Author's Note: Four things you need to know before you start reading:
First of all: this is a series fic of loosely connected oneshots, based on the life of some real life MK (literally – but they're not navy... Still in some branch of the defence though scarily enough ;)) However, I'm not naming names – person/people know(s) who they are, and I do have their permission to fic their life.
Secondly: the ending of this story, basically depends on whether or not my other favourite MK couple stay together or break it off... Although, because this is fictional MK, I might just tweak the ending... ;D
Thirdly: Please give me back some feedback on this. I'd really appreciate hearing all your thoughts about this fanfic.
Fourthly: The chapters are only going to be short – a little under a thousand, over maybe, and rarely reaching the two thousand/three thousand plus mark. This is because a) it's time consuming to write (and I have school commitments to think about as well) and b) it would be drawing everything out a little too much. I'm going basic on all the conversation/descriptions because the real thing would be novel sized.
One Good Year (Or Something like It)
`Prologue: So the Fun Begins
It started with a cliché:
An exchanging of 'hellos'–
"Hi."
"Hey."
– a mentioning of names–
"I'm Kate."
"Mike."
–and ended with a shake of the hands and one final look over the shoulder, she walking back to her desk, and he going back to the front of the lecture hall.
---
The friendship goes like this:
A scribbling of notes–
"See you after class."
"By the beach, like usual."
–a few unexpected departures–
"I'm sorry."
"Goodbye..."
–and a re-meeting some five years later–
"Mike."
"Kate."
"I thought–"
"– I'd never see you again."
---
"So basically: you and Mike are made for each other, but can't be together because some guy in the navy made the rule about fraternization?" Nikki's eyes were wide with questions. She couldn't believe it. Mike and Kate? The boss and the executive officer? No. Seriously? Duh, they've only been flirting with each other for three years.
"We're just good friends Nik; nothing could ever go on between us." Liar, liar, pants on fire. "It'd be too weird." It's already too weird. "And besides... he's got a girlfriend."
"You mean that clingy brunette woman at the wharf each time we dock? That's his girlfriend? Sheesh, Mike; I thought you could do better than that."
"Nikki." Her name was a warning, although the tone used was laced with humour.
"What? I'm only being honest Kate," she grinned, picking up a magazine sitting on the table and flipping through it. "Seriously, she's like... indescribable – not in that way," she added, catching Kate's smirk.
"Hmm, it is hard to put words to someone you can hardly see, Nik," Kate replied, only half registering what she was saying as the man they had previously been chatting about walked into the wardroom.
"Hi, Sir!" Nikki cried, a little too enthusiastically.
"Uh, hi Nav," he replied with a frown. Half smiling at Kate, he sent her a silent question – their own little secret way of communicating without words. Her reply was a slight shrug of the shoulders and a dramatic roll of the eyes.
Mike laughed, catching the attention of Nikki who had returned back to her magazine briefly after saying hello. She raised an eyebrow at him, her smile turning sly as she noticed his attention to Kate. Grinning, she gave her excuses and left the two officers in private, quickly taking a right into the galley to relate to Bomber what she had just witnessed.