FicWad

Chapter Thirty: Reunions Part Two

Tracy One

A Few Hours Later

Jeff smiled when he saw Tracy Island appear on the horizon silhouetted by the slowly setting light of the tropical sun. Evening was fast approaching, soon the sun would disappear completely, then the sky would rapidly darken and become a sea of stars twinkling against the endless black sea of space. In the meantime the golden glow of the setting sun turned the island into a beautiful study of light and shade. Pity I don't have a camera, Jeff thought, Virgil would so love to paint this scene.

Seeing the island this way was certainly a beautiful sight, Jeff would confess that. But it was more beautiful to him in other ways, not only was it home but seeing it now meant he would soon see John in person. Only once he had done that would he truly stop wondering and worrying about what the nanites could have done to him now. It was perfectly okay for Scott and John himself to tell him that he was fine but Jeff just needed to see for himself, it wasn't that he disbelieved his sons but he just needed to see John in person to be sure he was okay. It was one of his personality traits and Jeff was fully aware that it annoyed his sons sometimes, especially as Scott had inherited it from him.

Reaching out Jeff switched on the radio to the islands civil aircraft frequency and spoke up.

"Tracy One to Tracy Island request clearance for landing," he said into the microphone. Almost instantly the radio speakers crackled to life with the sound of a very familiar voice.

"Tracy Island to Tracy One, landing clearance granted. Welcome back Dad," Scott's voice responded.

"Thanks Scott," Jeff replied. "I make my landing time to be six minutes."

"F-A-B, Dad. I'll tell Kyrano to have a fresh pot of coffee waiting for you." Jeff smiled softly and shook his head. How did Scott know I was going to ask him to do that, he asked himself, before answering his own question. Because Scott knows precisely how I think, he knows I like having a cup of coffee after a long flight.

"Okay Scott thanks."

"No problem Dad." The speakers went dead as Scott broke the connection from his end. Jeff sat up a little bit straighter in his pilot's seat and gave the controls his full attention as he concentrated on the task of guiding Tracy One into a landing on the islands airstrip.

***

John's Room

Tracy Villa, Four Minutes Later

Sitting comfortably in a high leather backed chair John focused his attention on the active computer sitting on the desk in front of him. He kept his hands at his sides and just focused his mind on the computer. For a moment nothing happened, then he began to feel something. It started faintly at first, a faint sliver of awareness at the back of his mind, but it grew stronger and he felt the computer as if it were a part of him.

Like he had earlier down in the sickroom John sensed the energy in the computer. Closing his eyes he fully opened himself to the new sensation, as before he perceived the energy as a softly pulsing, luminous haze. It flowed through the computer in an intricate ballet, he saw it all how the energy moved through the wiring, circuits, processors and holographic memory crystals inside the computer. It was beautiful, registering on his consciousness as one of the most amazing and beautiful things he had ever seen. Branching away from glowing city of energy that was the computer, was a single dense line of light that went beyond his awareness. He guessed that it was the power cord for the computer.

Refusing to let himself become mesmerised by the incredible beauty he saw in front of him John focused on doing a very simple task. He imagined the flow of power through the computer dying, for a moment nothing happened but then John noticed a change in the energy flow. The pulsing luminous haze began fading, parts of the energy city going dark as the computer began shutting down. The process picked up speed and in the space of time it took to take in and exhale a single breath the glowing city had gone completely dark, save for a tiny note of power at the edge where John guessed the power cable connected to the computer.

Elated that he had accomplished what he had wanted to do John was about to focus on reversing it, turning the computer back on, when an intruding sound jolted him out of the almost meditative state he had slipped into. The energy perception vanished with the same lack of fuss as a popping soap bubble and John heard the sound properly. It was the sound of someone clapping their hands in a congratulatory fashion. Opening his eyes John looked up to see Scott standing there with a smile on his face.

"Very impressive John," Scott said smiling. "You're starting to get the hang of your new powers."

"Slowly but yeah I'm getting there Scott," John replied smiling back at his brother. "Though its probably going to take along time and considerable practice before I can do that without closing my eyes and having to really concentrate. How long have you been standing there?"

"Only about a minute," Scott answered smiling. "I came in and you were just sat there with your eyes closed and a concentrating look on your face. I was about to speak then I saw the computer start to go into shutdown mode and I just knew you were doing it."

"Oh right. Did you want something Scott?"

"I was just coming to tell you that Dad is on approach in Tracy One," Scott replied. "He had Grandma with him as well. They'll be landing just about now."

"Really? Cool! I bet get ready to greet them then, though Grandma is sure going to get a surprise when she see's me."

"There's no doubt about that John," Scott replied eyeing John's newly muscular physique, though he had more or less gotten use to it by now. "One things for sure though she going to stop nagging you about needing to eat more." John laughed as he stood up.

"That's true," John agreed knowing his grandmother had been forever trying to fatten him up whenever he was on Earth. Rose had been convinced that he wasn't eating properly to have been as skinny as he had been, when the reality was he just had a very fast metabolism that made it difficult to put on weight be it as fat or as lean muscle. "Let's go meet them then. Lead on Scott."

Scott grinned and nodded before leading the way out of the room with John following closely behind him. Dad and Grandma are going to be so surprised when they see me, John thought with an amused grin on his handsome face. Seeing their reactions was going to be interesting, very interesting indeed.

***

Tracy One

Jeff guided Tracy One into a flawless landing with exactly the same kind of effortless easy skill and grace that Scott displayed when landing Thunderbird One. They set down with only the faintest of bumps that was almost completely eliminated by the inertial dampeners. Jeff focused his attention on dumping speed and gently guiding the jet into the stand by aircraft parking area, they would later use a small tractor to tow Tracy One into the aircraft hangers.

After Tracy One had come to gentle but full stop Jeff cut all power to the engines and secured the controls before releasing his seatbelt and standing up. Heading into the passenger compartment he smiled when he saw that his mother was already on her feet and moving to get her suitcases from the storage area.

"Let me get those for you mother," he said moving towards her only for Rose to wave him off.

"I can get them Jeff," Rose replied ignoring the arthritis in her knees and hips, thankfully it had calmed down a bit so she didn't feel it as badly as she had at the airport. Jeff sighed and allowed his mother to get her suitcases, he knew from long experience that when she was determined to do something herself there was no stopping her, a trait that Jeff knew he had inherited from her, just as the boys had inherited it from him. Turning away from his mother Jeff opened the hatch to the outside world allowing the warm air and the faint saline scent of the ocean to replace the recycled air of Tracy One's cabin, Jeff smiled softly smelling the familiar scents drifting in from outside even as he lowered the entrance ramp.

Glancing back at his mother he saw that Rose had retrieved her suitcases and her handbag and was coming his way. Smiling Jeff led the way out and held out his hand for his mother to follow him, Rose accepted the offered hand as she descended from Tracy One.

"Thank you Jeff," Rose said. Jeff nodded and led the way towards the villa, even though Rose knew the way as well as he did. As she watched her son moving Rose noticed that the was an ever so slight spring in his step and she couldn't help but smile knowing Jeff was glad to be back home, away from the hustle and bustle of the world beyond Tracy Islands secluded shores. He's probably anxious to see John as well, Rose thought, I know I am.

***

Tracy Villa

John sat with nervous anticipation on one of the couches in the living room waiting for his father and grandmother to appear. He knew that they would be here in another few minutes and he couldn't help but be nervous about how they would react to seeing him and how he'd changed. I hope they're okay with it, he thought, especially Grandma, since I haven't seen her since I came back from Thunderbird Five before all this started.

Softly John shook his head it was hard to believe that it had been that he had come back from Thunderbird Five just over week ago. With everything that had happened since they had received that fateful callout to the military research base in Nevada it felt like a lifetime ago. A lifetime since the nanites had first gotten into his body and began the process that had ultimately transformed him into what was basically a superhuman. Looking back on it now though, John felt almost nostalgic for the way he had been before, oh he liked having powers and he certainly liked his new physique but he still couldn't help but feel a twinge of nostalgia for the old normality that he had taken for granted. Normality that would never return, unless Brains figured out a way to get the nanites out of him, but even if he did John wasn't sure how he would feel if that were ever to come around.

"Something wrong John," Scott asked from nearby seeing the look on John's face. John blinked and looked up into Scott's eyes, blue eyes that were so like his own.

"No Scott nothings wrong," John replied. "I was just remembering."

"Remembering what?"

"Being like you, being normal," John answered with a sigh. "I guess realising that I haven't seen Grandma since before all this started got me thinking about it, and how I'll never be normal again."

"You don't sound unhappy about that."

"Truth be told Scott I'm not sure how I feel about it," John replied with a sigh. "I like having these powers that I've got, even though I'm not sure how to control them all yet, or even what they all are. But at the same time there is another part of me that wants to be just a normal human being again and not have to constantly wonder what I can do. Though you know what scares me most about these powers Scott?"

"What?" Scott asked not sure that he wanted to hear the answer.

"It's the fear that I could hurt one of you without meaning to," John answered. "I mean I have superhuman among other abilities, I constantly worry that I could hurt someone, that even a playful punch or something could inflict serious injury."

"I understand. Try not to worry about it John, as time passes the risk of that happening drops as you get to know your abilities and your limits."

"Scott's right John," Jeff's voice abruptly said and John looked over at the entrance to see his father and grandmother come into the room. As they saw him both of them looked stunned, the dramatic change in his physique momentarily rendering them speechless. Then Jeff spoke again. "As time passes you get better at controlling your powers, soon you'll do it automatically without even realising that you are doing it."

"Thanks Dad," John replied suddenly feeling a little bit better, as though some invisible weight had been lifted from his broadened shoulders.

"You're welcome," Jeff replied. "Now come here."

John smiled, got to his feet and went over to his father. As soon as he was close to his Dad, Jeff reached out and pulled him into a loving embrace. John gently hugged his father back, consciously making sure that none of his enhanced strength got into the embrace as he would hate himself if he hurt his father. Wow John feels like he's made of titanium, Jeff thought as he hugged his son and felt how hard John's enlarged muscles were. They felt strong, really strong but Jeff knew that was only an illusion, that John's muscles were capable of far greater force than what could be physically felt by someone holding him. Knowing that Jeff could understand John's fears about inadvertently hurting someone, he really could.

After a moment Jeff pulled back out of the embrace allowing Rose to pull John into a hug herself. Like Jeff Rose immediately noticed how strong John's body felt, the change startling her even more than seeing his changed form. She'd hugged John before and he'd felt strong - all her grandsons did as every last one of them was a fitness fanatic like their father - but he'd never felt like this before. Gently Rose pulled back and looked up to meet John's eyes as like everyone else in the family he towered over her.

"It's good to see you John," Rose said. "I've been so worried about you since I was first told what was happening to you. How are you feeling?" John paused and considered for a moment.

"I'm okay Grandma," John replied at last.

"Good," Rose answered eyeing John's new physique again and picturing in her minds eyes what he would look like with his shirt off. The mental image was more than enough to make her heart skip a beat of two. "You look good John. You certainly won't have problems attracting girlfriends now."

"Grandma," John exclaimed blushing to the roots of his hair in embarrassment while also inwardly flinching knowing Rose was probably going to try playing matchmaker for him now. From behind him John heard Scott snickering and mutter under his breath though John heard the words clearly.

"Better playing matchmaker for John than for me," Scott muttered. John mock glared at his older brother then laughed, his laugh starting off everyone else in the room.

"Relax John mother was only teasing," Jeff said giving his mother a pointed look to tell her not to get any ideas of playing matchmaker. "Weren't you mother?"

"Yes I was," Rose answered while inwardly cursing Jeff for spoiling her fun. She didn't often get chance to embarrass John so she would take any chance she got. Not that she seriously intended to play matchmaker, the boys lives were their own, she wouldn't interfere unless she absolutely had to. Usually that meant verbally knocking people's heads together to make them realise something.

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind him made Jeff turn around to see Kyrano standing there patiently waiting for attention.

"Welcome back Mr Tracy," Kyrano said pleasantly before bowing politely to his employer and old friend. "Dinner will be ready shortly Mr Tracy. Will you and Mrs Tracy be joining us?"

"Yes Kyrano we will be," Rose replied. "I just need to put my things away in my room first John would you be kind enough to give an old woman a hand?"

"Sure Grandma," John replied taking his grandmothers cases off her. He knew that Rose was quite capable of carrying them herself and normally would insist on taking them herself. The fact that she was asking him for help let him know that she wanted to talk to him alone for awhile, presumably about everything that had happened.

Rose smiled then left the room with John following closely behind her. Jeff and Scott watched them leave both of them knowing the same thing that John knew. Rose wanted to hear what had happened to John in John's own words. It's for the best, Jeff thought; if anyone can put John at ease about controlling his powers then it will be my mother. She is so much better at this kind of thing than me or anyone else.

"Do you think John will be okay Dad?" Scott asked after a moment's silence.

"I think so Scott," Jeff replied moving towards his familiar place behind his desk. "Especially if your grandmother has any say in the matter. Now then Scott before dinner bring me up to speed. Tell me everything that has been going on here on the island while I have been away."

Scott nodded as Jeff sat down behind his desk. Sitting down comfortably opposite his father Scott opened his mouth and began the task of detailing to his father everything that had happened here on Tracy Island since he'd left after the emergency summons to Tracy Industries headquarters in New York.