Ahh the bitter taste of late updates, I know you all adore me for it. This has been not so much a hard chapter, but a hard one to plan with how it snakes in with the rest of the fic. I was hoping to get the next part in with this chapter but I figured it worked better being cut into two parts, I also felt that leaving you on a bit of a cliffy would make you love me all the more ;)
Please, pleaseeee if you have pressed "watch", review me as well. If I didn't get your fab reviews I wouldn't write, I like to know how things are going and what you like and want to see more of. So let me know!
Huge thanks to reviewers of the last chapter.
gotyu x

The flight had so far been pretty quiet, thanks to an wound up Scott and no one wanting to light the match that set the fuse, Alan had been able to go about his business without interference.

He'd taken one of the single seats at the back of the cabin, borrowing John's laptop with the pretence of keeping in touch with his school friends via email. His eyes drifted up from the screen every now and then just to make sure that none of his brother's were sneaking up to check on him, thankfully they'd all stayed in their seats at the front of the plane. Scott co-piloting for his father who sat besides him.

Virgil and John were busy going over their plans for the day, their trips to the mainland weren't usually so planned out but right now they seemed to be planning by the minute.

Gordon sat across the aisle from them, spread across two seats whilst he played a game on his phone, oblivious to the glares Scott occasionally sent his way. The eldest Tracy son's eyes on Gordon's feet and sandy shoes which were perched comfortably on one of the leather chairs.

Scott loved Thunderbird one most of all but Tracy one was his second baby, the amount of time he spent in the aircraft whilst it was grounded was often a cause of puzzlement to the rest of the family. It was a blessing that they didn't keep cars on the island.

Turning his attention back to the screen Alan pulled up the search browser, making sure he had his emails on a different page just in case he typed in what he was looking for. Unimpressed with the mixed results that came up as he began to look through, quickly moving from page to page before refining the search.

Tess Zucco.

Seemingly the name wasn't as uncommon as he'd previously thought, with next to no info on her he found himself following the surname. If Tess was at the party then no doubt she had something to do with Tracy Enterprises, she didn't work for them so that left the possibility of her being involved in another business.

Zucco was a name that yielded more results, especially on the business aspect. They had offices close to the one they'd been at that night so logically Alan could deduce that she had something to do with that. Otherwise his search was over, he didn't much fancy going through over two thousand results.

He was searching for her address, this was the tricky part as the websites he had found gave a background of the businesses under the Zucco name and their roles. It was only when the name Taio Zucco cropped up that he started to get anywhere.

He quite easily gauged that this was in fact her father, they had a small but if you looked close enough, noticeable family resemblance. Going back to the search engine he refined the search once more, the results this time were more useful, something he could actually use. He found Taio's main address in the city and quickly clicked open a new page, heading to the main business directory site for the area and watching as the contacts names and addresses quickly loaded.

Bingo.

Tess Zucco. She had a ground floor apartment, maybe half an hour from the hospital, she also held a few other addresses that looped lopsidedly around the entire state but for now Alan was quite happy to follow the one closest. It wasn't that long since the party so hopefully she'd still be around.

He quickly took his phone from his pocket and added the address, mindful to get all the details. Pulling up a map he typed it in so he knew exactly where he was heading, turning up at the wrong house wouldn't do. Especially if his brothers were trailing him.

Sighing he closed the browser and returned to his emails, a hollow feeling of guilt residing in the bottom of his stomach for what he was planning, but anger outweighed that.

He had long since given up on the idea that he had genuinely fallen down some stairs, he'd had accidents before due to his own clumsiness or silly accidents but his brothers and father had never acted so strangely afterwards. They'd become overbearing, obsessive, on edge whenever the klaxon sounded or a call came in.

Plus none of their stories added up, he'd asked each separately what had happened and although the stories were vastly similar the small details that altered them from each other stuck out.

He couldn't remember a time when the whole family had left the island for something as minor as a hospital check up either, it was unheard of. His father's weak excuse of spending more time together didn't justify putting International Rescue on hold. There was no way that Alan could get himself to believe that his father would ever put a day with his sons in front of saving lives, especially if that day out involved moping around a hospital and picking up work from the office.

This scared Alan more than he'd admit, waking up in the infirmary was scary, he had an increasingly sense of paranoia that something else could be wrong. Virgil wanted some tests done on his blood, that was something else that didn't add up. If you had broken bones then why'd you need a blood test?

The explanation had been so long winded and full of medical jargon that he hadn't understood most of it, but he knew they were trying to fog him off with excuses to do with his head injury.

"You could develop an infection." Virgil had said, perched on the side of the infirmary bed as he flicked yet another needle with his thumb and forefinger. "I just want to make sure your blood's clear."

If that was all it was then why were they still so over bearing? What if it wasn't paranoia? What if he really did have something wrong with him? A list of diseases, conditions and a huge cancer worry now plagued him. That seemed like the only logical explanation, yet still…

Thinking back, Alan remembered the party for the most part, his memories had been cut short just after speaking to Tess Zucco. He could picture her standing and making an apology before heading off to speak with his father, from that moment the next thing he remembered was waking up. Therefore if he wanted to know what really happened he knew he'd have to find Tess. There was no way he could have made it out of the room to a flight of stairs without remembering actually walking there… it just seemed a strange place to lose his memories.

Since the whole incident Scott had been in a worsening mood, he'd been snappy and irrational about issues such as Alan sleeping in his own bed. He'd been distinctly paranoid, something which had come to a head the day before.

Apparently Scott had been sent to sit with Alan whilst his brothers spoke with their father, it had been a short walk to the infirmary yet after finding the room empty an hour had followed which had all the Tracys searching for their youngest. An hour with Scott yelling and getting more and more distressed over wherever Alan was.

It was only when Virgil had gone back down to the infirmary to pick up a first aid kit to take on their further search that he had found Alan sat on one of the beds reading a racing magazine.

It had eventually transpired that Alan hadn't actually left the infirmary at all, he had simply gone to the adjoining toilet and missed Scott when he'd come in looking for him. He'd found a stash of magazines he hadn't yet trawled though and despite his earlier thoughts of escape, had considered the wrath of Scott not worth it, especially with the headache he had.

Scott had been besides himself, the lecture he'd given Alan had not only not made sense, but left him thoroughly disgruntled with whatever was going on behind his back. The decision to take him to the mainland to get him checked over was a blessing for him but an added thorn in Scott's side. Hence the quiet flight, no one was going to mention that kettle of fish any time soon.

Gordon would have usually have found the situation with the infirmary highly amusing, but for once even he hadn't cracked a smile at the situation. He'd merely rolled his eyes and walked out, muttering something about turning him prematurely grey.

If they wanted stress then Alan felt very strongly that they should have had a day in his shoes feeling the intense paranoia of not knowing what the hell was going on.

Jeff and Scott didn't hang round the hospital for long, once they'd all been led through to one of the family rooms to await Alan's tests they had headed off to the office to pick up some work.

Alan was relieved to have a bit more space, though even with just Virgil, Gordon and John hanging around the atmosphere still felt tense. They were all sat twiddling thumbs, Gordon was flicking through some of the girly magazines left for visitors and patients, and John was gazing out of the window. Virgil, however, would be the one flaw in Alan's otherwise faultless getaway plan. His eagle eyed brother was fluttering around like a mother hen, as was always the case whenever any one of them were in hospital.

Virgil worried as much as any of them but when they were coming for check ups or flying in patients from rescues he would get increasingly paranoid with his own diagnostics, questioning himself over and over and checking injuries again and again.

Despite the fact that Alan had been propped up in the infirmary for the last week recovering well, Virgil was once again fiddling over his strapped up foot. The youngest Tracy found himself slapping his hands away as he tried to check his ribs and swatting him from behind as, like a monkey, he ruffled through Alan's hair to check the stitches.

"Virg! Enough already!" Alan glared up at the brunette beyond irritation, no, escaping Virgil would definitely not by easy. "It's a check up, I'm not your lab rat."

Gordon chuckled from the chair opposite, eyes peering over the pink magazine at the two. "He has a point, I swear your worse than Scott when it comes to anything medical."

"Weird." John smiled, turning from the window and winking at Virgil. "Seeing as he's our trained medic."

"It's not like he had all the time in the world on the island." Alan muttered, getting up and hobbling to the chair next to Gordon's. "I'm not dying, right?" His stomach gave an uneasy flip, it was easy to ask but he was concerned as to the reply. Part of him wanted something to be wrong to explain what the hell was going on with his family, yet at the same time the idea of having something really wrong with him didn't bode well.

"No, course not." Virgil sighed loudly and sat where Alan had just been. "I was just checking, plus I hate sitting around waiting, we were meant to be in and out within the hour." He checked his watch and sighed again, aggravated by the time they'd already lost. "Dad and Scott will be back before we even go in."

"Virg…" Alan worried his top lip, not sure whether to be relieved at the answer or concerned. "I don't want everyone coming and gawking at me like your dissecting me, I'd prefer it if it was just me."

The room went quiet for a second as the brothers looked at one another, a silent conversation played through their eyes. Something else that could go on Alan's list of things that were surely going to drive him mad.

"Plus in the infirmary at home you're always going on about people taking up your space and getting in the way, so surely we should respect the doctor's here… they're not going to want all of you hanging around." Alan looked up, trying to read the expression on Virgil's face. "And it'll be quicker if it's just me and the doctor, you can talk to them afterwards." He added hopefully.

"I suppose…" Virgil ran a hand through his hair and clicked his tongue as he thought. "I'd have liked to have discussed your x-rays though… I suppose it can wait till they've seen you." He frowned momentarily before allowing a small smile to play across his lips. "You two ok with that?"

Gordon nodded, returning to his magazine. "No problemo. We'll be right outside."

John nodded slowly. "I don't see why not, I hadn't really thought about it but Alan's right, no point us all going in and getting in the way. Besides… all those machines give me the heebie jeebies."

Alan smiled widely, his mind still set on finding a way to go and see Tess Zucco, the less people he had bothering him the easier it would be. Though when he implied that they could wait outside, he knew that's just what they'd do.

Ten minutes later he looked up from where he sat on a hospital bed, the doctor was shining lights in his eyes and making him follow a tongue depressor without moving his head. The fact that Virgil had done the same a hundred times didn't seem to make a difference. As the doctor pulled away to write on a chart Alan could see across the room to the door, it was shut but through the small window he could see Virgil, John and Gordon sat in a line.

He sighed and glanced at his watch, Scott and his dad could be back at any moment and then he'd have no chance of making a sneak getaway.

"Erm…" He glanced around the room before up at the doctor who glanced over his chart. "Any chance there's a loo around here?"

"You can use the patient toilet, just round the corner." He indicated behind Alan and along the small ward, there were a few people about, day patients or those coming in for updates. The ward stretched down to a wall of wide windows and then snaked off to the left.

Hopping carefully off the bed Alan slowly followed where the Doctor had indicted, pleased that the man didn't seem to be going anywhere. He'd been given a pair of crutches which despite first complaining about he had to admit, it made things a lot easier, and faster for that matter. He followed the ward round, spotting the toilets to his left, right next to a set of doors heading back into the hospital, signs on the walls alerting him to the nearest exit. He felt slightly guilty for his actions but not enough to send him back to his brothers, if they weren't going to tell him what was going on he would sure as hell find out himself.

Too easy.

_

Please review? Makes me update faster *bribe*