After the death of his wife, Jeff Tracy had thrown himself into his work. More often than not he was gone by the time Scott was up and didn't come back until very late. Because of this Scott was the one to get his brothers ready for school and take them there. His best friend helped when she could by giving him the answers to homework, driving the Tracy five to school when they were late and babysitting when Scott took some of his brothers out. Scott, not wanting to cheat, did most of his homework during the night and often fell asleep at his desk. Naomi noticed this and so did her uncle who tried to look after the younger Tracy's as much as possible so that Scott fall behind in school. But it was John's 14th birthday that changed the whole direction of things…
"John!" Scott yelled over the noise of the Terrible Two "Go and wake up Virgil for me. We can't be late again," John didn't move. He was too engrossed in his book. He had barely eaten his breakfast.
"Hey Scottie! Look at me!" Alan said, running between his oldest brother's legs.
"Alan! Stop what you're doing! We need to get you dressed Sprout," Scott scolded.
"I've got Virgil Scooter," A calm female voice said "You go get the Squirt and Sprout ready. John!" The oldest blond haired, blue eyed Tracy looked up
"Hey Naomi,"
"Happy birthday, now finish your breakfast and get your school stuff ready. We're leaving in 20 mins," The brown haired teenager left the room and started climbing the stairs.
"It's October 8th?" Scott asked. John nodded.
"I'm sorry Johnny for forgetting your birthday,"
"I thought you might. You forgot Naomi and Virgil's as well. You probably would have forgotten Alan and Gordon's if it wasn't for the fact that they were yelling that it was their birthday," John whispered. He finished his breakfast.
"Wake up Virgil!" Naomi yelled in the middle Tracy's ear. A startled Virgil shot up from his bed.
"Naomi!"
"Go have breakfast. Say happy birthday to John. Get ready for school and don't forget to do your hair and brush your hair. We're leaving very soon,"
"Why are you here Naomi? You're never here this early,"
"I'm here because I've let this go for long enough,"
"Okay, here's the plan for this afternoon. You'll be going on the bus tonight, wait for Scott he'll be signing you out today. I've got some errands to run this afternoon. Virgil and Gordon you'll going to do the dishes and Alan you're going to help Scott with the laundry. Once you've finished that do your homework and leave Scott to do his. I'm cooking tonight so that gives Scott the time he needs for it," Naomi explained as they all sat in the Tracy Van, waiting at the traffic light.
"That's not fair! John doesn't have a chore!" Gordon complained.
"It's his birthday Squirt. He gets the day off from doing chores but that does not mean he doesn't have to do his homework. Also if Uncle Dean asks where I am and I'm not back yet just tell him I'm out," The light turned green and Naomi went.
"See ya tonight Sprout," She said as Scott and Alan got out of the van. They were at Alan's preschool and Alan was happy.
"Bye Nomi!" Alan said.
"Why are you doing this?" Scott asked
"Like I told Virgil. I've let this go too far. Also, Uncle Dean has booked you for some driving lessons tomorrow. Don't scratch my car,"
"Thank you,"
"No problem. Just keeping my promise," She pulled into the student parking lot of the high school.
"Thanks for the ride Naomi," John said, unbuckling himself from the seat belt. He opened the door.
"Here's a little something me and Toby came up with last night. You might want to read through it during homeroom," Naomi thrusted three pages into Scott's hand "It's a summary of what we've done in classes,"
"Thanks again,"
"Now come one, we don't want to be late again,"
It was lunch time. Naomi spotted John sitting by himself in the cafeteria. She walked over to him and placed her lunch tray on the table.
"Go away Scott," John mumbled, not looking up from his book.
"Well if I was Scott I wouldn't leave," Naomi said "What's the birthday boy doing here by himself?"
"I just want to be left alone,"
"No. No you don't. If you wanted to be alone, you wouldn't be reading the book Scott got you for your birthday last year," Naomi said "It's your way of screaming for help," John snorted.
"And what makes you think that?" He asked, closing the book.
"Because that's what I do. Do you remember how when I was eight I was always reading an Enid Blyton book?" John nodded "Well Enid Blyton was my mum's favourite author when she was my age. She had all the Famous Five, Secret Seven, The Secret series and the Adventure series books and many more. I guess I wanted someone to notice that I was reading my dead mother's books so that they'd force me to talk about it. No one did and look at me now. I have anxiety issues. I may have not had a panic attack in over a year but I'm still viable to them,"
"So you're a shrink now?"
"Oh hell no. Mine noticed what I was doing with the books when I was eleven," John laughed a little.
"People teased me for my cast when we went back to school. They thought that Gordon's drawing of a fish was stupid. They tried more than once to cover over your and Virgil's drawings,"
"John. Gordon's drawing was bad, not stupid. And they're just jealous that you know not one but two amazing artists. They're jealous that they don't have four awesome brothers and me as a friend. I know it's hard to get over your mother's death. But you've got Scott, who's trying to be both a high school student and a father figure and an older brother at the same time. He needs your help with the Terrible Two. Virgil's emotions are going to be hard to get under control when he's a teenager so he'll need both his older brothers to help him get through. Gordon and Alan need John Glenn Tracy. I notice how they both come to you when they want some quiet time. It does not matter what your classmates think," Naomi comforted the second born son "I need you to keep an eye on Scott because he'll over work himself," John smiled a little.
"Is that Naomi sitting with John?" Toby asked, pointing to a table in the corner of the cafeteria. Sure enough, there sat a tall girl with brown hair and a boy with blond hair.
"Yeah," Scott replied, mulling over his options "Hey Toby, I'm going to go sit with them today. It's John's birthday today,"
"Okay, sure. Catch you in science,"
Scott slid into the seat across from John and Naomi.
"Did I really forget Virgil and your birthdays?" John and Naomi nodded.
"Then why did Virgil hugged me for the new pencils he got?" Naomi rubbed her hand along her scar.
"Hey don't look at me Scotty," John said, laughing "I think you should ask Naomi that,"
"Naomi?"
"I took $40 from your wallet. $20 for me and $20 for Virg. I brought him the pencils and wrapped them and put them under your name, not mine. I use the $20 for a book five days ago,"
"So that's where my money went. I thought Gordon had taken it,"
"And don't think I'm paying you back,"
"What do you want Scott? A junior like you doesn't sit with an 8th grader like me,"
"I'm sitting with you,"
"And you had a reason,"
"A very important reason,"
"Because John, I've forgotten one little brother's birthday as well as my best friend's. I've let that happen once too often and it stops today," Scott told the second born brother "Plus what better reason is there if a big brother wants to sit with his little one on their birthday?" the trio ate in silence.
"Isn't that the book I got you last year?" John nodded
"Hey do you think you could get this book for me. I want to give it to John for his birthday?" Scott asked, handing over a sheet of paper "I mean since you're going into town this afternoon," Naomi took the paper and smiled
"Do you have the money?" Scott handed over a $20 bill.
Scott had managed to finish his homework before 2am for a change. He was happy. Whatever Naomi had it mind to bring is family back from the edge was working. And Day One wasn't even over yet.
"Hey boys!" His friend's voice came through the door "What's a girl to do to get a little help?" Everyone got up, leaving finished (in John and Scott's case) or unfinished (in Virgil's case) homework on the table. Gordon and Alan left the toys they were playing with. All raced out the front door. Naomi started unloading shopping bags from the Tracy Van.
"What did you buy Naomi?" Virgil asked as she handed him two bags.
"Well I noticed this morning that you guys were low on food and cooking supplies so I brought yours and my own weekly shopping. Mind if I keep the milk and ice cream and the other chilled stuff in your fridge?" She gave Alan a small, light bag.
"Grocery shopping doesn't take that long though," John said "So what else were you doing?"
"Running some errands for Uncle Dean, making sure I knew what days I'm rostered on this week at the café, did a little shopping and picked up a few things along the way," John looked suspicious. He took two bags from Naomi's hands and left.
"What would we do without you Naomi?" Scott asked
"Same thing I would have done without you. Crash and Burn. Also Toby says you owe him big time," Like his brothers he took two bags and left.
"Did you get it Naomi?" Gordon asked taking the one bag of Tracy food left.
"Of course Squirt. I ordered it through the book store three weeks ago. It came in yesterday," Naomi put three bags labelled Winchester on the ground and locked the car "Now let's join your brothers,"
Five Tracy's, One Turner and One Winchester sat around the table. Naomi had made a birthday feast for John. There were her homemade Bacon and Egg pies, sausage rolls, and little sausages along with juice for Gordon and Alan, soda for everyone from Virgil to Scott and a coffee for Dean. But first John got to open up the presents he had received. There was two science fiction books from Scott and Naomi. Virgil had drawn his a nebula while Gordon had decided to go big getting him an atlas of stars. Alan's though had to be John's favourite. Not only had he gotten John a space shuttle, Alan had drawn a picture of his family. Lucy Tracy, Dean Turner and Naomi Winchester were present. His teacher had gotten it laminated for him after he had told her he wanted to give it to his brother for his birthday.
"You said you had forgotten my birthday… Is this your doing Naomi?"
"No. Scott payed for it. He willingly gave the money up," Naomi replied "Amazing what a little talking can do,"
"Shouldn't Dad be here?" Virgil asked out of the blue.
"He's probably just running a bit late," Scott lied to his brother "You know what traffic is like Virg. It's unpredictable,"
"That I agree with," Dean said "What is normally a 21 minute drive took me two hours today because there was a motor accident," And with that the food started to be devoured.
Dean had brought John a copy of his favourite Sci Fi movie – Lost in Space. Everyone was watching it. Well Scott, John, Naomi and Dean were awake, Virgil was struggling to keep his eyes open while Gordon and Alan were dead to the world when Jeff came home that night. He had gotten the messages that Naomi and Scott had left him during the afternoon and he endeavoured to be home by 7pm. But as luck would have it, the meeting had gone over time. And the other party was only offering their deal that day. Tomorrow would be too late. When he came into the house he saw the left over pie, cake and sausage roll. He looked into the lounge and saw his sons watching the movie with Naomi and Dean. He weakly smiled. It seemed that Scott, Naomi and Dean were all that was keeping his family together. Scott turned around to see his father. He whispered something to Naomi who nodded. He got up and came over to his father.
"We need to talk Dad. Outside,"
Naomi, John and Dean heard the barely audible shouting match between the father and the oldest brother. John was worried; He didn't like it when anyone yelled. He defiantly didn't like it when it happened on his birthday. Naomi and Dean ignored it. Whatever Jeff was getting from Scott was what he deserved. The conversation needed to happen. And it didn't need them to be present.
