Guys,
thanks for being patient! Seriously lacking some motivation and inspiration even though I love this story! Thank you all so much for your kind words and excitement for this story! I hope I don't disappoint! Also loving all your theories...
Hope everyone is staying safe and sane!
Love to you all!
Somebody That I Used To Know.
Chapter 6.
That night Mike cooked dinner as Kate napped on the couch, he whistled along with the tune on the radio as the steak sizzled on the pan. He chucked the tongs down and raced into the bedroom hearing Kate's panicked scream, he found her sitting in bed, sweaty, clutching her chest, racing to her side, he jumped in beside her.
"Kate?"
Her breathing was erratic, she wrapped her arms around herself trying to compose herself.
"I couldn't breathe, it felt like I was being crushed."
He pulled her in towards him, holding her tight.
"It was just a bad dream, I'm here."
She clenched her eyes tight trying to convince her brain she was safe, Mike stroked her hair at a loss for something to say.
"Maybe Dr Bowen unlocked something today?"
"She told me to move on, to think about the future."
"That sounds like a good idea to me."
Kate shifted herself away from him, concerned he wasn't going to answer her next question.
"Was the accident, was it bad? Like, are these feelings or memories or whatever they are, are they real?"
Mike took a moment and exhaled sharply, preparing himself to relive the moment. Sliding his hand over to hers, he rubbed the other hands over his face.
"It was the worst day of my life…"
Kate's eyes rose to meet his, just in time to see the tears spill over, she squeezed his hand, willing him to have the strength to continue.
"When I got the phone call, they couldn't tell me if you were alive or not..."
She felt terrible for asking him to relive it, she could see the terror in his eyes but as much as she wanted to move on, to think only of the future, she couldn't, she had to know more.
"I'm sorry, Mike, but I need to know."
He took a deep breath in and moved towards her, fiddling with the pillow beside him.
"They think you were in the car for an hour before someone found you, then it took another hour to get you out."
"Dutchy said there was a storm."
His head whipped towards her, a look of confusion covered his face.
"You already asked Dutchy about this?"
"Well, I thought I remembered something the other day, about the crash. I was sitting in a car the wind was howling around me and I was saturated."
"When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?"
His tone had the smallest hit of annoyance, the exact reaction she didn't want.
"I just, I wasn't sure, and this was when you were being so overprotective…"
"Don't you trust me?"
"Mike, of course I do, I didn't want to upset you."
"But you were fine telling Dutchy?"
"Mike, not this again, you know what, even if it were true, I don't bloody remember, so it doesn't matter. Can you please, just, help me…"
Mike sighed, knowing that he shouldn't be making it about himself and scooted closer to her.
"It was bad, they delivered Aria via c-section because you had so much internal bleeding, you were in an induced coma for a week or so. I don't want to talk about it because it was the toughest week of my life not because I don't think you should hear it. I just couldn't stand thinking about living a life and raising our daughter without you."
Tears streamed down Mike's cheeks, it relieved Kate to see an emotion other than frustration. In the time she had been home she had yet to see Mike really open up, she had been told he wasn't great with emotions and it worried her, especially in her state, she needed someone that was open.
Kate leaned in, pressing her lips against his, surprising him.
"Thank you…"
The next morning Kate and Mike got ready to go to work together, placing a plate of crumpets and eggs in front of him, Kate kissed him on the cheek.
"Isn't this nice, getting ready together in the morning?"
She sat down and hesitated as a memory flashed into her mind.
She sat in her office, her phone vibrated, she picked t up and smiled seeing the message.
"Happy first day... of the rest of our lives."
Mike noticed her blank stare and placed a hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her mind.
"Kate, are you okay?"
She shook her head, trying to refocus.
"Ah, yeah, just umm, never mind..."
He grinned as he slid her the small velvet box over the counter.
"Are we going to make this official?"
She held her breath as she placed the ring on her ring finger, Mike reached over and held her hand.
"Now everything is perfect."
"Ah, are you forgetting something? My Memory?"
"We've got the rest of our lives to make memories…"
They strolled into N.A.V.C.O.M, Kate kissed him on the cheek as they reached his new office.
"I'm going to take Aria to day care, you have a wonderful day, Commander Flynn."
"You too, soon to be, Mrs Commander Flynn!"
He kissed Aria on the forehead.
"Be good!"
Later that afternoon, Kate tapped her pen against her lip, staring out into the main office. She couldn't concentrate, her mind was fuzzy. She strolled over to Mike's office, knocking on the door she poked her head in, Mike paced around the office talking into his headset looking stressed.
"Yeah, right, okay, do what you need to do…"
He hung up and threw the headset down on to his desk, Kate clear her throat hoping she hadn't interrupted.
"Hey! Bad time?"
Mike spun round hearing her voice and smiled.
"Ah, no just what I expected, diplomatic talk, that's all."
She approached with caution.
"You don't look very happy?"
He flopped into his chair, rubbing his hands over his face.
"Its just gonna take some getting used to you know me, I like the gray areas, and well, around here, it's very black and white."
"Well, you can't do this out at sea…"
Wrapping her arms around his neck she leaned in and placed her lips against his, he smiled as they parted.
"No, you certainly can not."
His laptop chimed, letting out a groan, he checked the notification.
"Sorry, as much as I'd rather be doing this, I've got a meeting."
"I'll see you at lunch?"
"Yeah, the cafe next door, meeting should be done at one."
Kate sat at the table fiddling with the napkin, it was ten past one, and Mike wasn't replying to her messages. Dutchy jogged past the cafe and noticed Kate sitting by herself, he ran up to her table and slid in to the chair opposite her.
"Hey, you're looking pretty lonesome here."
"Mike was supposed to meet me for lunch."
Dutchy looked at his watched and frowned.
"Oh, well, do you want some company in the meantime?"
He picked up the menu and scanned the entrees.
"So, you haven't killed each other yet? Dunno if I could work with my partner."
Kate rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"Ah, it's our first day together..."
Dutchy raised an eyebrow, standing by his last comment. Kate scoffed and punched him on the arm.
"Well, we made it work on Hammersley, didn't we?"
"Yeah, but you weren't together then, anyway, still think you're brave."
They browsed the menu in silence, Kate peeked her eyes over the top of hers and cleared her throat.
"I've been thinking about asking for some leave…"
Dutchy slammed his menu down on the table, instantly concerned, the old Kate always wanted to work.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, just, I know I threw myself back in, but now I'm realising that maybe I shouldn't have. Plus, I'm missing my baby girl growing up, there's all these milestones in the first year and I've got the opportunity to see them…"
He could see she was torn with her decision, he tried to lighten the mood as a smirk grew on his face.
"Or I was right, you can't stand working with him, can you?"
She let out a snort as she threw a napkin at him.
"You're terrible."
"So, what are we eating?"
Kate and Dutchy were mid meal, Mike's meeting had finished, and he wanted to see if he could catch the last few minutes of her lunch break. He walked up the stairs to the cafe, but hesitated seeing Dutchy and Kate chatting and laughing, he sighed and turned back towards N.A.V.C.O.M.
Later that afternoon Kate wandered over to Mike's office to see if he was free, she knocked on the door but there was no response. She peered in the door and frowned seeing the office empty, she checked his desk for his belongings but there were gone too. She took out her phone and messaged him, after ten minutes and no response, she headed back to her office.
That evening, she pulled into her driveway, she had to look twice seeing Mike's car already in the driveway. Opening the front door, she juggled a squirming Aria in her arms, her eyes darted around trying to spot him..
"Mike?"
She placed Aria in her rocker and searched for Mike. She found him sitting in the backyard, beer in hand. Cautiously, she placed herself next to him.
"You're home early…"
He stared at into the yard, barely acknowledging her presence.
"Yeah, I couldn't concentrate this afternoon so I took some personal time. So, did I miss anything at lunch?"
"Ah, no, actually Dutchy joined me, he spotted me while he was out running."
"Right."
Kate raised an eyebrow at his negative tone.
"Mike, is something the matter?"
"You guys are just spending a lot of time together, and, before you say I'm jealous, it's just, it hurts me that you confide in him and not me."
"I don't do it on purpose, Mike."
"I know, but it still doesn't make it hurt any less."
She became tired of his attitude, Dutchy was a good friend who was helping her.
"God, Mike, what do you want? You want me to spend less time with him cos you're insecure?"
She scoffed at the ridiculous idea, he turned to face her with an intense look on his face.
"Yes…"
She hesitated as his response, not believing he was being serious.
"Mike, you can't be serious, look, it's just he happens to be there at the right moment. I'm sorry you feel this way, I promise I'll make more of an effort…"
He couldn't help his irrational thoughts, but he knew he couldn't push her, else she would shut him out completely. Taking a deep breath in, he shoved his stubbornness down.
"Well, hopefully, both of us being on shore we'll be able to spend more time together… C'mon, let's start that now and go snuggle on the couch."
Mike flopped on to the couch, exhausted.
"Ugh, why am I so tired?"
"Well, you're not used to spending the day staring at a computer screen."
"Yeah, don't remind me."
Mike rubbed his eyes, Kate sat beside him worried he was already hating it.
"You'll get used to it."
"I hope not…"
She rose from the couch, not wanting to irritate the situation further.
"What do you want for dinner?"
"Not fussed…"
He followed her and placed himself at the bench.
"So, anyone notice your ring?"
Kate looked down at her hand feeling guilty, she hadn't mentioned it to anyone, not even Dutchy.
"Ah, no, umm, had a busy day…"
Mike tried not to let it get to him, he wasn't sure why she wasn't more excited.
"Well, have you thought about the wedding, like, when you wanna do it?"
Kate grabbed a pan from under the sink, trying to avoid his gaze.
"To be honest, no… what' the rush?"
"Well, I just can't wait to be married to you."
"Aww, that's sweet, I mean a wedding takes a lot to plan, Mike, especially when a lot of our friends are out at sea."
"Well, what about next shore leave?"
Kate laughed at the thought as she lit element on the stove.
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say Commander…"
Mike rose from the bench and grabbed his bag from the lounge.
"Well, I grabbed these on the way how, you know, a bit of inspiration."
He slapped a pile of wedding magazines on the bench.
"I thought you'd like a bit of inspiration."
Kate pushed them aside, pacing the bag of potatoes and a cutting board in front of him.
"After you inspire me by peeling the potatoes…"
Later that night Kate sat on the couch with Aria, Mike snored in the armchair next to her. Kate shook her head and grabbed the wedding magazines off the table.
"Dare we look?"
She held the magazine up in front of her and Aria..
"What kinda of bride is mummy? Is she a princess?"
Aria grabbed the magazine and sucked on the page.
"I'll take that as a no…"
Kate sighed as she flipped through another magazine.
"This is a lot… Do you think mummy should take some time off? You know, to plan the wedding, and spend some time with you?"
Kate looked down at Aria, she giggled and smiled back at her.
"I'll take that as a yes."
The next morning Kate waited nervously outside Commander White's Office, she jumped hearing the door open.
"Kate?"
"Hi, Ma'am."
"Come in."
Maxine sat at her desk, Kate on the opposite side, she smiled politely waiting for Kate to start. Kate's eyes darted around the room, nervous about her impending request.
"You've been really great with everything, and I really appreciate it, but I'm going to push my luck and ask for some time off."
Maxine leaned forward on the desk, concerned about the reason.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I've just been doing some thinking about things, I mean, I've got a daughter now, I should be spending time with her, as they say, you can't get those years back and they grown up so fast. And it's not that I don't love my job, I mean, all I've wanted my entire life, is to be Chief of Navy but..."
Maxine interrupted her rambling, she knew exactly where she was coming from, after all she was a parent herself.
"I totally agree, Kate. You should be able to have a family and a career. Look, you've got leave there and under the circumstances I'm sure HR won't mind."
"Really? Thanks."
She skipped down the hall, she knocked on Mike's door, he called out for her to enter. His head was buried in paperwork, she perched herself on the edge of his desk smiling, waiting for him to acknowledge her.
"Kate, I'm super swamped, what's up?"
She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.
"Just got some good news..."
"That's good, we can talk about it tonight, I've gotta get this done for Commander White."
She sighed and hopped off the desk.
"No worries, I'll see you at home."
He called out as she opened the door to leave.
"I'm probably gonna be late."
She flashed him a half-hearted smile as he looked up to her for a split second.
7pm arrived and Mike wasn't home, Kate sat at the table picking at her dinner. The door bell rang, she hesitated as she opened it.
"Dutchy, what are you doing here?"
"I was driving past, saw you were on your lonesome, thought you could use your company."
"Yeah, come in, I was just having dinner, you hungry?"
His eyes lit up as he bee lined to the kitchen.
"Thought you'd never ask!"
Dutchy sat next to Aria at the table, he ticked her and gave her a kiss.
"Hi, cutie."
Kate placed a plate in front of him, he dug straight in.
"So, what's been happening?"
Kate laughed as she picked up her fork.
"What? Since you last saw me yesterday?"
"Yeah, have you spoken to Commander White?"
"Yeah, she approved it…"
"That's great! What does Mike think?"
"Dunno, he was too busy to chat today, he's still not home."
"Oh, well, you know I'm always up for a home-cooked meal, especially when you cook! So Maxine's working him hard then."
"Yeah, I think he secretly likes it though, I mean, I know it feels good to be good at a job, not that he wasn't a great CO."
Kate and Dutchy sat at the table as Aria enjoyed tummy time on the floor. Kate placed her knife and fork down, glancing over to Dutchy.
"You know with all my drama going on I realised I don't really know much about you, accept you're a great friend to me, why is that?"
"Don't really have much of a story, grew up in the farming business, my family lost it all with the big drought, so I joined the forces, thought it would be stable, you know. Spent some time in the gulf, just like you, but had a bit of a rough time, my boarding officer was killed in front of me."
"Oh, Dutchy, I'm sorry."
"Yeah well, I wasn't dealing with it very well and you copped a bit of I'm afraid. But, you never gave up on me, you were a turning point in my life."
Kate smiled, sliding her hand over the table, grasping his hand in hers.
"Seriously, I think you saved me from a pretty dark hole I was in, and I have been forever grateful. You are probably the only person who knows the true me."
"And, I'm honoured to know you."
They jumped hearing the front door open, Mike walked into the kitchen surprised to see them.
"Oh, hey guys..."
He kissed Kate on the cheek, placing his belongings down.
"Sorry I'm late, dinner smells great!"
Mike served himself a plate and sat down, his eyes darting from Kate to Dutchy.
"Dutchy, I feel like I'm seeing you everywhere, mate."
Kate's eyes widened and kicked him under the table.
"Nah, thought I'd keep Kate company, but now you're here I'll leave you guys to it."
Dutchy rose from the table clearing his dishes, Kate pulled on his arm.
"You can stay if you'd like."
"It's fine, Kate, catch up, like you said you've barely seen him all week."
Mike scooted closer to Kate, wrapping an arm around her.
"Did she tell you the good news?"
He hesitated, not sure what news he was talking about.
"She said yes."
Dutchy fumbled his plate, the knife and fork falling on to the floor.
"Oh, umm, no, but congratulations!"
He picked them up from the floor and placed the plate in the sink. He shook Mike's hand on the way to the door.
"I'll see you guys around."
He made himself scarce, Kate picked at her dinner, waiting for the third degree.
"So, how did Dutchy end up here?"
She clenched her jaw, knowing he wouldn't let it slide.
"He just popped in…"
"Fine, I won't start, also, I'm sorry about tonight, no wonder Max was so desperate to get me on shore, they're so short staffed, and the guys that are there, well, let's say they're old school."
Mike finished his plate and picked up Aria.
"Hello my beautiful girl! Daddy missed you!"
He kissed her and handed her to Kate.
"Just gonna have a shower."
Kate made herself comfortable on the couch, waiting for Mike to finish his shower. He exited the bathroom drying his hair.
"I've gotta be back at the office early tomorrow."
He plonked himself next to her, sitting close.
"How was your day?"
"Ah, really good actually. Made some decisions about going forward. I've taken some time off, I think maybe I didn't take enough time off to fully process things and I want to spend some more time with Aria. Everyone says they grow up so fast, so while I can take the opportunity to do this I think I should, it'll be good for everyone..."
Kate waited for a response, looking over to Mike she whacked him on the arm noticing he had dozed off.
"Mike!"
He sat up, unaware he had fallen asleep.
"Sorry, Kate, what were you saying?"
"I'm taking some leave."
"Oh, that's good, everyone thought you came back too soon. Sorry, I'm wrecked, I'm gonna go to bed."
He kissed her on the forehead and retreated to the bedroom. Kate sighed as she picked up the remote and un-muted the TV.
End Chapter 6.