Somebody That I Used To Know.
Chapter 14.
Kate lay next to Mike on the couch, staring into nothingness. Her mind only thinking of the terrible person she was, she had cheated on her fiancee and iced out her friend for trying to help her. Jumping off the couch she grabbed her phone, she could at least fix one thing. Mike propped himself up, confused by her sudden movement.
"What are you doing?"
"I suppose if I forgave you, I should forgive her too."
"I know she'd be dying to hear from you! I've gotta finish some paperwork, anyway."
Kate looked up from her phone, shooting him a confused look.
"I thought you said you took the rest of the week off?"
"Starting tomorrow, but you go see Stacey, I'll look after Aria!"
He kissed her on the forehead and retreated to his office. She typed out a message trying to explain, she reread it and shook her head, it was an essay. Deleting the entire message she tried again.
"You up for some food? I owe you an apology."
Stacey replied immediately.
"Always! The usual? Xx"
Kate's leg bounced up and down, she wasn't sure how she was going to explain herself. She spotted Stacey entering the pub and stood from the table, she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw a giant smile appear on Stacey's face. Stacey ran towards her and threw her arms around her.
"I've missed you!"
Kate squeezed her tighter.
"Me too! I'm sorry!"
"No, I am, I shouldn't have opened my big mouth!"
Kate slid her a glass of wine as they sat down.
"No, you were just worried about me, I get it, and thanks..."
Stacey raised her eyebrow as she took a sip from her glass.
"For what?"
"Being my friend, I know it can't be easy."
Kate's head dropped, fiddling with the coaster in front of her, she didn't know what else to say. Stacey reached over and placed her hand on Kate's sensing her anxiousness.
"Kate, you need to know it wasn't like a plot or anything, we were just chatting one day, and he mentioned how worried he was about you. He wished you had some friends outside the navy, more so to make it easier for you. You sounded like an awesome person and then I said something about how hard it was to make friends as an adult and he said you said the same thing. We just planned the meeting, he said you'd come and visit and I should introduce myself."
Kate exhaled sharply, rubbing her hands over her face.
"I want to believe that in his own twisted way, he was trying to help."
"So, are you guys okay?"
"Well, he's taking some time off to help with the wedding and…"
Stacey's phone beeped interrupting them, she pulled it from her bag, a grin appeared on her face as she read the message.
"Who's got you smiling like a schoolgirl?"
"Ah, it's Dutchy actually…"
"Oh, what does he want?"
"He's asking me out, I thought you said he wasn't interested?"
Kate shrugged, pretending she wasn't stunned, only the previous day he was kissing her.
"Oh, well, I didn't think he was…"
Stacey typed a reply but stopped and glanced over to her.
"You're okay with this though, right?"
Kate nodded, taking a large mouthful of her drink, stopping her from saying what she really felt. Stacey eagerly replied and chucked her phone back into her bag.
"Okay, sorry, bad girlfriend moment, my focus is solely on you now, so wedding stuff, do we have a date yet?"
"ASAP..."
"Oh, okay, we better find you a dress then! C'mon, you've got some time now, yeah?"
Kate stood on the step in front of the full-length mirror, her hands ran over the delicate lace that covered her torso. Stacey stood beside her, tears threatening to spill.
"It's perfect."
Kate nodded, she couldn't speak, she was overwhelmed with emotions she couldn't put into words.
Stacey noticed her stained expression and grabbed her hand.
"Kate, are you okay?"
She stepped down from the block and sat on the nearby couch. She exhaled sharply, raking her hands through her hair as she paced.
"Maybe I don't need a dress, I feel like all this fuss is just, silly."
Stacey grabbed her by her shoulders, trying to catch her eye.
"Kate, just breathe. There's no rule book, you do it how you want, I mean, how did you picture your wedding day?"
"I dunno, I guess the issue is that when I did, I pictured it with Jack. That doesn't mean I have feelings for him but it just feels strange, I guess Mike wants what I want but maybe that's the problem, I need to have more of him in the wedding."
"What? Like getting married on Hammersley?"
Stacey chuckled, shaking her head at the ridiculous thought. Her laughter stopped seeing Kate wasn't as amused as she was.
"Seriously?"
"Do you think you could pull some strings?"
Stacey wrapped her arm around Kate's shoulder, giving her a squeeze.
"Pretty sure I don't need to pull any strings for the Navy's favourite couple. Okay, well seeming that's decided, I think we deserve another drink!"
"Okay, let me get out of this dress."
"Wait!"
She pulled on Kate's arm with a panicked expression.
"You're not gonna skimp in the cake, right?"
Kate let out a chuckle as she unzipped the zipper.
"This is why you're a bridesmaid!"
"What? Really?"
She pulled Kate in for a hug.
"Well, that'll work out nicely if Dutchy's your maid of honour and we end up together."
Kate scurried into the change room.
"So, ah, so you're gonna go out with him?"
"Well, wouldn't you? Oh, sorry, weird answer. Why not? He's a great friend to you so... Kate, you sure you're okay with this?"
"Yeah, totally."
"Okay...now hurry up so we can find you some cake!"
Hours later Kate and Stacey burst through her front door giggling. Mike poked his head out from his office, hearing the commotion.
"Ladies…"
Kate ran up to Mike, presenting him with the multitude of bags she was carrying.
"We bought wedding stuff…"
He chuckled nervously at her euphoric state.
"And alcohol?"
Stacey skipped up to them, wrapping her arms around Kate.
"We may have had a few cocktails ."
Stacey giggled, flopping on to the couch kicking off her shoes.
"One for every wedding task we completed."
Mike lead Kate to the couch and sat her down next to Stacey.
"I'm gonna get you ladies some water."
Dutchy approached Mike's door, he needed to talk to Kate about what happened, and the fact he had stupidly asked Stacey out straight after they had kissed. He was about to knock when he spotted Kate and Stacey laughing on the couch, he waited for a minute and observed Mike join them. Kate lay herself over Mike as she played with his hair, he shook his head and raised his hand to knock, but stopped short. Exhaling sharply, he turned back down the path and got into his car. He slammed his fist into the steering wheel letting out a grunt, his phone beeped, he couldn't help but feel relieved to see the message that they were being crash sailed.
That night Kate lay in Mike's arms, the haze of cocktails has worn off and she was left with her inner thoughts again. She desperately tried to forget the kiss, telling herself it was just a moment of weakness, they had been drinking. Eventually she drifted off to sleep, but her dreams weren't kind to her either .
"You're ignoring me."
"No, I'm not..."
"Okay, you're avoiding me then."
"No, I'm trying to be professional."
"But you didn't have to cut me off, make out like it never happened and that we were nothing."
"I didn't..."
"But you treat me like a stranger, and that feels so rough."
"Look, I just don't know what you want from me..."
"I want you..."
"I've already told you my answer, and you won't have to feel like I'm being unprofessional soon, I'm leaving Hammersley."
Silence.
"Right, so soon, you'll become somebody that I used to know."
The next morning Kate awoke feeling like she only slept for few minutes, carefully peeling herself away from Mike she got dressed. Peeking in to Aria's room she smiled seeing her sleep, she placed the baby monitor on Mike's side and she tiptoed out the room.
Kate took a deep breath in as she stopped in front of Dr Bowen's office, she hadn't made an appointment but her head felt like it was going to explode and she was the only person she felt would be unbiased.
Dr Bowen made her way to the reception desk, looking up she spotted Kate on the footpath. They caught each other's eye, Dr Bowen waved her in, she begrudgingly opened the door.
"Ah, hi."
"Kate! It's been a while, is everything okay?"
"Ah, I don't have an appointment but."
"I have some time now if you would like to chat."
She nodded and followed Dr Bowen into her office.
"I was going to call you this week, you hadn't made another appointment, and we were doing regular appointments."
"Yeah, a lot has been happening."
"Well, even more reason to come and see me. So, what's been happening?"
"You said I had been seeing you since Jim died, how long ago was that?"
"Mmm, maybe four years."
"Oh..."
"Why don't we start with why, why did you want to know that?"
"Well, it's more to ask about Mike and I's relationship. Like, I'm over it now but..."
"Kate, just tell me what happened."
"Well, I made a new friend at N.A.V.C.O.M, and he kinda set it up so he could check up on me."
"Oh, and have you confronted him about it?"
"Yeah, and we had a massive fight, I went to Dutchy's."
"Okay, so do you want to work through this!"
Kate's focus lowered to the floor.
"Well, I kinda have but..."
"But what?"
"I kissed Dutchy..."
The words flew out of her mouth, astounded that she said them, her eyes darted up to Dr Bowen's checking her reaction, her face was blank.
"Oh."
Kate paced the room, afraid she was going chicken out of explaining.
"We'd be drinking and, I mean, he kissed me, but only after I tried to kiss him. I went home to tell him, but then he apologised, cos we had a fight before which nearly resulted in a car accident."
"Are you okay?"
"Just a knock on the head, but it just caused a lot more drama. I mean, did I have, well, did we have a lot of problems?"
She returned to her seat and hunched herself over, her head in her hands.
"All couples aren't without their problems, Kate."
Kate groaned at her professionalism.
"Ugh, that such a diplomatic answer."
"So, you and Mike, you're still fighting?"
"I'm back home, and somehow we set a date for the wedding. I just, I need to know if I'm doing the right thing."
"Kate, I can't answer that."
"Okay, in your professional opinion then?"
"Still can't make that call, Kate. But I can help you work through this. Do you want to talk about kissing Dutchy?"
"No, that was just, it's forgotten."
"I think it's something you need to think about."
Kate shook her head as she rose from the chair.
"No, it's okay, I'm not really sure why I'm even here, everything is all good.."
Kate returned home to find Mike dancing round the lounge room with Aria, she couldn't help but smile seeing the joy on their faces.
"I didn't know you could waltz."
"Can't look like a fool for our first dance, could I?"
Mike place Aria down on her play mat and stood in front of Kate, grasping her hand in his he pulled her close.
"Fresh start? I've got all I need here, you and our daughter."
She smiled and nodded ever so slightly, wrapping her arms around his neck as she rest her head on his chest.
"Fresh start."
Dutchy and Jack sat in the bridge, Dutchy glanced at his watch and yawned.
"Only 3 hours to go..."
"I love night watch, it's peaceful..."
"Yeah, well, if you like hearing your own thoughts."
Jack smirked and swivelled his chair around to face him.
"Coffee for your thoughts?"
"Yeah, sure."
A few minutes later Jack returned with two brews, he handed one to Dutchy and he blew on his.
"So, what's going on in that head of yours that you don't want to deal with?"
Dutchy frowned as he blew over his hot mug.
"Why do you say that?"
"I'm good at reading people. Dutchy, this isn't a criticism but, you're distracted, I can tell."
"I'm not…"
Jack held his stare waiting for him to cave, but he refused to budge.
"Okay, so I'll change the topic, is Kate still staying with you?"
Dutchy tried not to wince at the mention of her name, Jack frowned seeing his pained expression.
"Mulholland?"
"Ah, no, she went home... I don't feel like we should be talking about Kate."
"Why?"
"She's our friend and, look, she's fine, her and Mike are fine."
Jack wasn't buying it, he sipped on his brew as he raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, and you're fine too, right?"
Dutchy turned to check the EOD, avoiding Jack's glare.
"One hundred percent..."
Jack rose from the CO's chair and elbowed him, shaking his head.
"Yeah, one day I'll figure you out, Mulholland."
End Chapter 14.