Chapter 10

A couple of days later,

Mike opened the door to communications room to find Tom sitting at one of the stations with a head set on listening to the SOS calls. He had a bracelet on the table that he was playing with, Mike figured Tom's daughter made it for him. It was starting to become a habit of Tom's to come down and listen to the air waves. Mike wasn't sure if it was healthy to listen to so much despair but someone had to do it.

When Mike stepped in Tom lifted the headset from his head and placed them on the desk in front of him.

"Sent the guys on a break" Tom gave a sigh "figured I'd see what was going on in the outside world" he said looking despondently at the wall before he looked to Mike and said "There's a lot of static"

"Well whatever you hear out there's not going to be particularly uplifting"

"My dad had an Oldham radio set in his cabin I thought maybe Darien was…" Tom paused. "It's our anniversary" Tom confessed, Mike gave a slightest of nods completely understanding why he would want to listen to people's calls for help if it meant the chance of hearing his wife's voice even if he couldn't respond. Mike wished he could hear his daughters voices but a side of him knew as much as he wanted to hear their voice the pain of not being able to reply, of being unable to help would tear him to pieces. It nearly did the first and last time he spoke to them.

"You never come down here" Tom commented.

"Yeah" Mike gave a sardonic chuckle and shook his head as he pulled up a chair and turned it to face him and sat down straddling it. "I don't think Christina's looking for me" he said with a wry smile to cover up his pain, the grief and the absurdity of how Kate had fallen back into his life. It was like some higher power was having a good giggle at his expense. He rested his arms on the back of chair and looked to Tom.

"Come on" Tom said as if Mike was joking. Mike wished he was joking. He really wanted a marriage like Tom's but he and Christina just couldn't seem to get it together something he truly blamed himself for as the more time he saw Kate on the ship the more he realised how over the years he had been silently comparing his wife to Kate and hell he'd been doing it the last few months. He wished he could turn off that part of his brain, that he could just wipe Kate from his memory. No one least of all him needed to be constantly reminded of how happy he had been with a woman who was not his wife or the mother of his children.

"Yeah, well before we left things were pretty ragged between us" Mike said, 'ragged' was an understatement to how he and Christina were. "I finally got her on the phone after we lifted M-COM. She told me about Lucas" Mike drew in a rocky breath as the pain and grief of knowing his son was dead that he had been burying for days was attempting to bubble to the surface. "Losing a son is one thing but dealing with it on your own is just…" he drawled not able to find the words.

"There was nothing you could do" Tom told him, Mike knew he was trying to give him some comfort but his words just burned him as Mike could have done many things and all those scenarios played in his head.

"That is not what she wanted to hear" Mike said, hell he could never say anything that would make it right or salve the wounds. Something which made him angry just thinking about and he realised if he continued to talk, he might be liable to break something and they needed the comm room intact, so he gave a nod "Well, I'll leave you to it" Mike said making a strategic retreat. He rose from his chair and set the chair back into the desk before he turned for the door.

"There's still a chance Mike" Tom said as Mike reached for the door. Mike felt anger flare inside of him, he turned and faced Tom.

"For all of us" Tom told him, Mike wished he could share Tom's blind faith that everything would work out, that they would be able to reunite with their families but he didn't feel it. So instead of beginning a fight be kept his mouth shut and left the room.

"Look, I gave you a couple days to chill off and think about what happened but now we have to learn to get a long" Kate said as she watched Grodin bench pressing weights in the gym. She folded her arms across her chest as she was sucking up her pride and trying to mend bridges so she could get the Helo back in the air. She was bored, so bored she was close to giving Grodin a heartfelt apology so they could get back to work. Knowing full well 'work' would mean her training him even though it was the last thing she wanted to do. Why she couldn't have a co-pilot with years of experience and ego to keep cool under pressure? was a question she was asking herself on a regular basis.

"It's pretty hard to get along with someone so mentally unbalanced" Grodin told her. Kate rolled her eyes as she knew how well the story of 'Poor Grodin nearly getting shot by the crazy Australian' was doing the rounds of the ship. At least Burk had warmed up to her but she had a feeling that he just liked watching her and Tex banter about inane things.

"How old are you?" Kate asked as she sat down on one of the benches beside his. There were only a couple of other people in the Gym but they were using the treadmill.

"23" he told her with a grunt as he continued lifting the weights with his buddy hovering over him to make sure he didn't injure himself.

"Tell me, how long did it take you to get to your illustrious position?" She asked him mockingly.

"Roughly 5 years" he answered.

"Including your degree?" Kate asked.

"Yeah" he said.

"So four years of college and then one year flight school?" Kate asked, she knew this but for some reason it annoyed her that he thought he was King at flying after only a year and 5 months of flying.

"Yeah" he answered.

"What did you get your degree in?" she asked him out of curiosity.

"Science" he told her.

"What kind of science?" Kate asked. He gave her an odd look before he answered.

"Marine Biology" he told her, Kate covered her mouth with her hand as she was trying not hard to laugh. Marine Biology was a hard degree and a hard field to get work in. It was probably why he was a navy pilot but then she was also surprised as she couldn't imagine why he would be here if he liked studying and preserving marine life.

"Really?" She asked, he gave her a dark look as he heard her amusement.

"I didn't want to be a pilot. Ok? But my stepfather is career military and refused to pay for college unless I did my time in the service. Then my Mom weighed in on the subject and it snowballed" he told her.

"So, you're being a pain in my ass because you don't want to be here but Mom and Stepdad plied the pressure on you? Why didn't you just flunk yourself out of flight school or basic training? Go back to Uni on a scholarship, get a masters and then a PhD?" Kate asked him.

"Because I couldn't get a scholarship and I couldn't afford to do my masters or PhD. and I gave my word to the Admiral that I would serve for 3 years and he promised that after the three years my life is my own. I expected with the troops being pulled from Iraq that I'd be kept stateside. Where it's quiet. I also figured it wouldn't hurt to have it on my resume as well as having a pilot's licence. Not like it fucking matters any more" Grodin grumbled as he pushed the weights up and into the rack above his head and sat up to look at her.

"You don't know that. Pilots are probably a rare commodity now" Kate told him with a shrug. It was a lousy consolation prize.

"True" he said though he didn't seem enthused about being a 'rare commodity' and anyway their usefulness would run out as soon as the Helo became either irreparably damaged or they ran out of petrol.

"But don't let it get to your head. You still have a lot to learn and since you have very little natural talent you're going to have to pick up your game" Kate told him.

"Gee thanks but my flight instructor said I was a natural" Grodin told her, as he wiped down the bench and then moved to the bar at the side of the room to do pull ups.

"You're an Admiral's son and your flight instructor was a brown noser who should-"

"You don't know how hard flight school was" Grodin told her, Kate pursed her lips unimpressed with the answer.

"Really? You think I got my pilot's licence from a cornflakes box and walked up to the closest recruitment centre and said 'Hey, look this is cool. Now I'd like to fly a million dollar aircraft because that sounds like an awesome way to spend my weekends'." Kate said in a mocking tone.

"Well, you're a woman. You don't have to jump through any hoops. I'm sure you were a news puff piece to inspire little girls that women can do it all" Grodin told her.

"You want to add misogyny to your repertoire? Cause that will not win you any favours with the women when you're trying to get laid" Kate informed him.

"Whatever" he said with a roll of his eyes.

"You know saying 'Whatever' like that is the equivalent of saying 'Fuck you'. You ever wonder why I pulled that gun on you?" Kate asked him.

"Because you're insane or maybe it's that time of the month?" he offered, Kate paused for a moment to consider his answer.

"No, I haven't even started ovulating yet" She told him, Grodin faulted slightly in his pull up and immediately dropped to the floor.

"Oh my god, I don't need to know that!" he told her, his cheeks red with embarrassment, Kate chuckled.

"You brought it up, obviously to embarrass me. Something which is incredibly hard to do. Anyway, I didn't say you were a bad pilot but you still have a lot to learn especially how you deal with stressful situations and how you control yourself when things go pear shaped. If you're not comfortable with the idea of flying into dangerous situations then tell me now. If you are then it'll save me a lot of bullshit and time" Kate told him. Grodin shook his head at her before he jump up to grab the bar and continue his reps.

"Don't shake your head at me, you think you're the first person to lose their guts after some rough flying? The first panic in a cockpit? Well let me reassure you, you're not. Nor will you be the last fuck up to do so. You'll get over it in time but only if you want to" Kate told him.

"You going to tell me how you overcame your fears? To build up some comradry between us" Grodin asked her.

"No" Kate said making a face at him.

"Let me guess because it didn't happen to you" he said mockingly.

"No, it happened but you're an ungrateful little shit who hasn't earned the right to hear my stories. So you want to be a pilot or not?" She asked him. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for him to answer.

"I got nothing better to do" Grodin told her.

"That's the spirit" Kate said dryly.

"So what now?" he asked her.

"I'm going to go see when we can get some air time for your 'training'." Kate told him.

"Look, Grodin and I kissed and made up… well we didn't kiss but then the only physical contact I want with that man is my fist connecting with his face. The point being is that we're going to play nice. So can we get some air time?" Kate asked Mike as she followed him through the ship. She had appeared seemingly out of thin air, and been following him for the past five minutes talking non stop.

"No" He said, considering she had given him a wide berth for the last 5 months he had hoped for it to continue but apparently he was not going to get his way in anything at all on this ship. Ok, that was a stretch. He could get his way in stopping Kate from getting what she wanted.

"No?" Kate asked in a dull tone as she hadn't expected that answer.

"You heard me, giving you and Grodin flight hours because you're bored would be a waste of the Nathan James' finite resources" Mike explained, he wouldn't admit it out loud but he did feel a small sense of satisfaction in ruining her day considering the effect she was having on him. He was half tempted to go somewhere off limits to her but he had the feeling she'd just follow him everywhere and anywhere he went today until he said yes to whatever she wanted. It was the way she had said 'there you are' as a greeting that reminded him that of the time she convinced tried to convince him to bungy jump and she had won out in the end. But this time, he wasn't to cave.

"Then tell me what can I do while I'm grounded" Kate said to him, she sidestepped a crewman to allow them to pass before she continued to follow him and talk. "I'm bored and I don't have the patience for being sea-locked on a long term basis" Kate said exasperated, he heard a note of desperation in her tone. He stopped and turned to face her, an amused expression on his face. He had to admit she was starting to act a little more like her old self and he liked it. Even if it was annoying, just like the scent of her vanilla and lime shampoo. Past and present intermeshed for just a moment as he felt tempted to reach out and touch her. But he didn't for more than the obvious reasons.

"Sea-locked is not a word I'm not familiar with" he said folding his arms and looking down at her attire with a critical eye as he knew if he found faults then he wouldn't see the beauty. Kate lifted her chin up and locked eyes with him. She was dressed in her usual white t-shirt and skinny black jeans and combat boots with her long red hair hung loose around her shoulders. Explained why he could smell the scent of her shampoo.

"I'm getting restless." Kate told him. You're not the only one, he thought grimly as he reminded himself of the wedding ring on his finger.

"I realised that when I noticed how the wardroom was glaringly reorganized this morning" he told her, in fact the wardroom looked like it had been scrubbed to an inch of its life. He liked a clean wardroom but what he walked into this morning was extreme cleaning. Finally he could latch onto something that annoyed him as he didn't like the fact that she cleaned the room without asking first.

"I tidied up. There was no reorganising unless you count moving a salt shaker 2 millimetres to the left reorganising. I know how anal you can be about that stuff being out of place" Kate told him in a low voice.

"Everything has a place and you disassembled and cleaned the coffee machine" Mike complained. No one disassembled the coffee machine and cleaned it. It was like tempting fate and the last thing this ship needed was the coffee machine to breakdown.

Kate made a face that was a mix of frustration and disbelief. It was cute but it didn't soften his annoyance as she was supposed to ask permission before she cleaned or dismantled anything on the ship. Lord only knew what she was going to clean next.

"It was filthy, I'm pretty sure I found remains of a dead rat inside it" Kate told him being dramatic. Mike shook his head as he knew she was lying… well at least about the dead rat. The part about the coffee machine being filthy was probably true even though they cleaned the filter and the pot regularly.

"No,you didn't" Mike said calling her bluff. Kate threw up her hands.

"Ok, I didn't but instead of the coffee tasting like month old burnt battery acid it now tastes like coffee. It's delicious" Kate told him with a smug smile.

"No, it tastes-" he was about argue that he preferred the old coffee. It had taken him months to get used to its acidic and bitter flavour and he he enjoyed the burn but it was gone now. But Kate cut him off.

"Amazingly like fresh coffee which is delicious! I know, do we have to take a poll? I'll do it because I'm sure everyone one will agree the coffee is better. I need something to do" She whined, Mike wished she would stop saying 'do' as all he could think of was all the things he used to 'do' to her and how very tempted he was to 'do' them again. It was the downside of their talking and slipping into old habits that should be long dead as he found the innuendo in practically everything that came out of Kate's mouth.

"I'm not the activities director" he told her in a dry tone at which she rolled her eyes. He turned around and continued to walk away, not sure of his direction anymore as he wanted to lose Kate and figured the only way to do that was to either tire her out, so he kept walking.

"I realise this is a naval ship and not the P&O. I know what we're doing here is not a booze cruise of the islands, it's why I'm not donning a bikini and looking for a Mai Tai and SPF50 sunblock" Kate said images of Kate in her dark grey bikini and aviator sunnies lying on the beach flittered through his mind was something he didn't need. He shook his head as if to shake the image away and focussed on what she was saying "…What I was thinking was that I could make a flight simulator but it will require some imagination and-"

"Equipment and supplies from other sections of the ship" Mike stated interrupting her as making a flight simulator even the most basic would be near impossible given the current situation.

"Yeah, only temporarily" Kate said her tone hopeful.

"No" he told her, flat out.

"Ok well are there any duties on board that I could perform? You know stuff that could give others a break. Grunt stuff like cleaning. I could swab the deck" Kate suggested, Mike snorted as he was tempted to say they lived in the 21st Century the days of swabbing decks went out when they stopped building ships made out of wood but felt it would open up a whole new discussion he didn't want to have.

"You've been watching too many pirate movies" he informed her.

"All I can do on this ship when I'm not flying; is clean, exercise, beat a crewman at playstation or watch movies. The Helo bay is organised and so clean you could eat off the floors. The Helo probably hasn't seen so much TLC in its life until now which reminds me-" Kate started he knew she was going to ask for something so he cut her off.

"Fill out a requisition form and give it to the Chief of Engineer" Mike told her.

"Ok, well that leads me back to my original problem of having nothing to do" Kate told him.

"Do you know what my job is on this ship?" Mike asked her, he wondered if she realised that he had walked them around the ship twice in a large circle yet as they passed a couple of crewman for the second time earning them an odd look.

"Yes, I do and I am trying to be helpful on the ship" Kate told him.

"Helpful would be you going back to avoiding me and being unobtrusive" he told her.

"Yeah, it got boring and I realised we could stuck on this ship for a very long time together. So we have to talk-" Kate stopped mid sentence as the lights flickered and the engines slowed down. It was not a good sign in general but provided him an out from talking with Kate.

"Look at that saved by yet another crisis" Mike said as he changed direction and headed towards the bridge. He had a feeling Kate was talking about their past. That they couldn't ignore it or the fact that they had unfinished business with one another, it was like an elephant in the room that he wasn't ready to acknowledge.

"You and I can't avoid this forever" Kate told him as she continued to follow him.

"I think we can" Mike said as he called the bridge for a status update on his radio.

"No, we can't. At some point you and the Captain-" Kate started but he cut her off.

"When did the Captain get involved?" Mike asked her, he half listened to the reply to his query from the bridge and wondered when Tom became mixed up in their business.

"Gee, I don't know but I'd like some more responsibilities on the ship, I would also like to know what the hell is going on" Kate told him. Relief washed over him as he didn't know why he had thought she meant talking about their history. He really needed to screw his head on straight.

"It's a need to know on a basis by basis situation" he said blandly as it was a non answer. He clicked his radio telling the bridge he acknowledging the information about the engines overheating and telling that he was on his way.

"Do you know what I was doing when France got vaporised?" Kate asked him after he finished talking to the bridge.

"No" he said as he climbed up the stairs to the next level as he continued to the bridge.

"I nearly concussed myself on the stupid bunk bed frame from waking up to the alarm" Kate told him, Mike threw a confused look over her shoulder as he didn't think it was possible to do such thing.

"Seriously?" He asked, Kate gave him a glower look.

"Yes, I have a freakishly long torso and long thighs. It's where my height comes from. The point being is that I need more to do and I need to be in the loop of what's going on. I don't need a blow by blow but to be nice to be kept up to date instead of 'hey, briefing in 5' and walking completely blind into the situation." Kate told him, her grievance with her situation evidently clear. He could empathise with her frustration as he hadn't given much thought to how she was doing.

Correction, he had blatantly been ignoring it which right now made him feel a little guilty as she wasn't being a useless pain in his ass or complaining too much. She was just trying to be helpful and be involved, something he didn't want to recognise but had to as she could be valuable asset to them besides just being their Helo pilot.

"I'll speak with the Captain and the Master Chief" he told her.

"Thank you" Kate said, and apparently it was all she needed to hear because when he looked over his shoulder she was gone.