So this is my first multi-chaptered story for Thunderbirds so I hope you like it. I also want to thank everyone for the amazing reviews (and the amount!) as well as all the favourites and alerts for both stories and author – it all means a lot.

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Feel free to download anything there (as soon as I've got the links up) and let me know if there's anything in particular you want.

His ears were ringing and his vision was blurry as he blinked open his eyes, the ceiling filtering into place to greet him.

"Scott?" Clarity returned in bursts and though it took him a few moments to comprehend what he was hearing, he was soon able to make it out in full comprehension. "Can you hear me?"

"I can hear you just fine, John, it's not like you're all the way up on five. You're right beside me."

"Someone woke up on the wrong side."

"John." His voice was laced with tiredness, something Scott would not admit to, but his direct younger seemed to sense this.

"It was a joke, sorry," Scott's lack of response told John clearly what his appreciation was for the humour attempt, although he hadn't expected it to be a resounding success: he wasn't Gordon after all. "Do you remember what happened?"

Scott seemed to take a moment, John watching the entire time as he collected his thoughts.

"We crashed," The recollection came in bits and pieces, almost like a puzzle, but as with Scott's usual skill with puzzles, it was completed fairly quickly. "Thunderbird Two was damaged, Virgil just collapsed suddenly and I tried to land us on the island."

"You did and it was a good thing to," The voice of their father came from across the room. His presence seemed to come as no shock to the blonde, but to Scott it caught him unaware for he hadn't noticed his father. That was because he hadn't been looking as he'd been too focussed on John. "Who knows how things could have turned out if you landed in the sea."

The words took little time to filter in, though they seemed more difficult to understand than they should have, "We landed on the island?"

"You did it Scott," John praised with a smile, the first Scott had seen since he woke. "Virgil might not thank you when he sees the state of Two, but you know he'll appreciate it." Scott decided he wanted to keep the happier – and successful joking – tone to John's voice.

"Alan will find a positive way to look at it I'm sure, and Gordon will be forever using it for jokes," Something changed in John's face, a look which suggested to Scott that he was wrong in his assumption, despite it having stood very true for mishaps in the past. "How are Alan and Virgil?"

His father's shoulders tensed, that Scott did not miss. His sense of focus was coming back to him now and it had a wider range than one. John seemed uneasy, something rarely seen with his disposition and his father's lack of words was a worrying sign, one he should have picked up on much before now.

"Virgil's yet to wake. Alan has but..."

"But what?" Carefully he began to inch himself into a sitting position, keeping his eyes on John who adverted his own. He looked towards his dad, but he now stood with his back to them once again, looking at the photo frames on the mantelpiece. As John was the only source of information (and words), Scott looked again to the star gazer, his tone becoming serious, a seriousness his family saw little of at home. "Don't do this to me John."

"Scott, he-"

"Spit it out." Scott would have loved to be able to say he hadn't meant to snap.

John almost blurted out his answer and it was only by the slightest chance that Scott managed to catch the words, "He doesn't remember us."

"Sorry? Come again?"

"Alan has no idea who we all are except for Gordon. He remembers we live on the island and he remembers the Thunderbirds, but everything else seems a little... lost to him right now."

"You are joking." There was always hope with John that you simply hadn't caught the joke, and although Scott knew it would be a mean trick, that was exactly what he desperately hoped it was.

John's retreat from the conversation said enough on its own, yet his father's answer seemed necessary, "No, John isn't joking I'm afraid, Scott."

"This is a nightmare."

"It's alright, Brains thinks it's only temporary. He's almost certain Alan will recover his memory."

"Almost?" The word seemed venomous and John retreated back again. After a moment he seemed to summon some courage back and began anew.

"He can't be sure Scott, it's going to take time. Give the man chance, Alan only woke up about half an hour ago. Brains is still researching."

He sighed, for this was tiring in itself and seemed to be getting little distance covered over a lot of time, "This is my fault."

"How?" Jeff Tracy questioned as he turned around again, stepping closer with almost every word. "How is it your fault son?"

"I crashed Two, if I'd landed her better-"

"You can't sit around thinking of if's, Scott," The patriarch interrupted firmly. "What we need to do now is get this family back on its feet, then we'll fix Thunderbird Two and then we'll get back out there to do what we do best." Scott said nothing to that and simply lowered his head. John watched and Jeff stood at his son's bedside looking as lost as his children felt. After a moment, he tenuously pushed, "Is that clear?"

The eldest son still said nothing whilst John kept his eyes on his father, who dropped the subject almost as quickly as he had picked it up. Words seemed to be failing him now just as they were failing his father and if that was so for them then it had to be worse for Scott who was more of an action type than one to use words.

"Scott?"

"Yes father?"

"You did what you thought was best in a bad situation. You reacted quickly enough to most probably save yours and your brother's lives, think about that the next time you doubt your decision," John marvelled at his father's working out of what Scott was feeling and at his ability to create such speeches so quickly. Scott still sat there, propped up against the pillows, looking down at nothing in particular whilst thinking about only one thing. "Now focus on getting better, I'm going to see how Virgil is doing and then I'll be back."

The door shut to signal their father's leave and almost the moment he was out of ear shot, John piped up.

"He's really worried, but he's trying to hide it," This succeeded in its intention and pulled the brunette's head up. "When he brought Three up to get me I thought he was going to break."

"Dad's strong, he holds it together." The minced words were true, but doubtable for John all the same considering the situation.

"I know. Better than we all do."

"We take after mum in that respect," Scott verified before a thought came to him. "Speaking of it, does Alan remember she's..?""

"Yeah," John replied after a second. "We were glad of that, none of us wanted to face explaining that again. It was difficult enough the first time round." There was silence between the eldest for a minute, the bedroom clock's ticking filling up the empty space. There were things which needed to be discussed, holes that needed filling and details Scott needed to know, yet his brain seemed to possess no ability with which to make words to the effect of questions form, and if there was one thing John couldn't do, it was mind read.

"How is Virgil?"

"Brains isn't sure until he wakes up, because we aren't certain on why he collapsed," John could see how difficult the query had been for Scott to ask and was disappointed to could offer no better answer. "Though Brains has a theory it could involve the flu."

"Oh."

"Crash wise, he was mainly fine, few cuts and bruises, the only exception is a broken shoulder bone."

"Fixable?" The worry in his tone was potently real and possibly over-excessive, but John didn't blame him for it.

"Brains thinks so. It's… a 'nice' break apparently."

"I didn't know there was such a thing."

"No, me neither, but there is according to the island genius."

"Alan?"

"No, Brains." Had Gordon been there, and the situation to which the conversation had come about a little less serious, he would certainly have laughed.

"John, I meant what about Alan, injury wise?"

His recovery from the slip was quick and Scott received his answer as though it was textbook, "He's pretty much unscathed. He's got a nasty cut on his hand which may have done more than simple surface damage, but once again, it needs time," The pause – Scott decided – was definitely for effect. "You're the one with the injuries."

"I'm fine."

"Don't play the martyr, Scott. Just because you're the eldest doesn't mean you have to be the strongest."

"No?"

"No." The firmness in John's tone warned Scott away from argumental ground and thus saw Scott step back and ask a different question.

"What about International Rescue? We can't exactly rescue people like this."

"It's like dad said, we'll pick ourselves up first," The frown said it all. "It's not ideal Scott, I know that and so does dad, but we think it's what will be best." The decision hadn't been an easy one. Brains had been too busy tending injuries to say anything, Tin-Tin and Grandma firmly ruled that time off couldn't hurt in the least and Lady Penelope had insisted that they had little other choice unless he wanted to see all of his sons laid up, which had been a definite no. For Jeff, even though he knew it was logical, it had been difficult and John had seen that. The decision had been made at the last moment deliberately and John knew if there had been any other way to keep International Rescue going, his father would have taken it. But it was like he said, "You boys come first." That had remained John's only comfort since the decision.

"Lady Penelope said she'll visit soon when things have settled down and when you're on the road to recovery. And Two is up and running again, we'll work something out in order to get back out there. She said to call anytime, if you need anything." John wondered how much of this was filtering through his only elder brother's thick skull.

"Is five unmanned?"

John shook his head, "We brought her back down with Three, we thought it would be best as at that point we had no idea how long it would be until you woke."

"Sorry, when was this?"

"Two days ago."

"What?" Scott propelled himself forward almost exactly like Thunderbird One did with its take-offs. "I've been asleep for two days?" It seemed like another of Scott's accusations for 'you let me sleep in?' something the family had avoided where possible and gone to great lengths to solve when Gordon 'broke' Scott's alarm clock.

"Makes for a good break and catch up on some missed sleep."

"That's not the point John." Scott announced as he practically threw himself back against the pillow.

"No? Then what is?"

"This is gonna' change our whole lives, our normal routine-"

"And?" He was getting sharp now, sharper than he knew he should be, but he was tired (not that that was a good excuse really) and the recent events had worn him down. "It was bound to happen one day Scott. We all knew we couldn't stay lucky," That was a truth, but knowing it didn't make it any easier when it came about. "Yes, we've had our slip ups and small injuries, our minor scratches and small fixes, but within all that, we all knew there had to be a crash coming."

"But-"

"We're human Scott. Just because we save lives it doesn't make us immortal to needing a rescue of own."

"I didn't think it would happen like this." The admission was true for the whole family.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, something a little less damaging."

"In what way?"

"Does that matter?"

"No." It was a finite answer. It ended a discussion, John's calm tone compared to Scott's raising ire.

John almost welcomed the moment of silence, the space to recollect his own thoughts for a brief second or two.

"Can I see Alan?" He wasn't really asking, so he wondered why he'd bothered trying.

John shook his head, "I think you stay here."

"I need to know he's alright."

"Trust me Scott, he's in safe hands-" It wasn't what Scott wanted to hear and soon their words were crossing each other's, getting into a tangle where the sounds were barely comprehensible.

"That doesn't help John."

"It might not, but seeing you right now isn't necessarily going to help Alan."

"He might remember something."

"He's struggling enough as it is. We all are!" Shouting had never been the way John envisioned ending the discussion, but it was what he resorted to, raising to his feet before he was aware of his movements. Scott seemed to take a moment and start again with a restored calmness, though something suggested to John it wouldn't last.

"I need to see that he's okay, John. That he's being looked after."

"Gordon's perfectly capable of looking after him."

"It's not Gordon's job."

"Nor is it yours," They'd both snapped. Rather firmly and neither of them seemed likely to move, like the largest rocks the water could push at, but never cause to waver. "Stay here and rest Scott. Grandma's baking apple pie so that's something to look forward to." His feet had begun to move, leading him without consulting his mind.

"Yes, it's a great help."

"She's trying Scott," John spun around with a malicious undertone to his voice that he hadn't used since childhood bickering's. "You've been oblivious to everything, so you have no idea what you've missed."

"Okay, fill me in."

"Brains is pulling himself in four directions; Kyrano is working twice as hard as he usually works, considering he already worked twice as hard as he should; Tin-Tin has been distraught and - at least the last I saw of her - was balling her eyes out, and Grandma feels useless because she feels there's nothing she can offer except the obvious and unhelpful 'I'm sure it will be alright.'"

Scott resigned, "I didn't know."

"And that's not your fault," His handle was on the door, yet he hesitated to open it. "But when I say to trust me, can you do that? We need to rely on each other right now and the best way to get through this is to do what we always do: communicate, cooperate and get things done. Lean on us for a while Scott, and get down off your smothering perch."

For the first time, the eldest laughed, "I'll make no promises to that." He smiled and after a moment or so John smiled back, a slightly forced once, but the best he could muster and Scott seemed to understand.

"I'll see you later." He left the room before anything else could be said and let his smile drop. The intake of breath he took was shaky and he resisted the urge to wipe at his eyes as he made his way outside to look at the sky.

He needed some space to sort his head out.

First chapter is done. I hope to have the second chapter up soon and that should answer any questions raised in this one, but I just felt that was a good place to stop. Anyway let me know what you think and in the meantime I hope I haven't left you in too much suspense.