Hey guys,

Thanks for all the kind words you have said for this stroy so far. I know you have had a wait a while for this but I had a huge case of writers block. I know its short but there should be more up soon.

By the way, for the purpose of this story it takes a while to get back to base like 5-8 hours rather than 1 as it is in the show

There was definitely something weird going on, concluded the Nav as she looked between the form of her CO and her XO. They had been ignoring each other since the X had entered the cabin. When Mike had first entered she knew something was wrong, his eyes had lost their usual shine and the smile he gave her was forced. He was the total opposite from his usual self. When Kate entered, the Nav immediately knew that something between them was causing this bad mood. The X's eyes were bloodshot and her face was red, as though she had just been crying. She knew there was something going on ever since Kate had arrived. She had noticed the awkwardness the first couple of days, then as they more spent more time around each other she noticed how they seemed to more comfortable. Nav noticed the secret glances that they through at one another when they thought the other wasn't looking. She noticed how they always seemed to be near each other, as though it hurt to be too far away. She noticed how they brightened up when the other entered the room and how Mike made excuses to touch her, to brush his hand against hers or to the guide the small of her back as the travelled along the winding corridors of the Hammersley. At first she thought that it was woman's intuition that picked up the signals but as time passed she was sure the men aboard had noticed their connection too. Nav wasn't sure what their history had been, Kate was always a private person and you couldn't get much out of her and she had never had enough courage to confront the CO about it. It didn't really matter anyway, they were professionals but the question always lingered on her mind.

These last couple of days had thrown so many things into light, who knew that Kate had a son? It did explain her absences from the pub though. There had been an interesting moment between Kate and Mike when Will had first arrived on the ship. The little boy was crying and dripping wet, sobbing into his mother's arms and Mike stood there watching, he looked envious of Kate, almost like he felt like he should have been part of that moment. Maybe he should have, after all there was a connection between Mike and the boy, that much was evident to Nikki as she watched them in the galley. There was something there that she just couldn't put her finger on, whatever it was it was the reason behind the way there were treating each other at the moment.

When Kate had entered the bridge Mike had turned around briefly to look at her. Their eyes had locked for a second, before he turned away from her and began to stare of the window. She continued to stare at him for a second after he had turned away, frozen. Why was it he was able to make her feel worse than she already was with one simple look? She crossed her arms closely to her chest as she stood looking out as the ship seemed to cleanly cut through the water, so no one would notice her hands shaking. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't had anything to eat in the last 24 hours but she couldn't eat. Images of her son, of their son, kept floating through her head along with the words Mike had said to her. She looked up again at his back and she felt as if she was suffocating. She needed space and with that she picked up her binoculars and escaped to the upper floor.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The sequence was repeated over and over in his mind as he tried to clear his thoughts of her. He needed to be calm; to set the example but as always when it came to her nothing was ever easy. He knew that he was doing a lousy job at keeping it all inside, he just hoped that nothing drastic happened on their trip back. For some reason he just couldn't get rid of the anger and the hurt that boiled up inside him, it was like it had a mind of its own and it wanted was to be let free from the mind that was containing it. When she had arrived he had looked up and it was like his heart was going to break into more pieces than it already had. He couldn't face her then, he knew that if he didn't stop looking then he'd break and he couldn't have that. He was supposed to be strong, after all what decent Navy man would be seen crying while on watch? Mike sighed, and with that he realised that he had to face her now, before they got to port. He had to finish their previous conversation. He had to know why.

TBC