Oh, the weather outside is frightful! Howling gales, and pouring rain. But what a perfect reason to stay inside, and write more fanfic!

This story can be read as a standalone, and also as a sequel to Are We Nearly There Yet?

So, Scott and Alan are finally home - and the hero of the hour is loving every moment. And thanks to the world's best big brother, there's still just one more surprise to come.

Enjoy!

One Moment, One Lifetime

"...so there I was, flying through Halley's Comet on my board, and... wow, it was soooooooo cool!"

Yes, this was the moment when Scott Tracy knew he was getting old.

At the end of an exhausting rescue, and a thirty hour flight home, all he'd wanted to do was crawl into his bed, and sleep until Christmas. Alan, though? Well, the family baby was still waaaaaay up there. Not just on cloud nine... hell, not even in orbit, high enough to give his space-bound brother a cheering wave.

No, a full hour after getting home, he was still far beyond both. Re-living every second of the day he'd remember forever. With, of course, a full demonstration.

"...this huuuuuge chunk of it went right past me... wheeeeee-oooooosshhh... missed me by that much..."

And sound effects.

Damn, even John looked impressed - the smile on his virtual face as proud of his baby brother as if he'd been there for real. And in front of his spellbound audience - well, this really wasn't the time to tell him to get off the table. If it was okay with Grandma... yes, Scott was fine with it too. And, God knew, he'd earned it.

In the craziest of circumstances, he'd become the first person in history to surf through Halley's Comet. And, as John had dryly noted, those dipping, dodging moves were a damn sight better than those he called 'dancing.'

For Virgil, though, all that swerving energy nearly ended in disaster. Luckily, his reflexes were fast enough to dodge past a wildly flailing arm, to just leave a playful glare in its wake as he sat down next to Scott. A few inches closer, and he'd have ended up wearing his coffee instead of drinking it.

"Think I need to make him some of my special recipe cocoa," he muttered, throwing another glare towards his blissfully oblivious brother, before turning more serious eyes towards another.

Against his youngest brother's exuberance, his eldest had been tellingly quiet. Happy enough to smile at a job well done. To laugh with the rest of them, shaking his head at everything that Alan was describing so vividly. But to a brother who was sensitive enough to recognize it - yes, it was that kind of silence that hid an awful lot behind it.

With everyone still so close to them, though, it was going to be tricky for him to find out its cause. So yes, aside from saving their table from any more sock-skids, their little hero's next suggestion was a really good idea.

"Hey, if we go up on the 'scope-deck, we'll be able to see it!"

"Yeah, you'd better take this too... just in case it gets too close again," Gordon grinned, tossing his hover-board into Alan's hands, then slinging his arm around his brother's shoulders as they headed outside.

Following on behind them, Virgil did the same on Scott's - noting the briefest of tension within them, before his brother relaxed against him. A tired but grateful smile told him how much this gesture was appreciated, that he understood its significance, but... no. No, they weren't quite alone enough yet.

Only when Alan and Gordon ran ahead of them, tripping and tumbling each other up to the deck above them did Virgil hear it. A soft sigh, releasing at least some of the tension he'd felt before. A few more moments, just a bit more distance, and he knew it was finally safe to start coaxing it out.

"So, aside from getting knocked out... again, and dealing with the charming Mr LeMaire... again... how was it? Really?"

Pulling a face at both memories, Scott then sighed. Pulled everything he'd felt during that latest mission, all its countless emotions, from soaring pride to purest terror, before quietly admitting them to the only person who'd understand.

"In a word? Terrifying."

Nodding to where Alan and Gordon was taking turns at the 'scope, he then sighed. Shook his head again, as if trying to dispel the memory inside it. A moment in two lifetimes, when the fearless leader of International Rescue had felt fear in its purest form.

"When he went after LeMaire like that, before I could get to him... God, Virgil, I- I felt so damn helpless... all I could do was watch, wait, and pray to God he'd be all right, and... well, yeah, I guess you could say he did to me what I usually do to you."

To his relief, there wasn't any 'yeah, you've had it coming' retort. None of the payback borne from all those times when he'd put his brother in the self same position. Instead, Virgil just nodded. Slid his arm back around Scott's shoulders, drawing him gently closer. The simple, but so precious contact that he knew Scott needed. Everything else that he knew his brother needed to hear, expressed through a single, gently smiled word.

"And?"

This time, Scott did smile back. Yeah, trust his private counsellor to sense that pivotal 'and.' Not for the first time, and undoubtedly not the last, he thanked all the gods he knew for his brother's uncanny knack for reading his mind. He just hoped the maudlin thoughts inside it didn't spoil this moment between them.

"And thirty three hours is an awful long time to think back on something like that. I mean, he... God, Virgil, I was just so damn proud of him... all those times when he's begged me to let him go solo on his first major rescue, to just prove to me that he could handle it, and... yeah, aside from scaring ten years off my life expectancy, he didn't put a foot wrong..."

Still watching Alan point up to the distant blur above them, Scott fell silent once more. And while the smile on his face was still there, so full of love and pride, there was a distance to his eyes that, again, prompted that same, softly gentle word.

"And?"

Smiling again, at just how deeply and blessedly his brother knew him, Scott then shrugged. He knew the rest of what he wanted to say was going to be painfully hard, but... well, he also knew Virgil would understand. Virgil would always understand.

"And it won't be back for another seventy five years," he said at last, taking a deep breath, then another, before he made himself say the rest. "Allie might still be around to see it, Virg, but I... won't."

The reaction was just as he'd expected. Eyes of living compassion widened for a moment, then grew soft and warm again - wrapping him in the same comfort as the arm that tightened so gently around him. Even the reply that he already knew was coming held as much reassurance as its simplest, gentlest truth.

"Hey, the chances are we'll both be gone, but... well, whether we are or not, he'll always remember what he did today... no number of years will ever take those memories away from him... and if he does get to see it again, then... well, he'll remember today, Scooter... and as part of that legacy, he'll remember you."

Again, as always, Scott found nothing but understanding in his brother's eyes. All the strength he needed to face his own mortality.

Safe in its comfort, he thought back to LeMaire's concept of legacy. For him, it had been worldwide recognition. All the glory, and fame, and all the plaudits his already massive ego could ask for. But for a Tracy? Well, this moment of history would be remembered much more modestly.

Before he could act on it, though, Alan came barrelling back to them - still buzzing too much to feel the more sober mood around him. Instead, he grabbed Scott's hand, tugging him across the deck to where Gordon stood, still admiring the view through their deep view 'scope.

Luckily, he'd decided he'd seen enough, and was already moving aside, which was just as well. If he'd stayed where he was, his still hyper excited brother would have flattened him into the decking.

"Yeah, we've still got a real good view of it, Scott... see?"

Left with little choice, Scott threw a rueful grin towards Virgil, then peered dutifully through the eye-piece. After a week's worth of all things Halley, he thought its wonder must have faded by now, but... no. Thanks to a crystal clear night, and Brains' incredible genius, the most famous comet in human history was still breathtaking. More than worth the joy on his face. The sheer awe in his voice.

"Yeah, you sure do, Allie, it's just... wow... just incredible."

Still smiling, he finally stepped away, so that Virgil could take his turn - neither of them at all surprised when Alan beat him to it. Instead, they just traded glances, as only big brothers could trade them, while their favourite Astro Nut set to work with his camera.

"Yeah, it's so weird to think we haven't just been to it, we've stood on it too... yeah, that was just so cool, but..."

Left hanging on this unfinished point, Scott, Virgil and Gordon all glanced at each other. While two of them just shrugged, though, it was Scott who then grinned. His turn to do some mind reading of his own, and loop his arms around Alan's shoulders in a gently snuggling hug.

"But?!"

Glancing up at him, Alan frowned with the puzzlement that both Virgil and Gordon felt too. It took another gentle hug to coax out a quietly wistful answer.

"I just wish we'd been able to stay on it for longer, to... you know, just get something to remember it by."

Peering again at his beloved comet, he didn't see how the grin on Scott's face grew even wider. Its cause, of course, was still kept in secret.

Not even Virgil could have guessed why that smile on his brother's face now seemed to defy gravity. Instead, he just enjoyed its contentment as they all took one last look through the 'scope, before heading back inside.

This time, though, it was Scott who stayed at Alan's side, his arm wrapped around his brother's shoulders. Nothing odd about that, either. The proudest big brother on the planet, right where Virgil would expect him to be.

Stopping off at his bedroom, though? Well, yeah, that was - different. Another broadening grin gave him another subtle clue that big brother was up to something. An explanation, perhaps, for why it had taken him so long to get changed?

And, really, what kind of little brothers would he and Gordon be, if they didn't just follow him inside to find out what it was?

A lovingly wrapped box gave them their biggest clue yet. Either a really late birthday present for their little hero, or Christmas a couple of months early. Either way, it didn't really matter. For whatever reasons, this mystery surprise came with all the joyous hugging to match.

One explosion of wrapping paper later, right up there with a 'why-did-I-bother?' headshake, and... oh, perfect! Just - perfect.

Yes, this was posterity. Not fame, or fortune, or the cravings of a massive ego, but a little piece of true history. A piece of Halley's Comet - preserved for all time for the boy who'd turned one of his dreams into a reality that he'd remember for the rest of his life.

In a roomful of grinning brothers, though, and one proudly watching hologram, Alan's reaction just topped the lot. Pretty much flattened by two armfuls of ecstatically hugging brother, it took even more effort for Scott's voice to make it past through the chokes in his throat.

"It just took me a moment, to get you this for a lifetime. Every time you look at it, you'll remember how proud I was that day. How proud I've always been of you. How much I love you."

Staring down at the box in his hand, Alan just shook his head. Lost for words, he gazed down at the chunks of rock inside it. Traced his fingers over the inscription on its base.

"20 October 2060. For today, for all time."

There were tears in his eyes now. Tears of pure joy, and gratitude, and every emotion in between. A tide that could only be stemmed in the folds of a blue denim shirt, and the comfort of a big brother's arms.

Not just Scott's, though, but Virgil's too. And Gordon's. And, if not physically, John's as well. One moment of love in its purest form, to last them all for all of their lifetimes.