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				EXPOSURE by Fran Lavery Chapter Five       Lying in bed that night, Jessica happily decided that she had had the best day possible.       She knew that Scott would see that she was nervous a mile off, even though she covered it so well. And opening the door to him was just breathtaking. Despite his initial nerves, Scott was just as calm, collected and cheeky as he always had been. And blue was definitely his colour! He'd eyed her up with a devilish look on his face, before declaring she looked like a girl. After a brief game of 'who can get the last laugh', which she had won, she felt totally comfortable; a tribute to their enduring friendship.       She felt like they'd merely picked up their chatter where they'd left off all those years ago. They'd feasted on chilidogs, talked with their mouths full, yelled at dumb right fielders and flirted all day. She'd tormented him relentlessly when the Redskins had won by two.       But the most memorable had had to be the television crew.       They'd been scuttling round, asking various people their opinions on the game, and had spotted Scott and herself, probably cos they were doing the Macarena to the buskers' melodies.       "S'cuse us sir," they'd said to Scott, "but what is your view on the game?"       And Scott was off!       "Total fluke!" he had exclaimed. "Oh man! I've never seen a more biased umpire in my life, except maybe Superbowl 2020…"       "If I may butt in to your crazy-talk, Tracy" Jess had interrupted, "I know it's a hard concept for a Yankees fan to grasp, but what you saw the Redskins using out on that field was a little something we like to call skill, so, …."       Her last words had been lost as Scott wrapped his arm around her back and clasped the hand over her mouth.       "You see the sorta thing these people come out with?!" he'd gone on to the camera. "It's heart-wrenching to watch a normal person twisted by that villainous team."       Jessica would happily have left Scott's warm, rough hand on her face, after six years without his touch, but the need to be mischievous won over. He was strong, but she had removed his grip enough in a minute to cry out, "Don't touch me, I don't know where you've been!", in the middle of his declarations. Then that was it. They were lost in hysteria and the camera crew had got little more out of them that had had anything to do with sport.       They'd whiled away the evening by getting a Macdonald's and eating it out in the park.       Proper catching up. Reminiscing about school, old friends, memorable memories they had made, Scott's family. Wow, she'd missed them nearly as much as she'd missed Scott. Since her parents had been killed when she was two, her aunt had moved into the family home to take care of her instead. The family on the next ranch to hers, the Tracy family had always been hers too, Jeff and Lucille, almost another a mother and father. Jess' heart had broken along with theirs when Lucy had died a week after complicated childbirth to Alan. Scott and she had been barely nine. Lifetimes ago. The boys that the two of them had helped Jeff to look after since sounded so grown up now.       Scott had been very upset to hear that her aunt, Theresa had died two years ago. She was just as eccentric as Jessica, spookily psychic, (a talent that Jess was sure she'd inherited a measure of,) and a wonderful substitute parent. All the Tracy's had loved her, just as Jess had loved Lisa, Jeff's crazy sister. When Scott told her that she'd died in an avalanche with Grandpa Tracy last year, Jessica had been shocked.       Deciding to get off the morbid subject, they'd chatted about what they'd done since splitting. Scott was now high in the Tracy Corporation, developing, testing and selling space and air travel hardware. Hmm, Scott Tracy working with planes and spaceships: no surprises there! She told him all the boring details of her life as an aviation mechanic, which he listed to with great interest. She should've known that anything to do with aeroplanes would fascinate Scott.       He'd walked her back to her apartment door, and she would barely of objected if he'd tried to kiss her, but he was irritatingly gentleman about it, giving her his number, but promising to call himself in a day or two. If it hadn't have been Scott, she would've been very cynical of that line.       She hugged herself tightly; a bit too excited to sleep yet. She knew he'd keep his promise, and she couldn't wait.       Kyrano and Brains were sat at the breakfast table discussing some intended modifications to Thunderbird Three, when Jeff came in, grinning from ear to ear.       "You guys want some coffee?"       "Yes please," they said in unison, handing over their empty cups.       "What are you smiling about then, Tracy?" Kyrano asked, smiling himself, watching Jeff hum around the coffee-pot.       "It's Scott and Jess. The whole thing sure has me tickled!"       Brains put on a slightly hurt voice, "Well, I-I certainly feel o-o-out of the loop. I guess I-I just d-don't understand the significance o-o-of this girl in Scott's l-life." He grinned at Kyrano, who took the hint and joined in.       "Yes. Me too. I feel neglected at the way the Tracy family goes on about her. If only I understood!" They could've been going for Oscars, their voices full of dramatic pain and sadness.       "Cut it out, you guys," Jeff chuckled, bringing the coffee. "There's nothing to tell. One of those things that you just had to witness, I guess."       "I must admit, Scott did seem pretty keen," Brains ventured.       Scott had had met her in town again, just two days after the game, and he'd come home walking on air, just like before.       "Well, I can't say that I'm surprised. All that shocked me was that they'd split in the first place! You'll see, they're eerily perfect for one another." They laughed.       "And now she is coming to visit us?" smiled Kyrano.       "Yup. Tomorrow, and I can't wait to see her again; she sure is a blast. You guys are gonna love her."       "E-Evidently, not a-as much as Scott d-does," grinned Brains, and they laughed again.       After his dates with her, Scott had acting in a similar manner Alan did after spending a whole day alone with TinTin. Since it like a household sport to tease Alan about 'bein' in lurve', it was just as fun to tease Scott, they discovered.       "Does she know you still live with your Daddy, Scott?" John had wondered loudly over the swimming pool after swapping his duties with Alan awhile. Everyone laughed, including Scott.       At dinner that night, Gordon had innocently inquired after her health, but had started a heartbeat under the table with his spoon at the mention of her name, which got faster and faster with every genuine question TinTin asked Scott about her. It got irritating, no question, but instead of Gordon getting it Jeff had, straight-faced, told Scott to keep his heart beat down, because he was trying to talk to Virgil.       Virgil sweetly suggested that Scott get a grip before he flat-lined.       Scott sweetly suggested that Virgil shut up.       Discussion broke out about her again in the living room, with the Tracys telling TinTin all they remembered about Scott and Jess, even as babies, to Scott's embarrassment. Soon, Jeff had asked in his most parent-like voice, as if Scott were fourteen again,       "So when do we get to meet this girl, young man?"       Not one to shy away from all this sudden attention, Scott merely replied in a totally relaxed tone, "Er, day after tomorrow, Dad."       Everyone was silent, wondering if he were pulling their leg.       "For real?" Jeff had asked, in a happily surprised tone.       "Sure, if that's ok. She expressed a wish to see you all again," Scott continued, "although I can't think why!" he finished, catching Gordon making extravagant kissing gestures.       She arrived on the island mid-afternoon, piloting a hire plane, and met everyone with hugs and kisses and genuine happiness at the reunion.       "Oh, no! I thought we'd got rid of you years ago!" was how Virgil greeted her. All she replied with was a mad cackle of laughter and a hug, loudly announcing,       "Do-wee, Virgil Tracy, how, you've grown! You used to be such a little squirt!"       Grandma had returned home that morning, and after getting very angry at the short notice and very excited at seeing 'sweet, little Jessica' again, although she had no illusions of her mischievous behaviour on occasions. She had carefully prepared Jessica's old favourite meal, chicken and fries, (sniping at anyone who went near the stove all day. Especially Scott, who had an irritating habit of becoming honorary, uninvited taster before every meal.) Jess gossiped with everyone, met the slightly nervous TinTin like an old friend, and offered to wash up after dinner, which Grandma wouldn't hear of!       The one thing that saddened her was Alan's absence.       "Sorry, honey, it was unavoidable," countered Jeff quickly, and everyone listened carefully to the alibi Jeff was spinning so as to conceal Alan's real location, high above the Earth in the orbiting satellite of Thunderbird 5. "Tracy Corporation work in Germany. He sends his love though."       Much later, when they were all relaxing in the living room with glasses of wine, Jess looked up at the clock and said that if it got any darker she'd have a tougher time getting home. Seeing the sadness that had crossed her face when she'd said it, Jeff asked her if she would stay the night.       "Oh, please do!" Grandma had insisted. "Well, gee, we build all these spare rooms and no one ever uses them!"       "Slumber party!" was TinTin's contribution.       "I daresay we'd find you a bed, honey," Jeff insisted.       "And if not, you could always share with me!" Scott grinned, devilishly over his wineglass.       She flushed a little at everyone's kind insistence, but accepted almost immediately.       How she loved the Tracy family! On to Chapter Six.