FicWad

Chapter VII - Tin-Tin's Advice

Scott woke the next morning feeling refreshed and
contented. He looked at his watch, eight o' clock. His
eyebrows shot up towards his hairline, he hadn't slept
that long for years. His movements woke Ned who rolled
over to look at him blearily.

"time's i'?"

"Eight hundred hours." Ned blinked a couple of times,

"Boy, my mouth tastes bad. D'you want some breakfast?"
Scott nodded,

"What is there?" Ned sat up and stretched, scratching his
back,

"Porridge, or porridge. It's all that's kept in stock.
But if you don't fancy that, there's a diner down off the
lobby that does breakfasts."

"Porridge is fine. Want a hand?"

"Mmph." Was all Scott got in return, so he hauled himself
out of bed, swayed unsteadily, went to the bathroom and
stuck his head under the cold tap. Wide awake now, he
made his way to the tiny kitchenette off the lounge and
pointlessly moved bowls around while Ned made porridge.
They sat in the lounge to eat and Ned spoke between
mouthfuls, his besocked feet resting on Scott's knees,

"Eleven o'clock you're being picked up right?"

"Yeah. Tin-Tin's coming over in the jet."

"You have a private jet?"

"Mmm, little red beauty called Ladybird. Well we are
kinda out-of-the-way. We couldn't go anywhere if we
didn't. Good porridge by the way."

"There's more in the pot if you want, it'll be congealing
though. Can I come with you to see you off?"

"Sure. Knowing Tin-Tin she'll be angling to meet you
anyway."

"She can fly then?"

"She can do pretty much anything. Dad has phases when he
lets her out on rescues with her - she's great with the
electronics and anything technical - but then he has
times when he gets scared for her and won't let her go.
Drives her crazy. She tends to go shopping more when that
happens. A new wardrobe every six months or so. Shops
like you wouldn't believe, and then still goes ahead and
makes most of her own clothes. I shouldn't complain
though; she makes most of my clothes too."

"Really?"

"Yep. Does the uniforms too with Grandma and Brains.
She's a gem really." Scott heaved Ned's feet off his legs
and went back to the kitchen to scrape out the gungey
porridge that was left.

******

At ten-thirty, they made their way to the air-field and
sat in the lounge area, waiting. At three minutes past
eleven, Tin-Tin strolled into the lounge, heads turning
at her tight flight-suit and immaculate turn-out. She
made her way over to Scott and Ned and held out her hand
to Ned,

"Hello, you must be Mr Cook." Ned took her hand,
swallowing nervously,

"Please call me Ned." Tin-Tin smiled,

"Tin-Tin. Hello Scott, did you have a good time?"

"Just great, Tin-Tin." He picked up his tiny bag and
stood up. "I guess we'd better get going. Dad's probably
keeping an eye on the time.

"He did say something about it when I left, yes. Scott,
will you go and get us a runway cleared. I'll be ten
seconds." Scott bit his lip, and squeezed Ned's proffered
hand fondly. "I'll be in touch as soon as I can." He
turned quickly and walked out towards the waiting jet.

Tin-Tin smiled at Ned,

"I can see why you're attracted to each other. You're
total opposites on the surface, but you're exactly the
same underneath. Both passionate about your work and both
completely different when you're off duty to when you're
on duty. Except maybe Scott feels he's on duty more of
the time. Look, I just wanted to reassure you. Be patient
with Scott, he's as bad as his father, he'd sacrifice
everything to maintain the secrecy of our organisation
and he sees possible security breaches everywhere. He
won't fight for you to come to the base because he
doesn't have the conviction that it's the right thing,
but it doesn't mean he doesn't want you there. You've
completely shaken him emotionally and I've never seen him
like that before, so don't think he's not thinking of
you. I'll badger him a bit for you. I might even badger
his father, if Scott gets round to telling him about you.
Take care Ned." She kissed him on the cheek and was off,
sprinting towards the jet before Ned could say a word.

In the cockpit Scott had taken the controls. He had put
on his shades from the compartment at his side and as Tin-
Tin got in and the hood closed over them, he taxied them
forward to their assigned runway, waited for clearance,
and took off, bound for home.