Hi. Okay, so here I am, venturing out into the world beyond SN. See what happened was, I moved and in doing so, was without TV for quite awhile. That led me to Hulu where I watched many TV shows online. Then I got bored and ventured into their movie section where I saw a movie entitled, "Thunderbirds". One movie, fifty pages of fanfic, and about thirty reruns of a 60s TV show involving puppets later, I was hooked.

This particular story was originally quite different. I ended up scrapping the first three versions of it before writing this and finally being happy with it. I have to seriously thank Phx who so willingly helped me out by reading and helping me shine up several versions of this story- AND she was willing to help me even before she knew much about the Thunderbirds. Now, of course, she's written three stories- all in the time it's taken me to finish the one. But heaps of thanks go to her for her support!

"Virgil! We were supposed to leave five minutes ago!"

It was time. Stealthily, I grabbed my gun and hid behind the nearest sculpture. Based on the volume of the voices, my prey would be in range fairly soon.

"The tie I was wearing had a stain and I couldn't find my other red one."

"So wear the black one."

"I am!"

The voices grew louder as their owners walked towards the door. Slowing my breathing, I gently placed my finger on the trigger and set my aim.

As if in slow motion, the sliding doors opened and two distinguished looking men in expensive suits stepped through them. Once outside, they stopped, looking around. Seeing I had a shot, I wasted no more time. With a war cry, I fired.

Blue ink flew through the air, landing in lines across my brothers' brand new Armani suits. My aim had been true and their once bright white button-down shirts now sported uneven blue stripes. I watched as the dark liquid slowly spread, saturating the fabric.

"You, you asshole!"

Stifling my laughter, I looked up at the red face of my oldest brother. His teeth were grit together so hard that the pressure was causing the vein in his forehead to pop out and throb. My eyes moved to my other brother, Virgil, who appeared less angered and more in disbelief as he studied his now blue shirt.

"Gordon! What the hell? Do you have any idea how expensive these suits are? Not to mention that we're already late."

I snorted, unable to continue repressing my laughter. Seeing Scott get all worked up over nothing was one of the things I enjoyed most in life. Besides, given the amount my brothers had probably spent on their suits, someone had to make sure their priorities were in check.

Next to him, Virgil sighed and then rubbed his head. "Well, I'm screwed. I can't go now. This was the only appropriate outfit that I had."

Scott looked over at him, shaking his head in his barely controlled anger. "It's the same for me."

He turned back to me and began to move forward. Unable to hide my smile, I jogged backward to keep out of his reach. The area around the pool was slippery, but my bare feet certainly gave me enough traction. I looked down at Scott's newly-bought, $1600 Gucci loafers. It was doubtful that there'd be much grip on those.

Sure enough, just as I thought it, Scott slipped, windmilling his arms as he regained his balance. Once again steady, he stopped walking and glared at me. Pointing a finger, he resumed his tirade. "You know what? You are the most selfish jerk I've ever met. So what is it? You're angry because father only had two invitations and chose to bring Virgil and myself? I can't imagine why he didn't pick you to represent the company."

I rolled my eyes. It was amazing that I grew up with Scott considering how little he seemed to know about me. Waving him off, I walked toward him. "I don't want to go. Dressing up in ridiculously expensive suits and dancing with the most pretentious people of the world is not my idea of a good time." I pointed to the pool. "Now, having the pool and the house to myself for the evening, on the other hand..."

"So what the hell was this about?"

My eyes turned to Virgil as he approached me, motioning at his ink-stained shirt. He looked genuinely upset and I suddenly felt remorseful.

I sighed. "It's disappearing ink. It'll go away within five minutes and leave no trace that it was ever there."

Scott stepped toward me, as though he was about to point something out that I hadn't thought of. He would never be able to, I always think of everything.

"Even on silk?"

Why his shirt was silk, I had no idea. My feeling is silk shirts are for women, but whatever, to each his own. I met his challenge. "Yes, silk too. I checked it out with the company knowing what a girl you are." I pointed at the lightening stain. "See? It's already going away."

Smiling again, I turned to walk away when I heard my brother yelling once again. "That doesn't make this okay. You can't act like an asshole and expect us to just accept it because it's disappearing ink!"

I sighed and turned back. "What is the problem, Scott?"

This time Virgil spoke. "The problem is, we're all ready late, these are very expensive suits, this is all ready a stressful event, and you've done nothing but make it harder for us."

Scott added, "Just because something says it won't stain silk, doesn't mean that's true. I can't believe you would do this. Do you know how much this cost? This suit was over-"

I interrupted him, throwing my arms out. "Fine. If the suit's ruined, I'll pay for it." Then I looked down at his once again, white shirt. "Oh look, no stain." I did a mock wipe of my brow. "Phew, guess I really bit that bullet, huh? And I was really worried there..."

Scott's red face turned purple. "You know what?!"

If there was anymore to that statement, I never heard it. The next thing I knew, I was falling backwards into the pool. Courtesy shove from an angry older brother. Going down, I couldn't help but smirk, Scott was going to be so pissed when I hit the water and splashed him. Disappearing ink doesn't stain, but chlorine does...

Suddenly, a blinding pain ripped through the back of my head and I hit the water.

Immediately, my hands went to the back of my head as I slowly sunk down through the water. I was curled in a ball, that much I was aware of, but the burning pain in the back of my skull made it really difficult to notice anything else. My eyes scrunched shut and my neck muscles tightened. I held my breath, waiting for the intense pain to pass.

When the pain didn't subside, I uncurled my body, taking a gasping breath...of water. Fluid filled my nose and mouth and once again I found myself in a floating ball, trying to cough it up. The pain in my head was completely forgotten as my body suddenly realized I was drowning. I moved my arms around, but I seemed to be surrounded by the wet substance. It felt like I was floating on my side, but I couldn't figure out where the air would be. And my legs weren't much of a help since they seemed to have glued themselves together and wouldn't uncurl from my body. Briefly I wondered if I had been tied up.

My chest was burning and even in the dark liquid encompassing me, I knew tears were leaking from my eyes. With every cough, more fluid entered and if my eyes had been open, I knew my vision would be growing dark. With only water in my lungs now, my muscles were losing strength and control.

The tightness in my legs was disappearing and I could feel them floating out of their stiff position. Then, something hard and uncomfortable scratched against my skin. My arms were pulled away from my body and the scratchy substance made its way in my armpits and around my chest.

The water seemed to be flowing differently now, but the change in motion had no effect on my starving lungs. I wasn't even sure that I was coughing anymore.

Suddenly, my head felt different- colder and lighter. I coughed again, but this time, the sound of it reached my ears. And then? Air. Oxygen came in, mixing with the water in my heavy chest. I choked and gasped, the desperation of my body throwing my diaphragm into overdrive. The coughs were coming so quickly now that I was starting to panic. It seemed that the air could barely enter my lungs before my body was forcing it back out again.

Desperate for more oxygen, I coughed harder- too hard, the choke turned into a gag and I threw up. My hand pressed down and I noticed, unexpectedly, that there was concrete underneath me. I choked and retched again, each breath raking in in a high-pitched double spurt.

It seemed like minutes before my chest unclenched and the pulse that was beating through my head slowed its pace. The energy was draining right out of me. I could feel my muscles losing their tone, sagging into the concrete that I was laying on.

Curious about that, I cautiously blinked open my eyes. It was more difficult to do than I had anticipated, my tears seemed to have glued the lids together. It took a little work, but I did get them open. Still recovering, my next breath was too deep and I was once again consumed by a coughing fit.

As I choked, I took in the sights around me. The first thing that I noticed was that my hand was not pressing down on concrete, but instead, laying on the back of another hand. I sucked in more air as my eyes left the hand, followed the attached suited arm, and found the face of my oldest brother. He was looking at me, his head bobbing at the edge of the pool and I stared back, willing my eyes to stay open. My near-drowning had sapped almost all of my strength and it was a fight not to let my eyes slip closed.

Scott's eyes left mine and moved above me. "His head?"

I only then realized that there was a hand on my shoulder and another on my back, keeping me in a sideways position. They couldn't be Scott's hands; his were in front of me. Sensing that this matter was under control, I gave in to my exhaustion.

"No, no, Gordon. Keep them open."

With more effort than I wanted to expend, I lifted my eyelids to half mast. My breathing was much calmer now, although every now and then I'd breathe too deeply and end up coughing again.

A voice sounded from above me. "There's a bump already forming. How's his awareness?"

That was Virgil, he must have been the one keeping me on my side.

Scott's face swam up in front of me. "Gordon?"

My eyes focused on him briefly before an overwhelming sense of fatigue crippled me and Scott faded. A cold, wet hand landed on my face. "Gordon, open your eyes."

I didn't even have the strength to try. I did notice, however, that the throbbing, burning, pain was once again radiating through my skull. And now tremors were covering my body, although I couldn't tell if it was from the cold or the pain.

"Gordon-"

"Scott, get out of there and help me get him down to sickbay. He's got water in his lungs, probably in his stomach, and I want to do a ct-scan to check for a skull fracture. This is swelling fast."

The sounds of sloshing water filled my ears and I grimaced as it suddenly seemed to be raining on me. Before I had time to react to the sudden change in weather, four hands grabbed me and pulled me upright. The pain in my skull fired through my body with an intensity I couldn't imagine.

I heard myself cry; felt my hand grasp my brother's dripping-wet suit. I tried to pull away from them to get back down to the concrete where the pain wasn't threatening to rip my head off.

The hands fumbled around me and it was only my own grip that stopped me from falling hard. Somehow, I made it back down to the ground, lying back on my side with my hand still wrapped in my brother's jacket. My eyes clenched shut and I squeezed harder on my brother's arm- in pain.

Virgil's voice was soft behind me. "Gordon?" Then his hand was gentle on my back. "Relax. Breathe slow and relax."

I wished I knew what happened; what got me into this state. To be honest, I wasn't even sure where I was- only that Scott and I had been in water. Were we on a mission?

"No. We're at home."

I shivered. Was Scott reading my mind now? What was going on?

"You hit your head on the edge of the pool when I pushed you in. You're confused...probably a concussion-"

"Hopefully not a skull fracture."

Now there were two voices. Who was the other one?

"Virgil. Come on Gords, if you're going to forget one of us, it should be Scott. He's the one who pushed you in-"

"I'm also the one who jumped in and pulled him out."

I swallowed, suddenly feeling extremely nauseous. I didn't want to move. I wanted to die right where I was.

"Uh, that's not an option-"

"Dying anywhere is not an option."

I relaxed my death grip on Scott's arm. The throbbing pain was beginning to recede from my head, a dulling numbness taking it's place.

"Gordon, I know you don't want to move, but we've got to get you downstairs. Virgil's worried about your head."

I blinked open my eyes and spoke. "I don't understand."

Scott was talking to me. "You hit your head. We need to check it out downstairs."

I heard him, but I couldn't figure out where downstairs was or why we needed to go there. "Where's downstairs? Scott, I don't understand."

Now his hand was gripping my arm. He looked over my shoulder at something and his frown deepened.

A voice came from behind me. "He seems to prefer this position. Can we get him down keeping his head level with his heart?"

Scott nodded. "Baskethold."

The voice spoke again. "No. There's too much water still in his lungs, I can hear it in his chest. He can't be on his back; he needs to be able to cough up as much as possible."

There was a moment's silence and I had just began to drift off when I heard a rustling behind me. Before I could determine what it was, something soft was covering me. It smelled like my brother Virgil. I sighed and closed my eyes, my shivers slowing in the new-found warmth.

"We can't just sit here. Let's try again, we'll go slower this time."

Despite the fuzziness surrounding my brain, that I understood. I didn't want to be moved! Immediately, my head resumed pounding, the pulse from my sky-rocketing blood pressure beating its way through my skull.

Something cold and wet was pushed under my head and around my back – Scott? – and I was slowly lifted into a seated position. I had very little strength and even less motivation to hold my head up. It flopped limply against my brother's soggy shoulder and my shivers picked up.

The soft covering that was keeping me warm suddenly vanished and I gasped, sending myself into another coughing fit. In my current position, every cough rattled through my skull sending shock waves of pain through my body. I groaned and pushed my head hard against my brother. I just wanted the pain to go away.

Warmth returned to me as something was placed over my shoulders. Then, I heard my brothers' count to three and felt myself being lifted into a standing position. I wasn't fully upright before everything went black.