Author's Note: Don't get all excited about Cooper's mother, she's not Halsey lol. Enjoy and please R&R.

Chapter Eight: Paranoid Much?

After watching the video letter Willis had sent me, I watched my mother's. As usual, it was rife with advice, worry, news, and this time with an explanation as to why she was now living in St. Louis, Missouri. Little known to those outside the family was the fact that my mother was a high-ranking scientist for the UNSC's ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence. She was a civilian, but she worked with some of the top minds and military brass humans had to offer. Since nearly all the projects my mother was involved in were top secret, she said she was "not allowed to discuss why we moved here," but I knew it had something to do with her work.

Also enclosed with the letter chip was a short video of my son.

When Gabriel was born, I'd had to ship out to a new post within a few weeks; obviously it didn't make any sense to bring my newborn son with me. My mother fell in love with little Gabe the first time she saw him, and volunteered to watch him. This freed up Willis and I to continue our combat duties, but it was hard on both Gabe and us, his parents. My heart ached when I read that Gabe had spoken his first words a while ago and I'd missed it.

"Who's that?" Beesner said, leaning over to see the video in my hand.

"This, Bee, is my kid," I said, handing over the datapad for the private to see.

"Kid?" he asked incredulously. "How old is he?"

"Nineteen months. He'll be two in June."

"Has it been a long time since you've seen him?"

"Yeah. Last time I saw him it was his first birthday." That had been the last time Willis, Gabe, and I were all together, and I hadn't seen either of them since.

"You didn't mention you had a son before, Lieutenant," Beesner said, handing back the datapad. I shrugged.

"I don't like to talk about personal stuff that much."

"Oh."

I was about to check out the letters from my brothers and sister when a voice called my name.

"Natalie!"

I knew it had to be one of the other lieutenants or the captain, since the speaker had used my first name. Sure enough, when I turned around, I saw Lieutenant Graham jogging towards me.

"Didn't we spend all morning in the command post?" I complained. "What's Kingston want now?"

"Says he got a message from our relief," she said, standing over the foxhole. "They're going to come later than expected, and the captain's worried." She looked at Private Beesner as if he shouldn't be hearing the conversation. "What about the kid?"

"It's all right, he's my aide," I said.

"Ok, well, Kingston's decided he wants all of us back now to discuss alternative plans."

"What the hell for? How long of a delay are we talking about?"

"Several hours at most. Nothing I'd worry about, but…" she shrugged.

I was starting to fear that my early assessment of Captain Kingston---that he was a good and rational commander---had been wrong.

"Fine. Beesner, watch the line. I'll be right back," I said, grabbing my rifle and climbing out of the hole.

"Yes, ma'am," Private Beesner replied, looking out across the desert with his rifle's scope.

"So what's this meeting about? How to twiddle your thumbs for a few more hours than planned?" I asked Lieutenant Graham as we walked toward the company CP. She laughed.

"Nope. Seems the captain is jumpy if you ask me, though. I've worked with him for a year now, and he's always been especially cautious when we're about to pull out. Normally that's a good thing, but I've found that he exaggerates often in these situations."

I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry. I tend to analyze people a little too much. I was a psychology major in college."

"Oh."

"You?"

"What?"

"Heard you went to the Naval Academy on Reach. What'd you study there?"

"Double-majored in astrophysics and engineering, before our class got pulled."

Graham came to an abrupt halt and turned to face me. "Christ," she said. "You're a regular Einstein, Cooper."

"Nah. I always knew my destiny would lead me to the frontlines. It's just that I planned on constructing better Shaw-Fujikawa engines for ships, too." I shrugged. "It was fascinating work, but I think I'm doing more good here."

"If you ask me, they should be saving the brains like you. You could've helped build our fleet up."

"Way I see it, I'm right where I'm supposed to be." I grinned. "Otherwise, I'd be somewhere else."

Lieutenant Graham chuckled. "You're an interesting kid, Cooper. Let's see what Kingston's got for us."