Disclaimer: Thunderbirds and all recognised characters are the property of Gerry Anderson and Carlton. They're not mine! I'm just a fan who wishes there'd been more episodes!

Responsibilites

Part One

Dawn broke clear and bright over Tracy Island. The pacific ocean glistened as the sun rose over the horizon. Alan Tracy watched the sunrise with an uncharacteristic indifference. Usually this was a time of day he had grown to savour, in part due to the fact that he very rarely woke up in time to see it.

Alan was very much a 21 year old in this respect. He had grown far too accustomed to staying up until the early hours of the morning partying and sleeping until noon at college. He had never been a 'morning person' as his grandmother called it, and the idea of getting up before the sun was even out had previously seemed somewhat redundant to the youngest Tracy. What was the point? However Alan found himself thinking back to the real reason he now found the sunrise so remarkable.

It had been a few months ago after a train derailment. International rescue had been called due to the remote and inaccessible region the private, single carriage train had crashed in. It was a relatively simple rescue, nothing he and his brothers hadn't had to deal with dozens of times before. Alan found himself almost complacent about his job - to be lowered into the ravine on the rescue platform from Thunderbird 2 and assess the situation.

Alan was excited about being able to be 'first' on the scene of the rescue. The rocky terrain meant that Scott would be unable to land Thunderbird 1 and set up mobile control. Besides there had only been four passengers and three staff on the train. IR's job was simple: get the people out.

"What can you see, Alan?" came Scott Tracy's voice over the com system in Alan's safety helmet.

"Nothing yet Scott. I can't see any movement. John did say that he'd been in contact with the driver of the train right?"

"Sure did. But he said he only got about one word out of five before he lost contact. The terrain up here made the signal almost impossible to pick up."

"Well it doesn't look like there's been any real damage. Looks like there was a small rock slide and a few stray rocks landed on the track. The train can't have been going fast because of all the turns in the track up here. The carriage looks like it's just been blown over on it's side or something. I mean why do people out here still travel like this? This technology is way outdated."

"Well make it quick then, Al," Alan heard his other brother Virgil chime in. "Grandma was baking cookies this morning. I don't like our chances of Gordon leaving us any if we're gone too long!"

"FAB Virg," laughed Alan. "I'll be out in a flash!"

Alan detached himself from his safety line as the rescue platform came to a halt hovering about two feet above the derailed carriage. After ascertaining that the carriage was stable and the passengers were all out of harms way, he made short work of prying open the carriage door.

"Does anyone need medical assistance?" He called into the carriage. No one answered and so he gestured to the nearest man to come forward. It puzzled Alan that everyone in the train was looking so… blank. Usually by now everyone would be cheering and thanking him, or at least scrambling towards safety. But these people just sat and stared at him vacantly.

"I have a rescue platform here," Alan prodded. "We'll have you safely on board Thunderbird 2 in no time."

The man nearest Alan looked at the other passengers for a moment before beginning to crawl towards Alan. He helped people out and up onto the platform, attaching them to the safety line one by one until the only people left were a man and a woman. The woman seemed to be huddled over herself as if in pain, and the man had his arm around her.

"Do you need help?" Alan enquired, preparing to lower himself into the carriage.

"No, thank you" replied the man in a quiet voice. "We'll be right there."

Alan nodded and turned back to the other victims, ensuring that they were all secured as he waited for the other two to crawl towards the door. As he looked down he could see that the man was now directly below the door. He was speaking to the woman who was just out of Alan's line of sight. As Alan climbed down from the platform and edged nearer he could hear some of what the man was whispering.

"Come on sweetheart, that's it. You have to let go of him now. You can't climb out if you cling on to him like that. That's it, give him to me. That's it."

Confused, Alan took a final step and then knelt down next to the open door, reaching in to help the first of them up. He didn't even have time to stifle a shocked gasp before he found a bundle passed to him.

All he could do was stare in numb disbelief at the tiny, unmoving baby boy in his arms.

Alan hadn't said a word to either of his brothers the entire journey home. He hadn't even looked at his father as he walked from Thunderbird 2's hangar and across the lounge, despite Jeff's concerned voice calling his youngest's name. By that time it was past midnight. He walked straight to his room and shut the door. Of course he didn't sleep and soon he found himself sitting on the beach, much as he was now, watching the sun come up.

Alan's thoughts had been in turmoil. He didn't know what to think, what to feel. He was disgusted with himself. Disgusted that he'd let the messy business of International Rescue become 'normal'. That he'd been too busy thinking about getting home for cookies to really see what had been going on. That he'd held a dead baby in his arms and not even reacted.

It was a baby for goodness sake! An innocent, helpless child. And all he'd been able to do was hold in one arm as he offered the other to its father, pulled him out, and handed the child back with a mumbled 'I'm very sorry'.

And that was that. What should he feel? He felt almost as if he weren't human. That he'd lost a part of himself somewhere along the way.

But then Tin-Tin had been there. She simply sat beside him, not saying anything. As they watched the sun come up together he felt her calm, centring presence wash over him. She always had this effect on him. All the noise just fell away when she was there, and suddenly all he felt was grief for that baby and his poor parents, no older that John or Scott were.

And as he felt her arms close around him and her soft cheek press against his, he had felt the healing tears start to fall.

To Alan a sunrise was almost cathartic. Now whenever he was troubled all he had to do was sit in this exact spot, watch the sun as it made it's way into the morning sky and imagine her arms around him, the smell of coconut in her hair, and everything would go quiet and he would know what he really felt, what he needed to do.

Unfortunately this method no longer seemed to work. It hadn't been working ever since he and Tin-Tin had returned to Tracy Island after the disastrous maiden voyage of SkyShip One. Nothing had made sense since then. He'd been unable to sleep, only dozing fitfully until he inevitably woke in a cold sweat, heart thumping and chest heaving. Once he'd even been crying!

Alan had only been able to figure one thing out since they had returned almost two weeks ago; it was Tin-Tin that was the problem.

The reason his tried and tested method of sinking into the memory of Tin-Tin's soothing embrace failed to ease his mind was that every time he attempted it he was thrown back into his nightmares. The image of Tin-Tin, her face pale with fear, a gun held to her head.

And him helpless to do anything as he heard the gun fire, watched as she fell to the floor, her precious blood pooling around her head…

Alan shook himself back to reality with a gasp. He shuddered as he remembered the dream that had awakened him last night. Of course the dream had not happened. Tin-Tin was safe a sound, most likely in a deep dreamless sleep in the house behind him. He had done as he was told, dropped his gun and everything had turned out fine. His brothers' and Brains had rescued Tin-Tin, Penny, Parker and himself from the criminals who had commandeered SkyShip One.

Alan had always known he cared for Tin-Tin. She was his best friend, his conscience even. And he wasn't naï ve enough to believe that friendship was all there was to it either. He knew he felt more for her than that, that he probably was in love with her. But he also knew that he was young. He was only 21 years old, and he'd already taken on an enormous responsibility by signing on with International Rescue. He just wasn't ready for anything else, and to be honest, he was happy and hadn't given it anymore thought.

Up until two weeks ago that was.

'Okay Alan' he told himself. 'Pull yourself together. You can do this'.

Alan closed his eyes, imagined her arms slide around him. He pushed everything else away. All the fear, all the doubt. There was only her.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that. All he knew was that suddenly someone was calling his name.

He opened his eyes and knew at once that he had now at least figured one thing out for certain. Then the voice came again.

"Mister Alan? Mister Alan, sir. Breakfast is ready."

The blond head turned to see the Tracy family's faithful retainer hovering on the edge of the patio, looking at him in confusion. Alan rose to his feet in one fluid motion and approached the man. He looked the shorter man deep in the eyes and took a deep, calming breath. He knew what he had to do.

"Kyrano, I have something to ask you."

Alan listened to Gordon as he sliced through the water of the pool. His brother's strong arms cut through the water like it was butter, the repetitive motion almost hypnotising Alan. His eyes strayed from his red headed brother to another individual with a dark head of hair, just visible from his position in the lounge, poking over the top of a deck chair.

Taking a deep breath, he headed out of the patio doors and down towards the pool.

"Tin-Tin, would you like to take a walk with me? It sure is a lovely day."

Tin-Tin Kyrano looked up from her sketch pad at Alan Tracy. Studying him carefully she noticed the way he shifted from foot to foot, and the way his blue eyes darted around the room. She knew what that meant, she could read this boy like a book. He was nervous. And knowing Alan, that usually meant he was up to something.

Tin-Tin smirked. Two could play at that game.

"Why of course Alan. What a splendid idea!" The pretty Malaysian girl beamed up at Alan. "Why don't we ask Gordon to join us?"

"NO!" Alan blurted out. Tin-Tin looked at him in mock confusion.

"Why ever not Alan? After all, you did say it was a beautiful day."

"Well, I… I mean… it's just that…"

"Yes, Alan?"

"You see, the thing is Tin-Tin, I wanted to ask you something."

Tin-Tin took pity on him. He looked so perturbed, and seemed sincere in his desire for some privacy with her. She couldn't deny that the baby-faced Tracy had an uncanny knack of making her light up each time he sought out her company.

"Very well, Alan. I shall join you," she replied, setting aside her sketch pad and accepting the hand he offered to pull her to her feet.

They set out along the beach. As soon as they rounded a corner and were out of sight of the villa, Alan gently slipped his fingers around Tin-Tin's small hand. Tin-Tin looked up at Alan shyly, causing him to grin devilishly at her. This only served to make Tin-Tin blush, and Alan to grin even wider.

Tin-Tin was used to this game they played. They adored each other, that much was plain for all to see. And they couldn't be closer if Virgil took one of his welding irons and joined them at the hip. But when it was just the two of them, their relationship became much more openly affectionate. Entirely innocent, but the closeness was expressed in a more physical way. Holding hands, hugging, even kissing at times.

And there was always the teasing and flirting. Alan had a talent for turning the most innocent comment into an innuendo. Tin-Tin had lost count of the number of times one of Alan's ripostes had left her utterly speechless.

That's all it ever was though. Playful flirting. That was all it would ever be, and Alan had made that quite clear during their trip aboard the SkyShip One.

Tin-Tin looked down at their intertwined fingers and frowned. She wasn't sure how long she could allow this to continue. Whatever it was that they were doing, whatever their relationship was, the warmth she always felt when she was with Alan was beginning to turn into an ache. Any hopes she'd had of him expressing a desire for their relationship to go further had been dashed the moment he said it would not be responsible for him to be involved with anyone, due to the dangerous life he led. And one thing Tin-Tin knew was that Alan Tracy took his responsibilities very seriously, no matter what his father might sometimes think.

So telling him she was madly in love with him, and had been since they met, was definitely out.

Feigning a pebble in her shoe, Tin-Tin let her hand fall from Alan's grip and bent down as if to remove it. When she straightened up he held out his hand out to her again. Pretending she didn't see, she walked past him and on up the beach.

"So," Alan began tensely. "What were you working on back there?"

"Alan Shepard Tracy. We have been walking in silence for over an hour now. You got me out here on the pretence of asking me something. I don't pretend to know what this is all about, but I know what it is not about and that is the contents of my sketch book. Now what did you drag me half way across the island to ask me?" Tin-Tin looked at the young astronaut in exasperation.

"I can't ask you, we're not there yet!"

"Where? No Alan, I refuse to take another step until you tell me what this is all about!" The alarmed expression on Alan's face was almost enough to make her laugh.

Alan now found the scuff on his new shoes incredibly fascinating. 'Damn, Alan, grow a back bone!' Alan inwardly cursed himself. 'She knows you too well for this! At least have the courtesy to look her in the eye!' He'd been wracking his brains all day and he still didn't know how to explain what he was thinking. Alan Tracy took a deep breath, looked up, and opened his mouth.

"Well, you see Tin, there's something very important I need to say. And it may come as a shock, and I don't know how you'll react but I have to say it or I'll go mad. And I really don't want this to ruin our friendship because you're the best friend I have and I know this is totally out of the blue but…"

Suddenly she was there in front of him, fingers pressed against his lips. She was so close he could smell that coconut smell that was purely Tin-Tin.

"You're rambling," she breathed, a heart stopping smile on her lips.

Alan looked down into her large emerald eyes and suddenly knew exactly what to say.

"I love you, Tin," he whispered.

Tin-Tin stepped back a pace, naked shock evident on her face. But whatever she felt in that moment in no way compared to the utter disbelief she was about to experience.

"Will you marry me?"

TBC