Day 5: Part 2
"You're seriously challenging 2Dads to a poker match?" his voice came from behind her
"Mike please, you know I'm the ultimate Poker player"
"But it's 2Dads!" he followed her towards the bridge
"I can take him on, I mean I took you on" she teased
"That doesn't count…"
"Why not because we played strip poker?" she stopped feeling him bump into her back
"Well ah…" he cleared his throat
"Relax, I taught you how to play didn't I?" she turned to face him
"Just make the steaks edible hmm" he nodded
"Loser does guts watch for the next week" she crossed her arms
"You are a brave woman"
"It's just a poker match"
"Yes with 2Dads!" he turned her back around and pushed her towards the bridge.
"Game on?" 2Dads raised an eyebrow when Kate entered the bridge with Mike in tow
"Loser does guts watch?" Kate stopped next to him
"For how long?" he questioned while Charge shuffled the cards
"A week"
"Ohh… Make it two because I know I won't lose" 2Dads reached a hand out
"Kate…" Mike cleared his throat, she took a quick glance back at Mike before grasping 2Dads hand in hers
"Deal" she shook it hearing the annoyed sigh coming from Mike where he watched on closely
"Come on X!" Bomber grinned
"Game on?" Charge dealt the cards on the table that had been cleared especially for this once in a lifetime match
"Your going down McGregor" 2Dads picked up his cards
"Bring it on" she reached for her own
"This is going to be fun!" 2Dads grinned,
Kate took another quick glance at Mike who smirked before shaking his head and moving to sit in the Captain's chair.
...
"How!" 2Dads huffed two hours later
"I told you, ultimate poker player" she grinned crossing her arms
"Another round?" he raised an eyebrow at her
"2Dads, we've already played three rounds, and the third time you took the steaks higher for a month of guts watch"
"X your ruining my reputation here"
"Shouldn't have under estimated me" she patted him on the back before moving to stand near the Captain's chair
"I am never playing poker on this ship again" 2Dads sighed
"I think you've broken him X" Mike turned around in his chair
"Hmm" she shrugged with a grin
"Care to take me on for a round?" he whispered
"Not on board because you and I will play a very different sort of Poker not suitable for onboard, Sir" she winked before moving towards the stairs and exiting the bridge.
"I got to say I am impressed" Bomber approached her on the back deck
"Sorry?"
"The Poker game" she pointed
"Oh, well that it's all in the poker face find out their tail tell signs and you know they haven't got a good hand" she grinned leaning against the railing
"Oh? And what's 2Dads?" she stopped next to her
"Strictly between us?"
"Obviously" she grinned
"He bites his inner cheek" Kate shrugged
"Huh, so how you feeling?" Bomber changed the subject
"Tired, exhausted, sore, not necessarily in that order"
"2Dads mentioned that you finally ate something"
"Yeah, look about this morning…"
"Oh don't even worry about it" Bomber shook her head
"I guess it just affected me more than I initially thought, Mike and I we spoke about it but…"
"It's still fresh?"
"I get he's trying to help, we went through it together so having someone's perspective he so badly wants to help but every time I close my eyes I see that guy standing over me kicking the crap out of me" she instinctively rested her hand across her abdomen
"Did it… did it ever cross your mind that this is it, we might not be found?" Bomber asked nervously
"When he took me to that hut, all I could think about was Mike rushing in to save the day I thought he was going to rape me Bomber I couldn't go through that again" she sighed
"Again?"
"When I was fourteen my Mum was with her tenth boyfriend of that month I guess she'd kicked him out of the room after a drinking session and he's next best option was sleeping in the room at the end of the hall" she replied with a blank face
"You were fourteen?" Bomber said shocked
"Twelve the first time it happened with one of her other boyfriends" she shrugged
"Wow…"
"I've never told anyone that" Kate looked out at the water
"Not even Mike?"
"He knows about the rape but there's a lot of things Mike doesn't know about me Bomber"
"Care to elaborate?" she replied without really thinking
"Alcoholic at fourteen to block out the pain, three miscarriages between the ages of twelve and fourteen, guess my little body just couldn't handle it"
"So what changed?"
"I found my Dad" she smiled sadly
"You didn't know him before?"
"My Mum brought me to Australia when I was three, he'd been searching for twelve years before he found me"
"So you're not from Australia?" she questioned
"England, originally then the middle of the sticks in WA"
"How old were you when your Dad he…"
"Fifteen, he'd just showed up one day had all these photos, birth certificate, I saw him every day after school as a part of the custody rights my Mum had given him and then when I was seventeen he'd walked in on Mum's boyfriend at the time forcing… Anyway he grabbed my bag packed what I needed, and we left just kept driving ended up in Queensland" she sighed
"So he… saved you pretty much?"
"Got me clean I stopped drinking, started getting higher marks in school, he brought a flyer home one day from work…"
"A Navy flyer?" Bomber smirked
"The moment he handed it to me I knew it's what I wanted to do in life signed up an eighteen, left at nineteen" Kate finally turned to face her
"And when did you meet Mike?" she asked with a grin
"Four years later, funny isn't it we'd been at the same place for that long and didn't even notice one another" Kate shook her head
"And your Dad he's proud of you?" Bomber watched the smile disappear off her face
"I'd like to think so, he passed away three years ago heart attack" Kate looked at her sadly
"Oh Kate I'm sorry…"
"All I ever wanted growing up was someone to just be there for me you know, and then my Dad came along, and it was like life was going to be better than it already was"
"And it hadn't be?" Bomber questioned
"I go out there everyday and risk my life for our country, when Mike first left I devoted my time to the Navy full time then my Dad died and I realised I'd wasted to many years just keeping myself closed off from everyone"
"So what'd you do?"
"I became the Kate I am today I guess, I started fresh my Dads last words to me where 'Don't live your life in the past, work at creating a future you want to live in' and when I first joined Hammersley I didn't understand what he meant but then I saw Mike and…"
"What?" Bomber turned to see him making his way over
"I knew he was the one person I wanted in that future" Kate smiled sadly
"Ladies am I interrupting?" he stopped next to them
"No Sir we were just…" she stopped when Kate shook her head slightly
"Kate can I interest you in a walk?" he turned to look at her
"I'd love one, I'll meet you on the dock?" she smiled
"Sure" he nodded walking off
"Bomber… About…"
"My lips are sealed, but I'm glad you could confide in me" she placed a hand on her arm
"I'll be okay, I've got Mike believe me he won't let me keep things bottled up" Kate smirked slightly
"You better go, I think he's waiting" she smiled
before Kate turned to walk off towards Mike who immediately pulled her to his side and walked her along towards the local town.
"So where are we going?" Kate interlocked her hand with his
"For a walk" he grinned
"Yeah but where?" she teased
"Impatient woman" he shook his head
"Mike after yesterday's events I'm not exactly in the mood for surprises"
"Believe me this one will be worth it" he assured her as they walked towards the beach.
"You did all this?" she looked around in surprise at the candle lit picnic a few minutes later when they stepped onto the beach
"I figured, that after everything we could watch the stars together" he smiled
"When did you even have the time to set all this up?"
"I had Swain and Charge do it while 2Dads was sorely losing at the third round of poker" he motioned for her to sit down
"It's beautiful" she carefully sat down with him sitting next to her he shifted to lay down and pulled her with him she rested her head across his stomach while his hand laid across hers
"Do you ever think our loved ones could be up there?" he looked up at the stars
"I like to think so, maybe my Dads looking down smiling at how much I've changed" she brushed her fingers across his hand
"Is that what you and Bomber were talking about?"
"Yeah, about my past before my Dad found me…"
"Do you ever think it about it, when we're…"
"What we do isn't what that was, what you and I have it's special" she assured him
"I know, but going through that…"
"It doesn't matter it's all in the past, what I want to do is live in the now plan for the future" she smiled
"Does this future include me?" he grinned
"It could" she gasped when a shooting star flew past
"Make a wish Kate" he fiddled in his pocket with his free hand,
shifting he noticed her eyes were closed and she was whispering to herself moving his hand out of his pocket he held the item in front of her eyes
"Done" she grinned opening her eyes to see his hand holding a ring
"Kate…" he whispered when she shifted to sit up she turned to face him while he did the same
"Mike is that…"
"Kate McGregor, you are the most challenging, infuriating, beautiful, Courageous and just down right sexiest woman I have ever met" he grinned
"My life has become better since you walked back into it, and if I could spend the rest of my life with you by my side I would be the happiest man on earth…"
"Mike…" she placed her hands on his cheek where there were now tears falling
"I know we have so much to sort out but what I do know is that I want you to become my wife, Kate McGregor… Will you…" he began saying before he was cut off by her lips on his
"Um… Is that a?" he whispered when she pulled away
"Yes" she grinned
"Impatient woman" he laughed grabbing her left hand off his face and slipping the ring on
"It's beautiful" she looked down at the four carat gold diamond engagement ring that had a blue sapphire stone in the middle she began to tear up
"I love you" he brushed the loose hair behind her ear while her hand came back to rest against his cheek
"I love you, I love you so much" she met his lips in a passionate kiss
"So what'd you wish for?" he mumbled against her lips
"If I tell you it won't come true" she pulled away before they moved to lay back down in the same position as before
"Kill joy" he laughed brushing his thumb across her ring
"I'll tell you one day" she smiled looking up at the stars seeing one of the flitter back she could of sworn it was her Dad.
Making their way back on board just before 2200 Kate sighed when Mike stopped on the deck holding her close to him
"What's wrong?" he turned her to face him
"Nothing…" she looked up at him
"Kate?" he raised an eyebrow at her
"It's just… Are you sure this isn't all a dream and I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it's going to all be gone?" leaning down he kissed her passionately while her left hand came to rest against his cheek
"Does that feel like a dream to you?" he brushed his nose against hers
"No…" she bit her bottom lip
"This is real Kate, we're engaged and… what?" he looked at her confused when she broke out into a grin
"Say it again?"
"What, where engaged?"
"We're engaged Mike, Kate McGregor is engaged to Mike Flynn" she smiled
"Your so smitten" he teased
"When you've got someone as amazing as you it's hard not to be" she brushed her thumb across his bottom lip before kissing him passionately
"It's late can I walk you to you cabin?" he smiled pulling back
"Stay with me until I fall asleep?" she asked hopeful
"Absolutely" he moved back interlocking his hand with hers and walking them towards the side hatch.
(So... this went completely different as I thought, anyway might change it up a bit soon and have them aloud to go back to port not sure yet. Don't forget to review Xx)