Hey Everyone!
Remember me! So sorry its been so long, so much work drama going on and I got my wisdom teeth removed last week, and of course i had complications! ugh, just 2020 things!
Anyway, finally got something out!
Hope you enjoy!
Somebody That I Used To Know.
Chapter 7.
The next morning Mike had left for work and Aria had slept through breakfast so Kate took advantage of a spare moment and clean out the car. Grabbing the monitor and some garbage bags, she headed into the garage. She exhaled sharply as she opened the rear door, you could barely see the back seat, little own the floor. She chuckled to herself as she pulled the bits of food out from underneath the seat, she never thought she'd be so excited to clean her car.
She hesitated as she felt her Pandora's box under the seat, pulling it out she collapsed back on to the seat. She traced her finger over the lid as she carefully opened it, she couldn't help but smile at the cheerful faces that stared back at her.
"I'm sorry, I wish I could remember how wonderful you were. Hopefully Mike makes me as happy as I look in all these photos."
She snapped the box shut and returned inside, she made her way upstairs and placed the box at the back of the wardrobe in the spare room. She so desperately wanted to move on, but she knew it was an important part of her past, something told her to keep it.
She was about to close the door when she noticed a stack of cardboard boxes with her name on them, she reached out to grab one but hesitated, she couldn't risk opening more boxes of her past, so she slammed the door shut.
After three hours of cleaning she couldn't get the boxes out of her mind, she crept back in to spare room like a ninja. Placing herself on the floor, she pulled the boxes out and surrounded herself with them. Prying off the tape, she peeked inside, she exhaled with relief, the box was full of old photos, nothing too shocking. They spanned from her childhood until the present on Hammersley, she giggled at the stern look on her face throughout most of them, she felt like she was looking at a stranger.
Flinging open the next box, it was full of old paperwork, bills and tax returns. In the bottom were a set of keys, picking them up she dangled them from her fingers focusing on the key ring. It was a round sphere filled with sand, she rang her finger along the outside trying to make out what was embossed around it.
"Fitzroy Island?"
She wrinkled her face, trying to remember if she had ever been there. Blinking furiously, she focused back on the keys, she wondered what they belonged to. She had a lightbulb moment and rushed to her handbag and pulled out her wallet. She was in luck, her old address was still on her licence. Without hesitation, she ran out the door and got into her car.
She double checked the address on her licence as she pulled up to a beige two storey town house. Taking out the set of keys she cautiously she inserted the key into the lock and turned the door handle, she let the door swing open and bounce off the wall. She hesitated before taking a deep breath in and took a step inside. She panicked hearing an alarm beep, turning around she opened the control panel and frantically punched numbers into the keypad.
"Shit, shit, shit."
Before she knew what was happening she had been shoved out the way and the beeping stopped. She looked beside her and was startled to see Dutchy.
"Dutchy, what are you doing here?"
He closed the alarm panel, smiling in her direction.
"Ah, umm, feeding your fish."
She titled her head, wondering if he was being serious.
"I have fish?"
"Yeah, a fighting fish, his name is Freddy."
She stared at him blankly, not knowing how to reply.
"Umm, okay..."
"You got him when you took your shore posting, you said you always wanted a pet but couldn't have one cos you were out at sea."
"And he's not at Mike's house, why?"
"Ah, I don't know if he knew you had him..."
"And you're feeding him because?"
"Cos I thought I should..."
"And you have a key to my place?"
"Yeah, for emergencies and stuff."
She pursed her lips together, running out of questions, and retreated to the lounge. Flopping back on to the couch she rubbed her hands over her face, Dutchy sat next to her, puzzled about her defeated state.
"What are you doing here? How did you know where it was?"
"I found my keys, and the address was still on my license. I was curious, that's all…"
"About what you would find?"
"I don't know what I expected, but I can't stop obsessing about the past. It's stupid, I totally agree with Dr Bowen, thinking about the future is the best way to move on but, I dunno, do I sound like a nut job?"
"No, not at all…"
Walking around, she ran her fingers of the pieces of furniture that were left. There were still a few belongings left, photos, trinkets, but she didn't feel a connection to them like she expected. Everything looked organised, everything had its own place. It didn't feel like her, or someone she wanted to be.
Dutchy held back sensing she needed some space, she made her way upstairs and found her bedroom, she opened all the wardrobe doors and drawers trying to find anything that told her something about herself but there was nothing.
Her clothes were drab, mostly just other uniforms and the odd jeans and tops. She pulled out a brown maxi dress and inspected it with horror.
"Was I trying to repulse people?"
She sighed, chucking it back into the wardrobe. Plodding back downstairs, she sighed feeling disheartened, she wasn't sure what she had hoped for, but she hoped for more than what she found.
"This place is so sterile…"
"Well, you weren't home that much…"
"I don't see myself living here at all, I don't want to be this person."
"Well, you don't have to be."
He looked around the house, not seeing much wrong.
"But just so you know, this woman who lived here, she was pretty great. I mean, you weren't the most like, well, you're not 2Dads when it came to a night out, but you weren't boring, or sterile. Nothing wrong with the old Kate…"
She flopped back onto the couch, folding her arms over her chest.
"I'm sure there could be some improvements though. But anyway, why aren't I renting this place out or something?"
"I'll rent from you…"
Kate scoffed shaking her head, Dutchy frowned feeling slightly offended. She hesitated, seeing his confused look.
"Really?"
"Yeah, this place is awesome."
"Wouldn't have thought it was your style."
"I can make it my style…"
"Well, if it won't be to weird me being your landlord."
"Nah, you were my boss for years, can't be any harder than that!"
She shot him an unimpressed look, he chuckled seeing her pinched face.
"Classic Kate! Anyway, umm, so…"
He paced around the room, contemplating the delivery of his next sentence.
"You're getting married?"
Kate whipped her head towards him, hearing the skeptical tone in his voice.
"Why does that sound like a question?"
He knew he needed to tread carefully, he cleared his throat, proceeding with caution.
"Well, I guess I'm surprised you didn't tell me. You know, with me being your best friend and all."
Kate avoided his glare by removing herself from the couch.
"I forgot?"
"Now that sounds like a question. Look, Kate, I know you've never been a great representation of a girly girl, but seriously, most girls, ah, women, shout it from the rooftop."
Kate didn't need her memory to know that was true, but she wasn't going to let him get away with that as his explanation.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Dutchy couldn't help but roll his eyes, he knew he was fighting a losing battle.
"Nothing."
Kate stepped forward, not letting him sweep his comment under the rug.
"No, there's an undertone there, I'm not stupid, Dutchy..."
He exhaled sharply, knowing he had opened the can of worms, and now he was going to have to clean it up.
"Kate, just it's not like you to rush into these things."
"Exactly!"
She cut him off as she poked him on the chest, stepping forward she made him step back, she didn't like feeling cornered.
"I'm not me, Dutchy, not any more, if I have to learn to accept it, then so do you."
Dutchy held up his hands surrendering, he knew he'd hit a nerve, but she was overreacting.
"Woah, where's this coming from?"
"Umm, I could say the same... I don't even know why your here."
"I'm feeding..."
She cut him off again, irritated by the sound of his voice.
"Yeah, feeding the fish. Just take him to your house!"
"Well, I won't need to if I move in here."
"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea."
She snatched his keys from the bench and shoved them into her bag.
"Kate, I don't understand. I'm just tying to talk to you, like we used to, honestly, that's all."
"Yeah, well, maybe that's the problem, you're hanging on to the past too..."
She gathered her things and opened the door as a signal for him to leave, he walked past her shaking his head.
Later that night Kate sat on the couch still in a foul mood, Mike arrived home, he kissed her on the cheek and noticed her pained expression.
"Everything okay?"
She took a deep breath in, trying to compose herself.
"I went to my old house."
It wasn't what he expected her to say, he sat beside her concerned she had a bad memory return.
"What? How? Why?"
"It doesn't matter…"
She grabbed the TV remote, turning up the volume.
"Yeah, it does, you're obviously upset about something."
She turned it up louder.
"Surprised you noticed…"
Mike grabbed the remote and muted the TV, he positioned himself on the coffee table, between her and the TV. She exhaled sharply and shook her head, knowing she was being childish.
"Sorry, Mike…"
"Kate, c'mon, what did we say? We need to talk?"
She exhaled and turned off the TV, shifting closer to him.
"Dutchy and I had a fight…"
His body stiffened, he tried not to sound too curious.
"Oh… Dutchy…"
She knew that tone in his voice and crossed her arms over his chest.
"Mike, do you want me to talk to you or not?"
"Of course, what happened?"
Kate shifted in her seat, hoping he wouldn't overreact.
"Well, I was at my house and…"
"What was he doing there?"
He cringed, knowing his interruption was premature.
"If you'd let me finish, I was about to tell you he was there feeding my fish."
"You have a fish?"
"Yeah, that's what I said. Anyway, he keeps talking about the old Kate and I told I'm that he's not helping me."
"Anything else? You seem pretty mad."
She couldn't bring herself to tell him about the dig he had made about her rushing into the wedding, as much as it annoyed her, she knew how Mike would react.
"I think I'm just frustrated at everything."
He pulled her towards him and kissed the top of her head.
"Dare I suggest you try to expand your friendship pool, I mean, if Dutchy's not helping, maybe making some new friends will help you feel like you're moving on."
She sighed knowing that he had a point, making new friends would take her mind off things.
"And it doesn't mean your any less friends with Dutchy but…"
"I know what you mean, Mike."
"There's a new woman in HR, she seems really nice, she's your age, she's just moved here from Adelaide."
"God, making friends when you're an adult seems like such a strange concept."
"Well, ah, she normally has a coffee at 10ish in the staff room next to my office, maybe you should come hang out in my office then and I can introduce you."
"Ugh, why does this have to be so awkward?"
"Don't over think it, Kate, everyone loves you!"
He made his way in to the bathroom, Kate sighed as sat back on the couch.
"Yeah, but that's the old Kate."
The next morning Kate dropped Aria to day care and wandered around NAVCOM waiting for Mike to finish his morning conference call. She made her way to the tearoom and peered in, a woman sat at the table stirring her coffee. She walked flashing her a polite smile and flicked on the coffee machine. She stood at the bench, glancing back at the woman, wondering if she was the one Mike was talking about. She at least looked friendly, glancing at her watch, it was two minutes past ten. She cleared her throat and turned to face her, the woman looked up for a split second then back down at the magazines on the table.
"So, ah, you new? Don't think I've seen you round here."
The woman looked up again, Kate hoped she hadn't come off as stuffy.
"Umm, been here a couple of months, don't think I've seen you round here either."
They were at a standstill, Kate mentally kicked herself, this was definitely awkward.
"Ah, sorry I didn't mean to sound so blunt, I'm Lieutenant Kate McGregor."
Kate sat opposite her and held her hand out to shake hers, she grinned and obliged.
"Hi, Stacey Pollard... wait, Kate McGregor..."
She watched as Stacey eyes narrowed, she had definitely heard her story. Kate tried not to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm the one with the amnesia."
Stacey flinched at her casual tone.
"Oh, no that's not what I was thinking, I've seen your name before, umm I just put through your leave request."
Kate was relieved, that for once her name didn't come with a pity look.
"Oh... you're in HR?"
Kate pretended to be none the wiser.
"Anyway, sorry I didn't mean to disturb your break, I'm just waiting for Mike."
"Oh, Commander Flynn?"
"Yeah, I'm his, well, we just got engaged actually…"
Stacey's eyes lit up.
"Oh my god, let me see the ring!"
She pulled Kate's hand towards her.
"It's beautiful! So, have you set a date?"
"Ah, well it's a bit hard with most of our friends out at sea, Mike was joking the other day just to have it like in a week cos we're all on shore right now."
"Why not!?"
"Ah, its just a bit quick isn't it?"
"Well, only if you want a big wedding."
Kate heard the coffee machine beep and got up, grabbing a mug. Stacey worried she was being too over to top.
"Oh, umm, sorry if I sound like a weirdo, I just love weddings."
"No, it's fine, actually it's nice, I mean, I don't really have a lot of girlfriends…"
Stacey nodded in agreement as she sipped on her coffee.
"Yeah, I definitely notice the lack of sisterhood around here."
"Plus, I'm in the middle of a fight with my current best friend, who is a guy, so he's pretty useless, anyway."
"Well, if you need to talk about weddings I'm ya gal, never had one myself, but hey, again, don't wanna be weird but I'm also awesome at planning weddings, I've planned my sisters wedding and my cousins wedding, and… okay, I am sounding like a weirdo."
"No, you're not…"
"Man, why is it so strange to make friends as an adult?"
Kate chuckled as she took a sip of her coffee.
"I was only saying the same thing to Mike yesterday."
"Okay, so let's just skip all that then and say we're friends! So, why are you and your bestie fighting? He might need to be careful, I might replace him!"
She got up and grabbed some cake from the fridge and placed a piece in front of Kate.
"Oh, if you keep making cake appear you'll definitely be his replacement."
Mike ran into the staff room worried he was late once again, he stopped seeing them laughing together.
"Oh, Kate, what are you doing here?"
She rolled her eyes at his terrible acting skills.
"Ah, finding out you've been holding out on me. Cake? This staff room has cake?"
Mike chucked as he grabbed a fork full of cake.
"Well, I see I'm not needed, I'll leave you guys to it."
He kissed Kate on the cheek and headed back to his office. Stacey took another large mouthful of cake and shot Kate a cheeky grin.
"So, your BFF, how long have you guys been BFF?"
Kate had to stop and think.
"Ah, well, maybe like, four years…"
"Sorry, I keep forgetting bout the memory thing. Anyway, I better get back to work, but ah, you wanna do lunch sometime? You can tell me all about the things you do remember!"
"Yeah, I'd love to!"
Stacey handed Kate her card and left. Kate tapped her card against the table and sighed.
"I guess making new friends isn't that bad."
She picked up her fork and smiled.
"At least it comes with cake."
End Chapter 7.