Gabriella

Disclaimer: Please see chapter 20.

Thanks for the reviews. Hey sorry about the delay. I know I'm awful but ya still love me really.

Chapter 25: Tate Donnely.

"Oh wow Al that is so great. When you going to ask her?" she asked grinning.

"I don't know Gabs that's why I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm so touched you told me first and I promise I won't tell the others I know," she said.

"Thanks sis. I want it to be really perfect but I don't know how to do it," he said sitting down on the bed beside her.

"Do you two have any special places you go to?"

"Well we like to sit on the beach in the evening."

"Why not do it there then. Take some food and light a fire. It could be really romantic," suggested Gabby.

"Yeah but what do I say sis. I'm useless at all this romantic stuff.

"It's not that hard Allie just speak from the heart and tell her how you feel."

"Yeah you're right. Do you think she will say yes?" he asked nervously.

"Yes I do Al. I know she loves you."

"Thanks sis," he said and gave her a hug.

"Anytime little brother."

"You won't tell the others will you?" he asked standing up.

"Of course not Al not even if they torture me," she replied with a grin.

"They will you know."

"Oh I know but I don't care. Shall we go see who is still awake then?" she asked standing up. Alan grinned and followed her back to the lounge. They both paused at the doorway. Virgil, Scott and Gordon were all asleep. Gabby looked over to see John had dozed off in his chair as well. She grinned and walked closer to him.

"Wakey wakey Johnny. You can't sleep like that," she said softly. John opened his eyes and smiled at her.

"Thanks sis. Love you," he said sleepily.

"Love you too. Sweet dreams," she said as he disconnected.

"Wake up Gordy," said Alan shaking his shoulder.

"Five more minutes," he groaned sleepily.

"Time for bed bro. You don't wanna sleep out here," said Alan and he gently pushed Gordon onto the floor.

"Hey," groaned Gordon from the floor.

"Sorry bro but its bed time," said Alan pulling him up. Scott had awoken as Gordon fell.

"Rise and shine Virge. It's time you slept in your own bed," she said tapping him gently. Virgil murmured but didn't wake up.

"Come on Virge. You cannot sleep out here. This couch is really not comfy to sleep on," she said shaking him again. This time he opened his eyes and stared sleepily at his twin.

"Come on guys time for bed," said Scott taking charge. Alan and Gabby both looked at each other and the laughed. Trust Scott to take over.

"What's so funny?" asked Virgil.

"Just our big brother being his bossy self," said Gabby smiling and they all headed off to bed after saying goodnight.

Gabby sat in her office working her way through the mountain of paperwork before her. It had really built up lately as she had been spending a lot of time helping Alan prepare for his big proposal. The door opened and a very familiar face strolled in.

"Dad I thought you weren't coming till tomorrow?" she said grinning at him.

"I wasn't but Lloyd called and invited me to dinner so I thought I would come today."

"How is Lloyd? I haven't seen him in years," replied Gabby giving her dad a big hug.

"Oh he is fine. Why don't you come with us tonight honey? Lloyd's son Tate will be there. Do you remember him?"

"Yeah he was in Scott's year. Brooke his younger sister was in mine," replied Gabby smiling. Tate and Scott had been close friends in high school but had drifted apart when they went off to different colleges.

"So will you come with me then?" he asked.

"Sure I would love to. It will be fun to see them both again," she replied grinning.

Jeff held the door open for Gabby and then kept hold of it as two more women entered. They both smiled at him and said thanks. Gabby grinned at her father.

"Flirt," she said quietly as they were led to the table. Jeff looked at her in surprise and then grinned. Lloyd stood up as they approached.

"Jeff it's good to see you old man," he said grinning.

"Well if I'm old then you must be ancient," replied Jeff with a grin.

"And who is this beauty. You never told me you got married again."

"You always were a joker Lloyd. You must remember my daughter Gabby," he said grinning.

"This is little Gabby. Boy didn't you grow up to be a stunner. Oh if I was a few years younger," said Lloyd wistfully and then he grinned.

"Hey Lloyd its great to see you," said Gabby hugging the older man.

"You too honey. Tate will be here in a few minutes. He was held up at work.

"So what does he do for a living then?" asked Jeff as they sat down.

"He's a Doctor specializing in Emergency Medicine," replied Lloyd proudly.

"Talking about me again dad," said a voice from behind them.

"Of course not," said Lloyd standing up. Jeff and Gabby followed suit.

"Hi Mr Tracy. How are you?" asked Tate smiling at him.

"Very well thanks and you?"

"Tired but I'm fine. Is this really little Gabby?" he asked turning to her.

"Hey Tate," she said smiling at him.

"I think the last time I saw you was at your graduation."

"Yeah I think it was. I cannot believe you became a doctor. I always thought you would end up in the Air force too."

"So did I but one day I just realized my heart lay in medicine. Is it true that you are now running Tracy Industries?" he asked as they all sat back down.

"Yes dad is obviously still in charge I just deal with the day to day running of things."

"And she does a great job," said Jeff proudly. Gabby smiled at him.

The rest of the meal went smoothly and Gabby spent most of it chatting to Tate. They all had a great evening and it was soon time to leave. Jeff was staying at Gabby's apartment and they had taken a taxi so Tate offered to run them back. They soon arrived back at her apartment and Jeff headed straight in giving them a couple of minutes alone.

"It was really great seeing you again Tate," she said smiling at him.

"You too Gabby. Do you think maybe we could do it again sometime?" he asked and Gabby frowned.

"I don't know Tate. I have just got out of a really bad relationship and I'm not sure I'm ready to start dating again," she replied honestly.

"Well don't think of it as a date. Think of it as two old friends meeting up for a drink. I promise to be a good boy," he said and she smiled.

"Ok sure. Give me a call when you are next free."

"I will. Goodnight Gabby."

"Night Tate," she replied and then entered her apartment. She wandered into the lounge where her father sat.

"Tate asked me out," she said dropping down beside him.

"Did you say yes?" he asked.

"Yeah but I'm still a little worried though dad. You know after Cole and that."

"I'm sure it will be fine honey. We know that he is a good guy and if you are really worried I will have John do a check into him," he said wrapping his arm round her.

"Thanks dad. I love you," she said resting her head on his shoulder.

"I love you too honey," he said.

Friday evening arrived and it was the big night for Alan. Gabby had come down for the weekend as usual and was still the only one who knew what he had planned. Just as Alan was about to whisk Tintin away to the romantic picnic he had planned the klaxon went off. Alan groaned knowing his perfect proposal had just been ruined. Gabby stood on the balcony watching the two magnificent crafts take off. It always astounded her. Her father and grandmother stood beside her. She then heard Kyrano approaching.

"Where's Tintin?" she asked the older man.

"Getting changed," he replied.

"Alan is going to be gutted when he gets back."

"Why would Alan be gutted?" asked Jeff.

"Because your son was going to propose tonight," said Grandma grinning at them all. Gabby grinned back. She knew her grandmother would figure it out.

"He is?" asked Jeff. He then saw the smiles from the others. "Did you all know?" he asked.

"Yeah dad. Alan wanted my advice about how to do it and because you raised him so well, Kyrano found out when he asked his permission to marry his daughter," explained Gabby.

"Yes he did and I'm proud to have him as my son in law," said Kyrano smiling.

"I knew it wouldn't be long before I gained a daughter in law and who could be better then Tintin," replied Jeff smiling at his old friend.

"Yeah and I'm finally getting a sister. The boys are no good when it comes to talking about clothes," said Gabby with a grin. They all headed back into the lounge to wait for more news from the boys. John's portrait began to flash.

"Go ahead John," said Jeff.

"Dad I have just received a call from the emergency services on site and they have discovered that the trapped men are already out and no longer require our services," he explained.

"Ok son. Tell the boys to turn round and head back then," replied Jeff.

"FAB," said John and he signed off.

"Maybe Alan will get his romantic proposal after all," said Grandma smiling.

"I don't think so Grandma. It's just started to rain," replied Gabby who was staring out of the window.

The others arrived back to a torrential rainstorm. Alan sat dejectedly on the sofa as Jeff did a quick debrief. Gabby sat down beside him and whispered in his ear.

"She won't care how you do it."

Alan looked over at where Tintin sat with his grandmother. She caught his eye and smiled at him. Alan suddenly realized that Gabby was right and with all his family here what could be more perfect. He stood up and walked over to Tintin.

"Is everything ok Alan?" she asked smiling at him.

"Yeah, well it will be, hopefully," he said.

Alan smiled at her and then dropped down onto one knee if front of her. There were gasps from the others in the room. Alan pulled the box out of his pocket.

"Oh my god," said Tintin when she realized what Alan was doing.

"Tin I think I have loved you since we first me. I know we didn't always see eye to eye but you still stole my heart. You mean the world to me and always seem to know how to make me smile. So Miss Tintin Kyrano will you marry me?"

"Oh Alan of course I will," she said and he slipped the ring on her finger. Everyone began to cheer. Alan stood up and gave her a kiss.

They were soon being hugged and congratulated by everyone. Tintin gave Gabby a hug guessing that she had been involved somewhere. Jeff then hugged his daughter in law to be. He was really happy that they were getting married but a part of him was sad that Lucy wouldn't be here to see it.

After a glass of champagne to celebrate everyone had gone back to what they normally did in the evening. Virgil was playing the piano, Gordon was playing chess with Brains, Jeff and Scott were doing some paperwork for International Rescue, Kyrano was in the kitchen, Tintin and Alan were curled up reading a magazine and Gabby was sitting beside her Grandma listening to Virgil. Tintin suddenly remembered something.

"Hey Gabby didn't you have a date last night?" she asked.

"Yep," she replied and suddenly she had everyone's attention.

"You had a date?" asked Virgil walking over. Gabby nodded.

"With who it wasn't that jerk was it?" asked Gordon looking round from the game he was losing.

"What do you take me for an idiot?" she asked frowning at him.

"That reminds me honey. Let me just call John up," said Jeff contacting his second oldest.

"Thunderbird 5 here go ahead dad," replied John.

"Did you manage to do that check for me?" asked Jeff.

"Yes I did and as we suspected he checked out perfectly. He's never been married or divorced. He has no criminal record, not even a parking ticket to his name."

"You had dad check out your date?" asked Gordon incredulously.

"Yeah after Rob and then Cole I wanted to be sure he was ok," admitted Gabby.

"Well he checked out honey so relax," said John smiling at her.

"I can't believe dad knew before us," said Virgil.

"I can't believe dad knew before John," said Scott.

"Well that's because Gabby knows she can tell me about anything. We have an open and honest relationship. Don't we honey?" he said smiling at her. Gabby smiled and walked over to him. He gave her a hug.

"That or dad was there when he asked her out," added John cheekily.

"Goodbye John," said Jeff going to close the transmission.

"No wait. I want to see how the boys react when they find out who he is," said John.

"Yeah hopefully they wont faint like you did hey John," said Gabby with a grin.

"I didn't faint," protested John. He was about to say more but Scott interrupted him.

"Shut up John. So who is he then? We obviously know him."

"Yes but you and Virgil knew him better," said Jeff.

"So who is he then?" asked Virgil.

"Tate Donnelly," she said.

"I don't recognise the name," said Alan.

"You don't mean Tate the great who was in my year do you?" asked Scott.

"Yeah dad and I had dinner with him and his father the other day," replied Gabby.

"So how did the date go then?" asked Tintin going back to the original point.

"Great we ended up going to his sister's for dinner. You must remember Brooke Virge," said Gabby turning to him.

"Oh yeah I remember her," said Virgil with a grin.

"So do I," said Gordon with a similar grin.

"Will you lot shut up? I want to hear how it went," said Tintin glaring at them.

"It was really nice and because there were other people with us there was no pressure," she replied.

"So what does he look like then?" asked Tintin.

"I'll show you," said Scott and he ran out of the room. He came back in with a yearbook.

"This is Tate," said Scott showing her a photo of young man with dark hair and green eyes.

"Wow. I bet he looks even better now," said Tintin ignoring the furious look Alan threw at her.

"He does," said Gabby with a smile.

"You should invite him to the island so we can see him again," suggested Virgil.

"That's a good idea son," replied Jeff.

The others all nodded in agreement except Scott who looked angry. Gabby caught the look and wondered what was bothering him. She wondered if he was annoyed that she was dating Tate.

Authors Note: So has Gabby met the man of her dreams. Why is Scott so annoyed and how will the wedding plans go?