A/N: This is a piece I wrote back in 2006. I never ended up finishing it because I became stuck. But recently, while watching the new Thunderbirds Are Go! my muse returned, so I thought I would do my best to rewrite this to make it more coherent as well as do my best to finish it. This story is kind of a mash up of the original Thunderbirds, the movie and TAG. As usual I do not own the rights to these characters; I am merely playing in the sandbox. I would appreciate reviews to try and work out what I can to do make this story better.

Originally Published: 14/09/06

Updated: 15/11/2015

...

The golden sun slowly rose of the peak of the mountain, its first rays reaching out and kissing the patio of the Tracy family's tropical home. The only sounds were the morning calls of the diurnal birds as they began their busy day of foraging with the soothing background noise of the waves as they crested the beaches that made up Tracy Island.

Suddenly the peace was disturbed by a loud smash, followed by a shriek coming from inside the dark kitchen of the villa. Two small boys rushed out of the house as quickly as they could, both covered from head to toe in flour, giggling together.

The taller, a red head grinned down at the smaller boy.

"We're gonna be in so much trouble Virgie" John exclaimed, trying to wipe some of the flour of the two of them onto the ground. The smaller boy, Virgil, with a mop of black hair grinned mischievously up at his older brother.

"Oh well," Virgil said, smiling.

Abruptly the door onto the patio opened, and a tall muscular youth exited, pulling a t-shirt over his head as he did.

"What is going on out here?" Gordon Tracy said, quickly scanning the surroundings before stopping dead, frozen in his tracks as he spotted John and Virgil. The two boys also froze at the sight of the unknown elder boy, John grabbing onto his little brothers hand, and subconsciously taking a little step in front of him, shielding him slightly from the stranger with his body.

Gordon stared down, puzzled at the two boys. To his knowledge there should be absolutely no children on the island. But the two in front of him, both easily under eight looked remarkably familiar. His gut clenched as he recognised his brothers both from his foggy memories and pictures the family had. Automatically it seemed, he raised his wrist to his mouth, calling out.

'Dad, Scott, Brains, Alan! You need to get outside quick!" He had absolutely no idea what had happened, and knew that he needed help. Unfortunately John and Virgil started to cry, the stress of the unknown figure standing before them scaring them to tears.

"Hey, hey, it's alright." Gordon soothed, getting down onto his knees to be closer to head height with the little boys. It was what he and his brothers tended to do out on a rescue when they were dealing with children, as they knew they were less scary if they were more approachable.

"My names, Gordon," he smiled, trying to put them both at ease. Slowly the two stopped, with Virgil hiccupping a little. John looked up at the older boy.

"Really? That's our little brothers name."

"Well Johnny. I have the same name as your little brother because I am your little brother." He wasn't sure about doing this, but he figured that they were more likely to trust him if they knew he was their brother. Even if he couldn't explain why he wasn't the way he remembered them, but then again last time he checked both of his brothers were older than him.

"Gordy?" Virgil asked, staring up at the aquanaut in wonder. "Really you?"

"Yeah buddy," Gordon said smiling at the black haired little boy. "It's really me."

"If it's really you Gordy?" John said questioningly. "How come you're bigger than us? You're our little brother, you 'sposed to be little."

"Yeah. " Virgil echoed with a firm nod.

"I don't know Johnny, but we'll find out soon. I promise." He said encouragingly. He opened his arms for a hug, figuring it would be an easier way to keep the two of them calm and Virgil rushed in, snuggling up to him. Up until then John had been looking sceptically at him, but because Virgil seemed to accept the older boy, he decided that he would too. At least for now. And if this Gordon was a threat to his little brother he could always kick him. He too snuggled up into Gordon's arms, taking comfort from the hug.

"Gordon, what's the matter…" Jeff said, his words dying on his lips when he saw what was taking place. Alan, Scott and Brains had all rushed out of the house as well in their pyjamas, coming up short right behind Jeff as they looked on at the scene before them, gobsmacked.

"I-I-Is t-t-that Virgil and J-J-John?" Brains asked hesitantly. He'd only seen a few pictures of them from when they were small, from the ones of them on Jeff's desk as well as the album that Ruth Tracy, the boy's grandmother liked to keep on the island. Gordon nodded at the scientists question, both his arms full with the boys. The water lover looked down when John pulled at his sleeve. The red head was looking up at him, and smiling, put a finger to his lips and pointed over at Virgil, who was asleep on Gordon's shoulder, thumb in his mouth.

Gordon released John from the hug and nudged him gently towards their dad. John's face lit up and he ran over to his father, excited to recognise someone. Gordon then stood up; still carrying Virgil as John hugged his father tightly.

"Hey John. Are you feeling okay?" Jeff said, picking John up. The little boy snuggled into his fathers shoulder, tears of relief leaking out before he smiled.

"Yes daddy. It's just weird. Gordy's bigger than me!" He laughed.

Scott stepped forward hesitantly and looked his immediately younger brother in the eye. "Hey Johnny," he said smiling, "Do you remember me?"

John frowned and leaned forward, poking Scott's cheek with one hand. Scott immediately went cross eyed and stuck out his tongue, causing the red head to laugh with delight.

"Scotty!"

Scott laughed as well and smiling, obligingly took the little boy when his father passed him to him. Jeff leaned down, still smiling and looked at his son. He knew that if he looked scared or worried it would only scare his son.

"That's right Johnny. And that boy over there," he pointed just behind Scott where Alan was hanging back, looking unsure of himself. "Is your baby brother Alan."

"Allie?" John looked very confused. "But he's not a baby!"

"No he's not a baby anymore buddy," Scott said. "In fact there's something funny going on, and we were hoping you could use your big brain to help us out." He grinned, self-satisfied when the little boy puffed up proudly.

"I can help!"

"Johnny, to help we need to know how old you are." Jeff said.

John held up six fingers and smiled. "I'm six!"

"You're six, that's great!" Alan said, still trying to take in what had happened to his older brothers.

"John, do you k-k-know how o-o-o what age Virgil is? That would be really h-h-helpful." Brains said, writing some information down on a tablet he kept with him at all times.

"Virgie is 1-2-3 and a half." John said, counting off his fingers. Scott praised the little boy, while Jeff looked on, allowing a brief glimpse of worry and confusion on his face as John was looking over at the sleeping Virgil, still safely enclosed in Gordon's arms.

Jeff ran a hand through his hair. "What are we going to do?"

...

A/N: Hopefully that is a more cohesive opening to the story than it was previously. I would love to hear your thoughts on the chapter. Please review!