Walking through the door Mike dumped his bag on the little bench they had in the hall. Slowly they had all been trying to return back to normal. The schools had been back several weeks which had been a relief as both he and Kate had been going stir crazy with trying to keep up with the work the kids had been sent as well as the endless arguments as a result of being 'olds' and 'not knowing anything' according to Nicole.

Things had been getting a lot worse over the past few days with Victoria going in to serious 6-week lockdown because of a spike in Melbourne. It would have been alright if people had followed the rules and maintained the distance and wore masks but some people didn't see why they should. Resulting in most of the country shutting their boarders to anyone from Victoria.

It was just after Midday, and despite mostly being back at NAVCOM Mike still could only have half days in the office and the rest had to be done from home. It was working well as Chris's Kindergarten still hadn't gone fully back yet so when Kate was at sea he could stay home and look after him on the days he couldn't be in school.

Walking along the hall he leant against the Kitchen door watching Kate who was sat at the kitchen table. She had Chirs sat on her lap and both were engrossed in something on the computer. Chris was giggling clapping his hands with delight.

Breaking his silence, he walked over kissing her on the top of her head

"afternoon" he smiled

Turning she smiled "hey" she said allowing Chris to slid from her knees. He walked off following the cat around calling after her. Walking round in to the Kitchen she flicked the switch on the kettle. "so how was it today"

"well it was mainly discussing what we will do if Queensland has to go in to a similar state of Lockdown as we are seeing in Victoria. The Patrol boats will still have to go out but it may be a case of all crews have to stay on board even in port" he said sitting in her seat

She looked up at him. Melbourne had been placed in to a 6-week minimum lockdown. It would be heart breaking if she had to spend so long away from the children. She had seen how moving it was with the medics in the hospitals.

"its only a maybe Kate, nothing is definite at this point." he said softly watching her

"i know." she sighed not wanting to look at him

"come here" he smiled holding his arm out.

Walking around she allowed him to pull her on to his lap.

"lets not think or talk about that for now. Its only maybes it might not have to happen. So what's this you are watching?" he asked looking at her computer.

"oh just this video that Bird sent me. This woman in England has made these little videos of her hamster called Spud on these little lockdown adventures. We were just watching when the hamster went in to space." she grinned clicking off the video

"a hamster." Mike grinned

"yes they are cute. I used to have a little Syrian hamster like this when I was a kid. Except mine was tan and white"

"first cats on twitter and now hamsters on Facebook. What next Koalas on my-space" he smiled?

"no one uses my space anymore" Kate grinned at his ancient taste in social media.

"whatever. So, what else has this hamster got up to?" he asked

"well he went to a local art gallery and then a pub called the rodents return. He also had a staycation in the City where he lives. Birmingham." she smiled "i have three more to watch. He apparently gets to go to Hogwarts; he visits London and gets blasted in to space." she smiled saving the link so she could find it later.

"really" he sighed

"yes. Remember the one we got Nicole when she was little" Kate smiled

"what the vicious little shit that took half my hand off" Mike said

"it nipped your finger because you just shoved your hand in the cage" Kate folded her arms

"i needed 5 stitches and a tetanus shot" Mike said "look I still have the scar" he held out his hand.

Squinting Kate looked at his hand before reaching for her glasses she put them on looking at his hand. "nope I cant see anything" she grinned

"that hamster was the devil. He had bright red beady little eyes" Mike folded his arms

"he was sweet. You were just a little heavy handed"

"i was not. I put my hand in to get the little bugger out to clean his cage and he bit me and hung on."

"well my hamster I had as a kid was a sweet little thing. Just a bit mad I called him Hammy Houdini because he was a little escapologist" Kate grinned "he was a Syrian hamster like this one except he was tan and white" Kate smiled

"you are mad" he grinned

"well its only you and the kids that have sent me that way" she smiled "do you want a brew?" she said standing

"lovey" he smiled pressing play on the video that was on the computer watching the tiny hamster.

Turning around Kate saw him smiling as he watched. Smiling she turned her attention to making the drinks. Handing one over to him she smiled. Chris who had gotten board of following the cat and had curled up in the cat's basket.

"would you go pick up the girls" she smiled "they finish at 2 today"

Looking at his watch there was half a hour to go. "sure. Gracie was saying the other day she wished I could pick her up from school more"

"well that's settled then." Kate smiled "now can I have my seat back and finish watching those videos" she grinned#

so hope you are all doing well. especially those of you in Victoria. so just a note. the hamster videos are real and are on Facebook! he is a little hamster that lives in my area and his owner posted the videos and has actually managed to write a book of his adventures. Spud has appeared in multi national media like USA Brazil France Spain and Slovakia. anyway hope you enjoy this other little look in to the Flynn's life in the pandemic

enjoy x