Gordon TAG POV
The meeting was over. Alan looked exhausted after the meeting with their alternative version of their family.
Gordon decided to talk to his little brother without the peanut gallery, who was on their way out of the infirmary. Giving them some privacy.
"Hey Sprout! How are you feeling? You're looking a bit worse." Gordon asked in a low voice. He had noticed Alans flinch when Jeff clapped his hands, ending the meeting. The noise sensitivity was back.
"Exhausted, and the headache is back with a vengeance. I have only been up for one hour. I don't get it!" Alan replied grumpily.
"This is why I wanted you to rest Allie. You are still very sick. This will take a while to get better." Gordon responded while lowering Alans bed, from a seated position to a flat one.
"I know. But everything sucks. I trust you Squid, both as a junior IR-operative and a brother. Never ever doubt that! This is a serious situation, and I will listen to you. I'm just scared. I almost died yesterday, and everything hurts. I want to help you get us home, but everything hurts worse even after only trying to focus for an hour." Alan told his brother sounding heartbroken.
"It's fine, rocket boy. You are going to get better, but it will take time. I know just how frustrating it can be being injured!" Gordon tried to encourage.
"I want our family! I miss them! Scott acting all dad like, Virgil going full medic mode and John's calm reassurances. I am so glad that you are here with me, because I wouldn't know what to do if I was in this freaky situation alone! You saved my life Gordon! Thank you! I would have died without you! I can't believe I almost died." tears started escaping Alans eyes.
Gordon hugged Alan, trying to offer comfort "Allie bear! You're here! I'm here! We are together! Together we can do anything because we are an amazing team! We are called the terrible two for a reason. It is because when we work together nothing can stop us! Do you remember when Grandma called us stronger than a force of nature?
Alan hugged Gordon tighter "Of course! How could I forget? Best prank war ever!" His laugh turned into a coughing fit.
Gordon smiled into Alans shoulder, before turning emotional "It was! It really was! I am always going to try to save you Allie. I am so happy that you are alive! Thank you for surviving and not leaving me. I don't think that I could take it if you died. We are going to figure this out. You have done the hard part and come up with the best idea to get us home. Now it is my turn to get to work. We are going to get home! Do you know why?".
Gordon felt Alan shake his head as he leaned back, making eye contact "Because grandma was right! We are a god dammed force of nature and we won't let anything stop us!".
"Yes, you're right Gords!" Alan offered him a wobbly smile.
Gordon wiped the tears off Alan's face, when he started to apologise "Sorry for being a cry-baby. They already think that we are too young. If they see me like this, it will not help them to take us seriously!".
"Stop worrying about something so stupid and stop apologising! Crying after something like this is natural and cathartic for the soul. Do you want to know a secret?" Gordon asked.
"Sure!" Alan replied, trying to stop his tears.
"I cried a river last night! I wept like a baby!" Gordon confessed.
"Why? Are you okay?" Was his brothers worried response.
"I accidentally fell asleep when they were treating you here. When I was woken up by this Scott, he sounded the same as our Scott. For a second I thought all this was a bad dream, but when I opened my eyes, it wasn't our Scott. We were not home safe and sound arguing over when we should wake up. I recalled what happened and you were gone. I thought you died when I was asleep, and I thought I failed you!" Gordon choked up.
"Silly squid! You could never fail me! Who is stupid now, bro!" Alan corrected his brother and captured his hand in solidarity. Thankful for the shared emotional breakdown. He didn't feel so pathetic anymore. Knowing his hero of a brother, also got a bit overwhelmed.
"Fine you got me squirt! That is why I called this Scott a universal constant. He calmed me down while I flooded his shirt with tears and snot. You could have almost thought I had pushed him into the pool." Gordon tried to alleviate the heavy atmosphere, feeling accomplished when he was gifted with an amused snort from his brother. "He took care of me kind of like our Scott would.".
The islands resident physician, Frank, came back to examinate Alan. Concentrating enough to think with a concussion took a massive amount of energy! With a more and more exhausted brain, the sounds of the meeting became too much for Alan. In the typical Tracy stubbornness, Alan held on for far longer than he should. It was stupid, but Gordon could not bring himself to say anything. Not when he probably would have done the same if their positions were reversed. After Gordons and Alans heart to heart, he received his next dose of pain medications, he fell asleep almost instantly. It was unsurprising considering how drained Alan was both emotionally and physically.
Gordon did not want to leave his brother alone, but he was very eager to get started on contacting their family with this older version of Brains. Thankfully, this other Scott seemed to understand his reluctance to leave him alone, so offered to watch him. Ensuring that he did not have to wake up alone.
"Seriously!" Gordon thought "Smother-hen older brothers in the Tracy family were a universal constant. It is kind of comforting.".
Scott insisted that he could do his job from the infirmary. Opening his so called laptop, fossil technology was an apt description from Alan. Gordon thanked him, feeling a lot better that he wasn't leaving Alan alone.
The fact that Alan was already sleeping also helped calm Gordons anxiety. Scott's version in this universe promise, to contact him immediately if he took a turn for the worse or just asked for him was what made him able to leave.
Gordon got lost in his thoughts when he followed this Brains to his laboratory. Thankfully Brains did not seem to mind as they walked in silence.
It was strange seeing a version of their dad alive and well. He was happy for this family to have him, but an ugly feeling of jealousness was simmering in his stomach. Life was unfair. Why did their father have to disappear? Why did he leave them 9 years ago. Was he dead, kidnapped or just staying away?
Alan did not really remember him at all, he had been only seven years old. Not that he, as a ten-year-old, could claim that he had a wealth of memories of his father, but at least he had some. They had lost their mom three years previous, in an avalanche. Gordon was seven and only had a few precious memories of his mother. Alan who had only been four had none he remembered.
Their dad was a great man. Brilliant! The, Jefferson "Jeff" Tracy. Famous for being an icon, pioneering astronaut and billionaire businessman. With simple beginnings and a heart-breaking life story. He was painted as an example of the American dream. Rags to riches. The press was acting like sharks in the water concerning the Tracy's. Although the public loved his father, he wasn't perfect. The fame was something Jeff never sought out. The wish for some semblance of privacy led them to move to their island.
Gordon liked the island but missed his friends. With Alan closest in age, with only three years apart, they became even closer than before. They had even been called the terrible two before all their family tragedy shook them to their core.
Gordons father couldn't handle his wife's death and buried himself in his dream of international rescue. Jeff had always had workaholic tendencies, without their mother to remind him to come back home, Jeff became an absent father. Present only sometimes in body, but never in mind.
Their older brothers had to step up and take care of their younger siblings. Scott was only seventeen when mom died, and dad lost himself in grief. Scott, just a grieving teenager himself, stepped up an took care of his devastated siblings, who were fourteen, eleven, seven and four. Being responsible for four younger siblings weighed heavy on him. Scott became a father figure for Alan and Gordon. For Virgil and John, he became something in between a father and a brother.
Their absent father showed more interest in his older children who had come further in their education. They showed interest in becoming an air force pilot as Scott, engineer as Virgil and, Astronaut as John. They were more useful for Jeffs plans for international rescue.
Gordon didn't think he did it on purpose, but it still hurt him. But it was not just him, Jeffs obsession with helping others, neglecting their family in the process, hurt all his sons in different ways. Jeff got a bit better towards the end. Perhaps he realised the error of his ways, Gordon thought. Perhaps his grief took him to the bottom of the ocean, and it had taken until now for his dad to have finally resurfaced.
Not that it mattered, in the end he disappeared. The family was never given the time to explore what could have been.
But for all his faults they still loved their father dearly and hoped for the best. Even when it was hard to hold on to hope. We all have flaws. We are human after all.
It was no wonder that Scott felt the entire world on his shoulders three years later when their father disappeared completely. He became the legal guardian of all his siblings at the tender age of twenty. In reality, Scott had already shouldered that burden for three years. Scott felt responsible for continuing dads dream of international rescue.
Only three years later. Scott launched international rescue with the three oldest brothers. International rescue had been active for 6 years. Gordon had been a member for four years. Alan had been a member for two years. To be treated like a child with their experience was horrible. Gordon knows that they both are young, maybe too young for that burden, but to be judged by people who reminded him of his family hurt more than he liked to admit.
Particularly by this version of his father. Gordon always thought his dad would be proud of them. They had done everything to accomplish his dream. Just the idea that they had failed their probably deceased father felt like a stab to the gut.
Gordon did not even want to think about his own counterpart. It was weird. He was older, bigger and had a different hair colour. Dark brown instead of blond. It felt strange! They did not look the same. It was his counterparts' clothes he was wearing. They were too big for Gordon. But better than walking around naked, he supposed. Gordon was annoyed that his counterpart accused them of being too young. Shouldn't he know what that felt like? If he had a pet peeve, this was it! He was after all another version of him.
This version of him was apparently the primary pilot of Thunderbird three. What?! Just what? Why! Right now, this universe version of himself and his father were piloting Thunderbird three to pick up their John. He felt like he was in the twilight zone. Ugh! He just wanted to go home!
Gordon and Brains arrived at the lab. Gordon felt out of sorts. His normal calm and jovial self on rescues were nowhere to be found. He had already had an emotional breakdown the night before, when he for a moment thought Allie had died. He was very thankful for this universe's version of Scott, who helped him to duct tape his broken pieces back together. The heart to heart with Alan had helped.
Right now, he felt a little better knowing there was a plan to contact home. He had finally accepted that he must be in an alternative universe. He could not come up with another more plausible explanation.
He sat down with this universes Brains. Hoping he was as brilliant as their own and got to work.