Chapter 11 Rear Admiral
It was late in the afternoon when Kate entered her department in Sydney again. She saw the sturdy posture of Dylan behind his desk in his office.
Hmm, time for a little revenge. This morning he was teasing me with my winter uniform, my jacket and my shoes. Now it's my turn.
"Hi", she said gloomy when she limped inside.
He looked at her concerned. "Hey. You don't sound cheerful."
She took a position of half sitting half leaning against his desk. "I've got to leave", she said dull.
"What? Leaving? You?", he stammered.
"Yep, I can't stay here any longer", she added gloomy and blinked with her eyes pretending to be sad.
"Come on, you can't mean it. That accident has been already a number of years ago", he said indignantly.
"I've got to go to the Admiralty wing. It seems that there's an empty office."
He frowned and looked at her, "So you do stay in the Navy? An empty office? Where? I only know just one", he said slowly.
He looked at her suspiciously, " No, you don't want to say that…"
Dylan stopped talking when he saw that a big smile was deploying on her face.
"Yes, darling, I'm succeeding the old Hogan. I've been promoted to Rear-Admiral."
"Phew, I'm happy for you sweetie, that's just great. Really great! But you're really naughty. You had me believing that they discharged you for medical reasons."
Kate giggled as Dylan relaxed knowing that she's still in the Navy and not on medical discharge.
"Yeah, that was a little revenge for your teasing of this morning", she said with a cheeky grin.
"How did Barret decide?", he asked her after he made a face to her.
"The Korea campaign was a test. Like we thought the setup of that operation was in fact not for me, but for a higher level."
"Yeah, I was already afraid of that. You know what, we're going to celebrate that tonight with a dinner!", he said enthusiast.
"Sounds good! But by the way Lieutenant-Commander, your uniform is not right", she said with narrowed eyes.
"Hey, you're not going to take me back!", he said laughing, pointing his finger to her.
"Your shoulder boards doesn't match your grade, Commander!", she said with a smirk.
"What! You're serious?", he said surprised.
"Of course, I need a Chief of Staff."
"Hmm, that's quite a move! Well then we have to celebrate twice tonight", he said flicking his eyebrows at her while grinning.
Then he saw how she all of a sudden cramped and grimaced.
"By the way, how was your leg today?", he asked concerned.
Kate rolled her eyes. "Would you shut up about it? That goddamn knee has been trying to kill me all day long because that f*cking weather doesn't want to get any better. It really sucks!", she raged.
"Well, well, you can hear from the other side of the room that our Kate is back from the big chief", Nikki said who just walked into the office. "If I hear Josh or Vicky using that language, I'll make them clean the bathrooms with a tooth brush."
Kate turned fierce towards her. "But you don't have to walk with such a stuffed up knee like me!", she snapped with a painful face.
"Wow, Kate, when you're grumpy you can become a really mean, you know", Nikki said as she folded her arms in front of her.
Kate turned her head away, hurt by what Nikki said and hurt because she realised why Nikki had said that.
Then she noticed Kate's heels.
"Kate, do you really mean that you wore these all day long in your situation?", she said astonished.
Kate turned back to her. "Yeah, I thought that Barret wanted to discharge me for medical reasons and I wanted to make a statement to show him that I'm still fit to do my job. But now I'm paying for it", she said painfully.
"Nikki, are you aware you insulted the Big Boss?", Dylan asked with a smirk leaning back in his chair. He wanted to change the subject.
Nikki frowned. "Kate has always been our boss, not?"
"Nope, I mean the Big Boss", he said.
"What do you mean the big boss", she replied slightly shaking her head.
"Sweetie, do you tell her or shall I?", he asked Kate.
Kate waved with her hand and continued rubbing her leg and knee with the other.
"Nikki, Barret promoted her to Rear-Admiral. She's now the Big Boss."
"What?", she exclaimed. "That's really great! You deserve that!."
Nikki stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Kate's shoulders to give her a big hug.
"Thank you", she said faintly.
"We have to drink one to that, not?", Nikki said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, sure, but not today. I'll be happy to be at home. I'll promise when it's better outside. If you don't mind?", Kate said.
"Sure, I'm going to return back to my office and e-mail Pete the news", Nikki said then turned around and walked away with a smile on her face.
An hour later after Nikki was dropped off home, Dylan drove them home. He looked at Kate next to him. "Who's going to succeed you?", he asked her.
"Barret said that it's my problem to find a replacement. That's a privilege of being an Admiral. If you can call that a privilege", she replied.
"Have you already someone in mind?"
"Yeah, Mike."
"Hmm, stupid question from me. I had to know that."
As response she slapped him gently on his upper arm.
"When are you going to tell him?"
"Not by email. I know him. He will do everything to stay at sea. In his cabin he will have too much time to think about arguments to refuse my order. I'll just send him a message that I want to talk to him when he's back", she said with a conspiracy smile.
"You're really terrible", he replied expressing the last word.
When the alarm clock went off the next day, Dylan glanced to the window and a slight smile appeared on his face.
The sun. Finally! I know someone who will be over the moon.
He turned towards Kate and looked at her. She was still asleep and her hair was spread over the pillow like a fan.
Hmm, a new episode in our life. Admiral, and even maybe within a couple of years, the big boss.
Do you know that you look 10 years younger when you sleep, my little Admiral?
He bent to her and gave her a kiss on her lips. "Good morning Admiral. Good luck for your first day. And! The sun shines."
"Hmm, I want to turn myself once more", she mumbled.
"Ok, enjoy it, I'll prepare breakfast", he said smiling.
Kate opened her eyes to see Dylan looking down at her. "Uh? No, no, it's my turn", she said quickly and then rolled over and flicked the blankets and sheets back as she got out of bed. She grabbed her underwear and walked to the door of the bedroom. Dylan rolled back onto his side of the bed folded his arms behind his head and looked with a smile as he watched Kate walk into the bathroom naked. His smile gotten even bigger when he remembered what they did the night before when they returned home from the office.
When she came back from the bathroom, he was standing in front of the window, looking outside while making some stretching exercises.
Hmm,a wonderful sight, that naked torso!
"Darling," she said, "be honest with me, don't you think I'm getting fat?"
"Uh?", he replied turning towards her. Kate stood in her undies in front of him.
"Fat?", he repeated the word surprised, "where?"
"Don't you think that I'm getting a belly", she replied disappointed.
He walked to her and put his hands in her waist.
"And what do you think of your self?"
"I'm getting a…", she started but she stopped as he started to tickle her in her waist.
"Darling stop it! It tickles!", she said with an annoyed face.
"Only when you give me the right answer", he answered back with a grin.
"Stop!"
He continued.
"I'm… I'm ok!", she hurried to say.
Dylan stopped, did a step back and put his hands in his waist and looked at her.
"Now I hear a reasonable answer from our little Admiral!"
"Darling, stop it! The Admiral is for the base", she said fierce. "Here, I'm just Kate, your sweetie, … your wife", she continued much softer and walked closer to him.
He bent his head so that his forehead leaned to hers.
"Yeah, my wife and I'm your husband. We never married, but I consider us as a married couple", he said and he gave her a kiss on her lips.
"I wouldn't mind to be Mrs Mullholland you know", she said with big eyes.
"Well sweetie, then we're going to see to it at once. Start looking for a nice dress then", he replied.
Kate frowned, "Do you really mean it?"
"Of course. Did I ever have said something to you that was not right?"
"Uh, no", she replied sheepishly.
"Well then?", Dylan said lifting his eyebrows.
"Oh darling! Thank you!", she said while tears appeared in her eyes. Kate cupped his face in her hand and she gave him a deep passionate kiss.
Somewhat later when they sat down for breakfast, he was looking at her and smiled.
Kate's hair hung loose over her shoulders and he noticed that the silver in her hair became more prominent than the blond. The sun seemed to highlight it . The three upper buttons of her blouse were still untied, the new Admiral shoulder boards were glimmering in the sun. Her bare feet in a pair of open toe slippers peaked from under her dark blue trousers. He smiled again when he saw that she still used some nail polish on her toes although she could never wear sandals on the job.
In despite of you age, you're still damn pretty sexy sweetie!
"You're just stunning !", he said while she poured two cups of coffee.
"Flatterer", she replied smiling.
"It is!"
He continued with his breakfast and she looked at him over her cup of coffee.
He can't hide his age either. Sharp lines in his face and his hair became pepper and salt, but he's still handsome and macho. What would I do without him? We understand each other without saying a word.
He must have felt that she was looking at him and looked up. He saw her glance and gave her a wink.
Kate smiled back.
You see!
"So, today we're going to compose our staff and meet our new personal and meanwhile we take care for the Commodore functions until Mike can take over", he said.
"Yeah, that's right on target, our day in a nutshell", she said with a smirk.
When they walked to the hall to leave the house, he looked over his shoulder to her.
"Are you going to wear your jacket again?"
"No, it's not that I'm an Admiral right now, that I'm going to change. The shoulder boards and the extra band are the only things that change", she said as she took the battledress from the hanger beam.
"Luckily! By the way, how's your leg today?", he asked when he grabbed his visor cap and her hat.
"I still feel it a bit, but it's a lot better, thanks to the sun", she replied with a smile.
"Oh, by the way, we have to buy a birthday present for Vicky, she's getting 12 next weekend. Pete and Nikki have invited us", she added.
He gave her a comforted smile because he noticed a regret in her voice. "Yeah, buy her something nice. Girl's stuff is more your thing, not?", he said while he opened the front door.
Kate just nodded with a wry smile when she passed him.
30 minutes later, she entered her new office. Kate put her brief-case down next to the massive oak desk and looked around.
Hmm, quite a bit larger than my old office.
She slid with her hand over the desk while she walked along it.
This desk must have cost a fortune, not the classic one like my previous office.
She turned her back to the desk.
Wooden panels against the walls. Nice.
She brushed with her hand over the back of the leather club chair of the salon in the office.
Cosy club chairs. Nice carpet!
Kate opened a small cupboard and chuckled when she noticed it was liquor cabinet that got a few bottles of spirits, a small bucket of ice cubes and a couple of glasses inside .
Hogan, you old rake!
She then closed the doors and looked around a bit more.
She looked interested at two oil paintings, one of the battle of Trafalgar and one of the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia in the Leyte Gulf during World War 2.
Hmm I should add the two HMAS Hammerlsey paintings to the walls since there's still plenty of room.
Next she wandered to the huge library and a scale model of the Cerberus monitor. After a couple of minutes Kate turned to look out of the window. This office had even a better view on the base.
Weird. How higher you get, the better views you can have.
A knock at the door brought her back to the reality.
"Come in!", she said as she turned around to see Dylan walking into the room smiling at her.
"Good morning ma'am. Here's your morning brew and the daily reports", he said dryly entering with two mugs and several files.
"Good morning Commander. What's on the agenda today?", she asked with a huge smile, expressing his rank and observing his face, but this time he couldn't keep his poker face.
"Some things will luckily never change.", he said smiling.
"Thank God!", she replied.
He put the files on the desk, then passed Kate her brew before he sat down and lifted his mug.
"Cheers", she replied before taking a sip. "What's new?"
"A full report from Mike and Hills, Nothing much happened plus the crew is bored. Korea keeps quiet."
"That's good! Over the course of the day, I'll go to my previous office for the move. Can you ask some men to pack?"
"Sure."
"Then I'll be meeting the people of my department. I'll be having a personal chat with each of them, get to know them a bit and check their records. But I'm wondering about the politics part in this function. I'm not used to it."
"I think you have to think twice when you're going to say something. That kind of people interprets quickly sentences in a wrong context.", he said taking another sip from his brew.
"Yeah, observing in first instance. And I'll send an email to Mike to tell him I want to see him ASAP when he's back."
To be continued
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