Katie was sitting in a bar in New Orleans, nursing a beer, on her semi-involuntary vacation. It had taken her a bit to track down the person she was waiting for but she was convinced he would be worth it. He was one of the people she had genuinely enjoyed serving with before she'd joined the unit and essentially dropped contact with everyone. That had been years ago. Smirking to herself, she wondered what Trevor's reaction would be when he saw her face.

Technically, Katie's tenure as a member of Five-O didn't start until Monday. With it being New Year's Day, no one was in the office anyway. Steve had thought she was a little nuts to want to go in, when they had a perfectly comfortable house to lounge around. She'd promised him that she wouldn't be gone long, back before he could finish making lunch.

She just needed a few minutes to take the entire thing in. Hawaii was a world away from Missouri, and working for the Governor of Hawaii was a lot different than the Army. It was a bit of shell shock for her - she had been with the Army since graduating Boston College. Now she was a civilian, and a civilian taking orders at that. For her, it was a lot to take in, and it did catch up with her sometimes. She'd had a few sleepless nights wondering if she was going to be any good.

For once, her concerns didn't have anything to do with her age (although it had come up in conversation yet again). Steve had been doing a good job getting her to stop worrying about it so much. It was more if she could adapt to how he and his team did things. She was no longer calling the shots. No longer protected by the secrecy of classified operations. No longer able to call for an air strike. Would she be the same soldier? Or would she just be a fish out of water?

She didn't know. But she knew, as scared as she was, deep down inside, she wouldn't change her mind. What she had was a man that loved and respected her, and a child on the way. Those things meant more than her career or any professional pursuits. For once in her life her personal life was the most important thing - for once in her life she had a personal life. Her life was completely backward. It scared the hell out of her, but at the same time, she finally felt fulfilled.

"Maybe," she murmured, "I did this whole thing backwards the entire fucking time."

Katie was glad that she had met someone new, but she was having a hard time adjusting. She had been doing things one way for twenty years and now she had to do them differently. She had finally gotten used to being on her own, only to have someone come into her life that wanted to be a partner in her life. And unlike Tom, this time she actually believed the guy when he said it.

And she actually had something to go home to. Which, being a creature of habit, she had forgotten about. She just wasn't used to being loved. Which made her all the more upset that she couldn't stay and had to go back to Missouri, a place she had come to hate.

Katie thinks Steve's lost his mind. That's the first thing she thinks of when she gets back to Fort Griffith after a very exhausting week, to find out that she's being transferred. To his damn unit. The idea of working with someone she's sleeping with makes her apprehensive, but she trusts Steve more than she did Tom. So when she turns up on his doorstep a week after that, she's just smirking.

"You bastard," she says, clearly joking, then nearly purrs, "You sexy fucking bastard."

So...I'm pregnant.

For those of you who haven't heard, The Unit was (sort of gratefully) cancelled by CBS. Since Katie takes a lot of her plotline from canon, this means it's going to be a little more interesting for me to continue writing her.

Myself and the other Unit muns are tossing around ideas for a virtual fifth season, and doing individual episode plots...or I may just write her on the fly like most muses and see where she goes. Either way Katie will definitely be sticking around (along with Brian, Michaela and the rest of the gang).

Stay tuned.

"I told you that I would take you anywhere. So pack up some things and let's get the hell out of here."

It's so tempting to walk away. To retire. To not ever fight another day ever again. To go somewhere safe, and quiet, and never look back. Katie knows if she did, no one would judge her. She knows if she did, Tom would go with her.

But she can't force herself to take that step. All she has ever known or trained for is the Army. They would have to move, and she doesn't want to pack up everything, to get a new house. She's at home here, in this house, with all of her brother's things and Tom's furniture. She doesn't want to leave her friends, the only friends she's ever had. Those things are difficult. Those things will hurt.

Stupid emotions. Stupid emotions she didn't feel until she met David. And then didn't even understand until she met Tom. Stupid things this stupid marriage has made her feel. Before Tom, she'd just walk away and disappear. But now she won't go without Tom, and then Mack would feel let down, and Mack wouldn't go without Michaela and the girls, and...

She can't leave. Not now. Maybe not ever. And it makes her cry, because she wants to so badly, but it's what drives her away that makes her want to stay.

Lt. Col. Katie Cohen Ryan
The Unit
213 Words

OOC: This episode is written presuming that 4.22 is the series finale of The Unit. That said, information here is subject to change if the series does somehow miraculously earn a renewal.

Tactical Operations Center
Fort Griffith
Missouri

"Are we sure?"

Tom glanced over at Katie as the two of them walked down the hall toward the forward TOC. Though the two of them maintained a brisk pace, they may as well have been talking about whose turn it was to do the laundry. "As sure as we're gonna be," he said. "You think it's bad intel?" His eyebrow arched as he reminded himself that she was one of the foremost intelligence experts in the country (at least, if you asked anyone that had actually worked with her, which was a small and generally ignored minority of rank and file INSCOM staffers).

"If we're talking about a major city blowing up, I'd like to double-check my sources," she replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Your sources are a guy at SecDef who tried to leave Mack for dead and a guy who keeps appearing and disappearing more than David Copperfield," Tom pointed out. This got him a mildly irritated look from Katie, but she couldn't argue either point. "We'll check it again," he said to appease her as they walked through the door directly into the front of the main room.

"Katie," Brian Falkenborg called the moment he laid eyes on her. "Something's off."

( Cut for spoilers for The Unit 4.22: Unknown SoldierCollapse )