That was too far off - Charlie would have just been starting high school. Her short sojourn to Germany had been much more recent, and somewhat unwanted. Cat's next question was a perfectly natural turn in the conversation, yet Charlie dreaded it all the same. She glanced away as she tried to make up as blah sound of a lie as she could.
"Short vacation," she replied with a light shrug. In some ways, it wasn't a complete lie - she had been switched to leave after the accident, and then discharged. Once she'd recovered enough, her superiors had had her sent back to the States, despite it being completely against her will. Then again, Charlie had barely spent long enough outside the hospital to see the sights of Deutschland, so needing to play tourist would be a dead give away to her attempted deception.
Her hand slid up her arm as her eyes came back to Cat's face. "How'd you end up all the way over here, then? England, Germany, Calfornia?" The question was meant to deflect rather than inquire, and its intent was quite obvious. Charlie didn't honestly care if Cat took offense, as long as she didn't needle deeper into the topic that Charlie so apparently didn't want to discuss.