"So tell me, what adventures did you get up to with The Hood?" Jeff asked as he closed the lid down on the BBQ to allow the meat to cook through.

"He set off a chain of Earthquakes we had to stop," Gordon shrugged.

"Sabotaged the new Fireflash in flight," Kayo sighed, "with me on board."

"Cut the power in London which forced Thunderbird 2 to do an emergency landing, with Grandma on board," Virgil looked across to Grandma who smiled at him graciously, "we were fine."

"Took down the Estrella Grand space hotel which Lady Penelope was visiting," Scott crossed his arms, "that was an interesting one."

Lady Penelope nodded, "it was stressful to say the least."

"Forced a colonel in the GDF to almost arrest us after taking Aunt Casey's job."

John friend, "Alan, we never got confirmation of that being his involvement."

"Oh come on John? It had to be him."

Lady Penelope cleared her throat, "if I may, John, it was confirmed, I just never told you guys. I didn't want to worry you all, but Janus came clean and said he was forced to do what he did for the Hood, looking back it looked like there was always a scheme in place which would lead up to this."

Jeff chuckled, "well well, I have missed out haven't I?"

"He attacked the island in person too Dad, and that's when we found out Kayo was related to him," Virgil looked sympathetically across at her.

"Why didn't you tell us about her relation to him?" Scott asked and his father sighed.

"I didn't want you to get upset, when the Hood took down the TV21..." He trailed off as Gordon gulped, "what's wrong son?"

Gordon scratched the back of his head uneasily, "yeah, the TV-21."

Scott's cheeks went red, "yes, about her."

"Boys?"

Virgil sighed, "we found the TV21 whilst you were gone, a couple of years ago, this is when the Mechanic began to follow us."

Jeff flipped the burgers over then turned back to the group, "yes, Virgil?"

"Well, Gordon went down to see it and we almost recovered it, we had it in our grasps, then the Mechanic took it from us to deliver to the Hood."

"He took it into space Dad, and we had no other choice, he almost killed Alan," Gordon said sadly.

Alan nodded, "well we had to blow it up, the engines overloaded, we're sorry."

Jeff smiled and Grandma grinned at them, "it was only a ship, your crafts are much more important than that old thing."

"But Dad, the TV21 was your pride and joy?" Scott frowned.

"Scott, all of you, you are my pride and joy, you mean the world to me. I don't need a ship when I have you."

Grandma crossed her arms, a smug expression painted on her face and she looked over at Lady Penelope and Parker who were also thinking about that day and how the Mechanic had turned out to be a drone, "I told you that boys."

"Yeah but we still feel guilty," Virgil said quietly.

Jeff shook his head as he began to plate up the burgers then passed them round, "honestly boys, did you think I would be angry?"

"Well yeah, a little," Gordon shrugged.

"Do you know how many Thunderbird 4's we got through?" Alan grinned and Gordon hit him, "oww!"

"What? Gordon, you were attacked?"

Gordon nodded, "the Mechanic pulled my ship apart, oh and Thunderbird 2, she had to crash land on the runway, man I wish I had seen that belly flop, Virgil."

Virgil huffed as he took a plate from Jeff, "it wasn't funny, Gordo."

"Back on track. I didn't tell you about Kayo's relationship to him because it wasn't the right time, she was very young and so were you, it wasn't something you needed to worry about. Now what else?" Jeff sat down after putting chicken wings on to cook and Scott continued.

"We had a lot of normal rescues, and met some, well idiots is the only way I can describe them," Scott smiled as the others laughed at his subtle mention of Lemaire and Fischler, "then one day The Hood attacked the island," his eyes darted to Kayo beside him.

"Yes, I think he followed me Jeff, I was his secret weapon, he used me to hurt all of your sons, but he saved me on one occasion too," she placed her hand on Scott's, "that was the day I stopped being Scott's sister."

Jeff raised an eyebrow, "yes, I'm very interested in how this came to be."

Scott smiled as John sighed, "the rest of you can moan all you want but I'm telling Dad this."

Alan groaned, "wish I'd brought my phone out."

"We saved a plane but during this time Kayo was hunting down the Hood even though we told her not to, and his minions fired a sonic-disrupter at Shadow. I couldn't get to her in time but she was saved by the Hood."

Kayo nodded, "he caught Shadow and then flew off, I couldn't tell Scott why but now I wish I had."

"The day he attacked the island, he was going to blow us all up and the Hood told us that Kayo was his niece."

Jeff hummed, "and how did you all react to that? Nicely I hope."

Virgil bit his lip, "not exactly, but by this point these two had already shared their first kiss so…"

Alan shook his head, "we trusted her immediately Dad."

"Alan, you're such a liar," Kayo laughed.

Lady Penelope chuckled too, "I knew all along but Jeff told me not to tell any of you, I had my own job that day, WASP protocol."

Jeff smiled, "excellent, I'm glad it worked."

"It certainly did."

"So when did the Mechanic come along, properly I mean?" Jeff asked, twisting a cap off a beer bottle.

"Pretty much after we thought the Hood was behind bars the first time, Lady Penelope even interrogated him in prison to find out what he was doing but he didn't break," Scott helped himself to more wedges, "the Mechanic was lethal."

"But how did he become on our side?"

Virgil smiled, "too fast dad, that's the end of the tale."

Jeff chuckled, "alright alright."

"Well the Mechanic broke the Hood out of prison using cybernetic hypnosis," Kayo got up to check the chicken wings, "and before we knew it we found ourselves watching the two of them fight in a hydroelectric dam, have you still got the footage, Scott?"

Scott nodded, "yep," he took his phone out and put it down on the holo-emitter, "this is from my mini cam."

Jeff leant forwards watching the Hood and Mechanic face to face attempting to hit each other, "hypnosis, that's how he got Brains earlier."

Brains nodded, "I don't remember what happened whilst I was uh out but his uh eye flashed and before I knew it, I w-was in a supply closet."

"Both of them were on the run from each other and the GDF after that mission," Virgil shrugged.

"How have you all done this without me? I'm so proud of you," Jeff smiled, "now who wants wings?"

"Oh, we also sold off your pilot wings, to a good cause," Gordon glanced at Penelope who blushed.

"In the millions?"

John nodded, "Lady Penelope forced me to go to a charity gala."

Alan laughed, "that was hilarious."

"No it wasn't, we got stuck playing guess who with EOS," Gordon muttered, "damn that AI."

"Hey, that's my ship you're insulting."

"Who's EOS?" Jeff asked as he passed around the plate of BBQ chicken wings.

"She's basically Thunderbird 5 Dad, a computer program which began life as a virus, now she's my helper."

"I'd like to meet her at some point if that's alright?"

"Sure."

"Don't forget to add in that she almost killed you," Virgil smirked.

"Virgil!" John snapped as he felt his father's glare pierce his face.

"She almost killed you?"

"She took over Thunderbird 5 and I had to prove that I wasn't a threat to her. It was a long time ago, she's never done anything like that since."

"Hmm that's not really the point though John, you're all alone up there, I'm not entirely comfortable with you putting your life in the program of a virus."

"That's what we said," Scott shrugged.

"I'm making a note of stuff to chase up on. What happened next?"

"We met a couple more nuisances, and we went back to mom's ranch."

Jeff smiled fondly, "it's still standing?"

"Of course it is, we've been going every summer to test equipment. The Mechanic broke in whilst we were there however," John closed his eyes thinking back to the danger they had all been put in.

"He threatened me m-Mr Tracy, but didn't take anything, he c-cut off our power and your boys took the hover bikes."

Jeff laughed, "how were they?"

Gordon frowned, "let's just say I prefer my modes of transport more. They're so old Dad."

"So am I, but they still worked didn't they?"

"Yes," he agreed reluctantly.

"If it ain't broke don't fix it," Jeff shared a grin with Grandma.

"I guess 'hat leads us onto the Chaos Crew," Parker pushed his plate back, "h'if you don't mind me saying so sir, the GDF did nothing to help your sons and Kayo."

Jeff frowned, "but I've always trusted them."

Scott grimaced almost immediately, "they forced us to work with robots Dad, and they were useless, Fuse and Havoc who you saw leaving hacked into them and we were attacked. Casey locked the robots away but the Chaos Crew were long gone, the Hood had them under his wings for ages and they've been an issue ever since."

Jeff's face softened, "I should've had Casey do more for you boys, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise dad, you were in another galaxy pretty much, you weren't to know."

"I know V."

Lady Penelope smiled at the nickname, "they've been a problem to us all of last year, whenever there's been trouble they have been the ones who have caused it, and pain to us," she took Gordon's hand in hers without hesitation and the others shifted uncomfortably.

"What pain?"

Grandma sighed, "son, Gordon almost died a few months ago, he got trapped in the Marindata Vent fields."

Virgil nodded, "we have pictures."

Jeff's eyes widened at the photos of Gordon's leg bandaged up and arm in a sling with his head kept still in a neck brace, sitting on a hospital bed, "oh Gordon, are you alright now?"

Gordon nodded, "A1, there was nothing I could do, the Chaos Crew sent boulders after me and I was trapped, Thunderbird 4's systems shut down and she caved in on me, we had to leave her behind. I was back on my very first mission two months ago."

"That was Thunderbird 4 number 3," Alan grinned.

"What number are you on now then?"

"The one you saw in the module was number 4 ironically, Scott was the first one to take her out."

"Yeah, and I still get cramp thinking about that tiny space I had to squeeze into."

Lady Penelope sighed, "you promised not to scare me again, Gordon, and you went and almost got yourself killed."

"I'm sorry Pen, how did I know what they had planned for me," he kissed her cheek and heard Alan laugh, "Thunderbird 2 is a submarine too, Dad."

Virgil groaned, "no she is not, we've just had to push her to her absolute limits a lot recently," he smiled to himself, "I am however, proud of her."

"It's thanks to Braman we got your signal," Scott smiled, "that was the best emergency call we ever had."

"Every day I sent out a call for help, for eight years I've been calling."

John frowned, "but how did the Calypso pick up your call? They weren't in deep space."

"I caught their signal one day, they weren't in danger of course but they were close enough for me to latch onto their ship, that's how I got the code into Braman, but I had to be quick, what happened to that ship?"

"That's how we got Braman, we had to let the ship go and wake the crew from hyper sleep, then we found the message and decoded the rest of the message from the Zero-X camera which was on the sea bed, hence needing Thunderbird 2 to swim."

"You saw what the Hood did to me then?"

Scott nodded, "everything. After we saw that, it was time for revenge," he forced his hand down on the table and Kayo rubbed his knee, "he said you had died, we've all been living with the fear that you were gone for good."

Jeff got up and moved round to his son's side, "I'm not going anywhere, again," he cupped Scott's face in his hands and pressed his forehead to his, "I promise."

Virgil wrapped his arm around Alan, "once we knew the only way out there was with a new T-Drive we went in search of the Mechanic and broke him out of the Hex."

Jeff looked up after kissing Scott's head, "the Hex? That's one of the safest GDF facilities in the upper atmosphere."

Kayo coughed, "umm yeah, it blew up, the Chaos Crew again, they're looking at life in prison for all of this, even, Clarence," she laughed.

"Who?" John raised an eyebrow.

"That's Fuse's real name, Clarence."

Gordon chuckled, "Clarence? Awwh."

"It doesn't matter what his name is, he's still going to prison and good," Grandma crossed her arms, "no-one puts my family in danger countless times and gets away with it."

"You've got that right mother. Then the Mechanic?"

"Brains freed him from the cybernetics, that's when he agreed to help us," Virgil smiled.

"Well I think I'm all caught up on the dangerous sides of things, what about the nice stuff?"

Gordon cracked a grin, "you might be getting a new Dad, Dad."

Grandma cuffed him gently across the head, "shh."

"What's this all about?"

"Kip Harris, silver fox!" Gordon replied dramatically.

"A knockout," Scott grinned.

"You boys!" Grandma grumbled.

Jeff laughed, "and who is he?"

"Virgil's man crush."

"He is not, he is my idol," Virgil narrowed his eyes towards Gordon who just shrugged, "he taught me about oil well fires, but he smuggled dynamite aboard Thunderbird 2."

Kayo laughed, "well maybe she didn't impress him enough?"

"Thunderbird 2 impresses everyone."

"And Gordon and Lady Penelope?" Jeff leant back in his chair.

"H'll fill this one sir, you see, master Gordon helped me look for Sherbert when I thought he had gone missing and then her Ladyship saved him from the Chaos Crew, h'it's about time h'if you ask me."

Lady Penelope blushed scarlet, "I had no idea how much you were following us, Parker."

"I noticed your liking for one h'another when you first went into h'at tomb of the Laughing King, M'Lady."

Scott nodded, "and when John went to that auction Gordon, you were green with envy, I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing; need a date? Obvious."

"And when we saved her from the space hotel, you flew into the shower to make yourself presentable," Virgil smirked.

"It was you who turned off the shower controls? Oh I can't believe it was you all along!"

Lady Penelope laughed, "I'm used to the smell of wet dog Gordon, believe me you didn't put me off that day, I just wanted to humiliate you."

Jeff smiled around at his family, his complete family, "I've missed out on a lot. What about you and Kayo, Scott?"

Scott smiled at the girl beside him, "nothing more perfect."

Kayo threw her arms around him, "he saved my life and drives me crazy, but if I didn't have him I wouldn't know what to do."

"If my family is happy then I'm happy, I just hope we don't come across any of your old foes again."

Kayo looked round at Jeff, "my uncle will be back, I just know it, but we'll be ready for him."

Scott nodded, "FAB. Hey Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Remember when you broke the speed of sound record?"

"Of course."

"It was almost beaten by Icarus."

"Icarus?"

"Uh huh, new supersonic jet, we went to the air show and saw it live, Scott was being hostile," Alan shrugged,

"I was not being hostile."

"You sulked in front of a kid, that's not very professional," Kayo elbowed him, "you were the one telling us to smile and then you stormed off."

"The announcer was getting on my nerves."

"How fast did he go?" Jeff asked.

"She, dad," Virgil smiled, "Professor Kwark, mach 21, then her jet went out of control, Alan saved her in the upper atmosphere."

Alan beamed, "no sweat."

"You've become a great pilot Ali."

"I've always been great, I got my driver's license too, thanks to Parker."

Parker smiled, "passed on his first go sir."

Scott stood, "I'll be back," he walked inside and heard someone following him, "yeah?"

"It's me, are you okay?" Kayo smiled as she caught up with him in the snug behind the kitchen.

"It feels like he never left but at the same time, I feel like I'm dreaming."

Kayo smiled as he slumped into one of the poang armchairs, "you're not dreaming, want to know why?"

"Hmm."

"Because he really is there, you went to the Oort cloud and brought him home, all of you."

Scott held his hand out to her, "we did it."

Kayo joined him and sat on his lap, "do you think he approves of us?"

"He's going to have to, because honestly if it wasn't for your support over the last year, Kayo, I wouldn't have survived, I would've gone insane or into deep depression."

Kayo stroked his chin, "I'm always here for you Scott, always will be."

"I'm so happy, I promised my brothers I would get our Dad back, I was convinced he had gone," he sighed and a tear rolled down his cheek, "just seeing him on that cliff holding onto me, I thought I was seeing a ghost at first, then he pulled me up and held me, that's when I realised he was really in front of me. It's the reason I took so long getting back to my brothers, I couldn't stop crying."

Kayo stroked his hair under her fingers gently, "I know," she looked back towards the patio hearing laughter, "come on."

Scott nodded, "I'm coming," he smiled as her lips pressed against his and he breathed in happily, "thanks K."

"Yep, Virgil knows how to do topiary," Gordon grinned as Jeff laughed, "isn't that right, Scott?"

Scott jogged down the steps with Kayo holding her hand, "yeah, I can't believe you still hate us for destroying your Thunderbird 2, we didn't mean to cause a sinkhole."

Virgil grimaced as he took a brownie off the plate, "it doesn't matter now. I made a new one."

Jeff smiled, "always the artist son, you take after me."

"In drawing, not hedge design," Gordon laughed again.

Kayo sat down, "did you know eight years had passed?"

Jeff shook his head, "no, I just lived everyday hoping to get home or get the T-drive engine going again, I injured myself trying to fix it myself and realised it was no good, that's when I first began sending the distress calls. All that kept me from going crazy was knowing that all of you were down on Earth and somehow I had to get back, eight years is too long and I'm sorry I've missed all of your teenage years."

Scott smirked, "you didn't miss much, Alan was a nightmare, still is."

"Hey!"

"Gordon too," Virgil shrugged.

Max turned on the patio glass lights and the whole area glowed gold, the BBQ hissed away but the food was all eaten, everyone was still reminiscing but yawns were replacing speech and Jeff looked around at everyone.

"It's getting late, how about we start afresh tomorrow?"

Scott nodded, "FAB."

Jeff stood up and found himself in a hug again, "boys, I'm not going to disappear tonight, I promise."

Gordon looked up, "really really?"

"Yes, now off to bed, come on," he kissed the tops of his sons' heads with a smile, "contingency tests at 5 .am then?"

Virgil laughed, "nice try, very funny."

Jeff winked, "just testing."

Gordon had a shower and walked out into his room only to see Lady Penelope sitting atop of his bed, "did anyone see you?" He squeaked.

"Of course not, I don't even think your father suspected I would do this."

"And what about Parker?"

"Of course not," she undid her hair from the clips holding it up, "I see you're ready for bed."

Gordon looked down at his lower half hidden by a towel, "I can lose this easily."

"Then do it."

Jeff leant on his balcony looking up at the stars, he had been out there for eight years, it can't have been eight years, eight living on nothing but rations and bottled water which was luckily on board on the Zero-X, but any longer and he would've begun to starve to death, he was surprised his sons had even recognised him, his face so thin and tired as opposed to his younger looks back in 2056 or whenever he had left the planet, he couldn't remember. The island smelled so fresh and homely, just like he remembered it the first time he had landed there and decided to make it his home after losing his wife, his sons had just lost him and now he knew exactly how it felt to lose someone, he left his room and went down the stairs to the floor below belonging to his sons and decided to check in on the boys who weren't with their girlfriends, he chuckled as he passed Scott's room and instead opened the door to Virgil's room, he was more than surprised to see his second eldest sitting on the bed playing his keyboard which was plugged into his laptop, Virgil yelped seeing his dad at his doorway then smiled.

"Virgil, what are you doing still up?"

Virgil put his headphones down, "sorry."

"Don't apologise, are you alright?"

Virgil nodded as his father sat down on the bed beside him, he moved across and rested his head against his shoulder, "I'm just so glad you're back."

Jeff smiled and cupped his hand around the back of his head stroking his hair, "and so am I. I never thought I'd get stuck on the Zero-X, I never even got to say goodbye to you properly, but just thinking about you guys kept me going out there," he smiled as he felt his son tremble, "I knew you would hold everyone together, you always have done."

Virgil wiped his hand across his face, "I only did my best."

Jeff squeezed his shoulder, "more than the best."

"Scott couldn't cope, especially in the last year."

"In what way?"

"His actions on missions, the private breakdowns and heart to hearts with me, he told me he felt like he was losing his grip on leadership."

Scott appeared at the door, "that's not true," he said quietly.

"Scott!" Virgil looked up in surprise.

Jeff held his hands out to his eldest son and pulled him into a hug before doing the same with Virgil, "you two are and have always been my strongest, I don't doubt that you helped each other with everything."

Scott nodded tearfully into his father's shoulder still not quite believing he was really back, "I just missed you."

"I know you did son, and I missed you more than anything else, both of you."

They sat back and looked at each other from under Jeff's arms, feeling the comfort of someone they could finally pass on their stress and load to.

"Get some sleep boys, we all need it."

Virgil closed the lid of his laptop, "and you'll be here in the morning?"

"FAB, son," Jeff paused by the door, "thanks for keeping my room looking smart."

"That was Grandma, for hope," Scott smiled gravely, "we were too nervous to go in."

Jeff nodded, "I understand. Goodnight boys, thank you for everything."

Scott smiled as he looked back at Virgil before following his dad out of the room, "see you in the morning."

"You sure will, scooter," he smiled at his eldest son then walked up the short flight of stairs to his room along the corridor from his mother's, he slumped down onto the bed and took out his wallet flicking past each photo of his sons, they looked so different now; Scott was at least a foot taller than the size he was in the photo, Virgil had bulked out completely, John was still his tall lanky ginger but had toned up in space, Gordon had lost his freckles and gained a swimmer's body instead but Alan remained his baby faced little boy all apart from one difference, this child was now sixteen and a fully fledged astronaut. Jeff closed the black book and put it on his bedside table with a sad sigh, he had missed Alan's thirteenth birthday, his driving lesson, the remainder of his childhood. Tomorrow he would make it up to him, to all of them, it was April 2nd, two days until Scott's 27 birthday and he would make it one his eldest wouldn't forget.