Chapter Three-
Emily made it inside the house she shared with Billy and slammed the door. She leant against it, her body shaking with sobs. She loved him so much, just not enough to have to compete for his attention. She thought she knew him, knew his every move. When she first met him, she knew he was perfect.
He was the one.
"EK please, let me in," said Billy, knocking on the front door. He'd tried to open it once already, and found himself unable to open it. Emily swiped away the angry tears and got up. She unlocked the door and headed to their bedroom.
"Emily, please, we need to talk," said Spider, trailing after her.
"No," she replied simply. She pulled out a suitcase and started throwing clothes into it, whatever she could reach.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I'm packing my suitcase. What does it look like?" She retorted.
"Like you're not giving me a chance to explain," replied Billy. Emily slammed the case shut.
"No. I'm not giving you a chance to explain because right now, I'm not ready to listen without screaming at you. I need time to think, to reassess, to know that what I'm doing is the right decision. It may not be, but I need to think. I'm staying somewhere else tonight, and if I'm ready, I will talk to you tomorrow. If not, then just give me space. Please Billy," she begged. He stepped back and allowed her out of the room. She dragged the suitcase out the door and threw it into the car. She left Billy standing at their front door, alone. The first person he called was 2Dads.
"Leo. She left me."
Leo was tucked up on the bed next to Rebecca, a hand gently playing on her pregnant stomach. He looked up at her lovingly, and kissed her tenderly. Bec looked at the ring again.
"Mrs Rebecca Kosov-Meyer," she whispered, testing out the name.
"And you'll be mine. You can have whatever you want, big wedding, little wedding, whatever makes you happy," replied Leo gently.
"I'm happy with a small wedding, just a few friends and family. I do want to wait until after the baby is born though; I'd look so fat in a wedding dress!" She commented.
"Whatever you want Bec." Leo's phone rang, and he extracted it awkwardly from his pocket.
"Hello?" Bec didn't hear the other side of the conversation, but knew it ended very abruptly. Leo tucked the phone back in his pocket and sat up, carefully climbing off the bed.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Emily left Spider. Handed back the engagement ring and left." Bec waved at the door.
"Go. Go be with Spider. I'd do it, but I've got to stay here in the hospital. Don't be a stranger though!" Leo stepped towards the door, and then returned, kissing Bec on the cheek.
"I love you."
"You can see him now," said the doctor, coming out to greet Kate. Kate stood up, straightening her uniform, and headed inside Pete's room. He pulled down the oxygen mask as she neared him.
"How bad is it?" He rasped.
"Two shots, one to your shoulder, one right near your chest. We nearly lost you there Pete," said Kate gently, gripping his good hand.
"Will I be able to work?" Asked Pete. Kate bit her lip.
"I don't know. You'll be in recovery for a while. Maxine's going to find us a temporary buffer, see how things go. You need to focus on healing, on getting better," said Kate softly.
"Where is the boss and the X?" Asked Pete.
"Kelly is two wards over, and Mike is with her. Kelly was found abused outside of the hospital, and Mike has gone to be with her. I'm staying with you until you sleep, then I'm going over to NAVCOM with Dutchy to talk about your temp with Maxine." Pete nodded, his heavy lids closing. Kate kissed him on the forehead.
"Don't you dare die," she whispered.
"I won't," he promised sleepily. Kate left him, and Dutchy met her outside the room.
"Did Nikki get home safe?" She asked. Dutchy nodded.
"I dropped her off, got your message, and came back here. Maxine's waiting for us at NAVCOM. We should get over there before IA does," said Dutchy, walking beside Kate as they exited the hospital.
"IA is involved? Why?" She asked, climbing into the car.
"They suspect one of the Hammersley crew of alerting the Samaruans of their arrival, and therefore endangering the rest of the crew. We're being investigated as well, and Maxine wants to deal with the Hammersley's crew problem before she is weighed down by IA breathing down her neck." Dutchy pulled into the carpark at NAVCOM, and together they headed to Maxine's office. She was waiting anxiously for them, pacing the length of her office.
"Please, Kate, Dylan, take a seat," she said.
"We're in for a long night, aren't we," commented Kate. Maxine handed her and Dutchy a stack of files each.
"We are indeed."
Mike stroked Kelly's hand, reminding her that he was still here.
"I want to go home," she begged.
"I know, but they want to observe you first before they release you. To be honest, I think you'll be safer here. Get some rest; tomorrow we're dealing with Internal Affairs, and I think we're going to be toast," replied Mike.
"Will you stay with me?" She asked. She didn't want to admit it, but she was frightened of being on her own, afraid of what might happen if Mike wasn't there. He crossed around to the other side of the bed and lay behind her, draping his arm over her carefully.
"I'll stay tonight. I promise," he whispered.
"What do we do tomorrow?" She asked sleepily.
"We tell them the truth. Maxine is aware of our relationship, and is making an effort to change our postings so it can continue. We've got to wait for paperwork to go through, and then we'll be fine. They can't touch us," answered Mike.
"What will happen to Alexei?" She asked.
"Whatever they decide needs to happen. You need to get some sleep Kel. We can talk about this in the morning." Kelly snuggled closer to Mike despite her injuries, knowing that he would somehow keep her safe from Rick.
For how long though, she wasn't sureā¦
Laura Greer looked at the reports from the Hammersley and Victory crews sitting in front of her. They all appeared fine at first glance, but when you dug deeper, you noticed flaws; most of the weren't even following proper procedure. She'd found out about two relationships that hadn't even been declared that were breaking the fraternisation rules, one that had been declared that still broke fraternisation rules, a sailor that appeared to have betrayed her crew mates; so many things. When she dug deeper in the Victory crew reports, she found that a lot of them were ship based; problems that Marine Tech should have picked up but didn't seem to in port. Hammersley had it's own problems; no ship really needs three radio operators, but they seemed to have three anyhow. Laura rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on.
So many protocols to be reviewed, so many issues amongst crew.
She just had to work out where to start.
She pulled the files of Lieutenant Kelly Martin and Commander Mike Flynn towards her.
Best to start from the top and work her way through the ranks.
Michael Fletcher sat across from her. They'd agreed to investigate each ship separately; Laura was taking Hammersley, Michael was taking Victory. He chose to start with the top as well; Lieutenant-Commander Kate McGregor and Lieutenant Nikki Caetano were first on his list. He was curious as to why the radio operator had physically abused her.
Kelly, Mike, Nikki and Kate were about to feel the full wrath of Internal Affairs coming down on them.
And it wasn't going to be pretty.
