Heaven Knows - Chapter 21

A/N: We are going to follow Kate as she's recuperating in the hospital. Thank you to all of you that are still reading and commenting.

The sound of high heels echoed through the long corridor. The woman who wore them nodded to the nurses on their station before heading to the private room at the end of the corridor. Few metres from reaching the room, she could already hear the sound of two people arguing inside. Rolling her eyes slightly, she then knocked twice before opening the door.

Instantly, she was met by the relief eyes of Kate McGregor, who probably thought she would be the saviour of the day.

"Sal, thank God..."

But Sally cut her off before Kate could launch her tirade about the inadequateness of hospital food. "Kate, we've talked about this..."

"But..." Kate tried again.

"Hu-uh..." Sally shook her head to indicate that there was no room for argument in this situation.

Then the unexpected happened. Kate McGregor, who in the eyes of her husband and his crew mates was some kind of wonder woman, pouted at her and said sulkily, "fine..."

She was tempted to laugh at Kate's expression but managed to hold it just in time to see the other woman trying to blink tears out of her eyes. Instantly, she felt a pang on her chest.

"Mrs Blake, could you please make sure that she eats this?"

"Of course," she replied to the nurse that was about to leave the room.

Once the door was closed once again, she then dragged the chair closer to the bed, sat down and put her handbag on the floor before reaching for Kate's hand and held tight.

Kate squeezed her hand back in gratitude, but didn't speak. She just kept looking at the window, avoiding Sally's gaze until she felt that her control was back.

"I'm sorry..." Kate finally said.

Sally shook her head and smiled softly at the woman that she had come to know a lot better for the last week. "No need... I'm used to dealing with a sulky child..." she teased her playfully.

Kate huffed, "Are you comparing me to Chloe now?"

"Well... if you decided to pout like that, then yeah... You kind of deserve that comparison." Sally then regarded her somewhat seriously, "Does Dylan always cave when you do that?"

Kate started to laugh at that question when she felt the pain on her stomach. "Ow..." She let go of Sal's hands and covered her stomach instead. "Please don't make me laugh..." she managed to utter between her gritted teeth.

Sally grimaced at the little reminder of why Kate was in the hospital room in the first place. "Do you want the nurse to add bigger dose of pain medication to your drips?"

"No..." Kate shook her head slowly. "No... I want to be lucid when Dylan is here later on."

"Kate, he's not going to dock for another 2 hours... I'm sure you could use a little nap before he's coming... You don't want to be tired when he's finally here..." Sally used her best persuasive voice to try and sell her idea to one of the most stubborn woman she had ever met.

"If I eat this horrible porridge, would you please stop pestering me about the morphine?" Kate bargained stubbornly.

Sally sighed. "Okay. But please promise me that you would ask for it if the pain becomes less than bearable."

Kate nodded. "I promise."

Sal then pushed the tray closer to Kate and pressed the button to lift up the bed slowly.

Kate quietly thanked Sally before gripping her spoon and started to eat her porridge. But she couldn't help making a face as her taste bud got the first taste of the creamy substance on her mouth.

Sally chuckled as she saw Kate's expression. "Come on, Kate, you can do it... Only one more day of porridge until you are graduating to mashed potatoes..."

"Yay..." Kate exclaimed unenthusiastically. "Hospital food makes me appreciate even more all those pancakes and French toast that Dylan cooked for me for the last few months..."

Sally smiled at the longing that she could hear in Kate's voice. "He likes to spoil you..."

Kate didn't even bother to hide her smile at the thought of him. "Yeah... sometimes too much though..."

"Ah... the joy of a new couple..." Sally grinned knowingly.

"Isn't Chris doing that still?" Swain's name rolled out of her tongue somewhat awkwardly after years of mostly calling the man by his position on the ship.

Sally chuckled. "Kate, we're married."

"So?" Kate looked at her pointedly. "That doesn't mean that he couldn't do that for you."

"Well... true..." Sally conceded, "but when you are married with children, there's household to be run, tantrum to deal with, bills to be paid and not to mention we both have jobs to do..."

"You don't exactly sell the idea of marriage very well, you know..." teased Kate, a little bit surprised at the mini tirade from one-half of a marriage entity that had been everybody's role model for a while.

"I mean, don't get me wrong," she paused and gathered her thoughts for another few seconds, "we both love each other very much. But my point is... when you are married, your priorities change. Spoiling your spouse is probably the fifth priority on the list, not the first one. So," Sally slowly grinned at Kate once more, "when Dylan comes back and starts spoiling you rotten once more, do all the married women a favour and don't protest, OK?!"

"How much did Dylan pay you for that last bit of the speech, huh?" Kate replied jokingly.

This time, it was Sally's turn to laugh out loud. Kate could only smile at the other woman, avoiding the temptation to laugh with her for obvious reason.

"Does anybody in the ship know that wonder woman apparently has such a great sense of humour?" Sally asked curiously when she had managed to somehow control her laughter.

"Well..." Kate grimaced, remembering the time when she had indulged Charge's insinuation with a comeback on her own. "I think they started to have few ideas..."

The rest of the lunch time visit was filled with conversation about Swain and Sally's plan to have a family holiday in the next few days. They thought that while Hammersley had been grounded because of the recent incident, they might as well take the opportunity to have a long overdue holiday. But Sally also shared that both Swain and her still had residual apprehension about going on holiday while Kate was still in the hospital. They knew that Dylan was coming home soon, but what if he was crashed-sailed once again, they just simply wanted to be there as back-up just in case things happened.

Hearing her concern, Kate had quickly pointed out that the rest of Hammersley's crew could be a back-up. Even former crews like Bomber and Buffer had visited her during this hospital stay and most likely willing to stay with her if Dylan indeed had to sail. Kate also pointed out that Swain and Sally had been the parental figures of the group for so long that it was time for them to start thinking of themselves and have some quality time together as a family and as a couple.

In the end, Sally had promised Kate that she and her family would definitely drive their car up to Port Douglas and would just relax and try to forget the Navy and its problems. When she satisfied that Kate had indeed finished her meal, Sally lifted the tray and left it on the table by the door for the nurse to take them later. After saying a quick goodbye and a promise to come back tomorrow, Sally then took her leave and went down to the cafeteria to have a quick bite before going back to her office.

Left alone once more, Kate gratefully closed her eyes and fully intended to take a nap for the next hour or so. Her body was still in a mending stage and any long conversation or long period of being awake were tiring her. It was during her nap preparation that she heard a knock on the door.

She sighed. She had hoped that the nurse would come by when she was already fallen asleep.

No such luck, Kate...

However, instead of the nurse, a familiar set of blue eyes stared at her from the opened door.

"Sir?"

"Hi, Kate." Mike greeted her softly. He hadn't seen her since he visited her on that first night in the I.C.U. She was still pale, but the sight of her green eyes staring at him was a welcome sight.

Kate gestured for him to come in. His white uniform made her wonder whether he was here for personal or business reason.

He crossed the threshold and pushed the door to a half-close before approaching the bed and sat on the chair that Sally had vacated.

He then asked her how she felt.

With a shrug of her shoulder, she replied and once again complained about the hospital food. That actually earned a smile from him, who obviously shared the same sentiment.

"You must be the only Hammersley's personnel that still at work today," Kate said referring to his uniform.

He huffed, "Yeah... Knocker said that while Hammersley is grounded, I have to help her at Navcom."

She chuckled. "Training for your shore posting?"

"Well..." He sighed. "I think it's inevitable that after my posting in Hammersley finishes that there would be a desk with my name waiting in Navcom."

"How long do you have left?"

His eyes stared at her quietly. "You know how long..."

She shook her head. "No, contrary to what you believe, I don't sit in my cabin and mark my calendar to keep track on how many months you have left in Hammersley. Frankly, I have better things to do."

"Of course," he smiled sarcastically, "you're too busy spending time with that guy."

Here we go... She wondered how long it would take for him to bring up Dylan into their conversation. It turned out, not long at all.

She then reached for the remote control of her bed and pushed the button to lift the bed a little bit more. She could sense a strained conversation, if not an argument, was coming and she needed to be able to feel that she was in control of the situation. Not able to see him on eye-to eye level was a disadvantage, so even though her newly-healed stomach muscle protesting a little bit at the strain she put it in, she went ahead and did it anyway.

"The man you called 'that guy' is my boyfriend... and before that, he was my best friend, and still is. I'm not going to apologise for moving on, Mike..." she said vehemently.

Silence greeted her statement.

His eyes refused to meet hers and were fixed on the table by the window. The sight of various flowers greeted him. The small table was not completely full and there were more spaces available, and yet he also noticed that there was another flower arrangement on her bedside table.

12 red roses. The arrangement wasn't new. He could see that the petals looked a little bit worn already. It probably had been there for a few days. And yet, she still kept it close to her, along with a teddy bear wearing sailor uniform that sat next to the flowers.

He sighed inwardly. He now realised that those items must have been Dutchy's gift to her. The other man probably had ordered it online during his internet time in Childers' ship office and had it delivered or he might even ask one of the crew, possibly Swain or Bird to give it to her.

He then realised that he didn't even think of bringing anything with him; whereas Dutchy had actually bothered to think about it even when he was away at sea. Was he just out of practice with this sort of thing or Kate was right about his tendency to prioritise everything else before her? If he was being serious about getting her back, shouldn't he have gone all out? Bringing her flowers, visiting her every day, showing her that he cared... Shouldn't he have taken advantage of the fact that Dutchy wasn't here? And yet, he hadn't. Why? Why couldn't he get his act together and fight? Was he relying on Dutchy's past tendency to 'enjoy them & leave them'? Was he waiting for the other man to bail out on Kate and pick up the pieces after that?

What if Dutchy never left? What if by some miracle, he really was serious about Kate?

What if he had truly missed his chance this time?

Those questions swirled around his brain, causing him to feel a pounding in his head.

"Mike?"

Kate's voice echoed through his brain and forced him to find her eyes again. He could see the mix of irritation and worry in her eyes, which meant that he must have been silent for a lot longer than he thought.

"I didn't know that you liked teddy bears..." He cringed inwardly as he said the first thing on his mind.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kate stared incredulously at the man that had been a fixture in her life one way or the other for the last 10 years.

"Nothing... I just never pictured you as the soft-toy type. That's all..." he said, carefully choosing his words so he didn't provoke her wrath. "That was from him, wasn't it?"

His heart involuntarily squeezed tighter as her eyes visibly softened at the mention of the other man. She then reached for the bear in question and caressed its ears before embracing it close to her.

"12 roses for each day that he's away from me in this patrol and a bear to watch over me as his substitute." She then smiled softly. "Sometimes, he's too overprotective for his own good. But that's just the way he is..."

He smiled sadly as he was listening to the tone of her voice. It was full of longing; no doubt for the man that she had described with such fondness despite the tiny criticism about his over-protectiveness. "I'm slowly losing the battle, aren't I?"

"There is no battle..." she paused and clutched the bear tighter to give her strength. "Not anymore... Not since you've made that choice to stay in Hammersley for another year."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before replying. "What if I resigned from Hammersley now? Would the battle line be opened again?

"Mike, this is not about one of us getting off the boat anymore... nor this is about chasing a happiness that's probably not ours in the first place ..." she looked at him sadly. "This is about being together with a person that I need the most. It's about being with someone that I could trust not to betray me. It's about being with a person that loves me above all else..." She could feel tears slowly developing at the back of her eyes as she remembered that first morning with Dylan and the simple and honest confession that he gave her. "That person is him, Mike... and it has been him for quite a while now... I was just too blind and too scared to realise that fact before..."

The passion behind her words stunned him. He could only ever recall her talking with that much passion about her career. And yet, here she was, defending the other man with such devotion that he couldn't help but wish that kind of devotion was for him.

Had she ever felt that way about him during the last 10 years? He knew that she had loved him in the past. He knew that she had wanted him then. But was that devotion?

"Let me go, Mike..."

That simple plea broke him.

"How?"

Tears welled at both of their eyes as he voiced that question.

"I don't know..." She shook her head softly. "But I did. And it's time for you to do the same..."

He couldn't bear to look at her eyes after that, so he focused his eyes to the window once more.

"Did you ever wonder what would happen to us if we had never had the first break-up?" his voice was barely a whisper.

"It's a moot question, isn't it?" she refused to look back at that period of her life.

"Maybe it is... but don't you ever wonder about that?"His lips curved up a little bit as his thought ran away with the possibility. "Would we be married by now? Would we have kids? Or would we just be us and chase our career... but together rather than apart?"

"Mike, don't..."

The finality in her voice made him flinch, but he kept going. "Could he give you that? Marriage, children, a stable and happy life? Aren't you just a little bit afraid of his colourful history?"

"You need to stop this, Mike... You don't know him well enough to judge him... You don't have any rights to do that anyway..." Kate was slightly outraged at his audacity. But she expected it from him, as he hadn't made a secret of his disapproval the last time they had an argument about this.

"I'm just worried about you..."

"Don't." She shook her head vehemently. "I'm an adult, Mike... And I've made my choice."

"Kate..."

She was about to yell at him in frustration when she heard a voice from the slightly opened doorway.

"I think you need to leave the lady alone..."

To be continued...