Love at First Lie.
Chapter 11.
Dylan cooked up and extravagant breakfast and placed it onto a tray, he picked up Kate's contract and other mail and placed it beside her plate.
He kicked open the bedroom door, it flung open and slammed against the wall waking Kate. She sat up and stretched her arms in the air yawning, Dylan winced as he sat down on the bed.
"Sorry, I was supposed to gently awaken you with the sweet smell of my cooking, not like a oaf…"
Kate smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"But you're my oaf."
Dylan shimmied himself back on to the bed and sat next to her and presented her the tray of food.
"For my fiancee…"
Kate's eyes lit up seeing the delicious spread of food on the tray, her eyes were drawn to the envelopes next to the plate.
"What are these? Love notes?"
Dylan scoffed knowing she was stirring.
"Ah, no, they're from Navcom."
Kate grabbed the bigger envelope and pulled out the first page, her eyes scanned over the document, Dylan frowned as he watched her face drop a little.
"What's the matter?"
Kate shrugged and slid the page back into the envelope.
"Oh, nothing, it's just my new contract."
She sounded disappointed, Dylan was confused about her tone, he thought that this is what she wanted.
"Yeah, I thought you'd be happy..."
Kate let out a sigh and picked up her fork and started to push the food around on the plate.
"Ah, yeah, I guess I just was getting used to the idea of being back out at sea."
Dylan sat there thinking for a moment, as much as he didn't like the idea of Kate and Mike working together he didn't want her to be unhappy.
"Right, well why don't you stay out there? I'll stay on shore…"
Kate almost choked on her mouthful, she picked up her glass of juice and took a mouthful, she swallowed and moved the tray off her lap and turned to face him.
"Really?"
Dylan smiled and grasped her hand.
"Kate, you've spent the past 6 years on shore looking after Lia and I know it hasn't been easy and now, maybe it's my turn. You deserve to do something you love."
Kate leaned over and kissed him, at this moment she felt like the luckiest woman on earth.
"I love you so much!"
He gave her a friendly shove.
"Yeah, that's why you proposed to me!"
She rolled her eyes and dragged the tray back towards her, she picked up the pile of envelopes and shuffled thought them. She stopped and the third one, her eyes widened reading the senders label and quickly shoved the pile into her drawer. Dylan let out a nervous laugh seeing her reaction.
"What was that?"
Kate shoveled some more food into her mouth trying to buy sometime.
"Oh, umm, just a stupid thing Nikki did for me..."
"Huh?"
"Just wedding stuff, nosey!"
"What? We got engaged 2 days ago…"
"Yeah, you know how she gets…"
Dylan leaned over her and attempted to open the drawer, she playfully shoved him back.
"Hey, don't squash the food! Anyway, why are you so interested?"
Dylan tried not to be offended, he knew it wasn't the norm that guys be excited to help plan the big day, but he wanted to be involved in the happiest day of his life.
"Hey, you know I want to assist with the planning, right?"
Kate felt bad assuming he wasn't interested, Dylan gave her a wink.
"And by that, I mean cake tasting..."
Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head. She picked up a piece of toast ad shoved it into his mouth and took another mouthful.
"Mmm, speaking of food, this is yum!"
Dylan scrunched up his face at her surprised tone.
"What, you doubted my cooking abilities?"
Kate scoffed and took another bite.
"Hey, when we first me you were on first terms with all the UberEATS drivers!"
"Yeah, well, I only had myself. But back to this shore posting, if you want to be back out there, I'll take it, I'm serious."
"Dylan, I can't ask you to do that!"
He grasped her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"You're not asking me too…"
Tears started to form in Kate's eyes, she was so touched, it wasn't a surprise, Dylan had always been so good to her, but she didn't want him to resent her for the decision.
"I, I don't want you to be unhappy..."
"Look, Kate, I love my job but it is what it is, it could be a nice change doing some intel work or training, plus, I get to spend more time with Lia..."
Kate winced imagining Dylan trying to manage Lia's tantrums.
"Yeah, like she doesn't already have you wrapped around her little finger!"
Dylan crossed his arms over his chest and put on a stern looking face.
"Well, maybe I'll become the disciplinarian..."
Kate nearly spat her mouthful out at the thought.
"Yeah, sure, and ill stop drinking wine... are you sure?"
He nodded and leaned over and kissed her.
"Yeah, we'll talk to Commander White later... but in the meantime..."
He moved the tray off her lap, Kate frowned and attempted to stab another piece of food with her fork. Dylan moved in front of her with a cheeky smile on his face, she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.
"You're taking food away from me? You should know that that's not the way to turn me on Petty Officer..."
Dylan laughed and replaced the tray on her lap.
"Yeah, what was I thinking?! So, anyway, are we gonna start the planning?"
Kate shoveled more food into her mouth and laughed.
"Yeah, umm 2025? That ought to be enough time to get us all some leave?"
He took the fork from her hand and waited for her to make eye contact.
"Seriously, Kate, it took 6 years for you to say yes, I'm not waiting another 6..."
Kate snatched the fork back.
"Well, maybe I should take the shore posting, it'll give me time to plan..."
Dylan put on a sad face trying to get her to be more sympathetic to him planning the wedding.
"What you don't trust me?"
Kate glanced up to him doubtfully.
"You want to do it?"
He nodded eagerly.
"Well, why not, I mean, it's basically a big party right?.."
Kate whipped her head to the side and gave him one of her famous glares, anyone who described her wedding as a 'big party' wasn't fit to arrange it.
"And this is why I'm going to arrange it..."
Dylan gave her a friendly nudge with her shoulder, he knew that she liked to be in control, but he really wanted to do this for her, for them.
"Oh, c'mon Kate, give me a chance, plus, wouldn't that make me the world's greatest husband?"
Kate knew he meant well, she let out a hiss giving in.
"Okay, but we discuss venues, theme and I'm not letting you pick my dress..."
The smile grew on his face.
"Deal..."
"Oh, and no Fremantle colours!"
Dylan rolled his eyes and picked up a piece of bacon from the plate.
"Umm, so Maxine mentioned something else…"
Kate snatched the piece of bacon from his hand and shoved it into her mouth.
"Yeah?"
"The powers that be want to know if we would do some kind of human interest piece for the paper, like an inside look at a Navy family, a bit of fluff, I guess…"
Kate's heart raced at the thought, she didn't enjoy being the centre of attention at the best of times, little own it involving her personal life.
"Mmm, I dunno…"
Dylan had already technically said yes but he couldn't let her know that.
"Well, Maxine kind of said that they weren't asking?"
She laughed, she should have guessed.
"Yeah, that'd be right. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt, I'll talk to her about it when I go to talk to her about my posting."
Later that morning Kate headed to Navcom to discuss everything with Maxine, she was nervous, she hadn't really had much to do with Maxine since the day she discovered that Mike and her were together.
Nikki was in the kitchen having a coffee, Dylan came out of the bedroom with a giant grin on his face. Nikki looked up and was immediately suspicious of his Cheshire cat smile.
"What are you smiling about?"
Dylan sat beside her and whispered in her ear.
"I'm in charge of the wedding!"
Nikki choked on her mouthful of coffee, Dylan laughed and handed her a tissue. She dabbed her mouth and cleared her throat.
"What?"
"Kate is going back out to sea, and I'm planning the wedding."
Nikki didn't want to rain on his parade but she needed him to understand the importance and difficulties of planning a wedding.
"Ah, you know how much work that is right?"
Dylan shrugged and flipped though the pile of wedding magazines she had bought.
"I don't mind, I want it to be the best day of her life..."
Nikki grasped his arm and gave him a sympathetic look.
"Awww, you're sweet, but also crazy! But good luck?!"
He grabbed another magazine and opened it.
"So, what do you think of a May wedding?"
Nikki shrugged and took another sip of her coffee.
"Seems smart, gives you a year, enough time for everyone to arrange leave..."
Dylan glanced up at her and smiled.
"Ah, I meant this May..."
Nikki sat there straight faced and swallowed her mouthful and patted his head.
"Aww, you're gonna need help... Dylan, there's no way you're going to be able to plan a wedding in 6 weeks."
"Watch me..."
Nikki loved his confidence, but she didn't think he was taking it seriously.
"What about leave and Kate's dress and, just, everything..."
Dylan shrugged and picked up the magazine again.
"I'll figure it out, remember we're the navy's golden couple..."
Nikki shook her head in disagreement.
"If you're serious about this, we're going to have to get to work…"
Navcom.
Kate nervously knocked on Maxine's door and poked her head in.
"Ma'am?"
Maxine looked up from her computer and smiled.
"Kate, how are you? Haven't seen you for a while, or Lia how is she?"
Kate entered the office and shut the door behind her, she didn't expect Maxine to be so bubbly.
"Ah, yeah, good Ma'am, she talks about Ryan a lot…"
"Yeah, I think he secretly loves her too…"
She sat nervously in front of her.
"Umm…"
Maxine leaned over the desk towards her sensing something was bothering her.
"Is everything okay?"
"Ah, yeah, it's….umm, fine…"
Kate smiled nervously, she hated that she had to keep secrets from her Commander, especially when Maxine did nothing wrong.
Maxine sighed and got up from her chair and walked around her desk and sat next to Kate.
"Kate, it's okay, I know…"
Kate tried not to react, was she talking about her and Mike? Her eyes darted around the room trying to think of something to say.
"You know what, Ma'am?"
Maxine paused for a moment, Kate dared to look her in the eye. Maxine leaned towards her.
"I know it was you, Kate, I know that you were the one who slept with Mike."
Kate swallowed hard, she could feel her heart beat against her chest, her breathing became shallow, she was afraid of how Maxine was going to react.
"Ma'am… I, umm…"
Maxine gave her a reassuring smile.
"Kate, it's in the past, Mike and I have moved on. I'm a little disappointed that he didn't tell me, but I just want you to know that I don't blame you."
It surprised Kate how calm she was about it all.
"Ah, thank you, Ma'am, but can I ask how you knew?"
Maxine let out a nervous laugh.
"Well, I wasn't 100% sure, until now, but lets just call it instinct."
Kate felt the sudden urge to explain, she felt so guilty.
"I'm so sorry, Ma'am, if I knew he was…"
Maxine waived her hand in the air dismissing Kate's apology.
"Kate, it's fine, well it's not but, I don't blame you. Look, we're all adults, and it was years ago. Also, I'm not completely innocent in all of this, I'm sure he's aired our secrets, so lets just move on, yeah?"
There was so much Kate wanted to say but thought better of it, she took Maxine's advice and nodded.
"Sounds good, and thank you, Ma'am…"
There was an awkward silence, Maxine got up and returned to her side of the desk.
"Anyway, did Dylan give you the paperwork?"
Kate glanced down and fiddled with the envelope in her lap.
"Ah, yeah, that's what I'm here to talk to you about… Ah, look, I know you're worked really hard to get me this posting but just wondering if there's any chance of Dylan and I swapping?"
Maxine raised and eyebrow and leaned back on her chair.
"Swapping?"
Kate felt terrible asking for a favour after all the drama she had caused, she focused on the floor.
"Ah, yeah, look, I've missed being out at sea, and Dylan has missed a lot of things with Lia being out at sea..."
Maxine understood, she had experienced the same thing.
"I'll see what I can do…"
Kate looked up at her and was surprised at Maxine's answer once again.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I get it, Kate, Navy and family need to work side by side, you guys give up a lot, so we need to try to make it fair."
Kate sat there still a little dumbfounded by Maxine's willingness to help with her request.
"I appreciate it, Ma'am…"
"But I trust that you'll do this media thing for the Brass then…"
Kate still wasn't keen on the idea but she knew it was best to agree.
"Yes, Ma'am…"
Maxine gave her a satisfied nod and opened her laptop.
"Good, shouldn't be a problem then, I'll be in touch about both matters…"
Kate stood from her chair and headed to the door, Maxine called out after her.
"So have you guys picked a date?"
Kate laughed and turned back to face her.
"Ah, so, Dylan is actually in charge of that…"
Maxine raised an eyebrow questioning her sanity, Kate laughed at her expression.
"Yeah, don't ask…"
Maxine laughed and shook her head.
"Well, good luck…"
Kate walked back in her front door and was greeted with a giggling Nikki, Lia and Dylan sitting on the couch looking at Wedding magazines. Kate sat down next to them, Lia crawled on to her lap.
"What are we looking at?"
Lia held up the magazine to her face and pointed to the cakes.
"They all look so yummy, but can you get one in the shape of a Navy boat?"
They all laughed, Nikki whacked Dylan on the arm with a magazine.
"You know, he's actually got good taste…"
Dylan looked offended and playfully shoved her.
"Hey, just cos I'm a bloke…"
Kate leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
"So, Maxine is okay with me being out at sea and you staying on shore…"
Dylan wrapped his arm around her.
"That's great…"
Lia swiveled herself around to face Kate.
"So Daddy is staying home?!"
Kate gave her a hug.
"Yeah, won't that be great?"
Lia scrunched up her face and sat there and thought about it for a minute.
"I guess…"
Lia shrugged and leaned into her chest, Kate gave her a kiss on the head.
"You can help Daddy plan the wedding!"
Lia's eyes lit up and turned to Dylan.
"So can I wear a rainbow dress?"
Kate nudged Dylan and laughed.
"Does that fit in with your colour scheme?"
Dylan glanced over to Nikki, Kate noticed their strange exchange.
"What?"
Nikki handed her a magazine and cringed.
"Ah, I wouldn't be worry about a colour scheme, I'd be more worried about the date?"
Kate looked hesitantly over to Dylan.
"Ah, okay?"
Dylan flashed a confident smile.
"May…"
Kate placed a hand on her chest and sighed with relief.
"Oh, I thought you were going to say something crazy like this year…"
Nikki let out a laugh and shoved Dylan.
"See!"
Kate sat there trying to figure out how to put her next sentence delicately, but she couldn't find the words.
"Ah, are you crazy? How are we going to make that work? And why? Do you realise…"
Dylan laughed, she had reacted exactly the way Nikki had, he leaned over and kissed her.
"I've wanted to get you down the aisle for 6 years, Kate, I want to do it ASAP before you get cold feet."
Kate's phone beeped, she got up and fished it out of her handbag and read the message.
"Well, that was quick…"
Another message came though.
"Get together at the pub for the Hammersley crew to meet your new Buffer."
Dylan stood behind her and read the message.
"That's great! You wanna go for dinner beforehand?"
Dylan, Kate, Nikki and Lia entered the pub, Mike, Maxine and Ryan were in the dinning room and waved them over. Kate squeezed Dylan's hand.
"You okay?"
He nodded, and they headed into the dinning room, Lia skipped up to the table and climbed on Ryan's lap.
"Hey!"
He gave her a hug, she stole chip off his plate.
"Mum, Dad, this is Ryan, he's my friend! All my friends think I'm cool cos I have a friend in the 9th grade!"
They all laughed, Kate smiled in Ryan direction.
"Hi Ryan, good to finally meet you, I'm Kate and this is Dylan, thanks for hanging out with her…"
Ryan shrugged and tickled her.
"That's okay, she's pretty funny, for a little kid!"
Lia hopped off his lap and pulled on his arm.
"C'mon, lets go play video games…."
Ryan looked in Maxine's direction for permission, she gave him a nod and they ran off towards the play area. Nikki felt the tension and excused herself to get a round of drinks.
Kate so desperately hoped it wouldn't be awkward, she cleared her throat and turned towards Mike.
"So, I'm assuming that Maxine updated you about our positions?"
"Yeah, I was kind of surprised, but all good…."
There was another silence, Maxine let out a nervous laugh.
"Okay, we've all gotta work together, we can leave the past in the past yeah?"
They all nodded, Nikki returned and placed a try of drinks on the table, Kate picked up a beer and handed it to Maxine.
"Here this might make it easier…"
Maxine laughed and handed one to Mike.
"I think he's the one that needs this!"
Mike laughed and rolled his eyes and took the drink.
"So, Max says you've agreed to this article?"
Dylan nodded and took a sip of his drink.
"Yeah, do you know what kind of questions they'll be asking?"
Neither Kate and Dylan were really comfortable with the situation, particularly as there had been issues lately with the Mike saga. Maxine noticed their uneasy glances.
"I'll try to get the questions so you can prepare, but remember we need to keep it positive and upbeat…"
Kate glanced over to check on Lia, she let out a laugh as she observed Lia bossing Ryan around.
"She really likes Ryan, and he seems great with her…"
Dylan nodded in agreement and took a sip of his beer.
"Yeah, you've got a good one there…"
A sickening feeling came over Kate as she sipped on her drink, what if Lia and Ryan got along so well because they were siblings?
Kate felt the colour drain from her face, Dylan tapped her on the shoulder noticing her pale face.
"Kate, are you okay?'
She snapped her head back to face them, it made her feel more nauseous seeing a worried Mike and Maxine looking back at her.
"Ah, yeah, just not feeling great…"
She needed to go home and open that letter.
"I might have to give tonight a pass…"
Nikki grabbed Kate's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Yeah, I'll come with you…"
"No, stay, it's fine…"
Dylan swallowed the rest of his beer and stood up and squeezed Nikki's shoulder.
"That's my duty, anyway, 2Dads is keen to catch up with you!"
He gave Nikki a wink and helped Kate from her chair, Nikki squeezed Kate's hand as a "good luck" signal.
"I can bring Lia home, I think she's having a good time…"
Kate gave her a halfhearted smile.
"Thanks…"
Kate and Dylan arrived home, Kate went straight up to bed and tucked herself in. Dylan followed a few minutes later and lay next to her and ran his hand over her forehead feeling for a temperature, he leaned in kissed her.
"Where does it hurt? Your fiancee will kiss it better…"
Kate put on a smile and buried her head further into her pillow.
"Just feeling a bit crappy in general…"
"Well, I'll just grab you some water and we can just snuggle…"
"I don't want to ruin your night, go watch your shows or something."
"Nah, it's okay, an early night might do us good?"
Dylan got up to get Kate a glass of water, she knew that she wouldn't be able to open the letter and get over her reaction before he came back, it was going to have to wait.
Kate awoke to Dylan's snoring, she pried his arm off her waist and tried to get out of bed without waking him. She slid her legs around the side of the bed and knelt on the floor in front of the bedside drawers. Dylan snored and turned over, Kate looked over to check if he was still asleep. She slowly opened the bedside drawer, it creaked a little, she stopped afraid it was going to wake him. She tried again, she had it 1/2 way open and her phone rang startling her, she let out a yelp and Dylan awoke and bolted upright.
"Huh? What was that?"
Kate couldn't help but laugh, she closed the drawer and picked up her phone.
"Kate McGregor… Hi, Boss, yeah sure, no problem. See you soon…"
Dylan crawled over to her side of the bed and kissed her.
"Let me guess… time to go?"
She nodded and yawned, he smiled and booped her nose.
"Are you feeling better?"
She stood and headed for the bathroom avoiding his gaze.
"Ah, kind of…"
Dylan rolled out of bed and pulled her towards him.
"Well, I could try to make you feel better…"
He kissed her and smiled a cheeky smile, Kate rolled her eyes and released herself from him grip.
"I only have 45 minutes, and I have to have a shower…"
Dylan ran to the bathroom and stood in the door frame flexing his muscles.
"That's plenty of time…"
Kate shook her head and shoved past him, Dylan remained in the doorway smiling
"I'm not hearing a no?"
She turned and grabbed him by the front of his boxers and pulled him into the bathroom and shut the door.
An hour later Kate ran on board, she was late, she hated being late. She tried to sneak to her cabin without being seen, Mike poked his head out from his cabin scaring her.
"Kate, you nearly missed the boat."
"Yeah, sorry, Sir, I still wasn't umm, feeling so good…"
"Oh, you're okay now?"
"Yeah, not 100% but I'm okay."
"Ah, well, why don't I introduce you to our new Buffer…"
They walked down to the mess where the crew were getting to know their new buffer. Mike knocked on the door frame.
"Everyone playing nice?"
2Dads put on a large innocent grin.
"Of course, Boss!"
"So, ah, Kate McGregor, XO, this is Pete Tomaszewski, our new buffer…"
Pete stood and smiled and shook Kate's hand.
"Ma'am, good to meet you!"
"You too…"
Mike clapped his hands together to get the attention of the crew.
"Ah, alright you lot, get ready to sail…"
The crew cleared out of the room, Kate pulled on Pete's arm.
"Okay, what have they told you? Actually, what has 2Dads told you?"
He laughed and rolled his eyes.
"I'm gonna have to watch out for him aren't I?"
Kate nodded slightly, 2Dads poked his head back into the room.
"Oi, Buff, you coming?"
Pete gave him and nod and headed for the door, he turned before leaving and flashed Kate a smile.
"But not as much as I'm gonna have to watch out for you…"
He gave her a wink and left the room, Kate stood there gob smacked. She lowered herself on to the bench and let out a sigh as she hunched herself over placing her head on the table, it was going to be a long day.
End Chapter 11.
xx