Kate rested her hand on Mike's arm, her chest tightening at the pain reflected in his eyes. She knew how close he was to Lucy and she knew how badly this would affect him and his entire family.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Her question was innocent enough with her own concern for him showing through. However, Mike felt it was an intrusion of his privacy and didn't want to show any sign of weakness. He pulled his arm back away from him, anger flashing briefly across his face before guilt filled him.

"It wasn't your business to know," he said icily and his words hit her hard.

For a moment, Kate thought she had pushed him too far, but the flash of guilt that briefly passed through his eyes made her realise exactly what was wrong.

"Mike," she said cautiously, taking a step closer, "Don't blame yourself for this."

He shook his head, pulling his eyes away from her leaving them to flicker around the room to focus on anything but her.

"Why not?" He mumbled, "It's my fault she's sick."

She let out a frustrated sigh before reaching out with both her hands, resting them on either side of his face so he couldn't look away.

"Mike. This is not your fault. Lucy is not sick because of you…"

He cut her off, "Yes it is! She's my twin sister. I should have known."

"Mike…" she slipped her hand into his, gently squeezing his hand in reassurance.

His emotions boiled over.

"It should have been me," he whispered.

"Mike, please don't say that," she pleaded.

He looked at her, his blue eyes locking onto hers. The grief and guilt in them hit Kate hard.

"It should have Kate. I was always the stronger one and she was always the one who got sick. It should have been me this time."
His voice faltered and Kate noticed tears gathering in his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug and instantly felt him hug her in return. His arms tightened, pulling her closer towards him as quiet sobs started to fill the room. She held him, her hand rubbing up and down his back as she allowed him this brief moment of weakness. Slowly, the sobs subsided and he pulled back from her, his eyes meeting hers. He held her close, not willing to relinquish the comfort her hold had. He lifted his hand and gently cupped her face, his thumb gently caressing her cheek.

She leant into his hand, loving the feeling of his touch after a week of being on the boat.

"Are you feeling a little better?" she whispered.

He nodded his head, a soft smile on his face as he continued to gaze at her.

She returned his smile, "Why don't you stay here, make whatever calls you need to? Organise to get your family up, whatever you need to do, do it."

He shook his head, "I can't. I'm on watch soon." He drew back slightly as he remembered where they were.

"I'll do it."

"Kate, I can't make you…"

"You're not," she cut him off, "I'm offering." She took his hand and gave it a slight squeeze.

"Let me worry about the boat and you worry about Lucy."

Unable to help himself, he leant in and kissed her softly.

"What would I do without you," he barely whispered.

She smiled against his lips, "You would have told you XO everything and they would have done exactly the same thing."

He chuckled softly, "Not everything. You come with certain advantages."

She raised an eyebrow at him in question, "Advantages?"

He smirked before leaning in and kissing her. He pulled her body closer, running one hand inside her overalls.

"Advantages," he murmured into the kiss.

She let out a soft moan as she felt her knees weaken under his kiss. She wrapped her arms up around his neck to support herself, deepening the kiss.

"Captain. Request you come to bridge."

Mike let out a frustrated groan before reluctantly letting her go.

"I guess that's my call to go," she whispered breathlessly.

He nodded his head, "Thankyou."

She smiled at him before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss, "Talk if you need to. Don't keep it bottled up."

He kissed her again, still unwilling to let her go, "I will."

"Captain. Request you come to bridge."

Kate sighed before opening the door, throwing one quick smile back at him.

As Kate stepped into the bridge, Nikki whirled around, surprise on her face at the sight of Kate standing there.

"I called the Boss?"
Kate nodded her head, "I know. But he has some things to sort out so I'm taking tonight's watch instead."

Nikki nodded her head, confusion flickering across her face as she stared at Kate.

Kate, however, missed the look, her eyes gazing out across the darkening skies, hoping that things would pick up.

As another week passed, things got worse and Kate had no idea how they had spiralled out of control. Mike hadn't slept once and Kate was starting to get concerned at how he was deteriorating. His skin was pale, his face long and drawn and his eyes sunken with dark circles under his eyes. She had taken on his watches, hoping he would catch up on sleep but he only seemed to get worse. She cast a glance over at him, watching as he stared absently out through the window. She walked up next to him, discreetly reaching over and resting her hand on his arm.

"Go down and sleep," she said quietly. "I'll take your watch tonight."

He shook his head, quickly shrugging her hand off.

"I'm fine. I can do my own watches."

She let out a sigh, "Mike. Please."
He turned, his eyes narrowing at her, "That's enough X. You're excused."

She took a step back, knowing he wouldn't give in and turned and left the bridge.

She was sitting at her desk when she heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was Mike, she called out to come in. She was slightly surprised when Nikki walked in instead.

"Nav. What can I help you with?"
Nikki sat down opposite, staring at Kate as though assessing her. "What's going on?"

The question surprised Kate who sat back and stared at Nikki in shock, wondering what had brought this on.

"Excuse me?"

Nikki stared her down, "You know what I'm talking about. You and the Boss."

Kate let out a sigh and shook her head, "Nothing is going on. I'm just worried about him."
Nikki rolled her eyes in reply, "Whatever. You wouldn't be worried about him unless you had some feelings about him. And don't think I didn't see that little touch up there in the bridge, even if he did shake it off."

Kate just stared at Nikki, wishing the younger woman wasn't as astute as she was. She let out a sigh, knowing she couldn't keep any secrets from her.

"Okay. You can't tell anyone, but yes… we are together. Mike's got a few things going on with his family and I'm trying to make it easier for him so he doesn't have to worry about the boat but he's trying to do it all and it's starting to drain him. He shouldn't be doing it all but he won't listen!"

Nikki sat back after Kate's rant, wondering how it had taken her this long to actually realise they were already together. She had figured that there were feelings between the two but now she knew they were together… it was the juiciest gossip she had known. The temptation to tell the crew was overwhelming but as she looked at Kate's pleading eyes, she knew she couldn't break the friendship between them.

She nodded her head at Kate, "Okay, I won't tell anyone. I'll see if I can get him to come down and sleep."
Kate nodded her head, "Thanks Nik."

Nikki smiled as she stood up and turned to leave.

"You're telling me everything when we get back into port," she said over her shoulder.

Nikki walked back into the bridge to see Mike's head lolling from side to side as he tried to sleep. She walked up to him and gently shook his arm, jumping back slightly as he jolted awake.

"Sir, maybe you should go down to your cabin and get some sleep," she said quietly, hoping no one else in the bridge would hear.

He stared at her before shaking his head, "I'm alright Nav. I can stay awake."
She let out a sigh and leant down so only he could hear her next words.

"Go down to Kate. Be with her for the night. I can take care of everything up here."

Mike's eyes widened as he stared at her, shock written all over his face as he processed exactly what it was that she had just said to him.

"Sir. Do it."
The words were forceful but not disrespectful and temptation took over. He nodded his head before standing up.

"Thanks Nav."

Kate rolled over as light spilled across her rack, waking her from her sleep. She expected to see Nikki standing there, but the silhouette clearly resembled that of a man. She sat up, leaning over to flick on the bedside lamp, squinting as light flooded the room. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realised it was Mike standing there.

"Sir? Are you okay?"

He didn't say a word, instead just shaking his head in reply.

She didn't need to be told what he needed and so, shifted over and patted the space next to her.

He covered the distance in two steps, kicking off his boots before crawling in next to her. He reached out to her and pulled her down next to him, burying his head into the crook of her neck.

"We shouldn't be doing this," she whispered to him.

"I know," he replied, his voice muffled by her neck. "But I just needed you with me. Please, just for tonight."

She nodded her head before leaning over and switching the lamp off. She snuggled down into his arms, hearing the soft sounds of his breathing. She fell asleep with a small smile on her face at the thought that he was finally getting some sleep.