TITLE: You Haven't Lost Me Yet
CHARACTER/S: Robert 'RO' Dixon / OC – Kasey 'Danni' Green
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: RO doesn't do friends. RO doesn't do emotions. Except when it matters. Only once has he really had emotions, for one person. So when he thought he lost her he shut those emotions away for what he thought would be forever. So what happens when she reappears?

Chapter One:
Out Of The Blue

It wasn't easy getting a place on a patrol boat, but being on one at the moment certainly helped his cause. Well, it couldn't hurt it at least. So when Leading Seaman Robert 'RO' Dixon got a call telling him that his application to join one of the Darwin-based patrol boat fleet had been put in the top four he wasn't in the least bit surprised. He also wasn't surprised when they called him and told him to go to Darwin to meet the CO of the Darwin base Coonawarra. However, he was little set-back when they told him he wasn't going alone.

"What do you mean 'top four'?" He asked, speaking one of the CIS' working on base. "Is this some kind of competition?" He'd never heard anything so ridiculus.

The man chuckled. "Not exactly. Look, the CO of the Armidale is well, and eccentric man, but he's a friend to many so he kind of gets away with things. He wants the best CIS in the patrol boat fleet so you're kinda pitted up against others for the job."

RO suddenly regretted applying for the position he'd heard about from the CO. Mike Flynn had suggested his RO, who had been one of the few stable features of the Hammersley since it's inception, take up a lucrative job. The job of CIS on the Armidale with sought by many. The lead ship of the patrol boat fleet with a CO whom many considered the best in the patrol boat area. It also offered the possibility of ranking. Anyway, according to Mike, RO needed to switch it up. Under threat of being given horrid cleaning jobs, RO had applied. Then, as he got closer and closer to being given the job he grew more excited about it. He loved the Hammersley, but he knew to move on would be the best kind of adventure. It was funny how the Hammersley had changed his idea of living, but now he'd learnt all he could from her it was time to move on. What the Armidale would teach him he didn't know yet.

"Okay, I'll play the little game. But can you at least tell me who my competition are." He asked, hoping he could find something to use against them later. What was the world without a little sabotage?

"Just a minute, I have the list here." There was a rustle of papers. "Leading Seaman Dixon, that's you. Leading Seaman Will 'Tank' Wallis. Leading Seaman Kasey 'Danni' Green…" He continued, but RO had stopped listening. Kasey Green? It couldn't be, could it?

"Uh, Leading Seaman Green. She isn't related to Commander Green is she?" He said, asking about the HMAS Coonawarra's CO.

The man grunted. "Yeah that's her." He lowered his voice. "Daddy's girl. She's here at base – I can't stand her."

RO frowned. "Yeah, cool." But he wasn't listening anymore. Kasey Green? Again, after all this time, he'd see her again? He didn't know what to think. "Alright, well, thanks. I'll be there 1400 Friday." He put down the phone then stared at the desk.

He hadn't liked her one bit when they first met. She was too forward. Too much like his sister. Their first class together, 2H, was a year he wouldn't forget in a hurry. That day, after their small school year had been split into classes of 20, she had walked right up to him in class and introduced herself.

"Hello, I'm Kasey. Kasey Green. You're Robert, right?"

The way she held herself and the way she spoke had shocked him right out of his shell. No 7-year-old spoke like that! He'd eventually realised she was still grinning at him, standing there and waiting for him to suggest she sit at the spare table beside him for the rest of the year. But he didn't want her to. Now used to the other kids being put off by his aloofness, he'd spent the last two years sitting alone. Why change now?

"Yeah, I'm Robert Dixon." He finally returned, dumping his bag on the seat beside him. It hadn't mattered. The minute he'd replied it was all the permission Kasey needed to get friendly. She shoved his bag off the seat and put down her stuff. And the rest of Robert's year was spent missing being alone.

"Daddy." Kasey whined, sounding like a 6-year-old rather than the 27-year-old that she was. "This is so stupid."

Commander Green looked up, thoroughly embaressed by his daughter's behaviour. "Stop acting like a spoilt little brat Kasey Renee Green. This isn't the time or place for 'daddy'. Start acting your age."

Leading Seaman Green sat down across from her father quickly. Young, brunette and adequately pretty Kasey should've been the type of person who danced at bars until all hours of the night, but she'd grown up in a Navy family and thus had gone that way. And despite her random spoilt brat outbursts she was actually true Navy material. She could think on her feet, was unpeturbed by hard work and could hang out with the boys. But when it came to her father the little girl routine often got her what she wanted. It appeared now, however, that Michael Green had had enough. She got serious. "Dad this is stupid."

"Kasey, if you want this job you can play by Uncle Jonathon's rules."

Kasey sighed. Jonathon Rook, CO of the Armidale, had been her father's friend for years. It was probably why he got away with foolish games of what Kasey now referred to as 'CIS Survivor'. She'd known Lieutenant Commander Rook since she was a child and thought that applying for a position with him would be a shoe-in. Alas it wasn't to be. "It's not exactly Navy protocol though, is it?" She started questioning her father. It wasn't her best move.

"Young lady, when you run this base you can question it. Canberra don't have a problem with it. In fact they can appreciate how hard it is to find a reliable CIS, or anything else, that will be prepared to put in the long hours. Too many people join then realise they do like the nine to five jobs and stay on base for the rest of their lives."

"But I'm not one of those. You know that, I know that. So, why can't he just give the job to me?"

Commander Green sighed. "I have work to do Leading Seaman Green. If you have nothing better to do you can leave."

"It's my lunch break." Kasey defended herself. She sighed, knowing she wasn't getting anything else out of him. "Can I at least know who my enemy are?"

Without lifting his eyes her father drew a short list from his desk. Kasey scanned it then stopped on one name. Michael looked up when he realised she was holding her breath. "Kasey?"

Kasey dropped the list. "I might pull out, try for somewhere else."

Commander Green frowned. "What is it?" He looked at the list then realised what she'd seen. "This isn't the Robert you went to school with is it?"

Kasey nodded mutely, falling back into her chair. "I haven't seen him in almost 10 years." She sighed. "And that's not a bad thing." She bit her lip then dropped her head into her hands. "Gosh damned it."