A/N: Note to self, never decide to re-write a whole chapter just because you think Scott needs to be in it... Still it's done now, and I even managed to get it out before the end of the week! (It's 23.17 sunday night here, so just about!)

Enjoy!

Stretching out his arms and taking in a deep lungful of the salty breeze blowing in from the sea, Scott stepped out onto the patio and into the warm sunlight. It was such a nice change from the air-conditioned and artificially lit infirmary where he had spent the night by John's side. He had a couple of spare hours to relax before he would head back and he had decided there was nothing better to do than having a swim and then soaking up some rays. In fact, he noticed, he wasn't the only one doing that.

"Ah, so this is where you're lurking." He said, raising an eyebrow at the figure floating on a lilo in the water. "Should you even be in the pool?"

"Probably not." Gordon grunted back. He was still fizzing about last night, he really didn't want to have to deal with Scott flapping.

"I'll take that as a no then." Scott noted as he sat on the edge, dipping his feet in. "What's up with you anyway Sir Grumps-a-lot?"

"You know what's up."

"Huh? Oh damn. Please don't tell me you've seen Four."

"Yeah, I have. And it didn't look too good either." Gordon shifted to look at his brother as he floated past.

"Look, Gords, I didn't-" Scott started to apologise, but was cut off before he could continue.

"How the hell did he even manage it?"

"Who managed what?"

"Alan! How did he manage to snap Four's tail off like that?"

"What?"

"How. Did. He. Manage. It?" Gordon repeated slowly.

"Hang on. Did you just say, how did he manage it?" Scott scratched his head, this certainly wasn't what he had been expecting. "Er, Gords... He didn't do it. I did."

"WHAT!" Gordon sat up suddenly, forgetting where he was. He overbalanced and before he knew it, found himself underwater. Reacting quickly, Scott jumped in and grabbed his brother around the waist, pulling him coughing to the surface.

"Told you you shouldn't be in the pool." He said, slightly amused at the whole predicament. "You ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I'm fine." Gordon spluttered as Scott took him to the shallow end. "What do you mean you did it?"

"Er, I mean that I was the one that did it. The tunnel collapsed right above me. I probably shouldn't have got out of that to be honest..."

"But..." Gordon's eyes started to grow wider as he started to realise what was going down. "But... Then why did Alan tell me he did it?"

Scott shook his head as he let go of his brother, the water now shallow enough to stand in. "I wish I knew. The only thing he's done to Four is stay up all night fixing it for me. You sure you're ok?" He asked, noticing that Gordon had gone pale."

"Aw hell no!" Gordon shot towards the steps. "I've gotta go!"

"Wait. Gords, wait." Scott waded after him, not wanting his brother to cause himself any more damage in his rush. "What's up? Where are you going?"

"Alan. I need to find Alan." The red-head gasped as he scrambled out of the pool.

"Why? What did you do to him?"

"Er...I hit him..."

"Oh Gordon..."Scott sighed as he got out of the water. He hadn't seen his youngest brother e yesterday, and it seemed like no-one had told him anything, as usual. "Gords, you should have know better than that. You need to go apologise to Alan, now. And I'm coming along too, I need a few quiet words with him." Scott grabbed two towels from the basket by the sunbeds and wrapped one around his shoulders and the other around his brothers.

Together, with Gordon still limping slightly, they quickly headed back inside on their way towards Alan's workshop in the depths on the island, far away from the warm sun and cool pool that Scott had been looking forward to for hours. Once again he had been called upon to sort out his siblings, something he had been doing for so many years, whether at home or out in the field, it just seemed like he never got a moment to himself. So much for the hope of a quiet morning.

Finally reaching the doors of Alan workshop, Scott stopped, to both his and Gordon's relief. Gordon had been leaning heavily on his eldest brother ever since they had left Alan's empty room, having come to the conclusion that he was most likely still in his workshop. Scott had repeatedly stopped along the way, seeing that his red-headed sibling was struggling and needed rest, but Gordon had insisted on continuing despite the pain building in him. He had no time to stop, the guilt was building in his chest and he needed to see Alan, he needed to apologise, lest he cause a rift between him and his partner in crime. His pranks would never be the same again, and while the rest of the family may be glad for that to happen, for him it was the unthinkable.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Scott asked as Gordon caught his breath, ignoring the niggling in his lower back.

"Yes, I told you, I'm fine." Gordon replied, pulling back his arm that had been around Scott's shoulders and standing up straighter, trying to show, at least on the outside, that he was ok. To be honest, he knew he had overdone it, but that could be something to worry about later, he had enough on his plate as it was.

Scott held his hands up in defeat. "Ok, ok, I was just checking, that's all." He grabbed the handle next to him, but just as he was about to pull he realised something, or rather, the lack of something. "Hey Gords, is it just me, or is it very quiet down here?"

"Yeah..." Gordon agreed. Alan wasn't known to be one to work quietly, in fact, he didn't know the meaning of it. "He could be painting or something."

"I suppose." Scott shrugged. He pulled on the handle and the door quietly slid back on oiled rollers, revealing a welcome sight.

"Oh, you beauty." Gordon gasped, limping through the door, his pain forgotten. Scott followed close behind. Sitting proudly in front of them was the fully repaired Thunderbird 4, her yellow paint gleaming under the lights overhead, having evidently also been washed and polished. Having reached her, Gordon practically hugged her, glad to have her all in one piece again, and silently vowing never to let anyone else pilot her again.

"You have to say, he certainly knows what he's doing that kid." Scott said, inspecting his brother's handiwork. "Look, you can barely see where the damage was." He pointed to where the tail joined the body, and Gordon had to admit, if he hadn't seen the damage for himself the night before, he never would have realised anything had happened.

"Yeah, he does a good job." He muttered, lovingly patting his Bird. "Where is he anyway?" He asked, remembering the reason why they were down here in the first place.

"I dunno." Scott turned on the spot, searching for any sign of the young blond. "Alan?" He called out. "Alan, you in here?"

There was no answer, their breathing the only sounds to be heard in the vast workshop.

"Alan?"

"ALAN!"

Still nothing. They looked at each other, concern starting to seep into their faces.

"Where could he be?" Gordon asked. "We checked everywhere else."

"I don't know... I really don't." Scott ruffled his hair, trying to think. They had checked out all of Alan's favourite hiding places in the villa on their way, plus a diversion to drop off their wet towels, they had been certain he could only be down here. "Let's give him a call." He lifted his arm and activated his watch. As it rang, they listened intently, trying to pick up any trace of the familiar beeping sound. As usual, nothing, they couldn't here anything. And to top things off, Alan didn't answer, and Scott disconnected, panic starting to build.

"Any chance he might be in the parts store?" The red-head suggested hopefully.

Scott glanced at the door that led to the room where Alan kept all of his spare bits and pieces. "Surely he would have heard us..." He looked back at his second youngest brother, noticing that he was starting to go pale as he leant again the sub. As suspected, Gordon had been lying about being fine. He looked around, his eyes alighting on a chair piled up with tools. He rushed over to it and swept everything off it onto the floor. Picking it up, he carried it back over. "Gords, sit down before you collapse will you."

Gordon nodded weakly and flopped down into it. Happy that his brother wasn't about to pass out on him, Scott ran over to the store door and banged on it loudly.

"Alan? You in there?"

As usual, still no answer. Frowning, Scott opened the door, and the lights inside the room flickered into life. The lights would have been on if Alan had been moving around, so It was unlikely he was in there, but just in case Scott stepped inside.

"Al?" He checked down the aisles formed by the shelves lining the room, an array things stacked along them. There was all sorts stored in here, ranging from bits of antique cars to nuts and bolts to even spare parts for each of their Birds. Scott paused in his search and picked up a length of thick, corroded wire. While it looked like nothing much, and to be honest, it was completely useless, Alan had insisted on keeping it. For him it was a reminder of the day that John had proved to everyone that he was a complete numpty, the day where a simple repair to fix the door sensor in the galley up on Five had resulted in John slicing his leg open. Alan had finished off the job for him and had pocketed the wire, deciding to keep it as a memento, as a reminder that he wasn't the only one who could do stupid things in the line of duty.

Putting the wire back in its place, Scott checked the last two aisles, both of which had no trace of his brother. Letting out a groan of despair, he went back into the workshop, where Gordon looked up in hope, his shoulders slumping when he noticed only Scott had come out.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

Gordon buried his head in his hands. The guilt was still sitting in his chest, only now it had a companion, one called worry. It was unlike Alan to just disappear like this. Surely he hadn't run off just because Gordon had hit him. "Any other ideas?"

"No." Scott said quietly. "Looks like we'll have to see whether Dad and Virge have seen him."

"Yeah, suppose."

Scott crossed to the wall and activated the inbuilt screen to call the infirmary. As well as their watches, the villa also had an internal communication system. It wasn't used as much as their watches, you had to know which room the person you were calling was in, but it was always useful as a backup, and when you had more than one person on the screen, otherwise the watches got cramped.

"Ah, Scott, Gordon." Jeff answered as both he and John appeared. "I thought you two were by the pool."

"Change of plan." Scott replied. "You guys haven't seen Alan have you?"

Both Jeff and John shook their heads. "Not since breakfast." Jeff said. He stood and crossed to the screen. He tapped in a sequence and the screen split as he connected through to his middle son. "Virgil, have you seen Alan?"

"No." The medic replied, raising an eyebrow at the squashed scene on his watch. "I thought he said he'd be in his workshop."

"He's not here. I tried calling him too. Nothing." Scott said.

"Have you checked his room?" John suggested. Maybe Alan was just having a nap.

"Yeah, plus the kitchen, games room, laundry and a few more too." Scott said. "No sign of him, and we would have seen him if he had left while we were on our way down."

"Hmmm." Jeff was starting to get worried. It was unlike Alan to just disappear. Surely something hadn't happened to him. "Virgil, you're in the lab, right? Is Brains with you?

"No, he left a few minutes ago. I think he said he was going to the control room."

Jeff nodded and tapped in another sequence. The screen shifted once more and Brains appeared alongside the others.

"Y-yes M-Mr Tracy? Boys? H-how can I h-help you all?" The scientist asked, slightly shocked by the fact that nearly the whole family was calling him.

"Brains. Have you seen Alan?"

"N-no, sorry, Mr Tracy. I haven't."

At hearing that, all hell broke loose Scott punched the wall, John swore loudly in what sounded like Polish, Virgil slammed his fist down on his workbench while Gordon let out a roar of frustration.

"BOYS!" Jeff admonished, gaining back control. Now was not the time for this. There had to be a reasonable explanation. "Brains. Can you activate his tracker?"

"I don't think he's wearing his watch." Scott said, shaking out his sore hand. "He didn't answer when I called."

"Lets just hope he is." Virgil muttered back through the link. "Otherwise it'll be a long search..."

They all held their breath as Brains tapped the keyboard in front of him. Each of their watches had an inbuilt tracker, as well as vitals monitoring, but the tracking was meant to be done by whoever was manning Five, who would then relay it back down to the ground. But with Five on auto, it had to be done from the control room instead, which was a much longer and more laborious process. All they had to do was hope that it worked.

After what seemed like an age, a slow pinging sound started up from the speakers and they all let out a sigh of relief. Alan was wearing his watch, and he was alive, the sound they could all hear was his heartbeat. All they had to do now was wait for the tracking chip to relay his position.

"Hang on." Virgil said, listening intently. Something wasn't quite right, the delay between each ping seemed just a bit too long for his liking. "Brains, what's his heart-rate?"

"Er, 42 Virgil." Brains replied, worry lines starting to show on his forehead. "I-it's a bit slow."

"That's not good..." He muttered. He looked at Scott through the screen, who nodded back. As soon as they had the tracking information they were going to find him, no matter what.

"Brains, do you have his position?" Scott asked, bouncing impatiently on his feet. His brother was in trouble and he was just standing there doing nothing. Virgil too was ready to run at a moments notice.

"Er, it's j-just locking on him now."Brains replied as the screen in front of him zoomed in on the flashing dot on the map. "He's on the island though." He said as the shape of Tracy Island grew larger on the screen, the flashing dot superimposed over it.

"Is he moving?" Virgil pressed. He was starting to go through all sorts of scenarios in his head, trying to find an explanation as to why Alan's heart-rate could be so low. Was he unconscious? Had he come across intruders? Anything could have happened.

"N-no, Virgil." The scientist brought up another set of read-outs. "And a-according he hasn't moved for at least the last 50 m-minutes."

Another worried glance was exchanged between Scott and Virgil. Jeff had gone pale, as had John and Gordon. Something was definitely not right.

"Scott, Virgil. As soon as we know where he is, you go get him, I'll be right behind you." Jeff instructed, before turning to John. "Will you be ok on your own for a bit?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." John waved away the question. He was as worried as the rest of them. What on earth could have happened to Alan?

"Ok." Jeff turned back to the screen, to Gordon this time. "Gordon, are you able you make your own way up here?"

"Yeah, I'll be right up." Gordon replied quietly. He knew he wouldn't be any use in the hunt for his brother, but he could keep John company at least, plus he would be able to help in the event that Alan needed to be admitted to the infirmary. He chewed on a fingernail in worry, not able to shake the feeling that he may have caused this whole trouble in the first place. But surely he hadn't hit him that hard, and Alan had seemed fine for the brief moment he had seen him at breakfast.

He heaved himself out of the chair and limped out of the workshop, leaving Scott desperately waiting for his youngest brother's position. He went as quickly as he could down the corridor, not wishing to still be in there when Scott barrelled out, as he surely would be doing in the next few seconds.

"Brains..." Scott growled impatiently. He knew it would take longer than if it had been done through Five, but this was getting silly now.

"Ah!" The scientist exclaimed, the program finally having located the youngest Tracy. "H-he's near the launch pad."

"What the hell is he doing down there?" Virgil exclaimed as Scott groaned. Typical, Alan just had to be on the other side of the island from everyone else didn't he?

"Virge...? How quickly can you run?" Scott asked. Out of the two of them, Virgil was marginally nearer.

"Fast enough."

"Then I'll be right behind you."

With that they both shut off their comm-link and burst out of their respective rooms, dashing towards the pad off which Thunderbird 1 launched. It was going to be a long and challenging run for both of them, no doubt about it.

In the infirmary, Jeff too dashed out of the room. It seemed that the streak of bad-luck that had plagued them for the last week was yet to leave. He just hoped they would be quick enough, hoped that Alan had been right. Because the last thing he needed was for his youngest to disprove his own theory, that he had finally met his iceberg, the thing that would prove once and for all that Tracy's were definitely not indestructible.

Virgil was the first to reach the launch pad. He skidded to a halt, frantically searching around for his brother, but yet he couldn't see anything. There was no-one here, no intruders, nothing.

"Alan?" He called, knowing that he was unlikely to get a reply, but he had to say something, he had to keep his own hopes up. "Alan!"

He lifted his wrist and activated his watch. "Brains, I'm at the launch pad. Where is he?"

"70 metres to your north-east-east." Came the stutter-free reply, usual for Brains when he was under stress.

Virgil spun until he faced the right bearing. Was that? He squinted under the bright lights. Yes, it was. A flash of blond just visible behind one of the supporting struts. He rushed over, increasing his speed as he got a better look and could confirm that it was indeed his youngest brother, slumped down against the upright beam, his head lolled to one side, seemingly unconscious.

"Oh Alan. Alan, I'm sorry." He said to himself as he ran. Gordon must have hit him harder than they had thought. There had to be delayed trauma. He should have kept an eye on Alan, not just let him go off on his own. They should have both listened to their father when he had said for Alan to have a check-up, he shouldn't have just said that his brother was fine.

He dropped to his knees and he automatically placed his fingers against his brother's neck, desperately searching for a pulse. He let out a sigh of relief as he found one. It was strong. Still a bit slow, but it was strong, which was a good sign. He gently lifted up Alan's head, checking on his breathing. Also all good. It was only then that he noticed something else. He frowned, trying to figure it out. Then it clicked. Of course. He relaxed, explosively letting out the breath he didn't realise he was holding.

So what was it that he had found out? Under their lids, Alan's eyes were flickering back and forth. He wasn't unconscious at all, he was, in fact, just fast asleep, and dreaming to boot. Rolling his eyes, Virgil chuckled. He couldn't wait to tell the others. And by the sound of it as the sound of running boots came up behind him, he wouldn't have to wait long.

"Alan!" Scott yelled, dropping to the floor and sliding the rest of the way on his knees. He skidded to a halt and, as Virgil had done, immediately checked for a pulse. "Is he ok?"

"He's asleep."

"What?" Scott looked up at his brother, who was sitting back on his haunches, a wry smile on his face. Why wasn't he attending to Alan?

"He's asleep." Virgil repeated, trying to stop himself from laughing. In all his experience as a field medic, he certainly hadn't come across this before. "See." He pointed towards Alan's eyes, still flickering beneath their lids.

"Oh." Scott managed to say as he saw what Virgil was showing him. "Well, that's... new."

"You're telling me."

Then they both burst out laughing, whether because of the surreality of the situation or because of the relief they both felt at knowing that their brother was safe and well, they did not know. And between them, Alan finally stirred, the noise bringing him out of his deep sleep.

"Guys..." He moaned, and they both stopped, turning to face him. "I'm tryna to sleep here..."

"Oh, we can see that." Scott quipped.

"But I can think of more comfortable places to do so." Virgil added dryly. "Like a bed for instant." He said, grinning as Alan's eyes finally opened to look at him. "You need more coffee kid."

"Huh?" Alan yawned, rolling his neck to get the crick out of it. "Oh yeah. Need coffee. Coffee good."

Scott patted his youngest brother on the back. "You had us scared there Sprout. You really did. What were you doing down here anyway?"

"I came to look for one of my tools, I thought I'd left it here last time." Alan replied, holding back another yawn. "What do you mean I scared you?"

"We couldn't find you anywhere, and we couldn't reach you either." Virgil supplied. "Had to get Brains to use your watch to track you down."

"Oh, come on guys, I've only been here a few minutes at most."

"Hmm, try close to an hour." Scott muttered.

"WHAT?" Alan shot upright, before slumping back again again the beam. "Oh man... I really do need more coffee..."

"I agree." Virgil said. "Coffee and then a nap as well. You're in no state to be working. Come on, up you get. Dad'll be here soon."

"Yeah." Scott grinned. "I'd reckon it'll be better if you're up and walking before he sees you."

"No kidding!" Alan exclaimed as he scrambled onto his feet, followed by his brothers. He stretched, maybe the decision to rest his eyes for a minute had been a bad one, it must have been have been if his father was running down here.

They started to make their way back towards the villa, just as the sound of running footsteps could be heard once again.

"Ooh, right on cue." Virgil chuckled. He ruffled the blond hair next to him. "Here comes Daddy!"

"Shut up." Alan muttered, blushing slightly. He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to explain this.

And it was at that second that Jeff burst into the launch pad, expecting too see Scott and Virgil attending to Alan. So it was to a confused stop he came when walking towards him were not two, but three of his sons, all perfectly well and all standing on their own two legs.

"Alan...? What...?" He managed to splutter, trying to process what he was seeing.

"We'll explain on the way." Virgil said, indicating to his father to follow them. "First we need to find something caffeinated for idiot-boy here."

And so it was four of them that walked back the way they came, two of them laughing, one blushing profusely, and one who was very, very confused, trying to work out exactly how his son had even managed to fall asleep in such an uncomfortable place. It seemed that he had a long way to go until he fully understood his children, no matter how hard he tried.