Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin or any of the characters therein. My only creation within this story are the characters not found within the original SNK manga or anime.

Author's Note: This story won't be getting into the SNK universe for about 3 or 4 chapters. You'll be getting acquainted with the protagonist female of the story until then. Keep in mind, I was really struggling with how to describe everything these first few chapters only because I'm not military, I don't really live anywhere near Scott AFB or Rhode Island. I'm acquainted with the military and the life of the military but a lot of this took some serious research. Anything is off about any of my convenient mentions, please forgive me in advance. That said, please enjoy the story.

.

.

.

Arms filled with groceries, Katie struggled to pull her key from the lock and push the door shut behind her with her foot. Automatically, she glanced up at the clock in the foyer of her spacious apartment. It was already seven thirty? It had taken her an eternity to finish things at the Communication Center and then stop by the package store and the Commissary. After that, fighting the traffic from Scott Air Force Base had been like wading through waist-deep mud. To add to her already overwhelming frustration, she had decided to try a shortcut home and had ended up taking a wrong turn. Soon she was hopelessly lost. A kind soul at the Kwik Trip had given her directions, and she had felt compelled to explain to him that she was lost only because she had been stationed at Scott for just three months, and she hadn't had time to learn her way around yet.

The man had patted her shoulder like she was a puppy and asked, "What is a young little thing like you doing in the Air Force?" Katie had treated the question rhetorically, thanked him and driven away, face hot with embarrassment.

Understandably, her already harried nerves jumped at the insistent sound of her ringing phone.

"Hang on!" she yelled and rushed into the kitchen, plopping the bags unceremoniously onto the spotless counter and lunging for the phone.

"Hello," she panted into the dead sound of a dial tone that was broken only by the rhythmic bleat of her answering machine. "Well, at least they left a message."

Katie sighed and carried the phone with her back to the kitchen, punching in her message retrieval code. With one hand she held the phone to her ear, and with the other, she extracted twin bottles of champagne from one of the bags.

"You have two new messages," the mechanical voice proclaimed. "First message, sent five thirty-two P.M."

Katie listened attentively as she picked at the metallic casting that covered the wine-imprisoned champagne cork.

"Hello, Katelyn, it's your parents!"

Her mother's recorded voice, sounding a little unnatural and tinny, chirped through the phone.

"Hey there, Katelyn!" More distant, but similarly cheerful, Dad's voice echoed from an extension.

Katie smiled indulgently. Of course it was her parents- they were the only two people on this Earth who still insisted on calling her by her given name.

"Just wanted to say we didn't actually forget your big day."

Here her mom paused, and she could hear her dad chuckle. Forget her birthday? She hadn't thought they had- until then.

Her mom's breathy voice continued.

"We've just been running ourselves ragged getting ready for our next cruise! You know how long it takes your father to pack." This said in a conspiratorial whisper.

"But don't worry, honey, even though we didn't get your box shipped off, we did manage to fix up a little surprise for our favorite twenty-five year old."

"Twenty-five?" Her dad sounded genuinely surprised. "Well good Lord. When did that happen?"

"Time sure flies, honey," Mom said sagely.

"No kidding," Dad agreed, "I thought she was twenty-two. That's one reason I told you we should spend more time travelling- but only one reason." Dad chuckled suggestively.

"You were certainly right about that, dear." Mom kidded back breathlessly, suddenly sounding decades younger.

"They're flirting with each other on my birthday message," Katie sputtered. "And they really did forget my birthday!"

"Anyway, we're getting ready to leave for the airport-"

Dad's voice, even more distant, broke in. "Hellen! Say goodbye, the airport limo is here."

"Well, have to go, Birthday Girl! Oh, and you have a nice time on your little air force trip. Aren't you leaving in a couple days?"

Her little air force trip? Katie rolled her eyes. Her ninety-day deployment as noncommissioned officer in charge of Quality Control at the Communications Center at Riyadh Air Base in Saudi Arabia to support the war on terrorism was just a "little air force trip?"

"And, honey, don't give the pilot a hard time. We know you love flying, but my goodness, you did join the air force! You should have signed up to be a pilot!"

Katie rolled her eyes, wishing her mother hadn't mentioned that sore spot- flying- since she had tried to become a pilot, but based on her testing scores, she was encouraged to join a more intelligence-based occupation. It was something she always regretted.

"We love you! Bye now."

The message ended and Katie, still shaking her head, hit the Off button and put the phone on the counter.

"I can't believe you guys forgot my birthday! You've always said that it's impossible to forget my birthday because I was born just after midnight on Halloween." She berated the phone while she reached into the cabinet for a champagne flute. "You didn't even remember my box." She continued to glare at the phone as she wrestled with the champagne cork.

For the seven years Katie had been on active duty service In the United States Air Force, her parents had never forgotten her birthday box. Until now. Her twenty-fifth birthday- she had lived a quarter of a century. It really was a landmark year, and she was going to celebrate it with no birthday box from home.

"It's a family tradition!" she sputtered, popping the cork and holding the foaming bottle over the sink.

Katie sighed and felt an unexpected twinge of homesickness.

No, she reminded herself sternly, she liked her life in the military and had never been sorry for her impetuous decision to join the service straight out of High School. After all, it had certainly gotten her away from her nice, ordinary, quiet, small town life. No, she hadn't exactly "seen the world," as the ads had promised. But she had lived in Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado and now Illinois, which were five states more than the majority of the complacent people in her hometown of Exeter, Rhode Island, would ever live in, or even visit.

"Apparently that doesn't include my parents!" Katie poured the glass of champagne, sipped it and tapped her foot- still glaring at the phone. It seemed that during the past year her parents had gone on more Silver Adventure Tours than was humanly possible. "They must be trying to set some sort of record." Katie remembered the flirty banter in their voices and closed her eyes quickly at that particular visual image.

Her eyes snapped back open, and her gaze fastened again on the phone.

"But mom, none of your homemade chocolate chip cookies?" She sipped the champagne and discovered she needed a refill.

"How am I supposed to complete a birthday dinner without my box?" She reached into another bag and pulled out a package of skinless chicken breasts, a box of instant mashed potatoes and a bag of frozen broccoli. Pointing from the chicken to the champagne, she continued her one-sided discourse. "I have the meat group, veggie group and starch group covered. Then I have the fruit group, champagne, my personal favorite. How am I supposed to complete the cullinary birthday ensemble without the sugar and chocolate group?" She gestured in disgust at the phone.

Grabbing a knife from the cutlery drawer, she sliced open the chicken breast package and began prepping the breasts for cooking. Then using the same knife to punctuate her hand gestures, she continued.

"You guys always send something totally useless that makes me laugh and reminds me of home. No matter where I am. Like the year before last when I got that frog rain gauge. And I don't even have a yard! And how about the GOD BLESS THIS HOUSE stepping stone, which I have to hang on the wall of my apartment, because I don't have a house!" Katie's disgruntled look was broken by a smile as she recounted her parents' silly gifts.

"I suppose you're trying to tell me to get married, or at the very least, to become a homeowner."

She sliced the chicken into strips and sighed again, a little annoyed to realize that she probably sounded fifteen instead of twenty-five. Then she brightened.

"Hey! I forgot about my other message," she told the phone as she set her cutting knife down to scoop it back up, dialed her messages, and skipped past her parents' voices.

"Next message. Sent at 6:24 p.m."

Katie grinned as she stooped low to fetch a pot and pan from the cupboards and set them upon working burners. It was probably Renee, her oldest friend- actually she was the only high school friend Katie still kept in touch with. Renee had known her since fourth grade, and she rarely forgot anything, let alone a birthday. The two of them loved to laugh long distance about how they had managed to "escape" small town life. Renee had landed an excellent job working for a large hospital in the fun and fabulous city of New York. Her official title was Physician Affairs Liaison, which actually meant she was in charge of recruiting new doctors for the hospital, but she and Renee loved the totally unrealistic, risqué-sounding title. It was especially amusing because Renee had been happily married for three years.

"Hi, Katie, long time no call, girl!"

Instead of Renee's familiar Midwestern accent, the voice had a long, fluid Southern drawl. "It's me, Lisa. Your favorite Georgia peach! Oh, my- I had such a hard time getting your new number. Naughty you forgot to give it to me when you shipped out."

Katie's grin melted from her face like wax from a candle, dropping chicken breast strips into a sizzling oil-slicked pan. Lisa was one of the few things she hadn't missed about her last duty station.

"Just have a quick second to talk. I'm calling to remind you that my thirtieth birthday is just a month and a half away- December fifteenth, to be exact- and I want you to mark your little ol' calendar."

Katie listened with disbelief. "This is like a train wreck. It just keeps getting worse."

"I'm having the Party to End All Parties, and I expect your attendance. So put in for leave ASAP. I'll send the formal invite in a week or so. And, yes, presents are acceptable." Lisa giggled like a Southern Barbie doll.

"See y'all soon. Bye-bye for now!"

"I don't believe it." Katie punched the Off button with decidedly more force than was necessary. "First my parents forget my birthday. Then not only does it look like my oldest friend has forgotten it, too, but I get a call from an annoying non-friend inviting me to her party!" she dropped the phone back on the counter.
"A month and a half in advance!"

Katie tossed the half-cooked slices of chicken breast in the trash, vouching instead for leftover pizza and shoving the remaining ingrediants to her dinner along with the unopened bottle of champagne in the fridge.

"Consider yourself on deck," she told it grimly. Then she grabbed the open bottle of champagne, her half-empty glass, the plate of cold pizza and marched purposefully to the living room where she spread out her feast on the coffee table before returning to the kitchen for a handful of napkins. Passing the deceptively silent phone she halted and spun around.

"Oh, no. I'm not done with you; you're coming with me." She tossed the phone next to her on the couch.

"Just sit there. I'm keeping an eye on you."

Katie plucked a slice of delightfully chilly pizza and clicked on the TV- and groaned. The screen was nothing but static.

"Oh, no! The cable!" Because she would be out of the country for three months, she had decided to have the cable temporarily disconnected and had been proud of herself for being so money conscious. "Not tonight! I told them effective the first of November, not the thirty-first of October."

She glanced at the silent phone. "You probably had something to do with this."

And she started laughing, semihysterically.

"I'm talking to the telephone." She poured herself another glass of champagne, noting the bottle was now half empty. Sipping the bubbly liquid thoughtfully, Katie spoke aloud, pointedly ignoring the phone. "This obviously calls for emergency measures. Time to break out the Favorite Movies Collection."

Clutching the pizza slice between her teeth, she wiped her hands on a napkin before opening the video cabinet that stood next to her television set. Through a full mouth she mumbled the titles as she scanned her stash.

"Shadowlands, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Titanic, Dirty Dancing, West Side Story, Casablanca." She paused and chewed, considering.
"Nope, too long- and not exactly birthday material. Humm..." she kept reading.
"Spiderman, The Medicine Man, Australia, Last of the Mohicans, The Color Purple, Practical Magic, Braveheart, Fifth Element, War of the Worlds, Top Gun, Witches of Eastwick." She stopped. "This is exactly what I need. Some girl power."

She plunked the video in the DvD player. "No," she corrected herself. "This is better than girl power- it's woman power!"

Katie raised her glass to the screen, toasting each of the vibrant Hollywood ladies as they appeared. They were unique and fabulous, everything Katie was not.

Cher was mysterious and exotic, ith a full, perfect mouth and a wealth of seductive ringlets that framed her face like the mane of a wild, dark lioness. Katie sighed. She couldn't really do anything about her own little lips- if she did, they would look like something closely resembling a science experiment. Everything about her was kind of small. Even her ash brown hair which she had kept at a length just below her earlobe level. The sides she had hang at a length just longer than the rest of her hair, while her bangs she kept trimmed and styled rather messily- and she liked it that way. It gave her slightly boyish hairstyle an interesting and feminine appeal.

Michele Pfeifer- now there was a gorgeous woman. Even playing the role of Ms. Fertile Mom, she was still undeniably ethereal in her blonde beauty.
No one would ever call her cute.

And Susan Sarandon. She couldn't look frumpy even hen she was dressed like an old schoolmarm music teacher. She oozed sexuality. No guy would ever think of her as just a friend. At least no heterosexual guy.

"To three amazing women who are everything I wish I could be!" She couldn't believe her glass was empty- and the bottle too.

"It's a darn good thing we have another." she patted the phone affectionately before rescuing the other champagne bottle from a life of loneliness in chilly confinement. Ignoring the fact that her steps seemed a little unsteady, she settled back, grabbed a fourth piece of pizza and slanted a glance at the ever-silent phone. "Bet it shocks you that someone who's so little can eat so much."

It answered with a shrill ring.

Katie jumped, almost choking on the half-chewed piece of pizza. "Good Lord, you scared the bejeezes out of me!"

The phone bleated again.

"Katie, it's a phone. Get it together, Sarg." She shook her head at her own foolishness. The thing rang again before she had her hands wiped and her nerves settled enough to answer it.
"H-hello?" she said tentatively.

"May I speak with Katelyn Pierce, please?" The woman's voice as unfamiliar, but pleasant sounding.

"Speaking." Katie clicked the remote and paused her movie.
"Miss Pierce, this is Jess Brown from Woodland Hills Resort in Branson, Missouri. I'm calling to tell you that your parents, Hellen and Brian, have given you a weekend in Branson at our beautiful resort for your twenty-second birthday! Happy Birthday, Miss Pierce!"
Katie could almost see Jess Brown beaming in delight all the way from Branson- wherever that was.

"Twenty-fifth," was all she could make her mouth say.
"I beg your pardon?"
"It's my twenty-fifth birthday, not my twenty-second."
"No." Through the phone came the sound of papers being frantically rustled. "No, it says right here- Katelyn Pierce, twenty-second birthday."
"But I'm not."
"Not Katelyn Pierce?" Jess sounded worried.
"Not twenty-two!" Katie eyed the newly opened second bottle of Champagne. What were the odds that perhaps she was drunk and hallucinating?
"But you are Katelyn Pierce?"
"Yes."
"And your parents are Hellen and Brian Pierce?"
"Yes."
"Well, as long as you're really you, I suppose the rest doesn't matter."
Jess was obviously relieved.

"I guess not." Katie shrugged helplessly. She decided she might as well join the madness.
"Good!" Jess's perkiness was back in place. "No, just a few little details you should know. You can plan your weekend anytime in the next year, but you will need to call to reserve your cabin..." Cabin? Katie's mind whirred. What had they done? "at least one month ahead of time or e cannot guarantee availability. And, of course, this gift is just for your personal use, but if you would like to bring a friend, the resort would be willing to allow him or her to join you for a nominal fee- or for totally free if he or she would be willing to attend a short informational seminar about our time share facility."

Katie closed her eyes and rubbed her right temple where the echo of a headache was beginning.

"And along with your onderful Woodland weekend," Jess Brown alliterated, "your parents have generously reserved a ticket for you to the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre, one of the most popular and long-running shows in Branson!"

Katie couldn't stop the bleak groan that escaped her lips.
"Oh, I can well understand your excitement!" Jess gushed. "We'll be sending you the official information packet in the mail. Just let me double-check your address..." Katie heard herself woodenly confirming her address.

"Okay! I think thats all the information we need. You have a lovely evening, Miss Pierce, and a very happy twenty-second birthday!" Jess Brown cheerfully clicked off the line.
"But where is Branson?" Katie asked the dial tone.