"I still can't believe you got into another fight," Jeff said for the hundredth time since Katie had told him about the only exciting part of her summer. "You are such a troublemaker."

She rolled her eyes. "You make it sound like this is a regular occurrence. Twice in eleven years isn't such a big deal."

"Sure, but most people manage to go through their entire time in school, hell some their entire lives without getting into one."

"Whatever." Katie flopped down on the grass under their favorite tree and opened her leather backpack, looking for her history book; even on the first day of school, they had four hours of homework. "So why didn't you come over last night? You missed the series premiere of the new Sherlock Holmes show. You know, the one that you've been talking about non-stop for six months?"

Jeff sighed as he took a seat next to her. "Mandatory family meeting. My parents had some news."

Her heart sank. "One, or both, got transferred someplace far away."

"Sorry, Kit-Kat, you're not getting rid of me anytime soon." He shook his head. "They uh... um... my mom is... pregnant."

Katie dropped her history book in shock, muttering curses under her breath as it landed heavily on her knees. "Pregnant? They're not serious."

"Completely." Jeff pulled up a picture on his omni-tool. "Here's the sonogram."

"Wow," she said after staring at the sonogram for a couple of minutes. "That's... wow."

He nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

"When's the baby due?"

"March-ish."

Katie raised an eyebrow. "Ish?"

"I wasn't... I'd kind of tuned them out by then."

"You're not happy about it."

Jeff shrugged. "Kind of indifferent at the moment."

"You'll come around. Eventually."

"If you say so."

"And if not, we can always switch places. You can live with my dad and –"

"Oh hell no. You can keep your family drama. I can deal with the newbie."

Katie sighed. "All I said was Daddy and Jason had a little disagreement over breakfast."

"Uh huh. And those little disagreements usually turn into all-out war."

"Well, this time it won't, because Jason's leaving tomorrow."

"Why was he even here? They don't trust you to make it back to Arcturus on your own?"

She laughed. "Something like that."

Jeff groaned. "Oh no. What the hell did you do now?"

"I am completely inno–" He raised an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. "I swear, I didn't actually do anything. Yet. They were just afraid if I was left to my own devices, I might try to stay in New York with Ryan."

"Why would you want to?"

She shrugged. "I can't think of any reason. I'm not built for cold weather; I'd never last in New York. Now if he'd gone someplace in Florida, then maybe they'd have had reason to worry."

"Maybe?" Jeff shook his head. "There's no maybe about it. You'd never have come home."

"I'd have come home eventually. Couldn't leave you all alone to deal with the impending new arrival."

"How'd we get back to... ugh. Never mind. Can we just concentrate on this dumbass paper we already have to write?"

Katie smirked. "Whatever you say, big brother."


Seven Months Later...

"That is an excellent idea, Steven."

Katie and Jeff instantly stopped playing with his month-old baby sister and looked across the Moreaus' living room to find all three of their parents grinning at them.

"This will not be good," Jeff muttered. "I guarantee it."

"No kidding." Katie frowned at her father. "What is an excellent idea?"

"I just mentioned that because Ryan was staying in New York for the summer, you had no plans to go to Solana Beach."

She crossed her arms. "Uh-huh. And?"

"And when I said I was still looking for a reliable nanny for Hilary once I go back to work, your father suggested you might like to do it," Mrs. Moreau said with a smile.

Katie paled. She knew that smile. It was the smile of a mother who knows how to guilt her children into anything. "I... uh..." She glanced at Jeff. "Help?"

He shook his head with a laugh. "Nope."

"Traitor." She smiled back at his mother. "Of course, I'd love to. But only if Jeff is helping too." She watched the triumphant look on his face melt away. "Seems like he could use some bonding time with Hilary."

"Another excellent idea," Mrs. Moreau said. "Thank you, Katie."

"I hate you, so much," Jeff grumbled to Katie once their parents had turned their attentions away from them again.

She gave him an unapologetic grin. "You would be so bored without me."

"Would not. I was planning to spend the summer with my dad; he leaves for his next assignment our first day of break." He frowned. "When were you planning to tell me you were staying put?"

"Um... now? Dunno. Slipped my mind, I guess. If you want to go with your dad –"

"What, and miss out on you trying to handle an infant by yourself?" Jeff smirked. "I don't think so."

"If you stay, I won't be handling her by myself." She laughed as his expression turned sour again. "Oh cheer up. It's not like it's going to be every single day; we'll still have plenty of time for fun on your mom's days off."

"Yeah, yeah."

"What's the big deal? I thought you liked your sister now."

"I do. She's not nearly as... whatever I thought she'd be." He shrugged. "I just don't see the fun in spending the summer taking care of an infant."

"It's not for fun, Jeff," Mrs. Moreau said as she came over to put Hilary down for a nap. "It's valuable life experience."

He rolled his eyes. "Just what I always wanted for summer vacation, life experience."

"And you thought spending the summer on an Alliance ship was going to be all fun and games?"

"More fun than this."

"Like I said," Katie muttered, following Mrs. Moreau into the nursery. "He needs bonding time."


To their surprise and relief, taking care of Hilary didn't take up nearly as much time as Jeff and Katie had thought. Mrs. Moreau was only going in to work one full day per week; the rest were half days, so they had plenty of time for the arcade and the movies. And to Jeff's surprise, he found he actually enjoyed the extra time he was spending with his baby sister. By the last day of vacation, he was just as reluctant as Katie to have to give up the job in favor of going back to school.

If their teachers were to be believed, their senior year should have been the hardest yet. They heard the same damn speech over and over: "Think about what you want to do after you graduate! It's important!"

Katie and Jeff, along with the rest of the class, tuned them out after the first week. They all knew what they were going to do after graduation; they were all heading to boot camp. Most were hitting the Alliance recruitment office on their 18th birthdays. All except those who had slightly younger friends with whom they'd made pacts to wait to sign up together. Like Jeff, two months older than Katie; they'd both had dreams of joining the Alliance since before they'd even met and had made such a pact all the way back in elementary school.

Finally, Katie's 18th birthday rolled around. The second that school was out, she and Jeff hopped in a skycab and headed to the complex where their parents' offices were.

"Did you really do it?" Ryan asked when Katie finally answered his vid-chat hail.

"Yup." She pulled Jeff over. "We leave for boot camp June 1st."

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Together?"

"Surprisingly, yes." She glanced over her shoulder to the spot where her father stood talking with the Moreaus. "Maybe they've decided that we've matured."

"And yet, somehow I doubt you actually have." Ryan laughed when Katie stuck her tongue out at him. "See?"

"More mature than you were at 18, or probably than you are now."

"Probably on the first, highly doubtful on the second."

"So, did you do what you'd planned today?" Katie asked Ryan after Jeff had gone over to take a fussing Hilary for a walk.

"Yes, yes I did." Ryan held up a data pad showing his approved application to join C-Sec. "I'm also leaving June 1st."

"How'd your dad take the news?"

"He was more than a little surprised; he thought I'd abandoned the idea years ago." He seemed to hesitate a moment before he asked, "Speaking of dads, how'd yours take it when he found out you changed your name?"

Katie sighed. "He's a little sad about it, I think. He said it'll take some getting used to, but he understands my reason for doing it and may have even suggested it himself if I hadn't done it on my own."

"Really?"

She nodded. "He said I have to be able to succeed, or fail, because of what I do, not because of my last name. Which is exactly what I plan to do."