Katie didn't see what the big fucking deal was. It was just a stupid little prank, blowing off steam before graduation. But the DIs hadn't seen it that way, less than amused to find her in the mess hall after lights out, in the middle of switching the caps on random salt and pepper shakers so that no one would know if the set on their table was safe or not.

As they'd dragged her away to the commander's office, she'd just prayed Jeff had gotten away. He'd only been the lookout after all.

And her punishment for her prank? She was stuck in the brig, missing graduation. But at least Jeff had gotten away. He was out with the rest of their class, seeing their families and she was… alone.

Or not.

She'd been counting the perforations in the ceiling tiles for more than an hour when she heard voices outside. She recognized one as her Commander… and the other voice, the eerily calm one, was unmistakably her dad's.

Fuck.

"Help me understand, Katie," Hackett said as he paced up and down outside the cell minutes later. "Joining the Alliance was your one and only life goal from the time you were three years old, yes?"

She nodded silently.

"Then tell me why the hell you decided to jeopardize that with a childish prank!"

She shrugged but still said nothing.

"When you pulled the prank at your academy graduation, I let it slide. One last hurrah. But I thought you'd grown since then."

She rolled her eyes. "Guess you were wrong then."

"I guess I was." He sighed and headed for the door, clearly resigned to never getting an explanation, but turned in the doorway. "They asked me what I'd do if it was up to me to set a punishment."

She sat up a little straighter on the bench. "And?"

"I told them, if it were up to me, I'd not let you graduate, make you go through the entire damn course again."

"Dad!"

He shrugged. "You're obviously not mature enough to handle the responsibilities of officers training."

She jumped up and walked to the cell door. "What are you talking about?"

"You passed every test with flying colors." She could see a hint of a proud smile as he added, "You even beat my scores."

Katie fell silent again, a look of utter fury on her face.

"Lucky for you, I'm not the one who decides your fate, and you'll be heading off to San Diego in two days."

"Oh."

"Katie?" He paused until she finally relented and looked up at him. "I am proud of you, sweetheart."

She scoffed. "Got a funny way of showing it."

"Well, you've got a funny way of proving you deserve to be a Marine."

"So, what? Am I stuck here for the next two days?"

"Again, if it were up to me –"

"Well, it's not, Dad," she snapped. "That's it, isn't it? You're angry because you can't tell me what to do anymore."

He shook his head. "You've never done anything I told you to anyway."

"Just go away, Dad. Please."

She slid down the wall of the cell and rested her head on her knees, refusing to move until long after she'd heard the sound of his footsteps fading away and the outer door sliding open and shut.


Inter-Relay Text Chat

Location: Solana Beach

From: Jason

To: Steven

14:07 J: So, are you coming for Ryan's engagement party? Staying after for Christmas?

14:10 S: Of course.

14:11 S: Will Katie be there?

14:12 J: She's already here. Did you forget she's been in San Diego all this time?

14:12 S: Right.

14:13 J: You do know this, her not talking to you for the last year, it's your fault, yes?

14:14 S: So you've said several times, but you've yet to explain why.

14:16 J: If she'd been anyone else, it would have been her parents that came to her boot camp graduation and went down to see her in the brig.

14:17 S: I'm confused. Last I checked, I am her father.

14:19 J: Of course you are, but you didn't go in there as her father. You went in there as Admiral Hackett.

14:19 S: Oh.

14:22 J: Look. Katie? She doesn't give a shit about your job or position. Her wanting to be a Marine since she was a toddler? That had nothing to do with the job and everything to do with you. You could be literally anything in the galaxy and she'd follow in your footsteps.

14:23 S: Damn it. You could have told me that sooner.

14:24 J: We all just assumed you weren't that big of a fucking idiot and you'd realize it on your own sooner rather than later.

14:26 J: Please tell me it hasn't taken you almost 20 years to figure out she idolizes the hell out of you, Steven. Always has done.

14:30 J: I'll take your silence as a yes you really are that stupid.

14:33 J: Ryan and I have done our best to convince her to talk to you. She's ignored us. So it's all up to you. Talk to her. Even if she won't talk to you, she'll likely at least listen.

14:35 S: I hope you're right. See you in a few days.

14:35 [User Has Disconnected]


Hackett was at his wit's end. The engagement party and Christmas had come and gone and Katie still wouldn't talk to him. He'd taken Jason's advice and tried to talk to her without expectations, but he honestly couldn't tell if she'd listened to him or not. So he gave up for the time being and went on to Vancouver, preparing for a meeting of the admiralty on New Year's Eve.

Early New Year's Day, much earlier than he'd have liked to have been up considering the late hour he'd gone to bed, the video terminal in his hotel suite went off and he had an eerie sense of déjà vu. If he never heard or saw the name St. Luke's again in his life, he decided as he hurried to answer the hail, it would still be too goddamn soon.

An hour later, he was rushing out of a cab at the emergency entrance of Solana Beach's one and only hospital. It didn't take him long to spot Jason in the waiting area.

"Are these two incapable of getting together without shenanigans that end in injury?" Hackett said as he sank into a chair beside his brother-in-law.

He heard a quiet giggle, followed by a whimper, a whispered "shenanigans" and another giggle from Jason's other side, where Katie was curled up in the chair, apparently feigning sleep.

"What's so damn funny?"

Jason shook his head with a sigh. "She's drunk and thinks everything is hilarious, though I suspect that's wearing off quickly and she'll be begging for painkillers before long."

"What happened?" Jason had been vague on the details when he'd called, so Hackett had absolutely no idea what was going on. "And how's Ryan?"

"We were minding our own fucking business and some stupid bitch just comes out of nowhere and slams into us," Katie snapped without moving to look at him or acknowledge that he was there. "And then she just fucking drove off!"

"And Ryan's fine, mostly," Jason said after a moment of waiting to see if she finished ranting or not. "He's back with Sarah, getting checked out."

Hackett frowned. "So what happened exactly? That," he motioned toward his daughter, "was vague."

"Ryan and a bunch of his friends met up with Katie and a bunch of her friends in San Diego for a New Year's Eve pub crawl," Jason said. "They –"

"Not my friends," Katie interrupted. "Jus' his."

"Thank you for that ever so important detail." Jason rolled his eyes. "Anyway, they started back after closing time, got in to Solana Beach about 0300."

"And then the bitch hit us."

Katie shifted so she was facing Jason and Hackett saw for the first time the actual extent of her injuries. She had cuts and bruises on nearly every inch of visible skin, once again giving him that painful sense of déjà vu. She also had a neck brace that he presumed was a precaution and likely standard procedure.

After taking a moment to situate herself into a comfortable position, Katie continued where Jason had left off, though she still hadn't really acknowledged that Hackett was there too. "We were at the cabstand at the transport station, waiting for a cab to pick us up. And this skycar came out of fucking nowhere and starts driving up on the sidewalk." She winced as she heaved a sigh. "We couldn't get out of the way fast enough and she slammed into us. Ryan took most of the hit. I flew back a few feet and hit one of the windows of the station." She made a sweeping gesture across her body. "Hence the cuts."

"Are you okay?" Hackett asked as Jason got up to check on Ryan's status.

She raised an eyebrow. "Do I fucking look okay?"

He sighed. "You know what I mean. Any damage other than the cuts and bruises?"

She looked down at her nails, picking at the already-chipped silver and gold polish, and said nothing.

"Katie."

"She's got a couple of broken ribs and whiplash," Jason chimed in as he walked back from the nurse's station and ignored the death glare Katie sent his way. "And Ryan's got a couple of broken ribs himself, plus a broken leg. He's staying the day and possibly tonight, for 'observation' they said, but we can go up and –"

"Great." Katie hopped out of her chair and started for the elevator before Jason had finished his sentence, only to fall to her knees mere steps later, doubled over in obvious pain.

"Guess the booze has finally worn off," Jason muttered before he went back up to the nurses station.

Hackett rushed over to kneel beside his daughter, but kept a space between them, in case she decided to lash out at him from pain or anger.

"I warned you, didn't I?" the nurse chided as she crouched beside Katie, trying to assess the damage.

"Bite me," Katie muttered, but allowed the woman to examine her. After a few moments, she swatted her away and attempted to stand on her own, apparently still trying to escape to the elevator.

"Is she always this stubborn?" the nurse grumbled to Hackett as they helped her up and into a wheelchair. "Oh no you don't," she said, gently pushing Katie back into the chair as she immediately made a break for the elevator yet again. "You're going straight to X-ray, make sure you didn't puncture a lung or somethin' with all your stubbornness."

Katie muttered something unintelligible as the nurse wheeled the chair toward the elevator.

"You should go with her," Hackett told Jason as they followed a few steps behind. "She might actually listen to you and stay put."

Jason nodded. "I wouldn't count on it, but more likely me than you."

When the elevator reached Ryan's floor, Hackett ignored the muttered curses Katie sent his way as he bent down to kiss the top of her head. "I love you, sweetheart, even when you're at your most stubborn." He stepped out of the elevator and added, "And I'm sorry."