Fermat lay in his bed, a broad smile straining on his face as he talked with his best friend.
"T-That's awesome news A-Alan!" Fermat gave his friend a thumb up. "H-How do you f-feel?"
"I feel okay now, I was sick for a little while…but my nurse Karen assured me that it was just my body trying to get rid of the remaining medicine in my system, of course I don't know how throwing up gets it out of my system when the medicine was inhaled." Alan replied sardonically.
"I don't t-think we're supposed to t-think so much on the w-why…just focus o-on getting better." Fermat requested of his friend.
"You've got it Ferm…say, want to join me in a group chat and I'll call Jem and the others?" Alan tilted his head in question, before lifting his hand to loop the fallen cannula tubing back behind his ear.
"S-Sure Alan." Fermat navigated to the icon on WeChat and selected group so that his and Alan's call wouldn't disconnect when Alan tried to call Jamie and the others. "I'm i-in group now."
"Cool, thanks Ferm." Alan replied as he selected the people he wanted to call while on this call with Fermat. Three windows opened since Eddy wasn't likely to have his laptop up and running…whenever they had a group chat either Jamie or Eddy hung out with the other so they were in the same room and had no need for a second laptop.
"Hey! Mayhem, Ace – what are you two doing?" Alan and Fermat smiled when Josh's face was lit up on their screens.
"Laying around…what about you?" Alan replied as he settled back into his pillows.
"Trying to convince my mom to let me stay home from school today…I hardly slept a wink last night and I'm tired." Josh looked tired to both Alan and Fermat too, and he was usually never so in the time that they knew him. "Damn nightmares kept me going all night."
"Still dreaming about the fire?" Alan inquired as he and Fermat both still experienced nightmares periodically.
"Dude, yeah…I don't know what I can do – but it's really starting to bug me. My grades are going down the drain because I'm so damn tired all the time." Josh rubbed at his eyes.
"M-maybe it wouldn't h-hurt to talk to a c-counselor J-Josh…l-let some of it off y-your shoulders." Fermat suggested knowing how Josh usually hated discussing weakness.
"I don't know man…I'm beginning to think that's going to be my only option. I've got to get a decent night's sleep before I kill myself." Josh yawned. "Listen, I'll be right back…I'm going to go ask my mom if I can just stay home today – she knows I've been having a rough time and I don't think she'll mind much."
"Kay." Alan and Fermat replied in unison as they watched Josh shuffle past his bedroom door still in his pajamas.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in."
"Hello to you too Todd." Alan made a face at his friend who was like Josh and still in his pajamas – but with the added accessory of a spoon stuck to his nose. "Must you always do that Todd?"
"What? It's like my signature greeting." Todd smirked at Alan from behind the spoon that was still stuck to his nose.
"I t-take it you're s-staying home from s-school too?" Fermat inquired of his friend after recognizing Todd's choice sleepwear. Even when they were at school together, it was known among the friends that Todd can't stand having his arms restricted so he always wore a wife beater tank top…no matter how cold it got outside.
"No, he got suspended for getting in a fight." Eddy replied as he and Jamie joined the group chat, having just come in after hearing Fermat's question.
"You're a lover though…not a fighter – what got your goat?" Alan inquired as he looked at his friend.
"I was protecting my brothers okay! Some jackass read somewhere in the paper about the Wharton fire and it was talk on campus that Eddy, Jamie, Josh and I were all from there. It's not a big secret that two of our best friends and brothers were badly burned in the fire – we were asked about it the first day that we all started there." Todd crossed his arms. "The jerk was asking for it when he said the two guys badly injured in the fire should have known not to play with fire. I punched his lights out, and I don't regret it!"
Alan was taken aback by Todd's anger. He knew his friend was very slow to anger, so for him to get in a fight and to knock someone out cold – he would have been pissed off.
"Okay, I'm back. My mom said I could have the day to get some sleep; apparently she and dad came and woke me three times last night because I was tossing and turning so much. She's calling my Aunt Jan's therapist to see if she can squeeze me in." Josh rested his elbows on the table top and let his head hang as he yawned again. Lifting his eyes, he waved halfheartedly at his other friends. "Hey guys, how's it going?"
"When was the last time you slept J-boy?" Eddy asked as he and Jamie shared a look.
"Last night, but I kept having nightmares." Josh kept his gaze trained on Eddy and each of his friends could see Josh's eyes were bloodshot from lack of proper sleep. "Changing the subject, how are you doing Mayhem? Had that surgery yet?"
All eyes were suddenly trained on Alan and they all looked at their pale faced friend who had an oxygen cannula trailing just below his nose and up over the tops of his ears. When Alan smiled everybody let out a sigh.
"Yeah, had it yesterday morning about 4…the donation from my brother took." Alan replied with a grin.
"How you feeling? They got you higher than a kite?" Todd enquired.
"No, just got me on some Tylenol three I think…my pain is manageable." Alan rolled his head back to look up at the label on his IV bag. "Yeah, it's Tylenol three."
"So you can read? They don't have you loopy enough." Todd remarked with another smirk.
"Bite me." Alan snarked back at Todd. His friend liked to tease him occasionally because he was blonde and the only blonde in their small group of friends. Alan didn't mind, it wasn't like Todd was calling him stupid, he was just picking.
"Oh, no thanks…I'm not hungry." Todd grinned at his friend.
"So do you know how long you'll be in lock up?" Eddy asked
"Two months…I have to recover for about two weeks then have another surgery. They'll work on my legs next." Alan adopted a solemn look on his face. "I think my brother John will be my donor then, god help him – poor guy is deathly terrified of needles."
"Out of all your brothers, John the space walker is terrified of needles?" Jamie asked.
"Yeah Jem…had a bad experience with a school nurse. He was terrified after that." Alan informed.
"What happened to him?" Eddy asked, he was always happy to listen to Alan tell stories of his family. He thought it was so cool that he was friends with Jeff Tracy's youngest son. He and each of the boys looked up to Jeff Tracy and Alan knew that they idolized his father. But they weren't friends with Alan just to be close to their hero, no they were friends because Alan was a kick-ass all around cool guy and he had a wicked sense of humor.
"He had to have a booster shot when he was twelve…the school nurse was scary – even I was scared of her when I initially saw her and I was too young to attend elementary school. My grandfather took me to the school to go pick up John because the school called and John was in hysterics over getting a shot." Alan looked away thoughtfully. "We showed up and the nurse…at least the way I remember her had this perpetual frown, a uni-brow…"
"Dude! A uni-brow?!"
"A uni-brow…anyway she was standing beside the bed where John was sitting – bawling his eyes out. When me and my grandfather came in John ran to us and told grandpa that the mean lady stabbed him. My grandfather asked her how hard she administered the shot and noticed that she gave the shot a little too…exuberantly and she bruised John's arm. My grandpa made me and John sit in the hall while he had a very loud conversation with the school nurse."
"How mad was he?" Jem asked.
"I ever tell you that my grandfather's grandparents were originally from Germany? That's how I knew…because when my grandpa got mad he'd start speaking in German. Trust me, it was not pretty." Alan grinned.
"So is that what you did when Ro-…" Josh started to ask but stopped himself.
"Yes, I insulted Robert in German that one time that you guys were with me on the soccer field. My brothers and I know how to speak German because my grandpa taught us how." 'And because you tend to speak different languages when you are part of International Rescue…there's a reason it's called International Rescue.'
"You'll have to teach us sometime…then when we're out together we can talk together in German. That'd be so cool." Eddy chimed in with a grin.
"Maybe some time when after I can have visitors outside of family you guys can come hang out with me and Fermat for a day." Alan smiled at his friends when they all nodded exuberantly.
"We'd love that dude! Geez, it feels like a lifetime since we all just got together to hang out." Todd crowed.
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Gordon fell onto his bed in the hotel room after the relaxing shower. Dressed for bed, Gordon rolled over to bury his face in the pillows. He hadn't slept in a bed in probably well over twenty-four hours and the pillows and mattress were just the right comfort level. The toilet flushing and bathroom door opening made Gordon lift his head to stare at his eldest brother. Scott decided to forgo a shower for the evening – deciding he'd take one in the morning and instead dressed for bed himself.
Scanning over Scott, Gordon took in his haggard features. His normally comfortable looking pajamas looked like they were swallowing him whole and Gordon couldn't help further appraisal of his brother. His t-shirt was baggy rather than fitted, pant legs of his pajama bottoms were dragging along the ground around his ankles rather than remaining just below his shins. Scott looked like he'd lost weight in these three (three?) months since Alan and Fermat's hospitalization.
"I can hear you thinking Gords. Shut up." Scott replied with a slight lisp, the retainer that he had to wear for sleep making him sound like Sylvester the cat.
"You know we'll need to get a new retainer for Alan when this is all over right?" Gordon said in a moment of being thunderstruck.
"What? Why?" Scott clenched his teeth, no doubt ensuring that his own retainer was fitted properly. He like all the Tracy boys had to wear a retainer – for the rest of their natural lives or at least until they were old men with dentures. Even their father still wore a retainer from time to time. They sometimes like to tease their dad for his own little lisp which was barely noticeable.
"The fire? I don't think Alan was wearing his retainer…I haven't seen hide nor hair of it since I talked to the sprout a few days before the fire and Alan had been wearing it then." Gordon paused as he tried to recall if he'd seen the retainer in Alan's mouth while fitting an oxygen mask over his face in Thunderbird One's small med bay the night of the fire. Shaking his head Gordon spoke again. "I think it was destroyed along with everything else in the fire."
"Do you think dad still has Alan's back up retainer at the house? Maybe we could have Tin-Tin send it and we could get it to Alan so his teeth don't space out too much." Scott pondered.
"I don't think so. That one Alan had was his back up I think…his last one got lost on a school trip if I'm not mistaken." Gordon tried to recall, but couldn't remember if Alan's spare retainer was still in the medicine cabinet in the main bathroom at home. He knew Alan usually kept his with him in the en suite, but couldn't remember if he'd seen the box in the medicine cabinet in the main floor bathroom at all.
"Next time we talk to Kyrano or the ladies, we'll need to ask them to check the medicine cupboard for Alan's spare retainer." Scott walked over before physically rolling Gordon over. "Scoot over, you and I are sharing tonight."
"Okay…" Gordon moved over before looking around the room. "Where are dad and John?"
"Beats me." Scott climbed onto the bed before crawling beneath the bed covers. "They'll turn up shortly."
Gordon followed Scott's example and slid beneath the blankets. Settling into his pillow, Gordon squirmed briefly before finding a comfortable position to sleep in. Scott reached over and tousled Gordon's hair fondly before setting off to go to sleep.
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John walked down the street, his dad by his side. Gazing up at the sky, John picked out his mother's star and smiled. It always filled him with a sense of warmth whenever he looked upon that star. His eyes widened as another star shot across the atmosphere.
"Close your eyes and make a wish Jo-Jo." Jeff himself smiled up into the sky, his thoughts turning to Lucy and Alan. Seeing the star above that was named in honor of his late wife comforted him. Whispering a wish into the heavens, Jeff wished upon the star in hopes that anyone up there would hear his wish and grant it for Alan having a quick recovery. He'd already completed one of the surgeries and came through without a problem one. Glancing over at John, Jeff saw John's face upturned towards the heavens – his eyes closed as he mouthed the words 'I wish…'
"And make my wish come true." John finally opened his eyes enough to gaze up at the stars. Seeing his late mother's star twinkle some made John feel as if his mother had heard his own wish for Alan and would do her best to grant that wish for them.
"How are you doing Jo-Jo?" Jeff lightly patted John's shoulder, making the young man shrug.
"I don't know. I mean I'm happy for Alan – I'm so damn happy to hear that surgery went off without a hitch, but…" John shrugged again. "I don't know, now I'm just getting worried."
"About?" Jeff let John's use of language slide, even if he didn't like hearing any of his sons cuss – there were adults now and if it expressed how they were feeling then – go for it.
"What if after all of this…the surgery, recovery, therapy…what if Alan still doesn't?" John couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence.
"Doesn't regain his ability to feel sensations and walk?" Jeff finished for his son. John's muted nod made Jeff pause to think. "Then we'll work on it with him. If he is unable to walk because he can't feel – then I'll hire some contractors – the same ones that built the villa and have them go in to alter the house in order to accommodate Alan's wheelchair. Maybe build an addition onto the infirmary and make it a therapy room – one where we can work with Alan gradually."
"But don't you think that'd make Alan feel as if he was burdening us by having to alter the house so…drastically?" John inquired.
"I think it'd make him feel more of a burden if his wheelchair got stuck in a doorway because he wasn't able to maneuver through the threshold. He'd be totally dependent on us having to get him from point A to point B." Jeff shook his head. "Can you imagine our prideful Alan having to wait for one of us to get back from our business trips to help him get up the stairs to go to bed? I can't. If necessary, I'll alter the house as I see fit so that Alan can be totally independent. He'll need that security to remind him that we still love him – no matter what."
John nodded slowly, he could understand that. Alan was trying to assert his independence and if he was resigned to a wheelchair – it'd practically kill Alan to rely solely on his family to help him around.
"Anything else on your mind son?" Jeff asked as he continued to walk in time with John – father and son not walking anywhere with purpose.
"The next upcoming surgery. I'm scared of those twenty-four hours following the surgery. What if my skin doesn't take like it did with Virgil?" John voiced his concerns.
"Then I suppose we'll deal with it then John. There isn't a point in fretting over it now, not when it is still a ways off." Jeff reasoned.
"I know, but it's just hard not to worry. It's what I do. I'm the family worry-wart." John redirected his attention at the passing traffic. "I just wish there was more I could do for Alan."
"Trust me son, you're doing enough just by hanging tough while this is going on. Alan is going to need all of us as he walks…" Jeff grimaced before rephrasing his sentence. "Travels this road to recovery."
"I know. But even though we told Alan we'd be back in Manhattan in a week – I can't help but feel like we abandoned him and Virgil." John carded his fingers through his hair.
"Do you want to talk it over with the guys and shorten our trip?" Jeff offered as an out. To be honest, he wished that Alan hadn't made them swear to stay away for longer than a couple hours. He too felt like he'd essentially abandoned his two sons.
"No, we promised Alan…I just wish we could return to be a little bit closer." John replied.
"Do you want to return home? Talk to Penny about reactivating IR for a week then going offline for a while longer?" Jeff suggested innocently. At John's shake of the head, Jeff tilted his head in question.
"No to reactivating business. We could return home for a few days, but I promised Alan that I wasn't doing any work until he could be there to reactivate business with us." John recounted his promise to Alan, how he also hadn't felt good about leaving Alan to worry and wonder about his family when there was absolutely nothing he could do from a hospital bed. "Gordo could probably use his diving pool while Scott and I could use a good jaunt on the beach."
"Then why don't we return and suggest it to your brothers and grandma?" Jeff said as he and John continued to walk in the comfortably warm evening of the California night.
"Yeah, to be honest I could go for another of Onaha's home cooked meals again. Restaurant food is good, but it doesn't hit the spot as well as Onaha's meals do." John developed a dreamy sort of smile at the mouth watering food that Onaha made.
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Alan rolled over in bed and gazed out his hermetically sealed hospital window. The first non-snowy night in a long while and all Alan wanted to do was go sit by his window seat and gaze outside at the scenery. He couldn't sleep, he felt really anxious for some reason. Glancing over at the clock that hung on the wall, Alan sighed.
'That's it, three in the morning – if I'm not asleep now I should probably go ahead and just stay awake for the time being.' Reaching out with his left hand, Alan snagged the rollaway table by his bed that held his laptop and he pulled it over to him. He couldn't contact any of his friends, he'd talked with them and Fermat practically all afternoon until Todd's dad made him get off the computer – reminding the boy that he was grounded and had no computer privileges and Josh's mom made Josh get off the computer to take a nap – then he'd be going to have a meeting with his aunt Jan's therapist who squeezed him in after a cancellation. Jamie and Eddy were the last to get off until their mom called them down for dinner. After everyone else left the group chat, Fermat left then because his dad came to visit him.
Going to the internet, Alan decided to read the newspaper online. He'd done that quite often thanks to one of his professors requesting they all read the newspaper in order to come up with a class discussion. Traveling to the state of Massachusetts news page, Alan froze as he read one of the sliding headlines.
'Construction to rebuild destroyed Wharton's School for boys to break ground this coming spring.'
"What?" Alan clicked on the news article to pull it up so that he may read what it said. However, he was assaulted with images of Virgil carrying him while Scott carried Fermat with fire retardant blankets swaddled around both boys. Alan's eyes traveled below the pictures to read the captions.
A picture of two rescuers evacuating two students that escaped minutes before its imminent collapse.
Glancing back up at the pictures, he was shocked to pick out a familiar face in the crowd of students gathered outside of the burning Wharton. Robert stood within the throng of students with a heated gaze directed at the building. Averting his gaze back to that of Virgil and Scott carrying him and Fermat away from the danger zone, Alan bit his lip as he looked at the color picture – the orange glow behind Virgil and Scott reminded Alan of that night. He had little memory of escaping the fire – his family and doctor reasoning that he'd blocked it out as it'd been a traumatizing memory.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. Please no." Alan clutched at the sides of his head as memories that he couldn't remember assaulted him left and right. "Daddy! Make it stop. Please!"
Curling into a ball on the bed, Alan continued to cry and whimper. Gripping his hair, Alan tried not to give in to instinct and bawl his eyes out but sometimes nature had a way of going full speed ahead whether the person in the storm's path wanted it or not.
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The ringing of Jeff's cell phone startled him from sleep and he reached over top of John to grab his phone from the nightstand. Answering the phone without looking at the id screen Jeff answered.
"Hello, this is Jeff." Stifling a yawn, Jeff waited for whoever to start speaking.
"Dad, it's Virgil!" The medic sounded panicked.
"Virgil what's the matter? Is everything okay?" Jeff came awake the moment he heard his middle child speak.
"Dad, it's Alan…I don't know what's going with him!" Virgil's voice broke in his panic. "Allie, please stop!"
"Virgil what's going on with your brother?" Jeff threw his bed covers off and stood, stepping into the hall so as to not disturb his other three sons who were actually sleeping.
"Dad, please! You've got to come back! Alan, I think he's had a psychotic break." Virgil gasped. "Allie stop it, please! You'll only hurt yourself more! Please!"
"What do you mean?" Jeff asked, alarm dripping from his tone.
"Dr. Warner came to get me to try to calm Alan down. He wouldn't stop crying and he's been ripping his hair out. Alan won't let anyone touch him and he keeps demanding to see you, but he won't let me come close enough to give him the phone so he can talk to you." Virgil's voice hiccupped as if he was trying not to cry. "Dr. Warner had to break protocol and he had to call the psych ward to bring restraints. Alan won't stop! Please dad, you've got to come back! He needs you…I need you!"
Jeff didn't even want to think of waking his other three boys at the moment, Parker and Penny were still around. Making a split decision, Jeff stormed down the hall, still on his phone and knocked loudly on the door which Parker was staying in. He'd have Parker take him back to Manhattan tonight and his other boys could return the next day or the day after – his mother would make sure they didn't hot-foot it back to Manhattan. With the way FAB-1 could fly, he could be back in Manhattan in two hours. Faster than the family jet, but certainly not fast enough for Jeff's taste.
Parker's bedroom door opened and Parker stood there in his dressing gown, and Jeff knew he was holding a handgun in the back waistband for protection. That was how Parker was.
"How may I be of service to ye Master Tracy?" Parker could see the stress on Jeff's face and wondered what the problem was. Jeff held a finger up signaling to Parker to wait a moment.
"Virgil, I'm talking to Parker right now…I'll be back as soon as I can, but I need you to remain strong for me okay? Keep your head on and try to do whatever it takes to get your brother to calm down. Sing to him, do anything. I should be back in about two-two and a half hours."
"Okay…I'll try." Virgil took a big healthy sniff – telling Jeff that things were really bad if it reduced Virgil to tears.
"Good man. I love you and tell Alan I love him too." Jeff said gently into his phone before disconnecting the call. "Parker, I need you to take me back to Manhattan. It's urgent."
"Whatever ye' say sir. I'll be with you before you can say 'Bob's your uncle.' I'll meet you in the car garage." Parker stepped back so as to close the door and Jeff walked with purpose back down the hall; before entering the room quietly.
Locating his clothes – Jeff stepped into the bathroom to dress. He'd leave his luggage for now, not like he'd be returning to the hotel anytime soon. Moving swiftly and silently back over to the spot between the beds, Jeff located a pad and paper and by the light of his cell phone wrote a harried note to his sons so that they'd know where he'd gone. He apologized for having cut their trip short, but he knew they'd understand. With that Jeff left the room and practically ran down the hall to reach the parking garage where Parker was warming up FAB-1 for flight.
Opening the front passenger door, Jeff slid in. "Go, get us in the air – please Parker."
"Yes sir." Parker pulled out of the place and drove swiftly until he reached a sleepy rural town and took flight once the coast was clear. Jeff sat wound tighter than a rubber band ball. Speaking softly, Parker tried to act as Jeff's confidant as Parker was known to do. There was a reason for Alan's nickname for Parker being Nosey. "Is something wrong with young Master Alan sir?"
Jeff chose that moment to release a pent up sigh as he leaned forward.
"I don't know any more Parker. If it's not one thing it's another and to be quite frank with you I am growing tired of this. Just once, why can't things go smoothly for Alan, hasn't my baby had enough thrust at him?" Jeff began chewing on his thumbnail. "Virgil called me in an absolute panic because Alan seems to have lost it. He keeps demanding to see me, but won't let anyone near him and he had to be restrained."
Hearing what Jeff just said, made Parker push FAB-1 just that little bit harder, not wanting to keep father and son from being reunited. He quite liked Alan, Jeff, each of the boys – even if he hadn't acted like it at first. Jeff's sons – primarily Alan grew on him and it was hard for Parker to ignore anything that Jeff or his sons requested. To get Jeff to the hospital so he could help any way he could was a small price in return for a few lost hours of sleep.
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Virgil sat in his wheelchair, a blanket draped over his legs, hospital gown open in the back and mask in place before his mouth. He sat as close as he could to Alan's bed, just barely within touching distance and Alan continued to fight the restraints.
"No! No! No! Dad! Dad! Dad! Please! No! No! No!" Alan's head flopped from side to side as he chanted the same thing over and over. Virgil shook, tears dripping from his lashes as he watched with a broken heart as Alan continued his monotonous and terror filled chant. His eyes were unblinking and Virgil wished the kid would just blink already. Anytime anyone tried to touch Alan, the boy's fight and vigor would renew with him fighting his restraints. Sniffling again, Virgil started humming again as he had been doing since the doctor retrieved him to attempt to calm Alan.
"No! No! Dad! Please! No! I can't breathe, it's hot…dad? Please!" Alan continued carrying on and Virgil restrained the want to scoot forward to cup Alan's face.
"Oh Allie." Virgil lifted a shaking hand but had to stop himself from touching Alan. The boy's head continued to loll from side to side as if caught in a hallucination. "Please hurry dad."
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Jeff didn't wait for FAB-1 to come to a full stop before he exited the vehicle. Throwing a word of thanks over his shoulder, Jeff entered the hospital at a jog. Parker watched Jeff run in past the doors before deciding he'd follow Jeff's previous wishes to return to the hotel so he could be of some help for when everyone in California woke up
AN: So I mentioned Alan's grandfather spoke German when angry - I only mentioned that because according to my father - that's what my grandfather used to do. He himself was born stateside, but his parents had immigrated from Germany and they taught him to speak German and he'd learned English whilst being raised in the US. My dad occasionally speaks in German, though he's never actually tried to teach me or my brother what he's saying and my mom doesn't have a clue either. He says we don't need to know - so I'm guessing it's not something very kind.