A/N: I made myself a personal goal - to finish this story before the reboot of Thunderbirds airs. Well, I've done it. Sort of. In fact, I'm watching it now!

Thanks to everyone who has read this story and been patient with me to get around to finishing it! It's certainly the longest thing I've ever written.

And on that note, let's get this show on the road!

"Seriously?"

A stream of toffee sauce slowly slithered forgotten from Alan's spoon onto the table as both he and John listened eagerly to the day's events.

"Yeah, seriously!" Scott grinned, shovelling another gooey glob of pudding into his mouth before continuing. "There I was standing in the street-"

"Scott, don't talk with your mouth full." Jeff scolded from across the table.

"Sorry." He mumbled stickily as he swallowed. "Anyway, there I was, machinery rumbling around me, people working, shouting, talking, but yet I could faintly hear something high-pitched. I couldn't quite work out what it was, but I thought it was coming from one of the half-collapsed buildings that the rescue teams had been dealing with on their own. Virge couldn't hear anything though. Musta thought I was going mad."

"I said no such thing!" Virgil protested around his own mouthful of pudding, much to his father's exasperation.

"You certainly thought it very loudly. Well, anyway, I could hear something. I was sure of it. I checked with the rescue team assigned to that building, they said that it had been called clear about an hour before, but something was nagging at me. Gords was no help..."

"Hey! I was doing my best!" Gordon huffed, his arms crossed tightly across his chest as he glared at Virgil, who was starting on a second helping of pudding, his helping. "I just couldn't pin-point any life-signs in the building, there were too many people around."

"Actually, you could have done," Scott pointed out. "You just weren't pressing the right buttons."

"Nice of you to tell me at the time..."

"I did have other things on my mind at time you know."

"Oh I know! I saw you making goo-goo eyes at that cute girl."

"I was not! And anyway, how do you know what I was looking at? You were on top of a hill!"

"Because I can press the right buttons, including the one that activates the long-range camera!"

"Boys..." Jeff growled, shutting the two of them up instantly. The table was no place for an argument to break out. "Scott, I believe you were telling us about this building?" He said, steering the conversation back on track.

"Yeah, well, despite what I had been told, something was still nagging at me, so I did what I had to do, I went in."

"Dragged me in too." Virgil muttered without thinking.

"Hey, you followed without protest." Scott said, causing a look of panic on his brother's face. They both looked towards their father, expecting him to go ballistic about the fact that not just one, but two of his sons had risked their lives and gone back into a dangerous structure that could have potentially collapsed at any second, just to chase a sound that may or may not have been real. But instead, Jeff just looked at each of them for a second before waving for them to continue. He was too tired after the long and difficult mission, all he wanted to do was eat and then collapse into a soft bed.

Taking a leaf out of Gordon's book and giving his older brother a dose of the evil eye, Virgil continued. "Well, turns out Scott was right, once we were inside and away from the noise, I swore could hear something too. It sounded like wailing, reckoned it was a cat or something. Well, we had to do something, it could have been trapped or hurt, so we went to find it."

"Wasn't easy." Scott took over. "By the sounds of it, it was coming from upstairs, and there was rubble all around, not to mention the fact that the remaining structure was making a lot of worrying noises. Somehow, the staircase was pretty much intact and we managed to get up without incident. It was only when we got up there we realised it definitely was not a cat, or any other four-legged creature for that matter. It was, of all things, a baby."

A wave of surprise shot around the table, culminating at Alan who started choking due to inhaling his food, but a quick and painful thump on the back from a loving brother soon sorted that out.

"A baby!" Jeff exclaimed, completely foregoing his rule about talking with a full mouth. "How the hell did the rescue team completely overlook a baby?"

"God knows." Scott replied shaking his head. "But trust me, before we left, we made sure to have a few strong words with them..."

A snort made them all shift their attention around the table towards Virgil who was trying not to laugh through the extra-large spoonful he had just put in his mouth.

"Virgil?" Jeff asked, raising an eyebrow. "Something you'd like to add?"

With all eyes now fixed on him, Virgil swallowed noisily and grinned, gooey sauce still stuck to his teeth. "No, no. Nothing at all! Let's just say that it was more than a few words, and they most definitely were strong!"

"Man, I am stuffed!" Virgil sighed as he flopped sideways onto the sofa, taking up all three seats.

"Maybe you shouldn't have eaten so much then, eh Fatman?" Alan teased as he took a flying leap over the back of the sofa and landed straight on top of Virgil's very full stomach, eliciting a loud groan of protest.

"Gerroff!" Virgil grabbed his younger brother around the waist, intending to throw him off onto the floor. But, unfortunately, Alan was no longer the little kid he had once been, he had grown into a strong young man, and now used his strength to his advantage. Unable to disengage from the sudden grip his youngest sibling had on him, Virgil found himself falling off the sofa as well, straight into an impromptu wrestling match. Unhindered by a full stomach, and having had a day full of frustration to draw upon, Alan soon gained the upper hand and within seconds was once again sitting on top of Virgil's stomach, this time pinning him to the floor.

"You're slipping Virgie." Alan chuckled, ducking back from the fist thrown in his direction. "Admit it, you're getting old. Out of shape!"

At that, Virgil attempted to sit up and grab his brother again, but Alan simply shifted so his knee dug sharply into Virgil's diaphram, making him gasp out in pain.

"Definitely out of shape." Alan stated. "So, tell me, how on earth did you manage to get Gords to give you his toffee pudding? I mean, I thought I had tried every trick in the book and he's never given it up that easily!"

"Trickery, lies, deceit..." Gordon listed off as he slowly limped into the game room, easing himself into a comfortable armchair in front of the TV. "...General assholery, take your pick."

"Trade secret." Virgil hissed, ignoring Gordon, instead glaring at Alan. "Now, get off, I need to breathe."

Giving one last sharp jab with his knee, Alan rolled off, leaving Virgil groaning and gasping. He stood up just in time for Scott, who was just walking in, to see him pop up from in front of the sofa.

"Alan? What were you doing down there?" He asked.

"Learning Virgil's secrets." The young blond stated simply as he walked over to the vast game collection. "So Gords, what do you feel like playing. Zombie shooter? Space adventure?"

"Anything with lots of indiscriminate violence..." The red-head replied. "I've got the need to exact revenge on something..."

Leaving his two youngest brothers to it, Scott leaned on the back of the sofa and looked down at Virgil, who opened his eyes and stared straight back.

"Giving away your secrets now are you? Bad idea. " Scott asked. He moved around the sofa as Virgil coughed. " Are you ok down there?"

"I'm fine." Virgil grunted as he sat up, rubbing his chest. "Alan just had a better angle, that's all."

"Uh-huh. Of course he did." Scott grabbed his brother's hand and hauled him up. "Now, if you're finished lying around, John wants to talk to you."

"Does he?"

"Yeah, he's waiting outside. My best guess, he's had enough of sick bay and to be discharged."

"I see... He's certainly a true Tracy... No sooner is he in sick bay then he wants to leave, and damn the consequences on his health!"

Virgil turned to go, but Scott grabbed him by the shoulder and faced him.

"C'mon Virge, give the guy a break. You've seen for yourself, he's healing well and he seems to have gotten over his fever. Besides-"

"Scott!" Virgil cut him off. "Scott, I was joking!"

"Oh."

"I agree with you. He seems ready. A few weeks R+R in the sun and he'll be back to duty before you know it."

"Oh!"

Three weeks later.

The loud splash that had herelded his entry into the water had been replaced by the fizz of bubbles rushing past his head and the sound of blood rushing in his ears. The cold water enveloped him as he sunk head first into the depths, the surface and the sunlight above him getting farther and farther away.

He let a stream of air out of his nose, trying to relieve the pain building up in his chest, but all it did was remind him of the lack of oxygen in his lungs.

And just as he gave up hope, he hit the bottom.

With a last bit of strength he flipped over, pushed off from the cold floor and shot upwards.

Towards the sunlight.

Towards life.

His lungs were screaming at him now. He fought the urge to take a deep breath in.

Closer.

Darkness was starting to creep into the edges of his vision.

Closer.

He broke the surface, spluttering, taking in a glorious deep breath of fresh air. He floated onto his back, too drained to do anything else. He had made it, he was alive.

"Jesus Christ!" Came a shout from nearby, and he looked to see Gordon treading water beside him. "I thought you were never going to come up!"

"I did it though." John gasped. "I got to the bottom. I didn't die."

"Hey, I'm all for personal goals." Gordon shrugged as he turned onto his back and floated alongside. "And if your goal was to overcome your wariness of deep water and make it to the bottom of the pool's deep end, well, so be it. Just be glad neither Scott or Virgil saw you do that. They would kill you."

"Or Dad..."

"Yeah, or Dad."

They both lasped into silence, simply floating there, staring up at the clear sky above them.

"It's a shame you have to back to Five tomorrow." Gordon sighed.

"I know..." John said. "But I did request my return to duty, so I can't really ask for a few more days off now, can I?"

"Had enough of everyone fussing over you?"

"God, yes!"

Gordon went back to treading water and grabbed John around the waist, a face-splitting grin on his face.

"Well, then, in that case, back to business?"

With a laugh, John took Gordon by the shoulders.

"Back to business."

Both of them took a deep breath, and with a kick off the side of the pool by Gordon, they plunged into the water, leaving behind a loud and resounding splash.