Summary: Kallen and Clara, after she got back to Skybase...

Notes: Hello, Kallen, where have you been...?

The Calm

May 2099

Kallen Tracy was in a stare off competition with his 18 month old daughter, Tian, who was refusing to be put down to sleep, while her mother had a shower after returning to Skybase after her escort detail with Colonel Blue earlier that day.

Kallen knew his daughter was excited that her mother was back on base, even though she had only been off base for less than 8 hours, it had been the first time Clara had been off base without her daughter since Tian had been born, and the first time that she had been out of the range of his daughter's ability to sense her location.

It was a good thing Kallen had been on a 24 hour stand down, after coming back injured after a mission, which involved flushing out and killing a Mysteron spy in the German government, not Black unfortunately, they hadn't heard much about his movements since Paul had a brief encounter with the Mysteron's agent of destruction, a couple of months prior, because Tian had a hard time understanding that even her mother had to leave her sensory range at times.

The little girl had a complete meltdown, crying for her mother, that was barely mitigated by her father's presence.

When Clara returned to Skybase, Tian had been very clingy with her mother, and it had been difficult to separate the two, so his wife could clean herself up for the evening.

Kallen sighed in defeat, as his wife crept up behind him, "Somebody obviously wanted to put to bed by her Mama," he grumbled.

"Mama, Bed," Tian agreed.

Clara laughed softly, as she gently patted his shoulder, "Thank you, for trying," she whispered softly to him, before turning her attention to her daughter. "Now, young lady, what are you doing still awake?"

Kallen smiled softly, as he watched his wife and daughter interact with each other, honestly, he could watch the two of them for hours, and almost forget about the Mysterons and that the world was on the verge of tearing itself apart.

Almost…

Which lead him back to the actual reason he was trying to put Tian down while his wife was in the shower…

And it had nothing to with wanting to get his wife out of the robe she was currently wearing, even though it would be a nice distraction…

No, he needed to talk to his wife about what went down in the World President's office earlier that day…

While he wasn't angry with his wife or Enrique and Yunkio for their defence of his brother-in-law, he had seen the security camera footage of the incident while the Colonel was returning to Skybase, and honesty had he had been there he would have almost certainly been in Kennedy's face, regardless of the fact that the idiot was in charge of the GDF, that man had no authority to demand his family hand over control of the Thunderbirds and Hatchlings to him - with the way GDF security always was, the 'birds would be in the hands of the Bereznik's within the week if Kennedy had his way…

Kallen shook his head, no he wasn't angry with his wife for what she did, but he was concerned, Clara had gotten into a fight with Johnson again, and while she only injured the other officer's pride this time, he was worried about what would happen if Clara and Johnson kept getting into physical fights, every time the two women encountered each other…

Clara undoubtedly feeling his worry, gently laid their, now sleeping, daughter in her cot, and then walked up to him, and let him pull her into a hug, "What's wrong, Babe?" She murmured into his chest. "Is it about the fight that I had with that hussy, because the bitch had it coming the moment she slapped me…"

"I realise that," Kallen replied softly. "And I am not about to tell you not to defend yourself when you're being attacked, but I do worry about what might happen if the other person accidentally gets hurt very badly or killed, especially if the incident is without clear evidence that it was self defence."

Clara sighed softly, as she reached up to gently stoke a hand down the side of his face, "I know," she whispered softly. "But it goes both ways, somebody's got to look out for you too…"

Kallen kissed his wife gently on the forehead, as he pulled her closer, "I can't lose you," he murmured. "You and Tian, as well as any other children we may or may not have in the future are the most important people to me in the world, I will not let anyone take you away from me."

"I can't lose you either," Clara replied, as she pulled back from him slightly and waved a finger in his face. "Tian needs her dad, and I refuse to have children with anyone else but you, so if I have to fight for you, I will, and you can't stop me from doing that."

Kallen snorted softly, as he gently ruffled her hair, "Just promise me one thing," he replied softly. "If it ever comes down to me or our children, protect them first."

"I fully expect you to do the same, you realise," Clara retorted, as she started to guide Kallen out into their apartment's living area. "And I will also try and not get into anymore fights with Johnson," she closed the door to Tian's room. "That's if I cross paths with that bitch again, Ronalds did hint that he wanted Kennedy removed from his position, I highly doubt she would last long without him protecting her worthless arse."

"One can only hope, I can't stand that guy," Kallen replied, as they started to walk towards their bedroom. "But it speaks volumes about the GDF's competence if he was the best man for the job after Wayne."

"It's not looking good is it?" Clara replied softly.

Kallen didn't answer, as he pushed open their bedroom door and started to get ready for bed, he didn't have to.

He felt his wife's eyes on him as he pulled off his shirt, and turned around to find his wife standing by the bed, with her robe undone and a inviting look on her face, that was when he remembered that it had been over a week since he had last slept with his wife, and considering he had been injured after his last assignment, that had lasted several days, he hadn't had a chance to properly catch up with her in the time since.

Not that he needed an excuse to make love to his wife, mind, "Oh, you've missed me, huh?" Kallen asked his wife, as he reached for her, slipping his hands under her robe.

Clara swatted him gently, "Of course I did," she purred, as she kissed him, before she shoved him into the bed and made herself comfortable on top of him…

0o0o0

The comm unit went off, just as Kallen had started to kiss his way down Clara's belly.

Kallen growled in frustration, and shot his wife an apologetic look, as he slapped the unit, "Mahogany," he snarled, not caring who was on the other end of the call.

"Captain Mahogany," Major Green replied, completely unfazed. "You are required to report to duty ASAP."

Kallen and Clara exchanged a look between each other, "What's happening Major?" He asked, as he climbed off his wife and started to clean himself up.

"The GDF has gone rogue," Green replied. "Spectrum has been requested to stop to it, you will be given a full briefing once you get up here."

"S.I.G." Kallen replied, looking at his wife with a horrified expression, as Green cut the call. "I always thought Kennedy was incompetent, not stupid."

"What could have brought this on?" Clara asked.

Kallen pulled on his shirt, "I don't know, sweetheart," he replied.

"But I will find out…"