It was the bane of his life.

'You're too young, Alan.'

'You're not old enough yet.'

It was hardly his fault he was so much younger than his brothers.

Scott had been nine, almost ten, when Alan was born. John was eight, Virgil seven and Gordon five.

He'd been running to catch up to them his entire life, desperate to be with them, to be included. In fairness, his brothers included him far more than the families of his peers at school, but he wanted to be with them always. He hated being left behind.

He really didn't remember too much of his life before the island. They'd moved here when he was six. Memories before that consisted mainly of Scott and John. There were a few of Gordon and Virgil, and his memory of his dad around this time was vague, like he knew his dad was there, but he had no specific memories to confirm that.

He remembered moving. He had wanted to help but had been taken to the lounge where Kyrano was already and told to stay out of the way (dad), but Scott had come along after a bit and shown him to his room and said if he wanted to help he could sort his room out.

Alan bit his lip at the memory. Going from 'I want to help' to 'I don't want to do that' had not been his biggest moment, but he was only six. He had no idea what he thought he could help with, but tidying his room was not one of them. Scott was understanding, though, and stayed to help him, and between the two of them his room was sorted in next to no time.

He remembered wanting to go to the fair with his brothers when they were visiting their Grandma in Kansas. He must have been about eight. He had wanted to go on the rides with Scott and John and Virgil, but he was too little, too young. That hadn't stopped Gordon, of course, but Alan was not talking to his brother for some reason he couldn't remember now. He had wanted to go with Scott and John because they were both leaving. And he was too young to follow them.

Four years later and he was too young to visit the hospital on his own. He had to be over 18 to be 'unaccompanied', but John was in space, Virgil was off somewhere working for their father, and Gordon was in WASP, and Alan was alone. All he wanted to do was see his oldest brother, to be there for him as Scott had always been there for him, but Alan was too young. He remembered crying because he couldn't visit and getting annoyed with himself over that.

When he came home from boarding school – you know, because he wasn't too young for that – the year after, it was to be told he was too young to join in his father's greatest venture. Gordon had been home from his horrific crash for nearly three months – and yeah, he'd still be too young to visit his brother alone – and even he was talking about joining when he was better. But Alan was too young. He had to finish school first. It led to many heated discussions during his time home.

There had been some benefits to being young, though.

He couldn't remember his mother.

He didn't remember the avalanche that took her, and almost took him and Scott.

While that was a curse, it was also a blessing. Alan watched every year how distraught his brothers were when the time of her death drew near, and yeah, he was sad, but not to the degree his family was.

He had four older brothers who inspired and helped him both in schoolwork and in life in general. Scott taught him how to ride his bike, how to skateboard and how to fly. John taught him about space and helped with Math and English. Virgil taught him music and art and tried to teach him patience. Gordon taught him it was alright to be a kid, to pull pranks and not be serious all the time. They all taught him about family and his place in theirs.

He was well aware that he was the world to his brothers. Which is why they always treated him as 'too young'. It was both so loving and so, so frustrating.

Then suddenly Dad was gone, and Alan couldn't afford to be too young any more.

The juxtaposition was weird.

Alan was 'too young to be trained as a Thunderbird pilot' and 'old enough to start learning on the sims'.

He was 'too young to quit school' but the first thing Scott had done was remove him. (Yeah, ok technically he was still at school online.)

He was too young to have a pilot's licence but old enough to fly a space ship.

Balancing his school work with his learning for iR was difficult at best. For the first three years after his dad disappeared he simply learnt, still too young to fly at 13. By the time he was 15 Scott and John had decided he was old enough to take Three out with company. Even though he still was too young for a pilot's licence.

He loved flying with Kayo. She didn't treat him as too young, even if she occasionally thought she was babysitting him. In fact, he really liked Kayo. And yeah – he probably was too young for that.

Now, though. Now he wished he was too young. Too young to be out on this mission. To be young enough to still be at home.

But he was not too young. He was an iR operative.

He was a Tracy.

Never give up.

So he thought and he planned and he talked with Kayo – he had no-one else to help him. He planned and thought and acted.

And they survived.

And they got home.

And he was not too young to be a hero.

And he was not too old to be hugged.

He was just right.

NOTE:

A nod to episode Slingshot, and that afterwards Alan used Three on his own.