Guys,
remember me? It's been over a month! sorry! but I did manage to find some inspo while on Mission Beach, the thought of standing on a patch of sand where Dutchy did made me have a light bulb moment haha so i'm back! Thanks to all my loyal readers for sticking with me! Gonna need to escape to the fic world now I have to go back to work and deal with the silly season!
Hope everyone is staying safe!
Happy reading!
Somebody That I Used To Know.
Chapter 12.
Kate spent the next few days in an unresponsive bubble, only responding in grunts and mumbles. Mike sat beside her and placed a cup of tea in front of her, hoping she would give him something.
"Kate, c'mon, you need to talk to me, please. We told each other we'd communicate better."
Kate remained unphased by his plea, her gaze firmly focused on the TV. Mike moved closer and reached for her hand, giving it a slight squeeze.
"Kate, please… at least tell me what happened with Stacey, she's called me so many times to check on you."
Kate reached for the remote and muted the TV as she turned to face him.
"I'm annoyed at both of you! Talking behind my back, she had no right to tell you about Jack."
Mike winced as she spat the words at him, taking a sharp breath in, he retaliated.
"Well, when you don't tell me things…"
"I barely had a chance, Mike. So, what? You guys talk behind my back all the time?"
He let out a sigh, shaking his head.
"It's not talking behind your back…"
Kate expected him to deny her allegation, she paused, scrunching her face at his response.
"What?"
Mikes eyes darted around the room, realising he had put his foot in it. Kate's rage grew by the second, she rose from the couch clenching her fists.
"Mike, this isn't the time to lie to me."
She stood over him, watching him fidget. She didn't have to remember him well to tell he was nervous.
"Well, I see her at work, and, well, we chat, I'm just worried about you, and she is too."
Kate paced the lounge room trying not to let her emotions boil over, Mike's eyes followed her while staying silent. A few moments later she stopped and spun round.
"Wait, you're the one who suggested we be friends in the first place, did you do this on purpose? So you could check up on me?"
His hesitation was all the confirmation she needed, raking her hands through her hair she continued to stomp around the lounge room.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!"
Mike jumped up from the couch, following her, desperate to get her to see reason.
"Kate, you weren't talking to me, I thought you needed a girlfriend, and look, I'm sure you would have become friends, anyway."
Shaking her head, she raced into the kitchen and grabbed her bag.
"I can't believe this…"
Picking up Aria from her play mat she headed for the front door, Mike grabbed her arm stopping her.
"Where are you going?"
She snapped her head towards him and snatched her arm away and walked out.
Dutchy sat on his couch flicking though the channels, he flinched as someone pounded on his door. Swinging it open he was ready to give the person on the other side a serve, but his angry expression fell from his face as he saw Kate's tear-stained face.
"Kate, what are you doing here?"
She stormed into the house, dropping her bag next to the couch.
"Can I stay here?"
"Ah, sure, but are you okay? Is everything okay?"
He took Aria from her arms, worried she was about to lose it. Before she could start he disappeared into the spare room, she looked around not knowing where he went. He returned a moment later with Aria in a rocker, she stopped pacing as he placed her on the floor.
"Where'd that come from?"
"Oh, umm, just something I had…"
Her eyes narrowed at his casual tone and walked over to the spare room, poking her head in she flicked on the light. She stood there in amazement, the room was filled with baby things.
"Whats all this?"
"Oh, umm, just thought I should be prepared, like, we're friends, you would have come over with her so…"
"Dutchy, that's so sweet. Don't suppose you have nappies and formula? I kinda left in a hurry."
Dutchy grinned and walked to the wardrobe, sliding the door open he proudly he revealed a well stocked and organised supply of nappies, formula, dummies, onesies, everything you would need for a baby.
"Told you I'd be the best uncle. Anyway, enough about my awesomeness, what's going on?"
Kate flashed him a halfhearted smile as she grabbed a nappy and returned to the lounge room and collapsed on to the couch.
"He arranged for me and Stacey to be friends, so he could check up on me. Who does that?"
Dutchy sighed, not wanting to make it worse, but he knew Mike had a bad habit of making silly choices when it came to Kate.
"He's worried, Kate."
"Yeah, but seriously, we talked about him being too overprotective, this just is a whole other level, not to mention that I actually liked Stacey. Even if we were to be friends again, how could I ever trust her?"
"I know, we all do stupid things when we're worried."
"Wait, you're taking his side?"
"No, but…"
Shaking her head, she picked Aria up from the rocker and grabbed her bag. Dutchy bolted to the front door and blocked her exit.
"Kate, don't go… c'mon, talk to me, is that all you fought about?"
She took a deep breath in trying to let go of some of her anger, she was sick of fighting, sick of resisting but something in her couldn't let go.
"We fought about Jack."
"Jack, he's jealous, isn't he?"
Dutchy kicked himself, why did he say that? He glanced back to Kate, her gaze was locked on him.
"So he's been like this before?"
"Well, look, he's only human, Kate..."
"Well, he's just so irrational, he asked if I was having second thoughts because of him, and it's totally not the reason."
"Wait, so you are having second thoughts?"
Kate froze, realisng what she had admitted.
"No, it's not like that! I mean, Mike just needs to understand my situation and..."
Aria grizzled and squirmed in the rocker, Kate leaned down to retrieve her, Dutchy placed a hand o her shoulder and picked her up. Cradling her in one arm, he poured her a glass of Whiskey and placed it in front of her.
"You just relax, I'll give her a bath and settle her, okay? Then we can talk more."
Dutchy returned a short time later to find Kate asleep on the couch, picking up a blanket, he gently lay it over her and sat beside her. He cradled Aria in his arm as he offered her a bottle.
"You're not gonna make me change a nappy, right?"
The next morning Kate awoke forgetting where she was for a moment, rubbing her eyes she stood from the couch and searched for Dutchy. She peered into the spare room and found him reading to Aria, who was asleep in a portable cot. Hearing the door creak, he removed himself from the chair and tiptoed to the door, grabbing the monitor on the way. Kate peered in as he closed the door and rolled her eyes.
"You are the best uncle, aren't you?!"
He shrugged coyly as he flopped on to the couch.
"How you feeling?"
Kate slumped forward, placing her head in her hands.
"Do you think I'm crazy? Like, am I being totally irrational?"
"Kate, memories or not, you still have your gut feelings, and in my experience they're normally right. Look, you've had some tough days, which is to be expected. Why don't you hang out here for a couple of days, I'll attend to Aria and you get some rest, hopefully you'll start feeling more like yourself?"
She sighed and pulled him close.
"Thanks Dutchy, I don't know what I'd do without you."
"And, I know you're not into the whole therapy thing, but what about talking to Dr Bowen?"
"I feel like I just need to figure it out on my own."
"Okay, fair enough, but I still feel like you need to get things out, so, can I ask about Jack?"
Kate looked over to him innocently.
"I guess…"
Dutchy didn't want her to think he was judging her, but he couldn't help but be intrigued by their relationship.
"He's just not the type I pictured you with."
Kate rolled her eyes and picked up the nearest pillow, ditching it at his face.
"That doesn't really sound like a question?"
Dutchy snatched the pillow out of the air before it hit him and sat on it.
"Well, I guess he kinda reminds me of the high school jock, you know, from all those terrible teen movies."
"What? And I'm not the cheerleader type?"
"No, I mean…"
"He's got this confidence, but also this sweet, vulnerable side."
"Yeah, he just he seems so different to Mike."
Dutchy could see Kate wasn't sure how to respond, clearing his throat he shuffled in his set.
"Sorry, this isn't coming out right, I guess I'm just curious, that's all. Like I said before, no one really knows the twenty something Kate McGregor, even me."
Dutchy's doorbell rang, he cautiously opened the door expecting it to be Mike.
"Boss?"
Jack stood on his doorstep smiling, oblivious to Kate's situation inside.
"Dutchy, sorry for the intrusion mate, but, I was jogging past, and I thought I'd say hi."
"Oh, okay…"
"Well, actually, I do have a ultimatum, I thought you could help me out with some local knowledge, and also, I hope this isn't weird, but I wanted to chat about Kate…"
Dutchy glanced back inside to the couch, then back to Jack.
"Oh, umm actually..."
Aria's cry interrupted them, Jack's brow furrowed as he peaked past Dutchy and caught a glimpse of Kate on the couch looking worse for wear. Dutchy's eyes widened realising what it would have looked like, clearing his throat he closed the door behind him.
"Ah, she had a fight with Mike…"
Jack's brow remained wrinkled.
"And she came here?"
Dutchy was about to unleash, offended by Jack's tone, but quickly stopped himself, remembering he was his boss.
"Yes, she did."
"Sorry, Dutchy, I don't mean to overstep my mark here, but I've heard about your reputation…"
Dutchy clenched his first by his side, trying to keep his cool.
"I'd say your waaay over the mark, and that's not what's going on here."
"Sorry, but she's special to me and…"
"Me too, this isn't… I would never do anything to hurt her."
Jack pat him on the shoulder, trying to calm the tension/
"Sorry, mate… is she okay?"
"Ah, that's debatable…"
"Can I have a word with her?"
Dutchy opened the door, Kate spotted Jack and threw the blanket over herself, Jack chuckled as she sat beside her pulling the blanket off of her.
"Katie…"
She yanked the blanket back towards her.
"She's not here…"
He gave in a peaked under the blanket.
"Are you okay?"
"Don't look at me, I'm a mess, far from the fun, youthful girl that you knew."
He snatched the blanket from her grasp and whipped it off of her.
"C'mon, lets get you out of this funk, be my Cairns tour guide!"
Kate shook her head and curled herself into the foetal position on the couch.
"Not today, I've got a shocking headache..."
Jack knelt beside her concerned, she was so lost, far from the woman he once knew.
"Maybe we should take you back to the hospital?"
Shaking her head, she rolled off the couch, grabbing the blanket.
"No, some panadol and more rest should be enough..."
He followed her to the bedroom door.
"We haven't had that dinner yet, either."
She didn't reply and closed the door as she turned off the light.
Jack fell back on to the couch, Dutchy handed him a cup of coffee.
"So…"
"Well, I guess you my tour guide…"
Kate lay on the bed, Aria beside her. She scanned the bookshelf, looking for something to distract her. Pulling out a photo album, she propped Aria on her knee and turned the first page.
"Okay, let's try to concentrate."
Aria slapped the photo of the Hammersley crew and giggled.
"Yeah, that's mummy's crew, well, her old crew."
She took a deep breath in, willing her mind to work.
"2Dads, Bird, Charge, RO, Dutchy, and Daddy."
Aria gurgled, slapping the page again.
"Can you say Hammersley? No, of course not."
There was a knock at the door, Kate placed the album on the coffee table on her way to answer it, forgetting it wasn't her house she swung open the door.
"Bird! What are you doing here?"
Bird looked around, making sure she was at the right house.
"Ah, Ma'am, I could ask the same… ah, Dutchy was gonna lend me some weights and stuff."
"Oh, umm, he's just gone for a run with Jack, actually. Why don't you come in?"
"You sure? I don't wanna be a pain."
"Yeah, don't be silly..."
Bird spotted Aria in the rocker and bounced into the house, Kate couldn't help but chuckle at her childlike whimsy.
"Oh, X... I mean, Kate, Sorry habit."
"It's okay..."
"She's just the cutest thing, seriously. So, how have you been? We've missed you and Mike at the pub."
"Yeah, Mike's been pretty busy with work and well, I just..."
"It's okay, I don't expect you to explain, we just miss you, that's all."
Bird spotted the photo album on the coffee table and shrieked as she opened it.
"Aww, look at us, the originals, well, my version of the originals. Don't get me wrong, I really like the new guys, but you can't beat the originals."
Kate bounced Aria on her knee while Bird pulled faces to make her laugh.
"She's just the cutest!"
"Yeah, she has her moments."
"Hey, if you ever want a night off, I'll baby sit! I used to babysit all my little cousins!"
She glanced over to Kate and hesitated, she could tell something was wrong.
"Anyway, I'm not disturbing you, am I?"
"Not at all, I appreciate the company."
"So, umm, how is everything going? You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to to… Like, I can't imagine what you're going through but I just wanted you to know how much I look up to you. I mean, you probably know you're great at your job and stuff, but I don't think I would have stayed on if it wasn't for your influence."
"Thanks, that's sweet, it means a lot."
"I just wish there was something I could do to help?"
Kate looked over to the photo album, then back to Bird.
"Well, can you tell me more about what I was like…"
"Well, yeah, but I'm only a tiny bit of your life, I don't know that much. You are a pretty private person, which is fair enough, the navy and its gossip, it's petty harsh."
"Gossip?"
"Ah, well, I guess there were whispers about you and the boss, which turned out to be true, that you knew him before Hammersley and that you guys may have, you know, dated. You tried not to let it interfere with your work but it get it would have been hard."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we could always tell when you guys had some personal issues, I mean not that you let it affect operational protocol, but to just weren't your friendly self, I mean, not all the time. But we all understood, but there was one day where you both just, well, I don't think you could look at each other, we thought you guys may have broken up?"
"What? Really?"
Bird hoped she hadn't over divulged and made her feel uncomfortable. She placed a smile on her face and pinched Aria's cheek.
"But obviously not, cos you're getting married! So, tell me all the details!"
End Chapter 12.