Thank you to my betas: Pen, Lynn and Jo.
The only sound that broke the contended silence of the two men was a gentle bubbling noise and the occasional popping of the foaming water. Scott and Gordon were relaxing in the jacuzzi, or "small hydrotherapy pool" as Gordon had insisted on calling it when working on its design during the building of Tracy Island. No one would have denied Gordon the pool that hid Thunderbird 1's launch bay but Jeff had been about to draw the line at the jacuzzi until Gordon had given him a detailed run down on the benefits of one for aiding healing from the various muscle or joint issues that they were bound to encounter after rescues.
The corners of Scott's mouth were twitching into a smile as he looked across at brother's peaceful appearance. When Gordon had been training for swimming competitions or the Olympics, he had worn an expression of determination and focus when getting into water. Now that was behind him, Scott enjoyed seeing Gordon react to water with the joy he'd had as a child.
Gordon, catching his stare, raised an eyebrow in enquiry.
"Got something to say?" he asked with a hint of suspicion.
"I was just thinking," Scott replied, "It's not a bad life on Tracy Island, is it? Okay, we gave up a lot of normal life to come here but living on a tropical island surrounded by amazing aircraft, machines and equipment, helping people in their darkest hours….could be a lot worse."
Gordon chuckled at Scott's unusually carefree words.
"It's not bad, although not having a rescue for a few of weeks does make me a bit edgy. It makes you wonder what's in store."
"Relax, Gordo, there's nothing to worry about. We have the skills, experience and technical backup to handle most things these days."
Gordon laughed. "Says the man who couldn't stand up straight a week ago! It's all very well flying Thunderbird 1 at 15,000 miles per hour to get to the danger zone if you then get poleaxed by ignoring very simple manual handling rules!"
A brief look of embarrassment passed over Scott's face but he braved it out. "The equipment box was a bit heavier than I expected," he replied tartly.
"You didn't check the contents before you lifted it, you didn't adopt the correct posture and you were at an angle because of something in the way which you should have moved. Don't say it was only a twinge like you told the others. I can recognise someone covering up pain every time they move."
"Yeah, well you exacted your revenge with the hour and a half physiotherapy torture you just put me though."
"It was not an hour and a half," replied Gordon indignantly before he glanced at his wrist comm and then continued in a more even tone of voice. "It was only an hour and a quarter. If you don't count the warm-up. Anyway, that, along with a bit more time in here, you'll feel like a new man."
Scott gave a hollow laugh. "That's what Jenny said she wanted right before she dumped me!"
As they ate dinner that evening, Gordon was pleased to see that Scott was sitting more easily and he reckoned he had done a good day's work in that department. He looked around the table at his family and his 'almost' family of Brains, Kyrano and Tin Tin feeling lucky. He had been a bit mean to his eldest brother earlier when teasing Scott about his happy mood. Gordon appreciated the life he led which was fulfilling and privileged, although not in the love life department as Scott had alluded to earlier.
But Gordon's sixth sense was troubling him and he couldn't work out why. He has a weird feeling of impending doom but couldn't pin down what was sparking it off. He looked around the table again. His Dad had only had a light supper, complaining of indigestion, but the two of them had been doing some work with Virgil patching Thunderbird 2's runway earlier. Perhaps they had been in the sun too long which always brought his Dad's appetite up short.
Alan was frowning. Perhaps there was an issue there? No, he was smiling now and telling Tin Tin a joke while she laughed, making Alan blush a little.
Kyrano was always so calm and measured that he was hard to read but he was obviously concerned that Jeff hadn't eaten enough although, at the same, Gordon could tell he was pleased to see his daughter happy.
Virgil had been working on an engineering problem for the last few days and had been hard to communicate with but he had cracked it at last earlier that day, with Brains' help, and the two of them were discussing the next steps on the project with enthusiasm.
Gordon couldn't see John's face as he was eating his dinner in Thunderbird 5 but he had spoken to him earlier. He had seemed okay and was using the downtime between rescues for some personal astronomy time.
Gordon did not waste time worrying uselessly about things he couldn't control. He had assessed the situation and everyone was fine. His sixth sense was clearly being mischievous because of the time between rescues. The only person looking worried at the table was him. He went back to his food.
The next morning, Gordon had hoped to be feeling more relaxed – except he wasn't. After a poor sleep, he got up early and went for a swim. He came to the conclusion that he needed an action plan to get his mind back on track and he also decided, in a generous manner, to extend his action plan to encompass his brothers.
His brothers on the Island all had plans for that morning, rescues permitting, but they also knew that when Gordon was fired up, it was sometimes easier to hang onto his coat tails for the ride rather than fight against the inevitable.
That's why Scott, Virgil and Alan found themselves in the pool after breakfast, running through life saving skills. They knew what to do by heart already, of course, but they never turned down refresher courses. They discussed the conditions of various types of water they might find themselves in and they practised saving each other. Gordon encouraged humour but was a hard task master.
At the end of the morning, they stood at the side of the pool, Gordon facing them, hands behind his back. "First rule of saving someone from water?" he shouted over the din of their chatter near the end of his final pop quiz. "Go, Alan!"
Alan dutifully replied by rote. "Don't enter the water unless you have to, so that you avoid yourself becoming another victim."
"Correct! Virgil – if all else fails, you are in the water getting exhausted and you think you are about to drown, what do you do?"
Virgil stood to attention. "Adopt the starfish floating position on top of the water, sir!"
"Correct!" replied Gordon, but still giving Virgil the evil eye for being cheeky. "Scott, you have a young child who is drowning in front of you but every time you try to get near he fights you off as he is scared. What do you do?"
Everyone looked at Scott for a snappy answer. Their oldest brother, however, looked slightly perplexed. This was a new question that he hadn't learned the correct Gordon response to.
"Er….I…..try to grab him?"
"He bites your arm, draws blood, sinks under the water, bobs back up but he's not in good shape," said Gordon, unhelpfully. "Come on Scott, think outside the box."
"I…er….." Scott was not enjoying being scolded by his younger brother who had been rather too much of a smart-arse for the last 24 hours.
"Okay," relented Gordon, "Let me make it easier for you. Imagine the kid in question is me at the age of 6, stubborn, thinking they are invincible in the water."
Light dawned on Scott's face. "Ah, okay. There's a med pack nearby, yeah?" Gordon nodded and Scott continued. "Then I would get a large pair of disposable gloves, blow them up so they were like mini floats and get the kid to stick them under his armpits. Then, having gained his trust, I would encourage him to paddle towards safety."
"Excellent!" smiled Gordon, satisfied with his morning's work.
"I have a question, Gordon," said Virgil
"Go ahead."
"What do we do with a smug, ginger-haired brother who has been shouting at us all morning?"
And with that, the other three scooped Gordon up, tossed him in the pool and following after him for an epic water fight. Their father watched them from the lounge and made the mistake of wishing for another rescue to give his sons something to work off their energy. He should have known better than that. He really should have known….
