The sun was peering through the windows of the bedroom, its rays lighting up the room and casting a warm glow over the two occupants of the bed.
Mike was the first one to wake that morning after the best sleep he had, had since the accident and maybe even before then. His brain not filled with the nightmares he had been having but of his future with the woman who was still asleep, her head on his chest, her arm wrapped around his waist and her left leg over his left leg, her body pressed up as close as it could to his body. For him it felt right, he felt like he was home where he belonged. He lays there holding her, taking in her smell and just enjoying the closeness of each other while it lasts. As he looks down at her he sees the sun's rays reflecting off Kate's blonde hair giving her hair more glow. His heart swells at the fact that they were able to do what they did last night and not have to worry about what it will do to their careers. A few minutes later she starts to wake up.
As she wakes her sleep clogged mind tries to figure out why there is someone in her bed, as she breaths in the smell, the all too familiar smell of Mike, a smile breaks out on her face as she remembers what they did last night then a sudden realisation hits her.
"Where is this going?" She blurts out to the room.
"Where do you want it to go?" He asks as his hand gentle rubs up and down her back.
"I won't what we talked about last year."
"Marriage, children?" he asks his voice a tad unsure of it all and this is picked up by her.
"Yes but most importantly I want you. But Mike there has always been something that stops us."
"Work is no longer going to be what stops us from being together this time. I will leave just to make sure it won't happen."
"We've tried before and it's never gotten off the ground how can you be sure that it will this time? How can you be sure that whatever job you do won't play a role in tearing us apart again?" she says as the emotions of this being tear apart hurts her, and he hears her voice change with the emotions of everything they have been through.
"I can't guarantee that my job, no our jobs won't cause issues but this time we both have to be prepared to work on this not just one of us but both of us. We both have to be prepared to put us before our job for a change. Can you do that? Can you trust me enough to know that there is no way in hell that I am letting my job within the navy stop us from being together anymore." There is silence between the two of them, but it isn't an uncomfortable silence.
As they lay there together, his hand gentling rubbing her back, her fingers drawing circles on his chest they think over what is to be.
"This isn't going to be easy Kate we have a lot of history. But I feel this can work if we are prepared to work together to achieve the same result. We both have proven to each other that when we won't to we can work well together. Hammersley is a great example of us working well as a team. Maybe we set some ground rules on things if that will help?" HE says to her as his hand starts to caresses her hip.
"Like what?' She says as she lays there enjoying the feeling of his touch on her hip.
"That we don't make career choices for the other, but we do talk to each other about our career choices, offers or options within reason of course because I'm not going to stop you from getting any promotions if they come your way." He says to her.
"Ok that sounds fear." She replies back to him as she moves and places a kiss on his lips, having decided that talking right now can wait till later.
"Well I really don't want to be a kill joy here but I only have a few hours left at home before I have to go back to work and I can think of far better ways to enjoy our free time." She says as her hand moves down to his manhood and starts to gentle rub it getting the reaction she was hoping for from him. She leans down and places another kiss on his lips; he moves his hand and places it behind her head preventing her from moving away from his lips as he depends the kiss.
An hour later they are still lying in bed when Mike starts to feel the pain in his leg.
"Kate can you get me panadol please." He asks her.
"Is it going to be strong enough for you?"
"No but it will help take the edge off till I can get home to get something stronger."
"So you weren't planning on staying last night?" she asks him.
"No the bag lives in my car for emergencies, so I had no pain killers packed." He says as she hunts around in her bathroom for something strong than panadol.
"Mike I have some Codis and Advil here would you prefer one of those instead."
"Why do you have Codis in your house?" he asks her, but she isn't sure if she should respond. She turns on the shower as she walks back into the room with the Codis for Mike and passes him the different tablets and the class of water.
"Thank you, are you going to answer me?" she looks down at her hand and sits on the side of the bed beside him. He can tell she doesn't really won't to talk about it. "It's ok you don't have to tell me, it just seems strange for you to have such a strong pain relief in the house since your more the panadol type person and only when you really have to take it." He says as he moves. "Go have your shower I'll still be here when you're finished." He says as she then gets up off the bed and heads to the shower. Mike lies there for another five minutes allowing the medication to kick in before moving off the bed and down changing into his clothes before heading down stairs to get breakfast started.
When Kate gets out of the shower and walks into her room she notices Mike is no longer in the room, thinking he had left she goes to get her uniform when she hears something dropped and then cursing coming from down stairs. She ends up smiling at what Mike had said when he dropped whatever it was that he dropped. She quickly gets on some yoga pants and a t-shirt before heading down the stairs to help Mike out.
"Need any help?" she asks as she comes up behind and wraps her arms around his waist.
"Yes please." He says to her knowing there is no way he can do this without the help from her.
Before long they are sitting down enjoying a cooked breakfast.
"I found it surprising you had eggs in your fridge that were usable and the beacon and has browns in the freezer." He says as he is eating the food.
"That is thanks to your mum she likes to keep my fridge and freezer well stocked."
"I noticed that."
"So how much longer are they going to be up here?"
"I'm not sure. The joys of owning a farm and having someone else running it. Gives you as much free time as you want. Mum said she won't return till she knows I can handle looking after myself on my own, and this leg is taking longer than I hoped to come right."
"I noticed your still on the crutches I thought you would have been at least down to one by now?"
"I can use one and I can walk without them but I don't last long before I need them and when I do walk without them the next day is not so good."
"So will you ever be able to go back out to sea?"
"I don't know, they hoping to get full mobility back but as time goes on and the longer it takes to come right might mean I may not get full range of movement back. There is scar tissue from the mortar that hit my leg several years ago that is causing a few issues with it all."
"So how long before you will know?"
"Not sure. But anyway time for you to go get dressed for work." He says as he goes to get up.
"You sit down, I get these dishes in the dishwasher and I'll drive you home and then your mum or dad can drop me off at the docks." She says as she takes the plates and heads to the kitchen to finish loading the dishwasher before turning it on and heading up stairs to get her duffel bag and also change into her uniform for work.
Over the next few days the crew on Hammersley noticed a happier Kate. Joking more with the crew and she is more relaxed as well. No one asked what had happened as they all knew she was a private person when it came to her private life, though for Dutchy and Nikki they were pretty sure they knew the reason and the person behind her more cheerful state.
Her and Mike talked some more while she was out on Patrol, Mike was also able to get down to only needing one crutch to move around making it easier for him to do things for himself. His leg was still causing issues, and he was still suffering with pain, some of it from the nerves that were damaged and also from scar tissue as well that was forming and being stretched. But for him the worst time for the pain and discomfort was first thing in the morning after sleeping and his leg not being used at all.
Five days later
Canberra
Australia
Monday Morning
Meeting of promotions board
"So how many do we have up for Promotion on this round." The Chairmen asks the group.
"There have been ten sailors put forward for officer's positions and five officers for higher ranking officer's ranks and forty five sailors for other promotions." Says one of the officers within the room.
"Ok then we will start with the sailors and work our way up everyone ok with that?" the chairmen of the board asks and everyone agrees to what he has said. Over the next two hours they go through all forty five Sailors who are up for promotion and every single one of them is passed. When it comes to these lower ranking sailors they only get to go up a rank with careful thought from officers higher up than them so passing them is normal not too much hard work or thought by the promotions board.
"So our ten sailors that are looking at officers ranks who are they?" the Chairmen says and the board goes through those before they know it lunch time has arrived having spent hour or so going over the list and working out if they are ready for promotion any pros and cons about it for the person and their track record. They finish the list and head off for lunch.
An hour later the board enters the room to go over the last five names on the promotions list.
An hour into this round of promotions they have approve two to go up a rank decided one to stay at the rank they are.
"Ok next we have Lieutenant Kate McGregor, Executive Officer of Hammersley currently acting Commanding Officer of Hammersley."
"Now how did that come about Captain Marshall?" Asks the Chairmen
"At the time of the first PNG gas explosion, we had a temporary CO on Chandlers while her Co was off on sick leave and still is. Commander Mike Flynn was assigned and he was injured. It wasn't till later did we find out it was Mike, Hammersley was already up there and Chandlers Xo had no experience so between Commander White, Myself and Fleet Command we decided to allow Lieutenant McGregor to bring Chandlers back to base. It was then decided to keep her on as we were lacking someone who could take over. A couple of weeks later Hammersley new CO Lieutenant Commander Bill Vincent suggested a swap of command, he go on Chandlers and Kate back to Hammersley as she had some family matter to attend to."
"Did she put Mr Vincent up to this?"
"No Commander White was talking to him about their next set of orders when he heard about her family issues and offered to do it to give Miss McGregor an extra day to get everything sorted."
"I suppose it wouldn't have anything to do with Commander Flynn would it?"
"I'm not total sure Sir I was not given the full specs into it all."
"So how was she on Chandlers?"
"Reports from the crew all par one has come back glowing."
"Par one and who was that from?"
"The Executive Officer, but having spoken to Lieutenant McGregor, and Lieutenant Commander Vincent. Chandlers new Executive Officer has a lot of learning to do and has no respect for his crew members. I do have written reports from the three CO's that have worked above him and Commander White and so far all reports are the same."
"Ok so what was in his report out of interest?"
"He says she is a hard task master, doesn't take jokes to well, likes things to be done right, and doesn't enjoy being questioned or her orders not being followed. Seems to enjoy handing out toothbrushes as punishment to the crew. Oh and this one might make you laugh. Hates it when my syntax isn't up to her standard and at times seems to do things more like a cowboy than an officer in control of a warship." The group laugh at the last references they know who has tort her those things.
"So how has she been getting on as acting CO?" he then asks and someone else reads out the report that they have from Maxine about her, there is also a report from Lieutenant Commander Vincent on how she wanted to get more experience at running a warship and how he went about providing her with this knowledge.
"Ok so we have Commander Mike Flynn recommendation from her first round which we will include in this one."
"Excuse me Sir but I have a letter here stating that he doesn't want his recommendation from when he was CO of Hammersley to be used this time around."
"Does it state why Captain Price?"
"No it doesn't sir."
"When did you get that?" Marshall asks.
"It was delivered to the board this morning I just opened it."
"Steve do you know anything about this?"
"No I don't sir."
"Do you have any idea why he has done this?"
"I may do Sir but without the proof I can't be total sure."
"Do you think it might be related to the reason he has taken extended leave?"
"I do think his leave is part of it Sir. He may not wont his own personal issues at present to impact on her promotion so he may have thought it be better that his recommendation only stands for that first round." Marshall says back he has a good idea why Mike has pulled it but he doesn't want to say unless it is true and if that is so.
"Ok Steve I want you to go up to Cairns and find out why this has happened see if Lieutenant McGregor has asked for him to pull it, or if he did it own his own. Check with Commander White too please. Until I know the full reason for him pulling his recommendation from this promotional round for her I will not allow us to decide on if she should or shouldn't get her promotion." The chairman says. They then get onto the last person who they approve. It is after five before they have left the officers and Steve has booked himself on a flight to Cairns for first thing in the morning. He found out that Hammersley was in port and he asked Maxine to make sure that they were still there in the morning and to bring Kate in for a meeting at 0900hours, He was yet to inform Maxine of what was going on as he wanted to find out the truth from all those involved before they had a chance to sort something out.
I just hope the reason he has pulled it is because the two of them have sorted things out and are together, and if so why the hell wouldn't he just come to me and tell me. Marshall thinks to himself as he is driving home to his wife.
Hammersley
"Hear there Captain speaking, I have just been informed by Commander White that we will be in port overnight and sailing sometime tomorrow afternoon. Once all work stations are clean and we have finished docking procedures you are free to go home but please make sure you're here for duty watch if you are roster on. That is all." Is heard within the ship.
For the crew the unexpected night ashore is greatly welcomed as they all thought it would be a simple drop off and turn around.
We got some shore leave you home tonight? Kate texts Mike. A few minutes later her phone beeps letting her know she has a message, she pulls her phone out of her pocket and looks at the screen and notices the name Mike flash up, she smiles and clicks up.
Sure am dinner and movie at my place? And she quickly types a reply back as Hammersley is guided on to the wharf with expertise from their helmsmen. Once Hammersley is all tied up to the wharf she heads off to her cabin to finish off some reports before heading to Navcom.
An hour later
Navcom
Cairns
"Lieutenant how was the trip?"
"Good thank you ma'am." Kate says as she hands over her reports. "Ma'am can I ask why we are being kept in overnight with an unknown sail time tomorrow?"
"Yes you can know why. You have a meeting with Captain Marshall 0900hours tomorrow morning." Kate swallows the lump that has quickly formed in her throat.
"Do you know why ma'am?"
"No I don't sorry." Kate just sits there.
"Oh."
"Kate I also have a meeting with Steve straight after you do. I have no idea what it is about till then. He won't even let me sit in on the meeting he is having with you so I think it has something to do with us and he doesn't want either of us there with the other just in case." Maxine looks at Kate and can tell she is worried. "If it was serious he would be here right now telling us both off. Go home enjoy your evening and I will see you back here bright and early tomorrow morning." Maxine says dismissing Kate from her office.
Once Kate leaves Maxine office she heads home to change before heading over to Mike's.
Mike is sitting relaxing on the couch when he hears knocking at his door.
"Coming" He calls out as he makes his way to his front door and opens it pleased to see Kate standing on the other side.
"On one crutch now are we?"
"Yep, thought I told you I was?" He says as he allows her to enter.
"Yes you did but I didn't believe you." She replies back cheekily to him. "So what's for dinner?"
"Stir fry, was waiting for you to arrive before I started it."
"You mean so I end up cooking it."
"No not at all, just you never said what time you would arrive so I prepared it all so all I have to do is cook it once you got here." He says as he comes up beside her and wraps his free arm around her waist before planting a kiss on her lips before pulling apart and heading to the kitchen to turn the stove on.
"So where are your parents?"
"They decided to head home for a couple of days and make sure the farm workers hadn't burnt the place down." He says as he gets the items from the fridge. "Mum will be back, dad said he might stay behind."
"Mum not trusting you to do as you're told then?"
"Yea something like that." he says as he puts the first lot of ingredients in the pan.
The two talk some more mainly about little things, once the stir fry was cooked Kate helped set the table and carry the plates over for Mike.
"So some unexpected down time must be nice."
"Yes and No I have a meeting with Captain Steve Marshall tomorrow?"
"What about?" he asks as he gets up and takes his plate to the kitchen, Kate following him.
"I have no idea not till tomorrow anyway."
"Didn't Maxine know?"
"No she also said she has a meeting with him as well, did he call you at all?"
"Nope not at all sorry. Anyway what movie to do you won't to watch?"
"There is a good one on the movie channel tonight."
"Not some romantic one is it?" he says as he places the dishes in the dishwasher and turns it on
"No it's not, you should like it, and it's the X-Files second movie I want to believe." She says as she gets them something to drink and takes them to the lounge.
"You're not just watching it because I'm an X-files fan are you?"
"Nope not at all." She replies as they both settle down on the couch and watch the movie.