A/N: This? I put the Blakes in the story in the background. The Blakes, specifically Lillian Proctor-Blake, is Gilbert Nettleton's first cousin.

Week 2 - UDC 1 - Washington DC, August of '86...

6. hours

Upon arriving home alone that evening, he found someone familiar on his doorstep, waiting and reading a book thick enough to be a textbook. "Don't you have class?"

Kristy glanced up at him, then returned her attention to the book. "It's a three hour drive and Dave wanted you to have pictures. Also, it's Friday, Gil. No classes until Monday, and I did clinic this morning."

Gilbert got his keys out and moved to unlock the door. "It might be a three hour drive from New York, but really. The mail works."

"So do phones, but you seem to have forgotten they exist."

"Is everyone going to come for a visit and grumble at me?"

"Probably, because while some of us might be mad at you for accepting a duty assignment out of the area, not all of us are and we love you anyway." She closed the textbook and moved to stand. "Let's take this inside, shall we?"

7. days

Inside, he turned the lights on and set his keys in the dish by the door. "Dave really wanted me to have pictures, huh?"

"He really did," Kristy assured him, pausing as she got a good look at the mess on his coffee table. "Did they give you too much work to do and you had to bring it home?"

Gilbert chuckled. "No, this is a project I'm helping someone with."

"Uh-huh..." She sat down on the couch and opened one of the folders, only to pause at what she read on the first page. Blinking, she glanced up at him, then down at the folder again. "Oh."

8. weeks

Gilbert had been wanting to start dinner, but her reaction made him stop and he joined her on the couch instead. "Like I said, it's a project I'm working on for a friend."

Kristy shook her head and opened the first file again, pointed to the picture. "No, I remember him. This kid. Wow, it's been a long time since we lived in Fort Worth, but... yeah. Call Mom and Dad, they could tell you a bit more."

"Lillian and Gene, huh? I'll do that." He regarded her for a minute as she stared at the file. "This bothers you."

"No," Kristy said immediately. "Whatever this project is, is it good?"

Gilbert considered his response for a moment, then nodded. "I think it is." He gestured to the file she had open. "How much can you tell me? About before?"

"Not a lot. I was eight or nine at the time."

9. months

A knock sounded at the door, startling them both. Gilbert moved to answer it and wasn't at all surprised to see Charlie, Sundown, and Chipper. "You're early, the three of you."

Charlie grinned. "I figured you'd not eaten yet..." She frowned when he stepped aside and she saw Kristy, still staring at one of the files. "Gilbert, who is she that you're letting-"

"My cousin," Gilbert said, cutting her off and nodding to the two men as he stepped aside and let them in. "And she has a story that she doesn't remember a lot of the details of."

"Mom and Dad were stationed together in Fort Worth in '71 while Dad did residency, Gil," Kristy explained. "Right around the time Harmon was born, actually. Excuse me if I only remember bits and pieces of the neighbor's foster son that they didn't have for very long."

Charlie's posture relaxed and she joined Kristy on the couch. "Do you remember why they didn't? Have him for very long, I mean?"

Kristy shook her head. "Just that Lieutenant Carpenter deployed that June and his kids were always taunting... oh. Oh." She stared down at the file again. "Quiet. Was supposed to be a grade above me, but wasn't."

10. years

"You said you brought pictures," Gilbert reminded his cousin and she pulled an envelope out of a pocket her jacket that she had tied around her waist and tossed it at him. "So mature of you."

"Well, you missed it, you jerk." She looked at Charlie, smirked. "His younger brother finally has a boy to add to his five girls." Suddenly, Kristy pulled a piece of paper from the mishmash and read it. "Gil?"

"Yes?" He looked up from the baby photos in his hands, winced at the puzzled expression on Kristy's face as she read the note she'd found. "Oh. Aunt Becca gave me some insight on a question I had, about a medical condition."

"Now you really do need to call Mom and Dad."

Gilbert paused. "Why?" He watched her flip through pages in the social services file, read a specific entry, and then nod to herself. "You remember something, don't you?"

"Yeah, but not enough to remember why they'd be batting ideas around about Toxic Shock symptoms while getting dinner ready. Mom and Dad would, probably." Kristy shook her head again, glanced at Charlie, and then Chipper and Sundown, frowning again at Chipper in particular. She tapped the file she was holding. "The kid I remember, who was so quiet unless provoked? Always perked up when planes flew overhead and he taught me how to remember the times tables."