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Chapter Twelve – Kick in the Pants

"Six weeks," Kate Tracy thought sadly as she walked towards her office in Tracy Towers. Six weeks since she had last been here. Six weeks since Gordon had come out to see Julie graduate. Six weeks since Kyle Wescott had escaped from prison and kidnapped Julie and Gordon in order to lure Alan into a trap. Six weeks since Wescott had been killed and Alan critically injured when a home-made bomb that Wescott had brought to the warehouse had gone off. Six weeks since Alan had slipped into a coma from which he had yet to emerge. Six weeks since the heart of the Tracy family had been ripped away, clinging to life with Alan, ensconced in the infirmary on Tracy Island.

Jeff had been leaving most of the work of International Rescue to Scott and Tracy Enterprises to Kate. The Tracy patriarch spent most of his waking hours (and some he should have been asleep) by Alan's bedside. Emily had consulted with experts at several hospitals, who helped in monitoring Alan's condition as well as teaching them gentle exercises to help keep his limbs supple. Jeff had taken over most of the exercises himself; the whole time he would repeat to Alan stories of what was going on with the family or with rescues, stories that each family member had come to tell Jeff when they would sit with Alan.

And Gordon. Gordon only sat with Alan when Tin-Tin was there. Emily had been forced to limit Tin-Tin's visits, afraid that the younger woman would wear herself out. As she approached her due date, Tin-Tin became increasingly agitated. "Alan promised," she had wept to Gordon. "Alan promised he would be there with me when the baby came. He has to wake up. I need him to be with me to raise our little girl."

Gordon had merely hugged Tin-Tin. The fourth Tracy son had actually apologized to his sister-in-law at one point, saying he was sorry he hadn't protected Alan. Kate, who had been visiting at that point, had tried to tell Gordon that the only person responsible was Kyle Wescott and he was dead. The little cretin got off easy. If Kate had gotten a hold of him… Well, they definitely would have taken her concealed carry permit for emptying her clip into the bastard.

Kate was worried about Jeff's obsession, Gordon's guilt, Tin-Tin's grief…hell, she was worried about the entire Tracy family. She even worried about her own sons. With Jeff leaving most of his responsibilities to Scott and Kate, the two boys spent most of their time with Sarah, who had also increasingly taken over for Emily as the physician spent most of her time trying to find something to help Alan. "Aw, Kiddo," Kate thought as she entered her office, "you need to wake up and help us heal with you."

And today she had something new to worry about. As Kate sat at her desk, she looked at the folder she had requested from personnel. Emitting a deep sigh, Kate opened it and pulled out the document on top: "Request to Transfer". Julie Maxwell was requesting to leave the New York office for a position in London.

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Julie sat at her desk, having just completed another assignment from Kate Tracy. Her supervisor had not left the Island since they had returned from Massachusetts with Alan. But Kate held tele-conferences with department heads at least once a week and was on the phone daily with Ann-Marie getting updates. Julie had even taken on greater responsibilities, attending meetings and implementing work that usually Kate would have done. She knew how devastated the Tracy family had been by this turn of events.

Julie supposed that she should be grateful that the others –at least Jeff and Kate – didn't blame her as Gordon did. Or, she thought cynically, that they were professional enough to let her keep her job. Having the person responsible for Alan being in a coma working for you would be bad enough. They were probably just relieved that Julie was no longer being considered to be part of the Tracy family.

But what they didn't know was that Julie would always be linked to the family. And Julie had no intention of telling them. She would hate it if her baby were to be treated as an obligation by the Tracy family, resented for his or her mother's sins. And while Julie could not help feel guilt for bringing her child into the world without a father, she also could not help but feel the joy. She would be denied being with the only man she would ever love, but she would have his baby. But she was afraid to do this alone. It was why she was trying to transfer to London. In the last six weeks, her father had become her rock. Parker had made it clear to Julie how much he loved and had missed her, and Lady Penelope, while still loyal to the Tracys, would even keep her secret, if it meant she was protecting Parker. The aristocrat thought the world of her servant – no, of her friend. Now, Julie thought anxiously, she just had to tell her father that she was pregnant. And hope that he didn't try and put a second Tracy son in a coma.

The buzzing phone on Julie's desk made the young woman jump in her seat. Guiltily looking around to see if any of her co-workers had caught her daydreaming, Julie picked up the phone. "Julie Maxwell."

Kate Tracy's voice came over the phone. "Julie, I need to speak with you immediately."

"Go ahead, Mrs. Tracy."

Sighing, Kate continued. "Kate, Julie. I'm still just Kate. And I mean in my office."

Freezing, Julie held the receiver in a death grip. Kate had come here? Why? Was Julie being fired so that the Tracys would not have her around as a reminder of what she had done to their family? Taking a deep, calming breath – tension was not good for the baby – Julie nodded and then realized that she was on a regular phone, not a vid-phone. "Yes, ma'am, I will be there in one minute."

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Looking up at the door when Julie knocked on the frame, Kate almost smiled. The girl

should have been raised in Switzerland, not France. You could set a watch by her. Julie had said one minute and sixty seconds later, there she was. "Julie, please, sit." Kate walked over to the door and closed it as Julie sat in a chair near Kate's desk. Moving over to the couch, Kate tried to indicate Julie should sit nearer her, but the younger woman was having none of it. Biting her lower lip, Kate tried to think how she should continue.

Before Kate could say anything, Julie asked tearfully, "Am I being fired?"

Kate sat back on the couch, shocked. "Fired? God, Julie, why would we fire you? Your work the last six weeks has been incredible, far beyond what should be expected of someone with your experience. I couldn't have done what I have managed to get done without you. That was why I was so shocked to get your transfer request."

Julie looked surprised. "You have the request?"

Nodding, Kate gave a small smile. "Honey, as your department head, any transfer requests would come to me for approval. Now, the job you are requesting a transfer to could be considered a step down. There is no possibility for advancement at that location and the pay is…"

Interrupting, Julie said, "I'd be living with my father. The pay is irrelevant." Unconsciously placing a hand over her stomach, she continued. "I just feel that I need family right now." Kate's eyes widened at the gesture. Suddenly, the oldest Tracy daughter-in-law remembered how concerned Ann-Marie was about Julie. The secretary was worried that the stress was getting to the young woman; she had heard Julie being sick several times. What if it wasn't stress, what if Julie was…?

Kate schooled her face to a bland mask all the while thinking, "That's it. I am going back to Tracy Island and giving Gordon a good kick in the…pants."

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"GORDON COOPER TRACY!!!" Kate yelled as she came down to the infirmary. She had been stewing all the time it had taken her to return to Tracy Island. Enroute, Kate had confirmed a few facts. Among them were that Julie had taken off early last Friday afternoon for a doctor's appointment and filed her transfer paperwork as soon as personnel had opened Monday morning. She also confirmed that the Friday night before Julie's graduation from college – when Ann-Marie had been away on vacation – Gordon had dropped off his overnight bag at the apartment shortly after they had arrived in Manhattan but had not been returned to it until seven-thirty the next morning. Ah, she mused, electronic key cards were a wonderful thing.

As Kate burst into the infirmary, Gordon jumped up. It didn't take an idiot to see Kate was furious. And a prankster Gordon might be, but an idiot – no matter what his brothers might say on occasion – he was not. "Kate," he gestured to Alan's unconscious form, "do you mind?"

Glowering, Kate stared down her second-youngest brother-in-law. "Hell, Gordon, if yelling will wake the kid up, I'll yell until my vocal cords snap. But I am gonna yell at you – now, get up and come with me. Your father and Tin-Tin don't need to hear what an ass you can be. And if Alan can hear me, he already knows so no shock there."

Jeff Tracy raised an eyebrow, the faintest glimmer of a smile crossing his face for the first time in weeks. God, there were times Kate really reminded Jeff of his late wife. Her fierce loyalties, her intenseness, her passion for life were all echoes of Lucille Keith Tracy. Placing a hand on Alan's face, he kissed his youngest son's forehead. "We'll be back in ten minutes Alan. I'm just taking Tin-Tin for a snack upstairs. We want your daughter to be healthy, don't we?" Tin-Tin set down the hand she had been holding and kissed her husband's face before following her father-in-law out the door.

As soon as the door shut behind the pair, Kate turned to Gordon. "You stupid, selfish ass! How could you? She was raised in a convent! How could you take advantage of her like that?"

Gordon looked confused for a moment before comprehension dawned. "Julie? Are we talking about Julie? I haven't seen her since…" Once more gesturing towards Alan, Gordon slumped further into his seat. "I don't deserve…" His voice trailed off but Kate was more than happy to fill in the gap.

"What? And Julie deserves to be an unwed mother? You little jerk, I love you, I couldn't love you more if you had been born my brother. But Julie was a sweet, innocent – and I am sure I can stress innocent – girl. And don't try to deny you had unprotected sex with her the night before her graduation. Then because of a stupid accident, which was in no way her fault, you abandon Julie. She was raised in a freakin' convent! How do you think she must feel being pregnant and unmarried?" Kate had failed to notice how pale Gordon had gone during her rant.

"She – she's pregnant? She told you she's having my baby?" Gordon managed to force out the words, drawing Kate's attention to his face.

"No, she didn't tell me that." Gordon slumped, disappointed, only to sit back up as Kate continued. "But when Julie leaves early for a doctor's appointment on a Friday, asks for a transfer to London on a Monday because she feel she needs family at the time, and has lost her breakfast and a few luncheons to the porcelain god for the last week or more, I would wager that one plus one, minus any birth control, will equal three in nine months. Now what the hell are you planning on doing about it?"

As Gordon looked down at his hands, hands that were suddenly covered by Kate's in a comforting gesture, both failed to notice Alan's little finger on his right hand give the slightest twitch.

a/n - so, Gordon knows and better do the right thing before his father finds out. worse, before HER father finds out. And what is up with Alan? Same 'Bird time, same 'Bird station. - CC