'Round Midnight

"Scott?"

"Uh, yes, Grandma?"

"You haven't eaten much. Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, Grandma. Just thinking about... things." Scott applied himself to the food on the plate in front of him. He was trying not to look at Gordon, trying not to send Gordon the silent message to ask their father to go scuba diving with him. Gordon was eating at his usual clip and not saying too much as the dinner conversation swirled around him. If he keeps his mouth full, he won't be able to ask Dad anything! Scott agonized silently.

Gordon finally wiped his mouth, his plate temporarily empty.

"Hey, Dad? I was thinking I should go out and see how the artificial reef is doing, see what corals have taken root there. I need a buddy to scuba with and all this lot are busy tomorrow. Could you come with me? I'd appreciate the company." Gordon explained.

"Well, I can't tomorrow, son. Lots of work to do with the new budget projections for Tracy Industries. Maybe some other time." Jeff answered, barely looking at Gordon as he did so.

Gordon looked down as if truly disappointed and replied, "Oh." He looked up again at his father, "That's okay, Dad. Maybe some other time." He looked down at his plate, then sighed heavily and picked up his dinner ware. "Please excuse me," he asked as he left the table.

Good job, Gordy! Scott inwardly praised his brother. Now let's hope Dad realizes you left the table having only eaten one helping and no dessert!

There was a long, silent moment after Gordon left the table. Grandma Tracy stared after the copper-haired man as he walked out of the dining room. "That's odd," she remarked.

Jeff looked over at his mother. "What's odd?" he asked her.

"Well, it's not like Gordon to leave the table after only one helping and without dessert," she explained. "I'm going to go see if he's feeling well." She began to rise from the table, when Virgil held on to her arm and gently sat her down again.

"Don't worry about Gordon, Grandma. He's probably just disappointed about his planned reef trip. He's asked all of us to go and we're all booked, either doing maintenance on our Thunderbirds or around the Island," Virgil said to her, keeping his voice at a lowered volume but making sure his father could hear what he said.

"Well, really now. He should know better than to get so upset at such a little thing," Grandma exclaimed. "He's a grown man and should be able to take a little disappointment now and again."

"Yeah, I suppose he should, Grandma," Alan agreed, between bites. "Too bad it will be a long time before he can see what he was looking for out there."

Jeff looked up and over at his youngest son. "And why is that, Alan?"

Alan looked over at his brothers as if to say, "Help!" Scott jumped in to aid him.

"Gordon got some special photographic equipment so he could take pictures of the reef at night. He wanted to get film of the coral spawning. From what he's tells me, tomorrow night is the probably the best time to catch the coral in the act."

Virgil added, "Yeah, coral spawn only once a year. It will be a long while before he can see it happen again on our artificial reef."

Scott sincerely hoped that their father didn't realize how much of this was made up and how much was true. The part about the camera equipment was true. Gordon had just upgraded his underwater photography kit, and the special new lenses would make it far easier for him to take pictures of places like the reef at night. And it was true that Gordon wanted to get shots of the coral spawn. But the part about it happening tomorrow night was just so much blarney.

"Hmm. That's too bad. Maybe he can see it happen at another reef. We do have several." Jeff said, eating his piece of pie a la mode. He finished his coffee and stood up. "Thank you, Mother, Kyrano. That was delicious. I'll be in the lounge if anyone wants me." He left the table and headed for his desk.

Kyrano picked up his dishes and took them out to the kitchen. The three Tracy sons looked at each other and shrugged. It was worth a shot, Scott thought. Maybe Gordon can come up with a different approach.

Scott snuck a piece of pie into Gordon's room.

"Thanks, Scott." he said, tucking into the dessert with relish. "Did Dad say anything after I left?"

Scott sat down on Gordon's bed.

"No, not really. Alan came up with the brilliant idea that it would be a long time until you could see something at the reef that you wanted to see." Scott made a face and shook his head. "Fortunately, I mentioned your wanting to photograph coral spawning at night, and Virgil backed me up."

"Coral spawning! That won't happen for another month!" Gordon exclaimed, spewing crumbs of crust everywhere.

"Well, I didn't know that!" countered Scott, a peevish look on his face. "It seemed to be a plausible explanation of a need to go diving. And a night dive is more dangerous and needs a 'buddy' even more."

Gordon finished his pie. "I'm sorry, Scott. You're right. It was a good excuse on short notice. What did Dad say?"

"He seemed sympathetic, but said you could catch it at another reef some other time. Quote: 'We have several'. "

Scott sighed. "We'll have to come up with another plan. Maybe another activity. Come back to scuba diving later." He put a hand on Gordon's shoulder. "Good try, bro. We'll go with something else."

"You'd better make sure you're all busy tomorrow. All day. Even into the evening," Gordon reminded Scott. "That was your excuse why you couldn't go."

Scott groaned. "I'll remind everyone else. Including Brains and Tin-Tin. After all, they could have gone diving, too." Gordon nodded.

Scott got up and picked up Gordon's plate. "I'll take this back to the kitchen. Don't want Grandma to think that you're feeling better. She wanted to see if you were sick, you know."

Gordon grinned. "That's our Grandma! Looking out for us all the time!" He stretched and grimaced, rubbing at his lower back. "I think I might go for a swim." Scott knew that the rescue of a few days ago hadn't done Gordon's lower back any good. But complaining about his back pain was just not something that Gordon did these days. He wanted his father to think he was always fit and ready for action in hopes that he didn't get left at home as much as he did in the early days of IR.

"Are you gonna be all right, Gords?" Scott asked, concern in his blue eyes. Gordon turned to him, wincing as he did. He smiled wryly.

"Let me get into the pool and work these kinks out. I'll be fine." he responded. Scott gave him a long look, then nodded. A swim would the best thing for Gordon; he never tired of it and it did help stretch the muscles when they contracted in spasms, as they seemed to be doing now.

"I'll turn the pool lights on for you," Scott said, getting off of Gordon's bed and heading for the door as his brother began to change into swimwear.

"Thanks, Scott." Gordon said over his shoulder. Scott caught a glimpse of Gordon's many scars and once again was thankful that his ginger-haired brother actually could stand there, was standing there, for him to see and speak to.

Jeff shut down his desk for the night, raising it up out of the way, keeping its secrets safe. He was weary from the long day he had put in, both in the Thunderbird 2 simulator and with his Tracy Industries work. I'm going to have to start training the boys to pick up the slack at Tracy Industries. It will eventually come down to them anyway and they might as well learn its ins and outs early.

He turned off the overhead light and was startled to see the lights around the pool were burning. Who's swimming at this time of night? he asked himself as he checked his watch. Curiosity piqued, he left the lounge and headed down the stairs to the pool.

A soft rippling of the water greeted his ears as Jeff walked down the stairs. Thank goodness that they're not being noisy, whoever they are. He came down closer to the pool itself and saw a lone figure gliding smoothly through the water, barely making a splash as he went back and forth, from one end to another. Jeff smiled as he watched Gordon's prowess displayed.

He's still got such a smooth stroke. I wonder how much farther he would have gone in WASP if not for that hydrofoil accident? In the lights of the pool, Gordon's figure was almost a silhouette and Jeff couldn't see the scars that he knew decorated the back of his fourth son. He sat down by the edge of the pool and just watched quietly until Gordon noticed his presence.

"Hey, Dad." Gordon called as he stood in the water, wiping it from his face, pulling his goggles up to the edge of his swept-back hair.

"Hi, son. Kind of late for a swim, isn't it?" Jeff asked. Gordon shrugged.

"Wanted to get the kinks out of my back," he replied.

Jeff's eyes widened a bit. Gordon had not admitted to his back pain for some time now, though Jeff knew him well enough to see when the old wounds were bothering him. It had become a "don't ask, don't tell" issue between them; Jeff wasn't to ask how his son's back felt, and Gordon wouldn't tell him, so with Jeff's supposed ignorance between them, Gordon always appeared ready and raring to go rescue someone.

"I guess that rescue the other day didn't help any, did it, Gordon?" Jeff finally asked. Again Gordon shrugged, then he grinned ruefully.

"Would have been better if I hadn't lost at 'rock, paper, scissors'," he answered. Jeff chuckled along with him.

Jeff looked long on his son's face. It has been so long since we've done anything together as father and son. It always seems I am too busy, or that it doesn't seem important to spend time with one's grown children. But I won't be around forever..... He made a decision.

"Gordon? I've reconsidered your offer. I'd be glad to go diving with you tomorrow. If you're still interested, that is."

"Still interested? Of course, Dad! I'd love to have you go with me! Thanks!" Gordon's delight was evident in his voice and in the ear-to-ear grin that lit up his face. Jeff grinned right along with him.

"What time would you like to go?" he asked. Gordon stopped for a minute and thought.

"How about late afternoon? I want to try and catch the coral spawn, and they only spawn at night. It would give us time to set up my new camera equipment before dark." Gordon looked apologetic. "I'd suggest we go earlier, but I really have to do some maintenance on Thunderbird 4 before I can go. I hope it doesn't take all day....."

Jeff thought for a moment. "Well, Gordon, why don't I give you a hand with the maintenance? I should be keeping up-to-date on that aspect of all of the Thunderbirds anyhow. I can start easy, with the smallest of the craft." He winked at Gordon. "And they say that many hands make light work."

"Oh, that's great, Dad! I really appreciate the help. What time?" Gordon asked eagerly.

"Right after breakfast. Get an early start on it." Jeff gave Gordon a sly look. "That is, if you can get up for breakfast...."

"I'll be there, Dad, I'll be there!" Gordon laughed as he finally climbed out of the pool and began to dry off. He walked over to where Jeff was getting up from his spot by the pool. Gordon reached down to give him a hand up, but Jeff, mindful of his son's back, waved it away. He got up with a bit of a groan. "The old man's not used to sitting crosslegged on the concrete anymore," he quipped. Gordon smiled at him.

"You, old? Never!"

Jeff reached out to put a hand on Gordon's shoulder. Together they walked up the steps to the Villa. As they entered, he withdrew his hand to head for his own room.

"See you in the morning, son."

"Sure thing, Dad."

Gordon waited until Jeff was safely inside his own soundproofed bedroom before he headed for Scott's room. He knocked on the door and whispered right up to the wood. "Scott! Open up! It's Gordon!" He knew his oldest brother was a light sleeper and would hear him through the door.

Sure enough, a few moments later, the door opened and a disheveled Scott stood there in his pajama bottoms.

"This had better be good," Scott growled, then yawned.

"It is," Gordon answered as he brushed past his brother then stood to face him.

"Well?"

Gordon grinned. "Operation: Change of Mind is go!"