Thunderbirds Are Go (2015) -:- Precipice

I am so sorry for the delay! For some reason this chapter has been really hard to write; my motivation would be high when I had no time and when I did have time there was just no ability to put words down and it sucked. On the plus side - no more waiting! This here is the final chapter! Woot!

Enjoy!

Chapter Six -:- Epilogue

Alan lay flat on his back on the floor of his room, staring up at the ceiling with one arm a heavy weight still trapped in a sling across his chest. He was surrounded on all sides by piles of laundry haphazardly folded and a couple of half-filled boxes; but his motivation for packing had long since dried up, (if it had even existed in the first place). All that it was doing was reminding him of the many reasons why he was leaving.

He was a failure.

How could he have messed up so badly? Because he had. Right? He must have done, because Scott was mad and Gordon was hurt and it was all his fault because he had made the choice. The wrong choice. They say that hindsight is 20:20; that once the adrenaline and the panic had passed, one should be able to see the clearer, logical option that had been missed before. But, the thing is, every time that he stopped and thought back over that moment on the mountain, he knew that he would still make that exact same choice.

And that just confused Alan. Did that mean that he was a lost cause? That he would perpetually make the same mistake? That he was incapable of ever doing his job? It was their duty to help people; so when Alan had seen little Amelia stranded in the path of the avalanche, he had done what he believed they were supposed to do and tried to save her. He was a Thunderbird, after all. Saving people was practically the motto.

But that was wrong, apparently. He hadn't weighed up the risks properly, or whatever. His heroic moment had backfired and left him as the one awaiting rescue. He understood that, but what was he supposed to have done instead? Do nothing, freeze up? Watch an avalanche kill a six-year-old girl?

That just sounded so much worse.

Ultimately, he didn't know what he had done wrong, just that he had majorly screwed up somehow. Normally, Scott or John or one of his many older brothers would sit him down and explain to him what his mistake had been. They'd tease him a little, or tell him about 'that one time' another of the brothers had messed up, but the moral of the story was always that it was okay because he would learn from his mistake.

But how could he do that if he didn't know what he had done wrong in the first place?

Whatever. It didn't matter anyway. Scott had made it perfectly clear that Alan was never going to be a Thunderbird, so there was no point in worrying over it. He'd never get the opportunity to make the same mistake again.

He'd never save anyone. He'd never fly Thunderbird Three. He'd never put on the uniform.

It was over.

"Hey, Sprout," Gordon greeted, propped on one crutch as he knocked on the open door frame. The older blonde took one look at the disaster zone that had once been a bedroom and whistled, impressed at the scale of destruction. "I thought that you were meant to be packing?"

Alan swallowed back the tears that had threatened, his misery translating to anger. "Don't worry, Fish Face, I'll be gone before you know it," he snapped sarcastically, shoving the nearest object into a box without even looking at what it was. "I won't screw anything else up."

"Woah," Gordon blinked, taken aback by the venom in the retort. He hobbled a step forward, but hesitated at the glare shot his way. "Woah, easy. I didn't mean anything by it, Sprout. It's not like I want you gone."

"Whatever," Alan huffed, his eyes dropping back to the carpet as he continued madly packing things without rhyme nor reason, the forceful shoves pulling painfully at his injured arm though he didn't have the sense of mind to care. "I'm the reason that you're back on crutches, I almost put you in a chair. I bet you'll be glad to be rid of me."

"What? No. Wait," Gordon spluttered, utterly confused. "What are you talking about?"

Alan finally looked up, his anger abating a little to be replaced with hesitation as he studied his immediate older brother. It had been over three weeks since the rescue-gone-wrong, and though Gordon was still far from his usually active self, he was much steadier on his feet than he had been. Dressed in one of his classically loud Hawaiian shirts with his hair still damp from a dip in the pool, he looked almost normal (with the exception of the crutches); if somewhat mortified by his brother's words.

"It's my fault that you got hurt," Alan said, shrugging uncertainly under Gordon's stare. "If I hadn't have messed up you wouldn't have had to come and save me and gotten caught in the avalanche and hurt your back and I'm really sorry and-"

"Okay, stop," Gordon interrupted. He made to close the distance between them, but his crutch landed in a pile of laundry and stopped him short. He smirked at Alan. "Now clear a path for the cripple so I can get to the bed."

Alan moved to obey, nudging boxes and clothes and various junk out of the way with his foot, and then stepping back so that Gordon could limp past and carefully ease down to perch on the edge of the mattress. The younger blonde ended up hovering awkwardly nearby, caught between wanting to help and knowing that the help wasn't warranted. Gordon patted the sheet next to him with a grin, an invite to join him that Alan was less than eager to take.

"Sit," Gordon added, entirely serious. Once Alan had obeyed, he turned slightly so that he could look his little brother in the eye. "Now listen to me very carefully. This. Was. Not. Your. Fault."

"But-"

"No," Gordon said forcefully. "You're supposed to be listening. You didn't do anything wrong on that mountain. You did what was asked of you as a Thunderbird and saved that little girl's life. Alright, so we then had to save you, and I may have made a joke at the time that implied that you being all heroic was a bad thing, which I'm sorry for by the way, I didn't mean it, but me then getting hurt was my own damn fault for not anchoring us more securely and that's nothing to do with you, because you weren't exactly conscious at this point but those stupid little nut things are fiddly and... and I've forgotten where I was going with this."

Alan snorted a laugh, which felt both good and oddly strange, like he hadn't laughed in ages. Which he probably hadn't, to be honest. Not since the mountain.

"Anyway," Gordon picked right back up with a smirk. "The point is that it wasn't your fault, and I make jokes at inappropriate moments."

Alan smiled. "That was your point? Really? Are you sure? Because I thought it was about fiddly nuts."

"Shut up, Sprout," Gordon grumbled good-naturedly. "I'm trying to cheer you up and be all reassuring, the least you could do is have the good grace to pretend that I am wise and awesome."

Smirking, Alan pretended to bow down before his older brother and grovel appropriately. "You're right, I'm sorry, O' wise one, I..." the act broke, a wide grin overtaking his face. "Nope! Sorry, even I'm not that good an actor!"

Gordon's jaw dropped in mock outrage. "Oh that's it!"

The older Tracy had the younger one trapped in a headlock before Alan even knew what had hit him, making him gasp in surprise. He stifled his natural instinct to fight back, however, mindful of his own aching arm and acutely aware of hurting Gordon's back further. He settled instead for fake struggles as his fabulous hair-do was noogied into a bird's nest. The attack gradually became a one-armed hug as the laughter subsided, Gordon squeezing the embrace tighter for a moment before letting go.

"Look, I think that Scott's being an idiot," he admitted. "And I've told him so. Pretty sure that Virg and Johnny have too. Sending you back to school like this, without even talking to you? It's just dumb, and he's too stubborn to see it. But you know what, if you wanted us to, I'm pretty sure that the four of us can take him. Just say the word."

"Thanks," Alan shrugged guiltily, hating to be the cause of conflict between his brothers. He knew that any one of them would defend him to the bitter end, just drop everything and protect him, no matter the personal cost to themselves; and that was the problem, he realised then. That was where the rescue had gone wrong.

By putting himself in harm's way; even before performing the heroic act that any Thunderbird would have done in the same position, Alan had caused the fear that had affected his brothers' judgement. Gordon had just admitted that he hadn't secured them properly, resulting in the second fall. Virgil had been forced to manually haul them up the mountain, injuring himself in the process. Scott had had to operate heavy machinery while his bleeding fingers went unchecked. It was all far from professional, but in their bid to protect Alan, their own safety had been ignored.

He wasn't naïve. He knew, all hero worship to the contrary aside, that his big brothers were not infallible. They made mistakes just like anyone else did. But nothing could quite make them slip up like Alan Tracy.

So essentially, merely his presence was the problem.

"Maybe I'm just not cut out for this anyway," Alan whispered quietly, finally giving voice to his doubts. "Scott's right. Dad never wanted me to be a Thunderbird, and now I see why."

"What?" Gordon yelped aghast. He stared at Alan for a whole thirty seconds as if his younger brother had sprouted a second head, and then blinked slowly. "Okay. That was the single dumbest thing that I have ever heard you say, and trust me little brother, you've said a lot of dumb crap. 'Dad didn't want you to be a Thunderbird'? Then tell me, Sprout, why are there five birds? Why did he teach you to fly Three? Why do you have a uniform?"

"Dad was the fifth pilot," Alan pointed out, his anger coming back to the surface again. "And he only ever took me out on Three because I wouldn't shut up about it and the uniform was just a consolation prize because I was obsessed with being a Thunderbird and he didn't have the heart to tell me no!"

Stunned into silence, Gordon breathed "Do you really believe that?"

Alan deflated. "I don't know." He wasn't really sure of anything anymore.

"Okay. Okay, listen up, Sprout, because I am only ever going to say this once," Gordon said firmly, brokering no argument. "You're a natural at this. It's actually annoying how many times I've heard Scott or one of the others comment about how easy you make it look or how fricking talented you are. Dad taught you how to fly Three because he could see that. You believing otherwise is just ridiculous, because you could put the rest of us to shame."

"Says the Olympic Gold medallist."

"In swimming!" Gordon snorted derisively. "Some life skill, that. And I only ever pushed myself to be that good at it because I felt that I had to so that Dad could see me. Our older brothers' cast long shadows after all. Scott being the good soldier, Johnny the genius. Even Virgil with his art was trying to make a difference. The only worthwhile thing I ever did was W.A.S.P, and we all know how that ended. Being a Thunderbird was great too, but it never came easy to me like it does to you." He sighed heavily and bit his lip. "Do you know what it's like to watch every one around you shine while everything you touch turns to mud?"

Awkward silence smothered them in the aftermath of the outburst, making Alan shift uncomfortably and Gordon look stunned at his own words. The rant had clearly been stewing for a while, but Alan had never had a clue that that was how his older brother felt about himself. Gordon had always come across as easygoing and laid back, and though Alan knew that sometimes Gordon could hide things behind a smile, he had never realised just how much was buried under the laughter.

But then his attention caught on his brother's use of past tense. "You're quitting IR?"

Gordon blinked, seemingly surprised by Alan's question. He thought about it for a moment, amber eyes distant, before picking up his crutches and propping them against his knees. "I guess I have to."

"But why?" Alan asked. "Those are only temporary. You'll be walking normally again soon, right?"

"And what about next time?" Gordon snapped shortly. The floodgates were open now and he was having a hard time shutting them again; and while it scared Alan to see his brother this vulnerable, he knew that Gordon needed this. "Every time that I hurt my back it doesn't just magically go back to exactly the way that it was. It gets weaker every time. The next rescue could put me in a chair."

"That never scared you before," Alan said quietly.

Gordon smirked sardonically. "Are you kidding? It terrifies me. I just never let myself think about it for too long before, but now..." he trailed off, and then shook his head as if to rid himself of the thought and forced a smile. "Geez, I don't know why I'm telling you all this. I'm supposed to be cheering you up, not moaning."

Alan saw right through the fake grin for the first time, recognising in Gordon the same doubts that he saw in himself. They were in the same position, facing the same choice. And while it was reassuring to know that he wasn't alone, it still left more questions than answers. "If you did quit..." he began hesitantly, breaking the silence, "what would you do instead?"

"Huh," Gordon shrugged, absently twirling a crutch. "I don't really know. I thought about being a coach for a while; but you know, that whole 'those that can't do, teach' thing hits just a little too close to home. I could maybe go back to school, I guess... Or, or I could help Lady P with her 'agenting'," he grinned slyly. "What about you?"

"No idea." Alan flopped back on the bed, resuming his earlier task of staring at the ceiling. "Being a Thunderbird is the only thing that I've ever wanted. I've never imagined doing anything else."

"You're only fifteen, Sprout-"

"Sixteen, next month," Alan corrected.

Gordon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. The point still stands that you're young and you've got time. And you can still be a Thunderbird, whenever you're ready. I can take Scott in a fist fight, if needs be."

"Thanks, Gordy," Alan smiled genuinely. "But I don't think that that's necessary just yet. I think that maybe, maybe going back to school is a good idea for me. I mean, I have missed my friends, and I wouldn't have to eat Grandma's cooking, and maybe... maybe I could find something else to be, you know, just in case Scott kicks your ass."

Gordon's laugh was real this time as he pulled Alan back in for another one-armed hug. "Is it your choice?"

"Yeah," Alan nodded. "I want this."

"This sucks!" Gordon announced emphatically.

"Yep." Virgil agreed. The two of them, plus John, stood together at the edge of the veranda outside the den, shielding their eyes from the sun as they watched Tracy One take to the air. Inside the plane was Scott and Alan, heading to Wharton Academy in Massachusetts, the youngest brother not to be returning again for another six weeks. As the small private plane vanished to a pinprick on the horizon, Gordon sighed heavily, missing his partner in crime already.

"Scott's an idiot." He added. Because he needed someone to blame.

Virgil nodded. "Yep."

John rolled his eyes and attempted to scold his younger brothers with a glare. "Maybe Scott's just trying to be a responsible adult. He is Alan's legal guardian, after all. The Sprout was falling behind in his schoolwork because of IR, it makes sense that he should go back to Whartons."

Gordon and Virgil hit the redhead with twin raised-eyebrow stares.

"What?"

"We heard you arguing with Scott that night," Virgil pointed out. John made to accuse the middle Tracy of eavesdropping, but Virgil merely shrugged. "You don't agree with this anymore than we do."

John made a frustrated huffing sound at having been caught out, taking a moment to think over his answer. "Okay, admittedly, his timing sucks," he lamented reluctantly. "But I agree with the principle. How about that?"

"Very diplomatic," Virgil smirked.

A strong breeze from the ocean chilled the tropical air for a moment, bringing the scent of salt further inland. All around them jungle birds called to each other, but all that did was serve to remind Gordon of just how few people inhabited their little island. Usually with the five brothers and Grandma Tracy, Kayo and Brains and MAX all living in close quarters, it was too loud and busy for the loneliness of the quiet island to really be noticed. But right then, Gordon felt it, and he hated it.

"We're gonna miss his birthday," he mumbled quietly, though his older brothers were close enough to hear. Virgil's gaze dropped from the plane to the floor almost guiltily, while in contrast a small smile appeared on John's face.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," he said cryptically. Both Gordon and Virgil looked at him questioningly. "It's not going to be like it was before."

'Before' being before Dad disappeared and after International Rescue was founded. 'Before' being the few years where it was almost as if there were only four Tracy brothers, the youngest the unintentional victim of 'out of sight, out of mind'. Alan attending boarding school on the other side of the world while the newly formed Thunderbirds struggled to establish a routine had led to more than one birthday being missed. None of them had ever done it on purpose, but they were all guilty of forgetting the Sprout at one point or another.

The age difference didn't help. Alan was always the one being left behind.

But once they had brought Alan home again, needing the whole family close while the search for Dad began, he had never once brought it up or used it against them. He hadn't forgotten, not by a long shot, but he had forgiven them. He knew that his big brothers would never truly abandon him after all. But Gordon also knew that Alan would lose his trust in them forever if they ever let him down like that again.

Gordon broke the heavy silence that had settled between them. "Huh, maybe Scott's not such an idiot after all."

John grinned. "I wouldn't go that far."

The rented SUV shot down the motorway doing a steady seventy-five, flashes of the English countryside blurring past on either side. Scott kept most of his attention on the road, not exactly used to barrelling down the wrong side of it, but also watched his passenger out of the corner of his eye.

Alan was quiet. Too quiet for a kid who had just turned sixteen and was getting a free pass from school in the middle of term. Not that Scott was exactly expecting conversation. He and Alan hadn't spoken properly since... since... Well, he couldn't remember the last time. But usually Alan was the hyperactive type that could fill any silence with excited chatter or curious questions. The teenager hadn't even asked where they were going.

Maybe John had been right.

Scott sighed to himself before changing lanes to overtake a slow-moving lorry, silently scolding himself. He should have spoken to Alan before taking him back to Whartons. They had had hours in Tracy One where he could have explained so much, where he could have told Alan just how proud he was. Where he could have just admitted that he was terrified of losing the kid, and simply wanted the best for him. But he hadn't said a word and neither had Alan and now...

John was right. Dammit.

"So," Scott attempted conversation. "How's school?"

"Fine."

Okay, yeah. Maybe asking about school wasn't the best place to start. But he couldn't think where else to begin. It wasn't like he could just blurt out what he wanted to say now, was it? Why was it so hard just to say 'sorry'? Scott wanted to hit his head against the steering wheel in frustration. He probably would have done if Alan hadn't have been in the car. I'm an idiot, he thought to himself, and then grimaced. Great. Now Gordon was right.

"I'm sorry."

Scott blinked as the words that he wanted to say echoed in the SUV, but didn't come from his own lips. He glanced sideways at Alan to find the blonde staring resolutely out of the passenger window, the sadness of his expression only visible in the wing mirror. "School's pretty good, actually. Turns out that my grades aren't that bad and my physics teacher is even considering putting me forward for AP classes next year. I think, I think that I might even go to college, you know, eventually. I don't know what I'll study yet... I don't really know what I want to do, to be honest."

Pride made Scott smile broadly as his eyes flickered between the road and Alan's reflection. He had always known that the kid was smart, maybe even as smart as John. No one could have picked up the literal rocket science that Alan had learned piloting Three as quickly as he had, after all. It was as if he could simply absorb information sometimes. But Alan was like Gordon in that way, always hiding his intelligence. It was almost as if they both believed that they couldn't compare to the 'genius' of their elders, and as such they never put themselves forward to compete.

Scott had missed the signs with Gordon - the elder blonde was often too good at keeping secrets – but he wasn't about to make the same mistake with Alan. It hurt to think about, but legally, Scott was his guardian. The only parental figure that the teenager had left. It was time that he started acting like it. "You can do anything you want to do, Sprout."

Alan still wouldn't look at him, as if he didn't believe Scott's words. "Including becoming a Thunderbird."

That made Alan turn around. He stared at Scott with wide, conflicted blue eyes, and said the very last thing that the eldest Tracy had ever expected to hear. "But I'm a liability."

"What?"

"Out there, on rescues, I distract all of you," Alan shrugged, as if it were obvious. "You're always so busy looking out for me, making sure that I'm safe, that you don't take care of yourselves, and that's how you all ended up hurt."

Scott gaped at Alan, before his attention snapped back to the road just in time to slam on the brakes. Traffic ahead had slowed while he wasn't looking, almost causing him to run into the back of the white van in front of them.

Alan looked down at the hand that Scott had automatically flung out protectively and sighed. "I'm even doing it now. That's why Dad never wanted me to be a Thunderbird. He knew that, no matter how capable I could become, you all would always only ever see me as the baby brother. I would compromise everything, just by being there."

"That's... that's not true, Sprout," Scott murmured, remembering to keep his eyes on the road as they picked up speed again, hoping that Alan wouldn't see that he was lying. Because he was. He knew that Alan could take care of himself, had seen him do so, time and time again. But Scott also knew that he would never truly ever be able to let his guard down and trust Alan the way that he could the others.

It wasn't that Alan wasn't capable. He was. He was smart and strong and truly a natural, but he was also young. Scott was protective of all of his younger brothers, he couldn't help it. The need to look out for them had been ingrained into him since he was a toddler and became a big brother that first time, but with Alan, it had always been different. John was naturally independent; he never asked for help and rarely needed it. Virgil was stoically sensible; he hardly ever made a bad decision, and Gordon? Well, Gordon had been forced to grow up the hard way.

But Alan, for Scott, would forever be that tiny blonde toddler with the blue eyes and bluer lips that he had pulled from the snow.

"It's okay, Scott, I get it," Alan said quietly. "I don't blame you. It's not your fault. I... I should've known that it wouldn't work out before I got my hopes up, and hey... at least I got to be a Thunderbird for a while, eh?"

Oh, that was it.

Scott cut up an eighteen-wheeler to the tune of angry horn-blaring as he crossed two lanes of traffic to get to the hard shoulder. Sticking the hazards on as he cut the engine, he undid their seatbelts and yanked Alan into a hug that the teenager clearly was not expecting. Face mashed against Scott's shirt, Alan tensed up and made to shove his big brother away. But then it was like a switch had been flipped and he relaxed into the hold, his arms wrapping around Scott just as tight.

"I am so sorry," Scott mumbled against blonde curls. "I am so sorry that I made you feel this way. I'm always going to be looking out for you – I can't just switch that off – but I promise, when you're ready, and if you still want to, you are going to be a Thunderbird again. And I am going to learn to deal with that."

Alan snorted and pulled back, his eyes bright with tears that hadn't yet fallen even as he smirked. "Are you sure you want to promise that? That sounds like quite a challenge for Smother Brother One."

"Well, at least I got Brothers Two-to-Four as back-up," Scott grinned and ruffled Alan's hair. "We're always going to look out for each other. We're Tracys."

Alan smiled as Scott restarted the engine and checked his watch. "Speaking of which, we better get moving. Put your seatbelt on."

"I wasn't the one that took it off," Alan grumbled, though he was still smiling. He did as he was told as the car pulled off again, re-merging with traffic as they picked up speed. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"You are not an idiot."

Scott glanced up from the activity on the track below as the middle Tracy approached. They were on the viewing balcony of Brands Hatch race course, the whole place having been rented out for the day so that the youngest Tracy could tear around the track in expensive cars. All of them had joined in the fun of course, and currently Alan and Gordon were engaging in a one-on-one race to see who would get the biggest slice of birthday cake. Alan would win, of course, but it wouldn't be because Gordon let him.

Turns out, Alan really was as good at driving as he had claimed.

Scott rolled his eyes at his younger brother. "Thanks, Virg, that means a lot."

Virgil just smiled as his eyes automatically followed the two sports cars battling around a tight bend and into the straight. "This was a good idea. Did you think of it all by yourself?"

"Absolutely," Scott lied, glad that Lady Penelope wasn't there to see him take all the credit. To be fair, it had been his idea to do something for Alan's sixteenth, he just hadn't been able to think of what that something should be exactly. It was Lady P who had suggested Brands Hatch, much to Scott's initial horror. But he had to admit, seeing Alan's face light up when he realised where they were was totally worth the high blood pressure and acute terror that Scott was feeling as he watched the cars hit high speeds.

"Uhuh," Virgil nodded, clearly not believing him. "So how did you manage to get the owners of this place to overlook the fact that Alan's sixteen and not legally allowed to drive in this country?"

"Well, Virgil," Scott retorted. "You may not know this, but we're actually a little bit rich and slightly influential. Every now and again, we are allowed to exploit that."

"Lady P convinced them, didn't she?"

Scott sighed dramatically at having been caught out. "I don't know why I bother."

Virgil laughed and clapped Scott on the shoulder in mock-sympathy. They fell into comfortable silence as they watched the race draw to a close, Alan easily drawing out in front and leaving Gordon in the dust. Scott watched in mild concern as the two blondes climbed out of the respective cars, Alan clearly with more ease than a slightly stiff Gordon. The injuries that they all had sustained on the mountain had mostly faded into memory, but Gordon's back...

"Has he spoken to you yet?" Virgil asked as if he were reading Scott's mind, "about what he wants to do?"

"Yeah," Scott nodded apprehensively.

Virgil glanced sideways at him. "You don't sound happy about it."

The eldest Tracy sighed and sagged a little against the railing. "I'm glad that he's smart enough to take his time coming back but... having him out there again... the risk... I don't know if I'm ready to step back and let him be in harm's way again."

"Being a Thunderbird saved him last time," Virgil pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure that it won't also be what breaks him," Scott admitted. He met his brother's worried gaze and tried for a reassuring smile despite his words. "I won't tell him what to do, that never works with Gordon. If he thinks he's ready, then he is. I'm not going to stop him."

Virgil nodded thoughtfully. "I think I like this new, mellower you."

"Oh, I'm freaking out on the inside," Scott muttered. And he was. He could claim that he was okay with Gordon going back out on rescues and the very real possibility of Alan once again becoming a Thunderbird, but he was still an older brother. The day that he stopped worrying was the day that he stopped breathing. But he couldn't hold them back forever, and it was high time that he learned to let go.

"I know," Virgil grinned, and then pointed at the pits. "Johnny's up next against Kayo. Who do you reckon will win?"

"Uh, Kayo, obviously," Scott answered. "I don't think that Johnny even remembers how to drive anymore. He hasn't been on Earth this long since Five was built."

It was true. It had been nearly two months since the mountain, and John had only gone back up to Five a couple of times to check up on EOS and reassure her that she wasn't being abandoned. Before, they would have been lucky if he stayed planet-side for a whole day before disappearing, like he was being chased away if he stayed for too long. It was nice, Scott had missed having more than a hologram of his immediate younger brother to talk to, but also odd. And he knew exactly who he had to thank.

"Are you ever going to tell me what you two talked about?" Scott asked, knowing that Virgil would know exactly what he was referring to. Virgil always did.

"Oh, you know. Stuff," Virgil shrugged. "Don't worry Scott, he's okay. I think we all are now."

And actually, Scott thought that Virgil might be right. They really would be okay.

FIN

Woah, I don't think that I have ever written a happy ending like that without there being some kind of horrendous cliffhanger...ever. I am mildly considering maybe writing, not really a sequel, but another story following from this in the same universe. I have ideas for once again torturing the Tracys, but I'll try and get more written before I start posting next time to avoid the huge update gaps (sorry again about that!)

But anyway, thanks so, so much to the wonderful people who have read/favourited/followed and/or reviewed! You are all amazing and I'm just glad to have written something that people seem to have enjoyed! Thanks also in advance to any future readers! Perhaps I will see you again soon...

Manic x