I'm not a hardship. I'm awesome.

It was the first day of the rest of their lives.

Okay, so maybe that a little overly dramatic, but Kate was pretty much feeling like that. It was still morning, but Tara and Max had more or less packed all their stuff in the truck already. Max was just fetching the last few of the bags now.

They were all gathered in the front yard: Charmaine with Wheels in her arms, Neil, Bod, Kate, and Marshall. And Tara, of course, fussing with some of her bags before the goodbyes.

Kate looked like she was going to cry, but then she'd been looking like that all morning.

( And so Tara is sent on her way. )

All things, including emotional turmoil, calmed down eventually. By the afternoon, tears had dried, Charmaine and Neil had taken Wheels to the park, and Marshall had gone for a walk. Only Kate and Bod remained.

Standing in her parents' kitchen – her kitchen now? – Kate glanced around, sighed, and wondered when she should start moving her crap over from next door.

[ooc: NFB. Once more, preplayed with the utterly fabulous nimeni, and taken and tweaked from the very end of USoT S03E12, also known as the series finale, woe. NO MORE CANON. Open for that guy, and calls and texts!]

It had been a few days since Kate had been back home. It had been about a week where she'd been, mostly hanging out with Bod, waiting for the call that she knew would come. Her dad rallying the troops. Marshall was staying with their Grandma Sandy, and Kate was sure he was expecting the same.

The call had come today, so... Here Kate was, walking into the Gregson house again, bag over her shoulder and wearing a yellow sweater with the face of a polar bear on the front of it. She'd bought it while she'd been away. If you liked reading into things, there could have been symbolism there. Or maybe she just liked bright colors and bear motifs.

( Art and other things. )

[ooc: NFB, preplayed with the incomparable nimeni, to be continued in the comments! Lifted and tweaked from USoT S03E11 'Crunchy Ice'. Warning for Bryce being a creeper at everyone. Seriously, I lack proper labels for this.]

Kate would've almost been glad to know her day was taking for-fucking-ever So, to recap: Last night, crab and Bryce. This morning: worrying methods of dealing, and being glad to go to work, even if that meant dropping Luke off at the Portalocity hub at the Airport. She really should've expected the day to continue on as not-good as possible. See, she was in Tulsa, yet again, when she got the call. It was Charmaine.

( Oh come on, canon. )

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC-okay! Still taken with maximum tweakage from USoT S03E10. Warning for off-screen NPC death and a brief mention of what is essentially misuse of prescription drugs. And to think this show was supposed to be a comedy, guys.]

Yup, time was still playing tricks. Not that Kate had noticed yet, but it had been two days in Fandom while it had been just the one for her. Meaning, she was only getting home just now. Well, not home. Metcalf Bar & Grill, actually. The setting for her dad's birthday party. It was already evening by the time Kate and Evan got there. It had been a long ride. Fun, too, though. Evan was good company. Easy to talk to, not that they'd talked about anything of much worth. She was saving that for other people.

Once they pulled up to the bar, she picked up her various candy wrappers and empty cups from his car, her travel carnage. He called her a slob and they both laughed. "This was ridiculously fun," she said, which gained a nod from him. "Thank you for the ride, and thank you for stopping every 30 minutes for my microbladder." Evan smiled at her. "Yeah, of course, yeah, anytime. Thanks for the company. And I'll see you in two weeks. Eight AM to Springfield."

"Bright and early," Kate agreed, moving to get out of the car, wrangling her bag to follow along with her. Evan checked if she needed help but she was fine without any. "Okay, bye." With a little wave, she made her way to the bar. Inside, she ditched her bag by the door. The party was in full swing, with lots and lots of people and colored lights and her dad on the stage up front, with his guitar (Chastity Stargazer, it was called) and his band. And was he –– he was totally rocking some guyliner! Kate waved at him, excitedly.

"Katie-Kate, you made it!" he called back to her. Her mother was equally welcoming, giving her a big hug as soon as they came across one another. Charmaine did the same. Marshall and his boyfriend thing were all smiles too, when Kate ended up next to them.

"Hey, thanks for coming down, everybody," her dad called from the stage. "It's good to be back on stage with the Beaverlamp boys! I want to dedicate this first song to my beautiful and amazing wife, Tara."

It looked like it was actually going to be a good night.

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC-okay. Still taken from USoT S03E07. This was totes supposed to happen yesterday, but a major headache prevented my brain from functioning adequately.]

After shuffling Bod off to the Portalocity terminal, Kate was left alone, waiting for her flight. The loudspeakers above droned on about smoking and solicitations in the terminal building being prohibited, but she wasn't listening. She could barely sit still in her seat. Staying quiet was impossible.

So she turned to the random guy next to her. "Where are you headed?"

"Business in Chicago," he said, barely glancing up from his laptop. "By way of St. Louis."

"St. Louis?" Kate repeated, her already wide smile getting wider. "Me too. Same flight. St. Louis to San Fransisco, San Fransisco to Osaka... Osaka, Japan."

The man nodded a few times, said a polite 'oh', then went back to whatever it was he'd been doing. Too bad Kate was really too hyper to take a hint right now. "You know, Osaka is a lot like Chicago," she said. "It's a real economic juggernaut. Two and a half million people live there, and in the morning, another million commute there for work. Melts the mind, don't it?" She grinned and took another sip of her iced coffee. "I'm going there to teach English."

"That's something."

( Blah blah blah; disaster strikes. )

[ooc: NFB, NFI, ooc-okay! Taken and tweaked from USoT S03E03.]

It was the last day of July, and a sunny Sunday afternoon in Overland Park. Tara had wanted to throw a party in the Gregsons' backyard for the end of summer and the return of her daughter and every good thing she could think of, and so it had come to pass. There was food, and people (some neighbors, some friends from a little further off, and Bod who'd already shown up last night), and a karaoke machine set up under the arch that had been prettying up the back yard ever since Charmaine had failed to get married, earlier in the year.

Everything was pretty perfect. All that was missing was the hostess, though, because no one actually knew where Tara was, but... They were sadly used to that. So, Max was grilling, Charmaine and her belly were off to the side having a Diet Coke she shouldn't have been drinking, Ted was mingling with some people, and Lionel was filming Kate and Marshall.

And the aforementioned Gregson siblings? Were singing their hearts out, doing an enthusiastic karaoke version of Mmmbop. They looked to be enjoying themselves.

It was looking to be a good day on Oak Avenue.

[ooc: NFB, and for the boooy up there in the narrative, and myself in various guises. Bits and pieces taken from United States of Tara S03E01, '...youwillnotwin...'.]

Kate was packing. Not everything, of course. Not even the stuff she wanted to take with her. For now, she was packing the things she didn't intend to take with her. Everything that looked childish was going in the cardboard box on her bed and she was happy to do it. They'd been around too long already. Just like she had.

Tomorrow, she and Zach were intending to go see an apartment Kate was already enamored with, and there was a good chance they'd get it on the spot. It seemed amazing, from the pictures and description online, and it had wiped out any and all doubts she may or may not have had about this whole thing. In her head it was already the next weekend, and she had a place of her very own, away from the Gregson house on Oak Avenue, away from Fandom.

And that called for some sacrifices.

"Bye bye, froggy alarm clock," Kate told the green object in her hands, pushing out her lower lip at it to show how utterly unfortunate it was that they had to part. "There is no lilypad for you at my new topfloor penthouse suite." And she couldn't help but grin at those three words as she shoved the clock in the box. "I love the way that sounds." She struck an effortless little pose, something she thought looked classy and suite-like, before picking up a pile of books and putting those in the box as well. "Topfloor penthouse suite, please."

( Under this cut: everyone who's hated Zach go \o/ and Kate has a Crowning Moment of Awesome. )

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC-okay! Taken from USoT S02E12, post one of two.]

This wasn't quite what Kate had expected her family to do in preparation for the start of the big redecoration project.

It was late, and the Gregsons were gathered in front of a Planet Aid clothing donation bin. They were all looking at it, almost as if expecting something to happen. Like maybe Tara would start switching and the alters would all come rolling out and express their disdain for why Max was carrying a box filled with all their stuff.

Because they were here to dump them. The meds had been working for a while now. Tara hadn't transitioned in months. And she'd been thinking about doing this for a while already, and now that Kate had come home for a few days, and they were boxing up some of their stuff anyway... Tara thought it was time.

But scepticism was in the air. Kate, as usual, took it upon herself to voice it, asking the question no one else had asked earlier in the evening or on the drive over.

( Are you sure you wanna do this? I mean, are we sure they're all gone? )

[ooc: NFB, NFI, OOC loved like pie. Taken from United States of Tara S02E01, 'Yes'. Whoo season two!]

“Are you sure you want to do this?” her mother asked as they hugged. Kate smiled and rolled her eyes. This wasn’t the first time Tara had asked her this. “Yes, I’m still sure. Really, I’m fine, Mom.” “She’s gonna be okay, Tara”, her dad chimed in, “she’s got the Gregson spirit, she can do anything. C’mere Katie.” Kate felt like a little kid as she passed straight from her mom’s arms into her dad’s. “Stay out of trouble”, he muttered into her ear, “otherwise I’m gonna look like a fool”. She answered with a little laugh, then pushed herself free. Her brother, who had been standing a bit further away as the parents staged their elaborate hugs, took a step forward and pulled something out of his bag. “It’s mostly Thelonious and Ella and Dizzy”, he said as he handed her the cd. “M.O.T.s and a mix cd? ...You’re so gonna miss me Moosh!” she grinned and pulled her brother in for a tight hug. Their mother took this as an opportunity to turn it into a family-sized group hug. Kate felt like they might never let go of her – and, just for a moment, she thought that it wouldn’t be so bad.

Kate did finally manage to disentangle herself, which was good, because that was the whole point of going to boarding school some states away. A little bit of distance between her and the Gregson family circus. She got on the plane and was on her way to Fandom Island and independence and exciting new things and people. And hopefully some sanity. Yes, after recent events, sanity and a sense of normalcy would be just what she needed. And how insane could a boarding school be?


[NFB due to distance, OOC mocking of Kate’s expectations of course very welcome.]