The cool air is sobering as they make their way out of the pub and along the boardwalk. She's far from drunk - just slightly impaired enough to not really care about the curious and knowing looks the crew gives her as she leaves with Zac. However, she's still slightly annoyed with him for accidentally-on-purpose exposing their past marital status.

"You know, I hate other people knowing my business." Kate grumbles as she stumbles slightly in her attempt to remove her heeled sandals from her blistered feet. Zac throws out a helpful hand, steadying her, and the goosebumps are probably just from the cold anyway. Successfully unbuckling the shoes, she slides them off and clasps them tightly in one fist, leading the way along the boardwalk.

"Well, hey, if you were me, wouldn't you want to brag at how you landed this." He waves a hand in Kate's general direction. "I mean, regardless of how briefly." He flashes a somewhat apologetic glance. "Will it cause problems with your crew? They didn't exactly seem like the type to mind their own business?"

Her irritation softening, Kate shakes her head. "They'll be fine. They're a good group. And they might out a toe across the line of personal boundaries but... well, for the most part, it doesn't ever go further than that. Though they're probably following us, they're so bloody curious." Kate mutters under her breath, and despite knowing that it probably wouldn't be the case, she can't quite shake the concern that 2Dads and Charge are drunk enough to try. But as she twists around to check behind her, she sees no wayward sailors. The boardwalk is deserted - probably usual for nearly 0100 hours. Just her and Zac. "So, what have you been up to? Aside from flirting with the world, of course?"

He gives a soft chuckle and flashes another winning smile at her. "Oh, you know me. Travelling from place to place."

"You were always so modest." Kate tips her head as she struggles to remember the last news she'd heard about him. "Last I heard, you were in Nepal building schools?"

"I never told you that." He gives her a curious look. "Don't tell me you've been checking up on me?"

"A bit." She concedes. "I sometimes hear from the old group. Fiona and I still chat at least every few weeks or so, and I hear from Max every now and then."

"The Fearsome Four." Zac sums up, flashing another winning smile in Kate's direction. "I heard Max is back teaching at our old school now. And Fee is an interior designer I think. But I haven't really seen either of them for at least four years. It's crazy when you think how bloody inseparable we all were. And you're a Commanding Officer now. I'm proud." As they move closer to a large tree at the end of the path, the loud squawking of bats grows louder. "You know, I remember when you first got your letter of acceptance to ADFA. I'd never seen you look so proud." They both stop and watch for a moment as a bat flies above, silhouetted against a street light. "I always knew I'd lose you to the sea. Water was in your blood."

"That wasn't why we broke up." Kate murmurs softly, scraping her hair into a loose ponytail to stop it blowing around her face. "God, Zac, we used to fight all the time."

"I know." Zac agrees. "I'm not blaming the Navy for how things turned out, Kate. I'm just... reminiscing. In my own depressing way." The clouds shift and the moon emerges, sending a silver glow across their surroundings. "Last I heard you were with that Flynn guy."

Kate smiles sadly. "Who's checking up on who now?" She frowns. It's not as if she's particularly upset he knows; after all, the whole of Cairns Navy had been privy to the failure of that particular relationship. "No, that kind of... fizzled out."

"I never thought I'd be around to here Kate McGregor use the term 'fizzle'." Zac raises an eyebrow.

Kate shrugs, keeping her gaze on her feet. "Well, it's hard to keep a relationship alive when you're hundreds of miles away and barely see each other." The heel of one of her sandals hits her leg and she readjusts them. "It was mostly the Navy keeping us together anyway. We both agreed to end things. And... it's nicer, now. Just being friends. Less pressure. And he's dating someone else now. And they're good together, so..." She trails off and looks up to him. "What about you?"

"No one that I could make stick." He murmurs, nudging at a rock with his toe. "Nah. Could never stop comparing them all to you, Kit." There's a pause, but it's not as awkward as it should have been. She'd always loved that about him; he'd never made her feel awkward or embarrassed or anxious. "Besides. I travel too much."

"So what are you doing in Cairns, anyway?"

"Just here for... a business opportunity, actually." Zac waves a hand. "But you don't want to hear about all that. It's boring as all hell." He turns to look at her. "I'm glad you stayed. At the pub. I know... well, I didn't really mean to embarrass you in front of your crew. I just..."

"I get it." Kate interjects. "And... we had fun, Zac. We lived the dream. How many people can say that?"

"We just couldn't make it stick." Zac finishes sadly. Kate feels something against her hand and glances down. It's Zac's fingers, brushing against the back of her hand, and it's easy - oh, so easy - to let him take her hand and squeeze lightly. "I missed you, Kit."

"Yeah, well..." She shrugs lightly before catching sight of him. "I've missed you too, Zac." And it's the truth after all, because part of her will always love Zac Tate. "But you'll be gone soon. Off to... freaking Cambodia or Guatemala or... somewhere barely pronounceable and-"

"Well, you could always come with me." He interjects. Kate stops, feeling the pebbly footpath digging into her feet, and turns to look at him. Zac shrugs. "Come on! You always wanted to travel to the ends of the world. Come with me."

Kate shakes her head, a smile curling at the corners of her mouth as she starts to walk again, gaze back on her feet. "Sure. Do I have time to sell my house first?"

"I'm serious." He murmurs, squeezing her hand. "Come see the world with me. We'll do something crazy. I mean, fate has brought us together and-"

Kate dismisses his words with a scoff of laughter. "I don't believe in fate."

"Yeah you do." He chuckles, shaking his head. "You forget, Kit. I know you."

Kate smiles softly. "I... I concede that there is something in the fact that, out of all the bars you could have been playing at and I could have been drinking at, we happened to find ourselves at the same one. But that doesn't negate that we both decided to get the divorce."

He waves a hand vaguely. "Eh, divorce is just a piece of paper." A wicked grin splits his face. "One I'm sure your mother gloated about non-stop."

"You have no idea." Kate groans at the memory. "I must admit though, I didn't really stay to listen to the full speech."

"Good Ol' Barb. May Satan have mercy on her soul."

"She's still alive." Kate deadpans.

"You're kidding?!" Zac laughs. For a while, they just walk in that meandering fashion with no real destination in mind, Zac's hand warm in hers. The boardwalk is deserted, and as they make their way along it, it almost feels as though they're the only two people in the world.

"You hear much from your family?" Kate breaks the silence, thinking of the family that had opened their arms to her.

"Eh, not really." Zac shrugs. "Dad kicked the bucket two years ago and Mum the year after."

Kate doesn't expect the news to hurt as much as it does. But memories of homecooked meals, of warm hugs and jovial laughter fill her mind. "I'm sorry." She murmurs.

"Thanks." Zac murmurs. "But I still see Sarah and Rach at least once a year. They all love to boss me around, tell me I need to settle down and all that." He shrugs again. "Sisters." They stop at a playground and Zac stops in his path, his eyes lit up. "Come on." He murmurs, tugging gently at her hand and pulling her towards it.

"Oof." Kate stumbles with the change of direction. "Give me a sec. I'm barefoot, here." She tiptoes across the bark-chip and gradually makes her way towards the swingset. "What are we doing?"

"Having fun?" Zac suggests, patting the seat of the swing. "Come on."

"You want me to bloody climb on a swing in the middle of the night?" Kate folds her arms, wondering what her crew would say if they could see her now.

"Eh, it's morning, not night. And you always loved the swings. You used to say it was like flying. So come on." He pats the swing once more. Hesitating for only a moment longer, Kate resigns herself to just roll with it and makes her way to the swing, dropping her shoes in favour of clutching the heavy metal chains.

"And are you going to push me?" She grins widely, leaning her head against one of the chains.

"Nah." Zac grins, sliding into the swing next to her. "Swing yourself." As Kate rolls her eyes and moves into a rhythm, pumping her legs backwards and forwards, Zac speaks again. "Remember that time after Colin Radford's party and we all ended up at the school playground?"

"Oh my gosh. Vaguely." Kate laughs, her last word ending in a shriek as Zac launches his swing sidewards, his hip just nudging hers. "You and Ben Masters got into a pull-up competition and Rowena whatserface and I ended up splitting a bottle of wine up on the fort."

"And I kissed you for the first time." Zac adds.

Kate feels a redness in her cheeks once more and nods. "On the see-saw. I remember."

"I bloody fell over straight after." Zac grumbles. "Come on, Kate, you can't deny we had some fun times."

"I..." She feels her determination falter for a moment. "No. No, I can't deny that."

"What's the problem with having a little fun?" He winks at her, as he bumps her once more with the swing. "Besides..." He grins. "Maybe there's something to be said about Cairns anyway."

Her bed is wrong. It's the first thought that flows through Kate's head as consciousness slowly dawns upon her, and her eyes fly open almost immediately afterwards, shutting almost instantaneously in an attempt to block out the bright light. "Urgh." She mumbles near-unintelligibly, raising a hand to shield her eyes. "I-"

"Still a sleep-talker, I see." Zac's voice muses drily. As she feels him shift beside her, the events of the previous night come flooding back to her. Zac, singing at the pub. Them leaving together. Walking and talking and the park and kissing, and then-

Well, they'd just made it back to his motel room.

"It's not sleep-talk if you're conscious." Kate grumbles, pressing her face into the pillow for a second.

"But you were jabbering all night." Zac protests, as Kate pulls her face free and turns to look at him. "Something about how devastatingly handsome I am?"

"Oh, piss off." Kate mutters, sweeping a clump of hair from her face. "You always were full of crap."

"That's not how I remember it." Zac grins, before adopting a higher-pitched voice. "Don't let the loaf of bread into the bathroom. I want to sleep in peace!"

Kate shoves blindly in the direction she thinks Zac is in and is rewarded with a light 'oof' as he pulls away. Slowly, consciousness returns to her and she sits up, pulling the bed sheet with her. "So... last night?"

"Was... unexpected." Zac finishes. "I mean, I didn't really expect to run into you." Kate nods soberly but he leans closer, adding, "I'm glad I did, though."

"And now I'm sure this will be the talk of the entire boat. I mean, they already know way too much about me."

"They seem like a good bunch."

"Yeah, they are." Kate nods solemnly. "They've got my back."

"I'm glad." He murmurs, brushing a thumb over her shoulder-blade. "Hungry? We could head to a cafe for something to eat?"

"I..." Kate hesitates for a moment, knowing that she's throwing herself back into the choppy waters of their previous relationship. But then she nods. "Yeah." She agrees. "That would be good."