A/N: Well, here we go with part 2. Hope you guys are enjoying the ride so far. Sorry it took so long, and here you go for the people who have asked for another chapter. I have debated on whether I want to add more to this, or just post it as it is, and I have decided that I will just post it as is. Yes, I know it is small, but just means that I will have to add even more for the next chapter to make up for it. Gives me something to strive for, huh?
Me=nothing, Gerry Anderson=everything.
Tracy Untitled pt.2
The first thing that John Tracy realized when he opened his eyes again, was that everything hurt. He did not think that there was a part of his body that did not ache in some way. His head felt like a marching band had trampled through it, not sparing the drums and cymbals. Even his eyelids hurt, and he just barely muffled a whimper of pain as his instinctively flinched, and he felt the wave of pain travel down through his body. He felt like he had gone drinking the night before, and was now waking up with the killer hangover from hell. To further keep with the possibility, his mouth even tasted like stale beer, and it was taking all that John had in him to keep from vomiting all over himself. He had done enough of that in the past couple of days to last him the rest of his life.
Closing his eyes, he tried to remember the last thing he could remember. He could recall being up on TB5. He had been sitting at the console with his head down on the metal trying to keep himself from vomiting anymore from the migraine that felt like it was trying to rip his head in two. His stomach had long since been emptied itself of any kinds of nutrients that he could possibly have ingested, so there was nothing for him to bring up, and simply put, he hated throwing up, so whatever he had to do to keep himself from doing it again, he was all for. He had no strength what so ever, and so he settled deeper into the bed, his eyes fluttering shut once more as he was pulled into the land of unconsciousness.
Hearing a noise around him had John's eyes flying open once more to figure out what he had heard, and instead of the comforting familiar contours of his 'Bird's command deck, his exhausted and weary blue eyes took in the familiar but sterile features of the island's medical bay. It was one of his least favorite places on the island, and whenever he was here, he tried to escape as quickly as possible. But, how had he gotten here? His face scrunched up as he tried to piece his sluggish memory together. Last he could remember, he had been up on TB5 monitoring his brothers as they had been on a rescue, and then the migraine had hit, which had caused the bloody nose, and then he had passed out not too soon after. Had he been successful in contacting Tracy Island, and had someone come up to get him? He had a brief vision of his blood covered fingertips reaching for the paging unit to send a message back down to the island, but after that, it was a complete blank. He must have been successful, because he was here now.
Raising his right hand slowly up off the bed, John panted at the amount of work that it seemed to be requiring, and he scanned the palm of his hand before his strength seemed to totally leave him, and his arm flopped back down onto the bed, totally lifeless, his body devoid of energy. The blood that he could remember being there was gone, and his palm was clean. Hearing the noise again, John's gaze was drawn to the figure sitting by his bedside. He must have been truly out of it to have not noticed him sooner. John could not help but smile as he took in the sight of his father sitting at his bedside, sound asleep. He did not look like he was comfortable though, as the top half of his body was folded over onto the bed. John could imagine his father's back would hurt him terribly when he awoke. He could feel his other hand held securely in his father's grip, and it was something that had always brought comfort to John. He wondered if he should try and wake his father or just let him sleep.
"He's been here ever since we brought you down." A voice quietly spoke, and John jumped in shock, immediately regretting it as his body once more flamed in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ride out the pain. It left him gasping when the tremor was over.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He heard the voice get closer, and moments later, looked up into the warm and compassionate chocolate eyes of his next youngest brother. Virgil's voice was low as he spoke to John, his gaze once more resting on their father asleep on the other side of John's bed. "Scott and I have tried to convince him to sleep in his own bed, but you know how dad can be when one of us are down here." John saw his brother grin, and he could not help but return a matching one albeit a bit weaker. He felt Virgil reach out a hand to gently lay it on his arm. "How are you feeling?" His gaze scanned the monitor above John's head with a practiced ease that only Virgil seemed to have, and he nodded, seemingly pleased with what he was reading.
"Terrific." John rasped out. "How?..." He had been trying to ask how long had he been out, but his voice failed him then, and so he just hoped that Virgil knew what he was trying to ask. Virgil had always been a bit of a mind reader, and so he was sure that his younger brother would understand what he was trying to say.
"How long have you been out?" Virgil finished his question, his gaze steady as he looked at John. It was one of those unnerving stares that made John have to look away. He nodded at his brother's question. "About three days." Virgil's words shocked John, and he was sure that the shock showed on his face. Apparently it had, cause a grim look crossed Virgil's face and he continued after glancing down at the figure of their father, still asleep. "We were coming back from the rescue when dad came on the comms saying that as soon as we landed, we had to immediately go up to TB5. Apparently dad had received a message from you saying 'Help Me' and he had been unable to get a hold of you since then."
John nodded. So his father had gotten his message after all. He felt his brother take his hand and squeeze it, as if needing the reassurances that his brother was here and that he was alive.
"I don't even remember the flight home, John. Or the flight up to TB5. all I could remember was the sound of dads voice when he told us that he couldn't contact you after that message. He looked so… haunted. I'll never forget his words before we took off John. He looked each of us in the eyes and said "Please hurry, you brother's life might depend on it." I don't think I'll ever forget that."
John looked away, as if unable to face the emotions on his younger brother's face. He could feel the guilt moving through him at the worry and feat that he had caused his family. "Virgil, I'm sorry." He said softly, his voice gruff.
"Sorry?" Virgil exclaimed. "Do you know what I was thinking that whole time we were heading up to Five, John? Huh? I was wondering if I would find you dead or alive, and I felt so guilty that I hadn't talked to you in a while." Virgil's voice was getting louder, and John's gaze went to their father still asleep next to him. "But then I was so mad at you for not telling us that there were problems; that there was something wrong." Virgil had begun pacing the room now with a full head of steam. John closed his eyes for a moment as a wave of exhaustion crashed into him as he prepared himself for Virgil's lecture. He must have had his eyes closed for long than he thought, because when he opened them again, the room was dark, and the chair next to his bed was empty. A quick scan of the room told him nothing about how long he had been out. From where he was laying, he could not see out the windows of the other side of the infirmary to see what color the sky was outside. But if he had to hazard a guess, he would say that it was nighttime. That was the only reason that would have forced his father away from his bedside. That, or another reason entirely that he did not want to let himself think about.
However, as if responding to his thoughts, he felt the slight vibrations start that could only mean one thing; the return of TB One. So they had been out on a rescue, he told himself, trying to calm himself down. He could feel a cold sweat breaking out all over his body at the mere thought of the Thunderbirds. What was wrong with him? Why was he having this sort of a reaction to thinking about the family business? However at that moment, he had a flash of remembrance of that conversation with his father when he had learned that he might not be able to come home, and his stomach clenched reflexively as a weight settled in his stomach and he felt on the verge of vomiting. He didn't think he would ever forget that moment as long as he lived. He felt almost deafened as the vibrations and noise from the landing of TB One died down and left silence in its wake. Up in the house, the noise from the powerful rockets was muted by layers of rocks and insulation, but down here in the infirmary, there was not as much insulation.
John quickly closed his eyes as he heard footsteps running down the hallway towards the infirmary, and the door came shooting open. John watched through slotted eyes beneath his eyelashes as his older brother Scott came rushing into the room. John laid still and pretended to be asleep as Scott came over to him and seemed to be studying him, as if looking for something. It was a few moments before John realized that Scott was talking, and he craned his ear to make out what he was saying. He was standing over next to the door, his back to John, and he seemed to be talking into his watch; head bent down, wrist raised towards his face.
"…seems to be the same, Virge. He looks to still be sleeping, as I said he probably would be. I knew he would be fine here by himself while we were out on the rescue. He never even knew we were gone." John saw Scott turn to look at him for a moment and then turn back towards the wall. "His color does look better, though." John could barely hear the small tinny voice that came out of his brother's watch, but he heard his brother's response plain as day. "Virge, you told me yourself that you were unsure how that monitor would work, as it is the first time that you have used it remotely. Look, I know you are worried about him. Hell, we all are. I haven't been that scared in a long time to go up there not knowing what we would find." John started for a moment, unbelieving what he had just heard. Scott had gone up to Five to save him? He was almost tempted to let Scott know that he was awake, but he wanted to hear more of the conversation between Scott and Virgil. There was another burst from the tinny voice before he heard Scott switch off his watch. John held his brother as he heard Scott approach his bedside one more time.
"I know you're awake John. Stop pretending you're not." He heard his brother say, and John paused for a moment before opening his eyes to look up at his older brother. Scott was looking down at him with a critical eye that made John uncomfortable to the point that he had to look away. After a few moments though, he did look back up at Scott, and now he could see the worry and fear that lay almost hidden in Scott's eyes. It was not a sight that was common to his big brother. He and his younger brothers had always wondered if Scott were the man of steel when they had been younger, as he had always seemed to be there when they needed him. It had taken John to relocating to TB5 for so long to realize that Scott was just human like the rest of them, but he just hid it better.
"You scared us, Johnny." Scott said finally, his voice a hoarse whisper as his closest hand reached out to take John's in a firm grip. 'Yeah, I scared myself.' John thought to himself. He could see the affect of his actions on his brother's face, the haunted look that seemed to linger, as he was sure still lingered on the face of the patriarch of the Tracy Family. And it was true. John was sorry for what he had put his family through those last few days, but at the time, he had been unable to see what his actions were doing. Unable, or unwilling, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that he had been feeling sorry for himself for not being able to get home, and feeling like he was being forgotten if only for calls of rescues and nothing else. Man, he could understand how Alan had felt all those years when he had been off at school at Wharton's, and not at home with the rest of his family. He would have to talk to the Sprout as soon as he could.
"I'm sorry Scott." He whispered, firming up his hand around his brother's tighter. While he really could not use his voice to assure his brother, as his throat was scratchy and painful to talk, he could use his actions to convince his brother. He just hoped that his brother believed him.
"Sorry, Johnny?" Scott exclaimed. "I would hope to hell that you are sorry! Why didn't you tell us what was going on?" He asked, his voice getting a little bit louder. John winced slightly. "We are a family, Johnny. You are not supposed to keep stuff like that from us! We need you to tell us when something is wrong, and we will come and get you!" Scott let go of John's hand and began to pace around the room, much like Virgil had earlier that day. "Do you know what it was like for me when we got up to you Johnny? What we saw when we found you? You were curled up lifelessly on the deck, so pale and so cold. There was blood on the monitor station where you usually sat, not to mention blood all over you. My blood ran cold when we spotted you, and for the briefest second, I thought you were dead, Johnny." Scott stopped his pacing now and turned his full attention on John. He shifted uncomfortably as he saw the depth of emotion that was visible in Scott's eyes. It was very uncommon for Scott to display this much emotion, as he was not one that usually was very expressive with said emotions, so to see them now, John had a brief insight as to just how alarming it had been for his brothers to have found them as they had. "I thought you were dead." He repeated again, this time a bit softer as he returned to John's bedside and seemed to study the blonde. "Why Johnny? Why didn't you tell us what was going on?"
"Yes, why didn't you tell us?" Another voice chimed in, and John looked up to see his father and the rest of his brothers standing in the doorway.
A/N: Dum Dum Dum ... lets see how things go now.