Scott is fast asleep in his new bedroom, which has been tastefully decorated in his favourite shade of light blue and even though he has been on the island for less than twenty four hours everything is packed away and organised already.
It is six o'clock and the sun is just starting to rise, Gordon is sneaking into his bedroom, as subtly as he knows how. Creeping his way across the room until he is standing right beside him. Then he lets off the air horn he found in the laboratory the night before, Scott freaks at the noise leaping off the bed staring around until he finds the source of the commotion.
Gordon is standing there already in his swimming trunks with a towel flung over his shoulder.
"Hey Scotty, can I have a lift to the pool now?" He asks him smirking.
"GET. OUT!" Scott shouts at him pointing to the door.
"Scott? Gordon? What is going on in here?"
"Great, now look what you have done Gordon, you woke the whole house up!" Scott tells him sarcastically.
"It is nothing Grandma, just Gordon thinking he is funny. Why did you wake me up when I told you not too?" Scott asks.
"Because you told me not too! You know I can't resist a challenge" Gordon replies smirking.
Scott does know, and he should never have given him an open invitation to annoy him!
Gordon is out in the pool all morning. Starting slowly and trying to build his strength and speed back up. His brothers join him at various intervals some staying longer than others.
"He is good" Kayo tells Scott coming out to join him watching the fish strut his stuff for the first time in months.
"He is, but whatever you do never let him hear you say so! He has a big ego" Scott laughs.
"How serious was the illness?" Kayo asks
"Very, put it this way, if he hadn't been so sick I would have pounded him this morning over the air horn trick. We honestly nearly lost him more than once" Scott tells her.
"I'm sorry Scott. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions about you guys. You seem nice"
"We are, and if you come with me and we can get fish-face out the pool for a bit I will introduce you to everyone properly!"
"Oi Gordo time to quit for the day, you know what the doctor said about overdoing it" scott calls out warningly.
Gordon listens to Scott for once and jumps up out the pool.
They all gather in the living room and properly introduce themselves.
Gordon going first:
"Hi I'm Gordon, I am ten years old, and I enjoy irritating my brothers, marine biology and celery crunch bars. I'm going to win a gold medal at the olympics one day. So get my autograph now because when I'm famous I will charge you!"
Kayo actually laughs with him, and not at him which really surprises herself.
"I am Alan, and this is Ratty McRatface, he's my best friend. He hates John."
"The feelings mutual!" John assures him interrupting.
"Also," Alan carries on as if John hadn't spoken, "I'm going to own the rocket down stairs soon. So all of you keep your Hands off!" He continues.
"Do I have to do this?" John asks.
"YES!" They all reply throwing cushions at him.
"Okay fine, I am John. I have an IQ of 196, I like being left alone and I hate people, crowds and rats!"
"And what are your hopes for the future?" Kayo asks
"To work on a space station, alone!" John replies
"Okay! Moving on" Scott laughs. "I am Scott, the eldest, and I may not be as smart as John but I study every day. My dad always used to tell me the day is wasted unless you learn something from it, and I agree with him."
They all turn too look at Virgil.
"I'm Virgil" he starts "And I am the talented artistic one, unlike this lot who are tone deaf I can play the piano. My mom always used to say the piano played me, not the other way round".
He goes quiet with that final sentence.
And they all sit in silence thinking for a while. They're all a lot deeper than Kayo gave them credit for, and they're so close, she suddenly finds herself wanting to be a part of this family. Why wouldn't she, when her own is so disappointing?
"Okay" She tells them, "I am Kayo, no one apart from my father calls me Tanusha, unless they're angry with me, which surprisingly happens a lot! And I just wanted to start by saying that I am sorry that I judged you all so harshly. You seem like really nice guys and I'm looking forward to getting to know you."
"I can't see why someone would get mad at you, you're positively delightful!" Gordon tells her, his voice dripping with good natured sarcasm.
"He just insulted you! Welcome to the family Kayo!" Virgil tells her bursting into laughter.
"Be grateful" Scott adds, "he only insults people he really cares about!"
Kayo laughs with them, knowing that her life will never be the same again and vowing to cherish every moment spent with these boys. Just as long as they never find out her secret.
They can never know that her uncle was responsible for their dads death.
"I can't believe how warm it is here" Alan says.
"Yeah that's the best thing about living on a tropical island. The weather!" Kayo tells him.
"And the isolation" John adds.
"Come on boys let's go and check out the beach!" Kayo tells them.
Only they're stopped in their tracks by grandma who insists they put in at least two hours of studying first.
"But it's the weekend!" Alan protests.
"Actually it's Wednesday!" She tells him.
"No it isn't" Alan insists. Missing the warning looks his brothers are trying to signal him behind her back.
"Okay Young man, that's three hours for you! Don't argue with me".
Alan groans and they all follow her into the kitchen where the work top is set up for them to study at.
"She wouldn't make Gordon do three hours" Alan is still grumbling at the end of his extra hour. His brothers have all disappeared and left him too it.
"Have you learned your lesson about arguing yet Allie?" Grandma asks him severely when she finally comes back to check his work
"Yes grandma" he mumbles contritely.
"Good make sure it doesn't happen again! Now go and join your brothers and Kayo, they're about to watch a movie.
Alan runs out the door before she can change her mind.
He finds three of his brothers arguing about what movie to watch. Scott is standing in front of the tv waving the remote above his head just out of Virgil and Gordon's reach, laughing at their pathetic attempts to grab it.
"Where is John?" Alan asks.
"Him And Kayo said they had something else to do" Scott shrugs.
"More like they couldn't stand the way you smell Scotty" Virgil tells him. Scott stops waving the remote and glares at Virgil.
Gordon sensing his distraction climbs up on the the back off the sofa and lunges for the remote, forcing Scott to lose his balance and control as Gordon grabs it.
"Give that back fish boy!" Scott tells him
"Nope! Mine now, and we are watching stingray"
"Oh, okay!" They all agree before collapsing on the sofa as Gordon brings the movie up.
"You know here we can't just get a takeaway whenever we don't want grandma to cook" Virgil suddenly realises, as his stomach starts to Growl.
That had never occurred to any of them!
And all they do is laugh, finally they can relax and enjoy living again, getting away from everything back home has allowed them to move on from losing their parents. And they know that they will be brothers and more importantly each other's best friends for the rest of their lives.
*
EPILOGUE
Together they start training to be the kind of people their parents would be proud off. Grandma agrees to allow them to be homeschooled on the island and they get their pilots licenses the minute they turn 16. Scott being the only one eligible straight away.
They celebrate all their major milestones on the island, Virgil being eligible to pass the ninth grade, as it turns out that with the correct teacher and motivation he is a lot smarter than he ever gave himself the credit for. And graduating from high school with John. And getting offered a place at the best universities in the world to study engineering. Only he turns them all down to stay on the island to study remotely so he can be there for his brothers while they find their feet in their budding rescue business.
They are all there for Gordon when he gets to the Olympics at 13, and becoming the youngest double champion in the history of the games.
Three years of training every day, pays off and he qualifies for both the butterfly, and the freestyle. And wins gold at both. With his entire family there to cheer him on, including Lord Hugh, Penelope and her long suffering butler Parker!
Ratty McRatface never did win John over but they learn to respect each other! And he passes away, from old age, aged three in Alan's arms shortly after Alan's eleventh birthday. Alan is devastated, but he knows he gave him the best life possible.
Kayo never really gets over her suspicions of anyone breathing and that makes her an ideal candidate for their head of security! And they do find out about her uncle. And to her great surprise they are okay with everything, after all you can't choose your family!
They get through the trauma of almost losing Gordon a second time as his beloved thunderbird 4 is crushed under the debris from the chaos crews destruction, leaving him severely injured, and out of action for several months.
But it is all worth It as it sparks a shocking chain of events that leads them to the far most reaches of the galaxy to rescue the father they thought they had lost so long ago.
They are all in court to watch the hood and the chaos crew all receive life sentences for the attempted murder of Gordon.
They are all At Gordon's wedding to Lady Penelope, all standing together with him at the alter as they give away their beloved sibling. Much to the delight of Lord Hugh who highly approves of the match. And the disgust of Parker who does not!
This was a family who were almost torn apart by cruel fate but put themselves back together with love, and they can do anything. As long as they have each other. And they vow that they will always have each other.