Author's Note - Well I did plead not to be flamed too quick and I think it's more dangerous writing on the Fan Fic site than IR going out on rescues. However I'll continue anyway! This is a story I'd like to be told. mcj
CHAPTER 11 - FAMILY COMMITMENT
THE BIRTH OF LUCY TRACY - PART TWO - FEAR
"Johnny. Come on son. You and Gordon did your best." Jeff Tracy soothed patting his distraught son on the back as he looked remorsefully at his three other sons who either sat or stood in silence in various positions around the room.
The debriefing continued.
Jeff Tracy's voice was gentle and sympathetic as his middle son stood with his back to his brothers looking out at the ocean. He knew John was on the verge of tears again. John heaved an emotional sigh and leaned his head against the window. His china blue eyes could only see the lifeless bodies of the two young boys who had died minutes before he and Gordon had reached them. They also saw the face of the boy's mother as he had said how dreadfully sorry he was that they had not made it in time.
"Dad you weren't out there. They were only kids." he whispered in despair. "We should have gotten to them. If only we could have worked a little faster."
His voice shook as he tried to control his see-sawing emotions.
"I worked as fast as I could Johnny." Virgil said quietly. "We nearly made it. The kids were still OK when the mole broke through thanks to Brains. He did those new calculations which got us in there faster. It's only…"
"It's only what Virg?" John asked turning to face him. "Are you saying I was too slow getting down there or something? Because if that's what you mean, just come right out and say it to me."
"John." Scott's voice boomed with almost the same authority as his Father's." That's not what Virgil is saying at all."
"Well what is he saying Scott?" John interjected. "You tell me then."
Scott folded his arms and leaned against the wall looking his younger brother. He knew John would react like this. John took everything personally. He always did but if the truth was known he wasn't the only one feeling that way at the moment.
"Virg is saying that at least we brought ourselves some extra time. The new equipment obviously would have made it quicker too but there is still an element of doubt in my mind as to whether it would have mattered how fast we got through. The water came up too fast in that shaft to reach those kids before the mine flooded."
Jeff Tracy watched the emotional exchange between his four assembled sons.
Scott showed no emotion as usual. He simply assessed the situation for what it was worth and made no excuses for anything. He was so like him.
Virgil was sitting there only commenting when he knew it was necessary for him to do so. He was astute and so like his mother in more than just looks.
John was ever prepared to shoulder the blame. It was the nature of his middle son.
Gordon said nothing at all. He never did if he couldn't make a joke of it and there was certainly nothing funny about this situation.
This was the harsh reality of a hands-on rescue that had failed and it was never more evident than right now between the four walls of Jeff Tracy's study. International Rescue needed to re-group and analyse the reason for its failure…again.
Jeff cleared his throat and stood up to his full height as he addressed his sons.
"I think what we should all be focussing on is the fact that the mole got through earlier this time and by the looks of things, the new equipment will work once we have it. Is that fair comment Brains?"
Brains nodded from where he was standing silently in the corner of the room.
"Y..Yes. M…Mr Tracy. V…V…Very promising."
"Mmm. Good then." he said almost to himself. "Scott, could Thunderbird One's flight time have been improved?"
"No Dad." Scott replied shaking his head. "I gained five minutes this time.
"Thunderbird Two?"
"No Dad." Virgil replied. "I made good time and landed ahead of schedule."
"What about unloading the pod?"
"Handled three minutes faster than the first mine Dad."
Jeff Tracy shrugged.
"Alan radioed straight in from Thunderbird Five when he got the call so we can't blame inefficiency in our response times then. Hopefully the new equipment will right things won't it Brains?"
"Y…Yes M…Mr Tracy. It s…should."
"That's provided we get the new equipment." Virgil stressed with a little too much emphasis on the "get" for his Father's liking.
"Virgil you'll get the equipment." Jeff Tracy said firmly.
"Dad we need the tools to do the job now." Scott flashed. "I for one am sick of leaving Tracy Island without the right equipment to succeed."
He hated failure and all the insecurity that went with it and it wasn't their fault that they had failed again. Even if Tin-Tin had finished the calculations last week, the design would still have been only in the production stage. They wouldn't have had the equipment to use anyway.
But they still didn't even have the design and that bothered Scott a great deal.
"Scott I'll see to it that you have the equipment within the month." his Father promised hearing the agitation in his eldest son's voice. He was feeling agitated too but if Tin-Tin wouldn't step down what could he do?
"We can't even get a blasted design! How can we get the equipment?" Scott replied starting to pace up and down.
"I'll have the design in my hand by this evening Scott." Jeff Tracy assured him confidently. "Leave the production of it to me. Tracy Enterprises in Tokyo can manufacture the separate components as an urgent order and I'll have them here in a few weeks. Now I want you to all have something to eat and then go and try to get some sleep. We've done the best we could and I'm sorry that things didn't work out how we'd hoped. But we need to move forward as a result of this so I'm asking you not to dwell on it.
All four Tracy brothers looked at each other uneasily. How could their Father guarantee the design tonight when he had been promising it for over three weeks without success?
As they all turned to leave the study, Jeff called Brains back to his desk.
"Brains. I'm afraid I'll need you in the Lab with Tin-Tin once you've rested up a bit."
"I…I gathered that M…M…Mr Tracy." he stammered.
Jeff looked at him in the same direct way as he had looked at Tin-Tin.
"Do whatever you have to do to get the designs finished."
"Y…Yes Sir. "
"You obviously understand where I am coming from don't you son?"
"I...I... Yes."
Jeff nodded. "Thank you Brains and I'm sorry I have to push you like this."
Brains looked nervously at Scott as they left the room together.
What had he said to Tin-Tin?
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Scott Tracy allowed himself to release an emotional sigh as he stood under the steaming hot water. Wearily he washed his exhausted body as he dwelled on International Rescue's last failure in the field.
Failure. The most reviled word in his vocabulary
The Air Force was never like this. He hadn't failed in the Air Force.
He flew the mission. He excelled during it. He out- manoeuvered everyone. He returned with the mission accomplished and more often than not he was decorated for it.
Four years in Red Flag as the undoubted master of the air. He had never ever failed.
"Nineteen people now." he reflected. "Two of them only kids. All because of equipment or rather the lack of it. This can't be happening to me. I hate failure."
He began to scrub himself more vigorously as if trying to rid his body of the unwanted experience.
He ran his hands through his dark curly hair and yawned. He felt so tired from the flight and the rescue co-ordination. He could hardly wait to get some sleep. He had only had three hours sleep in the past thirty-two hours.
"A man has to be crazy doing this." he said out loud before lifting his face to allow the water to run over it. The warmth and sensation of it was starting to make him feel half decent again.
His thoughts turned to Tin-Tin and what his father had just said during the debriefing. Tin-Tin obviously had been set a dead-line. He could read his Father like a book. Well he would have set her one too by now if it were him.
She was such an independent young woman. She had been fiercely independent even as a child but she was worse now.
He had noticed a change in Tin-Tin's attitude to her work since she had married Alan. She had been working harder and more autonomously of Brains.
She valued her role in International Rescue and was painfully aware that his Father didn't approve of her mixing her job with her personal life. Scott supposed that by pushing herself like she was, she was hoping to prove something to his Father. Prove what he didn't know. They all respected her ability.
However, ability or not she was about to give birth to her first child and Scott felt she really needed to step aside for a while and just be Alan's wife. At least until after the baby came and she got back to normal.
"She'd tell me I was a chauvinist for thinking that." he mused. "And perhaps I am. In this case it's warranted."
His Father didn't appear to want to broach the subject with her. He couldn't work that out either given he was so direct about everything else. Perhaps by his ultimatum he was forcing her to broach it with herself.
"Yep, that's what this would be all about. " he thought. "Dad's making her admit to herself that she can't cope at the moment. He is too damned subtle. If it were me I'd just tell her I couldn't wait any longer and ask her to hand the job over to Brains to complete. She shouldn't be working at this late stage anyway."
He had spoken to Brains briefly about his concerns on the journey home. Scott was always at his most direct when he was tired, stressed or disappointed. As he headed home in Thunderbird One he was all three and Brains had had the misfortune to be with him.
Scott pointed out that as Tin-Tin's role wasn't pivotal at the moment she should be resting. He then said bluntly that it was clearly obvious to him that Brains needed to finish the designs himself to avoid any more delay. He reminded him that he had pulled the required calculations together in only minutes during the failed rescue.
Brains had reddened and stammered.
"I..It's n..not that e..easy Scott."
"Why not? You're a blasted genius Brains" he had said. "We need the equipment and you're the Engineer. Just ask Tin-Tin to move over on this one. "
Brains had seemed unwilling to ask Tin-Tin to do that and when Scott questioned him as to why not, it all came tumbling out of him and was down to one thing.
She didn't want him to do the calculations and he didn't want to upset her by insisting that he did. Brains knew that anyone who upset Tin-Tin these days would unleash a force Tracy Island had never had to deal with before until recently. One he didn't want to particularly deal with.
Hurricane Alan.
The argumentative young man who was Alan Tracy had now turned into a man not to be argued with especially if the subject revolved around Tin-Tin.
However Scott knew even Alan wouldn't approve of Tin-Tin being in that lab right now. He tried to tell Brains that. Brains shook his head warily. Tin-Tin had to make the choice herself he insisted. If she did then he would step in. There was no way he wanted to deal with the possibility of Alan siding with her, not with the temper he had.
Scott now truly understood his Father's reasoning for not wanting them to mix their work with their relationships. It was too hard to keep things seperate and that was more than painfully obvious at the moment with Tin-Tin and Alan.
"My wife won't ever be working for the old man that's for sure." he thought with determination. "That is if I ever get to have one."
His thoughts turned to Adelaide. She worked for his Father. But then he knew she was never going to be his wife.
He hadn't seen her for seven months now, not since Alan had taken over the business presence in New York. Alan commented that she often asked after him.
"Have you two got a thing going on or something?" Alan had asked jokingly.
He had swallowed his feelings as he felt his father's eyes on him.
"Don't be stupid. You know as well as I do that the woman's married." he replied with difficulty. "I'm not getting into that Alan no matter how good she looks"
"Yeah well you would be if she wasn't married I bet. The way she talks about you big brother... "
"Alan that's enough!" he had snapped and when Alan looked at him with surprise all he had wanted to do was grab him by the shoulders and shout at him. "If only you knew what I've lost in that woman. And you …you've got it all with Tin-Tin and you didn't even really want it."
Since his Father had spoken to him about his affair with Adelaide he had been forced to seek female companionship elsewhere on the mainland and he hated every minute of the urgency and selfishness of it all. He hated meeting an attractive, interesting woman in a nightclub knowing full well that he only intended for her to serve one purpose for him. The vessel for his physical release. And he always got what he wanted. Afterall who wouldn't willingly go to bed with him when he introduced himself as Scott Tracy, the billionaire's eldest son? Heir to a fortune.
This wasn't what he wanted. Sex might be what he needed but love was what he wanted. After watching Alan and Tin-Tin together he knew he really wanted his own wife, not a series of meaningless one night stands during a brief period of shore leave. Shore leave he needed to allow himself to let off steam. And it wasn't just him. All his brothers were going through the same hell.
All except for Alan of course.
He hated it when Alan put his arms around Tin-Tin in front of him and stole an affectionate kiss from her lips. He hated going to bed at nights knowing his baby brother was probably making love to her down the hallway and the affectionate kisses would now be powerful and passionate. He hated seeing Alan acting like the husband he had wanted to be to Adelaide.
More than anything he hated the fact that they were expecting their own child.
"I should have given Dad his first grandchild, not Alan." he thought unhappily. "If Addy wouldn't have done that to our baby I would have. We'd have had a beautiful little two year old now and I'd have been one happy man."
He sighed again and turned off the shower. He stepped out and reached for the towel.
"But I am not happy."
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"Brains. I didn't hear you come in." Tin-Tin said wearily looking up at the slightly built young man who peered over her shoulder.
"S..sorry. err..T..Tin-Tin." he stammered as he ran his eyes over her calculations. He was relieved. They looked accurate. She saw him scanning her work. He reddened as he realised he had been caught.
"Have you been debriefing with Mr. Tracy?"
"Uh.. yeah." he replied and squirmed in the uncomfortable silence that followed.
"Brains they're nearly done." she finally said quietly knowing full well that Jeff Tracy would have requested he check on her. "If I didn't have this wretched headache they'd be done now."
"I...I...can finish them for you if you l..like." he offered.
"No... you've been up all night Brains. I'll do them."
"T..Tin-Tin I...I really feel that you should be r...resting if you're not feeling w...well."
"I'm just tired Brains. All right?"
"W..well I ...I...c...can finish them so you can sleep."
"Brains don't you and Mr. Tracy think I'm capable of doing it?"she suddenly snapped much to his horror. His stuttering worsened as he realised he had unintentionally upset her. He remembered Alan's temper.
"N..n...n...no T...T....Tin-Tin. T...that's n...n...n...not what I m...mean. I...I..."
He stopped talking to compose himself. Tin-Tin's looked at him expectantly.All he could imagine was Alan demanding to know why he had upset Tin-Tin.
He swallowed and began again.
"No err Tin-Tin. I think w..what you've d..done looks fine.I..I thought you'd w..welcome the h...help."
Tin-Tin instantly regretted what she had said. It was unusual for her to snap like that and she knew he was only trying to help. He was such a sweet, gentle man. He had taught her many things since International Rescue had started and now all she could do was take everything out on him.
Her frustration with being heavily pregnant and hardly able to move. Her unhappiness with Alan being away from home so much. Her gut feeling that Jeff Tracy really didn't approve of the two of them being married because of their work in International Rescue. Her anxiousness that he perceived she couldn't do her job at all.
And this dreadful headache.
Brain's face blurred in front of her as she gave him an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry Brains." she said. "I didn't mean that. I haven't been myself lately. Of course I could use your help. Thank you for offering."
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He had had enough of her interference and if she kept going on much longer he was going to tell her so too.
Jeff Tracy listened to his mother berating him for the third time in less than twenty-four hours. Now she was on about Tin-Tin's missed Doctor's appointment. Did she ever let up?
"No Mother. I'm not waking Scott, John or Virgil. It's a six hour flight there and six hours back. Scott and Virgil are both over mandatory flight time and John is too cut up about those kids to fly anywhere."
"Well what about you then?"
" I haven't had any sleep either, otherwise I would gladly take her."
Josie Tracy eyed her only son with a face of thunder.
"Well I suggest you get the Doctor out here then." she demanded.
"Obstetricians don't make house calls Mother. They're not like Dr. Porter. Please don't worry about young Tin-Tin. I'll see to it that she goes in first thing in the morning." he assured her as he began to tidy his papers.
"I'd fly her myself if I could and I know Alan would too if he was here where he should be ." Josie flashed.
"And what's that supposed to mean mom?" he asked in an agitated tone.
"You know darned well what it means Jeff. Do you need me to spell it out for you?"
"No I don't thank you."
He knew what she meant all right. She wanted Alan returned from Thunderbird Five. She'd been at him about it for over two weeks now. He had reminded her she was forgetting that her other grandson needed some consideration too. She had then insisted that he automate the satellite. He swore she had an answer for everything.
"Mother. I only automate when it's a real emergency. This is not an emergency situation except perhaps to you."
She didn't want Alan going to New York either. Alan's place was with Tin-Tin according to her. Jeff reminded her that he had travelled extensively on business when Lucy had been pregnant with John, Gordon and Alan. Lucy had been fine about it. What was the problem?
"Hmmph yes you travelled all right and she might have said she was fine about it but look what happened with Gordon? Poor girl had to face that frightening birth all on her own. Have you forgotten how bad you felt about that back then Jeff? I think that you have."
She was driving him crazy and he was going to crack soon if he didn't force himself to remain in check. But he had long since realised the best way to get his mother on side was to agree with her and he was trying to do that now.
"Mom. Please settle down. I'll make sure she's on the plane the moment Scott wakes up. I don't want anything to happen to her anymore than you do."
"Hmmph doesn't seem that way to me."
"Why are you saying that?"
"Well there's no guessing what Tin-Tin is doing at the moment and who she is doing it for."
"Now before you accuse me of chaining her to the desk again let me say that she told me she was feeling fine today. I asked her myself."
"Asked her? As if she'd say she wasn't fine with you staring her down and needing things done. She'd do anything for you that child even lie about how she's feeling.
Jeff Tracy did not want to hear any more but it looked like he was going to anyway. He was going to put his mother in her place soon.
"Mother." he said quietly and in a dangerous voice."I have wanted her to stand down for two months now and I've certainly hinted at it enough. If Tin-Tin won't stand down I am not going to expect her to but I can expect her to do her work if that's the case. Now she told me she was OK and if my Assistant Engineer says she is OK, then she is OK. If she had said she wasn't OK my Assistant Engineer would not be working. She would be resting as you say."
"Oh wake up to yourself Jeff. She's not just your Assistant Engineer. She's your son's wife and you know it." Josie said tiredly. Jeff was so mule-headed sometimes. Tunnel vision that's what he had.
"She is my Assistant Engineer in matters to do with this Organisation mother."
"All right so she is. So what? She is also the mother of your grandchild whether she's in that lab or out of it. Do you really think those things change?"
That was it. He couldn't take it anymore.
"Mother please! I know you're worried about her and I'm sorry it looks to you like I don't care for her well-being. Just for the record I do care very much. However I'll say to you that at the moment she has a job to do and if she can't do it then she should offer to step down and let Brains get on with it."
The two of them looked at each other discontentedly before Josie Tracy turned on her heel to leave the room in a huff.
"Yes well I have a job to do too. I'd better help Kyrano with dinner or you'll be telling me to step down next."
As his mother disappeared into the kitchen Jeff Tracy sat down at his desk and shook his head.
How in the blazes had his Father put up with her?
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Brains carefully checked the last component of the design for the new equipment. The whole design was brilliant even if he had to say so himself. This would be one efficient piece of machinery when it was put together.
"T..Tin-Tin. T..The whole thing i...is t..top n...notch."
She opened her eyes and lifted her head from the desk . She looked up at him trying to focus. All this close work had affected her vision. That was better. She could see him now...but this head...boy it hurt...it was like a migraine now.
"I'm glad about that." she said with relief and after a short pause she added quietly, "Brains...thank you for helping me out."
Brains reddened again. She didn't have to thank him. She'd done most of the work herself.
"W..we should g..give this to M...Mr Tracy straight away."
She tried to look at the clock on the wall to check she had met the deadline. It was all a blur.
"Brains." she said squinting as her vision failed to come back into focus. "What time is it?"
"T...Tin-Tin. C..can't you see the clock?"
She looked again.
"Yeah of course I can. It's seven thirty. Sorry Brains. I guess I mustn't have looked properly. I must really need to catch up on some sleep. If you don't mind can you please put in my apology for dinner. Tell everyone I have gone to bed."
"Y...you h...haven't eaten m...much today T...Tin-Tin."
"No I'm not hungry Brains. It's OK."
With that she turned and left the laboratory. As she ascended to her apartment she leaned her body into the corner of the elevator and rested her head on the wall.
She really didn't feel well at all.
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"These are great Brains!" Jeff Tracy enthused flipping from one page to the other. "Just what the Doctor ordered for this Organisation. "
"Y..Yes M..Mr Tracy. T..They are w...what you n..need I think."
"They certainly are. You have done a fine job as always young fellow."
"Errr... not just me Sir. T...Tin-Tin did most of the c...calculations. Brains replied modestly.
"Of course she did." Jeff acknowledged. "Where is she and I'll thank her myself Brains."
"S...She asked to be excused M...Mr Tracy. S...She isn't feeling very well at the m...moment. I... I have a f...feeling that her blood p..pressure may be a little h...high."
"Mmm. I'll look in on her later then." he frowned feeling more than a little guilty about the deadline he'd set but justifying it to himself all the same now that he held the designs in his hand. "She has a Doctor's appointment in the morning so I suppose that will be picked up then."
"Y...Yeah. B..bed rest is the best o...option."
"And she was going up to bed?"
"Yeah."
"Good then. If that's the case I'll leave her be."
After dinner Jeff Tracy contacted Hank Davies in New York. He requested Hank to arrange the production of the components of the design. He spoke to him for nearly an hour regarding his requirements. Hank gave him an undertaking he would have the parts for Virgil's "new toy" as Jeff described it delivered within two weeks. Hank knew Virgil designed machinery as his role in Tracy Enterprises. He also knew that if Jeff Tracy set a deadline for delivery of anything, he expected it to be met.
Then the conversation switched to Alan. Jeff had decided to concede to his Mother's continual harrassment regarding Alan coming home to be with his wife. She had nagged him all through dinner again and he had caved in about New York but not Thunderbird Five.
"Uh Hank. I've decided that I am not going to send Alan over next week. Is that going to be a problem?"
Hank looked surprised. Jeff had told him Alan would be working in New York for at least one week a month for the next twelve months.
"No. Anything the matter Jeff?" he enquired.
"No. Just family matters." Jeff replied. "Young boy's wife is due to have their child soon."
"Oh? I didn't know about that Jeff."
"No." Jeff said carefully. "Well you know how it is with me Hank. Family business is best kept private. A lot of worries if too many people know the Tracy's business."
Hank understood. The Tracy family received enough publicity as it was. Five eligible bachelors, or four now by the sounds of things, their father dripping with money. A baby would pose new fears Hank supposed.The kidnapping fears. The media circus. Jeff Tracy was an astute man even if he didn't leave his island that often.
"So your son's wife is well?"
"Yes Hank. She's fine thank you." Jeff replied confidently despite the ill-ease in the pit of his stomach. "Lovely girl. She'll make a fine mother. She definitely has that son of mine by the scruff of his neck these days."
"The baby's a boy?" Hank enquired.
"No doubt it will be. That's what we've come to expect here." Jeff replied drawing on past experiences of his son's births, some of them not so memorable when the sex of the baby was revealed. He still remembered Lucy's disappointment with John. "You promised me a girl Jeff" she had said. "This one doesn't even look like a Tracy."
No girl for six generations. A boy was a pretty safe bet despite all those voices he thought he had heard a few months back.
"Well the Tracy dynasty looks like living on then Jeff."
"Mmm. I guess so." he shrugged in response.
"Wish Alan all the best from me. I gather you'll be sending one of the other boys in his place?"
"Yes. Scott will most likely be over."
Hank laughed.
"I must tell Adelaide. She'll be thrilled. It's been months since the two of them have seen each other."
Jeff Tracy's features hardened as he said.
"Adelaide is married Hank and my son is now aware of that. "
In Hank's stunned silence Jeff added. "And I am more than unhappy about the fact that she is married too."
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She was awakened by a dreadful pain which pierced through her abdomen like a knife. She lay there for a few minutes in the dark room trying to focus her eyes to read the time on the clock. Her head pounded and every beat of her heart slammed into her brain like a sledge hammer.
The pain was extremely intense.
"Maybe I'm going into labor." she thought as she clutched her body. "The Doctor said the pain will come and go. This doesn't seem to be going away yet. God it hurts. What a long contraction."
She continued to lie there, still unable to focus. The pain in her head made her feel sick.
"I haven't been sick for months now." she reflected. "I'd forgotten how awful it made me feel."
She rolled over on her side and almost cried out as she felt the pain throughout her body. Her head, her shoulders, her abdomen.
She stroked her swollen stomach..
"Lucy Josephine please don't decide you need to come now. Daddy isn't here and I need him to be if I have to go through this for you. I'm really scared of giving birth. Please don't come now little girl."
Usually when she stroked her abdomen gently her daughter would kick in response. There was no movement this time.
Tin-Tin thought back for a few minutes as to when she had last felt her baby move.
"This morning was the last time." she worried. "When I asked her to stop."
A slight feeling of dread came over her as she tried to roll to a more comfortable position. The movement really hurt her.
Her eyes looked at the clock. Thank goodness she could see it now. One thirty in the morning. She wondered if Alan would be up. She could try to call.
"Why can't you be here now Alan. I need you." she whispered starting to cry. "We both need you. "
The pain continued and the nausea worsened. She cried silently. She was going to have to wake someone soon.
"Little one please don't do this to me. I'm all alone and I'm really afraid.I don't know if you are coming or not and I can't do this without your Daddy."
Her mind flashed back to when she was twelve years old. The day she had become a woman. She had been all alone then too and really afraid.
She had cried but knew crying wouldn't stop what had happened. Her Father had indicated this was going to happen but said she would be older. Alan had been with her when it did. She had almost died of embarrassment and so had he.
She had decided to approach Josie Tracy for help.
Josie had hugged her and told her not to cry because it was a wonderful thing that had happened to her. She would now be able to have her own babies one day and make some very lucky young man a Father.
"I know it must be hard growing up without your mother sweetie." she had said gently. "And it's harder when this happens. Don't worry. No-one in this house will know about it from my lips."
But Alan had known and Alan had teased her. She had hated him so much back then. Whenever she couldn't go swimming with him he would raise his eyebrows and scoff.
"That again huh? "
She hadn't even been able to have a bad day in her teens. If she snapped at him he would say in front of everyone.
"What is it that time of the month again? "
Now it was Alan she was going to make a Father soon as a result of becoming a woman back then. Alan of all people.
As the pain continued and she knew something had to be drastically wrong. This wasn't labor. She needed to ask for help again and she knew who she could rely on.
Josie Tracy.
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She hadn't slept well ever since her grandson had gone to Thunderbird Five worrying about what would happen around here if Tin-Tin went into labor. That baby was due soon and San Diego was a long way off if things happened quickly.
Josie Tracy opened her eyes and looked at the bedside clock. Quarter to two in the morning. She lay awake thinking.
"The men in this household have got absolutely no idea about women. Even Kyrano and Jeff. Five times Jeff he went through this and he still can't see the sense in planning. I'll certainly be happier when young Alan returns at the end of the week to be Tin-Tin. Go to New York indeed. How brainless is that son of mine sometimes. I'm glad I put a stop to that. "
Was that a knock she had just heard? She hoped not. A knock on her door in the middle of the night could only mean trouble at the moment. There it was again!
"Come in." she said turning on her night lamp and looking towards the door.
The door did not open.
"I said come in. I'm decent enough."
The door still did not open. Tin-Tin swayed on her feet as she stood outside. She felt like she was going to collapse.
Josie became alarmed and opened the door herself.
There before her stood Tin-Tin in a dreadful state. Her pretty face was swollen and tears streamed down it. She held her head with one hand and her body with the other. She leaned against the wall crying softly.
"Oh no…Tin-Tin… sweetie are you all right?" she whispered in alarm.
"I don't think I am Mrs. Tracy," she said as her lips trembled. "I can't take this pain in my head any more and I think the baby's coming. Please get Alan for me."
Josie took her arm and motioned her to the bed.
"Lie down here sweetie. We'll check your blood pressure. Come on. Don't cry now. Shh…"
" Please Mrs.Tracy I feel so sick and the baby isn't moving anymore. I need Alan."
"Shhh....We'll get Alan for you. Lie still while I do this first."
Her eyes widened in panic as the reading continued to rise. 190/120. Dear God that would blow the side out of Tracy island!
"Is your pain coming and going sweetie?" she asked trying not to sound alarmed.
"I don't know. I mean …no. Please get Alan." she whispered.
"Sweetie you must tell me. How long have you had this pain?"
"Only today."
"And in your head?"
"Days Mrs. Tracy. It's from all the work with Brains."
Josie Tracy really was starting to panic now.
"Dear it's Grandma and all of this is not from your work. It's your body telling you there is something wrong with your baby. Stay here. I'll wake your father."
Josie Tracy frantically tapped on the door of Kyrano's apartments. He came quickly. He had not been sleeping well either worrying about his daughter.
"It is time?" he asked preparing to worry.
"No...No Kyrano. I don't think it is. Just come with me. Quickly now. I think it is serious."
"What is serious Mrs. Tracy? Is there a problem? With my daughter?"
"Kyrano please just come. Tin-Tin is in a terrible state up there. She's asking me to get Alan."
"I will get my robe."
"Forget your robe. Your daughter needs you. I've got to wake Jeff. We're in big trouble here."
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````Jeff Tracy tried not to sound like he was panicking but he sure as hell was. His mother had said she didn't think Tin-Tin was in labor but she needed a Doctor in a big hurry.
"Mom. I'll call Doctor Porter in immediately. He can be here in a few hours."
Josie Tracy paced the floor shaking her head and biting on her thumbnail.
"Jeff I don't think we should be messing around with this. I don't like it. I'm no Doctor but I don't need to be one to see there's something radically wrong with that little girl up there. She's got a blood pressure reading that's past dangerous, bad pain I've never seen in a pregnant girl and the swelling can't all be that baby of hers. I'm contacting her Obstetrician right this minute."
"Yes mom. Do that. I'll wake Scott in case we need him."
His hand wavered on the link to Thunderbird Five. His thoughts turned to his youngest son and pictured the expected reaction. No. Not yet. He would not contact Alan yet.
He woke his eldest son instead.
Ten minutes later Scott stood in his pyjama bottoms in the lounge room. His dark blue eyes met his father's across the desk as they waited for Josie to finish her call.
"Don't panic Dad." Scott said unexpectedly.
"I'm not." he said.
"Yes you are."
"I'm a military man. You're a military man. Military men don't panic."
"You're panicking Dad."
"I'm not!"
"Have you told Alan yet?"
"Not yet."
"Thank God for that. Then you'd both be panicking."
"I'm not panicking Scott. Here's your grandmother now. Mother what did the Doctor say?"
Josie Tracy looked at her son and her eldest Grandson with fear. She would never need to speak with any more authority than she was about to right now.
"Get your sons out of bed now Jeff." she thundered gravely." I'm telling you no-one in this world needs International Rescue more than your own family right now."
Jeff Tracy felt as though she had punched him in the stomach. He had never heard her speak like that. Woodenly he reached for the console to summon John, Virgil and Gordon. His eyes never left hers.
"Mom. What did he say?" he asked quietly as Scott fled the lounge to change his clothes.
"The Doctor thinks she's developed some condition he called Pre-Eclampsia. I have heard of it but I don't exactly understand about it. The Doctor told me something I sure as hell did understand though. This thing can kill both of them."
Her eyes filled with tears as she looked helplessly at her son.
"Oh Jeff." she whispered as Virgil, John and Gordon entered the lounge asking what the emergency was this time. "He's asked for her to be flown to the mainland immediately to see if they can deliver the baby by Caesarean section."
Jeff Tracy simply stood there frozen as his sons looked at each other in shocked silence waiting for him to react.
The caesarean section…nearly losing his son…losing Lucy in the prime of her life. Seeing her beautiful eyes close for the last time as he held her. Being left alone to cope.
It couldn't be allowed to happen again. Not to his son. Not to the son he had nearly lost himself.
He had never forgotten that feeling of uselessness and inadequacy as Lucy lay there in front of him screaming in agony while all everyone around him did was panic. He still saw Lucy's face twisted in pain as she endured the shocking experience of being cut open to get Alan out of her before she was fully anaesthetised. It had been the caesarean section that had cost the Tracy children their mother and him the most special and precious person in his life.
As his mind reeled back in time, he felt himself actually gasp for air as the core of his heart opened up like it had been cruelly and brutally cut in half with a knife. In that split second it let go of every emotion, every feeling, every memory he had tried so hard to forget for the past twenty-one years. Memories of pain and denial carefully chained and buried behind a smoke screen of paper and overwork.
Overwork eased his pain. Overwork helped him forget for a while how much he had loved her, how much he still missed her and how dreadfully lonely he was without her.
Overwork had helped him cope over the years but it hadn't eased it all.
Nothing could take away the guilt. The guilt of being a man who had watched his best friend give up her life for the baby he had not meant to give her.
He closed his eyes and breathed her name. "Lucy" as his heart continued to bleed from within.
The baby she had died for was now in the same position as he had been. Alan's best friend lay upstairs facing the threat of losing her life too. For the baby he had not meant to give her either.
Jeff Tracy knew if he didn't get a hold of himself soon Alan could end up like him.
No young man should ever be forced to go through what he had gone through …and Alan was fourteen years younger than he had been.
"Dad?"
It was Scott. The little nine year old who had supported him all those years ago and given him the strength to pull himself together.
Scott stood in front of him ready to fly out. At the sight of him Jeff Tracy again found the strength to pull himself together. His voice rumbled with iron discipline.
"Scott. John. Go and get your brother."
"I'll get my things Dad." said John spinning quickly on his heel to head upstairs.
His Father called him back.
"John you can't stay up there. You're going to have to be the one to bring your brother back. Under no circumstances is Alan to take control of that Thunderbird. That kid will go crazy and kill himself with the speed it can reach."
John nodded, imagining his little brother demanding to take the controls. Alan wasn't scared of speed but he'd be scared for Tin-Tin. Alan would do something stupid for sure. His Father was right.
Jeff turned to Scott.
"For God's sake keep him calm Scott. He may have to make some decisions that will affect his whole life after he gets back here. I'll fly Tin-Tin to San Diego myself in case I have to make those decisions with him."
"No Mr. Tracy!" a sharp direct voice said from behind him. "I am Tin-Tin's Father. I will make any decision regarding her."
The two men looked each other in the eyes. The eyes of the Retainer and the eyes of the Billionaire, locked as a result of their children's love for each other. Kyrano's daughter… his only daughter. Jeff Tracy's son...one of five.
Jeff nodded and barked in a military voice he hadn't used since he had been in the Air Force. "Well Kyrano get ready to move yourself out."
Virgil swallowed.
"Dad, you can't take her in Tracy One. It's too slow."
"I'm not going in Tracy One. I'm taking Thunderbird One and I need you to come with me to bring her back to base. Scott will fly Alan in once he gets back from the satellite."
"But we can't land in the hospital grounds. The security Dad…"
"We'll worry about handling security when we get in the air Virgil."
Virgil bit his lip and turned to Scott. Scott was shaking his head.
"No Dad…let me fly her. I'm her pilot. I can push her faster and I can deal with the security."
"Scott's right Dad. "Virgil agreed. "I'll co-pilot with John."
"All of you stop arguing with me. I can fly these machines better than all of you. Scott I need you to go with John, not Virgil. Alan might listen to you. Now both of you get going. Push her to maximum speed if you have to but I want Alan back before they take that baby."
"Yes Sir."
Scott and John almost ran to the couch. Jeff Tracy boomed.
"Scott."
Scott turned back to his Father.
"Yes Sir?"
"Make sure you radio Gordon when you are only ten minutes out of Thunderbird Five. That's all the time Alan needs to automate the satellite. No more."
Scott nodded. He understood perfectly. He didn't want Alan told anything until they had almost reached him.
Jeff Tracy turned to his red-haired son who stood swallowing hard. He knew his Father was going to give him the worst job of all. Telling Alan.
"Gordon."
"Yes Sir."
"There are three calls to be made. I'll make the first one. You need to make the other two."
"All right Sir."
"Jeff! I'm going with you."
It was his mother.
"No Mom not now. Please see to Tin-Tin for me and make sure she has everything."
Josie Tracy set her own jaw determinedly. If Jeff Tracy ever wondered where he got his own stubborn look , it was there for him to see now.
"This baby is everything to me. The hell you'll order me around."
Their confrontation was drowned out by Thunderbird Three's engines as they echoed in the villa preparing for lift off. The sound of the huge engines whirring into life drove home the fact to them all. This was a real emergency in their own family and there was no time to argue. Josie quietened.
"Please Mom. For once in your life just do as I ask. I need you to be here to see to Alan. You always know what to say to him. Scott will bring the two of you in together."
Josie nodded.
"All right son. I'll get her ready to leave. Virgil come and help Kyrano bring her down."
Jeff Tracy strode to the radio, motioning Gordon to listen.
THE FIRST CALL
He identified himself as Jeff Tracy, billionaire and asked to be put through to the Chief of Medical Staff. He was put through immediately. Everyone in San Diego knew who Jeff Tracy was and how much clout he had in political circles. He explained he had contacted International Rescue to ferry his seriously ill daughter-in-law to hospital. She was suffering with suspected Pre-Eclampsia. He had been told International Rescue's ETA was twenty minutes to him, forty minutes to the hospital.
The Chief of Staff had one hour. One hour to fulfil his request that the best surgeon and paediatrician in San Diego be standing on the tarmac for the arrival of International Rescue.
"My daughter-in-law's Obstetrician is already on his way." Jeff explained. "He will be there within the hour and believes she will require an immediate Caesarean Section."
"Mr. Tracy it's the middle of the night. I can't just rustle up the specialists of the calibre you want." the Head of Staff interjected.
"I don't care what it costs or what you have to do to get them. Just get them. If International Rescue can make themselves available for my daughter-in-law so can your specialists."
"I'll see what I can do Mr. Tracy." he replied. How much clout did Jeff Tracy really have if he had International Rescue assisting him?
"Thank you. You will no doubt hear from International Rescue regarding their security requirements direct."
As the call ended he looked up to see Virgil carrying Tin-Tin. The worry in Virgil's brown eyes said it all.
"Dad. We've got to take off. She's almost unconscious."
"Where the hell's Kyrano then?"
"I am ready to go Mr. Tracy."
Jeff turned back to Gordon.
"I am leaving you in charge of co-ordinating International Rescue's most important rescue of all Gordon. This is no joke son. These are the two calls you have to make in the order I tell you. Call the hospital from International Rescue. Cover the security issues. Then call your brother. I need you to tie up frequency five for at least forty minutes so I can keep in contact with Scott and John without him knowing."
Gordon felt stressed beyond belief. He'd always said he'd never have to be in charge of International Rescue. He was just the fourth son. The Aquanaut who enjoyed nothing more than giving his eldest brother a good-natured ribbing whenever he was in command. Why now? Why now when the lives of his favourite brother's wife and child were in danger.
"Dad what will I talk to Alan about?"
"I'm sure you can make your conversation last Gordon. You and your brother can talk about women for hours as I recall. Under no circumstances tell him about Tin-Tin. If he asks after her, and he will, tell him she's OK. When you hear from John that they are ten minutes out of Thunderbird Five tell him the truth."
"Dad, he'll go off the nut at me."
"Gordon if you told him the truth now, he'll do worse. He'll go off the rails. Please son. Do it my way for your brother's sake."
"Jeff please be careful this time."
It was Josie. The two of them looked at each other. No words needed to be said. They knew what had been lost before. They knew what could be lost again.
He bent to kiss her and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"Mom. No mistakes this time. Trust me. Make the call Gordon. I'm taking off."
Gordon Tracy sat uncomfortably at his Father's desk for the first time as head of International Rescue. He waited until Thunderbird One had disappeared on its course to San Diego. He reached for the console.
THE SECOND CALL
He identified himself as from International Rescue and asked to speak to the Chief of Medical Staff. He said he would be expecting the call as Jeff Tracy had contacted him earlier regarding assistance for his daughter-in-law.
"International Rescue now has Mrs. Tracy safely on board and is currently en route to the hospital." he explained
He asked where Thunderbird One could set down and what security concerns there would be. He pointed out that the Thunderbird was equipped with a sensitive camera detector and asked that the media not be advised. The words flowed from his lips. He guessed they should. He'd heard them often enough.
He went to ask regarding the Paediatrician and Surgeon his father had requested. He was really worried for Tin-Tin and needed to know she would be well cared for on her arrival. He would have liked to give his Father that assurance during flight. He wanted to be able to reassure Alan. He stopped himself before he made the fatal mistake of asking. That question would link International Rescue to Jeff Tracy.
He couldn't radio his Father. His instructions were to tie up frequency five. He knew his Father needed him to do it.
"Here goes then. Base to Thunderbird Five."
THE WORST CALL OF ALL
"This is Thunderbird Five."
Alan Tracy's tired face filled the screen but his features changed on seeing his red-haired brother.
"Hey man." he said. "How are you?"
Gordon put his feet up on his Father's desk and tried to act as he always did around Alan... or at least how he used to act before their altercation on the beach six months ago.
" I'm better than you by the looks of things. I've seen dead people look more alive than you at the moment."
"Don't let Dad hear you say anything about dead people for a while."
"He can't hear me. He's dead to the world himself. It's three am here you know."
"So why aren't you sleeping?"
"Can't."
"So you thought you'd do me a favour and wake me up."
"What are brothers for?"
"Are you sure Dad's asleep?"
"Yeah why?"
"Just checking."
"Why are you checking for? You gonna tell me something Dad's not supposed to hear?"
"No I want to talk to Tin-Tin. You could put me through on the frequency without him finding out."
"Alan Dad'll bust my ass if he finds out I did that."
"How's he gonna know?"
"The same way he finds out everything else he knows."
"How's that?"
"I dunno. That's the problem. Hey did you listen to that baseball game earlier tonight?"
"Yeah well what else is there to do stuck up here?"
The two of them discussed the game for over fifteen minutes. The two of them loved baseball.
The conversation turned to the failed rescue.
"It must have cut you up losing the kids Gordon."
"It cut Johnny up more."
"Guess so. John's not used to things like that. I am now after the disaster with the first mine. "
"I dunno Al. I don't think you ever get over seeing death or losing someone to it."
"You said you were over her."
"I was talking about John not me. You know how sensitive he is."
"You were talking about Jezz Gordo."
Gordon swallowed. Well his Father had said to talk. He may as well talk about that as anything else.
"Yeah well maybe I was. Does it really matter?"
"Sure it matters. I told you I'd listen if you wanted to talk to me. But since that day on the beach, you haven't wanted to talk to me."
"Alan you're not like you used to be anymore."
"I know I'm not but I couldn't stay the way I was and have Tin-Tin too. I had to change. Dad made me see that. "
"I dunno I kind of liked you wild. Do you regret it?"
"Only the fact that I have to be here and not there at the moment. I'm so scared she'll have to face giving birth without me. It's supposed to really hurt.
"Yeah I've heard that."
"I'll never forgive myself if I'm not there when it starts especially since Dad's still making me go to New York next week. He wants me to be a husband but he won't let me stay home long enough to do it. "
"Nope you're not going to New York. I heard him telling Hank Davies earlier. Grandma made him change his mind."
"That's wonderful news. Does Tin-Tin know?"
"Uh…I dunno."
"Gordo please let me talk to her. I'll take the wrap from Dad. I'll cop anything to be able to tell her that."
"Al she's asleep. She's really tired after finishing those designs."
"Why how long did she work on them?"
"Err…a long time."
"How long?"
"Um… about ten hours I think."
"What in the hell did she do something stupid like that for? I'd better check she's OK. Put me through to her Gordon please."
"Al…"
He saw the eyes of Scott's portrait flashing. Thank God! He had run out of excuses.
"Hang on a minute then Al I'll see if she'll answer." he said and changed frequencies.
"Gordo. This is Scott. We are less than ten minutes out of Thunderbird Five. Alan's got to automate the satellite now so we can get him back as quick as we can. Have you told him yet?"
"No Scott. Dad said I had to wait for you."
"Well tell him now. I'll be ready to take the frequency after you do."
"I don't know how to tell him Scott."
John's voice now echoed on the screen with real anxiety.
"Gordo just tell him buddy. If I get too much closer Alan will see Thunderbird Three for himself."
"And then we'll have some real panic on our hands." Scott added quietly.
"FAB guys."
He flicked the switch.
"Alan…There's something I ha …."
It was too late. Alan Tracy had already seen the huge red rocket ship hurtling towards the satellite. He knew it wasn't time for rotation. His face turned white and his eyes dilated with panic as he looked helplessly at his honey-eyed brother. He broke out into a cold sweat. He should have known.
Gordon had contacted him at three am in the morning when he hadn't done that for months. He had said he wanted to talk. They hadn't talked a lot since that day on the beach. The hell he wanted to talk. All he had wanted to do was keep him off Thunderbird Three's frequency.
"Gordo!" he almost screamed at his brother. "Please don't tell me there's something wrong with Tin-Tin! "
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Author's Note - Remember it's only fiction and I am simply trying to free my soul. NEXT CHAPTER - PART THREE OF THE BIRTH OF LUCY TRACY - TERROR
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CHAPTER 11 - FAMILY COMMITMENT
THE BIRTH OF LUCY TRACY - PART TWO - FEAR
"Johnny. Come on son. You and Gordon did your best." Jeff Tracy soothed patting his distraught son on the back as he looked remorsefully at his three other sons who either sat or stood in silence in various positions around the room.
The debriefing continued.
Jeff Tracy's voice was gentle and sympathetic as his middle son stood with his back to his brothers looking out at the ocean. He knew John was on the verge of tears again. John heaved an emotional sigh and leaned his head against the window. His china blue eyes could only see the lifeless bodies of the two young boys who had died minutes before he and Gordon had reached them. They also saw the face of the boy's mother as he had said how dreadfully sorry he was that they had not made it in time.
"Dad you weren't out there. They were only kids." he whispered in despair. "We should have gotten to them. If only we could have worked a little faster."
His voice shook as he tried to control his see-sawing emotions.
"I worked as fast as I could Johnny." Virgil said quietly. "We nearly made it. The kids were still OK when the mole broke through thanks to Brains. He did those new calculations which got us in there faster. It's only…"
"It's only what Virg?" John asked turning to face him. "Are you saying I was too slow getting down there or something? Because if that's what you mean, just come right out and say it to me."
"John." Scott's voice boomed with almost the same authority as his Father's." That's not what Virgil is saying at all."
"Well what is he saying Scott?" John interjected. "You tell me then."
Scott folded his arms and leaned against the wall looking his younger brother. He knew John would react like this. John took everything personally. He always did but if the truth was known he wasn't the only one feeling that way at the moment.
"Virg is saying that at least we brought ourselves some extra time. The new equipment obviously would have made it quicker too but there is still an element of doubt in my mind as to whether it would have mattered how fast we got through. The water came up too fast in that shaft to reach those kids before the mine flooded."
Jeff Tracy watched the emotional exchange between his four assembled sons.
Scott showed no emotion as usual. He simply assessed the situation for what it was worth and made no excuses for anything. He was so like him.
Virgil was sitting there only commenting when he knew it was necessary for him to do so. He was astute and so like his mother in more than just looks.
John was ever prepared to shoulder the blame. It was the nature of his middle son.
Gordon said nothing at all. He never did if he couldn't make a joke of it and there was certainly nothing funny about this situation.
This was the harsh reality of a hands-on rescue that had failed and it was never more evident than right now between the four walls of Jeff Tracy's study. International Rescue needed to re-group and analyse the reason for its failure…again.
Jeff cleared his throat and stood up to his full height as he addressed his sons.
"I think what we should all be focussing on is the fact that the mole got through earlier this time and by the looks of things, the new equipment will work once we have it. Is that fair comment Brains?"
Brains nodded from where he was standing silently in the corner of the room.
"Y..Yes. M…Mr Tracy. V…V…Very promising."
"Mmm. Good then." he said almost to himself. "Scott, could Thunderbird One's flight time have been improved?"
"No Dad." Scott replied shaking his head. "I gained five minutes this time.
"Thunderbird Two?"
"No Dad." Virgil replied. "I made good time and landed ahead of schedule."
"What about unloading the pod?"
"Handled three minutes faster than the first mine Dad."
Jeff Tracy shrugged.
"Alan radioed straight in from Thunderbird Five when he got the call so we can't blame inefficiency in our response times then. Hopefully the new equipment will right things won't it Brains?"
"Y…Yes M…Mr Tracy. It s…should."
"That's provided we get the new equipment." Virgil stressed with a little too much emphasis on the "get" for his Father's liking.
"Virgil you'll get the equipment." Jeff Tracy said firmly.
"Dad we need the tools to do the job now." Scott flashed. "I for one am sick of leaving Tracy Island without the right equipment to succeed."
He hated failure and all the insecurity that went with it and it wasn't their fault that they had failed again. Even if Tin-Tin had finished the calculations last week, the design would still have been only in the production stage. They wouldn't have had the equipment to use anyway.
But they still didn't even have the design and that bothered Scott a great deal.
"Scott I'll see to it that you have the equipment within the month." his Father promised hearing the agitation in his eldest son's voice. He was feeling agitated too but if Tin-Tin wouldn't step down what could he do?
"We can't even get a blasted design! How can we get the equipment?" Scott replied starting to pace up and down.
"I'll have the design in my hand by this evening Scott." Jeff Tracy assured him confidently. "Leave the production of it to me. Tracy Enterprises in Tokyo can manufacture the separate components as an urgent order and I'll have them here in a few weeks. Now I want you to all have something to eat and then go and try to get some sleep. We've done the best we could and I'm sorry that things didn't work out how we'd hoped. But we need to move forward as a result of this so I'm asking you not to dwell on it.
All four Tracy brothers looked at each other uneasily. How could their Father guarantee the design tonight when he had been promising it for over three weeks without success?
As they all turned to leave the study, Jeff called Brains back to his desk.
"Brains. I'm afraid I'll need you in the Lab with Tin-Tin once you've rested up a bit."
"I…I gathered that M…M…Mr Tracy." he stammered.
Jeff looked at him in the same direct way as he had looked at Tin-Tin.
"Do whatever you have to do to get the designs finished."
"Y…Yes Sir. "
"You obviously understand where I am coming from don't you son?"
"I...I... Yes."
Jeff nodded. "Thank you Brains and I'm sorry I have to push you like this."
Brains looked nervously at Scott as they left the room together.
What had he said to Tin-Tin?
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Scott Tracy allowed himself to release an emotional sigh as he stood under the steaming hot water. Wearily he washed his exhausted body as he dwelled on International Rescue's last failure in the field.
Failure. The most reviled word in his vocabulary
The Air Force was never like this. He hadn't failed in the Air Force.
He flew the mission. He excelled during it. He out- manoeuvered everyone. He returned with the mission accomplished and more often than not he was decorated for it.
Four years in Red Flag as the undoubted master of the air. He had never ever failed.
"Nineteen people now." he reflected. "Two of them only kids. All because of equipment or rather the lack of it. This can't be happening to me. I hate failure."
He began to scrub himself more vigorously as if trying to rid his body of the unwanted experience.
He ran his hands through his dark curly hair and yawned. He felt so tired from the flight and the rescue co-ordination. He could hardly wait to get some sleep. He had only had three hours sleep in the past thirty-two hours.
"A man has to be crazy doing this." he said out loud before lifting his face to allow the water to run over it. The warmth and sensation of it was starting to make him feel half decent again.
His thoughts turned to Tin-Tin and what his father had just said during the debriefing. Tin-Tin obviously had been set a dead-line. He could read his Father like a book. Well he would have set her one too by now if it were him.
She was such an independent young woman. She had been fiercely independent even as a child but she was worse now.
He had noticed a change in Tin-Tin's attitude to her work since she had married Alan. She had been working harder and more autonomously of Brains.
She valued her role in International Rescue and was painfully aware that his Father didn't approve of her mixing her job with her personal life. Scott supposed that by pushing herself like she was, she was hoping to prove something to his Father. Prove what he didn't know. They all respected her ability.
However, ability or not she was about to give birth to her first child and Scott felt she really needed to step aside for a while and just be Alan's wife. At least until after the baby came and she got back to normal.
"She'd tell me I was a chauvinist for thinking that." he mused. "And perhaps I am. In this case it's warranted."
His Father didn't appear to want to broach the subject with her. He couldn't work that out either given he was so direct about everything else. Perhaps by his ultimatum he was forcing her to broach it with herself.
"Yep, that's what this would be all about. " he thought. "Dad's making her admit to herself that she can't cope at the moment. He is too damned subtle. If it were me I'd just tell her I couldn't wait any longer and ask her to hand the job over to Brains to complete. She shouldn't be working at this late stage anyway."
He had spoken to Brains briefly about his concerns on the journey home. Scott was always at his most direct when he was tired, stressed or disappointed. As he headed home in Thunderbird One he was all three and Brains had had the misfortune to be with him.
Scott pointed out that as Tin-Tin's role wasn't pivotal at the moment she should be resting. He then said bluntly that it was clearly obvious to him that Brains needed to finish the designs himself to avoid any more delay. He reminded him that he had pulled the required calculations together in only minutes during the failed rescue.
Brains had reddened and stammered.
"I..It's n..not that e..easy Scott."
"Why not? You're a blasted genius Brains" he had said. "We need the equipment and you're the Engineer. Just ask Tin-Tin to move over on this one. "
Brains had seemed unwilling to ask Tin-Tin to do that and when Scott questioned him as to why not, it all came tumbling out of him and was down to one thing.
She didn't want him to do the calculations and he didn't want to upset her by insisting that he did. Brains knew that anyone who upset Tin-Tin these days would unleash a force Tracy Island had never had to deal with before until recently. One he didn't want to particularly deal with.
Hurricane Alan.
The argumentative young man who was Alan Tracy had now turned into a man not to be argued with especially if the subject revolved around Tin-Tin.
However Scott knew even Alan wouldn't approve of Tin-Tin being in that lab right now. He tried to tell Brains that. Brains shook his head warily. Tin-Tin had to make the choice herself he insisted. If she did then he would step in. There was no way he wanted to deal with the possibility of Alan siding with her, not with the temper he had.
Scott now truly understood his Father's reasoning for not wanting them to mix their work with their relationships. It was too hard to keep things seperate and that was more than painfully obvious at the moment with Tin-Tin and Alan.
"My wife won't ever be working for the old man that's for sure." he thought with determination. "That is if I ever get to have one."
His thoughts turned to Adelaide. She worked for his Father. But then he knew she was never going to be his wife.
He hadn't seen her for seven months now, not since Alan had taken over the business presence in New York. Alan commented that she often asked after him.
"Have you two got a thing going on or something?" Alan had asked jokingly.
He had swallowed his feelings as he felt his father's eyes on him.
"Don't be stupid. You know as well as I do that the woman's married." he replied with difficulty. "I'm not getting into that Alan no matter how good she looks"
"Yeah well you would be if she wasn't married I bet. The way she talks about you big brother... "
"Alan that's enough!" he had snapped and when Alan looked at him with surprise all he had wanted to do was grab him by the shoulders and shout at him. "If only you knew what I've lost in that woman. And you …you've got it all with Tin-Tin and you didn't even really want it."
Since his Father had spoken to him about his affair with Adelaide he had been forced to seek female companionship elsewhere on the mainland and he hated every minute of the urgency and selfishness of it all. He hated meeting an attractive, interesting woman in a nightclub knowing full well that he only intended for her to serve one purpose for him. The vessel for his physical release. And he always got what he wanted. Afterall who wouldn't willingly go to bed with him when he introduced himself as Scott Tracy, the billionaire's eldest son? Heir to a fortune.
This wasn't what he wanted. Sex might be what he needed but love was what he wanted. After watching Alan and Tin-Tin together he knew he really wanted his own wife, not a series of meaningless one night stands during a brief period of shore leave. Shore leave he needed to allow himself to let off steam. And it wasn't just him. All his brothers were going through the same hell.
All except for Alan of course.
He hated it when Alan put his arms around Tin-Tin in front of him and stole an affectionate kiss from her lips. He hated going to bed at nights knowing his baby brother was probably making love to her down the hallway and the affectionate kisses would now be powerful and passionate. He hated seeing Alan acting like the husband he had wanted to be to Adelaide.
More than anything he hated the fact that they were expecting their own child.
"I should have given Dad his first grandchild, not Alan." he thought unhappily. "If Addy wouldn't have done that to our baby I would have. We'd have had a beautiful little two year old now and I'd have been one happy man."
He sighed again and turned off the shower. He stepped out and reached for the towel.
"But I am not happy."
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"Brains. I didn't hear you come in." Tin-Tin said wearily looking up at the slightly built young man who peered over her shoulder.
"S..sorry. err..T..Tin-Tin." he stammered as he ran his eyes over her calculations. He was relieved. They looked accurate. She saw him scanning her work. He reddened as he realised he had been caught.
"Have you been debriefing with Mr. Tracy?"
"Uh.. yeah." he replied and squirmed in the uncomfortable silence that followed.
"Brains they're nearly done." she finally said quietly knowing full well that Jeff Tracy would have requested he check on her. "If I didn't have this wretched headache they'd be done now."
"I...I...can finish them for you if you l..like." he offered.
"No... you've been up all night Brains. I'll do them."
"T..Tin-Tin I...I really feel that you should be r...resting if you're not feeling w...well."
"I'm just tired Brains. All right?"
"W..well I ...I...c...can finish them so you can sleep."
"Brains don't you and Mr. Tracy think I'm capable of doing it?"she suddenly snapped much to his horror. His stuttering worsened as he realised he had unintentionally upset her. He remembered Alan's temper.
"N..n...n...no T...T....Tin-Tin. T...that's n...n...n...not what I m...mean. I...I..."
He stopped talking to compose himself. Tin-Tin's looked at him expectantly.All he could imagine was Alan demanding to know why he had upset Tin-Tin.
He swallowed and began again.
"No err Tin-Tin. I think w..what you've d..done looks fine.I..I thought you'd w..welcome the h...help."
Tin-Tin instantly regretted what she had said. It was unusual for her to snap like that and she knew he was only trying to help. He was such a sweet, gentle man. He had taught her many things since International Rescue had started and now all she could do was take everything out on him.
Her frustration with being heavily pregnant and hardly able to move. Her unhappiness with Alan being away from home so much. Her gut feeling that Jeff Tracy really didn't approve of the two of them being married because of their work in International Rescue. Her anxiousness that he perceived she couldn't do her job at all.
And this dreadful headache.
Brain's face blurred in front of her as she gave him an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry Brains." she said. "I didn't mean that. I haven't been myself lately. Of course I could use your help. Thank you for offering."
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He had had enough of her interference and if she kept going on much longer he was going to tell her so too.
Jeff Tracy listened to his mother berating him for the third time in less than twenty-four hours. Now she was on about Tin-Tin's missed Doctor's appointment. Did she ever let up?
"No Mother. I'm not waking Scott, John or Virgil. It's a six hour flight there and six hours back. Scott and Virgil are both over mandatory flight time and John is too cut up about those kids to fly anywhere."
"Well what about you then?"
" I haven't had any sleep either, otherwise I would gladly take her."
Josie Tracy eyed her only son with a face of thunder.
"Well I suggest you get the Doctor out here then." she demanded.
"Obstetricians don't make house calls Mother. They're not like Dr. Porter. Please don't worry about young Tin-Tin. I'll see to it that she goes in first thing in the morning." he assured her as he began to tidy his papers.
"I'd fly her myself if I could and I know Alan would too if he was here where he should be ." Josie flashed.
"And what's that supposed to mean mom?" he asked in an agitated tone.
"You know darned well what it means Jeff. Do you need me to spell it out for you?"
"No I don't thank you."
He knew what she meant all right. She wanted Alan returned from Thunderbird Five. She'd been at him about it for over two weeks now. He had reminded her she was forgetting that her other grandson needed some consideration too. She had then insisted that he automate the satellite. He swore she had an answer for everything.
"Mother. I only automate when it's a real emergency. This is not an emergency situation except perhaps to you."
She didn't want Alan going to New York either. Alan's place was with Tin-Tin according to her. Jeff reminded her that he had travelled extensively on business when Lucy had been pregnant with John, Gordon and Alan. Lucy had been fine about it. What was the problem?
"Hmmph yes you travelled all right and she might have said she was fine about it but look what happened with Gordon? Poor girl had to face that frightening birth all on her own. Have you forgotten how bad you felt about that back then Jeff? I think that you have."
She was driving him crazy and he was going to crack soon if he didn't force himself to remain in check. But he had long since realised the best way to get his mother on side was to agree with her and he was trying to do that now.
"Mom. Please settle down. I'll make sure she's on the plane the moment Scott wakes up. I don't want anything to happen to her anymore than you do."
"Hmmph doesn't seem that way to me."
"Why are you saying that?"
"Well there's no guessing what Tin-Tin is doing at the moment and who she is doing it for."
"Now before you accuse me of chaining her to the desk again let me say that she told me she was feeling fine today. I asked her myself."
"Asked her? As if she'd say she wasn't fine with you staring her down and needing things done. She'd do anything for you that child even lie about how she's feeling.
Jeff Tracy did not want to hear any more but it looked like he was going to anyway. He was going to put his mother in her place soon.
"Mother." he said quietly and in a dangerous voice."I have wanted her to stand down for two months now and I've certainly hinted at it enough. If Tin-Tin won't stand down I am not going to expect her to but I can expect her to do her work if that's the case. Now she told me she was OK and if my Assistant Engineer says she is OK, then she is OK. If she had said she wasn't OK my Assistant Engineer would not be working. She would be resting as you say."
"Oh wake up to yourself Jeff. She's not just your Assistant Engineer. She's your son's wife and you know it." Josie said tiredly. Jeff was so mule-headed sometimes. Tunnel vision that's what he had.
"She is my Assistant Engineer in matters to do with this Organisation mother."
"All right so she is. So what? She is also the mother of your grandchild whether she's in that lab or out of it. Do you really think those things change?"
That was it. He couldn't take it anymore.
"Mother please! I know you're worried about her and I'm sorry it looks to you like I don't care for her well-being. Just for the record I do care very much. However I'll say to you that at the moment she has a job to do and if she can't do it then she should offer to step down and let Brains get on with it."
The two of them looked at each other discontentedly before Josie Tracy turned on her heel to leave the room in a huff.
"Yes well I have a job to do too. I'd better help Kyrano with dinner or you'll be telling me to step down next."
As his mother disappeared into the kitchen Jeff Tracy sat down at his desk and shook his head.
How in the blazes had his Father put up with her?
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Brains carefully checked the last component of the design for the new equipment. The whole design was brilliant even if he had to say so himself. This would be one efficient piece of machinery when it was put together.
"T..Tin-Tin. T..The whole thing i...is t..top n...notch."
She opened her eyes and lifted her head from the desk . She looked up at him trying to focus. All this close work had affected her vision. That was better. She could see him now...but this head...boy it hurt...it was like a migraine now.
"I'm glad about that." she said with relief and after a short pause she added quietly, "Brains...thank you for helping me out."
Brains reddened again. She didn't have to thank him. She'd done most of the work herself.
"W..we should g..give this to M...Mr Tracy straight away."
She tried to look at the clock on the wall to check she had met the deadline. It was all a blur.
"Brains." she said squinting as her vision failed to come back into focus. "What time is it?"
"T...Tin-Tin. C..can't you see the clock?"
She looked again.
"Yeah of course I can. It's seven thirty. Sorry Brains. I guess I mustn't have looked properly. I must really need to catch up on some sleep. If you don't mind can you please put in my apology for dinner. Tell everyone I have gone to bed."
"Y...you h...haven't eaten m...much today T...Tin-Tin."
"No I'm not hungry Brains. It's OK."
With that she turned and left the laboratory. As she ascended to her apartment she leaned her body into the corner of the elevator and rested her head on the wall.
She really didn't feel well at all.
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"These are great Brains!" Jeff Tracy enthused flipping from one page to the other. "Just what the Doctor ordered for this Organisation. "
"Y..Yes M..Mr Tracy. T..They are w...what you n..need I think."
"They certainly are. You have done a fine job as always young fellow."
"Errr... not just me Sir. T...Tin-Tin did most of the c...calculations. Brains replied modestly.
"Of course she did." Jeff acknowledged. "Where is she and I'll thank her myself Brains."
"S...She asked to be excused M...Mr Tracy. S...She isn't feeling very well at the m...moment. I... I have a f...feeling that her blood p..pressure may be a little h...high."
"Mmm. I'll look in on her later then." he frowned feeling more than a little guilty about the deadline he'd set but justifying it to himself all the same now that he held the designs in his hand. "She has a Doctor's appointment in the morning so I suppose that will be picked up then."
"Y...Yeah. B..bed rest is the best o...option."
"And she was going up to bed?"
"Yeah."
"Good then. If that's the case I'll leave her be."
After dinner Jeff Tracy contacted Hank Davies in New York. He requested Hank to arrange the production of the components of the design. He spoke to him for nearly an hour regarding his requirements. Hank gave him an undertaking he would have the parts for Virgil's "new toy" as Jeff described it delivered within two weeks. Hank knew Virgil designed machinery as his role in Tracy Enterprises. He also knew that if Jeff Tracy set a deadline for delivery of anything, he expected it to be met.
Then the conversation switched to Alan. Jeff had decided to concede to his Mother's continual harrassment regarding Alan coming home to be with his wife. She had nagged him all through dinner again and he had caved in about New York but not Thunderbird Five.
"Uh Hank. I've decided that I am not going to send Alan over next week. Is that going to be a problem?"
Hank looked surprised. Jeff had told him Alan would be working in New York for at least one week a month for the next twelve months.
"No. Anything the matter Jeff?" he enquired.
"No. Just family matters." Jeff replied. "Young boy's wife is due to have their child soon."
"Oh? I didn't know about that Jeff."
"No." Jeff said carefully. "Well you know how it is with me Hank. Family business is best kept private. A lot of worries if too many people know the Tracy's business."
Hank understood. The Tracy family received enough publicity as it was. Five eligible bachelors, or four now by the sounds of things, their father dripping with money. A baby would pose new fears Hank supposed.The kidnapping fears. The media circus. Jeff Tracy was an astute man even if he didn't leave his island that often.
"So your son's wife is well?"
"Yes Hank. She's fine thank you." Jeff replied confidently despite the ill-ease in the pit of his stomach. "Lovely girl. She'll make a fine mother. She definitely has that son of mine by the scruff of his neck these days."
"The baby's a boy?" Hank enquired.
"No doubt it will be. That's what we've come to expect here." Jeff replied drawing on past experiences of his son's births, some of them not so memorable when the sex of the baby was revealed. He still remembered Lucy's disappointment with John. "You promised me a girl Jeff" she had said. "This one doesn't even look like a Tracy."
No girl for six generations. A boy was a pretty safe bet despite all those voices he thought he had heard a few months back.
"Well the Tracy dynasty looks like living on then Jeff."
"Mmm. I guess so." he shrugged in response.
"Wish Alan all the best from me. I gather you'll be sending one of the other boys in his place?"
"Yes. Scott will most likely be over."
Hank laughed.
"I must tell Adelaide. She'll be thrilled. It's been months since the two of them have seen each other."
Jeff Tracy's features hardened as he said.
"Adelaide is married Hank and my son is now aware of that. "
In Hank's stunned silence Jeff added. "And I am more than unhappy about the fact that she is married too."
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She was awakened by a dreadful pain which pierced through her abdomen like a knife. She lay there for a few minutes in the dark room trying to focus her eyes to read the time on the clock. Her head pounded and every beat of her heart slammed into her brain like a sledge hammer.
The pain was extremely intense.
"Maybe I'm going into labor." she thought as she clutched her body. "The Doctor said the pain will come and go. This doesn't seem to be going away yet. God it hurts. What a long contraction."
She continued to lie there, still unable to focus. The pain in her head made her feel sick.
"I haven't been sick for months now." she reflected. "I'd forgotten how awful it made me feel."
She rolled over on her side and almost cried out as she felt the pain throughout her body. Her head, her shoulders, her abdomen.
She stroked her swollen stomach..
"Lucy Josephine please don't decide you need to come now. Daddy isn't here and I need him to be if I have to go through this for you. I'm really scared of giving birth. Please don't come now little girl."
Usually when she stroked her abdomen gently her daughter would kick in response. There was no movement this time.
Tin-Tin thought back for a few minutes as to when she had last felt her baby move.
"This morning was the last time." she worried. "When I asked her to stop."
A slight feeling of dread came over her as she tried to roll to a more comfortable position. The movement really hurt her.
Her eyes looked at the clock. Thank goodness she could see it now. One thirty in the morning. She wondered if Alan would be up. She could try to call.
"Why can't you be here now Alan. I need you." she whispered starting to cry. "We both need you. "
The pain continued and the nausea worsened. She cried silently. She was going to have to wake someone soon.
"Little one please don't do this to me. I'm all alone and I'm really afraid.I don't know if you are coming or not and I can't do this without your Daddy."
Her mind flashed back to when she was twelve years old. The day she had become a woman. She had been all alone then too and really afraid.
She had cried but knew crying wouldn't stop what had happened. Her Father had indicated this was going to happen but said she would be older. Alan had been with her when it did. She had almost died of embarrassment and so had he.
She had decided to approach Josie Tracy for help.
Josie had hugged her and told her not to cry because it was a wonderful thing that had happened to her. She would now be able to have her own babies one day and make some very lucky young man a Father.
"I know it must be hard growing up without your mother sweetie." she had said gently. "And it's harder when this happens. Don't worry. No-one in this house will know about it from my lips."
But Alan had known and Alan had teased her. She had hated him so much back then. Whenever she couldn't go swimming with him he would raise his eyebrows and scoff.
"That again huh? "
She hadn't even been able to have a bad day in her teens. If she snapped at him he would say in front of everyone.
"What is it that time of the month again? "
Now it was Alan she was going to make a Father soon as a result of becoming a woman back then. Alan of all people.
As the pain continued and she knew something had to be drastically wrong. This wasn't labor. She needed to ask for help again and she knew who she could rely on.
Josie Tracy.
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She hadn't slept well ever since her grandson had gone to Thunderbird Five worrying about what would happen around here if Tin-Tin went into labor. That baby was due soon and San Diego was a long way off if things happened quickly.
Josie Tracy opened her eyes and looked at the bedside clock. Quarter to two in the morning. She lay awake thinking.
"The men in this household have got absolutely no idea about women. Even Kyrano and Jeff. Five times Jeff he went through this and he still can't see the sense in planning. I'll certainly be happier when young Alan returns at the end of the week to be Tin-Tin. Go to New York indeed. How brainless is that son of mine sometimes. I'm glad I put a stop to that. "
Was that a knock she had just heard? She hoped not. A knock on her door in the middle of the night could only mean trouble at the moment. There it was again!
"Come in." she said turning on her night lamp and looking towards the door.
The door did not open.
"I said come in. I'm decent enough."
The door still did not open. Tin-Tin swayed on her feet as she stood outside. She felt like she was going to collapse.
Josie became alarmed and opened the door herself.
There before her stood Tin-Tin in a dreadful state. Her pretty face was swollen and tears streamed down it. She held her head with one hand and her body with the other. She leaned against the wall crying softly.
"Oh no…Tin-Tin… sweetie are you all right?" she whispered in alarm.
"I don't think I am Mrs. Tracy," she said as her lips trembled. "I can't take this pain in my head any more and I think the baby's coming. Please get Alan for me."
Josie took her arm and motioned her to the bed.
"Lie down here sweetie. We'll check your blood pressure. Come on. Don't cry now. Shh…"
" Please Mrs.Tracy I feel so sick and the baby isn't moving anymore. I need Alan."
"Shhh....We'll get Alan for you. Lie still while I do this first."
Her eyes widened in panic as the reading continued to rise. 190/120. Dear God that would blow the side out of Tracy island!
"Is your pain coming and going sweetie?" she asked trying not to sound alarmed.
"I don't know. I mean …no. Please get Alan." she whispered.
"Sweetie you must tell me. How long have you had this pain?"
"Only today."
"And in your head?"
"Days Mrs. Tracy. It's from all the work with Brains."
Josie Tracy really was starting to panic now.
"Dear it's Grandma and all of this is not from your work. It's your body telling you there is something wrong with your baby. Stay here. I'll wake your father."
Josie Tracy frantically tapped on the door of Kyrano's apartments. He came quickly. He had not been sleeping well either worrying about his daughter.
"It is time?" he asked preparing to worry.
"No...No Kyrano. I don't think it is. Just come with me. Quickly now. I think it is serious."
"What is serious Mrs. Tracy? Is there a problem? With my daughter?"
"Kyrano please just come. Tin-Tin is in a terrible state up there. She's asking me to get Alan."
"I will get my robe."
"Forget your robe. Your daughter needs you. I've got to wake Jeff. We're in big trouble here."
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````Jeff Tracy tried not to sound like he was panicking but he sure as hell was. His mother had said she didn't think Tin-Tin was in labor but she needed a Doctor in a big hurry.
"Mom. I'll call Doctor Porter in immediately. He can be here in a few hours."
Josie Tracy paced the floor shaking her head and biting on her thumbnail.
"Jeff I don't think we should be messing around with this. I don't like it. I'm no Doctor but I don't need to be one to see there's something radically wrong with that little girl up there. She's got a blood pressure reading that's past dangerous, bad pain I've never seen in a pregnant girl and the swelling can't all be that baby of hers. I'm contacting her Obstetrician right this minute."
"Yes mom. Do that. I'll wake Scott in case we need him."
His hand wavered on the link to Thunderbird Five. His thoughts turned to his youngest son and pictured the expected reaction. No. Not yet. He would not contact Alan yet.
He woke his eldest son instead.
Ten minutes later Scott stood in his pyjama bottoms in the lounge room. His dark blue eyes met his father's across the desk as they waited for Josie to finish her call.
"Don't panic Dad." Scott said unexpectedly.
"I'm not." he said.
"Yes you are."
"I'm a military man. You're a military man. Military men don't panic."
"You're panicking Dad."
"I'm not!"
"Have you told Alan yet?"
"Not yet."
"Thank God for that. Then you'd both be panicking."
"I'm not panicking Scott. Here's your grandmother now. Mother what did the Doctor say?"
Josie Tracy looked at her son and her eldest Grandson with fear. She would never need to speak with any more authority than she was about to right now.
"Get your sons out of bed now Jeff." she thundered gravely." I'm telling you no-one in this world needs International Rescue more than your own family right now."
Jeff Tracy felt as though she had punched him in the stomach. He had never heard her speak like that. Woodenly he reached for the console to summon John, Virgil and Gordon. His eyes never left hers.
"Mom. What did he say?" he asked quietly as Scott fled the lounge to change his clothes.
"The Doctor thinks she's developed some condition he called Pre-Eclampsia. I have heard of it but I don't exactly understand about it. The Doctor told me something I sure as hell did understand though. This thing can kill both of them."
Her eyes filled with tears as she looked helplessly at her son.
"Oh Jeff." she whispered as Virgil, John and Gordon entered the lounge asking what the emergency was this time. "He's asked for her to be flown to the mainland immediately to see if they can deliver the baby by Caesarean section."
Jeff Tracy simply stood there frozen as his sons looked at each other in shocked silence waiting for him to react.
The caesarean section…nearly losing his son…losing Lucy in the prime of her life. Seeing her beautiful eyes close for the last time as he held her. Being left alone to cope.
It couldn't be allowed to happen again. Not to his son. Not to the son he had nearly lost himself.
He had never forgotten that feeling of uselessness and inadequacy as Lucy lay there in front of him screaming in agony while all everyone around him did was panic. He still saw Lucy's face twisted in pain as she endured the shocking experience of being cut open to get Alan out of her before she was fully anaesthetised. It had been the caesarean section that had cost the Tracy children their mother and him the most special and precious person in his life.
As his mind reeled back in time, he felt himself actually gasp for air as the core of his heart opened up like it had been cruelly and brutally cut in half with a knife. In that split second it let go of every emotion, every feeling, every memory he had tried so hard to forget for the past twenty-one years. Memories of pain and denial carefully chained and buried behind a smoke screen of paper and overwork.
Overwork eased his pain. Overwork helped him forget for a while how much he had loved her, how much he still missed her and how dreadfully lonely he was without her.
Overwork had helped him cope over the years but it hadn't eased it all.
Nothing could take away the guilt. The guilt of being a man who had watched his best friend give up her life for the baby he had not meant to give her.
He closed his eyes and breathed her name. "Lucy" as his heart continued to bleed from within.
The baby she had died for was now in the same position as he had been. Alan's best friend lay upstairs facing the threat of losing her life too. For the baby he had not meant to give her either.
Jeff Tracy knew if he didn't get a hold of himself soon Alan could end up like him.
No young man should ever be forced to go through what he had gone through …and Alan was fourteen years younger than he had been.
"Dad?"
It was Scott. The little nine year old who had supported him all those years ago and given him the strength to pull himself together.
Scott stood in front of him ready to fly out. At the sight of him Jeff Tracy again found the strength to pull himself together. His voice rumbled with iron discipline.
"Scott. John. Go and get your brother."
"I'll get my things Dad." said John spinning quickly on his heel to head upstairs.
His Father called him back.
"John you can't stay up there. You're going to have to be the one to bring your brother back. Under no circumstances is Alan to take control of that Thunderbird. That kid will go crazy and kill himself with the speed it can reach."
John nodded, imagining his little brother demanding to take the controls. Alan wasn't scared of speed but he'd be scared for Tin-Tin. Alan would do something stupid for sure. His Father was right.
Jeff turned to Scott.
"For God's sake keep him calm Scott. He may have to make some decisions that will affect his whole life after he gets back here. I'll fly Tin-Tin to San Diego myself in case I have to make those decisions with him."
"No Mr. Tracy!" a sharp direct voice said from behind him. "I am Tin-Tin's Father. I will make any decision regarding her."
The two men looked each other in the eyes. The eyes of the Retainer and the eyes of the Billionaire, locked as a result of their children's love for each other. Kyrano's daughter… his only daughter. Jeff Tracy's son...one of five.
Jeff nodded and barked in a military voice he hadn't used since he had been in the Air Force. "Well Kyrano get ready to move yourself out."
Virgil swallowed.
"Dad, you can't take her in Tracy One. It's too slow."
"I'm not going in Tracy One. I'm taking Thunderbird One and I need you to come with me to bring her back to base. Scott will fly Alan in once he gets back from the satellite."
"But we can't land in the hospital grounds. The security Dad…"
"We'll worry about handling security when we get in the air Virgil."
Virgil bit his lip and turned to Scott. Scott was shaking his head.
"No Dad…let me fly her. I'm her pilot. I can push her faster and I can deal with the security."
"Scott's right Dad. "Virgil agreed. "I'll co-pilot with John."
"All of you stop arguing with me. I can fly these machines better than all of you. Scott I need you to go with John, not Virgil. Alan might listen to you. Now both of you get going. Push her to maximum speed if you have to but I want Alan back before they take that baby."
"Yes Sir."
Scott and John almost ran to the couch. Jeff Tracy boomed.
"Scott."
Scott turned back to his Father.
"Yes Sir?"
"Make sure you radio Gordon when you are only ten minutes out of Thunderbird Five. That's all the time Alan needs to automate the satellite. No more."
Scott nodded. He understood perfectly. He didn't want Alan told anything until they had almost reached him.
Jeff Tracy turned to his red-haired son who stood swallowing hard. He knew his Father was going to give him the worst job of all. Telling Alan.
"Gordon."
"Yes Sir."
"There are three calls to be made. I'll make the first one. You need to make the other two."
"All right Sir."
"Jeff! I'm going with you."
It was his mother.
"No Mom not now. Please see to Tin-Tin for me and make sure she has everything."
Josie Tracy set her own jaw determinedly. If Jeff Tracy ever wondered where he got his own stubborn look , it was there for him to see now.
"This baby is everything to me. The hell you'll order me around."
Their confrontation was drowned out by Thunderbird Three's engines as they echoed in the villa preparing for lift off. The sound of the huge engines whirring into life drove home the fact to them all. This was a real emergency in their own family and there was no time to argue. Josie quietened.
"Please Mom. For once in your life just do as I ask. I need you to be here to see to Alan. You always know what to say to him. Scott will bring the two of you in together."
Josie nodded.
"All right son. I'll get her ready to leave. Virgil come and help Kyrano bring her down."
Jeff Tracy strode to the radio, motioning Gordon to listen.
THE FIRST CALL
He identified himself as Jeff Tracy, billionaire and asked to be put through to the Chief of Medical Staff. He was put through immediately. Everyone in San Diego knew who Jeff Tracy was and how much clout he had in political circles. He explained he had contacted International Rescue to ferry his seriously ill daughter-in-law to hospital. She was suffering with suspected Pre-Eclampsia. He had been told International Rescue's ETA was twenty minutes to him, forty minutes to the hospital.
The Chief of Staff had one hour. One hour to fulfil his request that the best surgeon and paediatrician in San Diego be standing on the tarmac for the arrival of International Rescue.
"My daughter-in-law's Obstetrician is already on his way." Jeff explained. "He will be there within the hour and believes she will require an immediate Caesarean Section."
"Mr. Tracy it's the middle of the night. I can't just rustle up the specialists of the calibre you want." the Head of Staff interjected.
"I don't care what it costs or what you have to do to get them. Just get them. If International Rescue can make themselves available for my daughter-in-law so can your specialists."
"I'll see what I can do Mr. Tracy." he replied. How much clout did Jeff Tracy really have if he had International Rescue assisting him?
"Thank you. You will no doubt hear from International Rescue regarding their security requirements direct."
As the call ended he looked up to see Virgil carrying Tin-Tin. The worry in Virgil's brown eyes said it all.
"Dad. We've got to take off. She's almost unconscious."
"Where the hell's Kyrano then?"
"I am ready to go Mr. Tracy."
Jeff turned back to Gordon.
"I am leaving you in charge of co-ordinating International Rescue's most important rescue of all Gordon. This is no joke son. These are the two calls you have to make in the order I tell you. Call the hospital from International Rescue. Cover the security issues. Then call your brother. I need you to tie up frequency five for at least forty minutes so I can keep in contact with Scott and John without him knowing."
Gordon felt stressed beyond belief. He'd always said he'd never have to be in charge of International Rescue. He was just the fourth son. The Aquanaut who enjoyed nothing more than giving his eldest brother a good-natured ribbing whenever he was in command. Why now? Why now when the lives of his favourite brother's wife and child were in danger.
"Dad what will I talk to Alan about?"
"I'm sure you can make your conversation last Gordon. You and your brother can talk about women for hours as I recall. Under no circumstances tell him about Tin-Tin. If he asks after her, and he will, tell him she's OK. When you hear from John that they are ten minutes out of Thunderbird Five tell him the truth."
"Dad, he'll go off the nut at me."
"Gordon if you told him the truth now, he'll do worse. He'll go off the rails. Please son. Do it my way for your brother's sake."
"Jeff please be careful this time."
It was Josie. The two of them looked at each other. No words needed to be said. They knew what had been lost before. They knew what could be lost again.
He bent to kiss her and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"Mom. No mistakes this time. Trust me. Make the call Gordon. I'm taking off."
Gordon Tracy sat uncomfortably at his Father's desk for the first time as head of International Rescue. He waited until Thunderbird One had disappeared on its course to San Diego. He reached for the console.
THE SECOND CALL
He identified himself as from International Rescue and asked to speak to the Chief of Medical Staff. He said he would be expecting the call as Jeff Tracy had contacted him earlier regarding assistance for his daughter-in-law.
"International Rescue now has Mrs. Tracy safely on board and is currently en route to the hospital." he explained
He asked where Thunderbird One could set down and what security concerns there would be. He pointed out that the Thunderbird was equipped with a sensitive camera detector and asked that the media not be advised. The words flowed from his lips. He guessed they should. He'd heard them often enough.
He went to ask regarding the Paediatrician and Surgeon his father had requested. He was really worried for Tin-Tin and needed to know she would be well cared for on her arrival. He would have liked to give his Father that assurance during flight. He wanted to be able to reassure Alan. He stopped himself before he made the fatal mistake of asking. That question would link International Rescue to Jeff Tracy.
He couldn't radio his Father. His instructions were to tie up frequency five. He knew his Father needed him to do it.
"Here goes then. Base to Thunderbird Five."
THE WORST CALL OF ALL
"This is Thunderbird Five."
Alan Tracy's tired face filled the screen but his features changed on seeing his red-haired brother.
"Hey man." he said. "How are you?"
Gordon put his feet up on his Father's desk and tried to act as he always did around Alan... or at least how he used to act before their altercation on the beach six months ago.
" I'm better than you by the looks of things. I've seen dead people look more alive than you at the moment."
"Don't let Dad hear you say anything about dead people for a while."
"He can't hear me. He's dead to the world himself. It's three am here you know."
"So why aren't you sleeping?"
"Can't."
"So you thought you'd do me a favour and wake me up."
"What are brothers for?"
"Are you sure Dad's asleep?"
"Yeah why?"
"Just checking."
"Why are you checking for? You gonna tell me something Dad's not supposed to hear?"
"No I want to talk to Tin-Tin. You could put me through on the frequency without him finding out."
"Alan Dad'll bust my ass if he finds out I did that."
"How's he gonna know?"
"The same way he finds out everything else he knows."
"How's that?"
"I dunno. That's the problem. Hey did you listen to that baseball game earlier tonight?"
"Yeah well what else is there to do stuck up here?"
The two of them discussed the game for over fifteen minutes. The two of them loved baseball.
The conversation turned to the failed rescue.
"It must have cut you up losing the kids Gordon."
"It cut Johnny up more."
"Guess so. John's not used to things like that. I am now after the disaster with the first mine. "
"I dunno Al. I don't think you ever get over seeing death or losing someone to it."
"You said you were over her."
"I was talking about John not me. You know how sensitive he is."
"You were talking about Jezz Gordo."
Gordon swallowed. Well his Father had said to talk. He may as well talk about that as anything else.
"Yeah well maybe I was. Does it really matter?"
"Sure it matters. I told you I'd listen if you wanted to talk to me. But since that day on the beach, you haven't wanted to talk to me."
"Alan you're not like you used to be anymore."
"I know I'm not but I couldn't stay the way I was and have Tin-Tin too. I had to change. Dad made me see that. "
"I dunno I kind of liked you wild. Do you regret it?"
"Only the fact that I have to be here and not there at the moment. I'm so scared she'll have to face giving birth without me. It's supposed to really hurt.
"Yeah I've heard that."
"I'll never forgive myself if I'm not there when it starts especially since Dad's still making me go to New York next week. He wants me to be a husband but he won't let me stay home long enough to do it. "
"Nope you're not going to New York. I heard him telling Hank Davies earlier. Grandma made him change his mind."
"That's wonderful news. Does Tin-Tin know?"
"Uh…I dunno."
"Gordo please let me talk to her. I'll take the wrap from Dad. I'll cop anything to be able to tell her that."
"Al she's asleep. She's really tired after finishing those designs."
"Why how long did she work on them?"
"Err…a long time."
"How long?"
"Um… about ten hours I think."
"What in the hell did she do something stupid like that for? I'd better check she's OK. Put me through to her Gordon please."
"Al…"
He saw the eyes of Scott's portrait flashing. Thank God! He had run out of excuses.
"Hang on a minute then Al I'll see if she'll answer." he said and changed frequencies.
"Gordo. This is Scott. We are less than ten minutes out of Thunderbird Five. Alan's got to automate the satellite now so we can get him back as quick as we can. Have you told him yet?"
"No Scott. Dad said I had to wait for you."
"Well tell him now. I'll be ready to take the frequency after you do."
"I don't know how to tell him Scott."
John's voice now echoed on the screen with real anxiety.
"Gordo just tell him buddy. If I get too much closer Alan will see Thunderbird Three for himself."
"And then we'll have some real panic on our hands." Scott added quietly.
"FAB guys."
He flicked the switch.
"Alan…There's something I ha …."
It was too late. Alan Tracy had already seen the huge red rocket ship hurtling towards the satellite. He knew it wasn't time for rotation. His face turned white and his eyes dilated with panic as he looked helplessly at his honey-eyed brother. He broke out into a cold sweat. He should have known.
Gordon had contacted him at three am in the morning when he hadn't done that for months. He had said he wanted to talk. They hadn't talked a lot since that day on the beach. The hell he wanted to talk. All he had wanted to do was keep him off Thunderbird Three's frequency.
"Gordo!" he almost screamed at his brother. "Please don't tell me there's something wrong with Tin-Tin! "
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Author's Note - Remember it's only fiction and I am simply trying to free my soul. NEXT CHAPTER - PART THREE OF THE BIRTH OF LUCY TRACY - TERROR
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