A/N: This chapter and the next will be my rewrite of episode 5.03 Crimes of Passion. I hope you guys will enjoy it.
Disclaimer: The usual...
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Kate loved this time of the night on a patrol boat when the activity had died down and there was finally peace from the usual flurries of activity. This patrol had been a relatively quiet one with only a few suspected FFVs to intercept. So, this had given her a chance to catch up on all her paperwork and for the crews to do some overdue cleaning which tended to be casted aside during much busier patrol.
She was waiting for the kettle to boil when the door to the galley swung open and revealed the sight of her CO.
Both froze at the sight of each other in this confined space before Kate schooled her feature and pasted a smile on her face. "Tea, Sir?"
"No, I need something stronger actually." Mike replied with a pained smile.
"Oh, at this time of the night?" She frowned at his choice.
"Can't sleep. I might as well do some work."
She nodded and resumed her watch of the kettle.
"Kate, we need to talk."
At his tone, she looked at him and for the first time in this patrol, she noticed that he looked weary and defeated.
"What about Sir?" She still tried to postpone her overdue conversation with him.
"Kate, you need to stop avoiding me." Frustrated, he took a few steps forward in her direction which effectively trapped her in the corner.
"I have been busy." She replied defiantly.
"With what?" He challenged further, "you either confined yourself in your cabin, ships office or in a senior sailor mess with Dutchy or Charge. On the bridge, you were barely talking, just Yes and No Sir... Even a blind person can deduce that you are avoiding me..."
"Because this is hardly a place where we could have this kind of conversation!" She whispered harshly. "Can't this wait until we are on leave?"
"No, because the last time we were on leave after I told you about the promotions list, you were not even home." He paused then continued, "I drove both nights passed your house and there was no sign of life."
"Maybe instead of stalking my house, you should have called instead."
"Would you have picked up if I did?"
"I did pick it up on Tuesday morning, didn't I?"
"Yes, but you must have known it was about work since Robert would have sent a text alert as well." He replied, not backing down.
The 'click' sound that indicated the kettle finally finished brewing broke the stalemate they were currently in.
Kate then turned to the direction of the kettle to lift it up and filled her favourite mug with the boiled water.
"I went to the fleet command on Tuesday morning."
Kate looked at him in shock. "What?"
"I said to them that I am reconsidering my acceptance of their offer of 12 additional months in Hammersley and I am asking to resume my shore posting asap instead." He then continued, "I might also mention that I think the board should have reconsidered their decision about your promotion."
"Why on earth did you do that?" She couldn't believe what he had done.
Now it was Mike who looked at her in shock. "What do you mean 'Why'? It was for us!"
"If it was for us then you would have discussed this with me first!" Kate was struggling to keep her voice down.
"I tried doing that for 2 days remember?" He countered. "I figured time was on the essence, so I did what I had to do."
"Mike, you can't keep making unilateral decision about us!" She felt like stomping her feet in frustration.
"I'm fighting for our future Kate!" He sighed as he realised his voice was not exactly quiet and continued in a much lower decibel, "Look, I'm trying my best here. Could you meet me halfway please?"
Kate stared at his pleading eyes and felt nothing but frustration at his attempt to fix everything. Didn't he realise that going to the fleet command would only draw unwanted attention to them? Questions would be asked; careers would be scrutinised and speculation could be riffed about their relationship. Did he even stop to think about that before going in guns blazing?
"I can't do this now." Kate tried to side-step him to distance herself from his proximity and to reach the door, but he moved with her to keep her within his reach.
"Kate, don't do this." He pleaded with her softly.
"Do what?" She whispered back just as softly.
"Run away."
"I'm not." She denied. "I just need to go back to my cabin and sleep because I have morning watch tomorrow."
He sighed. He knew from experience that she didn't like being cornered and that was exactly what he had done. So, he relented and moved to the side to let her pass.
Kate exhaled in relief at his gesture. She then rushed to the door and was about to push it through when the door swung open to her direction.
She managed to move back a couple of inches before the door hit her square on her face but her right hand which held the mug was not so lucky and the door knocked the mug out of her hand and to the floor along with the hot content.
The sound of the mug hit the floor and broke to pieces reverberated throughout the empty corridor and the curses that flew out of her mouth at the carnage would make her fellow sailors proud.
"Jesus... X, are you alright?"
Kate looked up to find Dylan's blue eyes staring at her in concern. Oh my God, this is so unfair...
"Are you hurt?" Dylan moved closer to her a step, careful to avoid the spillage and the broken ceramic, and touched both of her elbows to encourage her extending her arms for his inspection.
A little bit embarrassed at her clumsiness, she pulled her hands away from his scrutiny and proceeded to crouch to try and clean up the mess. But his hands quickly shot out and pulled her up back to a standing position.
"No!" Dylan looked at her incredulously, "you are not cleaning that up with your bare hands. You are only wearing slippers for goodness sake. That's safety hazards."
At his rebuke, she grimaced and realised her mistake. "I'm sorry."
Dylan shook his head at her apology, "No, I was the one who pushed the door too quickly. I'm the one who should apologise." He continued, "look, I'll clean this up. Why don't you just make another cup of tea and get some sleep. I know you have morning watch tomorrow."
Kate couldn't help the smile that bloomed on her face at his typical consideration. But as she remembered the reason why she was rushing out of the door in the first place, she realised they had a spectator and her face paled.
Noticing the change, Dylan looked at her in alarm, "what's wrong? You looked like you just saw a ghost." He then scanned her again from head to toe for any injuries that might have been visible. He thought that maybe the splash of the hot liquid had got to her exposed feet.
She didn't respond verbally to his question, but she tilted her head halfway towards the inside of the galley before looking at his eyes with what could only be described as an apologetic look.
Still a little bit confused, he then looked ahead beyond the door and the stony face of his CO greeted him.
"Sir." Startled but not afraid, Dylan acknowledged the other man with a brief nod. Realising that he still held Kate's elbow, he squeezed it lightly before letting go.
Kate mouthed an apology to Dylan and patted his chest a couple of times before side-stepping the mess and escaping to her cabin as fast as she could.
Dylan sighed internally. He had noticed the awkward way the CO had tried to get Kate's attention during this patrol, presumably to get her to talk to him, but Kate had been trying really hard to never be alone with the CO. Obviously, they finally had a run-in tonight. And he had walked right into the mess, literally and figuratively.
He figured that he needed to clean the floor before somebody else decided to pay a visit to the galley. So, he opened the cleaning cupboard and grabbed the required supplies and the 'wet floor' sign. He then disposed the broken mug to the bin and mopped the spill carefully.
Finally finishing the task, he stepped to the sink and washed his hands before opening the upper cupboard to grab a thermos for his brew. But a hand shot out to stop him.
"I've made you one Dutchy."
"Thank you, Sir." Accepting the prepared thermos, he took a sip gratefully. "I better get back to my watch, Sir." He nodded once again to his CO and proceeded to make his way out of the galley and to the bridge.
"How has she been after our last patrol?"
The question halted Dylan's step. He was not sure how to respond to it.
Mike stared at Dylan's back, waiting for the other man to turn and face him once more. He was not blind to the other man's close friendship with Kate. For the last few months, he had tolerated it and had come to view him as an ally on the ship especially in relation to Kate's safety. But the scene that he had witnessed just now had put a seed of suspicion into his head. Kate had seemed so comfortable with the bosun. The way they had talked with one another and the way they had used small touches to communicate had been a little bit too intimate for his liking.
He also deduced that there were only a few places that she could have stayed over when she had not been home during that 2 days in between patrol. Either she had stayed at a hotel in town, her own cabin in the ship or at a friend's place. Since she didn't exactly have close friends outside the ship, then the most likely candidates from the ship would be the three senior sailors. But after seeing the way the bosun and Kate had looked out for each other over an incident as simple as a broken mug and tea spillage, he was now quite sure that the bosun would have been her most likely support system.
"I'm not sure who you are talking about, Sir." The other man finally replied.
Mike huffed in annoyance, "I think you definitely know."
Silence descended on them once more and both men simply stared at each other.
Dylan pondered whether he should keep denying that he knew anything at all. But he finally decided otherwise. "She was angry, disappointed and sad."
He watched as his CO's face fell at his words.
"I wish that she could've told me that instead of you."
Hearing that, Dylan couldn't help but feel sympathy for the other man. Kate could be stubborn sometimes and her refusal to deal with this had caused tension. On the other hand, he also knew that when Kate was in her avoidance mode, it was better to wait rather than forcing her to talk.
"She's strong Sir. She will bounce back." He stated. "I think you just need to be patient."
His CO was quiet, but he then sighed in agreement before acknowledging Dylan one more time with a nod and left the galley with coffee in his hand.
Dylan released the breath that he didn't realise he was holding before. He needed to be more careful with his interaction with Kate, especially now with the boss noticing. The last thing Kate needed was a rumour going around the ship about her personal life. And with that thought in mind, he made his way back to the bridge.
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The next day Hammersley was back at port for refuelling and restocking. They only had about 4 hours break before having to cast sail once again at around 3.30 pm. Dylan was in the senior mess having a late lunch when he heard the pipe requesting him and 2Dads to go to the back deck.
Thankfully there were only two pieces of roast carrot remaining and he quickly finished the veggies before putting his plate on the sink in the galley and made his way to the back deck. 2Dads joined him along the way, having just finished checking the hardware at Comcen. The sight of the couple standing on the back deck with his CO surprised him.
"Ah Dutchy, 2Dads," the CO then gestured to the couple, "this is Mr and Mrs Andrews. Mr Andrews is a good friend of our previous base Commander, Commander Marshall. And he requested that we give Mr and Mrs Andrews a personal tour of Hammersley. Mr Andrews is then specifically requesting you and 2Dads to accompany them as guides."
One look at Don Andrews' smug face was enough to make Dylan grateful that Kate was out for lunch with Flick off the base so that she was not available for this tour, he wouldn't put it pass the arrogant man to denigrate her by asking her to be his tour guide.
"Very well Sir. We'll take care of them." Dylan pasted a smile and gestured to Don and Laurel to walk ahead of them and start the tour.
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Dylan and 2Dads had been in this tour for about 45 minutes and their patience was wearing thin. There was only so much ribbing and comments they could take about the fact that the ship was so much nicer now than the olden days that this generation of Navy must not be as tough as Don's generation. Dylan had left much of the talking to 2Dads, preferring to walk quietly besides Laurel behind the two. Thankfully the tour was almost over, with only the living quarter at the lower deck and the gun turret at the top remaining as the talking point.
"Darling." Laurel's voice stopped the three men from continuing. "Why don't you and 2Dads go straight to the top to see the guns and Dylan can show me the living quarter on his own. I know you are not particularly interested in seeing the cabins."
Dylan frowned at Laurel's word, not very keen on being with Laurel on his own. But Don, probably eager to get his hand on the machine gun, had agreed quickly and thus leaving the two exes standing awkwardly in the corridor.
"Come on Laurel." He gestured for her to follow him to the lower deck, figuring that the sooner he showed her the cabins, the sooner this tour would finish, and he could get the final prep underway before they sail again in just under 2 hours.
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This is the guest cabin," Dylan gestured to the two cabins at the end of the lower corridor and proceeded to open one of them to show her the inside of it as he knew that it was unoccupied at this time, "As you can see it's very basic. Just a bunk bed, toilet, a small desk and small wardrobe behind the door here. But it's quite comfortable."
Laurel then went inside to inspect the space and proceeded to sit on the lower bunk bed. "I have never known this was the kind of space you've been living in for all these years."
He huffed, "do you think it'll be like a cruise ship or something?"
She smiled sadly at him. "You are still angry."
"No. If I'm angry then it means I still have feelings for you. But I'm not." Realising that he might have been too harsh on her, he then softened his tone. "Look, ours just didn't work out. You have moved on and that's OK."
She shook her head, "I've made the biggest mistake of my life by marrying Don."
"What do you mean?" He looked at her quizzically.
She didn't answer at first, but then she started to undo the top three buttons of her blouse and he quickly averted his eyes.
"Dylan, he has been abusing me..."
His head turned back around in alarm to meet her teary eyes. "What?"
It was then that he saw the ugly purple bruises on the top of her chest around her clavicle. "Jesus..." He stared in shock and anger at the sight. "How long has this been going on?"
"A while..."
Dylan then carefully pulled a chair, sat in front of her and offered his open palms to coax her to rest her hands on his.
She looked up at his encouraging eyes and slowly reciprocate his gesture.
For a few seconds, no one spoke, their hands just held together tightly.
"Have you considered going to the cops and get an AVO?" He finally asked.
She shook her head, "a lot of his mates are cops. They would just bury the report and tell him. He would for sure kill me if that happened."
"What about your parents? Your brother? Can't they help?" Dylan remembered meeting them at one point in the past.
"They don't care." She shook her head sadly, "they like Don and his money. As long as Don kept giving them all-expenses-paid cruise trips around the world and shopping money, they couldn't care less about me."
"Laurel, surely they would reconsider their view if they saw your bruises. You are their only daughter for goodness sake!" Dylan couldn't help but feel outraged at her situation.
"Would you help me Dylan?" Laurel looked at him hopefully.
Dylan sighed, "I could accompany you to the police here of course. I could ask around for emergency accommodation somewhere in Cairns. But my job requires me to be away at sea for weeks at a time. I couldn't possible protect you 24/7. That's what I'm worried about."
"I wish I had made a different choice back then." She lifted her hand to brush his cheek softly.
"Don't do that Laurel." Dylan shook his head slowly. "You can't change what happened in the past but it's not too late to change your current situation." He then encouraged her further. "Go to the police Laurel. My current bunkmate is an ex-cop. He could refer you to a trusted officer who would take your complaint seriously. If you are still not comfortable, I could ask a favour from Kate, my XO whom you've met a week ago, to accompany you when making the report."
Suddenly, Laurel's lips were on Dylan's and he was startled for a few seconds before gently pushing her away from him. "Laurel, I can't."
"I understand," she paused solemnly, "I'm damaged goods already."
"Hey, that's not what I mean." Dylan squeezed her hand softly, "I just don't feel that way about you anymore. I have moved on."
Her lips curved up slowly. "I saw the way you looked at her last week. Does she know how lucky she is?"
He huffed. Apparently, he needed to stop wearing his heart on his sleeves if he wanted to navigate his job without anyone realising his feelings for a certain female officer. "It's complicated." He finally provided a non-committal answer.
Laurel nodded in understanding before rummaging her bag looking for a small object. "Can you keep this for me?" She then handed him the item.
"What's in this?" He looked at the USB stick on his hand.
"Evidence of years of abuse by Don." She pleaded to him, "I need you to keep it safe and only give it to the cops if something ever happens to me in the near future."
"Laurel, shouldn't you give this to the cops now?" He was alarmed by her words. "If this is a black and white evidence of the bastard's abuse, surely this should be enough to get you out?"
She shook her head, "No, I told you he has connections in high places. I need more time to plan my exit, so no one gets hurt." She then closed his palm around the USB stick and squeezed his hand. "Promise me you'll keep it safe."
Dylan nodded solemnly. "I promise."
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"Hey." Kate touched Dylan's shoulder in greeting before grabbing the empty seat in the ship's office and powered up the computer to check her email.
The last few days had been quiet and there had been this restless energy going around the ship. She had tried her best to keep her crews busy with all kinds of activities on the ship, including BBQ lunch, training drills, rounds of cleaning, but there was only so much one could organise before she ran out of ideas. Thankfully, they would be steaming home tomorrow afternoon and with 24 hours shore leave, they would have a chance to unwind a little bit before the next patrol.
She was in the process of logging in into her email account when she realised that Dylan hadn't acknowledged her greetings at all. When she turned her head to his direction, she found that he was silently starring at a small USB stick on his hand. She looked at the object curiously, wondering the importance of it.
"Hey, is that the copy of the diving video from 2Dads?"
When he still didn't reply, she reached out to touch his elbow gently. "Hey, Dutchy."
At her touch, he finally looked up and met her eyes. "X."
She smiled at his confusion, "penny for your thoughts?"
He sighed and turned his chair to face her. "Laurel gave me this." He finally said while still playing with the object on his hand.
Kate's eyebrows rose in surprise. "She did? When?"
"Few days ago, when 2Dads and I was giving Don & Laurel a tour of Hammersley." He paused before continuing, "you were at lunch with Flick off base. So, you didn't know of it."
"Probably a good thing hey." She rolled her eyes at the thought of Don Andrews.
Dylan's eyes blazed at the thought of the bastard, "he abuses Laurel."
"What?" Kate looked at Dylan in shock. "Did Laurel tell you this?"
He nodded. "She showed me her bruises and she gave me this USB. She said that it contains evidence of abuse."
"Has she gone to the cops with this yet?"
"No. I think she's scared. She said that Don has some friends at high places that could bury the report." He sighed in frustration. "I don't know what to do. I feel like I should do something before it's too late."
Kate looked at him in sympathy. "I can talk to her or maybe Swain can help?"
"I've mentioned those options to her already. Sorry if I'm being presumptuous." He said sheepishly.
"Not at all. You know I'm all for nailing bastards like Don Andrews."
His lips curved up at her attempt of levity.
"Are you thinking of opening the USB? Is that why you are staring at it?"
"I'm considering it." He paused. "But I suspect this contains some pretty gruesome images and I don't think I should violate her privacy even further."
Kate nodded. "I agree. I think you should just keep it safe on her behalf. Hopefully there won't be a need for it and she can get out of the awful situation soon." She then squeezed his hand briefly in encouragement. "My offer still stands though. If you have her number, I can try to call and speak with her. She might be more inclined to open up even further with a fellow female."
"Thanks X."
"Anytime."
They were still smiling at each other when the PA system suddenly came to live.
XO and PO Mulholland to the bridge at the rush!
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"X, we have a mayday to this coordinate." Mike handed Kate a piece of paper urgently.
Kate quickly put the coordinate into navigation system to see how far they must go. "ETA 30 minutes, Sir."
"Very good, Port 30, Revolution 2000." Mike replied as he read the course that Kate had just plotted.
"Do we know the nature of the mayday, Sir?" Asked Kate.
"Yes, a yacht, Calypso 2, reported a broken winch with a shark cage attached to it. And there was a person inside the cage right now. So, the situation is quite dire."
Dylan looked up in shock at the mention of the yacht's name. "Sir, Calypso 2 is the name of Mr and Mrs Andrew's yacht."
"The couple that we gave a tour of Hammersley a few days ago?" Mike asked in alarm.
"Yes, 2Dads and I went diving in it about 10 days ago. The winch was not doing very well that day too, but we managed to fix it. I warned Mr Andrews that the winch would need to be change urgently but he must not heed the warning."
Mike sighed at the supposedly preventable situation like this. Now someone's life was in danger because maintenance had been overlooked. "Very well, thank you for letting me know Dutchy."
Mike then continued his order, "Swain, can you prepare the wardroom please? Dutchy, can you take over the helm?"
"Aye Sir."
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The mayday had become a recovery operation when the Hammersley's crews had found the lifeless body of Don Andrews inside the cage. The crews had pulled the cage out from the water manually as there had been no time to fix the winch. Laurel had been inconsolable. She had had to be sedated upon returning to Hammersley.
Kate was currently sitting in ship's office trying to write her report of the recovery party. She had accompanied Laurel for about an hour in the wardroom before Bird had taken over the task after dinner service had finished. Something about the brief conversation she had had with Laurel was bothering her and she just could not stop thinking about it.
"Here you go."
"Thanks." Kate sipped the coffee gratefully before turning to face Dylan. "How are you?"
"I don't know." Dylan shrugged. "I don't particularly like the man, but it was still a horrible way to die. Also, my mind couldn't help but going back to when the winch jammed and 2Dads was down there. We were lucky that day."
Kate nodded. "I agree. Who knows how many times this had happened before? Maybe he had been alright the first few times, but it looked like his luck had ran out today."
"How's Laurel?"
"As well as one could be after your spouse passed away." Kate replied quietly. "You know she said something to me that I thought was a little bit odd."
"Odd?"
"Yeah." Kate continued, "she said that he was the love of her life."
Dylan frowned. "After everything that he did to her?"
"That's what I thought. But it could be grief taking over." Kate shrugged. "It's just nagging at me though. I thought that she would have been a little bit more ambivalent."
Kate then looked at Dylan seriously. "Dutchy, I think you need to open that USB stick."
"Why? The man is dead. It's a moot point now." Dylan was even more puzzled.
"I think we need to know exactly what's inside the USB. I find it to be a bit too much of a coincidence that she told you about the abuse, gave you a supposed evidence and two days later, the abuser is dead."
"Are you saying that she was lying to me?" Dylan was mildly offended at the insinuation. "X, I saw the bruises."
Kate dragged her chair closer to Dylan and leaned forward. "I know and I believe you." She paused to gather her thought before continuing, "Look, just think about opening it please? My gut is telling me that there could be more to this than a simple accident. I hope I am wrong and nothing untoward is happening, but I don't want you to be blindsided either."
Dylan stared at Kate's pleading eyes quietly. She did have a point and usually her intuition was correct, but the thought that Laurel had been capable of something sinister was inconceivable to him.
"I'll think about it." He finally said.
"Thank you."
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"Carbon-monoxide poisoning?"
Mike nodded. "According to the coroner, Mr Andrews was long dead even before the mayday call."
Kate frowned at the information. She had felt uneasy ever since that interaction with Laurel Andrews and now a week later with the new revelation, she grew even more suspicious.
"Sir, Ma'am?" RO knocked on the CO's cabin door.
"Yes RO?"
"There are two police officers on the dock. They have some questions for Dutchy about Mr and Mrs Andrews."
Mike exchanged a look of surprise with Kate. "Did they say why?"
RO shook his head. "They are not exactly forthcoming with information Sir."
Mike sighed, "Alright, get Swain to bring Dutchy to ship's office. And after that, you can escort those officers to the office as well."
"Yes Sir."
Seeing Kate's worried face, Mike frowned and asked, "Kate, are you OK?"
"Yes. Just wondering what they could possibly want from Dutchy." Kate deflected the question.
"Well, we're about to find out..."
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To be continued...