6 years since she had seen him, 5 years since the birth of her Daughter, 6 years since he left with no explanation.

Now here she was standing here in front of him at NAVCOM in Cairns being told he was her new CO. She wanted to throw up, to run away and crawl into bed to never leave it again but then she remembered her beautiful Daughter she was doing this for her so she could have a better and brighter future.

"Nice to meet you Sir" she smiled as she saluted him she tried to pretend that this was all a dream and she would wake up soon, she blinked and she was still there standing in Commander White's office, she blinked again he was still there she knew this wasn't a dream.

"You'll start on Hammersley in a month" Commander White said as she took a seat behind her desk, Mike took a seat across from her so Kate followed suit.

"How long am I being posted for?" Kate asked praying it was only temporary

"You'll be on Hammersley for a 6-month trail and then it will be up to you to decide if you'd like to stay if not you'll get a recommendation to a Frigate, saying you served aboard Hammersley for the 6-month period" Mike said smiling at her.

Kate tried to avoid his gaze she hated the way he looked at her especially this way after it being 6 years he shouldn't be looking at her this way he lost that right 6 years ago when he left her.

"Thank you Sir" Kate said looking back at Commander White.

The meeting went for another 30 minutes before Kate was able to leave, as she made her way down to her car she heard Mike calling

"Kate" she stopped as she waited for him to catch up.

"Sir" she said as he stopped in front of her

"I was wondering if you'd like a guided tour of Hammersley?",

"Ahh sorry no can do, I've got somethings I need to do" Kate said making her way to her car

"Maybe we could catch up for a drink later then, talk about how this is going to go?" Mike said following her.

Kate stopped and turned on her heal "What do you mean how this is going to go?" she said getting upset

"Well you know because of our past",

"That's exactly it Sir it is in the past it no longer matters" Kate said looking at her watch

"Come on Katie, I think we need to talk about it to clear the air" Mike said being persistent.

"Please don't call me that, you lost that right years ago. I need to go now I'm late for something" Kate said turning on her heel and walking back to the car.

Mike stood there as he watched Kate drive off, how could he have been so crazy as to think things would still be the same as 6 years ago. When he was told Kate McGregor would be his new XO his heart skipped a beat, he'd never think he would see her again especially after the way he left all those years ago.

But then again he never thought she would be posted under him as his XO, hopefully he could mend things with her and become a good working team.

Kate made her way up the narrow hallway on either side were small school bags and art work done by kids, she was already running late but she knew how to make her daughter forgive her Chinese for tea it was.

As she entered the room at the end of the hall she was immediately given a soft hug almost sending her flying to the ground.

"Hey Baby, how was your day?" Kate said kissing the little girls hair,

"It was good Mummy I painted a picture" she said as she handed Kate a painting of a boat

"It's beautiful sweetie, why don't you go get your stuff then we'll head home ok" Kate said as the little girl ran towards her locker.

An older looking lady approached Kate while she was waiting

"Hi I'm Susie, you must be Claire's Mum" Kate reached out to shake her hand

"Kate, nice to meet you" she said smiling

"You have a precious little girl, she's absolutely wonderful" Susie said smiling at Kate as they watched Claire hugging another kid

"Yeah she's my everything" Kate said as Claire made her way over to them

"All ready Mummy, just need to get my bag" Claire said pointing to where the bags were hanging in the hallway

"All right lets head home then" Kate said as she turned towards the door

"Bye Claire, nice to meet you Kate" Susie said waving to Claire

"You to" Kate said as she took a hold of Claire's hand as they grabbed her bag and headed to the car.

"So I was thinking Chinese for tea?" Kate said looking at her daughter through the mirror

"Sounds good Mummy, but you don't need to suck up for being late" Claire said with a cheeky grin on her face

"What me never, I actually haven't unpacked anything to cook with" Kate joked as she looked at her daughter who was giggling away.

Later that night Kate and Claire were snuggled up on the couch watching Toy Story when the doorbell rang,

"Who's that?" Claire asked as she sat up on the couch

"I don't know" Kate said as she paused the movie and got up to answer the door, opening the door Kate was surprised to see Mike standing on the other side of the door

"Mike? How did you find out where I live?" Kate said pulling the door a bit to hide Claire who was on the couch

"I read your file, could we talk if you have a minute?" he said trying to look inside

"Ah I don't sorry, another time?" Kate closing the door quickly before he could say anything

"Who was that Mummy?" Claire asked staring at her mum who was leaning against the door

"No one important, come it's your bed time" Kate said as she scooped Claire up in her arms

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight?" Claire asked snuggling her head on Kate's shoulder

"Sure thing Kiddo" Kate said as they made there was upstairs to bed.

Kate awoke early hours of the morning she looked over to her sleeping child and smiled, how was she going to keep Claire a secret from Mike for much longer?

Tonight was a close call and she didn't know how things would go if Mike found out about her.

Claire was the only good thing to come out of their relationship and nothing or no one would ruin that.