Sitting in the mess Kate was looking over the operation plans. There had been a freak storm that hit the Gulf of Carpentaria over the last few days and they were going to deliver supplies and help with the initial clean-up of the area.
Dropping her pen down on to the folder, she sighed rubbing the back of her neck she could feel her lack of sleep slowly catching up with her. She also was annoyed; they were not the only ship in port and Kingston had been on patrol in the area at the time so she was situated in a much better position to render help as it would be 24 hours before they even arrived.
Hearing a knock on the door she looked up. "yeah" she called softly pulling her glasses off dropping them down on to the table "hey" she said as Nav walked in.
"I thought you could do with one of these" Nav smiled placing one of the mugs she was carrying on to the desk in front of her friend. "one super strength navigator brew. And this" she said pulling a bar of dairy milk mint crisp from her pocket
"god I could do with this" she grinned smelling the coffee
"so how come you..." Nav began
"fell asleep when we have barely even left port" Kate grinned knowing how Nav's mind worked
"well I was going to say how come you look like shit. But that works too" Nav grinned back
"gee thanks for that thought you were supposed to be my friend and right-hand girl!" Kate laughed "do I really look that bad?" she asked
"not really I was just teasing" she smiled softly "seriously though are you alright?" she asked
"yeah I will be" Kate forced a smile sipping her drink "Chris isn't well so I was up half the night with him"
"poor lambkin is he alright?"
"yeah he just had a temperature yesterday and was looking very sorry for himself. Mike is hopefully taking him to the doctors this afternoon"
"well I hope its okay" nav smiled softly
"and me. I hate leaving them when they are poorly. They just crave mummy hugs and …" she paused "its just so annoying that we have been sent out when Kingston was just outside of Darwin and could have been deployed, she was in a much better position than us..." she felt an angry tear fall down her cheek
"oh Kate!" Nav reached out before she remembered the rules of no touching keeping a safe difference when she just wanted to hug her friend. "oh, sod it!" she called wrapping her arm around her friend. "Danger hug!" she said with a slight laugh. It was stupid that they
"thanks Nik" Kate let out a small laugh hugging her friend back
Her phone buzzed in her pocket alerting her to a message that had just come through. Checking it she could see it was from Mike. "i best get this" she smiled opening her laptop logging in to Skype.
"of course. I have the bridge in hand." Nav smiled as she walked out
Loading up a video chat she called Mike. Waiting for him to answer was the worst.
"how is he" she asked as soon as mike answered
"and hello to you too" he grinned
"sorry" Kate said softly "its just..." she paused
"you wanted to know how Chirs is in because he is your baby" Mike guessed correctly
"yeah. So what did the doctor say?" she asked again
"Bacterial tonsilitis. 10 days of antibiotics and some extra liquid paracetamol." Mike smiled
"and have you got the script yet?" she asked
"yeah went straight from the doctors, why?" Mike asked
"did you make sure it was the white Paracetamol and not the pink?" Kate asked
"no, I just handed it over and then collected it when it was ready"
"Mike you know he won't take the pink stuff. He hates it as it is bitter cherry flavour. You need to ask" Kate sighed
Pulling the bottle of paracetamol from the paper bag checking it. "looks like we are in luck. It is the white stuff" he smiled
"good" Kate smiled "and how is he in general"
"seems a little better. He had some ice cream earlier which he seemed to like. He is just watching the wiggles at the moment." Mike said moving the camera slightly so she could see. "you going to say hello to mummy on the ship"
Moving the computer so Chris was right in shot Kate smiled as he looked up "hey Mr Monkey" she smiled feeling the tears build in her eyes "are you feeling better"
He nodded slowly. It was easy to see he still wasn't himself, for a start he was actually staying on camera
"well you be a good boy for daddy and mummy will be home as soon as she can " she forced a smile as Mike moved the camera
"he will be fine Kate" Mike smiled
"I know I just can't help worrying being stuck out here."
"i know. You will be home soon. I checked the news and it actually doesn't seem that bad. A couple of days to drop off supplies and return" mike smiled
"yeah unless smith changes his mind" she furrowed her brow. "i thought you were going to have words"
"i did but there is only so much I can do. If I go too hard on him over this then he can hit back with I am favouring my wife"
"this is crap" she sighed
"CO request you come to the bridge" Nav's voice echoed across the pipes
"i best go" she sighed "love you" she smiled
"ditto. I will message you later let you know how Chris is" he smiled
"thanks." she said clicking on the end call button.
Closing the lid on his laptop Mike turned to Chris. "right monkey bum time for your medicine" he said shaking the bottle of anti-biotics reading the dosage "5ml every 4 hours" he said to himself. "okay then monkey here we go" he said pouring it on to the little spoon that came with the medication.
Reluctantly Chris took the spoon swallowing the medication without much of a fuss.
"good boy" Mike smiled "now you have a sleep with Baa-Baa" Mike smiled.
That evening Kate lay in her rack looking at the pictures Mike had just sent her. One was of Grace stood next to Chris in her nurses' costume. It was more standing over him with bandages and a stethoscope. It was more terrifying than healing but it was also cute in a very funny way.
They were due to dock in Karumba in the early hours. She just hoped that it would be a short time. At least this time they would be minus the cow rustlers on the high seas. Knowing the lie of the land would also be a help to them. However, she knew this being the Navy things never worked out how you hoped or planned and she had a feeling that this was going to be one of those times
so hope you enjoy. tonsillitis is something that plagued my own childhood and really was not nice for me. also the paracetamol colour was something me and my sister used to do as we detested the pink stuff as it was really vile and was a bitter cherry flavour but the white one if the pharmacist had it was a nicer taste so we always asked for that one. i also used to really like my antibiotics i was given.
anyway hope you like and let me know what you think
