Another update! It's official; I am on a role! For me anyway. My friend is still inspiring me and this is the result. We arrived in Melbourne this morning and when we checked into our hotel a little later, what did she do? She sat down and watched Sea Patrol! I'm not kidding! She is seriously hooked... Please, please let me know what you think. I love hearing your comments.

Thanks to those of you who commented, you really are the best

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1400 hours, Swain and Sally's house

Sally had just returned from her outing with the girls, having done some shopping afterwards. She entered the door and walked into the kitchen, throwing her keys down on the bench and going to get a glass of water. She took a sip and then leaned on the bench, Nikki's news still sinking in.

"Sal, are you alright?" asked Swain as he entered his kitchen to find his wife leaning on the bench.

"Sort of," she replied.

"You don't look it," said Swain, making his way closer to the bench and rubbing her back. "What's wrong?" Sally sniffed.

"Nikki has a heart condition," she said, looking into his eyes. Swain could see the tears pooled up in her chocolate brown eyes and pulled her into a hug, thinking about his thoughts after his conversation with Nav the previous day.

"She'll be okay," he said into her hair. "She will."

4 Days Later
1030 hours, ET, Nikki, Spider and Bomber's house

Four days later, ET and Nikki were heading to Sydney along with Ryan, Matt and Tamsin for the funeral. Spider brought a suitcase out from inside the house and put it in the boot of Nikki's car. Swain and Sally came over, with little Chloe just behind them.

"Hey Spider," said Sally cheerfully. Spider pulled his head out of the boot as he heard his nickname, hitting his head on the boot.

"Ow," he said rubbing his head. Swain burst out laughing but Chloe broke their attention away when she squealed.

"Uncie Josh!" ET laughed and put the bag he was carrying down on the ground, bending down to pick up the little girl.

"Hey Chlo, how are you?" he asked.

"Are you leaving?" said Chloe tearfully as she spotted the bag on the ground. ET smiled at the little girl.

"Just for a few days. Auntie Nikki and I are going to visit her family in Sydney," he replied, putting the little girl back on the ground and bending down to her level. Chloe sniffed and nodded. But then a look of horror crossed over her face.

"But who's going to look after Ruby?" she asked. ET laughed.

"Do you think you could help Spider and Bomber look after her for us?" asked ET, smiling at the little girl. Chloe gave him a big smile before running back over to her parents.

"Mummy! Unclie Josh says that I have to look after Ruby while they are away!" Swain and Sally laughed as their daughter again bounded off towards the backyard as ET walked over to join them.

"How long to you guys leave?" asked Swain.

"Soon, once the girls finally get ready," replied ET, raising his eyebrows.

"How is Nikki?" asked Sally.

"She says she's alright. I don't know though," admitted ET. At that moment, the woman in question appeared from inside the house carrying her handbag.

"Hey guys," she greeted Swain and Sally. "Hammersley hasn't been tasked?" Swain smirked.

"We only got back from the last patrol a few hours ago Nikki, give them a chance," replied Swain. Nikki agreed.

"Are you ready to go?" Nikki asked ET. He nodded. Nikki reached over to hug Sally.

"Good luck," Sally whispered in her ear. Nikki pulled back and smiled gratefully before hugging Swain. Ryan and Matt exited the house, each carrying a bag to load into the car.

"Oh, my sunglasses!" exclaimed Nikki suddenly, pulling away from ET to rush back into the house. ET shook his head before spotting a figure crossing the road.

"Morning X!" he called out.

"Morning," she replied. "You guys off?" ET nodded. Tamsin came up towards the car, her long blonde hair almost straight save for a few odd curls at the bottom. "Where's Nikki?" asked Kate, noticing she wasn't with the group.

"She was in a panic over her sunglasses," replied Tamsin, pulling off her own sunnies and placing them on top of her head, a few pieces of hair being caught up underneath them.

"Come on Nik!" Ryan called out in the direction of the house. A moment later, she hurried back out of the house, sunglasses in hand.

"Calm down! Lucky I did forget my sunglasses otherwise you would have forgotten this," she told ET, handing him his mobile. He shook his head slowly with a smile.

"Alright, come on. We better go if we don't want to miss our plane," he said, closing the boot. Nikki was standing next to Bomber, patting Ruby who was in Bomber's arms. She noticed Kate and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry but we really do need to go," said ET, not wanting to break the moment. Nikki pulled back and smiled at Kate before turning to hop in the car.

"Hey, who said I'm driving?" teased Nikki as she watched ET about to hop into the passenger side.

"Well, it is your car," replied ET.

"But I don't feel like driving," she said, tossing over her keys. "So you can." ET rolled his eyes before standing up and walking around the front of the car and climbing in. Nikki closed her door and pressed the window button. Tamsin, who was sitting in the middle of the back seat, leant over and did the same to Matt's window.

"See you guys!" she called out to Kate, Swain, Sally, Chloe, Spider, Bomber and Ruby as they stood together on the driveway.

"Look after my baby," added Nikki as the car backed slowly out of the driveway. The people on the driveway turned to look at the wiggling bundle of fur in Bomber's arms as the car drove off down the road.

1130 hours, Cairns Airport

Nikki, Tamsin and Ryan waited with their luggage in the lounge of the airport while ET and Matt went to find some coffee.

"So how long are you staying in Sydney?" Ryan asked his sister. She shrugged her shoulders.

"We've got a week and a half shore leave so we'll see," replied Nikki. ET and Matt returned and handed out coffee cups. "Juice?" said Nikki, looking at the bottle in her hand.

"You can't have coffee," ET reminded her. Nikki scowled and sank back in her chair.

"Ha ha. Sucks to be you," teased Tam, earning her a playful punch in the arm, courtesy of Nikki. She took a sip of the coffee in her hands. "Oh, on second thoughts, you're not missing out on much; this coffee's shocking!"

"It's an airport, what do you expect?" replied Matt, taking a seat next to his girlfriend. But no sooner had he sat down when an announcement came overhead.

"Qantas Flight 719, Cairns to Sydney, please make your way to the check in desks." Slowly the group got up and dragged their luggage to the check in desk to be processed.

A little while later, the group were upstairs in the seating area, waiting to board their flight.

"Are you staying with Dad?" Ryan asked ET and Nikki. Nikki swallowed the sip of juice she had in her mouth whilst shaking her head.

"No, we figured he'd have heaps of people over so we booked a hotel."

"You could have stayed with us," said Matt, putting his arm around Tamsin's shoulder.

"Or me," added Ryan. The intercom overhead blared again.

"Qantas Flight 719 to Sydney, please make your way to gateway 2 to board your flight."

"That would be us," said Matt as he stood, pulling Tamsin up with him. Nikki stood too and the group headed over to get their tickets processed before making their way down the hall and onto the plane. The flight attendants pointed towards their seats. Ryan, Josh and Nikki were seated on the left whilst Matt and Tamsin were seated opposite them. Whilst the safety demos were being held, Nikki barely watched; she had been on enough flights to know how to buckle her seatbelt and find the safety gear! Ryan held out a packet of gummy worms but Nikki shook her head. The plane did laps of the runway before taking off. Nikki could feel her ears popping and realised she should have the lollies. Sitting in the aisle seat, she leant back onto Josh, who was talking to Ryan, and faced Tamsin. Tamsin was readjusting her pillow on Matt's shoulder before leaning back and facing her friend opposite her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Fine, I'm good with flying remember." Tamsin raised her eyebrows at her friend. "Okay, I'm kind of dreading this trip," Nikki admitted finally. "It's silly really, it's been nearly two weeks."

"No one expects you to be okay about. Funerals aren't meant to make you feel good," replied Tamsin, shifting herself slightly to make herself more comfortable. "And if you were okay, then I think there'd be something wrong with you." Nikki laughed. The flight attendants brought down the food trolleys for lunch. Nikki decided against food but as she watched ET eat his chicken stir fry, she quickly stole a piece of his chicken.

"Hey! That's mine, get your own!" he exclaimed, but smiled the entire time.

"Hey!" replied Nikki, holding up her arms and indicating her belly. ET rolled his eyes and shook his head. Nikki leant back against him and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep, even thought it was only early afternoon. ET smiled and kissed the top of her head before putting his headphones back on and watching the movie.

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There's that chapter done. Sort of another filler chapter. Given my friend and my need to keep updating this, you might find you get an update very soon. Well, fingers crossed anyway. Please review this and help make my day. I really appreciate it.