Long story short - my desktop has been having freezing frenzies resulting in an inability to get any work done. Very annoying, no work means no money and no money means unexciting shopping trips… and bills. Also means no time for writing fics.
So being as incredibly smart and gifted as I am, I have bought a… what's the word? Web book? Incredibly cute mini laptop! I'm going to get the desktop cleared but will use the mini version for writing. This will result in more updates.
Thank you so much to everyone who has thus far commented on the fic, I love the TB community and the feedback is great. Though as per usual I shall be greedy and ask for more… feedback that is. (I will update faster from now on)
Scott was on taxi duty, taking Tess back to her apartment to pick up some clothes and whatever she needed before heading back to take John and Gordon back to the landing strip, on which they'd left Tracy One. He was relieved not to have been sent home with his brothers, yet still was finding it hard to accept the fact that Tess was being allowed to actually stay with them. If anyone came to the island, even family, there'd be weeks of background and police checks, anything that showed up would be risk assessed and it would all take time. Time they apparently could afford to throw out the window.
No. Scott Tracy wasn't happy.
He was currently sat in the front of a yellow cab heading towards her flat, Tess sat daydreaming out of the back passenger window. Daydreaming or planning, either way Scott just didn't trust her.
The feeling hadn't been helped when he'd walked into the bedroom Alan, Tess, and Virgil had been frequenting whilst he'd been speaking to his father. Apparently Virgil had been explaining to her how he was able to check cracked or broken ribs by touch, and had then gone on to explain about his floating rib and how if you put your fingers like that, and pushed down like that, you could feel it.
For some reason beyond Scott's understanding, the situation he'd walked in on had involved Tess sat straddled on top of Virgil, tickling him to within an inch of his life. Alan mean while was doubled up laughing as much as his own ribs would allow him as he watched Virgil squirming about begging for him to stop her.
Of course all Scott had seen was Tess trying to wiggle her way into their lives by buttering up his brothers and father, the reason being as yet unknown but he did not like her around any of his family - least of all Alan, the reason they were in this predicament in the first place.
The cab trip had been decided upon once it was opted to leave Tess's Camero in the underground parking lot at Tracy Towers, seeing as it was very conspicuous, anyone who knew Tess would probably recognise the car, and even though she insisted that her father wouldn't bother to keep tabs on her, Jeff Tracy had thought that it would be one risk too far. Though maybe again it had been another ploy to keep Scott happy. Not that he was of course.
It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to drive the car either, it was yet another frustration of an overly stressful week that kept him counting to ten and trying very hard to bite his tongue before speaking. Someone who got under his skin so readily should not have such an amazing car, he should have in no way been jealous or bitter, yet again, he was. There was just something about Tess Zucco that he didn't feel comfortable with, and he wasn't even sure if the feeling was dislike, hate, annoyance, or plain old irritability.
On the quiet car ride through the rain he'd been trying to come to terms with it and after a good ten minutes he'd allowed a small smile to tug at his lips. No car in the world would ever stand close to a Thunderbird, and Thunderbird One? Thunderbird One would make Tess Zucco's Camero look like a bug on the windshield.
The thought had cheered him for a moment, but that didn't last for long. He was fine with John flying his 'bird but Gordon had also been sent back to the island, and if he choose one brother to never be allowed to fly Thunderbird One? Gordon.
There'd been a spate of incidents, small "one offs" as Gordon liked to call them - such as spilling coke all over the dashboard (which was luckily proofed for such occasions), blocking the system of the onboard toilet (still an unexplained Gordon mystery). And then there were the larger incidents, like forgetting to engage the landing gear when arriving back at on the island after a mission.
"It's not like I meant to." Gordon had huffed, sat by the pool with Scott's shadow blocking out the sun. "It's different to the other 'birds, if you ask me it's far to complicated, maybe we should get brains to update.."
"No one else has a problem with it." He'd growled the words, irritated beyond belief that Gordon was just laying there like nothing had happened.
He'd been on a supply trip to the mainland, a quick job in Tracy One but International Rescue had been called to a forest fire in Indonesia whilst he'd been away. You couldn't work around calls as they always seemed to come at the most inappropriate of times.
"It's not even that damaged." Gordon had practically whined. His voice begging Scott to let it be and leave him alone.
"The whole paintwork is scratched!"
"Repaint it then. Easy." His younger brother had shrugged, eyeing Alan who was sat across the pool on another sunlounger. Obviously trying to stay clear of the argument. "Alan keeps asking for work experience, get him to help."
"I heard that." Came the voice of an irked younger blonde brother. "No way in hell I'm repainting that, I seen it, it'll take forever."
"Exactly!" Moaned Scott.
It had happened twice in a month, which Gordon was still claiming to be a result of Scott's "nagging". Though surely that should have reminded him, but oh no, not Gordon.
Scott sighed and watched houses flash by as they drove to the outskirts of the city, it had been a long day and he was tired, stressed, and dying for a coffee. The sooner they got back to Tracy Towers the better, and the sooner he could confirm to John than Gordon wouldn't be the pilot of Thunderbird One. Not if he had it his way, anyway. He'd rather Brains fly his baby, and Brains had next to no flight time.
That was another thing about allowing Tess to stay with them, they couldn't discuss International Rescue openly like they usually did when it was just family, it was yet another weight added to weigh them down and possibly, if help were needed - slow them up in stopping Zucco. Now it felt like he had to tread on eggshells around her, biting his tongue again and again to stop himself for revealing cryptic clues in snapped, unthought-of remarks.
It took longer than Scott had expected to get to Tess's apartment, they had asked the cab driver to wait whilst they picked up what she needed but he'd grumbled about not being booked and having to earn a living, so grudgingly Scott had let him go his way, making clear to the man that he would have paid for his time. Sometimes having a famous face helped, sometimes expecting people to know who you were didn't.
They ran through the rain and up the steps to the door to try and avoid the downpour that was starting to set in, once the door closed and they were inside the awkwardness seemed to step up a notch.
They looked at each other for a moment before Tess seemed to realise that they needed to get moving, she'd gone rather quiet since the incident Scott had walked in on between herself and Virgil, and after multiple attempts at an apology had given up and resorted to a shared silence. She smiled awkwardly and went to open her apartment door, the click of the lock resounding in the quiet emptiness of the hall, the light flickering nervously.
Following her inside Scott was, like Alan had been, taken aback by what he could only describe as chaos. It was organised in it's own way, yet for someone as compulsive as Scott, unliveable.
Tess was scooting about, grabbing a suitcase off the coffee table in front of the couch and emptying it, picking through what she wanted and hastily folding clothes and repacking.
"How much should I bring?" She asked after a minute, holding a pair of shoes in each hand she seemed to be debating the neediness of the two. "This is just for a few days, right?"
"I've no idea." Scott walked round and let himself collapse onto the couch, his energy draining by the second and allowing his previous anger to dissolve into a lazy acceptance of the situation, maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't been allowed to drive, he'd be sleeping at the wheel. "I suppose it'll just be till we meet your dad." He closed his eyes, half away of the couch that in it's state seemed to be trying to consume him.
"Hope so." Tess muttered, turning away and throwing both pairs of shoes into the case.
It took a moment for her words to sink in, he'd been thinking the exact same thing but was surprised and somewhat irritated to hear them from her.
"What do you mean?" He opened his eyes, pulling himself upright and eyeing her questionably.
She paused, almost surprised at herself for saying it out loud, glancing back at him as she folded what she'd decided to take. Neatly packing in a manner so unfitting of her apartment.
"I know you don't want me there and to be honest, I don't feel all that comfortable being surrounded by people who don't trust me." He went to reply but she quickly cut him off. "I don't blame you for that, I'd be the same if our situations were reverse… or rather, if you were me and I were you." She sighed loudly. "Plus my dad's always been a bit crazy with the things he does, but this is a whole new level for him, I want to sort it out before something really bad happens."
"Something bad?" Scott stared blankly at her. "You mean like Alan being kidnapped? Or some botched attempt where he ends up in hospital?" Sarcasm rolled all too easily off his tongue.
She sighed once more, abandoning the suitcase for a moment as she turned fully to reply, eyes scrutinising him. He half expected her to start spewing Italian at him, mindfully noting to himself that he really needed to cut back on daytime TV, or at least the stories John insisted on watching. One of the pitfalls of him coming back down from Five - catching up on TV.
"Sorry." She chewed her lip, still looking at him as though trying to figure him out. "When I say bad, I usually mean dead. You know who he hangs out with, right?" She turned and zipped the case up slowly, pushing it down and jamming a loose shoe back in. "You know who he works with?"
Scott knew the ins and outs of business and also knew that a hell of a lot operated on dodgy dealings, just because they weren't always publicised didn't mean that they weren't happening. Jeff Tracy had good morals which he passed down into Tracy Enterprises and his sons, but that didn't mean that the people working for him never tried it on, it didn't mean that they'd never had to charge someone with embezzlement before.
"That's a bit melodramatic, isn't it?" He muttered, crossing his arms and watching as she pulled the case to the floor and sat on it, still fiddling with the zip. He took the opportunity to lounge his feet up on the empty coffee table.
She finally got the case closed a let out a long breath of success at a job well done, smiling weakly she stood and dusted off her knees. Crossing the room she took a photo frame from the top of the mantelpiece and brought it over, perching on the couch next to Scott and nodding down at the people who filled the picture.
He looked down at it, half interested in whatever she was going to come up with. The other half beyond caring and wondering how long it would take a second cab to arrive to take them back.
In the photograph he firstly recognised Tess, a lot younger - only a child, but with the same recognisable dark eyes and hair, and the same smile. He also saw her father on the far left hand side, smiling rather moodily, like he had better things to do. Looking just as cocky as all the publication photos and how Scott remembered the guy from meetings in the past and family picnics. Of course back then the smiles had seemed more genuine.
There was a man next to Tony Zucco, tall and olive skinned, a crisp grey suit and a broad smile.
"Antony Malec." Tess pointed him out. "Used to work with my dad, went missing a few years ago and no ones seen him since. Had an altercation with one of his work colleagues."
"Maybe he just had enough?" One thing Scott couldn't stand was exaggeration, people just seemed to blow everything out of proportion these days, and the more he met of women the more he seems to agree with his own opinion in that, not that he'd say that out loud of course.
"Maybe." She rolled her eyes at his reasoning but instead of challenging the story moved along the photograph and pointed out another man, shorter this time with grey stubble and a shaved head, he was looking at something behind the camera, half a frown playing across his features. "Paul Scott. My dad's PA for a while, a good friend of his from back when he was at college. He died in a house fire not long after this photo was taken, the cops didn't have much to go on so no charges were ever made." She tapped the man with her finger.
"Could have been kids." Scott muttered. "Or a case of mistaken identity."
"Hmm." Again she didn't question the reasoning Scott had given and instead moved along and pointed out a woman next to herself in the photo, a crop of curly hair tied high up on her head, A large woman with red cheeks and a second chin, smiling broadly with her arm looped over Tess's shoulders.
"This was my house keeper when I grew up, she was with me up till last year. I never knew my mother but she was as close to that as I can imagine." Tess looked down at the photo glassy eyed, something Scott didn't miss. "She was shot in a drive by shooting at one of my dad's houses. I'd probably still be in Italy if it wasn't for her death."
He frowned but the comment came quickly. "Maybe whoever was shooting was aiming at your father." Scott knew it was a low hit but he couldn't hide his irritation for the man, after all he'd targeted Alan. No one threatened any member of his family, but when it came to Alan Scott felt practically parental. For the first time he felt something akin to guilt for his choice of words.
"Maybe." Surprised at how blasé she was about this he looked down at the woman in the photograph, his mind was drawn to the photo in his father's office of the skiing trip their mother had later died in. At first the photo had been left on the cameras memory card and hastily forgotten, but as time had gone by and they'd begun to cherish every memory they could, their father had come to realise the photo's importance.
Tess cut through his thoughts, pulling the frame away and looking down at it for a moment. "It was a good shot though, right between the eyes."
She stood, replacing the photo where it had been and picking up her bag, she seemed to shake off the conversation and smiled as she shook her keys.
"Ready to call another cab, Sparky?"
Virgil Tracy was finding it hard to concentrate on his check up of Alan, firstly the interruption with Tess, then with Scott, and then again when his father had explained what would be happening. He'd bid a hasty farewell to Gordon and John and passed on the hopes of a fast resolution, glad to be staying but also full of that sense he always seemed to carry whenever his brothers spilt up - worry and profound paranoia.
Alan was sat on one of the chairs in the bedroom they were in whilst Virgil felt along his back, checking the bruising and making sure no further damage had been done whilst the kid had been busy across town giving the Tracy's premature grey hairs.
Part of him just wanted to go back to the hospital and have them do the checks they should have been able to in the first place, it would take a load off his mind. But everyone's worry had stepped up a notch, especially now Tess Zucco was joining them.
He wondered how much information she'd actually be able to give, what could she know about Taio Zucco that their dad and his infinite research didn't?
Since Scott and Tess had left, Jeff had been on the computer and phone trying to string together whatever he could about Zucco's recent activities and movements. Of course if Taio had wanted that information to be known it would have been, so the hunt was proving difficult.
Virgil didn't like the idea of just turning up and confronting the guy, he would have preferred to call the cops and let them deal with it, or go back home and deal with things from there. Alan wasn't going to die from the result of a few bashed ribs and a broken ankle, they had everything they needed on the island - even if avoiding the second opinion of the hospital was unwanted. Especially on that head wound…
He couldn't help but feel so damn guilty about the whole thing. If he'd been keeping an eye on the kid in the first place this wouldn't, no, shouldn't have happened. If he'd been able to stand up the guy who had tried to nab the kid, if he'd decided to deal with his injuries himself instead of becoming paranoid about his assessment. Everything that had gone wrong seemed to point back at himself and the weight was starting to weigh him down.
Another helping of guilt was added by the fact that he had actually felt attracted to Tess, he'd dropped his guard and been thoroughly told off by a disgruntled Scott for being childish and immature, which of course he had been. Scott's number one rule? Don't fraternise with the enemy.
In Scott's big book of life the enemy more often than not seemed to be women, it was somewhat concerning but also could be highly amusing in awkward rescue situations. If a lone woman needed rescuing it was always amusing to send Scott down, he might have been the eldest yet his experience with women was next to none, and his attitude towards them verged on that of a kindergarten kid.
Shaking himself out of the thought with a sad smile, Virgil pulled back and ruffled a hand through Alan's hair.
"We're done." He smiled. "Though by the looks of things you could probably do with some sleep kiddo."
Alan stood and stretched, a loud yawn echoing how Virgil and no doubt his father and Scott felt. "I don't get it." Turning he let himself lean on the bed, foot aching from a long day. "Are we off back to the hospital or not?"
"I guess we'll have to see how things go, I'd like to get you checked out but first priority if keeping you on team Tracy." He punched his younger brother playfully on the arm, going over and letting himself lay back on the bed, legs hanging lazily over. "I don't know if I'd rather see you go home with John and Gordon, it would have been safer."
"Hmm." He was surprised to see Alan nodding. "But you wanted me to get checked out before?"
"Maybe that wasn't the best decision."
"Well." Alan turned and looked down at his older brother. "If you thought it was the right decision then, then it still is now."
Virgil frowned, unsure where this was going. "Where's the change of heart come from kiddo? I thought you had better things to do than to have your annual MOT." He'd be amazed if Alan ever went a year in his life without a hospital visit.
"Very funny." He smiled that familiar Alan smile that quelled Virgil's thoughts. "Even if I get checked out and everything you thought was right then at least you know you've done right. Right?" He waggled his eyebrows with a smirk.
"Well yeah, but…"
"And if I go home and suddenly collapse and die because a rib punctured my lung…"
"Bit melodramatic there Alan."
"…then I can come back as a ghost and haunt you for being dumb and not going with your first instinct." He grinned. "Right?"
Whilst Alan could drive the whole family mad with his constant spur of the moment antics and daredevil attitude to life, there were times where all Virgil wanted from Alan was to be just that. Alan.
He smiled, reflecting the look on his youngest brother's face as he relaxed and nodded.
"Right."
"So all is right in the world. Right?"
"Well not really…"
"Right?"
Alan logic. Can't beat it.
I have a sneaky feeling that Miss Tess Zucco may not be with us for much longer, good or a bad?
R&R