Out of Place

Disclaimer – I don't own Thunderbirds

Chapter Thirty Two – Epilogue

"I expected better, Scott."

Jeff Tracy was sat behind his desk, his firm gaze fixed on his eldest son who was standing alone in the lounge. Scott had been sat with his brothers indulging in their various pastimes when Jeff had walked in and politely but firmly requested that the rest leave to allow him a few moments with his eldest.

"I'm not going to say I'm sorry, father. Angel and I wanted to get married but I knew that you would never accept her, at least not yet. We always planned to have a second ceremony later when everyone was more accepting."

"I know I haven't always been the most positive about Angel..."

"You called her a manipulative fortune hunter." Scott's expression was impassive but resolute as he held his father's gaze. Jeff winced.

"Well, that might not have been the best choice of words."

"And you meant it." Scott hammered the point home, a quirk of his eyebrows challenging Jeff to contradict him. Jeff couldn't, of course. He remembered that particular argument all too well. It was the first time he could remember where he had actually had a full on shouting argument with his eldest son, certainly since he was a teenager. Both of them had said things they didn't really mean in the heat of the moment, with the result being that Scott issued an ultimatum regarding his living arrangements. Either Jeff agreed that Scott would operate out of the United Kingdom half the time, or Scott would leave International Rescue completely.

Well, Jeff didn't really have a choice by then. He had thought that Scott might be bluffing, but the fact that the discussion had escalated to this point meant that he couldn't be sure of anything anymore. He'd agreed and had begrudgingly been forced to admit that the arrangement Scott had come up with worked.

"Recent events have... forced me to reconsider my opinion of her."

Scott didn't say anything, but the eyebrow raised higher in an invitation to continue.

"And of my own behaviour."

Well, Scott was definitely curious now. Not that Jeff could blame him, Jeff was hardly one to regularly admit he was wrong. Mostly because he rarely was. But this time, this time he could swallow his pride. He stood up from his desk and walked over to the bar, pouring two glasses of scotch. Scott didn't move, but he accepted the tumbler that Jeff handed him before he sat back on the corner of his desk.

"Every now and then something happens that makes you reassess everything you thought was right. Your eldest son getting married in secret because he doesn't feel that you would accept his choices, despite the fact he is now thirty years of age, is one of them. I'm sorry, Scott."

That definitely surprised Scott, although he still didn't say anything. Jeff felt as though he was being tested by his son and what he said next would be very important to maintaining a good relationship with him.

"I should never have put you in the position where you felt that you had to choose between your duty and happiness. I certainly should not have been so rude about your future wife without even taking the time to get to know her. I am very sorry. I know I can't say it enough, but even old men who should know better can make mistakes."

Finally Scott moved, smiling shyly at his father. "I forgive you, dad. I'm sorry that we haven't really given you the opportunity to get to know Angel better too."

Jeff waved away the apology. "That isn't on you, son. It wouldn't have taken me much to invite her here, even just once. I don't suppose she would like a holiday to the South Pacific?"

Scott grinned then. "I'll suggest it, I'm sure she'll be amenable."

"Ok, that's great. You'd better go and let your brothers know that it's safe to come out now."

Scott turned to walk to the door, pausing before he was close enough to trigger the sliding mechanism. "Thank you, dad. I just have a quick favour to ask?"

"Go on," Jeff replied warily, even though realistically he wasn't going to be denying Scott anything at that moment in time.

"How do you feel about hosting a wedding party? Nothing major, a couple of friends from Oxford and the Air Force, Lady Penelope and Parker, Jane..."

Jeff's face split into a grin. "Your Grandmother will be ecstatic."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

John tried hard not to roll his eyes as the call came through from Tracy Island again. Ever since he'd been back, his brothers were constantly checking up on him and making sure he was ok. Even Alan, who was shipped to the same dimension for goodness sake! John suspected it was because even in that dimension he had been apart from his brother and Brains for nearly the whole time.

"Hi guys, what's up?"

Sure enough, all of his earth-bound brothers were now floating around him holographically. He mentally started to place bets with who made the call this time…

"Hey John, just wanted to see what you were up to."

Oh too easy, Scott.

"Not much since you last called, about two hours ago." John spun the hologram of the world around once again, checking for any emergencies. Still quiet.

"Well if you hadn't run back up to Thunderbird 5 we wouldn't have to call," Gordon informed him. "But as we have called, I have a question for you. You spent most of your time running around in the other dimension with the other Scott's wife – is she as bad-ass as she seemed?"

John had been desperately hoping that no one would ask about Angel. He still hadn't picked through his feelings – hadn't wanted to really draw them out and examine them to see what was there. He had been hoping that if he ignored it all long enough it would eventually go away. But he should have known that his brothers would be curious, even Scott was waiting on tenterhooks for the answer despite pretending not to care. He'd managed to avoid it so far by asking lots of questions about their visitors instead and when hearing about Polite Scott had become too much, he'd run away to Thunderbird 5 and asked Eos not to mention him. Now, John decided to stall instead of answer the question directly.

"Define 'bad-ass', Gordon."

"Well, we all know she kinda poisoned the Hood and whilst that's a terrible thing to do I guess we sort of wish we could have got away with it, but every time we spoke to her she was all cool and aloof and stuff. What was she like to hang around with?"

"The first time she met me, she knocked me unconscious." John replied. "Yes, she was pretty 'bad-ass'. No, I still have no idea how she ended up marrying the other Scott." There, that was a safe answer that didn't actually cause him to think about her. Not the crease in the corner of her eyes when she smiled or the soft touch of her hand in his, the way her hair caught the light or the fact that he finally felt as though he'd found someone who actually understood him.

John felt a strange pressure build up behind his eyes and knew he had to cut the call. "I'm being hailed," he told the others. "I'll let you know if you're needed."

"FAB John," Scott replied before cutting the connection. John dug the heels of his hands into his eyes to try to relieve the pressure, stoutly ignoring the fact that they came away wet.

"Something is troubling you." Eos stated as she zoomed around his head. "Is there anything I can do to assist you?"

"No Eos," John sighed. "I think that there is nothing you or anyone else can do. I'll be ok. Just… tell them I'm busy if they call in the next couple of hours, please?"

"Affirmative." The robot paused, and when she next spoke it was with a tentative voice. "I completed your search for Angelique Dubois."

John's head whipped up. "Really? Did you find anything?"

"I believe I have found the woman you were looking for. Born Angelique Dubois as an illegitimate daughter to the Earl of Saltram, she then was relocated with her mother Constance Dubois to France as a young child and was schooled there. Trained as a teacher before joining an école primaire, married a civil engineer called Pierre Laurent two years ago. Lives near Bergerac in France."

Eos drew up a picture of the couple on their wedding day. John moved closer, scrutinising the image. The woman looked incredibly like Angel, she could have been her twin sister. But despite the physical resemblance there was something missing, something absent in her gaze and her expression that meant she was not Angel at all. John exhaled and squeezed his eyes shut tight as though to remove the image of the not-Angel. Guess Angel was right about that too.

"Thank you, Eos."

"Would you like me to do anything further with Madame Laurent?"

"No thank you, Eos. Except… can you put her on the primary list?"

"The priority contacts list for emergency support?"

"That's the one, Eos. At least that way… I'm making sure she has a good life. For Angel." John floated back down towards the living compartments of Thunderbird 5. "I'm going to rest for a bit. Can you take over here?"

"Of course, John."

He swung down into the outer ring of Thunderbird 5 and walked around until he found his bunk. Swinging it down, he sat on the edge and peered down through his feet at the stars below. Whenever he had done this before, he had always marvelled at space and thought he had the best view possible. Now he knew there was one better, one where the stars he saw below were mirrored in shining eyes.

He closed his eyes tightly again, allowing a single tear to escape before he brushed it angrily off his cheek. "Enough," he murmured to himself, swinging onto his bunk and staring up at his beloved Thunderbird. "Enough, now."

The lights dimmed and he slowly drifted off to sleep. Eos slowly crept closer, looking down at her creator.

"I'll look after you, John." She whispered, before leaving to act as sentinel on Thunderbird 5 while he slept.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

John was unusually dishevelled, his blond hair not in its normal immaculate condition as he frantically packed his bag ready for another stint on Thunderbird 5 after the launch had been shifted a couple of hours earlier. At his own request, admittedly, but that didn't miraculously mean his bags were ready. Thunderbird 5 had been unmanned for the last week or so, ever since they returned from Malaysia, because the family had just needed some time together. Not that it had stopped Scott from disappearing off to his other home, but the rest of them had just enjoyed each other's company in the same dimension again.

A knock on his door prompted John to call for whoever it was to enter. The door to his room slid open, Gordon stepping through and closing it behind him. The sight of Gordon standing in John's room was rare enough to distract John from his packing.

"What's up, Gordon?"

The redhead didn't say anything for a moment, just watched John packing. "Back up to '5 already?"

"It's been a couple of weeks," John replied, calmly resuming his task. "It's about time I got back up there, it's not the same when I'm trying to cover it from here the whole time."

"Mmmhmm," Gordon walked around the room, picking up one of the trinkets John kept on his chest of drawers and turning it over in his hand. Eventually John shoved the final item of clothes into the small bag.

"Is there something you wanted?"

"Me?" Gordon looked all innocence. "Say, did you hear that dad finally invited Angel to the Island? Scottie's bringing her over later today."

"Really?" John quirked an eyebrow at his brother. "You came to bother me just to tell me that dad has finally seen sense when it comes to Angel?"

"I…no, not really. Shame that you'll miss her though." Gordon set down the piece of rock he was holding with a sigh, ignoring John's wince that it wasn't in quite the right place. "I got talking to your counterpart when we were out capturing the Hood."

John shook his head in bewilderment and started to pack up toiletries he would need in the bathroom. "I know, I was doing the comms remember?" He called back into his bedroom to Gordon.

"Say, did you know he had a thing for Angel?"

There was a clatter as John dropped the toothpaste into the sink. He swore softly as the end fell off, spraying toothpaste everywhere. Cleaning it up, he came back into his bedroom with an armful of things that he dumped into a bag. "Sorry Gordon, you were saying?"

Gordon had a calculating expression on his face, one which always made John wary. "Yep, he didn't need to say it for it to be completely obvious. Except I think Angel was completely oblivious, but that's not the point."

"I'm not sure why you feel the need to gossip to me about this, it's probably something best kept to yourself."

Gordon leaned up again the dresser. "Well I got to thinking… you and he shared basically the same DNA, hair colour notwithstanding, and from what I understand you're pretty similar. Which made me wonder… how many times have you worked with her that dad isn't aware of? You must be pretty close by now, you're always calling her with intel when you are here. I check the logs from Thunderbird 5 and it's the same when you're up there. I thought for a while that you must be talking to Scott but the calls go through even when he's here on Tracy Island."

John stilled, his hands frozen from where he was about to zip up a toiletry bag. "Gordon, are you seriously trying to suggest that just because my counterpart from another dimension, who was clearly very different to me in several ways, felt a particular way that it means I'm secretly in love with our brother's wife?" He asked incredulously, staring at his brother.

"Well when you put it like that…" Gordon rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "But are you?"

"I'm late for my flight, haven't finished packing and you're making ridiculous insinuations. Out please, Gordon."

Gordon hesitated for a moment before walking to the doorway. Before activating the sliding door and without turning, he spoke to his brother – so quietly that John had to strain to hear him. "I never said he was in love with her Johnny, you came up with that one all by yourself." He then turned to face John for a final time. "Don't worry, I'll forget this conversation ever happened as soon as I step out this door. But just…if you ever, I dunno, want to talk about it or something?" He looked again at John's blank expression. "I guess that's a no. Have a good trip." That said, Gordon disappeared from the room.

John didn't move for several minutes after he had been left alone, finally straightening and sitting heavily on his bed. He took a deep, steadying breath before zipping up his hold-all and swinging it onto his back as he headed towards the lounge, Thunderbird 3 and the quiet solitude of space.