Foreward

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own or profit from the characters or settings of Thunderbirds. They were created by Gerry Anderson, and the copyright is held by Granada. This story is for my own entertainment and that of others.

The characters of Rebekkah T. Barnes, Terrence S. Barnes, Michelle (Chell) A. Barnes. Terrence (Terry) P. Barnes, Joseph (Joey) Stuart Barnes, Johannes Abt, Dr. Evan Longfeld, Sir James Masters, Ivan Virenov, Dr. Evodie Mohenu, Elise Rudd, Gregory and Janet Martin, Rashid Allabadah, Tyler, Donna, and Maxine are my own creations and I lay claim to them.

Thank you to Virgil4ever (now known as LMCofTIC) and Fran Lavery, for beta-reading, chatting, and filling in my knowledge gaps.

The photo of the smiling woman was found at stock.xchng and was taken by Ariel da Silva Parreira. It was altered using GIMP.

Author's Notes: This story was first published at Fanfiction.net on April 5, 2003, and is a sequel to Learning Curve. Again, Bekkah Barnes was more the focus of the story, but Brains also took a good part of center stage. I had intended for Bekkah and Gordon to remain a couple, but I was influenced by Sumari MacLeod (a very fervent Gordon fan) to move Bekkah's romantic inclinations to Brains. It seemed, at the time, to be the thing to do; it was only later, as I got to know Sumari, that I realized just why she didn't want my character involved with her favorite.

The scene between Bekkah and Ivan disturbs me now that I reread it, and I'm not sure that I portrayed what happened with any sense of reality. I was told, however, that I wrote the aftermath of such an act with credible accuracy. It is because of that scene that I labeled the story as "Mature" and on later discussion with friends, kept it at that rating.

I have combined the two prologues into one chapter and the epilogue with the last chapter for brevity's sake.

Despite its many flaws, I hope you will enjoy it.

Tikatu