This is for Fab-Five-Feb. I've had a certain engineer miffed with me because I wrote two stories about his kids spending time with his siblings and none about him spending time with any of his kids. And I should because they're his kids, dang it. And… he's not wrong. I hope this goes some way towards soothing the Virgil-beast's ruffled flannel.
Prompts used: underwater and favourite.
Alex was seated in the co-pilot's chair of Thunderbird Two, waiting for his father. They were flying - just the two of them - to Sydney to resupply the island. Alex was ecstatic to have time alone with his father on Thunderbird Two. In fact, he was so excited he had been sitting alone in the cockpit, communing with the ship, for a long time that morning. There was something about the big green ‘bird that spoke to his young soul. Kip might go on about the speed of Thunderbird One and blue horizons, and Jack might gaze wistfully at the stars and the blinking light that was Thunderbird Five in the night sky, but Alex knew the real gem of the five thunderbirds was Two.
It was big and beautiful and carried all the necessary tools to help people. It was practical, and practical was Alex’s byword. Thunderbird One might go fast, but Thunderbird Two had pods with so many configurations he could hardly count. They could go up in the air, overland, underground and even underwater(!) to rescue people in need. And thanks to Mum and Dr Brains, Thunderbird Two could now safely help with rescues in space and underwater. Plus, with the help of some engineers and chemists they knew, they’d figured out how to make it go six thousand miles per hour. This made Two the most versatile ‘bird in the fleet. The other four were mere unitaskers, but Two, Two could do anything.
Alex heard a metallic zipping noise and looked behind him in time to see Virgil drop in from the open hatch. He waited for his father to close the hatch and move towards his seat before announcing his presence.
Virgil stopped before sitting in his seat and looked in surprise at the bright Scott-blue eyes staring back at him from the co-pilot’s seat. He did a quick double-take, looking at the platform elevator before returning his gaze to his son. “Hi, Alex. How long have you been here?”
Alex glanced at the clock. “Since the small hand was on the nine and the big hand was on the one.”
Virgil sat and looked at the display on his dash. It was 10 am. “You’ve been here nearly an hour?” Alex nodded. “What have you been doing?”
Tiny cheeks flushed. “Um, spending time with Thunderbird Two..." Virgil tried not to smile. "I looked at the section on Inflaterbags in the instruction manual.”
Dark eyebrows rose. “Impressive. Were you able to read much of it?”
“No. I asked Uncle Jay if there was a text-to-speech function for the manual, but he said no. He did think it was a good idea, though, and would talk to Dr Brains about adding the feature. After that, I mostly looked at the diagrams.”
“Hey, you can learn a lot from the diagrams. And Alex, that was some nice outside-of-the-box thinking.”
The blush deepened, and a tiny smile appeared. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Did you do anything else?”
Alex hesitated. “Well… I wanted to explore the drop-down turret functions but knew you’d want to be here when I did. So instead, I drew the dash and the interior of the cockpit.” He indicated the sketchbook next to him on the seat.
Virgil blinked at his seven-year-old, and the corners of his mouth curled into a smile. “May I see your drawings?”
“Um, sure.” Ears pinking, Alex handed his father the sketchbook. He helped him locate the first page of that day’s sketches and sat back to watch Virgil look at his work. Alex was proud to have inherited his father’s artistic ability, but he was still shy about showing people his drawings.
Virgil looked at the detailed drawings. There was one showing the dash and another the entire ship. There was a rather good overhead view of the cockpit. He could see Alex had put a lot of effort into it. Next was a picture of Alex and his brothers with 'their' thunderbirds: Kip, an impish, carefree flyboy in One; Jack, a proud space monitor on Five and Alex, looking cheerfully in command of Two. He knew it was a picture Rebecca would love. Last was a picture of the two of them, grinning like loons, flying Thunderbird Two. It was captioned, 'Thunderbird Two is Go!!!!!!!!!!' He smiled at it. It was his favourite of all of them.
“These are really good, Alex. I like the details in the technical drawings. I especially like this last one. May I keep it?”
“Really?” Scott-blue eyes stared questioningly.
Brown eyes twinkled in reply. “Yeah! I love it.”
“Yeah, okay." Virgil handed back the sketchpad, and Alex stowed it. "Dad?”
"Would you talk me through your launch sequence? Usually, Kip is here, and I’m not able to pay attention.” Virgil glanced at his son, who shrugged. “What? He’s Kip.”
Knowing his talkative, yolo first-born, Virgil raised an eyebrow but chose not to argue. “Okay, I can talk you through the launch sequence. But first, let’s get you buckled up securely. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”
Virgil rose from his seat and saw Alex had placed his booster seat on the co-pilot’s chair and had configured the safety belt into a three-point harness. Feeling slightly redundant, he checked to ensure everything was in good order and, once satisfied, returned to his seat, where he fastened his safety belt.
“Alright. Now, this trip is to resupply the island. Which module should we use?”
Alex wrinkled his nose in thought for a moment before replying. “Module two.”
“Why would we use module two as opposed to, say, module three?”
“‘Cause module two has the two chassis that can be outfitted to carry supplies, and three doesn’t.”
His father smiled. “Good.” He selected the second module and lowered the ship to secure it. “And now, we exit the hanger and taxi down our runway to the launch pad.”
Virgil easily guided the green behemoth down the runway to its launch pad, talking Alex through each step.
“Can you reach the control?”
Alex extended his arm but, restricted by his safety belt, he was unable to. “No.”
Grinning, Virgil patted his shoulder. “Next time, kiddo.”
“Hey, don’t sound so glum. You’ll be able to reach it before you know it.”
“Yeah. But I’m tired of being short, though.”
“I’m not. Lemme enjoy these little years, uh? You and Kip will be taller than me before I know it.” Alex nodded. Virgil turned on the thrusters, and Two launched into the sky a moment later. Banking to the left, he looked to his co-pilot. “Wanna say it?” Alex’s face lit up, and Virgil laughed.
“Very nice.” The Tracy men grinned at each other.
“You’re welcome… Please don’t rub it in Kip’s face when we get home.”
“Dad...” Small nostrils flared.
Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Hey, I was once seven with an older brother. Trust me, I understand. But it’s not a kind thing to do. He’ll have to do more flight time on more aircraft before qualifying to fly One. So, it will take him a bit longer to have the opportunity to say, ‘Thunderbird One is go’. Is that clear?”
“Yeah, okay… Maybe the next time we go somewhere together, he can say, ‘Thunderbird Two is go’?”
Ruffling his hair, Virgil smiled at Alex. “That’s a great idea.”
“And we’ll have to let Jack have a turn, too. That’s fair.”
Virgil’s smile widened. “Of course! It’s not only fair, but it’s also kind. I’m proud of you for wanting to include your brothers.”
Goodness, how he loved this kid. Virgil loved all of his sons, but he and Alex vibrated to the same frequency. Kip might look like him, but Alex was him. This made him feel especially warm and fuzzy inside. Rebecca said it was like a flannel hug and called the sensation 'flannel fuzzies'. He had to admit, it did feel like an internal flannel hug. He was brought out of his reverie when he realized his son had asked him a question.
"Sorry." Virgil cleared his throat. "Was focused on the flying." He looked at his son. "What?"
Alex rolled his eyes good-naturedly and smiled. "How many more years will Kip have to prepare before he can fly One? 'Cause I have another seven years before I can begin working towards my pilot’s license. Mum will be teaching Kip 'n me in Olivia at fourteen. An' you won’t let me fly Two before I’m sixteen... Remember?”
“Riiight.” Virgil frantically tried to remember the conversation where he had told Alex he couldn’t fly Two before he was sixteen. Or that he could fly Two once he was sixteen. Or that Rebecca would teach the boys to fly on her plane, a de Havilland twin otter. He couldn’t. With a small shake of his head, he made a mental note to ask Rebecca about this later. She remembered everything. “Um, yeah, of course. Olivia will be a good plane to learn on. And you'll want to ask Uncle Scott what he was required to do for his licenses.”
Alex seemed satisfied with his father's answer, and they were quiet for a few minutes as Virgil flew.
Virgil laughed. “Really.”
“YES!” He reached for the co-pilot steering wheel and tried lowering it. It wouldn’t move. “Nuts.” He looked at his father. “What do I do?”
“Wait for me to flip this switch.” Virgil reached up and flipped a switch, and the steering dropped down so Alex could reach it. “It’s a new feature I asked Brains to add. It lets us fly tandem.”
“So I’m not really flying, am I?”
“You are. You’re flying with me as opposed to by yourself. I want you to get a feel for how she handles before I let you loose over the wild blue main.” Virgil patted the dash. “She’s a responsive ship, but she likes a steady hand. And you’re not quite there yet… So, fly with me.”
Slightly disappointed but not about to let the opportunity pass him by, Alex nodded and reached for the controls. “Okay.”
“Good. Can you see the altimeter?”
Alex glanced at the dash. “Yes.”
Virgil explained what an altimeter did, what the various numbers meant and what was being measured by the device. “And that helps keep us in the air.”
“Oh. It sounds complicated.”
“Until you become familiar with it, yes. But it’s important for flying.”
Virgil smiled. “Don’t worry. You have a lot of time to learn about this and what all these other dials do. There isn’t a quiz for this flight.”
“Mum would have a quiz. She always has a quiz.”
“She doesn’t always have a quiz.”
“She does. Though personally, I think she does quizzes to keep Jack engaged and Kip quiet.” Alex was unprepared for his father to throw his head back and laugh. The sound filled the cockpit. Embarrassed, Alex watched with quiet dismay as his father convulsed in his seat, tears streaming down his cheeks. “You’re not going to tell her, are you?”
Virgil gasped for breath and tried to calm down. “Not tell her?” he wheezed, wiping away his tears. “It would be a disservice to your mother not to tell her.”
Alex looked alarmed and skeptical. Virgil laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “I promise you, she’ll be as tickled as I was.”
“Trust me. Your mother will find it funny…So, are you ready to fly this ship?”
“Okay, let’s do this.” Virgil talked Alex through how to hold the controls and keep the ship in level flight. After a few minutes, Alex got the hang of it. “You’re doing great.”
“I’m going to ease off the controls, and for a few seconds, you will have control of Two. Are you ready?” Eyes elated but face serious, Alex nodded. “And three, two, one….” He slowly released the controls. “You’re flying the big ‘bird. How does it feel?”
Alex didn’t answer immediately. He was so focused on flying he feared he would be unable to also answer his father. Virgil saw his focus and didn’t press him for several seconds.
“Okay, and I’m going to return my hands to the controls. In three, two, one.” Virgil took the steering in hand. Alex relaxed a little and let go of the co-pilot steering. “How was it?”
“That was awesome!” Alex glowed with happiness.
Virgil laughed. “You did really good. Did you like it?” Alex nodded. “Still worried about how much you have to learn?”
Alex shook his head. “No. Not anymore. I'll be such a good pilot, Dad. I'll make you proud. I promise!"
