A/N: Sorry for the long delay but these chapters do take a couple of weeks to write amongst my other things in life like my family and friends, as well as work! I do have other fanfics that do require my attention.

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John accepted the cup of water from Scott and sipped on its contents in attempt to sooth his raw throat a little. "Thanks Scott, you can stay in here if you want to" He said with his quiet and partly cracked voice.

"I'm not going anywhere John" Scott said with a dark glare to their father before taking his seat near John.

Jeff looked at the two brothers seeing how close they were even though when on the island Scott seemed more close to Virgil rather than any of the other brothers, but now he was really close to John. John himself had a little more colour in his cheeks than what he had when just brought into the hospital, but he now looked tired and wanted a decent sleep.

"I know that you're tired but we are going to need to talk sooner or later" Jeff said as he helped himself to a chair and sat down gently.

John nodded tiredly and pushed himself back up from where he had slid down during his latest coughing fit. "I know Dad, its just that ever since mom died you treated me differently even though you were hardly ever around... when you were I felt left out amongst my other brothers" He said with his voice a little stronger before taking another slow and long breath.

"When you did get home and did your best to interact with us then you would always shut me out even though I was doing my best to be there for my other brothers when Scott couldn't! Not once..." John stopped to cough lightly and shook his head at the cup of water Scott was holding. "Not once did you say thank you John, or tell me that everything would be alright soon" He said, wiping at his eyes tiredly.

"John - -" Jeff started to say but was interrupted. "Let him finish Dad" Scott said seeing that John really needed to do this.

"When you started shutting yourself away at your office then Scott and myself both put our own studies aside to make sure that the family and the house didn't fall apart... even when we all left to go and have our own lives then I felt your presence" John continued to get this off his chest.

"All of my superiors thought fondly of you Dad, as soon as they heard my name it was, 'your father this', or 'your father that', but all I could do was smile and accept it while trying to make my own mark in NASA away from your shoeprints" John stopped to cough once again but this time accepted the cup of water from Scott, and took a few sips grateful for the cold water as it soothed his throat.

"If only they could see the blame and the hurt that I saw, each time I looked... still see in your eyes... the reason why I stayed up in Thunderbird Five was because I couldn't stand the pain of being blamed for mom's death... why can't you see that I'm not mom! So just get over it already..." He said breaking down into a wave of tears muffled by the occasional cough.

Scott jumped up and brought John into a comforting hug even though he knew that it should be Jeff hugging John not him, turning to look at their father he could only see Jeff standing behind the chair he had originally been sat in.

Jeff was lost in his own thoughts and memories he thought that he�d buried so long ago. "John... I..." He tried to say but received a look from Scott that he should leave the room and let John get some much needed rest.

Scott pulled back and saw that John had given way to the antibiotics, and had fallen asleep against him. Slowly Scott moved John back against the pillows and made sure that he was covered up before leaving the room.

As he left the room, Scott came face to face with Nurse Joe. "Hello Nurse Joe" He said quietly closing the door behind him.

"Hello Scott, is John asleep?" Nurse Joe asked holding onto a clipboard and pen.

"Yes he is, his voice came back but wore himself out and that with the medicine" Scott told Nurse Joe as the senior nurse worked on the notes on the clipboard.

"Ok, I'll make sure that he's not disturbed" Nurse Joe said putting his pen back in his pocket and the clipboard under his arm.

"Thanks Nurse Joe, have you seen my father?" Scott asked wondering where their father had wandered off to after being told to leave the room.

"I think I saw him heading up to the hibiscus ward but he did seem a little distant" Nurse Joe said nodding down the corridor behind him.

"Thanks Joe" Scott said with a smile and headed off down the corridor after his father.

Rose sipped at her calming tea while sitting on the small chair in her room; she had just come from the kitchen where Alan and Gordon helped cleaning up the kitchen after their latest meal. She could see that her grandsons were tired and worried about their missing brothers, Virgil especially as he was only seen when he was hungry or the need of playing the piano became too strong, he was hiding down in Thunderbird Two's hanger.

Rose remembered hearing a conversation between Alan and Gordon that Virgil had been performing heavy maintenance on Thunderbird Two and its pod equipment, he had give the large green transporter a coat of polish by hand for something to do with the lack of rescues and the worry for his brothers on mainland.

Sighing to herself, Rose moaned softly as she got to her feet and left her room to go and find Virgil, and have a talk with him to see if she could reawaken her second born grandson's artistic side.

Jeff went over the conversation that had happened in the private room down the corridor, he didn't know that John felt that way.

"He's right though... he does look like you Lucille, maybe that was the problem" He said quietly with a sigh and looked out of the window, not really taking in the view.

"Because that he looked like you was the reason why I shut him out and because he grew up like that... when we started the organization then he was reluctant to leave NASA but then discovered 'five and been up there with the occasional week away..." Jeff continued quietly.

Scott walked quietly along the corridor and found Jeff looking out of the window that he himself had looked out of when John had first lost his voice.

He ducked back and stayed out of his father's view, listening to Jeff talk quietly to himself while looking out of the window. Scott knew that Jeff needed to do this just like John did before breaking down.

"Maybe because it helped not seeing him on the island... helped me try and get over you or because it might be that I'm afraid of loosing him out there in the field... but that is like with all of our sons Lucille, I'm just afraid of loosing any of them" Jeff said with a deep sigh and took a tight hold of the rail in front of him.

Scott inwardly sighed and joined Jeff at the window, "You're not going to loose us Dad, we're too careful out there... I know that John would probably say the same" He said with tiredness in his voice and posture before leaning against the rail, his shoulders slouching low.

"How long have you been there?" Jeff asked not looking away from the view out of the window.

"Not long... but I think he needs a holiday once he gets out of here father, I want to go with him... he's going to need someone with him" Scott said turning away from the view, smiled at a nurse who walked by before turning back to the view.

Jeff sighed and loosened one hand to wipe away the tiredness from his eyes then massaged his forehead slightly. "I know Scott, he's not ready to go home... not yet anyway" He said tiredly and looked at his eldest son with a small smile. "I think I better head home myself... need to sort out the mess at home" Jeff said remembering how his other sons and his own mother was cold to him.

"Ok Dad, I need to take care of a few things anyway, do you want me to follow you to the airport?" Scott asked looking at his father, not moving from leaning against the rail in front of the window.

"I'll be fine, you should get going... I'll just get a taxi back to the airport" Jeff said and glanced at his watch. "Should get going myself if I want to get back to the island before nightfall" He said with a sigh.

"Ok father, I'll talk to you later" Scott said with a groan and pushed away from the rail, and headed back along the corridor disappearing around the corner.

Nurse Joe sighed with relief as he sat down at his desk; it had been a busy shift as soon as he got in this morning. He reached over for his cup of coffee that he had went to get before checking the last patient on his rounds and took the lid off allowing the aroma of the hot bitter drink fill his small office.

"Ah Seattle's best coffee in the whole hospital! Long shift?" A voice called from the doorway, allowing the bright light to enter the brightly-lit office.

"It has been Dan... too long" Nurse Joe said as he leaned against his desk and sipped on his coffee, hoping that the caffeine would help him pull through the rest of his shift.

Dr Hall sighed and took up a seat just inside the door of the senior nurse's office. "How are they out there? Looks like you're a nurse or two down!" He said remembering looking at the nurse's station as he entered the ward.

"I am, I was thinking of calling the agency for help but two patients have been transferred to another ward leaving us with two empty beds at the moment" Nurse Joe said before drinking more of his coffee.

"That's right... we'll soon have those beds filled again, apart from that, everything ok?" Dr Hall asked as he put his stethoscope around the back of his neck.

"Yeah everything's fine, though think our young patient will be ready to be discharged soon" Nurse Joe said as he turned in his chair to face Dr Hall slightly.

"Oh? I gather that his voice has returned... I think its best that we do one more blood test just to be on the safe side" Dr Hall said as his beeper went off.

Nurse Joe nodded," Ok Dan, I'll see you later" He said to the doctor before he got up and rushed out of the door.

Virgil sighed as he finished washing his hair out after changing the oil and grease of the Mole, he went over what had been done and what he had still have to do down in Thunderbird Two's hanger.

He had shut himself up in the hanger since their return to the island, he couldn't focus on his music or his painting as his mind kept going over what he had said to their father at the hospital where their middle brother was currently recovering.

Virgil had decided that he would call Scott once he had cleaned himself up after the Mole decided to throw oil all down his overalls and leave black streaks in his hair and on his cheeks.

Flexing his shoulders slightly as the water rolled down them from the shower above his head, Virgil could feel that a trip to the gym would be needed once he had got in contact with their eldest brother but until either Jeff or Scott came back to the island then he knew that if a call came through he would have to ask Brains to run the operations on the island while Alan took his place as field commander and the pilot of Thunderbird One.

'Now that I think about that, I think that we should have John trained to fly Thunderbird One and pilot her instead of Alan while Scott's away or just take turns' Virgil thought as he shut the shower and opened the cubicle letting the steam roll out into the luxury bathroom.

"Worth a mention" He muttered as he reached for a towel from the rack and started drying himself off before leaving the bathroom.

Scott sighed as he closed his hotel room door resting his back to it and looked around the small suite to see that the cleaner had came and changed the linen, and made the bed with what he could guess was fresh towels in the bathroom.

Flipping the light on, he walked into the room fully and placed the bag that he was given when he had stopped at the Starbucks Cafe to pick up a coffee and something light to eat as he wasn't really in the mood to face the other hotel guests after the day he had had at the hospital.

Kicking his shoes off, Scott walked over to the small stereo that came with his room and played around until he found a radio station that suited his musical tastes at the moment. With a deep sigh he rubbed his eyes tiredly and went back to where he left his small bag of food to see if he could eat anything.

Quiet beeping filled the air coming from his wristcom calling for his attention; with a small groan Scott put his tuna salad baguette down and walked off to the bedroom sitting down on the bed before answering it.

"Scott here" Scott answered with a small sigh.

"Hi Scott, you know you said that if we ever need to talk all I had to do was ask?" Virgil asked with a small smile just as his face appeared on Scott's wristcom.

Scott leaned back against the headrest, "I did" He said and studied his brother's face. "What's wrong?" Scott asked seeing that something was troubling Virgil.

"We need to talk" Virgil simply said before going over all of his mixed thoughts and emotions.

John swung his legs over the side of the bed watching his feet swing while waiting for Scott to come back from going to talk to Dr Hall as the latest blood test had came back clean of the meningitis. They had decided on visiting the hideaway cabin that they had brought during their late teens, before separating to go off either to the Air Force or to NASA.

The one thing that had got Seattle General Hospital's staff concerned was John's voice would come back for a little while before fading once again, his throat had healed from where it had got rubbed raw from his illness but still John's voice had not returned to how it was.

Scott had convinced them that all John needed was to relax away from the hospital, so now he was filling out the forms while John got his things together. Over the past few days, his small magazine and book collection had grown as well as cards from some of the nurses; John had asked Scott to buy them all flowers as thanks which had caused chaos in the wing.

John sighed tiredly as he looked around the now bare room, he would be glad when he got out of the hospital and up to their secret cabin. "Hey John, all done there... we're ready to go" Scott said with a grin as he entered the room.

'Great' John signed before jumping off the bed, he had found out that his voice had disappeared once again shortly after breakfast.

Scott's smile softened and picked up John's bag that he had thrown together in the rush to the hospital when they just found John up in Thunderbird Five then back onto the island then to here, Seattle. "So ready to leave?" He asked checking around the room.

John nodded, 'Ready when you are! And no way am I going to eat anymore Jell-O!' He signed with a small smile.

Scott laughed and waved to the open door that led to the rest of the hospital, "Well where that is concerned I'm hopeless" He said with a grin and led the way out of the hospital, footsteps behind him let Scott know that John was following him through the maze that was Seattle General Hospital.

Gordon sighed as he sat down by the pool, Alan had crashed down on the sun lounger near him after playing tennis against Tin-Tin and by the way Tin-Tin had returned to the sundeck that she had won.

Smiling softly he pulled his shirt off and threw it to the chair where he had put his towel earlier before sliding into the pool The family had gone back to what they call normal except without Scott or John on the island, the last time Scott called to say that he had arranged a holiday with John and was about to pick him up from the hospital before heading off.

Gordon swam around the pool, dived down and touched the bottom of the pool before going back to his laps around the large pool getting lost in his thoughts as his body entered the trance he was in while swimming just like Virgil did when painting or playing his music.

Alan watched from the sun lounger where he rested until he got enough strength to get up and head back to his room for a long hot shower before just enjoying the rest of the day out in the sun. He sighed deeply remembering the talk Gordon and himself had had with Jeff after their father had returned.

Virgil had talked with Jeff shortly after; now his older brother was in the study opposite his bedroom more likely painting.

The sun rose up over the trees chasing away the mist that had formed overnight, the sunlight shone off the lake making the clear water sparkle.

The fish jumped up after the flies that flew close to the waters edge, leaving behind ripples in the water, the sun beams travelled along the lake's bank and through the glass of the cabin that sat near the woods edge.

The cabin is a small two stories wooden building, it looked well built but natural to the lakeside. Its occupants were currently asleep but the bright sunbeams fought through the thin curtains and onto the twin beds of the bedroom.

One of the occupants groaned and dug deeper into the layers of blankets while the other groaned and opened his eyes tiredly, before stretching over to the bedside for his watch to see what the time was.

Sighing, he threw the blankets off before getting up off the bed and headed to the bathroom for a shower, once in the bathroom he striped off his clothes while waiting for the water to warm up.

Once the water was the right temperature, he stepped into the shower cubicle and sighed with relief in feeling the warm water wake up his tired muscles.

He faintly heard a thud come from the bedroom and smiled knowing that his brother was heading down to the kitchen for his wake up coffee before starting on breakfast. Soon as he felt he was wet enough, he reached for the shower gel and started his morning wash before leaving the shower, and joining his brother to help breakfast.

Entering the kitchen, the young man winced as he entered the sunbeams that shone through the window as he made his way through the kitchen to the coffee maker.

Working through half closed eyes, he managed to change the filter and make sure that the pot was in the right place before waiting for the coffee maker to warm up, and produce the bitter hot drink to wake the cabin's occupants.

Leaning against the counter the young man closed his eyes and went over the events of the last three days since leaving Seattle to coming here for a few days before they returned home.

"Coffee ready?" A voice asked coming into the kitchen making the young man open his eyes to see his brother joining him.

"Hey, just put it on" Scott said before, stifling a yawn and looked at his youngest brother with a smile, he could still hear the croakiness in John's voice where he had lost it during the time his body was fighting against the illness.

Though now John looked healthier but still showing signs of tiredness and thinner from where the fever had burned at him during the illness.

"What? Did I miss something?" John asked before coughing slightly to loose the slight croak in his voice.

"No, just thinking that's all... do you want to go fishing after breakfast?" Scott asked, smiling and covered a yawn as the coffee maker started making the coffee.

"Sure, but think you need a wash first" John said with a smile and started getting things out from one of the high cupboards.

"You're right" Scott said and yawned loudly, crossed the kitchen and walked into the cupboard door with a loud plonk.

John closed the cupboard and looked at his brother, who looked dazed holding his hand over the spot he had hit his head. "Scott, are you ok?" He asked crossing over to where Scott was leaning against the counter.

"Y-yeah, I should be fine... just needing my caffeine" Scott said and walked out of the kitchen to let John make the coffee.

John opened a draw and pulled out the small first aid kit before following his brother out of the kitchen as the coffee maker poured the coffee into the pot.

Scott winced feeling a little cut on his forehead when he moved his hand, he found a little bit of blood on his palm, "Let me deal with that" A croaky voice said coming into the living room.

"Thanks John, you better take it easy with your voice as you don't want to loose it again" Scott said sitting down on the armchair with a sigh.

"I know Scott, but it�s not easy... I didn't even know that I would have lost my voice..." John said as he looked through the first aid kit, which laid open next to him.

Scott sighed and leaned forward resting his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. "I know John, but at least you're well now..." He said and winced when he felt the small cut sting in reaction to what John was using to clean it.

"I guess so" John muttered, focusing on cleaning Scott's cut before he could put a plaster on it.

The complex filled with the sound of the piano, filling the area with wandering music reflecting the player's mood. The occupants that were either inside or out enjoying the tropical sun, or the coolness of the pool.

One of the complex occupants looked up from his paperwork in hearing the music, 'He's been playing that same song for the last two days...' He thought with a sigh and reached across for his cup of coffee.

Gordon swam laps in the pool, barely hearing Virgil's song as he tried to stop his mind from overloading on thoughts and worries.

Alan watched from the sun lounger being told to take a break from watching Thunderbird Five's automated systems by Brains, so that the young genius could do some work on some of the more sensitive systems of the space station. 'He's been better... we all have' He thought with a sigh, pushing his shades back up his nose and moved on the sun lounger to get comfortable for a nap.

John looked across when he heard a light snore coming from his right, he could see Scott fast asleep in his chair with his fishing rod stuck in the ground in front of him.

Shaking his head with a slight smile, John reached down for his bottle of water and took a long drink from it before looking back out to the sparkling lake with a deep sigh. 'It's not the same looking out at this peaceful lake compared to the ocean at the island' He thought to himself and heard a small pop in the lake.

Scott groaned slightly as he moved in his chair, a little just as he heard his fishing rod starting to wind out. "Ah Scott! You've caught something!" John called over from his chair.

"What? Oh..." Scott jumped out of his chair and barely caught his fishing rod but fell flat on his face because of his feet getting tangled up in his chair.

John covered his mouth in hope to keep the laughter being built up inside of him; with his other hand he wiped away the tears from his eyes.

Scott fought against the pull of the fish in the lake as he got back up on his feet; he swore colourfully and tried to pull the fish in towards him.

John laughed out loud unable to contain it any longer, Scott spun around and grinned but the fish gave one more mighty pull forcing Scott into the lake.

John gained himself enough to see this before giving way to another bout of laughter, his arms wrapped tightly around his sides.

Scott climbed out of the lake having let the fish go he moved his hair out of his eyes and saw John in a fit of laughter on his own deckchair. "Funny Johnny! Real funny!" He said splashing his brother with the water from his shirt.

Scott was happy to hear John laughing like this; it had been too long since he had heard his brother laugh like this. "I'm going to go and get dried off! Better pack the gear away for a while, I'm not in the mood for fish now" He told John before heading into the cabin leaving his brother to clean up.

"I-I-I believe i-its a mudslide Mr T-Tracy" Brains said reading Thunderbird Five's scanners as only a few short minutes ago it had triggered the alarm calling everyone back inside from where they had spread out.

"How bad Brains?" Jeff asked wondering how much damage had been caused.

"I-I-It's hard to s-say, Th-Th-Th- the station has go-got a p-p-strange ah dialect" Brains stuttered heavily as he looked at the monitor in front of him.

"I see... ok Brains, find out what you can" Jeff told the young genius before turning to his three sons. "Ok boys, we're going to have to be careful out there, Alan go ahead in Thunderbird One and see what you can find out" He ordered his sons.

"Ok Dad, I think we better be prepared for a muddy rescue!" Alan said even though he was unsure how bad the danger zone would be like once they got there. 'We've done a rescue without Scott before, but why does it feel different' He thought to himself.

"We'll need to focus on the rescue at hand... even though we are all worried about Scott and John, we need to focus as this is what we do" Jeff told his sons seeing that they were all distracted.

Virgil took a deep breath and pushed all of the family thoughts and worries away from his mind. "You're right father, there are people out there waiting for help" He said with a soft sigh.

"Virgil's right, we should get going!" Gordon said with a small smile.

"Ok boys away you go!" Jeff told his sons as Brains worked on the computer with a small frown on his face.

John sipped on the cold glass of water watching Scott chop the vegetables for their next meal. "I can help you know" He muttered from behind his glass.

"I saw you wince earlier so you are going to sit there and take it easy" Scott said without looking up from his chore.

John rolled his eyes, "It wasn't anything, just a cramp from where I was sat in the chair that's all" He told his eldest brother and leaned back against the back of the chair.

Scott sighed and reached over to turn the radio that was playing softly in the background down, "Just remember that we got only a few more days until we have to return to the island... so just take it easy ok?" He said to John, not facing but his knife down.

John sighed and got up from the table leaving Scott in the kitchen, 'How do I know that they won't send me back up there once we're home' He thought to himself as he walked through the cabin till he reached the lounge.

'All he cared about was Thunderbird Five operated with only Alan coming up at a month at a time... I know Virgil gets space sick while Gordon just doesn't feel comfortable' John thought to himself with a deep sigh and a slight wince as he sat down on the armchair, his arm cradling his sensitive ribcage.

Scott watched from the doorway of the kitchen with worry written all over his face and with a deep sigh headed back into the kitchen to finish their meal, 'He's not going to want to back there... not after what he said to Dad at the hospital' He thought with a deep sigh.

'I just hope that we can get through this as a family... I need to help them all get through this' Scott thought closing his eyes and clenched his hands onto the edges of the counter.

Sighing with a sigh of relief as he pulled out a fresh set of clothes, after pulling off what was suppose to be their blue rescue uniform but it was now caked brown with mud from the rescue they had only just returned from.

Looking at the clock on the wall as he pulled his clothes on, he saw how late it was knowing that their missing family members would be tucked in their own beds. With another sigh and heard voices outside of his room, he smiled softly and left the room to find something to eat now that the adrenaline rush had died down.

"Hey! Gordon's in the kitchen, I'll be there soon but forgot to drop my uniform down at laundry! Be warned though Virg, he's making one of his monster sandwiches" Alan said with a grin before disappearing off to his room.

Virgil shook his head and carried on walking down to the kitchen humming a tune as he entered the kitchen to find Gordon rummaging through the fridge for the ingredients of the sandwiches he was making.

"Hey Gordo! I'll take one of those with extra cheese" Virgil said with a grin as he dug out three glasses and placed them on the counter before joining Gordon at the fridge.

"Sure Virg, I'll have a lemonade think Al will want the same" Gordon said with a grin, carrying a few tubeware that contained the chopped vegetables, mainly salad for the sandwiches.

"Ok Gord, so guess its lemonades all around then" Virgil said pulling out the sealed jug that contained the lemonade and carried it over to the counter to pour the drink into the three glasses.

"Sounds like a great idea! Just have to make sure that you take it easy on the cucumber Gord!" Alan said cheekily from where he leaned against the kitchen entrance watching Gordon walk back and forth from the fridge while Virgil did the drinks.

"Be worried about Virgil, he's asked for extra cheese" Gordon said with a grin as he started opening the tubes and assembling the sandwiches.

"That's cruel Gord! I just like my cheese" Virgil said as he closed the lid on the jug before returning it to the fridge.

Gordon and Alan laughed and together they created their sandwiches as a post mission snack.

Scott glanced over at John as their home island approached on the horizon as he flew their jet closer. "Sure you're up to this?" He asked adjusting his grips on the controls.

John shook his head, "No but I can't keep away from here forever... as much as I hate this place its still my home" He said with a sigh before rubbing his eyes tiredly, his voice only showing a slight bit of a croak but was mostly back enough for them to return to the island.

Three days after their talk at the secret cabin John had decided that they should return back to their tropical island, Scott had been at first surprised but then agreed with his brother knowing that they had to talk as the one big family that they were suppose to be.

"Well it won't be long John, we will soon be landing and be reunited with the others... but looks like we'll be stuck circling the island for a while" Scott said with a slight smile as the communication channel woke up.

"Swiftwind Three come in" Alan's voice called as a sleek form of Thunderbird One appeared on John's side of the plane.

"This is Swiftwind Three, go ahead Thunderbird One! I hope you're looking after my 'bird Al!" Scott answered their youngest brother's call earning a laugh from John.

"She's ok Scott! We're all a bit muddy but nothing a shower can't cure! Besides Virgil's worse off then I am" Alan's voice said as he controlled on flying Thunderbird One on the route home.

"Oh, is everything ok?" John asked, speaking up in front of his brothers for the first time in a while.

"Hey Johnny! Nice to hear your voice again, oh just that Thunderbird Two reminds me of an oddly coloured Dalmatian! Green with brown spots or is that brown with green spots" Alan's voice said cheekily.

"Funny Al! But he's right, it is nice to hear you again John" Virgil butted in as he focused on keeping Thunderbird Two on its steady course back to the island.

Scott smiled and focused on flying the aircraft, keeping the airspeed down to allow the Thunderbird machines by as they had top priority when returning to their hiding places on the island.

"Thanks Virgil, sounds like you got a hard job to get her clean ready for when you go out again" John said with a small smile seeing Thunderbird One move forward.

"It sure does, but at least it isn't ash" Scott said as he adjusted his grip ready to hold the jet steady for when their brothers passed by on their landing procedures to the hidden hangers.

"We'll see you when you've landed" Virgil called before the communication channel went silent.

'Am I really ready for this?' John thought to himself as the two large impressive machines overtook them and disappeared onto the island in front of them.

Joining his father in the office, Gordon found that Scott and John had landed while they had cleaned up after another muddy rescue involving a hotel that was about to collapse into the ocean after a hurricane had destroyed most of its foundations.

Soon Alan closely followed by Virgil joined them all in the office even though they were all tired and wanted something to eat, they were all happy to see John back up on his feet and colour in his cheeks.

"Nice to see you back here at home John" Virgil said with a smile as he sat down on the couch with a soft sigh.

"Thanks Virgil, I guess its ok to be back amongst you guys even though it has been nice to be with Scott for so long" John said with a soft smile his voice squeaking a little.

"How long have you had that squeak in your voice?" Alan asked elbowing Gordon just below his ribs to stop his brother from laughing.

John looked over at Scott who shrugged his shoulders, "Haven't really paid any attention" Scott said from where he was leaning against their father's desk.

Jeff, who had been silent all this time watching his sons talk amongst themselves coughed to gain their attention. "Now as we're all back here we can get back to our organization by having Thunderbird Five manually operated" He said earning tired looks from his sons.

John sighed and sat down on the couch next to Virgil, Scott ran a hand through his hair. "Don't you get it Dad? John could have died up there!" He said glaring at their father as Virgil got up to join Scott.

"All this time John was in hospital or with me at the cabin, I could see the amount of pain and suffering... first I thought that it was just how everyone normally feels but now I know that its because even though our sir names and the occasional sibling rivalry, we're not the family we once were" Scott said, his blue eyes full of anger never leaving their father's.

"Scott's right father, we have been so busy with International Rescue that we have forgotten what we truly are! We are not just a team with advance rescuing technology but we are a family" Virgil said putting a hand on Scott's shoulder for support.

"We have been so caught up with either John or myself up in Thunderbird Five that we came to being use to it... brushing it off like it was nothing" Alan said joining in with his brothers.

"But boys that's what we are, we are all one big family that just have a larger responsibility than normal! Not only because of our large shared business but because we save life�s where we can" Jeff said not breaking eye contact with his sons.

"Saving lives? What good is that when could have lost one of our own? I'm just thankful that we got John to the hospital as quickly as we did" Gordon said joining his other brothers in front of Jeff.

John sat on the couch listening to his brother�s talk to their father standing in front of his desk, he could hear them saying about how they were more of a rescue organization team rather than the family they were suppose to be.

He got up off the couch and joined his brothers. "It's true father... I could remember seeing you here and it looked like you lost one of your precious team members rather than a family member... no, a son" John said and stopped to cough slightly.

"John..." Scott said moving to John's side but the young blonde man shook his head.

"I'm ok; I've got to finish this Scott..." John told his eldest brother.

"What is more important to you? Your sons or your precious organization? Whatever your answer is I'm not going back up there so find another pilot for your precious Thunderbirds!" He said his voice cracking up before he stormed off leaving his brothers and he hoped their father stunned.