Hey everyone,
I'm back! Did you miss me hahaha.
Here's another one of my crazy ramblings!
This story takes place 5ish years after the finale. Jim had proposed to Kate but she didn't have second thoughts but then he gets killed in the explosion, Swain wasn't on the boat. Kate and Mike get together after Jim was killed but it didn't work out. I think that about sums it up, I don't want to give away too much!
The usual disclaimer – I didn't create the characters nor do I own them so please don't sue!
Hope you enjoy! Feedback is always appreciated! Xx
Charlotte
Chapter 1
Kate sat at her desk and let out a loud sigh, it had been a long day. Dealing with people was so exhausting, she never thought that working at Navcom would be more tiring than being out at sea. She had been asked to accept this position by Fleet Command, how was she supposed to say no? Having to deal with the media and being the "face" of the Navy was never something she saw in her career, but she was good at it, people responded to her, trusted her. She sat back in her chair and looked around her office and laughed to herself, it was 4 times bigger than her old cabin and yet didn't feel as comfortable. She was startled as her door flung open, a little girl with blonde pigtails bounced towards her.
"Mummy!"
Her exhaustion was forgotten as she saw her daughter's face. She knelt down and she ran into her arms.
"Hi baby girl! Did you have fun at kindy?"
The little girl smiled and nodded, her piercing green eyes sparkled, they were mirror image of her mothers. Kate sat back in her chair and she climbed into her lap.
"Look, I drew a picture..."
She waived it in front of Kate's face, Kate reached out and placed the picture on her desk. The girl's tiny fingers pointed to the characters on the page.
"There's you, me and Daddy!"
Kate's expression was froze, like the picture put her in put her into a trance. The little girl's lip quivered, threatening to turn into a meltdown.
"Don't you like my picture?"
Kate snapped back to reality and put on her best "Mummy" voice.
"Of course I do sweetie! It's going straight on the fridge when we get home!"
There was a knock on the door, Mike popped his head in. The little girl spun round and shrieked with excitement.
"Daddy! I missed you!"
Mike entered the office, she sprinted up to him and leapt into his arms, he caught her mid jump.
"I've missed you too Charlie!"
She pointed to Kate's desk.
"Look what I drew!
Mike carried her over to Kate's desk and sat her down next to the picture. He picked it up and nodded. Charlie crossed her arms over her chest.
"I don't think Mummy likes it very much!"
Mike smirked and looked in Kate's direction.
"I'm sure that's not true! Mummy never was a good judge of art anyway!"
He put her back down on the floor and knelt next to her.
"Hey, why don't you see if Auntie Max is in her office?"
Charlie's eyes lit up, she nodded and ran out the office. She yelled at the top of her voice.
"Auntie Maaaaax!? Where are you?"
Mike cringed and poked his head out of Kate's office.
"Charlotte! Quietly!"
She turned around and put her finger up to her lips, she tiptoed to Maxine's office. Mike laughed and sat down at Kate's desk.
"She's definitely your daughter!"
Mike noticed that she hadn't looked up at him once, he felt some tension, he was instantly concerned. Kate busied herself with paperwork, she could feel his eyes on her. He cleared his throat, hoping she would pay attention.
"So umm, how are things Kate?"
Kate's eyes glanced up for a second and then returned to the notes in front of her, she shrugged.
"You know, press release here, statement there! Saving everyone's asses! The usual!"
He was surprised when she took this posting years ago but it all made sense 6 months in when he saw her expanding stomach.
Mike could tell she wasn't in the mood to talk but they needed to communicate better, for Charlotte's sake. He lent on the desk bringing his face closer to hers.
"It feels like I haven't seen you for ages!"
Kate could smell his cologne, he smelt good. She closed her eyes and did the only thing should could think of to get him to move away, she had a go at him.
"Yeah well, you're always out at sea..."
Mike couldn't understand why she was being prickly, sure they weren't best friends but she was normally more civil.
"Kate..."
Kate shivered at the way he said her name, she always fell for his "concerned" tone, she had to make it stop.
"Mike, I don't have time to chit chat, I've got work to do!"
Mike knew there was something bothering her, he couldn't work out if it was him or work but he knew better than to push.
"Ok, well I'll take Charlie back to mine and you can pick her up later?"
Kate didn't look up from her paperwork.
"Sounds good, bye."
An hour or so later Kate had finished her work, she turned off her office lights, she was one of the last to leave. She headed to the underground car park, as she got out of the elevator a chill ran down her spine. She stopped before getting in her car, it felt like something or someone was with her, watching her. She shook her head and quickly got in the car, she sat there feeling silly, it had been a long day she was probably just exhausted.
Kate drove to Mike's house and got out the car. She heard a dog bark, she looked around, there was that strange feeling again. She knocked on the door and let herself in.
"Hello? Where is everyone?"
Charlie called out.
"We're in the kitchen making pizzas!"
Kate walked into the kitchen and smiled, Mike and Charlie were standing at the kitchen bench, Charlie on her step stool. They were wearing aprons that said "Masterchef" and "Juniorchef", it melted her heart. Mike looked up and brushed his hands on his apron.
"Hey! You looked like you had a rough day so I thought I'd make us dinner."
He poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her.
"Your usual..."
She smiled wearily.
"Thanks!"
She felt bad about being so short with Mike earlier, she had been so rude and yet here he was making dinner and he had bought her favourite wine. He could be so frustrating, in some ways he was so considerate but then so selfish at the same time, both of them could be so hot and cold with each other. She sat down at the kitchen bench and watched Mike and Charlie attempt to roll out the dough, she laughed.
"You'd better stick to your day job Flynn!"
A couple of hours later they had finished eating, Kate threw her crust back on to the plate.
"I'm stuffed! Thanks for this!"
Mike poured them another glass.
"Don't mention it, you know I'm happy to do this for both of you when I'm on shore leave!"
Kate knew he meant well and she did appreciate it, but the line between them was getting blurry and it made her nervous.
"Yeah I know, I just don't want her to get the wrong impression..."
They looked over to Charlie, she was asleep in the armchair cuddling her teddy bear. Mike turned his attention back to Kate, she was still staring at Charlie.
"Kate, is everything ok? Today at Navcom, something wasn't right..."
She didn't really want to discuss this with Mike, but he was the only one who might understand how she was feeling.
"It was the picture..."
Mike frowned, not understanding.
"What? The one Charlie drew?"
Kate nodded and took a sip of her wine.
"Mike, sometimes I feel like..."
Mike sighed, he knew what she was going to say. He always knew this was going to be hard but when they broke up it got harder. He put his hand on hers trying to reassure her.
"I know Kate."
She didn't want to get emotional in front of him but he knew her, he could see she was struggling, he moved closer and hugged her.
"Kate, don't do this to yourself... it's fine, we're fine!"
Kate rested her head on his shoulder, she closed her eyes and wished they could have made things work, it would have been so much easier. Their moment was interrupted by a crashing noise outside, it startled them and woke Charlie up. They ran to the door, Mike cautiously opened it, he saw someone running down the street. He shut the door, Kate was holding Charlie, she looked petrified.
"What was it?"
Mike shook his head and grinned.
"I think a runner just ran into a wheelie bin."
Charlie burst out laughing, Kate tickled her tummy.
"Well, we should probably get going."
Charlie started to thrash around in objection.
"No Mummy! I want to stay here!"
Kate put her down on the floor and gave her a stern look.
"Charlotte J McGregor, we've talked about this!"
Charlie put her hands on her hips, Mike couldn't help but laugh.
"She looks like you when you don't get your way!"
Kate shot disapproving look at Mike and put her hands on her hips.
"Don't encourage her Mike!"
Mike laughed harder, he put his hand over his mouth to try and muffle his laugh.
"I'm sorry Kate, but c'mon!"
He looked at Kate then at Charlie, their poses were the same and the look on their faces were the same. Kate rolled her eyes and hit him on the arm, he composed himself.
"Look, I'm on shore leave for a few days, I can have her if you like!"
Charlie grabbed Mike's hand and then Kate's hand.
"We can all have a sleep over!"
She inhaled slowly and closed her eyes, this is exactly what she was afraid of.
"See what you've done!"
Mike gave her an unsympathetic shrug.
"I do have a spare room!"
Kate looked at the pleading look on Charlie's face and gave in, it was late and she didn't have to go into the office tomorrow, she sighed and nodded. Charlie screamed with delight.
"Yay, sleep over!"
Kate slept in the spare bed with Charlie. Charlie kept tossing and turning and kicking her. Kate threw back the blanket in frustration and let out a growl. She got up and turned on the light, Charlie was fast asleep and laying diagonally across the bed. She sighed and tucked her back in, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She walked into Mike's room, she slowly moved back the covers and paused, this was definitely crossing the line but she was too tired to think about the consequences and slipped into his bed.
The next morning Charlie bound into Mike's room, she leapt on the bed and started jumping.
"Wake up, wake up!"
Mike sat up startled, he glanced at Kate lying next to him and smiled. He picked up Charlie and covered her mouth.
"Shhh, Mummy needs her sleep! Why don't we go and make her breakfast?"
Charlie nodded and ran out of the room. Mike pulled the blanket back over Kate and brushed the stray hairs out of her face. He watched her for a second and then went to the kitchen.
A little while later Kate awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs and coffee. She got out of bed and put on a pair of Mike's track pants. She made her way out to the kitchen, Charlie spotted her first.
"Mummy's up!"
Kate walked over to the bench and sat rubbing her eyes.
"2 meals cooked for me in 12 hours aren't I lucky?"
Mike smiled as he served breakfast, he slid her a glass of juice across the counter.
"Just like old times hey?"
Kate pretended she didn't hear him and began to eat her food. A million thoughts rushed through her head, it was too much, she had to get out of there before her feelings overflowed into actions. She shoved a few more mouthfuls into her mouth.
"Well, I've got some errands to run!"
Charlie crossed her arms over her chest and put on an angry face.
"Boring! Can I stay with Daddy?"
Kate looked at Mike, he nodded.
"That's fine Kate, I'm just at home today catching up on washing and things, we can hang out and I can drop her off later."
Kate got up and grabbed her hand bag.
"Thanks!"
She was about to head out the door when Mike called out to her.
"Ah, you may want to get changed first!"
Kate looked down, she was in her T-shirt and Mike's pants, she and blushed and ran back into the bedroom and got changed.
Later that afternoon Kate walked back into her house and chucked her bag on the counter, she looked at her watch and was surprised that she had finished in so little time. She loved Charlie so much but it took double the time to do simple errands with her in tow. She was appreciative that Mike could help out, she had no family here, he didn't either and all their friends were in the Navy, babysitters were hard to come by.
Kate sat on her couch and got out her diary, she started to tick things off her list.
She sat there for a moment and looked around, her house was eerily quiet. She felt that weird feeling again, a shiver went down her spine. She got up and wrapped her arms around herself, she opened up her curtains to let some natural light in. A pot plant was knocked over on the deck, she went out and straightened it. She then walked to the front door and opened it, she looked both ways outside and she shook her head.
"Get a grip Kate!"
She shut the door, a floor board creaked behind her, she froze as she heard a voice.
"Talking to yourself McGregor? You know that's the first sign of madness right?"
She spun round and saw a figure standing in her lounge room, he walked towards her and but stopped as he saw the petrified look on her face.
"Kate! Please don't be afraid!"
She wanted to scream but couldn't, her body was frozen and her eyes fixed on the person in front of her. She could hear her own heart beat, she managed to blink, she tried to refocus on the figure standing in front of her. She opened her mouth to try and speak, it came out as a whisper.
"Jim?"
He stood there admiring her on the verge of tears, it had been nearly 5 years since he had laid eyes on the love of his life. He smiled as tears overflowed and rolled down his cheeks.
"Hi Smudge..."
End of part one. Xx