Educating Eos

'All the Hassle…' was intended to be a one-off but it was fun to do and got me thinking. I suppose I should finish stories I've already started and I will; just not today J. A couple of people wanted to know why John needed to go to a hospital; he didn't tell me and I know better than to ask – he's a private sort of guy. Not sure if this will be the last or whether there'll be more, so I'll leave it open-ended J

I don't own anything I just enjoy playing with them and I'm very careful not to cause too much damage and pack everything away very carefully.

John edged TB 3 closer to 5 for docking. He could have used the Space Elevator but Brains had carried out some upgrades on 3 and the brothers decided Alan would enjoy playing with his bird on the way home; a 'payment' for substituting the two weeks John had been away – double the estimated time, there was also the cargo carefully strapped in 3's hold – now that was going to be interesting. He hadn't figured out how he was going to make it up to Eos yet but she deserved some sort of compensation.

Alan was at the air lock, bags in hand, ready to jump aboard 3, but John blocked his way.

"Just hang on a minute Alan. You're going nowhere till I've checked 5 out. Eos, wait until I say it's OK to release the air lock please."

"I can't begin to tell you how GOOD it is to have you back." Was that emotion John heard in Eos' voice?

"Aww come on John, I can't wait to try her out."

"You're going to have to – I've seen your room back home remember. I need to see the state of my quarters before you go anywhere!"

John was striding along the ring; Alan half ran slightly ahead and turned towards John, arms flailing like a demented windmill.

"It's fine – you wont have to change the sheets or anything" Alan promised

"That's because you sleep on the floor. Don't know why dad wasted money buying you a bed."

"And I've done all my homework, I'm ahead – what do you think of that?"

"Do we have any garbage bags Eos?" John asked

"Not big enough for HIM." She retorted

"I don't know how you put up with her. She's driven me crazy!" Alan complained

"Enough – both of you!"

"But you're on my side – right? After all, I'm your brother."

Scott once said that John's stare could freeze an elephant in its tracks at 300 yards; Alan was the recipient this time.

"Don't count on it." John said quietly. The door to his quarters hissed open.

"Pizza boxes? How on earth did you get pizza delivered out here?"

"Promised I wouldn't tell"

"He's put his greasy fingers all over my controls" Eos sulked.

"And my lap top!" John almost raised his voice "and pizza crumbs – PIZZA CRUMBS! Get this cleaned up now. There's a mini cleaner over there and wipes in the drawer. I'm going to check out the rest of 5 while you do that."

"But…but...John…"

"Want to argue? Fine, I'll program 3 to go straight back to Tracy Island"

"You can't do that!"

"You think? Don't make me prove it."

John turned on his heel, marching off to investigate the damage inflicted on his bird by his youngest brother.

"Decontaminate it when he leaves it, Eos."

There was a fractional delay. "Can't find that program."

"Sarcasm Eos, sorry. Forget. This is going to take an age to sort out." John moaned as he tripped over one of Alan's t-shirts on the floor.

"Oh lighten up John, a little mess never hurt anyone."

John's jaw dropped and his eyes opened wider than they'd ever done.

"Whaaaat?"

"Sarcasm, John"

"I was thinking you'd spent far too much time with Alan."

"Two hours was too much – two weeks has been unbearable. Please don't do it again."

"I'll try not to."

"Are you sure he's your sibling?"

John laughed, "Yeh, definitely a Tracy. I think he might've missed mom's influence. Gordon probably would've been every bit as bad if it hadn't been for her. None of the rest of us would be who we are if it hadn't been for her influence. Scott was the best big brother any kid could ever have, he's the rational one…"

"What? Rational?"

"You never had a chance to know the old Scott, the man he was before dad disappeared. We'd all grown up looking to Scott to sort things out and I guess to an extent that's what we did when dad…he tried so hard to be everything everyone expected him to be. It wasn't just IR, there was Tracy Industries and the charitable foundation dad set up in mom's name. It was just too much on top of trying to deal with his own feelings and trying to stay strong for us but maybe he thought that as dad could handle it, he should too. But dad had a whole lot of years and experience under his belt. Anyway, by the time we realised, it was nearly too late. Scott's struggling – we all are; I'm hoping that he'll get back to who he was but I'm not sure it's possible. I'm not sure it's possible for any of us."

"You're still hoping your father turn up? Not very likely is it? We'd have picked up something by now"

"We wont give up, never stop hoping that today may be the day we pick up his signal or get a call for help"

"Not exactly logical, is it?"

"No Eos, it's but it's very human. Now, shall we see how Alan is getting on and then we can unload the equipment I brought."

"Equipment?"

"Mmm – hydroponic equipment."
"YOU are going to try to grow food?"

"How hard can it be? Botany is just a branch of Physics – right?" John looked into Eos' lens and winked.

"Your logic is so flawed it's difficult to know where to start – but I admire your optimism John." She giggled, following him as he made his way back to his quarters.