John, Virgil and Kayo watched at Alan's door as Scott sat on the bed and they watched Alan pack while Gordon was packing his own. The silence was telling.
After a short while Sally joined them, hand on Virgil's arm and sad smile on her face. It was natural for children to fly the coop, but theirs was an unusual family and these were not normal times.
Scott glanced up, and she could see the conflict in his face. Sally nodded slightly and gently steered the others over to Gordon's room. Gordon paused and gestured them in, sitting on the bed next to his suitcase.
Sally looked around at them and sighed. 'I love my son deeply, but sometimes he can be as much of an idiot as I was.' Gordon looked sharply at his grandma but bit his lip. This was a question for later.
'Anyway, the point is can this be salvaged at all? Will time apart help the situation?'
They all looked at each other. Virgil shook his head.
'I'm not sure this can be rescued anymore. We've basically spent the last eight years reassuring Scott that he was doing the right thing and that Dad would be proud of him, for Dad to shoot him down the first opportunity he got. I never thought for an instant that Dad would go that far.'
'None of us did.'
John's voice was soft and a little sad. Sally nodded. She'd hoped – they had all hoped – that those eight years of solitude followed by being rescued, that everything Jeff would have read about how much Scott had given of himself to keep International Rescue going would have swung the balance of Jeff's feelings for his eldest son to the positive. But it seemed to have done the opposite.
She couldn't understand how her son could have such a narrow focus.
They accompanied their family as they walked to the hangars, and promises were made to keep in contact.
Sally's heart broke as Scott looked towards the doors, looking for his father, but Jeff never appeared and her eldest grandson's shoulders slumped ever so slightly before he turned to say goodbye.
He clung to her, and Sally wished with all her heart that she could say that her son, his dad, would come round, but she knew Jeff wouldn't, and what was more, Sally knew that Scott knew that too. She took Gordon and Alan aside so that the eldest three could say their goodbyes with some privacy.
The four of them watched Scott's jet leave. There wasn't a dry eye anywhere in the hangar or the jet.
Six months later…
Jeff watched as the new International Rescue team were put through their paces at Gran Roca. The six-man team worked well together. They didn't quite have the smoothness of when Scott ran the team, but they worked well enough that Jeff was finally confident that iR was ready to save the world again.
John, Virgil and Kayo had stayed and helped him build the team up again. Lee had jumped at the chance to be Thunderbird Three again. Wayne Rigby had been persuaded by both Kayo and Colonel Casey to take over the role of Thunderbird One. John still ran Five and comms, he and Virgil shared the field command just like he had with Scott. Virgil was command on the ground. The new team member was Sadie Dosela, an aquanaut personally recommended by Gordon. She took to Four like she was born for it.
The last six months had been hard on Jeff.
Once his brothers had left the island John had immediately returned to Five and hadn't spoken to his father or returned home for almost a month until Sally had intervened. Virgil hadn't been much better, but eventually they had called a truce. They had moved forward, and Jeff would never know that reconciliation had been prompted by Scott.
The biggest shock for Jeff was Tracy Industries.
He'd expected to be welcomed back with open arms, and the Board initially were very happy to see him. Stock rose and it all looked good. He plunged deep into work and made deals and was so proud he still had it.
Until the day the board realised Scott wasn't coming back.
There was an almost outright rebellion once it had been made known Scott wasn't on a holiday but had resigned. It had taken all six months to win some people over, but in the end Jeff still lost eight members of his top staff and had found them hard to replace. He'd never admit it, but he'd been impressed by the progress and increase in scope of interests of Tracy Industries, moving into areas his brothers had personal interests that Jeff had not thought of before.
Scott proved to have a wise head on his shoulders.
He had surprised them all by landing his jet at New Haven Airport and taxiing to a private hangar. They had taken a car to a gorgeous waterfront property on the Quinnipiac River. Alan and Gordon had been astounded at the three-bed house. It was painted white with blue shutters and a porch entrance and even had a dock! Gordon was in his element. Scott grinned at their surprise, explaining that this had been his base for Yale and he'd bought it the second it had come on the market. He had many happy memories here.
They made themselves at home and begun planning for the future.
Alan made plans to attend college. He'd had his heart set on Harvard like John but thought that maybe he'd go to Yale since it was closest. Scott wasn't having any of that. He gave Alan the keys to his jet and they flew to Boston Airport, a mere 5.2 miles away. He gave Alan the option of living in New Haven or moving out to university, but with such a small journey Alan decided to live at home.
Home. The sentiment had brought a tear to Scott's eye and had pulled his brother close.
Scott encouraged both his brothers to personalise anything they wanted, and apart from decorating their own rooms the only difference was the boat now tied to the dock and the hammocks swinging by the pool. Virgil and John had visited as soon as they could, and it coincided with Alan's acceptance and they had partied well.
Scott had explained what he had planned for his own future, and Gordon had leapt at the chance. While John and Virgil had not been too happy at Scott's choice they also understood it. They may not be able to save people as they had as International Rescue, but that didn't mean they were going to sit on their laurels...
It had taken five months of very intensive training but finally Scott and Gordon were ready to be introduced to their new team.
And so Colonel White introduced Captain Cobalt and Captain Xanthic to the team at Spectrum.
A massive thanks to all of you who have commented on my slightly AU head canon! I have enjoyed your comments immensely!
There will be more fics to come!