#lucille tracy

[astranite]

WIP I remembered it’s Wednesday!

A short bit of a young Virgil and Lucy from what is going to be a fic for Scott’s week of fab five feb and the prompt “Too high”!

- - -

“Virgil, I want you go inside with John and Gordy,” she tried. Less distraction, one less kid she to have to worry about right this second.

“No.” Virgil stood his ground and dug in his heels. “Not until Scotty can come too.”

Contrary to popular belief that mulishly stubborn set to his jaw was all her. There’d be no possibility of getting Virgil to move. So they’d just have to get Scott down.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #virgil tracy #lucy tracy #lucille tracy #scott tracy #astrawrite #wip wednesday #fabfivefeb #fabfivefeb2024

[bonsaiiiiiii-fics]

Eggs

Is it destiny? Is it a coincidence? But especially, What should she do now that the person she has been looking for doesn’t exist anymore?

Words: 5300-ish

Genre: fluff, slice of life. a bit of angst too? cos memories and stuff…no trigger warnings mentionable.

Fandom: Thunderbirds are go!2015

Characters: boi, all of ‘em! We also have Lucille, and I sprinkled in some oc’s!

Special mention: thank you to @louthestarspeaker for lending me her Laurie, your girl has been an absolute delight to write!

This story is kinda weird, and I don’t know if there’s gonna be a continuation or not. I just had an idea, wrote it down and here we are! Nothing serious, just for fun/writing again/passing the time. Don’t @ me, if you read it and discover you don’t like it, leave it where it is and back tf away slowly. (just for precaution. moots i don’t wanna bite ur ass <3)

Ao3 link

"...Is it too late to back up now?" She asks timidly, grimacing and taking a small step away from the door. Gran Roca Ranch. At least that's what it says on the billboard at the entrance. "Probably she isn't even here anymore!" 

"Nope." Laurie answers her first question, a haunting hand hovering on the door. "This is the time to act like that amazing, confident, person that you are, no ifs, ands or buts about it." She tries to fight her best friend when she gets a grip of her hand, forcing her to depart it from the door the farthest possible. "And you- ugh!, you won't know if you don't knock!" She grunts, noticing just how strong Quinn can be. Seriously, she eats tacos and smoothies all day, how the hell does she manage to keep it if she's as slim as a twig? Genes? 

"Well I need a reinforcement taco before this!" Quinn forces through gritted teeth. "And what do you think I'm going to tell her, hey! I'm your donor baby and I'm here to flip your life upside down?" She rolls her eyes, adjusting her sunglasses. "What if she doesn't even want to see me?" 

"If she left you her address in the envelope, then I think she wanted you to find her." 

"Well, I'm not ready to find out just yet!" 

"Not that you can help it, you know. You're screeching so loud I think all the neighborhood heard you." Laurie says, hands on her hips and a false innocent smile on her face, the plan morphed into her mind taking action. "And if she hasn't heard you before, she surely will hear this now!" And with that awful sentence she rings on the doorbell, doing what Quinn tried stopping her from doing until now. 

The blonde girl, in return, starts by gawking at her with her eyes almost out of their sockets and a jaw so low you could store an entire cake inside her mouth, then punches her -not so lightly- on a shoulder, making Laurie gasp at the pain and the sudden movement. "Traitor!" She spits, just seconds before the door opens, revealing... 

"Uh..." Kayo falters, taking in the scene in front of her very eyes upon opening the door. There's two women, soft blonde waves and some midnight black locs, arms tangled in each other, more like the blonde is trying to strangle her friend and the latter is trying to defend herself, both looking awkwardly at her. "Can I...help you?" She asks tentatively, her eyebrow raised, studying them intently. The blonde is holding an envelope in her hand, and now that she looks at her...the resemblance is dangerously familiar to someone... 

"Uh!" Quinn gasps, detangling from her best friend and just smiling broadly, as if nothing happened. "Hi, my name is Quinn, and this is Laurie." 

"Hi, Quinn and Laurie. So, what can I help you with?" Kayo repeats, her patience wearing thin. Who are these two strangers? This isn't pizza delivery! She mentally prays that it’s not another string of paparazzi striving to secure an interview, them being the first two of a long queue. Even if the Tracy’s like to be reserved about their whereabouts, the paps’ job is to unveil, tell and write as many tales as possible, and this requires some great investigative skills, for example finding Jeff Tracy’s old house. It’s not the first time paparazzi are at their door, and it certainly won’t be the last.

"Um," Quinn clears her throat, shifting from embarrassed to confident, again, that spark in her eye that looks dangerously familiar. Now that Kayo thinks about it, if Gordon was to have a female counterpart, Quinn would be embodying it. "I'm looking for Lucille Collins. Does she, um, live here?" 

Now this leaves Kayo dumbfounded. 

And with a lot of questions. 

How does she know? Why is she looking for her? Could it be...? 

"Um. Excuse me." Is all Kayo can say to excuse herself and close the door in their faces, now leaving both girls with a fish out of water face. 

"What was that?" Quinn asks, her cordial smile still plastered on her face, but one eye twitching in incredulousness. 

"I don't...know?" Laurie is smiling too, holding her still painful shoulder. They both look at each other, and this is the moment when Laurie knows Quinn's about to lose control. 

"So who was it at the door? Did the pizza delivery read our minds before we could place the order?" Gordon asks smugly, a note of curiosity in his voice. 

"That would be so dope!" Alan adds, leaning forward in his chair so his arms come to rest on his lap. 

Kayo, however, doesn't seem to hear them as she clears her throat, ready to drop whatever bomb this is on them.

"Are you okay, Kayo? You look like you've seen a ghost." Virgil butts in, obviously concerned about her losing all the color in her face. 

"There's two women at the door, they're looking for Mrs. Tracy, and I don’t mean Grandma." She says as neutrally as possible, not seeming to avoid massaging her arm awkwardly in the process. "What am I supposed to do?" 

Nobody answers her, and the silence is so audible you can hear the indistinct chatting of the women still at the door, probably debating on whether to stay and just vanish from the premises from the heat of it. 

"Huh." Jeff mutters, taking the situation in his own hands. "I think I know what this is about. Help me up, please." He asks no one in particular, Scott jumping up from his armchair like it's on fire, instantly by his father's side. "Thank you, son. Take me to the door." 

"If we disappear silently, she probably won't even know we were there! We can say she just imagined it! Or that I'm the, uh, mailman?" Quinn tries, shrugging her shoulders in the process. 

"I don't think she would believe you, you're not exactly dressed up as one." Laurie counters, eyeing her short romper. 

"Gasp," she audibly gasps. "Are you trying to say I look ugly?" 

"If the shoe fits." She winks at her bestie, earning a glare from her. 

"I hate you." 

"No you don't." 

A sound near the front door, like a crane tapping on the floor, makes both straighten their backs up, standing like soldiers in wait for their general. Moments later, Jeff Tracy himself, accompanied by his son, opens the door, and the girls just...stare. 

"Uh, Quinn? I think we got the wrong house..." Laurie recognizes immediately the man standing in front of her, seemingly unlike Quinn, that flashes him and his exact same, younger copy, her dimpled smile. 

"Hiiiii!" She tries a more energetic approach. "I'm Quinn, and this is Laurie." She gestures to her bestie, who is looking mildly uncomfortable, deeming it necessary to introduce themselves again. "We're looking for-" 

"I know." Jeff nods. "You must be her daughter. Co-" 

"HUH!?" Scott gasps, involuntarily interrupting his dad who side looks at him. "What!? Her what??" He looks wide eyed at her, then at his dad, then back again at her. 

She seems to ignore his apparent outburst. "Yeah, something like that. So, does she live here?" If there's one thing to know about Quinn Prescott is that she gets straight to the point. And eats tacos nonstop, apparently. 

Jeff is silent, a pang of sadness visible on his face. "Come in." He replies to her question, stepping aside - and forcing Scott, as still as a statue, to do the same - and welcoming them in what used to be Luci's house. Scott disappears right back in, probably to warn everyone of the unexpected new visitor invading their home, or to prepare them psychologically for this, leaving the girls to let themselves in without too many ceremonies, Quinn taking off her paperboy hat and just holding it in her hand as Jeff slowly accompanies them to the living room, where everyone is gathered. 

"Holy shmeesus!" Is the first thing she mutters to Laurie upon seeing all these people, wondering just now that maybe she got the wrong house. But if she did, the man living inside it wouldn't let them in, right? She's probably not home at the moment, yeah, that's it. One thing for sure, the room is loaded with people and every single one of them seem to be looking- no, gawking, at her. Expecting her to be joking about the matter. There's the woman that opened the door the first time, the man that opened it the second, 5 other men and a old lady. And not to mention this house is gigantic. Dam, egg mama's loaded! 

Everyone is so still, the silence is so deafening, like they can't believe their eyes; she manages to get a sound from them all, a collective general gasp, after her sunglass lenses fade back to clear, not sensing any sunlight inside, revealing her warm brown eyes. 

"It's uncanny." Scott mutters, breaking the silence. 

"It's mom." Virgil backs him up, just gaping at her. She shares his same eyes, and, well, mom's. Come to think about it, she is mom, just a different smile, skin tone, and some round glasses added.

"What is this, dad?" Scott confronts their dad, wanting, needing, to know more. A perfect stranger, with the same appearance as their mother, comes at their door, searches for her, and apparently she's her daughter? And seemingly, Jeff knows about it all. 

Jeff in reply looks at Quinn, holding out a hand towards her as if to show she's there. "Want to do the honors?" 

She nods, taking in a deep breath. "So...I'm Lucille's donor baby, and I'm invading your lives!" She jokes, to then immediately facepalm, followed by a nervous chuckle from Laurie, accompanied by a head shake. "Hehe, sorry...I always joke when I'm nervous, I don't know why I do that." She first scratches her jaw, then behind her ear, handing Jeff the envelope she carried until now, covering her lap with her checkered white and brown hat. "But that's about it. The address listed in her description was this one." 

"Yeah, I know who you are already." Despite this statement, he still opens the envelope, suddenly invaded by his eldest three sons that read over his shoulder too, reading indeed his late wife's name, but another as well. "I just didn't think you'd even show up, even if she hoped to see you." 

"She does?" She smiles, her dimples showing. She unconsciously side glances at Laurie, which shoots her a timid thumbs up. 

"She did." He corrects her, the pain in his words leading her to lose the dimples she shares with Scott. 

"Um, care to explain for those who can't understand the situation?" Alan butts in, knowing the heaviness of the situation but now how to decipher it. 

"Yeah, like, we just got mom's clone and then what?" Gordon counters. 

Just when she wants to speak, Jeff looks again at her, prodding her silently to explain herself. It's her situation, and she gets to take it into her own hands as she wants. 

"So, from what my parents told me, they weren't able to conceive, so they picked out donors from both sides; Lucille was my egg donor, while Clinton was my sperm donor. I don't really know anything about them, my parents told me about it just recently and recommended that I speak personally with them first, but without them I wouldn't exist, so...ta-daaa!" She slightly enlarges her hands, waving her open hands up and down. 

"Well, you surely took your time." Jeff comments sarcastically, loosening her stiff shoulders a little. 

"That's cool! Is it something like out of a lab?" Alan asks, earning a side glare from Virgil. 

"Egg and sperm donors have existed for a long time, you know?" The second eldest points out to him in a scolding tone. 

"I didn't know about the egg ones, Virg!" 

"Me either Virg! We're not all medical like you." Gordon, as always, speaks as if he and Allie are the same. 

"Pardon my sons," this sentence from Jeff seems to override their sons'. "They're just curious about you, she never spoke to them about you." 

"How to blame her?" Grandma says, laughing gently. "She didn't expect the gal to even show up. She just did a good deed." She gets up, sitting on an armrest of the armchair Virgil sat back on, patting gently his shoulder. 

"That she did." Jeff looks at her, drinks her in with those silver eyes of his. Yep, she's Lucille's spitting image: long blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes, same nose, same lips. The only thing changing is a golden skin tone, complimenting perfectly her eyes and hair and making her look like a golden ember, and the way she smiles; even if she has Luci's lips and dimples, she smiles differently, a charming and 'I'm sexy and I know it' kind of smile instead of Luci's warm and harmless one. "You look a lot like her." He says after a long while, in which she seems content basking in the attention. She knows she's beautiful, she probably has an overly big ego, and the fact this family is feeding it is rather nice to her. 

"Yeah, Laurie says I'm her spitting image. Uh, from the pictures I found in the envelope." 

"I'm sorry, but you won't be able to see her anytime, I'm afraid." He says.

She doesn't seem to read between the lines. "Oh, yeah, I totally get it! She has another family now, not that I was her family before, but I get it, no worries. Just tell her I've been here." She gets up, dusting absent-mindedly her dress and hat. 

"No, you don't get it." Jeff is finding all the strength in himself to say the words long dreaded in the Tracy household. "She passed some time ago." He lets out after a long, painful, sigh. 

"Oh." She mutters, to then plop back down. "Can I ask for how long?" 

"Almost 20 years." 

She gets silent, a lot of thoughts whirling in her brain, but she pushes them aside for her to think about them later. "I'm sorry for your loss." 

"I'm sorry too." He raises his eyes to look at her. "She wanted to meet you, she really did." 

"Well...I wouldn't be me if I didn't keep my always being late rap, right?" She tries to crack a joke, earning a cheeky smile from everyone, even a tiny laugh from the tinies. 

"Oh, preach!" Laurie exclaims, happy that her friend finally noticed. 

"So, what is it you do in life, Quinn?" Jeff changes subject after she so helpfully contributed in raising the spirits back up; unfortunately, Lucille has always been a tough topic to talk about after her passing, and probably this is just what they needed now that they're all back together. 

"Oh, I just got into college, Columbia." 

"Ah, Ivy League! Impressive! Major?" 

"Programming." 

"I see. Well, I wish you best of luck on your journey." 

"Thank you, um, Mr..." She just now realizes she never properly caught his name, nor the others'; it sure looks like a wide family, though. 

"Oh! We didn't introduce ourselves, sorry! We were just so caught by everything..." He immediately apologizes, getting up not without any help from his second eldest. "I'm Jeff Tracy." Once in front of Quinn, who just got up too, he extends his hand for her to shake it, and notices she has a very tight grip, too. 

"Huh, Tracy you say?" Quinn is silent for a second, an eyebrow raised to try and remember when she heard that name before, while Laurie, once her suspicions (that weren't so suspicious) got confirmed, draws in a shaky breath, not understanding why in the Heavens her bestie doesn't realize how lucky she is to even breathe the same expensive air as these business tycoons. And, yeah, International Rescue themselves. "I like it. I assume you are- uh, were..." 

"Yeah, her husband. These are our kids. Boys?" He calls out for them to get up and present themselves, to which they oblige dutifully. 

Scott is the first one to present himself, his grip somewhat strong, but not menacing. He saw the description, everything true to the minimal detail, and the fact she's their mom's spitting image contributes greatly to the cause, as if she was cloned, and their dad seems to know and support of this situation; however, he still doesn't know if she's lying, faking it all, and found sensible information, touched a nerve who could bring them down, his Commander brain gearing up for action. He, alas, has complete faith in dad, and in John, who didn't go unnoticed by Scott as he briefly excused himself to go to the bathroom, secretly fulfilling the eldest' order to run a background check on her. He notices her firm grip too, complete with the fact she either doesn't seem to care, or is oblivious to the pinning, calculating stare he's giving her, flashing him a taste of his own medicine, killer dimples. Yep, truly mom's child. 

The next in line is Virgil, who takes her hand softly and shakes it gently, and she swears he's like massaging it or something, because she finds instantly relief from a throbbing she didn't even notice until it passed, truly magical. They both get lost in the eyes they both share the color of, mom's color, and both wonder how one could be a spitting image of the other. Virgil is calm, trusting, not wanting to start any rumors or thoughts, just trusting what the person in front of him is saying. Like, how could she lie with those eyes? He swears he's looking at mom who came back to life and waltzed back into their lives.

Gordon pops up next, and damn! If she thought to be Lucille's spitting image, from that little description pic, then this man is taking it up a notch! Same features, different gender. It's almost frightening. Gordon, on the other hand, is totally unaffected by any negative thoughts and emotions, just excited to hear about this new, strange thing, egg donation, and the fact that a new sibling is added to their family, even if she's just a half-sibling. It's still something from mom, and everything from mom is precious right now. 

Alan is quick in presenting himself with a fist bump, a gesture that Quinn loves gladly, evolving it into a weird bro hand salute Alan seems to be on board with, professionalism not necessary right now. After all, if she’s in college right now…same as him! They’re college buddies!

Last but not least brother, John, shaking briefly her hand and directing a hidden thumbs up at Scott, who nods and exhales briefly, his worries dissolving temporarily. 

Kayo is up, her way of shaking hands translated into shoving a tablet into Quinn's face, that shrugs and places her thumb on it, more than calm about the fact that they can't get money from her as she's broker than a broken record, having invested her last savings in...tacos. Kayo swiftly nods, and Quinn just shrugs, before she gets presented to the next person.

A sweet old lady, who seems very spirited. “Hello, gal! Well, I’ll be damned, you’re her spitting image!” This makes Quinn crack a wide smile, the girl identical in her biological mother even in these simple gestures. "I'm Sally, but you can call me Grandma. I'm the boys' grandmother and Jeff's mother. It's nice you finally joined us." To unknot her nerves, Grandma gently squeezes Quinn's shoulder, to which the girl looks at her warmly. This woman, this part of her newfound family, has this capacity to melt her worries and insecurities away in a way...familiar to her, like it's been done to her since she was born. 

"Don't blame her too much, she has this knack for always showing up late." Laurie butts in the conversation after being presented too to the boys, daring to see if a joke can fix up the mood. 

"I call it being fashionably late." Quinn replies, swooshing a strand of hair behind her shoulder smugly. 

Grandma laughs heartily. "I know a thing or two about it. Between us, but...your mother was always fashionably late too." She confesses to the girls, Quinn gaping a little. 

"See?" She triumphantly points out. "It's all in the genes!"

Laurie laughs too, looking at her bestie. “Don’t give her excuses now, or it’ll get to her head!”

Quinn is about to counterattack with a not too ladylike answer, when another voice joins in the conversation again. "Clinton Smith?" She turns to look at Jeff, which looks at the envelope then at her.

“Oh, yeah, that’s my donor dad. Or at least that’s all I know about him, I haven’t visited him yet.” She replies, looking somewhere else with a bitter smile, that doesn’t go unnoticed by Jeff.

“Is he…unavailable too?” He tries this word, not having enough guts built up to say that word, that nefarious word he wishes he never had to say to describe his wife.

“Actually…I don’t know?” She replies questionably back, scratching her neck in the process. “I haven’t been able to find him at all. Either he vanished, or he doesn’t want to be found, or…yeah.”

“Doesn’t want to be found…why is that?” Jeff asks back, trying to understand more from that situation; maybe he can help, he can ‘rescue’ her if she wants to.

“Well, there’s his name, but no address. But I suppose if he didn’t want to be found, then he wouldn’t have wanted his name to be added to that document, because it’s supposed to be for me to read once I came of age.” She plops down to her previous seat, crossing her arms with a focused frown painted on her face, the upper lip touching her nose septum, her dimples visible and her eyes looking upwards, painting Lucille’s face with an almost childish and exaggerated undertone. “I know I’m very late in searching for them since I got the documents, but if you don’t want your child to know anything about you, then…you cancel everything they might know about you, right?”

“I don’t know exactly, it never happened to me…” He replies ironically, earning a broad smile from his boys, a sign that they had a father from the start that cared about them and loved them deeply. “But if you want to get to know him, we can help you out.”

She widens her eyes slightly. “Really? You don’t have to…”

“Yeah, of course! Family is important, and if you want to know exactly who both of your biological parents are it’s perfectly normal! I just happen to know a detective that can help you out on this, that is if you accept our help.” He states tentatively, knowing he doesn’t have any ‘power’ over her, despite her being Lucille’s first child and only daughter, her only female lineage, making her very precious; but at the same time he knows that he can’t force her to be a part of their lives just because she’s family by blood, she has another adoptive family that love her and raised her to be the woman she is now. The decision to be a Tracy must belong to Quinn and Quinn only. “And, of course, I’ll tell you more about your biological mother as well.”

“Well…” Quinn takes it all in, pondering deeply which answer she should give in return and moving her gaze to the floor. She knows that if she replies positively, this means she’ll come in contact with part of her biological family again, but she also knows that this decision is totally up to her, just like before when Jeff allowed her to explain who she was and why she was connected with this family. The question is, does she want to be part of this family? She already has another one, the one that has been there with her from the start, waiting for her at home. Can she replace them so easily? Being part of more than a family at once, even her biological dad’s side, is it possible? Does it mean that if she chooses to do this, she’ll have to leave her ‘old’ family behind, or can she rotate between one family and the other on random days?

“I’m sorry…” She finally comes up with an answer. “...but I have to think about it. This thing about Lucille has been a huge blow for me, and I’m not saying this because she…well, passed, but I think it would have been a blow even if today I would’ve gotten to talk to her. I received the document just recently…and…you guys…”

“Don’t apologize at all, Quinn, it’s understandable.” This is the first time that man calls her by her name. it’s…strange. “You have yet to elaborate all of this, and we’re here when, if, you’ll be ready to talk to us again.”

“Thank you.” Quinn smiles fondly at Jeff, and for the first time since she smiled at him, it seems like Lucille is smiling at him again after 19 long years where the world has been deprived of his wife’s warm and innocent smile. Another person notices, and where Jeff forces himself to keep the tears in, Virgil can’t manage to, a single, lonely, tear leaving a trail down his cheek but a happy smile painted on his chiseled face, Scott and John reaching out to place a hand on each of his shoulders, sharing the same emotion he’s feeling in seeing that smile, happy that they got the wish to see their mother’s smile one last time, even if it’s not their mother that’s in front of them right now. She captivated with that dimpled smile of hers everyone in the room, not just Jeff and his second eldest, and she doesn’t even notice it, how similar but how different she is from her biological mother. She glimmers with that smile.

“So…I’ll go home now, I think I already spent too much of your time.”

“Believe me,” Jeff starts, raising himself up to his feet and prompting his eldest and Quinn to do the same. “This time has been very well spent.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?” Alan, surprisingly, asks, like it’s not the first time he makes this question. Surprisingly, because he doesn’t feel the same way as his brothers and dad; sure, he saw mom’s photos, but she unfortunately doesn’t have the same place in his heart like it does for everyone else of them, since he didn’t have the opportunity to grow up with her, leaving the surprisingly vivid picture of her with an eerie heaviness over it, almost as if, everytime he looks at his mom, it’s like he’s worshiping a Goddess. It used to be like this with his dad too, before he returned from the deserted and secluded place he was left in for all these years, just after mom’s death…for as long as he can remember before things changed, his dad disappeared, his mom left them, and he was essentially an orphan growing up with his brothers, under Scott’s guardianship over nothing more than a toddler. But now that he looks at things under another perspective…it’s bad to say, but she also will never get the chance to meet her, didn’t get the chance to grow up with her either, and will always look at her photo to remember where she came from…they’re similar, if not the same, in this. Maybe they can help each other.

“Yeah, we have pizza!” Gordon butts in too, visibly perturbed by her departure.

“If you remember to place the call to order it.” John points out like usual with a raised eyebrow, earning an eye roll from his younger pufferfish sibling.

“I’d love to, but my parents are waiting for me at home.” Quinn turns towards Jeff, as if to seek some approbation from the Commander Supreme. “Another time, maybe?”

He nods, waiting for his two youngest sons’ faint oh’s to dissipate before speaking again. “We are more than happy to welcome you again. You can take my contact or one of my sons’, so that you can have your way of reaching out when you’re ready to.” He offers, glancing at his sons that all nod.

“Yeah, that would be a great idea. I hope you won’t mind if I take my time in…”

“Ah, no worries! We’re more than happy to help.” Jeff replies while he scribbles something on a paper, probably his comm link or his number; once he’s finished, instead of passing it to Quinn he raises it somewhere on his right, Virgil taking the paper and scribbling something on it too. “Once you’re ready, reach out to us, here’s our contacts.” Once the paper is in Jeff’s hands again, after it being passed through some brothers, he hands it over to Quinn, who takes it gladly, folding it and tucking it into her romper’s pockets.

“Well, then, I’ll leave you to your dinner. Thank you for everything, and it’s been a pleasure meeting you.” Quinn bows her head slightly, smiling warmly to everyone.

“It’s a pleasure for us too, and it was nice meeting you too, Laurie.”

“Are you living far from here? Do you need one of us to accompany you?” Virgil asks, his ever caring spirit always present.

Quinn shoots a quick glance to Laurie, which in the meantime has almost teleported to her side; in exchange, Laurie raises her eyebrows and glances to the side, Quinn responding to her by shrugging slightly, and this ‘conversation’ goes on for a bit, all the while Virgil looks confused at them, then at his father.

“It’s a girl’s way of communicating, boys. You wouldn’t know.” Grandma intercepts the question marks in Virgil’s mind, talking to everyone.

“Well,” Quinn’s voice makes them all turn towards her and her bestie, who is smiling. “She’s coming back home with me, and we live just here across the neighborhood, so we’ll manage on our own, thank you anyways.”

“Perfect then. We hope to see you soon again, and I wish you good luck again on your journey. Please say hi to Bentley from me, and tell her I’m sorry I didn’t get to visit her and Charlie.” The procession has finally arrived at the door, escorting warmly their newfound family member out.

Quinn smiles as a sign of gratitude, before dropping her jaw to the floor and widen her eyes. “You know my parents?”

“Of course! Me and Luci have known them for a very long time now, we’ve been to school together, but we lost contact after we started working and had our children.”

“Oh…!” Quinn replies, then looks at the floor and smiles. “Sure, I’ll let them know.” She looks at Jeff with that smile on again. That warm smile that makes her dangerously familiar in his eyes.

“Well then, thank you for coming by. It was truly needed.”

“You’re kidding me? Thank you for having me!”

Once they finish bidding their farewells and the door closes, making them depart from the ranch, she turns towards her bestie, her smile radiant. “Girl, that was…”

“I’d say it was a success, but you didn’t find your mom.” Laurie counters, matching her newfound speed towards Quinn’s home. “Why are we running?”

“Well, but my parents are supposed to know her well, and I have all these step-brothers. And…oh, don’t brag.”

“We have no reason for running!” Laurie hisses, out of breath, her long locs whirling in the wind. “They can help you find your biological father too. Maybe you have some brothers or sisters from there too.”

“Well…” They both pant profusely, finally arriving at their destination; Quinn also lets out a deep sigh. “I don’t know…I gotta talk to my parents. I want to know them, but…having them in my life…ugh! I need tacos.”

“Nu-huh. We’re home now and we’re eating what your parents made. Stop spending your life savings on tacos, bestie.” Laurie ushers Quinn towards the entrance door, forcing the latter to get the keys out to open it with another deep sigh. “And if talking with your parents is what you need…just, think about it. They are pretty important after all.”

“Hm?” Quinn says after greeting her parents loudly, announcing them she’s back home. “They’re just my biological half-brothers and their dad. Yeah, they’re important, but-” “Girl,” Laurie interrupts her with a serious face, making Quinn furrow her eyebrows in confusion. “You have no idea who they are, do you?”

#thunderbirds are go #iris writes #thunderfam #thunderbirds are go 2015 #jeff tracy #sally tracy #grandma tracy #scott tracy #virgil tracy #john tracy #gordon tracy #alan tracy #kayo kyrano #lucille tracy #oc #Quinn Prescott #not my oc #Laurie Charter #lemme know if it can go on ao3 too! #and as always lemme know what you think of it #this is on the writing blog so you'll always find it here too #dumb idea but lowkey genius idea #ig

[pareidoliaonthemove]

Lee Taylor's First Time Babysitting

Lucille Tracy was still not convinced. “Jeff, are you sure about this?”

Jeff smiled reassuringly. “Very. We’ve got to leave town for the day – a very long, very boring day – so you can get the next lot of scans for the baby. Mom has her hands full looking after Pa, and your parents couldn’t get away from the Ranch. We can’t take Scott, he’s too young, and, um …”

“Hyperactive?” Lucy raised an eyebrow.

“Excitable,” Jeff decided, “to be spend the day in the hospital with us. Lee was visiting anyway, and he is Scott’s godfather …”

“Who requires every bit as much adult supervision as the two year old we’re asking him to supervise.”

Jeff frowned. “That’s not fair, Luce. Lee …”

She sighed. “I know.” She met his gaze. “It’s only one day, right? And as he keeps reminding us, the Space Agency trusts him with their multi-billion dollar equipment, so we can trust him with Scott?”

Jeff kissed her on the forehead. “Exactly right, on both counts.”

Lee Taylor was miffed.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to look after his two-year-old godson, and it wasn’t that he wanted to look after his two-year-old godson – kids had never been his thing; but his best friend’s wife was giving the impression that she didn’t trust Lee with the boy.

For goodness sakes, the Space Agency trusted him with multi-billion dollar it, didn’t they? (Not on your own, they don’t, a traitorous little voice whispered. Lee resolutely ignored it.)

Jeff trusted him with his life, surely his wife could trust him with their son?

Captain Lee Taylor was a fully trained astronaut, with five moon missions, and one Mars landing under his belt. Captain Lee Taylor could handle a two-year-old boy. No problems. Easy peasy, light and breezy!

Captain Lee Taylor was a fully trained astronaut, with five moon missions and one Mars landing under his belt. Captain Lee Taylor was not qualified to deal with a two-year-old boy. I’m an astronaut, get me out of here!

It had started off well enough, wave bye-bye to Jeff and Lucy, watch as the boy climbed the tree in the backyard – “Are you allowed to climb that tree?” “I am if you say I am, Uncle Lee.” (He wasn’t too sure about that decision, he had a feeling Lucy wouldn’t allow it, but the kid was fine.)

A snack, reading a book about airplanes, that morphed into a storytelling session about Jeff flying in his plane, bright blue eyes stared up adoringly as he listened to stories of his Daddy’s adventures. (And, maybe, he shouldn’t have been quite so honest about Jeff’s time in combat? But the kid loved it.)

But it had fallen apart after that. Inspired by the stories, Lee had been roped into an energetic game of ‘fighter pilot’, where Lee was the “boogie” to the boy’s Jeff. Lee had to ‘fly’ and try to avoid the little boy chasing him. At the shrill shriek of “Direct hit!” Lee had to fall down, before he was allowed up to play the part of another “boogie”. After three hours, Lee was exhausted.

And the kid was hungry. So Lee found the (premade? Lee could handle making sandwiches, for heavens sake!) sandwiches in the fringe, and poured juice into a large glass. The biggest he could find, don’t want the boy to get dehydrated. That the large heavy glass tumbler wasn’t suitable for little hands was a retroactive thought, after it smashed on the ground. But that was okay, just a broken glass and spilled juice. No blood, no foul. Lee found another – plastic – tumbler and replenished the boy’s drink, before cleaning up the mess.

Lee had a thought that kids should sleep after eating, need time to let the food settle, right? But he was having none of it, wanting instead to return to playing ‘fighter pilot’. Lee couldn’t face another round of that, so he compromised with some tv time. Managing to find an old kids movie he remembered that should meet the boy’s approval, they both settled on the lounge, as onscreen Dusty Crophopper chased his dream of flying around the world.

Only for Lee to wake abruptly some time later alerted by some weird sixth sense, just in time to catch the boy as he launched off the top of the bookcase – and how the sam hill had he got up there? A frantic examination proved the kid was fine, albeit disappointed by his failure to ‘fly’. So Lee took him out to the tyre swing so he could ‘fly’ there.

It was an unknowable time later, growing dark and Lee’s back and arms were burning with exertion when Jeff and Lucy arrived home, take away Chinese in hand, only to laugh at Lee’s exhaustion, and the kid’s excitement.

Dinner was a quiet affair, as Jeff and Lucy – mainly Lucy – interrogated them on their day. Jeff quietly amused and Lucy exasperated as the story of broken glass came out, and horrified at the ‘bookcase incident’. Lee had been hoping that they could keep that to themselves.

And yes, he had been conned. The tree was strictly off limits.

Lee hoped to make a quiet escape to his guest room, but the kid wasn’t having any of that. Apparently the little monster had decided that since he was spending the day with him, that was the whole day. 24 hours.

Lee wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but somehow he ended up agreeing to sleep on a camp bed in the kids room. The operative word was ‘sleep’, right? The boy would sleep. Lee sure would. Somehow exploring new worlds was less exhausting than babysitting one two-year-old.

Jeff smirked as Lee was dragged up to the kids room, for a round of bedtime stories, and “G’night, Uncle Lee.”

Lee glared as Jeff smirked at him as he checked they were both safely tucked up in bed, before turning off the light.

Lee was going to get his best friend for this.

Small sharp fingers clamped onto his eyelid and pulled, painfully, forcibly, opening his left eye, and startling Lee into wakefulness.

Bright blue eyes peered into Lee’s sole open one. “Is you awake, my Uncle Lee?”

“I am now,” he grumbled, feeling his back complain about the camp bed he had slept – too briefly – on last night.

The little boy clapped happily, before grabbing his upper arm and trying to pull him upright. “Up!”

Lee resisted. “Too early, kid. Go back to bed.”

His best friend’s son bounced – bounced! – onto the bed and then onto his chest, driving all the air from his body. “The sun’s awake, so we’re awake. It’s time to play, so let’s all go Outside today!” He sang gleefully, bouncing in time to the tune.

Lee managed to catch him in the air, and rolling half over, deposited the boy on the floor beside the bed. He stared at the little boy, who was practically vibrating in excitement.

“You like this every day?” Lee demanded.

The boy bounced on his toes. “Yep!”

Lee swore under his breath. No wonder Jeff and Lucy were so darn tired. He eyed the blue-eyed menace in front of him. “Alright,” he muttered. “But we gotta let your Mom and Dad sleep, okay?”

He bounced again. “Okay!”

Lee dragged his protesting body out of the camp bed. Every morning. Darned if he knew why Jeff and Lucy wanted another one after this.

Jeff Tracy woke when the sun managed to find the exact right spot to shine through the gap in the curtains, and hit his face.

He lay still half asleep in bed, and wrestled with the fact that something felt wrong.

Very wrong.

The house was silent, he couldn’t hear anything except Lucy snuffling – not snoring. Never snoring. His wife DID NOTsnore! (He had learned that fact the hard way.) So there was no break in, and Scott …

Scott.

Scott, who hadn’t let his parents sleep past sunrise pretty much since the day he was born. Scott, the solar-activated ball of hyper-energy that should have bounced his parents awake the second the sun’s first rays hit the horizon. Scott, who should have been nyrooom-ing his thundering way up and down the hall and stairs.

The house was silent.

The house was still.

Scott!

Jeff was awake in a flood of adrenaline, launching himself off the bed towards the door, and running towards his son’s room.

The bed was unmade, and Scott was gone.

In a blind panic, Jeff rushed toward the bed, and ended up sprawled across the floor.

He turned, and sagged with relief. He had tripped over a discarded blanket, kicked aside from the bed camp bed that had been made up for Lee after Scott had insisted that ‘Uncle Lee’ have a sleepover with him.

Jeff took a moment to calm his breathing and heartbeat. Lee. Scott waking would have woken Lee; and Lee, knowing how tired he and Lucy were, had taken the boy off to play so they could sleep.

Thank god for Lee.

He had just about regained his composure when Lucy rounded the door. “Jeff?” She was still groggy from sleep, having been woken by his mad dash for the door. “What is it?”

Jeff got up from the floor. “I woke up,” he admitted, sheepishly. “And I panicked when I realised how late it was.”

“Huh?”

Jeff huffed, “Fine. I’m not used to being able to sleep so late. I freaked when I realised Scott hadn’t woken us, and I couldn’t hear him. Scott must have woke Lee first, and Lee took him out to play so we could sleep.”

Lucy stared, still uncomprehending, then shook her head. “Coffee. I need coffee. I can’t logic without coffee.”

Jeff grinned. “I’ll put the kettle on.”

He went downstairs, as Lucy went to take care of ‘the necessities’. And glanced as he filled the kettle, looked out the window.

The backyard was deserted.

Come to that, he couldn’t hear anything from outside, either. Scott wasn’t by nature quiet, and Lee, well, his lack of volume control was yet another side effect of that disastrous training exercise.

Jeff frowned as went to check the front yard. It too was deserted, but Lee’s rental car was missing.

Okay, so Lee had taken Scott somewhere to play so he wouldn’t disturb them. Nothing to worry about. Jeff spent the next ten minutes looking for a note explaining where they had gone.

Nothing.

No note. No car. No Lee. No Scott.

Lucy wandered down the stairs, and was a little put out to find the coffee unmade. She sighed as Jeff explained the situation. “Jeff, did you think to call Lee? You know, let him know the coast is clear to come back?”

Jeff grimaced guiltily, and went to the phone. He dialled from memory, and was rewarded by the sound of an obnoxious ringtone. It was some god-awful pop song that ‘celebrated’ the first manned landing on Mars, and Jeff hated it, so naturally Lee had chosen it as the ringtone for Jeff’s numbers.

Lucy picked up Lee’s phone and rejected the call, silencing the offending ring tone. They both stared at the device. “Trust Lee to forget his phone,” Lucy said, but her voice was worried.

“Yeah, just like him.” Jeff bit his lip. “Luce, I’ll take the car, and go find them. I’ll bring breakfast home, yeah? From the bakery? You give them a call, and tell them I’ll collect it when I’ve found Lee, they might even know where they are.”

“Lee pays,” Lucy said. “Payback for scaring us silly.”

Jeff grinned. “Fine. Lee pays.”

He was halfway down the road when Lucy called. “I’ve placed the order, but they haven’t seen them.”

Jeff grinned. “That just means that Lee hasn’t spoiled Scott’s appetite.” He considered. “I’ll swing past the airfield first, maybe Lee took Scott to see the planes?”

Lucy chuckled nervously. “Sounds about right. You let me know the second you find them.”

“Of course. Though they’ll probably turn up at home before I find them, so make sure you let me know.”

Twenty minutes later Jeff did a slow patrol around the airfield, looking for Lee’s car parked outside the perimeter to watch the student pilots taking off and landing. Nothing. So he went into the complex, and parked outside the hangar where his family stored their aircraft.

Lee had flown in from Houston, where he still lived. Maybe he had taken Scott to look at his plane? Jeff tried not to think about the fact that Lee’s car wasn’t visible.

The hangar was deserted, and the three planes were all safely stowed. So Lee hadn’t taken Scott for a flight.

As Jeff exited the airfield, having carefully checked the interiors of the three planes, just in case, his phone rang, with the generic ringtone. Mouth dry, Jeff answered.

“Jeff, it’s Sheriff Reichs. I’ve just been in The BakeHouse, I understand you’ve misplaced that friend of yours, and your son?”

Jeff grimaced. He should’ve known better. That he’d ‘lost’ Scott would be all over town. He quickly explained the situation, careful to emphasise that he had no concern for Scott’s wellbeing.

Sheriff Reichs chuckled. “Well, I’ll keep an eye out for you, and you make sure you let me know when you find ‘em.” The older man was reassuring. “This’ll make one hell of a good story for the boy’s twenty-first.”

Jeff promised to call him second thing – Lucy remained firmly first in line – and thanked the sheriff for his help. A couple of the smaller playgrounds and parks were on Jeff’s way, and he slowed to drive past, carefully scanning them for signs of his son and friend.

Nothing.

It was only when he got to the large park in the centre of town that he found the first sign of his quarry. Lee’s rental car was parked, haphazardly across two spaces, by the corner that was on the direct route from their house.

Jeff parked more carefully next to his friend’s car, and as he got out the Sheriff’s cruiser pulled into the slot on the other side.

Reichs got out of his car, and eyed Lee’s rental, before turning to Jeff. “Well, I sure hope he parks a space rocket better than he parks a car.”

“There’s a reason the Space Agency insists we’re chauffeured everywhere on their watch.” Jeff almost managed to keep a straight face.

“Is that why they’re talkin’ ‘bout bringin’ back ocean landin’s?”

Jeff laughed.

Reichs chuckled. There was a delighted shriek from deeper in the park. “Higher, Uncle Lee! Higher!”

A broad grin spread across the Sheriff’s face. “Sounds like you’ve found what you’re lookin’ for, Jeff. I’ll not hold you up.”

Jeff thanked him again, backing away towards the shrieks of delight, and as soon as he was able, turned and hurried – not run, he was not running – to the source of the noise.

Just before he broke the treeline that screened the large, well-equipped playground, Jeff forced himself to stop. There, on the high swings – that Scott was most definitely not allowed on – was his son, his best friend pushing the boy ever higher.

He pulled out his phone, and took a minute’s video, before sending it to Lucy.

The response came as a text message: Thank God. Bring them home. I’m hungry.

He snorted and put the phone away, stepping out of the concealing treeline and starting towards the swingset.

“Daddy!” Scott had spotted him, and before anybody could react, the boy launched himself forward off the swing at its zenith. Lee’s strangled yell as the boy fell to the ground. Landed a good six feet from the edge of the swing’s reach…

… and immediately ran towards his father, cannonballing into Jeff with a force that knocked him over, and would have knocked the air out of him, had there been any left in his body.

Jeff grabbed him in a massive hug, as Lee sprinted up to them, spluttering what could have been words.

Scott hugged Jeff back, just as tightly, although for different reasons. “Did you see me, Daddy? I was flying!”

Jeff pulled back a little. “Yeah, I saw you buddy. And it’s a good thing your Mom didn’t. What have you been told about jumping off the swings?”

The little boy deflated. “Don’t.” Blue eyes pleaded. “But I was flying. Just like you. And Uncle Lee.”

Jeff groaned. “Scott Lee Tracy, your Uncle Lee and I have all sorts of safety gear to keep us from getting hurt.”

And just like that, Scott perked up. “Ok, Daddy. I bring my helmet. It’s keeps me from getting hurt.”

Jeff swallowed. He was in real trouble this time. “We’ll ask your Mom,” was all he could say.

Lee fidgeted, “What’re you doing here, Jeff? Luce kick you out?”

Jeff glared at him. “Would it kill you to leave a note?”

Lee winced, guiltily. “You could’a called me. Save the trip.”

Jeff reached into his pocket, and pulled out Lee’s phone. “Didn’t work so well.”

Lee deflated. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“But you got to sleep in, right?”

Jeff sighed. “Yeah. But next time, leave a damn note. It took years off my life.”

Lee winced again. “Lucy’s mad at me, isn’t she?”

“The Sheriff was looking for you both.” Lee paled. “And you’re buying breakfast.”

“Uncle Lee and I had beek-fast!” Scott chirped. “Uncle Lee brought me don’t’s an’ a milkshake.”

Jeff stared at his friend. “Doughnuts and milkshake, for breakfast?!”

Lee went even paler. “Where’d Lucy order from, anyway? You get him home, and I’ll bring breakfast.”

Jeff glared. “You’d better. I am not explaining this to his mother on my own.”

Lee grabbed his phone and ran, yelling over his shoulder, “Message me the address!”

Jeff looked down at Scott, “Come on, kiddo.” He swung the delighted boy onto his shoulders. “We’d better go after him before he gets lost.”

Scott shrieked with delight, and pulling violently on Jeff’s hair, kicked him in the chest with his heels. “Faster, Daddy! Faster!”

Jeff broke into a trot after his best friend. Please, God, let the next one be quieter.

Notes:

Ask, and ye shall receive! (Although not always this quickly!) By popular demand, this is the story of Scott’s first adventure with ‘Uncle Lee’.

@janetm74, @onereyofstarlight, and @womble1, this one’s for you!

The standard disclaimers, I do not own Thunderbirds, either the Original Series, the Movies (both Supermarionation and Live Action), or the Thunderbirds Are Go Series. (Although I do own copies on DVD.)

I do not do this for money, but for my own (in)sanity and entertainment.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2015 #fanfiction #my fanfiction #lee taylor #scott tracy #lucille tracy #babysitting

[hebuiltfive]

::still here!::

dreamer: [character] talks in their sleep. With Jeff

Hello, again! Back with another sickness prompt. This one was an interesting one to write. It went nowhere I had planned it to, but it ended up being sweet (and sad, sorry!). Hope you enjoy it, @janetm74!

Warnings for this one: a couple of swear words and brief discussions of death. Nothing major, but just covering my butt.

Dreamer (feat. Jeff)

Virgil had been tending to him all night. Going by the dark circles under his brother’s eyes and his hair that had been clearly disheveled from hands being run through it constantly, Scott would have unhappily bet that Virgil hadn’t left Jeff’s bedside since Scott had left him in the early hours of the morning. 

That wouldn’t do.

He laid a hand upon his brother’s back before gently coaxing him into getting some food and some well-deserved rest. Virgil protested, of course, but Scott was able to alleviate any worries with a few simple words.

I can take it from here, Virg. Don’t worry, I’ll watch over him. He’s safe.

Whether it was down to tiredness, hunger or a mixture of the two, Virgil relented vigil duty to his older brother and went off in search of the sustenance and rest he so desperately needed. Scott hoped he wouldn’t see him return to their father’s room until at least the evening, though he was certain that was wishful thinking.

In the vacated seat, Scott sat. He checked over holo-files that detailed his father’s condition. Normally, for minor injuries and illnesses, Grandma wouldn’t bother with all the official mumbo jumbo of paperwork, but given Dad’s recent stint in space, she had thought it better to keep an eye on him properly. Scott had, at first, disagreed. After all, how bad could a cold get? Not even a day later was he regretting that question.

Jeff’s fever had spiked astronomically and he’d been out for the count for days afterwards. Virgil had fought alongside Scott in getting Grandma to allow Jeff to stay in his room. So often was Dad visiting hospitals these days, the last thing Scott wanted was for him to feel unsettled when he eventually woke up.

Gordon had claimed that Jeff had been lucid once throughout the last few, painful days, but Virgil had brushed it off as nonsense. Scott wasn’t sure what to believe. All he knew was that his father lay sweating in a bed over an illness that Jeff would have once not even batted an eyelid at. Eight years in space and now a single, pathetic cold took him out. Scott foolishly hoped that it was a one-off whilst his body became used to everything again. He feared it wasn’t.

The Squid had been right, it seemed, as Jeff woke hours later, fully lucid but still incredibly sick. Virgil had offered unnecessary apologies to Gordon, who simply shrugged them off. Grandma had made sure Dad received enough soup — lovingly made and sent by Penelope as a ‘get well soon’ gift — and told the boys to allow him to sleep the rest of the illness off.

Jeff hadn’t yet reawakened, but his vitals seemed to be holding steadily normal again.

Scott took a look at his father, brushing hair back from his forehead and ignoring how he was still a little too hot. He looked so peacefully sleeping. Knowing it was a normal slumber and not one brought on by his body going into shut-down had Scott a little less tense than his last visit, but he was still understandably shaken.

They had got Dad home only to nearly lose him again to something so mundane. That wasn’t poetry or irony, or anything else fancy that John had tried to pass it off as. It was just shit. Unfair shit that neither Dad, nor any of them, deserved.

Scott flicked the device from Jeff’s readouts — he couldn’t understand half of that jargon anyway — and turned his attention to some much needed work. International Rescue was still, somehow, operating with half of them tending to Jeff, and that meant reports needed writing up.

He was just about to start one for Alan’s recent Mars mission when Jeff began to mumble something.

At first, Scott thought he was awake and was wanting water, but he soon realised that he was still fast asleep. Scott attempted to go back to his reports, but that would prove futile. He became far too distracted by Jeff’s sleep ramblings.

————————————————

Gran Roca Ranch stood proud against the rusty backdrop of the Kansas plaines. The summer mid-west heat was stifling. He must have been mad to leave the cool, air-conditioned ranch, but she was calling to him. From the distance, beyond the plains and canyons, a familiar, sweet-toned voice beckoned him to join her.

It helped with the pain, to be far away. Jeff knew none of it was real, knew it was all but a dream, and that his true, physical body was somewhere else, battling an illness that shouldn’t have been this hard to fight. 

That knowledge didn’t stop him from running, however. 

From flying.

He found her by a nearby plateau, standing on the edge of the rock and staring out at the great expanse beyond. She wore a familiar long, flowing cream dress, dotted with flowers, that blew in a wind that Jeff couldn’t feel.

“Here you are again,” Lucille proclaimed fondly, turning to face him with an outstretched hand.

“Here I am again.” Jeff repeated, taking her hand and closing the distance between them with a hug. It felt so real, so right, and if he truly wanted to he could probably have willed himself to stay there forever.

“The last time you were here, you were still stuck on some barren rock.” Lucille guided him toward the edge of the plateau where she sat, her legs dangling over and swinging gently.

“The boys. They got me home.”

“I told you they would.”

He had often visited her in the tougher moments of his unintentional exile. He hadn’t been surprised to be greeted by her again.

Jeff matched her soft smile, following her lead and sitting down beside her. For an unknown amount of time — because who truly understands the mechanics of a dreams — they sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company just as they had so often when she had been alive.

“They thought they were going to lose me again, Luce.” Jeff eventually admitted. After all, she was the only one he could fully open up to, even after all these years and a whole void between them. “I heard them talking. I heard them fretting.” He sighed. “I fear they’ll wrap me in cotton wool and never let me leave the island again.” His joke was accompanied with a chuckle.

Lucille laced her fingers with his, her head resting on his shoulder as she released her own laugh. “Would you blame them if they did?”

“No. No, I guess I wouldn’t.” Jeff gently squeezed her hand. “I guess I’m just worried that I’m causing more trouble by being home than—”

“Jefferson Tracy, you stop that train of thoughts right now.”

He did, without hesitation and with extremely apologetic eyes darting over to glance over her face. Her beautiful, un-ageing face. 

Jeff lifted a finger to stroke her cheek. “You’ve got to tell me your skin-care routine, Luce. At this rate, people will mistake me for your father.”

Lucille batted his arm at that, though her smile was still shining brightly. “Don’t try and change the topic.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“Yes, you were. You knew exactly what I was going to say, you just don’t want to hear it.”

“Oh, really? And what was it you were going to tell me?”

“That the boys would never see you as a burden, Jeff. They spent the last eight years mourning you. Do you really think they’d put in all that effort to rescue you, only to not want to care for you? They love you.”

“I caused them such a panic. God, I could have given Ma a heart failure from all this stress.”

“Maybe, but you know how strong your mother is. How strong our boys are.”

“They shouldn’t have to be strong, not for me.”

“Nevertheless,” Lucille was determined to finish her point, “it couldn’t be helped. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. If what happened to you happened to one of them —to your ma, to one of the boys — what would you have done? What would you have thought?”

Lucille allowed Jeff to imagine. In his dream-state, he wasn’t able to fully control his thoughts and ended up vividly picturing the scene — of himself sitting in the chair beside one of his son’s beds, carefully and gently tending to them. He couldn’t bare the sight, but at the same time, Jeff knew he would have done anything, gone through anything, to be there. To help them.

“You being home was the one miracle none of them ever truly believed would come true, Jeff.” Lucille continued. “Do not ever think that it was a mistake.”

He knew she was right, not only because he felt it deep within him but because Lucille was always right. Apparently that gift was something she carried into the after-life.

“I miss you, Luce.”

“I miss you too.”

“The boys miss you.”

“They have you now, back home with them.”

“Would it be too much to ask the universe for one more miracle, to return you to us as well?” Jeff joked though he wished he could have meant every word. 

Lucille laughed, squeezing Jeff’s hand once again. “We’ll all be a family again one day, Jeff, but not for a very long time.”

It both pained him and filled him with relief.

“But for now, rest with me for a little longer. Scott will be waiting for you when you wake up.”

———————————————————

Scott had long since put down his report and was sitting on the side of Jeff’s bed, his father’s hand gently cradled in his. His blue eyes had leaked tears. He couldn’t hear the other-side of the conversation, and even Dad’s words were no more than an unintelligible mumble, but he knew who he was dreaming about. Who he was talking to.

He wondered what adventure his parents were on, if any at all given the amount of talking Dad was doing. Scott frowned. Some of the truths that had come out of his father’s lips had been tough to hear. Did he really see himself as a burden to them? Scott couldn’t allow that. He’d have to make sure he worked extra hard to dispel those thoughts. Having Dad home was nothing short of a miracle — a word that was used minutes later by Jeff himself — and he was going to make sure his father understood that.

It was hard not to overthink the brief sentences of a one-sided conversation his father was having in his dream. Virgil would probably be getting the low-down later on, not only for Dad’s sake — because Scott doubted Dad would open up about those worries he’d been mumbling about to any of them — but also for himself. There was something melancholic hearing Dad talking to Mom again, even if none of it was real. Add in Jeff’s words and Scott found more salty tears running down his cheeks.

Had he failed him so bad that now Dad didn’t feel like he belonged home?

Worse than that, how was Scott going to approach talking to Dad about it without letting him know he was eavesdropping into a half conversation from his dream?

His worries floated away when John appeared in the doorway, allowing the crack of light from the outdoor hallway to flood through. Scott waved his brother over and John quietly took the seat in Scott’s vacated chair.

They sat together in companionable silence until Jeff finally roused from his slumber. Despite John’s attempts to stop him, Scott launched himself at his father, holding onto him tightly as though he feared he’d slip away from him again. Jeff seemed to understand, returning his son’s ferocious hug with as much strength as he could muster.

Words would be said and discussions had, but for now the simple action of a hug seemed to convey enough.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #ask game #sickness prompts #five answers #jeff tracy #scott tracy #lucille tracy #five fics

[katblu42]

Passing the Big Brother Baton

Something brought this one to mind recently, so I thought I'd bring it out for another airing.

You can also find it here on AO3

** Please note ** For this story Virgil is older than John.

Lucy knew her nap was over when the shuffle of little feet on the carpet became loud enough to break through the drowsy fog.  The little hand on her belly proved the point, but the whispered words kept her eyes closed for a while longer.  Much of what her eldest son was saying was too incomprehensible for her sleepy mind to decipher, but she caught the gist.  The hand on her very pregnant belly was part of an explanation that a baby was in there.  The beginning of a very serious instructional talk.

“Going big bruh now,” three-and-a-half year-old Scott was telling his barely one year old brother. Lucy was awake enough for her brain to begin re-interpreting the baby-talk to mean “You’re going to be a big brother now.”

“Like me!” Scott continued.  “I you big bruh.  You baby big bruh.”

Lucy allowed her eyes to drift open a little, wanting to see how this information was being received, but not wanting to interrupt.  Scott was too focused on Virgil to notice she had woken.  She could just make out Virgil doing that little bounce on his chubby legs as he stood on the other side of Scott, with both hands holding on to her bed for stability.  A flicker of movement in the corner of her eye diverted her attention and she saw her mother-in-law tentatively look into the room, ready to shoo the boys away and let her sleep.  Lucy caught Sally’s eye and gave a slight shake of the head, which the older woman took as her cue to withdraw.  The instructions continued.

“Baby come soon.  I look (after) you. You look (after) baby.”  The word “after” wasn’t spoken, but Lucy was used to filling in the blanks.

The only response Lucy could discern from her vantage point was a slightly furrowed brow – Virgil’s serious expression, one he used when concentrating hard.

“Big bruh job.”  (Meaning “That’s a big brother’s job.”)  There was a pause and Scott’s hand moved onto Virgil’s shoulder.  “I help you.”

“Ba!” Virgil replied, rather loudly, with another bounce as he flexed his leg muscles.

Scott nodded.  Apparently that was the required response.  Instructions had been given and received, and with that Scott turned and headed for the door, with Virgil toddling after him.

Lucy stifled a giggle.  Her boys were precious.  She had no doubt the new baby would be well and truly doted on.

****

With the impending birth of a fourth little Tracy, bedroom re-allocation was required.  Lucy had struggled with the best way of broaching the subject with her three boys, but needn’t have worried.  She should not have been surprised when five-and-a-half year-old Virgil immediately suggested John could move into his room.  He further justified this as the best solution by adding that Scotty was the biggest so he should have his own room.

John seemed apprehensive at first, but Virgil’s enthusiasm for the idea was apparently a persuasive force.  She watched, and silently followed, as he took John ever so gently by the hand and led him to the room in question to show him how it would all work.

“Your bed can go there.  Under the big window.  Then you can see the stars before you go to sleep.” His hands gestured at each space in turn as he spoke, his eyes alight with the imagining.  “My bed can go over there – I don’t need the window.  Bookcase goes there.  You gots more books than me, so it hasta go close to your bed.  We can share my desk.  It’s got all my pencils and paints on it though.  Is that okay?”

From her half-hidden spot just outside the door she could see John nod, seeming a little bewildered, but not altogether displeased with the idea.

“I promise I won’t be too loud,” Virgil assured his four-and-a-half year-old brother, “and it’s a big room, so you’ll still have lots of space all to yourself.”

Virgil must have seen or sensed something in John’s mood that she could not from out in the hall.  He sat on his bed, facing the window, and patted the space beside him, inviting John to sit to his left.

“I know lotsa things are changing right now.” There was a slow gravity to Virgil’s tone, so different to the rushed excitement of a moment ago.  “It’s gonna be okay, though.”

Virgil stretched his arm behind his brother’s shoulders, but waited until John leaned in against his side before letting his hand rest on the younger boy’s left arm in a gentle hug.

“You’re gonna be a big brother now,” Virgil said softly, “just like me and Scotty.  Big brothers gotta look after littler ones.  Scott looks after me sometimes.  I look after you.  You look after the baby when he comes.  But we’ll help you, too.”

“What about Mommy and Daddy?”

“They got lots of grown-up things they gotta worry about.  That’s why being a big brother’s so important.  Mommy and Daddy will look after all of us, but we can help them if we look after our little brother.  I gotta look after Scotty sometimes too, ‘cuase he doesn’t got a big brother.”

“Do you think I'll be a good big brother?"

Virgil nodded, and Lucy noticed the extra squeeze in the embrace.

"You're gonna be a great big brother.  And if you need any extra help you ask me, or Scotty and we'll help you."

"Okay," John said, visibly relaxing.  “I’m gonna help lots when the baby comes.  And I’ll help you look after Scotty too.”

Virgil gave an emphatic nod.

“Scott needs a lot of looking after.”

Lucy had to walk away before the laughter she was so desperately trying to stifle could burst out in a snort.

****

Gordon had just turned four, and with a new baby on the way the family had inevitably been throwing around the “big boy now” comments.  Lucy had been careful to involve Gordon in the necessary process of setting up the nursery furniture in the room he would soon be sharing, worried that he might resent the impending invasion.  Unlike any of the other boys, Gordon seemed reluctant to step into big brotherhood.  For over a week now he’d been very clingy, wanting cuddles with Mom on the flimsiest of pretexts, and needing Mommy’s (or, to a lesser extent Daddy’s) help with tasks that he had more than mastered.

Lucy was wondering what challenges today would bring when there was a commotion in the kitchen – a clattering of kid-safe plates, cups and bowls as though someone was rummaging through cupboards and spilling items out onto countertop and floor tiles.  Gordon had just gone in there.  With a sigh, Lucy heaved herself to her feet to see what was happening.  Before she reached the kitchen door the sound of John’s voice prompted her to stop and listen.

“What are you looking for?” the eight-and-a-half year-old enquired with a patience Lucy was sure she could not have mustered.

“My sippy cup,” came the simple reply, accompanied by more rummaging and clattering.

“Why?”

“For my juice.”  Lucy could hear the exasperated sigh in Gordon’s voice suggesting this was the most obvious thing in the world, despite him not needing his sippy cup in well over a year.

“I was going to pour yours into a cup just like mine.” 

Lucy was relieved her perceptive third child had been smart enough to avoid the term “big-boy cup.”  The use of similar terms had been enough to induce tantrums over the last few days.

There were footsteps and a cupboard door squeaked open as John apparently went and retrieved Gordon’s sippy cup from the corner cupboard used to store all the retired-until-further-notice toddler items.  Juice was poured, the lid popped on and the cup was slid across the countertop, presumably towards Gordon who had more than likely climbed up to sit on a stool opposite his big brother.

“You know, just because you won’t be the littlest anymore doesn’t mean Mom and Dad don’t love you just as much as they always did.”

Lucy was not surprised John was able to pinpoint the problem behind Gordon’s regressive behaviour, but she was impressed that he was able to articulate it so well, and that he was willing to address the issue head on.  There was no answer from Gordon, and she found herself imagining him trying to process what John had said, probably with head slightly tilted to one side and a squinty frown.

“I was the littlest before you were born,” John said solemnly, and perhaps with a hint of nostalgia.

“Really?”  The shock in Gordon’s voice had Lucy visualising his russet eyes widening.  “But you’ve always been big!”

John laughed.  A quiet, contented, closed mouth, chesty sound that Lucy always loved to hear.

“That’s because I’m older than you.  And I’ll always be older than you.  I’ll always be your big brother, just like Scott and Virgil will always be my big brothers, and all of us, including you, will be the baby’s big brother.”

“I don’t wanna be a big brother.”  Lucy heard the pout, and the crossed arms in Gordon’s words.

“Why not?”

“Don’t wanna be sponstible.  Wanna do fun stuff with Mommy, like before.  Just me and Mommy.  No baby.”

Lucy felt the prickle of tears in the corners of her eyes.  John let out a sigh.

“Yeah, it kinda sucks that you don’t really get to choose to be a big brother.  It just happens and you’re stuck with it.  And it is a big responsibility.  You need to look out for the little one, make sure they’re safe – like when I had to stop you from crashing the toboggan into the garage. You have to help them with things they can’t do yet – like I just helped you get a drink of juice.  But being a big brother can be pretty cool.  If you help mum look after the baby you’ll still get to spend time with her too.  And you can play with the baby sometimes.  Then when he gets bigger you get to teach him stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Well, the baby isn’t going to know anything about the world, or how things work, or being a Tracy.  He’ll watch you and learn from you – even when you don’t know it.  And when he’s old enough you’ll get to answer all his questions – like I answered when you asked me about how tadpoles turn into frogs.  You’ll be able to teach him important things like where all the best hiding spots in the house are, and not to steal grandma’s cookies.  Stuff Mom and Dad might not know, and stuff they might be too busy to help with – that’s the kind of big brother stuff you’ll need to do.”

There was a pause, and a soft shuffling and rustling of clothing.  Lucy thought John might have moved around the kitchen counter so he could put an arm around his little brother, or a comforting hand on his back with a gentle rub.

“You don’t have to do it all yourself.  That’s the best part about being a Tracy – we stick together, we all help each other.  You have three big brothers you can come to whenever you need to.”

Lucy wished she could see her boys at that moment, barely holding herself back from entering the kitchen just to see their expressions, to see the demonstration of exactly the big brotherly love John was speaking of.  She could hear the gentle scrape and clacking of cups that suggested the boys were sipping their drinks, perhaps even toasting the moment, before cups were tapped back down onto the countertop.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” she heard John quietly continue.  “I wasn’t sure how I felt about being a big brother at first.”  This was news to Lucy, and she wondered if she had missed something that she should have seen four years ago.  “But as soon as Mom and Dad brought you home I knew I would do anything to make you happy and keep you safe.”

“You didn’t want to be my big brother?”  The teariness in Gordon’s voice was heart-wrenching.

“I changed my mind really quick.  I found out having a little brother is the best feeling in the world.  There’s nothing like the way you looked up at me when I held you in my arms, or the feel of your tiny hand wrapped around my finger.  And you were fun to play with, especially when you were big enough to laugh.”

“I’m still fun to play with!” Gordon insisted, then doubt crept into his voice.  “Will you still play with me after the baby’s born?”

“Of course.”  John laughed again, this time a bright chuckle.

It seemed the serious conversation was over and the long silence prompted Lucy to begin to withdraw.  As she walked away she heard the beginnings of a whole new discussion.

“Are we sure the baby’s gonna be a boy?” Gordon asked

“Yeah, Mom and Dad and the doctor are all pretty sure.  Why?”

“Do you think I could ask if we could have a sister instead?” As curious as Lucy was to hear how John would handle that one, she kept walking, unable to stop the broad smile spreading across her face, and the swelling of absolute love in her heart for all her boys.

#fic reblog #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderbirds are go #wee tracys #lucille tracy

[scribbles97]

Left Behind - Where We Left Off

Oh look... after two years I've fixed that big old cliff hanger that I left lying around!

Thank you to those that have missed me and welcomed me back into the fandom after being absent for so long, the biggest of hugs to all of you... I hope I don't end up leaving you all on another cliff hanger!

For those that I haven't met yet, Hi!

I was here in the TAG fandom right at the very beginning and somewhere around the time the series finished I thought it'd be fun to imagine an AU in which Lucy was alive and well... this monstrosity of a fic is the outcome of that.

Looks like I was pretty rubbish at posting the last few chapters on here so check Ao3 for the fic in its entirety.

For those that don't want to re-read the entirety of what's already there... have a little recap under the cut.

Beware, there be spoilers ahead!

So... where were we?

Part One of this fic was basically about losing Jeff. That's right folks we hit off from the day the Zero-X blows up and Jeff vanishes.

This leaves Lucy, her brother Lee, and Val Casey as the main leads of International Rescue as we know it.

In this universe Lucy demanded that IR could not be run by their family alone and spearheaded what we call the IR academny, from where Scott is about to graduate. Kayo and Penelope are also about to graduate, but in a much quieter private ceremony for our two espoinage specialists. Both of these ladies have their fathers present and playing a big part in both International Rescue and Tracy Industries.

As for the rest of the family, John is working for NASA and about to shoot off into space. Virgil and Gordon are about to join the IR academy (which momma bear Lucy is absolutely having mixed feelings about). And Alan is being the kid that he should rightfully be at such a young age.

Part Two sees us skip forward four years.

We start to see a little more of IR as we know it here, though Virgil and Gordon are very much still learning, and Alan is barely getting away with being allowed to play on the simulators.

Lucy is afraid because of whisperings of Gaat (The Hood) returning and what this might mean for the safety of her family and IR as a world-wide organisation.

What nobody expects is that new camera angle from the Zero-X, leading to the suggestion that Jeff could still be alive.

Gaat tricks Lucy into thinking he has a new ship capable of the same flight, it's aboard this ship where she meets an engineer known as Michael and promises to free him from Gaat's grip. They then discover that Gaat has found his way onto the Island and is threatening the whole family (think Legacy).

Then the ship goes boom.

Part 3 starts out with the aftermath of Lucy being on a ship that exploded. She's in a coma and all of her boys are a little bit lost as to what to do now.

Scott takes over the business and the running of their IR team with John leaving Nasa to take his rightful place aboard TB5. Lee does an excellent vanishing act when it's decided to return Lucy to the island, and we haven't heard from him since.

We also discover that Lucy and Hugh Creighton-Ward might have been more than just friends at some point in the last four years.

Part 4 Lucy wakes up! Then promptly wonders what her place is in the family now that Scott and Hugh have taken so much of her role on for her. Their main concern is seeing her get stronger before they consider letting her take over some of the reins again.

Scott is quite happy to go on regular business meetings as it gives him an excuse to meet up with Tia, his off-island security that may also be turning into something more.

Speaking of which, Virgil and Kayo are also up to something and have a hilariously cute moment in telling Lucy as much.

Alan is also up to something, being the baby of the family and far too young to actually join the academy yet, he's trying hard to find a way to be involved in IR.

More importantly though, thanks to Eos, we find that Jeff is alive!

Part 5 is the most recent part posted... honestly? If you're not going to re-read the whole thing I'd at least read from here as a refresher.

Scott finally talks to people about his hopes and fears, but then his entire world comes crashing down around him is the most summary I can really say without spoiling what happens next. Val starts to question Lucy if they've done the right thing bringing the boys into IR, and Lucy starts to question her own relationships.

But Jeff is alive and there's a whole lot of figuring out how to get him home.

So... that's the fic in summary so far. Honestly, if you have the time and energy please please re-read the whole thing to refresh your memory. I did just that the other week and it opened my eyes as to how much there is that I left myself open to fix so you might find some interesting threads if you look hard enough!

#thunderbirds are go #scott tracy #thunderbirds 2015 #virgil tracy #gordon tracy #john tracy #alan tracy #scribbles writes #jeff tracy #Lucille Tracy #Val Casey #Lee Taylor #Hugh Creighton Ward #Penelope Creighton Ward #Kayo Kyrano #Left Behind #Scribbles writes

[forest-falcon]

I wrote this in one go when prepping dinner tonight so it's probably rubbish but I thought I'd post before overthinking it because I have probably six other fictions that I'm still overthinking!

Cold Coffee

As parents of four, nearly five rambunctious boys, Jeff and Lucille could be considered experts in the world of parenting. And if there's one lesson that they could pass on, it would be this; that there are no real experts when it comes to parenting.

As an astronaut and pioneer of the world-famous TV-21, Jeff had sat through many interviews quizzing him on every aspect of astrophysics imaginable. Having answered these questions, it seemed almost mandatory, for each interviewer to conclude in a similar fashion:

"How do you balance family life with your work?"

"Five children? Do you have external help?"

"What type of a parent would you say that you are - Authoritarian? Helicopter?"

"Human." Jeff would answer.

The world seemingly had many opinions on the Tracy family. Some believed they had it easy because... money. Others called out in support of the philanthropist saying Jeff had worked hard for everything he had built. A true underdog story - son of a Kansas wheat farmer now voyaging into uncharted space. However, seemingly nobody made the connection that, just like the rest of the world, they did not have it all figured.

"MUM! MUUUM!" Scott's voice wailed like a klaxon as he skidded into the kitchen.

"Yes Scotty?" Lucille answered, seemingly unperturbed. She continued to stack the family's breakfast dishes in the dishwasher as she spoke.

"I...err...I was trying to be helpful and bring you the dishes but...I knocked over the milk." Scott mumbled, twiddling his fingers.

Lucy grabbed a cloth and the kitchen spray.

"That's okay, can you wipe the spillage off the table for me? I'll be in in a moment. There's only a couple more dishes to-"

"It's gone everywhere! It's over the floor too!" Scott flapped, seemingly excited by the household disaster.

"Is it indeed?" Lucy quirked a bemused eyebrow, and made a show of putting her marigold-clad hand on her hip.

Scott nodded enthusiastically.

"Ok, I'll grab the mop."

Lucy was halfway through with filling the bucket when Scott's voice announced the next Tracy-home catastrophe.

"Ooooh noooo!" The voice came from the other room.

"...What is it Scott?" Lucy responded with a small sigh.

"Gordon's been playing in the milk and has walked it everywhere. It's all over his clothes!"

"FAB"

Lucille kneaded her lower back.

"Come on old girl" she grumbled to herself. At thirty-five, she wasn't old, but today somehow felt the age of the entire household combined.

Scooping up her soggy toddler, she sat him atop her rounded stomach and made for the bathroom. Some days she wondered if Gordon purposefully baptised himself in mess just so he had the excuse for another bath, he loved the water so much.

Scott, being the eldest, made a start on mopping the milk footprints from the dining room and hall. A quick calculation and Lucille decided that the least messy option, and one resulting in the fewest brotherly arguments, would be to have Virgil and John entertain themselves not in the direct vicinity of the breakfast mayhem. Virgil had set himself up at the piano and John parked himself in front of the brand new holoprojector. Sanity somewhat restored, she began showering her toddler.

Keeping the bathroom door open, Lucille listened for any new potential calamity but instead heard the gentle melody of silent night start up from the piano. It was February, but Virgil had been so very proud to be asked to perform the piece at his school's Christmas concert that he still associated the piece with the happiness he felt that day. It brought a smile to Lucy's heart too and she let the gentle sound wash over her as she rinsed the last of the soap suds from Gordon.

Another sound overtook Virgil's music. John had tuned into his favourite programme about space and had obviously increased the volume to combat the sound of the piano. The instrument grew louder in retaliation; silent night becoming more of a relatable night as witnessed by the Tracy household - in a nutshell; loud. In defiance, the holoprojector volume raised once more.

"Boys, turn the volume down!" she called, lifting Gordon from the bath, but her voice was drowned out by the dueling decibels.

"BOYS!" She called again, wrapping a towel around the youngest. The baby within her kicked in protest at the din.

Massaging her temples, she made for the living room and turned the holoprojector off.

"Hey!" John protested.

Virgil abruptly ended his aggressive rendition of anything-but-silent night and sat with a face of utter innocence, as though he hadn't been party to the explosive noise.

"John. Virgil. I. Need. Five. Minutes."

She paused, surveying the cluttered lounge.

"God, I could use a coffee right now." She muttered to herself. One month to go she inwardly sighed.

"Let me help dress your brother, then you're both gonna help me tidy all of...this." she gestured vaguely to her jumble sale of a room.

"I think Gordie's gone and dressed himself!" John sniggered.

Lucy turned to find Gordon sporting a pair of flippers, rubber ring, snorkel mask and one of her summer straw hats...and little else.

"Well kinda." Virgil snorted.

Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose and couldn't help but chuckle herself.

"Nice outfit kiddo, but I think we need something on your lower half."

Gordon gestured to his flippers.

"Come on, I'll help you pick something out."

She rifled through the folded laundry basket that was yet to make the journey upstairs and produced a more suitable outfit for the day.

Moments after she had finished dressing Gordon, Scott reappeared.

"Erm...mum?" he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Lucy turned to face him with a I-am-desperately- trying-to-be-a-good-parent smile.

"Yes...Scotty?"

"Well, you know you asked me to get the paddling pool out for Gordon?"

"No, when on earth did I say that? I've been bathing your brother."

"Oh… When you were talking with John n Virg, Gordie said you asked if I would get the paddling pool out for him."

Lucille turned to face the smallest mischief maker only to find him hiding behind Virgil.

"Anyway..." Scott continued.

"I accidentally dropped the house key when trying to carry everything." he mumbled.

"I needed it to open the back door and it err...it went down a gap in the decking in the back garden."

"O-kay" Lucy inhaled slowly. Summoning both her physical and mental strength. She followed her eldest to the decking.

"Can you show me where you dropped the key?"

"I'm...not too sure."

"The paddling pool is so big and I couldn't see where the key went exactly."

"Ok, well where were you standing?"

"I... can't remember."

Lucy muttered a word under her breath that she would later reason to her son's teacher that he must have learnt from his school peers.

"I need to take the decking up."

"Can't we just leave it until dad's home? He said he'd be back at lunch today, so anytime now really." Scott reasoned.

"That's the kicker. Dad gave his set of keys to Grandma when we went away. He was relying on us to let him in today."

As if on cue, there was a rap on the door."

Virgil opened the letter box and looked through.

"It's dad!" He called excitedly.

Lucy used the wall to ease herself down and peered through the letterbox.

"We have a situation... The keys fell through the decking in the back. Both the back gate and front door are locked."

"Ah. Maybe a master key wasn't the best idea. No worries. We'll get it back." His eyes smiled.

"I'm gonna try n take the decking up." Lucy announced.

"No. Wait… I have a plan. Make sure nobody is standing by the back gate, ok?" Jeff's profile disappeared from the small window of vision.

"What's the plan? Jeff? Jeff?" she made a guttural sound in the back of her throat then headed back out to the garden.

"Is everyone out of the way?"

"Yes-"

"-Good!"

There was a loud thud against the back gate.

"Oww."

"That was your plan? To try to kick the gate down?" Lucy deadpanned.

"In fairness, those are some mighty good hinges."

Lucy chuckled.

"Hold on..."

There was a scraping sound, followed by some clambering, then Jeff appeared at the top of the fence. Swinging himself over the top, he landed with as much finesse as any comic book superhero ever had.

He straightened and gave Lucy a devilishly smug smile.

"Hi" he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"Hi" she replied, stress melting away almost tangibly.

"So...decking" he said, rolling up the sleeves of his white linen shirt. It was warm and he unbuttoned the top of his shirt.

"I can do it." Lucy said. She wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe, she felt that she wanted to prove herself capable, having felt like she had failed with the boys this morning. Her life was infinitely different from when Jeff and her had studied astrophysics together. She felt the urge to feel good at something again.

"Don't be daft!" Jeff scoffed, nodding towards her eight-months-pregnant form.

"I'm capable." Lucy retorted stubbornly.

Jeff cupped her hands and kissed them.

"I know you are, but just because you can, doesn't mean you should have to. I want to show our boys that asking for help is not weakness, it's a strength." His smile was genuine and warm.

"Mum?" Lucy turned and found all four boys beaming up at her.

"We just wanted to say we love you, so we made you the coffee you wanted and got you some flowers." Scott said, brandishing a bunch of flowers that had been growing in the garden less than half an hour before.

Jeff squeezed her shoulder.

"And sorry about the keys." The eldest boy added.

Lucy pulled Scott in for a hug.

"It's ok Scotty. You were just trying to help. I love you."

Virgil stepped forward, mug in hand.

"I know we're not supposed to use the kettle when you're not there so we used the tap instead." Virgil said, presenting her with a greyish milky concoction with coffee granules floating at the top.

"You said you'd like some coffee."

"Thank you sweetheart." She beamed, accepting simultaneously the best and worst coffee she ever had.

"I'm so lucky to have you boys."

She silently handed the cup over to Jeff and pulled all the boys into a hug.

"Still wanting to pull that decking up yourself?" Jeff quizzed.

"No." Lucy smiled, wiping away happy tears.

"Good."

"So...boys! Who wants to learn how an impact driver works?" Jeff called, returning the mug to his wife.

Lucy watched happily as the boys all chorused and ran to join their father, working together to find the missing key. Absent-mindedly, she took a sip from her mug and blanched.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderfam #thunderbirds fanfiction #scott tracy #virgil tracy #john tracy #gordon tracy #lucille tracy #jeff tracy #thunderfluff

[tippystreasurebox]

For @mariashades for the 2023 tag mini bang!

This was inspired by The Unusual Family fic! The comparison of Gordon with his mom and Lucy got wedged in my brain after reading Gordon’s chapter 😭

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #gordon tracy #lucille tracy #tagminibang2023

[jacksonstarkiller]

Priest: Do you read to your children from the good book every night?

Lucy: Every night!

Priest: What is their favourite part?

Jeff: When Frodo destroys the ring.

#thunderbirds #thunderbirds 1965 #incorrect thunderbirds quotes #Jeff Tracy #Lucille Tracy #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2004

[ajpendragon]

This is a prequel of sorts to my series Second Sight, which I don't think I ever posted here on Tumblr. You can find it here over on ao3 if you're interested.

Illusion

It was a government facility, she was pretty sure. She was equally sure that most of the government had no idea what was going on there. If they did, someone would have shut this place down a long time ago. 

It wasn’t quite torture, per se. They never laid a hand on them physically. They never quite crossed the line outwardly. If any typical person walked in, they wouldn’t even bat an eye. But the constant psychological pressure, constant noise, was maddening to the telepaths they were ‘housing’ there. 

According to their captors, they weren’t imprisoned. They could leave any time they wanted to. But then the psychological games started. They were helping the world by staying and participating in the tests. They would never be accepted into society if people knew what they could do. This was the only place they would be safe. Accepted. Trusted. 

Loved. 

It was all lies, of course. They all knew it was nothing more than a carefully crafted illusion. But those little seeds of doubt had been sown for far too long. The guards knew what they were doing, combining their spoken words, and calculated leaked thoughts to ensure that no one would ever leave. As far as she knew, no one had ever tried.

It had been years since she had last seen the sun. It had been years since she’d had an actual conversation with another human being that didn’t consist of barked orders or brusque commands. 

Her days were always the same. Wake up to the same boring mush for breakfast. Someone came into her ‘room’ and escorted her to her ‘office’, a sterile white room where she spent hours every day working on puzzles, science experiments or math equations, all with a variety of psychological attacks while working. 

She had thought she was pretty good at shielding before she had been brought here, but those early attacks had often brought her to her knees, incapacitating her for hours. It was better now, long experience making her able to function through most of their attempts, only seriously affected when they got particularly creative. 

They had come up with quite a few new ideas recently, and she was feeling particularly raw, shields cracked and crumbling. But still she pushed through. She knew the consequences if she failed. 

The math they had laid in front of her today would have been easy for her on a good day. She used to love math, the consistency of the numbers a comforting refuge. But years spent forced to continue working through the mild headaches of a weak test, or the blinding, mind-numbing pain of a new, creative attempt had drained the joy. 

Today was no exception. She tried to shut everything else out and focus solely on the equations in front of her. For a few minutes, the math came easily, left alone as she was. Then they started their ‘tests’. 

First, it was simple things. A random mental shout to try to distract her. A sensation of creeping dread that always made her feel slightly on edge, but wasn’t enough of a distraction to pull her from her work. 

Then they escalated. The sensation of bugs crawling all over her skin. The nagging feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong. She tried to shore up her mental shields, but they were too worn to be effective. A headache started to bloom, centered behind her left eye. 

She doggedly continued to work, but they continued to escalate until she started to falter. After thirty minutes of the same song over and over, the headache had grown to a stabbing pain, and she was forced to close her eyes, shoving her hands against her closed lids to try to alleviate the pain. 

She knew it wouldn’t work. She wasn’t truly in pain. It was all an illusion. Nothing was wrong with her body, it was only psychological. But no one could endure that level of pain without attempting something, however futile, to help. 

The pain spread throughout her skull, sending tension down her neck and back. Nausea turned in her stomach. They hadn’t pushed her this far in a long time, and she was rapidly losing control. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she screamed against the pain. 

Suddenly, everything went quiet. The pain didn’t leave, that would take days, but at least it was no longer growing. She didn’t move, trying to take advantage of every moment of her reprieve, however brief. 

But it stayed quiet. There were people there. She could feel their shields. But their minds were locked down tightly, not allowing even a whisper of their thoughts to escape. Not even the guards had that kind of iron control. What was happening out there?

It was a long time before anyone entered the room, and the blinding pain had lessened somewhat, to the point she could at least function. She gathered the tattered remnants of her shields into an approximation of the control she once had. Forcing herself to her feet, she grabbed the pencil from the desk and gripped it tightly in her hand, peeking cautiously though the door. She didn’t know what was happening, but she wasn’t going down without a fight. 

The hallway was clear, and she tiptoed through the doorway. She didn’t know which way was out, but picked a direction at random. Any way was better than sitting there wondering. 

It was quiet, more quiet than she had ever seen the facility, more empty. She moved through silent corridors for what felt like ages, hesitating at each corner to check that the hallway was clear. She was so focused on what was in front of her that she forget to pay attention behind, until the slight scuff of a boot caught her attention. 

She spun around, pencil already stabbing down threateningly. The man in front of her deflected the blow easily, knocking the pencil from her hands and grabbing her wrists in one smooth motion, while still being careful not to hurt her. 

“I’m here to help.” He promised gently. His voice sounded sincere, but she couldn’t be sure. Her trust had been shattered long ago, and she refused to fall for their illusion of safety ever again. 

She reached out towards his mind, which was still blessedly quiet. He wasn’t lying. Which meant that maybe he was actually here to help. 

“I’m with the United States government. Major Jeff Tracy. We’re shutting down this whole operation, and erasing all of the records. As soon as you have a clean bill of health from our doctors, you’re free to go.”

“Go where? The world will never accept me.”

“Maybe, if they knew what you could do, some people wouldn’t trust you. But most people are better than you give them credit for. Besides, all records from this place are being wiped. As far as the world knows, there are no such thing as telepaths. Your powers don’t exist.”

“Is it possible? Could I truly be free?”

“I promise. Now let’s get you to medical, miss-“

“Lucille. Lucille Evans.” She took his hand, following him out of the building into the sun. The light nearly blinded her, combining with her headache to bring her to her knees. 

He lifted her up, looping her arm over his shoulders and leading her out of the light into the medical tent they had set up just outside the entrance. Inside, a number of doctors and nurses in white coats bustled around, their minds all carefully shielded. 

Her fellow prisoners were scattered about on beds, some of them looking almost normal, while others were hunched over in pain. Jeff led her over to an empty bed, staying with her while he flagged down a doctor to help. 

One glance at her and the doctor was already readying an IV line, fixing the needle with practiced hands. The relief of whatever medicine he had given her was almost instantaneous, and she let the wave of peace roll over her. The last thing she remembered was Jeff’s hand in hers, and the world faded away. 

*******************************************

On her wedding day, Lucille looked straight into the eyes of the man who had saved her and promised to love him forever. She had been told for years that love was an illusion. That people like her would never be worthy of happiness. It had taken time for Jeff to tear down those walls she had built around her heart. His love was true. Jeff had finally convinced her of that.

And she couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life loving and being loved. 

For real. 

#whumptober 2023 #no. 19 #psychological #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #lucille tracy #jeff tracy #torture tw

[tracybirds]

For @thunder-pride 's second prompt day: "I'm proud of you", but also inspired by and following on from @avengedbiologist 's fic found here. Also borrowing her headcanon that Lee and Lucille are siblings from a large family full of L named siblings bc yes 😂💕💕

Written almost entirely on my phone on a daytrip to Hamilton so please excuse any errors - I'm posting on a phone with literally 1% battery LOL

---

His homecoming was everything he'd dreamed of, full of joy and love and the gleeful shriek of a toddler thrown into the air. Jeff held Scott close, wrapping an arm around his wife as he stared in awe down at the sleeping baby she was gently rocking back and forth.

"There he is," he breathed in wonder, hardly daring to reach out and brush back the shock of red hair.

"There he is," Lucille agreed mildly. "Worth waiting for, Daddy?"

"I wish I could have been here."

A tiny hand closed around his finger and Jeff swallowed thickly.

"UNCLE LEE!"

Scott's shout sent his ears ringing and he looked up to see Lee peel away from the swarm of reporters and make his way towards the family.

"Hey Steven," he said reaching out to ruffle Scott's hair, sending him into peals of laughter.

"It's Scott!" protested the toddler but Lee only pulled a face, making him giggle even more.

"And hey to you, sis," he said, beaming at Lucille. "Got a second to share the newest nephew with your big brother?"

"Honestly Lee, you're less than ten minutes older, it hardly counts," she said rolling her eyes.

"You tell that to a racecar champ, see what they say," he retorted as he leant down. "Oh wow, the kid's something special, isn't he?"

"He sure is," said Jeff. "You did good Luce."

"How old's Jim now?"

"John," said the parents as one.

"Honestly, Lee," added Lucille. "How do you expect to be the favourite uncle if you don't even remember their names?"

Lee waved a hand. "I already had to learn all of Laura and Leonard's kids' names," he complained. "You can't expect me to keep track."

"I keep track just fine," pointed out Lucille with a suppressed smile. "And look out because Lily's pregnant now too, remember?"

Lee slapped a hand across his forehead. "Dang it, I'd forgotten she'd said that in the last vid. Is that why she's glaring at me?"

"Better go find out," said Jeff with a grin. "Hey Scott, want to go help Lee win Aunty Lily over with that cute smile of yours?"

"Yeah!" said Scott, his feet wriggling as he tried to escape Jeff's grip.

Lee gave Jeff a significant glance as he grabbed the toddler's hand, and Jeff felt his mouth go dry.

He knew what Lee was silently suggesting but the timing felt all wrong.

"Jeff, honey?" Lucille asked gently, seeing the shadow that had fallen over his eyes.

"We need to talk," he said in a low voice, trying not to look around at the reporters and give them any hint of a story. He didn't fancy causing anytime of spectacle. "Not here. And nothing bad," he added hastily. "Just important to me."

Lucille reached out and squeezed his hand. "If it's important to you, it's important to me," she said with a firm voice. "Do I need to beg off Mom and Dad's dinner? John's got quite a voice on him; he'll probably start screaming the minute he wakes up, we can use that."

"Don't be silly, Luce," said Jeff, kissing her cheek. "Your parenrs went to a lot of effort, especially with Ma and Pa's flight out here delayed."

"Who's being silly? You stay here with the baby and toddler and I'll go to Mars next time. Is it so wrong I want you all to myself instead of smiling over a celebratory dinner?"

As though he could sense his mother's sharp words, John stirred and opened his eyes to see his father - little more than a stranger - staring down at him. He wrenched his small hand from Jeff's pinky and screwed up his face to let out an almighty wail.

"Oh no, Johnny," said Lucille, frantically scooping him up into her arms and unsuccessfully attempting to soothe hum. "Jeff?" she said desparately.

Jeff hurried over to make their excuses at once, noting the family's knowing looks of sympathy and realising that this must not unusual for his second son. Lily looked faintly disquueted, while Lee held nothing back and clamping his hands over his ears as he near shouted his goodbyes.

"Mommy says Johnny has big feelings," said Scott solemnly as Jeff reached down and hoisted him up onto his hip. "But I think they're just loud."

The journey back to Lucille's parents' house where they would be staying was short, yet when Jeff compared it to the long months in space he knew which he preferred. It didn't take long for John's screams, which seemed even louder in the enclosed space, to get under Scott's skin and before he knew it, Jeff had two wailing children in the back seat, while his wife deftly climbed over to sit between them and provide what little comfort she could. He face was drawn tight and Jeff gripped the steering wheel as he glanced in the rearview mirror at her. His heart constricted in his chest, knowing she'd been left to parent their children without him these long months. It was abundantly clear that where Scott had been calm and easy-going, John was determined to throw as many curveballs into the mix. He finally quieted as they pulled into the drive and Jeff said nothing as he collected Scott and set him down in his high chair.

"Peas, Daddy?" asked Scott with wide eyes, and Jeff dutifully doled out half a cup of frozen peas.

"I need to go help Mommy now, be a good, bave boy for me, Scott, and hold tight. I'll get you the rest of dinner soon," he promised.

Lucille hadn't moved, head tipped back in clear exhaustion. She opened an eye as he leaned down next to the open car door.

"So how's Mom doing? Truthfully, without the cameras and your parents watching?"

She stifled a sob and it was all Jeff could do not to cram himself into Scott's toddler seat to comfort her.

"Oh, it's silly," she said, choking back tears. "He's wonderful really, I love him so much. I should have warned you, Johnny's just so very easily startled and you should have seen how he cried when we first introduced Mom and Dad to him, but once he starts he just doesn't stop and..."

She gasped and burst out crying again, and Jeff gently drew her out of the car.

"It's okay, Luce," said Jeff. "So he's wary of strangers, that's not so bad. Didn't we always say we wished Scott were just a little more frightened of them - remember when he wandered off with that old man at the grocery store?"

Lucille stifled a laugh. "Or that six year old at the lake who wanted to 'adopt' him?"

"Exactly," said Jeff. "We can't pretend each of our kids won't have their own challenges. Although one day, John's going to do amazing things with that voice and we'll get to watch him and be so glad he never stopped."

Lucille nodded. "I know, Jeff I do. But oh, it's been so awful being here for the last week and not at home. I love Mom, I do, but she's been driving me up the wall. If she comments on how we're raising the kids, or how you should be here or..."

"What?" asked Jeff, stricken as his blood ran cold. "She said that."

Lucille faltered. "She's not right, Jeff. We agreed, this was our decision."

"Is she wrong, Lu? Look at you, this has been an awful time for you."

"I'm fine," protested Lucille. "It's worse than usual with so many new people around and John frightened and Scott grouchy and..."

"Oh, heck, Scott," groaned Jeff. "I only gave him his peas."

"Oh Jeff, not the peas, Mom's convinced he'll choke on them, I promised not to give them to him."

"Go," he assured her. "I'll sort John out."

It was hours later when they finally sat down with their own dinner, freshly microwaved. John was fast asleep in the travel cot in their room and Scott playing on the floor in front of them. Jeff dropped his head against Lucille's shoulder.

"This is the life," he murmured, stifling a yawn.

Lucille hummed in agreement, silently gathering the plates to dump in the kitchen sink.

"Dad can deal with them," she muttered as she stretched out next to Jeff. "He owes me."

She reached up and patted Jeff's cheek.

"Now, don't think I've forgotten. You said you had an important thing to discuss."

Jeff was suddenly wide awake, his insides strangling themselves.

"Now?"

Lucille shrugged. "Why not? Kids are calm, family's out. I don't feel like waiting until we're back in Kansas, not if it's important to you."

Jeff shrugged. "Seems less important now. It's just you have a lot of time for introspection when you're several months out from Mars. And your brother kept me up at night with his snoring."

Lucille narrowed her eyes. "You're stalling," she accused. "Out with it, Jefferson Tracy."

"No laughing," he warned. "It's really not a big deal."

She crossed her hand over her heart, waiting expectantly.

Jeff took a deep breath.

"It's just that, well, I'm bisexual," he said in a rush. "I don't know why it suddenly became so clear to me, but there you have it."

He peeked up into Lucille's dark brown eyes. They were shining with warmth.

"Oh Jeff," she whispered. "How wonderful."

He blinked. "It's nothing special."

She smacked his shoulder lightly. "Don't be dense," she exclaimed. "What a wonderful discovery for you. Isn't is so incredible that you know yourself better now?"

He smiled shyly, warming to her enthusiasm. "I hadn't thought of it like that," he admitted softly. "I told Lee. The idea had been bouncing around in my head up there and I just had to say it out loud."

"Of course you did," she said. "It's the truth, isn't it? It's so hard to keep the truth contained sometimes."

She kissed him, her lips curving into a smile on his skin. "I'm so proud of you, honey," she whispered.

"Proud of you too, Daddy," announced Scott loudly, and they startled apart. Scott climbed onto the couch, beaming. "So proud," he declared. "Mommy says she's proud of me for walking 'cross the road nicely. Did you do that too?"

Jeff laughed and hugged his eldest son.

"Something like that."

#scott tracy #jeff tracy #lucille tracy #john's there but he only cries lol #thunderbirds are go #sometimes i fic #thunderpride

[bonsaiiiiiii-fics]

Eggs: chapter 2

Here we goooooo with chapter 2 of Eggs! I'm glad you liked it so much it bought me to make another chapter. I hope you like this one too <3

here you have it on Ao3!

Words: 4200-ish (too lazy to count the exact words. still a lot lol)

Genre: fluff on the long run, slice of life.

Fandom: Thunderbirds are go!2015

Characters: of course all of ‘em, again. some more oc’s this time, Quinn’s parents, plus Laurie again! She's part of the family now hehe.

Aw. This wasn't the best outcome ever that she imagined. 

So donor mommy is dead, she ponders as she checks Lucille off her bucket list, this inconvenience making it impossible to ever meet her. She honestly didn't know what she expected until now, but she has no choice in feeling disappointed; after all, this woman gave her a chance to live, a chance into this world, and without her she wouldn't substantially exist. Like Jeff said, they and her parents knew each other from school, more specifically high school, losing gradually contact with each other once they got into college, so she was very pleased when she asked her parents about Lucille, receiving some answers about who she was and why she did this. She already knew why Lucille did this to her mom, because her mom wasn’t able to conceive, but it all gave her some more clearance.

“Basically you’re supposed to be the same age as his eldest son, babe…” She remembers her mom’s words as she scribbles the key parts of the conversation on a piece of paper, near some physics equations. “...’cos we decided to get pregnant together. But I had some heart complications, so she gave birth to her baby and the egg she gave me got frozen, some crio-crap or that stuff; so when I got better the egg had this defrost and I finally got the chance to have you in my life.” Her mom has never been this great with wording, despite her line of work needing a specific vocabulary- after all, it’s not like a flight attendant can use words like babe during pre-flight organization. Hm, she needs to scribble this important piece of information down too. After that, there hasn’t been much her mom was able to tell her, so she kinda has to resort to Jeff to get to know more about her. But, the question is, does she want to know more about Lucille?

She doesn't really want to be a part of that family, keep them close, because she already has one, the ones that grew her and educated her into who she is now, and it would be weird to go back and forth between a family and the other like it's normal business. But still...they're her half-siblings. Man, it's weird as hell hearing that, like it is coming to the conclusion she indeed has another family. Her parents hugged her when she bought her problems to them, telling her that, even if she has some more relatives now, this won’t mean they’re being replaced, on the contrary.

Her attention turns back to her list and her pen lands next on Clinton Smith's name, her donor daddy. She has yet to meet him, and Jeff promised he would find him upon her mentioning she has troubles doing so on her own. Well, she hasn’t asked him yet, but they basically live just next door; if she faces the window she can see the house’s silhouette, the same house her biological mother grew up in. Crazy how near she was all this time…did she get to even meet her, even if it was just a glance on the street? Did Lucille ever manage to see her, if from afar, if her parents accepted a meeting between them and she was too little to remember? Did…Lucille even want to see her in the first place? Sure, Jeff said that she wanted, but Sally also said Lucille never expected for her to come visit her. Let’s scribble this down.

"Man, I'm getting really sappy." She rolls her eyes, dumping unceremoniously the pen on top of the sheets spread all over her blanket, on the bed. She had always been a logical mind, and calculations have always been a passion for her. She would turn everything into something physics, logical, she would find a math formula in everything, a thing she now discovered she inherited from her biological mother. "Hm," she eyes one of those sheets, displaying lots of calculations and formulas scribbled messily. "I need to update Pot."

Her phone ringing, blasting a rock tune full sound, distracts her from the task she currently set herself to do now, her face lighting up at the caller ID. 

"Rie!!! My sis, my precious bestie!" She fake sobs into her phone. "I missed you!" 

"Are you crying?" Laurie's voice sounds cheerful, not seeming worried with that. "Is it me you're missing or tacos?" 

The reply is a moment of silence. "Now that you mention it..." 

"Traitor." She laughs it out. "Well, I'll be there in 5, so it's better if you find yourself ready." 

"Oooooh, I live to see the day Laurie Charter herself takes me out on a date, never thought the roles would reverse so much! Missing me so much already?" 

"You've been closed in your room for 4 days, now it's the moment to cut loose. Hurry up, I have a surprise for you." And with that, she hangs up. 

Quinn shrugs, hauling herself off the bed and going cheerfully towards her closet, her mind set on going eating. She needs nourishment, and if they're under the form of tacos then who is she to refuse them precious carbs? After 34 minutes, her mom’s advice on a hairstyle, Rie’s advice on what to wear after she came and knocked on her door several times, her not being ready in 5 minutes like Rie wanted, Quinn’s finally ready to come out of her room and accept Rie’s surprise- what’s supposed to be breakfast, that now turned into a simple brunch.

“So?” Laurie starts, taking a sip of her pomegranate tea. “What’s been on your mind lately?”

“Ah-” She messily spits out, her mouth full of tacos; after she gulps down what was in her mouth, she speaks again. “I was thinking of inviting them to dinner. Or to meet somewhere.”

“When?”

“I was thinking tonight? The sooner the better. I don’t know why, but I think of it as a band-aid I have to rip off ASAP.”

“Hm.” Laurie takes a gentle bite from her donut. “But how does this make you feel? The whole thing, I mean.”

“Well, I don’t know why…but I’m disappointed. I know I shouldn’t be, I mean, I have a family of my own that raised me to be the woman I am now, even if I don’t look like either of them. The fact one of my biological parents, if not both of them, is dead…it shouldn’t mean anything to me.”

“Hey, don’t say that!” Rie protests softly, getting up from her seat in front of her bestie to go sit near her. “Sure, they’re not the parents who raised you up, but without them you wouldn’t be here.” She places her arm around Quinn’ shoulders, pulling her into a half-hug. “And you don’t know if your biological dad is still alive.”

“Well, even if he is, what should I do then? I don’t picture myself staying with him or visiting him just because he contributed to my creation…I mean, I didn’t.”

“Finding Lucille, or her family, changed this thought of yours?”

“I don’t know…the fact I had a chance to meet her, and from this chance I gained some step-brothers…y’know, I regretted for some time the fact that I didn’t open the documents as soon as I got them.”

“Well, everybody can understand that, not everyone is ready to have their life turned upside down like this.” She pauses, and for a few minutes they both sit in silence, soft chewing noises that make it more enjoyable. “I think you should give them a call and have dinner with them.”

Quinn pauses, cleaning her dirty fingers with a napkin. “It’s stupid for a brilliant ivy league brain like mine, but…you don’t think I’m replacing my parents this way, right…?”

Laurie’s half-hug turns into a full fledged one, hug-crushing her bestie. “Absolutely not! Even your mom told you this.”

Quinn sinks into her bestie’s embrace, pondering. Her mom… “Hang on!” She detaches, a crazy glimmer in the brown eyes she inherited from her biological mother. “I can invite them to my house! Jeff said they knew each other, so they’ll have the chance to talk again, and I’ll treat them like family friends instead of family! I mean- until I’ll be ready to see them as family.”

“Well-” Laurie starts tentatively, not colliding with Quinn's plan. But after all, if that's her wish, if that's what makes it easier for her… “-sure, why not?” She takes another sip of her tea, finishing it. “When do you plan on calling them?”

“Honestly, I don't know if I should call them or go to their house…what do you think it's best?” Quinn ponders, playing with her straw and twirling it around the rim of her glass. Having another family to think about has never been so stressful.

“Well, personally delivered news is always better. You can stop by just to tell them and you'll see them tonight.” Rie replies, patting gently her bestie's shoulder. “You also have their contact numbers, right?”

“Yeah, but I think what you said is best. Wanna go now?”

“Oh!” She mutters, checking her clock. “Sorry, I can't. I gotta give an exam next week and I want to study a little, just to be sure. But if you want to go now you totally can!”

“Oh, well, that's perfect, no worries! Then I'll let you know what they said.”

Aaaand there she is again, in front of that fateful house that holds an important piece of her. This time she's not so nervous to let her presence known, so she knocks on the door, waiting for an answer. It takes a little, and she scrunches her nose; are they gone already? Gone where? Isn't this their home, where they grew up?

Just when she shrugs, about to step away from their porch and go back home to contact them via holocall and update Pot, the door opens, revealing one of her step-brothers. The one she shares the eyes with.

“Hi, how- oh, it's you!” Virgil's eyes glimmer at the sight of his new sibling, his first sister by blood- apart from Kayo, his sister by soul. “Sorry it took me a while…how can I help you? Do you wanna come in?”

“Oh, hi, Virgil! Yeah, it would be nice.” Unconsciously, her eyes glimmer too. “How are you guys?”

“Oh, all fine, thank you. How are you, how's your family?” Wow, this sounds exactly like a question a family friend would say, and not her family by blood. Hm, it'll be easier than expected to pretend with them a little before facing the cold, harsh truth.

“Oh, all right. Apart from some pretty stubborn calculations for my midterm, I'll eventually figure my way out of that one too. If I flirt with it, chances are that it might soften a little.” She jokes, allowing Virgil to crack a hearty laugh. “Is your dad home?”

“Ack, you just missed him! He had to go to Washington with Scott for a meeting. If you want you can leave me a message for him.”

“Ah, that's alright.” She accommodates herself to a comfy seat on the couch Virgil pointed her to, him sitting right beside her with some distance added for comfort. “Do you know when they'll be back? I want to invite you guys over for dinner…” For reasons unknown to her, she shies out a little, the words not coming out with her usual confidence.

“Oh!” Virgil is taken aback by this request of hers, finally happy she decided to reach out for them after giving her space. He thought about it, about her, in these 4 days she's been radio silent; they all sat down and talked together about this the same night after she visited, and after that there's been some chats between the three eldest, Scott taking the lead for the times he butted himself in wherever the topic or her name has been mentioned.

After much research on her and some records from their dad, all of them eventually became convinced she shares half their blood, therefore she's family, even Scott after a looooong while. Scott was skeptical at first, wary even, because she's still a stranger, a thunder in broad daylight, and just like that she flipped their lives upside down with their mom's perfect resemblance; it took a lot of time and evidence for him to relax his shoulders and finally accept her.

John, silent as usual, trusted his gut for once instead of his brain, his logical core receiving the proof he always seeks in everything upon seeing her face for the first time. He didn't do any further research, if not to calm Scott down, and that has been more than enough for him to trust her. He revealed to Virgil, in one of their 3 eldest conversations, that he's curious to get to know her, to know if she shares their and their mother's same interests, apart from the aspect.

Gordon…well he knows Gordy like the back of his hand, his well trusted copilot, and to say he was absolutely mesmerized by her from the first time he laid eyes on her is a misunderstanding; after all, if you place them side by side, it looks like they could be twins for how dangerously identical they are, just opposite sexes.

And Alan, what to say about him. His big sister!, he excitedly said, another part of his family! Yeah.

“Well,” Virgil starts again, recollecting his thoughts. “They actually have to eat dinner at some place or something, but they'll be way happier to dine back home. I'll call them and let them know to not make any stops.”

“Oh, but if they're busy dining somewhere else I can arrange for another night.” Quinn says, remembering the speech Rie gave her about who they are. Millionaires. Possibly freaking billionaires, that have countless houses, a freakin’ Island and giant ass ships, all in one! And here she got her suspicions confirmed, just by looking at this house she figured already they're rich, just not this important. Motherfrikin’ International Rescue!

“Nah, no worries! Their stop was kind of forced, since they're probably gonna finish late and want to rest a little, especially dad. You've seen him these days, haven't you?” He asks, finding that his dad's health is a great topic just to keep her here some more.

“Yeah…what's happening with him? If I can, uh, ask.”

“Of course.” He takes a deep breath, trying to lay this on her as gently as possible; it's probable she's been living under a rock, hence why she doesn't really know them and what they do, except from her best friend who seemed to vividly know who she had in front of her at their meeting. “He's had kind of an accident in space.”

???!!! “Space??”

“Yeah. He's slowly recovering now, so he'll get better, but the therapy is an exhausting path for him.”

“Yeah…” Quinn shifts her legs uncomfortably. “I'm sure he'll get better.”

“Thank you.” Virgil smiles at her. Just as he's about to say something else, he gets interrupted by one of his brothers entering the living room after what seems like a deep slumber.

“Hey Vì, who was at the doo…oh!” Alan gasps upon laying his eyes on Quinn, suddenly aware of the oversized Hard Rock Cafe shirt he's wearing, some neon red trunks that look like a punch in the eye in contrast with the plain cream shirt, foot bare and bedridden hair. Yup, that boy sure had the best reboot of his life.

“Hiii!” Quinn energetically waves at him, doing the same weird bro handshake they did the first time they met, Alan regaining his usual smile and playfulness.

“She has just been inviting us for dinner tonight.” Virgil says, smiling at their cute and natural interaction, like they knew each other since they were little.

“Ooooooh, nice! Where are we going?” He makes that happy puppy face, happy that he gets the chance to see her again, that she wants to reach out again.

“I was thinking over at my house, y'know? Your parents knew mine, so I think it's a perfect chance for them to meet again.”

“Actually that's a great idea, how thoughtful of you.” Virgil answers, making Quinn crack a smile.

“Hey, sometimes my brain seems to poop out these genius ideas, what to say?” She confidently says, swishing her hair again.

“Well, nothing more to expect from an ivy league brain.” Virgil laughs it out, totally on board with her confident sense of humor. “By the way, can we offer you something? Like some water, a snack?”

“Oh, yeah, some water would be awesome! Have you checked how hot is it today? It's like Hell on Earth today.”

“Not hotter than other days, you gotta see Hell on Earth next week or something.” Alan says, shrugging the upcoming sleepless and sweating nights off his mind, just for now.

“Ah, don't I know it…” She rolls her eyes, thanking Virgil who in the meantime just bought her a nice blessing disguised as a glass of water. After she gulps it down in some big chugs, she wipes her mouth, placing the now empty glass on a nearby tabletop. “Well, I'll go on my way now, I gotta prepare for later. Is it okay around 7PM?”

“More than perfect, actually. Do you want me to get you at your door?” Virgil offers, getting up from his seat, Alan instantly near him too.

“Me too!” The youngest adds with his usual puppy smile.

“Why not? So you can see where I live anyways, not that it's that far.” She gets up, putting her usual paperboy hat on, a necessary measure to keep her beautiful and brilliant blonde head from the scorching sun outside.

“Alright then, I'll put my shoes on. Allie, go get dressed.” He speaks to a puppy that precedes him, already up the stairs to freshen up and scroll the nappy time off.

And moments later, they all were at her door. “Do you want a snack? Some coffee?” Quinn says while unlocking the door, allowing them to get in first.

“Now you’re speaking my language!” Virgil smiles broadly, stepping aside to allow the housekeeper to enter first, ever the gentleman.

“Well, nothing wrong with a little snack!” Alan takes the initiative instead, strolling into the room just before Quinn. He stops a few steps later, not familiar with the ambience. “Uhhh…”

Quinn laughs it off, pointing them to her living room, while Virgil scolds him lightly for barging in and not greeting her family.

“Ah, don't worry, they're not home right now. They'll be back in about…” She checks the wall clock. “...2 hours? Give or take. Momma’s gone shopping, ‘cause tomorrow she works, while dad’s working right now. This evening they’re all gonna be there.” Her voice gets weaker and weaker while she goes into the kitchen to provide some coffee and snacks for her guests.

While they wait for their ‘sister’’s return, they look around the living room, commenting quietly on it. “This house is not too bad either. Very big…” Alan absentmindedly says, making a mental note that Quinn can know too what it’s like growing up rich, like them.

“It’s all in shades of gold, somewhat matching with everything.” Virgil’s artistic side breaks loose, his eyes scanning the room with a killer precision, stopping on a specific painting to admire it. Quinn is portrayed on this canvas, and you can see it’s handmade and mesmerizing, with her color palette very brilliant and vivid, the blues, reds and blacks of her graduation coat complimenting the gold, the brown and the blonde of her figure, pearly white teeth smiling at them and a very brilliant bouquet of colorful flowers that are so realistic you could almost smell them. For some reason, it’s almost as if he's looking at his mom smiling for him yet again. That smile she has in the painting is different from the one she usually sports in front of them, more genuine, warmer…mom’s.

“How much sugar in your coffees?” Quinn shouts from the kitchen, making both brothers straighten up and look towards the source of her voice, the kitchen.

“Alan doesn’t take it, mine with just some milk, cold if possible.” Virgil shouts back after debating quickly with Alan, him shaking his head.

“Comin’ right up!” And true to her words, some moments later Quinn returns into the living room carrying a big tray full of snacks and other drinks; Virgil is quick to jump up from his seat, helping her place it on a coffee table in front of the couches, where she sits down too. After a coffee with some milk for Virgil, a caramel macchiato for Quinn, some cranberry juice for Alan and some chocolate chip biscuits for everyone to feast on, they get back into conversation.

“What job do your parents do, by the way? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.” Virgil starts, the doubt not leaving his mind since she mentioned why her parents aren’t home.

“Oh, my mom is a flight attendant, while my dad is a game engineer, or some sort. He builds special plushies and games for children.” Quinn broadly says. “While yours?”

“Mom was an aerospace engineer, dad is a retired astronaut. Retired for obvious reasons.”

“Yeah, I get it. I suppose it was awesome to grow up with parents with these jobs.”

“Meh, partly yes. Sometimes, they were really busy or away from work to stay with us, and Grandma was with us most of the time. But on the other hand, yeah, it was awesome because they would always bring us lots of things and pictures from where they went and what they did.” Virgil explains, remembering fondly the old moments together. Quinn, though, doesn’t fail to notice Alan’s pained and awkward expression with the corners of her eyes, like he’s taking part in a conversation he can’t contribute to. “But after Gordon, mom left her job, staying at home full time with us. Then…things happened.”

“Yeah…can't say I get it, but in some way I suppose I do.” Now that she thinks about it, she doesn’t know the reason Lucille’s dead yet. Welp, it’s not like she can openly ask them, considering how they all shy out at even the mention of her name.

“How did it make you feel to know about mom?” Alan asks curiously, just to check if she shared or shares their same sense of loss.

“Well, uh…” She nervously chuckles. “...we can say I'm pretty sad I didn't get the chance to meet her sooner, especially considering the fact we lived so close to each other, but really I think I shouldn't be feeling like this. After all, I've got parents on my own.”

“It's perfectly normal for you to feel this way.” Virgil simply dissipates her doubts, leaving it at that.

“Yeah…well!” She deems it safe to change conversation, trying to bring some lightheartedness to the ambience. “So this is my house! It’s not as big as yours, but it’s still a nice place to live in.” What a kickstarter…she quietly sips her coffee after that, somewhat embarrassed to be with them.

“Yeah! I honestly didn’t expect us to be so close, who knew we could have met a long time ago?” Alan adds, making it difficult for Quinn now to picture them just as some family friends. Dang.

“Yeah…” She laughs it out sheepishly, adding to it another sip of her coffee. 

Just as Virgil is about to speak, his holocomm rings, beeping noisily enough for everyone to notice. “Ah, sorry, gotta take this. It's dad.” And after excusing himself, he distances himself from them. Moments later, and many biscuits later, he returns with a smile. “Allie, we gotta go. They finished their meetings earlier and are heading home now.”

“Well,” Quinn gets up from her seat in unison with Alan, who approaches his big brother. “It's been a pleasure to welcome you home. I hope to see you later for dinner.” She smiles broadly.

“Of course! I already told them, we'll be all here this evening. 7PM, right?”

“Hmm-mh! But it's okay if you'll be late, at least it will make up for my stunt a few days ago.” She jokes, earning yet another laugh from both brothers. They look like they don't smile that often these days.

After waving them goodbye, her petite figure half leaning on the door, she closes it with a big sigh. Now, to let her parents know…hm, but what will they be eating? Her fridge isn't that full…maybe a pizza? Uhhh, pizza and tacos! “I'm a genius!” A beep on her phone notifies her that her beloved AI, Potatoer (shortly Pot), requests her attention. Girl, please update me. I hate it here, feeling like a grandpa.

“Ahhhh Pottyyyyy! Lemme give you some software updates for dinner!” She shouts while sprinting upstairs to her bedroom.

#thunderbirds are go #iris writes #everydayiris #fluffiris #jeff tracy #sally tracy #lucille tracy #scott tracy #virgil tracy #john tracy #gordon tracy #alan tracy #oc #quinn prescott #not my oc #laurie charter #hell yes chapter 2 🤠🤠 #it's on A03 too moots

[quasar-concept]

for @thunder-pride Day 4, I present to you pansexual Lucille Tracy ^_^

#pallete challenge #thunderpride 2023 #lucille tracy #thunderbirds #thunderbirds are go #thunderfam #Thunderbirds Quasar

[scribbles97]

WIP Wednesday

I have a day off and for once have something new to share! From the Left Behind AU

The sun had been low in the sky when Virgil and Gordon had finally returned, the older grinning as he ruffled the blonde’s hair. 

“You like her.”

“Gerroff!” Gordon protested, ducking out from Virgil’s reach, “I do not.”

Lucy wondered if the two boys noticed Val closing her magazine and sitting straighter. 

Setting her own stylus down she rested her chin on her hand, “What’s this?”

“Gordon’s got a crush.” Virgil chuckled, nudging his brother again. 

She couldn’t help her grin as the tips of Gordon’s ears coloured red. His face showed anger but there was a brightness in his eyes that betrayed him. If anything it only confirmed what Lucy had assumed earlier. 

“Shut up.” The younger pouted, “I do not.”

“Virgil, don’t wind your brother up.” Lucy scolded gently. 

Val snorted, “I’m sure we’ll all get to see how much he likes her at his Passing Out next month.”

Lucy straightened, looking to Gordon, “Speaking of which,”

He stilled instantly, straightening with wide worried eyes. The jovial smile was gone, fallen to a slight frown as he watched her. Passing Out meant everything to Gordon, for years the swimmer had been trying to catch up to his older brothers and prove his capabilities in the field. It was the same drive that had seen him to the Olympics. College had never been the thing for him, written exams the bane of his life. It was why she had talked the Board into bringing in the less academic route into IR. 

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds 2015 #virgil tracy #gordon tracy #scribbles writes #Lucille Tracy #Left Behind AU #wip wednesday

[skymaiden32]

A Heroic Act

Thundertober/Inktober 2022 Day 23: Parent

No-one said being a parent to five sons was going to be easy, especially when Lucille is stuck in bed with the flu, but Jeff’s sure he can manage. Boy, are they all gonna prove him wrong… Wee!Tracy’s

Continuity: TOS

Tagging: @dragonoffantasyandreality @thundergeek59 @janetm74 @katblu42 @liseylou (Please ask if you would like to be alerted when I update or write new stories)

Prompt list

------

The mornings were usually bedlam, and today was no different. “Alan! Where the hell is your other shoe?!”

“Don’t want it…” His youngest grumbled, folding his arms and pouting. The five year old also kicked the floor for good measure.

Jeff sighed, running a hand over his face. “You’re going to want to once you’re at the daycare…” His attention was immediately on the faint rustling from the top of the stairs. “You’re not taking all of that, are you?...” He was absolutely certain John was carrying an entire library with him in his school bag.

“Of course?” John gave him a look. The middle brother was only seven, and was already way ahead of everyone else in his grade. The thought both made him proud and unsettled him…

“Where’s Virgil?” The father sighed again, looking around for the artistic youngster. John shrugged, seemingly nonchalant, but Jeff already knew that he cared a lot.

“He’s still in bed. Scott’s been trying to wake him up for the past half hour…” 

Jeff let out a long suffering groan, pinching the bridge of his nose. He somehow ignored the chaos that came from the direction of Alan and Gordon, and stole a glance at his watch. They had to leave in the next fifteen minutes if they wanted to get them all to school in time. “Go see if you can help, would you?”

“No need.” His eldest yelled from Virgil’s room. “He’s up.” Scott appeared at the top of the stairs, with a very grumpy Virgil in tow as they walked down.

Jeff shook his head as he smoothed Virgil’s bedhead down to be somewhat manageable. “Okay, you two. Go and grab something to eat. We’re off in five.”

“Got it, Dad.” Scott was already in the kitchen by the time Virgil grunted and trudged in the same direction.

Jeff turned his attention back to his younger kids. His eyes widened in shock. “Why do both of you hate your shoes so much?” John barely hid his sniggering.

------

When the patriarch finally made it back home after what seemed to be the most exhausting school run of his life, he flopped onto the bed he shared with the love of his life, who despite being bedridden, managed to give him an amused look. “Not as easy as it looks, is it?” She chuckled. Her voice was like the gentle breeze of a sunny day, and he found himself lost in it’s calmness.

“No…” Jeff sighed, giving his wife the soft look he reserved for her and her alone. “Is that what you deal with every morning?” Lucy nodded. Normally, Jeff was already at the tiny office of his new company by the time the boys were supposed to get up for school, with the hopes of someday making it big. But Lucille was already in bed with a fever last night, so Jeff was taking the day off as well to take care of her and the kids. “What else can I do to help, honey? I feel like I might lose them if I keep missing out on the mornings… Alan and Gordon barely listened this morning, and I don’t know them as much as I used to. We were only able to get out the door on time because Scott convinced them to keep their shoes on…”

Lucille stared impassively. “You know, if you already know the problem is that you’re out early in the mornings, then you know what you have to do to fix it.”

“Yeah, I do know…” He suddenly found the foot of the bed very interesting. 

“And do you know what I know?” Lucille just tutted, and guided his chin to look her in the eyes again. Jeff raised an eyebrow, before he was blindsided by her sudden embrace. “That the boys love you. And they’re so grateful for what you do everyday to provide for this family…” She smiled. “But yes, it wouldn’t hurt to spend a bit more time with them.”

“Thanks, babe…” Jeff stood up. “Now you lie down and let me grab you some of my mother’s chicken soup.”

#thunderbirds #thunderbirds 1965 #thunderbirds fanfiction #thunderfam #jeff tracy #alan tracy #john tracy #scott tracy #virgil tracy #gordon tracy #lucille tracy #thundertober 2022 #jeff x lucille #wee!tracy's

[katblu42]

I Don't Like the Duck Song

For the Thundertober prompt Story, something that has been bouncing around with the plot bunnies in my mind for a while.

Wee Tracys. Pure fluff and probably a bit silly, but here goes.

***

Lucille felt herself mirroring the beaming smile of her three-year-old as they sat on the living room carpet singing a well-loved counting song.  Her little Gordy loved making the quacking sounds of the mother duck in every verse as they sang.

Halfway through the countdown of little ducks she noticed her eight-year old watching them from the doorway, his forehead crinkling in a frown that spoke of concern or concentration.  When Virgil caught her looking at him his expression relaxed, but he shook his head when she beckoned him over, and then he turned and walked away.  This puzzled her.  It was unusual for Virgil to refuse any singalong with her, especially if it involved little brothers.  And she was well aware he knew this song.  She’d sung it with all her boys.  Virgil had even helped teach it to John.

Her attention returned to finishing the song with her littlest, then singing it again at his request, and she all but forgot about the strange reaction of her musically inclined child.

Until he started asking somewhat strange questions.

“You would look for us, wouldn’t you Mom?” he asked her out of the blue as he helped with the washing up after lunch.

“What do you mean, V-bug?”

“If me or Scotty, or Johnny or Gordon got lost you would look for us, right?”

“Of course I would.”

His dark little head nodded a few times, as if to reconfirm the affirmation she’d given, then turned his head to focus wide brown eyes, full of so much calculating concern, on her.

“Coz if we were lost you’d be really sad, and worried until you found us, right?”

“Yes, I would.”  She knelt down so she was on his level, watching his ever so expressive face for more information.  But before she could ask what this was all about he wrapped his arms around her neck and gave her a tight hug.

“I promise to never let any of my brothers get lost or left behind,” he whispered into her hair.  “Ever.”

Not knowing quite how to respond, she let Virgil end the hug, smile at her and run off in the direction of his bedroom.  She shook her head, a little bewildered, and finished the last few plates and cups.  She didn’t connect the dots until a few hours later.

She walked into Gordon’s bedroom to find Virgil teaching him the counting song about speckled frogs jumping into a pool.  The giggles of glee from her blond-haired boy as he exclaimed “Yum, yum!” every time the little frogs ate their most delicious bugs filled her heart with such warmth.  She grinned, and joined in the song.

After reading Gordon his bedtime story and tucking him in with a goodnight kiss, a quick check on Scott who was in his room reading, and making sure John was taking his bath, Lucille was finally able to have another talk with Virgil.

“So, frogs are better for counting than ducks?” she asked as she took a seat on Virgil’s bed.

He pushed his chair back from his desk so he was turned more towards her, looking a little bashful.

“I don’t like the duck song.”

She raised an eyebrow.  “Oh?  You used to like singing it when you were Gordon’s age, and when we sang it with Johnny when he was learning to count.”

“I know,” he sighed.  “But now I keep thinking about that family of ducks and how the ducklings keep going missing one by one, and how sad the mother duck would be and . . .” he trailed off with another soft sigh and a shrug.

“They all come home in the end, V-bug.”

“Yes, but it’s just . . .”  Lucille watched thoughts and emotions play out across Virgil’s face and shoulders as he struggled to find the words.  Then he picked up a few sheets of paper, came and sat beside her on the bed and thrust the pages at her.  “Here.”

“What’s this?” she asked him, putting an arm around him to let him snuggle into her side before looking down at the little booklet she’d been given.

He remained silent for a moment while her gaze took in the artwork on the top page.  The most adorable little family of ducks Lucille had ever seen had been rendered mid-march across a field of green grass and coloured wildflowers, with a background of rolling hills and blue sky.

“I wrote them a story,” her little artist explained.  “Because I couldn’t stop thinking that if me and my brothers went for a walk and one of us didn’t come back, something must be very wrong and everyone would be so worried.”

Lucille looked down at Virgil, somewhat proud of his kind-heartedness, then back to the paper in her hands.  When she turned the page she was not surprised to find more pictures than words.  Virgil pointed out details that helped tell the full story as she continued to flick through the book.  He’d thought about this a great deal.  There was a reason given for each little duck’s inability to come home to mother.

“See, when they get home the first time and one of them isn’t there it’s because one of the little ducks wandered off to play in a pond he sees on the way home – like Gordon does sometimes when he sees a big puddle when we’re out walking. The rest of them thought he was right behind them, but they get home and he’s not there and they all panic and want to go back and find him, but it’s getting too dark.  That’s why the Mom called them home with her loud quacks.”

Page by page he described to her how the distraught duck family proceed.  First the mother duck calling for her missing baby to come home until it gets so late they all need to get some sleep.  Then the following morning the remaining ducklings sneak out to find their missing sibling, leaving their Mom a note to say they won’t leave their brother out there alone and lost, but they promise to listen for her call to come home.

The second duckling doesn’t return when she calls because he wants to keep searching, but sends the other three home to make sure their mother knows he’s okay – just like Scott would do.  Lucille smiled to herself at that thought.

On the third day the three remaining ducklings agree on a meeting point at a big oak tree, then split up to look for their brothers.  One of them finds the first lost duckling (the Gordon duck), but that little duck sprained his foot and can’t walk, so they don’t make it back to the meeting point in time and only two ducks make it home when their mother calls that night.

The two ducks that go out on the fourth day don’t want to split up, so they leave a note at the oak tree.  While they go out searching, the Scotty duckling finds the oak tree and waits for the others.  The rest of the four ducklings find each other, but it’s getting late again, so they send one little duck home to mother, while the other two help the injured duckling to the meeting tree, hoping they can all go home from there tomorrow.  They are really happy to find the Scotty duck waiting for them when they get there, just as the sun sets.

Lucille could see a great deal of artistic care had been taken with the rendering of the sunset in the illustration that accompanied the reunion of the four ducklings.

“I cheated a bit with the fifth day,” Virgil apologised.  “The last little duckling goes back to the meeting tree and finds all his brothers waiting for him so they can all go home to their mother together.  So the mother duck doesn’t have to be alone worrying about all her babies even for one night.”

Flipping over the last page to find THE END written in large block letters, she gave her little boy a squeeze and a kiss to the top of his head.

“It’s a lovely story, beautifully illustrated and very well told.”

“You like it?”  Earnest eyes of liquid caramel stared up at her.

“I love it,” she told him, placing an additional kiss on his forehead. “Now, bedtime!”

As he climbed under the covers and started to settle comfortably, he took her hand.

“If it was real life, with people and not ducks, I know lots of other people would be out looking for the lost boy on the very first night, and the Mom wouldn’t let the other kids go out looking, but it’s okay for a duck story, right?”

She smiled, gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and fussed with his covers for a bit.  For a moment she was a little overwhelmed at how much thought her creative and empathetic little boy had put into a scenario brought to mind by a simple pre-school counting song.  Reaching down to brush his dark locks out if his eyes with gentle fingers, she gave a sincere nod.

“Perfect for ducks,” she agreed.

His beaming smile turned her heart to jelly as she wished him goodnight.

#thundertober 2022 #thunderbirds fandom #thunderbirds fanfiction #wee tracys #virgil tracy #lucille tracy #fluff