THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER! hehe! I repeat, this is NOT the last! I couldn't fit it all into one chapter so there will be a epilogue as well! :D Enjoy xx


He sat on the beach, watching the waves crash against the sound, listening to the backwash of the water dragging the stones and sand back into its depths. He sat with his legs pulled up to his chest, eyes closed, his blonde hair was blowing in the breeze and for the teenager, it was the perfect moment. The past few weeks had been good; they'd been a family again and he hadn't had a single nightmare since the fire incident. Scott's concussion had gone in a couple of days, everyone had caught up on much-needed sleep, and all the bruises from life in the jungle had healed. Time had healed everything. Just like they'd tried to tell their father from the start; he finally understood. It was like it had not only healed up the wounds, but made them better than before. The rift was closing between Alan and his father and all the boys felt like Jeff was making more of an effort.

Slowly, things began to return to normal, though John's worries of Scott being unable to let Alan be was being to come to light. But it wasn't just Scott. Alan felt he constantly had eyes watching him, not that he minded, but sometimes he would turn to see a head disappear around the corner. Alan smiled behind his closed eyes. The beach had been his little escape route recently. He hadn't been in the jungle since the fire and had no intention of going in again anytime soon. He wasn't scared, but to him it felt like going back on everything they'd built up in the past few weeks, as if things would fall apart

Everyone had turned back to their stress release activities. Most days Alan and Scott ran along the beach, leaving behind the sound of music floating through the villa from Virgil, Gordon splashing water from his treading water in the pool, the blonde astronomer, nose deep in a book by the poolside or sat on a deckchair at night with a telescope. Jeff took peace from watching his sons get back into life again, feeling pride that they managed to get through such a tough time and yet still stand strong.

Alan knew his moment would be spoilt soon by a worried brother sent to find him to "definitely not check up on him". Sure enough, a cough above his head sent his head turning upwards to face his redheaded brother smiling down at him. Alan grinned and turned back to face the sea, wriggling his toes as he felt the sand seep between them. His running shoes sat on a rock behind him and he had a bottle of water next to his side, half empty.

"Enjoyable run, Sprout?" Gordon asked as he dropped heavily to the sand to the left of his brother and looked at him.

"Mmhmm…." Alan continued to look out at the sea, liking the company but not the disturbance.

"Listen, I know what you're thinking. You think Scott sent me out here to check up on you or make sure you were okay and all and you're right. Well… kind of." Gordon laughed, causing Alan to break his trance and turn properly to face his sibling. "He did tell me to find you, but he thought you'd be in your room. But I know you better than he does; I came out to the beach straight away!" Gordon laughed, grinning proudly, "but the real reason I'm here is that lunch is ready and Virgil will eat it all if you don't hurry!"

This time it was Alan who laughed, "We've all caught up on our food since the jungle, but Virgil just hasn't stopped eating! He must've missed it more than we thought!" He unclamped his legs from his arms and stretched them out in front of him, continuing to chuckle as he looked up at the sun.

"What is wrong with you, Sprout!? The tinned mush in the hollow was disgusting and I was only there for one meal! Any normal person wouldn't touch a tin again after that torture… so I guess Virgil is still getting the dog-food out of his system!" Gordon ruffled his little brother's hair.

"We did have proper food! It just ran short and then we only had the emergency tinned stuff" Alan's smile fell slightly, "There was a lot of it left until I struck that stupid match." He sunk his head back into his knees.

Gordon saw the drop in happiness from Alan. He scooted closer to him to drape his arm over his brother's shoulder. "Hey, Allie, no one blames you, it wasn't your fault. None of this was and it's all behind us now." Gordon smiled down at Alan and recited "Learn from yesterday, live for today and hope for tomorrow."

Alan looked up and turned to face his brother. "You know Gordon, for the insane person that you are, you do have a clever side to you. You know that you just quoted Albert Einstein right?" Alan laughed when he saw the blank expression on his brother's face. "Now I KNOW you are clever! No one could not have heard of him, you're just fooling around as usual"

Gordon's smile gave away his act, "of course I know who he is… he did something clever once right?" Alan playfully punched his brother's arm.

"You suffer from severe insanity, Gordon. I'd be concerned but… meh, it's who you are." Alan laughed.

"Excuse me!" Gordon gasped dramatically. "I do not suffer from insanity, I enjoy every second of it!" Gordon jumped to his feet, trying to hide his smile. "And you'd better be 'concerned' for me because you don't know when this insanity of mine will strike next!"

With that Gordon Tracy reached over his brother, grabbed his shoes and set off running back to the villa down the beach. Alan jumped up after him, "GORDON!" he shouted, struggling to run, breath and laugh all at once. There was no way he'd be able to catch up with his brother whilst running with no shoes on sand. Plus the fact that Gordon was fast enough without a head start and the benefit of something on his feet! Alan knew he would not be able to run over the rocks either; he would have to walk from his scheduled spot on the sand.

Suddenly he didn't feel so hungry, and minded less if Virgil did eat all the food. Once again he sat down again on the beach with a smile unwavering from his face at his brother's antics. He knew he wasn't to blame for the fire, but he wandered what would happen next. Where would the next rescue take his family and will it be for the better? What if the nightmares returned? What if his brothers got sick of looking out for him the whole time?

His thoughts were disturbed again, but this time by footsteps and not a cough like Gordon. He turned to his left, along the rocks to see Virgil making his way across them towards Alan.

"I hear Gordon found you out here and invited you for lunch, I was a bit confused to why the concept of food wouldn't send you running back to the villa with him." Virgil reached Alan and sat on the sand beside him as the previous sibling had done.

"Our brother stole my shoes." Was Alan's simple response, causing Virgil to look down at Alan's trainer-less feet and raise his eyebrows.

"Of course he did. It's Gordon." Virgil looked across at Alan to see him deep in thought. "Okay so I did come to check on you but only to let you know that the food will all be gone unless you come back soon…. But it seems there's something else on your mind. The future?"

Alan sharply looked up at his brother. "H…How did you know?"

Virgil smirked, "A brother's instinct… and I'm pretty sure everyone is wandering the same thing."

"Yeah… I mean I just have so many questions and I don't know what will happen next. What about the next rescue and what if the nightmares come back? What if they're worse next time and –"

"Carpe diem."

"What?"

"Carpe diem. It means 'Seize the day'."

"I know what it means… just, why did you say it?"

"Because it means to say that no matter what the future holds for you, enjoy the moment, live in the moment and try your best not to worry about what will happen next. Nobody knows what's going to happen next, the next rescue may be hard but we always pull through… and if the nightmares come back and come back worse, then we will still all be there for you. Carpe diem."

"Did you all just come out here today just to teach me life mottos or was this all a coincidence?"

"Sorry? "

"Oh nothing, just something Gordon said earlier that also made me feel better" at Virgil's confused look, Alan explained. "He recited an Albert Einstein quote to me."

Virgil burst out laughing, "Oh! It seems our aquatic brother has gills and a brain!"

"But he did seem insistent on reassuring me that he was crazy and apparently has no clue who the guy he quoted was."

"Oh yeah, for sure!" Virgil stood up and looked down expectantly at Alan. When Alan didn't move, he reached down and hoisted him up from under his arms.

"Come on, or there really won't be any lunch left!"

They walked up to the rocks until Virgil realised Alan couldn't run across without his shoes, so Virgil lifted his brother onto his back.


The sounds of laughter could be heard from the dinner table as Virgil and Alan came into view. They were soaking wet from head to toe and Virgil was still carrying his brother piggy-back style.

"What happened?" John asked, holding back his laughter as he sat at the table with the other three members of the family.

"Gordon stole my shoes…" Alan began, still chuckling whilst Gordon earned a glare from Scott and their father, "So Virgil had to carry me across the rocks-"

"But I didn't want to miss lunch so I ran… and fell into the sea."

"With ME still on his back." They both continued to laugh until Alan was finally let down and they made their way over to the table.

"Alan, can I see you after the meal please? In my office?" Jeff asked. Alan nodded, mid-chewing. Things were better between the two now, a lot better so the meeting after lunch couldn't be that bad… could it?


After a cheery lunch, the youngest Tracy made his way over to his dad's office where he sat down on the chair opposite the desk.

His dad smiled at him across the desk. He had made the right decision, he was sure of it. Jeff sighed. "Alan, son, you've grown so much in this last year and I think it was right of me to take you out of school and make you an official member of International Rescue. Despite the nightmares, you pulled through and remained strong. But it is with this in mind that I have come up with a huge decision that not only affects you but also this family."

Alan could sense this was going to end badly; and he didn't want it to! It had all been going so well! "What is it?"

"Well with everything that's happened, I saw that your fears and nightmares revolved around the same people you see every day. Your family. Whilst we all love you here with us, I feel like we've deprived you of social skills off the island and that I stunted your education. Alan what I'm trying to say is…and there's no easy way of putting this without hurting you so I'm just going to come out and say it."

Jeff looked his son straight in the eyes.

"Alan, you're going back to school."


I hope you enjoyed this! This IS the last chapter unless you count the epilogue as one... which will be uploaded tomorrow (Scott's birthday!)

Reviews are loved... leaving you on a cliff hanger here! ;) xx