Mike took a step back as he tried to make sure he heard correctly

"Witness Protection?" he asked as he sat down

"Yeah… That's not how I wanted to tell you but I guess now you know" Kate said crossing her arms across her chest protectively

"Why? I mean is that why you left?" Mike asked looking up at her

"I couldn't tell you no one was allowed to know… Maxine she…"

"Wait Maxine knew the whole time?" Mike asked holding his hands up in surrender

"Yes but only because I had to let her know so I wouldn't get in trouble for leaving the Navy" Kate said trying to make him see sense

"She could have told me, then I would have known I spent 7 years being angry at you" Mike said pointing to her

"I'm sorry… But it's not Maxine's fault" Kate said trying to redirect his anger

"I need some air..." Mike said as he moved towards the door

"Mike please, don't blame Maxine for any of this" Kate said placing a hand on his shoulder

"I'm sorry…" he said as he opened the door and made his way out into the night.

"Shit!" Kate said to herself as she closed the door and plopped onto the couch.

Flashback:

"I'm sorry Kate but we've got to go now" a man said as Kate grabbed her suitcase off the bed

"I need to say goodbye Brody; I can't leave like this" Kate said as she was escorted downstairs

"We don't have time Kate, we have to get you somewhere safe now" Brody said as he watched Kate stop near the hallway and grab something and put it in her handbag

"Mike deserves an explanation and Rosie what's she going to say when her Mother just disappears, she's only 7" Kate said stopping in her tracks

"Kate! If you tell Mike, you'd be putting both him and Rosie in danger too" Brody said trying to make her see sense

"But I'm not involved I only witnessed the murder" Kate said crossing her arms

"We don't have time for arguments we need to go now" Brody said gripping her wrist as he pulled her out of the house towards the car waiting out the front.

Kate stared at the house through the car window as tear began to form in her eyes, she thought she had more time or at least could let Mike know what was going on.

"I need to tell Maxine; we need to stop at NAVCOM" Kate said looking over at Brody

"We can't Kate I'm sorry" he said focusing on the road

"If I don't tell her the Navy will think I've gone AWOL at least let me get her to file discharge papers" Kate said hopeful.

"Fine, I'll give you 10 minutes that's it" Brody said as he turned down the side street and headed towards NAVCOM.

Brody pulled into the NAVCOM carpark and escorted Kate up to Maxine's office

"Kate? We didn't have a meeting did we and why are you in normal clothes?" Maxine said as Kate entered her office with Brody

"Can I have some privacy please" Kate said turning to Brody

"10 minutes, then we're gone" Brody said as he exited the office and stood near the door

"Kate what's going on?" Maxine asked worried

"You might want to sit down" Kate said pointing to the couch

"Is everything ok?" Maxine asked as she sat down

"I have to go away for a while, I need you to watch out for Mike and Rosie for me" Kate said sitting down next to her

"Where are you going?" Maxine asked confused

"I have to go into witness Protection"

"What why?" Maxine said surprised.

"I've gotten myself involved in something that has put my life in danger" Kate said weakly

"Does Mike know?" Maxine asked concerned

"No, and it's best if he never finds out it could put his or Rosie's life in danger" Kate said resting back into the couch

"Kate, what have you done?" Maxine asked placing a hand on her shoulder

"I witnessed something bad and now there's some people after me" Kate said assuring her that she didn't do anything bad herself

"I need you to put in a request to discharge from the Navy, I can't be in witness and have the Navy think I've gone AWOL" Kate said smiling at her

"Sure I'll do that for you" Maxine said placing a hand on Kate's.

"Kate we have to go" Brody said opening Maxine's door

"Yeah ok" Kate said arising from the couch with Maxine

"When will you be back?" Maxine asked as she stood across from Kate

"I don't know, is there one more thing you can do for me?" Kate asked

"Absolutely ask away" Maxine said squeezing Kate's hand

"Can you collect some photos for me, each year as Rosie gets older so I can see her grow up"

"How long are you going for Kate, I mean if you want me to collect photos are you not coming back?" Kate just looked at Maxine sadly, Maxine knew what this look meant she didn't know if she'd be coming back.

"Kate, now" Brody said impatiently

"I'm coming" Kate said turning back to look at Maxine and smiled

"Thanks for everything Max" Kate said as Maxine pulled her into a hug

"I'll miss you Kate, so much" Maxine said as Kate pulled away from the hug

"I'll see you around hey" Kate said smiling weakly as she tried to hide the tears

"Yeah, see you around" Maxine said as she watched Kate leave her office leaving her standing there as she tried to wipe away the tears before anyone from the office saw.

Kate watched as they drove past the Navy base as she looked closely she could see Mike standing near the gangway of Hammersley waiting for her Kate couldn't help but let the tears fall as she got one last look at Mike as they drove past.

End of Flashback:

Kate awoke the next morning with a sore back, rolling over she forgot she was on the couch and fell on the floor

"Ouch…" Kate said to herself as she used the coffee table as a support to pick herself up off the floor, making her way into the kitchen and turned the kettle on as she grabbed a mug from the cupboard her phone began to ring

"Hey Max, what's up?" Kate said answering her phone

"Kate can you come in for a quick meeting? Hammersley has been crash sailed and I want to see you before you sail" Maxine said through the phone

"Sure thing, I'll be about 10minutes" Kate said as she made her way upstairs

"See you then" Maxine said hanging up the phone. Kate tried to clear her mind as she got ready,

Maxine wouldn't normally call a meeting to see her when Hammersley sailed in less than 3 hours something was wrong and she hoped it didn't have anything to do with Mike…

Kate made her way into NAVCOM to see Maxine as she walked through the common area a lot of people were staring and pointing the last time she came to NAVCOM no one even noticed her and now everyone was talking about her behind her back she just continued making her way to Maxine's office as she tried to ignore all the comments.

Entering Maxine's office Kate sighed "I was invisible yesterday why is today any different?" Kate joked as Maxine laughed

"Well it could have something to do with him" Maxine said pointing the couch where Mike was passed out.

"Is he drunk?" Kate asked as she knelt next to the couch and got a strong whiff of Scotch.

"He showed up here this morning for our meeting and was unsteady on his feet he kept yelling your name and then passed out on the couch" Maxine said a little angry

"He must have gone drinking after he left my house" Kate said arising to stand

"Mike went to yours?" Maxine said surprised

"Yeah, he wanted answers" Kate said leaning against the desk next to Maxine

"He was at mine too, I told him to be nice" Maxine said looking at Kate

"Well he was… kind of" Kate said smiling weakly

"What did he say?" Maxine asked.

"Told me if I didn't tell him what happened I could never see Rosie again" Kate said placing her hat on Maxine's desk

"Oh Kate I'm sorry" Maxine said placing a hand on Kate's shoulder

"He tried to kiss me and I blurted it out" Kate said brushing a hand through her hair

"You told him?" Maxine asked surprised

"It just happened, I was scared and it just came out before I could stop myself" Kate said sighing

"Scared of what?"

"To let him in, what if I have to leave again" Kate said wiping a stray tear from her cheek

"But you won't, the case was solved everyone is behind bars" Maxine said trying to reassure her

"I know… It's just the thought of having to look over my shoulder each day, anyway you said Hammersley is crash sailed?" Kate said changing the subject

"Yes, you're going to have to be acting CO" Maxine said looking at Mike as he began to stir

"What! No I can't" Kate said loudly

"I can't exactly let Mike on Hammersley like that" Maxine said pointing at Mike "Besides you were CO before you left you'll be fine" Maxine said smiling at her.

"I'll help you take Mike on board and he can sleep it off until he wakes and is sober you will be CO, you can do this Kate" Maxine said as Mike moaned

"Sure…" Kate said a little uneasy.

Maxine helped Kate take Mike back to Hammersley, he was still pretty out of it but was sobering up quickly they placed him down on his rack as they pulled away he groaned

"You go Max, I'll get him some water for him and order him to rest up before we sail" Kate said as they stepped into the hallway

"You'll do fine Kate, don't worry" Maxine said reassuring her

"Thanks" Kate said smiling as she walked Maxine onto the deck

"So I'll see you in a week, keep me updated" Maxine said as she walked over the gangway

"Will do, thanks again" Kate said smiling as Maxine headed to her car she spotted a familiar face walking towards her

"Well I never, so the rumours are true!" he said as he placed his bag down and pulled Kate into a hug

"Hi Swaine" Kate said hugging him tightly

"We missed you around here" he said pulling away from the hug

"Really, you guys missed me?" Kate joked

"Yeah well no one could control 2Dad's like you could" Swaine winked at her

"So who's still on board?" Kate asked not sure who was still serving on Hammersley.

"Well… There's Charge, 2Dad's, Dutchy, some guy who took over Birds job called Spike, Mike and myself" Swaine said smiling

"So everyone is still here except Bird and RO?" Kate asked

"Yeah she left to serve in Darwin I think and RO moved to Sydney" Swaine said as the rest of the crew headed towards them.

"What's the new Chef like?" Kate asked unsure if she wanted the answer

"Well… he's hot-headed so be careful" Swaine said smiling as he headed on board Hammersley.

"Well, well if it isn't Kate McGregor" Charge said as he made his way over to Kate

"Hi Charge" Kate said as he pulled her into a hug

"Ma'am it's nice to finally have you back" Kate heard as she pulled away from the hug

"2Dad's" Kate smiled as she pulled him into a hug

"It's good to have you back you can finally put 2Dad's in order" Charge laughed as Kate pulled away from the hug

"Fair go Charge" 2Dad's said laughing

"So where's the Boss?" Charge asked looking around for Mike

"He's in his cabin unwell, Maxine has put me as acting CO until he's better which might be a few days" Kate said smiling awkwardly

"Right well we better put our bags away" Charge said grabbing 2Dad's arm and pulling him towards the gangway.

Kate watched as they descended onto Hammersley when a familiar voice spoke "Kate…" he said as she turned around to face him

"Dutchy, it's good to see you" Kate smiled awkwardly

"I heard you were back but I didn't believe it" Dutchy said smiling

"Yeah, well here I am" Kate said awkwardly.

"Oi! Dutchy" a voice called as a man ran towards them

"Um Kate McGregor this is Richard Spike" Dutchy said as the man stared Kate up and down

"McGregor, as in Princess Perfect?" Spike said watching Kate look at the ground

"Watch it" Dutchy said to him as he stepped aside for him to descend onto Hammersley

"Sorry Bro, chill out" he said patting Dutchy's arm as he passed him.

Dutchy smiled at Kate as he followed Spike on board, Kate let out a huge breath she didn't even realise she was holding in

"This is going to be fun…" Kate said sarcastically to herself as she made her way onto Hammersley.

Kate made her way towards Mike's cabin to check on him as she stopped out the front of his door she could feel a pair of eyes on her looking over towards the stairs she seen Dutchy watching her, how was she supposed to work with him again especially after what happened between the two of them…