For all that Katie had teased Leigh about the military pageantry, it really was mostly just a normal graduation ceremony, if you ignored the fact that all the graduates were in uniform rather than in caps and gowns. Except for the Blue Angels flyover, that was beyond cool, and Katie couldn't help musing that if Leigh got her way, she'd be flying planes like that one day.

But beyond that, it was the same ole, same old. There was the requisite blathering from the valedictorian, peppered with nostalgic reminiscence that only those graduating really understood. Being Leigh's twin and having heard about most of her adventures, Katie understood most of it, like the class's Herndon Monument climb, where they had posted a respectable two hours, 34 minutes and 45 seconds. It wasn't the fastest time ever recorded, but it wasn't the slowest either, and they were justifiably proud of their record. And the rigors of plebe summer, which Katie and most likely every member of the family present -- and there were quite a few of them, Mama, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa McGee, Grandma Gloria, Uncle Billy and his wife, Aunt Carolyn, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Pete, Uncle Tony and Uncle Gibbs -- had heard Leigh complain about ever since, at every chance she got.

Then, there was the boring and long-winded keynote address. This year the Secretary of the Navy was the keynote speaker, and hearing the man speak, Katie understood many of the dinner table conversations she had heard over the last few years. The man really did have all the personality of a rock, and he was a windbag besides. A sudden unbidden memory of overheard adult comments from her childhood about Uncle Tony flirting with the Secnav's wife clicked into place and sent her into uncontrollable snickers. She clasped her hands tightly over her mouth. Mama was elbowing her, and Daddy was sending her death glares, but that only made it worse. She bit her lip hard, trying to hold her breath and contain the sound. Finally, after several agonizing seconds, she managed to control herself.

Still glaring, Mama pushed the camera into her hands. The windbag had finally finished, and they were beginning to call the graduates up to get their diplomas. "Go get a picture," Mama ordered in whisper. Katie nodded, slipping the camera strap around her neck, and winding her way down from their seats high up on the bleachers to the grassy area around the stage. Though most all of her family were decent photographers, most of them having spent many years taking crime scene and evidence photos, she was among the best. She had Mama's artistic flair and Daddy's eye for detail and patience. Luckily, since McGee came near the middle of alphabet, she had plenty of time to set up her shot before Leigh came across the stage. Though she had stopped well way from the stage area, with Mama's zoom lens she didn't need to be all that close, she was able to see Leigh clearly. She caught her sister's eye and winked. Leigh grinned, all her military training not able to suppress a giggle that bubbled forth, even as she fought it back and tried to be solemn as she reached for her diploma and the new pins that signified her increase in rank from midshipmen to Ensign. Despite her best efforts, the giggle escaped, and it was then that Katie snapped the picture, knowing it would be priceless.

Pleased, Katie hurried back to where her family was waiting. Leigh would find them now as any she could, for traditionally it was the student's family who pinned them,removing their old pins and replacing them with the new ones of a commissioned officer. And then, Leigh and Uncle Gibbs would be together for the first time with her as a commissioned officer who outranked him, and that was a moment she did not want to miss.