The Enemy of My Enemy
Disclaimer - nope.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Kyrano had run to fetch his wife and the Tracy grandchildren that she was watching at the time and when they hurried into the hallway they had expected to not see anyone until they entered the infirmary. Instead the family was gathered outside the medical center's door.
Onaha shakily handed off the smaller children to Kate and Julie, anxiously noting the absence of the three family medics as well as Jeff and Tin-Tin. "Alan?" she asked in a small voice, many of the family only considering now how much the matronly woman considering Alan to have been her own even before he had married her only child.
Scott picked up Jason and kissed DJ who was being desperately held by his own mother before taking Onaha's hand in his. "Alan is looking good. He's awake and responsive. But before they could complete the exam…Onaha, it's Tin."
"Well," John said as he held his daughter and gave a weak smile to his son, even as Keith was handed off to Parker. "Not so much Tin-Tin. But something's wrong with the baby. Emily is performing a c-section even as we speak."
Onaha began to weep, something no one could ever recall seeing her do publicly. Kyrano took his wife into his arms and began to whisper words of comfort to her in Malaysian.
"Now let's not buy trouble," Gordon said, holding Michael and grinning at Tommy who was being held by Julie. "Tin and the baby have a good team in their corner. Let's be positive."
Onaha tried to but after everything that had happened lately, it was hard.
"OK," Emily murmured. "Got it, got it…"
"What's wrong?" Tin whimpered. "What's wrong with my baby?"
Emily continued to work while Sarah's worried green eyes met Tin's. "The umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck."
"Was it something I did?" Tin-Tin asked Virgil. "Emily said I should stop working and I didn't."
"Honey, these things just happened sometimes," Virgil assured her.
Emily pulled the baby out and placed it on a table. Wiping off the tiny blue-tinted lips, she began to rapidly give CPR. Virgil watched, not having done any on a baby before although Sarah had. Well, he knew how...They all had been trained in it. But actually using it? Not really. But watching Emily fight to save the baby, Virgil knew it was something he wondered if they should all receive extra training on.
A weak cry was suddenly heard, followed by a stronger one a moment later. Sarah and Emily changed places with the physician checking over Tin-Tin before beginning to close her back up.
Meanwhile, Sarah rapidly cleaned off the newborn, smiling at the little one. "Your daddy looked just like you, you know that?" she cooed, checking over the baby. "Apgar was four when I began, but I think we're up to seven, maybe eight, Emily."
Emily nodded a small smile on her face.
"Can I hold my baby?" Tin-Tin asked.
"Not yet," Emily said. "Let me finish stitching you up so you can wear a bikini again."
"I don't wear bikinis," Tin-Tin said grumpily. "That would be you, Emily."
Virgil paused and nodded. "That's right, no one else does."
"And if you ever change your mind, you'll appreciate a lack of scarring," Emily said as she continued.
"The baby?" Alan's voice came over softly.
Jeff quickly spoke up. "Yes, I want to see my latest grandson," he laughed, happy at how this day was turning out.
Sarah picked up the baby, wrapped tightly in a white blanket and smiled at Tin-Tin who nodded in return. Carrying the baby around the curtain they had placed during the surgery, she walked the newborn over to the anxious father.
"Forget it, Dad," Sarah grinned even as Jeff slowly raised Alan's bed so he could hold his child. "Alan's streak remains unbroken."
Gently settling the baby in Alan's arms, Sarah kissed his forehead and beamed. "Meet your daughter, Alan."
Alan did the age old counting of fingers and toes once Jeff had helped him loosen the blanket, tears running unashamedly down his face. "Heya, Sammie. I'm your daddy. And you're the one who has been kicking your mommy and me for months, huh? I knew you were going to be beautiful, but you take my breath away."
A few minutes later, once Emily had finished with Tin-Tin, Virgil helped her move the bed over so it was next to Alan.
"We'll give you three a moment of peace before the hordes descend," Emily smiled even as she injected antibiotics and pain meds into Tin-Tin's IV. Grabbing Jeff by the arm, she pulled him up with surprising strength for such a tiny woman. "That means you too, Grampa."
Once they were alone, Tin-Tin whispered, "I could have lost you both. Oh, Alan – I don't know if I could have lived without you. But how did you know? How did you know something was wrong with Samantha?"
Smiling at his daughter, the new father wondered at how blue her eyes were even as he answered.
"Would you believe Tomo told me?"
Touching her baby's face in wonder, Tin-Tin nodded. Yeah, she would.
Lori Bete stepped off the plane, looking around the terminal. An Asian man came up to her and nodded.
"Nurse Bete?"
"Yes, I'm Lori Bete," Lori said flirtatiously.
All business, Aito nodded firmly. "Nurse Bete, I am Aito Yamamoto. You will be working for my employer to care for her uncle. He requires little attention but Madame Yoshida feels better knowing a nurse will be on hand."
Lori nodded as she followed Aito to a waiting car.
"What exactly is wrong with…um, I'm sorry. I don't know my patient's name."
Aito picked up her bag and placed it in the trunk.
"He does not speak English and I understand you do not speak Japanese. Refer to him as Ojisan. It is Japanese for uncle. He reveres his privacy and he was once a very well-known man. You will answer the door or phone and basically protect his privacy. You can protect a patient's privacy, can you not, Nurse Bete?"
Lori swallowed. "Yes. Of course I can. Patient privacy is very important in the medical field."
Aito nodded and climbed into the driver's seat even as Lori took her own seat. Not even waiting for the nurse to buckle up, Aito drove away from the curb. Gina had wanted the nurse hired so that no one would question her "uncle" hiding himself away from the world in the apartments she had leased here. Aito was sure a woman recently disgraced such as Lori Bete would be someone who would ask few questions, simply being happy for the work.
He smugly knew he had made a good choice.
"Can we come in?" Kate asked as she peaked through the doors to the infirmary.
Tin-Tin looked up with a grin and nodded – Alan was too busy watching every move his daughter made.
Soon the family was crowded around the beds, Onaha having pried her first grandchild from her father's arms.
"What are you calling the bebe?" Julie asked as she smiled at the tiny scrap of life.
"Samantha Katherine Tracy," Alan said proudly. "For her oldest uncle and aunt."
"S for Scott, of course," John grinned. "What will the next one be? Joannie?"
Tin-Tin laughed, wincing as she pulled at her stitches before saying, "Well, Alan said Samantha for Scott, Joanna for John and Valerie for Virgil. At least, those were the three we agreed on. But what are the odds of all our kids being girls?"
"What if you had a fourth daughter?" Gordon protested. "How about Gordona?"
Julie glared at her husband. "You are having no say in the naming of our child."
"You guys have to get married first," Alan countered as he reclaimed his daughter.
"Did that," Gordon grinned, holding his left hand up along with Julie's.
"And the baby is due in six months," Julie admitted, eyeing her father cautiously when Parker let out a low growl at that reminder.
"You're married and…Wait," Alan protested. "I wasn't in a coma that long!"
"The plane crash was just over three weeks ago, Alan," Scott said tightly, remembering the terror of the accident and the agony of waiting to see if Alan would ever wake up.
"But then you…oh," Alan said in a small voice before looking at Parker. "And you let him live?"
"For my daughter's sake and the fact your family was stressed out enough over your condition, Master Alan," Parker said.
"And once more, I appreciate your restraint, Parker," Jeff smiled as he managed to once more get his newest grandchild away from her over protective papa.
"The accident -" Alan began only to have John interrupt.
"Was no accident," John said firmly. "The plane was tampered with. And we know who is behind everything."
"Gina Tanaka," Alan sighed as he was denied his daughter by Kate and Scott claiming their newest niece.
"How did…" Kate asked in shock.
"Tomo told me while we were having coffee at the Red Arrow," Alan said, smiling at his daughter and missing the shocked look on his family's faces.
"He told you this recently?" Virgil said cautiously, wondering just how bad Alan's head injury could have been.
"While I was out of it," Alan said, catching his baby's hand when Gordon claimed his niece. "We had steak and eggs."
"They had good steak and eggs there," Sarah said, holding her youngest son up to see his newest cousin.
"They did," Alan agreed. "And I saw Samantha. She's going to look so much like Mom."
"OK, let me get this straight," Kate sighed. "You had steak, eggs and coffee with your friend who has been dead five years and your unborn daughter?"
"Well, I wasn't eating with Sammie," Alan shrugged. "But basically, yeah."
When Kate looked ready to protest, Emily just shook her head. "Kate, many people in comas speak of walking among their family or seeing loved ones who have passed on. Although, this is the first time I have ever heard of someone meeting a loved one not yet born."
"With the spooky link the Tracy boys have to each other and now to the kids?" Sarah grumbled. "Does that really surprise you?"
"Anything else happen there?" Virgil teased his brother. "Any more cousins?"
"No!" three of the wives proclaimed, drowning out Alan's soft "no".
Alan shrugged again. "Actually, I think there was more but it's kinda fuzzy. I remember Tomo and I talking, him slapping me upside the head for not realizing Gina was behind the "accidents" and then Sammie started choking and I woke up. That's it. So, Kate, did you kill her?"
"Gina?" Kate sighed. "Unfortunately, no. And she's not under arrest. Diplomatic immunity – long and annoying story there. She headed back to Japan and the Imperial Government says unless we can prove she is responsible, she's off limit."
Alan pulled his daughter into his arms and looked at her in worry. "So she's still out there. And she's out to destroy my family." Kissing Sammie on the forehead, he raised his head in determination. "Well, she's not hurting my family anymore. Not as long as I'm alive."
His family looked at each other in concern. After all, as far as Gina was concerned, that was her ultimate goal. Hurting the Tracys was one thing; Alan's death was what the woman wanted most of all.
Silently, they all vowed it was a goal Gina would be denied.
A/N - YEAH! Alan is awake and Sammie is safe...
For now. BWAH-HA-HA!
I don't know if I am as happy with this story as I have been with others, but I hope you are still enjoying it.
