Kate awoke early before Nikki so she wouldn't get a lecture about Mike, she slowly made her way outside to her car. She made her way to the shops to buy some Daisy's and Sweet Pea flowers a mix of her baby's birth month flowers.
Kate made her way to the beach and sat in the car with a coffee waiting for Mike, he was supposed to meet her at 9am and it was only 8:30am.
Each year Kate would go to the beach on Michaels anniversary and release his birth month flowers into the water, she wasn't sure how it came about except that the beach calmed her after his funeral, so Nikki brought some flowers and they released them into the water which became a tradition each year on the anniversary of his death.
For the last 2 years Kate had been doing it herself since Nikki left to be on Hammersley but now they were serving together again, Kate hoped they could do it again that was until Mike found out about their child.
Nikki awoke around 10am to find the house in silence, knocking on Kate's bedroom she opened it slowly to reveal an empty bed making her way into the kitchen Kate had left a note 'Nik, I left early to get some flowers, I'll be at the beach I'll contact you when I'm done Kit Kat x' Nikki turned on the kettle just as her phone rang
"Nik?" Kate's voice said through the phone
"Kate? Is everything ok?" she asked worried
"Are you free?"
"Yeah, where are you?" Nikki asked making her way to her room to get dressed
"The beach" Kate said
"Alright I'll be there in 10" Nikki said as Kate hanged up the phone.
Nikki arrived at the beach when she said to find Kate sitting in the sand knees up to her chin and flowers sitting next to her.
"Kit Kat?" Nikki said making her way over to her and sitting next to her
"He didn't show... he didn't show" Kate said starting to cry as Nikki pulled her into a hug
"Oh Kate, I'm so sorry" she said kissing the top of her head
"I don't know why I expected any different, it's not like he was there for the start" Kate said wiping the tears away as she looked at Nikki
"Come on" Nikki said helping Kate up and grabbing the flowers
"Where are we going?" Kate asked as Nikki interlocked her hand with Kate's and dragged her towards the pier
"To continue OUR tradition" Nikki said as they stooped at the end of the pier Nikki handed Kate one of the flowers bunches while she held the other
"Don't worry about Mike, ok this is our thing and it always will be our thing" Nikki said brushing a piece of hair behind Kate's ear
"You ready?" she asked as Kate nodded her head they leaned over the railing and dropped the flowers in
"He would have been 6 this year" Kate said as Nikki pulled her into a side hug
"And I'm sure where ever he is he gets your flowers every year, come on lets go home" Nikki said wrapping a arm around Kate's waist as they walked back to the cars.
Nikki drove Kate home leaving her car at the beach as she was in no condition to drive, as they pulled up into the drive way they spotted Mike's car and him sitting on the front stop waiting for them. Kate looked over at Nikki as they opened their doors and made their way to the front door.
"Kate, just let me explain" Mike said as Nikki began to unlock the front door, Kate gave Mike an angry look as Nikki opened the door Kate walked through
"Kate… Please" Mike said trying to follow her
"I think it's best you leave Sir, today is hard enough for her with having to deal with this" Nikki said placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him from entering.
"I need to explain" Mike said looking down at Nikki
"Yes I understand that, but now isn't the right time" Nikki said hoping he would get the picture and leave
"I'll call her later" he said turning to leave
"I think that's best" she said moving inside and shutting the door.
Nikki made her way to Kate's bedroom she slightly knocked
"Kate, he's gone can I come in?" she asked trying the door handle but it was locked
"I'll come back and check on you late" Nikki said leaning her head against the door listening for any sound of Kate.
Kate heard her footsteps descend into the direction of the lounge as she laid on her bed staring at the ceiling the tears began slowly falling down the side of her face when she heard her mobile vibrate, rolling over to her side she reached to the bedside table where her phone was sitting opening it up she saw there was a text from Mike.
Reluctantly she pushed herself up to sit up on the bed leaning against the headboard she opened the message
'Kate, I'm sorry just let me explain' Kate scoffed at the message as she started tying away to reply
'I'm not interested, you have no Idea how much today meant to me and you promised' 2 seconds later her phone vibrated with a reply
'I got held up doing something, I tried ringing but it went straight to voicemail'
Kate got out of the message to check her recent calls there was one from Mike but he never left a message, going back into her text she replied back to him
'I don't want to hear anymore excuses Mike, from now on I want our relationship to be purely professional and nothing else' Kate sent the message and threw her phone across the room.
Making her way out to the lounge where Nikki was watching TV she sat next to her on the couch, Nikki turned off the TV and looked at her
"I'm sorry about before Nik" Kate said looking apologetically at her
"It's ok Kit Kat, like I said I'm going to always be here for you even if you don't want me too" she said placing a reassuring hand on Kate's shoulder
"Come here" Nikki said opening her arms for Kate to give her a hug, Kate moved slightly and rested her head against Nikki's chest as she embraced her in a hug
"It's just so hard with his anniversary and Mike being back in my life" Kate said moving her head to rest it on Nikki's shoulder.
"Did you speak to him?" Nikki asked as she held Kate's hand in comfort
"He messaged, probably figured it was safer that way I wouldn't hang up on him" Kate said sniffling
"He made up some excuse about getting held up, I told him that from now on our relationship would be strictly professional"
"How's that going to work?" Nikki asked as Kate shifted to look at her
"What do you mean?" Kate asked in confusion
"Well Kit Kat, it's obvious you still have feelings for him" Nikki said knowing her best friend all too well.
"It's that obvious hey" Kate said snuggling back against Nikki's shoulder
"Yeah, I'm afraid so" she said leaning her head against Kates.
Nikki awoke early the next morning to the sound of her phone ringing, she shifted off the couch and made her way to the kitchen where it was on charge.
"Hello?" she said answering it
"Nav, it's the CO sorry it's early we've been crash sailed can you inform the X we need to leave Port in 2 hours so you need to be on board in 30minutes for inventory" Mike said sternly
"Yes Sir, see you then" Nikki said as Mike hanged up she made her way into the lounge to wake Kate up.
After talking and both crying last night they ended up falling asleep on the couch together. Kate had awoken when Nikki's phone rang so she sat up right as she heard Nikki making her way back over
"Crash sailed?" she asked wiping the sleep out of her eyes
"Yeah, CO needs us there in 30 minutes" Nikki said smiling weekly at her
"Righto let's get ready then" Kate said determined to not let the past day's events ruin her love for being out at Sea.
Kate and Nikki arrived at Hammersley just under 30minutes they made their way to their cabin to get settled in before Kate made her way onto deck to help with the inventory, Mike watched on from the bridge at Kate, hoping that when's she's free next he might be able to get a minute with her.
Kate could feel Mike watching her from up on the bridge, she looked up at him as he spotted her he turned around and busied himself in the bridge while Kate finished the rest of inventory.
Hammersley left port when they were scheduled to Kate made her way up onto the bridge ready for the Patrol ahead she made her way over to Mike who was sitting in the Captain's chair
"Where are we off to Sir?" she asked refusing to look at him as she asked "We've been tasked to help HMAS ANZAC who have broken down in the middle of the Arafura Sea" Mike said looking at Kate as she stared out the window in disbelief, why did it have to be them
"I have some paperwork I need to finish" Kate said making her way out of the bridge,
"Time till we arrive Nav?" Mike asked Nikki who was sitting in the Navigator's chair and putting the coordinates in
"9 and a half hours Sir" Nav said looking over at him
"Very well, I'll be doing some paperwork in my Cabin, Nav you have the ship" he said getting out of the Captain's chair and headed towards the stairs
"Yes Sir, Navigator has the ship" Nikki said as she moved out of her chair and into the Captain's.
Kate was sitting in the Senior Sailor's mess when Mike walked in with an arm full of Paperwork under his shoulder
"Ah sorry, I'll go somewhere else" he said turning around to leave
"It's fine Sir" Kate said moving her paperwork next to her to make room for him across from her.
Mike took a seat opposite her as he opened his files he looked over at her, she had her head buried in her paperwork and several loose pieces of hair fell down her face, he couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked as she was concentrating.
Kate could feel his eye's on her as she tried everything in her will power to not look up at him, but she couldn't help it as she looked up she caught his glance he smiled weakly at her she couldn't help but smile back.
"Kate... About yesterday…" Mike began saying as he closed his folder
"Not another excuse Mike, please" Kate said closing her folder she was working on
"No excuse, I just wanted to say sorry" Mike said smiling at her.
Kate sighed softly
"Like I said in the text Mike, from now on whatever goes on between us is strictly professional" Kate said shifting to stand.
"And exactly how's that going to work with our past history?" Mike said shifting to stand also
"Exactly Mike, History past tense" Kate said crossing her arms over her chest
"It may be past tense Kate, but we still are connected each year for the anniversary of his death" Mike said realising he had put his foot in it
"What?! You didn't even show up yesterday so why would every year after be different?" Kate said getting angry
"And I tried to explain exactly why I wasn't there" Mike said moving in front of the door so she couldn't leave
"We had a moment a few nights ago and you said you'd be there! I needed you and you never showed up" Kate said reaching for the door handle
"And if you'd let me explain things would be different right now" Mike said grabbing her hand
"I don't want to hear any more of your excuses!" Kate yelled trying to pull back her arm.
As Kate pulled her arm back with such a force she pulled Mike with her causing them to fall down as Kate's back hit the ground Mike landed on top of her
"Get off me!" she yelled as she tried to push him off she moved her head upwards not realising how close her and Mike's faces were their lips touched,
Kate pulled back in shock as she placed a hand over her face "Oh god, I'm sorry" she said moving her hand and placing it on Mike's shoulder hoping he would move off her.
Instead he looked deep into her eyes as he moved a hand up and brushed her hair out of her face, Kate closed her eyes as he touched her face not noticing he had leant down to kiss her until she felt his lips against hers.
Kate moved her hands up around Mike's neck as he kissed her Passionately placing his hand on her cheek, as Mike moved his hand down to her waist Kate could feel his member against her thigh as there was a knock at the door
"Kit Kat?" Nikki said through the door, Mike pulled away from Kate as they heard Nikki's voice
"Just a second!" Kate yelled as she hit Mike's shoulder making him move off as he stood up he pulled Kate with him
"Kit Kat?" he joked as he took a seat fixing his uniform up
"Shut up!" Kate said playfully hitting him as she took a seat across from him and straightened her shirt up
"Come in" she said as they both pretended to actually be doing work.
Nikki opened the door surprised to see Mike sitting across from Kate "Oh sorry Sir" I didn't see you there
"I was just going through some paperwork with the X" he said smiling at her
"Right… Um Kate could I have a word?" Nikki said looking over at Kate whose hair had fallen out of her pony tail
"Sure" Kate said smiling
"Ah, in private" she said looking over at Mike
"Right sorry" Mike said smirking at Kate as he grabbed his files holding them in front of his crotch to hide his member, Kate couldn't help but giggle slightly as he awkwardly moved post Nav closing the door behind him as he made his way to his Cabin.
Nikki took a seat in Mike's vacant spot "Did I interrupt something?" Nikki asked smiling at Kate as she pointed to her hair that was out of place.
Kate fixed her hair up as she spoke "So what's up?"
"Oh nothing just thought I'd save you from the boss" Nikki said laughing as Kate moved out of the chair.
"Thanks but I didn't need it" Kate laughed as she opened the door.
Nikki made their way back up to the bridge while Kate went to place her files back in their cabin. She couldn't help but think about what happened between her and Mike, if Nikki hadn't interrupted them could it have gone further than what it did.
How was she supposed to be around Mike now after what just happened?
God he made her so infuriated but no matter how much she tried to deny it she was and would always be in love with Mike Flynn.
