Chapter 10

For the next three days Gordon kept a low profile.

The talk with his father had gone better than Gordon had expected.

Jeff seemed tired and distracted, and started off by saying he was worried that the sacrifices he asked of his sons might be too much for them to handle. After all it was a stressful job, full of danger, but also full of stretches of boredom. Working with family members in such close proximity made things more difficult as well. He had sighed and muttered that he sometimes forgot how young they were.

Gordon had sat listening to this in confused silence wondering why his father wasn't chewing him out. When his father finally turned to him, Gordon blurted out a garbled explanation about Carol.

'A girl!' his father shook his head in relief.

Then Jeff became all business. He gave Gordon a short lecture on his need to prove himself reliable and dedicated, essential characteristics for working as part of a team doing a dangerous job. Then his father asked him about where he'd been and what he'd done. Gordon took the hint and gave him a brief, factual outline to assure his father that anyone doing a little digging wouldn't connect him with International Rescue.

Gordon apologised for the twentieth time. Then they hugged, his father back-slapping him vigorously.

He was so relieved afterward that he ate a whole apple pie Grandma had made especially for him.

Later that night Scott had come to Gordon's room to have a 'little talk'. It turned out there had been some Tracy Corp business dealings that their father had been struggling with for months, and that it hadn't helped when Gordon had gone AWOL.

Gordon told Scott about Carol, more than he'd told his father. This lead to a long talk about women and heartache. Scott seemed relieved that Gordon had come to realise what a lucky escape he'd had with Carol.

Scott then told him to make sure he called John in the morning. Alan hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said John was really upset, Scott said. John hadn't been able to think of a plausible reason to give the Australian authorities of how he'd received news of The Chuckles sinking, and he didn't want to risk them thinking it was a hoax in case it left Gordon sitting on a rock in the middle of the night in the middle of the ocean. Besides, he didn't want to hide any request he sent to the authorities from their father since all communications were logged in the Thunderbird 5 computer.

He radioed John in Thunderbird 5 the next morning. Gordon apologised for putting him in the position he had and for generally causing trouble. John had been curt but polite saying it had all turned out for the best, but he couldn't talk because he was monitoring floods in Africa. They'd talk in a few days when he returned.

As if on cue, Gordon heard the faint whine of powerful engines, heard even through the soundproofing of the mansion. The distinctive engines of Thunderbird 3 heralded John's return.

Gordon sighed and stretched on his bed where he'd been taking a late afternoon nap. He wasn't looking forward to facing John since he tended to have only two responses when upset– to sulk or to lecture. And although John could not match the lectures given by either their father or Scott, he could make them last a long time and bring them up repeatedly.

Gordon's plan was to stay in his room while John went through the home return ritual: saying hi to Dad and Grandma (who never missed anyone's return from anywhere if she could help it), having a shower and getting changed, unpacking his space-bag (his slow methodical ways could drive Gordon to distraction), having something to eat while Grandma fussed about trying to get him to eat three things at once, complimenting TinTin on something (usually her hair – John must've been a hairdresser in his last life), and then going out onto the balcony and staring at the sky, sometimes for hours. Adjusting his eyes he would say, but Gordon suspected John just had to prove to himself he was back on Earth and wanted to see, smell and breathe as much as he could as quickly as he could.

Hopefully in a few hours John would be chilled out enough to accept his face-to-face apology and not give him the cold shoulder or start hectoring him.

He rolled over to get more comfortable and try to get back to napping.

Suddenly there was a commotion at the door. He looked up.

Something tall and blond streaked through the door and launched across the room, jumping on the bed and pinning Gordon down before he could react.

John yelled something Gordon couldn't quite understand. A mighty thwack hit Gordon on the shoulder but there wasn't much pain.

'Hey,' Gordon yelped and tried to roll off the bed, but John pulled him back with surprising sinewy strength. Another thwack fell on Gordon's back, sounding more impressive than the last.

Gordon looked up at his older brother trying to figure out what he was brandishing.

'Old woman, am I?! Old woman!' John screeched.

He struggled to turn Gordon over, clearly wanting to get his rear-end lined up.

Gordon grabbed John's hand and finally saw what his brother was holding - one of Grandma's soft old slippers.

John broke free of his grasp, brought the slipper down but misjudged his strength and the old slipper, bendy from age and use, flipped out of his hand and landed in the corner behind a chair.

John paused, momentarily dismayed, then he started to tickle Gordon instead. Gordon squealed and a real wrestle began. John was no longer shouting but laughing hard.

Gordon knew then that everything had been forgiven and he was exactly where he was meant to be.

~The End~