Little Wonders

by Criminally Charmed

Disclaimer - Don't own Thunderbirds and I do not own the song "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas. (It's from the movie "Meet the Robinsons", which, btw, I don't own either.)

This is a Christmas present for Sammygirl1963 who, a while back, asked for a story exploring Alan's relationship with his father and my OC, his son, Jeffy. So, I guess you could say I own Sammie - Alan's daughter - and Jeffy, his son, as my OCs. But that may be considered slavery and slavery is bad.

So Merry Christmas to everyone. Or Happy Hanukkah (past tense). Or Happy Kwanzaa. Or, for the athesiest - Have a nice day.

While they were still dating, Jeff and Lucille Tracy had talked about the children they would have. Lucy always maintained she just wanted her babies to be healthy and happy, but that she would love a "little Jeff", with his daddy's brown eyes and chestnut hair. And while Jeff preferred a son first, he would have dearly loved a little girl with Lucy's blonde curls and bright blue eyes.

The son Jeff wanted came along, a little boy who was his father in miniature, that they named Scott. Soon enough, there was another boy, one who favored Lucy. And a third, who, Lucy joked, was another "Jeff clone", followed a couple of years after. Then, following a car accident, the fourth son was born prematurely but survived and thrived. It wasn't long before Gordon came home to Scott, John and Virgil.

If Jeff was ever disappointed that he didn't get his "Little Lucy", he never said so. And with Gordon's arrival, the couple felt their family was complete. Sometime between John's birth and Virgil's, Jeff had left the Space Agency to start his own business. He had missed far too many milestones with his first two children and felt that by working forhimself, he would free up some of his time allowing him to be a more active father.

But the opposite was true. Luckily, for the sake of the children, Lucy was a stay at home mom. Jeff enjoyed coming home, but he was away more than he was there for several years. When Gordon was in pre-school, Lucy put her foot down.

"Jefferson Tracy, you have been promising me for years – years now that we would have some time together."

Not even looking up from the business proposal, Jeff nodded. "Well, we're together now, Luce...Did you need something?"

"Do I…" Lucy stared at her husband in drop-jaw amazement. Then her temper began to flare. "I need my husband. I need my help-mate. I need my children to have an active father and not a fly-by-night visitor. I need to know that I am not just a nanny, a housekeeper and an occasional bed partner!"

That finally caught Jeff's attention. "Lucille Elizabeth Tracy! I would never think of you that way." Walking up behind her, he brushed her long, blonde hair aside. Softly kissing the back of her neck, he whispered, "Baby, if this goes as I think it will, the business will be set. We'll be set."

"Jeff, the boys and I don't need money or things, we need you. Your father's health is starting to slip. He and your mom have been encouraging us to take some time while we can, while they can look after the boys. Is this trip really all that important?"

Nuzzling her neck and slowly unbuttoning Lucy's dress, Jeff whispered in her ear, "I promise, Lucy. This is important. Don't be mad, please?"

As Jeff kissed that spot behind her ear, the one that always drove her wild, Lucy forgot why she was so mad.

She also forgot to tell Jeff that they had to use alternative birth control as she had been so caught up in everything, she had forgotten her pills. Well, what were the odds?

As it was, Jeff wasn't gone for the "two weeks, three at most". He was gone for almost ten weeks. And the odds were born nine months after that night, seven pounds, eight ounces, with blue eyes and blonde hair – and the combined temper of both of his parents.

Alan Shepard Tracy.

Let it go,
Let it roll right off your shoulder
Don't you know
The hardest part is over
Let it in,
Let your clarity define you
In the end
We will only just remember how it feels
Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders,
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away,
But these small hours,
These small hours still remain

Lucy died when Alan was only three years old. The baby, who was so used to receiving both of his parents' time and attention, was abruptly denied both. Lucy's death devastated Jeff – the whole family in truth, but Jeff could not bear the loss of his beloved wife. He began to work long hours at the office, usually leaving before most of the boys were awake and coming home after they were asleep. Often, only Scott would be awake, watching over his brothers, trying to be mother and father to them, with both parents effectively gone from their lives.

It was only when Grant Tracy, Jeff's father, died that the man became aware how much of his children's lives he had missed. Alan was now six. And while the boy had clung like a little limpet to him at Lucy's funeral, it was Scott that the child sought out for comfort now. Jeff began to be at home a bit more and watched how his children interacted. Scott, even as he finished up high school, was the one who picked up and dropped off Alan at school, making sure someone was always with his baby brother. John would go over lessons with the little boy and then tell him stories when it was time for bed. Jeff recognized many of them as ones Lucy would tell their second son, who she always referred to as their "Little Dreamer". Virgil, who had refused to touch the piano immediately after Lucy's death, would play for hours with Alan – usually a bundle of energy running all over the house – sitting quietly by his middle brother's side. In Alan, Gordon had found a ready "partner in crime", when the prankster Tracy was at his peak or just needed an admiring audience for whatever the redhead was up to.

And Jeff now had…a stranger. The little boy who had adored him, played under his desk and was his little shadow had only been able to take so many rejections from his daddy.

Years would pass and many changes would happen. Jeff had begun to envision a rescue organization, one without borders, one that would be free of politics or the illusion of loyalty to anything but saving lives. If something like that had existed, his beloved Lucy would still be there.

Jeff knew he couldn't run something like that from Kansas or Manhattan. So while he had considered moving his family to New York at one point, instead he decided to move the entire Tracy family to where he would base his rescue organization, which he would call International Rescue. During his time in the Air Force, Jeff had once been to a former military instillation in the South Pacific that could be turned into a home base that would also be a home for his family.

It didn't take long for Jeff to realize Alan, at only eleven, needed more than the island. Gordon, at seventeen, had managed to join the military, Virgil was at college, John with NASA and Scott was serving in the Air Force. Even with his Chief Engineer, Hiram "Brains" Hackenbacker, having moved to the Island as well as his ten-year-old son, Fermat, life was too restrictive for the boys. Both fathers were needed for Tracy Enterprises and International Rescue. It was a reluctant choice, but Jeff and Brains agreed that the best move was to send their sons away to a boarding school.

Fermat loved the idea. He was close to his father but the school that had been selected was well known for its academics. The younger Hackenbacker had also become close to Alan and knew how anxious Alan was about leaving his home.

Alan was a Tracy through and through. And one thing about Tracys was that they hated to admit to was weakness or fears. What was Alan's greatest fear? Losing his family. Any of them. Somehow, the little boy had it in his mind that if he was with his family, he could protect them. When Jeff chose to send Alan off to school, the Tracy baby saw it as a rejection, that Jeff didn't love or value him. And since his brothers agreed with the decision, Alan read that as his brothers not thinking he was good enough to be part of what his father was planning.

The distance between Alan and his family continued to grow. Any chance of pulling them closer, events always seemed to shatter. Then came the Spring Break Alan was home when he was fourteen…

Let it slide,
Let your troubles fall behind you
Let it shine
Until you feel it all around you
And I don't mind
If it's me you need to turn to
We'll get by,
It's the heart that really matters in the end

In the end, it was Alan who, with Fermatand their new friend, Tin-Tin – the daughter of the Tracys' housekeeper and groundskeeper – that stopped a madman, who called himself "the Hood", from destroying Jeff's dream of International Rescue. Oh, and from murdering the entire family on Thunderbird Five, the organization's space station. The monster and his goons would be sent to prison for countless crimes, to include attempted bank robbery, destruction of government and private property, and several counts of attempted murder. To the horror of Jeff and his four older sons, three of those charges of attempted murder where in regards to Alan. Jeff had even witnessed two of the assaults – something that would haunt his dreams for years to come.

But the one good thing that had emerged from the horror was the way the tragedy had healed so many wounds within the Tracy family. Jeff would later come to see that one tragic event – Lucy's death - had nearly destroyed his family, yet this experience had pulled them together, forming incredibly strong bonds between all his sons. And Jeff's relationship with his baby became one that was close and filled with love and respect. Oh, they still had arguments. They both were strong-willed, determined people. But they also tried to compromise, to see each other's perspective. And Alan began to embrace his time away from the Island as a chance to "just be Alan". He missed his family and they missed him, but Jeff had seen that his baby was growing up into a fine young man, one that made them all proud.

In time, Alan graduated college, returning to Tracy Island – and International Rescue – on a full-time basis. The youngest Tracy son had become a writer – science fiction – but was also the pilot of Thunderbird Three, the team's rocket. Through the years, all of the Tracy sons had married and in time, they would all bless Jeff with grandchildren. And while each grandchild was special in their own way to the Tracy patriarch, the feelings he had when Jeff held Alan's first child were nearly overwhelming.

Samantha Tracy was Jeff's second granddaughter – seeming to confirm Alan's belief that it took a blonde Tracy to make a girl (the first being John's daughter, Elizabeth) – and was the apple of her daddy's eye. Sammie was the image of the late Lucy Tracy and was her father's constant shadow throughout her childhood. There would be three more daughters born to Alan and Tin-Tin, and while he loved all of his girls, no one doubted the close bond between Alan and his firstborn.

It was while Sammie was about to graduate from the Air Force Academy that her parents were shocked to discover that at a time when their thoughts were to eventually becoming grandparents that their family was about to expand once more.

Jefferson Grant Tracy the Second was born on Sammie's twenty-second birthday. The newly commissioned Air Force pilot was not there when her little brother was born. But she would be there when the baby would say his first word – "Sammie" – and his first steps would be holding her hands. Jeff would watch his granddaughter with his newest grandson and smile, seeing the similarities in the relationship between Sammie and Jeffy with the one between Scott and Alan.

Our lives are made
In these small hours
These little wonders,
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away,
But these small hours,
These small hours still remain

Sadly, the relationship between Alan and Jeffy was far too similar to Jeff's and Alan's before the Hood. Oh, there weren't angry words or shouting matches – after all, Jeffy's vocabulary was still somewhat limited – but Alan was always busy elsewhere. He was a best selling author, active with International Rescue and busy with work for Tracy Enterprises.

Alan's other children were either grown or almost. Sammie had been discharged from the Air Force and was now working with her cousins as the "young" team of International Rescue. His other daughters were either busy with the careers they had begun or completing their education away from the Island.

Jeff was semi-retired from Tracy Enterprises and International Rescue. After a heart attack, the family doctor – John's wife, Emily – had been adamant about that. Now, Jeff became active with the Tracy Charities, as well as research into engineering ideas for both "family businesses".

But Jeff's greatest joy was in spending time with Jeffy. Looking at the toddler, Jeff knew he had to say something before Alan would lose too much time with his baby.

All of my regret
Will wash away some how
But I can not forget
The way I feel right now

"Alan," Jeff spoke to his son, a laptop with his latest book on it, the document saved as Alan sketched out an idea for an improvement to the boosters for Thunderbird Three – or was it the project he was heading with the NASA contract?

Looking up, Alan smiled at his father. "Yes, Dad?"

Jeff looked over at Jeffy, playing with a toy jet that Sammie had given him. "He's growing up fast. Don't make the same mistakes I did." When Alan looked to argue, Jeff smiled sadly. "I missed so much time with you, Alan. It took me almost losing you to realize what I had given up. Not lost, not missed – I gave it up. Tracy Enterprises, International Rescue – everything was more of a priority and our relationship suffered for it. It took me having to watch you almost die – twice – at the Hood's hands to make me see what I was giving up. I'd like to think you value my advice - "

"I do, Dad," Alan protested. "You know that."

"Then put aside that schematic. Turn off your laptop. Go play with your baby – before you lose too much time."

Alan looked at his father before turning to his son. Seeing the little boy playing by himself brought back painful memories for Alan. Like his son, Alan had been younger by a wide span. Except in Jeffy's case it wasn't more than five years, it was more than a decade to any other child of his generation. John's grandchild, due any day now, would actually be closer to Jeffy's age than the next closest Tracy grandchild, his sister, Ginny.

Standing, Alan moved over to where his son was. Kneeling down, he smiled when Jeffy looked up at him.

"Daddy!" Jeffy beamed up at his father. "Pane!"

"Plane, Jeffy," Alan chuckled as he sat down next to the toddler. "Pl-ane."

From the doorway to the patio, Sammie leaned against the frame, tears in her eyes. Her oldest cousin, Scott's son, Jason, put an arm around her, giving a quick squeeze. Although almost seven years apart, the two were very close – even if Sammie had beaten him out to be Thunderbird One's pilot. Jas knew how worried Sammie had been about the relationship between her father and little brother. Luckily, it appeared as if their grandfather had seen it as well.

Smiling, Jason led Sammie back into the house so that they could clean up after their latest mission. Scott would be waiting in Command and Control for a debriefing. Seeing Jeff, Alan and Jeffy playing on the patio, they knew that was one problem that they didn't have to deal with.

As they disappeared into the main house, Jeffy's high pitch giggle mingling with Alan and Jeff's chuckles made Sammie smile. All was well with her family. Everything else was just details…

In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists & turns of fate
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away but these small hours
These small hours, still remain,
Still remain
These little wonders
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours
These little wonders still remain

Hope that met your expectations, Jean. Merry Christmas.

And that goes to everyone else. No review requests, no smart-aleck comment. Just remember what the season is supposed to stand for and let your loved one see how much you appreciate the "little wonders" of your life. Few people do what history considers to be great things. But the little pieces of your life, the small efforts to make others lives better - You will change a life and you may never even know it. Just by being there, you can make the world a better place for those around you. ~ CC