Wow! 5 reviews in quick succession. Thank you all.

To the two guest reviewers: Glad you're enjoying it. Isn't she hiding enough with her Dad, the house and the baby? Dutchy is just starting to figure out things aren't working how he expected, so he's allowed a little anger.

Krystilauren: There are actually 55 chapters, with the text chat a supplement to 46, however, on FF it will show as 56 Chapters. So 5 left.

As a reward here is the next chapter ...

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Part 51 - To Protect You

Elena pushed the key into the lock, as Dutchy dropped his bag and stopped her from entering the house as she opened the door.

"I guess if this is our home, there's something I need to do," he whispered in her ear before trailing feathery kisses down her neck.

"What's that?" she asked leaning into him a little.

"This," he wrapped one arm around her and tucked one under her knees and lifted her off her feet in a quick fluid motion, which startled her and made her squeal in shock.

"Dylan! What are you doing? Is your shoulder okay?" she gasped, wrapping her own arms around his neck to help her sense of balance.

He looked at her, "I'm making up for what I didn't do after we were married." He took several deliberate steps inside then stopped as the hallway opened into the open plan living space. "This looks good."

"Wait until you see upstairs," she answered quietly. "Now put me down before you hurt yourself," she instructed lightly.

"I'm good, but I should fetch my bag and close the door, I don't want any interruptions." He spoke too late, as he set her feet gently back on the floor. Elena kept her arms around his neck as they were interrupted by a rap on the door.

"Mrs M? you home? Is everything alright?" A young male voice echoed in the empty hallway several feet away.

Elena gave Dutchy a quick peck on his lips and removed her arms from his neck to greet the visitor. "Brad, everything is fine thank you."

She took a few steps towards the teenager and Dutchy caught her wrist and stopped her going closer.

Brad and Dutchy eyed each other with suspicion for a few seconds as the youngster held up the bag previously dropped on the step. "I thought I heard you scream and I found this on your step," he offered now beginning to seem uncertain of his actions.

"Thanks, you can leave it there," Elena answered pointing to a space on the floor just in the lounge area.

"Well, I guess I'd better- er- go if you're alright."

Elena felt Dutchy's hand rub up and down her back as he stood at her side. "I promise, we're fine," she answered rubbing her hand across her swollen stomach as she felt the baby move again. "I'm sorry, I'd better introduce you, Dylan, Brad lives next door, he's been doing some odd jobs for me when the crew aren't around, Brad, my husband Dylan, he's just got back from an overseas assignment."

They exchanged brief greetings and then the teenager left. Dutchy locked the door and returned to where Elena was still standing.

She watched him as he stopped in front of her; she rested her hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating. He caressed her cheek and brought his lips to hers, drawing her closer as he wrapped an arm around her. She could feel his heart pounding beneath her hand as his fingers trailed down her neck. It all felt strange after she had been alone for so long, but she wanted this as much as he did. After a few moments he pulled back, "we should get some lunch, but first I need a shower."

"Bedroom's up on the right, there's boxes of your stuff in the spare room, I'll see if I can rustle up something to eat, but first I'm going to ring Jessie and let her know you're safe," she replied, fingering the buttons on his shirt.

"You coming to join me?" he suggested, giving her a sort of cheeky grin.

"I'm not sure it would be safe getting both of us in that shower, it needs a little work." It was one of the things she was hoping he would fix up when he got back, it wasn't very big and was even proving a little tight to fit her in.

"Does that also mean that sex is off limits?" he asked, stroking his fingers across her neck, sending shivers down her spine. She was glad that some things still seemed the same.

"No, you just have to be careful," she answered, "but considering that your son or daughter has been pummelling me black and blue since you showed up I don't think now is the right time." She dropped her hand from his chest to rub it over the baby.

"Are you alright?" She looked up into his blue eyes and saw something unfamiliar in them. It wasn't clear to her what he was thinking; the next few weeks were going to be a big period of adjustment for both of them.

"I'm fine, go check out upstairs and do what you need to."

"Tell Jess I said hello."

He kissed her again before letting her go and heading upstairs.

…..

Elena was in the kitchen sorting through the fridge when she felt his hand rub across her baby bump and his arm cross her chest pinning her against him as he kissed her neck. She could smell the fresh soap from his recent shower, she felt the baby move as she began to tingle from his touch. "Good shower?" she asked, taking a deep breath and enjoying the smell.

"The best in months, although I was looking forward to sharing it, but you're right it does need work, a lot of it." He stopped kissing her and rested his chin on her shoulder as he rubbed his hand over her abdomen stopping when he felt the baby kick against his hand. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"I have no idea, I want it to be a surprise, what do you think?"

"How long do we have to wait?" he questioned, his hand rubbing circles over the new life inside her.

"About 7 weeks."

"I think it'll take me that long to get used to the idea that it's not going to be just you and me. I take it the empty room upstairs is going to be the nursery?"

"I've painted it but I was hoping you'd be home to help chose the furniture."

"You painted it?" He asked sceptically, brushing his lips against her neck again.

"You'd be surprised what I'm capable of," she answered, resting her hand on his.

"I see you've brought over stuff from the house, is there anything left at my old place?" he murmured, his lips barely leaving her skin as she rested her head back against his shoulder giving him better access.

"No, most of it's in boxes and your bike's in the garage."

"Please tell me you didn't ride it over here yourself," she felt him tense and his lips momentarily left her skin.

"Are you kidding? All I got to do was sit and give orders, no-one would let me lift a finger to move a thing," she sighed heavily, still annoyed that the team had ganged up on her.

"Good," he mumbled and continued trailing kisses down her neck.

Elena pulled away, slammed the fridge door and turned to face him. "Good? I don't know what you may have said to any of them before you left, but I've barely had 5 minutes to myself the whole time you've been gone. Once they found out I was pregnant there was nearly always someone around to check up on me!"

For a moment an awkward silence descended. He took a step closer and reached out his hand, but she stepped back. "I asked Swain to look out for you. I was worried about what it would do to you, I wanted someone there for you when I couldn't be."

She could practically feel the concern in his voice and as excited as she was to have him home, she couldn't ignore the last 6 and a half months and now it seemed like the dam was about to burst and her stress and frustration were all directed at him. "Yeah, well he probably told the rest of the crew, I didn't need them to do that, I can take care of myself I didn't need a babysitter."

"So what did you want?" he asked, watching her carefully.

She met his gaze and held it a moment, "to have you home. For you never to have gone."

She saw a look of shock run across his face and he stepped towards her again and reached out and cupped her cheek. "We discussed it, we decided, I took this assignment because you said you'd be okay with it. If you'd have said no I wouldn't have gone."

"You don't get it, I cannot tell you what to do, I hated letting you make that decision, it was right for your career, for our future, but it doesn't mean I wanted it or liked it." She stared at his chest as she spoke, the tingle from his fingers on her cheek sending shivers down her spine.

"You should have told me, just like you should have told me about the baby when you found out." She raised her head to meet his gaze as he spoke, his tone firmer than before.

"I did it to protect you, I couldn't handle you worrying about me more than you already were. It's bad enough Niko died there, I couldn't handle it if you were killed too!" He was about to answer her when she continued. "Don't you dare tell me you wouldn't have been, I'm not that naïve! You were blown off the road because of a bomb, I had to hear from Mike that you were in the same place that Niko was shot, you never had the guts to tell me."

"I was protecting you. I never intended for you to know until later."

"I bet if it hadn't been for the bomb you would never have told me at all!" Elena was feeling tense, she knew it wasn't particularly good, but she'd bottled everything up for so long, now she just couldn't stop it all coming out.

"Honey, calm down, it won't do you any good, we'll get something to eat and we'll talk."

"I'm not hungry," she answered petulantly.

"Elena, don't do this, it's not good for you," his firm tone made her look at him, his thumb grazing her cheek, now getting annoying so she pushed him away.

"Don't do what? Decide for myself what I need. You've been away 6 months, I don't need you coming back telling me what is and isn't good for me. What I need is to have everyone stop questioning me like a child. I'm not; I just need to be left alone."

She turned and left, tears clouding her eyes as she headed up the stairs.

…..

Swain's house was buzzing as the crew crowded in to celebrate the new arrival. Sally was sitting on the couch talking to Kate, who was cuddling the new baby and looking like she was enjoying the moment. The boys had spilled out into the garden where Mike had taken it upon himself to light the BBQ while Swain handed round drinks.

The first to arrive had been Mike and Ryan, then the rest of the crew had shown up straight from patrol. At first no-one noticed the missing faces, but after a while there was a knock on the door.

2-Dads was closest and went to answer it. Letting out a shriek making everyone turn and look. "Charge! What are you doing here, thought you weren't due back for a few days."

"Yeah, well there's a few things I needed to sort out and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Swain's new angel."

They walked into the lounge talking and he greeted Kate and Sally, handing over gifts, 2-Dads continued in the direction of the BBQ. "Lani says she's sorry she can't make it but sends you all her best," he offered slightly nervously.

Sally accepted the gifts graciously and asked after the woman who had attracted him to take several trips to Western Australia in recent months.

"She's got a good job at a mine there and is doing well."

"Uncle Charge!" Chloe's voice squealing over the noise caught their attention as the young girl came charging in.

"Hey there young Chloe!" Charge boomed scooping her up. "I'm glad you're here, because I've got something for you our little Hammersley Princess." He hoisted her up in one arm and pulled a package out of his back pocket and handed it to her.

"Thank you uncle Charge," she answered, "Mummy look I got a present." Charge put her down and she ran over to her mother allowing Charge to look around at the others present. "I thought Elena would have been getting her hands dirty, getting some practice in for her own."

Swain was crossing the room and heard the comment as Kate looked around herself. "You're right, wasn't she babysitting for you Swain?"

"Ah, yeah, she left here a couple of hours ago, she's probably at home," Swain replied, rubbing his hand up and down the back of his head while he looked at Sally.

Kate picked up on the stalling and frowned at him, "Swain what's going on?"

"We had a visitor earlier, took us all by surprise. Dutchy's home."

A shocked look crossed Kate and Charge's faces, "Home? Did Elena know?"

"Nah, he just showed up after we got back from the hospital. Seemed a little rattled that she wasn't at his place or NAVCOM, but he settled down when he knew she was here. Of course she dropped her own little bombshell in return," Swain replied with a hint of a smile.

"Yeah well it's a little hard to miss." Charge commented with a big grin.

"How did he take the news?" asked Kate.

"I think they were both a little shell shocked to be honest."

"What? Who is?" 2-Dads voice joined the conversation as he walked in from the garden and obviously only catching part of the conversation.

"Elena and Dutchy," Swain answered.

"Why? What've I missed?"

"He's home." Swain responded simply.

2-Dads eyes shot open and he looked at Charge, "Boy would I like to have been a fly on the wall when he found out his missus was knocked-up."

"2-Dads!" Kate scolded, "language there are ladies present."

"Sorry ma'am, but the look on his face must have been priceless. You didn't get any pictures of the happy reunion did you Swaino?" 2-Dads persisted.

"No, I had my hands full changing a dirty nappy."

"Now that's just gross," 2-Dads grimaced, pretending not to throw up.

"Do you think they'll be okay? It's got to have been a pretty big surprise for Elena," Kate pressed, changing the subject slightly.

"They talked here for about 20 minutes then spoke to us and left. Elena said they were going home," Sally offered, taking the now whimpering baby from Kate.

"I'll give her a call later and check everything's alright," Kate thought aloud.

"Actually ma'am, I think it would be best to leave them alone for a few days, give them time to adjust."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Kate sighed.

…..

For a moment Dutchy stood and ran his hand over his face, wondering what he had said to get Elena so mad at him. He thought she would be pleased to see him, but so far there hadn't exactly been much evidence of that.

Now he didn't know what to do for the best, if he should go after her or just leave her. He knew she was capable of dealing with anything she set her mind to, but what was wrong with someone keeping an extra eye on her and helping her while she carried his son or daughter.

He ventured across the room and hoisted his bag from the floor onto his shoulder and headed upstairs to unpack in the hope that she might talk to him, although right then he wasn't sure.

He got to the top of the stairs and moved towards the master bedroom, he could hear her moving about inside and hesitated as he pushed the door open. He watched her for a minute as she ignored him, while she folded the pile of washing spread across the bed. As he watched her he couldn't help wonder what else he'd missed while he was away. He had a lot to catch up on, and maybe he hadn't intended to tell her everything about Afghanistan, but now he was having second thoughts.

He put his bag down and she looked over at him then turned her attention back to the slowly diminishing pile of clothes. He walked over to her and stopped her, removing the item from her hand and scooping the stuff off the bed.

"What are you doing?" she snapped angrily.

"We should talk," he answered sitting on the bed next to her fixing her with a serious look, "about everything." Well at least it got her attention, she looked at him. "I won't apologise for worrying about you or wanting you looked after. But I am sorry for maybe going a little overboard with the protection detail." He reached up and rested his hand on her hip and drew her in front of him. "I know it freaked you out when I was told about the mission, but I really thought you were okay with it, I should have realised there was no way you could be, I'm sorry."

For a moment Elena didn't say anything, she tentatively rested her hands on his shoulders, he could feel the tremor that went through her. "I've never been so scared my whole life, even before Niko was killed, I never felt the way I have while you've been gone."

"Come here," he scooted back on the bed so he was resting against the headboard, then reached for her hand, encouraging her to sit with him. Slowly she sat down and pulled her feet up until she was sitting next to him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and they snuggled closer together. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry about before, I just expected to have a couple of days at least to know you were coming home, to give me time to adjust."

They were both silent for a few minutes and he rested his hand on her abdomen. "We'll do it together," he murmured, kissing the top of her head as she sighed. "Once they said I was going home I couldn't think about anything else but getting here, seeing you, I thought it wouldn't make it worse knowing I was coming home and you just waiting."

"I've got no food in the house and nothing ready, I had all these plans." She trailed her fingers across his stomach as she took a deep breath. He felt her begin to relax.

"So if there's no food in the fridge what have you been living off?" he asked carefully, not wanting to rile her again.

"I've been at Swain's with Chloe for a few days while Sally's been in the hospital and he's been running errands." He grazed his fingers up and down her bare arm as she spoke, anything just to feel her skin beneath his fingers, to touch her and know that she was real after dreaming about her so often like a fantasy.

"So it looks like 2 options for lunch, we go out or order in. What would you like?"

"To stay here and not move," she murmured, running her hand across his stomach, to him it seemed lighter than before, more hesitant, like she was afraid to touch him, it was something else to add to the growing list of things he was finding to talk to her about, but right now was not the time.

"Honey, I can't argue with the idea, but I've barely eaten in 2 days, the airline food wouldn't feed a mouse." he felt the vibration ripple through him as she giggled at his response and he felt some of the tension fall away. He hadn't realised how stressed coming home had made him.

"Then I guess we can't have that, but can we wait 5 more minutes?" Her plea made her sound vulnerable and tired. At that moment he wanted to give her whatever she wanted.

"I can do that." He wasn't that keen to break the moment either and he tightened his arms around her holding her close, breathing in the smell of her shampoo, taking him back to the night she had stayed at his place with Nikki, the first time he had smelt the strawberries in her hair.

"Same shampoo?" he asked, "you smell like strawberries."

He felt her shift slightly as she looked up at him and he caught the tears forming in her eyes. "You remembered," she choked.

"I remember a lot and in the next few days I'll prove it to you, the memories have been what kept me sane while I was gone. Those and the times I heard your voice."

He felt the jolt before he heard anything as she rested her head back on his chest, in seconds the tears were flowing uncontrolled as her body heaved. Swain had said to expect tears, but he never thought it would be like this. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her tighter, not sure what else to do.


Elena's been bottling things up, so it had to come out sometime and right now he's in over his head, wondering what to do for the best.