AN: I own nothing!

Chapter 6

Scott put his hand on Alan's shoulder and squeezed lightly while making sure to smile encouragingly.

"Come on, Sprout. You'll feel better if you go ahead and get it over with. I'll go with you," Scott offered.

Alan looked out over at the horizon. He was very tempted to take Scott up on his offer of support. However, a Tracy isn't a Tracy if they're not independent and his independent streak was balking at the idea of Scott holding his hand, so to speak.

"No, Scott. I need to try by myself first, at least. I can't promise not to lose my temper, though," Alan said concerned.

Scott sighed. "Alan, that would be the worst thing you could do. How about this? I promise that I will talk with him privately if he blows a gasket over this, which, by the way, I highly doubt he will. I believe you've made this into a bigger deal then it actually is," Scott replied, "I'll even get John to go with me. You know he can always handle Dad."

Alan chuckled. It was a well known fact amongst the brothers that for whatever reason, John just seemed to be exempt from their father's anger. It probably had something to do with the fact that John rarely got in trouble or at least rarely got caught. If you knew the topic would upset Jeff, then it was a smart idea to get John on your side.

"John already knows. He came to pick me up and had to sit in a meeting about all this," Alan answered back, not really thinking about the trouble he just got John into with Scott.

"John what?!" Scott exclaimed.

Alan looked up, realizing that he had just made a potential mistake. "No, it's not like that! I forgot he was coming and then he arrived before the meeting and then Mr. Barnes asked him…," Alan banged his head on the table, "Oh, just shoot me now!"

Scott couldn't help it. He laughed. Alan looked up from where his head was on the table and cut his eyes at Scott.

"Sorry, Sprout. However, I will be having another discussion with my other blond younger brother," Scott replied.

Alan made a face at being called 'Sprout'. Term of endearment or not, of all the nicknames they could come up for him, really, Sprout?

Scott chuckled quietly at the look on Alan's face. It was a well known fact that Alan thought he was too old to be called a 'Sprout', but that didn't stop his brothers from using the childhood nickname whenever and wherever they saw fit.

"It's not John's fault that he was there and I asked him to keep quiet. I wanted to see if I was good enough to make it on the paper before any of you found out," Alan said quietly.

"I'm not mad at John. I wish you hadn't felt like you needed to keep this a secret. You wanted to keep it a secret before you even knew your topic was the Thunderbirds, didn't you?" Scott asked.

"Yea," replied Alan, quietly, "John doesn't know what my topic is, though."

"Ok, Sprout, let's get your things picked up and go find Johnny," Scott responded.

Between the two of them it was not long before all of Alan's stuff had been packed back into the folders and the two brothers were on their way to the main villa in search of John.

John sat quietly in the Library/Observatory with a book held loosely in his hands. He wasn't that interested in his father's old Star Trek novel at the moment. He was more interested in watching Scott and Alan on the beach. Out of all the Tracys, John was the only one who frequented the Observatory. Therefore, he was the only one who was aware of the perfect view it had of all of Tracy Island and her inhabitants that were outdoors. Not only could he see Scott and Alan, but he also could watch Gordon swimming laps and Virgil painting over on Lookout Rock. Although, Virgil seemed to be distracted as well, probably because Lookout Rock had a good view of the beach that Scott and Alan were on.

John watched Alan and Scott pack up Alan's things and head towards the main house. That could only mean one thing, Scott now knew and he was forcing Alan to talk to their father. John sighed. He knew that their father needed to know and wanted to know what was going on, but he had hoped that Alan would make the decision on his own to tell Dad.

John's watch started flashing, startling him out of his thoughts as he pressed the button on the side to answer the incoming call.

"John here," he answered.

"John, its Scott. Where are you at the moment?" Scott asked.

John felt his eyebrow climb on his forehead. He had not expected the two to come to him, although perhaps he should have. Dad always did seem to listen to him better than the others. The other boys were too like their father in temperament when they were upset or passionate about a topic. This fact usually led to them butting heads with their father.

"The Library," John answered, "Do you want me to come to you?"

"Yea, meet us by Dad's office. Since you were present at Alan's meeting with his counselor, then you can answer Dad's questions better than I can," Scott responded.

John felt his other eyebrow meet its twin in height. He knew as much about the situation as Alan, so that wasn't the real reason Scott was bringing him into the meeting.

"Alright, see you in a few minutes," John simply said.

"OK," Scott replied, "Scott out."

John lowered his arm and looked back out the window. Gordon was still swimming laps without any idea of what was going on around him, but Virgil was now packing away his art supplies to head back to the house. This development caused John to raise his eyebrows and then narrow his eyes in consideration. Virgil's room was right next to Alan's and there were a few times when he found out about issues before the older two brothers based on his proximity to the youngest member. John was willing to bet a good amount of money that Virgil also knew about Alan's assignment. John sighed and stood up, stretching to work the kinks out of his back from sitting in one place for so long.

"Might as well get the show on the road," John said quietly to the empty room, "There's no time like the present."

Scott sat quietly on the sofa waiting for John to come around the far corner. Alan, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth in front of the hallway to the library.

"Alan," Scott said gently.

"Yea?" Alan asked distractedly.

"Sit down before you wear a hole in the floor and I have to explain it to Dad," Scott chided.

Alan smiled a small, embarrassed smile and went to sit in the arm chair across from Scott. He knew he was being somewhat silly, and that his dad had never given him any indication that he would blow up at him over an assignment. He nervously tapped his foot against the chair leg as he waited for John to arrive.

Scott sighed and was about to say something to Alan about his foot tapping when the two heard footsteps coming down the hall towards them. Alan jumped up from his seat while Scott just shook his head. 'Well, might as well get this over with,' thought Scott, 'I hope Dad can keep an open mind!'

John walked quietly around the corner and came face to face with a nervous, bouncing Alan. Seriously, the kid was bouncing in place, he was so nervous about this meeting. John looked over at Scott, who shrugged as if to say he couldn't think of any way to stop him. John looked back at Alan and put his hands on Alan's shoulders.

"Allie, pull yourself together," John admonished, "You go in to see Dad like this and you'll have him on edge."

Alan looked at the floor, but did not pull away from John, something that did not go unnoticed by his brothers. Alan stayed that way for about a minute and then he squared his shoulders and looked up to meet John's eyes.

"I'm ready", Alan said quietly.

"Then let's go," Scott responded, getting up from the couch to walk over to his brothers.

John looked at Alan closely and then over at Scott again, who raised an eyebrow at him. John chuckled quietly and turned back to Alan.

"If you're ready, then so am I," John replied with a smile.

Scott walked up and clapped Alan and John on the back. He jerked his head in the direction of their Dad's office and then walked off. He was confident that the other two were following him. The boys didn't stop until they reached the office door. At the door, Scott backed up and motioned for Alan to take the lead. This caused a startled expression to cross Alan's face for a moment before he raised his fist and knocked on the door.

Jeff had been sitting in his office since Virgil and he had finished the inventory on Two, supposedly working on the paperwork for the upcoming merger with an Australian engineering firm. However, he found that he just could not seem to concentrate on the papers in front of him. He never could focus on work when there was something wrong with one of his boys. If he was honest with himself, he was terrified of what was going on with Alan. The weight problem terrified him, due to the fact that he did not know how to fix it. The only thing he could think of was to home school Alan, but that did not seem fair to Alan. Alan probably did not realize it now, but he would end up treasuring his high school memories when he grew up. One can only experience childhood once and Jeff did not want to take those experiences away from his baby. Virgil had adamantly agreed with Jeff's statement about school when they discussed Alan's weight problem while working. Jeff leaned back as he though back on the conversation he had with the Island's resident medic earlier in Two.

Virgil looked at his father with wide eyes. Jeff could tell that he was trying to process what his father had just told him about his baby brother. He was waiting for the accusations, to be honest. Virgil did not tolerate medical secrets being kept from him. While he agreed with Virgil, he also felt the need to try and let Alan work on it by himself. He did not have the issue at home as bad, so Jeff decided that Virgil did not need to know.

"You've known about this condition for awhile, haven't you?" Virgil asked quietly, focusing narrowed eyes on his father.

Jeff sighed. There it was, the accusation he had been waiting for. "Yes, Virgil", Jeff answered, "There is not much that goes on with any of you that I miss."

"Dad, I am the medic here on the Island. I need to know when something is wrong with one of my brothers. It doesn't matter if said brother is not a full-time Thunderbird yet!" Virgil exclaimed.

"Yes, but Alan spends most of his time on the mainland at school. That also happens to be where the most problems occur. He doesn't really have a weight issue here and until this semester he had always gained the weight back fairly quickly," Jeff countered.

Virgil opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by Jeff raising his hand.

"Virge, that's enough. I am still his father and I made that call and I would do it again tomorrow," Jeff said crossly.

Virgil closed his mouth and rethought his approach on the subject.

"What are you planning to do about the issue this time, since it is getting worse?" Virgil asked.

Jeff sighed. He honestly did not know what to do to help his baby. His baby, who didn't even know that his father was aware of his weight problem, did not accept help easily.

"The only thing I can think of is to talk to him and discuss possibly homeschooling until we can get a handle on his weight," Jeff answered.

"Dad, while the medic half of me agrees with that statement, the brother side disagrees. He only gets one shot at high school. He's in his junior year now. He only has one year left after this one. If I remember correctly from Wharton's, this is the year he gets to declare a 'major' to pursue", Virgil responded.

Jeff looked up surprised. That was true. He had forgotten that Wharton's had 'majors' or field related tracks that the students could choose from to pursue. He wondered if the added stress of that was what pushed Alan over the edge in regards to his weight.

"Has Alan said anything to you about it?" Jeff asked.

Virgil hesitated, causing Jeff to narrow his eyes at Virgil.

"Yes, but Dad, it's not my place to tell you. You need to talk to Alan about it", Virgil said hastily.

There was one other thing nagging him about his baby, the obvious secret between Alan, John, and now Virgil. He agreed with John and Alan for the most part that Alan needed to be the one to confide in Jeff. Jeff wanted all of his sons to feel like they could come to him with any problem. It hurt that Alan apparently did not trust or was not comfortable enough with Jeff to come to him with his problems. The father in him, though, was already on edge about what Alan could need to confide. Alan had enough stress and he didn't want anything adding to it. Onaha had already confided in him that Alan had requested stroganoff for supper. He was pleased with that development. If Alan was requesting specific food, then hopefully they could get him to gain back the weight lost.

Jeff was startled out of his thoughts by a knock on his door. He raised his eyebrows in surprise. His sons never knocked and Brains was working on One's navigational systems.

"Come in," Jeff called turning towards the door.

He was even more surprised when Alan came in followed by Scott and John. So now, apparently, John, Virgil, and Scott knew Alan's secret. Jeff took a deep breath. He knew how important this discussion was going to be. It hurt that Alan thought he needed back up to talk to Jeff. Jeff was simply going to have to show Alan that he could talk to Jeff about anything.