At 10 am Mike rushed into the hospital and as he entered Ally's room an angry young girl greeted him.
"What's the matter honey?" Mike walked over to her bed and didn't understand why his daughter was so angry with him.
"They try to call you since 8 this morning to pick me up and didn't get you." Ally crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked away from her dad. Mike fumbled for his phone and checked it, just to figure out, that it was off.
"I'm sorry honey, but I have no battery left. Didn't even realise, that my phone was off. I haven't done that on purpose. So I can pick you up? That sounds great. How do you feel?" Ally turned back around to her dad and smiled. She couldn't be angry with him for long.
"I'm fine, but I want home, I don't like hospitals." There was the typical little girl again and the last sentence reminded Mike one more time on Kate.
"I understand that." Mike smiled satisfied at Ally and was happy, that he could bring her home. "I'll go and talk to the doctor, sign all papers and come back to help you with everything." He gave Ally a kiss on the cheek and left the room, this time Ally looked happy after him.
Ten minutes later Mike returned, together with the doctor and the doctor explained what would be important for Ally the next days. Finally at 11 am they were able to leave the hospital.
"Dad, where is Kate?" Ally asked out of the blue, as they drove to Mike's place.
"Well … I … think she is at home." Mike stammered and had to concentrate on the traffic ahead.
"Why didn't she come as well to pick me up?" Mike didn't like those questions, because he didn't know what to answer. He didn't wanted to lie to his daughter, but he also couldn't tell Ally the truth, that Kate maybe wouldn't be around so often the next few days and weeks.
"You know Kate got injured as well yesterday, so she needs to rest and as I called her earlier, she had a guest, so she couldn't come." Mike thought about to tell Ally, that he was with Kate the whole night, but decided to lie a little bit to her and just tell her he called Kate, even when he felt terrible. All those years he had told her, that she needed to be honest and now he lied to his little girl.
"Is Kate alright?"
"Honey Kate will be fine, she needs a few days' rest and she will be like nothing ever happened. Though we have to think about how it will go on with you." They finally had reached Mike's place and he helped Ally in the house and made it comfortable for her at the lounge.
"What do you mean with 'we have to think about how it will go on with you'? I want to stay here with you." Ally stated and she meant what she said, that much Mike could read in her eyes.
"Well school starts in a few days again and you can't stay here at the moment." Mike put a blanket on Ally and saw that she was sad about his statement.
"You don't want me here. That bloody Navy is more important for you than I am." Ally was close to tears, which didn't happen that often. Another characteristic she got from Kate.
"You know that's wrong." Mike took a seat next to Ally and put her gently in his arms. "Though you know our deal. You have to finish the school year and then you will move over here and we are not going to change that plan. I will get a shore posting at NavCom and I will be at home every night. But until that happens, you have to be a good girl for me and finish school up north and stay at your grandparents place. Please don't make any trouble; it's just for a couple of more weeks." Ally crossed her arms again, even when she knew her dad was right and they had this discussion so many times now.
"I will be a good girl, but when you break that promise I will never talk to you. But how am I supposed to go to school with a dislocated shoulder and a broken leg?"
"Things will work out, don't you worry. Your grandfather will drop you off and pick you up and in between we will find a solution. And I'm not going to break that promise. Are we good again?" Ally looked up to her dad and nodded. "Okay, so what do you think about a hot chocolate?" Ally nodded again and a huge smile appeared on her lips. Hot chocolate would be the best medicine.
Mike made his way into the kitchen and heard how Ally turned the TV on. He decided to give Kate a call while he waited for the milk to warm up.
"Kate McGregor speaking."
"Kate its Mike, how are you? Is Steve still with you?"
"Hi, I'm fine, just finished early lunch with Steve a little restaurant along the beach. He left five minutes ago and we had a good chat, I think Maxine was right to call him. How is Ally?" Mike waited for that question and was happy, that Kate asked for Ally.
"I think she is alright, didn't need any painkillers so far and some more days rest and she will be back to her normal self. Only the plaster will stop her for some weeks, but at the end everything will work out."
"I'm so sorry for what happened." Mike felt like to slap Kate through the phone.
"You did nothing wrong, so stop talking like that Kate." He took the milk from the stove and looked at his phone, after he just heard a deep breathing. "Come over and see that Ally is fine. She already asked for you."
"I can't. Not as long as I blame myself for what happened. I'm sorry." Kate hung up before Mike could say anything and now he was more worried than before he called her. Though he didn't really have time to think about it, because Ally was waiting for her hot chocolate.
They were sitting together on the lounge and both lost in their thoughts as Ally interrupted the quietness with a question Mike didn't expect at this moment.
"Can you please tell me about my mum?" Ally looked up at him and saw Mike's wondering face and questioned herself what was wrong with her dad that his face became pale and he was speechless.