"Kate" he kissed the side of her neck the next morning
"Mmm" she moaned sinking deeper against her pillow
"It's time to wake up" he whispered in her ear
"Too early" she mumbled back
"Now come on you know it's never too early for me" he grinned
"When you keep me up half the night I think I'm entitled to a sleep in" she slowly opened her eyes meeting with Mike's blue one's as he rested his head in front of hers
"It's not my fault you couldn't get comfortable"
"You want to rephrase that?" she looked down at her Pregnant belly
"Okay it's not my fault that Skipper kept you up most the night"
"Well I disagree because it appears he's just as restless as his Father" she grinned as he placed his hand against her abdomen she looked down at it.
"Kate…" he answered after a few minutes of silence
"Yeah?" she moved her head to meet his eyes
"I meant what I said last night"
"I know you did" she placed her hand against his cheek
"I really do love you McGregor" he moved his head closer placing a kiss on the tip of her nose
"And I love you Flynn" she shifted meeting his lips in a soft kiss, pushing him back against his pillow he moaned as she shifted to straddle his lap his hands roaming across her back
"Kate…" he moaned against her lips as she ground against his member
"Mmm" she began kissing along his jaw
"You have no idea how much I want this but…" he cleared his throat
"Sophie's standing in the doorway isn't she" she sighed against his jawbone
"Ah yeah…" he said sadly playfully hitting her hip she fell back into her side of the bed.
"Hey Soph" Mike cleared his throat moving to sit up keeping the blanket over his clearly getting hard member thanks to Kate's movements seconds earlier
"Can we have pancakes for breakfast?" she yawned from the doorway
"Sure baby" Kate moved out of the bed
"But I want Daddy's pancakes" she said hopeful as Kate stopped next to her
"Well how about we let Daddy have a cold shower and we go get you dressed for school" she turned back grinning slightly at Mike
"Okay" she nodded walking down the hall back to her room
"Unfair" he groaned at her
"Hmm, looks like you'll have to wait a week after all" she shrugged with a grin before following after Sophie.
"Right who's ready for pancakes?" Mike clapped his hands together as he entered the kitchen 20 minutes later
"Me!" Sophie jumped down from her place at the kitchen table where Kate was finishing braiding her hair
"Well let's get onto it then" he grinned picking her up to sit on the bench while he busied getting the ingredients
"Kate?" Cleo asked hopeful moving towards her in her uniform
"Yeah come on" she grinned as Cleo occupied Sophie's previous seat
"You know I'm really enjoying having someone around who can do my hair" she laughed while Kate brushed the knots out
"Well it's my pleasure" Kate smiled placing the brush down
"So did you and Mike sort things out?" she asked looking over at Sophie who was helping Mike
"We discussed things"
"Sounded more like arguing to me" she shrugged
"There was a bit of that too" Kate sighed as she began braiding Cleo's hair
"And?"
"Your brother said he'd take a shore posting"
"That's a good thing though, isn't it?" Cleo shifted to face her
"I don't know; I mean it's sweet that he wants to but he won't be happy doing a shore posting it's not who he is" Kate shrugged turning Cleo back around to continue with her hair
"But it's what he wants to do"
"No it's not, at least not really"
"But…"
"Cleo, look I love you but really I'd just rather not talk about it so just don't get involved okay" Kate said sadly
"Sure" she nodded as Kate finished the rest of her hair in silence.
"Mike" Cleo asked moving towards the bench as Kate disappeared to go get dressed
"What's up?" he replied flipping the pancake that was in the pan
"This constant fight you and Kate have about Hammersley tell me… Do you love her more than some stupid boat?" she leant against the bench
"What?" he asked confused
"Can you honestly say you'd be willing to leave the boat for Kate, for us?" she looked at Sophie sadly
"Cleo…" he began saying
"You know what it's fine, I mean if you wouldn't leave it for me when I needed you why would you leave it for Kate" she moved back
"It's not that simple…" he began saying
"Daddy the pancake!" Sophie called out
"Shit!" he huffed pulling it off the heat looking down at the blackened pancake
"I think I'll catch the bus this morning, enjoy your pancakes" she moved around the bench and up the hall.
"Is Cleo mad?" Sophie asked sadly as Mike turned off the stove
"Looks like your Mummy and your Auntie are both mad at me" he sighed
"I'm not!" she smiled widely
"You wait until you're a teenager then you will be" he brushed a piece of loose hair behind her ear
"I'll always love you Daddy" she pulled him forward placing a kiss on his cheek
"Thanks Soph" he kissed her forehead before turning back to hopefully not burn any more pancakes.
"Cleo?" Kate asked confused as she stormed down the hall with her schoolbag on
"I can't deal with him!" she huffed pulling the door back
"Wait where are you going?" she followed her out the front now fully dressed in her favourite flowy dress
"To catch the bus, I'm not spending twenty minutes in the car with that stubborn fool" she turned to face Kate
"Cleo I told you to not get involved" Kate sighed
"I know but seeing you hurt because he's to stubborn to leave that stupid boat!"
"He's your brother you shouldn't be fighting with him" Kate said sadly moving to stand in front of her
"I…"
"I can take care of myself, I'm used to him being stubborn your forgetting I knew him when he was a horny teenager" Kate grinned
"Yeah" she laughed softly
"Why don't I take you to school, some girl bonding time" Kate nudged her arm
"I'd like that" she nodded
"Great I'll just go get my car keys and some shoes on, you want to come back in say goodbye or?" Kate motioned back inside
"I'll stay here…" she said reluctantly
"Sure I won't be long" Kate moved back inside.
"Bloody hell…" Kate huffed to herself sitting on the end of the bed to put her shoes on
"Kate…" he said softly watching her do the buckle up on her sandals
"Not now Mike" she sighed looking up to see him in the doorway
"I…"
"You know this really is beginning to become a problem" she moved to stand
"I told you I would leave I told you that"
"I know! But it's not just me this all effects Mike your sister misses you when you go away, do you have any idea how many times I've comforted her; dried her tears after you've left for patrol? Even Sophie struggles!"
"I didn't know…"
"Of course you didn't because Hammersley is all you bloody think about" she grabbed her handbag and keys off the bedside table
"Kate" he placed a hand on her arm when she went to move past him
"I'm taking Cleo to school, just… feed Soph and take her I've got errands I need to run today" she looked at him sadly
"Will I see you before I sail?" he moved his hand to her cheek
"I won't say goodbye again, so probably not…" she moved his hand off her before turning out of their room and exiting the house.
...
Standing on Hammersley's deck near the gangway Mike sighed to himself,
he couldn't help but think he'd really stuffed it up this time because contrary to her words Kate didn't come home and he didn't get to see her he would be sailing in 10 minutes and he couldn't even contact her on the phone
"Boss, is everything okay?" Swain asked stopping next to him
"Yeah I just… Kate and I had another fight" he turned to face him
"Let me guess over Hammerlsey again?" he raised his eyebrow
"It's that obvious is it?" he smiled weakly
"There's a look you get every time we sail, so did you at least make up this time?"
"She didn't come home, didn't want to have to say goodbye again I mean I can't blame her really" he sighed
"Maybe she changed her mind" Swain looked across at the docks
"I doubt it" he shrugged
"Take a look for yourself" he patted Mike's shoulder when he turned to see Kate standing on the dock with a small smile excusing himself from the conversation he saluted walking across the gangway towards her.
"Hi" she smiled sadly
"Hi" he replied instantly pulling her into a warm hug
"I didn't think you were going to say goodbye" he mumbled into her hair
"I wasn't but I…"
"What?" he asked sadly moving back
"I had something I wanted to give you" she reached into her handbag pulling out a photo
"This was your errand?" he smiled taking the black and white photo looking down at it
"My latest scan" she answered softly
"He's getting so big" he smiled brushing his thumb across the photo
"Tell me about it" she laughed placing her hand on her abdomen
"Kate…" he took his eyes off the photo to look at her
"I'm sorry" she moved her hand up and placed it against his chest
"I will leave it's just…"
"Complicated" she shrugged
"You know the real reason as to why I'm here but Cleo she just wouldn't understand" he sighed moving his hand and placing it against her neck
"Staying on because Maxine won't let you off? Not exactly something your sister needs to be involved in" she smiled sadly
"I will get off, your ninth month I'll go to the BRASS if I have to" he brushed his thumb across her jawbone
"I know" she smiled
"I…"
'Special cable party close up state three condition voyage' echoed off the ship
"You have to go" she said sadly
"Are we okay?" he asked nervously
"Never better" she reached up brushing her lips against his moving back slowly his lips followed placing once last kiss against her lips
"I love you, and I love you" he placed a hand against her abdomen
"Come back safe" she grabbed the photo from his hand and placed it in his pocket
"Always" he kissed her forehead before moving back towards the boat turning bac to face her he placed his hand over his pocket where she placed the photo
"I love you" she smiled blowing him a kiss before he turned back around and reluctantly walked across the gangway back onto Hammersley
smiling to himself that Kate was there waiting until Hammersley was out of sight before heading back to the car.