Welcome!

[Samuel Calway]

Title: Missing Persons
Chapter: 06
Cast: Sam Calway and Leese Anderson (cameo at the beginning), Gabe Calway and Tillick Anderson, Barbara NPC if we need her.
Plot: Sam and Leese meet secretly, using Sam’s knowledge of the floor plan to find a way out undetected. After some time Gabe notices both of them are conveniently missing and sets out a search for them. When they don’t turn up straight away, he goes to the Andersons to see what they know.
Mood: GRRR.

~*~
For the third straight day following the massive blow up inside the Sick Bay, Sam and Leese had met in secret. They met for what seemed to be only an hour, but ended up being more than half a shift. They talked and talked and found that they had a lot more in common than first thought. They had similar interests and similar goals. It seemed silly now to think that they hadn’t thought of dating before. On this, the third meeting, Sam had decided to do something special. Tired of being trapped under ground; he forgot what the sun felt like, what it felt like to feel raindrops. Sam wanted to get away.

They met the same as the other days just after shift switch at lunch. Their paths crossed normally this time of day anyway, so here they were. One of the South tubes had an emergency exit that no one seemed to know about. When he saw her coming toward him in the hall he acted casual. “Good Morning Leese.”

“You too, Sam.” She said tucking her hands in her pockets. They avoided looking at one another until they were sure the coast was clear.

Each one cast a glance in different directions before speaking, “Yeah so…this would be like our third date right?” Sam asked low, between them.

“Yeah…I guess…” Leese felt a small smile settle to her lips. “What are you getting at Calway? I thought you were a gentleman.” She craned a brow taking a teasing sort of tone.

“Oh…God, its not that…Its…well its that” he chuckled nervously, “But I have an idea…”

She shook her head at the stammering boy and crossed her arms over her chest, “What’s the plan?” she whispered conspiratorially.

“Well, I was thinking we could go for a walk…” He said.

“Are you crazy, if your dad sees us, you’re toast.” She reminded him.

“What if he won’t see us?” Sam asked coyly.

“How’s that possible?” She retorted.

“What. If. We. Walked. Outside?” Sam said slowly, deliberately.

“Outside.” She nearly gasped. “We aren’t even supposed to say the word, let alone think about it.” She said, eyes slightly wide. “If your dad finds out about that we’ll both be toast.”

“I know a way out that isn’t exactly monitored.” He said swiftly, softly, “We’ll slip out for a little while, and slip back in…No one will ever know.” Sam pleaded.

“You’re out of your mind…” She pointed a finger at his chest. After a long moment of consideration she let her inhibition go and said, “I like it. Let’s go.” They were young. They had their sense of adventure on and throwing caution to the wind, decided to take a walk…outside of all places.

Little did they know someone else had heard of their plan. Alan Korr had nearly rounded the corner when he happened upon the younger Calway. Instead of stopping them however, he let them go. Alan had long ago learned not to get between a man who was after the affections of a woman.

[Tillick Anderson]

The bones in her neck cracked as Tillick shifted her head from side to side. She hadn't slept very well last night. She found herself tossing and turning in the bed that was much too big for herself alone, thinking about the day's events, and the week's, and the year's. When Calway opened up a can of worms, he certainly got the whole top off. Things that Tillick had been working too hard to acknowledge were starting to crop back up inside her, and she found herself unable to beat them away. The things she had done...

It wasn't for another hour that she was due for work. The boys were at school, and she found herself alone in her apartment for the first time in weeks. It was never quiet under the ground. There was always the low hum of the overhead lights, the motor of the generator. The walls, metal as they were, were thin enough to hear the family next door if it was quiet enough, which is rarely was. Her hair was wet and thrown into an untidy knot in the back of her head. The water had been brown and rusty, as it often was, but it never showed in her dark red tresses. She wondered what blonde people did, as drops of the reddish liquid fell onto the newspaper she had been trying to read. It was an impossible task with all this noisy silence. Perhaps she could go into work early?

[Gabe Calway]

Gabe didn't have time to understand what silence meant. From the time he got up in the morning, until he went home at night, things were always in a state of motion. He was training, instructing, observing, meeting, it was a snowball going down a hill until the end of the day. Someone put a chock under it and it remained until the next day when the stop would be removed and the snowball would continue down the hill. He was convinced he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in about a year. Still, it seemed as though this day was just like every other that bled into it. He was once again between duties when he thought, he should be seeing his son for lunch, if only to make sure he was okay.

He hadn't spoken to Sam since the blow up outside of Sick Bay three days prior. Perhaps he simply didn't understand how to forgive and how the younger generations were able to see past wrongs committed, but the line had to be drawn. Sam could not be allowed to be involved with the Anderson Family. Of course, he also understood that being a rebellious teenager, Sam would probably seek to be near them anyway.

After dispatching a few men to check the whereabouts of his son, he was quite disappointed to learn that his son was no where to be found. "He's supposed to be on simulation, are you sure he's not there?" Gabe asked of Patterson, a stout young man who wore glasses.

"Yes sir." The man answered. "I checked every pod. I did not see him there..."

"What about he cafeteria? Its possible he lost track of time...wouldn't be the first time..." Gabe suggested.

"I checked by there on the way back after we found him there once before." Patterson replied dutifully.

He recalled the other checkpoints checking back with him. Sam was hiding. His son was getting better at hiding from him, that was for sure.

"We looked for the girl, like you asked, and we didn't find her either." Patterson said softly.

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know how else I can say it. They are not here."

Gabe got up and after checking the monitors one more time said to his assistant, "Keep an eye on things...call me if anything happens, got it?"

"Yes Sir." Patterson replied with a salute as the General went by him, heading out of the command center. Where was he going? There was only one place to go. Sick Bay.

~*~

A short time later, Gabe arrived to Sick Bay where he found that Barbara was on duty. "Ms. Anderson, could I talk to you for a moment?" He asked after signing in.

It was the last hour of her shift, and as such she was preparing to turn things over to her sister. Scouring the equipment and changing over the charts. Barbara was very good at her job. Once she heard that the General had arrived she turned and greeted him, "Yes Sir, General..." She replied meekly, "What can I do for you?"

"Have you seen your daughter today?" Gabe asked out right. "Sam's gone missing, and I'm afraid I can't find your daughter either...they've been missing their duties."

Barbara thought for a moment. "I saw her just before lunch, she was on her way to pick up a few rations of clean water for the supply cabinet." She explained, all the while not really liking the General's tone. "Has she done something wrong?" Barbara couldn't help but ask.

"No, I just need to find my son."

"Your tone suggests that I might know where your son is..." She pointed out simply, and softly.

"I'm not sure how I made that mistake considering you don't know where your daughter is." Gabe blurted out, though quickly apologized when he saw the Doctor's face change into a worried look. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that."

Taken aback by the General's advance, Barbara picked up her com and sent her sister a message of text. "Tilly, Could you come in early? Thx Barb." As soon as the message was sent she clicked the device shut and shoved it in her pocket. Having not seen the General this close in a long time, she could see just how much time had changed him. He was weathered, a bit tired looking and stressed out. She could easily see why he snapped the way he did when he did, but that was no excuse. She would go and look for Leese if she had to, but she wouldn't stand here and be insulted. "Mr. Calway, I beg your pardon, but I'm not sure what you're getting at..."

Barbara was a very fragile woman since Jason died. She stuck close to home, or close to things that made her feel safe, like her sister, like her daughter, like old family friends. Gabe had disappeared from her life once Jason passed on. It was no wonder why she was now set on edge.

"What I was wondering is if in your travels today, you'd seen your daughter and my son. That's all..." Gabe expressed as he stood there by the door.

Barbara looked at her feet. She honestly didn't remember when Leese had been back with the water. Patients had been in and out all day, she had been quite busy. Now she was worried, wondering if her daughter was in trouble. This was not a good thing for her at all.

[Tillick Anderson]

Tillick was already half way to work by the time she received the text. There was no good in waiting around, and she needed something to do. Her sister apparently needed a hand, and Tillick was more than willing to lend it to her. Of course, when she entered her office, she hadn't expected to once again come face to face with the general.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me..." she sighed, her brow furrowed. How dare he return to this place after he caused such a scene? He certainly had some nerve. "What is it now? Do you want us to start wearing surgical suits during visits so we won't get our faulty DNA on the good people of Corellia?"

She was angry, and it wasn't often she was pushed all the way to that black and white emotion. Her husband had brought it out best in her; it must have been the military type that got her worked up the most. They were all the same.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" she spat, "You are the general after all, maybe you should be off saving the world? Or at least something more useful than badgering my family?"

It wasn't important that he was the general anymore. Now he was just the man who was harrassing the people she loved most in the world for something she had done.

"If you have a problem, Calway, you settle it with me," she continued, clearly and seriously, "You leave my sister and my niece and my kids out of it."

[Gabe Calway]

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me...What is it now? Do you want us to start wearing surgical suits during visits so we won't get our faulty DNA on the good people of Corellia?"

The entrance of Tillick Anderson, while not unexpected was still a surprise. Gabe’s head swiveled in her direction and his eyes immediately rolled at her snarky remark.

"Don't you have anything better to do? You are the general after all, maybe you should be off saving the world? Or at least something more useful than badgering my family? If you have a problem, Calway, you settle it with me, You leave my sister and my niece and my kids out of it."

“I’m going to stop you right there, Doctor Anderson,” He addressed her firmly. “I’m here on personal business, not military business.” He clarified. “You really need to send better signals, because when I asked you about Leese the other day you shouted at me for not going to your sister first, as Leese is her child. I go to her first this time, and you shout thinking that I’m snooping around here about you.” He leveled her with a flat gaze. “Someone has a bit of a hangup on herself, wouldn’t you say?”

He wasn’t sure why but this Tillick seemed to bring out the worst in him. “Now, since you’re here, perhaps you can help for a change…”

Barbara stepped toward her sister, as if to restrain her. “He says that his son is missing and that they can’t locate Leese either…” She had a worried expression on her face.

But Just where was Sam? Where was Leese?

Outside…

They were outside. The sun was shining brightly, the wind was blowing freely, and the two of them were walking down a deserted street that used to lead to her house. They were discussing old times, times that seemed so long ago. Six months was a long time to be cooped up in a cage underground. They were smiling and sharing shy glances at one another and doing what teenagers did in these situations. They lost track of time.

Back in the Sick Bay, Gabe looked the part of a caged animal. Barbara explained to Tillick just what she recalled. “Leese was here before lunch, dropping off the water rations, but I had patients, so I didn’t have a chance to talk to her. That was the last time I saw her…” She explained to both the General and her sister.

“If they’re both missing, I can only assume that they’re together, which I expressly forbid…” Gabe said out loud and without forethought to the consequences.

“Why would you assume that?” Barbara asked. “Why would you forbid that?” She wondered aloud.

Calway looked at the woman, pulling himself away from his thoughts and didn’t say anything in reply. He simply looked at her.

“Well?” Barbara asked, sounding slightly offended. “I didn’t know it was treason for a boy to be interested in a girl…” With her sister there Barbara was finding her feet.

“Its not…” Gabe said, his voice taking a defensive tone, “But he’s got more important things to focus on than your flighty daughter.” He said quickly.

Barbara was stunned. Had he just called her daughter ‘Flighty’? She fell silent once again, because where she was only starting to find her feet, it felt like the rug had just been pulled out from beneath them.

[Tillick Anderson]

Just as Tillick was about to feel sheepish, she found Gabe raising the bar to furious again. The look on her sister's face made her heart lurch inside her chest- Tillick hadn't even had a chance to talk to her about the goings on of the last week, and she doubted Leese did it herself. Barbara was completely in the dark, and Tilly wasn't about to sugar coat it for the benefit of the general.

"Your daughter's not good enough for the general's son, Babs," Tillick said darkly, "Let's just leave it at that for now. I'm sure Leese and Sam, wherever they are, are perfectly fine. Contrary to your belief, they are teenagers... Surely you didn't always follow the rules when you were his age."

Looking over Gabe, she didn't believe the statement.

"Maybe you should put a tracking device on him. That would at least keep him away from all the undesirables."

As far as Tillick was concerned, Sam and Leese were probably just being kids. Gabe wasn't going to get anything else from her unless he asked for it in a way she found suitable. After all, if he wanted help finding his kid, he certainly wasn't going about it very well.

[Gabe Calway]

Gabe's expression flattened out as he was once again put in his place by the Anderson Sisters. Hearing her sister's snap of a reply sent a chill up her spine. She had thought that they were past the bickering and the tension. Apparently they weren't. With a frown Barb side stepped her sister and the General and began to gather her things. Her daughter was missing, according to the General anyway.

He did feel like maybe he was being a bit oppressive. Any other time, Gabe probably would have let it slide that Sam was not heeding his advice, but now he was missing and Tillick wasn't being as helpful as he would have liked.

Outside...

Sam and Leese had stopped by her old house where she picked up a picture of her father and an old stuffed bunny and stuffed them in her bag. They were talking to one another as they stopped by Sam's old place.

"Wow..." Leese teased, "You kept a rather messy room."

He laughed shyly and sat on his old bed. The springs squeaked but gave way just as he remembered. With a groan Sam stretched out and sighed deeply.

"Don't get comfortable..." She said as she looked around at the books and collectibles that lined the shelves. Just as she was teasing him about being comfortable however she stopped when she saw on his shelf a picture of the two of them in their uniforms right before graduation. He was so happy to be near her. Hanging over that image were his dog tags. She scooped them up and tossed them to him on the bed.

He sat up on his elbows and fumbled with the tags. They weren't his tags. They were Kit's. It seemed that all the men in his life that he respected and looked up to in his life had all had a hand in making Sam the man that he had become, and yet, all he could see was that they weren't there for him in the ways that he felt they should have been. Of course, he couldn't say that his father wasn't there. He could say that his father smothered him until he could no longer stand to be around the man.

"You miss him?" Leese asked as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah." Sam said softly, putting the tags around his neck and tucking them in his shirt. The cold metal set a rise of goosebumps to his skin until he adjusted to it.

"He's alive though right?" Leese asked, looking at her fingers.

"Yeah." He murmured, scooting to the edge of the bed.

"I remember when you got the news that he had been shot down..." She said softly. "You were devastated."

He looked at her.

"Now that you know he's not dead, would you be at all against going back into the flight squad?" Leese wondered.

"I haven't really thought about it." Sam admitted. "I'm just so...ugh...frustrated." He didn't understand why his father had to lie.

"Come on...we should probably get back." Leese advised, feeling the conversation get a little stiff.

Sam obliged and went with her out of his room. They snuck out the window they came in through and started back down the road to the tunnel they came from.

Back underground...

"What are you doing?" Gabe asked of Barb who was pushing her things into her bag.

"My daughter is missing, General. I am going to go look for her." Barbara said as she pushed her way out of the sick bay and back into the hall. The sad thing about that was, she had no idea where to look. Pulling her com, she tried calling and found that it went straight to message. "Frak." She said to herself.

"Wait!" Gabe called, leaving Tillick to her bitterness for a moment long enough to stop Barb in the hall. After a little huff he said, "I'll help you look...okay?"

[Tillick Anderson]

With a long breath through her nose, Tillick watched as the general softened ever so slightly to talk to her sister. It was all a guise to get what he wanted, she knew, but that wasn't the problem at this particular moment. If Barb was this worried about her daughter, Tillick would have to comply.

Unlike Gabe, when Barbara's husband was killed, Tillick got closer to her sister. There wasn't anyone to look after her and Leese, so Tillick had taken it upon herself. It was times like these when that protective instinct kicked in, especially knowing at the end of the line was just another performance of the 'Please Don't Let Your Niece Near My Son' show.

"We should split up," Tillick said begrudgingly, "Someone ought to stay here in case they come back."

She looked at Gabe as if suggesting it be him.

[Gabe Calway]

Gabe’s gaze flattened, his brow stiffening to near perfect straightness. “Do you even listen to yourself when you talk?” He asked Tillick as if she sounded like a complete moron. “Your sister’s kid is missing, so’s mine. You suggest that I stay here and wait for him to come back while you go off and find Leese. While I think that they’re together in the event that they’re not, I’m losing that much more time, looking for your kid, who’s probably just trying to figure her way out of the circle track, while mine is probably trapped somewh-“ Gabe continued to rant until he felt a small fist slap him on the back.

“How dare you suggest my daughter is anything less than Brilliant?” Barb snapped. The Anderson woman was tired of being berated and undermind. She found her feet again and gave him a very stern glare. “Our children are adults now. They can take care of themselves.” She said as if trying to convince herself. “They’ve been given the training by your military, your school, YOUR MEN.” She thumped his shoulder each time she made her point. “Where is your confidence, where is your faith in your boy!” Exasperated, Barb went to stand beside Tillick where she found she got the most of her strength. “That doesn’t mean that I’m not worried about her, or him for that matter, but you have to have a little faith in them at some point…I almost lost sight of that.” Pulling all of the doubt she had that her daughter could be in trouble out of her mind she took one step backward into the doorway.

At first the fearful mother in her had taken over. With Gabe bearing down on his boy, it was no wonder the kid would run off as he did. Barb let Leese do what it was she found most appropriate for her. It wasn’t that she let her make all of her decisions uncoached or without influence, but she left the majority of the thought process to Leese. The girl was exceedingly more independent than she had been at the same age. Reaching down she wanted to take Tilly’s hand and just draw some of her strength, but instead she pressed her hand aginst the door and pushed it open again. It was a big step for her. Feeling that strength she had start to ebb a little she gave one last piece of advice, “You’re hurting him more than you know, Gabe. I hope you realize it before its too late.”

At the foot of the tunnel, coming back from their trip to the outside Sam and Leese were saying their goodbyes. “Thanks for taking me up there, Sam.” Clutching the picture she grabbed she smiled, “It helped me a lot.”

“Anytime…” He murmured sheepishly, feeling the metal tags he retrieved slide against his skin.

“Tomorrow then?” She asked expectantly.

“Uhm…of course…of course!” He replied. When she hugged him, he felt like he was flying. Having to return to that pit in the ground was not what he wanted to do, but knowing she was with him made it worth it, tollerable even. He hugged her back remembering everything. When she kissed his cheek, his eyes shot open and he formed the dopiest of grins. When she kissed his lips thereafter his knees went weak. Sam Calway though, he knew how to handle himself or so he thought. With as much grace as he could he tried not to fall down when they started to part ways. Soon though they were caught. Sam’s friend Marcus was standing right behind them.

“Sam!” Marcus shouted. “What the hell is going on with you man?”

Sam froze and so did Leese. “Marcus…” He said through a nervous laugh. “Heeeeeey…What’s going on?”

“Your dad has been turning the base upside down looking for you…where the hell have you been?” Marcus warned.

“Nuh…No where.” Sam and Leese said together, praying that their expedition to outside wasn’t noticed.

“You need to get your asses down to sick bay now, your dad was down there telling your mom that you guys are missing.” Marcus advised before starting away.

“Oh…no…” Sam said followed by Leese’s worried look. They were so busted. They looked at eachother and swallowed hard. This was not going to be a short walk back to their most certain dooms.

Back at Sick Bay Gabe had had quite enough of the Anderson Sisters. They thought their parenting style was so much more superior to his. Peh. He shook his head, “My son respects me.” He said firmly, knowing that whatever it was that was happening between them was something bigger than he was ready to understand. “He’d come to me if he had a problem with me…” He murmured trying to convince himself of the idea. As much as he didn’t want to, he said, “I’m sorry,” For calling your girl an idiot, say it! Instead he put his foot in it again, “but you don’t know him like I do.” With that Gabe turned, denial in tact, and started down the hallway.

He was taken quite by surprise when on the otherside of the corner he stopped cold. Leese and Sam were standing right in front of him, yet all that the Anderson women would see is Gabe standing there with surprise written to his face.

[Tillick Anderson]

While she was somewhat curious as to where her niece had run off to, she was much more willing to lend it to kids being kids than Gabe seemed to be. Not only that, but she didn't really feel any sort of drive to help him find yet another way to stifle his son's personality, so when Gabe started to leave, she felt a profound sense of relief. It was almost definite that she and her sister would do a better job finding the kids anyway, if they decided to do so. Of course, it was not meant to be. Just as soon as he left, Gabe resolved to simply stand in the doorway, looking ahead as though he was unsure what to do next. Sure that he was getting himself ready for another verbal assault on her family, she rolled her eyes.

"If you've thought of some other parenting gem, feel free to write it down and put them under our door," she said, coming out into the hall to shut the door between them, "Unfortunately, I think I've had enough of your-"

In the direction Gabe had stopped was no one other than Sam and Leese. For a second, Tillick looked just as surprised. She then realized just how worried she actually had been.

"Where the hell have you been?!" she exclaimed, stepping in front of the General. "You didn't leave a note or anything! Your mother has been beside herself! What were you thinking?"

[Gabe Calway]

Leese nearly jumped out of her skin as Tillick came between them and the General. Her hand was held by Sam until they saw his father, then they emphatically released as if they hadn’t been together the whole time and simply bumped into one another in the hallway, but it was plainly obviously what was going on. “Aunt Tilly…” Leese pleaded, “I know what this looks like…” She stammered then laughed nervously, trying to keep Sam out of as much trouble as possible, “Believe me…I know what this looks like, but…but it’s not what it looks like.”

She was doing well, or at least Sam thought. Of course, he had seen Tillick get coarse with Leese the number of times counted on one hand. It was quite a shock. He would have turned tail and ran away simply to get away from the explosive red-head, so Leese was handling it well.

“Yes, why don’t you tell me what it looks like, because to me it looks like the two of you went behind my back and did exactly what I told you not to.” Gabe said calmly and gave Tillick a sharply raised eyebrow as if to say ‘yeah, who’s over reacting now?’

Sam scratched his head and asked weakly, “What did you tell me not to do again?”

“You weren’t supposed to see her…” Gabe said plainly looking to Sam and Leese in turn. “She knew it as well.”

Sam rubbed absently at the back of his neck while Leese found something interesting to look at on the floor. “Aww, Dad, come on…you can’t tell me you didn’t know what I was going to do…” He reasoned with a shrug. “I’m 19 years old…you don’t think I’m going to take any chance I can get with a girl who shows me even remote interest…” Realizing what he said could be offensive to Tilly and Leese he turned and quickly added, “Not any girl…you know that…right?” Then looking back to his father he concluded, “Look at her dad!! SHE LIKES ME FOR SOME REASON!” He exclaimed in exasperation. “I don’t know why that is, but she does…and…and…you’re being unreasonable!” He spat out.

Leese found amusement in Sam’s reply. For whatever reason she liked that goofy guy, and she didn’t like having to explain it to his father. “Mr. Calway, I like him…” She explained simply, shooting Sam a look before continuing, “Whatever I’ve done…to upset you so much with my family…please, tell me how to make it right, I just don’t know what to do…” Her face was red and she was terribly uncomfortable, but she got through it.

It really wasn’t her fault, and listening to his son snap, then the girl reply, he stood there stiffly not really knowing how to reply. “Sam, you have more important things to focus on…’ He replied just as stiffly as he was standing. “You have flight tests next week so that your certifications can be put through, and you really need to be behind the stick and…” He looked to Leese and her crazy Aunt, “no offense, Ladies…” He assured them, “Not checking out girls.”

Leese's brow furrowed slightly but softened when she heard her mother come around the corner. "MOM!" She said as her mother snatched her into a hug.

"I was beside myself...where have you been...?" She asked.

"Aunt Tilly just said that..." the girl coughed as she was choked by her mother. Neither the boy nor the girl had answered for where they had been, and the question had gone unanswered the second time as well...

[Tillick Anderson]

"You were both taught how to write at the Academy, I assume," Tillick continued on, completely ignoring whatever it was Gabe had been going on about. "So it couldn't possibly be that you don't know how to write a note! I can only imagine it was your-"

And that's when she realized where they must have been. When Tillick saw looked at her niece, she saw a speck of something in her long, slightly disheveled hair. Narrowing her eyes, she saw it clearer. It was a piece of dead leaf. They had gone above ground.

This was a situation, and Tillick was unsure how to deal with it. The kids were okay, and for that she was grateful, but the myriad of things that could have happened to them made her feel like she was about to have a stroke.

"Oh, you did not..." Tillick began, and she pulled the piece of leaf out of her niece's hair. Examining it, she found it to be exactly what she thought it was. "Please tell me you did not go above ground."

It was more a hypothetical statement than anything else. It was a sure thing in Tillick's mind. The draw to go onto the real Corellia was a strong one, and one everyone had felt in the last few months. But it was dangerous up there, and the rule was strictly enforced for a reason. The disease that was up there might have been questionable, but there was also the tribes of criminals who stayed above, looting peoples houses and shops. There was the idea that the HL could return and shoot on sight. The mere thought of any of those things happening to Leese was maddening.

"This goes so far beyond kids will be kids," she said in a low, overly calm tone. It was not something she used on her children, it was not something she used on her patients. This was a voice reserved for the lowest of the low. "Because I have kids, and they are not this stupid. They eat crayons, and they are not stupid enough to go above ground without so much as telling anyone where they were going."

She had seen first hand what was going on in Coronet City in the absence of the inhabitants. Sam and Leese must not have gone far, otherwise their reaction to it would have been considerably different than what she saw before her. Still, she could only describe her own feelings as livid. Enraged. Apoplectic.

"I don't even know what to say. You're both smart kids... You're both good kids. You both have enough common sense to understand what is going on in our home, and yet you disregard it for what? For a date? You risk your lives for a stupid date?"

She wanted to say so many things to them, and yet she couldn't compile them all coherently.

"Do you have any idea what goes on up there? Did you see the bodies? I can't imagine you did, otherwise I would hope you'd show a little more understanding of the situation. Did you meet any of the murderers and rapists that decided to stay behind just in case some stupid kids decide to head up for a joy ride?"

She threw her hands up in the air in defiance.

"I can't even look at you right now," she said with a shrug, and she retreated back into her office.

[Gabe Calway]

Gabe stood there horrified as Tillick went off in ways that made his freak outs look calm and even nonchalant. Sam too was fixed. He was SURE that he had gotten every bit of evidence from their clothes. “It...it it wasn't about a date, Miss Anderson!” Sam tried to interject but found that she was already on her way away.

“Why?” Barbara asked her daughter, who was now trying to hide the shock on her face. “Why would you...go up there, you know! You KNOW what could happen!” Barbara pushed her daughter's hair out of her face.

Gabe's expression grew stern as he looked at the couple of kids before him. “Sam.”

Sam winced upon hearing his name.

“What the hell were you two thinking...? On top of everything Auntie Shrew just flipped out about, you could have brought anything back with you...” Gabe said firmly. “You put yourself in danger, and what's worse, you put her in danger...a girl you like.” He motioned with a bit of exasperation in his voice. “I don't know what I have to do to get you to see that you have to do what I tell you to for now...When we go back up, you can do what you want, but now, you have to do what we tell you BOTH.” He explained.

As he was talking to them, Leese fished the photo and the stuffed bunny she grabbed while she was at their home. “I didn't have anything down here that...”

Barbara sighed seeing the picture and the stuffed bunny. The notion that things didn't hold significant meaning, emotional meaning was completely dead to her. “Its okay...its okay...” Barbara embraced her.

Gabe looked at his son expectantly. “Well?”

Sam lowered his eyes to the floor, “I'm sorry...okay...I just...I had everything under control...” He became a bit stand offish.

“Were you even listening?” The General took his son by the arm, pulling him along. “Things happen. When we don't know where you are, we don't know what's happening. If something would have happened up there...”

“I could handle it!” Sam expressed.

“But what if you couldn't?” Gabe said back obviously still displeased. “The two of you need to be decontaminated...”

Poor Leese was pleading with her mother not to be upset with her, but for as brash and bullheaded as she was with the rest of the cadets, Leese with her mother was a little bit on the adorable side.

“Now.” Gabe said, putting a hand on Leese while holding onto his son with his other hand. “To the showers...”

“General...could we...do this here? Its more discrete, at least it would spare them the embarrassment...” Barbara asked.

After a long moment of consideration Gabe released the kids to the doctor. As an extension of his trust he offered Barbara the chance to make this better with him. “Get him cleaned up and then send him up to the command center for debriefing...I'll set up a time to talk to Leese.” The by the book nature of Gabe Calway dictated that this infraction needed to be recorded in the records.

As his father walked away, Sam shouted after him, “I'm sorry! Okay?” But was very disappointed to see his father simply wave him off. With an awkward silence following, Barbara took her daughter and Sam Calway into the office. The process of decontaminating them would be awkward and painful enough. The powders burned, the scrubs caused aches and the searing hot water that followed would be a painful reminder that the two of them had made a pretty awful mistake.

Standing there with the Andersons, Sam had never felt so alone.