Alan chewed nervously on his lip as Dr. Andreessen left the room to go retrieve the police officer. He was feeling apprehensive about talking to police. Despite Dr. Andreessen's reassurances that the police officer was not a man to be frightened of Alan couldn't help but to be afraid. He'd talked to police before…like when the chemistry lab blew up and he and some of the other boys that had been too close had been burned by the components…but it still didn't help him feel at ease.
"Hey Al…take a deep breath." Gordon encouraged Alan when it seemed like he'd forgotten how to breathe. "You'll be fine."
"Will I?" Alan turned worry filled blue eyes to his brother. Gordon's warm auburn eyes seemed to smile back at Alan reassuringly.
"Of course you will." Gordon moved from the seat he'd taken beside Alan's bed to sit on the bed beside his little brother. "I'll be here and if it seems like he's being too harsh…I'll stop questioning immediately."
"That's not what I was referring to." Alan replied softly.
"So then, what are you referring to?" Gordon gently played with Alan's blonde hair, grabbing a longer tuft and wrapping it around his finger. "You really need a haircut Sprout."
"So I've been told." Alan seemed to draw in on himself. Heaving a sigh, Alan inquired of Gordon something he'd been thinking of a lot lately. "Do you think I'll be able to make a full recovery?"
"Is that what all this doom and gloom is about? You're worried you won't…" Gordon trailed off in his questioning, he knew the answer.
"It's just…I've seen what my feet look like at each bath and dressing change and what I see is not something that looks very promising." Alan gave a half-hearted smirk as he slumped down into his bed at his statement. "And when you're in the hospital, you can't help but think up all sorts of scenarios."
"Well, I know of one thing that could possibly help with that…though I don't think you'd be very happy with the suggestion." Gordon glanced at the lock of Alan's hair that was still wrapped around his finger. He didn't want to meet his brother's blue eyes, for fear of them glowering at him.
"What is it?" Alan perked up slightly at that tid-bit of information but like clockwork, Dr. Andreessen arrived in the room with a police officer and a…dog?
"I'll tell you later." Gordon heaved a sigh as Alan glared at him for delaying their conversation. Alan probably wouldn't be very happy with the knowledge of being placed in group therapy, but it was what the family thought would be best for Alan. He needed an outlet, one that could help him to cope with his injuries, inevitable surgeries and the memories of what he'd experienced.
Alan released a frustrated groan when Gordon cut off their conversation, but directed his attention over at the doctor, police officer and dog. Alan was puzzled by the presence of the dog until he spotted the vest the dog wore identified it…er her as a service dog. Lifting his gaze up to meet that of the doctor's he put on a smile on if only to be polite.
"Alan, Gordon…this is Officer Elijah Pellegrini and his service dog Lulu Bell." Dr. Andreessen introduced the brothers to the police officer by his side before turning to Elijah. "Officer, this is Alan and Gordon Tracy. Young Alan here is my patient and this is his older brother who will be sitting in on this interview as moral support."
"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you. However I wish it was under better circumstances." Officer Pellegrini nodded at Alan and Gordon, to which they mirrored his actions. "Now, before we get started…are there any questions?"
"No, not at the moment…" Gordon shook his head as he replied to the officer before turning to look at Alan. "What about you Alan?"
"Yeah, if I don't feel comfortable answering a question…can I skip it?" Alan chewed on his lip…he was feeling apprehensive over this interview.
"It depends on the question. I won't be questioning you on anything like your nightly rituals or anything; this is just to find out what you remember about the night of the fire. We'll go over the entire day to see if you saw anyone or anything suspicious, anything that might have contributed to the fire." Alan nodded at what Officer Pellegrini was saying. "Is that okay?"
"Yeah…I…" Alan clammed up; he didn't want to openly admit that he felt sick to his stomach over discussing the fire. It'd been 21 days since the fire; he shouldn't still be feeling in shock.
"You…?" Officer Pellegrini raised an eyebrow in question. Dr. Andreessen slipped from the room unnoticed by any of those in the room.
"It's nothing…never mind." Alan looked off in the opposite direction of Gordon and Officer Pellegrini. "Can we just get this over with?"
Officer Pellegrini knew Alan was feeling troubled over the interview, but he wisely decided not to point out the obvious. He'd dealt with interviewing perps and victims and each time he'd get similar reactions. It was quite obvious that Alan was feeling anxious due to his lack of eye contact and changing of the subject.
"Okay, I will be recording this interview." Officer Pellegrini removed a portable recorder from his jacket pocket and held it in his hand. Turning on the device, Officer Pellegrini began the interview. "Please for the record, state your name, age, the school you attend and today's date."
"My name is Alan Shepard Tracy, I am fourteen years old…I attend Wharton Boys Academy and today's date is January 8." Alan replied, his voice wavering slightly as he began the interview.
"What can you tell me about how the day the fire occurred?" Officer Pellegrini tactfully made eye contact with Alan so he'd know whether or not Alan was lying about something or not. He watched Alan work his jaw as though he wanted to avoid answering the question.
"It was a normal day for me." Alan really didn't want to go into detail about the whole day, it was nothing but a mess for him and he didn't want to relive that day.
"How would you describe normal?" Officer Pellegrini eyed the boy carefully and wondered what it was Alan was hiding. He recognized the boy from the camera's video files but didn't want to bring that up until later.
"It was a normal day…I got up when my roommate's alarm clock went off, the both of us got ready for class…we walked together down to the canteen for breakfast…after breakfast we separated for our different morning classes." Alan decided to run through his day, purposely trying to leave out his run in with Robert. He didn't know if Scott told their brothers and he didn't feel up to causing an argument between him and his Gordon.
"Okay, so what is this morning class?" Alan didn't understand this line of questioning. What did it have to do with the fire?"
"French class, we had a substitute teacher." Alan replied…he keenly avoided making eye contact with either the officer or his brother for fear that they'd see he wasn't being entirely truthful about the events of his morning.
"Okay, are you aware of why you had a substitute teacher that day…was this teacher someone your recognized?" Officer Pellegrini was trying to feel out whether or not Alan may have recognized anything unusual about his day.
"Yeah, my normal teacher went away for a final dress fitting for her wedding. She wouldn't quit talking about how excited she was to be marrying on New Year's Eve. As for the sub, yeah I know him…he's a cool guy, he comes in to sub for some of my other teachers if they are too sick to come to class. He used to attend Wharton when he was my age and went on to get a degree in teaching. He likes us to call him Kalip rather than Mr. Powell…he's actually only about twenty-one years old." Alan leaned back into his pillows, trying to relax as best as he could. "Kalip said Ms. Sanders wanted us to watch a movie and write a report on it entirely in French."
"Okay, so then what about after French class? What else did you do in your day?" Elijah continued asking questions about Alan's day, there just had to be something that would give him a clue about who possibly set the school on fire.
"Well, I got called out of French class when there was about twenty minutes left, went to go meet with someone and then afterwards I went to my algebra class." Alan offhandedly answered the question, just wanting to get the line of questions over with.
"Who did you go meet?" Elijah caught Alan's slip up and decided to turn it against him…maybe Alan knew more than he was letting on.
"I…can I skip the question please?" Alan realized he'd slip up and said something about something he'd hoped to hide. He didn't want Gordon to get mad.
"That depends…was this meeting scheduled by a member of the Wharton staff, like with a counselor or teacher…or was it perhaps a secret meeting between you and another student?" Elijah inwardly grimaced at how poorly phrased his question was…Alan and Gordon both might think he was implicating something else.
Alan heard the question and heaved a sigh. It'd be better to just go ahead and say something about his meetings with Robert, if only to not implicate himself as a suspect in the fire. Secret meetings with another student on the same day a fire occurred could be misconstrued as suspicious. Timidly meeting the officer and Gordon's eyes Alan answered the question.
"It was a meeting between me and another student." Alan decided to just lay all his cards out on the table. "It wasn't anything planned, at least not by me. The student who set up the meeting place got help from a couple friends of his."
"What was the meeting about?" Elijah probed, it was a bit suspicious having a meeting during school hours between another student.
"It was…" Alan closed his eyes as he struggled to admit what the meeting was about. Gordon could see Alan was trying to work up the courage to say what the meeting was about, but he for the life of him couldn't understand what was stopping Alan.
"Come on Sprout. You can tell us." Gordon reassured Alan, he wanted to know what this meeting was about.
"For the record, the young man who just spoke is Alan's brother Gordon Tracy." Elijah stated, so that anyone listening to the recording wouldn't be confused by the third voice. "Go ahead Alan…what was the meeting about?"
Alan heaved a sigh. He didn't want to bring up Robert and his bullying and other various forms of harassment, but he was being backed into a corner so to speak. "It wasn't actually a meeting. Not a meeting one might think of happening between two students."
"Care to elaborate Alan?" Elijah silently gauged Gordon and Alan's facial expressions. It seemed that Gordon was not aware of what Alan was talking about. He seemed downright puzzled.
"It was supposed to be an exchange of hands if you will. I…I was being picked on by another student and later on I was harassed daily. This student claimed I owed him money and he'd arrange these little 'meetings' to try and make me pay up." Alan couldn't look at Gordon as he admitted to what he'd put up with at school.
"Does this student have a name?" Elijah questioned.
"His name is Robert Flynn. He's a freshman like my roommate and I." Alan admitted the name of his tormentor. Saying Robert's name aloud left a bad taste in Alan's mouth.
"Okay, now you mentioned that…Robert had a couple friends help him out. Who are his friends and how did they help him to…persuade you to pay up as you put it?" Elijah felt he was close to part one of a break through.
"Their names are…hang on." Alan cut himself off. He was confused; he was supposed to be going over what he remembered of the fire…not his bullying and the crap he put up with. "What does this have to do with the fire? You don't think that I caused it?!"
"No, I don't think you caused it…nobody would purposely set fire to a building, but forget to save their own necks…unless you liked causing pain to yourself." Elijah noticed the look on Alan and Gordon's face and decided to go into further detail. "No, I am simply investigating a claim that harassment and assault was occurring on campus the day of the fire and you just happened to be on my list of assault victims." Officer Pellegrini keenly lied about the list of assault victims. He had to get Alan to admit to the assault, and that wouldn't happen if he kept trying to flippantly change the subject.
"Who told you about my being assaulted? I never told anyone…" Alan clammed up, that was one thing he hadn't been entirely truthful about to Scott and his dad. He hadn't wanted them to know who he suspected to be at fault for the fire. But now, he could see he'd screwed up.
"Alan, I can't help you if you won't tell me everything about what you experienced." Elijah turned off the recorder to talk to Alan…off the record. "I have been investigating this fire and I have a few leads, but I need your help to try and narrow down my probable suspects. You can't be hurt any further. You don't have to worry about reprisal should you implicate someone. Anything that you can tell me about the assault and anything unusual you saw that day can help me in helping you and all the other boys who were not only injured, but have had surrender the tuition costs to cover their education at Wharton's."
"Fine." Alan sunk down as best as he could into his hospital blankets…he was wishing a hole would open up in the earth and swallow him right about now; anything to not have to keep talking about the harassment, bullying and now assault.
"Good." Elijah turned the recorder back on and returned his gaze back to Alan. "Now, what are the names of Robert's couple of friends that helped him and what did they do to help?"
"Their names are Kolby and Mason Butler…they are twin brothers that are juniors in Wharton Academy. Kolby is an office aide during my French class and Mason happens to be a teacher's aide in my French class." Alan closed his eyes as he made mention of the events during the day. "Ms. Sanders usually likes to pop up some popcorn for the times she has a movie for us to watch, we are permitted to have drinks in class…as it turns out…" Alan started worrying his lips as he tried to figure out just what he'd done wrong to deserve being picked on by Robert, Mason and Kolby.
"It's okay Sprout." Gordon leaned over and whispered to Alan. Alan wasn't normally so nervous.
"Kolby showed up at the door of the classroom and gave a note to Kalip to give to me. The note said I received a call and had to go down to the office to take it. I stood up to go take the call; I had no way of knowing whether or not it was true. My family has called the office before when they couldn't reach me via cell phone, so I stood to go." Alan swallowed quickly, his mouth felt dry. "Mason just happened to be walking by and knocked my bottle of orange juice out of my hand. It spilled on the front of his uniform sweater vest and he claimed he needed to run back to his dorm to change."
"So, was there really a phone call?" Elijah looked over towards Gordon an eyebrow raised in question.
"If it was Alan's first class of the day then no…there was no phone call. We live in a different time zone than the Eastern seaboard. If it was Alan's first class of the day…my family and I would still be in bed. It'd be about three in the morning the next day for my family at the time of Alan's French class." Gordon supplied an answer for the officer.
"And just where exactly do you and your family live?" Elijah inquired…a puzzled look on his face.
Alan and Gordon both replied at the same time. "Just off the coast of New Zealand."
"Okay then." Elijah nodded, while scratching at his eyebrow.
"For the record, when I said it'd be three am the next day where my family and I live…I mean that we are approximately eighteen hours ahead of Alan at Wharton. The only reason we'd be calling Alan at three am our time is if we had a family emergency and were headed to the mainland." Gordon looked at Alan his auburn eyes shining with curiosity.
"Okay, so we've now established that there was no phone call waiting for you at the office. So, what happened after you left the classroom Alan?" Elijah dug further.
"Kolby who had been hanging around the door grabbed one of my arms while Mason grabbed the other arm. Together, despite me struggling they hauled me down to the boiler room. Students don't normally have access to the maintenance and storage areas, but Robert had the keys to the area. He was waiting down there to confront me." Alan looked away.
"What happened Alan?" This time it was Gordon asking the question. "Why did he choose the boiler room?"
"Yes Alan…why did he choose the boiler room?" Elijah was enthralled…this case was becoming something more and more…confusing and yet it was becoming enlightening.
"Nobody can hear you if you scream." Alan looked at his blanketed lap.
"What happened Alan?" Elijah inquired softly when it seemed as though Alan were trying to close himself off.
"I was threatened. I never told any of my friends of the assault that took place that day; I was blackmailed to stay quiet." Alan shook his head slightly, his blonde hair moving with each shake of Alan's head. "If I didn't want my close friend Jamie to find a knife in his gut, I'd keep my mouth shut and pay up by dinner that evening."
"So, then what happened during this assault to you?" Elijah kept the questions coming, barely giving time for Alan to pause.
"I…I'd really rather not talk about it." Alan's blood washed away from his face. He looked faint, and Gordon moved to sit up closer by Alan in order to support him.
"Alan, you can tell me. This is serious." Elijah noticed the lack of blood in Alan's face. Alan adopted a pained grimace at the goading. He really didn't want to talk about it anymore, but he was being given no choice but to answer.
"Robert told me he had no problem torching me. He showed me a bic lighter…said he could get rid of me so easily and nobody would even care to notice if I was dead and gone." Alan stopped explaining…his breath catching in his throat. He felt sick. "Can we take a break?"
"Can you finish explaining to me what happened during the assault first?" Elijah missed Alan's deep breaths through his nose.
"No…I think I'm gonna throw up." Alan swallowed thickly, his pale face gradually becoming green. "Gordo, you might want to move."
Gordon looked at Alan and noticed how sickly his brother was looking. Wrinkling his nose, Gordon moved from the bed and retrieved a cup of water for Alan to try to tame his upset stomach. Gently rubbing Alan's neck, Gordon waited to see if his brother got sick or not…he hoped not, but fate didn't seem to be on his side.
"Dude, hold your hurl!" Gordon jumped back from the bed tripping over his abandoned chair from earlier when Alan leaned forward and threw up. Lulu Bell started to bark at all the commotion and the combination of Alan heaving, Lulu Bell barking and Gordon groaning in disgust and pain from getting his legs tangled in with the chair was enough to make a high pitched tone to ring aloud in the room. Elijah cupped a hand over his ear and made a pained face before the high pitched squeal stopped. Lulu Bell by this time started to howl and Gordon stood up and moved over to the other side of the bed to rub Alan's neck while he was sick. "It's alright Al…gross."
Alan gulped in breath after breath after he'd finished throwing up. He was aware of Gordon gently rubbing his shoulders and neck, despite keeping his head turned in the opposite direction…obviously away from Alan and the mess he'd made. Alan coughed and gagged again, but managed to keep it at bay. Gordon gave Alan the little glass of water and let him have a sip, before hitting the button to call a nurse…or janitor.
"Did you really have to hurl Alan? I could have done without seeing your best Reagan impression." Alan glared at Gordon…he wasn't the one who'd just thrown up in their hospital bed. Alan should be the one complaining, now he'd need to be given a second bath and have his linens changed.
"I don't exactly have control over my gag reflex Gordo…if you're so bothered by a natural bodily function…you can just leave." Alan swallowed, his nose wrinkling at the thought of what it was that made him sick. "I'm sorry about that Officer Pellegrini."
Silence met Alan after his apology and he'd found himself looking up to see if the police officer was still there. He was, but he was holding something and Lulu Bell seemed frantic. Alan watched Officer Pellegrini tap whatever it was that he was holding before he blew out a breath. Lifting his gaze up to meet Alan's, Officer Pellegrini just groaned inwardly.
"I'm sorry about getting sick Officer Pellegrini." Alan apologized again. Alan noticed how the officer didn't acknowledge what it was he'd said. The officer just remained quiet. When Alan opened his mouth to speak again, Officer Pellegrini silenced him with a hand signal.
"I ca ear you." Officer Pellegrini spoke, but his speech had changed. Now his voice sounded somewhat nasally and his words were broken. The police officer held up his hand and Alan could faintly make out what appeared to be a hearing aide. The police officer pointed to his ears and shook his head. About that time the door to the hospital room opened and in walked Dr. Andreessen.
"So, how has the interview been going?" Dr. Andreessen had a smile on his face until he looked at Alan then Officer Pellegrini. "What happened?"
"Al got sick and I don't know what's going on with the officer…" Gordon provided a brief rundown of what happened.
Dr. Andreessen turned to officer Pellegrini and noticed what he had in his hand. Tipping his head to the side, Dr. Andreessen began speaking in sign language…while asking vocally as well.
"What is wrong Elijah?" Dr. Andreessen looked at the officer.
'Too much background noise.' Elijah signed to Dr. Andreessen.
"I'm sorry." Dr. Andreessen held out his hand to inspect the hearing aid. Elijah placed it in the doctor's hand and looked over at Alan and Gordon. "Hmm, looks like you will need to make an appointment to be fitted for a new hearing aide…this one is done."
Dr. Andreessen spoke slowly enough so that Elijah could read his lips. Elijah rolled his head back in exasperation. Alan and Gordon watched the interaction from afar and both were puzzled.
'Mom and Dad are gonna kill me.' Elijah signed to Dr. Andreessen. Alan understood the hand gestures for parents and tried to figure out how the doctor knew the police officer.
"No they won't…I'll cover the cost for your new hearing aide bro. Let's not tell mom and dad and just say we did." Dr. Andreessen knew the high cost that a new hearing aid would be and that would not be something their parents would look forward to paying.
"Wait, you guys are brothers?" Alan looked over at Gordon to see if he understood the situation correctly. Gordon seemed just as confused as Alan.
"Okay, yes…remember how I told you I knew the police officer personally? Well, I wasn't lying…the police officer is my little brother who is investigating the fire at your school." Dr. Andreessen turned to look at Alan and adopted a look of sympathy when he saw the state Alan was in. "Looks like we are going to need to finish this interview another time…you young man need a bath."
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Virgil stretched his arms up in the air as he and Scott departed from the family jet. Despite Scott having flown them home, Virgil was feeling mildly jet-lagged. Turning his head to glance over his shoulder, Virgil noticed Scott mirroring his actions. Both brothers relished in the comforting heat that had remained on the island. Virgil shrugged off his jacket that he'd kept on since he and Scott boarded the jet.
"Ah, it feels like forever since we were here last." Virgil held up a hand to block some of the bright afternoon sun from his face.
"You said it Virge." Scott rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. The muscle felt stiff.
"Ah, Scott…Virgil it is good to see you two again." Virgil and Scott started when they heard a familiar voice. Waving energetically the brothers greeted the longtime family friend Lady Penelope and her loyal manservant Parker.
"Hey Penny, Parker…how are you two?" Scott approached Penny and Parker and found himself in an embrace from the lovely London agent. "I missed you too?"
"Is something the matter Penny?" Virgil cautiously approached Scott who was currently being deprived of oxygen from the tight hug Penny had him in and Parker who was standing off to the side holding his hat in front of him.
"I've been so worried, after your father contacted me to notify me of Alan and Fermat's injuries…I've been just beside myself." Penny broke the embrace with Scott and in turn hugged Virgil just as tight. "How are those boys faring?"
"As well as they can be I suppose." Scott stood upright and clapped Virgil on the back when Penny released him from the embrace. "Come on; let's go in…I'm sure Onaha wouldn't mind brewing up some tea for you two. We can talk more up there."
"That won't be necessary Scott…Kyrano has already taken the liberty and is waiting on the lanai. He also has coffee for you two young men." Penny smiled at Scott and Virgil before prompting the two Tracy sons to follow her and Parker up to the house.
Scott and Virgil walked along languidly behind Penny and Parker and gazed around at their home. It had been almost a month since they'd seen their home and to be honest…they'd taken the sights and smells for granted. Neither man realized how much they'd missed their island home until the moment they'd stepped off the jet and returned to the land they'd called home for the last couple years.
Coming to a stop under the cover of the patio roof, Virgil nodded in thanks at Kyrano when he noticed food laid out at their regular places along with cups of coffee. Scott shook hands with Kyrano and got a huge hug from Onaha when she'd returned to the patio with a bowl of freshly sliced fruit for lunch.
"Where's Tin-Tin?" Scott looked around when he noticed the island girl's absence.
"She is around. She's been gone from the house for several hours." Onaha looked around herself. "She'll turn up. Why don't you boys sit and eat while your meal is hot."
"Yes Onaha." Scott and Virgil replied as they both sat obediently and began to eat. Both Scott and Virgil smiled gratefully for the meal they'd grown accustomed to having on the island from time to time. To be honest, they were growing tired of fast food or restaurant prepared meals. It had been a very welcome change when John and Brains had brought some of Onaha's prepared food after their last visit just before Christmas.
Conversation was very light at the table. Neither Scott nor Virgil said too much…they hadn't really wanted to destroy the ambience of lunch with talk of the slow progress both Alan and Fermat were making in their recovery. Their burns were both still quite bad, both still very much unable to do much for themselves and both boys refused to talk much about their experience in the fire. Scott himself chalked up the lack of talk from Alan and Fermat as them simply not wanting to relive the horrors that haunted their dreams. As lunch drew to a close, Scott stood up.
"Onaha, if you'll leave the dishes…I'll wash them here in a few minutes." Scott picked up his dirtied dishes and took Virgil's when the musician finished his lunch.
"I wouldn't dream of making you wash the dishes Scott. You have enough on your plate as it is. Please pardon the pun." Onaha removed the boy's dirty dishes from Scott's hands and shooed him from the patio. "Please…you and Virgil go get yourselves some rest. I'm sure you both could use a bit of a nap after that long flight."
"I guess." Scott sighed slightly and lifted his head when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. Turning to gaze behind him, he was met with Penny's brilliant blue eyes.
"Please go get some rest Scott. You look exhausted." Scott nodded and slipped from the deck, but before he got out of ear shot he heard a similar sentiment from Virgil before his brother walked beside him.
"So…where are you actually going?" Virgil inquired under his breath. Everyone knew of Onaha's amazing hearing and neither wanted to be heard at the moment.
"I have an idea of where Tin-Tin is." Scott murmured as he made his way up the stairs.
Both brothers fell into silence as they made their way upstairs. Briefly walking through the hall that led to both Gordon and Scott's bedrooms, they came to a stop just outside of Alan's bedroom. Scott turned his head and pressed his ear to the outer surface. He couldn't hear anything immediately and he opened the door to peer inside.
There sitting at Alan's desk…was Tin-Tin. She had her back turned to the door and had her own laptop set up on his desk. Peering around the room, Scott and Virgil took notice of the lack of mess. Tin-Tin or Onaha had gotten to Alan's room and they'd cleaned it to the point that you could find the floor instead of mechanical parts, clothes, books or tools. Glancing at Tin-Tin both brothers noticed her shoulders shaking. They both thought she was crying and stepped into the room to offer a shoulder to cry on when they heard the melodious giggle escape the girl.
Sharing a confused look, both Scott and Virgil made their way into the room. Tin-Tin couldn't hear Scott and Virgil's footfalls because she was wearing Alan's spare headsets that he'd normally kept at the house. Coming to a stop directly behind Tin-Tin, they were met with a video of Alan. He was sitting on the floor, blushing madly at whoever was filming him. Scott reached out a hand and tapped Tin-Tin's shoulder. She paused the video and turned to see who was touching her shoulder.
"Hello Scott, Virgil. I'm sorry; I didn't hear you two arrive." Tin-Tin removed the headset and stood to hug the boys she'd grown to view as older brothers.
"It's alright. We figured you were busy." Virgil motioned a hand towards Tin-Tin's laptop and smiled at the image frozen to the screen. It was a very embarrassed Alan and his mouth was open as though he were protesting whoever was filming him. "What exactly are you watching?"
Tin-Tin simply smiled and closed the lid on her laptop. "That's for me to know and for you two to never find out."
"Hey now…that's not fair. After all we've done with helping you to blackmail Alan from time to time?" Scott tilted his head and pouted in a half attempted puppy pout. Alan had it mastered better than his brothers.
"I'm not falling for the face. Besides, Alan would be so super embarrassed if you found out." Tin-Tin leaned back to sit against Alan's desk, picking up her laptop and holding it close to her chest.
"Aw, come on. What could be so embarrassing that Alan would allow you to watch it but not us?" Virgil tried coaxing Tin-Tin to show them. Tin-Tin's response to the question was a coy smile and a wink before she slid from Alan's desk to go lay on his bed.
"Who said he allowed me to watch it? It's something Fermat emailed to me several months ago and I like to watch it when I need a reason to laugh." Tin-Tin smiled at Scott and Virgil. "Just a little blackmail between friends."
"Would you just give us a hint as to what Alan was doing?" Scott inquired, truly curious about what Alan had been doing.
"Okay, but just a small hint." Tin-Tin gazed down at her laptop, before looking back up at Scott and Virgil's expectant gazes. "Alan was doing something that you all didn't think he was capable of doing."
"That's it? That's the hint you are giving us?" Virgil's jaw dropped as Tin-Tin agreed to give them a hint, but gave them a hint that was very vague. There had been a lot of things they hadn't been aware that Alan was capable of.
"Yeah…I'm not giving more away than that." Tin-Tin reclined to rest her back against Alan's pillows. Despite him only staying on the island intermittently, Tin-Tin had taken to sleeping in Alan's room since she'd heard about the fire. His pillows still smelled like the coconut shampoo that Tin-Tin suggested Alan use. None of the other brothers liked smelling like fruit, so they'd all chosen to use masculine scents…Alan was the only son that smelled like fruit and Tin-Tin loved it. The island girl blushed slightly as she thought of how intoxicating Alan smelled to her.
"That's not fair Tin. Besides, it has been brought to my attention that a certain someone might like you." Scott mentioned the suspected crush Alan had on Tin-Tin as bait to find out just what Tin-Tin had been watching.
"I'm not falling for that Scott. For all I know, you might be fibbing on Alan liking me. As far as I'm concerned, we are just friends." Tin-Tin sat up straighter to throw a glare at Scott. 'Besides, I know Alan likes me…he doesn't ever listen to suggestions from anyone…why else would he have listened to my suggestion to change his shampoo unless he liked me?'
Scott held his hands up in mock surrender when he saw the poisonous glare from the Malaysian girl. He knew when he was pushing the boundaries, and to be quite honest…that was not at all what he was striving to do. He just wanted to know what she'd been watching.
"Listen…if Virge and I swear not to mock or tease Alan for whatever is on that laptop, would you show it to us? We both could use a laugh." Scott sat on the foot of the bed and he watched as Tin-Tin drew her legs up to her chest. She looked down at her laptop and seemed to whither.
"I'll only show it to you two if you swear and pinky promise to me that you will not tease Alan over this. I don't want him finding out and this damaging our friendship…please?" Tin-Tin gazed pleadingly at the two brothers of the boy she believed had captured her heart.
Scott held out his hand and curled all of his fingers except for his pinky. Tin-Tin looped her pinky finger around his and smiled at the eldest Tracy brother. "I swear, I will not tease Alan over whatever you are about to show me." Scott knew from his childhood, especially being raised with a brother that was ten years younger than him that pinky promises were not something you broke. Alan had remained adamant as a small child that pinky promises were a sacred vow that must never be broken. Scott couldn't recall a pinky promise he'd made to Alan which he'd intentionally broke.
Looking to Virgil expectantly, Scott and Tin-Tin remained silent. Virgil lolled his head back as he'd realized he'd have to give in to the embarrassingly childish gesture. "Okay, fine." Virgil looped his finger around Tin-Tin's when she silently held out her pinky. "I pinky promise not to tease Alan over what you are about to show us." As he unhooked his finger from Tin-Tin's a single thought raced through his mind. 'How embarrassing could this really be?'
"Okay." Tin-Tin moved to lean back against Alan's headboard. Scott and Virgil perched on the bed on either side of Tin-Tin as she logged back into her laptop. The image that greeted the trio on Tin-Tin's desktop was an image of Tin-Tin and Alan dressed up as Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater from the movie Titanic. This picture however seemed to show the blossoming romance between the two teens. Alan was standing behind Tin-Tin, he had his hands around Tin-Tin's waist and she held his hands, the two teens appeared to be leaning in for a kiss. Their eyes were half closed as though they were really about to kiss
"Hello, what is this?" Virgil grinned as he glimpsed the picture.
"It's nothing…we were playing around and Lady P got a picture of us." Tin-Tin's face lit up with a vibrant blush…only she, Alan and Lady P knew of that picture Fermat had by that time gone to get Tin-Tin a candy apple…now though Scott and Virgil knew about it. "Fermat, Alan and I dressed up as characters from Titanic for this last Halloween. I am Rose and he is Jack Dawson."
"I've watched Titanic before Tin-Tin." Scott propped up his head on his fist as he sat on Alan's bed. "As a matter of fact…I think we all have."
"Yep." Virgil looked away at having admitted to have watched the movie.
"Okay…changing the subject." Tin-Tin pulled up her media player and rewound the video she'd been watching earlier. "Okay, remember…no teasing Alan for this."
