Be Careful What You Wish For
A Thunderbirds Movieverse fanfic
by TimeGuardian

Final Chapter

Alan struggled to hang on to consciousness. His thoughts were badly fragmented – all he could seem to focus on was how hot and dry he felt. I wonder if Scott felt this way when he got heat stroke.

He wasn't even sure how long he had been laying there on the floor of the Thunderbird Five control room. For all the effort Alan put into trying to get up, all he managed to do was go from lying face down to where he was now on his back, staring at the ceiling.

His brothers would come for him – there was no doubt in that, but the waiting was getting old. More than once Alan heard voices and hoped that his brothers had already boarded Five, but it turned out that he was hearing the transmissions from the communication panel. The voices that came from it were frantic, but he could not make any sense of them.

Shadows and shapes danced along the ceiling before his eyes, none of which was making any sense. Alan closed his eyes to get away from the hallucinations and to ease the nausea he was feeling.

Soon Alan started hearing voices again. He was sure they were voices and they were not coming through the communication link either. Am I dreaming?

No, the voices were now surrounding him and Alan recognized them immediately – his brothers were there for him.

I'm safe now.

He finally let go, allowing himself to slip into darkness.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and Brains stared the computer down as if that would be enough to will the transmission they were waiting for. It was nearing a little over two hours since they heard from Thunderbird Three.

He heard a noise from behind him and looked up to find that Tony had returned to the lab.

"So what's the latest update?" Tony asked.

Brains was getting ready to answer him when a transmission came through. "NASA from Thunderbird Three – we have evacuated the personnel from Zeta 5 and Thunderbird Five successfully and are providing emergency treatment to them while we head back."

Smiling, Brains looked around at Jeff and Tony before acknowledging the transmission. "C-c-confirmed, Thunderbird Three. W-w-w-e'll see you at h-h-ome."

Jeff smiled for the first time in hours. "They did it."

Tony grinned and moved to pat him on the shoulder. "I'm going to recommend that International Rescue get a Presidential commendation."

Jeff shook his head tiredly. "That's not necessary. What I need now is to fly home so I can see my family, especially Alan."

Tony checked his watch. "Look Jeff, far be it from me to order you around but we all have been going nonstop for close to twenty four hours now. I would be doing you a disservice if I allow either of you to fly home tired and I know full well that you flew your personal jet here. I have room at my place – come back with me, have dinner, and you two can crash for a couple of hours before jetting back home."

As if to drive the point home, Brains stretched and yawned. "W-w-we c-c-can s-s-still beat t-t-them h-h-home if w-w-we do it."

Jeff laughed. "I know when I am outnumbered. Okay Tony, we'll take you up on your offer. Let's go."

In the main medical bay on Thunderbird Three, John sat beside the shallow tank full of cooling gel and watched his brother Alan floating right in the middle of it.

The gel itself was the product of collaboration between Kyrano and Brains. They mixed together a combination of tropical plants and herbs and combined them with a binding gel that would provide cooling relief for burns and fevers.

In the adjoining medical bay, the Zeta 5 astronauts responded to packs of gel being placed around them to cool them down. However, Alan's body temperature stayed dangerously high, so John and Virgil decided to place Alan in a tank of the gel so that he would be completely enveloped with the exception of his face to try and force an overall cool down of his body temperature.

They were ten hours into their flight back home when John volunteered to relieve Virgil and watch over the Zeta 5 astronauts and Alan. He finished his checks with the astronauts nearly an hour ago, so he resigned himself to staying by his brother's side until time for reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.

The thing was, Alan had not awakened yet and that was worrying him.

John sat back and sighed. "Ah, Alan. I wish you didn't have to be in there. Riding back in the medical bay is not so fun – take it from someone who knows."

He got to his feet and walked closer to the tank. "And yet, I still come back up here. I feel at home in space – stars twinkle, planets move, things simply happen. It's more exciting than you think. Take what happened today with those asteroids for example. It's that sense of adventure and the unknown that keeps me coming back, but you know what? I also look forward to coming home to my family and talking with you whether on Earth or on Five. Who else would I be able to have late night conversations with when everyone else is asleep?"

When John looked down at the tank, he was more than surprised to see that Alan's eyes were finally open.

"Well, well - welcome back, Alan," John murmured as he smiled in relief. "Take it easy and let me check your temperature."

Leaning in, he took Alan's pulse and accessed a temperature sensor that had been placed on Alan's forehead. Pulse normal and temperature is out of the danger zone – best news I've had all day.

He heard a raspy noise and stood back up to find that Alan was trying to talk. John chuckled slightly and placed a hand on his brother's arm. "Whoa Alan, don't try to talk just yet. You get to listen only, for once. Thanks to your help, we were able to keep Thunderbird Five and the Zeta Five space stations safe. We've managed to evacuate you and the members of the Zeta 5 space station here to Thunderbird Three."

John watched Alan give him a look of confusion before continuing. "We found you unconscious on the main deck – the environmental controls were too far gone, but our laser systems managed to get the last of the asteroids before they could collide with the sun. The solar flares have already subsided, but we had to get you off of there – your temperature was way too high. That is why you are in this cooling gel bath. The Zeta 5 astronauts are getting a similar treatment in the next medical bay over. Of course both space stations will need major repairs, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it."

He then brushed a strand of hair out of Alan's eyes. "In short, thanks for keeping yourself and Thunderbird Five in relatively one piece."

A little smile crept up on Alan's face before he mouthed five words to John: I had a good teacher.

The End

And, it's done. I would like to thank my readers and reviewers for following me through this crazy idea and putting up with the earworms I gave you (yes, I do have some 'heat' music on my iTunes playlist now). I do have a mystery related idea percolating involving Lady Penelope and IR, but I have a few things to work out first.

Until then,

TimeGuardian