“I do not need a nap!” Juliette protested through her yawn as Scott steered her through the villa towards their room.
“Yes, you do,” Scott informed her, very careful to keep his smile off his face and out of his voice. He’d never tell Juliette or anyone else, but she was absolutely adorable when she was like this. “Just one hour of shut-eye, you’ll have plenty of prep time for the meeting.”
“Non!”
“Oui!”
“The schedule I kept on Cloudbase, it was far more demanding!” she stubbornly insisted as he guided her inside and made her sit on the edge of the bed.
“Your Cloudbase schedule included regular use of Room of Sleep tech,” Scott informed her as he helped her out of her knee-high boots, “and it didn’t include a 2am wake up for an emergency meeting in London, followed by a ‘could have been an email’ meeting in Madrid with a lot of male egos that needed soothing, followed by a storm on the way home, with a pending video call with the aero-design team in Canberra this evening.” He put the boots away, fetched her bathrobe from its hook and handed it to her. “Shower, nap, dinner, then meeting. I’ll review your notes and get everything set up for you.”
She affected a pout at him, a smile flickering around the edges. “Scott Tracy, you are très obstiné.”
This time he did smile as he leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Yes, yes I am, mon ange.”
After finishing my re-write of the original TOS episode 'The Uninvited', I felt the need to write a short epilogue to round up some of the issues that came up between the characters. I'd highly recommend reading that fic first, since this is intended as, you know, an epilogue. But technically? You're free to do what you like! Scott needs to find his feet again after the last week of chaos in the Egyptian Sahara. His family only want to help him, but will he let them?
Each chapter focuses on Scott and another character. Sometimes they don't resolve the tension between them, sometimes they don't necessarily figure it out, but they don't need to. They just need to both agree to work on it for the benefit of each other.
When Gordon had convinced Scott to go surfing with him that morning – rather than more running – he’d been praying to Poseidon, Neptune, Njӧrðr, and Tangaroa that they wouldn’t get into another argument. Then he had to open his big mouth.
“Hey! You’ve finally got some sea to go along with all that sun and sand!” He called as they paddled out to reach some bigger waves.
Thankfully, Scott had laughed and agreed, splashing him with water. But Gordon hadn’t reciprocated the water fight, riddled with regret that he’d brought up the last two weeks at all.
“Sorry.” He sighed. He was useless at this.
His brother frowned. “Sorry for what?”
“I thought you didn’t want to mention anything about… what happened? You’re just trying to have normalcy, and all I do is throw it back in your face!”
Scott was looking worriedly over at him, but Gordon couldn’t bring himself to return his gaze, knowing he’d see that astonished anger Scott had had last time. But then he felt him grab the side of his board and tug them both closer together as they bobbed on the waves.
“When I said I wanted normalcy, I meant I didn’t want my family to walk on eggshells around me. I knew that my PTSD was acting up, but I needed stability and routine to get it back under control, not to be wrapped in cotton wool.”
Gordon pursed his lips, eyes fixed on the deep blue below and the sensation of his ankle leash being pulled around by the odd currents. “I didn’t understand. We just made it worse, didn’t we?”
“Not worse.” Scott reassured, because of course he’s comforting Gordon right now. “I felt guilty that you all thought you had to treat me that way. Delicately. Dad was the same after Bereznik.”
He coughed in shock and whipped round to face his brother, mouth open in suspense. His wet hair slapped soggily against his forehead. But Scott was just smiling ruefully.
“You can say it, you know? Bereznik. I’m not gonna freak out just because I hear the name of a country I fly over almost every week.”
“But—”
“I don’t like to think about my time there and definitely wouldn’t appreciate it being brought up in general conversation. But you don’t need to avoid it.”
Gordon shook his head in disbelief. No way. That unwritten rule was ingrained too deeply.
“I promise nothing bad will happen, Squid.”
“...Bereznik?” He felt soooo stupid just saying it in isolation, staring at Scott as if he might have uttered a spell to make his brother disappear. Unfortunately, he must have had an equally stupid expression on his face because Scott gasped dramatically and patted his head and torso in mocking relief.
“I’m still here?!”
Gordon tipped him off his board without hesitation. “Shut up.” He mumbled, embarrassed but secretly basking in their brotherly antics. He’d kinda forgotten that Scott could be a menace when he was in the mood.
Once Scott had climbed back up, he sighed beneath his soaking hair. Gordon watched him scan the horizon line, where sea became sky. “You know it was never my idea to turn Bereznik into a taboo? It was dad’s… After I came home, he didn’t really know what to do with me?”
His brother sounded like he wasn’t sure of his own words. Like he was guessing their dad’s motivations. And from what Gordon remembered of dad, he was never particularly forthcoming in that regard.
“I was seeing my therapist. Maybe he figured since I was talking about it there, I didn’t want to talk about it at home. And I don’t. Not really. But I understand when I need to.”
“And none of us would.” Gordon concluded softly.
“You were scared. Bereznik traumatised you lot, too. I didn’t want to bring that up with you, so I waited for you to come to me. When even you and Allie never mentioned anything, I figured dad must’ve spoken to you all?”
He remembered that night before Scott came home from Stuttgart Medical. Dad had summoned everyone and given them a lecture of dos and don’ts. At the time Gordon had assumed that dad knew best and that this was what Scott had wanted. Now he was beginning to realise his big brother hadn’t gotten much say in the matter.
“He was very clear.” Gordon nodded. “No-one is to mention…Bereznik… Ever.”
Scott’s smile went sad. “Sounds like him. He was just trying to protect me. But that’s not what I needed. Do you understand?”
Dad had banned… Bereznik…to ensure Scott’s PTSD hadn’t been accidentally triggered. But in doing so, Scott felt like he had no-one to talk to and was pressured to hide any sign of an oncoming episode to spare his family more pain. Seeing them rush to hold his hand and wipe his nose at the smallest whiff of a wobble had only made Scott feel isolated.
“So when you say you want things to be ‘normal’?”
Scott swept his wet hair back like a shampoo model. “I guess I don’t want you to treat me differently compared to when there’s not been a trigger? Not unless I specifically ask. But I also want you all to feel like you’re able to talk to me about it too. About Bereznik, or the Sahara, or anything else. Is that okay?”
“Yeah!” Gordon was quick to answer. “Yeah, that’s fine! Well, not – you know – ‘great’ fine. But I understand and of course we can—”
“Come up for air, Squid.”
He took a gulp. “Thanks for explaining.”
“Honestly, I’m just glad we got through that relatively painlessly. I’m sorry for shouting the other day. And then eavesdropping on your comms.”
Gordon raised an eyebrow. “And then running away and nearly getting blown up in an ancient pyramid?”
“Yeah, that too… I guess.”
“You guess?! You have nooo idea how many dirty looks Virgil has given me!”
Scott laughed, and Gordon played up his exasperation just to keep his brother grinning.
“Think you have it bad? How many dirty looks do you think Virge has given me!? And John! And Alan!”
“Pfft. Alan isn’t old enough to give dirty looks!”
Scott was near pleading his case. “That’s what I thought too! But no! It was killer, dude!”
By that point Gordon was in hysterics thinking about their little brother trying to give Scott a death glare. He was almost tempted to provoke him just to witness it for himself. Vaguely he realised they had completely forgotten about getting in any actual surfing but found he didn’t actually mind that much.
After finishing my re-write of the original TOS episode 'The Uninvited', I felt the need to write a short epilogue to round up some of the issues that came up between the characters. I'd highly recommend reading that fic first, since this is intended as, you know, an epilogue. But technically? You're free to do what you like! Scott needs to find his feet again after the last week of chaos in the Egyptian Sahara. His family only want to help him, but will he let them?
Each chapter focuses on Scott and another character. Sometimes they don't resolve the tension between them, sometimes they don't necessarily figure it out, but they don't need to. They just need to both agree to work on it for the benefit of each other.
John had decided that today was the day he’d return to Thunderbird Five. He’d been dirtside for two whole weeks, the longest consecutive period on Earth since the Zero-X. But if he didn’t go soon, he knew his procrastination would keep pushing the deadline further and further away.
Besides, he was concerned that by hanging around on the Island, Scott might think John doesn’t trust him. That he needs to be watched or minded by the second brother just in case he… absconds again. But John does trust Scott. He trusts him with almost everything, just not his own wellbeing. His big brother certainly wasn’t suicidal by any means, but it was no secret that he valued his own life below his family. It was a fact John didn't particularly like to think about and normally placed it far away in his brain with other thoughts that made him want to hum nervously.
So, he’d informed the rest of the inhabitants of his plan a few nights ago, and while they seemed to take the news well, John has been feeling more and more anxious as the hours ticked down.
Deciding that a comfort bagel might be in order, as he often struggled to differentiate between stress and hunger, he made his way through the villa towards the kitchen. When he noticed Scott alone on the balcony watching the sunset, though, he felt the need to stop. His brother had been doing a lot better in the past few days, shaking off the groggy exhaustion of being caught in an exploding pyramid and had seemed more resigned to completing his new two-week leave. Perhaps it was because everyone had made an effort to let Scott choose the pace of his recovery, rather than try to slow him down. The result had been interesting, to say the least. Scott had periods where he behaved typically, making updates to ‘One, mediating between the Terrible Two’s latest prank war, and abseiling cliffs on the other side of the island at dawn. But there were other times when he would sink into himself, wander quietly on the beach, and massage his bad ankle as though the joint hadn’t been near-perfectly healed for seven years. So when John caught Scott leaning quietly on the balcony railing surveying the night sky, John had abandoned his Bagel Quest and headed over.
“Can I ask what you’re thinking about?” He questioned as he got closer.
Scott didn’t flinch but frowned as though he wasn’t sure how to answer. “Walruses.”
The eventual answer made John pause. It certainly wasn’t what he was expecting to hear. “The scientific name for walrus is Odobenus rosmarus which means ‘tooth-walking sea-horse.’”
“That’s not very accurate for a scientific name.” Scott commented with a small smile in his direction. But John was determined not to let Scott change his original line of inquiry by offering an info-dumping opportunity on binomial nomenclature.
“What made you think about walruses?”
“I think I was thinking about the crash? The one two weeks ago.” He specified quickly. “And I remembered having to drag myself out of ‘One through this hole in the cockpit before the fire reached me.”
John’s rigorously logical mind was whirring to find any kind of connection. “And the walruses were involved how…?”
“Well, I wasn’t very graceful about it!” Scott laughed at himself, cheeks turned pink with faint embarrassment. “And I remembered thinking that I probably looked like a walrus trying to get onto the beach, like in those documentaries? But, obviously there are no walruses in Egypt and…” He trailed off and shrugged helplessly.
John mirrored the action. “Walruses.” He concluded.
He sat with the information for a moment, knowing his brother wouldn’t judge him for his silent processing. Scott’s ADHD manifested in many different ways, with the impulsivity and demand avoidance being two of the biggest indicators. But he was usually pretty successful at tracing his associative thinking back to the root stimulus. In John’s opinion, it’s what made him such a good first responder – that his mind explored dozens of tangential ideas simultaneously to consider an appropriate strategy. Scott wasn’t thinking about walruses; he was thinking about escaping a burning aircraft injured and disorientated. But maybe this lack of masked thinking was a remnant of the last couple of weeks? Or maybe this was Scott testing the waters, seeing how John reacted to him when he wasn’t straightforward? Either way, he needed to ensure his response was accepting and reassuring.
“Walruses are incredibly resilient animals. They’ve developed many different behaviours to increase their chances of survival.” Was what he settled on.
Scott face-palmed with a groan. “Sorry, I’ve just realised how random that was.”
“You don’t need to apologise. You’re just being yourself.” Something you hardly ever allow yourself.
“O-oh.” He huffed a patronising laugh. “Just unbearable, then?”
John hated when Scott did this, but he knew he wasn’t to blame for his own internalised ableism. It was mum who helped Scott manage his ADHD, and when she was gone, dad hadn’t known what to do. Scott’s teachers said he was disruptive and unfocused. Dad shouted and grounded him. Scott shouted back, obviously. Finally, dad told him he’d never get into the Air Force with his attitude, and that’s when John began to notice the masking becoming more and more frequent. At school. At Resuce Scouts. At home. Until the other brothers barely remembered how Scott used to be. So yes, John hated it when Scott masked around him, but he hated whoever put that word in his mouth more – whoever told his brother he was ‘unbearable’ being himself.
“You’re not 'unbearable', Scott.” He had to reply. “Don’t force yourself to be someone you’re not. Not around me and the others.”
Because Alan was so accepting of who he was with ADHD, although he leaned more towards the hyperactivity and mind-wandering flavours than Scott did. And John knew that Alan’s confidence came from the way Scott raised him. Scott ensured that their baby brother never felt ashamed for being himself and strongly discouraged him from masking behaviour. John remembered when he and Virgil last talked with Scott about trialling some medication. Alan had had a prescription since he was quite young, but Scott had been vehemently against it himself. True, when Scott was Alan’s age, the World Council excluded anyone taking ADHD medication from pilot training. He’d had to jump through a lot of hoops to prove that his unmedicated diagnosis wasn’t ‘bad’ enough to prevent responsible flight behaviour. But that had all changed by the time Alan registered. Taking a World Council-approved medication, their little brother had faced almost no challenges. When John and Virgil had brought it up with Scott, he’d fallen into an anxiety attack at the thought of it, and neither of them had been brave enough to return to the topic.
“Sometimes it’s a habit. A bad habit, I know. But right now I just want my brain to do as I tell it.” Deep within his shinkansen-of-thought, John hadn’t noticed Scott turning around and resting his back against the balcony railing.
“Still feeling a little unravelled?”
“Mmm.”
“Do you want me to stay?” John offered, willing to postpone his return to ‘Five a few more days for Scott to balance himself out.
“I always want you to stay, Johnny. But I don’t need you to.” His big brother smiled in understanding. He would never keep him from space.
And John trusted Scott, so he smiled back, nudged his shoulder, and returned to finding that bagel. He'd even forgive the nickname on the grounds of recent trauma. “Don’t let the walruses keep you up all night.”
What job I think each Tracy brother (and Kayo ofc) would go into if they weren't doing IR.
(HEADCANONS)
Scott - Teacher. He's clearly a natural leader due to having four younger brothers. Not sure what he'd teach exactly but I imagine it as something like electronics or some form of technology. Probably tried to get Virgil into teaching physics, as we know he was good at it, however Virgil declined, despite having the right qualities to become one. He may also train air cadets in his spare time, as he was once in the air force.
John - Would probably work at NASA as an astrophysicist or actually as an astronaut. His love for space is clearly demonstrated right from him studying Halley's comet in college. He prefers working with other well educated peers that share the same interests as him.
Virgil - Some form of mechanic or engineer. While he does have the patience to also go into something like teaching, he probably finds working on machinery more his thing.
Gordon - Marine biologist. I see him as the type to thoroughly enjoy learning and studying about sea life and the different types of organisms that live in the deepest oceans. In his spare time, he would coach a local swim team or alternitavely to everything I've just written, he would pursue and continue his Olympic career. I don't think he would return to anything military.
Alan - Video game developer. His obession with gaming led him to the world of game development. Likely would work and develop his own huge-hit game. Spends his spare time coding or even making online content.
Kayo - Would work for the GDF as a soldier. She enjoys the satisfaction she gets from hunting and capturing major worldwide super villains and being in the GDF allows her to do that. Helps teach other soldiers how to fight and runs her own martial arts side club within the GDF.
Characters: Scott Tracy, John Tracy, Virgil Tracy, Gordon Tracy, Alan Tracy, Kayo Kyrano, Brains, Grandma Tracy, Wilson, Lindsey, Lucille Tracy (mentioned), Jeff Tracy (mentioned)
Summary: I love TOS/TAG with all my heart, but I really wished they'd done a TAG version of The Uninvited. Get rid of the guns and the (kinda accidental?) ethnic genocide, and it's a great ep, and the new dynamics of TAS would have only improved it. Like what do you mean your big brother has been shot down, and everyone is kinda like 'gee! wonder if he's dead or not? golly how darn frustrating'. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. And sprinkled some of my favourite fanon/headcanons in there for good measure.
Despite the overall seriousness of the whole situation, Brains found it absolutely fascinating from an anthropological perspective. To think that these people had retrofitted an ancient pyramid with 21st Century technology and proceeded to keep their existence a secret for two decades! A truly marvellous example of human ingenuity and perseverance!
“Brains?” Kayo was looking at him over the dinner table.
It was only 48 hours since the explosion of the Khamandides Pyramid, but the entire Tracy family had gathered around the table to force down Grandma’s latest concoction. Luckily, Virgil had stopped by a supermarket to pick up some edible desserts. During that time, Brains had hastily reinstalled EOS’ software package into ‘One, and then closely followed developments in the Sahara.
“Oh, p-pardon me. Where w-w-was I?”
“The Followers of Kharga?” John prompted, looking positively enthralled next to him. Brains doubted he hadn’t also been following the reports but would most likely be wanting another scientific perspective.
“Fffff- Conflict in the area b-between 2039 and 2042 led to the oasssssis death that this particular tribe relied on.” He recapped. “Th-they discovered the underground aquifer under the pyram-mid and began usssing the water.”
“The Eternal Fountain.” Scott offered in understanding, a piece of apple pie on his fork.
“Exactly. They t-turned the pyramid into an ind-d-dustrial compound to support the development of their community living a-about thirty miles south.”
“And the defence of their community.” Gordon stressed. Having learnt the circumstances surrounding the ‘oval-marked’ fighters, he had relented in his vendetta. That wasn’t to say this Tracy had completely dropped his grudge.
“But what’s happening to them now?” Asked Alan as he shovelled the last remaining ice cream into his mouth.
“No talking while chewing, young man.” Grandma scolded. “Go ahead, Brains.”
“W-well, Alan, the Bishari representative of the Gl-llobal Nomadic Network is consulting with the World Council. Preliminary scans have ssshhown that the aquifer remains viable. Once the area has been d-declared free of hazardous material, the Followers of Kharga ca-can return iffff they w-want.”
Virgil frowned. “Wasn’t it the World Council who caused the death of the first oasis and didn’t help the community in the first place?”
“Q-quite. Since the formation of the GNN and N-nomadic Rights Act, there are much sssstricter guidelines for these situations. The Followers of Kharga w-w-will have stewardship of the environment.”
“But their ballistic firearms are being confiscated.” Kayo confirmed. “And they forfeit their stewardship if they manufacture any more hazardous substances.”
Everyone sat quietly for a few moments, and Brains wondered if he had accidentally overloaded them with information. Secretly, he was just happy everyone had returned from Egypt safe and sound, more or less. In the back of his mind he still had at least five different design changes for the iR helmets to narrow down, but despite his usual introversion, he was enjoying sitting around the table with his family. The weather on Tracy Island was bright and vibrant, sunshine gleaming in from the glass ceiling of the villa. The sound of wildlife that usually made him cringe provided a peaceful white noise to their meal and meant that even when no-one spoke there was never true silence.
Eventually Scott nodded. “As good an ending as we were going to get.”
