Chris, age 18

"Summers! Phone call!" Chris frowned. Phone calls during boot camp were reserved for Sundays, and it definitely wasn't a Sunday. He walked to the phones and took the receiver from his commanding officer.

"This is Chris Summers," he said, unsure of who was calling him or why.

"It's me." Chris grinned at the voice of his fiancée, and then frowned in concern.

"Is everything alright? You wouldn't have called just to call."

"I'm pregnant." Chris swallowed. "Chris?"

"Are you sure?" he asked quietly.

"I'm sure. I'm due early April. I've already… I've had an ultrasound. I didn't believe it, Chris, but there's a baby inside of me. Our baby."

"Fuck."

"Chris?"

"You have to admit the timing… Damn it, Kat. I thought you said you were using birth control?!"

"I was! It's not a foolproof way of not getting pregnant, you know. You were the one who wanted to see what it was like without a condom, remember?!" Chris wiped at his face.

"I don't know what to say, Katherine. I'm not… I barely even have a salary and my parents have completely cut me off from everything. How the hell am I supposed to take care of a baby?! And damn it, we're not even married!" Chris kicked at the wall in front of him. "Is there- can you just take care of it? We're not ready-"

"I cannot believe you, Christopher Summers. It's not like we're broken up. We're engaged to be married. We knew this was a risk, and we had sex anyways. You want to blame an innocent person for what we did? Are you that much like your father?"

"Katherine," Chris said sharply.

"I still have some inheritance left from my parents' estate. I'll… I'll work on getting a marriage license for us- unless next you're going to tell me that we're not getting married now."

"I would never tell you that. I'm just not ready to be a dad."

"You have until April to get ready." Katherine hung up and Chris slammed the phone down on the receiver.

"Didn't go well, I take it." Chris looked at his CO.

"No sir."

"You have twenty minutes until drills, Summers. Do what you need to until then." Chris nodded his thanks and watched as the man walked away before picking the phone up again.

"Summers residence."

"Ma."

"Chris? Is that really you?! Phil! Chris is calling!" Chris closed his eyes and took a breath.

"Please- can I just please talk to you and not him?"

"Chris, he's your father. He loves you."

"He had a pretty shitty way of showing it."

"Christopher." Chris swallowed.

"I need to talk to you. Not him. If you're adamant that he listen in, then I'll just hang up."

"Chris," he heard his father scold.

"Captain Summers."

"You know everything I did was for you, Chris. Even with as firm as I was- it was because of how much I love you. You're killing your mother, son. Please come home."

"Not until you're six feet under, you bastard." Chris hung the phone up and took a few calming breaths before leaving the office.

"You look pissed," he heard.

"Well, Davis, it's because I am."

"You get caught sneaking out last month?"

"In a way," Chris admitted. "My girl… She's pregnant."

"Shit, Summers. You don't do anything halfway, do you?" Chris ignored him through their drills. It was their last session before they graduated and officially joined the Air Force. They would have about two months between graduation and their first assignment. Chris had planned on marrying Katherine in a courthouse and enjoying that time as newlyweds. Now they would be busy talking about the baby. Chris wiped the sweat from his face as he hurried to the showers. He hated this. He wasn't ready to be a father. The rest of his night was spent in a brooding silence in the Texas heat.

"Summers," he heard as he got dressed for the day.

"Yes sir?"

"There's a Captain Summers calling for you."

"Tell him to fuck off. Sir."

"Airman Basic Summers. You have an officer demanding to talk with you. Now go answer to him." Chris got off of his bunk and made his way to where the phones were. He saw one off the receiver and held it to his ear.

"You're throwing around your position now to talk to me?"

"When you refuse to call your mother, yes."

"What do you want, Captain Summers?"

"Katherine called us."

"This is a misuse of your title, Captain."

"Chris. Mom and I… Please, son."

"Begging? You? Why? You actually think you'll be in this child's life?"

"Chris."

"No, Pop. You… I wouldn't leave you alone with a dog, let alone my child. Not after how you raised me." He heard a sad sigh.

"We want to pay for your wedding."

"After eighteen years of abuse-"

"I'll admit to being firm, but I was not abusive, Christopher."

"Bullshit. And no, thanks. Kat and I will take care of ourselves. I don't need you. You weren't going to be invited anyways. Now I have shit to do, Captain."

"We'll see you at your ceremony."

"The hell you will-"

"Chris."

"I don't want you here. I don't want to see you ever again, honestly."

"You'll understand one day, son. When you're holding your own child-"

"I'll kill myself before I ever try to understand like you." Chris hung up and clutched at his chest. It hurt worse than he thought it would after that conversation. He felt himself space out the remainder of the day as they went through what to expect the following day during the ceremony.

And then suddenly he found himself in his dress blues and sitting and waiting for the ceremony to be over. He never had the patience for things like this. It was long and boring. If this wasn't what would help define his career, he wouldn't have sat through it. It lasted for nearly two hours, and then the crowd behind them was cheering. He congratulated the people around him as they congratulated him. He was ready to get home and see Katherine and grovel.

"Congratulations, Chris." Chris turned at the voice and saw her.

"Kat. What are you- we agreed you wouldn't spend the money on the ticket." But his joy at seeing her overshadowed the annoyance that she went against their agreement. He spun her around and set her back down before kissing her.

"I wasn't expecting this," she grinned after pulling away.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. A bit nauseous at times, but it's better. How are you… Feeling about it?" Chris sighed.

"I'm still…" he swallowed. "I just don't want to be him, Kat. I hoped for some more time and distance away from him before having to be in that position. I'm afraid I'll hurt my child." Katherine gave him a soft smile.

"With a fear like that, there will be no way you could. And you'll have me, too, Chris. I won't stand for it and you know that." Chris nodded and hugged her to him, burying his head in her neck.

"When will we know what we're having?"

"I'm about nine weeks now. We'll know around twenty weeks." Chris nodded. "There's something I have to tell you, though."

"Captain Summers called me yesterday. I know they know."

"They also flew me here." Chris groaned and lifted his head. His parents were standing off to the side, his father in his own dress blues. Seeing Chris look at them, Phil led Deborah to the couple.

"Congratulations, son. I'm proud-"

"I don't care what you have to say, Captain. Your approval means nothing to me."

"Yet you chose to follow in my footsteps-"

"I fell in love with being in the air after visiting the Space Needle. I'm sure you remember that trip as well as I do."

"Chris," Deb said gently. "We've missed you. I wish you would come home-"

"I'm getting married. I don't have a home with you. And even if I wasn't getting married, I'd rather live on the streets than ever-"

"You've got one last chance," Phil growled. "I don't care how pissed you are with me, you don't speak like that to your mother." Chris looked at Deborah and saw the unshed tears.

"Ma." She hurried forward and threw her arms around him.

"Please, Chris. You're our only child. Please let us pay for your wedding. You deserve more than just in front of a judge."

"I can't… We want to be married before I leave again. No one will have the vacancy with this late notice. I'm not going to ask Kat to wait- she needs to be put on my insurance, now more than ever."

"Then we'll get a Justice of the Peace to come to the cabin. You can marry there."

"Ma,"

"Please, Chris. I've been imagining this since the two of you met. And especially now that her parents are gone… She deserves to have a beautiful wedding." Chris frowned and looked at his fiancée, who was trying to politely talk with his father.

"For her sake, I'll agree. But she has the final say on everything, Ma. And no trying to get me home for wedding planning for some crazed intervention with Pop, alright? He might have contributed to my genetic makeup, but I don't… Ma, he hurt me for too long to want anything to do with him."

"He loves you."

"Then maybe he should have said that instead of hitting me with his belt."

"He was raised in a different time, Chris. He tried."

"I don't want to talk about this."

"You'll understand one day, Chris. When you're holding that baby Katherine is carrying. The love you'll feel will be indescribable. I can assure you, that's how your father feels about you."