Sixteen-year-old Kathy looked at the test results and groaned, banging her head down against her desk and grumbling loudly.
Her younger brother Alex poked his head into the room. "I take it the test did not go so well," he said upon seeing her cloudy countenance.
"I failed miserably, Alex!" Kathy exclaimed. "How on earth am I supposed to become a doctor if I can't tell the difference between a toenailicus and a stomachacheius?"
Alex's brow furrowed, and he looked at his sister doubtfully. "I am not entirely sure those are legitimate words," he said.
Kathy stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, you and your fancy talk." She turned her attention back onto her paper. "Seriously, Alex, I am never going to make this thing. I suck worse than a starved vampire at a prom full of fat people."
Alex's face took on a disturbed expression, and Kathy realized what she had just said.
"Sorry," she quickly apologized. "You have to remember," she tapped her forehead, "it's pretty messed up in here."
"You speak as if I am the last who should know that," Alex remarked as he walked further into the room and sat down on the edge of Kathy's bed. "Funny, considering how much we have interacted over the past year and some."
"Hey guys!" A black-topped head poked into the room, bearing a wide and curious smile. Jay. Kathy was still getting used to this new him, bold and friendly instead of hiding behind Alex's shadow.
Did I do that? Kathy found herself wondering.
"What'cha doin'?" Jay asked, sauntering into the room and trying to peek over Kathy's arms to see the paper bearing the hated test results. Being short made that a little difficult, however, and Kathy deliberately flipped it over to keep her little brother from finding out just how stupid she was.
"Talking," Kathy answered him. "Big kid talking, so scram."
Jay flinched slightly, achingly reminding Kathy of the tiny little kid terrified by most things and scarred by everything else. But he recovered quickly, and the twinkle reappeared in his eyes as he started bouncing and bobbing all around her in an attempt to get at the paper.
"Oh, come on, can't I just get a peek?" he whined.
"No," Kathy said firmly, planting her arms on top of the paper and leaning her weight onto it to add to the effectiveness.
Jay pouted. "You're no fun," he complained.
"Children, dinner time!" the call came from downstairs, spoken in the Russian-accented voice of Kathy's mother.
"Oh boy!" Paper forgotten, Jay spun around and bolted out of the room, the exclamation "Last one there's a rotten egg!" seeming to float in the place where he had been a second ago.
Alex and Kathy's eyes met, and they shared a laugh, an older siblings laugh. It was something Kathy was still getting used to, she had been an only child for so long. Jay had adjusted to it faster than any of them, with the possible exception of Kathy's dad Braden, who absolutely adored the boy. Alex was more Annushka's favorite, and Kathy hadn't figured out where she fit in.
Actually, she was pretty sure that she didn't.
But that wasn't her brothers' faults. They were great kids, even if they were boys. And Alex was the smartest person she knew.
"I don't suppose that's ever going to change," Alex said, looking over at the door swinging out on his hinges.
"I hope it doesn't," Kathy replied. "I like this Jay, this new Jay."
"This real Jay, Katherine," Alex responded. "This is the sort of boy he ought to have been. Being here has made it happen."
"Then I guess we're the lucky ones," Kathy said, turning in her chair so that her front was leaning up against the back. "Though heaven knows I don't deserve it."
Alex looked at her, and a delightfully tender smile came upon his face, the smile that made Kathy feel so warm and happy and full. Was this the smile of a brother? If so, then Kathy was sorry she had to wait so long to find it.
Alex scooted back from his perch on Kathy's bed, crossing his legs. "Now, Katherine, about that test," he said. "May I see it?"
Kathy looked over at the downturned sheet, biting her lip. She really didn't want Alex to see this, this… failure. It was miserable.
"It's dinnertime…" she began.
"Katherine." It was that commanding tone, the one that Kathy had learned was always best to listen to, for her own good as well as others'.
Kathy sighed, and reluctantly passed over the paper. Alex stretched out one of his ridiculously long arms and snagged it without having to change his position, and perused it thoughtfully.
"This is not bad," he said after a while.
"Not bad?" Kathy exclaimed. "Alex, how is a 10 and a half percentage on a test not bad?"
"Considering you have been extremely slack with your studies in your teens, it is not bad," Alex replied.
"What do you mean, slack?" Kathy demanded. "I get through all of my classes."
"Without accessing so much as an nth of your ability!" Alex snapped, blue eyes flashing angrily. "Katherine, you have a massive source of intellect, but you haven't the slightest idea of how to access it, and you haven't made the slightest attempt!"
Kathy stared at her brother openmouthed. "I… what… but…"
"Katherine! Alexander! Dinner now!" Mrs. Sanders shouted irately from downstairs.
Alex sighed and unfolded his legs. "We had best go," he said. He stood up and went to the still-open door, watching Kathy expectantly until she stood up and followed after. As usual, he let her go out first and then closed the door behind them both. He was a gentleman like that.
Kathy went down the stairs, receiving a critical look from her mother for her faded jeans and rumpled tee shirt. Alexander passed her a look that said patience, the dinners she goes to have black ties and formal gowns.
Kathy sent a responding one that said, I've grown up with this woman, you think I don't know that?
Alex chuckled.
Kathy opened the dining room doors and braced herself for another strained dinner with her mother.
…
"Any beer left?" John asked as he opened the fridge.
One of his fellow dwellers-in-hell lifted a bottle. "Last one. Right here." He grinned smugly up and over at John. "All mine."
"Can't you speak any sentences with more than two words?" John asked, snatching out a water bottle and slamming the fridge door closed.
"Who cares?"
"You just did it again."
"That so?"
"And again. I think you might have a vocal handicap there, my friend."
"Don't need vocals out here, Shep," the soldier replied. "Our job in this fine piece of muck is to shoot people. Only stuff we say around here is 'Fire!'."
John nodded, secretly thinking to himself madness, sheer and utter madness. What are we doing out here anyway? He shook his head as he twisted the cap off his water and tossed his head back as he gulped it down.
This little undisclosed location was not his idea of paradise. It certainly wasn't Ireland, in any case. Or even the hothouse of Arizona.
Arizona. Woah, that was some unexpected memories. John's head came back down and he took the water bottle away from his lips. How long had it been now? Hm, he had been fifteen, so that meant… five years. It had been five years now since he had left Arizona, and Kathy.
John couldn't help but grin. Crazy kid, that Kathy. Heckuva firecracker. She did Ireland proud, and contradicted the Russian stereotype to high heaven. She'd be… what? Fifteen? Sixteen? Dang. A teenager. Crazy Kathy Sanders, a teenager. Now that was a strange thought.
"Lieutenant!"
John's head shot up with several others. The man standing at the entrance pointed to John. "You, Sheppard. Need a helicopter pilot, now."
"Yes, sir!" John put his water bottle aside and jogged after the already disappearing commander. Run after this master, run after that master… and John had thought that joining the military would provide an escape from his father's dictatorship.
Oh well, at least here he could fly.
A/N: Flashbacks, yay! Didn't think we'd be having those, but here we are. By the way, Alex is actually Alexander, if anyone other than Kathy calls him Alex he will do something violent. Or fix upon you a baleful glare of cobalt blue. And Jay… trust me, when you get to know this guy you will love him.
I had trouble figuring out where John's flashback would be, then I figured hey! Just call it an undisclosed location! so that was made easy.