envelope,
"What's that, Tin-tin?" Alan asked, peering over her shoulder,
"It's for your sister."
"Cool! Lemme read!"
"No, I most certainly will not Alan Tracy! This is your sister's private property!"
"Yeah . . . so . . .?"
At this point, Virgil snapped it out of Tin-tin's fingers and high above Alan's head,
"Right to privacy, kiddo . . ."
"Ugh! I'm not a kid damnit!" He growled, balling his fists,
"Alan . . . language please . . ." Jeff warned,
"Sorry Father . . ." He sighed, dropping his head between his shoulders,
"What's all the fuss about?" Jeff asked, furrowing his brow,
"I wouldn't let Alan read Suzan's mail . . ." Tin-tin breathed, handing Jeff the rest of the mail addressed to him,
"Hmmm . . ." Jeff mused, taking the purple envelope from Virgil, turning it over in his hand, "It's from England…"
"Maybe it's a boy!" Gordon suggested,
"Using purple stationary? If he uses lilac envelopes, I doubt that he's interested in Suzan." Virgil laughed softly,
"Let's open it!" Alan said once again, "C'mon! The suspense is killing me! Maybe it's a really cute girl!"
Everyone stared at Alan in disbelief,
"Is that my mail?" Suzan asked, frowning at her family somewhat,
"Uh . . ."
"It is. Isn't it?"
"There you go . . ." Jeff said as he handed the envelope to his youngest child,
"Thanks!" She chirped, pulling at the flap as she sauntered off towards the kitchen, signing; "Its breakfast time . . . breakfast time . . ."
"Weirdo . . ." Gordon muttered, rolling his eyes, "Ahh . . . yet more fan mail . . ."
"You wish!" Alan snorted, "Dear Mr Tracy . . ." He read aloud after stealing Gordon's letter, "Thank you for requesting information on the latest scuba equipment . . . it is important to us that you . . ."
"Hey! Give that back!"
"Boys! Settle down . . . honestly . . ." Jeff scolded,
"So immature . . ." Tin-tin breathed, shaking her head and also disappearing off in the direction of the kitchen, "What's the letter about, Suzan?"
"Take a look," The youngest said as she offered the unfolded letter to her friend. The Malaysian beauty scanned the neat handwriting with a grin,
"Oh, that's lovely!" She gasped, "Are you going to go?"
"To the award ceremony? I hope so . . . if Dad'll let me go all the way to England for one night."
"I'm sure Lady Penelope will let you stay with her for a couple of days!" Tin-tin beamed enthusiastically, "But . . . oh!" She suddenly gasped, "I've had an idea! How about we go shopping? For the perfect dress!"
"Really?"
"Of course! Just you and me?"
"I'd love to!"
"Well, you'd better make sure that you're actually allowed to go . . . I don't want your Father getting angry . . . we'd have to take one of the boys, though . . ." She mused aloud, "You know, just encase."
Suzan got a wicked smirk suddenly,
"Let's take Scott!" She suggested, grinning evilly, "I'm sure he'd just love to go shopping with us!"
Tin-tin laughed softly, brushing hair off of her face and pulling it back into a ponytail before handing Suzan back the letter,
"We'll ask Mr. Tracy over breakfast, alright?" She beamed,
"Sure!" Suzan replied with a nod before quickly stuffing the letter into her jeans pocket,
"What was the letter about, kiddo?" Gordon asked as he, Alan and Virgil filed into the kitchen for a pancake breakfast,
"Wouldn't you like to know . . ." She replied slyly,
"Uhm . . . ya . . . that's why I asked . . ."
"Suzan, do you want pancakes or egg and soldiers(1)?"
"Oooh . . . egg on soldiers please . . ."
"Boys?" She asked, turning her attention to the men in the room,
"Both please!" Alan replied hopefully. Ruth only shook her head and then her wooden spoon, "One or the other, Alan not both, young man!" She scolded playfully,
"Ok . . ." He sighed sadly, "Pancakes then please . . ."
Jeff and Scott entered discussing some new modifications to Thunderbird one at that point, Scott flailing his arms about wildly to demonstrate his point,
". . . new technology that furthers the scanning range on even OUR scanners! I mean, think of how much time we would save searching for survivors with that little beauty!"
"Hmmm . . . I see what you're saying," Jeff began, "Unfortunately, it's explaining why I'd need 4 of them is going to be the difficult part. And I can't do what I usually do and buy from separate suppliers because only one place is manufacturing these new systems, correct?"
"Yeah. . . ." Scott sighed,
"So, I'm sorry Scott, but we'll just have to make do with our own design until this new system is further available."
"Right . . ." Scott agreed, still downhearted though.
Once everyone was settled at the table, Tin-tin gave Suzan a little nudge,
"I . . . uhm . . . Dad . . ." She began.
Jeff lowered his newspaper and regarded his youngest with a wary look,
"Yeas . . ." He answered carefully, "What can I do for you, Suzan?" He asked in reply,
"I . . . uhm . . . that letter I got this morning, it was an invitation to my school's award ceremony . . . I won some awards and I'd like to go and collect them . . . and I'd also like to go to the party, afterwards . . . please, can I go?"
Jeff's eyes widened slightly,
"You never told me you won any awards." He said, now folding his paper and placing it on the table beside him,
"I didn't know until his morning."
"What have you won?"
"Art, English, Graphics, Biology and a couple of sports awards from Sports day."
"What're the academic ones?"
"Uhm . . ." She blushed, "Top results in my exams out of the whole school."
"Good girl!" He beamed proudly, "Of course you may go, in fact, I'll come with you . . . I want to look at some schools out there with you, this'll be the perfect opportunity to make an appointment! We'll make it a nice father, daughter trip!" He declared proudly,
"Oh . . . uh, great!" She beamed hesitantly, "That'll be fun . . . but, one more thing?"
"Hmmm?"
"Can Scott take Tin-tin and I shopping? I mean . . . I need the perfect dress . . . and if we're going to be moving about the country for however long then I really need to invest in some English fashion, don't you think?"
"Hmmm . . . oh yes . . . that's fine . . . you can go this afternoon."
"But Dad!" Scott began to protest, "What if someone needs my help?"
"Alan is perfectly capable to fly Thunderbird One. You know that. You haven't had any time off the island in awhile; it'll be a nice break for you to go down to London with Tin-tin and your sister."
"Oh yeah . . . fantastic fun . . ." Scott remarked sarcastically, "C'mon then! Let's get ready . . . I wanna get there before it gets dark . . . and they're five hours ahead!"
Both Tin-tin and Suzan sent one another mischievous grins before jumping up from the table and disappearing to change into suitable shopping attire,
"What am I in for . . .?" Scott groaned.
- - -
In London . . .
"I think I've found it!" Suzan cried out from behind a changing cubicle door,
"Let me see! Let me see!" Tin-tin gushed from the other side, "Scott wants to see too, don't you, Scott?" She asked, looking down at the man with a grin,
"Yeah . . . sure . . ." He huffed from his seat, face in hand,
"See!" She exclaimed, "Come on out . . . let us see!"
"Ok . . . just gimme a second, ok?"
"She went in over ten minutes ago! How much time does she need!"
"I'm fixing my hair!" Suzan snapped,
"Suzan," Scott began, puffing his chest up slightly, "I am your big brother. I have seen you first thing in the morning for nearly sixteen years. This cannot be worse!"
Suzan only huffed back before the door opened slowly and she shuffled up,
"Ya see? Isn't it GORGEOUS!" She whispered, running the palms of her hands lovingly over the silk of the garment. It was a beautifully deep wine colour, barely skimming the floor in a strait, slightly layered skirt topped with the tight bodice, embroidered with black thread, lace and beads, "Isn't it lovely? It's just . . .perfect!"
"Oh . . ." Tin-tin sighed, covering her face in awe, "Oh Suzan . . . you look so beautiful . . ."
"Scott?" She asked hopefully,
"Yeah . . . great kiddo . . . how much?"
"Eh heh . . ." She chuckled slightly, looking away,
"Suzan . . . how much . . ."
"Ahundredandfiftybutit'sareallyprettydressandi'llneverhaveanythinglikethiseveragain!Imeanaformalawardceremony?Yeahright!"
"I'm sorry . . . it sounded like you said a hundred and fifty!" Scott laughed,
"I . . . uh . . . did . . ." She admitted with a slight hint of a blush on her cheeks, "Great price, huh?"
Scott sighed, rubbing at his temples,
"Go on . . . get changed . . . I'll go pay!"
"YES!" Suzan hissed, running up to her brother and enveloping him in a tight hug, "THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" She cried before running off, "Oh! Tin-tin! I need a bag . . . and those really sexy gloves! OH! And shoes!"
Tin-tin laughed softly,
"Ok . . . we need to find you some day clothes too if your father's going to be taking you to look at schools."
Suzan fell silent for several long seconds,
"Suzan?" Scott called out worriedly,
"Yeah . . . school shopping clothes . . . good idea, Tin-tin . . ."
Scott smiled weakly at Tin-tin before slouching against the wall to wait for his baby sister,
"Scott?"
"Hmmm?"
"Why does . . . why does Daddy wanna get rid of me so badly?"
"He doesn't want to get rid of you. He just wants you to get a good education and be safe."
"I guess . . ."
"Don't worry . . . when you're old enough, I betcha any amount of money that Dad'll let ya tag along with us."
"I don't want to just tag along with you." She thought to herself, "I wanna make a difference." She added, "Ok!" She said aloud cheerfully, "Sounds good."
"Until then, just go along with what Dad says, ok?"
"Alrighty!"
- - - To be continued . . .
God, that has taken me so long to write! It's just not even funny!
I'm really sorry to everyone who's waited so long for that rather . . . ahem . . . bad chappie . . . I promise that my next one will be so full of action, it'll be coming out of your ears! HONEST!
Please RnR . . . I do love you guys, but, yeah . . . I've had my reasons!
Thai