International Rescue and the Tracy boys remain the sole creation of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson
Chapter 9
Jenna rose a few times during the night to check on her patient, grabbing a few hours sleep in between. She finally wakened around 7am. After a quick check on his monitors she went to have a shower and change; taking a portable monitor with her, just in case.
Feeling refreshed, she now felt ready for the day ahead; wanting to establish a routine for Scott and hoping to get to know a bit more about him. Picking up the chart at the end of his bed she wrote in the latest information, then taking up her usual place on his bed she lifted his wrist. She talked softly to him; telling him what day it was, the time and even what it was like outside, though she guessed it was pretty much the same every day. As she gazed out over the island, through the large window, she painted a beautiful picture for him, in words, of what she saw.
"I'm just going to change your dressings now, Scott. I'll try to be gentle," she told him. Jenna always made a point of talking to her patients and telling them everything she was doing; even though they appeared to be in a deep sleep she knew they could hear. As she peeled back the dressing on his forehead she winced, "That's quite a gash you've got there, Mr Tracy. It'll probably leave a scar; still, it won't mar that handsome face of yours, more likely add a bit of character," she said smiling.
After renewing the IV and food bags she put balm on his lips; then turned her attention to his still sore looking strap marks. Tenderly she applied the soothing ointment, not failing to notice his well-muscled, honed and toned body. "I guess you must workout, Mr Tracy," she thought to herself. It had crossed Jenna's mind that Scott was going to find this confinement hard, especially if he was a fit and active guy like he appeared to be. It had been her experience that such young men would be prone to depression at being inactive for a time.
Scott Tracy did not make a good patient. Time and time again he would sign himself out of the infirmary, much to Brains' annoyance, well before he should whenever he had been confined for some minor ailment or injury.
Jeff made a brief appearance, needing to know how his son had come through the night, before Jenna urged him to go and have some breakfast.
Within a short time Tin-Tin appeared bearing a tray with a rather full breakfast much to Jenna's dismay. She usually only managed to grab coffee and toast before heading off to the hospital if she was on the day shift. "Goodness," she said surprised, "is that all for me?"
"Oh yes," Tin-Tin replied, giggling. "Grandma thinks it's her mission in life to keep us all well fed," she added as she carried the tray to the desk and set it down. Jenna was glad that it was Tin-Tin who brought it, as it would give her a chance to get to know this lovely, young Malaysian girl whom she had only met briefly the afternoon before.
"I don't think I could eat all that but I'll give it a try," Jenna said amused as she walked over to the desk and sat down.
"But you must. Grandma says if you're going to be looking after her grandson, you're going to need all your energy," Tin-Tin replied, looking over to Scott.
Jenna eyed Tin-Tin suspiciously. "Are you saying Scott Tracy can be a bit of a handful?" she asked amused.
"Let's just say Scott doesn't take too kindly to being cooped up in the infirmary too long," Tin-Tin said, not wanting to paint too negative a picture for Jenna.
"I see," Jenna responded slowly already beginning to see that her suspicions were going to be proved correct. "So, Tin-Tin, tell me about Scott," Jenna asked as she started into the delicious breakfast, realising now she was hungrier than she thought.
Tin-Tin told her that Scott was indeed a fit and active person; that he worked out and usually went for a jog at dawn along the beach.
"Beats jogging in the city," mused Jenna, thinking how beautiful that must be as she gazed out of the window. Even though she could hear no sounds from outside she imagined the lapping of the waves up the beach and the breakers on the reef beyond as the morning sun would rise. Looking across, momentarily, at Scott she hoped and prayed he would be able to enjoy that again.
Tin-Tin also told her of his love of outdoor sports and felt guilty when Jenna had asked about the climbing accident but, of course, his greatest love was flying. His USAF career was briefly touched on, which Jenna understood, and Tin-Tin finished by saying he flew in connection with his father's business. He also liked to design and test fly new aircraft and was currently working on a prototype with Tracy Aerospace.
"I'm impressed," Jenna acknowledged with a smile but she also realised with a sadness that it would depend on his level of recovery as to what he would still be able to do. This, of course, was apart from his secret life, which Jenna was unaware of.
Jenna broached this next subject with a little caution. "Does Scott have someone special in his life?" she asked tentatively as she watched him. "Wouldn't she want to be here with him?" "I know I would want to be if he were mine," she thought to herself but then, perhaps, his girl didn't know he was so seriously ill. She was annoyed with herself for actually hoping the answer would be no.
Tin-Tin looked wistfully across at Scott and feeling sad for him informed Jenna that he hadn't. Scott hadn't had anyone special in his life for quite a while and that was because he had been hurt badly in his last relationship and hadn't wanted to leave himself open to that kind of hurt again. Jenna nodded understandingly, feeling she knew him a little better. That had been her experience and the reason she had not wanted to even try again, rather bury herself in her work at the hospital. She felt as though an invisible thread had bound them together.
With breakfast finished, Jenna asked Tin-Tin to thank Grandma for such a wonderful meal and thanked her for their little chat. Tin-Tin had found Jenna easy to talk to and knew they were going to get along just fine. She was going out of the infirmary just as Jeff and Mike were coming in. "And how's our boy this morning?" Mike asked as he went straight to Scott's bedside, starting to examine him. Jenna informed him that he was stable.
Shortly after Mike and Jeff had left, Virgil and John together with Gordon and Alan came down with all the things that Jenna had requested. She allowed them to stay a short while until it was time to give him his daily wash.
As she was sitting at her desk writing up notes, Alan called alarmingly over to her, "Should he be doing this? Concerned, she crossed immediately to Scott's bed to find him perspiring heavily, though, due to the sedation he lay still. His heart monitor had raised a couple of beats and his pulse beat a little more rapidly. She also checked his temperature and was not surprised to find it a little high.
"I just need to cool him down," Jenna reassured them. "His ability to control his temperature is a little haywire right now, that's all," she added as she adjusted the heating control.
The boys left and Jenna hung a 'Do Not Enter – Please Knock' sign outside the infirmary in order to give Scott some privacy and dignity as she washed him. Before starting she selected a suitably relaxing CD, putting it on to play. The cooling wash brought his temperature down to a more acceptable level and she finished with a massage to keep his muscles from becoming tight and sore for when he would wake up.
After lunch, which was something delicious Kyrano had prepared, Jenna brewed some of his favourite brand of coffee; telling him she approved of his taste she brought her cup over to his bedside. Making herself comfortable in a chair Jenna picked up the book that Virgil had brought down and starting with the back cover, she read to him while drinking her coffee. "Sounds like quite a guy, Scott. Doesn't he?" Jenna asked, not expecting an answer. Once she had finished her coffee she started reading the book in earnest, stroking his right arm as she read to him.
The afternoon had been quiet, allowing her to read to him; everyone obviously had had chores to do she thought. Tin-Tin brought another tray laden with her evening meal. "Goodness, Grandma really does intend to fatten me up," she laughed as she took the tray from Tin-Tin.
The young girl sat in the chair beside Scott's bed, talking to him and telling him what his brothers had been up to that day. Jenna observed her as she ate. When she had finished Jenna said gently, "You're very fond of him, aren't you?
"Of Scott, yes," Tin-Tin smiled weakly. It had been just as much a shock to her as to his brothers to hear that his condition had been serious. "Scott has always been like an older brother to me. He has always looked out for me," she said sadly. "They are all like my brothers," Tin-Tin reflected, thinking fondly of the Tracy boys.
"All of them?" Jenna asked with a slight amusement in her voice as she remembered Virgil and John's comments to Alan the previous night.
Tin-Tin blushed with embarrassment. "Well, perhaps not all," she replied, smiling to herself. She had heard of Alan and Gordon's little escapade in the infirmary but being well used to Alan's immature stunts she was prepared to forgive him anything. Regaining her composure she ventured to ask, "You seem so sad when you think of your brother, Jenna?"
Jenna didn't mind Tin-Tin asking. For all her youth this young woman seemed to have a depth of understanding that made it easy for Jenna to talk to her. "Johnny was a bit like Alan and a lot like Gordon," she smiled as she fondly remembered her brother. "Maybe that's why I find Gordon so funny," Jenna added laughing. She went on to tell Tin-Tin that her brother had died 3 years ago when he was in the USAF; his plane crashed while he was carrying out low-level manoeuvres. He was just 22.
"Oh Jenna, I'm sorry," Tin-Tin responded sympathetically. "That must have been awful for your parents too," she added.
Jenna told Tin-Tin that her mom had died when she was 12; her dad finding it hard to cope had left Jenna to practically bring up her brother who was 3 years younger. About 6 years ago her father had been offered a good job in New Zealand and since Johnny was settled into his career in the Air Force he had decided to start a new life. "There was no-one special to keep me in the States," Jenna offered, "so I went with him." When Johnny died, Jenna told her, her father had been heartbroken over his son's death and just lost the will to live. He died 6 months later.
"I guess that's when Mike took me under his wing," Jenna said. "He saw me through a pretty rough time and I think he sees me as the daughter he never had," she smiled as she fondly thought of Mike's help.
"You bear your sorrow very well," Tin-Tin responded, bowing slightly, acknowledging her newfound friend's grief. "Do you know you also share something in common with Scott?" she told Jenna. Tin-Tin was a romantic; she liked to believe people were brought together for a reason. She told Jenna that Scott's mother had also died when he was 12 but …"You must not say I told you this," Tin-Tin whispered. Jenna nodded her agreement. "But Mr Tracy found it hard, being left with such young sons. He loved her so and Scott …," Tin-Tin had started to say.
"And Scott was left with the responsibility of his brothers because he was the oldest," Jenna finished for her. Tin-Tin nodded.
Having walked over to the side of his bed she felt herself being drawn to him like some powerful magnet and another invisible thread had just bound them together.
