Thoughts of Home.

Part 10.

Part 10 brings us to the end of this story! I hope you all enjoyed it, hopefully, I will be writing more 'Last Ship' stories soon.

This is set the morning after Mike gets home (the morning after the end of Time to Heal)

Reviews are very much loved and appreciated! Thank you for all the lovely reviews throughout this story. Mistakes are all mine, but I promise I did proofread.

(Side note: How would you guys feel about a Tom/Sasha story? Let me know!)

Disclaimer – I own nothing.

"How long has she been sleeping through the night?" Mike asked quietly.

Both he and Andrea had been awake for a while, neither of them had tried to start a conversation, they seemed content just laying next to each other, making up for the four months of sleeping alone.

"Not long after you left, I wrote it down in her book, she was nearly seven months. I think I spent most of the night checking on her." Mike chuckled. He could picture it, but then again, he and Christine had done the same with their three kids, constantly checking, just to make sure they were okay.

"I still can't believe how big she is, looking through some of those photos she looks so different." Andrea smiled, cuddling into Mikes side some more, she did feel bad, but not guilty, just sad that Mike had missed the last four months of his kids' life, Andrea hoped that now, he could make up for those four months and really get to know his youngest daughter.

"Well, now you have some time to get to know her again. I personally think she's great, she's very good at entertaining herself, and really enjoys eating her own feet, which, I hope she'll grow out of."

"Lucas used to do that, try and chew his feet." Mike smiled at the memory of his son, remembering how different Lucas looked after he came home from deployment.

Andrea sat up a little, looking over at her husband, thankful that he was back home. All of the worries she had before seemed to disappear, a part of her even feeling stupid for doubting it all, and putting herself through that stress, but she couldn't change that now, all she could do was enjoy the time she was spending with her family, and catching Mike up on everything that had happened while he had been away. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Mike shifted his position to pull Andrea back down on the bed, wrapping his arms around her. He didn't have much to say, he didn't know what to say, other than he was happy to be home, but Andrea already knew that. He didn't think either of them could handle a deep and meaningful conversation this early in the morning, so he settled for holding her close, waiting for one of the kids to wake up.

"Would you like some coffee?" Andrea asked, after a few moments of silence.

"In a bit. Right now, I just want to make up for lost time." Mike said, shifting his position so he could look at her, and gage her reaction.

"Is that so?" Andrea said with a smile, having no objects to the suggestion.

Andrea leaned up to look at the clock on the nightstand, smiling a little more as she looked at her husband.

"Well, the kids won't be up for at least another hour. Consider this your homecoming,"

"I will do, Mrs Slattery." Mike would have been fine with whatever happened, this, or the kids waking up, but selfishly he was happy to spend some time with Andrea, without kids, without work, just with his wife, making up for, what he would say, what the longest four months of their married lives.

Later, that morning, Mike, and Andrea heard the girls getting up. Not that it was late, it was still only 7:45.

"I think your youngest is up," Andrea smiled over at Mike as she was getting up.

"I think you're right, I'll go get her, let's see if she remembers who I am." Andrea nodded, but she couldn't smile too big, she had the same worry Mike did, although he would say he was joking. Of course, Andrea had shown Madilyn pictures of Mike and spoken about him, and then there was the constant hope that Maddy wouldn't forget her father, but she was worried it would take the little girl a little longer to feel comfortable again.

Mike walked across the hall, slowly pushing open the door that led to Maddy's room. Waiting a few seconds before fulling walking in, smiling at the sight of Madilyn sat in her crib, playing with her few stuffed toys.

"Hey, baby girl," Mike said as he reached down to pick her up, hesitant at first, wondering if or not she would cry, Madilyn looked a little confused for a few moments before she let out a small whine, looking around the room. Mike assumed, looking for Andrea.

"It's okay, sweetie." He kissed her head but could see she was upset.

She let out another small whine, but Mike didn't mind, all he could do was hold her close and take in the fact he was home, even if that meant having to refamiliarize himself with his daughter and she with him.

"It's okay, you don't remember me? Huh? It's okay, I love you…"

"Shall we go find, mama?" Mike asked, taking a few steps towards the door.

As he walked into the master bedroom, he laid Madilyn on the bed, letting her wriggle around. The look on Andrea's face told him she'd heard what he'd said over the baby monitor.

"It's okay, we both knew it would be a struggle, and like you said, I need to take this time to get to know her and for her to get to know me." Andrea nodded a little.

"She still loves you, she just needs some more time."

Mike's reply was cut short by the sound of feet hitting the floor further down the hall, he wanted to make a comment about at least these girls knew who he was, but he knew it wasn't the time or the place. A part of him knew coming home would be hard, and even though yesterday Madilyn seemed happy enough to be held, today, clearly it was sinking in that Mike was staying and for someone so little, it was hard to get used to.

Mike couldn't say he was shocked. He had done this before, he knew first-hand homecoming where not always that easy.

"So, we went to the White House and we met the President. She doesn't seem very Presidential." Katie said as she showed Mike some of the pictures, he couldn't help but stare at them, smiling at how grown up his girls where, how happy they looked.

"Well, I think she's different depending on who's in the White House, I don't think a group of school kids want to know about National Security," Mike said with a shrug, he'd met the President on many occasions after the death of her predecessor, and he had to agree with Katie, on some occasions she really didn't seem presidential, but she was nice enough.

"Anyway, we did loads of other stuff too. We took Maddy to the park a lot and had some of our friends sleep over at mum's house, and we also slept at our friends how too," Amy put in, flicking through some more pages in her notebook.

"Andrea said Maddy likes the park, you two are good sister by going, I know you could have been doing other stuff,"

"We like Maddy, she's small and cute and she's not annoying." Mike couldn't help but laugh.

"I agree, she is very small and very cute, but you two were when you were babies as well, so was your brother, but you didn't like him too much in the beginning because your mum and I wouldn't let you dress him up."

"Andrea has so many pictures of us dressing Maddy up, you'll love them dad!" Katie said with a grin.

"How did the sleepovers go, I hope you weren't giving your mum a tough time?" Before the girls could find the diary entries on the pictures, Andrea appeared in the doorway.

"It was Christine who suggested the sleepovers," Andrea said, holding Maddy on her hip.

"I'm sorry for interrupting daddy-daughter time, but Tom just called he's on his way over." Mike gave the girls a smile, before pulling them both in for a hug.

"I promise, we will sit and keep talking about this later. I want to know what else you girls have done." Mike promised, watching as Amy and Katie got up off the couch.

"It's cool dad, mum said we can come over after school next week to see you if we don't get to tell you everything now." That was something else that Mike had almost forgotten about. It was Saturday, the girls would be going back to their mums in a day.

"We'll sort something out," Mike said.

"I think this one has had a moment of realisation," Andrea said with a smile, as Madilyn began to wriggle in her mother's arms, reaching in the direction of Mike.

"See, I told you she wouldn't forget dad," Amy told Andrea with a look. Andrea only smiled and nodded as she passed the infant over to her father.

"Hey, little one!" Mike couldn't keep the happiness from his voice when Madilyn didn't whine or try to wriggle away.

"Oh, I missed you so much!"

"Now, if only she could say the same back," Andrea said, just before there was a knock at the door.

"She'll talk when she's ready, besides, right now she has two big sisters who do all of her talking for her. Isn't that right, Madilyn?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt your time with the girls," Tom said with an apologetic smile as he sat on the couch, accepting a cup of coffee off Andrea.

"Thankfully, they get it." Mike gave him a short nod, before accepting his cup off his wife.

"You can stay, if you like Andrea, I hope I bring good news." Andrea sat down next to her husband, the thought of good news bringing a smile to her face, although a part of her knew it wouldn't be the news she wanted.

"Where's the little one?" Tom asked, looking over to the playpen in the corner of the room.

"Being dressed up by her big sisters, I think."

"Better than screaming at the top of her lungs."

"So, this good news you have, do we have to guess or are you going to tell us?" Mike asked with a short laugh, watching his friend carefully.

"You're going to hear it on base, but I want you to know it's not true. The President wanted to transfer you, to the Naval Base in Washington State, she wanted you to lead a unit there, but it's not happening." Mike heard Andrea let out a sigh of relief, and he too was relieved that he wouldn't have to move.

"I know since you've just been away it's not the best time, but a lot of people were in that room when she made the suggestion, I just didn't want either of you to panic when you heard it, and I know it's none of my business, but I gave Christine the heads up too. I didn't want the girls hearing it at school, but I said you would talk to her when you knew more." Mike nodded, he couldn't say he was angry at Tom for going to Christine, he, much like Tom didn't want the girls to hear it from someone else.

"So, it's confirmed, we're not going anywhere?" Andrea asked.

"You're staying here. I know I should have told you, Andrea, but you were dealing with a lot, I didn't think it was fair to put that on you as well." Andrea gave him a smile of understanding.

"Is that all?"

"From a works perspective, yeah, and I just wanted to see how you were. The last time you had your own command few good things came out of it. Apart from you two, of course," Tom added on the end.

"Nice save, Tom," Andrea said as she stood up.

"I'm going to check on the girls, you two can catch up. Thanks for coming over, Tom."

"No worries. Take care of yourself,"

Both men waited until Andrea left the room before they relaxed a little. Mike was grateful for Tom coming over, even if it meant he couldn't give all his attention to the girls. It was nice to speak to someone who knew what it was like to leave your family behind. Of course, Andrea knew what it was like, but it wasn't a conversation Mike wanted to have with her.

"It's good to be home, but it was good to back out there." Tom nodded.

"I spoke to Russ, he said you did well. Although, I think the added man overboard drill annoyed the Vulture team just a little." Mike laughed.

"Well, you're in the middle of the ocean, you have to create fun."

"You're not wrong there. I'm just glad you all made it through, I know how hard it was for you to leave again. New family, but, still you can't help but think of the last time." Mike nodded, before taking a sip of his coffee.

"This time around I knew I was coming home, and I knew who I was coming home too. Okay, four months is nothing compared to the six and eight-month missions, but this time there was no fear of the world ending, there was just the knowledge that I would see my girls again." Mike was being honest and open. He had to keep that in mind. Five years ago, he lost his son, the time after that he nearly lost Andrea, but this time, he told himself that hell couldn't have anything else in store for them, and so he needed to remain positive.

"Just know, that while you are out there, there are people here waiting for you to come home. I promised you I would look after Andrea and the girls if anything happened. That wasn't just a one-time offer, Mike, any time you ship out, you can know that they'll be safe."

"Means a lot, Tom."

"You'd do the same if it were the other way around."

"Yeah, I would."

"Now, I won't take any more of your time. I believe you have a family to catch up with."

"How long was Uncle Tom here for?" Amy asked.

"Not long, darling. He just wanted to check in." Mike said. Amy and Katie were sat on the couch switching their attention between the TV and Mike.

"So, nothing about you leave again?" She asked, turning to look at her father who was playing with Madilyn.

"No, nothing about leaving again. I promise the moment that comes up you will be the first to know." Mike reassured her, but he knew it wouldn't do much good, she would always worry.

"Technically the third and fourth people to know. Uncle Tom will tell you, then you'll tell Andrea and then you'll tell us." Katie said, almost absentmindedly as she changed the channel.

"If you wanted to be exact about it, then yes."

"Yeah, I think Andrea might kill you if you didn't tell her. Or at least hurt you."

"Who might I kill?" Andrea asked from the doorway, looking between the girls and Mike.

Mike chuckled slightly, shaking his head, waiting for Katie to explain.

"You might kill dad if he didn't tell you about his next deployment." Andrea shrugged and nodded.

"You're probably right. Anyway, it's time for the little one to go to bed, I do not want to be dealing with an unhappy child tomorrow," Andrea said, stepping into the room to pick Madilyn up off Mike's chest.

"I can do it," Mike said with a smile.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, why not? Not like I didn't raise three kids before this one." Andrea smiled, before handing her daughter back over to Mike, thankful to see that Madilyn had now realised who Mike was.

"Let me say goodnight to her!" Amy almost shouted as she jumped off the couch before Mike could leave the room.

Mike smiled, he couldn't believe he and Andrea had worried so much about how the girls would react to their new sibling.

At least he'd come home to a loving family.

It was getting close to midnight when Mike and Andrea finally got to bed. Mike had stayed up late talking to Katie and Amy, knowing that tomorrow they would be tired and possibly cranky, but he wanted to spend time with them before they went back to Christine's, trying hard to fit four months into one evening.

"Your first full day back home, how does it feel?" Andrea asked as they got ready for bed.

"Good. I mean, it's home and I've missed you all, I don't know how to put it into words." Andrea smiled.

"I didn't think you were that kind of person, to get all deep and sentimental." Mike nodded, he wasn't, or at least he wasn't in public, but at home, with her, it was different.

"Well, I am happy to have you home."

The two of them laid in bed, both of them content with the silence, just laying close together. Andrea thankful to be near him again, feeling happy with how the day had gone, with how the kids were. She was looking forward to the next few weeks, getting settled again, finding a routine that worked.

Mike couldn't wish for anything more than what he got when he got home. Love from his wife, and his older girls and Madilyn in the end, even if it did take her a while to adjust, but Mike knew they'd all be okay, he was home, and right now that was all that mattered.

"What you said, last night," Mike began, breaking the silence.

"About a baby, I know it's not going to happen right away, but were you being serious?" Mike had to ask, it had been playing on his mind since she'd said it. Wondering if it was real or if she was just talking to fill the silence. He would be fine with either, he just wanted to know for sure.

"I want a baby, I've always wanted more kids. It was the plan with Bill, we both wanted a big family, and although a few years ago I was so unsure, I think that want and that wish has come back for me." Andre turned her head to look at him.

"I just wanted to know, be sure, I think you know my thoughts on the idea." Andrea laughed a little, trying to be quiet.

"Yeah, I think you made that pretty clear." Mike pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her.

"How did you get through the four months without breaking down like I did?" Andrea asked.

Mike kissed her neck before answering, wondering if either of them wanted to have this conversation now. There were so many ups and downs, and he was sure there were moments when he could have lost it.

"I don't know, I guess I pushed myself into work, and just reminded myself I had people who were waiting for me to come home." He used Tom's words, but they were true.

"At times this wasn't home,"

"No?"

"My mother used to tell me that home is not a place, but a feeling. At first, home was with Bill, then Lily, then with 200 other sailors, and then with you. You were thinking of home, but so was I."

"I'm here now, love," Mike whispered, before moving his hand to hold one of hers.

"I know,"

"Just know that no matter where I am, I love you."

"I love you too, Mike."

There wasn't anything else either of them could say. Mike was home, and until he left again, everything in Andrea's world would be okay, and even when he did leave again, she would keep on healing, and keep on thinking of home, wherever he was.

Thank you so much for reading! What did you think of that ending? Reviews mean so much! Thank you for all the lovely support. Bethany.