"I miss Carl," Ashley Anderson said out of the blue, as she placed her tray down on the table and took her seat on the bench.

Jeffrey Gossard's eyes grew wide. Did he hear right? He turned every so slightly to look at Doc just to make sure he didn't imagine things and by the expression the medic was giving him, he was sure he wasn't the only one who heard the confession. In fact, the whole table fell silent, suddenly watching one of the squad's least touchy feely members glumly push her mystery meat around her plate.

"Of course! Makes sense that the freak and the nerd would have... a... thing," Max Brutto very awkwardly teased.

"Careful Brutto, she can always shoot you," Doc gamely warned.

Gossard sighed when Andy shot the boy an eye roll but he wasn't fooled. Brutto meant to pry not to offend.

"Andy, Carl left for that new Psy Ops program just last "night"... " Higgins trailed off meeting the mechanic's gaze.

The girl sighed. "I know, Higs."

"And you know- there are other people here," Goss finished for him. "I mean, there are other men in this squad," he continued lightly, "Except for Brutto. He's just a boy."

He saw Brutto look his way. "Hey! I'm right here."

Andy raised her gaze from the mystery meat with a wide eyed expression. "It's not like that. Definitely not like that. Carl's my buddy. Like the rest of you people are my buddies," she defensively replied. "Except for Brutto," she quickly added when she obviously realized what was going on.

"Still here!" Brutto said.

"So what's up, bud?" Gossard asked.

The girl shifted in her seat with a frown. "Rico and Dizzy keep fighting," she stated plainly. "Carl usually fixes that for us. He usually has it done in less than two or so hours so we wouldn't notice that they're fighting. If Carl were here, this would be fixed already. But he's not here. So the fighting continues."

Gossard saw everyone give her a confused look. Usually, he more or less understood what she was talking about but he has to admit, this was something new to him. He didn't notice any fighting this morning in the squad room. Rico said he was going to have a meeting with fleet and Dizzy said to say hi to Ibanez if he sees her. So the L.T. Had a meeting with fleet- that was a fight?

"Um... Andy," Doc said, "Did you wake up in the right squad room? Nobody was fighting this morning."

"They were. I heard them," she insisted, sounding almost like a child. "They've been fighting since Carl left."

"Andy, I'm sorry I didn't notice anything either. Maybe you're just anxious because Jenkins isn't around. It's totally normal to feel-" Higgins tried to reason.

There was a frustrated sigh. "You guys don't hear it but they fight all the time," she replied. " All. The. Time. They might actually shoot each other this time because Carl isn't here to stop them. The trinity is broken. The balance is shot."

"Anderson, you're the only one who thinks they're fighting," Brutto pointed out. "You might be some kind of crazy smart but even you can't know it all. You're overreacting. You're wrong about this one."

"I'm not wrong, Max," the girl answered defiantly. "I know what fighting looks like. They're fighting. This time it's about Ibanez. The last time it was about that sergeant from Victor squad. The one before that was about that newbie in ops. The one before that was-"

"Okay, Andy. I don't remember them fighting about any of those people," Gossard cautiously interrupted her. "How are you so sure about this?"

"Because." She reluctantly bit her lip, moving more things around on her plate. "My parents used to fight all the time. My parents fought all the way until dad died," she admitted quietly. "I know what fighting looks like. They're fighting. And Carl made it better. So I miss Carl even more," she repeated firmly.

For the second time that morning, Gossard felt their group pause.

"This is their chance to figure things out by themselves then." he told her gently. "They'll work it out, Andy."

"You sure, Goss? Because this isn't a big ship. And there's no hiding from them when we go down to face bugs. And they'll both be armed then. And we'll be within firing range. And -" she started ranting in record speed.

"They've been friends since forever," he reasoned. "Diz and Rico will be fine."

"My parents were highschool sweethearts," she replied.

"They're not your parents," Goss pointed out.

"They fight exactly the same way. They non- fight." She fidgeted ever so slightly. "It did not end well. Not at all. It ended the opposite of awesome. For everyone."

Gossard pressed his lips together not knowing exactly what to do with the visibly anxious trooper seated across him. She looked mildly concerned but he was sure there was more under the surface because she wasn't the type to share personal anecdotes nor be straightforward. The fact that she did both is a sign of extreme distress.

This was her calling for help.

It's enough to make him very worried.

And by the looks of the others, they felt the same.

"We have to talk to Rico and Diz. If this non- fighting fighting is making Andy relive bad memories, which it obviously is, we're going to be in deep trouble. Squad is down two bodies as it is," Doc calmly whispered to him.

He nodded ever so slightly in agreement. Even if they weren't friends, even if the unit wasn't this close, even if he didn't give a damn about other people, this needed to be fixed. They never had anyone assigned to replace T'Phai nor did they think they had to. (The Colonel was irreplaceable after all.) But now that Jenkins is gone, they were going to need to work more in the field. Which means that this isn't the time for Andy to start missing.

"Anderson, it doesn't matter. They fight. They break up. They don't break up. How they're suppose to break up when they're not even technically suppose to be together anyway is kinda nuts. But it doesn't matter," Brutto said in his usual brash tone. "You know why it doesn't matter? Because we're not their kids."

"Not the point-"

"No it's exactly my point," the younger kid replied. "We're not their kids. And we're not kids. I'm not saying that if they have a falling out, it won't affect anything. But they're non relationship relationship is their problem. Whether they work it out or not doesn't mean that, we, the rest of the squad," he said, drawing circles in the air with his finger, "will stop looking out for each other. And if they want to drag us all into their scuffle and make us choose sides, then we can just shoot them for being stupid in the first place. There's a reason why this isn't allowed, you know."

Gossard blinked.

Well, that was unexpected.

"Huh. That's actually... sweet," Higgins commented.

"Sweet is for pansies!" Brutto huffed, shoving food into his mouth. "I'm just telling the truth."

"See Andy? Brutto might not be the most eloquent but he's right. He's even willing to get himself dishonourably discharged for a double murder just to prove his point." Goss gave the girl a big smile. "We'll be okay. It's going to be fine."

Andy gave him a small tentative nod of gratitude before calling out to Brutto. "Thanks, jock."

Brutto rolled his eyes. "You're welcome, nerd."

Jeffrey Gossard took a deep breath as things started to slowly go back to normal in the table. He can tell Andy wasn't exactly convinced but she wasn't as tense as she was earlier either. Which is a good thing.

Crisis semi- averted.

Maybe.

For now.