Alan stood outside the apartment door, rocking back and forth on the ball off his feet. It wasn't that he was nervous though there was a bit of that, but also kind of excited. He was crazy, the bone marrow disease was driving him crazy and that was the only logic explanation. He knocked on the door and waited. Through the door, Alan could hear a loud giggle and a quick shh. He thought he could make out the phrase "where is my shirt" and one of the two suggest that they ignore the knock. Red-faced, he knocked again so they would not forget he was there.
The struggle to get to the door was evident and when it finally opened, Milo was there. His dark hair was a mess, and his shirt was haphazardly put on. At least his pants were zipped up, though. "Hey Alan," Milo greeted as he fixed his shirt. "Come in. Luce is still getting ready. Can I get you anything? Some breakfast perhaps?" He let the door open wider and invited him in.
Alan walked into the apartment and looked around. It was small, but not closet size. More on the cozy end with the blue walls and picture frames. "I like your home," Alan told him sincerely. The kitchen was right off the entrance. It had an opening in one of the walls with a small counter that was probably where the pair ate. It also showed into the living room. There was a small hallway that no doubt led to the bedroom and bathroom. He honestly liked it.
"Thanks. It's two bedrooms, but we don't really use the second one anymore. So if you're looking to sublease," Milo joked. He walked into the kitchen and Alan sat on one of the stools on the other side of the counter. There was pancake batter out and a pan was on the stove. It looked like breakfast was half way. "Pancakes? I make pretty good ones," Milo bribed. "Much better than Luce. She actually sucks in the kitchen. We also have bacon, and some store bought OJ."
"A very good and healthy breakfast for noon," Alan grinned. "But I could use some pancakes. Make it an early lunch. Is the juice pulped?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. Luce only likes it pulped. I use a strain, it's easier than arguing in the grocery store that she's insane."
"No that's good. I liked pulped," Alan grinned. Milo made a face and poured him a glass anyway. In the moment of silence when water started running.
"And that would Lucy-Jane getting in the shower," Milo sighed, giving him a what-are-you-going-to-do look. "Twenty-five minutes tops. Fifteen cause she knows you're here. So I hope you don't have appointments to get to."
"Not really. I was hoping she'd have more of an idea of what she wanted to do," Alan said. "There's a space exhibition in the Museum of Science that's up and I kind of wanted to check out."
"Oh, she'll love that. We've been meaning to go, but our schedules don't line up with museum times. It's only here for about another week so she should get to go," Milo agreed, slightly miffed but realistically knew they weren't going to get around to it.
"Then I guess we'll start there," Alan grinned as Milo handed him a plate of pancakes and bacon. There was a couple moment of silence before Milo finally had to say something.
"What are you doing here Alan?" Milo finally asked after checking to make sure the water was still running. "No offense, but you're a Tracy. You're spending the day with a paramedic and having dinner with your doctor tonight. What are your intentions?"
Alan was mid-chew when Milo started and he had to swallow before he could say anything. "I'm not trying to take her away from you," he said.
"I'm not jealous," Milo told him, making another pancake. "Okay I am, but I trust Luce. I know she loves me, and that our relationship is strong and will endure a day with a millionaire bachelor like yourself." He waved to all of Alan to prove a point. "Are you using her Alan?"
"What? No. I can't explain it, Milo, trust me my brother thinks I'm crazy too," Alan half grinned. "I feel like I know her, but I don't. And I feel like I need to fix that."
"So you don't just want her for her bone marrow?" Milo said. Alan looked at him in shock. "Yeah, I know. We ran your marrow through the system in case your brothers weren't enough of a match. 89%, that's high match for strangers. Virgil's your highest match at 85%. It's good enough Alan."
"Are you telling me this as my doctor or her boyfriend?" Alan asked him, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
"I'm not sure," Milo mumbled. "I'll make it easy for you, though. If you want the marrow she'll say yes. In a heartbeat, you don't need to do all of this, get involved with her. If you get involved and you disappear, it'll hurt her. And as her boyfriend, if you hurt her, I will hurt you," he told Alan very seriously. Alan respected him at that moment because you could see all the emotions on the doctor's face. How serious he was, how deep he loved her, the loyalty to her.
Alan didn't get a chance to reply because Milo's face changed suddenly and a grin appeared on his face. His brown eyes looked over Alan, who turned around to see Lucy-Jane walking in barefooted. Her hair was down and dripping with water, the blond strands darker that for a moment Alan thought she sort of reminded him of someone he knew. "Hey you're still here," Lucy-Jane grinned. "Oh and breakfast," she said happily as she sat down next to Alan. She leaned over and snatched a piece of bacon off the stove plate.
"Hey hot," Milo warned as he handed her a plate with pancakes.
"So hungry," Lucy-Jane responded. "Milo makes the best pancakes east and west of the Mississippi," she told Alan. "He's been perfecting his recipe since around the 8th grade, and he finally hit eureka in college. So you came on a very good day."
"You knew each other in middle school?" Alan asked, surprised.
"Oh yeah, Milo and I go way back," Lucy-Jane told him. His attention was caught on her as she spoke, the sunlight coming in from the windows and brightening her eyes. The orange centers were more defined under the sunlight. "He's had my back since my first group home, busted me out of three foster families, and dragged me to college with him."
"She clutched that dirty bunny of hers so hard that it got in the way of her putting her hands out when she got pushed, so someone had to stand up for her," Milo grinned. "And you are making me sound like bad influence. I'm not a bad influence. This girl gets into trouble all by herself." He turned the stove off, all the pancake mix having been used up.
"You were in the system too?" Alan asked, cutting his pancake. Either these were as good as both of them believed, or he was a lot hungrier than he'd though.
"Yeah. Mom died at my birth so good ol' St. Luke's transferred me to Children's Mercy where they system finally picked me up," Lucy-Jane told Alan bluntly."Also, you killed Mo, so you don't have any right to be bringing him up," she said to Milo, leaning over and stealing a piece of his pancake.
"Mo's the rabbit," Milo explained.
Alan nodded. "St. Luke's in Kansas City?" he asked after a thought. He remembered Milo had said he was from Missouri.
"The one and only in the city," Lucy-Jane answered, eyeing the pieces on Alan's plate and contemplating whether it was too early to steal pancake or if it shouldn't matter since he wasn't here for long. "Why?"
"I was born there too. Only one of my siblings to not be born in the great state of Kansas," Alan grinned.
"Oooo, what day? Maybe we're birthday twins," she grinned. She spun her fork between her fingers, contemplating.
"March 12," Alan said, eyeing her eye his pancake.
"Damn, we're not twins. I'm March 13, but just barely. Born 12:08 am." Lucy-Jane made her move and went swiftly for his pancake. Alan, expecting this, laughed and pulled his plate back. "Nooo!" she sighed and frowned. She turned to Milo, who pulled his own plate back.
"You got a whole pancake more than us," Milo said, knowing her appetite for them. He glanced at the clock and sighed. "Alright, I have to go or I'm going to be late." He placed his plate next to hers. "You got lucky." Lucy-Jane laughed and leaned over the counter. They shared a quick goodbye kiss before Milo headed towards the door where his bag was waiting on the hooks. "See you at dinner. Make sure she doesn't do anything dangerous Alan," he warned before heading out.
"Where's he going?" Alan asked, reaching over and take a piece of Milo's pancake for himself.
"Work," Lucy-Jane told him with a frown as she followed the pancake piece. "You've ever heard of the Marsen House?"
Alan nodded, vaguely recollecting the non-profit Boston organization. It was an organization geared towards runaways, foster and homeless kids in the city. They offered support on the basis that if they were going to be out alone, at least they should be healthy. It worked on an anonymity clause, where the kids that went there didn't have to say their real names so that they weren't reported and placed back in the system. There was a lot of controversy since the six years that it has been running. But there was beginning to be data that supported that what they were doing was good.
"Milo founded it," Lucy-Jane said simply. "Or co-founded it with some people from BC. He runs the medicine side of it right now, you know doing check-ups on the kids and getting them help for more serious things. That's where he goes when he's not at the hospital or he's with me, though we usually end up there together. It's named after a- actually that's a long story that Milo tells better."
Alan was impressed. "And what does he mean about doing something dangerous?"
Lucy-Jane laughed as she got up and took their plates to the sink. "Milo says I lack what normal people have, which is life preservation. Like all emergency personnel, I tend to run into danger instead of away from it." Alan couldn't help but smile slightly because he knew exactly what she was talking about. All the Tracy men were the exact same way, which of course, caused those who weren't running into danger to worry about them. "So boss, what are we going to do today?"
"He's not going to ask her," Virgil was saying to his father over a video-conference call. He was in the office at the Boston Tracy Industries, attempting to deal with paperwork and solve this issue.
"Did he say so?" Jeff asked, taking a break from his desk work to look at his middle son.
"No, but you know Alan. He kept saying he had to spend the day with her, get to know her. Like something was telling him that he had to do this. And the kid had this look that I wasn't going to try to talk him out of it," Virgil sighed, wishing he had talked him out of it.
Jeff contemplated the situation. He knew that a donation of marrow from Virgil was medically enough of a match, but this girl's match was higher. And a higher match meant a lower chance of rejection and a greater chance that his youngest son would get better. Jeff has a special place in his heart for Alan, the most troublesome of all his children, and his final gift from the love of his wife. He would pay whatever he needed to keep his son alive and healthy. "Virgil, I'm coming down there," he said with a final decision. "If Alan won't ask her, I will. And I'm sure we'll get her to agree."
"FAB dad. Do you want us to go pick you up at the airport?" Virgil asked, knowing it would be useless to try and convince their father otherwise.
"No, that's alright. I'll get a car and meet you boys for dinner. Oh Virgil, did you get the final round of the fellowship applicants?" Jeff asked while he still had his son in the office.
"Yup, they're right here dad. Just had them delivered this morning actually. I'll have them scanned and sent to everyone by noon." Virgil said. The Tracy Industries fellowship was the only board all five of the boys were on. Seven applicants were selected to receive funds for their projects, which could vary from research to developing products, etc. The only stipulation to apply was that the project had to help change the world somehow. Each of the five Tracy sons picked their applicant, and the last two were picked by the committee that had been vetting the applications since the beginning, with no say from anyone with the Tracy name. This year, there had been three thousand submissions and the final round consisted of thirty of the best.
"Good, good. Let them know they have two weeks to pull their choice. That should give everyone enough time to read them, and argue about who gets who or whatever it is you five always argue."
"Yes sir." Virgil grinned, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Anything else?"
"Nope, that's it. I'll see you boys tonight. I'll call about dinner."
The video-conference ended and Virgil was left with the pile of paperwork on his desk. It always seemed like less work when he got the files sent to him via email. "Maggie," he called out for the secretary.
The door opened and a well-dressed brunette stepped in. She had a soft smile, always happy to see any of the Tracy men come into the office. "Yes, Virgil?"
"Maggie, will you please have these scanned and send these packets individually to my brothers and I?" He got up and walked over, the packets of applicants in his arms. "Please," he begged playfully, very much aware that it was going to be a lot of work.
"Of course Virgil. Is there a time you need this by?"
"Just by the end of the day please," he grinned. "Thanks Maggie, you're the best."
Maggie just laughed and walked out of the office. She glanced down at the packets, seeing they were this year's fellowship applications. She looked at the first one, from a Dr. Milo Abandonato, and glanced at it. She never knew how they only picked seven projects to fund, they all seemed truly amazing.
A/N: Hey! So what do you think of the newest chapter? You should tell me by reviewing. Anonymus reviews are welcomed!