"Paladin, there's still something we can do." Coran entered Pidge's room quietly, his arms folded.

Pidge had been quiet for weeks after her father's return. In the meantime, Matt had settled in with the crew. He and Shiro fell right back into place with each other. She hadn't been around Samuel Holt since.

She didn't even look at Coran. "You mean other than grow my hair out? Because that's my plan right now. It'll get in my face while we're shooting aliens, but it's fine." she muttered bitterly. "It's my only shot."

"Actually, it's not." Coran sat down on the bed beside her, holding a headset in his gloved hands. "Remember this?"

"From the team exercises, yeah." She had a lightbulb moment. "You want me to dig around in my dad's head?"

"The regenerative chambers healed your father's injuries. What's left is purely psychological. And I believe you can heal him." He placed the headset on her lap. She stared at it.

"It's your only shot, as you said." Coran smiled. "I believe in you, Katie."

Pidge looked sullenly over her shoulder. "I think I left Katie back on earth."

Matt placed the headset over his father's head, pulling on the straps to tighten it. He had a worried expression, and watched Pidge as she put on her own.

Her father was rambling to Matt... whichever one of them he thought was Matt, anyway... about some joke Shiro had made during the flight to Kerberos. Neither of the Holt children were really listening anyway.

"Hey, Kate..." Matt shortened her name to one syllable, something he only did when he was serious. "You can do it."

"Thanks Matt." she smiled half-heartedly, looking at her father. Even the way he sat was different. Commander Samuel Holt never slumped. Even when he was teasing Katie about chasing off boys with a stick, he sat up straight and his shoulders bounced as 9 year old Katie proclaimed "boys were friends but I wouldn't want to kiss one."

"Hey Matt," she mumbled. "Remember when Dad used to tell me I'd have a pack of boys following me one day?"

Confusion crossed his face. "What- oh yeah, I guess."

She opened her arms wide, gesturing to the entire ship. Matt laughed in realization. "I don't think this is what he meant, Katie."

But wasn't it?

The entire Holt family sat to dinner, the last time they would for a while. Tomorrow the patriarch and eldest son would embark for Kerberos, a moon at the edge of the solar system.

Commander Holt made jokes about frozen peas. Katie smirked. He really did love that joke. Almost as much as he loved the Garrison's peas.

"I wish I was going with you." she mumbled.

"I bet you'll be part of something big one day..."

"I'll bring him back." Pidge insisted, sitting cross legged on the infirmary floor. "Coran, I'm ready."

From outside the door, Coran activated the headsets. And Pidge dove into the thought process of a broken man.

A/N: Sorry this part is so short! I really wanted a new chapter for actually being in Commander Holt's mind. Thank you so much for all your reviews! Your angsty tears feed my muse. Speaking of, I'd appreciate it if you checked out my other Voltron story, Medic. It has an OC, yes, but really does read like an episode of the show and presents a cool concept. (If I do say so myself). 5 chapters are up and I've only got one AWESOME person reviewing... /

But thank you all for reading and reviewing, next update will be soon!