Chapter 7E
Patricia held off long enough to close the door. Kacey stood with her arms folded as she waited for the tirade she knew was coming. Patricia walked into Kacey's personal space as she met her taller daughter's eyes. Kacey held her ground and stared down unflinching.
"Do you have any possible idea how much trouble you are in with me, Kirsten?"
"No, but I imagine you are going to tell me. You have always been very good about making your opinion known."
"You defied my orders."
"No shit, mom. There is a news flash. So why not tell me something I don't know."
"I told you not to go back down there. I ordered you, even forbade you. You had no business returning to the planet, yet you ignored my orders. You took a chance with your life. You had no way of knowing how you would have reacted if you had been stung. You could be laying right along side Kate. How could you be so thoughtless and careless with your life? Why would you want to put Natalia through what Anya is facing right now?"
"Natalia understood what I had to do, so kindly leave her out of this. I was not stung. I was in full protective gear. There was no way I could have been stung. The Docs have the nest. It was the only thing I could do. Like you said, it was my fault Kate was stung so I had to try to help her get well. It was my fault mom. I let my guard down and did not pay close enough attention to where we were. You made that abundantly clear."
"Kacey, I am so sorry, I said that. Sorry I blamed you. You did not deserve that."
"But you said it anyway. You did blame me mom. You must have believed it. Here is another thing for you to get angry about, if they need more of the hornets, I will go down again and again and again until they have enough. You can rant and rave and forbid me all you want, but to help Kate, I will do what ever I have to. I am an adult and I will make my own God damned decisions. I really do not care if you like it or not. Now you will just have to deal with it."
"Kirsten stop it immediately. You will not disrespect me that way. That was not the way you were raised. I will have no more of that talk from you. My daughter is laying near death in the next room."
"I am your daughter also. I will do whatever needs to be done to make sure Kate is all right. What are you going to do? Ground me? Send me to bed without dinner? Have dad spank me? "
"If I need to. I am your mother."
"You do what ever the Hell you need to do mom. Remember one thing, I am your daughter also. Would you have been so quick to blame Kate if the situation was reversed?" Kacey asked. Patricia's silence filled the room. "Your silence has made that answer abundantly clear." Kacey said and stormed out of the room.
"Kacey wait." Patricia called out. Kacey walked back into the room. "I did not answer your question because I don't know the answer. The situation is not reversed. That is the truth. I don't know how I would react. I do know this much, you are both my daughters and I love you both."
"But Kate was your golden child while I was the problem child. Is that it?" Kacey said and walked out. This time she did not stop when Patricia called her back.
She knew she had to walk off her anger at her mother. She went into the waiting room. The room was filled with a line stretching down the hall way.
"Got the volunteers you needed, Colonel. More are on their way. Those still on duty will be down after their shifts. We are all pulling for Captain Jensen."
Kacey felt her eyes fill with tears at the show of love and support from the crew. "Thank you. On behalf of my family, thank you."
She felt her anger leave and was calm enough to return to Kate's room.