Chapter Text
In Katherine Holt's room, nothing was heard but the insistent beeping of an alarm clock. Said girl groaned, sticking out her arm out of her cocoon of blankets and out into the cold atmosphere of her bedroom. She shivered slightly at the change of temperature but managed to smash her fist onto the alarm clock multiple times until it finally turned off.
Katie tucked her hand back in and snuggled into her pillow once more to go back to sleep for five more minutes, but then realized that the sun was streaming through the windows, which is something that shouldn't be happening at six in the morning in Texas yet. Katie frowned and looked back up to her clock.
8:42 a.m.
Katie's eyes widened as she read the time and rapidly kicked off her blanket, struggling to unwrap her body from her blankets. "Sweet Jesus Christ. He's going to kill me." Katie grunted as she finally freed herself from the clutches of her blankets. She tripped on the extra blankets on the floor but quickly got back up and ran to the bathroom, simultaneously picking up her uniform from the floor, thankful that it didn't stink.
In Keith's suite, the bathroom door swung open, steam pouring out of the humid atmosphere due to Keith's steaming hot shower. He had a white towel wrapped around his waist and one dangling from his shoulder. His long black hair was damp and swaying side to side as he walked the length of his room towards his closet to pick out his uniform from the many others he has accumulated.
He placed it neatly on his bed next to some blueprints spread out displaying the outline of a red mechanical lion, the badges and medals attached to his uniform reflecting the sun's light. Keith turned on the news, the reporter's voice serving as background music to the Commander as he dressed for the busy day ahead.
Katie ran through the streets carrying a handful of blueprints and two bags of Einstein Bro's bagels in her hands. She weaved her way through the crowd but, because she was so small, it was easy for her to slip through small spaces.
Katie busted through the front doors of the Texas NASA base and she quickly clocked in, but not before she bumped into a passing garbageman. She bumped right into him, causing a whole mess of garbage to land on top of her and for her to lose Keith's bagel in the mess. "Holy MOTHER OF-"
"Sorry, ma'am." The garbage man muttered as he struggled to pick up the garbage. In the far off distance, Katie could hear her coworkers snicker at the mess, knowing that she is the boss' assistant of the base and that she will be in a long embarrassing lecture in front of the whole building if she did not fix her appearance immediately.
Katie rushed to place all her things in Keith's office and she approached Nyma, "I need your blouse." Nyma looked up from her computer and looked Katie up and down. "You're kidding, right?" Katie sighed and quickly thought of something to offer, "Ed Sheeran concert. Two front seat tickets. You have five seconds to decide. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
Nyma stood stiff for a second before rushing to the bathroom with Katie, the two changing lightning fast. Once Katie was out, she bolted into Keith's office, organizing the blueprints she brought in on his desk and picking up Keith's bagel. She suddenly heard a ding and turned towards her computer on her small desk frantically, seeing a message appearing in the staff chat.
Emo has entered the building.
She rushed to stand in front of the door and held out a bag of Einstein Bro's Bagels. Almost immediately, Keith walked in reading a blue print, his left shoulder carrying a black bag full of rolled up blueprints, his left hand holding a mug of black coffee and his right holding a blueprint.
He walked in with a quick pace, drinking his coffee as he read the blueprint that Katie recognized as her own. She became extremely nervous, knowing that Keith was extremely picky with the designs he chooses. Truthfully, that wasn't even her job. She was only Commander Keith Kogane's assistant. She brings him bagels and helps him manage himself (because everyone knows he can't manage for sh*t). She isn't supposed to design five mechanical lions that form one huge killer robot.
So she held her breath as she saw that she wrote her name clearly on every page and braced herself for Keith's lecturing. But to delay the lecture a bit, she began telling him the news for the day, "Morning, boss. Moore called this morning about the launch in late November,"
"Yes, there's a problem with Rocket 212-A93's thrusters. I know." Keith answered as he took the bagel Katie was offering. Katie grabbed Keith's bag and placed it on one of the seats in front of his desk, "Staff meeting at 9:00."
Keith sat on his black swivel chair and pulled in his chair to his desk, placing his bag of breakfast next to a pile of papers, "Did you call- ugh, what's his name? With the - with the - the ugly face?"
Katie thought for a second but almost immediately remembered who he was talking about, "Marco."
"Yes, Marco." Keith answered as he reached for the paperwork for a launch of a satellite on Pluto's moon, Kerberos, but Katie already slid it closer to her boss, "Yes. I did call him. I told him that if he doesn't get the prints in on time you won't even glance at his work. Your immigration lawyer called. She said that it was imperative that-"
"Cancel the call with Moore, push the meeting to next week, and keep the lawyer on the sheets." Keith handed Katie some papers, "Hand that to Gutierrez and tell him to prepare himself. I got him an interview with CNN after the launch of 'CASTLE'."
Katie nodded and looked at the papers with a raised eyebrow, "Wow. Nicely done." Keith grabbed his breakfast and pushed back his chair, "If I wanted your praise, I would have asked for it."
Katie began walking away to do as Keith ordered but stopped in her tracks when she heard Keith call out, "Uh, who's Julian? And why does he want me to call him?" Keith displayed the brown bag with a smirk, the words: CALL ME, xxx-xxx-xxx, JULIAN ;), clearly written in Sharpie on the outside of the bag.
Katie winced and backed up, hearing Keith continue, "I mean, I'm flattered but-"
"Well, that was originally my food." Keith raised a critical brow, "And why am I eating your bagel?" Katie took back a step and sighed defeatedly, "Because your food was consumed by trash." Keith nodded like a mother would to tease her child when they're in trouble, "So, you regularly eat Cheesy Hash Brown bagels?"
"I do, actually, it's like breakfast in a bagel." Keith leaned back in his chair with an amused smile playing on his mouth, knowing that Katie messed up and she still wanted to play it off as nothing, "Is that a coincidence?" Katie jokingly nodded her head, "Incredibly, it is." Katie's attention was diverted once she heard the phone ring, "I mean, I wouldn't possibly eat the same food you did in case something would happen because that would be ridiculous. Commander Kogane's office."
"Good morning, Katherine. I was wondering if Keith was still coming to my office? He mentioned to me that he'll stop by?" Katie almost threw up at the sound of the voice of the most detested person in the building. Katie placed her hand on the phone's microphone, "Why are we heading to Lotor's office?" Keith turned in his swivel chair and clicked his tongue, sarcastically making an 'Oops' face. Katie imitated her boss' sarcasm as she returned to the call, "Yeah, we're heading over there right now."
Katie hung up and walked out the office, quickly finding a new open computer and she typed in the chat:
Loki is on his chariot.
She looked up from the screen to see the computer screens light up with the new notification and for everyone to run to their cubicles and pretend to work.
Katie then approached her boss as he made his way toward's Lotor's office and fell into pace with the brooding Commander, "Did you look at my prints?"
Katie turned to look at Keith as she waited for his answer, but he only looked straightforward, "I looked at some of it, I wasn't impressed." Katie scoffed,"Can I say something?" Keith sighed, "Please don't."
Katie ignored her boss' reply and continued with what she was going to say, "I've seen hundreds of weapons and I only showed you the kind of designs you tend to lean towards-"
"That's where you are mistaken, Katherine." Keith glanced down to Nyma's clothing as she passed by, catching a whiff of old coffee grounds as he passed by, "And I do think you order the same food as me, which is, in fact, ridiculous."
"Or admirable." Katie defended as they reached Lotor's office. "I'd admire you if you didn't drop my food in the first place." Keith opened the door to Lotor's office and stepped in, leaving Katie to mentally plan Keith's murder. She eventually calmed herself and walked in behind him.
"Ah, our fearless leader and his aide. Please, come in." Lotor was proudly standing tall in front of Keith and Katie, his hand on his hip as he examined some things on his laptop, but Katie (nor Keith) didn't miss the hungry looks he gave Katie as she walked in.
Keith turned on his heel, completely ignoring the looks, and his eyes caught a new display on Lotor's room, "Impressive model, is it new?" Lotor proudly smiled and cockily replied, "I built to resemble Explore 1 three years ago but, yes, it is new to my office."
Keith glanced down to Lotor's arrogance and smiled to himself, "Witty. Lotor, I'm letting you go." Lotor looked up from his laptop with an incredulous look in his eyes. Katie also seemed surprised because she too turned her head to look at Keith. Lotor spoke up but it only came out like a peep, "Pardon?"
"I told you a hundred times to get Gutierrez an interview with CNN and you didn't do it. You're fired." Katie, still dazed with this new information, closed the door quietly and leaned against the wall.
"I have told you it is impossible. Gutierrez can't do interviews, he has social anxiety." Keith chuckled sarcastically, "Well that is interesting because I called him yesterday, and he is in."
Katie's eyes dashed to Lotor, who was slack jawed, "Excuse me?"
"You didn't even call him, did you?" Keith accused, while casually leaning against a desk Lotor had cornered against a wall. "I-I"
"I know," Keith began with a mocking tone, "Gutierrez is pretty scary since he is big and tough... for you." Katie had to bite her tongue to keep herself from laughing, "Now, I'll give you two months to find another job. And then you can tell everyone you resigned, OK?"
Keith left without another word, Katie following hot on his trail. Keith breathed out, "What's his twenty?"
"He's moving. He has crazy eyes." Katie stated as she looked back at Lotor making his way out of his office.
"Don't do it, Lotor. Don't do it."
"You poisonous d*ck!" The whole room froze and gasped, stopping what they were doing and began paying attention to what was unfolding in front of their eyes.
"You can't fire me! You... firing me on this whole CNN thing just so you could look good to Bergen and Malloy. Because you are threatened by me!" Keith chuckled but Lotor continued, "And you are a beast." Keith rolled his eyes and warned him, "Lotor, stop."
The whole office was dead silent and a phone was ringing in the far distance, though no one was attempting to pick it up. "Just because you have nothing and no one to love in life doesn't mean that you can order everyone around and insult us like bags of garbage. You know... I feel sorry for you? Because you know what you're gonna have on your deathbed? Nothing and no one."
Lotor finally stops his ranting and looked toward Katie, who was sucking in her lips in worry over what Keith was going to do, and looked her up and down again, this time not even hiding the crazy look in his eye, "And someone as beautiful as Katie doesn't deserve such a douche of a boss like you."
Katie lowered her head in embarrassment for Lotor and she could hear Keith breathe in deeply and begin, "Listen carefully, Lotor. I didn't fire you because I was threatened. Because, honestly, what should I be threatened of? No. I fired you because you are lazy, stupid, incompetent, conceited and a traitor. You have given multiple prints from potential spacecraft over to Galra Industries. And you spend more time eyeing my assistant's backside more than you do in your office. And if you say another word, I will personally have you thrown out on your *ss, OK? ANOTHER WORD and you're going out of here with an armed escort. Katherine will film it with her phone and post it on every social media network there is. Is that what you want?"
Lotor looked at Keith with his eyebrows furrowed, clearly showing his embarrassment but tried to hide it with a look of confusion, "Didn't think so. I have work to do." The second Keith turned his back, every worker turned back to their respective cubicles acting as if they were working the whole time. Katie turned to follow Keith and, as if he knew what was going on behind him, Keith turned and shot Lotor a warning glare before turning around again.
Lotor angrily stepped back into his office and began packing his things. Keith, still needing to blow off some steam began, "Call security and tell them to put Lotor's model in my conference room."
"Will do."
"And I need you around this weekend to help review his files and his prints." Katie started worrying, remembering an important family issue happening this very weekend, "This weekend?"
Keith, now tired with everyone's bull, turned to Katie and looked at her with an exasperated look in his eyes, "You have a problem with that?" His purple eyes stared into Katie's honey brown eyes, scaring her slightly, "No- I- I... just my grandmother's 90th birthday, so I was gonna go home and," Keith rolled his eyes and ignored Katie, walking into his office with and angry feel to his steps, "...it's fine. I'll cancel it. "You're actually saving me from a weekend of misery, so it's... good talk, yeah."
Katie stopped in front of Keith's office, watching after him with anger in her eyes, then she calmly stepped into her cubicle right next to his office to begin her work for the day.
After a few hours, Katie found some spare minutes to call her parents to tell them the news that she won't be coming to her grandmother's birthday party, "I know, I know. Tell Grammy I'm sorry, OK? Mom, what do you want me to do? He's making me work the weekend. No, I'm not... no. Listen, I've worked too hard for this promotion to throw it all away, OK? I'm sure Dad is pissed, but we take all of our designs here very seriously. We'll get back to you as soon as we can."
Katie shook her head in mock disbelief as she turned her head towards her boss, who saw right through Katie's horrible acting, "Was that your family?"
Katie nodded, "Yes." Keith put his hand on his hip, "They tell you to quit?" Katie quipped back, "Every single day," As she extended her hand to pick up the now ringing phone.
"Commander Kogane's office. Oh... Yeah. OK. All right." Katie sighed as she hung up the phone, "Bergen and Malloy want to see you upstairs immediately."
Keith groaned, "Come get me in ten minutes, we've got a lot to do."
"Okey-doke." Katie responded, immediately making faces the second her turned around. She crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue but she immediately stopped when Keith spoke up, "I know what you're doing, Katherine."
She stopped and sheepishly began working on her laptop again, rushing to pick up a phone that began ringing.
Keith walked towards his boss' office, ignoring the greeting his secretary offered. Keith opened the door and greeted his boss, "Jack, Edwin."
Jack Bergen was seated at his desk with Edwin Malloy leaning on a desk. Jack Bergen was the first to acknowledge Keith's entrance and greeted, "Keith, congratulations on the CNN thing. That's terrific news."
Keith bowed his head in thanks as he approached the desk, the sun making his numerous medals glimmer, "Thank you, thank you. This isn't about my fourth raise is it?"
Jack laughed and shook his head, "Keith, do you remember when we agreed that you wouldn't go to the Frankfurt Convention because you weren't allowed out of the country while your visa application was being processed?"
Keith nodded, "Yes, I do."
Jack continued, "And... you went to Frankfurt." Keith nodded, "Yes, I did. We were going to lose DeLillo to Galra. We needed him on our team. So, really didn't have a choice, did I?"
Jack sighed and picked up a piece of paper from his desk, "So it seems the United States government doesn't care much who hires an astronaut."
Now, Edwin spoke up and continued what Jack began explaining, "We, uh, just spoke to your immigration attorney." Keith sighed in relief, "Oh, so we're good? Everything good?"
Jack sighed, "Keith, your visa application has been denied. And you are being deported."
Keith's eyes widened, "Deported?" Jack kept reading from a little sheet of paper, reading off from a warning, "And apparently there was also some paperwork that you didn't turn in on time."
Keith breathed out nervously, "Come on. Come on! It's not like I'm even a terrorist! I work for the government for crying out loud. There's gotta be something we can do."
Edwin spoke up again for the second time during the meeting, "We can reapply, but unfortunately you have to leave the country for at least a year."
Keith inhaled deeply again and managed to compose himself, "OK. OK, well, that's not ideal, but, uh.., I can, uh... I can manage everything from Daejeon... with video calls and..."
Edwin sighed, "Actually, Keith, if you're deported, you can't work for an American company." Jack continued, "Until this is resolved I'm going to turn operations over to Lotor."
Keith choked up, "Lotor? The guy I just fired?" Jack interrupted Keith's sure ranting, "We need a Commander in Chief. He is the only person in the building who has enough experience."
Keith shook his head, "You cannot be serious. I beg of you."
"Keith. We are desperate to have you stay. If there's anything we can do-"
"Excuse me?" Katie knocked on the door right as Keith began a lecture. He turned around frantically and glared at the assistant, but she didn't react. Jack lifted his hand, "No. Excuse me, we're in a meeting."
"Sorry to interrupt." Katie began while Keith glared at her interference, "What? What!"
"Mary from Sven's office called. She's on the line."
"I know."
"She's on hold. She needs to speak with you. I told her you were otherwise engaged. She insisted, so... sorry." Katie apologized while motioning for Keith to follow her, but all she got was a weird stare from her boss. After a few seconds, Keith whispered, "Come here." Katie furrowed her eyebrows but nonetheless closed the door and approached her Commander.
"Gentlemen, I understand the predicament that we are in. And I think there's something you should know." Keith backed up and wrapped his arm around Katie's shoulders, "We're getting married." Katie looked around the office, "Who's getting married?"
Keith looked down at Katie with a threatening smile, "We... We're getting married. You and I. We're getting married." Katie got the memo but she did not expect this to happen. She was shocked and frankly couldn't utter a word, "We are..."
"-Getting married." Keith finished, smiling to the two administrators. Edwin, however, was not buying it at first, "Isn't she your secretary?"
"Assistant." Katie corrected, though she was still trying to figure out what was going on.
"Executive... assistant secretary. Titles. But, wouldn't be the first time one of us fell for our secretaries. Wouldn't it Edwin? With Laquisha? Remember? So yeah. The truth is, you know, Katherine and I, we're... just two people who weren't meant to fall in love but we did."
Katie shook her head in disbelief, "No." Keith, however, continued on, "All those late nights designing and conventions kinda opened our eyes." Katie kept shaking her head looking up at Keith, "No."
Keith tugged Katie closer and nuzzeled his hand next to her neck, but didn't try anything, "Can't fight a love like ours. So... Are we good with this? Are you happy? 'Cause, we're happy! So happy!"
"Keith."
"Yes?"
"It's fantastic. Just make it legal." Keith rose an eyebrow but then realized, "Oh! Oh." He pointed at his ring finger, "Legal. Yeah, okay. Well, that means we need to go to the immigration office. So we can work this whole mess out. Right? Thank you very much, gentlemen."
Katie nodded in a daze. What. The. Hell? Did I miss the dates?
Keith then took Katie's hand and led them out of the office, immediately letting it go the second the stepped out of those doors. The ride on the elevator was dead silent, neither saying a word. And they thought that no one knew of the news, but they were so wrong the second they stepped foot on their floor.
Katie could hear the blips of computers as they passed by their coworkers. Some even daring to whisper loudly, "Katherine and Keith are getting married!" And Katie could here someone else whisper, "What is that about?"
Katie glance at her other coworkers and caught sight of Shay shaking her head in approval, winking at her. Then she saw Plaxum shaking her head, "Mhmm." Katie blushed a bit and then she saw Nyma cackling to herself, "Katie. Really? Him?" She continued laughing and then Katie finally reached Keith's office.
Katie slowly closed the glass door behind her, looking once more at her coworkers who were actively commenting on her engagement to the Commander. Katie walked away from the door and stood in front of Keith, who unrolled a new blueprint to start studying.
She only stood there with no words, her fingers fiddling with the buttons on the chairs. Keith's eyes lifted for a second and caught sight of Katie. He sighed and rolled his eyes, "What?"
Katie tilted her head, "I don't understand what's happening." Keith flipped to the back of the print, "Relax this is for you, too." Katie leaned on the chair, "Do explain."
"They were going to make Lotor chief." Katie rolled her eyes, "So naturally I would have to marry you?" Keith rolled his eyes, "And is that a problem? You had someone in mind?"
Katie sighed frustratingly, "Not really. Anyways, it's illegal."
Keith chuckled, "They're looking for terrorists, not space engineers."
"Keith." Said man lifted his face from his work and stared Katie down, "What?" Katie shook her head and stood her ground, "I'm not going to marry you." Keith placed his stuff down and quipped back, "Sure you are. Because if you don't your dreams of became a well-known space engineer are dead."
Katie's glare wavered as she heard those words and listened to Keith's reasoning, "Lotor will fire you the second I'm gone. Either that or he'll keep you here just so he can stare at your bum, which I know is something you don't tolerate. Guaranteed. That means you've wasted five years tucked in my office, the bagels, the cancelled dates, the midnight Aspirin runs, were all for nothing and your dreams of being a Commander are gone."
Katie started breathing heavily, "Don't worry, after the required time, we'll get a quickie divorce. But until then, like it or not, your wagon is hitched to mine. OK? Phone." Katie stood breathing heavily, currently cursing the hell out of her boss in her mind. She grunted at her obnoxious and stuck up boss and stomped to the phone, politely answering, "Commander Keith's office."