Hey guys,
It was my RDO today and in between reading all the awesome chapters and new stories that came out today I managed to get some writing done so here's the next chapter!
Loving that there's so many new stories coming out at the moment! Keeps me distracted from reality until I go away on holiday's haha.
Anyway thanks to those who left a review in the last 24 hours, this is for you!
Love Heals All Wounds?
Chapter 10
Present
Another hour had passed and Jim was still sitting in the same spot waiting for any news. The Hammersley had docked and Mike and Dutchy came running into the hospital, they looked around for someone who could help them. Dutchy spotted Jim sitting by himself, he patted Mike on the arm and nodded towards him.
"Should we go see him?"
Even thought they had worked though most of their issues Mike was worried that Jim's emotions may overflow and he didn't want to cause a scene in the hospital.
"Ah, why don't you go see if he's alright, I'll see if I can find out anything..."
Dutchy gave him a nod, Mike walked off in the direction of the nurses' station.
Jim rose from his seat as he saw Dutchy approach.
"Dutchy, what happened?"
Dutchy cringed a he saw the desperate look on Jim's face, he took a deep breath in and stepped forward. He suddenly felt guilty, he was the one with her, he was the one who promised to have her back. Jim was becoming impatient, he threw his hands in the air.
"Dutchy!?"
Dutchy lowered himself on the chair hoping Jim would be reasonable.
"We boarded an FFV and she went below... they had guns..."
Jim wasn't impressed with Dutchy explanation he raised his voice slightly.
"She went below alone?
Dutchy didn't know how to answer sp he ignore the question.
"I followed but before we knew it here were guns to our heads."
"But you guys are armed too..."
Dutchy flinched, he knew Jim was going to get more upset the further he explained.
"Jim, they had a better position, there was a scuffle and we heard a gun go off, next thing Kate was on the floor."
Jim could feel his rage build, he knew it wasn't anyone's fault but in the heat of the moment he needed someone to blame. He grabbed Dutchy by the front of him shirt and lift him to meet his eyes and shoved him against the wall.
"You're her Buffer, you're supposed to protect her!"
Dutchy knew Jim was reacting to his feelings, he didn't bother to struggle against him. Mike heard the commotion and ran over to try to intervene.
"Jim! Calm down! It's not his fault."
Jim closed his eyes for a minute and thought of Kate, she wouldn't approve of his behaviour. He released his grip and Mike spun him round and grasped his shoulders trying to get him to focus.
"Jim she was doing her job, there's always a risk."
They were interrupted as a doctor approached them, Mike let go of Jim's shoulders and he ran towards the doctor.
"Jim?"
"That's me..."
The doctor flipped through Kate's file.
"Ah the nurse tells me you're Kate's fiancée?"
Dutchy overheard the doctor and shot a questioning look in Mike's direction, he shook his head slightly indicating this wasn't the time to discuss it.
"Ah, yeah..."
"So, Kate is serious but stable, for now. We've managed to stop the bleeding but we do have some concerns..."
They walked a bit further down the hallway, Mike and Dutchy watched as Jim slumped on to a chair, the doctor sat beside him and explained further. They waited for the doctor to leave and rushed to his side assuming the worst. They sat down either side of him, Dutchy glanced and Mike not knowing if he should ask what was happening.
Jim rubbed his hands over his face trying to think of a way to break the news.
"They're worried about her liver, some of the blood vessels that supply the blood have been badly damaged, they've managed to repair some but if they rupture again... "
Jim was so overwhelmed, how did it get to this? One day they were engaged and happy a few days later she had taken off the ring and she was in hospital fighting for her life. He got up off the chair and walked down the hall way and out the hospital. Mike and Dutchy chased after him wanting to know the outcome.
Jim stood outside and leaned on the railing and looked out over the water, Mike and Dutchy hesitated seeing him deep in thought, Mike nodded towards him.
"I'll go..."
Mike cautiously approached Jim and stood next to him and waited for him to speak.
"Worst case, she needs a liver transplant, the doctor said he is going to start doing some general checks for blood type, has she got any family here?"
Jim was distraught, he bent over and rested his head on her forearms.
"God, I proposed to her and I don't even know about her family..."
Mike knew that Jim would be hard on himself, he shook his head slightly.
"She doesn't have any here...and if it was important she would have told you."
"They said she'd be in the ICU for at least 3 days but she could be in here for weeks..."
"Let's just take it a day at a time huh? C'mon why don't you come back inside, you'll want to be there if she wakes up yeah?"
Dutchy felt a little awkward knowing what he knew about the three of them, he saw them heading back across the road to the hospital. He decided to give them some space and headed back to the cafeteria.
Mike and Jim sat outside of the room that Kate had been assigned waiting for her to come out of recovery.
"Mike, I've royally screwed this up, I am sorry this happened. No actually, I'm sorry this caused a rift between all of us but I'm not sorry I met her. You know I wouldn't set out to try and steal her right? I mean, we had something and..."
Mike knew Jim wouldn't do anything to hurt him on purpose, he had been the selfish one. He had done the wrong thing and been jealous and hadn't been brave enough to admit it. He placed his hand on Jim's back trying to reassure him.
"Yeah I know mate, I think deep down I knew she'd like you and it got to me. I don't know why we couldn't make it work but you made it work and I was jealous. Bottom line, I want her to be happy, and if that's with you then so be it..."
"Yeah well I don't know now, you didn't see her face when I went to see her, she looked like she hated me..."
A few hours later they were still waiting, the doctor approached them, Jim stood hoping for good news.
"Doc?"
"We're bringing her out of recovery now. She's still under sedation but you can sit with her if you like..."
A relieved smiled came over his face as she saw them wheel her into a room, he stepped into the room and was shocked at her appearance, she was pale with multiple machines hooked up to her. She looked nothing like the strong confident XO that he had come to love, he sat beside her bed and reached out and grasped her hand.
Mike stood outside in the corridor looking in through the window, his phone beeped, it was Maxine.
"Mike, you're needed at Navcom and bring Petty Officer Mulholland..."
Mike and Dutchy stood in front of Maxine with a wary looks on their faces. She glanced at the piece of paper she was holding then back up at them.
"Okay, explain this to me one more time, and pretend the Brass is standing behind me."
They looked at each other, they knew Kate had done the wrong thing, she had ignored Mike's orders to abort and they knew that there was no point in lying, they could just bring up a recording of the radio exchanges. They had to tell the truth but also defend her. Mike cleared his throat.
"We disagreed on a course of action, but I trust Kate's instincts, Ma'am."
Maxine frowned, she knew they were a tight knit crew but this had ended too badly to be swept under the rug. She stood up and paced around her office.
"You trust her instincts yet she was shot."
She turned her focus to Dutchy.
"What about you Petty Officer?"
Dutchy didn't expect her to ask his opinion, he glanced at Mike for help. He didn't know how he could help. He heard Maxine clear her throat, she was becoming impatient. He glanced back at her and was met with an unimpressed glare.
"Ah, what about me Ma'am?"
She slammed her fist on the table making them both jump, she knew that they were trying to protect her but this was not the time.
"Don't play stupid, was Kate out of line? Did she put her crew in danger?"
Dutchy was a little shocked at the aggressive tone of Maxine's voice.
"Ah there's always danger Ma'am, I mean they had stopped firing, we thought they were out of ammo. Whenever we board an FFV we never know if we're out numbered. I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary..."
She knew that Dutchy was trying to avoid her question.
"And her so called course of action... did she deliberately disobey orders?"
Dutchy didn't want to answer, he dropped his head.
"We thought we could handle them Ma'am, isn't that our job after all? Catch the bad guys?"
Maxine rolled her eyes, she was getting sick of him beating around the bush, she knew she wasn't going to get a straight answer from him.
"You're dismissed Petty officer..."
Dutchy glanced at Mike trying to send him good luck vibes, Mike gave him a slight nod as he left. Maxine sat back down at her desk and gestured for Mike to sit, he did as he was told. Maxine rubbed her face.
"Mike, what is going on? You and Kate are normally perfectly in sync..."
"I don't know, look she knew what she was doing."
"Obviously not Mike..."
"Max, don't you think she's been punished enough?"
Maxine sighed and got up and sat next to him.
"Okay, if you don't want to take further action that's fine but why do I get the feeling there's something else?"
Mike looked at the floor, Maxine put a hand on his shoulder trying to comfort him.
"Okay, the Boss is gone, is everything okay?"
"It's complicated Max..."
She laughed and rolled her eyes.
"When is it not complicated Mike?"
"It's okay, it's nothing to do with work."
"But is affecting your work Mike, I've never known Kate to disobey an order, she'll voice her opinion but..."
"Yeah I know Max, look well sort it out..."
"Yeah, well it looks like she'll be out of action for a while anyway...but just be prepared that they maybe questions."
Mike nodded and left her office. Dutchy was waiting outside for him, he rushed to his side.
"What did she say?"
"It's okay, we'll deal with it..."
Dutchy was surprised, but being friends with your Commander had its advantages, but no matter which way they looked at it they still had an issue with the way Kate was handling things.
"Boss, tell me to butt out of you want but I know something is up. Kate would never act like that unless something wasn't bothering her, I tried to talk to her but has it got something to do with the fight with Captain Roth?"
Mike glanced around the room and hesitated, this wasn't the place to discuss it. Dutchy knew more than most and Mike was dying to talk to someone seeming he couldn't talk to his friend.
"Meet me at mine in 30 minutes..."
Dutchy knocked on Mike's front door holding a 6 pack of beer, he thought it might make it feel a bit more casual or as liquid courage for Mike. Mike opened the door and let him in, they sat on the couch and cracked open a beer. Dutchy looked over to Mike, he knew he was going to have to start, Mike was never great about talking about personal things, not that he didn't want to, it was more he didn't know how to.
"So, what's the real issue with Kate and Jim dating?"
Dutchy didn't mean for it to come out that judgemental but maybe it was better, direct, straight to the point, he could umm and ahh. Mike exhaled and put his beer down on the coffee table.
"I'm not jealous, I'm concerned... "
Dutchy raised an eyebrow challenging his answer, Mike pretended not to see him, he picked up his beer and took a bigger sip.
"Okay, I was little jealous but... but there's more to it, I'm in the wrong too..."
Dutchy didn't know whether to tell Mike that he already knew about their secret plan but he sensed that Mike needed to let it out to alleviate some of his guilt. Mike took another gulp of his beer trying strike up the courage to explain.
"Kate and I had a thing years ago, before Hammersley, it didn't end well, my fault of course and then she was posted with me."
Dutchy's eyes widened, this wasn't the story he was expecting. He was about to say something but Mike continued.
"Jim and I are, were, actually I dunno right now but we were mates. We went through ADFA together, he's the reason I'm actually in the Navy. He came up here to work and we were talking about Kate and he came up with this idea to take her on a date and suss our wether she still had feelings for me. I didn't really like it but it's not his fault, he thought he was helping me out, I then sort of encouraged it. So he messaged her on this dating app that Nav had signed her up for and it backfired of course cos they actually got along, why wouldn't they? He's polite, charming, an all round good bloke and of course decent looking. Anyway, she found out after hearing Jim and I argue and now she won't speak to either of us."
They both took a large swing of their beer, Dutchy sat there still trying to get his head around the "we had a thing years ago." part of the story.
"Wow..."
Mike sat back on the couch nervous about the information he had just revealed, but it just kept coming.
"Oh yeah, they are, well were, engaged..."
Dutchy took another sip of his beer.
"Umm okay, I think I need a moment to process this..."
Dutchy sat there trying to think of what to say next without giving himself away.
"So you think this was part of the reason why the X was ah, let's say stubborn, about things today?"
Mike knew it was totally the reason but he didn't want to dump her in it, even if it was to Dutchy.
"I don't think she's deliberately disobeyed an order or deliberately put any of you guys in danger but I feel like she was overly sensitive today and it may have contributed to things. You know how she gets like if she's got issues she'll throw herself into work or..."
Dutchy opened another beer and handed it to Mike.
"I think we need another one..."
Jim sat with Kate and stroked her arm, he didn't know how she was going to react if she woke up, the last thing he wanted to do was upset her. Her eyes started to flutter, he didn't know whether to stay or go.
He leaned closer to her and brushed the stray hairs from her face.
"Kate?"
Her eyes gradually opened and she let out a groan of pain, she squeezed his hand to tried and breath through it. Jim could see she was struggling, he shifted in his chair, it was like he could feel it too.
"Kate, just try and relax, you're in hospital, you were injured on a boarding."
She tried to focus on the voice, she flinched and removed her hand from his as she realised it was Jim. She tried to speak but her voice was croaky.
"Get out!"
Jim couldn't make out what she was saying, he removed the oxygen mask from her face.
"Kate?"
She closed her eyes, the pain was almost unbearable.
"I don't want... to see you..."
He knew it was a possibility that she would react the way she was but he had to try harder.
"Kate."
She ignored him, she just wanted him to leave, she turned her head to face the window.
He knew this wasn't the time to push, he walked to the door and turned to check on her. He watched as her body pulsated from her sobs, she turned back and caught a glimpse of him standing in the door, she didn't expect him to still be there. She quickly wiped the tears from her face and took every ounce of strength she had and yelled.
"Just go!"
Jim ran down the hallway, he needed to get out of there, the look on her face was burnt into his mind, it was a mix of hatred and despair. He was about the exit the ward when alarms started to ring from her room. He ran back to the room and was shoved out the way by doctors and nurses. A nurse grabbed him by the arm.
"Ah Sir, I'll need you to wait outside..."
Jim resisted a little and but was shoved out the door.
He watched as they frantically hooked more machines up to her, one of the nurses moved him out the way as they wheeled her out the door, he ran after them demanding to know what was going on. He grabbed the doctor's arm forcefully making his stop.
"I am her fiancée, I have a right to know what's happening."
The doctor shrugged off his grip.
"We don't have time Jim, the blood vessels have ruptured again, will try and repair them but we might be at the worst case, we'll do all we can."
Jim stopped at the plastic doors, he watched as they wheeled her off into surgery. He stood there looking at the doors swinging back and forth, a feeling of dread came over him. She was distracted because of their fight, this was his fault.
Jim sprinted out of the hospital, he couldn't be there, he couldn't be the reason she died. He stood there for a moment, he didn't know where to go. He didn't want to go home to deafening silence, he couldn't go back to Kate's house. He sighed, he only had one other place to go, Mike's.
Jim stood at the front door and exhaled trying to summon the strength to knock. He held his hand to the door and knocked twice, part of him hoped he wasn't home. The door swung open and he was surprised to see Dutchy.
"Oh um, Dutchy, is Mike home?"
Mike got up and stood behind Dutchy.
"Jim, what are you doing here?"
Tears started to form in his eyes, Mike and Dutchy looked at each other and ushered him into the house. They sat on the couch not knowing what to say, Dutchy handed him a beer, Jim opened it and took a large swig. Dutchy glanced at Mike trying to get him to initiate the conversation, he shrugged a little. Jim sighed and put his beer down on the coffee table.
"She needs a liver transplant..."
They sat there dumbfounded. Mike shifted towards him trying to process the gravity of the situation.
"What?"
"She woke up and... she told me to leave. I didn't want to upset her but as I was leaving all these alarms started going off, they made me leave the room and then they were rushing her to surgery."
Jim leaned back on the couch and ran his hands over his face.
"She can't die, I can't be the reason that she dies!"
Dutchy looked over at Mike completely confused, Mike put a hand on his back.
"Why is this your fault?"
Jim couldn't look them in the eye, he focused on the floor feeling ashamed.
"We fought before she got on the boat, her head would have been everywhere. She was so mad at me..."
Dutchy cleared his throat.
"Jim, I was standing right next to her, they had the advantage, there was nothing we could do, this is no one's fault, we know the risks when we go out there..."
Jim looked up at Mike with a remorseful look on his face.
"Did she talk to you? I know she was mad at both of us but..."
"No, she actually said that I needed to pretend I didn't know her out of work."
Jim winced, he didn't think that she'd shut both of them out.
"Dutchy?"
Dutchy shook his head as he sipped on his beer.
"She said she was going to explain when we got back on shore but umm, obviously that didn't happen but ah, Mike explained everything."
Jim glanced up at Mike.
"Everything?"
Mike nodded.
"Yeah..."
They all sat there in silence, Mike couldn't help but think of the last time that Jim had left, he hoped that he wasn't going to give up so easily this time. He glanced over to his friend, he looked defeated, lost, Mike knew he needed to convince Jim that had to fight for her.
End of Chapter 10.
Xx