"You ready to go Monkey?" Kate entered the bridge a few minutes after Mike
"But why?" he grinned from his place upside down in 2Dads arms
"Because it's time to go"
"But…"
"Please don't question me come on" she stayed near the stairs when 2Dads placed Jai back down
"Are we going swimming now?"
"For a little while" she smiled when he stopped next to her
"Can Mike come?"
"I'm sure Mike has things to do here Monkey" she brushed her fingers through his hair
"Another time okay Mr Monkey" Mike knelt down in front of him
"You promise?" he held up his Pinkie, Mike looked up at Kate sadly
"I promise" Mike interlocked his around Jai's "Oh…" he said surprised when Jai gave him a hug
"Come on Monkey…" Kate tried to hide her emotional voice when he pulled back from the hug and Mike arose
"Okay.. bye 2Dads" he waved
"See ya little buddy" he smiled when Kate interlocked her hand with Jai's and exited the bridge
"Did I do something wrong?" Jai questioned walking through the boat with his Mum
"No of course not" she opened the hatch
"Kate!" Mike called after her when they walked along the deck "Kate" he repeated coming to a stop behind them
"Go wait near the gangway Monkey"
"But.."
"Just do it" she let his hand go
"Did I do something wrong?" Mike whispered when she turned around to face him
"No" she shook her head
"Kate, come on…" he brushed the falling tear off with his thumb
"Look, everything is fine okay" she pushed him back
"I did do something wrong, just tell me" he dropped his hand
"You can't go making promises with my kid"
"He's my kid too" he huffed
"I have to go" she went to turn
"No, you can't just come in here and tell me I have a son and then take him away when you don't like me forming a relationship with him" he grabbed her arm stopping her
"If you break a promise it's me who has to pick up the pieces, it's me who has to protect his little heart" she pulled her arm back
"I'm not going to break his heart"
"You did for four years, why stop now"
"That's not fair" he gave her a hurt look
"I have to go, I'm.. I'm sorry" she gave him a sad look as another tear fell she turned and lifted Jai into his arms and walked off the ship with him,
"Boss?" his voice interrupted
"I…" he continued to watch Kate walk away with Jai
"Are you okay?" he placed a hand on his arm
"I didn't…" he teared up
"Come on, I'll shout you a beer" he patted his back and moved them towards the gangway.
Sitting at the local with Mike, Swain watched as he turned his glass around for the third time
"Are you actually going to drink any of it or just play with it?" he teased
"I'm sorry Swain, guess I'm not much company" he pushed the still full glass forward
"I'm only kidding, what's with you?"
"I've just got a lot of stuff happening right now" he sighed
"You wanna tell me what's going on, I mean 2Dads has already started spreading rumours that you've got a secret kid and wife" his smirk disappearing when Mike looked across at him "You don't?"
"Technically just a son.."
"Wow.."
"Yeah.." he nodded
"So Jai he's…" he motioned lifting up his glass to take a beer
"As of three hours ago I became a Father to this little kid I didn't even know existed" he reached back for his beer
"So you and his Mother you weren't?"
"Kate? No, no it…"
"What?"
"We met at a park, her dog tripped me well she shouted me a drink to apologise and…"
"Oh.. the whole one thing let to another" Swain nodded
"We were both drunk and I guess in our state we never thought of the consequences, I left the next morning before she woke up"
"You what!" Swain choked on his beer
"Yeah, yeah I know okay but what was I supposed to do?"
"You could stayed around; I don't know cooked her breakfast in bed?" Swain placed his glass down
"It wasn't like I knew her, or my way around her house" he finally took a sip of his beer
"I just don't pick you for the one-night stand type"
"It was more then that, we had this real connection it was instant I've never had that with anyone but with Kate.. it was electrifying and the sex it was…"
"Okay I don't need to hear this part" he held his hand up
"Let's just say I have never had such an amazing experience like that, it was passionate, steamy and very, very sexy" he laughed
"Lalala not listening" Swain put his fingers in his ears
"All I'm saying is that passion created this little human being that I didn't even know existed" he sighed sadly, Swain removing his fingers from his ears
"When you left… did you not leave your number or anything in case you.. you know.."
"I left a rose, I figured we'd run into each other again if I was lucky but the day I left I was called to Hammersley and well I've been there since"
"Right… so you never got the chance to see her again"
"Not until this morning when I walked into NAVCOM and there… there she was" he smiled sadly
"So you have a son…"
"Yeah"
"Mike Flynn, cowboy Flynn has a son" Swain nudged his arm "It must be a pretty amazing feeling"
"How can I love something so much already when I just met him" he looked at him sadly
"It's just the way things are I mean with Chloe is was petrified and then this little human being the minute I held her in my arms I felt the way you feel"
"He's grown up five years without a Dad Swain, imagine how that's been for the kid to not know why other kids have a Mum and Dad and he just has a Mum" he took another drink of his beer
"And I'm sure Kate told him stories of his Dad"
"We barely knew each other, how can you tell stores about someone who is a complete stranger, Kate's right I can't go making promises that'll only break his heart"
"She said that?" Swain questioned
"He dosen't know Swain, my son dosen't know that I'm his Dad"
"But you know, and even if you just get to know him as Mike you're still getting to know him"
"How do I fix this? How do I prove to her that I can be there for my son"
"I don't know, but whatever you do you can't go back on a pinkie promise" he patted his back with a grin
"Very funny" Mike shrugged him off "If I'd stayed.. in I'd not left I wouldn't be sitting here trying to figure out the best way to get to know my son"
"You can't change the past Mike, you can only plan and change the future you're here now and once the little boy realises exactly who you are he won't care about the past four years"
"Thanks Swain" Mike smiled across at him
"Hey it's what I'm here for besides 2Dads, he's set up a pool of whether Jai is your kid or not"
"Of course he did"
"I mean it's not hard, the kids got your hair and your nose" Swain smirked
"Poor kid"
"My sentiments exactly" he laughed softly along with Mike.
...
"But you promised!" he sighed when they entered the house
"Jai, I have so much paperwork, we can go tomorrow okay?" she placed her hand on his cheek
"But you promised we could go today!"
"Monkey"
"No you promised" he pushed her hand off his cheek
"And I promise we can go tomorrow okay, just can we not argue about this right now"
"Is this because of Mike?" he sulked when she moved past him
"No it's not because of Mike" she shook her head
"If he was my Dad he'd take me to the beach"
"Well why don't you go ask him then, he wasn't here for the past four year why would he start now!" she yelled turning to face him
"What?"
"Monkey I…"
"Mike… is he my Dad?" his tiny face started to get teary
"I'm… I'm sorry…"
"You said you didn't know him, that it was once!" he ran past her towards his room
"Jai!"
"I hate you!" he slammed his bedroom door
"Can you open the door please…" Kate mumbled through the closed object a few seconds later
"I don't… want… to talk to you…" he said through tears
"Dipsy's looking for you" she looked down at the old dog who was scratching at his bedroom door,
jumping back in surprise when the door opened her eyes met with his red teary ones before the door slammed shut again and she noticed Dipsy missing
"Monkey please… everything I told you was the truth I met Mike and we drank to much, he left before I woke up I never saw him again until today"
"You still.. should.. have told me…"
"You're my baby, you didn't.."
"I'M FOUR AND A HALF ALMOST FIVE!!" he yelled back before a thud was heard from what she presumed was something he'd thrown at the door
"Exactly my point you're still my little boy I didn't want to hurt you with the wrong answers to your questioned I knew you'd eventually ask"
"Does he know?" his sad voice answered
"Yes.." she rested her forehead against the door
"I want to see him"
"Monkey I.. I don't know his number or even where he lives"
"Then figure it out"
"Monkey…"
"I want my Dad" he replied breaking her heart
"I'll… I'll see what I can do.." she stepped back "I love you, never forget that"
"I want my Dad…" he repeated softer hugging Dipsy who was nuzzled against his chest licking up his tears that were covering his face.
Sitting at the coffee table 5 minutes later she flipped through the phone book for any hopes of finding his name and number,
flipping to the last page with no luck she slammed it shut
"DAMMIT!" she yelled throwing it across the room it hit a picture to the ground causing it to smash
"Dammit.." she sighed arising from her chair and over to the picture,
picking it up slowly the broken glass fell to the floor while a photo of her and Jai laughing stared back at her looking down at it a tear fell down her cheek when the doorbell rang
placing it down on the table she made her way up the hall stopping briefly at the mirror to wipe the tears off her face;
opening the door the tears began falling again when she spotted Mike standing on the other side
"I'm sorry.. I got.. I got your address off Commander White" he instantly answered
"Jai.. fight… you… Dad.." she struggled
"Where is he?" he looked around confused,
not being able to say any words Kate just pointed to the door down the hall.
Knocking softly on the door he entered to see Jai laying on the bed with a dog his eyes all read and blotchy
"I'm.. not talking to you" he sniffled
"Even for me?" he answered when Jai shifted to sit up on his bed in surprise, the tears fell harder
"Oh Mr Monkey, what's going on?"
"Your… my… Dad..?" he questioned through the cries instantly moving to the bed Mike pulled him up and into his arms and hugged him tight
"I'm sorry Monkey… I'm so sorry" he rubbed his back beginning to tear up himself.