Part 2

Kate dreaded opening her front door after worrying what Dutchy might have done to her place. He had been so annoying and secretive that he MUST have pulled some sort of stunt. But when she finally opened the door everything seemed to be in order. He even had bothered to pick up the post, because usually after a patrol the envelopes would cause anyone to trip. She sighed in relief, kicked off her shoes and pulled off her socks.

As soon as she took one step into the living room she noticed something was wrong. The floorboards underneath her bare feet made funny noises, that hadn't been there before she left. When she looked down, she muttered a curse. "That BLOODY man has left half of the beach on my floor." On closer inspection she got even more annoyed, as Dutchy had tried to cover his tracks by sweeping the dirt underneath her pristine carpet. She had been glad when he brought her belongings when she couldn't go home, but right now she started to worry what else she would find out of order.

Sighing deeply she walked towards the cleaning cupboard to retrieve the vacuum cleaner. This was not how she had planned her homecoming at all. All she wanted was to curl up on her sofa with a beer and a good movie to relax. Instead, she had to clean both the hall and the living room. "Men" Kate said annoyed. "Bloody useless."

Feeling hot and sticky after putting the vacuum cleaner away, she walked into the kitchen to get a drink. She knew she had to go food shopping tomorrow morning, but she remembered there was one cold beer left in the fridge. That beer will make all the difference, Kate thought happily. Unconsciously she reached for the fridge door, not really registering the tenner stuck to it, and pulled it open to reveal…

Absolutely nothing.

Kate slammed the fridge door closed in anger. It was then she noticed a post-it and some money stuck to it. 'For the beer', it said in an irregular man's scribble. She sighed in exasperation, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. She was tired and so far everything she had planned to do when she got home, had been thwarted by something Dutchy had done. On the other hand, Dutchy had been kind enough to at least pay for the beer he drank. At least that had been nice, Mike would usually come over, drink all the beer, get drunk and never buy new ones.

Dejectedly she slid against the cupboards to sit on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. She was trying hard not to cry, but knew it was pretty useless. The last few days had been harrowing, with a man trying to kill her on numerous occasions. Stop being such a whiner, she scolded herself. You are alive and well. With that, she rubbed her eyes and got up from the floor. A shower would be nice and relaxing, or a hot bath. She thought while heading upstairs.

Every step she took upstairs made her wonder what else he had touched and seen. She had already noticed the sand brushed underneath the carpet, her beer was gone, and she was sure as hell, these couldn't be the only stunts he had pulled. Kate was afraid Dutchy had snooped through every single item she possessed.

She knew some of the more private items were hidden carefully upstairs and she was sure he wouldn't have been able to find those. Her Kama Sutra book was hidden in between the naval instruction manuals, as she was sure nobody ever checked those out at all. They were so boring they could put a grown up to sleep. She was sure she had also put her questionable dvds away, as she was secretly ashamed of being the owner of such films. A naval officer like herself shouldn't enjoy and cry over films like Bambi, Gone with the Wind, Sound of Music and Dirty Dancing. Right now, she doubted any of these objects remained untouched…

Kate rushed to climb the last part of the stairs, tripping over her own feet landing face down on the floor between the bathroom and het bedroom. "Ouch", she cried out while brushing her bruised shin. With a slight limp she quickly made her way into the bedroom. As soon as she entered her bedroom she saw one of her dresses folded on her bed, adorned with a yellow note. She sighed in exasperation, so he had gone through all her clothes as well. Nothing was safe.

She dropped on her hands and knees and slithered underneath her bed to try and reach her secret DVDs. Nobody knew where they were hidden, not even Mike knew she had these guilty pleasures. Finally she was able to curl her fingers on the corner of the box and she pulled it towards her. With trembling fingers she browsed through her dvds checking each and every one for signs of use. Seeing no fingerprints in the dust she sat down with her back against the bed and the box resting on her legs. She scolded herself for being stupid. She was hardly able to crawl underneath the bed herself as it was so low, so Dutchy's massive chest wouldn't even fit. While sitting on the floor she let out a sigh when she noticed the shelf with navy manuals remained untouched.

Suddenly she realized the dress on her bed had a post-it stuck to it. What the hell had Dutchy been up half turned her body and pulled the dress towards her, not bothering to get up. Kate read the post-it and was confused at first. Apparently he believed the dress to be hideous and compared it to potatoes. "Potatoes?" she cried out loudly. When she bought it the shop assistant had assured her the colour really brought out the colour of her eyes. Come to think it, maybe she had been wrong. But Mike had thought she looked pretty in it, but right now Kate didn't believe him at all. Dutchy usually said what was on his mind, as Mike always seemed to tell her what she wanted to hear The dress, she decided, had to go.

The rest of the comment made her suck in her breath. She knew he had grabbed her some undies, but didn't know he had gone through the drawers so thoroughly to find her leopard print string hidden away at the bottom. Sure enough, when she hastily pulled open that drawer, a post-it was stuck to said undies.

Kate started wondering what else Dutchy had covered with post-its. To be honest, she both dreaded it and it amused her. Although she felt extremely pissed off about them well, Dutchy seemed to have a wicked sense of humour. This seemed to be a whole new side of him she hadn't seen before.

She remembered her reasons for actually coming upstairs, and grabbed some things she needed for after her relaxing bath. She decided she would wear her leopard print string as Dutchy had kindly put it on top. It was her favourite. The matching bra not being there, was due to a faulty washing machine on the Hammersley that seemed to have eaten it.

All thoughts flooded away from her brain when she stood frozen in the doorway, her mouth open in a shocked 'o'. Right there on the sink, in plain view, was Tarzan, ready to play. Have I been that stupid to leave it there before leaving on patrol? She thought confusedly. She tried to retrace her steps and concluded she had definitely hid it away. Kate took a step closer to the sink to inspect Tarzan more closely and noticed Dutchy had left another post it. 'Batteries need replacing' it said on his note. She felt an embarrassed heat spread to her face. Right now she wasn't sure whether she was feeling upset, angry or extremely turned on.

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of this feeling. She shouldn't feel like this, getting all worked up over some notes a colleague had left her as a joke. But as she lay soaking in the bath, she couldn't shake this feeling. Dutchy had once said something about the chase, that he loved doing that. Right now, she had the feeling this was exactly what he was doing; chasing her. He was trying to see how she would react. Would she fall for him, or kick his arse.

She had only closed her eyes for a minute she thought, but in that 'minute' her mind assaulted her with the images it had stored of half naked Dutchy working out on the ship. Damn she thought this bath is going to be everything but relaxing. Finally giving up she got up and wrapped herself in one of her largest fluffy towels before stepping on the cold bathroom tiles.

While drying her hair she noticed yet another post-it. That man has touched basically everything around here, she thought. She read his comments about her perfume and grinned. He was so right knowing exactly which smell she liked best and blushed at the part where he said that he wouldn't mind smelling it on her. Maybe when she saw him next she should try it out, see what his reaction would be. Would she be able to unsettle him just as much as he appeared to be doing with her right now?

Still feeling the cold tiles underneath her bare feet, she quickly dressed in her underwear and pyjamas. Before leaving the bathroom she grabbed Tarzan and took him to the bedroom with her. Back in her bedroom she remember she needed to throw away the offending brown dress. She grabbed from her bed and chucked it into the bin. Before it landed there, she noticed another two post- its.

Kate retrieved the post-its from underneath the dress and read them quickly. 'I thought you'd chosen strawberry' and 'wouldn't mind finishing the packet with you.' What on earth did he mean with strawberriesshe thought confusedly. And what packet? Deciding to ask him about them later, she put them both on top of the bed stand. She settled in bed and reached into the drawer to get some new batteries for Tarzan when she noticed some things in there had moved. Suddenly the notes retrieved from the bin made so much more sense.

Kate was confused. Dutchy had never made a move on her before. He even denied being attracted to her months ago. What he was doing right now, making indecent suggestions seemed to be exactly him making a move on her. He was flirting, he was proposing sex and he knew exactly which buttons to push. She knew as his divisional officer she should talk to him about this behaviour, but right now she wasn't even sure she wanted to do that at all. She let out a frustrated sigh. Why the hell had he chosen her to chase? Was she sure she was amused by this? Should she go along with him and his games? And what if I do?

She decided that whatever she was going to do about his feelings, it was it was time to get back at him first. Planning on making him sweat for a while, she picked up her mobile and scrolled through the phonebook to find his number. When he answered the phone, she could hear the apprehension in his voice. She knew he knew she had found all the post-its.

"Petty Officer Mulholland," she started of angrily. "You WERE snooping through my apartment. There is no way you can deny it, the evidence is all over the place. What have you got to say for yourself?" The other end of the line remained quiet, as if Dutchy didn't know how to answer. She almost thought she could hear him swallow. "You know what," she continued her rant, "I want to see you tomorrow morning at 9am sharp. Maybe then you can explain yourself." "Yes ma'am." Was all Dutchy could manage before Kate ended the conversation. As soon as she ended the call, she nearly rolled off the bed with laughter.

It was time for revenge.