A/N: Special thanks to Raxacoricofallapatoreous for leaving a review on the last chapter. =3

Summary: Katie doesn't know how to take Keith's gratitude or the fact that Keith's bond is developing faster than Shiro's had.

Someone from Shiro's past has a talk with the partners in crime about the Garrison break-in. Keith wonders if Katie would be better off without him around.

Katie's eyes slowly flickered open breathing in the scent of peanut butter toast. She could have sworn her mom said they had to make their breakfast today. They...Katie bolted up, memories of last night flooding her brain, her fogging eyes quickly registering she was now alone in the guest bed.

"You're up," Keith stated, standing in the doorway, dressed, with a plate of peanut butter toast in one hand and a glass of milk in the other.

"Ummm Morning," was all Katie could think of replying, her fingers fiddling through her hair, trying to brush messy bangs out of her face.

"Morning…" Keith replied stiffly.

First the lack of good night and now awkwardness over basic morning pleasantries? Was Keith not used to exchanging daily greetings, or would he usually not reply and this was his way of trying to be polite?

"Your Mom said peanut butter toast is a good breakfast for you, I'm not much of a cook…" Keith said placing the plate down on the end table along with the glass of milk.

"Yeah, anything with peanut butter is good" Katie replied, rubbing her eyes as she tiredly swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Thanks for the breakfast but why did you make it for me?" she inquired as she grabbed a slice of toast, this didn't appear to be a usual thing for him.

"It's a thank you for last night... I know it's not much..." Keith answered looking antsy as he shifted his weight from foot to foot, his fingers fiddling with the ends of his sleeve. "I thought it could be a start."

"You don't need to thank me for-"

"Yes, yes I do," Keith firmly stated, "Katie, you helping me while Shiro was going through…" He didn't know, and neither of them did. Katie could make a lot of different guesses but none of them would lead to anything good.

Keith's hands curled into fists as his features radiated shame. "You keeping me calm could have been the difference between Shiro surviving or dying last night. Without you, my emotions may have overwhelmed Shiro… my lack of control could have caused his death," Keith stated, his eyes honed in on her and only her.

"He managed to survive not because of me but because of you," Keith affirmed, Katie sensing the warmth of gratitude mixed with the burn of self-hate under her skin. All of Keith's emotions seem to be temperature related or at least that's what it felt like to her.

Katie really couldn't deny it any longer, she could officially feel Keith's emotions but he seemed utterly unaware of the change. That in itself was probably for the best, Katie had no idea what Keith's views on thirds were and she rather not find out the hard way.

Though she still couldn't figure out why Keith's bond was developing so much faster than Shiro's had. Could the higher stress factors be a factor or was she just more aware of what a soulmate's emotions felt like that she recognized the signs faster than before?

Katie took a bite of her toast, giving her time to think as she patted the spot next to her on the bed. The red jacket teen hesitated for a second, before sitting down next to her, his violet eyes honed in on her. "Keith I'm sure anyone would've had a difficult time controlling their emotions during… something as intense as what you were feeling from Shiro." She assured, speaking from experience, but the burn under her skin didn't cease, Keith's violet eyes glaring down at his lap.

"But I should have done more, been able to control myself better" Keith hands tightly gripping his jean's, Katie feeling his self hate burning hotter "but I never seem to be able to do that"

Lack of self-control would explain why he stepped in yesterday to protect her when the guards hurt her shoulder. "I'm thankful for that side of you. Otherwise, those Guards could have caused a lot more harm than just a pulled muscle." She remarked, the burn, cooling under her skin as he blinked down at her. "What?" Katie questioned while taking another bite of toast.

"It's nothing…" Keith assured, Katie, feeling a soothing warmth blooming in her chest as sparks of heat tickled around her cheek and was Keith blushing again? "How's your shoulder?" he questioned.

"Still sore, but otherwise fine" Katie was not going to tell Keith he had aggravated her shoulder when pinning her last night. He was prone to self-blame and internalized scolding. She already concluded Keith was doing more than enough of that on his own and didn't want to add any more fuel to that fire.

"Do you need some painkillers?" Keith asked, leaning back to look at her shoulder as if he could tell the condition of her injury just by looking at it but the concern was appreciated.

"I'm okay for now, I'll grab some when I go downstairs." She assured, finishing off her first slice of toast. "After I eat and get changed, wanna go pick up your stuff?"

"Sure" he nodded "and Katie"

"Hmm?"

"Your mom wants to have a talk with us tonight... about you being in my bed," Keith explained awkwardly, Katie letting out an array of displeased mumbles and noises.

Of course, her Mom caught that.

The two of them dismounted Keith's bike, Katie had found a second helmet and braided her hair so they wouldn't have a repeat of last night. With both her hair explosion and her Mom's scolding.

Just like Keith had said his 'home address' was at a post office, or a PO Box to be pacific. The two of them walking down a row of small square lockers, with a long list of numbers on each little door. Keith paused in front of his PO box and opened it up, inside there was only a small envelope with an official Garrison Logo and a key with a note attached to it. The letter was expected, most likely being Keith's official expelled letter but what was with the key?

"Is that normal?" Katie questioned, red flags popping up in her head warning of a trap over the small object.

"Yeah, it just means the stuff was too big for the PO box and placed it in a parcel locker instead" Keith explained taking the key and locking the little PO box up again, ignoring the letter.

So the key was normal, maybe she was being a little too paranoid "Oh, where's that?" Katie asked, all the compartments in the room seemed pretty small.

"There's a room next to this one" Keith replied, gilding her out of the room and to the next.

They found the locker fairly quickly. Inside there was a backpack and a large duffle bag. "That's it?" Katie asked as Keith handed her the backpack to carry.

"I don't own much" he shrugged, slinging the duffle bag over his shoulder as she put the backpack on. The two of them heading out, Keith propping the parcel key in a dropbox next to the front desk.

Katie was pleasantly surprised with how smoothly getting the stuff had been, this way they would have plenty of time to examine his stuff for any tampering before her mom came home and lecture them-

Katie bumped into Keith's back as he stood frozen in the entranceway, the feeling of fire suddenly burning in her chest.

"Keith?" Katie called out, but he didn't answer. Curiosity and concern getting the better of the short brunette, she leaned to the side trying to see around Keith. Spotting a tall guy with light brown hair, chestnut skin and cat eyeglasses… okay who was this guy and why did Keith not seem to like him?

The man's eyes drifted down to her and Keith went into full protector mode, his stance shifting into a fighting one as he reached a hand out as if to block her from the guy's view. "What do you want Adam?"

The nerdy girl suddenly got a strong sense of deja vu, Katie had heard the name somewhere before but could swear she had never seen this guy's face before.

"I want to talk, off the record" his eyes drifting back down to her "to both of you"

So… he was someone from the Garrison, guess that explained why Keith was being protective and didn't like the glasses guy.

"We're not talking to you" Keith growled, taking Katie's hand, keeping her close and himself between the Garrison guy and her as they walked away from him.

"If you don't talk to me now, I'll be forced to talk with Ms. Holt" Adma cooly stated causing both the teens to freeze. "Or would you like your mother to know about the break-in and hacking attempt."

Instinctively she squeezed Keith's hand and he did the same in return, she could feel the fire whipping wilding around in his stomach just itching to burst forth. Katie's stomach felt like vines were twisting and squeezing around her gut.

Her Mom could complicate things. The Garrison may believe her hacking was just a failed attempt but her Mom wouldn't believe she failed. Her Mom would comb through her files, her things and if she found what Katie and Keith stole. There was no doubt in her mind that Mom would force them to return it and they would lose their only lead.

Keith looked down at Katie, deferring to her choice. She nodded back at him, they had too much to lose if they didn't.

"Okay, let's talk," Katie replied, letting go of Keith's hand to face Adam.

"Thank you, now let's continue this somewhere more comfortable" the Garrison guy replied, pushing up his glasses as he walked past her and Keith, expecting them to follow.

"Who is this guy?" Katie whispered to Keith, the two of them trailing behind the glasses guy.

"Shiro's ex-boyfriend" he replied, keeping his eyes locked on Adam.

A part of Katie's brain shattered open, THAT's why the name was familiar, she had heard the name before but didn't know the face. Shiro happened to live with his boyfriend at the time, so Matt often encouraged Takashi to come over to their place, to take a break from the stress and the fighting.

They only mentioned Adam's name a few times around her but otherwise kept the topic off Shiro's boyfriend especially after they broke up. Katie recalling Shiro's visit increased after that, and soon after she learned they were soulmates. She never discovered why Shiro and his ex broke up, as she… quickly got distracted with other things. Katie's gaze drifted towards Keith, while he glared at the back of Adam's head.

Adam led the two of them to a little cafe, the three of them taking a booth. Katie slid along the seat to take the spot next to the window, with Keith sitting close to her, his eyes practically burning into Adam on the other side of the table. She was sure, even without the soulbond Katie could've felt the heat of Keith's anger, though didn't fully understand why he felt that way towards Adam.

Seemed the place had some kind of visitor card as Adam pulled out a card from his wallet to show the waitress. Her eyes catching a glimpse at his credit card and the top half of his Social Insurance Card.

"Order whatever you like" Adma offered after ordering himself a cup of coffee.

"Just two glasses of water please" Katie requested, ordering for both of them since Keith was remaining firmly silent.

Adma let out a long sigh and rubbed his temple after the waitress left. "Do you two have any idea how lucky you are? The only reason the both of you aren't being charged with a crime is because the all Garrison's top brass are embarrassed to publicly admit that their security was jeopardized by a couple of minors. One of them being a top student pilot of the Garrison and the other a Holt."

"Just proves how incompetent they are as leaders if a media scandal is their biggest worry" Katie dryly replied.

"You're fortunate that is the case if it wasn't you two would currently be prosecuted. The garrison having both of you thrown in jail for an indefinite amount of years." Adam sharply breathed in and out trying to calm himself "just… what were you two thinking?"

Katie could feel Adam's words become a fan to the embers of Keith's anger "We're trying to find Shiro which is leagues more than what you've done." Her partner in crime lowly growled.

"And you two think you can do more than Professional Garrison investigators?" The officer question shaking his head as if talking to a couple of stubborn, dumb children. Well, he was partly right. "Especially since I know both of you have a horrible track record when it comes to working with others"

That… she didn't know.

Katie glanced at Keith, as he looked over at her. He seemed just as surprised by the news as she was. Katie had no idea Keith had trouble working with others. From the very first text messaged he had been helpful and supportive, she often struggled teaming up with others and considering how easy it was with Keith. Katie just assumed he was experienced with being a good teammate. Okay, Keith wasn't the best at following plans and held onto his loner persona a little too tightly... but he was loyal, had his own ways to show kindness, Keith was the best teammate next to her brother she ever had.

"Both of you have talent but how could you ever expect-"

"So you know there's no proof of a crash on Kuborose?" She calmly questioned, causing the man before her to pause. "When breaking into Iverson's computer I saw the video footage of Kurobose surface. There's no proof or evidence of a crash"

Adam shook his head in disbelief "Depending on the type of crash the ship could have disintegrated-"

"The Ship is still broadcasting video" Katie interjected, if this guy was only here to try and lay some hard truth on them, then she would do the same to him. "Look it up for yourself. I'm sure if a couple of 'minors' could work around the Garrison's impeccable security." She knew her voice was dripping with sarcasm and maybe some of Keith's anger was feeding her words but she couldn't find the will to care. "I'm sure a trusted officer and ace pilot of the Garrison could at least do that much"

Adma pushed up his glasses pausing as the waitress returned with their drinks, thanking her before returning his attention to them. Keith simmering in his seat, his glare making it look like he wished to make Adam combust into flames.

"Even IF what you're saying is true... What can either one of you do about it?" Adam calmly questioned. "Take the truth to the media? The Garrison is the only one with ships capable of travelling to Kurobose, they would disprove your truth with any kind of 'facts' they wished and it would trump the truth from an angry boy who lost his soulmate and a girl in mourning over the death of her father and brother."

This guy was starting to get under her skin to the point she wasn't sure where Keith's anger ended and where her's began. They. Were. Not. Dead.

And was it just her or did this guy seem to hiss as he said soulmate?

"If both of you keep chasing this you're just going to ruin your futures. Even more so than you already have," he stated directing the last of his words to Keith.

"You just want us to give up on Shiro and the Holts?" Keith growled out.

Adam cooly gazed at Keith as the red jacket teen glared daggers at him. "I'm saying I know a lost cause when I see it."

When Katie felt the simmering heat inside of her turn into a bonfire the short girl instantaneously grabbed onto Keith's arm as he suddenly shot up onto his feet. Katie knew Keith was about to punch Adam, mostly cause that's what she wanted to do right now.

Keith's other arm froze mid pull back, preparing for a punch. Katie's grip stopping him, the short girl rapidly shaking her head. Assaulting the guy wouldn't help either of them.

Keith's shoulders slumping, as the bonfire in him eased back down to campfire size and slumped back down into his seat.

Adam's eyes slightly widened as he looked at Katie and not at the teen that was about to punch him. "I thought only Shiro could calm Keith like that"

Adam's words felt like a slap to the face, Katie's blood-freezing with panic. Did… did he suspect her to be their third?

Keith shuffled a little closer to her lightly pressing his arm against her side. If he could, Keith probably would have put himself between Adam and her, as he did every time he deemed someone a threat.

"I'm calmer around people I trust," Keith stated, his eyes drifting towards the door inching to leave.

"Katie" Adam called her name, Katie's gaze shifted away from the table surface looking back up at the Garrison office, praying he wasn't about to ask if she was a third.

She could lose Keith.

It didn't matter that he was her soulmate or not, he was the only one that understood, that stuck by her, trusted her when everyone else dismissed her. She couldn't lose the only human friend she had on earth.

"Don't get close to Keith, associating yourself with him will only bring you harm," Adam warned.

"Wait… What?" Katie blinked glancing between the two guys at the table. It was like he saw Keith as a threat to her well being or safety. Oddly Keith wasn't saying anything to defend himself, but she could feel Keith's body slightly shaking next to her as the fire in him turned cold.

"Keith causes nothing but havoc and ruins those around him. He self sabotages every chance he's ever given" Adam stated as if his words were absolute truth, Keith's chest tightening like smoke filling his lungs. "Keith's a curse,"

Katie threw her drink on Adam's face.

"Keith is not a curse!" she snapped, at the guy now dripping with water, slamming her glass back onto the table.

Keith quickly moved after a moment of shock, letting Katie stand up as the Garrison stooge cleaned his glasses.

"Oh and if you ever try to blackmail me through my mother again, just remember I can do it better," she spoke an array of numbers with a smile that was deadly sweet, the seeming aloof officer had a moment of panic flash through his features.

That satisfied Katie to no end as she walked away, holding onto Keith's arm as he trailed close behind her. Leaving Adam to imagine what she was capable of, as they headed back towards his bike.

Keith stood back leaning on his bike as Katie threw rocks into the lake huffing and growling as she tried throwing each rock further than the last.

Keith noticed that Katie was oddly quiet after their confrontation with Adam, only asking if they could go to a lake when they got to his bike and hadn't said much since.

He didn't see a reason why they couldn't and if it helped Katie feel better he didn't mind going. She seemed off-balance, but he couldn't tell much else. Katie was usually easier to read but right now it felt like trying to see through the wall of a hedge maze.

She had remained pretty composed till Adam compared her to Shiro then she exploded when he called him a curse. Keith was still a little shocked by what she did and the way she snapped in his defence.

At that moment the short girl felt more like an impossibly tall Oak tree, cooling the fire in him with her shade, and sheltering him from a storm that was Adam. Keith swore he felt his heart skip a beat watching her.

Katie was so imposing, and although he didn't understand what the numbers she told Adam meant, it was incredible watching the cold pilot get shaken by her threat.

Keith appreciated her defence more than he could express, but couldn't help but wonder why Katie had reacted so strongly or looked shaken when he compared her to Shiro. Was it possible for him to just ask her or was that crossing a line? They were teammates of course but did that give him the okay to talk about things that upset her, or was it best just to wait till she talked about it?

Katie flopped down on the edge between the rocky beach and the grass, staring out at the lake with a long sigh. Keith rolled his shoulders and took a chance, slowly approaching the hacker, as if he was approaching an agitated animal.

"Feeling better?" Keith asked looking down at her as the breeze coming off the lake brushed back her bangs.

"I'm sorry" She replied quietly closing her eyes as her hand fiddled with her braid.

Keith couldn't tell if Katie was talking about her outburst with Adam, or the request to come here. For how 'good' his deductive skills were she could have been talking about something completely different.

Luckily Katie seemed to sense this and quickly elaborated "For not keeping my cool, I try to be rational but... I couldn't let him call you that."

The hedge wall blocking her from Keith suddenly felt shorter and he could finally see Katie again. She was angry but there was a mix of guilt, maybe self-loathing in her voice; emotions he was more familiar with than he ever cared to be. Well, this was the best opening he was going to get.

"Why did it upset you so much?" Keith asked.

Katie didn't answer, but he could tell she was thinking as her gaze narrowed in on the horizon, Keith didn't mind giving her time to organize her thoughts. Taking a set next to her on the cool grass.

"I hate that term" Katie answered and surprisingly didn't elaborate more than that. If Shiro was here, he could probably get Katie to open up and know how to make her feel better.

"Has someone called you a curse before?" he asked, guessing she had a personal connection to the word.

"No" she replied simply, as the hedge walls sprung taller than him once more and Katie became unreadable again.

That was definitely, the wrong thing to say… What would Shiro do now? How would he connect with a teammate? Keith mentally scrambled trying to recall everything Shiro taught him about connecting with people. His soulmate often said that opening up to others was a good way to get them to open up in return. Maybe if Keith shared his feelings about being called a curse she would share hers?

"I used to think I was Shiro's third" Keith revealed, and for the first time since they got here, Katie looked at him, her honey-brown eyes wide and attentive.

"Soon after meeting Shiro I saw his soulmark and discovered we were soulmates. Even back then I always wore gloves, so Shiro had no idea what my mark looked like or even made the connection that we were soulmates" Keith began, rubbing his right thumb over the palm of his left hand; most of his soulmark hidden under his fingerless gloves. "I didn't know what to do, I had no idea how Shiro would feel about having a messed up person like me as his soulmate."

"You're not a bad soulmate," Katie stated.

Keith choose to take that as a challenge "The first day I ever met Shiro I stole his vehicle and took it for a joy ride"

"Seriously!?" Katie laughed "what possessed you to do that?" she questioned turning her body to face him.

"Back then Shiro had just recently graduated the Garrison the ace pilot that through his hard work and dedication graduated the Garrison courses a year early."

"Shiro was a real poster boy for Garrison graduates" Katie added, "used to think he was more looks than substance till I got to know him"

A single laugh burst out of Keith, picturing Katie saying that directly to Shiro's face and his soulmate's reaction over her blunt statement.

"He came to my class as a Garrison representative, looking for new students to join the garrison even showed some interest in me and praised me for my skills as a pilot," Keith continued. "But the teachers were quick to say I was no good and Shiro wouldn't want a kid like me at the Garrison. The teacher then directed Shiro's attention to another student and she started praising this suck up, jerk."

"Do you mean stuck up?" Katie questioned.

"No this guy took every opportunity to suck up to the teachers and high-ups" Keith clarified, he hated Griffin, the guy took every chance he could to antagonize him, but since the teachers liked Griffin more they never believed the emo kid and the blame would always fall on him.

"Expecting Shiro, to be like everyone else and start treating me like a punk. I got pissed and stole his vehicle, taking it for a joy ride. I guess a part of me figured if the star graduate was going to hate me anyway, I might as well give him a reason."

"So you've always been a bit of a hothead" Katie concluded, but the light way she said it made him feel more like she was teasing him than picking on him. "How did Shiro react when he got his vehicle back?"

"He offered to mentor me and encourage me to join the Garrison" Keith answered, Katie not appearing shocked or astounded by his response.

"Yep sounds about right for Shiro" She agreed with a soft smile "Shiro's incredibly forgiving, and generous. He has this gift to see into a person's core, and somehow able to bring out the best in other people," Katie's eyes looked so tender and her voice held such a gentle fondness as she spoke. Even Keith could tell, she must have admired and dearly missed Shiro.

Keith wondered what it was like watching two amazing and brilliant people like Katie and Shiro interacting, they had to have been pretty good friends. After all, Shiro had to admire Katie in return, she was astonishingly intelligent, and clever. Then on top of that, there was her contagious passion, unwavering tenacity and quick wit...

Katie would have made a much better soulmate for Shiro.

"Yet somehow Shiro got stuck with a soulmate like me" Keith grumbled.

"Like you?" she questioned, looking very perplexed.

"When I saw how happy Shiro was with Adma, I thought I was a third because of course, I didn't deserve Shiro. How dumb did I have to be to think I was meant to be with someone as great as him. Nothing good ever happened to me without something just as bad or worst happening in exchange." He bellowed, Katie's hand reaching out and grabbing his sleeve.

Somehow the small touch soothed some of his self-hate, but it burned too strongly to dissipate. "But even while thinking I was third. I didn't want to lose Shiro, he was the one good thing in my life, I couldn't handle the thought of distancing myself...of letting him go" Katie's honey-brown eyes widened but she never let go of him, at least she didn't look angry or about to condemn him for how he had felt while assuming he was a third.

"One day Adam saw my mark, and soon after that he and Shiro started arguing more and more. Through that I discovered Adam didn't have the same soulmark as Shiro, they ended up splitting because of me... I put Shiro through so much stress and misery just by being in his life." Katie's grip on his sleeve tightened, just watching him and listening. "I only showed Shiro my mark and confessed to him about being his soulmate to cheer Shiro up so he wouldn't blame himself for the break-up, if he got angry at me then maybe I could take his misery away."

"Instead of being angry he was ecstatic," Keith said with a sad laugh "I got him to cheer up but not in the way I was expecting. I honestly was relieved, deep down I didn't think I could ever handle Shiro being angry at me, or hating me for ruining his relationship. After that, he was kinder than ever to me, spent more time with me, asked more about me, treated me like I was someone that deserved to be treasured" It was really good while it lasted.

"But of course my curse returned, it took its time but it came back like it always does. This time taking Shiro, and your family to some horrible place. Maybe the universe knew we were meant to meet and retroactively took them away as punishment for getting close to me." Keith assumed, his eyes now burning with tears, nothing good ever came into his life without something bad. Adma wasn't wrong when he called him a curse, like a wildfire all he did, was destroy other people's lives.

"You're not a curse, you don't have a curse" Katie declared her hand shaking against his arm.

"Adam's right, I should leave, I'll just make your life worse" Keith conceded, as he moved to stand up. It would be what was best for Katie, he would only ever hold her back in her investigation. If Shiro could be found then Katie had the best chance of doing it without him.

"SHUT UP!" Katie shouted, using all her body weight as she tackled him to the ground as he was transitioning between sitting and standing.

Katie hissed in pain as they hit the ground, flinching as she lifted herself, her injured shoulder and left arm twitching uncomfortably. His hands had grabbed her upper arms as they went down, resisting his instincts to retaliate against an attacker. "Katie your arm-"

"No, you shut up and listen" she snapped angry tears polling in her bright eyes. "Adam and Shiro breaking up wasn't your fault, that's on Adam for behaving the way he did after discovering you were Shiro's soulmate," Katie stated, her hands moving to grip the collar of his shirt.

"What happened to Shiro and my Family isn't your fault. Stop thinking everything's your fault! Stop taking the blame for things out of your control!" Hot tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped down onto his shirt.

"You hate it when people disregard you then stop doing it to yourself! Shiro's so happy having you as a soulmate" Keith's eyes downcast and looked away from her, but Katie was quick to shake the collar of his shirt and whip his head back to her.

"NO, no more of that 'I'm not good enough' face" she snapped "Your enough Keith your more than enough. You're so loyal, protective, and it boggles my mind how you could be so physically strong but still be incredibly gentle."

The grip on his collar loosened her anger easing away into sadness "You… You just said yesterday that you wouldn't leave me behind. Does your word mean so little?" Katie questioned, tears streaming faster down her cheeks as she started to hiccup. The broken look in her usually bright honey eyes nearly broke him. "Please don't leave, I already lost three people, don't make me lose you too" she pleaded with him.

Keith lifted his body, pulling the crying brunette into his arms "I'm sorry, Katie, I just don't want you to get hurt anymore" he explained holding her tightly as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"How did you think that me losing Shiro, two of my family and you, would equal to me not being hurt?" She grumbled and sniffled into his shoulder, clinging tightly to his jacket.

"I don't know, I just figured things would be better for you if I wasn't around," Keith explained rubbing gentle circles into her lower back with his left hand.

"It wouldn't!" she snapped, her voice slightly muffled by his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, from now on I'll leave the math to you" Keith assured, feeling her body slowly calming down.

"You promise?" Katie questioned

"I promise" Keith replied, softly smiling over her shoulder. He felt guilty for how happy he felt about Katie pleading for him to stay. Keith… never had someone get upset with him leaving. How messed up did he have to be to feel happy about that?

"Sorry for getting your jacket wet" Katie apologize, lifting her head off his shoulder, using her sleeve to wipe up the remaining tears on her cheeks.

"It's fine, I now have free access to washing," Keith replied, earning a small laugh from her, maybe it was best to move onto a different topic for the day. He could always learn more about Katie later, after all, he would be sticking around for the foreseeable future. "Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure" Katie nodded "about what?"

"What were the numbers that you threatened Adam with?" he asked, they had to be more than just a random set of numbers for Adam to react so strongly.

"They were his Social Insurance Number" Katie answered simply.

Keith felt his mind do a mental face plant. Katie didn't even realize who Adam was when they first bumped into him and she had no chance to access a computer. So how did she do it, Katie was brilliant but even she wouldn't randomly memorize everyone's Social Insurance Number!

"How...When?" was all Keith could ask, he couldn't even fathom her having another way of getting that information outside of a computer.

"When he opened his wallet I caught a glimpse of his SIN card, just the top half, but it was easy to figure out which number was what based on the top lines of each number. Though I got lucky with his card having no eights or nines," she explained with a shrug, she was so nonchalant about it, Keith could only stare at her.

"You couldn't remember who Adam was but you were able to memorize and figure out his SIN number with just a half glance at his card?" He questioned, the two facts seeming pretty conflicting.

Katie scratcher her cheek shyly smiling down at Keith "What can I say I'm better at memorizing numbers than peoples names,"

Keith breathlessly laughed resting his head on her shoulder, practically feeling her radiating with confusion. "You're amazing Katie," he told her, feeling a distant kind of heat blooming over his cheeks, though didn't know why... What he said was true there was no reason for him to be embarrassed.

A/N :

What, you thought I was going to mention Adam once then never have him show up again? That would be a complete waste of a character, especially one that has a direct history and emotional connection to one of the main characters in the story. Man, how silly would that be Ha..ha… ha….

Anywho,

Check out my other Voltron fics, and visit my Tumblr to see my art and some littler au's and flash fics that I don't post here.

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