I was rewatching the movie again and noticed the lunch scene. It struck me as entirely too strange for a teenage boy, so I came up with my own reasons. They plus a made for TV movie I saw back in high school became this. I'm hurting Alan again:sigh: I promise I'll put him back whole and sane though for the next fic writer. Thanks again, everyone!
Disclaimer: I don't own the T-birds. I just borrow them. There's just something amazing about their family dynamic that fascinates me.
Untitled
Lady Penelope was enjoying a quiet countryside drive when she received the call. "M'lady, it appears to be a call from young Alan Tracy's school." Parker seemed surprised.
"I imagine that Jeff and the boys are still working on that forest fire in California. The call must have been routed here by John. Put it on the camera please Parker."
Lady Penelope turned in her seat so she could look dead center into the vid phone. Here gaze was steady and her appearance was immaculate, as always. "This is Lady Penelope Creighton Ward, how may I assist you?"
"Ma'am this is Headmaster Barrington from Wharton's Academy for boys. I was trying to reach Mr. Jeff Tracy." The voice trailed off and became uncertain at the end.
"Mr. Tracy is unavoidably detained right now. I can assist you. Has something happened with Alan?" The headmaster responded to her non nonsense manner.
"I'm afraid so. Alan collapsed on his way to class earlier today. The EMT's were unable to revive him. They transported him to the hospital. He was being treated for mild anemia and exhaustion. I left a message earlier on Mr. Tracy's voicemail."
"The poor boy. Mr. Tracy probably has not been able to check his voicemail yet today. Did the hospital need any additional medical information?"
"No Ma'am, the school was able to provide all the needed documentation. We've been notified that there have been some additional developments in with Alan's condition, and that he may need to be admitted. They need a parent or guardian to contact them as soon as possible."
"I see. Do you have the number of the hospital and the Doctor's name? I'll take them now."
"Yes Lady, I'm transmitting them to your vid link now."
Penelope waited for the download confirmation to show on her monitor. She was a little concerned. Both Fermat and Alan had returned to their school more than a month ago. The boys had been in high spirits after the defeat of the Hood and being named members of international rescue. She couldn't imagine that anything could have gone wrong.
The data transmission hand long since ended so Lady Penelope signed off the call with a per functionary good bye. Instead of contacting the hospital she placed a call Alan's dormitory instead. The call was immediately picked up on the other end.
"Dad!" Fermat's teary face filled the screen.
"No Fermat, dear it's me. I just received a call from your headmaster. It appears that the others are unable to divert their attention away from the rescue. How are you?"
"Lady Penelope! Thank g-g-goodness! A-alan collapsed. We were just walking to algebra and he j-j-just fainted. He wouldn't wake up! An am-am-ambulance took him away a c-c-c- two hours ago. No one will tell me what's wrong." The young man wailed in misery.
"Yes dear. You are alright though?"
Fermat nodded with a sniffle.
"I'm about to call the doctor now, but I wanted to check in with you first. Stay near the line, I'll contact you right back."
"O-o-okay Lady Penelope thanks!" Fermat's image disappeared and Parker began the next transmission.
"Young master Heckenbecker seems quite upset, M'lady."
"Yes, the poor boy. You may want to prepare a course for New England, Parker. We may be needed there."
"Yes M'lady. The course is ready. I have a Dr. Feng from St.Catherine's Hospital on the line now.
"Put him through Parker." There was a brief delay and then an ageless Asian face appeared on the screen. Lady Penelope sat back in her chair and addressed the woman before her.
"Dr. Feng, thank you for taking my call. I am Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward. I was notified that an Alan Tracy was in your care and that you needed to speak with a guardian immediately.
The beautiful woman frowned and flicked a log straight pony tail back over her scrub clad shoulder. "Yes Ms. Creighton-Ward. Alan was brought in nearly two hours ago. He had passed out at school and was unable to be revived by their staff. We preformed some additional testing and discovered several other poor health indicators. Are you able to make a decision for Mr. Tracy regarding possible long term care?"
Penelope couldn't decide if she liked the dry professional or not. She kept her tone calm and business like as she answered. "Alan's father has authorized me to make decisions concerning Alan's health and well being in his unavoidable absence. What were the results of your tests"
The doctor gave a brisk nod and consulted her data pad. "Alan appeared to be suffering from exhaustion when he was first brought in. I did order blood work and there was an indication of anemia. We preformed a topical exam of Mr. Tracy and discovered mild bruising along his prominent bone protrusions along his pelvis, back, shoulders, and ribcage. The bruising appeared to be caused by the extremely tin lining between his skeletal structure and his skin. This maybe what led to his exhaustion? He may have been unable to sleep do to discomfort. We also discovered that Alan is between 20 to 25 pounds under weight. I expect that we will find several more dietary inefficiencies when his test results are complete."
Penelope was astounded. "I was just visiting with Alan and his family less than a month ago. I didn't see any indication of what you are describing. How could it have happened so fast?"
"If Alan has been depriving himself of food and sleep for the last several weeks, he could easily have worked himself into this condition." The doctor noted the information on her pad.
"You don't think Alan has done this on purpose, do you?" Penelope asked, dismayed. That didn't make any sense.
"Usually we see this sort of bad eating behavior in teenage girls, but it is not unheard of in teenage boys as well. Although it may sometimes begin purposefully, very rarely does it continue in that manner. It can be the onset of an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or many other things. If Alan has experienced any new stressors or any dramatic recent changes or episode in his school or home life, they can also lead to eating problems. I can't determine what might be the cause of this sudden weight loss unless I can question Mr. Tracy about his recent habits."
Penelope responded to the tone of irritation in the doctor's voice. She could think of one or two events that might have recently influenced the youngest Tracy. "Has Alan refused to answer your questions?"
"Mr. Tracy has not returned to consciousness. I decided not to wake him. He appears to need his rest the most at this point. I have him on a saline drip to ward against dehydration. I would also like to prescribe a special high fat diet. If this condition is caused by a habit change and is as recent as you say, he may just need to be monitored until he has resumed his normal eating habits and has regained his target weight. If his health continues to decline he may need to be placed in counseling and even admitted."
Penelope nodded as she took in this information." I seriously doubt Alan deliberately set out to cause this sort of damage to himself. It's not in his nature to be self destructive like this. However, since he isn't awake to speak with us himself we will have to try to get our answers from another source." She said decidedly. "Dr. Feng, do you have any problems with releasing Alan to my care? I can be there in approximately three hours."
"I would like to have a psychiatric consultation done first, before releasing Mr. Tracy. There is nothing in the initial testing that indicates that he needs to be admitted for a long term. "
"I'll take care of the consult. The Tracy's have a family therapist that is familiar to Alan. I think he will be best."
Dr. Feng agreed reluctantly and removed Alan's record from the psychiatric consult request queue. "I believe Alan will sleep through to your arrival. Please have me paged when you arrive so I can give you any last instructions and prescriptions on Alan's case."
"Thank you, doctor. I shall." The two women disconnected from one another. Penelope paused the vid phone, stopping its return into the seat back. She placed her hand over her mouth for a moment and squeezed her eyes shut. After a moment she took a deep shuddering breather and addressed the other person in the car. "Parker, please make our best time to Massachusetts. I believe a visit to Alan is in order."
"Yes, M'lady." Parker responded quietly. He pressed a button on the broad dashboard and flipped his goggles down over his eyes, as the FAB1 began its conversion to flight mode. The sleek pink Ford seemed to float on the road as the wings slid out from beneath the cars body. Parker felt a thrill of excitement as he began the steady increase in speed that was needed for liftoff.
"I think Fermat may have the answers to a few of the good doctor's questions." Lady Penelope spoke to herself as she rekeyed the Wharton's dormitory code. Fermat's response this time was just as quick but slightly less panicked.
"L-l-lady Penelope, thank goodness. How's Alan?"
She smiled at the young genius. Fermat and Alan seemed to care for one another a great deal, constantly looking out for each other. "He's sleeping peacefully right now, Fermat." She answered as the jet car began its trek over the Atlantic Ocean. "I wanted to ask you some questions, to see if we might be able to determine what led to Alan's collapse. Are you up for it?"
"Ye-yes, anything." He was eager to help his friend somehow.
"Good man." Penelope said approvingly. "Fermat, what has Alan's eating habits been like over the last several weeks?" From the exasperated look on the boys face, she knew she had guessed right.
"Is that w-what caused this? I knew it was taking too long this time for Alan to adapt back to Wharton's."
"This time?"
Fermat nodded and explained. "Alan always has a hard time with eating when we travel between the island and school. He'll spend a week or more just playing with his food instead of eating. It's normal for him. He can never seem to adapt back quickly from the Island's time zone. He gets hungry at the wrong times and then is never able to eat when mealtime does come."
"He's always been able to get back on schedule before though?" Penelope verified.
"Yeah, sometimes it's just 4 or 5 days. Once it was for two weeks that was when we fist started at Wharton's. Alan was in knots."
"He's anxious?" She asked doubtfully. That didn't sound like the Alan she knew.
"Yeah, he hates leaving Tracy Island. He can't stand being away from everyone. He usually only has problems eating for one or two days when we travel back home."
Penelope nodded thoughtfully, on the occasions she had been present for one of Alan's homecomings, she had noticed that he seemed to lack any real appetite. She had always attributed it to the excitement of being home. "Something was different this time?" She prodded the boy.
"Y-y-yes. This time it just lasted longer and Alan seemed like he was choking down everything he did eat." He paused for a moment and frowned. Then he said as if it had just occurred to him. "Of course, Alan w-was having problems before we ever even left the island."
Her gaze became critical as she took in the young man before her. "How do you mean?"
"He never really got back into a pattern, and then after the Hood attacked it was even worse." Fermat ducked his head. "W-we both had n-nightmares for days afterwards. Sometimes Alan would get sick from them."
Penelope's heart softened. "Yes, I had a nightmare or two myself after the attack. I imagine we all did."
"R-r-really?" Fermat looked hopeful.
"Really." She promised. Fermat smiled at her shyly.
"You said Alan became ill. Does he still?"
"N-n-no. That only lasted for a couple days after we came back to school. I don't think he's having the n-nightmare's anymore either." There was envy in his voice. "Alan b-b-bounces back quickly."
"His entire family seems to." Penelope agreed.
"He did try to f-fix it though." Fermat said in defense of his friend. "He tried to eat at meal times. He didn't snack during the day so he would be hungry. It just didn't work this time, I guess."
"That is what it looks like. He's lost a lot of weight, Fermat. His bones have started to bruise his skin because he doesn't have enough cushioning."
He looked dismayed, but nodded. "Y-yeah, he has a high metabolism. He can loose five pounds really quickly just by missing a few meals. He's pretty skinny too, normally."
"He's lost 25 pounds in a relatively short period. It's not healthy."
Fermat grimaced. "It's not going to be easy for him to gain that back. H-h-he has a hard time staying at a target weight when everything is normal. He drives the coach nuts."
Penelope paused in thought to summarize what she had been told. "It sounds like Alan has been trying to resolve this problem on his own by his normal means and failed." Fermat remained silent but seemed to agree. "I think a trip back to Tracy Island may be what is needed here. Alan can't risk loosing anymore weight and he adapts best in surroundings he's familiar with. He would also have his family to help him.
He smiled; Alan would certainly like this solution best. "H-h-he can download the teachers lecture's from the school's web page. O-o-one of the student's who was in a car accident had to do that last semester."
"And certainly you will help him, won't you Fermat?" The question caused the boy's eyes to light up.
"D-do you think I could?"
"I don't see why not. We'll need to ask your father's permission first."
"H-he's not answering. I tried to c-call before." He groused.
"Well let's see if we can reach John. He may be able to your father's attention if he's not too busy." Envelope said as she paged the astronaut in thunderbird 5.
Fermat's eyes were wide. Neither he nor Alan ever tried to contact the Tracy brother who was stationed in orbit. It wasn't that they had ever been told not to, but somehow it was implied. John's thunderbird monitored all of the air traffic on earth, filtering it for distress calls. It had never seemed appropriate to interrupt the quiet older man at his work.
John pleasant voice broke into the line. "This is thunderbird 5, how can I assist you Lady Penelope?" There was a slight pause, then, "Hello Fermat, you're on the line too, huh?"
"Y-y-yes, Sir."
John smiled at the younger boy's response.
"John I need to ask you if Brain's might be available for a moment. I know you are in the middle of a rescue."
John tilted his head to the side slightly. "They're just rounding things up. I'll check for you." After a few moments of silence Brains's voice came on the line.
"S-s-son, is everything a- a OK? What's going on?"
"I-I-I-I'm alright, D-d-dad." Fermat's stutter was more pronounced because of the situation.
"Fermat is fine, Brains, but I need to bring Alan home to the Island for a little while. We were hoping Fermat could join us." Penelope broke in quickly to assure the scientist.
Brains was quiet for a bit and there was some muffled, questioning voices in the background. "T-that's f-f-fine, if Alan is coming back also. You'll be able to keep up with your work?"
"N-no problem, Dad."
"Thank you, Brains. We should be at Tracy Island this evening." She addressed the younger Heckenbecker. "Fermat you had best go pack for you and Alan. I'll send Parker to pick you up while I deal with the hospital."
"Y-y-yes Lady Penelope! See you soon Dad, thanks!"
"S-s-see you son." Fermat logged off the line and Penelope waited for the inevitable questions. She didn't have to wait long.
"What's going on with Alan?" John asked instantly. He was quickly followed by Brains with :I-i-is Alan alright, Lady Penelope?"
"Alan will be fine providing I can get him home for a few weeks. I don't want to get into the details now. Suffice it to say that Alan passed out at school today and will need an extended period of time to recover. I think it'll be best if he does so from home, instead of his dormitory." The pink Lady's tone was clipped.
"He is going to be alright?" John wasn't at all happy with her answer.
"If we can help him now and if his health doesn't get any worse. I'll speak to Jeff later about the particulars John." She was adamant. Penny wouldn't share Alan's secrets with his brother's unless she absolutely needed to. Right not she needed to speak with Alan's father first.
"F-FAB." Brains answered her and then disconnected his end of the call.
John was still unhappy. If there was one thing that would always rouse the normally laid back man, it was any perceived threat to his family. He nearly growled into his headset mic."Penny…."
"John." She returned undaunted. "I need to tell Jeff first. It needs to be his decision on how to proceed. Whether he chooses to tell you or not, is his choice, not mine." Lady P could diffuse any hot headed Tracy man.
John was silent seeing the truth in her statement. "He's not going to be happy is he?"
Penelope gave a feeble laugh and felt hot tears prick at her eyes. "No John, he's not going to be happy at all." Children weren't supposed to be starving for any reason, not in 2064. She took a breath to collect herself. "Will you have him contact me as soon as he is able? He probably has several messages from the boys' school and the hospital."
"I will lady P." Calm and resolute, John Tracy was a remarkable man.
"I should be in the car for the next two hours or so, when you need to reach me."
"FAB Penny. I'll let dad know.
Her 'thank you, John' was heartfelt.