A/N: Hi everyone! This was originally an alternative idea for Splash when it was in the early stages, but the idea kept rattling around in my head so I decided to have a go at fleshing it out. I think I may have to start being nice to these guys from now on... Nah, that'll never happen! Oh, and this was entirely written on my tablet, so if the format etc is a bit off, I apologize!

Disclaimer: Thunderbirds are property of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, not me!

It was a beautiful day on Tracy island. The sun was shining, the wind was minimal, and the air was warm but not overly stifling. A perfect day to relax by the pool with a cool drink or to have a long walk along the white beaches. But, unfortunately for the island's main residents, they were far from warm or relaxed. The complete opposite in fact.

"Man, I hate snow." Gordon gasped, leaning on his shovel in an attempt to catch his breath. "How deep does this stuff go?"

"God knows. Just deep digging." Scott growled, jabbing his red-headed brother in the ribs with his elbow. He spoke into his earpiece. "How's it going in there Virge?"

"Cold." Came the gruff reply in their ears. Both he and Gordon nodded in understanding, it couldn't be easy being trapped in a tiny cave, especially when the only entrance was totally blocked.

"How's Alan?" Scott asked, concerned, dumping another shovelful of snow behind him, closely mirrored by Gordon.

"Grumpy." Came the reply. "I've put his arm in a sling for the moment but he's not a happy bunny."

"Understandable. And yourself?"

"Blooming cold. Alan's got the only blanket, but I'm more capable of moving around. We'll both be a lot happier once we're out of here though."

Scott's shovel hit something hard and he stopped. "Well, you'll be glad to know we've just hit rock, so we'll have you out soon."

"Great!" Virgil's voice took on a relieved tone. "Just in time too. I think the torch is almost dead."

"Just hang in there. We'll go as quick as we dare." Scott replied, picking up his shovel again.

"Yeah, the last thing we want to do is cause another avalanche." Gordon added, pausing and looking up at the mountain above them that had caused all the trouble in the first place.

"Mmm..." Virgil agreed. "I'm just glad we managed to find this cave in time."

"You and me both." Scott grunted, chucking another load of snow behind him.

"Although for one horrible moment I didn't think that Alan wasn't going to make it..." Gordon murmured, shuddering at the memory of Alan running for his life across the slippery slope as the bulk of snow bore down on him.

"Well, I did." A pain-filled voice joined their conversation, that of their youngest brother. "Just..."

"Yeah, just." Virgil commented. "Although what Dad's going to make of this is anyone's guess."

"Oh come on! It's just a dislocated shoulder, he's dealt with worse!" Alan retorted.

"Yeah, but he's going to be the one who has to deal with you being grumpy when the rest of us go out on rescues..."

"Stop it, you two!" Scott commanded. The last thing he wanted to happen was a falling out. They all had to work together to get out of this situation. He put down his shovel, having just uncovered a gap in the rock by his feet. He indicated to Gordon to do the same, who did so gladly. "Virge, I think we're through. Can you see any light coming through?"

"Hang on." The sound of shuffling could be heard through their earpieces. "Yeah! I can see it. Wait, I think I can reach it."

A second later a gloved hand popped through and waved at them. Scott dropped to his knees, grabbing out and gripping it tight. "Virge!"

"Yep! Now, can I have my arm back please? It's hard enough to hold on as it is."

Scott hesitated for a second, unwilling to let it go so soon, but he relented, releasing his grip. The hand slid back inside the cave, paired with the sound of someone grunting as they landed back onto the floor. Looking to Gordon, who had now knelt beside him, they both started clearing away the remaining snow by hand.

A minute or so later, they had cleared a large enough gap to get through. Sitting back onto their haunches, they caught their breath for a second.

"Pass me the torch would you, Gords?" Scott asked, holding out a hand, nodding towards the backpack they had discarded in the snow when they had started digging. Gordon nodded, scrabbling back onto his feet and heading towards it. He picked it up and took the torch out of it, throwing it towards his eldest brother.

"Thanks." Scott shifted forwards so he was lying in his stomach. He popped his head through the gap, to be greeted by darkness. It looked like their torch had finally died. Grabbing his torch, he turned it on, pointing it into the cave.

"Damn, that's bright.' Alan hissed as the beam hit his face, covering his eyes with his good arm, the other hanging limply in the sling.

Scott cast the light all around the area, assessing the situation. His brothers were in a small alcove, it was too small to call a cave really, about 10 feet below at the bottom of a pile of snow, the top of which he was looking down from. Alan was sitting on a rocky outcrop, wrapped in a thermal blanket, whilst Virgil was standing just below where Scott was, not really having any other place to go after sliding back down from the gap in the snow.

Scott shone the torch towards his middle brother, who squinted under the harsh light. "Virge, I'm coming down."

"OK." He replied, moving to the side as much as possible to let Scott have a clear landing. There was just enough room for four of them. "Be careful, its a steep slide down."

Scott nodded, wriggling back out until he could sit up. He looked towards Gordon, who was sitting next to him, looking at him for instructions.

"Gords, I'm going in. Can you head back to Two and grab the winch kit for me. Get in contact with John and Dad on the way and inform them of the situation. Ok?"

"FAB." The aquanaut answered. He scrambled onto his feet and disappeared into the swirling snow to where Scott and Virgil had landed the two Thunderbirds at what now seemed an age ago, but had in fact just been a couple of hours.

As the red-head carefully picked his way down the slippery slope, Scott wriggled back into the gap, this time feet first. Clamping the torch between his teeth, he pushed off the side. He slid quickly down the pile of snow, landing in an undignified heap on the rock floor below, much to the amusement of the two occupants.

"Welcome in." Virgil snorted with laughter, offering out a gloved hand and pulling the field commander back onto his feet.

"Thanks." Scott grunted, taking the torch out of his mouth and stuck it into the snow before curling a grateful arm around Virgil's shoulders. "You weren't kidding about it being steep. I see why you needed your hand back."

"Yeah, well, now I need a hand from you." Virgil returned the hug, glad to not be stuck anymore. "Or rather, Alan does. It'll take two of us to do it." He pointed towards their younger brother, whose head shot up in alarm at the medic's words, followed by a bitten off curse as his shoulder protested against in the sudden movement.

"What? Aw, no no no. Please, no!" He begged, trying to shift further along the ledge he sat on, away from what he knew was about to happen.

"What do you need me to do?" Scott asked, moving to sit beside his young brother, who clutched at his coat with his good arm and started sobbing, which automatically made the field commander wrap his arms protectively around him.

"Well, exactly what you're doing actually." Virgil admitted. Trust Scott to get Alan in the perfect position without even realising it. "We need to get his shoulder back in."

"No! Nonono!" Alan sobbed, trying to bury himself further into Scott's coat, his voice muffled by the material.

"Alan... You know this needs to be done." Virgil soothed, taking off his backpack and kneeling down beside the pair. Scott released his grip slightly to allow Virgil access to Alan's arm, causing the young blond to shy away and sob even harder.

"C'mon Sprout. It'll be for the best. Honest." Scott encouraged, rubbing his hand up and down his baby brother's back. "Tell you what. How about we stop for ice-cream on the way back. You know, from your favourite place in Rome. We're only in the Alps, its not that far if we go in One." He placed a gentle hand under Alan's chin and lifted his head up so he could look into the blue tear-filled eyes. "Would you like that?"

"Had enough of ice..." Alan sniffed, burying his head back into the coat again.

Scott looked at Virgil, who shrugged in bemusement. Alan hardly ever turned down the offer of free ice cream.

"How about pizza then?" Scott suggested, trying another tactic. There had to be something.

Alan stop sniffling for a moment as he thought. "Can I have both...?" He eventually muttered, barely loud enough to be heard.

"Sure!" Scott exclaimed, shooting a look of relief to his middle brother, who nodded back. He turned his attention back to his blond brother. "But first, I need you to let us do this first."

Alan sniffed, still clinging to Scott's coat for all he was worth.

"I know it'll hurt, but it'll be worth it." Virgil soothed as he carefully took a hold of the injured arm. Alan tried to shift away, but was stopped by the strong arms wrapped around him.

"Just a few seconds kid." Scott encouraged. "Just a few seconds, and then its all-you-can-eat pizza and ice cream. Not too bad a deal really. And Virge knows what he's doing. I can vouch for that."

"M'ok" The eventual muffled reply they were waiting for came from the depths of the coat, and they breathed a sigh of relief. "Bribery. Always works." Scott mouthed, to which Virgil nodded in agreement.

"We'll be quick as possible, promise." The medic said, swiftly undoing the sling and slowly moving his brother's arm into the best position to relocate it. "Scott. Could you...?"

Scott nodded in understanding and shifted so he was holding Alan firmly around the waist as Virgil checked his grip.

"Right. Ready?"

Alan didn't reply, but nodded reluctantly, keeping himself as close to Scott as possible.

"Ok. On three. One."

Alan let out a single sob, and Scott planted an encouraging kiss into the scruffy blond mop.

"Two."

Alan tensed up slightly, sucking in a ragged breath, clinging to Scott as tight as possible.

"Three!"

Scott held on as well as he could as Virgil wrenched the arm back into place, causing Alan to let out a piercing scream, which echoed around the small enclave, leaving their ears ringing. Having popped the joint back in, Virgil quickly put the arm back into the sling. As soon as his arm was strapped into place across his chest, Scott moved Alan into his lap, where he comforted the young man as he sobbed, rocking him back and forth in his arms, just as he had done when Alan had been a child.

After a few minutes Alan had exhausted himself entirely and Scott stopped rocking and looked down, and was greeted by a tear-stained face looking back up at him.

"I think that deserves at least a double-scoop." He said softly. "What do you reckon Virge?"

"Oh at least." Virgil agreed, standing and brushing himself down. "I would go as far as to say even a triple-scoop."

"One of each flavour?" Alan sniffed, a small smile on his face.

"One of each flavour." Scott nodded, hugging his brother tight. "With sprinkles!"

"Mmm..." Alan let his head sink back into Scott's chest, his eyes closed, imagining the enormous ice cream that awaited him as soon as he got out of there.

"Well done Kid." Virgil ruffled the blond head that was visible above Scott's arms, just as a familiar red head popped through the gap above them.

"Bloody Hell!" Gordon exclaimed, shining another torch down into the rocky cell. "What on earth did you guys do to him? You almost caused another avalanche! Thought I was gonna have to book it..."

"Ah, sorry about that!" Virgil replied. "We had to get Alan's arm back in. And there was really only one way of doing that!"

"Ouch!" Gordon winced in sympathy. "Rather him than me..." He disappeared for a second, and reappeared holding a harness in front of him. "Here, catch!" He threw the harness, which was attached to a climbing rope, down to them. "Who wants to go first?"

"Alan." Scott said with no hesitation, to which Virgil agreed. But Alan didn't. Instead his clung on tighter, not wanting to be separated from the comforting grip of his brother. "Let Virge go first." He muttered, his face still buried in Scott's, now rather damp, coat.

Scott looked up at his middle brother, who shrugged, not fussed either way. In fact, he couldn't wait to get out.

"Oh, alright. Virge, go."

"Sure." The medic replied, bending down to pick up both the harness and his backpack. Swinging the pack over one shoulder, he expertly strapped himself into the harness, before looking upwards to where Gordon was waiting. "Ready Gords!"

"Ok, one moment!" Gordon replied, disappearing again. A few seconds later the sound of an electric engine echoed in from outside and Virgil found his feet leaving the floor as he was hoisted upwards. Soon he had reached the gap at the top and he scrambled through in the waiting arms of his immediate younger brother.

"Good... to see you too... Gords." He gasped in the crushing hug. "Can...I...breathe please?"

"What? Oh, sorry!" Gordon apologised, releasing his brother.

"It's ok." Virgil said as he got himself out of the harness. "I didn't need those ribs anyhow."

Gords smiled. It seemed that being stuck under snow hadn't affected Virgil's sense of humour. "Ah, ribs grow back. Now hurry up and get out of that thing, would you?"

Virgil laughed and scrambled out of the harness, chucking it back to Gordon, who dropped onto his stomach and threw it back to where their two remaining brothers were still waiting.

Back below the ground, Scott moved Alan back onto the ledge next to him. He lent over and picked up the harness off of the ground, then carefully guided Alan's feet into it. Taking a hold of his brother, Scott slowly got him onto his feet, where he stood wobbling as Scott finally unwrapped him from the thermal blanket and strapped him in as well as he could.

"Ok Gords." He called up, and the red-head gave a thumbs-up and disappeared again. Soon Alan found himself rising upwards and had soon left the oldest alone in the small rocky alcove.

He wasn't alone for long though. Pretty much as soon as Alan had cleared the gap the harness came hurtling in again, and he wasted no time in getting into it, grabbing his torch and the thermal blanket as he did so. As soon as he shouted the affirmative, his feet left the ground and a few seconds he found himself blinking in the harsh light reflecting off the snow outside.

"Well done Gords." He said, clapping a hand on the Aquanaut's shoulder. "Did you get in contact with Dad?" He asked, curious as to whether his brother had carried out all his instructions, undoing the harness at the same time.

"Oh yeah. John too. They seemed pretty calm about it. Well, John was. Dad sort of was once he realised no-one was in grave danger. He did ask a million questions about Alan's arm though."

"What did you tell him?" Alan asked as he was wrapped back up in the blanket by Scott.

"Oh, told him we'd probably be doing a detour to the hospital on the way home to get it re-set. And told him not to worry about meeting us there as well, which he agreed to surprisingly. He'd cut the connection long before Alan started screaming."

"Perfect!" Scott exclaimed. That would mean that their father wouldn't ask questions about why they would be late home. "Come on Sprout, Rome awaits!" He wrapped an arm around a still wobbly Alan, and together they picked their way down back towards Thunderbird One below.

Puzzled, Gordon turned to Virgil, who was packing away the winch kit. "Rome? Why Rome? There's loads of hospitals closer than that."

"Oh, they're not going to the hospital. Not yet anyway. Scott told Alan he'd get pizza and ice cream if he let me put his arm back in."

"Figures." Gordon muttered, bending down and lifting up the winch engine. Alan could always be bribed with food.

"Wanna tag along?" Virgil asked as he put on his backpack. "Scott's paying."

"Free pizza AND ice cream? Hell yeah!" Gordon grinned.

"Come on then. If we're quick we should get there about the same time!" And they scurried off down the slope, the prospect of free food making the heavy equipment they carried seem as light as a feather.

"But Daaad!" Alan whined as the sofa disappeared through the floor. "Its my Thunderbird!"

Jeff Tracy pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. He had thought that Alan had grown out of his childish stage, but it seemed he had been proven wrong. "I know it's your Thunderbird Alan, but you're in no state to fly it. And that's final!"

Alan pouted and stormed out onto the balcony, careful not to bash his strapped up arm on the doorframe as he went. It had been a week since his close call in the avalanche, a week of not being allowed on rescues, which he found hard at the best of times. But the current call-out really took the biscuit. There had been a urgent problem on the International Space Station and International Rescue were the only ones who could get there in time, and so it was Thunderbird 3, Alan's baby, that was required. And with him currently one-handed, there was no way he would have been able to fly it, and so that honour had instead fallen to Gordon, someone who was more used to piloting something a lot smaller and yellower.

A deep rumbling reverberated around the island and Alan tensed up, gripping the railing in front of him with his good hand. He narrowed his eyes as the red rocket shot up through the roundhouse a few moments later.

"GORDON! You're flying it wrong!" He yelled at the rocket, noticing that Gordon had been a split second too late at changing the trajectory. Not that a split second really mattered, but it was the principle of the thing.

Back inside the lounge, Jeff sighed as he saw his youngest son shaking his fist as the rocket as it took off. He turned to the wall of portraits, focusing back onto the one that was active.

"What's he going on about now?" His other blond son, John, asked, having heard the shout.

"God knows. How long is it until you two swap around?"

"Couple of weeks probably." John replied, a wry smile on his face. He was glad he was up in Thunderbird 5, he didn't have to deal with a grumpy Alan. "Whenever Virgil gives him the all clear."

"Not soon enough." Jeff grumbled.

"Well, try not to strangle him between now and then." Came the reply, just as Alan came barrelling back through the door and swept through the lounge and disappeared into the house, evidently on his way to take his rage out on something.

"No promises." Jeff growled, wincing as the sound of something breaking came from the kitchen. "That sounded expensive..."

"Ah, just leave him to Grandma, she'll sort him out." John remarked, leaning back in his chair.

"Come on, that would be cruel." The Tracy patriarch stood and started to make his way towards the next room. "He is injured after all."

But before he could cross the room, then shrill voice of his mother cut through the whole villa. "ALAN SHEPARD TRACY! What have you done to my best vase? Get back here, young man!"

"On the other hand..." Jeff did an about-turn and sat back behind his desk. "I believe there is some important paperwork that desperately needs my attention."

John laughed. "Her best vase? Bet you 50 that she'll catch him."

"No bet John. Only God can help him now...'