Buried Emotions
Disclaimer – see chapter one. Think I may come up with a new one for chapter six.
Chapter Five
Alan stretched, rotating his neck to work out a kink. All of the athletes participating in what was being touted as a preview of the US Olympic team were thoroughly enjoying themselves and the money being raised for the New Hope Shelter in Boston had already beat Alan's goal.
"Bon jour, Allaine," a cheerful voice greeted the youngest Tracy son.
Alan looked up and smiled at Julie Maxwell as she entered the area. The tiny swimmer had offered to give a demonstration when Kate had suggested it.
"How's it going, Jules?" Alan said with a smirk.
Julie gave a small frown as she ruffled her shoulder length caramel colored hair with a towel. "My name is Julie, not Jules."
"And mine is Alan," he teased in return.
Julie gave a small blush. "Sorry, Alan. I often forget and lapse into French, especially if I know someone understands me."
"So," Alan mused as he checked his running shoes. "I hear you finally agreed to go out with Gordon. How did that go?"
"Well," Julie cheerfully answered, "I did not need the whip and chair Madame Tracy…um, I mean, Kate, had offered me."
Alan roared with laughter. "Yeah, Gordon has gotten a bit of a playboy reputation. And he's never had to work so hard to get someone to agree to go out with him. You've been a bit of a challenge to him."
"Well," Julie retorted with a smirk of her own, "as Sister Therese used to tell us, nothing worth having is just given to you. You must work for it."
Standing back up, Alan nodded. "Sounds like the good Sister and my dad would get along great. So," he said, changing the subject. "Where did you go?"
"The aquarium," Julie smiled. "It reminded me of school trips when I was supervising the little ones. Gordon is very sweet but…"
"Not the most mature Tracy brother?" Alan sighed. "Yeah, it's part of his charm, I guess. But Gordon seems to feel he has to get in as much living as he can. After the accident, I can't blame him I suppose."
"Yet according to Kate, you have been through traumas as well, and it seems to have had the opposite effect," Julie challenged. "You became more mature, more responsible."
"Yeah," Alan mused. "But I've had my own pain in the ass moments."
Seeing the doubts on Julie's face, Alan patted the arm of a girl he was quickly becoming friends with. "All I ask is give Gordy a chance. He can be a really great guy and with the right woman, the Player Tracy will be gone and you'll have another Tracy Man, happy and devoted to hearth and home."
"I will give him a chance," Julie agreed. "But he will not find me one of his good time girls."
Alan grinned as he left the room but added over his shoulder.
"Julie, if he thought you were, he wouldn't be trying so hard. He must think that you are worth it."
Both Julie and Alan smiled for the rest of the day.
Gordon Tracy typed up the prospectus, making rapid notes. He was absorbed in the project, and didn't even see Emily watching him carefully.
Crossing the lanai, Emily sat carefully in the chair next to Gordon, finally getting his attention.
"Hey," Gordon smiled at her. "How are you feeling?"
Emily moved about in the chair, trying to raise her feet before Gordon stood up, lifting her feet and setting them on another chair.
"Tired," Emily admitted. "But don't tell your brother that."
Gordon chuckled. John would be coming down in the next week. After the graduations and Alan's wedding, the Hackenbackers would be going up to Thunderbird Five for the summer before Fermat headed off to Europe for his graduate studies. Gordon knew his older brother worried about Emily's higher risk pregnancy but so far, so good…
Knock on wood.
"So how's my newest nephew?" Gordon asked.
"Much quieter than his sister was," Emily smiled. Unlike when she had ultrasounds with Elizabeth, it was clear from the scans that this was Keith Tracy…which was good because she and John couldn't agree on a girl's name.
"And my other newest nephew?" he questioned, gesturing from the house where he knew Sarah Jane had taken Tommy for his one month check-up earlier.
Emily sighed. "Fine. Hale and hearty and being spoiled by his grandfather at the moment. Sarah is heading back to work starting today."
"So soon?" Gordon asked. Sarah hadn't gone back to work after Michael's birth until the baby was almost two months.
"With me now being on extended maternity leave, she felt that it was best that she head back to work since Tommy is doing so well with the bottle."
"Well, formula isn't as good for babies, is it?" Gordon mused as he started typing again.
Emily chuckled. "Says the bachelor uncle. But no worries, Sarah pumped enough milk to take care of Tommy until she gets home."
Gordon stood suddenly, grabbing his empty water bottle. "Ugh. Please – put that under things I never want to know about my sisters-in-law."
Laughing, Emily called to a retreating Gordon, "Can you bring me some coffee?"
"I'll get you some green tea," Gordon yelled back. "I am not risking the wrath of Onaha."
Emily sighed before chuckling again. She missed her coffee but what she would miss more was the reactions she could get from the only Tracy brother who had no concerns of parenting…Even Alan was thinking about it as his wedding day approached. Although - that could change if Dad and Kate were right about Gordon's pursuit of Julie Maxwell.
A wave of dizziness came and went quickly, making Emily sigh as she checked her monitor. It was a small spike but she knew a call from her OB would soon follow. The green tea was actually starting to sound good.
Smiling, she rubbed her stomach. "Don't worry, baby. Mommy knows you will be worth everything."
Yeah. Everything would be fine. Emily smiled for the rest of the day, keeping that thought in her mind.
Jeannie Bates Landman, sat back down at her desk with a small sigh. There were times that sitting at this desk, in this office, felt right. God knows she had worked her life with the goal of being Sheriff of Bailey – not that lofty a goal in the eyes of many but everything to a woman who was descended from the original Bertha Bailey, the town founder. Yes, Bailey had been founded by a woman, the town having grown up around the Bailey Trading Post. Bertha had been headed west with her husband, but when he died just west of Kansas City it was deemed improper for an "unaccompanied woman" to be in the wagon train. The train had abandoned Bertha, now five months pregnant, with her wagon and some extra supplies, expecting her to turn around.
Bertha had rarely done what was expected of her.
Instead, she made a small home and friends of some local Native Americans. Trappers who combed the local foothills discovered she made good food and was an honest business woman. By the time her son, named Joseph for his father, was born, Bertha had a full running Trading Post. Others began to settle around her and when they named the town, Bertha nearly cried when the townspeople said to just drop "Trading Post" – heck, everyone knew it as Bailey, anyhow, right?
Bailey never grew big or influential, it was too much of a farming community. But it did boast being the hometown of Jeff Tracy as well as the birthplace of Tracy Enterprises.
Technically, no Tracy lived here anymore, but they did still own property and occasionally came around.
Picking up the invitation on her desk, Jeannie smiled. "Little Allie," she murmured.
"Who?'
Jean looked up with a frown before sighing. "Dutton," Jean muttered. "What are you doing here?" One of Jean's deputies, Keifer Dutton (unfortunately also her cousin by marriage), was standing in the doorway to her office.
"I came to see if the schedule is out for next month," Keifer said imperiously.
Shaking her head, Jean leaned back in her chair. "If you checked your e-mail, you'd see I sent you a copy over the weekend. Not sure why. No one is on vacation until July, so all the schedules are basically the same."
"So you are still isolating me on third shift?" Keifer snapped.
Smiling coolly, Jean nodded. "It's where you can do the least harm."
"I deserve better," he growled.
"Feel free to seek employment elsewhere," Jean grinned, silently praying he would take her up on that.
"We both know I should have been made Sheriff when Amos bought the farm," Keifer callously said.
Jean froze. Amos Taylor had not only been her boss, he had been a surrogate father to the little girl after Millie Bates had returned to Bailey after the death of her husband, a New York City police officer. Everyone knew it had been the old lawman's dearest wish that Jeannie would take his place as Sheriff some day. When he had named her interim Sheriff – even six months pregnant – after he had a stroke the year before, Keifer had been the only person in Bailey who had disagreed. And no matter what the Town Council had said, Jeannie refused to make it permanent as long as Amos was on "sick leave", returning to the job less than a week after her son, Charlie, was born. It was only just over a month later, when Charlie was six weeks old, and Amos had passed on, that Jean agreed to take the job.
If only to get Keifer to stop annoying people with his campaigning for the position.
"You might know it, Dutton," Jean coldly snapped. "But thankfully no one else in Bailey did. Including your own Daddy."
Jean knew that was hitting below the belt, but losing Amos was still a pain in her heart that had yet to heal.
Keifer glared at her once more before starting to turn away. Jean called out after him.
"I need your reports in my in-box by Wednesday, Dutton. And make sure you go over those wanted posters."
Jean wasn't sure why they still called them that. They didn't receive sheets with criminals posted on them any more – it referred to a program that was downloaded weekly, with emergency updates as needed.
"Anyone in particular, Sheriff," Keifer said with an air of disinterest.
Jean looked up. "I want to make sure the entire department keeps an eye out for two escapees from Joliet. They have a history of violence against the Tracy Family and the Tracys will be here soon."
"For what? Something else to honor the perfect Tracys?" Dutton sneered.
Sighing, Jean handed over the wedding invitation. When the deputy gave it back, she explained.
"The Congregational Church has been renovated and placed on the State's Historic Registry. In celebration, and since his parents were married there, Alan Tracy has decided to get married there as well. The ceremony will be pretty private but Mr. Tracy has leased out the Grange Hall for the reception. Most of Bailey is invited to that."
Gesturing to the invitation, Dutton snapped. "But I see you and my cousin merit a full invite."
Shrugging, Jean grinned. "I have been friends with Scotty since we were kids. And he is Charlie's godfather. And I did help save Allie during those tornadoes a few years back. You remember…when you nearly arrested the kid for driving his daddy's rental car?"
Dutton glared at Jean. He had never liked the Tracys but that incident had been a ribbing point for months afterwards. Frankly, he still believed if he had been the one to save the youngest Tracy son, he would be sitting in that seat even now.
As Dutton walked away, Jean called after him once more.
"And don't be late for your shift again tonight, Keifer, or I will be writing you up. Again."
Stalking away, Dutton continued to curse Jeannie Bates, the Tracys and even his own father under his breath. They would regret this. He would make sure of it.
And then everything would be perfect.
Kate Tracy thumbed through the final contracts for the sale of Pierre Devereux' business to Tracy Enterprises. She knew Dad had reviewed it, legal had reviewed it, acquisitions had reviewed it…
Hell, she just wanted to keep as busy as possible.
The phone rang and Kate glanced down, smiling as she picked up the receiver.
"Mom! What's up?"
"We just received the invitation to Alan's wedding, Kate," Robin Eppes responded. "They are absolutely lovely."
Kate smiled again. "That would be Emily's doing. She is throwing herself whole-heartedly into the wedding plans since she was told to stop working. Says it keeps her mind busy."
"I'm sure she'll be happy to see the results of her hard work."
Frowning, Kate shook her head before realizing she wasn't talking on a vid phone.
"Emily won't be there," Kate sighed. "The doctors don't want her to fly. So we are rigging up video gear so she and John can watch. Especially since Elizabeth will be the flower girl."
"Oh, that's too bad. Well, we'll see you in two weeks."
Kate nodded before smacking her head with her hand. She really needed to get her parents a vid phone.
"Alan and I will be flying out to Kansas right after his graduation. Tin-Tin graduates the day before and right after Alan's ceremony, she is flying home since her mother is making her dress."
"Sounds good. My grandsons will be there, right?"
Laughing, Kate nodded. "Yes, Mom. And Elizabeth as well. She and Jason are usually joined at the hip when they aren't trying to start World War Three."
Robin Eppes laughed and murmured something about "that's family". Mother and daughter said goodbye and Kate began to pick through another report. These things needed to get done so she could focus on Alan and Kansas. She froze for a moment when a cold chill went down her spine.
Sitting upright, Kate found her eyes drifting to a picture taken at Christmas. Alan was there, his arms wrapped around Tin-Tin, her left hand – proudly displaying her engagement ring – resting on Alan's arm. The young couple looked so happy, like they had everything they had ever wanted, like life was perfect…
Worrying her lower lip, Kate took a sip of now cold coffee to still her nerves. Everything was going to be alright.
Right?
Jack Mitchell watched his younger brother with worried eyes. They were sitting in the corner of McDonald's, using the free Wi-Fi on a laptop they had stolen shortly after their escape from Joliet. With the might of the FBI – and, Mitchell was sure, Jeff Tracy's money – they had not made much progress. In the weeks since they had escaped, they had only made it to Des Moines, Iowa. Not all that far but at least they were free.
"So how do we get to Boston?" Mitchell muttered to Kyle. So far they had made their way mainly on highways, hiding in the back of trucks at rest stops.
"When we get to Omaha," Kyle said, "I just have to get to the Greyhound station. Our friend said money would be waiting for us at a locker in the terminal."
"Who is this friend, anyhow?" Mitchell grumbled. In his experience, no one got anything for free.
"Not sure," Kyle smirked. "But so far our friend has gotten us our freedom and soon we get our money."
"Why Omaha?" Mitchell sighed. "That is heading backwards. We need to go east. Our goal," he hissed, aware of the potential for someone to overhear them, "is in Boston. Maybe New York but probably Boston."
Kyle shook his head. "In the last e-mail, our friend said to stay in the mid-west. And now I know why." Clicking on a link, he turned the monitor so that Mitchell could watch as well.
"This is Ana Nevada, for American Cable News. The latest doings of the rich and famous highlights the American Royalty that is the Tracys. As many viewers are aware, Billionaire Jeff Tracy has five sons, three married with children, Gordon the carefree playboy and the baby, Alan, who has been with his long-time sweetheart since the couple were little more than babes in arms. Alan, twenty, is set to graduate from Harvard University soon and will be joining his brothers in working for the family business. In addition, the dashingly handsome young man is about to publish his first book according to White Knight Publishing and may even become the second Tracy son to compete for Gold in the Olympics. But the true newsworthy event is his upcoming marriage to his aforementioned sweetheart. In true Americana romanticism, Alan will marry his girlfriend in the same church his parents were married in more than thirty years ago. The classic clapboard church, in Jeff Tracy's hometown of Bailey, Kansas, was recently declared a historical landmark and the town is celebrating with the return of their favorite sons and the marriage of Alan Tracy. And if the rest of you are keeping score, that leaves only Gordon Tracy to be bagged and tagged, ladies."
The segment faded into a commercial, saying the next video would start in thirteen seconds, but Kyle was already closing the laptop.
"They'd expect us on the east coast," Kyle smirked. "But who would expect anything bad to happen in All-American Bailey, Kansas?"
Mitchell smiled and nodded at his kid brother before taken a bite of his now cold Quarter Pounder. "Good call, Kyle. But we'll need to be flexible. We are only going to get one chance at this."
Kyle smiled coldly. He could still recall Jack asking him if they would grab Alan Tracy for money from his father or kill the other boy outright. Kyle had merely grinned and asked "Why not both?"
But it had to be clever. It had to be sheer torture for the Golden Boy, Alan Tracy. Pure agony for the entire Tracy family. Only then could the brothers be able to move forward.
This was going to be perfect.
A/N – Will start up convos again soon and really hoping I can start answering reviews. Thank you so much for them and your words of support. Mama started chemo this week. I guess doctors appointments and such are once more becoming my new normal. Yeah – it bites. But I am starting to write again. Even wrote a one shot for Agents of SHIELD. May post later.
Oh yeah - and Ana Banana still can't get Alan's age right, can she?
Laters folks. Love you all and I am so grateful for your support. CC