A/N: Hello everyone! It has been a very long time. I hadn't been able to write anything for maybe the last 5 years due to personal mental health struggle. I had to quit my job and basically rebuilt my health from the ground up. This year I felt nostalgic and watched my favourite moments from Sea Patrol again. This story is simply my attempt to rewrite the final season (i.e. Season 5) from the end of 5.02 onwards with my favourite pairing of Dutchy and Kate. There are some episodes that I will keep intact and just write post episode scenes. But there are some episodes that I will majorly change, such as 5.03, 5.06, 5.09 and the series finale. So I will suggest that everyone refresh their memories (i.e. re-watch) of Season 5 to help make sense of this story. I hope this story will provide you with a little bit of escapism in the unprecedented world that we are living in at the moment. Stay safe, stay healthy and keep looking out for each other.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. I don't make any revenue / profit from this endeavour. I simply borrow these characters for my enjoyment.
.
.
.
Flamingo Tiki Bar was a nice little bar below street level at the Esplanade. Very colourful and welcoming, it was Polynesian in decor and the menu was a little bit more high-end cocktail than your typical Aussie pub. It was not a usual hang out place for the Navy boys and girls around here and that's probably why the honeymooner chose this place.
"Here you go boys..."
Dylan looked up and stopped his musing to smile at one half of the couple he was currently catching up with. Liz Harris is a 5"5 emergency doctor with a warm smile and intelligent eyes. She and her new husband, Petty Officer Joshua Harris, Coxswain for HMAS Parramatta, were currently staying for a few days in the city for the first leg of their honeymoon. Dylan and Josh used to serve together at HMAS Newcastle and this was the first time they had a chance to meet after Dylan was posted to Hammersley.
"Thanks Liz." Dylan raised his glass of 'Espresso Martiki' to toast the couple and said, "To Love!", to which Josh and Liz raised their glassed as well and responded with the same acclamation before sipping their respective cocktails.
"So, how did you two meet?" Dylan asked.
"Well," Josh smiled and looked at Liz adoringly, "I fell off my bike, broke my leg and was taken to the ED and she happened to be the doctor on duty that day."
Dylan grinned, "only you could flirt with your doctor while lying on a hospital bed..."
"Hey... Try having an angel hovered above you while you were in pain and she promised to take care of you. How could I not?" Josh countered with a cheeky smile.
Liz just shook her head in amusement at her husband's antic and asked Dylan instead, "so, tell me how do you two know each other?"
"Josh and I go way back from training at Cerberus. That was what, 15 years ago?"
Josh nodded, "yeah and then we were posted together a few times, the last one was at Newcastle before he moved for patrol boat posting. How is that going by the way?"
"Oh, you know, just normal, a lot of illegal fishermen..."
"Jesus, that must be so boring..." Josh shook his head at Dylan, wondering why he accepted the posting so soon after what happened in the gulf. He suspected that Dylan was shaken by what happened and just wanted to get away as far as possible from the frigate but it was really hard for Josh to imagine Dylan in a small boat.
Dylan snorted, "I don't think you would say that if you experienced my last patrol..." he then continued, "one of my Junior Sailor was kidnapped, then some psycho brothers targeted my XO for revenge and almost killed her..."
"What?" Josh looked on in disbelief, "are you serious?"
"Yep." Dylan took another sip of his cocktail before continuing, "I don't think I've ever been in a ship this interesting..."
"Sounds dangerous." Liz frowned, "I don't remember Josh ever told me anything like that from his sea posting."
"And I had to deactivate a suicide bomber vest inside our fuel tank last week..." Dylan recounted in a low voice not wanting to alarm people around them. "So yeah, nothing is ever boring around here..."
"Bloody hell..." Josh and Liz starred at Dylan with concern in their eyes, "are you sure you don't want to go back to frigate mate? That sounds too full on, even for action man like you..."
Dylan sometimes wondered about that too. Professionally, he knew that he could now apply for promotion to Chief Petty Officer after holding more than 5 years senior experience as Petty Officer. He could then either apply back to Major Fleet Units for sea posting or he could choose shore posting at bases around Australia, including in Cairns.
But something was holding him back. Or someone...
He sighed internally. What am I doing?
Ever since he saw that kiss at Gorsky's boat a few months ago, he knew that there was no chance for something more. And yet, here he was, still protecting her, still worshipping the ground she walked on and still helping her professionally and personally.
Am I a fool?
The truth was that he didn't think he had ever experienced a woman throwing his life upside down like this. Physically, she was different from the women in his past. But there was just something special about her. Maybe it was her stubbornness. Maybe it was her determination and smart brain. Or maybe it was simply her big heart.
"Mate?"
Dylan focused his gaze back to Josh's inquisitive eyes.
"Where did you go just now?"
"Nowhere. Just thinking..."
"About?" Josh pressed on.
"Life I guess..." Dylan shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant.
"Right..." Josh and Liz looked at each other, not sure whether to pursue the line of questioning any further.
"Why don't you guys talk shop for a few minutes while I head over to the ladies' room?" Liz finally said after a few beats of silence, realising that Dylan might open up to Josh a bit more if she, a stranger that Dylan had only met half an hour ago, gave them some space.
"Thanks Babe..." Josh gave her a quick kiss, grateful for her instinct.
Josh then dragged his chair closer to Dylan and started to speak in low voice. "Mate, are you OK?"
Silence greeted his question.
"You've got a good one there Josh..." Dylan finally replied while indicating with a tilt of his head to Liz's retreating figure as she made her way to the other corner of the bar.
"Oh yes I know. I am a very lucky man..." Josh paused, "but enough about me, we are talking about you now."
Dylan starred at his cocktail glass, contemplating whether he should divulge any of his internal thoughts to his old friend. "I don't know what I'm doing Josh..." He finally started.
"About?" Josh was frankly confused by Dylan's statement. For as long as Josh knew Dylan, the other man had always been someone who had a plan. Behind the easy going exterior was a man with deep self-awareness, who knew what he wanted out of his career and life. To hear doubt coming out of him in waves was a bit unsettling. "Are they professional or personal matters?"
"Both..." Dylan replied. He couldn't help but smiled bitterly as Josh's question reminded him of his own question to Kate that night before Gorsky's incident and his subsequent heartbreak.
"Right..." Josh looked at Dylan thoughtfully, "is this about a woman who serves in the Navy?"
"How the hell..." Dylan stopped before he incriminated himself even further.
Josh smiled slightly, "I'm a Naval Police remember? Connecting the dots is my specialty."
Dylan swallowed the last of his cocktail before turning his body to face Josh fully. "I need to get over her... quickly... Any suggestion?"
"Who is she?" Now Josh was really intrigued.
Dylan shook his head, "Can't tell you that mate..."
"Someone you serve with then..."
Damn... Dylan stayed silent.
"Did you talk to her about this? Maybe she felt the same and you both can discuss your next move together?" Josh continued carefully, "Fraternisation rule is not the end of the world you know. As long as you both can stay professional on the ship, I don't see a problem with seeing where this goes first before taking any drastic move like transferring off the ship."
Dylan almost laughed out loud at Josh's suggestion that he talked to Kate about this. "I think I might have burned that bridge already Josh. Everything is just too complicated now..."
Hearing Dylan's resigned tone, Josh then said seriously, "Well, then you need to put some distance from her and transfer off somewhere else. I reckon the greater the distance, the greater the chances of forgetting her."
Dylan knew Josh was right. The other man had just confirmed his own theory of what he should do in his present situation. And yet...
Suddenly, there was a bit of loud commotion at the bar and both men looked up to find a curious scene of a man cursing in pain as his wrist was held in a backward angle by a woman sitting on a stool at the bar.
"Bloody hell..." Dylan breathed in disbelief as he realised that the woman in the scene was actually his XO. He literally just talked in riddle to his friend about her for the last few minutes and here she was. In the flesh. It was as if the powers that be was currently having a laugh at his expense.
"Let me go bitch!" Dylan heard the stranger said to Kate, making his blood boiled. He was about to get up from his seat when he saw Kate had put more pressure to the stranger's wrist, forcing the man to fall to his knees in agony.
"I said I'm not interested..." Kate hissed at the pathetic man before letting go of his wrist. "Leave! Or next time I'll break your wrist."
Having heard the commotion, the bouncer arrived from the entrance to investigate further. After questioning all parties including a few witnesses on the tables nearest to the bar, the bouncer then escorted the man out of the venue. This left the patrons with no choice but to resume their previous activities before the whole commotion.
"That was such a badass reaction on her part..." Liz commented after coming back from the Ladies room just in time to witness Kate's excellent self-defence move. "Maybe you should teach me that Josh..." Liz nudged her husband as she sat back down on her chair.
"I think I would prefer if you were staying away from trouble altogether babe..." Josh said while his left arm circling her shoulder to bring her closer. "Besides, you have me now..."
"But what if you were at sea and I had to go home from my shift at 2am from the hospital?" Liz raised her eyebrows at Josh's typical protective stance, "bad things happen all the time and you can't be with me 24/7."
Josh sighed, "If you have to use that Lady's move, it means you are too close to the attacker Liz. I much prefer that you are paying attention to your surrounding and on the first sign of trouble, you run away or seek for help immediately." He then continued seriously, "if the attacker managed to get closer to you despite your effort, you can then use pepper spray or arm yourself with an object in your possession like handbag or umbrella. You can also use a noise making object like a whistle or your phone to attract attention of people nearby that can assist. Confronting your attacker in a close contact environment has to be your last resort, not your first."
Liz smiled at her husband's explanation and kissed his lips softly, "I love you..."
"I love you too..." Josh gave her another kiss and encouraged her to snuggle closer him, grateful that she seemed to understand his concern for her request.
It was only then that Josh realised Dylan was being awfully quiet. He looked up to find the other man starring at the direction of the bar with a wistful look on his face. Josh then followed Dylan's gaze to find the object of his stare turning out to be the badass woman from before.
"You know mate, you could always try your luck and approach her too." Josh suggested to Dylan, "Maybe she won't break your wrist unlike the other guy. Certainly beats starring at her from here."
"I think based on her reaction to that guy's approach, she wants to be left alone..." Dylan commented quietly, refusing to take Josh's bait.
"It's her, isn't it? The woman you wanted to forget?" Josh finally asked directly, realising that his subtle approach wouldn't work.
Dylan sighed. He should have known that Josh was a persistent man.
"Her name is Lieutenant Kate McGregor. She is my XO."
Josh's eyes widened in surprised. He now understood why Dylan was so evasive before. To have an attraction for a crewmate was one thing. But to be attracted to your divisional officer and direct superior was another realm of complication.
"What's an XO?" Liz asked, still confused with some of the Navy jargons even after a few years of being part of the Navy community.
"Executive Officer." Josh answered his wife. "Basically, the 2nd most powerful person in a warship."
"Wow..." Liz stole another look at the petite woman who was the subject of their conversation. "She's definitely a certified badass in real life then..."
"Oh yeah..." Dylan couldn't help but smile at Liz's statement. "She saved my life a few times..."
"So... you like her?" Liz probed further. "I mean 'like' like her..." gesturing with an air quote.
Dylan shook his head in amusement at her gesture. "Yes." Admitting it out loud felt cathartic for some reason.
"And what about her? Does she 'like' like you back?" Liz again used air quote to emphasise her point.
"No."
"Oh."
"Yeah..." Dylan grimaced slightly while a slideshow of the few glimpses to Kate and the boss' personal interactions that he witnessed came up inside his head.
Liz squeezed Dylan's forearm briefly in sympathy before looking back to the direction of the woman at the bar.
"Mate, I think you know what to do." Josh said quietly.
Dylan nodded. Transfer it is...
"I think she needs a friend more than anything..." Liz commented after a few minutes observing the other woman.
"Liz, I think we better stay out of this..." Josh cautioned his wife.
This time, Liz ignored her husband, "look, she's here by herself, reacted violently to a stranger that tried to chat her up, swallowing shots of hard liquor like tap water and... she seems really sad..." Liz paused before leaning closer to Dylan conspiratorially, "maybe she just got some bad news or broke up with her significant other... you never know, she might need a friendly ear. This is where you could come in and be that friend..."
"Babe, that Lady is Dylan's boss..."
"So?" Liz looked at Josh pointedly, "sometimes you can't help who you fall in love with..."
"Yes, you can." Both men replied in unison.
Liz rolled her eyes at the two of them, "really boys? My mum used to say that I needed to find a husband who was rich so that I didn't have to work so hard. If I followed that advice instead of my own heart, I wouldn't be married to a Navy Officer who was away at sea for months at a time. I would've tried to find a CEO of multinational firm instead. But love does not work that way. It finds you at the most inappropriate time and place, it knocks you off your feet and it forces you to take risk for your happiness. The notion that you can control every aspect of who, how, where and when you fall in love is just so patronising."
Silence from both men greeted her rant at first. But a few seconds later, her husband pulled her body to him and kissed her lips soundly.
Dylan smirked at the scene in front of him but quickly diverted his eyes as the kiss got heated. He then looked back at Kate's direction as he contemplated what Liz had observed. Their last patrol had been stressful and challenging and Kate had been shaken up by the whole ordeal with the McGinley siblings, but he thought that she had gained her balance once more at the end. When he had passed her cabin to say goodbye to her, she had smiled at him and asked whether he had any plan for the shore leave. In reply, he had mentioned this little get together with the honeymooner and Kate had wished him a fun time. She had been typing her report at that time and while she had looked tired, her eyes had been clear and her posture had seemed relax enough. So, maybe Liz was right, something had happened in the last few hours to cause the visible change in Kate's posture and demeanour.
"Mate, I think we might go back to the hotel now." Josh said this without shifting his eyes away from his wife.
Liz lightly slapped her husband's chest as a warning to behave himself while looking at Dylan apologetically. "Yeah, I think the cocktail might have been getting to me a little bit."
Dylan could only smile at the couple's visible happiness before standing up from his chair when Josh and Liz had done the same. He then kissed Liz's cheek and gave Josh a manly hug and a pat on his back. Once again he congratulated them on their recent marriage and with a promise to catch-up when he next visited Sydney, he bid farewell to the happy couple.
.
.
.
Kate starred at the amber liquid in front of her and wondered how her life had been turned upside down once more. In the last few months, she had dared to live her life with a higher sense of optimism. She had made plans for a holiday; she had hung out with the boys at work more often and she had simply smiled more. Even with the tough challenges in the last patrol, she still had been reasonably hopeful that everything would have turned out well at the end. All she had had to do was to trust her instinct and her crews. And she had been right; Bird had been saved, the brothers had been in custody and she had been able to reconcile Isabella McGinley's untimely death with her own conscience. But it all had gone pear-shaped again after that conversation with Mike.
"That was a nice move before with the wrist..."
Kate looked up to find familiar warm blue eyes smiling at her.
"Can I sit here X?" Dylan said while gesturing to the stool next to her.
For a few seconds, Kate could only stare at the giant of a man towering beside her. Here he was once again, a steady presence on her side. Just like every boarding they had ever done together for the last year. Just like moments during watch where he would have sat behind her manning the EOD or stood next to her plotting course together.
"Hey, are you OK?"
She diverted her eyes away from his worried gaze and shook her head at his question.
"Do you want me to leave you alone?"
She shook her head again before patting the stool to her left, silently inviting him to sit down and accompany her.
For a while no one spoke. Dylan was nursing his one beer slowly while he was watching Kate swallowing the rows of liquor shots. He started to get concerned as she not a heavy weight in terms of drinking and most of the time she restrained herself to two servings of alcohol.
"I thought you'd be eager to go home to plan your Tahiti trip some more... not drinking alone..."
Kate went really still when she heard Dylan's comment. Her hands stopped playing with the empty shot glasses and her eyes slowly raised up to meet Dylan's. "There won't be a Tahiti..."
"What?" Dylan's face scrunched up in confusion. What the hell is going on?
"And I won't be Hammersley's new CO..."
"You're kidding..."
Kate smiled bitterly, "the only person that is kidding herself is me."
"I'm sorry X. We all thought it's a matter of ceremony really..." Dylan couldn't help but felt angry on her behalf. Personal feelings aside, he knew that she was one of the best Officer that he had ever served with. He had no doubt that she would excel as a CO. He was also sure that the sentiment was shared among all the Hammersley crews from senior to junior level. Frankly, they were all excited that Commander Flynn's replacement wouldn't be a stranger, but someone that they liked and respected.
"Did they give you a reason?"
Kate shook her head softly, "No. no reason. Just the fact that I'm not on the promotion list."
"I think the brass is making a mistake..." Dylan stated his opinion of the whole situation. "I also think that you are definitely more than capable to command your own ship."
Kate teared up a little bit hearing his vote of confidence. She had come to value his input greatly in the last year due to their shared experience in frigates. Although it was a few years apart, it certainly made him a person who uniquely understood her sometimes formal style of command and her desire to increase the combat preparedness of her junior sailors.
"You are so biased..." she gently bumped her shoulder to his as a gesture of appreciation for his attempt to cheer her up.
He smiled at her effort to appear nonchalant, but he could see that his words moved her a little bit. "So, do you know yet who is going to get the CO gig instead?"
Kate's mood instantly went sour again. "Commander Flynn is staying for another 12 months apparently."
Dylan was stunned. No wonder she went straight to the bar looking for hard liquor instead of going home. The implication of what she was saying made his head spun.
"He said that he had no choice but to accept." Kate continued. She could feel that deep sadness was slowly but surely replacing the anger and disbelief that she had felt in the last hour.
"That's bullshit..." Dylan countered, "there is always another choice."
Kate looked up to find that Dylan's posture has changed, his jaw now tightened and he stared right ahead at the bar instead of meeting her eyes. She knew that he was probably the only person on the ship that had an idea on how this situation had just gone from bad to worse for her. She was surprised by his biting comment but at the same time, she also recognised that he only knew one side of the story. Hers. And from the way it was presented to him, it seemed that Mike was the bad guy that hadn't wanted to commit to her.
"This is not his fault Dutchy... I could have chosen to transfer out too..." their eyes met again as he looked back at her.
"Why don't you?" He finally asked.
"I don't know..." she whispered.
A tear finally made its way down her cheek and she averted her gaze to avoid seeing what surely be pity in his eyes.
Dylan racked his brain trying to find suitable words to comfort her but he couldn't. Not for a situation like this. So, he did the next best thing, he put the palm of his hand on her back and just resting it there.
.
.
.
Another hour passed when Kate finally stopped ordering more drinks. She gave up on her quest to numb her pain as she felt much worse now than when she had started. Although Dylan had managed to encourage her to eat some snacks in between drinks, she still felt the effect of her binge. The increased decibel of her surrounding also didn't help her condition.
"Hey, I think we better get out of here," Dylan suggested after the umpteenth times someone bumped into them or tried to flirt with him, "it's getting really rowdy here..."
"I don't want to go home..." Kate replied.
"Why not?"
"There is ghost there..." Kate whispered to his ear and then giggled softly.
Although there was a part of him that was amused at her antics, his protectiveness and concern override it and made him raised his hand to gesture to the bartender to close her tab and asked for the bill.
After taking care of the bill, he then picked up her seabag from beneath her stool and encouraged her to stand up. She swayed little but she managed to steady herself by holding on to his bicep with both hands.
"Wow... wonder if your abs are as rock hard as this..." Kate stared at the fine specimen of muscles underneath her palms intently.
Dylan smirked at her comment but wisely chose not to say anything. He just rested his palm on her lower back and pushed her gently forward towards the exit.
Once outside, fresh air greeted them and Dylan inhaled gratefully. He observed that while her gait was slow and she leaned to him quite a bit while walking, she had not looked as bad as he thought she would. He was worried that he might have to carry her unconscious form home at some point during the night. Thankfully they seemed to have stopped drinking at the right time.
"Come on X, l'll give you a lift home."
"No."
Her rebuttal made him searched her eyes once more, wondering why she was still insisted at being out and about. "X, we had a crazy patrol and you just heard unpleasant news a few hours ago, I think you deserve some rest at your own bed."
"You don't understand..." She looked at him exasperatedly.
"Make me understand then..." He stepped closer towards her and caught the wayward strands of hair near her cheek before tucking it behind her ear.
Her eyes widened at his gesture, feeling the slightly rough texture of his fingertips against her skin and how strangely intimate it was.
"Reminder of him is everywhere there," she finally admitted. "And I don't want to see that Tahiti brochure anymore..."
Dylan winced internally as her words brought unwanted images of Kate and the boss to the forefront of his mind. He closed his eyes briefly to stamp down his jealousy and to remind himself that she needed him to be a friend right now.
"You are sleeping at my place tonight then..." he said resolutely. "And tomorrow, we can go to your place and burn that brochure if you wish."
She was surprisingly touched by his offer. She could feel tears started to form at the back of her eyes once more. "I've always wanted to try your bike..." she managed to say softly before her throat started to close up.
He could see that she was struggling to hold her composure, so he simply pulled her gently to his side and guided her to where his bike was parked down the esplanade. Once he reached his bike, he opened the compartment underneath the passenger seat to grab the spare helmet and store her seabag there. He then helped her to her seat, tightened the strap of her helmet before climbing at front and starting the bike.
"X, hold on to me tight, OK?"
She couldn't respond with words as tears were now rolling down her cheek in steady stream. So, she simply closed her arms around his waist and held on tight.
To be continued….