Again I don't own the characters or the concept, the only idea of mine is what they are all currently up to
So taking from the last chapter …..
Just then the sound of someone tripping and a loud long beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep rang out as Mikes head flew up to look at the monitor which was recording Kate's vial signs and the ECG trace showed a flat line.
"NO!" Mike cries in anguish. "Katie please don't leave me"
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
Swain rushes forward to examine Kate. He touches her neck to feel for a pulse and then pauses. Chefo however is picking him self up off the floor of the ward room having just tripped over something. After his fall and the subsequent anguished cry from his boss, Chefo looks over at the others in room to see if they noticed his sudden attack of jelly legs: Kate was still lying unconscious on the bench, Swain standing over her checking her pulse with a puzzled look on his face and the Boss, well he was standing next to the XO, staring at Swain, pale as a ghost with a look of abject horror on his face.
'Hmm, what's going on between the boss and the X' Chefo thought.
"It's Ok boss, her heart's still beating. She's Ok" Swain reassures Mike
"Well what the hell just happened Swain, why has the monitor flat lined?" Mike demands.
"I don't know Sir! I can't explain it! But here, you can feel her pulse" Swain encourages, trying to prize one of Mike's hands out of the XO's lax grip onto her neck to feel her pulse hoping that it would start to ease the terror he could see in his boss's eyes.
Chefo meanwhile looks down at the cables on the floor and notices that one of them had been pulled apart, one which half of it was currently under his boot. 'So that's what I tripped over then' Chefo thought as he bent to pick up the cable.
"Boss! Umm, I think this can probably explain what happened to the monitor" Chefo says happily indicating the separated cables in his hands.
Mike turns towards Chefo with a dark look on his face. "Well reconnect it then Seaman Jones" Mike snarls in a low dangerous voice
"Yes Sir" Chefo replies as he does so instantly.
Mikes eyes turn back to the monitor and he sits back down once again taking the XO's hand in his as the bip, bip noise resumes. Chefo looks at Swain who only shrugs in response to the unspoken question as to why the CO was in such a state.
Swain moves into the store room (I'm not sure if there is one but for the sake of this story there is) to retrieve a bag of IV Hartmanns. As he moves away from Kate's side, Mike's head springs up and he demands "Where are you going Swain, you need to stay here".
"Sir… I'm just getting another bag of fluid for the X, I'm not leaving"
"Well send Chefo, He's not much use here anyway" Mike snarls sending Toby a pointed glare.
"Right then, I'll get the fluids" Chefo replies somewhat hurt at the way the CO was treating him, tripping and disconnecting the cord was an accident after all.
'Anyone would think I pulled the cords out on purpose' Chefo thought as he moved past Swain into the store room.
Swain cast Toby a commiserating glance then returned his gaze to the CO with a sigh.
"Boss, she really is doing ok. There isn't much more we can do for now until we get her back to shore. Why don't you go and get a coffee and some fresh air. I'll call you if there is any change at all." Swain says.
Mike looks up at the medic then back down to Kate's pale face. He closes his eyes for a second and mumbles to himself before looking back up to Swain.
"I can't leave her Swain, I let this happen. If I had only managed to get the gun off Gallagher sooner, or pushed him the other way then the X wouldn't be fighting for her life right now. I let this happen. God if she doesn't pull through I don't know what …." Mike trails off as a tear slips down his cheek. He bows his head as he fights to get his emotions under control.
Swain sighs as Chefo walks back into the room. When Toby notices that Mike has his head bent over the X's hand he looks to Swain for an answer. Swain just shakes his head sadly and Chefo decides not to push it and motions that he is going to wait outside for a bit. Swain nods in understanding as he leaves closing the door softly behind him.
The click of the door pulls Mike from his thoughts and he looks up in question.
"Chefo's just waiting outside Sir" Swain informs his boss
"I guess I was a bit rough on him before?" Mike asks looking up at Swain who was again checking the X's obs.
"Perhaps a bit Sir" Swain replies cautiously not wanting to evoke his boss's wrath.
Mike sighs and looks at Swain with his heart in his eyes "I'll apologise later, it's just when that monitor went off, my heart stopped as well, and I couldn't breathe Swain."
Swain smiles in response. "The X is special to you Sir?" he questions gently.
Mike scoffs ruefully. "All my crew is special to me Swaino!"
"Yes Sir!" Swain replies unsure if he is walking into a minefield without a map. "It's just…. Well…"
"Spit it out Chris, you can speak freely" Mike says with a hint of a smile
"You just seem to have an extra special connection to the X that's all" Swain says holding his breath hoping that the world was not about to implode
Mike looks at Swain appraisingly. He struggles with the urge to tell someone about His and Kate's past and the possible ramifications of doing so, but 'hell' he thought 'Kate will be leaving for an Executive Officer posting on frigate soon and my reaction to her being shot is probably already all over the boat so in for a penny, in for a pound'.
Mike looked at Kate's face. "Yea I do Swain. We dated for a while about 5 years ago just after she graduated from the Academe. We met at a course I was teaching and really hit it off. She was the first woman who I ever thought I could have a future with, who I ever fell in love with"
Mike looked back up at Swain whose eyes seemed ready to pop out of his head. He chuckled. "You seemed surprised Swain"
"Ahhh yes sir! I mean….wow that's, ahhh well yea!
"Very articulate Swaino" Mike said quietly
"What happened Sir" Swain asked softly
"The Navy." Mike said with a hint of regret and bitterness in his voice. "She was bright, beautiful, ambitious and had a great career in front of her" he chuckled. "She was adamant that she wanted to work on a Frigate so was going to be posted to Melbourne and I was eventually coming back here to the Hammersley and the other end of the country. We tried to keep it going for a few months after the course, catching up for weekends and when we were both on shore leave and stuff, and it really seemed to be working until one day the Hammersley was granted an unexpected week's shore leave so I flew down to Melbourne to surprise her. Her ship had just berthed and I was waiting off to the side of the gangplank for her to come ashore when I spotted her talking to her CO. He was complementing her on some action or other she had taken during the voyage and he said to her "If you keep up this good work Lieutenant you will soon be doing me out of a job, keep it up and you will go places real fast". The look on her face as she quietly accepted his praise made my heart sink. She was proud of herself, of what she had accomplished and to get praise like that from Captain Thomas, well it must have been something special because he is a real task master you know. It was then that I knew I had to end it. If anyone ever found out about our relationship it would be a major black mark on her file never the less possibly get us both dishonourably discharged. I mean if it was only me I wouldn't have cared but I couldn't do that to her, so I turned around without even saying hello, caught the first plane home and wrote her a dear Jane letter." Mike took a deep then looked up at Swain who was looking back at him with concern and pity in his eyes.
"How did she take that sir? Swain asked
"I don't know Swain, I never heard from her again until 6 months ago when she turned up at NAVCOM as my new Executive Officer" Mike replied sarcastically
"Ouch! That would have been a bolt out of the blue" Swain says with feeling
"Understatement of the millennium" Mike says looking again back to Kate's pale face. "After all this time I never thought I'd see her again and there she was, as bright and as beautiful as ever but she had changed. She was no longer the open, fun loving and approachable Katie I once knew; she was the cold, hard and no nonsense Lieutenant McGregor, it was like meeting a different person" Mike said sadly.
"She was coming to a new command sir, her first as an XO (I 'm not sure about this but for creative licence sake it is) and from what you've just told me, seeing you again was probably a big shock for her too and besides, it didn't take long for her to fit in and become one of the team Sir. We all think of her that way now, as part of the team, she's a great XO and a great friend as well…. to all of us." Swain tried to reassure him
"To you all maybe, but around me she always seems to be on guard, as though I'm going to…I don't know disapprove of her, cut her down, lash out or something. A couple of months ago we were both at NAVCOM being fed a bunch of lies about Bright Island and were talking outside about how it all seemed to fit in with Ursula's sudden disappearance. Kate made an offhanded comment that maybe Ursula just left because she wanted a change of scenery. The look she gave me spoke a million words. She hasn't forgiven me for leaving." Mike said dejectedly
"Sir, I may not know much about women but you did break up with her via a letter, not the best move there boss and well….." Swain broke off
Mike looked up and motioned for him to continue
"Well you were talking to Kate of all people about how a woman who you obviously liked, and had made no attempt of hiding this obvious like, had disappeared on you with no real explanation I guess in many ways, kinda like how you disappeared on her years before, sooo channelling my feminine side I can kinda understand where she was coming from." Swain said hesitantly
"Ohhh!" Mike says quietly a blush creeping up his cheeks. "I guess I never thought of it that way. I just assumed that Kate had moved on and wouldn't be bothered with me perusing Ursula, I mean I decided after seeing her again that I had to do something so I took up after Ursula to keep my mind off her "
Swain looks at Mike suspiciously
"Well Ok yes! I knew that she didn't like it and it obviously bothered her, she made no secret of that and well…. I guess that it did make me a little bit chuffed that she still felt something for me." Mike said lowering his head in apparent shame
Swain looks at the monitor and records the X's obs again, a small smile gracing his handsome features as he takes in the numbers.
"Look Sir whether the X has moved on from you or not, seeing you with Dr Morell must have seemed like you were rubbing her nose in it. Not really a nice thing to do Sir, kinda harsh actually".
"I know" Mike mumbles
"Sir, do you love her?" Swain asks
"Dr Morell?" Mike asks in surprise
"No Kate!" Swain replies with obvious exasperation
"Five years ago I did, I was going to tell her that week I went to visit yet I decided to call it off because I loved her too much to risk her career but I never did get to say the words to her." Mike says, his voice low
"What about now sir, do you love still love her now?" Swain pushes
"I… I don't… I" Mike stutters looking at Swain in a panic. His gaze then falls on Kate's face and he brushes his hand over her hair and letting out a shuddering sigh whispers "With all my heart and soul". With these words the dam holding back a tide of emotion breaks and Mike's shoulders begin to shake with suppressed sobs. "I never told her Swain, and now, because I wasn't fast enough to disarm that mongrel I may never get the chance to tell her, it's all my fault! She can't die Swain, she can't" Mike mumbles through his tears.
Seeing his usually stoic and in control captain in such a state is a huge shock to Swain. He truly feels for the man and moves around the counter where the X is lying to place a comforting hand on Mike's shoulder to let him know that he wasn't alone but allows him to cry. After several minuets Mike manages to pull himself together, his sobs dying down to the occasional loud sniffle and Swain hands his boss a tissue which he takes gratefully.
"Sir, we are doing everything in our power to make sure that the X will be Ok. We must only be 30 minuets from port, then she is going to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital and they are going to put in a chest drain and remove the bullet. It will take her a while to recuperate, but I'm fairly sure that she will recuperate and you will have every chance to tell her exactly how you feel."
"You really think that Swain" Mike said, looking up at Swaino pleadingly, hope entering his eyes for the first time since this whole nightmare started
"I do Sir, I do. Look, why don't you go and get a cup of coffee and some air, it will do you good. I doubt very much that there will be any change in the X's condition until after her surgery and if there is I will call you straight away. Seriously Mike, take a break for a bit" Swain said almost pleadingly
Mike sighed again. "Ok, just for a little while, and call me if there is the slightest change, that's and order Swain"
"Yes boss" Swain said with obvious relief that he was going to take a break.
Mike stood up still looking at Kate, then bent over to place a soft kiss on her lips. Swain turned his back to give him as much privacy as possible but still heard Mike whisper into Kate's ear "I'll be back Katie, just have to stretch my legs a bit but I'll be back real soon. I love you, you know, and Swain's right, as soon as your awake I'm going to tell you so to your face consequence be damned".
With the decisiveness of a man who had made and felt comfortable with a decision he turned away from the bed and walked out the door. When Swain heard the door click he turned towards it just to make sure it was closed and let out a relieved sigh. He said in a quiet voice "He's gone for now X, you can open your eyes".
As Swain turned back to Kate his gaze met a bright green one shimmering with tears…….