Impromptu Rescue

"Gordon Cooper Tracy!" I smile sleepily as my daily wakeup call echoes down the hall and through my partially open door. I stretch my arms above my head, wincing a little as the bullet hole from my recent stay in hospital is pulled taunt. I push the covers back and reluctantly pull myself out of bed, shivering a little by the sudden blast of air conditioning. I debate just going to breakfast in my pyjamas like I've been doing since I got home but, listening to the thuds coming from down the hall, it's probably a lot safer for me to wait a little bit and get dressed first. Plus, it might make dad feel better – I know it worries him that I have practically no energy to speak of. I blame the heat – it tires me out faster than normal. Throwing on a pair of shorts and strappy top and pulling my hair back into a pony tail, I cautiously poke my head out of the door, listening for any sound of my brothers. When they're on the hunt, they don't let anyone or anything stop them, and I've spent enough time in a hospital to last me a life time thank you very much. Thankfully, the thudding from earlier has disappeared and I'm free to head down to breakfast.

As I get closer to the kitchen, I can hear the sound of arguing and laughter and I smile at the sound. I wonder what Gordon's done this morning? I walk in and my brothers are so focused on their argument that they don't even notice I'm here – whatever Gords has done, he needs to do more often. I love my brothers to pieces but the constant scrutiny I'm under is getting a smidge irritating, so I'll take whatever reprieve I can. Dad smiles at me and goes to say good morning but I put my finger on my lips to stop him, sneaking up behind Scott and snatching a muffin from his plate.

"Oi!" He says, turning round to face me. I smile sweetly before taking a bite – blueberry, my favourite. "You know there's a whole basket right there?" He says, pointing to the middle of the table.

"I know, but you looked like you were too busy to eat yours." Gordon snorts, drawing Scott's attention back to him. I've never actually seen Gordon shrink away from one of Scott's glares. John pulls me onto his lap and I settle back to watch the battle continue. "What did he do this morning?" I whisper to John, picking a blueberry from my muffin.

"Did you not hear the screams this morning?" I frown and shake my head – this medication Daniel's put me on really knocks me out. "Well last night it seems our resident fish persuaded dumb and dumber over there to a scary movie marathon-"

"But not you?" John smirks.

"Course not, I was with Brains talking about some of the modifications he wants to make to 5. Anyway, they all go to bed suitably terrified and, from what I saw creeping past the doors this morning, our dear brother recreated some of the more…disturbing scenes from the movies." I almost choke on a blueberry at the thought of my brothers rooms being transformed into something from their nightmares while they slept. John rubs my back as I try to hold back the coughs threatening to turn me into a shaking wreck.

"You alright Abs?" Scott asks immediately, concern colouring his voice. I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

"I'm fine," I gasp, taking the orange juice that John hands me. At least John knows why I'm in this state and finds it amusing. I'd rather that then have the mother hen clucking over me. Oh well. Instead of indulging Scott, I turn to Gordon who's also watching me with thinly veiled concern.

"What did you turn Scott's room into?" I ask him, making him smirk.

"Let's just say, I played on one of his greatest fears." His greatest fear? Scott isn't scared of anything – at least, not that I know of. Sometimes being the youngest really sucks – you miss out on all the good stuff.

"If you value your life in any way, you won't say another word Gordon" Scott warns, glaring at our red headed brother; who turns suitably pale and concentrates on his breakfast. I turn to look at John pleadingly, but he just smiles and shakes his head. Damn. I bet Alan knows and he's not here for Scott to threaten. Dad clears his throat.

"If you're done threatening your bother Scott…" Scott nods, offering one last glare to Gordon before focusing back on Dad.

"What's everyone doing today?" He asks, brushing off a few stray bread crumbs from his shirt.

"I'm spending the day with Brains again," John says, shifting me slightly on his lap. "We're talking defence today I think."

"Sounds more interesting than talking about computer systems like yesterday" Gordon says, munching on another muffin.

"I'm going to fix the booster on 3. I've been meaning to do it since we got back but 1 needed work doing first." Dad nods.

"I'm working on the mole. A whole day of trying not to spear myself – yay!" Gordon says sarcastically, making me giggle.

"What about you Virgil?" Dad asks. Virgil looks up from his coffee, his eyes still blurry from sleep. It always takes Virgil at least an hour and a half and three cups of coffee to wake up. It doesn't surprise me that Gordon managed to rearrange Virgil's room during the night. Scott, yes – I'm not sure my oldest brother actually sleeps but Virgil, not a surprise at all.

"I need to take 2 out. She's tilting forwards slightly and I don't know why."

"Is it a problem?"

"Not majorly – she still works fine, it's just irritating and I'd rather fix it now while we're offline than waiting."

"Do you need a hand?" Scott asks. I perk up at the thought; I'm sick of staying at home now. None of them let me do anything and while I love that they care so much, I'm not sure they understand how boring it is lying around doing nothing. Virgil shakes his head and my heart sinks.

"No, I think I'll be okay thanks Scott."

"Alright. Well, if you need me, I'll be in my office. Louisa has been nagging me for the past week about all these board meetings I need to hold. So guess what I'm doing today. Are you sure you don't need a hand son?" Virgil smiles.

"Sorry dad. Even if I did, I'm not brave enough to go against Louisa."

"Alright, well, you know where I'll be if you need me." We all nod and he heads off towards his office.

"What you doing today munchkin?" Scott asks, taking his plate into the kitchen.

"Nothing by the looks of it," I mutter quietly. John squeezes my arm sympathetically.

"What about that book you were telling me about the other day. The one that looked like you needed a fork lift just to pick it up. You can't have finished that already?" He says. I raise an eyebrow at him.

"You can't talk. And yeah, I finished it yesterday. And I reviewed it. I'm officially out of new books to read."

"You're rivalling John now munchkin," Scott says, ruffling my hair.

"Are you sure you don't want anyone going with you Virge?" I ask him, batting my eyes at him in my best puppy dog expression.

"Err, Abs I'm not sure-"

"Please Virgil I'm desperate. The bullet didn't finish me off but the boredom might actually do it!" It's a low blow and I know it but I need to do something other than read and sleep or I'm actually going to lose my mind.

"I thought you didn't like flying in the Birds Abs" Virgil says desperately. I shrug.

"Maybe I can help you figure out what's wrong. If not, it gets me out of here for a couple of hours. I can deal."

"Argh, Scott?"

"Abs I'm not sure this is a good idea-" He starts.

"What's the worst that can happen? A hurricane can't take the green bug out of the sky – it's probably the safest place for me." Scott opens his mouth but nothing comes out. Have I seriously won this one?

"Dad won't like it," Gordon mutters, still stuffing his face the pig. Scott's eyes brighten at that and I roll my eyes. Maybe I'm not winning this one.

"If I can get dad to say yes, can I go?" I ask quickly, before Scott starts again.

"If you can get dad to say yes munchkin, I'd be happy to take you," Virgil says, ruffling my hair as he takes his plate to the sink. All my brothers look a lot more relaxed at the idea of asking dad because they don't think he'll say yes. Never underestimate the power of the youngest and only girl in the family. Or the fact that he's probably majorly distracted by all those meetings. I jump down off John's lap and head towards dad's office, the soft sound of talking drifting through the partially open door. I pause and listen; making sure it's only Louisa and not some important business man before knocking on the door. I hear him say goodbye to Louisa before calling,

"Come in."

"Hey dad," I say, pushing the door open.

"Is everything alright sweetheart?" I bite back a sigh.

"I'm fine dad. I was just wondering if it would be okay if I went with Virge on his test flight? Everyone else is busy and it might be good to have someone who doesn't fly often going with him to help." Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes I silently chant.

"I'm not sure Abby. Are you sure you're okay to do that?"

"All I'm going to be doing is sitting next to Virge dad – it's not like I'm taking part in a rescue or anything. It's going to be as strenuous as sitting on the couch. Plus, Virge is the medic – if anything is wrong he'll know about it." Dad smiles and holds his hands up in mock surrender.

"Alright, alright. I guess it will be good for you to go. Get off the island for a while. Just make sure to do what your brother tells you alright?" I grin and kiss his cheek.

"I promise, thanks dad!" He laughs and waves me away.

"Go on trouble, off with you! Let me get these meetings sorted." I turn to leave before pausing for a moment.

"Love you dad."

"I love you too sweetheart. Go on, before I change my mind." I laugh and head back to the kitchen where I know my brothers will still be waiting.

"Well. What did he say munchkin?" Scott asks when I walk in. I smile smugly.

"Guess what Virge?" He raises an eyebrow. "Dad said I could go." I swear you could hear a pin drop.

"He said what?" Scott says. I shrug.

"He said I could go – it's not like I'm really doing anything different. I'm just going to be watching you. Dad agreed." Virgil chuckles and shakes his head.

"I don't know how you did it Abs but, a deal's a deal. You ready to go?"

"I was ready half an hour ago. Not my fault you're all worry warts." Scott looks like he's about to explode and so I walk over and give him a hug, which he returns, squeezing me tightly like he's afraid if he lets me out of his sight for a second I'll disappear. "Scott? Can't…breathe…" I gasp, sucking in a breath when he loosens his grip.

"Sorry Abs."

"It's alright. I've already proven you don't need both lungs to survive." He smiles weakly although I know he doesn't find it funny.

"I'll be fine Scott. We'll be gone what? An hour, hour and a half tops? And then I'll be back and you can smother me all you want."

"I don't smother." He says but his smile has widened just like I wanted.

"Yeah, okay Scooter." I reach up and kiss his cheek. "I'll be fine I promise." He nods, his eyes still shadowed with worry but I take that as a sign to go for it and I race after Virgil before he can change his mind and lock me in my room.

"Thunderbird 2 to base, requesting flight clearance."

"You're good to go Virg – take care of your cargo you hear me?"

"Relax Johnny, she'll be fine." I grin at the banter flying over the radio waves as Virgil lines his bird up with the runway. It's strange, watching from the flight deck. This is only the third time in my life I've ever been in a Bird. Watching the palm trees coming closer towards you and falling back at the last second is a strange experience close up. We pause at the end of the runway and the floor tilts skyward as Virgil makes sure we're clear to take off one more time before igniting the thrusters and powering away from the island. We don't go far. When I ask why, Virgil just smiles and says that we don't need to, just far enough to see if the modifications he made worked. It doesn't look like they did.

"Can you feel it?" He asks me with a frown. I pause and concentrate.

"I guess so. It's not majorly tiliting and it's only when I concentrate on it but it's definitely there." He nods.

"That's what I thought. Argh, I don't know what else I can. I've tried everything to get her level again."

"Is there anything in the nose?" I ask, wishing I'd paid more attention when my brothers are talking about their Birds – I know literally nothing about aircraft.

"Not the last time I checked." I think about the last time I looked over the schematics for two – which doesn't happen often I'll be honest.

"Isn't the nose closed off though?" Virgil looks at me, one eyebrow raised.

"Where are you going with this munchkin?"

"I'm just thinking, you're a lot bigger than me – can you really fit into the nose to have a look around?"

"I guess not but I don't think there's anything there Abs."

"It's worth a shot though right. You said it yourself; you don't know what else to do." He runs his hand through his hair but nods.

"Alright then, let's go take a look." He puts two onto automatic and I follow him out of the flight deck and down a maze of corridors I didn't even know existed.

"All this trip is proving to me is that I really don't know anything when it comes to the family business," I mutter as I duck through the rapidly diminishing space as we head towards the nose of two. Virgil chuckles.

"You have no reason to. At least, not for a few more years. Maybe not even then if you don't want to."

"Really?" I ask. It's no secret that joining IR isn't something I've really thought about – not like Alan anyway. Virgil stops and turns to look at me.

"Of course. Abby, if you don't want to join IR, then that's fine. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. All of us went to college and did other things besides IR. Alan wants to follow in our footsteps but he's forgotten that. He sees IR and that's fine. He knows what he wants and honestly, I can't wait for him to fully join the team. But if you want to go to college and do other things, then that's fine. We'll all be right behind you every step of the way."

"I won't be betraying mom?" Virgil's eyes widen and he wraps me in his arms.

"Oh Abby, is that what you think? Of course not. Mom would want you to do what's right for you. IR is the right thing for us and Alan but it might not be for you and that's fine. Honestly, I think mom would love it if her daughter did something other than mess with planes all day." I giggle at that. "Whatever you want to do, you can do it. No one will stop you. Luckily for us though, that's a long way off yet. Which is good, because secretly, I quite like having you around." I laugh outright at that.

"Well that's good then, because secretly, I like having you guys around too." He smiles and squeezes me once before letting go.

"Good. Now that's sorted, let's go see if we can't fix my other baby."

"Oi, who you calling a baby?"

"You're always going to be our baby Abby. No matter how old you are. Start getting used to that."

"Thanks Virg." He smiles at me before pulling open an access door.

"Right, this leads to the nose." He hands me a torch. "Go see what you can find for me then." I look at the door. It's a lot smaller than I expected. "You alright Abs."

"Yeah, I'm good. Just trying to work out how I'm going to fold my body into that." Virgil chuckles.

"Rather you than me."

"I'm expecting your helping of dessert tonight, just so you know." Virgil folds his arms and leans casually against the wall.

"Are you now?"

"I am. After all, I've been hospitalized and need all the fat I can get. Plus, I'm helping you out. You owe me big brother." Virgil rolls his eyes.

"Alright fine, you get my dessert tonight. Happy?" I grin.

"Extremely." I climb through the door and switch the torch on. Wiggling forward, I cough as the movement stirs up the dust. This is going to have to be done faster than I thought – I'm not sure my lungs can withstand this for long. I shine the torch round, stopping when I spot a panel hanging slightly loose, right on the curve of the nose. I wriggle forward as far as I can, flipping onto my back so I can see the panel. Opening it up, I'm faced with a tangle of multi colored wires and a few of them have been torn. I grin in the darkness as I fish in my shorts for my phone. I'm not going to be able to describe this to Virgil. I grip the torch in my mouth and take a few pictures on my phone before pushing myself out and back to Virgil. He helps me out, grimacing at the dust covering my clothes.

"You okay?" I nod, wincing at the sound of my breath wheezing out of me. That doesn't sound good.

"I found your problem." I tell him, showing him the pictures.

"The Hood's landing must have torn the wires. They needed replacing anyway so I don't know why I didn't think of that myself. Good job Abs." I nod, returning his smile.

"Hey Virg?"

"Hmm."

"You don't have an inhaler stashed somewhere in this labyrinth somewhere do you?" He shuts the access panel with a slam that makes me jump as he turns to face me.

"Are you alright? What's wrong?" I wave his hands away.

"I'm fine, just a little out of breath. I haven't put my miracle lung to the test with dust yet. BTW, you really need to dust in there more often. It's horrible."

"Come on, let's get you sorted." I follow him back to the cockpit and sit on my chair, waiting for him to come back with the inhaler. He hands it to me and watches me as I take a couple of deep breaths, sighing in relief when the tightness in my lungs eases a little. I hand it back to him. "Better?" He asks and I nod.

"Thanks Virg."

"You don't have to thank me Abs. I'm just glad you told me." I wince at the memory of riding back in three after Alan saved us. I can't remember ever being in that much pain in my life.

"Yeah, I learned my lesson the last time." I mutter, watching as Virgil turns two back onto manual flight and eases her round in a slow arc.

"Amen to that." There's a buzzing sound coming from the console before I can say anything else.

"Thunderbird 2. What's up John?"

"We just got a call out. Tornado has hit a remote village in Africa and it's been flooded with the rain. There was no warning and no flood defenses in place. They need our help. Now. Scott's already on his way with Gords. I'm staying here to man Mobile Control since dads still in those meetings. You've got everything you need with you right?" Virgil nods but glances at me.

"Yeah, I've got everything in the pod, but I've got Abs with me remember. Dad won't want her there. Hell, I don't want her there."

"Damn. Do you think you have time to come back and drop her off?"

"No, it'll take too long." I roll my eyes before going to stand behind Virgil so John can see me.

"Okay, one, I'm right here. You don't have to talk about me like I don't exist." They both smile sheepishly. "Two, I can just stay in here. Dad can't say anything about me taking part in a rescue if I don't technically take part in a rescue." They both stare at me. "What? It's all about technicalities. You can learn a lot from Alan and Gordon if you pay attention. And drown out all the nonsense and plots. What?" Virgil just shakes his head.

"If you're listening to Alan and Gordon then I think we should be worried."

"Yeah, I second that," John says. I roll my eyes.

"I'm not that bad. Anyway, shouldn't you be following Scott?" I nod towards the silver rocket in the distance. Virgil follows my gaze before looking back at me and sighing.

"Alright, we're en-route. Send me the co-ordinates John."

"FAB Virge. Be good Abs."

"I'm not Gordon – give me a break!" They both chuckle and John signs off.

"Thunderbird 1 to Thunderbird 2." Virgil and I share a look.

"Thunderbird 2, you alright Scott?"

"How do you cope having the fish with you every rescue?" I giggle before realizing that Scott probably doesn't know I'm still here.

"Hey, munchkin's come with us!" Gordon shouts, making me smile.

"Abby? What are you still doing there? Virgil, why haven't you taken her home," Virgil smiles apologetically at me and I shrug. I knew this was coming from the smother hen. It's not his fault.

"Because Scott there's no time. That flood water is rising fast – they need us now. Which means the munchkin comes with us."

"Abby, you're-"

"Staying in two, yeah I know. It's already sorted Scooter. I wouldn't take your glory away from you. What kind of sister would I be if I did that?" I know without being able to see him that he's smiling.

"Alright," he sighs in defeat. "I'm about thirty minutes from the danger zone."

"We're fifteen minutes behind you Scott."

"FAB, see you there." I settle back in my chair and watch as Virgil steers his Bird through the sky.

"What are you staring at trouble?" He asks with a smile.

"Nothing. It's just strange being in here when you're on a rescue. I only ever watch it on TV and listen at command and control. It's strange, seeing you actually flying your Bird." Virgil laughs.

"How did you think we get to the danger zone?" I blush.

"Okay so that was stupid. I'm serious though. You know everything about your Bird right? Every nut and bolt. Every sound it makes means something to you. I can tell. It's interesting to watch. I bet the others are like that too right?" Virgil nods.

"Is it that obvious?" I shrug. "You've got that look on your face. The one you get when you're listening to music. Like you're trying to decode a secret message. I never thought I'd see you looking like that with a machine." I tease. Now it's his turn to blush.

"Shut up you." I giggle before turning to stand next to him.

"Teach me?" He shoots me a look.

"What, now?" I shrug.

"Why not? I'm here and that's not likely to happen again for another twelve years if Scott has his way." Virgil laughs and pulls me onto his lap.

"Alright then. This is your throttle and this is your brakes." He puts his hands over mine and lets me play with the levers, speeding up and then slowing down again.

"This is fun." I say grinning. He laughs.

"Glad you think so." He pushes the hand on the throttle slightly and we speed up. "Although you're driving like grandma and we have somewhere to be." I pout and let him take control again.

"I do not drive like grandma!" He smiles.

"Okay, maybe not quite as slow as grandma but pretty close."

"That's it, I'm never helping you fix your bird again."

"Ah, don't be like that Abs I didn't mean it." We spend most of the trip like that, throwing playful insults at each other as we hurry towards the danger zone. Twenty minutes later, Scott's voice comes over the speakers.

"Thunderbird 1 to Thunderbird 2, I'm approaching the danger zone."

"How's it looking?"

"Bad, real bad. There's nowhere to land and the water's still rising so this will have to be done from the air as fast as we can."

"FAB. How many people are there?"

"From what John's told me and what I can see, maybe a hundred, a hundred and fifty. It's a tiny village that's not equipped for this type of disaster. Luckily for us, most people are on the roof of the church. At least someone had the foresight to group everyone together in one place. It makes our lives slightly easier."

"Alright, well if you can get them into small groups, I can go down and pick them up."

"FAB." With that, Scott disconnects. I look over at Virgil, the teasing glint in his eyes now replaced with steely determination.

"What do you need me to do?" I ask him. He looks over at me and sighs, raking a hand through his hair.

"I'd love it if you didn't have to do anything but, I need you to put your new found pilot's skills into practice. With the wind levels outside that strong, I can't just put two on auto. I need you to hold her steady for me while I go down and pick up the people on the roof." I swallow thickly and nod, knowing that despite the seemingly simple nature of this task, it's really important that two doesn't fly around everywhere in the wind.

"You trust me with your bird?" I ask him, trying and failing to regain some of the teasing nature we had earlier. Virgil smiles.

"I do. If you need me, just call. If I can't pick up, then John will and he can talk you through what you need to know." He stands up to make way for me. "Alright, I need you to keep this line here," he points to a screen in front of me "level. To do that, just move this lever here very slightly left and right. Tiny movements okay? The wind's strong today and if you're too harsh, then I'm going overboard. And I really don't want to have to rescue myself." I smile weakly, despite my heart hammering in my chest. I try it out, moving the wings slightly left and right to get a feel for it. "Perfect. Just keep doing that for me, okay?" I nod. Virgil ruffles my hair. "I'm sorry Abs, I know you don't want to do this."

"It's fine Virg. I guess I kind of signed up for this when I begged you to let me come with you. I can't really complain. I'll be fine. It's like you said, if I need you, you or John will answer and tell me what I need. It'll be fine." He nods encouragingly.

"Atta girl. Alright, I've got to go get ready. You think you can handle her?" I nod, trying to seem confident but I get the impression that it didn't really work because Virgil squeezes my shoulders once before leaving me alone. I sigh and peer out of the window. How did Virgil get us here? You can't see anything through the rain slashing down the windshield. A few minutes of silence pass before Virgil's voice comes out over the comm unit.

"Thunderbird's 1, 2 and base. I'm heading down."

"FAB Virg." Scott replies. I look out of the side window as I catch a flash of Thunderbird 1's nose cone. i don't have a clue what he's doing until he suddenly turns and I'm blinded by Scott's search light.

"Argh!" I say, squeezing my eyes closed. Two rolls slightly to the right and I squeak as I hurry to correct it.

"You alright Abs?" Virgil asks.

"What are you talking about Virg?" John asks. Now the rescue has started, the comm link is obviously kept open between them at all times.

"Ab's is controlling two." He replies absently and I know he's focused on something else.

"Wait she's what?" Scott says and I wince.

"I'm fine Virg – are you?"

"Yeah I'm good, it wasn't too bad."

"Oh good. I didn't mean to do that. Scott turned Thunderbird 1 and blinded me." John chuckles.

"Sorry Abs, I didn't know you were there."

"Where did you think I'd be?" I ask, wrestling with the lever as a blast of wind shakes through the Bird.

"I don't know but I didn't think you'd be flying two."

"I'd hardly call this flying Scott." I say through gritted teeth. "Virg?"

"Yeah?"

"What do I do when the wind is stronger than I am?" Virgil laughs.

"You're doing fine Abs honest. From what I can see she looks perfect."

"Yeah for now." I mutter. I glance at another screen that looks like it's giving me the current wind speed. "I'm being serious Virg. It looks the winds going to pick up and, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not as strong as you and this lever this putting up a fight." Virgil mutters a curse.

"Language little brother." John says automatically, making me giggle.

"I forgot about that. Two is trying to essentially do your job Abs, hence why the lever is getting tougher. It's something Brains put together. When the wind reaches a certain level, Two will transfer everything to automatic and it's too complicated to explain how to stop it from happening. John, is there anything you can do?"

"I'm already on it." By the time Virgil is bringing up the last batch of rescuees I'm fighting with the lever to hold Two steady.

"John…" I say as yet another blast of wind barrels in to us. From the corner of my eye, I can see Scott fighting to keep One steady as well which makes me feel a little better. If I'm keeping up with Scott then I must be doing something right.

"I know, I know. This is one complicated system Brains has going on though. It doesn't help that the tornado outside isn't letting up anytime soon and is messing up the instrument panel."

"Great, so of course the twelve year old with no flying experience is left alone with the green bug that fights back." Scott chuckles on the other line. I listen to Virgil getting the last passengers strapped in and watch on the screen as he slowly makes his way back up for the last time. He's almost there when there's a curse on his end and my heart plummets.

"What's wrong Virg?" Scott asks.

"The winch has short-circuited. In this weather there's nothing I can do to fix it."

"And no one on board Two who can manually pull you up." I roll my eyes before joining the conversation.

"John, how simple is it for you to hack Two's computers. Not the fancy system Brain's has installed but the normal system."

"Err, pretty easily I guess, why?"

"If you hack the computer systems, you can keep Two steady and I can winch Virgil up manually. It's either that or we leave them dangling and I don't trust my newfound pilot skills quite that much."

"That's not a bad idea actually." Gordon says in the background.

"Give me a minute then. Abby, let me know when the lever no longer responds to you okay?" I shrug before remembering he can't see.

"You got it." It doesn't take long. "I think you've got it John."

"Yep, Two is now being flown by me. How does it feel Virg."

"At this very moment? Cold and wet." I roll my eyes before heading down to the hatch where the winch is. The wind blowing up blows me back a couple of steps but I manage to grab hold of the winch. Despite not being able to fly the Birds or wanting to take part in any rescues, I do actually know how to work the winch. All the hours spent watching my brother's practise have obviously paid off. I key in Virgil's security code and slowly start winching my brother up. It takes a lot longer than it would if the electrics hadn't cut out but, eventually they make it. Virgil jumps out and closes the hatch before letting the passengers off. I show them to their seats and help them strap in before slowly heading back to the cockpit where Virgil has reclaimed his Bird. I collapse into my seat and focus on trying to stop my arms from shaking – that winch is so heavy.

"Hey Abs?"

"Hmm?"

"You did so well today." I look up at Virgil and return his smile.

"It wasn't all that difficult. Although, you might want to tell Brains that his new system actually doesn't do much to help." He chuckles.

"You saved us – if you hadn't come up with the idea of John hacking in, Scott would have had to have tried an air transfer which, in these conditions is incredibly dangerous and something now of us would have wanted to do. I'm really proud of you." I grin.

"Yeah well, I think my boredom has been officially satisfied and I'm so ready for bed." Virgil laughs.

"We've got to stop off at the hospital but then dinner and bed await you." My smile is interrupted by a yawn. It's been a long time since I've gone this long without a nap. Plus, winching up twenty people in the middle of a tornado is a lot more exercise than I've ever done in my life.

"I honestly don't think I'm going to make it till then."

"Well I don't know how comfy that chair will be, but there's a bed free downstairs." The prospect of a bed is so inviting but the idea of moving – well, it's not going to happen.

"I think I'll risk it." I say, closing my eyes and giving in to my exhaustion.

Virgil's POV

"Thunderbird 2 to base, requesting permission to land."

"You're all clear Virgil."

"FAB." I slowly bring Two down towards the runway, concentrating despite being able to do this in my sleep. Speaking of sleep…

I glance over at the sleeping form of my little sister. Curled in a ball on the chair next to me, she's slept the entire way back, not even stirring when we landed at the nearest hospital an hour ago. I start the post-flight checks as Two rolls back into the silo. Considering Abby has never piloted anything before, she did extraordinarily well. Even Scott struggled to cope with those winds and he's a so called 'experienced pilot'. By the time we've completely stopped, the checks are done and I stand and pick Abby up gently; although I don't think anything's going to wake her up now.

I head back up to the house, bypassing the kitchen where I know my brothers will be and instead heading upstairs and laying Abby down on her bed. It's got to be comfier than curled up in a chair. I pause as she stretches and settles before taking off her shoes and tucking her in. pulling the curtains closed, I brush some hair behind her ear and close the door, leaving her in peace. Un-surprisingly, Scott is stood behind me.

"I think we've got another member right there, don't you?" I smile and nod.

"Yeah she did well."

"Well? She was amazing. Do you think she's going to reconsider dad's offer?" I glance at my oldest brother, knowing the worry that the thought that not just Alan but Abby as well will be in danger with us. I shake my head, thinking back to the conversation in Two.

"I don't think so Scott. I don't think she wants to be a part of this – I don't know if she'll ever want to be a part of this."

"And that is perfectly fine with me." I laugh and clap him on the back.

"Same here big brother. Same here."

Another Tracy Sister one-shot done and this time there's brotherly fluff with Virgil. Aww. I hope you liked this one shot - let me know in a review and I will see you all soon xxx