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burningcowboyhoagietaco · 3 years

Text

A Way to Learn a Lesson

written by:

@burningcowboyhoagietaco

illustrated and edited by the amazing, the one and only:

@lenle-g

Before I publish the story id like to thank @lenle-g from the bottom of my heart for being patient with me, being nice to me the whole time, and for making my story even better and more exciting. Without her I would have stayed in my normal, not that good English story. so thank you for everything!!! <3<3

And here's my part at @tagminibang submission:)

☆☆☆☆☆

Scott, no!!! No way! I am not going to give any lectures to anyone." John's voice comes out tight. "Especially not in front of a crowd. No way."

"Why not?" Scott raises a brow, his voice honeyed with ‘big brother wants something’. "It's not like you're gonna get executed by some children just for talking space at them, right? You love talking about space. It's all I've heard since you were, like, seven."

"No, that's not it." There's a sharp shake of the ginger’s head, "Scott, come on!" John knows for a fact that his oldest brother knows he's the most socially awkward person to have ever lived on Tracy Island (and maybe the entire planet). "You’ve lived with me long enough to know how much I hate social.... anything." John complains. "Why would you ever think I'd want to do this?""

"Well, yes, I know that," Scott shrugs, "I've seen that look you get on your face when there's a lot of people around." He’s well aware that his brother is an introvert who hates socializing with anyone, so he quickly changes the subject to try and make his younger brother feel a little more at ease. "But hey... everyone knows how much you like it when anyone talks about space or anything about astronomy. You'd be amazing at it."

"That's a different thing." John says flatly. Flattery, it seems, wont get Scott very far. "It's like, whenever you guys ask me anything about space, I like to answer them for you, but from random people…? And in huge crowds? I just simply can't." Surely he doesn’t have to explain himself much more than that?

"Oh trust me, everything is going to be fine." Scott was a flippant hand around, talking without really thinking, because all he wants is for his brother to get out of Thunderbird 5, to visit Earth for a little bit, to mingle with people a little. It can't be that bad. "If anything happens, Gordon and Alan'll be in Thunderbird Five doing Space Monitor duty, me and Virgil are gonna keep an eye on everything, and you’re in safe hands with Lady Penelope and Parker. It's all set up, so please go have some fun for once and teach the children something cool."

"My answer is still no." John says persistently, without hesitation. He's pretty sure it'd be worse than being in the middle of a hurricane, or testing one of his Grandma's new cooking experiments. It’s lucky Scott misses his involuntary shudder.

Scott, though, is so done with him at this point, that he's pretty sure there's no choice but to use plan b and hope that that works instead on his unwilling, stubborn, red haired brother. They've got to get him down from orbit and to that lecture somehow. Scott's just not going to stand for anything else.

"Are you sure that's your last answer?" Scott asks, with a heavy sigh, already planning the best way to call in the big guns.

"Yes," John scowls, arms folded. "Yes, it is."

They'll see about that.

...

"Is everything ready?" John adjusts his sleeves, smoothing down his vest and putting the last touches on his collar. Neat, simple, formal. Can't go wrong. "My presentation papers, laptop, and my mini simple dimple?”

"Yes, all in the bag." Scott calls back, rapidly checking everything, "But do you really need that little fidget thing of yours?" He picks his younger brother's old toy up between forefinger and thumb to examine it, remembering the day John made their Mom buy it for when he gets stressed.

"What fidge- oh, yes I need it." The look on John's face leaves no doubt about that. "I've used it ever since Mom bought it for me."

"Hey… Mom would've been proud of you, you know?” Scott tells him, in a quick flash of brotherly pride. “For, you know, going out of your safe zone for a little while and teaching the children and all that."

"Yeah, I know…" John finds him a nervous smile, "But I'm not doing this voluntarily, you've forced me with that plan b of yours."

The second John says that Scott's cheeks dimple, the corners of his eyes crinkle, and he grins victoriously, his teeth a bright white in the earliest rays of morning sun.

“All I had to do was make a call." He shrugs, "Lady Penelope did all the talking and somehow convinced you to go." Scott got a little more excited. He took a couple of steps forward, slightly standing on his toes reaching John's level asking"How did she convince you?" Clearly waiting teasingly for an answer to come out of John's lips

"Huhhhh." John exhales loudly, a little despairing. "She promised me we'd go to the Pagasa Astronomical Observatory after I finish the lecture with the children." He shrugs, keeping his eyes down, embarrassed.

"The what now?" Scott stares at him, thoroughly confused.

"The Pagasa Astronomical Observatory in the Philippines.” John says, like that was obvious, “It's equipped with a 45-cm computer-based telescope. It's so powerful that astronomers and astronomy enthusiasts can now conduct effective observations of stellar bodies and other distant space objects! Scott, it’s been my dream to go since I was, like, 17."

Scott always knew how much of an astrophile his younger brother is; he never cared about his physical appearance, nor his poor eating habits and he always used to make excuses to read his books alone, yet no one has ever interfered in his personal life.

"Okay okay space lover boy,” Scott grins at him. He'd expected Penny to be persuasive, but resigning herself to hours stuck with John in full excited-about-space mode would hardly be in his top ten. Either he's gonna owe her one, or Penny's more resilient than him. “You can go, no one is holding you back."

The short silence between them was broken by a ringing sound from a nearby table, which John answers.

“...Mhm, yes? Oh, the lecture." It must be Penelope calling, "Yeah, I'm ready, I'll head out now." John grabs his bag, wandering toward where the FAB1 must already be idling on the Tracy runway. "Time to go."

"Mhm,” Scott makes an agreeable noise, watching him go. “Please stay safe and please don't make an idiot of yourself." He's teasing… mostly.

"Yeah yeah," John waves at him over his shoulder, not even looking back. "I won't."

…

"Are we there yet?" Despite the consistently amazing views out of FAB1’s windows during the flight, John’s found himself mostly looking down, fidgeting with his fingers. He’s worrying, just a little, about what awaits him in the Philippines - a whole different tropical island to his own, though still in the South of the Pacific Ocean.

"Just give Parker ten more minutes, darling,” Her Ladyship smiles at him, “We'll arrive in no time."

There’s a moment of silence before, unexpectedly, it’s broken by a call flashing up from, of all places, Thunderbird Five. There’s a prickly sense of discomfort as John realises that, of course, it’s not him calling. Gordon must be trying to reach them.

"Heeeeey Lady Penelope,” The kid greets, as Penny flicks it on, seemingly a lot less bothered by the change than he is. “Oh, and Mr. Tracy.” There’s a huge smirk on his face. “How's our newest teacher holding up?"

"Firstly, my name is John.” John points out, flatly, “Second, I'm not your teacher so please don’t call me Mr. Tracy ever again. Thirdly…” He concedes, quirking an eyebrow, “Yeah, I'm good for now, but fourth… How are you holding up, up there in my Thunderbird? She’s not much like Four, is she?"

"Ooooooooo that's a good question,” Gordon looks half like he’s considering it, half like he’s really missing his own ‘bird. “I'm holding up pretty well thanks to Alan. He’s taken all the Monitor duty stuff, so all I gotta do is keep an eye on you guys." He sounds a bit… sarcastic about that. “It’s pretty boring, honestly. How do you survive up here without a pool?”

"Young Master Gordon, are you quite done talking?" Parker glances, unimpressed, at the little floating hologram of John’s brother in his rearview mirror, "Because we're about to arrive at our destination."

"Huh… oh yeah,” Gordon doesn’t seem too bothered about that, but he waves merrily at them all the same, “Okay bye and John, please have fun, you too Lady Penelope, okay bye guys."

It’s only a few moments later that Parker opens his mouth to tell them that they’ve arrived at Chino Roque Theater, pulling up out front to let them both climb out.

John's eyes widen: it’s nothing like what he saw on the internet. It was more enormous, more luminous, more spectacular than anything he’d seen or read online. All he remembers reading is that it's a sphere shaped building located in the Philippines, in Anilao Hill, but the pictures on the webpage didn’t do it justice like being there in person does.

The building was smooth and round; the auditorium shaped like a massive egg nestled in amongst the other buildings. They were early enough that the sun was just cresting the horizon, colouring the sky with reds and oranges, visible through the geometric front of the building - where giant triangles of glass intersect together to give the people inside an amazing view of the sky at night.

"M'lady, you and John can go ahead. I'll park FAB 1." Parker said, before going to the parking lot - unaware just how tiring and long his journey to find a place to park is going to be.

They both head inside the building, admiring the sweeping glass fractals of the roof high above them. It’s incredibly beautiful, really a feat of engineering. So much so, that John almost forgets why he’s even there, until he spots a couple of buses arriving on the other side of the building, and the panic sets in. He was expecting to be a little bit anxious, but this feels like his heart is going to beat right out of his chest. He presses a hand hard against it, trying to calm his racing pulse and stop the sudden shake of his fingers, and Penny must notice, because a little hand settles, ever so lightly, on his shoulder, drawing his attention to her.

"Hey John," Lady Penelope looks him steadily in the eye, projecting warmth and reassurance. "They're just a small, mixed group of children and teens. They can’t possibly hurt you, now can they? They just came to have a small lecture because all of them like space and astronomy just like you. Imagine yourself at their age, meeting a real life astronaut.” John tries very hard not to remind her who, exactly, his Father was, as she goes on - trying to visualise being a kid that didn’t get ‘take your son to work days’ at NASA’. It’s a pretty horrifying concept. “Most importantly,” Penny adds, “it's only for an hour or so, so you don't need to worry so much." She had to smile just to reassure him. “You’ll have filled their heads with space facts and be out before you know it.”

"O-okay,” John takes a deep, steadying breath, “I don't know if I'm supposed to trust you on this, or whatever, but I really don't have any other choice." He also wants to add that they forced him to go, but at the last second he remembers that they never forced him - he agreed to go because Lady Penelope promised him a trip to the observatory.

It seems like a pretty weak reason, now that he’s outside the stage door, knees shaking.

"Mhm, I think it's time to go inside.” She nudges him callously in the right direction, and John’s palms meeting the solid metal of the double doors is the only thing that keeps him from following gravity’s call and landing on his face. “Again, if anything happens, I'll be at the back of the room and I have a plan b if things get too much." John, pretty shocked by just how many plan b's the Lady Penelope might have prepared for the day, can only shake his head, bemused. “So stop worrying and get out there!”

She vanishes off into the atrium, and John can’t help the loud exhale that escapes his mouth before he musters up all the courage he can, and enters the room.

Bright lights startle him for a moment, and he’s pretty sure he does an awful, awkward impression of a blind baby giraffe as he stumbles out onto the stage and freezes as he notices the first smatterings of audience are already taking their seats.

The moment he placed his foot on the smooth wooden floor, his heart had started to beat faster, his hands began to sweat, the more steps he took forward the more he felt anxious. It was, he’ll think later, one of the toughest moments of his life, and he’s been to space. Multiple times.

Come on John. He tries to straighten up, shake off his anxiety, This can’t go worse than your first EVA.

Taking another deep breath, John waits patiently for all the attendees to take a seat inside the room. Waiting doesn’t help his anxiety levels at all, and he can feel them increasing by the second, but, determined, John doesn’t let it stop him from starting his lecture.

"H-Hello everybody,” He starts, incredibly conscious of the hushed silence that falls across his audience. “I'm John Tracy, M.Sci, PgDip, B.Lang Hons,” he rattles off his credentials, his nerves almost blurring them together, “I worked with NASA as an astronaut for three years before going… uh… solo in my astronomical studies, and I'll be your guest lecturer for the day.” He swallows around the lump in his throat, as a ripple of hushed oohhhs and ahhhs goes through the crowd. John’s pretty sure his face has gone bright red. “Thank you for having me at the Chino Roque Theater,” He goes on, before his embarrassment can bet the better of him, “I hope everyone’s had an amazing day so far. We'll be spending the next hour or so talking about astronomy and space physics, so shall we get started?" John thought it was a good opening, and yet his back was really wet from all the people's eyes on him. Glancing offstage, Penelope throws him a thumbs up, and he feels a little better.

"Um,” He blinks. “So does anyone here know how old the universe is?" John ventures, only to be surprised as almost everyone answers at once;

"Almost 13.8 billion years!"

"Yes,” The edge of a smile works its way onto John’s face. Clearly this was going to be a shout out the answer kind of lecture. He can work with that. “That's correct, now does anyone know how the universe started?"

"The Big Bang!" Most of them answer, and John feels a surge of relief. These guys really are into space.

"Okay, okay, not bad at all." He nods affirmatively at them, and the screen behind him lights up with an artist’s rendition of the Big Bang happening. "Now if I were to go and search ‘how old is the universe’ in, say, Google, the answer would be 13,772 billion years. It’d be the same thing if we looked at NASA, or even Wikipedia - so how did people get to know the age of the universe? How do you even start calculating something that old? Well I'm going to explain it for you in two ways: the good, nice way, and the kinda not that good and not that scientific way." There’s a bit of an awkward pause as John wonders whether or not he’s explained that well. When only silence greets him, he very quickly realises he needs to press on.

"So, uh, the good way.” He folds his fingers together behind his back, trying to resist the urge to fidget. “Well, in the middle of the previous century, as telescopes developed, we noticed something strange. We found that stars in very distant galaxies tend to look red… Umm, which is something that’s not supposed to happen.” A chuckle escapes John and, to his relief, the audience laughs with him. Scott never gets his space jokes. “So why’s that?” He asks, “See, if a chemical element gains or loses energy it’ll emit light in certain frequencies, thereby creating certain colors.” A small movement of his hand signals the slide to change, and a picture of the visible section of the electromagnetic spectrum appears, colouring the room with rainbow light. “For example,” John goes on, bathed in blue and violet, “Consider something like… a desk lamp, as like an element. If you give a lamp electrical energy, it’ll release that energy in the form of heat and light, yeah?" There’s a murmur of uncertain understanding in the room. “Electricity goes in, the bulb gets hot, and it gives off light. Well, we know stars do pretty much the same thing - only powered by nuclear fusion rather than a nine volt plug.”

"From studies of the sun and stars that are near Earth, we know that they’re made of helium and hydrogen, yes?” There’s another murmur of agreement in John’s crowd, “Well, hydrogen and helium can create red light, but they don't have the ability to create these shades of red that we see in deep space." The slide behind John clicks to a comparison of the two shades, on two different stars - making the difference clear.

"So, if stars are made of helium and hydrogen then why do distant stars have different colours? Are their compositions different?uh, well It’s possible, but not likely. The strongest explanation is that the color difference is due to the movement of the stars." The room gives a soft gasp at this news, and John knows he’s onto something good.

"So there's something called the redshift and blueshift phenomenon that says that if an object radiates light and approaches you, the color of the light begins to turn blue, and if the object is moving away from you, the color will turn red. This happens because the wavelength of light contracts and expands with movement meaning that something stretching equals red and contraction equals blue."

"And the strange thing is,” John adds, his audience listening raptly, “That most, if not all, stars show the same behavior, so, if we think about it, if all stars are moving away from us, that means that they were close to us at some point, and if we follow their path, we find that everything in space meets at a point named ‘singularity’."

"It was believed, in the past, that everything in the universe, or at least in the visible part that we have observed, that is to say,” John flicks to a graphic on his next slide. “All the galaxies, planets and stars, were all gathered at one point - the singularity. The theory is that this point exploded in what we call the ‘Big Bang’, and from that time onward, the universe has been in constant expansion.”

"So it’s with data from this knowledge that we can calculate the age of the universe:” With a wave of his hand, John puts a series of bullet points up on the screen behind him, then reads them aloud.

“One, the universe began as a very small, single point.” He reaffirms, “Two, the universe is constantly expanding outward from that point, and three, from these we have the ability to calculate the expansion rate of the universe, by calculating the speed of the stars that are moving away from us. If we take the furthest accelerations and enter them into this equation,” John’s board merrily does it’s thing behind him, “Then, we get the age of the universe."

"And, so we don't forget, all this talking was about the good way. There is another way to calculate the age of the universe, the, uh, not as good way, or, more specifically, the less scientific way.” A ripple of laughter goes through John’s audience - and he relaxes a little more. Maybe Scott was right. Maybe these are his kind of people. Scott’s never laughed at a space joke for sure. “There's no problem with it,” He quietens them again with a gentle gesture, “and it does support our theory and calculations, so I guess we should talk about it."

"Since ancient times, humans have been looking at the sky, watching the stars, and giving them names like Cygnus, Canis Major, Orion.” All names any young astronomer in the Southern Hemisphere would recognise, and be able to enthusiastically point out in the night sky. “In those days, there wasn't the internet so they were looking up at the stars instead.” Much like John himself, when he’d been a boy.

“As a way of calculating the age of the universe, astronomers set out to search for the oldest celestial bodies in space.” He goes on to explain, “The idea was that if we find a star whose age equals X, then the age of the universe must be greater than the number X. So we pointed our telescopes up there and started trying to find out their ages from birth, to youth, to their old age until their end."

"Can anyone guess the age of the oldest star we've found?" A lot of answers were guessed, some of them were pretty close, but some, amusingly, were way too far. "Ok, ok…” John puts his hands up to pacify his excited crowd, “Umm I see there are a lot of answers, but the oldest star people discovered was actually estimated to be 13.5 billion years old. The HD-140283, or as you might know it, the Methuselah Star. That number is very close, you’ll notice, to our estimation of the age of the universe."

"But if we found a star that is 13.5 billion years old today, then we could find an even older star next week and that would ruin all of that,” He chuckles, mostly to himself, “We also should note that this method alone isn't suitable for determining the universe’s age, but as long as we have two methods with corroborative results, we can be reassured that the estimate is correct.” He pauses for a second, “So, does anyone have questions?" A couple of hands raised, and John found himself suddenly answering a lot of questions - but he managed all of them despite his fear of the huge crowd.

He’s starting to feel more than a little overwhelmed.

"Umm… W-well that was a lot of questions,” John tries to pull it back in, his allotted lecture time ticking away on the big clock at the back of the hall. He feels a little panicky from the bombardment, and his palms have gone sweaty. “We’d better move on.” To distract himself from the people, as much as anything, “Our next topic is the theory of relativity, so l-let's get started on that."

Lady Penelope, from her fold-out seat at the back of the room, frowns. It’s clear John’s terrified and she wants to use plan b, but as long as he’s still standing on his feet, and giving the lecture, he's probably fine for now. If anything, it’d cause more of a disruption to drag him away now.

"Umm,” John takes a breath, trying to centre himself in the science of it all. “Let's start with a supposition, a hypothesis if you like, and consider it together. Okay, you’ll have to bear with me on this one, but let us suppose that we were all asleep, and the universe suddenly inflated by a thousand times.” There’s a murmur in the crowd at how odd everything abruptly getting that much bigger sounds, “Your bed, your pillow, your desk,” John extrapolates, “even the meter we measure stuff with. If humans became a thousand times bigger, when we woke up would we feel something strange? Would we even notice anything had changed? You’d think so, but no.” John’s settling back into his rhythm now, “So why is that? Because the bed and everything became a thousand times more inflated and our bodies also inflated a thousand times, with everything scaling in parallel relation to each other so that this percentage, this scale, was preserved throughout the room. You’d never know the difference."

"Henri Poincaré, the well known mathematician and theoretical physicist, says that we will never be able to discover that something like this has happened, even if we use all the mathematics and calculations ever invented.” John drives the point home with another illustrated slide, “This hypothesis is called the Poincaré hypothesis, and simply, because the meter with which we measure things will have also expanded a thousand times, there’s never going to be any equation or calculation or any analysis possible that could lead us to the truth, because the ratio is preserved in all parts."

"Now, this is important, because the same thing also happens with time. If everything suddenly got a thousand times faster, we’d still never feel anything different. Why’s that?” He asks, rhetorically, “Because time is also a thousand times faster, your heartbeat is also a thousand times faster, your body would function a thousand times faster to keep up with it all. As long as everything is increased by the same amount, the ratio is preserved, and none of us will be able to detect any change."

"So Poincaré asked the scientific community; is there no way to know that time increased or that things inflated?" John tells the room, "Well, it was Albert Einstein who answered him, deciding that the one and only way to tell, would be to have someone observing what happened to the world from another galaxy, from another world, lightyears away. For someone to point a telescope in our direction, and look through it at us, and say what happened to the Earth? Why are humans walking a thousand times faster than in the past? But this person who realized the situation,” The astronaut waves a flippant hand, starting to feel much more confident again, “would have to be a person standing on a fixed external platform in a different world, so that what happened to us was not also happening to him."

"But, as Einstein commented, this hypothesis is impossible for a simple reason and it's that there is no fixed platform in the universe - the entirety of it is in constant, turbulent motion. For example, the Earth rotates at a speed of 460 meters per second, revolving around the sun at 30 kilometers per second, and at the same time, the sun and it’s planets and dwarf planets and moons and asteroids, all revolve around our galaxy, The Milky Way, at a speed of 300 kilometres per second, and so the whole universe revolves. That's,” John takes a deep breath, finding himself out of air after so much explaining, “why it's impossible for us humans to completely accurately judge the motion of any astral body."

"Because there is no fixed berth, we can only offer relativity. This is the first part of the theory that Einstein came up with, in summary; it cannot be said that the monotony of a body is absolute motion."

"Another thing he said was that, because of the vastness of the universe, it’s impossible to synchronize, what does that mean? Well, I will give you an example.” He flicks his slide, “Say I’m a person in the Philippines, and I'm talking to someone from the United States. We synchronize, and hear each other in real time, because we have a method of fast communication. I can hold my device and say; hello, how are you?” John holds up the slim, sliver slice of his phone to show the audience, “How’s the weather there? And they’d answer me with something like; I’m fine thank you, it's night here so it’s a bit hard to tell what the weather’s doing! What’s the weather like there? And I’d answer them; it's daytime, and maybe ask them something like, what are you eating? They’d answer me; a burger, and then I’d tell them that I'm eating kaldereta, and it’s much better than a burger."

In the audience Penny quietly hopes that Gordon, who's probably listening in with the rest of his brother’s, missed the fact John was making jokes on stage. The poor little bugger’ll never live it down otherwise.

"These two events, each person talking to the other, are compatible.” John goes on, absolutely oblivious, “It’s possible because the two wireless devices, be they mobile phones or more sophisticated comms systems, are on the same globe, creating a fast means of communication.”

"But,” John postulates, “If I was talking to someone from another galaxy and I used the same means of communication to make a call, do you know how long it would take to get to them? It would be about five to six thousand years until my signal reaches the phone of our friend, and they’ll have married, had children and died, and their children would have married and had children and died, and so on, for thousands of years before then."

"And that's why it's impossible to synchronize between the ends of the universe,” John balances his palms like he’s weighing two invisible ends, “It rather puts a damper on our chances of finding and communicating with extraterrestrial life, for sure, but at least it’s possible to synchronize within one system, like the system of the Earth. "

"This is a thing that also applies to light, for example: any star you could look up and see now, the light emanating from it may be coming from thousands of years ago. This means that it’s possible that the star you see shining could have exploded and disappeared, and hasn't existed for a long time. Why? Because it takes a couple of thousand years for the light from that explosion to reach us."

"There isn’t any proof for the hypothesis that the universe is linked by time, but the thing that happens that we’re sure of is that the universe is made up of, sort of, separate islands of different times that have no connection between them. The connection between movement and time in space is something we all know about, for example, a day on Earth equals twenty-four hours, yes?” There’s a chorus of agreement from the audience, “But on Saturn, a day is ten hours because it rotates faster. Astonishingly, a day on Mercury is the same as fifty-eight whole Earth days, which, infact, is also a Mercurian year, because the planet revolves around the sun for the exact same period as it revolves around itself."

"Okay, so, to what extent is movement related to time?” John asks, well and truly into this whole teaching thing now, “Well, Einstein was the first person to discover the connection between them and suggested that; suppose you’re on board a very fast rocket, 100,000 miles per hour for example. The mechanical watch on your wrist would be delayed over the flight, but you wouldn’t feel like time is being delayed. Why’s that? It’s because the rhythm of your heart would slow down - all of the vital processes in your body that are inside the rocket will slow down."

"As you move more, something called the dilation of time will happen.” He steps to the side, as if to illustrate the point, only to find himself stumbling a little, like if the ground beneath his feet had moved. “T-Time slows down,” John tries to recover it smoothly, but everything’s starting to feel, weirdly, like it’s shaking, and he doesn’t think it’s the anxiety anymore, “and that's-"

John doesn’t get to finish his sentence because there’s an abrupt shift and a loud cracking from under him, and getting off the stage suddenly seems like a good idea. Someone screams outside, and the volume in the room skyrockets as the children start panicking. John’s one hundred percent sure this wasn't anything planned.

He knew he shouldn't have come.

Earthquake? He wonders first, then; Tsunami? Ground slip? Hurricane? Whichever it is, John has to prioritise calming the people and evacuating them out of the building. The giant glass panels above them are trembling with the force of the shaking, and, as a professional at this sort of thing, Thunderbird Five’s Space Monitor doesn’t like the look of it one bit.

"Everyone calm down,” He has to shout to make himself heard over the roar of people, even with the microphones pointed his way, “This is a normal thing. All we have to do is evacuate immediately, as calmly. as. possible. I don't want anyone crowding the exits, do you all understand what I just said?" The front rows, white faced with fear, nod encouragingly at him, and he watches as they begin to lead the way toward the glowing green signs that signal the emergency exits. Immediately after making sure the crowd is moving, John pulls up his comm to contact Gordon.

"Gordon, are you on the line?” John’s a little breathless and he climbs down from the precarious stage, into the throng of terrified bodies, “We have a situation in here."

"Let me guess, you caused it?" Gordon seems so excited to hear something other than his brother's boring lecture that humour has outweighed his professionalism.

"Gordon,” John grits his teeth, “I'm being serious right now, there was a huge movement in the ground beneath the Chino Roque Theater, and it's still ongoing. Tell Alan to do a check on what's happening beneath us using the Ground Penetrating Radar." He orders.

"F.A.B." Comes the far more serious response, before Gordon clicks off the line to do just that. Squashing down any fear he’d about the now swelling, shuffling crowd, John opens his arms wide and walks toward them, the motion sort of like he’s trying to herd sheep, as he tries to evacuate the people safely out of the building.

He’s not exactly an expert at being on the scene during rescues.

"John, there's a landslide going on right now,” Alan’s worried little voice comes ringing out of his comm speakers, “Right next to the theatre. You’d better get out of there. I’m monitoring the situation, but it’s looking like you’re going to need International Rescue to get you and the people out of there. The debris field is spreading fast." John would do almost anything to be up there instead, at his own screens. “I've contacted Virgil and Scott, I’m patching them through now.” Alan clicks Scott and Virgil, both clearly just finishing their suit up sequences, into the conversation. It seems important to keep them up to date with John's developing situation.

"Hey Mr. Tracy, how are you holding up?" Scott jokes over the roar of his launching Thunderbird, the sound filling the background of the call with white-noise, "Oh, and how was your lecture?" John thinks he sounds far too casual in contrast to the impending danger all around him.

"Oh my God, Scott, is now really the time?” John groans, and a kid with mousey blond hair not dissimilar to Alan’s looks up at him, very confused, before the astronaut waves him on, “You are an adult person,” He reminds his big brother, “Please don't be like Gordon right now. He’s practically still a child."

"Hey!” Gordon had clearly overheard the conversation between his brothers, and springs up to defend himself. “I'm only two or three years younger than you!" He complains, not about to do the math.

"Gordon, we don't have time for arguing about that now,” John frowns, “and Scott, I'm holding up alright at the moment. Please don't ask me anything about the lecture until I get back home." If his voice cracks a little on that last bit, he’ll never admit it.

"Okay, okay I won't ask anything about that,” Scott reassures him, his amused, big brother grin very much in place, “Keep on evacuating the people safely until we arrive John, you’re doing great. It won’t take us that long. ETA at 15,000 mph is sixteen minutes.” He reassures, “We’ll be there before you know it."

"F.A.B. Scott." He reluctantly signs off. Now that he’s finished talking with Scott, John’s pleased to see that a lot of people have already made their way out of the atrium’s three sets of double doors, evacuating the building to get as far away from the landslide as possible. His fingers itch to pull up the schematics from Thunderbird Five on his comm, no matter what the people around him might think. He quickly caves, and it feels worth it to be able to see the incoming tide of slipping land.

They don’t have much time.

“Let’s go!” He shouts, chivvying. He’s a little breathless with the tension, so he keeps things short. “Come on! Let’s move guys!”

From his vantage near the crumbling stage, John can make out Lady Penelope and Parker by the main doors, ushering people through, and the sight of them fills him instantly with immense relief.

“Okay, that's a good amount of people out.” John has to jog to catch up with them, skirting around a little old lady with a zimmer frame and taking a second to correct her course, “Lady Penelope, Parker, I think you should go and check on the people who’re out. They could have minor injuries from the stampede, and International Rescue are still ten minutes out. I'll make sure the last few stragglers exit safely."

Penelope just nods, pale and worried. Her blond brows are all pinched in together, nervous and Parker looks practically haggard as he claps a reassuring hand on John’s shoulder, her faithful old companion following her pink shape dutifully out the doors. Hopefully they’ll go make sure that no one was badly injured in any way.

Turning back to the slow cascade of cracking rubble behind him, John finds the stage area has been all but obliterated, and his heart aches for the patrons of the Chino Roque Theater who’ll have to rebuild from scratch when this is over. He imagines the Tracy fund can contribute a significant amount toward that though. They often do for worthy causes.

John pushes the damp curl of his slightly sweaty bangs out of his eyes and climbs over what looks like a twisted piece of ceiling girder toward the sound of people, possibly trapped stragglers, who are calling for help.

"I miss Thunderbird 5 so much,” John mutters, keeping it under his breath so that no one hears him, as his palms are scraped raw against the concrete he’s trying to clamber around. There’s a rippp of fabric on a jagged piece of metal and the knee of his previous pristine brown jeans meets much the same fate as his poor, scuffed hands. “Oh, come on!” He’s having no luck today, “I'd so rather be assisting the situation from space. I can’t believe I’m stuck here." John grumbles, to no one in particular. He’s just not built for this kind of thing. Heavy labour and getting sweaty pulling people out of scrap heaps is what his other brothers do. At least rescues in space don’t have all this… gravity to contend with.

"John?” The crackle of a comm cut’s across his complaints, “What’re you still doing in there?” Gordon’s voice breaks him from his thoughts, little brother’s tone heavy with concern. “The building could fall any moment! You're so lucky the landslide isn't moving very fast, but it’s not gonna stay that way forever." Gordon was really worried about the fact that his older brother was still inside. “It could engulf the building! You need to hurry it up, bro.”

"I'm evacuating the people as fast as I can,” John gets both hands under the armpits of a boy who couldn’t be older than seven, and swings him above a pile of rubble toward safety, “I'll be out in no ti- Ah!"

John’s voice gets cut off with a startled cry, and it takes Gordon a second or two, time John might not have, to remember how to breathe so that he can yell in any way coherently into his comm. His eyes are wide, his anxiety levels through the roof as he tries, and fails, to rouse his brother on the other end.

"SCOTT! You need to get there now.” Gordon’s aware that he’s totally losing his cool, panic creeping in over his weak layer of professionalism, “I just lost contact with John.” He gasps, “He was evacuating people and I heard him yell and now he’s not responding! And- and it's not just him. There were other people he was trying to get out."

"Hey Gordon,” Scott tries to keep his voice steady to inject some kind of stability into the conversation, “Don't lose your cool yet. I'm sure nothing that bad happened to John. Just stay your positive self, okay? I’m arriving right now and Virgil isn’t far behind me."

Thunderbird One is panning over the city, low enough to ruffle the hair of people looking up, but it’s not a problem until the usually so sure and steady pilot finds his hands nearly slipping off her controls as Scott catches his first, horrific glimpse of the building that he knows his younger brother is inside.

“What the…?”

The Chino Roque Theater is almost flat.

"Virgil,” Scott swallows hard to try and remove any of the tremor from his voice, “A-Are you seeing what I'm seeing right now?" He almost succeeds.

"Scott this isn't a joke, it looks like half of the building has come down with the landslide! John’s in there!" Virgil sounds more terrified than Scott thinks he’s ever heard him. What scares him the most is that the exit was on the side that has fallen in, which means that a lot of people are trapped under it, their John included. "Scott, we need to help them right now.

"Okay, here's the plan,” Scott’s hands tighten white-knuckled on the steering yoke, “You wear your exo-suit and go clear the debris out of the way so that we can save them, and I'll get rid of that roof with Thunderbird One and check for life signs. Remember that saving lives is our top priority, got it? No matter what’s happened to John."

"F.A.B." Virgil sounds incredibly tense. He lands Thunderbird Two as fast as he can in the crowded, limited space. Local people are beginning to make their way out of their houses to see what all the commotion is about, and the cramped city streets aren’t ideal for International Rescue’s four hundred and six ton workhorse.

Two’s pilot struggles into his exo-suit, rushing to get the Jaws of Life prepared despite Scott’s insistence that he focus and take things slow and sensible. It’s not long until he finds himself digging among the debris looking for buried people and, in the white rush of it all, Virgil’s not even sure how he got there.

"Scott,” he presses on his comm, “Please tell me you’ve got something?"

"Fortunately and thankfully yes,” It’s hard to find the hopefulness in big brother’s clipped Mobile Control voice, but it’s there to Virgil’s expert ear, drizzled in nervous relief. “I've got a whole cluster of life signs,” Scott reports, “BPM signalling in the green. "I think they’re just trapped under the debris." Alan’s echolocation report came back suggesting that there’s a big space under what could be folded sheet metal from the ceiling, that they’ve huddled in. I'm really sure there's nothing that bad, but still we have to continue otherwise it will take a bad turn for us and the people in there."

“I can use the grappling cables in Thunderbird One to take the strain off the roof,” Scott adds, “But I need you in there to get those people out.”

“Already on my way,” Virgil ducks under some rebar, skirting around the rubble and pulling away loose debris as he goes. His heart is loud in his own ears, and Virgil hopes the creak and groan of metal and concrete above him is Scott lifting the weight off the roof, keeping it from collapsing any further onto the people below, and not anything more sinister. Virgil gets peppered by a slide of small stones, but the roof holds steady.

He presses on until he catches sight of the cluster of around forty people, all huddled together around a tall, central figure with a shocking amount of rubble dust smeared over his face, and powdered through his ginger hair.

“John!” Two’s pilot makes a beeline for his brother, despite the fact three of the people are stuck under rubble. Clearly John’s in control of the situation here, and he’s never wanted a mission update from their Space Monitor so much in his life. He can’t help but hone in on the fact John's left arm is crudely wrapped in a piece of cloth from his sleeve, which he must’ve ripped off in order to tie it.

"You have to tell me exactly what happened,” Virgil drops the controls for the Jaws of Life, and grasps his brother’s biceps in both hands instead, resisting the very strong temptation to pull the spaceman in for a hug. “And what happened to your arm?!?" There’s a river of blood seeping from beneath the make-shift bandage, but John, it seems, isn’t bothered by it in the slightest.

"Not now Virgil.” His concerns get thoroughly dismissed, “We’ve got to get these people out of here, and then I'll tell you everything." Virgil didn't like the idea that something happened to his brother and he's silent about it, but after all John was right about saving the people first since his arm is under control for now.

John crouches by the nearest injured person; a pale, skinny teen with a sizable piece of rebar keeping him pinned.

“You’re gonna be out of there in just a second, Lito.” Virgil watches him reassuring the young man for a long moment, “Uh, Virgil?” John prompts. “Any time?”

“What?” He blinks, “Oh, yeah!” His brother is clearly waiting expectantly for him to use the Jaws of Life to get the poor kid out. "I’m on it, but you better tell me everything after we're done saving them." Virgil demands. “But, uh, Scott’s kind of holding the roof up right now, so you’re probably right.”

"Okay,” John literally rolls his eyes, busy stealing a pair of blue rubber gloves from the Med Kit Virgil brought with him, and snapping them on to protect his hands and the fine cuts he’d gotten from climbing over rubble. “I promise I'll tell you everything, but can we start actually rescuing them now?" Rolling his eyes right back, the bigger man uses his exosuit to heft the rubble off Lito, before John swoops in to apply pressure to his injuries.

“Give me the fold out stretcher from your sash.” He orders, hands bloodied “Then go get the next person out. Efifania, Sergio?” John beckons a pair of nearby dad’s in closer, clearly having singled them out as capable stretcher bearers. “Think you can manage Lito here for me?”

As Virgil starts removing the rubble from above the other two trapped people, a middle aged man and a younger woman, it becomes immediately obvious that both of them have more severe wounds than young Lito. They both need medical treatment immediately.

“I’ll carry one of them.” Without the three extra sets of hands he’d need, Virgil has to leave a couple of crowd members applying pressure to their wounds, as he moves back to where John is helping Lito unsteadily to his feet. “Think you can walk, young man? We’re gonna need that stretcher for the big guy.”

“I won’t let you fall.” John promises, and Virgil feels a real swell of pride at how well his brother is handling the situation whilst being outside of both his space station and his comfort zone. It looks like having a rescue and a job to do really gives him no time for anxiety. "I agree that that's our best plan.” He adds, nodding, short and sharp, to confirm it, then John turns, an arm around Lito’s waist and the kid’s arm slung over his shoulder, to address the crowd.

“Anyone not so severely hurt needs to help get the injured out of here.” John instructs, the small crowd listening raptly. The look on the faces of these scared people is one Virgil is all too familiar with, but he knows John has far less experience of in person. They’re really looking to him as their saviour. “Virgil here is going to lead us through the path he just made.” Which is news to Virgil, but does seem like the best plan. “International Rescue will then be able to take us all to the hospital to get checked out, and then I’m sure you’ll be released to go home to your families before you know it. Got it everyone?"

In that moment Virgil finds himself struck with amazement at how John seems to have become almost as fearless as Scott, as they started carrying the two injured people out to safety. It was really a new side to him that Virgil doesn’t think he’s ever seen before.

"Virgil… I need you to check on Lady Penelope and Parker.” John’s keeping pace at his side, helping the boy they’d dug out along as he goes, “I told them to check to see if anyone was hurt."

"Hmm, yeah you're right.” Virgil frowns. If Penny and Parker have any more injured party members, even minor ones that just need a check up, Thunderbird Two will need to evacuate them to the hospital as well. “Have you got any idea where they might be?"

"Well, I told them to get somewhere away from the landslide,” John frowns, as their limping, shocky party stumbles out into the bright light of day, to be greeted by the roar of Thunderbird One’s engines high above them. “They should be near here.” He yells over the sound of it.

As usual, it turns out that John is completely right. Penny and Parker are waiting for them, but neither John nor Virgil find the look on Lady Penelope's face all that reassuring.

"JOHN!” She rushes toward the battered, bloodied spaceman, her arms outstretched. Virgil very quickly and carefully finagles poor Lito out of the way as his brother gets ambushed. “Are you okay?!?” Penelope demands, frantic, “What happened to your arm?” She reaches for the bloodied bandage, and John winces, “I'm so sorry,” All of John’s carefully constructed rules around personal space are shattered as she cups his cheek, inspecting his face for injury. It’s lucky that John is by far the most patient of the Tracy boys. “I shouldn't have left you there.

"She’d been so terrified, perhaps more than anyone else here. The horrific view she’d seen with her own eyes is going to haunt her for a long time yet. One second she was getting out of the building to reassure and check up on the people, and the next she was watching half the structure collapse completely, with John under the side that fell. She still feels a little sick.

"I'm so, so, so sorry John,” She repeats, before he can get a word in edgeways to reassure her, “Please, you must tell me if there's any way I can make it up to you. Ask me anything and I'll do it."

"Okay guys,” Virgil chuckles, “while you talk things out I'll go to get the injured people aboard Thunderbird 2. Make it quick though, we’ve still got people who need immediate medical treatment, got it?"

"F.A.B. Virgil.” John nods, “We'll be quick. Penny, I..."

“I’m so sorry.” She repeats again, and pulls his good arm over her shoulder as if to steady him as they make their way at the back of the crowd toward the big green Thunderbird.

"No no no, Penny, please stop apologising.” John’s fingers tighten for a quick moment on her shoulder, in brief reassurance, “I'm not going to ask you for anything because it was never your fault.” He insists, “It was just some bad luck, that's all. Fortunately I, and most people, got out safe with no severe wounds. These things happen.”

“Your arm.” She points out softly, hoping that all that blood looks worse than it is, “John I can’t believe you stayed behind like that, it’s so...”

“Tracy?” He grins, amused but very weary.

“Scott Tracy.” She corrects, scowling a little as she holds on just that little bit tighter around his waist as his adrenaline from the rescue starts to flag. “I thought you had more common sense.”

“Hate to disappoint.” She feels the warmth of him chuckling, “I’m lucky it was nothing worse than his cut from some shattered glass that fell on my arm while I was helping one of the guys who got stuck. I don’t think any arteries or anything have been damaged, but it is... kinda deep." And he might be getting a little lightheaded from the blood loss. Still, he really wants to reassure her, just like she had reassured him before he’d gone in to give the lecture.

"Hate to interrupt your moment, but are you guys done?" Scott pops up from who-knows-where amongst the crowd to yell at them. He’s clearly joined the relief effort. "Virgil’s just finished getting everyone aboard Thunderbird 2, and he's ready to launch." He adds, squinting at the pale, wobbly mess of his brother. "And you really do need to check your arm. That looks nasty.”

"Yeah Scott,” John wipes a tired hand over his dirty face, dislodging dust, “We're done. Don’t let Thunderbird Two wait for me, I'll hitch a ride with Lady Penelope, uh,” He turns to her, bashful, to check, “If that’s okay?"

“Of course,” Her Ladyship concedes, “Scott?” She is mildly concerned that big brother might want to have the injured member of his flock under his wing so he can smother him.

"Yeah sure, ride whatever you want.” Scott flip flops a dismissive hand at them, “You can ride a pod, I won't care as long as your destination is the hospital."

"How about you, Gordon?” John knows his little brother is still on the line, probably sulking. “Is it okay if I take the ride with Lady P?"

"W-what do you mean by that?” Gordon sounds confused and maybe a little embarrassed, like he’s been caught out. “Scott already said you should go, why’re you asking me?"

"Well, she's your girlfriend.” John grins, teasing, as Penny helps him into the back of FAB1. “Of course I have to get permission from her boyfriend.

"Penny swats at him for that, amused, but careful not to hit his injured arm. She doesn’t need anyone’s permission to do anything, but it is fun to see Gordon squirm - especially as Scott and Virgil both crack up, and even Alan in space starts teasing him.

"What?!?” Gordon’s face, bless that darling young man, has gone bright red. “J-Just go already." He ducks off the comm screen to try and hide his embarrassment, but it’s far too late for that.

He’s lucky that Penelope finds it incredibly endearing.

"John,” She nudges him, as the Tracy’s all click off the line to go do their actual jobs. She’s a little concerned that he’s looking a bit spaced out, if you’ll excuse the pun, and it’s probably a good idea to keep him talking. “You know we're still going to The Pagasa Observatory, just like I promised you, right?"

"Wait really?” John’s head tilts, a little floppy, towards her from where it had been sinking into FAB1’s luxurious headrests. He’s looking a little grey, but it’s good to see his eyes open. “After all that happened?” A ginger eyebrow quirks, “Are you sure there's time for that?"

"Well, we’re on our way to the hospital now, but there’ll be plenty of time this afternoon.” As long as the medics give him a clean bill of health. “You can change your clothes after we're done checking your arm then there should be time for you to go see that big telescope you've been dreaming of visiting. After all, I did promise you we’d go there after we're done."

"Well, that sounds good to me!” John smiles like there’s a supanova fuling him, “Penny you’re the best."

They reach the hospital a little after International Rescue has dropped off the fourty or so injured people, and so there’s quite a wait for a Doctor to be free so that they can have a look at John’s poor, sliced arm. Penny seems to be doing a worried hover at his side, while he waits, shaky from blood loss, and though he’s not used to having so much company, John has to admit it’s nice to have a chance to catch up with his old friend with no rescue alarms blaring.

Alan reports in that the two worst injured in the landslide have been hospitalized as fast as possible, that they were stable - the doctors have said their prognosis looked good. He also tells him that Lito’s family had been asking after the redheaded lecturer who’d helped him out of the rubble, and that John Tracy, M.Sci, PgDip, B.Lang Hons, should probably expect a gift basket in the mail quite soon.

John gets quite flustered about that. He’d just been doing his job.

The spaceman's arm was eventually treated, and Scott calls in to ask what actually happened to his arm. It still hurts, a properly bandaged throb just under his elbow, but not like before. The painkilling injection and little bit of morphine they’d given him when they stitched it up had probably helped with that.

Alan’s reports dug up that the landslide had been caused by a water main leaking under the building, and destabilizing the soil. Over time, water can do a lot of damage, washing away vital infrastructure if it’s not been properly reinforced during construction.

As the Chino Roque Theater was a new build, there must have been a mistake in the installation of the pipes during construction.

Someone was getting a big lawsuit heading their way, and Tracy Enterprises will be more than happy to fund the lawyers for the theatre.

As Lady Penelope promised him, they found John a change of clothes and went to the Pagasa Observatory. Penny’s quite sure she’s never seen anything as wholesome as the moment John sees the telescope - his eyes went all shiny, and the smile on his face was massive.

"Lady Penelope, Parker come take a look at the stars!!!” He calls, over his shoulder, with the enthusiasm of a boy half his age, “They’re really beautiful from here!" With such a high-powered lens pointed up at the cosmos, it rivals even his view from Thunderbird Five.

"Indeed, they are." Lady Penelope and Parker both step up to take turns, but John was the one to look through the telescope the most. With all the stealth her years as a secret agent offered her, Lady Penelope took a picture of him.

"Parker, come take a look." She whispers, beckoning her old companion gleefully over. "He looks so happy and innocent in this picture. Wouldn’t it be lovely to see his face like this always?"

"We still have some time before they close,” Parker points out, a sly grin creeping onto his nosey old face. “How h’bout we leave him like this for a little longer?"

"That, Parker.” she smiles, “Is an excellent idea.”

The End

#tag mini bang 2021 #tagminibang2021 #thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #john tracy #scott tracy #gordon tracy #virgil tracy #alan tracy #Lady Penelope #Parker #tag #my writing

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dsmadmin · 4 years

Text

#HelpingoutAFriend

Co written by @DemonHunterDw & @HuntressJo_Rp

Jo - Jo looked around her suite with all boxes to be moved into her new place she wonders if @DemonHunterDW would like to help. When she typed up a text to him* ”Hey Handsome. I was wondering if you were hungry. Maybe you will be want to work up an appetite with me?”

Dean - Dean was still getting used to being in this new world, much different than what he was accustomed too. Jo really was helping with the transition so as he read her text he replied.- "Of course, when and where?

Jo - hearing her textphone tone. She picked up her phone to read and reply to the new Dean who is new to this dimension- ” How about whenever you are free, I'm at the four seasons hotel. Food is included in the deal too?

Dean - Alright. I could eat. So you in a half hour then. Just text me the address.

Jo - A smile came across her face with a little smirk thinking to herself guys and their stomachs~ Always what kind of person would I be if I didn't feed you for all your hard work. ~She typed up her new address to him and send it to him~ I'll see you very soon. Thank you again.

Dean - -Dean drove over to the hotel and got out going up to her room. Knocking on the door.-

Jo - She was boxing up the last of the things. When she taped up the last of the boxes when she heard the door. Putting down the sellotape gun on top of the box to walk towards the door. Looking through the spy hole when she saw him standing. Slowing opening the door to him- ” Hello Dean. Thank you for coming to help me. You are a start for sure. -She smiled at him- please come in, -She opened the door wider for him to enter - How are you doing?”

Dean - Not a fan of confined spaces due to being trapped a few times in his dimension but he went in and put on a smile.- I'm good. So you bought yourself a house huh? That's awesome, where do we start?

Jo - -She brushed his arm with her hand to ease the tension she could see on his face. She wanted to ask but didn't want to prey too deep. Since this was the beginning of their a new relationship. She hopes he was Okay standing here. When she smiled at him before speaking softly to him. ” Yeah, I've been living out of boxes and suitcases for this past year, When I finally managed to build up the courage to move out of my mom house and pub to become a full-time hunter here. Moving my life here in Austin. I'm glad you could help me, Dean. - She shrugs her shoulders looking around everything she had stored up. - Maybe at the boxes if that's okay?

Dean - Her touch was soothing and even though she wasn't Jo from his past, the sincerity and demeanor were the same and he smiled.- I think I can handle that. -Walking over he stacked one box on another and carried it out to the elevator.-

Jo - Jo looked onto him. I king up the boxes. When she followed him with a box too- Thank you for your help. I bet you didn't think you would be helping me like this?

Dean - Shrugs while holding the boxes.- I don't mind, it's nice to have some down time. I'm surprised the fearless leader isn't here himself. -Smiles-

Jo - I guess you aren't used to having some downtime as you call it? The good thing about this world with the company I work for there are always hunters on shift. When the call comes through you just need to be ready to go. What you be interested in working at black waters if I talk to Colt? Unless you want away from this life Dean. - Jo pressed the button to call for an elevator with her Elbow and waited -

Dean - I'm not sure I want involved in all that. I'm used to working alone and I don't take /orders/ well. Let me think about it? So what does Ms Harvelle do for fun anyway?

Jo - Take as much time as you need. No pressure just that we work in teams or just in twos here. No one works alone because I learned that the hard way. It's just an option if you like. ~ A smile curled on the side of her lip~ ”Fun, what's that exactly when you work as a hunter and being a barmaid, and living on the road. She smiled. I've tried to go horse riding once if you want to count that in but that was a massive failure due to work. What about you. What happened back into your world. Did you have a friend called Jo?

Dean - Dean's eyes rested on her and smiled just liking to hear her speak.- Friend? I guess you could call it that. The virus or whatever it was happened though, never got the chance to do much but survive. I'd like to change that kinda of living here though. Spend time with people I care about.

Jo - Her eyes and voice soften listening to him talk to about his world. This had sadness her listening to him talking of his world. ”What do you need Dean. How can I help you? Does this world need to close the rife you came through unless you want to go back to try and look for any other survivors ?” With the elevator arriving Jo held the button open for Dean. I hope you will be able to relax and start to enjoy the world too.

Dean - From what they told me there is no way back. Everyone close to me is dead. I'm not going to hang on anymore. -Walking out he goes to the truck putting the boxes in and then takes the one from her putting it in too.- All things heal with time.

Jo - ”I'm sorry for your loss Dean” she knew deep down she had to key his grief and allowed him to try and move on. That was her last word on the matter when she felt for him for everything he has lost. ”I will be around for you to whatever you need. Maybe an escape and go for a drink? ”

Dean - He turned to look at her.- How about dinner?

Jo - She smiles brightly - I love the sound of that since I owe you. What would you like?

Dean - You don’t/owe/ me anything. -Reaches overruns his fingers through her hair.- Whatever sounds good to you.

Jo - But I want Dean because you are helping me to move into my place. -She faces blushes against his touch - his about you Tell me what you like to eat and i’ll recommend a place?

Dean - -Dean wasn’t hungry not for anything that could be bought. He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers.-

Jo - She was taken back for a second when his lips meeting hers. That thought hadn't popped into her head that kissing was on the menu. When she leaned into him and kissed him back.

Dean -Low groan he pulled her small body up against him kissing her deeply. She felt incredible and all he could think about was if she was as wet as he was hard.-

Jo - She felt the hardness build of his torso against her. She hadn't been touch for a while and wanted to explore his body. Her hands running up and down his body. Kissing him a little more. Getting lost in their kiss. Letting out a little moan against his mouth.

Dean - Before he thought he had picked her up and sat her on the tailgate. When he finally pulled back he stared down at her swollen red lips. Heart pounding he searched her eyes then kissed her again -

Jo - She let out a little squeak after being lifted into the back of his truck. She pulled him in close to her wrapping her legs around him. Taking in his scent. Locking her mouth over his. Her fingers exploring his body-

Dean -They were catching stares but Dean didn’t give a shit, the little blonde was all he could think about.-

Jo - The heat that was coming off from him wasn't going to make her stop with the whispers coming from others going past didn't stop her from kissing him. When she deeper her kiss him with her lips becoming more swollen against his-

Dean - He stood there several minutes before he lifted his head.- You taste so good and smell so sweet... I better grab the rest of those boxes or we’ll never get this done...

Jo - She looked at him knowing he was right. when she loosens the grip of her legs around him. She swinging her legs Under the tailgate. After he moved to jump down to put the boxes into the truck. Locking them up safety. Before heading back inside. to catch up with Dean-

Dean - Getting the truck loaded with all her stuff he kept looking at her and couldn’t help but smile.-

Jo - She had made many trips up and down to her suite picking up more boxes with a huge smile on her face with her cheeks becoming a shade of reddish when she couldn't help but look at him, he was like candy to her eyes in one. ”Thank you for today. ”She whispers closely to his ear.

Dean - He lifted her up into the truck seat.- You need water and food. Tell me where so I can get something for us to eat back at your place.

Jo - She smiled at him as she parked herself in the seat. ”Sounds perfect as I'm beginning to feel a little peakish. What about you are you feeling hungry? I've seen there a little sit-in restaurant or takeaway just down from my place called ” Cactus Jack” if you are interested?

Dean - I am and it sounds good. -age leaned in and kissed her nose giving her a huge smile before going around and getting in heading towards the place.-

Jo - She ran her fingers up over his arms with a soft smile appearing on her face. Making sure he kept his eyes on the road. ”What do you fancy having. I could call it in if you want to take it as take out? I do not mind eat in or take out.”

Dean - Up to you darlin’, hot food either way sounds good.

Jo - She gives him a little smile. Before getting her cellphone out her jacket pocket. To looking through her list of numbers to see if she had the restaurant number. When she looked up at him. ” I hope I have a contact number. Hot food what be coming up for sure. I do need to look after you for all your help. Plus our little extra when she cleared her throat to say ”kiss.” Do you regret that? I hope not because you are a great kisser Dean. ” When she looked back finding the number to call ahead with their food and ordering some beers and water to go. Giving her name to be picked up.

Dean - He glanced over as she spoke, he didn’t answer because she was on the phone. But he hadn’t regretted it and he’d let her know soon enough.-

Jo -Her phone called didn't last that long as he hoped he was hungry as she may have over order on the food when she hung up the call. When she glanced over with a cheeky smile at him- ”That the food order. Sound be ready when we get there. Oh, Dean how hungry are you on a scale 1 -10. Ten being starving?” *Jo looked over the dashboard to see where we were before looking back to him*

Dean - Ten. -Reaches over and tugs on a lock of her hair playfully and then make a right heading to the restaurant.-

Jo -She couldn't stop but smile brightly at him. Looking at him being playful. - “I think we could grow your hair and ill dye it for you if you like?” -Teasing him when she had placed her hand on his thigh-

Dean - Laughs.- You like long haired hippies huh? You should have met my brother. Sammy used more shampoo than a chick.

Jo - Shaking her head listening to him- please tell me you are joking about him right? Are you, crazy Dean. Nothing against your brother but I prefer short hair guys that know when to go for a haircut.

Dean - Laughs pulling up in front of the restaurant.- Nope. That dude had metrosexual down to a fine art.

Jo - What that his speciality. Looking after his hair while being at your side Dean?- looking at him before seeing when we're at the restaurant. - Would you want a few beers with your dinner. Since I won't have anything at my new place, Dean? -Undoing her belt and open the door to step out the truck. Making her way around to the driver door. Knocking on the window-

Dean - Up to you, I’m not picky. Puts the window down.- Let me help you.

Jo - That would be amazing if you want to. -opening the door for him to step out- Maybe you can pick out the dessert. Because I kind of forgot to order something sweet for you. -Smiles-

Dean - I’m just happy to eat. Sweets are just extra. -Puts an arm around her waist walking along.- I’m glad we met Jo.

Jo - She beams with his arm around her waist. “ Is that so. You might have not had any dessert in a while. Let us get inside and you can see if there anything you would like.” - She stops at the restaurant door to open the door for them. Since she liked how his hand felt against her waist. Stepping inside slowly. Running her fingertips over his nose-

Dean - -He helped her with the door and as they got inside he smiled as she touched him.- What going on in that head of yours?

Jo - Nothing much except I'm going to enjoy this meal with you. Our first meal together. This could be the first of many things if you like? - she smiles at him biting down on her lower lip waiting on his reply-

Dean - Well Ms Harvelle, -leans down at her ear- when you say it like that I /like/ very much.

Jo - Looking up at him meeting his eyes with a little wiggle of her eyebrows- I'm glad me too. -putting her hands onto his waist- Shall we collect our food and begin?

Dean - Sounds good to me. -Kisses her forehead.-

Jo - His lips felt good against her head. She stopped to look up to him with a Smile. “Let me get the food and we can make tracks to my place. To enjoy your dinner.” She steps away from him to give her name to wait for the food to come out of the kitchen. While she waited Asking about to buy a few six-packs of beer. Sure Ms I just need to check you are over the legal age. She smiles at the waiter “ Certainly. You know how to make me feel young. What a compliment.” “ Looking back to Dean. Picking up her bag with her wallet in it to show her I.D when he saw her FBI badge. “that's okay your Fbi is enough” he said. We have Budweiser, Stella, Miller, Corona or Coors, or Bud ice. She listened and answered, “Wait for a second, please.” She turned to look at Dean.” Dean, What would you prefer?”

Dean -Watching, she was full of life, different than what he felt but he guessed with a time that would improve.- Bud's good.

Jo - She's kept her eyes on him. While waiting him making on his decision on what beer to get. She steps closer to him. Hoping he was okay. Since this might be a little strange for him. Taking her hand to caress his cheek. “Thank you, an excellent choice, she asked him “were you reading my mind? Or just a lucky guess? She smiled at him. “Bud is one of my favourites beers.” She smiled looking up to him, when she moved her eyes away to add on the buds to their order. “How about we get our food and beers and we go to my place”

Dean -It felt odd to be in a civilized place and nothing trying to eat you, her touch soothing he smiled and nodded. Carrying the stuff out to the truck he opened her door and helped her in. Once they got to her new place he began unloading boxes.- Where do you want these? Any particular room?

Jo - *Her eyes had lighted up when they both got to her new place. This was a fresh start for her and hoping this might be something new with him. Maybe this was the start for him too since his world was very different from this world with the little he has talked about. When she picked up the food and beers. Walking into the house. Heading to the kitchen when she stopped.

“ There's a two spare bedroom on the left that I haven't decided what I have I want to do other than making it into a gym.”

She walked with him opening the bedroom door for him.

“Just put those boxes in here and I can unpack them later. I'm going to put the food in the oven and the beers in the fridge and I will come and help you with the

other boxes. “

*She smiled at him. Kisses his cheek before walking to the kitchen to organise the food and beers*

Dean - Alright. -Watching her walk away he continued to unload and put the boxes where she wanted.-

Jo - Jo walked into the kitchen to switch on the oven to place the food in the metal containers to keep warm. And restock the fridge with the beers before walking out to catch up with Dean. When she sees him at the truck carrying some boxes. When she wedges the front door open with a wedge walking out to meet him.

Thank you for all your help.

*She started to pick up two boxes to get the boxes indoors quicker so that they could eat*

Dean - Not a problem. -Stacking them up in the spare room he asked where the bathroom was so he could wash up.-

Jo- Jo smiled lifting the last few boxes into the spare room. She couldn't help but check him out of his build with his large frame before she smiled and spoke to him giving him the directions to the restroom. “That's on the second door on the right, I'll be in the kitchen preparing the food when you are ready. I would say just follow your nose or it's the three-door on the right. ” She blushed softly watching him walking out when she followed him until he was in the restroom when she carried onto the kitchen to wash up and start preparing their dinner from the oven.

Dean - Coming back down he walking into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.- Anything I can do to help?

Jo - *Jo went over to the fridge to pull two beers from the fridge. When he heard him walking in. She turned to look at him*

Welcome back. I think we are almost ready. Since you are here. I've set our dinner on the table. Just over here at the window. If you are ready to eat?

*Taking the lid of his beer before passing it to him*

Dean - Thanks. -Taking the beer he walked over and sat down waiting for her to join him.- I appreciate all this.

Jo - *She followed him carrying their food over to the table* I appreciate you for all your help Dean. What's going on that head of yours? *Sitting down beside him*

Dean - I keep sitting here thinking I'm going to wake up and have to fight off the dead. But I'm glad that's just my brain trying to normalize after everything.

Jo - *She reached over to cup his hand in hers*

Do you know you are safe here now Dean, Don't you? I can't imagine what you have been through but I want to help you too. This world has it's trouble, where we have defenders in this world to stop what happened to your world.

Dean - He looked at her and took a breath nodding.- I know just take a while. I appreciate the help Jo. Things will be okay.

Jo - What can I do to help you, Dean? I hate that you are hurting especially with your life and what you've lived with. I know you will need time and space. If you need anything I have a spare room here if you ever need it.

Dean - I'm okay, it's nice just being here talking to you. -sincere smile- I'm looking forward to hunting, getting back in the saddle.

Jo - Okay, I'm here as a friend too and not just as a hunter Dean. Just tell me what you need and I can get things arranged. My friend Colt and his company have connections to get anyone coming through for papers if you need them?

Dean - Let's eat before the food get's cold? I might need help getting an alias set up. Doubt it would be a good idea saying I'm Dean Winchester when there are multiple of us running around. Help me think up a good alias?

Jo - Okay, Dean sounds like a great idea.

*She glanced down at her food*

This me explain the food. Since I didn't exactly tell you what I order. I just order different items of the menu since I didn't know what you /liked or preferred/ we have chicken enchiladas, tex mex pizza. Chilli wraps, and pulled pork taco with all the dips and sides. Please tuck in Dean. I don't know when you last ate. After you please?

I think you might be right about Dean Winchester I know there's a few in this world. Would you mind changing your alias?

Dean - -Eyes the food.- This is enough to feed an army. -Grins digging in and taking a little of everything.- Smells awesome. Hmm well, I could go by Joe Bob. -Teasing laugh.-

Jo - I didn't want you to be hungry. I hope to have you feeling better and getting settled here. * filling her plate with tacos. Before laughing* you know that sound like a roughneck. I think we can think of something better than that. *Biting into her food*

Dean - Dean devoured a couple tacos and downed a beer. The food was delicious. Go through an apocalypse and you appreciate all the things you took for granted.-

Jo - *She chews on her taco softly. Washing it down with her beer. *

I bet things aren't as much important anymore to what you've seen. Like little dramas or football games. I never was a huge football fan but I care about my family and friends. Oh, I thought of alias for you. What about Hunter Winter.?

Dean - "Hunter Winter"? -Laughs- No offense Jo but that sounds like a romance novel dude. I like Hunter though, it's obvious. -laughing-

Jo - What kind of novels have you been reading Hunter? *She smirks with a grin* I think hunter does suit you for sure Hunter. Now what girlie surname shall we give you. Drillers. Bangers - Giggles-

Dean - Oh you got jokes... -Pulls at a blonde curl teasing her.- How about something simple like.... "Black".

Jo - Maybe just one of two hundred jokes. Maybe one day I’ll let you hear them *She teases back.* don't you think that's boring how about nightshade. You could get some nice glasses too. With a blonde wig if you want? *Laughing taking a swig of beer*

Dean - You suck. Okay, Joanna, we can get you some red lipstick and a tight dress for my arm candy.

Jo - *She leaned over and whispered into his ear before nipples on it* is that a what you like? Maybe that could be arranged. If you are good . Am I get put over your knee with the naughty list with Sunday name /Joanna/.

Dean - He'd totally been joking but the warm breath on his ear had his body responding. He turned and instinctively kissed her.-

Jo - She leans into him kissing him back softly for a min or so before breaking their kiss- Easy their tiger.

Dean - Eyes on hers a moment before he turned away.- Sorry.

Jo - *Composing herself with Her hand Cradle over his thigh* Don't apology I think we were just being a little playful that ended up with that kiss. I just didn't expect it that's all. We are good right? *Her cheeks turned a warm shade of red*

Dean - Her small hand on his thigh made him hot all over. He nods.- Yes, we’re good. -Smiles at her.-

Jo - *Her eyes met his eyes. With a smile on her face. Slowly standing up squeezing his thigh. *Do you want another beer?

Dean - Yeah I would. Thanks.

Jo - *She went over to the fridge picking two more beers. Closing the door behind her. Walking back to dean. Taking her seat.*

How are you enjoying the food?

*She relaxes back into her seat looking back into his eyes. Opening the beers and passes one to him, drinks from the other for herself*

Dean - I love it. Thanks. -Taking a drink he held the bottle looking at the label just thinking.- What do you do for fun? Or are you a work alcoholic?

Jo - She laughed at his word /Fun/ what's that? My life is normally tied up with working, and keeping myself fit. I'm not exactly perfect Dean. I've made a mistake in my life before and I won't do that again. Just look around this is the first place that I will be able to call mine.

Which is a new experience for me. How good are you with your hands? In case I need a good handyman. *She joked* what about you did you have a real home back there?

Dean - I used to be all business too. No home, just my car. Well maybe if you wanted we could go to this place they’ve got a little speedway. Mini race cars. They’ve got mini golf as well.

Jo - How about we make an idea to have fun once and awhile. Looks like you and I both could do with some /Fun/. I don't often make plans since plans often fall through. Sounds like the mini car race is that go-karting you saw. Not sure about the mini-golf isn't that an old person thing *Giggles* but I'm willing to try. Are you good are mini golf?

Dean - Are you calling me old? -Laughs.- I’ve never officially played. When my brother and I were little we’d use red solo cups and put them on the floor of the hotel room. We’d use an old golf ball and this ball ball my father kept around. You know it’s not that easy to get a golf ball to go were you want it with a baseball bat. -Laughs.- But I’m will to try.

Jo - She giggles with her shoulders moving.

“No, I'm not. Aren't you forever Twenty one like me *She jokes. Look I don't see any of us with wrinkles or grey hairs just yet. I think we could try and have some fun. That's cute about you and Sam. Who's had the idea to play Mini cup Golf? I just hope the oldest ones won't show us up with them being good. Sound like we would get you are areal Golf stick to let you try. To see how go your aim is. *She chuckles*

Dean - It was mine. Sam was bored and there wasn’t much to do. Hey I will give it a try. When do you have a day off?

Jo - I'm looking forward to seeing what else you can come up with. I'm free tomorrow if that not too soon. I Was going to unpack but I could work around those boxes for a few days.

Dean - Well it wouldn’t take all day. So you could do both. Well tomorrow it is then. I should go and let you get some rest.

Jo - Okay, sound like a fun day out tomorrow. Do you want to text me tomorrow with a time? only if you are sure. Can I make you up a doggy bag with the leftovers?

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