BURIED EMOTIONS

Disclaimer - no.

Chapter 22

Jeff Tracy sat in his chair, after gratefully accepting the coffee – but declining any food – that one of Jean's deputies had brought him.

"Gage?" Jeff looked at the man's badge and gave a small smile. "Not Ronnie?"

The deputy gave a small smile. "Yes, sir. But most people call me Ron these days."

Jeff sighed. "I remember the day you were born. God, was your father thrilled." Jeff's eyes filled with sorrow as he looked at the younger man. "I was sorry to hear about his passing."

Gage shrugged sadly. "Yeah. He was hoping to hold on long enough for my sister to have her baby. But the cancer was just too much for him. My mother appreciated the flowers you sent."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Jeff gave a weak smile. "I'll tell Ann Marie. She refuses to let me pick out anything like that anymore."

Sitting down when Jeff waved him to a seat, Gage nodded. "Mom had laughed and said they were too tasteful and that Ann Marie probably had…"

The deputy broke off, blushing, while Jeff laughed softly. "Don't worry – its common knowledge. Brilliant in business and industry, lousy taste in other things. In fact, I bought this one orange couch that my daughter-in-laws all despise. I have a running pool with Professor Hackenbacker and Ann-Marie on who will finally say something to me."

Any further conversation ended when Jeff's cell phone rang. Seeing it was John, Jeff snatched it up with a hopeful heart.

"John…" Jeff went pale and nearly dropped the phone, with the deputy grabbing it from his loose hand.

"John? Ron Gage here. OK, yeah, I'll get your Dad to Kansas City ASAP."

Standing up, the deputy gently drew Jeff from his chair. "Come on, Mr. Tracy. Let's get you to your boys."

"Mr. Tracy?"

Jeff turned at Tin-Tin's voice, holding an arm out to her. "They've found him, honey. Let's go get Alan."

"He's alive?" the young woman asked tearfully.

"You can feel it, can't you?" Jeff smiled at her.

Placing a hand around the two charms on her necklace – one a focus stone, the other a small heart Alan had given her when they were only fifteen – Tin-Tin closed her eyes before looking back up at Jeff with a smile. "Let's go to Alan."

Ron Gage looked at the two with a bit of trepidation. Alan Tracy's fiancé reminded him a bit of his late grandmother, a full-blooded Cherokee. As much as he had loved the old woman, she had scared the be-jeesus out of him when she got all witchy.

Suddenly, Gage felt like someone cuffed the back of his head and he heard his grandmother's voice muttered "Wise, not witchy" and "respect your elders". Refraining the urge to say, "Yes, Grandmother," Gage led Jeff Tracy and Tin-Tin out of the hotel suite with all possible haste.

Jean Landman stood off to the side, having surrendered her gun to Daria and letting a few of her deputies secure the crime scene.

Looking at the grave that marked the eternal resting spot for Lucy Tracy, the woman allowed a tear to fall before she wiped angrily at her eyes. Tears never gave you nothing but a headache. Action was much better, but right now Jean didn't know what actions to take.

"Jeannie?" John asked softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you doing ok?"

"You must hate me right now," Jean whispered.

"Hate you?" John said in dismay. "You saved both Alan and Gordon. How could I hate you?"

"If I had made the deal with Mitchell, we could have gotten to Alan before Westcott came," Jean said miserably. "He would have never shot Allie."

John looked over at where the ambulance was loading Alan, Virgil assisting the paramedics in treating his youngest brother. Gordon and Julie stood off to the side, being interviewed by two officers from the state police, Daria feeling the state's officers, not being under Jean's command, were better to interview in an officer-involved shooting.

"Maybe," John agreed. "Then again, he could have led us on a wild goose chase. And at least this way, we know that Westcott will never come after Alan again. From what Gordon was saying, he had completely lost it. There was no way Alan, or anyone connected to him, would have been safe from Westcott – the guy was nuts."

Jean nodded weakly. "Did you call your father?"

John sighed. "Yes. Ronnie Gage is bringing Dad to the hospital. We should meet him there."

Gesturing at the crime scene, Jean shook her head. "Active crime scene."

Just then Daria approached behind them. "And as the officer involved in the death of a suspect – and yes, John, I am sure it will come down as a righteous shooting – you can't participate." Placing a hand on Jean's arm, the FBI agent gave a small smile.

"But you can be a good family member and go to the hospital. They'll need all the support they can get." Nudging Jean's arm, Daria pulled out her phone.

"Tell you what – I'll even call Kate and Scott, OK?"

John smiled gratefully as he pulled at Jean's arm. "C'mon, Trouble. Let's get to the hospital, so they can tell us Alan is going to be fine."

Jean looked at John with a puzzled expression. "How can you be sure?"

Gazing up at his mother's grave marker, John's smile became surer. "Because he had his angel watching over him."

Thinking of the ghostly form that had led her to the graveyard in time, Jean smiled back. Touching the angel lightly, Jean let John lead her away.

Dialing a familiar number, Daria watched John hustle Jean, Gordon and Julie into their rental vehicle and pull away, a state police cruiser providing escort. As the vehicles drove out of view, Daria smiled when the phone was picked up on the other end.

"Hey, Eppsie – we got him."

Katherine Eppes Tracy sat at a small poolside table, watching her oldest son and only niece as the pair sat side by side, their feet dangling in the pool. Neither seemed capable of speech and refused to leave each other's side.

"How are they?" Emily asked, her newborn sleeping peacefully in a sling across her chest.

"How do you think?" Kate snapped, only to instantly regret it. "Sorry, Em," she sighed. "I…I just don't know how to make this right."

"Listen Wonder Woman," Emily teased. "Let the other Superfriends handle this one."

Kate frowned. "Wonder Woman? Nah – I preferred the Black Widow, I was always more of a Marvel Chick."

Emily grinned. "I can so see you as a SHIELD agent."

Any further comments ended when Kate's phone rang. Picking it up, Kate sucked in her breathe when she saw it was Daria.

"Dorf?" Kate said cautiously.

"Hey, Eppsie – we got him."

"Wh-what?" Kate breathed out before yelling, "Scott! Scott Carpenter Tracy, get your ass out here!"

Scott came running from the home he shared with Kate and the boys. His wife's frantic yell had also made Kyrano, Onaha and Sarah come out, the last two carrying Michael and Tommy.

"Kate, what is?" Sarah asked quickly, rocking a sleepy Tommy.

Pushing the speaker button, Kate set her phone down. "Daria, can you repeat that?"

"I said we got him. We've got Alan and he's alive."

"Let me talk to him," Scott said urgently, rubbing his oldest son's shoulder when the little boy curled into Scott's side.

The silence was unnerving, making Sarah take a deep breath. "How badly is he hurt?"

"Kate, how much did you tell them?"

"Everything," Kate frowned. "They know about the knife wound."

A deep sigh met that statement before Daria spoke again. "OK, so according to Virgil, an infected knife wound, some oxygen deprivation – not sure how much, probable concussion – not sure how bad and…"

"And what?" Emily snapped, her nerves wrought at their baby being hurt so badly and her unable to help.

"He, um, may have been shot."

"Dorf, there is no may to being shot," Kate growled. "He either was or wasn't."

"Listen, I don't have a lot of details. Alan is on his way to the hospital in Kansas City. Your father and brothers are on their way to be with him. We'll keep you informed. We're already having issues with the media, so stay put, got it?"

"Got it," Kate sighed then smiled. "Besides, they are probably headed to the same hospital my mom is in, so I'll have Daddy take care of things."

There was a long moment of silence before Daria sighed. "You hate me, don't you, Eppsie?"

"No," Kate said solemnly. "I love you. You're one of my best friends and you are family – and I will never forget this."

The silence stretched on so long this time Kate thought Daria had hung up when she heard the slightly scratchy voice of her friend.

"Yeah, well, um, he's a good kid and I'm just doing my job. Now, if you don't mind, I want to get out of here. The whole place is making me nauseous, especially since they haven't moved Westcott's body yet."

"Westcott's dead?" and "Nauseous?" were said by Scott and Kate at the same time.

"Yeah, Sheriff Landman shot the perp in order to save Gordon and Alan's lives…yes, long story, will save for when I don't want to toss my cookies."

"Smells like that only ever bothered you once before, Dorf," Kate smirked, enjoying the shocked silence from the phone and ignoring the curious looks from her family.

Daria's sudden, "Aw, hell – that's why Miss Millie insisted on tea for me, isn't it?"

Kate chuckled. "Yep – time to tell Tony he's gonna be a daddy again. Now, grab some more tea – ginger works great – and crackers and go find out how our boy is doing."

Daria sighed. "First things first…I have to tell Mitchell his brother is dead."

As Daria disconnected the call, the family hugged each other, relief warring with fear and a touch of sadness. Kyle Westcott may have harmed Alan, he may have been a raving sociopath but they were also aware that Jackson Mitchell had loved his younger half-brother. And to the Thunderbirds, any loss of life was a tragedy

Jackson Mitchell glared at the two state police officers who had been watching him. "I probably have a concussion," he sneered. "Shouldn't someone be getting me to a hospital?"

"We will," Daria Delgado said as she entered the house. "But the first ambulance was for Alan Tracy. You'll be glad to know, he's alive, so you aren't facing murder charges. Attempted, maybe. More than likely just aggravated assault. After all, how were you to know the device you put in for oxygen shouldn't have been used in an enclosed environment?"

Mitchell sighed. "Sorry. I really didn't want to hurt the kid so much. And the only way to keep him alive was to keep him away from Kyle. The kid really hated him."

"You guys stabbed him," Daria mentioned.

"It was so he wouldn't try to get away!" Mitchell countered.

"He had a bad head injury."

"Kyle lost his cool," Mitchell muttered.

"When Gordon Tracy found his brother – and man, do I want to know how he figured it out first," Daria muttered the second part. "Kyle tried to shoot both of them."

Mitchell thought of the one shot he was sure he had heard and a later one he thought he had – damn the sheriff for punching him so hard. She didn't need a bat to cause pain…

"Sheriff Landman and I approached the scene just as your brother was about to shoot," Daria said with surprising gentleness. It was the softening of her voice that alarmed rather than soothed Mitchell.

"Kyle?" he asked, knowing the answer from the compassion in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," the FBI agent said, placing a hand on Mitchell's shoulder.

"No," Mitchell whispered as tears filled his eyes. His kid brother, who he had been trying to protect for almost twenty years, since he had first found out about him, was dead. "NO!" He screamed as a pain ripped at his very soul, and his sanity pushed out of his mind.

Daria glanced at the man as he collapsed before closing her eyes in regret. She couldn't see another way out, it had been necessary to save innocent lives but she knew that even the bad guys had people they loved. And their pain was no less…

Stepping out of the way of the newly arrived paramedics, Daria looked around. The scene was secure, one perp dead and the other having take a leave of absence from sanity, with the victim in the hospital. Time to head out. Placing a hand on her stomach, Daria gave a small smile. That desk job was looking better all the time.

Virgil jumped out of the ambulance, allowing the paramedic with them to continue to monitor Alan while Virgil once more applied pressure to Alan's still bleeding shoulder.

As the Emergency Team rushed out, the paramedic – Trenia Fletcher from her badge – began to rattle off the information she had gotten from Virgil enroute.

"White male, twenty-two, head injury, other signs of a beating, victim has been stabbed and shot in approximately the same location. The GSW occurred less than thirty minutes ago but the stab wound occurred almost twelve hours ago and has become infected. Patient has suffered blood loss but in addition, he was held for an unknown amount of time in an enclosed space, buried alive with an unstable oxygen source."

"Any allergies and do we know his blood type?" the doctor asked quickly, gently pushing Virgil aside in order to examine the wound site even as they entered an exam room.

"He's allergic to penicillin and walnuts – both severe – and his blood type in A negative," Virgil said with a calmness that belied his gut-wrenching fear.

"Who's that?" the doctor asked Trenia.

"Older brother," Tren said. "He got there shortly after the kid was pulled out. He's a trained medic."

"Still family," the doctor said calmly. "You still have to leave."

"I'm not leaving him," Virgil spat back, ready to fight to stay with Alan when a hand touched his shoulder.

Billy Landman entered the exam room, patted Virgil shoulder before he nodded at the doctor. "Hey Bob, mind if I jump in here? It will keep the natives from getting restless."

The doctor looked relieved. "That will do just fine, Billy."

Billy stepped over to Alan and began to assist the doctor in treating the injured young man. Tren lead Virgil out and got him to a seat.

"Can you fill out the paperwork?" the paramedic asked Virgil, who nodded numbly before speaking.

"Yeah…yeah, I can," Virgil said before he lowered his head into his hands. "He just graduated from college. He's supposed to be getting married soon. Instead he could die, couldn't he?"

Trenia knelt down in front of the distraught brother. Virgil had been so cool and collected coming in but it seemed that now that he no longer had the distraction of caring for Alan, he was falling apart.

"He's young, in good health prior to this, and he has people who love him. Seems to me he has a better than average chance."

"Thanks," Virgil said softly, before standing suddenly, almost knocking the paramedic over.

"John, Gordon," Virgil breathed out, relieved to see his brothers there.

"How is he?" John asked, nodding lightly at Trenia who eyed him with interest until she spotted the wedding ring.

"We're taking him up to surgery in five," Billy said as he exited the exam room. "But could you three calm him down first?"

"He's awake?" Gordon asked breathlessly before pushing Billy out of the way to run to his brother's side, his older siblings on his heels.

"Gordo?" Alan said weakly. "You 'k?"

"I'm fine, Allie," Gordon said, his pent-upped emotions making his voice rough. "But what were you thinking? Your heroics…first Jason, then me and Julie? What were you thinking?"

"Tha' I love you," Alan slurred, the pain meds the doctor had okayed – carefully selected for his head injury – obviously kicking in. "Family protects family, right?"

"Yeah, Sprout," John said, leaning down to press his lips to Alan's forehead, just like he had when Alan was little. "Family does that."

"Ky?"

The group looked confused but a newly arrived Jean got it. "Kyle Westcott is dead, Alan. You don't have to worry about him coming after you again."

"Who?"

Again, Jean seemed to understand. "I shot him, Allie. I didn't have a choice. I wish I could regret it more, but it seems to me that saving three good people makes me feel better than sparing the life of a murderous sociopath."

Alan nodded, a bit saddened but also relieved beyond belief. Kyle would have kept coming after him – and using those he loved to hurt Alan. "Wha a waste," he muttered.

Billy stepped up to the bed, nodding at the brothers before he regretfully said, "We have to take him now. The bullet is still in his shoulder and it's pretty badly infected. I have privileges here and Dr. Lavallee is ok with me scrubbing in to supervise – if only to keep you guys calm."

The brothers said quiet goodbyes to Alan as their youngest sibling was taken away before they allowed Julie and the Landmans to lead them to a waiting area. This was the worst part…the waiting.

A/N - Quick update. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, with special prayers to my daughter's two guardian angels, her grandfathers. We love and miss you both.

Oh, and hope next week is better for Sam1 and Sammygirl1961 - both of my Sams got slammed recently. Love you both - and no more 911s, OK?