Scott walked into the apartment's kitchen to find Naomi cooking breakfast. She was wearing one of his spare shirts.
"Isn't that one of my shirts?" He asked.
"Yep, borrowed it when you went running," She replied "Also didn't I tell you guys not to outside the building?"
"Nope,"
"Well it's standard procedure here. Don't go outside. Don't leave the building unless you're with me," Naomi explained, piling pancakes on a plate "Go wake your brothers, breakfast is ready,"
"Speaking of brothers, why didn't you take Virgil's?"
"Because at the moment we aren't technically dating, his building is bulkier than mine and plus I stole like five of your shirts back in Kansas so it came naturally," Scott smiled. He could see the sadness that flowed from her. She wanted to forgive Virgil, and in turn the rest of the older Tracy's, but there was something else stopping her. Scott made a mental note to tell Alan about this so that the youngest could pull one of his famous lock door tricks.
The Tracy's and Naomi ate the pancakes. John and Alan ate them plain. Scott and Naomi piled on the golden syrup and icing sugar while Jeff and Virgil smothered butter on theirs.
"So my team in DC emailed me last night with some files about the brothers," Naomi told them "I've skimmed them and honestly it will give us a better idea on where they're keeping Gordon. And with the way they're communicating with us it might just narrow our options down,"
"How so?" Jeff asked as he handed Alan two more pancakes.
"Well for starters, they have only been communicating with us through emails even though they have Gordon's phone," Naomi said, finishing off her tenth pancake "That means they're either in a place where cell reception is bad or they just have the money for a phone, burner or otherwise,"
"So you're saying they've got Wi-Fi but they don't have a phone," John said "That's highly illogical,"
"Unless they have a wireless pocket Wi-Fi thing that has preloaded data," Naomi provided the answer "Plus you don't need the internet to make videos or create a monotone voice. Saves them money,"
"So what do we do first?"
"We go to the library," Naomi said "I need some books,"
"You do realise I could do the hacking for you right?" John stated as Naomi pulled some books off the shelf.
"And explain to a judge and jury as to why I let a civilian, and the older brother of the kidnapped, do something when there's no record of you ever been able to do what I need to do. Because if I was the jury, I would see that something's up and I believe you don't want anyone else finding out the secret behind the family business," Naomi replied.
"I could tell what to do. Instruct you so that technically you're the one doing the hacking not me. You could say you did the hacking. I'm sure that would work,"
"It won't. The judge, the defendant and prosecutor will be able to get a file on me. In that file will be my scores from Quantico. I just passed my course on hacking. Plus my co-workers know that I would probably be covering something up if I did that. And they can't help me if that happens,"
"So you're getting books out so that you can say that you learn about it a bit more and it's totally viable,"
"Yes. Now you wouldn't by any chance have a library card would you?" John rolled his eyes and handed the women a rectangular piece of plastic. Naomi smiled.
"Just like old times huh?" She said.
"Well we're not in Kansas anymore Toto,"
"You're using a Wizard of Oz quote on me? I thought you knew me better. If anything you should have made a reference to Supernatural,"
"They did a whole episode on the Wizard of Oz in season nine Naomi. And I'm also pretty sure that one of the brothers, probably Dean, said that it some point,"
"You boys have too much time on your hands,"
"So what do you plan to do with your new found hacking skills?" Alan asked ever so innocently. Scott had told while Naomi and John were out that Naomi and Virgil needed to talk and get things off their chest. Scott had ordered a lock door trick and Alan was happy to serve.
"Well I'll be able to find out the location of the J Boys by following their digital footprints back to wherever they are," Naomi explain "And maybe hack into their webcam so that I can see Gordon,"
"That's interesting,"
"Also have any emails come in yet?"
"None that I know of," Alan said "You might want to ask Virgil. He's the one who's been hovering over Dad's laptop for the past hour,"
"Okay then. I'll go talk to my boyfriend whom I've been having a break from for the last couple of months," Naomi muttered, picking up a banana milkshake.
"Have fun," Alan said cheerfully as Naomi walked towards his father's office. He waited for Naomi to enter and get closer to Virgil than the door. Alan sprinted towards the door and slammed it shut. He then proceed to lock the door.
Virgil and Naomi heard the door slam shut. Both ran to the door. Both were too late.
"ALAN!" They yelled in unison.
"Sorry guys but the rest of us are staging an intervention," Alan's voice told the couple "You're not coming out until you work it out,"
"You sneaky little…" Naomi said "I taught you this trick!"
"I know. The irony of this," Alan laughed.
"Let us out Alan. Naomi won't be able to help Gordon if she's locked in here," Virgil reasoned with his little brother.
"All the more reason to sort out your sexual tension,"
"What about chargers for my laptop, Mr Tracy's laptop and my phone?" Naomi asked "Can't help if any of the devices are dead,"
"Your chargers are in the middle draw of Dad's desk. You'll find his charger in the top draw,"
"And food and drinks?" Virgil asked
"Your favourite snacks are in the cupboard and there's bottled water in the mini fridge," Naomi shook her head.
"When I get out of here Alan, you'll regret it,"
"Oh and there's security in the vents and there are no windows that open in there. I wouldn't try anything,"
"Looks like we've got the odds against us Naomi,"
"Want to wait it out? We'll eat all the food and drink the water and quite frankly I could sue them for imprisonment,"
"Sure," Virgil agreed.
They sat in silence for over an hour. Naomi was tapping away at her laptop, writing some reports and trying to trace the emails back to the source. Trying being the operative word. Every now and again Naomi would mutter
"Hurry up and send an email. I need a fresh one," Virgil was trying to draw something. The New York Skyline. The couch. The pot plant on his dad's desk. But all he wanted to draw was Naomi. Her light brown fringe that swept over her eyes when she didn't want it to. Her ice blue eyes full of determination and her lip bite. Virgil knew he was in love. And he knew that she loved him. Alan was right, they needed to get rid of the things between them.
"Naomi we need to talk," Naomi looked up from her laptop.
"Your dad set it up so that other families didn't have to go through what you guys went through right?"
"Yeah,"
"But you let Alan who's only seventeen and Gordon who's only just recovered from his crash,"
"Their choice. Dad wanted to wait with Alan until he had at least finished High School but then Gordon almost died and Alan did as much as he could. He had been looking up at us as heroes for years and Alan decided, with one man down, he'd try his best to fill in,"
"So if I wasn't a fed would you have told me?"
"I was working on telling you," Naomi raised an eyebrow "Okay, I wasn't, but I was thinking about telling you. I feel that if I was to marry you, you would have had to know. I would have told you long before I decided to propose," Naomi was silent. Virgil had told her outright that he was thinking that they would marry and start a family.
"Sorry for overreacting," Virgil walked over to his girlfriend and put a comforting arm around her.
"That's okay. I was somewhat at fault. After all if my mask hadn't cracked, you would have been living in bliss,"
"And what if you had died or been badly injured on another mission? What would your father and brothers say? Oh by the way we're the internationally famous, yet completely anonymous, International Rescue and your boyfriend, whom we know you love dearly, died while rescuing a kitten from the tree?"
"I hadn't thought of that,"
"But I overreacted. I was afraid and I didn't know how to cope. I really should have left my emotions hide until I got to the hospital,"
'It's not your fault Naomi,"
"Oh my gosh Virgil!" Naomi yelled "I'm trying to apologize!"
"And so am I," Virgil pulled Naomi in for a kiss. The sound of the door unlocking was masked by a pinging noise coming from Jeff's laptop. Naomi pulled away and looked at the laptop. Her fingers went to the keys and she started typing.
"Get your family in here Virg, I think we'll be able to find Gordon now,"
The Tracy's crowed around Naomi. John kept wanting to correct Naomi and help her out. It took time for Naomi to get her way through all the digital footprints but she managed to get them.
"Okay I'm going to send this perimeter to the CJC here in New York. I'm going to order a strike team once they narrow down the locations. Scott, I know you'll want to come a long, and I'm sure there's some way I can get you there. You're pretty useful when it comes to dealing with guns,"
"Well let's get a move on already," Scott said "We've have my brother to save,"
"I'm going to have so much paperwork to do after this,"