Kate was sitting in her room the next week when a knock came at her door. She looked up from her Calculus book. Jared was standing there, hands in his pockets. 

"Hey," he said. "Got a minute?"

"Yeah. Any excuse to avoid having to deal with limits," she replied happily, turning to face him. 

Vedder looked up as Jared sat next to him on her bed. "That sounds like Hell," he remarked. 

Kate shrugged. "It is what it is. What's up?"

"I have some news," he started, taking a sharp inhale. "I took another role."

"On top of the one in Japan?" she asked. 

He nodded. "Yeah. It's a quick role. It was kind of last minute."

"Where is it?" 

"Budapest," Jared said carefully. "I'll be going there and then heading straight to Japan afterwards."

Kate was silent for a minute as she stared at the floor. "I won't be able to come with you."

"You've got school, so no," he admitted. "But I've talked to Emma and my mom and they both agreed to stay here with you while I'm gone. You won't be alone."

"You'll be gone until after Thanksgiving, though," she continued, still staring at the floor.

Jared sighed. "I know. Its a long time. But I don't really have a say, here."

Kate's eyes jerked up to his face in an accusing manner. "Seriously?"

"Okay, okay, that was the wrong thing to say," he said hastily. "That's why I have a plan." Kate arched her eyebrow. "Over Fall Break, you're coming out to Japan with Stevie. And then for Thanksgiving, we'll have it, just the two of us, in Japan, too. Does that sound fair?"

Kate was silent and turned back to her book on the desk. Jared watched as she started writing, punching numbers into her calculator. 

"Kate, talk to me," he prodded, nudging her knee with his foot. 

She slammed her pencil down and turned to face him. "Why did you accept this role when you knew you'd be gone for a long time?"

"Because it's for a role I really wanted!" he exclaimed. "I talked to you about this before! You told me it was okay if I went for it!"

"I know," she sighed. "But I didn't think you;d be gone for so long."

"It came out of nowhere. I thought I'd have a week or two to come back between filming, but that changed," he admitted. "I'm sorry. I know you hate it when you're alone. That's why I asked Emma and my mom."

Kate shook her head. "Fine. Whatever."

He watched her go back to her homework and stood. "I'm getting dinner. Do you want something?" he asked, trying to change the subject. 

"Sure," she said, without looking up. 

He sighed and walked down the hallway, leaving her alone. When his footsteps died away, Kate put her pencil down and looked at her book. Tears welled in her eyes and the page in front of her began to blur. She swiped her hand across her face before the tears could fall. 

It was stupid of her to get upset; she knew he was leaving to go film soon. She'd known for a while. But she wasn't prepared for how alone she'd feel when he left. Even after a year of living with him, she still felt like Jared didn't really see her as his daughter. Sure, he had changed a bit, but at his heart, he was still the same old free-wheeling carefree 40-something man who had appeared in her life the year beforehand. 

Part of her wished he could just stop acting and stop making music and find an office job or something like a normal father. As she looked out of her window, she saw him getting into his flame-covered Bronco and had to fight back a laugh. If he had been a normal dad, her life would be very different. His eccentricities were what made him so much fun to be around. She couldn't imagine him driving a black sedan and going in to work at a desk all day long. She certainly wouldn't be living in a decommissioned secret Air Force base with safe rooms and 12-foot concrete blast walls with radioactivity warnings spray painted on them. 

She looked over at Vedder at his place on her bed and she got up to crawl in next to him. The dog's life had improved considerably. He spent most of his days lounging in the sun by the pool or following Jared faithfully through the house. Once a day, Jared took him for a walk up and down the street, but by the end of it, he was dragging the dog back home. Celebrity life clearly suited the Great Dane and he was relatively unbothered by just about anything. In fact, Kate thought it would take a bomb blast to get the animal to shift at all. 

When Jared got back about an hour later, carrying a brown paper bag full of food, she met him in the kitchen. He was unpacking the contents on the island when she came in. 

"About before..." he started. 

"It's fine," she cut him off. "I get it. You've got to work. I understand." He paused his movements. "I'll survive."

"I'd try to keep the projects to when you aren't in school, but it's basically impossible," he explained. "You're literally always busy."

"I know, I know," she said. "It'll be fine. I'm sure Emma and Tom and I will have loads of fun."

He reached out and pulled her to his chest for a tight hug. "You know I'd hop on a plane to come back here if you needed me to, right?"

"I won't need you," she assured him. "But thanks all the same."

"No wild parties while I'm gone," Jared warned, releasing her and returning to the food containers. "Shannon won't be around to rescue you from them, either."

Kate blanched. "He told you?" she asked. 

"Yes," Jared said, sticking his tongue out. "He keeps secrets, but not from me, hun."

Kate made a mental note to chew her uncle out when she saw him next. "Where's he going to be, anyways?" she asked, sitting at the island.

"Seattle. He's got some business up there," Jared said, handing her a plate. "He's actually looking at a storefront for Black Fuel up there."

"Why?" 

He set a Chinese takeout box on her plate. "It's the coffee capital of the world; it makes the most sense to be right in the center of it all, right?"

"I guess. I just don't know how he's going to run it if he's living in Los Angeles," Kate reasoned. 

Jared stayed quiet as he opened his food. "I got you tofu fried rice. Is that alright?" he asked, changing the subject. 

"Are you ever going to actually cook in this kitchen?" she asked, looking around the room. 

The stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops were screaming to be used for something other than chopping up fruits and vegetables. Jared followed her gaze. 

"I don't have time, Gremlin. You know that," he sighed. "That's why we have Carlotta - or Michel - or whomever the hell it is that shows up and fills the fridge with food."

She scoffed. "Dude, you can't say shit like that."

"It wasn't meant in a bad way," he insisted, stabbing his own tofu with a pair of chopsticks. "I just meant that there's some magical food fairy that comes in and fills the fridge up. Whomever it is, I am grateful to them," he chuckled. 

She rolled her eyes. "You could cook if you wanted to."

"That's the operative word, want," he quipped. 

"I've never seen someone eat as little as you do at the same time as doing as much as you do," Kate said, shoving a big chunk of tofu into her mouth. "I don't know how you do it."

"Haven't you heard?" he asked, picking up his takeout container. "I'm a vampire," he said as he stuck out his tongue. "I can't sit. I've got some research to do. If you need me, I'll be in the south gallery."

She nodded and watched him go. These brief moments stolen between his projects were the only time she really got to spend with him. There was a time a year ago when she'd have been over the moon for him to leave her alone. Not anymore. With the new role, it meant that she probably wouldn't see him until the next evening. She picked up her container and walked back to her room, Vedder at her heels. Calculus awaited. 

Later that night, as she lay in bed, Kate allowed herself to think about what it would be like with Jared gone for so long. In the past, it had been short trips and she had stayed with Shannon or someone had stayed with her at the house. But this was different. it would be months before Jared was back, months of her in the Compound with no one to keep her company but her father's employees. A few weeks, she could handle, but two and a half months was going to be rough.