"How'd what go?" Alan asked suspiciously.
"Oh, um…" Gordon fumbled for an answer.
"Operation Whack Upside the Head," Virgil said, whacking Alan upside the head.
"Hey, what was that for?" Alan rubbed the back of his head.
"You needed it," Gordon replied with a smile, "Oh, and you should both turn around, BYE!" Gordon quickly signed off.
Turning slowly, Alan ducked behind Virgil seeing Scott and John in the door, "Hey, no destroying the art work!" He called from his relatively safe spot.
"How'd you get out?" John finally asked Virgil.
"Apparently, you can't trust Dad when it comes to picking sides," Virgil smiled cheekily.
"Should have seen that coming," Scott muttered, then looked around again, "And when'd you start stalking Alan?"
Virgil glared, "No stalking, just watching for inspiration."
"And whacking upside the head, it seems," John smiled.
"Well that was figurative, until I actually did it," Virgil smiled at Alan, "Looked like you could use both."
Alan mock scowled at Virgil, and then looked at Scott and John suspiciously, "What are you two going to do?"
Scott smiled evilly and stalked forward, "Just a little questioning."
Alan whispered an apology to Virgil, before pushing him into Scott and dashing for the window. Once out the window, he clambered to the tree and down, then headed for the door that went into kitchen; one of the pre-assigned 'safe zones'.
"How'd he get down so fast with one hand?" John asked amazed.
"He comes here a lot in the night," Virgil shrugged, puling Scott to his feet, "And usually has something in his hands."
"Why does he come here?" Scott wondered aloud.
Virgil shrugged again and headed for his door, "Lots of things. He uses the tree so you don't hear him in the hall. But we paint at night or just talk. He usually has a snack, hence the one hand."
As the three walked out of Virgil's room, they headed for the kitchen; knowing Alan would go for the closest 'safe zone'.
"What, does he visit all of us at night?" Scott asked.
"Probably," John answered, "I know I see him a lot when I'm here."
"I see him once or twice a week," Virgil explained.
"Me too," Scott added.
"That's because, I don't see you all enough," Alan stated from the counter he sat on.
"And when do you sleep?" John questioned, sitting next to him.
"When I'm done talking," Alan shrugged, biting into an apple.
"And then he's up with the sun," Tin-tin smiled as she entered.
"That's because you like them," Alan smiled back.
"What about you liking sleep?" Scott mused.
"I get enough," Alan shrugged, "Although I will sleep if there isn't anything better to do. I don't always leave to talk with someone, you know?"
"Yes," Tin-tin nodded, "You go to sleep early if you get up with me. You wake up later if you stay up and talk. And you have one night that is only yours."
"N-no h-he d-d-doesn't," Fermat stated as he walked in too, "H-he c-c-comes t-t-to me, a-and we d-do o-our own st-st-st-things."
"Okay," Alan began, sliding off the counter, "Now that you all know my nightlife, I have to go hide in until Gordo gets back."
"No you don't," John smiled, "We have had enough chasing you to last a while."
"Oh good," Alan smiled in relief, "Then I'm going to go nap, 'cause you know, I was up with Scooter last night."
"And then up with the sun," Jeff called from the hall as he walked by.
"That too," Alan smiled.
EPILOGUE
Two weeks after Scott came back from Thunderbird Five, he got his cast off. Alan had been working on his physical exercises for his hand, and was almost back to full strength.
For school, he, Fermat, and Tin-tin would have an art lessons from Virgil, science and English from John (from up in Five), gym and later self-defense from Scott, Gordon handled math (barely), and Jeff began to teach them about International Rescue.
On rescues, one of them would observe from Thunderbird Two or One while the other two watched from Command and control. Soon they would each get a turn with John on Thunderbird Five, but that wouldn't happen until after Thanksgiving.
Alan never asked about Billy, but he knew that he was still out there; he had done his own little search and knew his family didn't want him to know, so he kept it to himself and went about his days like nothing was wrong. Deep down though, he knew that Billy was out there, and had a feeling he would be seeing him again; a feeling he couldn't shake.
A/N: So that's it...hope the ending wasn't too terrible. If you have any suggestions for a better ending, i will gladly change it! Thank you all for sticking with me and reading/reviewing! see you all in your own stories and hopefully my future ones! laterz 3
~WaterDragonQueen1