so this chapter reveals how the family feels with Gordon missing.

A week later, the Tracy's were still waiting until they could go back and help find their brother; after John introduced EOS to Jeff he asked her to scan for any sign of the Hood, meanwhile, the brothers had tried to rekindle their relationship with Jeff but it was extremely hard since it been eight years that had to first get used to seeing him at every meal and just generally around the house. Jeff tried his best to give his boys the space they needed as they tried their hardest to get used to having him around again, Jeff did feel slightly offended when Alan had a nightmare and went to Scott for help, in Jeff's heart he knew that Alan had gotten used to going to Scott whenever he had a problem, but in his mind, his still saw the 9-year-old kid from before his disappeared. Kayo had managed to convince her father to return to the island and Jeff couldn't be happier to see Krayno again, alan and Scott took a trip to mars and got captain Tayor to return to earth and the two men talked all night.

However Jeff couldn't help but feel slightly guilty, here he was having fun while the Hood was doing who knows what to his son. He knew how evil the hood could get as he tried to shoot him out of the sky when he was testing the TV-21, he managed to safely escape and he knew that the crash had made headline news but what he didn't know was how badly his sons were affected. They were worried that they had lost him, just like they lost their mother, Jeff hated those days, not just because he had lost his wife but he had also neglected his sons. his bundles of joy. When he arrived home after the crash he was met with 4 crying boys. 4. not 5. Jeff would never the day when Gordon said that he didn't love him, it was right after Gordon was in his second year of high school and Jeff had asked which college he wanted to go to, and Gordon had said that he didn't have plans to go to college jeff lost his temper, saying that he knew what was best for them.

But Gordon had said that he didn't know him, that he would never understand him. It wasn't until after a year in the Oort cloud that Jeff finally understood what Gordon meant. He was mad at him for abandoning the family all those years ago and still was. Jeff knew that his fourth son was usually easy going and happy, but man. he can hold a grudge when he wants to, in fact, he remembered when Gordon was 5 he was mad at the TV for canceling his favorite tv show: Octanauts. didn't watch TV for a whole year! Jeff let out a chuckle at the memory and glanced up to where Scott's room was, he knew that his eldest son wouldn't be sleeping until all his brothers were home safe.

Just as Jeff predicted, Scott lay awake in bed unable to go to sleep; similar to when his dad first disappeared, he would lay in bed as he knew his brothers would have nightmares and they still did, but being the oldest and legal guardian of alan he had a right to worry. damn it! Scott buried his face in his hands, why did Gordon have to go out and say those things?! if he kept his mouth shut than maybe he wouldn't be in this situation. But deep down he knew this was a lie, the Hood wouldn't have taken him anyway, anything to make them suffer, for now, they had to focus on a way to get Gordon back, and make sure their dad recovers.

He remembered how he promised to look after the two youngest better once Gordon recovered, Alan seemed to appreciate it but Gordon shrugged away from it. Mad that they had ignored him and Alan for so long, he knew that it was the same when their mother dies and their dad had buried himself in his work, Gordon was too young to understand why their dad had 'abandoned' them and he knew that he still had that anger towards him even after he started to spend more time with them (but he hid it). Gordon was probably the only one who didn't idolize their dad the way his brothers did, sure Scott wanted to be like his dad, strong and brave, he knew that Virgil idolized him because he learned everything about engines from him, John and Alan wanted to be an astronaut like him and they all wanted to own the sky; just like him. except for Gordon, he drifted more to the ocean side of things and Scott found it hard to bond with him as they didn't have the same interests; except for their time in the army.

Virgil stood in front of his easel unable to paint, his family knew that he would paint out his frustrations, they all had their own ways of dealing with it usually when someone lost their life at a rescue. Scott would work overtime, deprived of sleep and amped up on coffee, Virgil would paint or play on the piano, John would stargaze, Gordon would swim, Alan would play his game and Kayo would work out in the gym for hours, but Virgil didn't have the heart to play so he thought he would try and paint; but what's the point if there isn't a little brother to switch the paint colors around or put superglue on his brushes, or switch some of the paints with condiments? when Jeff disappeared Scott spent most of his time looking after alan, this was of course after they got that dreadful phone call. After that Virgil studied everything he could about medicine so nothing like this could happen again, plus Virgil and Gordon had built a bond while he was recovering.

That's why we probably make such a great team Virgil thought fondly, as much as he hated Gordon's corny jokes and disgusting habits and his weird obsession with celery crunch bars (Virgil doesn't know how anyone could love them and swears the company still makes them because of Gordon) he appreciated them it because he knows it Gordon's way of lighting the mood.

John stared at the ceiling, he didn't stay on the island often but his room was dust free and had the glow in the dark stars he had put up when they first moved in. John felt uneasy and not just because of gravity but because it was too quiet. Normally he liked the quiet of thunderbird 5 and felt like his eardrums would burst whenever he came home because it was usually so noisy. and about 80% of it came from Gordon. Sometimes he would call up John in thunderbird 5 just to annoy him with some bad joke, usually, john would roll his eyes and cut Gordon off but he secretly appreciated it (not that he'll ever tell him) because it meant that he was missed and someone decided to call him casually and not because of some emergency. He remembered when Gordon was born and how mom told him that he was a big brother now and had to take care of him, but it was no secret that he didn't like him. John found him too noisy and energetic and John initially thought they had nothing in common, but that was wrong, they both deeply cared about their elements, while john preferred space Gordon loved the sea.

But other than the occasional phone call, John rarely spent time with Gordon, now and in their childhood. After alan was born Gordon generally drifted towards him while Virgil drifted towards Scott, but John didn't mind he didn't like people in his personal space, but still, John spent a lot of time with Scott and Virgil in high school (John skipped a year or two) plus he spent time with Alan when he found out that he had an interest in space. John never thought about spending time with Gordon as he preferred water but still, Gordon was the only brother who john never spent much time with as he had too much energy. John stood up and went to Gordon's room which was messy but still not as messy when he was younger (thanks to his time at WASP),he walked to the bookshelf and pulled out every book Gordon had about the ocean (which was a lot) and took them to his room. John may not have an interest but he wanted to be able to have something to talk about with Gordon when they got him back.

Alan sat outside with his feet dangling in the pool, thinking about his best friend, there were times when Alan wished he spent more time with Gordon other than playing pranks, he knew that Gordon had often felt left out (he never said it) when they were kids whenever their dad or grandma would take them to an airshow or the space museum and Gordon was left listening to them jabber on about planes or space, and when they visited an aquarium and they had to listen to him jabber on they (well Alan, he wasn't sure if the others did) would tune him out as they didn't find it interesting. Alan knew what that was like; talking but no one's listening, he had lots of experience as the youngest but he never thought how Gordon felt. Being the black sheep of the family, he knew that Gordon had the furthest relationship with his dad and Scott (mainly because they were polar opposites). Alan hugged his knees and rested his head on them, feeling lonely, the last time he had felt this alone was when their dad disappeared and the oldest three ignored them, he remembered when he was being bullied and how Gordon stood up for him, he remembered watching as Gordon's bullies beat him up and saying mean stuff about his dad and the family and Gordon took it all astride. He remembered Gordon asking him every day if he was ok and if he was still being bullied, to this day Alan still felt guilty at not asked him if he was ok, Alan could see it in Gordon's eyes, he wasn't ok and wasn't doing well but Alan ignored them and yelled at him to leave him alone and that he didn't need him looking out for him.

At least until one day, the bullies targeted him as Gordon wasn't cracking, they had him trapped in a circle and were about to attack him when Gordon had called the leader (Jerry) that he was a coward for picking on him and that he had the brain the size of an ant. That was when they turned away from him and attacked Gordon while Alan ran to get a teacher when they arrived Gordon was on the ground unconscious and barely breathing, the teacher quickly called an ambulance. Alan was allowed to follow his brother to the hospital, usually, he would have found riding in the ambulance fun but all he could think about was Gordon, he remembered the paramedic telling him that he was brave and that he should be lucky to have the best big brother in the world and Alan was. But he forgot that over the years as he spent more time with Scott and John, he especially forgot it when he and Gordon went to Europia and how Gordon annoyed him for messing up his bird. Alan promised to never forget that, sure Scott may have raised him, and John may have taught him everything he knows about space but Gordon was the one that was there for him.

Kayo punched the bag hard, her face dripping in sweat, it was her fault that her uncle had Gordon, she should have stayed behind but everyone was convinced that he would be fine and not do anything stupid (which was a bad assumption as 'stupid' was Gordon's middle name). Kayo remembered that when she first started to live with the Tracy's she tried her best to stay away and spent most time by herself, but one day Gordon went to her room and invited her to join them in the pool, usually when the others invited her she turned them down, but Gordon was too stubborn to move, he literally dragged her from her room and pushed her in the pool forcing her to play volleyball with them. To her surprise, she found that she enjoyed it and instantly said yes the next time she was invited, even though she found him as the most annoying brother she did secretly enjoy him always trying to lighten the mood with his bad jokes. He even introduced her to celery crunch bars (she had a secret stash in shadow and in her room) plus he was the first Tracy to call her 'sis', she was surprised at first but found that she enjoyed it.

She remembered how she began to teach them self defense and when she knocked out Virgil and Gordon had shouted "KO!" and decided to call her that from now on (she broke his nose the first time he called her that) but it had quickly caught on with the brothers and soon 'Kayo' was what she was called. now that she thought about it, she never did apologize for breaking his nose, that would be one of the first things she would do when he came back.

Grandma sat at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of tea in her hands, she knew the family was falling apart without Gordon around and it had only been a week! she knew that all of his brothers and Kayo thought of Gordon as the jokester of the family as he was the one that kept them smiling. But she knew his role went for more than just the family jokester or the aquanaut he was the one that reminded them that they still needed to act like a family and not just international rescue he was the glue that kept them together. She had watched as the boys fell into depression when her son disappeared and barely interacted with each other and when they did, it would usually end up with them fighting.

But then one day Gordon pulled a prank on Scott which ended him up in the pool but he was laughing and soon his brothers and Kayo joined in and just like that they were a family once again. She began cooking again much to their pleasure she knew she was a terrible cook but she always got a kick when she saw her boys trying not to offend her but their expressions gave it away. She knew how they felt as she had lost her husband a few years before Lucy died and the family came to visit her and how the boys had brought her flowers and cards they had made; of course, Gordon had spring-loaded a glitter bomb in his (much to his family's horror) but instead of getting mad like they thought she let out a large laugh, she laughed for weeks after that incident and was still finding glitter months after, he was grounded for two weeks but he didn't mind, he was just glad he had cheered her up. And they'll get him back, no matter what.