OK - is anyone else not getting updates in their e-mail. very frustrating

OK, more family time... This will lead up to something big.

Chapter 14 – When did Alan become a leader?

After the argument with her mother in New York, Emily was a little depressed. But the Tracys refused to allow her to feel down. It was easier to bounce back for three reasons: 1) It was against her nature to ignore that besides her birth family's approval, she finally had everything she ever wanted; 2) Emily simply didn't have the time to be depressed and 3) Alan was too much fun.

Now that her youngest brother-in-law was home full time for the summer, Emily had gotten to know him much better. John and Alan were the two Tracy brothers who looked the most alike, both closely resembling their late mother. But their personalities were so different… Yet Emily couldn't help but feel that it was those differences that made his baby brother so precious to her husband, as well as the rest of the family. Emily had heard the stories about how Alan used to be. These days, Alan was much more mature and was a valuable asset to International Rescue. With all the boy – at barely seventeen, she still viewed him as such - had been through in the last couple of years, it was easy to understand how he could have changed so much… And while Alan still had a hot temper, one that had been known to clash with his strong-willed father on occasion, the two had grown much closer.

Emily had gone in search of Alan today. While on the mainland for a few days for the clinic, Emily had arranged to do a mail pickup. Three letters were marked for Alan, which was unusual. Alan had friends from Wharton's that he kept in touch with during the summer, but that was by e-mail. Most of the other mail was either in Jeff's study or had been given to Kyrano for proper sorting. That man was brilliant at spotting junk mail.

If she had been asked, Emily would have admitted that she was simply curious. Curious as to the letters but also curious as to where Jeff and Alan would disappear to on occasion. Entering a storage area near the hanger, Emily stopped in surprise.

Dirty, streaked with grease, her father-in-law and his youngest son worked in relative silence on an old car. Nearby, Kate sat on a chair, making notes while baby Jason slept in a swing. Spotting Emily, Kate smiled and motioned her over. Pointing to the car, Kate explained, "Alan's sixteenth birthday present, a 1959 Ford Thunderbird convertible. It was the only thing he asked his father for that year."

"OK," Emily mused. "Two questions: One, what is wrong with the car and two, where does he drive it?"

"Oh, it's not drivable, hasn't been drivable, not for years." At Emily's confused look, Kate continued with a smile. "It needed tons of work and Alan won't need a car until college next fall. But whenever Alan comes home, this is where he and Jeff come to. They work on the car together. By the time it is done, Alan will have had more than a real nice car. He will have had time alone with his father, and Jeff will have some wonderful memories of having done this with his baby boy."

"So why are you here?"

"With the way Jeff snatches Jason at every opportunity? It's the only way I get to spend time with my baby boy."

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Alan looked over at where he knew Kate was sitting, thinking she had been talking to the baby again while working on a security report. Instead, Emily was there. He had to admit, he was a little confused. Why would she be down here? She shouldn't be heading to the clinic, having just come back, nor was Emily on active Thunderbird status. Now that his father knew Emily was pregnant, Jeff had insisted that Emily not go on any more rescues. While she would probably be safe, Jeff pointed out that police or rescue personnel who were expecting were put on desk duty and he had done the same for Kate. Luckily, no rescues had come up that Emily would have been needed on, so it was a moot point for now.

Having been waiting for Alan to hand him a wrench, Jeff looked up to see what had distracted his son. Smiling at his daughter-in-laws, he called out "Did you need anything, Emily? Kate is doing fine on her own making sure I don't get Jason to start any of the heavy work yet." Alan snickered at this; he personally could be as bad as his father at trying to get some time with his nephew. Though at least unlike Jeff, Alan was not trying to show Jason how to rebuild a carburetor.

Emily walked over to her brother-in-law, smiling. "Mail run. And three of the letters were for you."

"Me?" "Alan?" Alan and Jeff had spoken at the same time. Reaching over, Alan took the three letters out of Emily's hands. Looking at the return addresses, the youngest Tracy son seemed torn between excitement and apprehension. Not looking at his father, Alan stood silent, just holding the envelopes. "So?" Kate called out. "Are you going to open them, or do you pull a Karnack? I have to warn you, Carson's script writers are all dead by now."

Jeff seemed to suddenly understand. "Hey, Alan, I need to go over a report with Scott and check on something with Brains. Why don't you go back to your room and open up the letters there?" Nodding but still silent, Alan walked away from the car, as Jeff began to gather up the tools, something Alan usually did. Kate and Emily looked at each other and Kate simply shrugged. Nope, that was not normal Alan Tracy behavior.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

Poised at his desk in the sitting area of his bedroom, Alan stared at the three letters now open before him. He didn't know which shocked him more. Then he began to smile… They would all surprise his family. Cool.

TBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTBTB

By the time the Tracys sat down for dinner, everyone on the island knew about the letters. If Jeff had to venture a guess, he would presume that the only island resident who wasn't curious was John and that was due to the simple fact John was up on International Rescues Space Station.

Actually, Jeff would be wrong. Alan had called John to relay the news and get some feedback. Looking over his family and friends, all watching him expectantly, Alan snarked "And you guys want to know what?"

Gordon was severely tempted to yank his baby bro from the table and dunk him in the pool until he spilled all. Scott wanted to drag Alan into the study and have a tag team interrogation with Dad – or maybe Kate. She was good at that as well. In one form of the other, everyone wanted to know what, exactly, was up with Alan. Observing the varying degrees of curiosity and confusion, with a touch of apprehension, Alan finally took mercy on his family.

"OK. Three letters, and yes, all three are important – at least to me. The first letter is almost guaranteed to shock you the most. And it might annoy Scott a little." Well that definitely peaked the oldest Tracy son's interest. Alan pulled the letters out of a back pocket, handing the first one to his father. Jeff unfolded the letter and began to smile. "What Dad is about to say, but I am going to beat him to, is that all the college prep classes paid off as I have been pre-accepted for Harvard University next year."

Once the excited chatter, and noogies from Gordy had died down, Scott – Yale man that he was asked, slightly miffed – "OK, so you get to make Dad and John happy… What are the other two letters?"

Emily snickered, knowing that if Alan had been pre-accepted at Yale, John would have been insulted. Though at least her husband would have kept it hidden from Alan. Of course, Scott would have been gloating so much…

Kate, having glared her own spouse into silence, asked "While his tone can be improved, Scott is right, Kiddo. What are the other two letters?"

Alan smiled. "Actually, I owe this one to you Kate, so I guess I should let you see it first." Sliding that letter to his sister-in-law, he laughed at the way her eyes widened and the very un-FBI like squeal that emitted from her. Still clutching the letter, Kate jumped up from her seat and ran over to hug Alan. Smiling at the rest of the table Alan explained. "You all know that I love to read science fiction?" Everyone nodded, so he continued. "Well, Kate found out I have been writing some of my own stories for a while now. And she encouraged me to submit some of them. Well, I have been since Spring Break. This is a letter accepting one of them for publication in Sci-Fi Fics Quarterly, and included a check for $500. Small change by Tracy standards, I'll admit, but a guy has to start somewhere, right?"

Now that Kate was back in her seat and the voices had once more died down, Fermat joined in the questions. "A-Alan? I bet I know wh-what the th-third letter was. I s-saw that you were cc'd on my letter."

"So do you wanna explain?"

"Fr-fr-frankly A-Alan, I th-think you c-can do it f-faster."

Alan and Fermat snickered at the younger boy's self-depreciating humor and touched fists, their all-is-cool signal. With that Alan began to explain. "OK, so Fermat and I have been taking college level course work, OK, so Fermat almost always had some but… Anyhow, umm, I also had track and Fermat had his extra curricular activities. Fermat has also been an honor society officer at Wharton since last year and I don't know if Brains told you, he is the regional VP for Future Scientists of America, northeast chapter. Well, I am going in as Captain of the Track Team and I don't know if you knew this but I was kinda-elected-student-council-president." The last part was said quickly as if Alan was afraid to say it out loud. Dead silence reigned, so Alan chose to continue. Talking was better than the shock emitting from his family. "Well, both Fermat and I are among seven Wharton students selected to represent the school at the Seventh Annual Student Leaders Convention this year. If you OK it Dad, and Brains, of course, we will need to go back to school a few days early as the convention starts the Thursday before Labor Day, and ends that Sunday. Since the convention is in Boston this year, Wharton's says if we go to the convention, they will arrange transport to the school Sunday night. So, can we? It's like a huge honor and I will so be on my best behavior. I have too much to lose if I don't Dad, honest!" Alan looked at his dad, baby blue eyes big and pleading.

Jeff smiled to himself and made eye contact with Scott and Kate. Scott was practically puffed with pride; this had more than made up for Alan choosing John's alma mater over his. Well, almost. Kate nodded at Jeff; it was so wonderful to see Alan balancing between a child-like sense of excitement and the maturity marking his path to manhood. Brains one-armed hug told Fermat he could go as well.

"Yes, Alan, you can go. But I want to see all the details on the conference before I sign of on any permission slip, got it?" Alan smiled nodding, as Tin-Tin leaned over for a quick hug.

Not content to leave be, Gordon staged whispered to Virgil "Since when is Alan a leader?" Virgil's giggle-snort was cut short by a clip in the back of the head from Emily, as Kate scored one on Gordon. Rubbing their abused craniums, Virgil's mutter made everyone crack up.

"Told you we were in trouble if they ever joined forces."

a/n - Alan is very different in my stories then from how others have portrayed him. But with all the torture - I mean challenges - he has been through I like to think he would put it into creating positive change. Besides, wait until you see what I am setting him up for... hee-hee, snicker, snort.