Disclaimer: Sea Patrol and all of its characters belong to its creators Hal McElroy, Di McElroy and Sea Patrol Productions Pty Limited, Film Finance Corporation Australia Limited and The Pacific Film & Television Commission Pty Limited. I'm just borrowing a few of the characters for the purposes of this story.
Sorry it's been a while since the last part, but the wait shouldn't be so long for the next part.
I don't normally do this as I'm not sure how it's viewed but I've just checked out the stats for this story and discovered that I've had over 700 hits but only 1 review. So I just wanted to say that if you could take the time to leave a comment to let me know if you like this story and if so why it would be greatly appreciated. I know its sometimes hard to think what to say as I'm generally terrible at leaving reviews on other peoples stories, but any comment no matter how short is a great motivator. So while I wont say if you want to read more…. On the other hand if no-ones reading then there may not be much point in me continuing :-)
Anyway on with the story.
Home at Last Part 3
As she had suspected, as the afternoon ran on into evening Nikki had made her excuses and they had gone their separate ways. Rather than just phoning Mike she decided to surprise him by picking up some takeaway and going straight over to his house.
"Hi, I hope you still like Chinese" she said as he opened the door, "I thought I'd return the favour from this morning" she continued as he just stood on the doorstep smiling at her.
"So are you going to let me in" she asked after a few moments when he didn't show any sign of moving.
"Yes sure, sorry" he said moving aside and blushing slightly at being caught just staring at her, but it was all still so new he hadn't quite got his head around the fact that she had given him another chance and this new closeness wasn't just a dream.
"So did you have fun with Nav" he asked recovering himself and leading her through to the kitchen.
"Yes, it was good thanks, I might show you some of the results sometime if you're good" she teased him.
He just swallowed, her simple sentence causing his imagination to run riot as she had intended, so trying to regain control of the situation, changing the subject he said "this smells good" turning to the bag she had placed on the kitchen counter and beginning to unpack it.
****
When they had finished eating he rose from the table and taking both of their plates placed them in sink "that was really good thanks."
"No problem" she replied starting to pile up the containers.
"Do you want a coffee or anything" he asked
She almost imperceptivity tipped her head slightly to one side as if considering it before replying "not at the moment thanks, maybe later."
"Oh so there's going to be a later is there?" he teased her.
"Not if you don't want there to be" she retorted, moving as if to pick up her bag and preparing to leave.
Before she had the chance to though he caught her wrist drawing her towards him instead "of course I do" he told her softly "I was only joking, I have to keep my end up somehow. Now I don't think I've even had the chance to say hello properly yet" he stated, lowering his head to hers and catching her lips in a deep kiss.
As they broke apart for air, he raised one of his hands to her cheek and suggested that they went through to the lounge. As she was discovering that his touch had the irritating side effect of robbing her of the power of speech she simply nodded her head and allowed him to lead her through to the sofa.
"So do you want to watch a DVD or something" he asked when they had sat down.
"Well actually….." she trailed off, not sure how he would react to the answer she wanted to give.
"What" he asked intrigued about the way she was acting.
"It's just that I noticed one of my favourite films was on TV tonight" she replied shyly.
"And that is" he asked raising an eyebrow suspiciously.
"Dirty Dancing" she replied averting her gaze from him.
"A chick flic" he uttered with a tinge of disgust not being able to help himself.
"It's a classic" she defended her choice.
"Ok" he said after a few moments of silence, making a play of giving in reluctantly, "on one condition."
"Yes" she questioned, wondering why he had given in so easily and waiting for the catch.
"Tomorrow is my choice, that is provided you really are free this time" he returned grinning.
"ok, within reason that is" she replied, still being slightly suspicious and feeling the need to add a qualification "and no I'm not doing anything else" she continued.
"You're sure about that this time, you haven't agreed to meet up with Bomber to exchange make up tips or anything" he teased.
"I already said I was sorry, you're not going to forget that anytime soon are you?" she asked.
"I might, just got to make sure I get sufficient mileage out of it first," he continued bantering with her. Noticing the look on her face in response to that, he laughed before drawing her into his arms again, "ok truce, now what channel is this 'classic' on" he enquired reaching for the remote.
***
"So apart from tomorrow do you have any plans for the rest of the week?" she asked during one of the ad breaks.
"well actually, I'm afraid my sister and nephew are coming to stay. They'll be arriving the day after tomorrow and staying until Sunday," he told her slightly regretfully, he always enjoyed catching up with his sister and nephew but on this occasion the timing was just a bit off. Then noticing the slightly downcast look on her face he continued "you could always join us for at least one of the days if you'd like to."
"Oh, no, no I wouldn't want to intrude," she replied quickly.
"You wouldn't be, I'd like you to meet them, if you want to that is," he told her tenderly.
"I don't know…. I don't do that well…."she trailed off starting to get a bit flustered.
"and that scares you" he asked gently, softly caressing her cheek as her she dropped her head so she wasn't looking at him.
She took a few moments to gather up the courage to reply. She wasn't used to letting anyone go there, she had spent years shutting away and avoiding such topics but she knew she couldn't go on like that, not with him. She had to let him in, no matter how emotionally vulnerable it made her feel, she knew deep down she was safe with him, so taking a deep breath she answer "if I'm being I'm being honest, yes it does a bit, I just don't have any experience of the brother/sister thing."
"That's fine, I know its easy for me to say this but there's no need to worry, Claire is fairly laidback and friendly and even though Jack is only 4 years old he takes well to most people he meets too. Claire split up with her partner when Jack was only a baby and he practically vanished from their lives so I like to try and be there for them both when I can. Just like a lot of little boys Jack thinks big boats are cool, which in his eyes makes me cool by association. So no-one is going to judge you at all, in fact maybe I should be the one worrying as you and Claire will probably start ganging up on me! He joked with her trying to lighten the mood a little "but if it's too soon that's perfectly fine too, whenever you're ready," he finished drawing her in for a hug.
"ok I'll think about it," she muttered into his chest.
"good, just let me know what you decide," he replied dropping a kiss on the top of her head as they turned their attention back to the movie.