AN: Sorry guys! I had to have surgery on my wrist. But, it's feeling a lot better and I should be able to update more quickly now!

36.

*Katelyn*

I finished making the chicken and dumplings and sat down with a bowl for myself. As I looked down at the rather large portion that I had in a bowl for myself, I smiled and put a hand on my stomach. "You know, baby girl, I really hope that I don't get used to eating this much. Because I would really rather not be one of those women that still weighs a lot after their pregnancy."

I ate all of my food and put my dish in the dishwasher. Then, I put the leftovers in a container so that Zach could have them when he came home from his meeting with Joe. I couldn't wait to hear how he was doing with everything.

An hour later, Zach came in the front door as I was watching Shrek on the TV. Immediately, I turned the TV off and sat up straighter, the quilt still wrapped around me. "How is he?"

"Joe's fine," Zach said as he hung his coat up on the coat hanger just inside the door. "And he said that he's really happy about the baby being a girl. Not that it would have mattered if it was a boy."

I laughed. "Of course. Anything else?"

Zach's face fell and he sighed as he sank into the recliner. "Yes."

I was immediately concerned. "Is it Cammie?"

"Well, there's something about Cammie, but that's not it."

"What about Cammie?" I asked.

He waved it away. "She's going to be out in the open for a CoveOps exercise. Nothing major. Joe and I are both going."

I nodded. "What's the other news?"

He took a breath and looked at me with green eyes that were about two shades darker than Joe's. "It's your parents," he said. "They're dead."

"Dead?" I asked. "How? What happened?"

"They were in Libya and there was a bombing… The CIA pulled their bodies out of the wreckage. I'm so sorry, Katelyn."

I shook my head, my hands resting on my stomach. "Thank you, Zach. But, you know – and this may sound weird -, but I was never really close to them. I just…can't get upset that they're dead. I'm not happy that they're dead, I just…"

"I know what you mean," he nodded. And I knew that he did. He hated his mom more than I'd hated my parents, though. She was one of the leaders of the organization that was after the girl that he was in love with. Of course he was angry.

I sighed and stood up, slowly. "I'm going to go ahead and go to bed."

"Okay," he nodded. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and gave him a small smile. "I'm fine. Just need to think for a while."

He nodded again. "Call if you need something."

"I will. And there's some chicken and dumplings in the refrigerator. Heat it for about a minute and thirty and see how they feel."

He smiled. "Thanks."

"Sure. 'Night."

"Good night."

When I got to my room and closed the door, I walked over to the bed and climbed in, covering myself in the two quilts that were on top of the sheets. I thought about my parents, then; my strong, brave parents. The parents that had always been so cold to me. But the parents that had surely loved me in some way. Otherwise, they would have given me to an adoption agency. And obviously, my mom hadn't wanted an abortion because I was alive. They had raised me and trained me to be just like them. But fate had made me turn out a little differently.

Sure, I'd hated them most of the time, but there had been a couple of times when they'd really given good advice.

One story in particular stuck out in my mind.

The seven-year-old me stood beside my father, resisting the urge to clutch at his leg. We were standing in the courtyard of a school for Kung Fu, taught by one of the best masters in the world. You didn't just get accepted; it was a private school; very elite. Very few people knew about it. And my father had trained there, so naturally, he wanted me to train there, too.

As I watched the small class go through drills, though, I got a little fearful. I knew Tai Kwan Do, but that was it, and Kung Fu looked a lot different. Faster. More powerful. Scarier.

And the scariest part was that I would be living there for a whole six months to complete training. No mother and father with me. And I didn't know all that much Chinese yet. Just what my father had managed to teach me in a week. All in all, I was simply scared.

My father finished talking to the master and then knelt beside me. "You've been accepted," he told me with a small smile. "Do well here, okay? Make your mother and I proud."

I nodded dumbly, blinking back tears. Showing weakness was not okay. Ever.

But my father seemed to realize that something was up. "What's wrong?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "Nothing, Father."

"You're scared," he said.

I was afraid that he would be mad that I was showing emotion, but I nodded anyway.

And then, surprisingly, he smiled. "You want to be a great operative like your mother and I, right?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

He nodded and reached out to touch my face. "Katelyn, if you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat."

The reference to Jesus had confused me at first, but I had understood fairly quickly. And the master had ended up naming me as the best student that he had ever had. Everything had turned out okay, all because of my dad's wisdom.

"Maybe you weren't the best role models," I whispered, pretending that they could hear me. "But I know that you loved me. And I loved you too."

And then, I put my hands on my stomach and closed my eyes to go to sleep.