Disclaim - Nope, not mine (except Kate, Emily and Jason)

Chapter Six – You Did What?

"You did what?" Jefferson Tracy was a man who was hard to shock or take by surprise. His second son had managed to do both.

John Tracy laughed the sheer joy that raced through him bubbling to the surface once more. "I married Emily Haas."

Jeff grew concerned. "John, I wanted you to recruit Emily Haas, not…"

"Whoa, Dad. Stop there. I recruited Dr. Haas for International Rescue; I married Emily Haas because I wanted to. I married her because… Because I couldn't imagine a future without her, because she took my breath away… I married Emily because she looked at me like I hung the moon and the stars just for her."

A softness crossed Jeff Tracy's face as he recalled that night. The night when he and Lucy had told their gentle son how to know when you met "the one". Lucy had taken Jeff out and told him about Alan coming that night. Shocked by the news, Jeff had done his best to hide it. Lucy had been excited about that baby as she had about the other four. She had nicknames for each. Scott was Daddy's Shadow, John their Gentle Dreamer, Virgil was The Artist, Gordon was Their Miracle (due to his premature birth – another time he had defied doctors' predictions) and Alan was the Surprise. As Lucy told Jeff, mistakes are unwanted and you wouldn't have them if you could do it over again. A surprise was something you didn't know you wanted until it was given to you.

Jeff held back much of what he wanted to say to John until he could think it through. He thanked God to this day that he had held back saying what he had first thought that night. Lucy never knew that he had regretted her pregnancy for less than a minute. It was bad enough that she knew he had initially been disappointed at Alan not having been the long wished for girl. As if God was trying to make it up to him, Alan had been Lucy's image and even had her personality. John looked so much like Lucy as well. Both of those sons were so much like his late wife. But while Alan had inherited Lucy's fiery temper and would give as good as he got, John's temper was slow to rise, and he was Jeff's peacemaker. Jeff weighed his words carefully, not wanting to hurt his son's feelings.

"John, I have to say I have my concerns. You only met a week ago. Are you sure?"

"Dad, you and Mom knew on your first date. Scott and Kate were engaged before she left the island – less than two weeks after they met. You were OK with that."

"Scott and Kate didn't marry until almost five months after they met. And while they did become engaged ten days after meeting – kinda romantic for New Years Eve, you have to admit. But it's not like they were intimate there on the island…" Jeff held his tongue when John couldn't look him in the eye for a moment. He debated having a long talk with Scott when he got home, but as Kate and Scott had been married for almost a year, it would be wasted effort at this point, right. He just hoped Alan didn't know. Then again, having been present when Jason was born seemed to have been a huge deterrent in the river of teenage hormones.

John looked at his father, serious. "Dad, Scott and Kate would have married then and there if she hadn't wanted to have her family there, to make them happy. Emily doesn't have that. From what little she has said, she isn't close to her family. You wondered why Emily first moved clear across the country, then half way around the world? I'm not sure exactly why, but I know it had something to do with her family. Emily sent her mother a message that she had gotten married. She didn't say who, just someone she had met in New Zealand, whose family lives on an island north of Auckland. Her mother had an attorney contact her about an annulment, and then had him tell her she could contact her family again when she regained her senses. I love her Dad, and she loves me. She'll be good for International Rescue and the Tracys will be good for her."

Jeff looked at his son's hopeful face. Maybe, just maybe, John truly had gotten as lucky as he had with Lucy, as Scott had with Kate. Maybe he had another daughter, hope for more grandchildren, someone to anchor their star child to the Earth. John needed that and Jeff prayed he had found that in Emily Haas.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Emily was surrounded by stunned Tracys. She sympathized with them. She had felt like that for the past few days. Finally, she looked at Kate. "The Tracy who moves slow? The one that would never surprise you." Emily looked down at her left hand, at the gold band set with diamonds. "Oh, I think he can move fast when he wants to and boy can he surprise you."

Kate choked back a laugh. "How the hell did this happen? You left here almost a week ago, John comes after you three days ago and what, you guys got married this morning?"

"No, we met for lunch, he proposed at dinner, and then were married at the U.S. consulate by the next lunch. John had a room at the Sugarloaf Lodge in Matakana…"

"Oh, I heard about that place. Some of the best shopping and restaurants in New Zealand are supposed to be there. How was it?" Kate asked.

"I wouldn't know… Never got to them."

"OK," Scott interrupted. "Alan, Tin-Tin, I need you to help me change Jason."

Scott virtually pushed the two teenagers out the room. Kate glared at Virgil and Gordon; Onaha did the same to Kyrano. All clever men, they jumped up, suddenly remembering chores elsewhere.

Onaha gently laid her right hand on Emily's left hand, causing the younger woman to turn and face her. "What it comes down to little one, is do you love him and does he love you?"

Emily smiled her face soft and dreamy. The very practical professional woman had faded away. A woman in love sat there. "Yes."

Kate grinned. "Then welcome to the family."

a/n - so, do you already dislike Emily's family? I sure do. The Tracys are surprised but seemingly willing to give Emily a chance... We'll see. This is all set, so I will post now and try to make everyone happy. Have a lot going on the next day or two so not sure if I will update before Friday. I will try. If not, I will make sure I update Friday morning, Okay? By the way, Sugarloaf Lodge and Matakana are real, found them on a tourist page about Auckland. Does look nice. Expensive, but nice.