Out Of The Woods

All Of Me

"So, Keith," Colleen began, stirring her cup of coffee with a small spoon, "I haven't seen you in years. How have you been?"

"I've been uhm, fine?" Keith answered sheepishly, raising a brow.

"That's good to hear," Colleen smiled. "I didn't think that we would meet again under such circumstances, but alas, the world just plays perfect tricks of fate on us, doesn't it?"

Keith licked his lips. "With all due respect, Mrs. Holt, why did you bring me here?"

"I wasn't going to leave you alone in a baby store while Katie and Lotor attended an emergency page," Colleen responded with a roll of her eyes. "I may seem uptight and scary, but I'm not. My daughter is more uptight and scary than me, not the other way around."

"So that's where she got it from," Keith grinned. "Your daughter is one hell of a spitfire."

"She clearly got that from my side of the family. She got the sweet nerdy side from her father."

"Nerdy?"

"She goes nuts over computers," Colleen said with an amused grin. "Before she even considered going into pre med, she always talked about computers and codes. She can build so many things out of pure scratch. It's truly incredible."

"Pre med wasn't her first choice?"

"No," Colleen sighed. "She went into the field because she felt that it would make her more accomplished in life. She ended up loving it, though, and I've never heard her complain about it in the past three years of residency."

She raised a brow, tilting her head to the side. "Are you a resident?"

"Uh, actually, I'm not," Keith chuckled awkwardly. "I'm a fourth year med student as of this September."

"Oh, so you're starting your second year of clinical rounds. Interesting. Where did you do your first year of clinical rotations? Galra? Altea?"

"Marmora Hospital," Keith said with a sheepish grin. "My mom worked there, though, so I decided to switch hospitals. Besides, Altea has the best neuro program. They're more advanced than any other hospital in the state or region."

"Are you sure you're not just saying that because your brother is the head neurosurgeon there?"

"Shiro is great and all, but he's not the best. He had to ask my mom to assist him on a twin separation operation like, two weeks ago," Keith grinned. "She's more advanced in the neuro field.

Colleen smiled lightly. "Alright, so you're not biased. Good boy."

"Ha, yeah," Keith chuckled awkwardly.

"Keith, calm down. I'm not going to bite your head off, contrary to what Lotor and Katie told you."

"I never said that," Keith squeaked, his voice slightly cracking in embarrassment.

"But you were thinking it," Colleen said in dry amusement. "It's fine. Although, you really shouldn't wear your fear on your face. It makes a weak competitor in a field with sharks."

Keith raised a brow. "A field with sharks?"

"Don't act dumb, Keith. You know what I mean."

"You...you mean Lotor?"

"Do I?"

Keith shrugged unsurely. "I think so?"

"Well, whoever the shark is, you can't let him be the shark," Colleen said pointedly. "A minnow will be swallowed by the shark."

"But the shark doesn't really seem like a shark anymore," Keith said quietly, brows furrowed in confusion. "I'm not saying that he's a saint, but he's not as much of a shark as before. He's tamed down."