Family Matters

By GrumpyMagrat & Magratconvert

Disclaimer: We do not own the Thunderbirds neither are we making any money off this endeavor. This is strictly for our own enjoyment, and hopefully, the enjoyment of our readers. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 20 – The Answer

Sharon had fallen asleep on the couch in the lounge. Neil was curled up next to her also asleep, with his head in her lap. Jeff walked in and smiled. He couldn't believe how easily Neil had seemed to have bonded with Sharon. He also knew that Sharon was afraid of the dangers of International Rescue. He hoped that she could overcome those fears not just for her's and Scott's sake, but for Neil's too.

Jeff squatted down in front of them. He gently shook his grandson's shoulder. "Hey, Neil, wake up buddy."

Neil rubbed his eyes as he sat up. "Grandpa?"

Sharon also startled awake when Neil moved. She gave Jeff a hopeful look.

"I have some news. Your Dad has been found."

Neil smiled widely. "He's okay? Is he coming home yet?"

Jeff sat on the couch and pulled Neil into his lap. "I don't want you to worry, but your Dad was hurt. Uncle Virgil took him to the hospital. I've talked to the doctor. He told me that your Dad was already in surgery to fix him. He said things are looking good and there shouldn't be any problems. He even figured that he'll be out of surgery by the time we get there."

"I get to go with you?"

Jeff ruffled his hair. "Of course, you do. Now, run and get your overnight bag that your Dad had packed."

After Neil ran off, Sharon looked at Jeff. "Where did they find him? What's wrong with him? And is he really going to be okay?"

"I wouldn't have told Neil that his Dad was going to be okay if I didn't think it was the truth. He was found in a bank vault. He has a couple of broken ribs and one punctured his lung. The resulting bleed caused the lung to eventually collapse."

"That's not good. How long was he without medical intervention?"

"Luckily, when Gordon found him, he had a surgical intern with him who got a chest tube in and re-inflated the lung in pretty short order. The doctor at the hospital said that it was just a small tear that should be easily repairable. The biggest concern is going to be post-operative complications. They're going to keep a close eye on that."

"You said that Gordon found him. Do they other boys know he's been found? His condition?"

Jeff nodded. "Virgil flew him to the hospital. Scott is closing down the rescue scene. They're done and going to be heading home shortly."

"They're not going to the hospital? That surprises me."

"They would've, but I ordered them home. This was a tough rescue both physically and emotionally on top of the other rescue shortly before it. They need rest."

"I bet that went over well."

"I'm sure it didn't, but as the head of International Rescue, I'm responsible for the well being of the entire team. That's what I'm doing. They'll understand eventually."

Neil came running back into the lounge, carrying a small duffle bag. "I got it."

"All right, let's go." Jeff looked at Sharon. "I'll keep you and the boys updated on John's condition. Are you going to be here when we get back?"

Sharon gave a small nod. "Yeah, I'll be here."

Jeff smiled, hoping that meant good things for the family. "Good to hear it." He placed a hand on Neil's shoulder and guided him out of the room.

Sharon curled up on the couch again to wait for Scott to return. She ended up dozing off. The next thing she knew, Scott was shaking her shoulder. She opened her eyes to look into his confused face.

"Hey there, sleepyhead, wouldn't your bed be more comfortable?"

Sharon sat up and stretched her neck to work out a few kinks. "I wanted to talk to you as soon as you got back."

Scott's expression turned to one of concern. "Is everything all right? Did John get worse?"

"No, I haven't heard anything from your dad since he left. This is about us. Is there somewhere we can go to talk privately?"

"We can talk here. The other guys won't be back for a while yet."

Sharon shook her head. "No, how about we go to Kyrano's garden? It's peaceful out there, and I need that right now."

Scott was crestfallen. He knew where this discussion was going to go. She was going to break it off. He shouldn't be surprised. As soon as he heard that John was missing, he was afraid this was going to happen. He had clung, though, to the slim hope that once she saw how they handled the crisis, it would allay her fears.

Suddenly, he felt utterly exhausted. He rubbed his forehead. "Can we talk about this later? I'm really beat."

"I really want to say it now. I might get cold feet and change my mind."

"And that would be a bad thing?" Scott thought to himself, but instead of voicing it he took her hand. "Okay, let's go to the garden."

Once there, they moved to the bench where Sharon and Kyrano had their talk. "Please, sit down," she said. He did as she asked while still holding her hand. She sat down next to him and placed her other hand over his. "The first thing you need to know is how much I love you." Her eyes filled with tears and her voice choked up. She stood and pulled her hand out of Scott's hold. She took a few steps away.

"Sharon? What can I…"

She held up a hand to silence him. "Please, just let me talk. When you first told me about International Rescue, I was shocked and then angry. I felt it was very unfair of you to date me…to let me fall in love with you, even though you have a more dangerous job than Mike had."

"I never meant for that to happen. I wanted to…"

"I know you never meant it. Neither did I. When Mike died…well, I just never thought I could love someone again. Then you came along. Anyways, back to what I was saying. When John disappeared on the first rescue after your proposal, I felt it was fate's way of telling me to run for the hills."

"Oh, here it comes," Scott thought. He didn't say anything, but stared at his hands, letting her continue.

"But then I talked to Neil."

"But?" The word ran through Scott's head. "She said 'but'." A small flicker of hope reappeared in his mind. He shook himself mentally and forced himself back to what Sharon was saying.

"…he didn't realize what that meant to me. Most people would think I was nuts, talking to a five-year-old like that, but he really is more mature for his age."

"He sure is. John was like that growing up too. I found that very irritating at the time."

"Well, it got me thinking. Kat raised him as a single mother, but she had enough documentation about his father for the authorities. Neil was lucky that she had things set so they could find John. Otherwise, he would've ended up in the system. It got me thinking about my kids. There is no one to take care of them if something should happen to me."

Confused thoughts ran through Scott's mind. "Kids? Now where is she going?"

"But is that a good enough reason to marry? Just to have someone to care for my kids if I die? The answer to that is no. It's not fair to use someone like that."

The flicker of hope in Scott was suddenly snuffed out. "Do you want me to take you home?"

Sharon spun around to face Scott again. "No! That's not…I'm really not explaining this right. Okay, bare bones…the one and only reason to get married is if you love someone, and I do. I love you so much, Scott, and I want to be your wife. There's nothing I want more."

The shock was plainly visible on Scott's face. "But…but…what about my job? The dangers? What if I d…you lose me? You'd be widowed again. The kids…"

Sharon placed a finger on Scott's lips to shush him. "I've been thinking about that. There's no guarantee that you're going to die, or even get hurt. We could live a long and happy life together. But if I push you out of my life, we'd all feel the loss of you as if you had died. That's a certainty. I'd be kind of stupid to choose that certainty over just a probability, wouldn't you say?"

Scott stood and grabbed Sharon's hands. "Are you saying what I think you are saying?"

Sharon gave his hands a squeeze. "What I'm saying, Mr. Scott Carpenter Tracy, is if the offer is still good, I'm accepting your marriage proposal."

"Yes, oh God, yes." He picked her up and spun her around, happy tears filling his eyes. He set her down and kissed her soundly. Pulling back, he brushed her cheek. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"I think I do because I feel the same way." The two kissed again.

When they separated again, Scott said. "As much as I want to yell this from a mountaintop, maybe we should keep this our secret until I can talk to my Dad and we can talk to the kids."

Sharon pressed herself against Scott's chest. "Whatever you say, as long as we don't wait too long."

Scott couldn't help himself. He kissed her again and again, on her lips, on her cheeks, down her neck, back to her lips again.

She giggled and pushed him away. "Your Dad said you are to get some rest, so you'd better do it."

He gave her a cheeky grin. "You want to join me?"

She gave him a playful push. "I don't think we can keep it a secret if I do that. Besides, I need to get back to the kids."

"Okay, my soon-to-be wife, I'll see you in the morning."

"I love that."

"Love what? 'soon-to-be wife'?"

She gave him another quick kiss. "Not the 'soon-to-be', just the 'wife' part."

The two separated. Sharon went back to the guest quarters while Scott went to Thunderbird Two's hanger to wait for his brothers. He could barely keep the silly grin off his face while they did the clean-up.

TBTBTBTBTB

One week later, the Tracy family sat around the dining room table. Tin-Tin and Alan were leaving the next day to spend the rest of her pregnancy closer to her doctor. John had been released from the hospital the day before. Thankfully, there had been no post-operative complications. Grandma was also back from visiting her friends in the states.

Over the conversation and laughter around the table, Jeff cleared his throat. Once he had everyone's attention. He motioned to his eldest son. "Scott, here has an announcement to make."

Gordon smirked. "Like we can't guess."

"What, Poppy?" Christina asked.

Tin-Tin placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Poppy's joking. We don't need to guess. Uncle Scott is going to tell us."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Okay, so this might just be a formality," He picked up Sharon's hand. "One week ago, this wonderful, beautiful, caring woman agreed to be my wife."

"A week?" Gordon asked in amazement. "You kept quiet a whole week?"

Virgil laughed. "I guess that would explain why he's been in la-la land all week."

Scott's cheeks reddened. "I wasn't that bad."

"So, why did you keep it a secret all week?" Alan asked.

"We wanted to wait until the whole family was together." Scott then pulled out a small box. "Plus, I wanted this to get back from being sized at the jewelers." He opened it towards Sharon who gasped at the ring inside. It had a center diamond with five more diamonds surrounding it. "This was my mother's engagement ring, and now it's the one that I want to be yours."

"Oh my God," she whispered. "It must be worth a fortune." She looked at Jeff. "Are you sure you want to give it away?"

Jeff smiled. "That ring was built over the years. The original was only the center stone. After John's birth, I took it back and had a craftsman add a diamond for him and Scott. I did that after the births of the other three boys, even Alan's. I knew Lucy would've wanted it that way."

"That's what I mean. It's too precious in memories for me to take."

Scott gave his Dad a kind of "help me" look.

Jeff shook his head. "That ring was meant to be worn. Lucy would love the fact that it is worn by her son's wife. Please take it…for her."

A few tears escaped her eyes as she held out her hand for Scott to slip the ring on. "I'd be honored."

The End

Author's Note - We have finally reached the end of our story. We even gave John an easy recovery, (Bet you didn't see that coming.) and a favorable answer to Scott's proposal.

Now, unto all the "thank you"s that we need to put out. First, and most important is to our beta reader, Lillehafrue. This story would have never made it to the net if we didn't have your support. You helped us to iron out many parts and made this a better story for it. So, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. We love you for everything you've done.

We have appreciated all our readers who have followed us through our story. We hope you enjoyed how we wrapped it up.

We also want to thank everyone who has taken the time to send us reviews throughout the duration. There are some that have been so faithful that we want to give them a thank you by name: Criminally Charmed, Thunderbird 5, ThunderbirdMom, Darkflame's Pyre, JoTracy123, Tikatu, and Trillianaus. Your encouragement to us as we went along meant a lot to us.

Well, this is the end. Until next time. Hopefully, it won't be years.

Thanks, again.

GrumpyMagrat and Magratconvert