Arriving back on Hammersley the next morning Mike walked through the corridor when Swain stopped him from the Senior Sailor's mess
"Boss, I thought you were meant to be away for a week"
"Change of plans" he moved into the room
"Did Kate come back with you, bout time she came for a visit" he looked past him
"No she couldn't get the time off" he lied
"Has something happened?"
"Why.. why would you think that"
"Because no offence but you look like shit"
"Gee thanks Swain" he scoffed
"Have you slept?"
"My flight got in at midnight"
"You flew back last night?" he looked at him in confusion
"Ah.. look you will probably hear it soon anyway but Kate and I we.. we broke up"
"What?" Dutchy stopped into the doorway
"My question exactly, what?" Swain answered,
"Guys the reason it's not important.."
"But you and Kate.. you're madly in love"
"Apparently not" he shrugged
"Well what happened?"
"It just wasn't meant to be" Mike moved past Dutchy and into the corridor
"Boss…"
"I got to get settled in" he headed towards his cabin,
"I don't understand" Dutchy shook his head when they were alone
"Somethings happened, there is no way those two would throw all they went through out the window" Swain replied pulling out his phone
"What are you doing?"
"Calling Kate"
"Swain I don't think that's a good idea" he moved forward grabbing his phone
"Dutchy give me my phone back" he arose to stand
"We can't get involved this is their problem"
"And so what we just put up with the Boss walking around miserably for someone he clearly misses"
"It's not out problem"
"The least we can do is find out what happened so we know how to help the Boss" he grabbed his phone back
"Swain…" he shook his head when Swain dialled the number putting the phone next to his ear
'Hi you've reached Kate McGregor I can't get to the phone right now so leave you're name and number, I'll get back to you when I can'
"Kate! Swaino here, look the Boss just showed up on board looking like shit do you know what's going on? Just give me a call when you get this message, cheers" he hanged up
"You really just did that?"
"What?" he shrugged when Dutchy rolled his eyes and left the room,
picking up his empty mug from the table Swain paused when his phone pinged through a message;
opening it up he raised an eyebrow when he read over the message
'Please Chris, don't get involved' shaking his head he placed the phone back in his pocket and made his way to the galley for a refill.
Sitting on his rack Mike looked across at the picture of Kate that sat of his desk,
biting his nails he couldn't help but picture her face when the words
'I hate you' left her mouth the tears in her eyes,
the pain in her voice when he'd said the only thing that ever mattered to him was the bloody boat of course he hadn't meant it but with his confusion,
anger and love all mixed into one they both said things they knew they'd be regretting by now.
Pulling his phone out of his pocket he dialled her work number placing it next to his ear
"Commander McGregor's phone, Jim Roth speaking" his voice answered
"Ah.."
"Hello?" he asked,
hanging up the phone Mike threw it across the room in a fit of rage, hitting the photo of Kate and knocking it to the floor the glass smashed.
Sighing softly Mike moved off his rack and knelt down to clean up the glass,
picking up the frame the photo of Kate fell out and landed upside a small folded piece of paper falling out
'What?' his eyes widened when he placed the frame on the desk he picked up the paper and unfolded it to see Kate's handwriting
'Hey Sailor, by now I can only guess that either your clumsy self or one of the junior sailors has knocked your photo off the desk so when I saw you buying that frame months ago I figured I'd slip a little note in there when you weren't looking just in case' taking a deep breath he continued reading
'I know things haven't always been easy for us and this long distance it really is a test but I just wanted you to know every night before bed I look up at the stars in some way it brings me a form of comfort knowing no matter where we are we're still looking up at the same night stars, I miss you Sailor until our next adventure forever yours, Kate Xx'
folding the note back over Mike reached forward and picked up the photo of Kate brushing his thumb slightly across her smiling face he rested back against the wall when a soft knock echoed through his cabin
"Yes?" he cleared his throat
"Sorry…" Swain looked around in confusion until he spotted him on the floor "Sorry to interrupt Sir but I just had a call from Commander White we've been tasked with a mayday"
"Right, ah what's the mayday?" he moved to stand placing Kate's photo next to the broken frame
"A local island is in need of emergency evacuation after the eruption of a volcano"
"No one else is better equipped for the job?"
"Afraid not Sir, Commander White wants us to handle it personally all other assets are on Patrol"
"Inform the crew I'll go get an update from Commander White"
"Yes Sir" he nodded moving back into the hall
"And get ready to sail in thirty" Mike called after him
"On it Boss"
'I'll clean this up first' Mike mumbled to himself looking down at the broken glass.
...
Sitting at her desk just after lunch Kate pushed her plastic fork around in the soggy salad
"I thought you were here, I come baring gifts" he entered the room holding up a bag
"What would that be?" she pushed her container forward
"A chicken, lettuce and mayo roll freshly made exactly…" he looked at his watch "Five minutes ago"
"You are a lifesaver!" she smiled widely when he dug around in the bag
"Figured you wouldn't exactly be feeding yourself properly so I had to make sure you ate something" he placed it down in front of her
"And why would you think that?"
"Well… I heard about you and Mike.."
"Of course you did" she sighed unwrapping the roll
"Kate we live on base in an apartment complex the whole entire base heard your 'argument' last night" he sat across from her
"It was nothing" she shook her head taking a bite of the roll
"If it was nothing how come you look like a zombie today, have you even slept?"
"No…"
"Kate…"
"I just keep praying he would call; didn't want to take the chance I'd fall asleep and he would" she shrugged
"Someone called this morning" he scrunched up the bag
"What?"
"Just before our meeting this morning"
"Was it Mike?" she placed the roll down
"Well they didn't exactly say much before the line went dead but I suppose it could have been him"
"And why exactly were you answering my calls?" she raised an eyebrow
"You were running late" he held up his hands innocently
"Jim… The argument.. Mike and I had it was about you"
"Oh…"
"Yeah" she looked at him sadly
"So he knows about the charity event…"
"Yep"
"And the.."
"He overheard us discussing the kiss, we had a fight about it last night he took off flew back to Cairns"
"I'm sorry…"
"It is what it is and now he won't even return any of my calls" she motioned to the phone
"Maybe he's at sea? Or just taking the time to cool down" he shrugged when her office phone started ringing,
reaching forward at the same time as Jim "I got it" she quickly picked it up
"Sorry" he held his hands up
"Commander McGregor could you hold one moment?" she answered into the phone before holding it against her chest "Are we done here?" she looked across at Jim
"Yes, just wanted to make sure you ate, I'll leave you to it" he arose and moved towards the door
"Sorry about that, who's speaking?" she placed it back to her ear
"My name is Sophie Collins I'm calling from Barry General hospital, we have a Mike Flynn here who has you listed as his emergency contact?"
"Ah yes, has something happened?" she asked nervously
"I'm afraid there's been an accident and Mr Flynn has received some severe injury's"
"What…"
"I can't give any information out over the phone but as your his emergency contact we are obliged to call you; is there any way you could come down to the hospital and meet with the Doctor?"
"I'm actually in South Australia for work, um.."
"Right okay…"
"When he was brought in, was there any sailors with him?"
"No he was airlifted off of a boat called Hammersley and my understanding is he went straight into surgery"
"Surgery?" her voice broke
"Yes Ma'am"
"These injury's… can you tell me what they are?"
"Like I said before I'm unable to discuss it over the phone"
"Even with his girlfriend?"
"According to our file you're only listed as a work friend I'm sorry Miss McGregor, but I can't tell you any information"
"I understand, thank you.. thank you for calling"
"I'd suggest you book a flight, Mr Flynn will need all the support he can get during this time"
"Yes, thank you if you'll excuse me I'm receiving another call" Kate struggled when her personal phone started ringing with Swain's number flashing on the screen
"Of course Miss McGregor" she replied,
reaching across Kate picked up her personal phone while placing her work one back down the tears falling down her cheek when she heard Swain's saddened voice.