"I have to do what?" Alan's eye twitched as he heard his punishment for yet another failed test.
"You and your peers that seem adept at getting into trouble will be under the tutelage of Mr. Gregory." Mr. Harvey replied as calm as could be. "Maybe you will learn to make good use of your time and study the material when you are told to. I know you can do it, I've seen your entrance exams…you are an exceptional student. I just wish you'd apply yourself."
"But Mr. Gregory?! He's the school's drama instructor!" Alan's eyes were wide with disbelief. "How could he possibly help?"
"He can help by providing you all with a script and making you all study it. It's either you take part in the production he has in mind or you will be expelled…our school doesn't want students to waste their time and ours by not putting their all into the material provided for them." Mr. Harvey replied a wry smile on his face. "You will report to Mr. Gregory's class near the back of the auditorium and find out what he wants you all to study."
"Please don't tell me you've told this to my mother…" Alan's face was lit up with a blush that put the reddest of red to shame.
"No, I was going to wait and see how the punishment did before I informed your mother of it. Your mother told me to handle everything the way I saw fit and I do want to keep you in our system…but you need to learn discipline." Mr. Harvey replied softly. "Now, get going. Mr. Gregory is gathering the troupe to discuss the material he has in store for you all."
"Fine…" Alan stood up and left the room. He was dreading having to see and interact with his stepfather. He tried to stay as far away as was humanly possible from the man that had married his mother when he was twelve. It's not that he despised the man, he actually really liked him…it's just they were like chalk and cheese when seen together in public. Mr. Gregory had coal black hair and deep brown eyes that showed every emotion the man felt. While Alan was blonde like his mother with startling blue eyes that made people think he could see into your soul…his father's blue eyes.
Alan had never gotten over his parent's divorce. They'd divorced when he was eight and he'd been part of an ongoing custody battle, but that had been settled when Alan answered the door to his father's abode to see a social worker waiting to meet with his father. However, Alan who was ten at the time had been left in the care of one of his older brothers and they'd gone out with friends rather than babysit him. The social worker immediately took him when neither his father nor any of his older brothers answered their cell phones.
Walking towards the auditorium, Alan couldn't help but to think back to an earlier discussion he'd had with his mother. She'd told him that if he didn't get his act together that he'd be sent to a reform school. His mother had told him this with tears in her eyes and it just about killed Alan to see his mother cry. Who was he to cause such grief for his mother? He loved her more than life itself.
"Ah, Alan…I didn't know you were a part of this group." Alan lifted his gaze from the floor to meet the soft brown eyes of his stepfather…Mr. Brandon Gregory. "I thought you'd studied your little heart out for that test."
"Yeah, well…test results don't lie. I failed miserably." Alan reached into his backpack and dug out the failed history test and handed it to his stepfather for review. "You aren't going to tell mom about this are you Brandon?"
Brandon looked up from reviewing the test in his hand to shake his head. He knew that Alan feared hurting his mother. "No…but she will eventually find out when this production is put on for the school. She knows I've been planning this as a form of punishment for students that need to learn discipline."
Alan looked down at the floor with a grimace.
"Not to say that you don't know enough discipline to get by on. You just need to put your nose to the proverbial grindstone and study harder." Brandon placed a firm hand on Alan's shoulder, making the boy look up. "Now, what do you say we get this show on the road and try to beat your mom and sister home from daycare?"
Alan didn't say much, he'd just nodded and walked with his stepfather into the auditorium. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to spend more time with his stepfather, the guy could be pretty cool when it suited him.
… … … … … … …
Alan climbed from the interior of the vehicle and shut the door, stuffing the notebook into his backpack before his mom saw it. His stepfather promised he wouldn't say anything to his mother until the last possible minute, Alan appreciated the kind gesture.
"Allie! Daddy!" The front door flew open and a little blonde girl with her hair pulled up in twin pigtails came barreling outside, heading straight for the older blonde boy.
"Mae!" Alan crouched down and held his arms open for the tiny four year old. He was nearly knocked flat on his butt by the little girl. Picking her up, Alan gave her an eskimo kiss. "Want to tell big brother how your day went?"
"Yeah! I got to color with finger paint!" Mae swung her legs and Alan couldn't help but to smile widely at his baby sister. She may have been his half-sister, but he still took his big brother duties seriously. "Come on, I wanna show you what me and mommy did!"
Mae wiggled and squirmed to be put down and Alan submitted to her request, grasping her tiny hand in his as he allowed himself to be led into the house by the little girl that had a personality about the size of the entire universe. She was like her big brother in that sense.
Alan was led into the living room where a child sized easel was set up. A giant pad of paper was held onto the easel by a large clamp and the painting contained a large caricature of the family. There was a tall man with black hair holding the hand of a blonde woman and beside the blonde woman was a blonde boy and beside him was a tiny blonde girl. The family was smiling widely.
"You like it?" Alan looked down at Mae and he'd knelt down to kiss her cheek.
"I love it. You are such a good artist, just like mommy." The sixteen year old boy pat the little girl on the back as her smile grew to be the size of Venus.
"Thanks!" Mae hugged her brother tightly around the neck before kissing his cheek like he'd kissed hers. "Can you help me hang it up?"
"Sure…I don't see why not." Alan stood up and gently pulled the large piece of paper off of the pad and gripped Mae's hand in his. "Show me where you want to hang it."
"Your room!" Mae jumped happily as she loudly proclaimed where she wanted the picture hung up. "Please?"
Alan couldn't help but to chuckle as he'd begun to walk. "Sure, let's go get some tape and then we'll go find a place on my wall to hang your pretty picture."
"Oh…Alan. You're home late." Alan looked up to meet the inquiring gaze of his mother, Lucille Gregory. At one time she'd been Lucille Tracy, but sadly that marriage had failed with the rise of the Tracy empire.
"Hi mom. Yeah, I know I'm late." Alan scrambled for an excuse to feed his mom, but he came up short. Thankfully his stepfather entered.
"I told him I'd give him a ride home if he felt like sticking around the school a while longer." Brandon winked at Alan as he came up with a smooth fib.
"Would you like me to pick you up tomorrow? It's forecast to rain." Lucille stepped forward and brushed a long stray hair from Alan's forehead.
"Nah, I was thinking of meeting up with Chaz tomorrow to hang out for a while." Alan replied, forgoing a glance in his mother's direction.
"How is Chaz?" Lucille had grown fond of Alan's close friend. The boy had practically lived with them.
"He's doing okay. Jenny broke it off with him over the weekend, so he's been down in the dumps pretty much all week. The guys and I were thinking of getting together to practice a couple of our songs this weekend." Alan shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't a lie; Alan's friends had been planning a small party at Jared's house. Jared's parents were going out of town for two weeks for their anniversary and had left Jared alone. His parents said as long as it was okay with his friends parent's then Jared could have some friends stay over for the two weeks to keep him company. Alan had been invited and this was his moment to bring it up to his mother.
What Alan wasn't mentioning was that he and the guys were going to be the entertainment for the party. There would be girls, music and booze. Alan knew they shouldn't be drinking while underage, but that's primarily what he and the guys would do when they spent the weekends together. Jared in particular lived in the mother-in law's house in the back of the property…his older brother supplied him with the alcohol, and it was pretty sweet.
"Oh…well. I suppose that'd be okay. Chaz needs a little one on one time with you and the boys to get over Jenny." Lucille tilted her head in thought. "Just be sure to get all your homework done before the weekend and you can go. I don't want to hear a word about any missed or late assignments because you forgot to finish them. Am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am." Alan replied firmly. Brandon had told Alan that if he had any questions about his homework that Alan was more than welcome to come to him.
"Good…carry on." Lucille stepped back in the kitchen, hugging her husband warmly. Alan mock gagged at the display of affection, but he'd done it in good humor. He liked Brandon, much more than he thought he would. To be honest, Alan was happy to see his mom happy. He knew she hadn't been happy near the end of her marriage to his father and he could understand to a point. He himself wasn't happy with his father, or his brothers.
None of them seemed interested in him, despite him being blood related to them. His dad would send a birthday card with a fifty dollar bill every year, but that didn't scream…'you are my son and I love you more than the air I breathe.' That just screamed, 'oh joy, child support payments and a young son that I don't care to meet.'
"Well, come on Mae…time to show me where in my room you want this hung up." Alan tugged on Mae's tiny fingers and led her up the stairs, allowing the little girl to hang from his bicep as he carried her up the stairs.
As Alan and Mae reached the landing of the stairs, Alan glanced down to meet the happy brown eyes of his little sister. The little girl was seriously the spitting image of her mother, from the skinny lithe form and blonde hair to the chocolate brown almost doe like eyes. Embarrassingly enough, a lot of people thought that Alan was Mae's father despite his age, primarily because they favored each other so much. However whenever anyone complimented Alan on his adorable little girl, the small child would proudly proclaim that she was his baby sister.
"Allie?" Mae latched onto Alan's lower leg.
"Yeah, princess?" Alan continued trying to walk even with his baby sister latched onto his leg.
"Why don't you call daddy…dad, but you call mommy…mom?" Alan glanced down at the big curious brown eyes that gazed up at him.
"Because your daddy isn't my dad; he's my step-dad. Mommy is my mom though." Alan said as he opened the door to his bedroom. "I have a different dad than you do."
"Oh…" Mae replied, in a somewhat confused tone of voice. "Why?"
"What…why do I have a different dad?" Alan strolled over to his desk and set the picture on it before bending down and detaching his baby sister from his leg.
"Yeah…" Mae wrapped her arms around Alan's neck when he crouched down to her eye level.
"Well, many years ago…our mommy was married to my daddy. She had our big brothers and me." Alan tried to inform his baby sister in the simplest way possible. "My daddy quit getting along with our mommy and they divorced, then a few years later our mommy met your daddy and they got married. Then they had you. Do you understand?"
"A little…so how come your daddy don't come to see you? Don't he love you like my daddy loves me?" Mae inquired, her brown eyes appearing sad.
"Of course my daddy loves me…we just don't get along." Alan hugged Mae comfortingly. He didn't feel comfortable remaining on the topic they'd strayed onto, so he'd changed it. "Now…where do you want to hang this pretty picture?"
Mae looked around the room before a smile lit up her face. "There!"
Alan glanced over his shoulder to see the spot above his bed. There were several other pictures that Mae had colored or painted hanging above his bed on the tack board. Venturing over, Alan rearranged the pictures to make room for Mae's newest painting. Sitting on his knees, Alan tacked the painting to the tack board before he leaned away.
"So, what do you think Mae?" Alan turned to look over his shoulder, but he saw Mae's attention lingering on something else. It was a picture frame of the family before the divorce, before their mother's remarriage and before Mae's birth. "Mae, honey?"
Mae turned around to look at her big brother and Alan's frown only grew at the sight of Mae's sad face.
"Is this your daddy?" Alan walked over to kneel beside Mae, wrapping an arm around her tiny little frame.
"Yeah…that's my daddy and that is our mommy and these are our big brothers. There's Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon and me." Alan pointed at each of the faces in the picture.
"Alan! Mae! Dinner's ready!" Alan and Mae turned to look towards the door at their mother's call.
"Coming!" Alan hollered back. Alan looked down at Mae before picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder. "Hang on tight and I'll carry you down the stairs."
"Okay!" Mae held onto Alan's shoulders as her big brother stood up.
… … … … … … …
Alan dropped down onto the couch in Jared's house, he'd been here for the last three days. He clutched a can of beer in his fist as he watched Chaz and Jared duke it out in a round of living room wrestling. Jared had instigated the playful fight and currently both boys looked like a couple of rabid dogs in the middle of a dog fight.
"Easy fellas! No need to kill each other, there's plenty of booze to go around!" One of Alan's friends replied with a chuckle. "Jared! Take it easy on Chaz!"
Chaz and Jared both filled with liquid courage continued to roll around on the ground, scrambling to hold each other or pin the other down to the ground. Chaz released a loud growl before flipping Jared over and straddling him to keep him pinned to the ground.
"I win!" Chaz cried victoriously.
"You cheated!" Jared tried to sit up, but couldn't because of Chaz sitting on him. "Get off me you big oaf!"
"You're just mad that I won." Chaz stood up and accepted the beer from a mutual friend that had joined the group. "What'd you think Alan?"
"Hey, don't bring me into it! I'm just a spectator!" Alan jeered before knocking back a huge drink of the beverage. "So, is this all we're doing or are we gonna get this party started?"
"I'll call the girls and see if any of them want to come hang with us." Sean one of the boys in Alan's group of friends replied. "This is going to be freaking awesome!"
Alan's smile fell as he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. It was spring break and he'd done his homework like his mom asked him to. Removing his phone from his pocket, Alan stepped outside the room to take the call.
"Hello? Mom…what's up?" Alan inquired, whilst plugging the ear that he wasn't using to talk on the phone. "Can you speak up a little, Jared and Sean are wrestling and I can't hear you."
Alan listened to the message being relayed by his mother over the phone. Mae had a dance recital in the next town over and she'd forgotten to ask Alan if he'd come like he'd promised he'd do ages ago. Alan bit his lip and took a deep breath as the minor irritation welled up inside him. This was supposed to be his weekend, but now he had to leave Jared's to go attend a dance recital that Mae was to be a part of.
"Yeah, I'll walk back home and we can leave when I get there…okay?" Alan inquired as he prepared to hang up.
"Yeah, you'll be able to shower if you need to…we don't have to be there until seven so that will give you time to walk home, grab a shower and then we can go." His mother said. Alan rolled his eyes as he hung up with his mother.
"Hey guys, sorry…but my mom just blindsided me." Alan approached the room where his friends were gathered. "Mae forgot to ask me if I'd come to her dance recital and my mom wants me to make an appearance, so I've got to go."
"Okay, well…you are more than welcome to come back after the recital is over." Jared called from his spot in the room.
"Give Mae a hug from me!" Chaz got a goofy grin on his face. He'd adored Mae, seeing as how he'd known her since she was born. Hell, he'd even helped Alan with babysitting duty. Mae was like a little sister to him as well.
"Will do!" Alan grabbed his backpack and shrugged it on, before leaving out the front door of Jared's parent's house.
… … … … … … …
Alan sat in the backseat beside Mae who was safely secured into her booster seat. He was flipping through a picture book and animatedly reading to the four year old.
"So how big a roll does Mae have?" Alan inquired as he looked up to the front seat. Brandon drove while Lucy sat passenger.
"She's one of the ladybugs. Her costume is so cute!" Lucy gushed over the costume that Mae had to wear for her dance recital.
""Well if I know Mae, she will be the best lady bug on that stage tonight." Alan reached over and grasped Mae's hand in his before smiling reassuringly at the little girl.
… … … … … … …
The phone rang, waking Scott out of a sound sleep. Rolling over, he tried to ignore the fact that his cell phone was vibrating across his nightstand, but it continued to ring. Reaching out a hand, he picked it up.
"Ullo?" Scott rubbed a hand across his face as he rolled over to lie on his back. "This is Scott Tracy…"
His voice was weighted down with sleep, but his eyes shot open at what was being told to him over the phone. Sitting up, Scott turned on his lamp, illuminating the room.
"What happened?"
… … … … … … …
Opening his eye, Alan released a groan. His head was pounding ferociously. Blinking slowly, Alan tried to place what happened. Hearing a couple snores, Alan turned his head to see his dad and four older brothers in various stages of sleep, scattered around the room. Taking notice of the room, Alan realized that it seemed unfamiliar. He tried to sit up but he'd groaned in pain from the movement. His groan seemed to awaken everyone in the room.
"Alan!" A cacophony of voices melded together as his mind struggled to process the excitement in the room.
Alan remained quiet as his confusion took over. He realized that he could only see out of one eye and that scared him. Raising a hand, Alan lightly trailed his finger over the material that covered his face.
"Don't touch that Alan…it won't heal if you mess with it." Virgil chided lightly.
"What happened?" Alan looked around the room trying to read his family's emotions and expressions. "Please tell me."
"Well…um…you were in a car accident Alan." Jeff explained softly.
"Where's Mae?" Alan looked around in search of his baby sister. "Is she alright?"
"She's going to be okay with time Sprout, don't you worry." Scott strode forward and perched on Alan's bed. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Alan beat him to it.
"What about mom and Brandon…are they okay?" Alan felt his heart clench tightly in his chest. Scott remained quiet as if weighing the pros and cons of telling him. "They died didn't they?"
Alan's voice was choked up with emotion, but the tears refused to fall.
"I want to see Mae…" Alan looked up at his dad and brothers with a pleading look. "Please, I want to know that she's alright…she must be so scared."
"Calm down Alan…she's okay…just some bumps and bruises." John replied softly, trying to calm Alan down.
"What's going to happen to us now?" Alan looked around at his dad and brothers, his uncovered blue eye shining with tears and unspoken questions.
"Well…considering that your mother was given sole custody of you, since she's…gone, I will be given sole custody…but I first have to file with the state for rights to re-obtain custody of you." Jeff stated.
"What about Mae? Brandon had no other family, what's going to happen to her?" Alan tried to sit up, but found it caused too much pain.
"According to mom's will that she wrote out with Brandon…if anything were to happen to either of them…I was to be given custody seeing as she is of blood relation to me and I am the oldest of her children." Scott stated carefully. "I too have to file with the state to gain custody of her."
Alan got quiet as he absorbed the news. "How long?"
"How long…what?" John inquired softly.
"How long have I been out?" Alan looked at his family a deep frown marring his features.
"Four days." Jeff stated slowly, trying not to scare Alan.
"Four days?!" Alan's head snapped over to look at his dad.
"Yeah…" Gordon sat on his little brother's hospital bed. "Scott received a phone call in regards to the accident about two in the morning. We got here as soon as we could."
"What happened?" Alan gave Gordon an imploring look, which looked all the more heartbreaking seeing as Alan really only had sight in one eye currently.
"The car was rear-ended, and it went sailing into traffic at a red light. Rescuers almost lost you at the scene. Because of the bleeding." Virgil murmured, being quiet whilst filling his baby brother in on the circumstances that led up to the accident.
Tears welled into Alan's eyes as the weight of everything hit him. Gazing down at his hands, he surveyed the damage he'd endured. He had bandages wrapped around his hands and his leg was in a cast, that and that he was wearing a neck brace.
"Alan…it'll be okay." John gently hugged Alan, allowing the younger blonde to bury his head into his shoulder to hide his tears. "You and Mae are coming home with us as soon as you're released from the hospital. Dad and Scott will go take care of the paperwork to get custody and Virgil, Gordy and I will return back to Mom and Brandon's house to pack your belongings as well as Mae's so everything is ready to go."
"I want to stay here…please! I want to finish school here, my friends are here…and…I have something I have to do for Mom and Brandon." Alan trailed off, not wanting to reveal what it was that he had to do exactly.
"Alan, we have to return home to the island. We can't stay away indefinitely." Jeff replied softly.
"Then I want to be emancipated and given custody of Mae, she needs to stay with me…she doesn't know any of you." Alan's un-bandaged eye narrowed in anger.
"Alan, think about what you're saying…you're really going to raise a three year old who just lost her mom and dad? What about you? Are you going to drop out of school so you can get a job and support the both of you?" Virgil enquired, trying to knock some sense into his little brother.
"She's four and no, I'd go to school…make mom and Brandon proud, I'll figure something out work wise…maybe see about working from home. I can do that." Alan worked his jaw. "Can I be left alone…please?"
Scott, Jeff and everyone else could see that Alan was fighting tears and why he was requesting to be left alone. Scott motioned with his head for everyone to head to the hall and he pulled the curtain around Alan's bed. Bringing up the rear, Scott stepped into the hall – but not before he heard his brother release a heart wrenching sob.
"You guys, I don't feel comfortable taking Alan from here so soon after the accident. And I'd rather he not be emancipated and left with Mae…he's too young. He can't handle that kind of responsibility yet." Scott murmured quietly to his family.
"So what do you want to do? We can't leave work offline while we wait for Alan to graduate." Jeff said quietly, though not wanting to seem coldhearted.
"I'll stay…I mean, you guys don't absolutely have to have me there and I can bring Alan and Mae to the island on the weekends and during summer break, we'll come stay the summer and head back at the start of Alan's junior year." Scott reasoned with his father.
"So what are you going to go live in mom and Brandon's house for the next sixteen years until Mae graduates too?" John gestured at the room where Alan was.
"No, I'll bring her back to the island and we can home school her when she comes of age to begin kindergarten. That won't happen until she's six and right now she's four. Alan will have graduated by that time and there won't be anything saying that Mae can't come back with me since I'm going to be her guardian." Scott again suggested. "I really don't want to just uproot Alan and Mae…this place is all they've known for a home – Mae especially. She was born here, lived four years here with her mom, dad and brother."
Jeff sighed at Scott's reasoning…his eldest could be a big softie when he felt like it and it looks like the death of his mother and step father – leaving his little brother and sister essentially orphaned made Scott embrace his inner mama bear and he'd stop at nothing to bend over backwards for his youngest brother and baby sister.
"Fine…when Alan has been given sufficient time to compose himself, we'll let him know of our decision to allow him and Mae to continue living at their home with you there as their guardian.
… … … … … … …
Alan was curled into a ball, crying his eyes out over the death of his mother and step-father. This wasn't what he'd wanted to happen. He was happy living with his mom and stepfather. God was cruel if there was a God of course. Why would he have made his mother's happy marriage to his birth father go down the drain for the sake of a business and make Alan be taken away during a custody battle? Why would God have made Alan and his father not see eye to eye most days – again thanks to the custody battle. And last but not least, why would God have taken Alan's mom and stepfather when he was happy and content living with them both and his little sister. They hadn't done anything wrong, so why were they being punished?
A/N: So this was a story I started two years ago and this is all I had written for it. I'm not big on Tracy Sister stories personally, but tried my hand at it - as you can see it didn't get very far. I used the title from the movie A Walk To Remember and used the mentions of a drama production being part of it, but could never advance farther than that.
Let me know what you think, but this will most likely remain a oneshot. Flames and rude comments not commented and will be deleted. Constructive criticism only if kind words can't be used.
Sad-Blue-Eyed-Angel 2010