Dislaim - I have always done so, will continue to do so...
Chapter 13 – Blue eyes and brothers
"So, Kate, what did Alan do to Gordon?" Kate was back at the same table she had been at before the rescue. Alan, being much cleverer than his brothers often gave him credit for, was sitting near by, laughing and flirting with Tin-Tin, and making jokes with Fermat who had just left his father's lab. Kate knew it wasn't affection for her – though her youngest brother-in-law did love her very much – that kept him near. Alan was assured a certain level of protection being near his sister-in-law and all of his brothers knew it.
Jeff and Scott moved to sit down with Kate, picking through the reports – Kate had moved onto International Rescue paperwork now – and selecting ones that they had to review as well. Kate looked up from the report she had been focused on and smiled at her father-in-law's question. "What, Gordon won't tell you and Alan's in denial?"
Scott laughed. His wife was the first person he had met since his late mother who could so easily make Jefferson Tracy look so sheepish. As Kate turned to her husband, eyebrows raised, Scott went silent. His father wasn't the only person Kate could bring a hangdog look to.
"You know how Gordon was willing to represent the family first at that design meeting in San Francisco, then the one in Manhattan? Even though Gordon hates meetings?" Both men nodded. "Well, did either of you notice the blue-eyed blond Gordon danced with repeatedly at our wedding?"
Scott spoke up, "The one with the great legs?" At Kate's dirty look, Scott decided silence was golden.
Jeff looked puzzled. "Wasn't she your cousin Edward's date?"
Kate laughed. "Yes and no. Edward had been dating another doctor. Three days before the wedding, his girlfriend Emily broke up with him and moved to New Zealand. So Edward called Lisa, who had been working in the accounting department of Tracy Aeronautics and asked her to be his date."
Jeff was still confused. "How did your cousin, a doctor in Los Angeles, know one of our employees in San Francisco?"
"OK, this is where it may get confusing. Dad's brother Uncle Charlie is married to my Aunt Amita, who has a younger sister named Sari, who is married to an engineering professor at Cal-Sci. That is Professor MacKenzie's second marriage, and they have two sons. However, his first marriage produced a daughter, Lisa. So technically, Lisa is my cousins' first cousin by marriage. And if you follow that, you are doing vey well." Father and son laughed. "Lisa and Edward have always been friends, but were never romantic. However, they have often been each others "emergency date". So that's how Gordon met Lisa."
Scott was puzzled. "He told you about this?"
Kate began to laugh again. "Never! However, Lisa told her father, who told his wife, who told her sister, who told her husband, who told his brother, who told his wife, who told me." Kate let father and son absorb that, trying to go through her complicated line of informants.
"So," Jeff wondered, "you just found out."
Scoffing, Kate made a note on the report in front of her. "Puh-lease! I knew two days after we got back from our honeymoon."
Jeff smiled. Kate really was very good at her job. However… "Kate, you never did say what Alan did."
Kate looked over at her youngest brother-in-law fondly. Turning back to his father, she smiled. "Well, you needed the background to appreciate the simplicity of what he did."
Her husband was getting frustrated. "So? What did Alan do?"
"Alan scanned in a bunch of Gordon baby pictures – especially any naked or otherwise embarrassing pictures – into an e-mail attachment that he sent to Lisa from Gordon's own e-mail address. So she opened the attachment and viewed the slideshow. He even set it to the tune "I Feel Pretty." Gordon was not amused when Lisa told him about it. Since Alan is the only one here who could have done it…" Kate laughed. "I mean, John could have but he can't access the pictures. Fermat or Brains could have but really, would anyone suspect them? So that leaves Alan, who is becoming a fairly capable hacker in his own right." Smiling, Kate looked over at Alan again. "Boy is making me proud."
Jeff and Scott looked at each other and burst into laughter. Kate was really becoming a Tracy in every sense of the word.
TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB
Kate had gone into the house when Onaha had told her that one of her brothers was on the vid-phone. Sitting at Jeff's desk, Kate faced her oldest brother Andrew. "Hi Andy, what's up?"
"What's up? What do you mean, what's up? How about where the hell are you?"
Surprised, Kate sat back in the desk chair. "Andy, what is your problem. Obviously, I am at home. You called me here, remember?"
Andrew Eppes frowned at his only sister. "I mean, why aren't you here in Los Angeles?"
"Geez, Andy, you never did pay much attention to Larry growing up, did you. Physics 101, big brother; I can't be in two places at once."
The frown was still there. "Uncle Charlie was hurt. I know you know. I know you spoke with Dad and I saw the flowers you sent."
Kate interrupted. "Actually, Dad Tracy sent the flowers. Scott and I sent a fruit basket."
Andrew looked ready to burst. "Kate, that's not the point. When someone in the family is hurt or in need, we drop everything. We are there. You are not here, you are somewhere else. Dad and Uncle Charlie say they understand, oddly enough they actually seem to understand. Mom, Aunt Amita and the cousins say they understand, but I am not sure that they do. Dan and I do NOT understand and won't even claim to."
Worrying her lower lip, Kate tried to find a way to explain everything she couldn't say to her oldest brother. She had been there. Hell, she had helped save Uncle Charlie. But she couldn't tell Andy that. Finally she looked up at her brother. "I'm sorry you and Dan don't get it Andy. If Uncle Charlie had been seriously hurt, I would be there. If the family really needed me, I would be there. But I have two families now Andy. And my family needed me somewhere other than there. This family needed me here. So call me back when you grow up and accept that I grew up a long time ago. I'm your baby sister not your baby sitter; you don't need me right now and the Tracys did. Dad and Uncle Charlie understand and hopefully everyone else can or will." Andrew looked like he wanted to say something more. "No Andy, I mean it. Call me back when you want to talk with me and not at me." Kate paused before reaching for the disconnect button. "Andy?" Her brother looked at her, still angry. "I love you anyways, you jerk."
She wasn't sure how long she sat staring at the darkened vid phone. He wasn't sure how long he had been there watching her. Finally, Gordon Tracy stepped forward and kneeled besides his sister-in-law. "Hey Kate." She gave him a watery smile. "Brothers can be jerks, but they still love you." Kate was unsure if he meant the brothers of birth or marriage; she thought he might mean of both. But that was all it took.
Scott and Alan found them like that a few minutes later. Gordon holding Kate while she cried. One brother soothing the pain caused by another brother's rejection.
a/n - back to the interaction I am so good at. so what did you think of the prank? and do you get Lisa's connection to Kate i.e how she found out? pretty convoluted, but that's life. should have more up soon. a bit of a rescue and then... hmm. you'll need to be here for our boys, their gonna need you.