Sky sighed as he spoke with Cruger; it was a lot for any man to process, Sky knew better than anyone else how hard it was to process hearing "You are going to be a father".
It was a stretch for Sky to imagine Cruger as a father, but he figured that whatever he was feeling at the moment, Kathleen was even more shocked; she was hearing it from her mother.
"Commander, do you know what you plan to do from here?" Sky asked
"No I don't" Cruger replied
Then an alarm started to go off and they headed for the Command Center. There was a craft on a collision course with the center of town, and there was no way the rangers were going to be able to stop it.
They went out to the crash to find survivors and found one… a man who was already believed to be dead, Kathleen's father, Milton.
Kathleen was stunned as she had only seen him in pictures, but she recognized him instantly.
"You're… Milton Andrews, right?" Kathleen asked
"Yes, and you are?"
"Kathleen Tate" she replied
Milton asked about Katherine, but the rangers were confused as they were used to Kat using her maiden name, Manx, not her married, Andrews.
"We don't know who you're talking about" Z said
"Wait, he means Kat Manx… 'Manx' is Kat's maiden name" Sky said
"She went back to her maiden name, my apologies, I didn't know" Milton replied
"Well she's at the SPD base" Bridge said
"She wasn't feeling well last I heard" Sky said, "She may be asleep right now"
Kathleen thought a second then realized what Sky was doing hiding the fact that Kat was pregnant by another man, namely their commanding officer. It wasn't wise to let him know that fact yet.
"And might I ask how you know?" Milton asked
"I'm Sky Tate, Kathleen, Kat's daughter, is my wife" Sky replied, he read in his wife's eyes that she was suspicious about her 'father' she didn't know why, but something felt wrong… later on she would voice that concern, but it would be brushed off… even thought Sky and Cruger became a little more aware after she said that
Milton went to check on Kat in the infirmary and he swore she looked like she had seen a ghost when she first saw him.
"Did I miss something?" he asked as she hugged him sure she still loved him, but there was one thing she had to remember, she carried the baby of a man she now loved more than her husband.
"Milton, we were all told you had died in the battle for Azerakat" she said looking him in the eye.
Milton hugged his wife tighter in his arms, he had no idea that she thought he was dead, had he known, he would have found her sooner.
Kathleen was sitting in the bedroom she and Sky shared with their twin daughters
"I can't wrap my head around it, Sky…" Kathleen said "I find out my mom is pregnant by our commanding officer, and then my father shows up…" she continued to say "I try to make sense of it and I get a big, fat 'DOES NOT COMPUTE!'" Kathleen sighed in frustration
Sky sighed, this was awkward… how would Kat tell her husband that she was pregnant by another man… it wasn't going to be easy, but there was one thing that Sky figured, he would understand, they thought he was gone, she had tried to move on with her life… which included a new love, Cruger.
Kat spoke with Milton for hours about what he missed out on, including his daughter's wedding and the birth of her identical twin daughters, Erin and Emily.
Milton didn't ask what was wrong with Kat, he figured that wasn't what was important right that moment; what was important was for them to get to know each other again.
Kat was noticing some inconsistencies in Milton's telling of the past, but she didn't say any thing, she figured he didn't remember it very well. She was okay with that, she was sketchy with some details herself after all these years. What she did notice was there was something strangely different about him, sure twenty something years was more than enough to change someone dramatically, but this just felt strange, she didn't know that her daughter saw it as well and felt a little more suspicious about his sudden appearance.
The next day Milton figured it was time for him to ask his wife what was going on and she told him exactly what happening.
"Wait a minute, you mean to tell me you slept with another man…" he seemed angry
"Milton, what did you expect me to do, remain single for the rest of my life? I hate to inform you, but even if you aren't around my life will go on! You may think you're the center of the universe, but you aren't!" Kat wasn't going to take his attitude
"Well, Kat, I thought you would be true to me…"
"I believe our vows said 'until death do us part', and for the last twenty four years I believed you were dead… and I thought you would have wanted me to go on living my life!" Kat was furious.
"But I came back now…"
"Too little, too late, Milton, you should have come back years ago…" she paused "I have a few questions for you… where were you when our daughter needed you… like when her step father beat her up… or when her ex-boyfriend raped her… where the hell were you?" Kat demanded
Milton grabbed her wrist
"That doesn't matter… you were the one who got pregnant, and I expect you to have an abortion"
"Oh, now you've crossed the line" Kat said in anger
"Oh have I?" Milton backhanded Kat across the face as a strange man stepped into the room
Jason wasn't too sure what he had just walked in on, or where in the name of peace he was, but he realized this argument was becoming violent, and if someone didn't step in the woman involved might get hurt... he had no way of knowing she was pregnant
"Hey, can't you make a point without hurting someone?" Jason demanded towards Milton
"I don't have to answer to you… Kat, you heard me… don't forget, I mean what I say" Milton left the lab and Jason turned to Kat.
"Are you okay?" he asked
"No" she replied then she, as well left the lab, but her exit was different, she was in tears and for some reason she had to get out, she wasn't sure where she was going, but it was away from Milton.
Cruger was headed towards the lab from the opposite direction when he saw Kat coming. He caught her in his arms gently.
"Kat, what's wrong?" he asked
"It's Milton… there's something wrong with him" she sobbed
To Be Continued…
