A/N: Apologies for the delay everyone. My day job had to take precedence in the last 2 weeks. I hope you will enjoy this chapter.

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Dylan closed his laptop as he finally finished his report of the mission. The sit reps that he had done with Kate earlier in the night had helped him to focus on facts and not on the sense of failure that Ms Cruise had tried to instil in him in the post-mission briefing.

He had spent the last four hours by Kate's side in the wardroom as he had volunteered himself to wake her up throughout the night. Swain had given him a knowing look when the man had briefly checked on Kate during his watch. But at this stage, he had given up on controlling the narrative that had been going around the ship about him and Kate. He knew what he wanted. A life with her by his side. He had his transfer request drafted up in his laptop and ready to be submitted once needed. His sole goal until that time when her transfer came through would be to protect her with all his being.

He then looked at the woman deeply asleep on the bed in front of him and lifted his hand to caress her hair softly. He smiled as her head snuggled closer to the palm of his hand as it touched the crown of her hair. He then hovered his fingers on the purple-coloured bruises on her cheek and jaws. His heart couldn't help but clenched at the reminder of her ordeal. The dim light of the room helped to make her bruises less visible, but he knew that the ones on her face were only the tip of the iceberg. Swain had said that her torso was way worse. He couldn't wait until he could take care of her properly at home.

He was not due to wake her up for another hour, so he decided to take a 20-minute power nap to refresh himself. He was just about to set the alarm on his watch when the door to the wardroom suddenly opened with a bang and the overhead light was turned on to its brightest setting.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed in surprise as he saw Swain and 2Dads carried a heavily bleeding man between them and deposited the figure to the spare bed on the other side of the room.

He then saw Ms Cruise and the boss followed them into the wardroom as well, looking angry and tense respectively. "What happened? Who's this?"

"A stowaway. Salah, the Samjung's government official from a week ago." His CO answered in tight voice.

"Sir, I swear I escorted him out of the ship!" 2Dads exclaimed in panic as the younger man just realised who the bleeding man was.

His CO waved 2Dads explanation. "It's OK 2Dads. He must have gotten in some other way."

Dylan then saw Ms Cruise moved forward to the direction of Salah and started a barrage of questions. "Who sent you? Are you related to Moshir? What's your objectives?"

"Ma'am! Not now!" Swain's stern voice replied as he tried to stem the bleeding from the man's throat.

"I need him alive, Swain!"

"Then maybe you should have thought of that before you shot him!" Swain countered the agent harshly.

"He was about to kill you, Swain! I had no choice!"

The spatters of blood on Swain's face caught Dylan's attention next. He realised grimly that Swain must have been involved in an altercation with Salah and had been present when the shooting happened.

A hand touching his back startled Dylan a little bit, but he realised that Kate must have woken up by all the noise. He turned to find her curious but sleepy eyes staring at him.

"What's going on?" She whispered before trying to look pass him to the other side of the room.

"A stowaway got into the ship. Ms Cruise shot him to save Swain. And now he's bleeding badly."

Kate's eyes widened at his brief summary. "Is Swain OK?"

He nodded but before he could reply affirmatively, he heard Swain's voice in the background pronouncing Salah's death.

The silence that followed Swain's announcement was deafening. They all realised that this was another blow to their already disastrous patrol.

Mike shook his head at the pronouncement. Another death so close to the end of this patrol. So much for trying to complete this patrol without another incident. He then looked at the collection of the people in the room. Swain looked defeated. Ms Cruise just looked frustrated. And the rest of the occupant including his bosun, his injured XO and 2Dads displayed a mixture of confusion and resignation on their faces.

The agent then turned to leave the room, but before she could do so, Mike moved to block her exit. "Just wait Ms Cruise."

"Commander?"

"A matter of national security has to outweigh the life of one person."

Recognising the words as her own from the post-mission briefing earlier, the agent then looked at him with disdain.

"By saving Swain before and effectively killing the source of information, you put Swain's life above the matter of national security. It seems like you just broke your own rule, Ms Cruise." Mike stared at her challengingly.

"You are playing with fire, Commander." Madelaine commented, but she could only acknowledge that he was a great player in this game. "What do you want?"

"Simply your compassion and your leniency when writing your report about Moshir's mission before. After all, I presume you could relate to my crews' decisions a lot better now after tonight's incident?"

Madelaine smirked at him; she should have known that Commander Flynn was very loyal to his crews and his bargain would be related to them. "Fine. I would consider my words carefully when writing my report."

Mike nodded, recognising that this would be the best offer that he could get from the agent. "Thank you, Ms Cruise."

Madelaine huffed before looking at Mike pointedly, asking him without words to let her pass.

Mike moved to the side to do so and stared at the back of the agent as she moved past him and through to the hallway. He then looked back towards his crews in the room and to Swain in particular. "You did all you could, Swain."

Swain could only nod in response and closed his eyes briefly to clear his head before starting to prep the body for storage.

"2Dads, helped Swain clear up please. Dutchy, you may as well help since you are here. That way the room would be sterile once more and our XO can get more rest. I will initiate communication embargo and inform Navcom."

The crews acknowledged their orders with a collective 'Yes, Sir' before simply following through.

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Kate moved gingerly to a better position on the sofa as she was reading her book while waiting for Dylan to come back from the grocery store. She smiled fondly at the thought of her man. He had been super attentive for the last 2 weeks and had waited on her hand and foot. She knew that she was lucky to have him in her life, but she found that after a week in a hospital and a week at home doing nothing, she was restless and bored and had taken her annoyance at him a couple of times now. So, a brief respite from his hovering was quite nice and allowing her to miss his presence.

Thankfully her body was healing nicely and she could now move freer. The bruises on her face and limbs had faded and the ones on her torso had started to show some yellowish hue, which as expected, had been the last to heal as a couple of her ribs had been broken and the rest were badly bruised. Her CT-scan had shown no internal bleeding in her brain though and she had only experienced moderate concussion which had now cleared. All in all, she was grateful to escape from a more severe injury.

Her thought was interrupted with the sound of her doorbell ringing. She then looked to the direction of the door to see someone's silhouette hovering at front. Frowning as she was not expecting visitor, she then put her book to the side and carefully got up from the sofa to walk a few steps towards the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Mike."

Relieved that at least it was someone she knew; she made her way to the door and opened it. The sight of her CO in casual clothes and a ball cap indicated that this was not an official visit. "Mike? What's with the ball cap?"

Mike grimaced at her greeting, knowing that the sight of him in one outside work was a little bit unusual. Without words, he took off the cap and looked at her sheepishly.

Hearing her gasp, he knew that the cat was out of the bag.

"What happened to you?" Kate stared at his black eye curiously.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." Kate stepped to the side to let him in and gestured towards her sofa.

He waited until she was settled back to the sofa before sitting on the seat across from her. Seeing her careful movement, he realised that she was not fully healed yet and he might have disturbed her rest. "How are you?"

She smiled at his question. "Bored. Can't wait to be back."

He smiled back at her typical comeback. "You know that even though you are back at sea, you would most likely be on light duties."

She rolled her eyes at the protective stance that the men in her life had decided to take for her. "Yeah, for a week or two."

He shook his head, "until you are fully healed and a slight knock to your torso wouldn't have you keeled over."

"Mike…."

He raised his eyebrows at her slightly whiny tone. "Swain's order. He won't authorise you back to full duties until he has received a clearance from your doctor on shore."

She sighed. "Great."

His lips curved up at her reaction. "Besides, Hammersley is still on maintenance for another week at least. And I'm planning to make the next patrol a short one with just combat and weapons training on agenda. That way there won't be any boarding party. Dutchy will lead the training for the junior sailors."

She looked at him suspiciously, if she didn't know better, it sounded that Dylan and Mike had colluded on that plan so that she was away from any dangerous activities. But she knew that was impossible, so, she directed the conversation to the current matter at hand. "Anyway, enough about me. What's with the blackeye? That looks recent."

Mike sighed, "Stuart White gave me this a couple of nights ago."

"Who?" Kate looked at him confused. She recognised the name slightly but couldn't remember who he was.

"Ryan's father."

Kate was now even more confused. "Why? Aren't you guys friends? Isn't he the one who was looking for bone marrow donor?" She now remembered the conversation she had had with Mike months ago.

Mike nodded but then looked at her seriously. "There is something I would like to share with you. This has been weighing heavily on me for the last few months."

"Ok." She frowned at his visibly weary feature.

"Ryan has been landed on shore, pending transfer to another ship."

"And his father was angry on his behalf and hit you?"

Mike shook his head. "No. The reason Ryan has to transfer is because 'Father and Son' shouldn't be in the same ship."

"That doesn't make sense. His father is not…." Kate paused suddenly and stared at Mike with wide eyes. "Oh no…."

Mike grimaced as he could see realisation started to dawn on Kate's face. "Ryan is my biological son."

Kate was stunned. She thought that she knew Mike quite well after the last 10 years, but nothing could prepare her for the bombshell that he just dropped on her. "How long have you known?"

"I have had my suspicion since after that bone marrow test when Ryan's result was identical to mine and different from Stuart and Max's." He ran his hand on his hair in frustration. "But Max continued to deny it until a couple of nights ago when Stuart confronted her. I was having dinner with her at her house when Stuart barged in and just lay it on her. She had no choice but to admit it when Stuart produced the DNA test result he did independently. Ryan came home at the same time, and everything just went to hell."

She looked at him sympathetically. It sounded like he just had his worst nightmare came to life. "How do you feel about this?"

Mike shook his head. "I don't know. A young man that had grown up as my godson turned out to be my real flesh and blood. It still seems unreal even though I have had time in the last few months to consider the possibility."

"How did Ryan take it?"

"Not well." He closed his eyes at the reminder. "He stormed out and none of us have heard from him since."

"How's Commander White?" Kate asked carefully, the implication of what had happened in the past between the two friends had not escaped her.

He sighed, "she is worried sick about Ryan. She also feels guilty about Stuart's health as apparently the man had used all his reserved energy to give me the blackeye and he ended up collapsing last night at his home and had to be brought back to hospital. And I guess she is worried that I would be mad at her for denying the fact about Ryan for so long."

"Are you?" Kate tilted her head to the side and looked at him curiously. "Mad at her, I mean?"

He was quiet for a few minutes before smiling softly at the thought of his longest friend. "I don't think I could be mad at her for long. I've always thought of Max and Ryan as the closest thing I have to a family. I guess the DNA test just made it official really."

"Mike Flynn, a father. Who would have thought?" Kate smiled teasingly at him. She was glad to see that he was no longer looking so weary and defeated.

He shook his head in amusement. "Don't tease. I'm still getting used to it."

"Be grateful that you skip the diaper part and he's a fully grown man now."

"Ha-ha… very funny Kate." He couldn't help but looking at her fondly. "Thank you for listening."

She was about to reply when she heard her backdoor being opened. Suddenly, she remembered that Dylan was due home from the grocery store and it was mostly likely him that was now walking in the door.

"Kate, I couldn't find your usual brand of almond milk. I think it's on sale for half-price and people just cleared the shelves before I arrived. I got the Almond Breeze one. That one is not too bad, right?"

She could see Mike's eyes narrowed at her as he recognised the voice that he had just heard from the direction of her kitchen. She stared back at him defiantly, determined to not be ashamed of her choices in life.

"Kate, are you upstairs?"

She could hear Dylan's voice turned worried at the prospect. He had been especially vigilant about her going up and down the stairs. She thought that the possibility of a terrible setback if she had ever missed a step when navigating the structure had been worrying him.

"Sweetheart?"

She guessed the terms of endearment just confirmed Mike's suspicion because he raised his eyebrows at her disapprovingly.

She simply glared back. Warning him to not make a scene as she could hear Dylan's footsteps getting closer to the living room. "I'm still on the sofa." She finally said to confirm her location.

"Oh good…. Were you napping?" Dylan entered the living room expecting to find Kate curling up with a book, but he was startled by the presence of the man opposite her. His smile faded at the sight of his CO staring at him with a stony expression. "Sir."

"Hey…."

Kate's greeting distracted Dylan from the sight of his boss and he looked at her instead.

"Almond Breeze is fine. Thank you for doing that."

Her words made him stared at her questioningly as she didn't look too fazed by the situation they were currently in.

Her lips curved up at his confused look and she simply reached out with her open palm to encourage him to take her hand and sit down beside her. After a few seconds, he sighed and finally took his seat and entwined his hand with hers.

Silence descended on them for a few minutes. No one knew what to say at this very moment.

Mike stared at the couple in front of him and he had to admit that this was the least surprising turn of event on the life of his crews. He had suspected that it was only a matter of time before the two crossed the line, given how close they were. He had also known that his break-up with Kate almost half a year ago had been the final one, that it had been truly over between them. But he couldn't deny that the sight of the couple's intertwined hands and the fact that there was barely a millimetre of space between the two had made his heart twinge in sadness.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Kate finally said apologetically.

Mike sighed as he heard the apology. "How long has this been going on?"

Dylan and Kate looked at each other questioningly before Dylan finally replied, "almost 3 months, Sir."

"Right." Mike nodded, "which one of you are going to transfer then?"

"I am." Kate reminded Mike, "I lodged my request almost 6 months ago now, remember?"

"That doesn't address this current situation, does it?" Mike raised his eyebrows at Kate.

"But that shows my intention in addressing the situation, doesn't it? It is not my fault that the vacancy is not available yet."

"Kate, you know how bad this would look if words got out that you both are in a romantic relationship while still serving together."

"Is that a threat Mike?" Kate narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, of course not!" Mike was frankly offended by the insinuation. "I'm trying to address the situation here. You have to admit that this was the sort of thing that we were trying to avoid in the past by being extremely discreet."

"Yes, and how did that turn out for us, hey?" Kate replied sarcastically.

"Come on Kate, that's not fair!"

"Really? I think it's very fair. At least I have the paperworks lodged now and when it came through, I would definitely transfer out of Hammersley instead of having one foot in and one foot out like you did."

"You keep framing this as my fault, but you've never given me a hint that you were willing to transfer for me either back then, and now, you are suddenly willing to transfer for him?"

"What good would it do if I transferred back then? You didn't even know what you wanted when I point-blank asked you. You wanted to just have coffee with me, remember?"

"Are you two done?" Dylan interrupted them. "Should I leave the room so that you two can sort this out in private?"

Kate kissed Dylan's cheek in apology before she snuggled closer to his side and circled his waist tightly. "I'm sorry. I got carried away."

Dylan tried to push down his jealousy at the scene that he had just witnessed which showed him the hint of the fiery chemistry between the two exes. He trusted Kate and he knew that she had chosen him, but he still didn't appreciate the glimpse into her past relationship in front of his eyes.

"Sorry mate." Mike looked at Dylan apologetically. He then shrugged, "at least you know why we didn't work out hey. We fought all the time about everything."

Dylan could only stare at Mike stonily at his poor attempt of levity. Mike's expression turned sheepish when he realised that Dylan didn't appreciate his words. Mike then cleared his throat a few times before schooling his face to a neutral expression.

"Sir, I am willing to transfer out of Hammersley if that would make things easier while waiting for Kate's transfer to come through." Dylan finally stated his view firmly.

"Dylan…." Kate had known by now that he would do anything for her, but that certainty in his voice when he had made his offer still touched her deeply. "You don't have to. I was about to suggest that I could apply for a shore posting at Navcom if by next month I still haven't got any sea posting offer."

Dylan smiled and tapped her nose playfully at her suggestion, "thank you for the offer but we both know that you would be bored within a week of shore posting. I don't want you to suffer for me."

"I can learn to like it." She knew that he was right, but she was worried that the scale had been tipped too much in her favour and not his. She didn't want him to resent her in the end.

"Hey, no regrets, remember? No keeping score either. Just trying our best to be together." Dylan caressed her cheek softly.

Kate teared up at the reminder of their conversation a few nights ago and their promise to each other. "Okay." She then circled his neck and buried her head on his shoulder to show her gratitude.

The sound of someone clearing his throat brought the couple back down to earth. And now it was their turn to look sheepish as they realised their boss had just witnessed their PDA.

Mike could only shake his head at the pair in front of him before his expression turned serious. "I'm giving you both two months to sort this out. I need your decision about the transfer by then. Understood?"

"Understood Sir, Thank you."

"Thanks Mike."

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To be continued...