What the…?

By: GrumpyMagrat and Magratconvert

Disclaimer: We neither own the Thunderbird characters, nor are making any money off this endeavor. This is strictly for our own enjoyment and hopefully, yours too.

Scott briskly followed the police officer down the dank hallway, bodily odors assaulting his senses. He couldn't believe that he was here. Once he got his hands on his brothers, they were going to regret this. From halfway down the hall, he could see his red-headed brother notice him.

Gordon nudged his brother, who had his blond head buried in his hands. "We are in big trouble, dude."

"Why? is it dad?"

"Nope, guess again." Gordon couldn't stop the smirk when he heard his brother mutter "shit" under his breath.

The officer unlocked and slid the door open. "I'll just leave you to them. They can stop by the desk and pick up their personal belongings."

Scott nodded and the officer walked off. He crossed his arms and stared at his brothers. "Are you guys trying to give dad a heart attack? This was supposed to be a simple supply run with an overnight stay thrown in just for the hell of it. Can you imagine dad's face when he got the call from the Christchurch police department, saying you had been arrested?"

Gordon held up his hands defensively. "Now, Scott, before you go off the deep end, let us explain."

"Explain? You want to explain? How can you possibly explain this? Do you even know the charges you are facing? Disturbing the peace, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest…" Turning to his other brother, "And you…I can't believe, I'm saying this…you added indecent exposure to your list of crimes. You were sent along to keep this one out of trouble, not be a party to it. What do you have to say for yourself, John?"

"I guess you could say that things got out of hand."

Gordon smirked. "You think?"

"Quit with the smart-alec remarks. John, you want to tell me what happened?"

"Why are you asking him? I can tell you."

"Because I want the real story, not your embellishment."

Gordon crossed his arms in a pout. "Gee, thanks, Scott."

"You're very welcome," Scott replied with his own sarcasm. "Now, John, are you going to answer me, or don't you even remember last night?"

John leaned his head back against the wall. "Oh, I remember every last embarrassing detail, unfortunately."

"Okay, do you intend to share?"

With a heavy sigh, John began. "We had gone to dinner at that nice little Italian place that we gone to before. I had a couple of glasses of wine with dinner. Gordon also had a couple of drinks too. It was still early when we left the restaurant, so Gordy mentioned a local bar that had karaoke. I figured that it couldn't hurt to go listen for a while. We were only going to stay for a short time, so we would be ready to fly this morning."

Gordon jumped in at that point. "But then we met these two girls. I'm telling you Scott. They were magnificent. Linda had long legs that seemed to go on forever, and Jennifer had a great set of round, firm…"

"I get it Gordon. I don't need that graphic of details."

"Believe me, Scott, even you would have picked these girls up."

"Back to the story," John broke in. "We had a few more drinks while dancing with the girls. Actually, more than a few drinks. The more we drank, the less we counted. By the time the bar closed down, we were pretty well tanked. We were feeling good, and hyped up. The last thing we wanted to do was to go back to the hotel and into bed. The girls felt the same way, so we decided to go for a walk around town. Somehow, we ended up at the fountain. Linda wanted to make a wish, so she threw in a coin. Then she started yelling that her ring had slipped off her finger into the fountain too."

Gordon again picked up the story. "So, naturally, being the gentleman that I am, I offered to go in and find it for her."

John shook his head. "Some gentleman…you were in there splashing around so bad that even if the ring was in there, you would've never found it."

"So the ring wasn't in the fountain?" Scott asked.

John answered him. "No, it wasn't. It was still on her finger. But Jacques Cousteau here was so intent on looking that he didn't hear us tell him. I decided that I would have to go in after him."

Scott ran his hand across his face. "I'm not sure if I really want to know, but it has to be asked. Why were you naked?"

"I didn't want to get my clothes wet." John replied innocently.

"You didn't want to get your clothes wet?" Scott replied incredulously. "You didn't want to get your clothes wet? I don't believe this. You couldn't figure out any other possible way to get Gordon out of the fountain? How deep was this fountain pool anyways?"

"A couple of inches," Gordon answered.

"For crying out loud…I can't believe what I'm hearing, I just can't," Scott babbled. "If this was Alan, no problem, even Gordon, it's in the realm of possibility, but John…not John. He's the quiet one. He doesn't do things like this. He wouldn't have stripped in the street. He would've rolled up his pant legs, or at least left his boxers on…"

"Enough, Scott," John snapped, wincing as the tone of his own voice exasperated his hangover. "So, I wasn't thinking very clear at the time. What more do you want me to say? Now, are you going to get us out of here or what?"

Scott stepped out of the door and motioned for them to leave. "I've already paid the bail, but you two will have to come back to stand before the judge, but that'll be child's play compared to what awaits you at home."

John stood and groaned, but Scott knew that the groan had nothing to do with moving. He also knew what to expect from the rest of the family. His father and grandmother would be disappointed in him, but his brothers will never let him live down the indecent exposure charge. "All right, no sense in putting off the inevitable."

Gordon grinned. "Man, I am SO glad that it is you and not me this time."

"Oh, shut up."

The flight home was quiet. John was even able to get in a quick nap and was feeling a bit better once they got to the island. The three brothers chose to take the long way from the hanger to the villa. They climbed the steps to the pool area and stopped in their tracks. There were Alan and Virgil in nothing but their birthday suits.

Alan noticed them first. "Hey, John, there you are. We were just going to take a swim. Wanna join us?"

"Yeah, we decided to go with your choice of swimwear. You like?"

"For God's sake," John sputtered. "Put some clothes on before…"

Gordon's shocked voice interrupted him. "Oh, my God…"

Scott's equally shocked voice echoed with an "I don't believe it."

"Welcome home, boys, I brought some ice tea," came Jeff's voice.

"Great, just great," John muttered looking heavenward. "Look, dad, this isn't…" He swung around and stopped in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes. There his dad stood, with the tray of drinks in his hands, but dressed exactly like his brothers.

Once he regained his power of speech, John turned to Scott. "Could you fly me back to Christchurch?"

Scott shook his head trying to clear the scene from his mind. "Why?"

John rolled his eyes. "After seeing this, I think I'd rather be back in jail."

The rest of the family exploded into laughter.

THE END

Author's Note: Okay, it was short and on the silly side, but we're trying to wake up the muse. We hope you enjoyed it. Feedback would be appreciated.