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Chapter 11

It was around noon when Carter shook Alan awake. She was bored and wasn't ready to face his family.

"Hey, you sleep okay?" Alan inquired.

Carter leaned in to kiss him. "I feel relieved." She paused. "Is that wrong?"

"I hope not, because I feel it too." Alan admitted.

"You're family's here. I'm surprised you could sleep through all this racket." Carter laughed.

Alan shrugged, "It's easy to ignore when you grow up around it. I don't even notice it anymore."

"Just promise me that we are drawing the line at two children." Carter ordered.

Alan laughed at her annoyed tone. "Agreed." He confirmed pulling her face to his.

Alan and Carter eventually braved going out into the living room. Luckily his brothers were quietly watching T.V. and ignored them.

"Tomorrow's my dad's funeral. What am I going to say?" Carter interrupted.

"You don't have to say anything." Alan reassured.

"Yes I do. He was my father. If I can't even muster up one sentence how will he know how much I miss him?" Carter argued.

"He knew you loved him. There is nothing you could say that he didn't already know." Alan breezed.

"You're right." Carter stated.

"Did Mandy tell you Kevin and her are together again?" Alan wondered.

Carter groaned, "I hope that rat drinks himself off a cliff."

"With our luck, I doubt it." Alan joked.

The rest of the day was very stressful. Carter and Alan left for her grandmother's to make memorial arrangements.

"Carter seems nice." Gordon commented.

"Yeah, they get along really well. I mean considering all that's happening." Virgil added.

"I never thought Alan would get married before any of us." John admitted. "I mean I have thought about asking Emily at least a dozen times. We are just too busy."

"I think we really screwed up with Alan." Scott confessed.

"What do you mean?" Gordon wondered.

"Guys, we didn't even know Carter and him were dating until John came to visit." Scott informed. "We just don't know him very well."

"That's not our fault. He's at school most of the year, and when he's home, he ignores us." Gordon defended.

"It's probably the age gap too. Alan is way younger than all of us. I think that's rough on him." John realized.

"We spend so much time together on missions and training. Sometimes I forget about Alan. I know that sounds mean..." Scott tensed.

"No, that's just the nature of what we do. Certain events and people in our lives suffer, because IR is time consuming." Virgil agreed.

It was around midnight that Alan stumbled in alone. He took a seat on the floor next to Scott. "Where's Carter?" Gordon worriedly asked.

"She's staying with her grandmother. I figured they could use the time alone." Alan slurred.

"Are you drunk?" Scott scolded.

"No, just extremely tired." Alan mumbled closing his eyes.

"Did you eat something?" Virgil interrogated.

Alan nodded, "Yeah, we ate."

Suddenly Alan's phone vibrated and groaned. "Hey, what's up?"

"Do you think you could come get me?" Mandy begged. "I'm at this party and there are people out front."

"Why can't Kevin take you home?" Alan harshly asked.

"Please!" Mandy whined.

"What's the address?" Alan demanded.

It took Alan fifteen minutes to convince most of his brothers to stay home. Luckily John offered to drive and stay in the car.

When Alan got to the party it took him a while to find Mandy. She has red marks forming around her wrists and neck. "Did Kevin do this?" Alan asked pointing to her arms.

"He was drunk, Alan. He didn't know what he was doing?" She cried.

"Mandy, when are you going to stop lying to yourself? You could do so much better than him. He beats you down to keep you down. It's never going to stop." Alan stated. "Where is he?"

"Alan, please, Carter would kill me..." Amanda covered.

"Where is he?" Alan said more sternly.

She shrugged, "He went upstairs with some other girl."

"Go get in the car, Mandy." Alan ordered.

Alan pushed his way through the crowd looking for Kevin. As soon as he saw him he grabbed him and threw him against a wall. "You are so pathetic." Alan hissed. "I've had enough of you beating up on my friend."

"I don't see her complaining." Kevin growled.

"Yeah, who do you think she called to give her a ride home?" Alan informed. "You ever lay a hand on her again I'll call the police."

Alan pushed him one more time before releasing him. Alan was not the violent type. He had never had any desire to punch someone until he met Kevin. It took him the entire ride to Mandy's house to calm down.

"You shouldn't have done that. Kevin already hates you." Amanda warned.

"What was I supposed to do? Let him get away with it. All he does is get drunk and hit you. When are you going to see he's a loser?" Alan argued.

"When you start seeing it's none of your business." She shot back.

"It became my business when you called me for a ride home." Alan sighed. "You can't keep doing this. He's going to kill you one day."

"Now who's the drama queen?" Mandy snorted.

"That wasn't a joke. Carter is seriously worried about you. It would crush her if anything happened to you." John remained silent in the backseat taking in the conversation. It was easy for Alan to drive. He knew where Amanda lived.

"I love him, Alan. Like you and Carter love each other." Mandy chimed.

"No, if Kevin loved you he wouldn't hit you every time you turn him down. He's got you so twisted you can't even get what Carter and I are trying to tell you." Alan stated calmly. "That's not love, Mandy. That's control."

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed since they'd left the party. Amanda's house didn't seem too far to John. "Thank you. Tell Carter I'll call her." She said before getting out.

"Can you drive? I think I might crash." Alan laughed.

"Yeah, you okay?" John wondered.

"I'm just scared for her." Alan confessed.

"You did the best think any friend could have done. You told her the truth." John offered.

"The truth doesn't help someone if they refuse to listen." Alan mumbled.

John dropped the conversation for the night. He was really proud of Alan. John drove Alan back home and then headed to the hotel. He figured Alan wouldn't miss his car for the night.

When John walked into the door he was amazed to find all his brothers and his dad still awake. "What happened?" Jeff asked.

"I went with Alan to pick up his friend from a party." John said dropping the keys on the table and having a seat.

"We know that part." Gordon clarified. "We meant what happened at the party."

"Alan went in to get Amanda. Apparently, Kevin, Amanda's boyfriend is abusive. Alan and he almost got into a fight. Then Alan tried to talk some sense into her on the way home." John paraphrased.

"Is Alan okay?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, other than being tired and annoyed he's fine." John informed. "I was so proud of him."

"Proud of him? For getting in a fight?" Jeff scolded.

"You guys should've heard the way he talked to this girl. Amanda is a mess. It looked like this guy has choked her, or something. Alan just kept his cool. He told her how worried Carter and he were about her. It was seriously the best pep talk I've ever heard." John laughed.

"So this girl lets her boyfriend get drunk and beat up on her?" Virgil said looking repulsed.

John nodded, "This guy has this girl so mixed up, it's sick."

Then John's phone rang. "Hey sprout, I thought you'd be asleep."

Alan groaned, "I'm way too aggravated to sleep. Did you take my car?"

"Yeah, sorry. I thought you would be zonked out by now." John chuckled.

"Are you guys still up?" Alan pondered hearing noise in the background.

"Yep, they waited up for me to hear the drama." John joked.

"Can one of you guys come pick me up? I am never going to get to sleep tonight." Alan muttered.

Alan was surprised when Gordon came to get him. "Hey, squirt."

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