A few months have passed since Isabella has been left in the care of her aunts and uncles. She has gotten to meet Admiral Hood, Captain Lasky, Commander Palmer, and the ship's AI Roland. Lasky and Roland are already her favorites. Which is something that Palmer saw coming.
With help from Admiral Hood, he got Isabella a "Dumb" AI named Athena to be Isabella's academic teacher. On top of that Isabella trains alongside Blue Team to master her Spartan qualities. As of right now she has been doing endurance training with Aunt Kelly and simple self-defense with Uncle Fred.
Uncle John is always there keeping a watchful eye on her during training. He makes sure that she doesn't overexert herself. Also makes it a point that she has her academic studies done first before training. He makes it clear that her studies are far more important than what he or her other aunts and uncle could teach her. Which is something she has come to understand very quickly. And besides she enjoys learning from Athena.
|…|
Kelly and Isabella are at the track running. Uncle John and Uncle Fred are wrestling on the matts and Auntie Linda is that the firing range. This makes it for a average morning.
Isabella joins Auntie Kelly every morning for a run. It helps energize her for the day ahead. Running alongside Kelly, she begins to sing something.
"What are you singing?"
"An old earth song called "Runnin'". Mom used to have a huge collection of lots of old earth songs." Isabella says. "I remember a few of them."
"Clearly. Might as well as sing louder. I want to hear you." Kelly says.
"Yes ma'am!" Isabella smiles.
Isabella begins to sing louder catching the attention of John and Fred. The two stop and look over at the crack listening to Isabella sing. And somewhere along the way Kelly joins her.
"Did Jacobson sing?" Fred asks looking at John.
"I don't think he did. And it isn't like we listened to music." John says.
"So we'll just say that this what she got from her mother." Fred states.
"Affirmative." John nods.
|…|
Today, she is with Aunt Linda. Aunt Linda is mediating in her room with Isabella sitting across from her in the same meditative position. Linda often steals glances at the young girl. She curses herself for seeing Jacobson when Isabella is her own person. Thankfully she manages to keep herself from calling Isabella by her dad's name. Even though the girl seems to expect it, being aware that she behaves like her father in their eyes.
"Something wrong Auntie Linda?" Isabella asks.
"Nothing."
"Like I told Auntie Kelly, Spartans shouldn't lie." Isabella says in a "matter-of-factly" tone.
Linda smirks, "That is true. A Spartan shouldn't lie. But lying isn't always something bad. Sometimes people lie for good reasons."
"Because they are afraid of how people may react to the truth?"
"Affirmative." Linda nods.
The fall silent focusing on mind over matter. They sit like this for and hour before the door of Linda's room opens and Kelly walks in.
"Sorry to interrupt but its track time." Kelly says.
"Right." Isabella nods getting out of her meditative position. "Bye Auntie Linda, see you at lunch."
"See you at lunch." Linda replies.
|…|
Isabella sits in John's room with a dismantled gun before her. She is trying to figure out how to put it back together. As to why she is trying to figure it out is because she asked Kelly for a challenge. And Kelly's idea of a challenge was for her to figure how to put a gun back together.
She's been starting at the dismantled pieces for an hour now after serval failed attempts to put the gun back together. She is getting frustrated. Very frustrated. Finally fed up she throws one of the pieces in her hand at the door.
At that same time the door opens. The piece goes flying out barely missing the person who entered. And speaking of the person who is none other than Fred, he catches the thrown piece with ease.
"Nice arm." Fred comments. "But you could work on your aim."
"O-Oh! I am so sorry Uncle Fred; I didn't hear you come in." Isabella says looking at him.
"It's alright Isabella. What are you going?"
"I asked Auntie Kelly for a challenge. She took apart this gun and told me to figure out how to put it back together." Isabella explains.
"She should be thankful that I came in and not John." Fred chuckles sitting across from Isabella. "But this something important, especially if you are going into the military."
Fred begins to help her put the gun together. He simply points out each piece and tells her why it is important. She puts it together with ease. Fred watches with a smile on his face as she marvels.
But then her smile dies as she asks, "Will Auntie Kelly be mad at me since you had to help?"
"Not if I tell on her to John." Fred says winking.
Isabella giggles, "Hope he can catch her. She's faster than a cheetah."
"As fast as she may be she'll never escape Uncle John." Fred says rubbing her head.
"I heard that!" Kelly says from somewhere nearby.
Fred and Isabella begin laughing. John and Linda come into the private quarters, having returned from the GYM to hear the laughter. The two are confused. They notice an annoyed Kelly and a highly amused Fred. The two look at one another and shrug slightly.
|…|
Isabella rolls in her makeshift bed trying to sleep. But the nightmare from earlier has been keeping her up. She doesn't want to wake the sleeping Spartan in the bed across from her. That doesn't seem right. He really needs his sleep.
She knows that Uncle John has been rather tried recently. She isn't sure why he has been so tired, but hopes he gets better. She looks over at the clock seeing it is midnight. Isabella sighs softly and gets up. She reaches for the data pad that is filed of books that Athena wants her to read.
Time passes and it is two in the morning. Isabella is still up and reading her third book. As she turns to the last chapter of the third book, she hears movement from John's bed. She looks over to see him having a nightmare of his own. He is also sleep talking. She hears him say "Keyes", "Sargent", "Cortana", and "Jacobson".
Her heart pings in pain suddenly. She knows that her father wasn't the only person Uncle John has lost. She knows that he as lost a great many people in his life. But she never asked about it. Knowing it was inappropriate. So until he brought it up, she never planned on asking.
Getting up from her bed, she walks over to her uncle. She places a hand on his shoulder. She lightly shakes him a few times. When that doesn't work, she decides to use her voice.
"Uncle John wake up!" She says. "It's oka Uncle John! None of it is real. It's just a nightmare." Her voice is warm and soft.
John wakes with a jerk like shiver. He is sweating a little. He sighs and rubs his face, wiping the sweat from it. Isabella waits patiently for him to look at her. And when he does, she sees the guilt in his eyes.
"Are you okay Uncle John? Would you like a glass of water?" Isabella asks.
"No, I'm alright. Did I wake you?" He asks.
Isabella shakes her head going, "Had a nightmare of my own."
"About what happened?"
"Yeah. And you? Did you dream about … that time?" She asks not saying what was exactly.
"A little." He responds.
"Mom once told me that nightmares can be prevented if you read something to yourself before you go to sleep. She used to read to me before I went to sleep. Would you like me to read to you?" She offers.
"Sure." He says.
She sits on his bed and pulls up one of the other books on her data pad. She begins to read to the legendary Spartan and the two of them finally fall back asleep. Only for Kelly, Linda, and Fred to have blackmail on John.