AN: Sorry about the delay guys - what can I say - Life happened! Still I hope you find this worth the wait. The flashback scene is for Khara as I hadn't planned on doing anything else with it until she mentioned it in her review.
AJ2951 - glad you liked the younger Virgil. Wasn't sure if people would find him believable or not. I'm glad you're enjoying the story but I'll warn you know this is the last chapter. Sorry but the story is already longer than I orginally planned.
AngelMouse5 - sorry I seem to have dissapeared. I promise to get to you're last chapter and the new story soon. The alerts are still in my inbox to remind me!Hope you like the resolution I came up with.
Queen of the Elven City - See what you started! no seriously, thanks for the idea. Its been fun writing it and I hoped you enjoyed reading the story. Thanks for the support.
star-shimmered-dragon - speechless - what a wonderful compliment. Hope you enjoy the ending.
Spense - well you'll find out about that letter in this chapter. Thanks for the review!
M.S.K. - okay, sorry it wasn't soon but I did update it. Glad you're enjoying it!
I-like-chickens - glad you liked the flashbacks. This chapter has another one which I hope you enjoy as well.
Marblez - Yes, this is the last. Sorry. I have started another but I'm not sure if I'm going to post it here. I do have some of it posted at the page I created at ezboard. Let me know if you want the link.
zelifanat - thanks for the review
Olympics - thanks for letting me know about the name change ( I liked the old one better and it was shorter). Glad to hear you've been reading. Hope you enjoy this story.
Khara - well, I'll ease you're mind and tell you that you have the right author and title. It was Longest Day and I had to remove it from here because ffnet was having a fit over the use of the song lyrics in the one chapter. If you want to read it again I can give you the link to my ezboard webpage that I posted it on. Thanks for the review. I hope you like the resolution for the flashback scene!
Gordon's POV:
The sound of knocking on my door made me jump. I had been lost in thought and had tuned out all the other sounds around me. I took my eyes off the envelope in my hands and looked toward the door.
"Come in," I called out.
The door opened and Scott walked in.
"Can we talk?"
"Yeah, sure," I said not moving from my spot on the bed. Scott shut the door behind him and leaned against my desk. Somehow I knew what Scott was going to say. He was going to try and convince me to talk to Alan. To work things out with him. However, I was going to let him say what he had come to say.
"Are you still mad at Alan?"
I shrugged my shoulders. It wasn't that I didn't know the answer, it was more like I didn't want to put voice to what I already knew. I wasn't mad at Alan anymore. Hadn't been for awhile. The only thing keeping me from reading his letter was my pride. It was also the only thing keeping me from talking to him.
"Gordon this is ridiculous," Scott said. I had to agree with him. It was starting to get to the point where I wasn't even sure why I wasn't suppose to be talking to Alan anymore. Everything was all just a stupid misunderstanding. " I don't know exactly what happened between you two but I know it can be worked out. You two are so close, don't let that slip away."
"What do you care?" I said without really thinking. I kept my eyes on the carpet in front of me. I didn't want to see the concerned look that I knew was on his face.
"I care because your both my brothers. I don't like watching any of you fight."
"This has gotten completely out of hand," I said out loud to no one in particular. With a sigh I stood up and headed toward the window.
"Then talk to Alan. Work things out."
"I wish it were that easy," I said not looking away from the window. Even though I knew it, I wasn't about to admit to Scott what a jerk I had been to Alan already. Alan had attempted to apologize and I just blew him off. Didn't want to hear it. Hell, I hadn't even bothered to read the note he had left me before he went back to school. Why would Alan want to listen to me now.
"It can be. You just have to swallow your pride and go talk to him," Scott told me. I didn't answer him. I knew he was right. After a few moments of silence he spoke up again. "Of course, I could attempt to get the two of you talking . . ."
"Stop," I said finally turning around. "Don't say another word," I told him. "I promise I'll talk to Alan. We'll work things out."
"Man, you're making it sound like my offer of help is a threat," Scott said sounding just a little offended.
"Help from you at mediating something very well could be a threat," I told him not really caring if he was truly offended or feigning it. The results spoke for themselves. "I have no desire to get a bloody nose from Alan."
"I'm not that bad," Scott said defensively.
"Face it Scott, when it comes to diplomacy you have no talent for it." I told him.
Scott shrugged his shoulders. "That's why I usually leave the diplomacy to the rest of you," Scott told me pushing himself away from my desk. "You're going to talk to Alan, right."
"Yeah I'll talk to him tonight."
"Good, because this has gone on long enough," Scott told me as he opened my door and walked into the hallway.
As the door closed behind my oldest brother I sat down on the bed and finally opened the envelope. I figured I might as well at least see what he had written before I went to find him.
Scott's POV:
Leaving Gordon's room, I made my way down to Dad's office. Dad and Brains had headed for Brains laboratory to discuss things and Dad had asked me to call and check in with John to get an update on the forest fire we were keeping an eye on. So far, the local agencies hadn't requested IR's help.
"Hey what's up?" John asked when he answered the radio.
"Nothing much," I told him. "Dad wanted me to check with you about that fire in South America."
"Everything is status quo with that situation," John replied without missing a beat. It still amazed me how John seemed to know everything that went on when he was up in Thunderbird 5. No matter what question I asked him, he'd have the answer in just a few moments. "How's everything down there?"
"Alan and Gordon still aren't talking but I think that's going to change soon."
I saw the look of panic that briefly crossed his face although he quickly hid it.
"Scott what did you do?"
Despite the situation, I had to struggle to keep a straight face. Not much could visibly rattle John. No matter what happened, on the outside John was always the one that stayed calm and professional even if he didn't feel that way on the inside.
"Relax, all I did was have a talk with Gordon and convinced him to talk to Alan," I told him. "What harm could that possibly have done."
"This is you we're talking about."
"It's not like I tried to trick them both into talking to each other."
"Don't remind me. Still, things have a tendency to get worse, not better when you try to play peacemaker."
"Have you been talking to Gordon?"
"Why did he say the same thing?" John asked with a grin.
"More or less," I admitted. "To tell you the truth I think the thought that I might possibly try to play peace maker might have scared him into talking to Alan," I said thinking again of Gordon's reaction to my offer of help.
John started laughing.
"You're lucky you're on that station," I told him, trying not to laugh myself. I guess it was kind of funny when you actually stopped and thought about it. And I had to admit, it wasn't as if my family didn't have good cause to fear my peace making attempts. Even that situation with John and Virgil had gotten better after I had stopped trying to work things out between them.
"Virgil, telephone," I called up the steps holding the phone in one hand. "That's of course assuming he's actually still up there, and hasn't snuck out again," I said to John who was sitting on the couch studying once again. His nose was still slightly swollen from when Virgil had punched him a few days ago.
Dad had extended Virgil's grounding after finding out about Virgil hitting John. Virgil was now restricted to the island for the rest of spring break which he was none to happy about. He had been planning on getting together with some friends tonight and now he was stuck at home. To say the least it had done nothing to improve his attitude and Virgil was holding John responsible for it.
Although personally, I felt a little bit guilty about Virgil's extended punishment, I was sorry to see him have to stay home. Although I hadn't met them, I didn't particularly care for the new kids Virgil was hanging out with this year. John felt they were trouble and John was a pretty good judge of character.
"He was up there five minutes ago," John answered not looking up from his book.
"What are you doing, checking up on him?"
"Just because he isn't talking to me, and is mad at me doesn't mean I'm going to stop looking out for him. He's my brother and whether he likes it or not he's stuck with me."
"Then this little feud between the two of you isn't just about him sneaking out the other night?" I asked him sitting down on the couch next to him. John finally put the book down on the coffee table.
"No. Virgil and I have been arguing over his new friends since the start of the school year. The not talking to me thing is new though."
"You know you can't protect him from everything."
"I know that, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him make mistakes without letting him know how I feel about it. Those kids are trouble. Something is going to happen and I just hope Virgil isn't with them when it does. I refuse to sit idly by while another brother is headed for trouble with the law," John told me looking right at me.
I looked away from him. I knew he was talking about me and the trouble I had gotten into back when we lived in Florida. I had gotten picked up by the police a few times because of the kids I had been hanging with. It had been right after Mom had died and I was pretty sure that if John hadn't been so busy trying to take care of the other three, run the house, and do his own school work that he would have gotten involved then too. As it was, he felt responsible even though I was the eldest. I should've been helping John look after things at home not running around with the crowd I was. I should've been looking out for him.
I was about to say something else when I noticed Virgil coming down the steps. I could tell something was wrong by the look on his face and the glistening of unshed tears in his eyes.
"Virgil, what's wrong?" I asked standing up. Out of the corner of my eye I saw John stand up from his seat on the couch.
"That was Mrs. Chandler," Virgil said. I recognized the last name as the last name of one of the friends he was suppose to be out with tonight. "Frank and Ken were drinking and running around tonight. Frank ran a red light and . . ." Virgil's voice trailed off and I knew he was trying not to cry.
I started toward him but Virgil walked past me and went right to John.
"John, I'm sorry about everything. I should have listened to you. I should've known you were only trying to look out for me," I heard him say as he fell into John's arms. John put his arms around him and hugged him close. "I could've been with them. I should've been with them," Virgil said, crying now. "John, I'm sorry about everything I said to you. About . . ."
"It's okay," John told him softly cutting off Virgil's apology. "Everything is forgotten. I'm just thankful you weren't with them tonight."
"Hey, Scott you okay?" I heard John ask breaking through my thoughts.
I looked at the screen to see John's concerned face looking back at me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something," I told him trying to smile and reassure him that he was okay. John didn't look all that convinced. "Really." I told him again.
"Okay," John said still not sounding completely convinced. "Keep me informed about what goes on between those two and Scott . . ."
"Yeah."
"Promise me you'll stay out of it."
"You really don't trust me do you?"
"I trust you Scott," John told me. "I just don't trust your diplomacy skills."
Gordon's POV:
It wasn't long after Scott left my room that I went looking for Alan. It didn't take me long to find him as he was sitting out by the pool. He and Fermat was sitting on the side of the pool, they're feet dangling inside.
"Hey Alan can we talk?" I called out as I walked to him, wanting to make my presence known before I overheard something that they didn't want me to or that I didn't want to overhear.
"Ah, I'll c-c-catch up with you later A-A-Alan," Fermat said standing up before Alan had a chance to give me an answer.
"Thanks," I said softly to Fermat as he walked past me toward the house.
I walked over to Alan and sat down next to him. Suddenly I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to say. The words I had planned to say up in my room had suddenly escaped me.
"Gordon, I'm sorry about what I said. It just slipped out."
"Yeah, I think you already said that," I told him thinking about the note he had wrote. Alan looked over at me. "I finally got around to reading your note," I told him.
"Took you long enough," Alan commented.
"What can I say, I'm stubborn," I told him. "But seriously Alan, I accept your apology and I want to apologize myself. I was just so wrapped up in my own guilt about the accident on the mission that it was all I could focus on. I never even stopped to consider that you might feel the same way about what happened at school."
"I didn't set out to start a fire. Even I'm not that desperate to get out of class even chemistry."
"We all know that," I said trying hard not to laugh. "I guess we both messed up this time huh."
"Yeah, only thing is Dad doesn't hate you."
"Dad doesn't hate you either Alan," Gordon said. "He's just frustrated. You've gone to more schools than the four of us put together."
"Don't remind me. Being the youngest sucks."
"You can say that again," I said looking out across the pool. I felt eyes on me and looked over at Alan to see his eyes on me. "Hey, you might be the youngest member of this family but I'm the youngest member of International Rescue and its not easy. Seems like Dad is always watching me like a hawk just waiting for me to mess up but I know he's just looking out for all of us. What we doing isn't easy and it isn't safe but Dad is trying to keep us as safe as he can and that means making sure that we're as prepared for anything that might happen as best as he can. If you're going to join us someday then you're going to have to get a little bit more serious about things. That's part of what you should be learning at school."
"I'm starting to think that I might not be cut out for International Rescue."
"Yes you are. Maybe you're not ready now but one day you will be. Besides you have to become a Thunderbird," I told him.
"Oh and why is that?"
"Because I don't want to be stuck as the baby of the group," I told him.
Before I knew what was happening, Alan grabbed a hold of me and pulled us both into the pool. It was nice to have things back to normal again, I thought as I grabbed Alan and pushed him back underneath the water.
The End
P.S. - and if you're wondering yes Alan passed his finals as he is in Wharton Academy in the movie.