Love at First Lie.

Chapter 9

Dylan jogged down towards the water, running always seems to clear his mind. He slowed as he approached the docks, he ran along the water's edge and stopped as he came face to face with the Hammersley. He cursed its name, it was Hammersley's fault for bringing them all together and for resurrecting the past. He spotted Mike up on deck, he needed more answers and ran up the gangway startling him.

"Not heading home?"

"Ah, nah, got a bit of paperwork to do..."

Dylan shook his head at himself, what was he doing? He knew that it wasn't really Mike's fault. He turned to leave, he wanted to trust Kate, she said it was in the past but he couldn't help but think there was more to it. He turned back as Mike started to head below and called out after him.

"Does your wife know you're working with an ex?"

Dylan didn't mean for it to come out so bluntly, Mike froze and turned back and stood close hoping no one else had heard, he was surprised he was bringing it up.

"Ah, no. But if she did, I bet she wouldn't be impressed either..."

Dylan frowned at Mike's assumption.

"What makes you think I'm not impressed..."

Mike let out a slight scoff, it was written all over his face and in his tone.

"C'mon Dutchy, no one wants their partner working with an ex, good or bad break up..."

Dylan frowned, he thought it was a strange thing to say.

"So, what was it for you and Kate?"

He didn't really want to know, but the question rolled off his tongue before he could stop it. Mike hesitated wondering how much Kate had said.

"Ah, it's probably best if you talk to Kate about this..."

Mike started to walk off, Dylan placed himself in Mike's path making him stop.

"Well, I'm asking you..."

Mike sighed, Dylan was the one on the outer, he felt bad for him so he gave him something.

"Ah, it wasn't great, I mean break ups are never pleasant..."

Dylan remained in Mike's way, he wasn't answering the question, now he was more nervous about who broke up with who.

"Who ended it?"

"Dylan, I really think you should talk to Kate."

Dylan ignored his suggestion and pushed again.

"Who?"

Mike dropped his head, either way his answer would cause more questions and trouble.

"Me..."

Dylan titled his head surprised by his answer, Kate was a good person, a great mother, he didn't understand why someone would not want to be with her. Mike could see the cogs turning inside Dylan's mind, he knew he needed to elaborate else he would assume it was worse than it really was.

"It was complicated, it wasn't her fault. Look, it's not important anyway, right? You're with her, she loves you, we've both moved on."

Dylan wanted to believe him but he had a sickening feeling in his stomach that something wasn't right, he glared at Mike for a moment and then turned and ran off. Mike immediately got out his phone to call Kate.

"Hey, I think we better get our story straight, Dylan was just here asking questions… no, I didn't tell him, but I don't know if he'll stop asking..."

Kate sat on her couch and rubbed her hands over her face. Lia flopped into her lap and tried to mimic Kate's expression.

"What's wrong, Mummy?"

Kate tried to put on a convincing smile.

"Nothing , sweetie, just silly adult stuff!"

Lia smiled and wrapped her arms around Kate's neck.

"Don't worry Mummy, I'll always love you..."

Kate gave her a squeeze back and sighed.

"I know, I will always love you too. Can you stay here with Auntie Nikki for a minute, Mummy needs to go out."

Lia nodded, Kate picked her up and placed her on the couch, she passed her the remote and turned on the TV. She grabbed her bag and called out to Nikki.

"Be back in a minute..."

Nikki was still in the kitchen stirring dinner and gave her a nod.

Kate drove down to the docks, she passed Dylan running home but didn't see him, but he saw her. He quickly turned around and followed her car. He frowned as she pulled in to the car park and headed for Hammersley. He felt bad for flowing her but he was right, something was up.

He stood on the dock wondering whether to go aboard and confront them both, she could only be here for personal reasons, if it was about work she would have told him.

Kate nervously knocked on Mike's cabin door, he opened the door slightly and saw it was her.

"Hey..."

Kate barged into his cabin and shut the door.

"What did you say to him?"

Dylan couldn't take the images that were forming in his head, he had to see what was going on. He took a deep breath in and walked up the gangway.

Mike sat back down on his chair and exhaled loudly.

"He was asking who broke up with who, I said it was complicated, but he kept pushing, so I told him I broke up with you..."

Kate closed her eyes for a second, she hadn't thought about that day in years. She hated the way it made her feel, opened her eyes and tried to ignore it.

"Then what?"

Dylan stood outside the cabin door, he could hear voices, he placed his ear up against the door.

"Then I told him he should be speaking to you, I just think he deserved the truth."

"That is the truth Mike, you left me, you left me in that hotel room. You lead me to believe that we had something, and then you just left. Do you know how that made me feel?"

Kate didn't mean to be so dramatic, but she never had any closure, her heart took over her mouth. Mike stood up to try to console her.

"Kate, we did have something, but I was dealing with a lot of things..."

She stepped back from him trying to fight back the tears.

"Yeah, I know but it still doesn't make it hurt any less..."

Dylan stood outside the door, he was furious and saddened, he couldn't believe the way she was taking about Mike. She had brushed it off as nothing, and now she was saying they could have had something and he broke her heart. He had a choice, go in and get the truth, or walk away. He let out a grunt, he knew it was never going to be the latter. He opened the door without warning making them both jump, Kate tried to wipe the tears from her face before he noticed but he wasn't silly, he knew she'd been upset.

"Kate?"

"Dylan, What are you doing here?"

He wasn't in the mood for games but he also didn't want to fly off the handle.

"What's going on? And, I want the truth..."

Mike and Kate exchanged nervous glances, Mike cleared his throat.

"Dylan, we weren't trying to..."

Kate stepped forward and shook her head at Mike signalling to him to stop.

"It's okay, I'll explain..."

She exhaled loudly and took Dylan's hand.

"Can we talk about this at home?"

He wiggled his hand out of hers and stepped back.

"No, I wanna hear it from both of you."

Kate knew this was a bad idea, none of this was really Mike's fault, she tried again.

"Please, Dylan..."

He glanced at Mike then back to Kate, he could see she was desperate to not involve Mike more than she had to. He sighed, it was probably better they didn't air their dirty laundry in front of him. Dylan let out a huff and turned to leave, Mike pulled back on Kate's arm.

"Call me if you need me..."

Dylan frowned hearing Mike's words, he stormed off to Kate's car and got in. Kate got into the driver's side, she didn't know how she would explain, she was scared about how he was going to react. He turned to face her, his face full of anger.

"Well?"

Her fear came out as anger, she couldn't help it.

"You can't just go and confront him like that..."

Dylan's face hardened.

"Why are you mad at me? I should be the only one angry here…"

She let out a frustrated huff, there were things she wanted to leave out but she knew she had to tell him everything.

"I just need you to not have a go at Mike, it's not his fault, and…"

Dylan's rage grew by the second, why was she lecturing him?"

"And what Kate? Why are you standing up for him? Maybe if you spent more time talking to me and less to him then…"

"Maxine is Mike's wife…"

Dylan's jaw dropped.

"What?"

Kate concentrated on the road in front of her, more than anything she didn't want to be responsible for something happening to Dylan's career if he said something in the heat of the moment.

"I just, they were still together when we were together. She knows that he had an affair but she doesn't know I was the other woman…"

Dylan shook his head, he couldn't believe how out of hand this was.

"Right, so this is about saving your ass?'

"No! I thought you should know, cos if you go and say something stupid it could affect your career too!"

Dylan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, he needed a moment to process everything. They rest of the ride home was silent, Dylan swung open the front door and Lia jumped up from the couch.

"Daddy!"

He picked her up and gave her a kiss.

"Hi, Sweetie, you having fun with Auntie Nikki?"

She nodded and rubbed her tummy.

"Yup! She makes yummy food..."

Kate opened her bag and handed Nikki some money.

"Why don't you guys go out for ice cream?"

Nikki frowned sensing something was up, she shot Kate an "Everything okay?" Look. Kate shook her head slightly, Nikki grabbed Lia from Dylan's arms and balanced her on her hip.

"C'mon, what's your favourite flavour?"

Lia threw her arms in the air in excitement.

"All of them..."

Nikki laughed and headed for the door.

Kate sat on the couch and tried to think of a way to start, Dylan paced around the room unable to sit still.

"So, what happened between you two?"

Kate closed her eyes not wanting to relive the week but she no longer had a choice.

"Ah, the reason I was upset was because of the way we broke up, it wasn't even a breakup, umm, I woke up one morning and he was gone."

Dylan didn't know how to react, it was a terrible thing for Mike to do but if it didn't end badly, they may not have ended up together.

"Right..."

"But Dylan, it doesn't matter. I met you and I love you."

Dylan sighed and sat beside her.

"Kate, it's not that I don't trust you but can you understand why its hard for me to believe you now?"

Kate reached over and wrapped her hand in his.

"I just didn't want you to worry..."

"Why would I worry?"

Kate sighed, she had to tell him, it was going to eat her alive if she didn't. She took a deep breath in and glanced up at him.

"Because all of this happened the day before I met you..."

Dylan wasn't expecting her to say what she said, it totally threw him, he didn't mean to yell but he couldn't control it.

"So I was a rebound?"

Kate gripped his arm, desperate to make him listen.

"No! I mean, c'mon it's not like we went on dates or anything, we watched footy, got drunk... but that doesn't matter, look at us now, we fell in love..."

He knew that she would have never wanted it this way, but it made him irrationally mad, mad at her, mad at him but most of all it made him feel stupid. Their perfectly cute meeting he would tell everyone about was a lie, she wasn't this cool chick that could drink the boys under the table that he met at a bar by chance, she had been heartbroken and was drowning her sorrows. Would she have taken an interest in him if she hadn't been dumped? Did she actually like him from that first moment? He knew these were stupid questions, but it was all he could think about. He rose from the couch and started to pace again.

"God, I feel like an idiot going on about our first meeting, there was no way you would have felt something, you were getting over someone."

Kate was waiting for him to question her about Lia's paternity but it hadn't dawned on him, she continued hoping it wouldn't come up.

"But we still had a good time, you were, and still are a good guy..."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head dismissing her comment.

"Yeah, whatever..."

Kate stood in front of him trying to get him to focus.

"Dylan, this doesn't change anything..."

He stepped away from her and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Yes, yes, it does! Because 24 hours before I met you and started to fall for you you were with someone else, it just makes me feel like a runner-up. It wasn't really me you wanted and that…"

Tears started to run down Kate's cheeks, she stepped towards him.

"But I fell in love with you..."

"Yeah, after my begging and pleading and... I just can't be around you..."

The words cut through Kate's heart like a hot knife through butter. He had never spoken to her like that, she felt so ashamed.

She reached out and touched his shoulder, he shrugged it off. Tears ran from both of their eyes.

"I love you, Dylan..."

He glanced over to her and shook his head, he let out a huff and walked out the front door.

He walked into the pub and placed himself at the bar and ordered a double scotch.

"Oi!"

He turned as he heard a familiar voice call out, it was 2Dads.

"What are you doing here?"

Dylan shrugged and picked up his glass.

"Ah, just having a drink..."

2Dads glanced down at Dylan's double scotch and knew there was more too it.

"Right, well I'll join you..."

Dylan took a sip and kept his head down.

"Ah, no offence, but I'm not really in the mood for company."

"Well, I'm not going to leave you here when you're drinking doubles. Did you have a fight with the missus?"

Dylan didn't want to discuss it and took another sip of his drink,

2Dads nudged him with his elbow.

"I'll take that as a yes… Your fault or hers? Actually, if I've learned anything about women, it's that it's always our fault..."

Dylan let out a scoff and swallowed the rest of his glass.

"No, it's definitely her fault..."

2Dads ordered two more drinks.

"Oh, well now you've gotta tell me!"

The bartender placed 2 fresh glasses in front of them, Dylan picked up the glass and took a sip.

"I'm not gonna tell Dutchy, you just look like you need someone to talk to..."

Dylan sighed, he did need someone to talk to, but he was worried about the consequences.

"Okay, hypothetically, would you be mad if you found out that your partner was seeing someone like the day before you met and didn't tell you?"

It didn't sound that bad to 2Dads, people break up and meet new people all the time.

"Ah, well kind of, but they broke up right?"

"Wouldn't you feel like a rebound?"

2Dads shrugged and took a sip of his drink.

"Well kinda, but you guys have been together for so long, so it's not a rebound..."

Dylan turned and raised his eye brow.

"Hypothetically, remember..."

2Dads grinned and pat him on the shoulder.

"Yeah okay, so she didn't tell you, that sucks but..."

"Yeah, but the night I met her I pretty much knew she was the one... I mean, I thought she felt something too but in reality she was just trying to get over someone else..."

Dylan swallowed his second glass and ordered them another round.

"There're different kinds of love though, Dutchy, I mean not many people can say they have felt love at first sight. I think you're reading into it more than you should be."

Dutchy frowned, he didn't expect 2Dads to be so insightful about love.

"But from what I gather she had a real connection with the other bloke, he's the one that broke it off..."

2Dads didn't want to be seen as taking sides, however he didn't want Dutchy to do something rash because he was mad, he hoped that he could get him to see reason.

"Again, his loss, people get over people, you obviously helped her get over him and you won!"

Dylan sighed, 2Dads wasn't really helping him to feel better, but the scotch was. He sipped on his fresh drink, 2Dads placed a hand on his.

"Just slow down big fella, this isn't going to help clarify things."

He shrugged off his grip and took a bigger gulp.

"It might..."

2Dads rolled his eyes at his stubbornness.

"Yeah okay, but you have to keep talking. Look, Dutchy, she loves you, this other guy was either a loser or and idiot right? She doesn't still see him does she?"

Dylan's eyes darted from his drink to 2Dads and back to his drink, he nodded, 2Dads tried not to react, he knew that it was an issue.

"Oh, how?"

"They're umm, workmates, they've just started to work together again..."

2Dads tried to think of something helpful to say, something that wasn't going to make it worse.

"Okay, but work is separate, I mean have you seen them together? Are there any signs that there's something there?"

"No, and she insisted there's nothing there..."

"So you don't believe her?"

"I want to but I don't understand why she didn't tell me, especially when they started working together."

"Dylan, it just seems like you need to just move on..."

Dylan sighed and took a bigger sip.

"I can't..."

"Why?"

Dylan hesitated, answering the question meant blowing their secret, but he was in too deep, he needed to let it out.

"Because, I see him a lot too..."

2Dads sipped on his glass trying to figure out Dylan's cryptic puzzle of a relationship .

"But you said he works with your missus, how do you see him a lot?"

Dylan didn't mean to have it get this far but if 2Dads was really going to understand her had to know.

"He's my Boss too..."

2Dads was mid mouthful, he swallowed trying to put it together.

"Hang on, as in the boss? Like, the CO, Mike?"

Dylan nodded, and they both swallowed the rest of the drinks, 2Dads put his glass down on the mat and titled his head.

"Hang on, you said she works with him too..."

Dylan waited for it to connect in 2Dads head, he counted down in his head, 3,2,1... 2Dads leapt out of his chair.

"You're with the X!?"

Dylan's eyes widened at the level of 2Dads voice, he checked around them for any sailors and shh'd him.

"Keep it down!"

2Dads slammed his fist onto the bar and shook his head.

"Oh, I knew it! I said to Charge on that first day that there was something up... oh, but yeah, that's complicated..."

They sat there in silence for a moment, 2Dads reach out and playfully punched him.

"You and the X! Man, I still can't quite see it... Hang on, so you guys have a kid together..."

Dylan nodded.

"Yeah..."

2Dads laughed, still not quite believing it.

"Wow."

"You can't tell anyone! We'll be in so much trouble! I mean Commander White knows but we weren't to tell anyone."

"My lips are sealed, but I have so many questions, I mean she seems so straight, how is she coping with breaking the rules."

Dylan laughed thinking about it.

"Yeah, she's hating it..."

"So, how did you two meet?"

"At a bar, she was obviously drowning her sorrows, and I was a poor sucker intrigued by a pretty face."

"How did you know she was the one?"

"She was drinking like one of the boys and screamed at the footy on the TV, how do you not fall in love with that? Well, and, she just, she calms me, no one's ever made me feel the way I do about her, ever, "

2Dads laughed, he still couldn't quite imagine any of this happening.

"Right, so let me get this straight, the X and the Boss were together, and he broke up with her and then the next day you met and you fell in love with her? And the Boss knows you're together?"

Dylan nodded as he downed the rest of his glass.

"So you think that they were like, serious?"

"Yes and no, they weren't together for that long but apparently they had something, Mike left her with a note..."

"Ouch!"

"But I get the feeling that there're unresolved feelings which makes me feel on edge..."

"I see where you're coming from but you've been together for 7 years Dutchy, he can't take that away from you."

Dylan sighed and placed his head on the bar, 2Dads ordered them another drink.

"Right, and so the Brass are okay with being on the same ship?"

"Not really but they didn't have a choice, but I dunno what's gonna happen, I mean if she's permanently posted on Hammersley and I'm taken off I don't know if I can bear it?"

"Don't make yourself look like the bad guy, if you love her and trust her you're just gonna have to take her word for it!"

Dylan picked up his glass and glanced at 2Dads out the corner of his eye.

"How are you so wise?"

2Dads grinned and sipped his drink.

"It's a gift…"

A little while later Dylan had reached his limit, 2Dads had stopped drinking out of concern for his friend. Dylan leaned over the bar and checked his glass, it was empty.

"Ah, why don't we get you home big fella..."

Dylan shook his head and slammed the glass on the bar.

"Nah, here's better..."

2Dads threw his arm over his shoulder and walked him out of the pub.

"What's so good about Mike Flynn, huh? Is it the power?"

2Dads laughed.

"Not sure, mate. But you're a pretty good catch, well, when you're not drunk, anyway."

They piled into a cab and arrived at Kate's house, 2Dads helped him up the front path and opened the door, Kate jumped up and was horrified to see 2Dads supporting Dylan.

"Hi, Ma'am..."

"Ah, 2Dads, I was umm, ah, oh, looking after Dylan's daughter."

2Dads laughed, it amused him to see his superior lost for words but he also felt bad for her.

"Ah, it's okay, that cats out of the bag, but I promise that I won't say anything!"

Kate stood there uncertain about how to act, should she go the tough XO route or just be thankful that 2Dads brought him home safe? She sighed and helped 2Dads lay him on the couch.

"Look, Ma'am, I know it none of my business..."

Kate glared at him trying to scare him into keeping his opinions to himself, but in reality she was afraid of what he would say.

"No, it's not, but go on..."

"He really loves you and I think he just needs some reassurance..."

"How much did he tell you?"

"Everything... but you know these tough guys, they're really scared little boys on the inside. There must be something you can do to show him how much you love him?"

Kate sat there for a moment, 2Dads suddenly felt a little awkward.

"Well, I'm gonna head off, good luck."

2Dads headed for the door, Kate called out after him.

"2Dads..."

He stopped and turned at the door.

"Yeah..."

"Thanks for being a good friend..."

"Anytime, he's a good guy..."

"I know..."

2Dads left, Kate sat there pondering how she could make it up to him, she knew she had to pull out the big guns. She took out her phone and opened google, she smiled as results appeared on her screen.

"Perfect…"

End of Chapter 9. xx