Disclaimer - see chapter one. (Because that was a damn good disclaimer, wasn't it?)
Chapter Two
Dinner ended a lot more quietly – and quicker – than a Tracy family dinner usually did. Gordon remained through the end, even taking a seat in the living room with the rest of the family afterwards.
Kate continued to lightly rock DJ, even after the baby had fallen back asleep. She smiled at Jason, who had squeezed in between his parents, as he held his little brother's hand between his thumb and forefinger. Seeing both her {little} boys content, Kate finally looked over at Jeff who had been listening as Sarah and Emily discussed supplies needed for the infirmary. Virgil was busy trying to teach Michael to play the piano while Elizabeth was cuddled up next to her father.
Clearing her throat, Kate made sure she had the family's attention before she spoke. "Dad, I'm not saying it wasn't a good idea for Alan to get counseling. After even one of those events, any FBI agent would have been assigned counseling. But that sort of help only works if the person can be completely honest. And how could Alan be?"
Jeff sighed before he looked at John and Emily. The couple clasped hands and nodded, encouraging Jeff to go forward.
"He could be completely honest," Jeff said. "Dr. Roberts was already aware of the "family business," he explained, using air quotes at the end.
Gordon snickered. "Don't tell me – another rescue that caught us with a helmet off like Shana Pierce?"
"No," John said quietly. "But Shana did have a lot to do with it. Shana recommended Alan get counseling after the hit-and-run. The whole thing had been pretty traumatic and she knew for Alan to get anything out of it, total honesty would be needed. But she felt Dr. Roberts was trustworthy."
Jeff sighed again. "I turned her down. And again after he was poisoned and again after the incident at the Museum. But after Tomo died and Alan…well, I called Shana and got Dr. Roberts' name so I could begin to screen her in case Alan needed someone."
"So you called her after the avalanche? But I thought Alan said he didn't begin to see her until after Christmas and that was more than half a year later," Sarah mused.
"Actually," Emily admitted, "John and I called her first. We started seeing her that summer for marriage counseling."
Scott looked stunned. "Marriage counseling? Had things gotten that bad for you two?"
John and Emily still had their hands clasped and smiled at each other before John spoke.
"It was…hard. Emily and I had issues, ones that came to a head. We knew we needed to find a safe ground to work them out and sessions with Dr. Roberts did that."
"But did you have to tell her about the Thunderbirds?" Kate asked, absently de-tangling some of her hair from DJ's fist.
"Since John's job was one of the problems," Emily sighed, "yes. Yes, we did have to explain. Especially most of our session were vid-phone ones, a lot with John up on Five."
John chuckled. "I still remember the look on her face the first time one of our sessions was cut short by a rescue. What did she say again?"
Emily smiled. "She agreed with me…that was damn annoying."
The family chuckled, having often encountered that in their own lives.
"Is it really helping Alan?" Virgil said in concern.
"Yes, it is," Alan's voice said as he entered the room, Tin-Tin holding his hand. Taking an over-sized hassock, Alan sat down, pulling his girlfriend between his legs allowing them to spoon.
Onaha peeked out of the kitchen. "Alan, did you and Tin-Tin eat?"
"Yes, Mom," Tin-Tin called to her parent. "We had some avocado and chicken sandwiches down at our house before coming back up."
"That sounds good," Emily murmured even as she took a sip of green tea.
Virgil looked suspiciously at his sister-in-law. "Em, what was the appointment that you and John had to keep in Auckland?"
"Virgil Grissom Tracy," Kate admonished. "That's kinda private, don't you think?"
But Virgil was already eyeing his own wife. The wives tended to go to Sarah for any medical care if Emily wasn't available. "Is she…?" he whispered.
John and Emily smiled at each other before looking around.
"Well, we were thinking of waiting until Christmas," John smiled. "But since Virgil has already guessed, we might as well spill. Emmy's pregnant."
While cries of joy usually met such an announcement on the Island, most of the family froze. Emily sighed.
"Ahh – this is a good thing people," the blonde doctor sighed.
"Honey, it's not that we aren't thrilled," Kate began, "it's just, well, we know what the doctors said."
Emily and John held hands again and nodded, grateful that Kate hadn't gone into detail in front of Elizabeth.
John shrugged. "Dr. Monahan feels if Emily follows instructions and can keep her BP under control during the pregnancy, she and the baby should be just fine. Emily is actually thirteen weeks along and everything looks good."
Emily smiled at Alan. "The device we worked on last summer was one of the key factors in my getting the all clear."
"Device?" Virgil asked before noticing the watch-like item on Emily's wrist. Similar in design to the watches the Thunderbirds all wore but different…
Holding up her arm, Emily explained. "Alan and I took the basic design of the watch and applied it as a BP monitor. It sends alerts if needed as well as keeping a running log for my doctors."
Alan smiled. "I thought it was a good idea but I had no idea the family would directly benefit from practical application of it."
"Tracy Enterprises does get first dibs on that, right?" Kate asked, making the rest of the family laugh.
"Yes, Kate," Alan chuckled before standing up, pulling Tin with him. "Can I be the first to congratulate you two?"
As Emily hugged her youngest brother-in-law, she murmured, "You better."
Soon the room was full of hugs, kisses and plenty of good cheer.
No one noticed when Gordon slipped out of the room.
Night had already settled on Tracy Island but Gordon remained seated by the upper pool, on one of the few chairs located inside the fenced in area. A "baby-free zone" he had laughingly called it.
Gordon could hear someone unlocking the fence but didn't turn around, not even when he felt someone sit down next to him. A cup of steaming hot coffee was pressed into his hands, making him turn slightly to see his father make himself comfortable.
"Come here often?" Jeff joked.
An aborted chuckle escaped Gordon who quickly took a sip of the brew.
"Not looking forward to another nephew?" Jeff asked his fourth son.
"Could be a second niece?" Gordon murmured.
"Nope," Jeff grinned. "John said they had an ultrasound today and it is definitely a boy. He was passing around the image."
"Perfect little family, huh?" Gordon sighed, looking at the three darkened villas across from the main house. "Perfect little lives – beautiful wives, beautiful babies, beautiful futures."
"Gordon," Jeff said in concern, placing a hand on Gordon's shoulder. "Talk to me. What's wrong?"
Sighing again, Gordon looked up at the stars. "I'm not enough anymore, Dad." Seeing Jeff's confusion, the redhead continued.
"Scott, John and Virgil all have lives of their own. They went off to college, became huge successes, found their perfect spouse and had babies of their own. We used to share everything. It was the Tracy Boys against the world. Woe be to any who crossed one, it meant you had to deal with all of us. But now I am alone – and it hurts."
"Alan's still single," Jeff argued.
Gordon chuckled darkly. "Alan hasn't been single since he was fourteen. If it hadn't been that he thought you would stroke out, he would have married Tin-Tin as soon as they were both of age. But he wouldn't do that. Nope. Alan does every freaking thing perfectly, doesn't he?"
"Gordon," Jeff said, stunned, unable to say anything else.
Biting his lip, Gordon looked over at his father. "Dad, I love Alan. You know that. But we used to be the terrible two – even with the five year gap, we were close. Then I had my accident, and heck – after that we were even closer. Alan is the reason I walked again, Dad. He never gave up on me and he wouldn't let me give up on myself."
Looking down, Gordon wiped at the tears of frustration that had popped up. "Then Grandma died and any question of Alan remaining on the Island died with her. He went to that school," Gordon spat, still angry of what had happened there, "and he was never the same. We were never the same."
"I had joined the Thunderbirds by the time he came home, remember? And when Alan came back, I knew something had happened. But you were mad at him and the others were teasing him…it was just easier to go along with it. After all, you would be sending him to another school but I had to stay here – why rock the boat?"
Gordon stood and began to pace. "Some son of a bitch molested my baby brother and he didn't feel like he could tell me. I know, he didn't feel any of us were listening but Dad – it was ME. His best bud, his other half…"
Stopping, Gordon took another sip of coffee before speaking again.
"Tomo listened. He was a better brother than me, than any of us. I had nightmares of the day the Hood came," Gordon abruptly switched gears, making Jeff chuckle sadly.
"We all had nightmares of that day, Gordon," Jeff sighed only for Gordon to shake his head.
"My nightmares were about that meal – the one when Alan first came home. He was so happy to see us, trying to talk to us and all we did was harass him and shut him down. "Did you blow up another school, Alan? What did you do wrong now, Alan?" No wonder the kid left the table."
"I told him he needed to grow up," Jeff said sadly. "I didn't make sure he had eaten that night or even the next morning. Turns out he didn't. Alan couldn't eat when he got upset."
"What if those had been the last things we got to say to him, Dad?" Gordon asked, tears forming again. "Why didn't we try harder when we were making things up to him? We were given chance after chance and Alan never felt like he could trust us enough not to let him down again."
"So why not try now?" Jeff asked. "He's here and…"
Jeff stopped when Gordon pulled a folded up piece of paper from his back pocket and placed it on the table. Reading it, Jeff smiled. It was an article from Sports Illustrated, talking about Alan's winning track team at Harvard and its "stand out Captain and potential Olympic star" Alan Tracy.
"Are you upset that Alan didn't tell you about this?" Jeff asked. "He wanted to surprise you guys. The article isn't out until Monday's edition. How did you get this?"
"Friend of mine from the Olympics works for SI," Gordon said as he sat back down. "Sent me a copy of the article – I almost burnt it."
"Wha – why?" Jeff gasped.
"College?" Gordon shrugged. "The others all did that. Succeeding in finding love with Ms. Right instead of Ms. Right-now – four for four. Even athletics of some level or a special talent outside of one of the family businesses – check, Alan is right up there. But no one, none of the big three, ever went to the Olympics or an equivalent thereof. I was the Tracy who had done what no one else had and won an Olympic gold medal. Now Alan comes along – and he is perfect - scholar, student leader, athletic, perfect boyfriend, and the rest of the family talks about being a family again whenever he comes home. And what does he do to top it off – he has to take away the one thing that matters to me! Alan wants me to feel like yesterday's news and make sure everyone knows just how perfect he is!"
Gordon would have continued to rant but a quiet voice interrupted.
"Sorry, Gordo," Alan quietly said. Jeff and Gordon had been so focused that they never heard Alan pass the fence. The blonde set two slices of pie on the table and looked at his brother.
"I…I -" Alan stuttered, not sure what to say. He swallowed hard and looked at his father before shaking his head.
"I'm tired. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I'll be heading to bed now."
"Alan," Gordon said quickly, relieved when Alan paused at the gate. "It isn't that I don't love you…"
"You just don't like me very much," Alan said sadly before sending a small smile that didn't reach his eyes over his shoulder. "Yeah Gordo – I've been there with you guys before. I just thought we had gotten past that."
Alan was gone before either his father or brother could do anything.
"I never meant to hurt him, Dad," Gordon murmured.
Jeff stood, squeezing his son's shoulder in comfort. "None of us ever did. But you have to know Alan isn't considering the Olympics to take something from you. He would never do that. It's a different sport and I'm sure he thought that was enough to make it separate."
"It…it just…" Gordon sighed. "Dad, I screwed up again, didn't I?"
Jeff didn't answer, just giving his son a one armed hug. There really wasn't anything to say, was there?
Dawn arrived the next morning and the Tracys gathered on the lanai of the main house for breakfast.
"Tin-Tin," Gordon asked calmly. "Have you seen Alan lately?"
The Malaysian girl gave him a small frown. "Alan sleeps in the main house, not ours Gordon."
Gordon blushed as red as his hair. "I didn't mean that. But he isn't in his room."
"He's not?" John frowned. "I walked with him to his room last night. After he brought some dessert out to the two of you," he explained as he gestured to their father and Gordon.
"He went to bed early last night, didn't he?" Kate murmured as she tried to get DJ to burp.
"Alan had a migraine," John said holding up a hand when Sarah, Emily and Virgil all looked frantic.
"He had taken something for it after he ate. Just some over the counter stuff. He didn't feel like getting knocked out for the rest of his vacation."
Emily frowned at her husband. "John, Alan can have some pretty severe migraines. I know he doesn't like the side effects of the medication, but -"
"But it's my choice, Em," Alan said as he joined them, breathing lightly. "Sorry. I woke up a couple of hours ago and went for a run."
"Where did you run to - Mars?" Gordon chuckled.
"The South Docks," Alan said as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.
Several family members had been either eating or drinking at that moment and most of them choked briefly before regaining their wits. Emily was the first to speak.
"Sweetie – the South Docks are on the other side of the Island."
"Allie," John protested. "I did that run one time. It took me five hours round trip."
Alan shrugged. "Well, I got it done in three. You should try including some of the obstacles – rocks, fallen trees and stuff…cuts down on the distance if you aren't running around them."
Kate beamed at the young man she considered her little brother. "Way to go, kiddo. You're going to rock the Olympics."
Alan shrugged once more. "I'm not sure if I want to do the Olympics, Kate. I have a lot on my plate."
"Baby," Sarah said, sipping her tea in an effort to keep the nausea at bay. "You'd be great."
"Just because you can doesn't mean you should do something," Alan mused.
"That's usually because the something is bad, Alan," Scott argued. "Being in the Olympics wouldn't be bad. Why shouldn't you do it?'
"Not sure," Alan said as he took another sip of orange juice. "Can anyone think of any reason why I shouldn't?"
"Well," Gordon shrugged, "you don't want to fall behind in your classes, do you?"
"First off," Tin-Tin said, her glare making the red-head painfully aware that she knew something of the previous night's event. "Alan could have graduated this semester but chose to do some student teaching and an internship with Tracy Enterprises. Second, the Olympic Trials for the Track and Field team aren't until June – after Alan will graduate from Harvard. Alan could finish school and be in the Olympics if he wants to."
"Well, that is months away," Jeff injected, seeing Alan and Gordon were both still tense after the night before. "What I want to know is if everything is set for the holidays?"
Murmured agreements that everything was ready could be heard all around the table.
"Oh, Dad – we finalized the list of interns for the spring semester," Kate said. "I think you might find some keepers in this group."
Jeff smiled. "Well, I know we had some real keepers in the fall semester," he said, patting Alan's arm. "Joan in Boston couldn't say enough good things about this guy."
Alan smiled at his father. "Helps being the boss' son," Alan joked.
"Kiddo," Kate grinned. "I saw the reports. You did some good work. You have a real knack for doing upgrades and improvements, bringing together theory and real world needs perfectly."
"Tell me about it," Emily grinned. "The doctors in Auckland were floored at this device and the programming Alan did."
The family was all smiling again when Jeff looked at Kate.
"And Kate, I expect you to take on an intern this time. All the other VPs have. Time to step up, young lady."
Kate sighed and made a face. "Dadddddd."
Scott chuckled. "You sound like Alan – ten years ago, that it."
Everyone chuckled at that even as Kate flipped through the some records.
"Well, there is one student from Columbia…Janie…Jody…Judy…oh. Here it is – Julie Maxwell."
Looking around the table, she sighed. "I suppose she will do."
A/N - Yes, Gordon is still being a bit of an idiot.
Not sure if people are interested. It will be a slow start if I continue. But I need to be sure you want to read it. Not that I won't continue to write. Have to have something to e-mail Sammygirl1963.