Disclaimer: I do not yet own the Thunderbirds. I will get them one day though!
AN: Currently un-beta'd, this will go in to my beta and be edited soon. But since I only finished it at 2 A.M. and I wanted to get it out to celebrate my birthday, it's currently unseen by her.
By some miracle, there was still no one in the house.
Alan silently thanked God and got to the relative safety of his bedroom as quickly as was physically possible. He locked the door behind him and grabbed his desk chair, wedging it underneath the door handle.
It would make his brothers and father angry with him but he couldn't find it in himself to care. He knew that he couldn't handle company and he didn't want to try. All he wanted to do was take a long, mind-numbing shower and then climb into bed.
Maybe it'll end up all being some incredibly insane dream. Alan laughed humourlessly, bringing up a hand to drag over his wet cheeks.
Wishful thinking. Even my mind isn't screwed up enough to come up with something like this.
He chose a towel and clothes and then headed for his bathroom.
Understanding
Alan woke to pounding on his door. He groaned mentally as he recognized the voice yelling at him through the door.
Scott.
Again.
I am so not in the mood for this right now. But I've got to face them some time. This is the third time Scott's been at the door and if he doesn't ease up on that handle, it's gonna break right off. At least Dad seems to realize that it's not in anyone's best interests for him to try and talk to me again.
The teen turned over to look at the clock on his bedside table.
16:09 flashed at him.
I suppose I'd better go talk to him. After all, I need to start packing soon and it's impossible to concentrate on practicalities when your bedroom door's being pounded to the beat of something remarkably similar to Jingle Bells. I wonder if Scott knows he's doing that…
"Alan Shepard Tracy, stop ignoring me! You open this door right now and tell me what's going on! And you'd better have a good explanation for why you're acting like this!"
Alan pulled back the chair he'd set against the door earlier and unlocked the door before quickly stepping back.
"Finally!" Scott snapped. The elder Tracy looked hopping mad, a sight that would normally have been some cause for concern but at present, Alan was too tired and emotionally worn out to spare the energy for his eldest brother.
Scott opened his mouth to continue but Alan cut him off before he could speak.
"I had a fight with Dad and I didn't want company. After that, I fell asleep. I'm sorry if I worried you but I'm really tired and I need to pack still so please, can we not fight?" The blond looked pleadingly at the eldest Tracy.
Scott's eyes were wide and he looked completely confused – it wasn't the norm for Alan to shy away from a fight – but he still narrowed in on the most important part of the sentence.
"Pack? Pack for what?" he asked with a frown on his face. "You're not going anywhere for at least a few more weeks, kiddo. Everybody's way too tired."
"Guess again, big brother. I'm leaving in the morning. And before you decide to let Mt. Tracy erupt, Dad already knows. This is all his doing."
As tired and listless as he was, Alan was still surprised that his brother had let him get away with the cheekiness. Probably, Scott was still thrown that he hadn't started yelling at the first chance.
His eldest brother seemed to still be in the midst of processing what was happening so Alan took his chance and swung the door closed. Or he would have, if Scott hadn't caught it with a well-placed foot.
Alan looked back towards the man and Scott eased the door back open, entering and urging him towards the bed.
"Hold it, Sprout. You still haven't explained why you seem to think you're leaving. What happened with you and Dad?"
Alan dug his heels in, freezing in the middle of the room. Oh ,no. I'm not sitting here and rehashing what happened while Scott plays therapist and eventually sides with Dad. Going through that once is enough for one day. Well, actually, it's enough for a lifetime but there's no way I can avoid everybody for a lifetime.
"Scott, I really don't want to talk about it yet. If you want to know what happened, go ask Dad. And while you're at it, round up Virgil and Gordon. And call John, if you feel like it. I'm not talking to them about anything either." He gave his brother a one-armed hug and then gestured towards the door.
Scott's eyes narrowed before he finally sighed and nodded. "I can see that you won't budge on this so I won't push… for now." The dark-haired man exited the room, closing the door behind him.
Alan collapsed back onto his bed with a sigh of relief.
One confrontation down, way too many to go. I have no idea whether or not anyone will believe me. Before today I would've immediately said they would but if my father can't believe in me enough to think that I would work my ass off and get good results, then what are the chances that my brothers or my friends will have more faith in me?
The teen shook his head and reached for his watch. He had no idea when exactly he would be leaving but he knew enough about his father to know that the man would have already organized travel arrangements for the following day.
Which means that I need to pack now and sleep early so that I can say goodbye to Tin and Fermat tomorrow.
Alan stood and crossed the room, reaching for the door to his closet.
What does one wear when you're forced back to school two and a half weeks into summer vacation? I don't even know if I'll be coming back to the Island after I re-take those exams. I'd better pack heavy.
Understanding
Scott Tracy was both angry and with and worried about his youngest brother. It seemed as though their father had found out about something else that Alan had done and neglected to mention which had led to them having another fight. He hadn't gotten the details from Jeff, but rather had headed straight for the youngest Tracy's bedroom, wanting to talk to Alan about what had happened before he heard what the school had told his father.
After spending far too much time waiting for Alan to stop sulking, he'd eventually managed to gain entrance to the Sprout's bedroom, only to be rebuffed by the blond as he refused to talk about what had happened and mouthed off.
He'd managed to ignore the impulse to tell Alan off for his flippancy, mainly because he'd seen that the Tracy baby was still upset about whatever he and Jeff had yelled at each other earlier and had instead chosen to speak to the Tracy patriarch and give Alan a little more time to deal with the situation before he talked to him about it.
The pilot paused outside Jeff's office, knocking lightly before poking his head in.
"Hey, Dad. Do you have a minute?"
Jeff looked up from the papers he was consulting. "Any luck with Alan?" he asked.
Scott shook his head. "He refused to talk to me or any of the others. And he mentioned something about leaving…?" Scott trailed off.
The Tracy patriarch nodded his head. "I think it might be best if you get Gordon and Virgil. I'll call John. I'd prefer it if I only had to talk about this once."
Scott nodded sharply and left to hunt down both younger brothers.
Jeff turned to his computer and called his other blond son, smiling as John answered.
"Hey Dad, what's up?" The astronaut asked.
"Hi, John. There's something that I need to speak with you and your brothers about. It's to do with Alan."
"Is something wrong?"
Jeff ran a hand over his face. "I'd prefer to talk about it when all of you are here."
He looked up as three more of his sons entered his office.
"Come in, boys. Scott, did you tell your brothers what this is about?"
Scott shook his head. "No, I thought it'd be best if we just got here as quickly as possible."
"All Scott said was that this had something to do with why Alan's been acting like a diva all day." Gordon said. "So, what's up, Dad?"
Jeff looked at his sons and sighed.
"Alan's school contacted me today. They believe that he cheated on his finals and I agree with them. Alan denied it when I asked him but he chose to accept the second chance Wharton's gave him. He'll be leaving for Massachusetts in the morning and he'll re-take his tests at the end of the summer. If he manages to pass, his Headmaster is prepared to ignore what he's done."
Virgil was the first one to speak. "Dad, are you sure about this? Alan has never been the type to do something like this. It's possible that his school made a mistake."
"I was reluctant to believe it at first as well, Virgil, but there's definite proof that Alan did, in fact, cheat."
"I can't believe that he would do something like this! What the hell was he thinking?" Scott shouted, furious.
"He probably wasn't."
"Gordon, I'm not in the mood for wisecracks." Scott glared at his unfortunate younger brother.
"Scott, Gordon's right. Alan probably just did this as a spur-of-the-moment thing. You know how he gets. Tell me that sounds out of character for him." John spoke up.
The eldest Tracy scowled. "I can't because that sounds perfectly in character for Alan. But how could he have done something so incredibly stupid. He must've known that he'd probably be expelled and we'd have to find another school…"
"More than just that, the media would've torn us apart. They still might, if a teacher talks to a reporter." Virgil pointed out.
"I don't think we have to worry about reporters. The teachers all have a strict confidentiality clause in their contracts and it's not worth it for them to say anything." John interjected.
"Well, at least there's that." Virgil said.
"Even if he is a kid, this was incredibly stupid. I mean, even I never did anything close to this dumb." Gordon said.
"Okay, boys, that's enough. We can spend all day debating why Alan did something this foolish but it's pointless and I'm sure that we all have much better things to do. He'll be leaving early tomorrow so you might want to say goodbye tonight."
"Other than that, there's a possibility that we might get called out late tonight so all of you try and catch a nap just in case."
Understanding
"Alan? Are you there? Please open the door, it's just me. None of your brothers are around right now." Tintin stood outside Alan's bedroom, worrying her bottom lip.
The door swung open.
"Hey, Tintin." Alan greeted. He frowned when he saw the look on her face. "Is something wrong?"
"Hi, Alan. Can I come in?"
"Oh, yeah, sure." The blond stood aside to let her pass.
"Sit down somewhere and tell me what happened."
Tintin took a deep breath. "Actually, I need to ask you something."
"Okay, shoot."
"Are you leaving?"
Alan looked up. "So everybody knows?"
"You are leaving?" Tintin demanded.
"Yeah. I'm going back to Massachusetts tomorrow."
"Why?"
"It's a really long story, Tintin." Alan said tiredly.
The girl narrowed her eyes. "Well, I have nothing important to do, and by the looks of it, neither do you." Her face softened. "Talk to me, Alan. It might make you feel better."
"Okay. But only because you asked so nicely." He smiled faintly. "Wharton's thinks that I cheated on my finals and my father agrees with them. He graciously offered me a choice – repeat the year and be expelled or go back to Wharton's, act like I'm guilty and apologize to the whole world for screwing up."
Tintin pulled his hand into hers. "Alan, I'm so sorry. I don't know why your father thinks you cheated but I believe you. I know it's not much consolation but still..."
"I appreciate that." Alan squeezed her hand.
"So, how did you find out? Has my Dad told everyone?"
"He told your brothers in his study," Tintin said.
Alan looked up, "But then how did you..."
He trailed off, looking at her mischeivous smile.
"Tintin, what did you do?"
"I saw your brothers go into your father's office and I... Well, I may have listened in."
Alan burst out laughing. "Tintin, you sly little fox. Thank you. You made me feel a lot better."
"Anytime, Alan."
AN: Hey guys! I hope you all enjoyed this! It's a couple hundred words shorter than the last chapter but this was a convenient stopping place.
Today, I'm shamelessly begging for reviews because of something very special - It's my birthday.
And, since I stayed up till 2 to write this, I'd appreciate some con-crit, maybe a few compliments :D
Anonymous Reviewers - Check my profile for review replies!
TC everyone!