The next few days go by in a blur for Mike and Kate, they are finding life on board boring as hell since they can't do anything, they talk to Steve daily but apart from that there really isn't much that they can do. Bird loans Kate a few books of hers to read, and Kate was surprised by the tastes of Birds books, she expected soppy romance novels, not books about people helping to fight crime. Kate became a fixture in the gally helping with meal prep, cooking and serving of dinner, it gave her something to do, outside of just reading books, or talking to some of the crew. She knew she was an officer of the RAN, and she knew she didn't need to be in there helping but with nothing else to do it was something to help the time pass by.

The only good thing was the fact that Dutchy had left all her Navy DPUN's on board along with Mike's and he also had their dog tags, well he said he had left them on board but she wonders if that is true at all. As she is sure some of her underwear was from home. But at least they had something to wear that fitted them and with their proper names on them, but she couldn't help but dream at times of wearing the name Flynn on her uniform. Of the future that Mike and her had spoken about, she hadn't removed her rings from her finger and she had noticed neither had Mike, both so used to wearing them but also feeling so natural at the same time for them.

Hammersley had been out at sea for a week now with Mike and Kate on board and things were about to chance. For good and for bad.

Hammersley was picking up more of the SAS troops, they already had one team on board and they were about to get another team on board as well. Mike and Kate were also getting ready to do more work together as well, having hatched a plan with Steve to try and get this sorted sooner than later, using the info that Gary had provided them with, they decided to try and play them see if they could flush them out, and Steve agreed to it thinking if be a great idea, and several other teams did as well, but only a handful knew of Mike and Kates full involved, the SAS knew nothing of what the two were truly up too and what they had truly been doing. And little did they all know just how much these two officers were going to play in bringing all of this to a very ugly ugly head, and ugly head that no one saw coming, or thought would happen.

Maxine has been running NAVCOM Cairns and is getting bloody sick of Captain Marshall over riding her in regards to Hammersley, she wasn't impressed when she had to return form medical leave but she could live with it, over time she hated not being able to be in contact with Mike and Kate, but when she got a copy of the paperwork about the two of them it set her off big time, she asked why Steve had done it and that he had put himself down as their commanding officer when it should of been her doing it, she was shocked to find that those two officers were never under her command and never would be, that Steve has been both their commanding officers for the last ten years, and would stay their commanding officer for the foreseeable future. She was pissed, more so pissed because her attempts to get Kate away from Mike were not working and that he had found another way around it, so she decided to file A.W.O (Away without leave) papers for the two officers, deciding since she couldn't control Hammerlseys patrols or even two other patrol boats she would do this, little did she know of the shit storm that was about to land on her lap at doing this. The shit storm that was already in motion just waiting for the right trigger to land on the right desk to set the ball in motion.

Out on the water, Mike's plan was in action. For the SAS they couldn't understand why there were two CO's and XO's on board Hammersley, Mike and Nick just played it off, saying Fleet Command had asked for two on board something about making sure we had plenty of fresh eyes and ears, and always wanting one CO on the bridge at all time. It didn't go unnoticed to both Kate and Mike that Jim was back on board but they had managed to so far stay clear of him or be too busy to be able to talk to him when he had tried to talk to them, well more Kate than anything. Of course it had been several months now since they last saw him, but both having far more pressing matters to address and deal with, than what Jim wanted with Kate. Thank god they got them all dropped off at their locations before Jim was able to get some alone time with her.

2 Days later they were having some down time at one of the little towns on the coast, Hammersley having anchored out in the Harbour, they had gotten word from Kingston that their boat was heading this way so they decided to come pay it a visit.

Mike and Kate went out together, finding a place they knew the crew would stay clear of, but they suspected if Gary was on the boat he would go to this little place. Plus they wanted some time away from the crew to just be with each other, share a kiss, dance, even hold each other something they were missing since being pulled on board Hammersley.

"Mike, Kate so lovely to see you here, I didn't see you boat docked or anchored up out there." Gary says as he comes over to them.

"Some bastard blew it up." Comes from Mike looking directly at him. "I hope it wasn't you who did that Gary, because if you did you owe me a shit load of money."

"No it wasn't me Mike, why would I blow that beautiful boat up."

"I don't know but someone did, someone is out to get use, our home in Brisbane was burnt to the ground, arsen they say, and then my boat a few days later, we would have been on it had we not been having dinner with some other boaties that night. As far as I'm aware you're the only one who could possibly be pissed at us."

"Look it wasn't me ok, and your home what the hell." He says Mike and Kate both see the shock on his face, they both know that he wasn't behind this at all, but who was behind it all.

"Yes what the hell is right, we lost everything now, no home, no boat, nothing."

"What about in Cairns?"

"The Navy owns them, not us sadly." Comes from Kate, she stays curled up into Mike's side.

"So how did you get here then?"

"Hammersley, it took us on board and we have been on board since, it is the ship we work on, we felt safer on board her than anywhere else." Kate replies back as she does a quick look around.

"You got someone following you?" Gary asks her.

"I'm not sure something doesn't feel right at all, the hair on the back of my neck is standing up." Kate says something is off, she can feel it, something isn't right.

"I have the same feeling. Let's get out of here, we will go out the back way. I know a secret way to get out of this place." He says and they follow him, deciding to trust him right now. They know for this to end they got to be on his side, they know and Steve knows it will open up their past to so many others, but they understand closure is needed for everyone, plus they need to get this guy locked up.

Kate's feeling wasn't wrong; she was being watched, watched by one of Jim's men. He had taken some photos of all three together. The three had managed to slip out of the club they were in and into an awaiting car without being seen, and for the guy JIm sent in to watch Gary, lost his target within seconds, unknown to him there was a very secret passage that lead out of the club and that only a handful knew about it.

An hour later the vehicle stops outside a private secluded home, and it's big.

"Gary is this your place?" Mike asks him.

"One of many you can stay here for as long as you both need. Make yourself comfortable, I'm going to go have a talk to my men and find out if they are behind the fire of your place and the bombing of your boat. Cause if one of them did it god help them." he says and they both see the fire in his eyes, they can tell he is pissed off and if it was one of his men, they both know he won't live through the night.

"Wow Mike it's stunning in here." Kate says as she walks around taking in the lovely artwork, as well as the decorating that has been done."

"Kate, Mike long time no see" come from Barb, Gary's wife. They met her when they first were under cover. They all give each other hugs and kisses.

"Gary didn't tell me he was meeting you two tonight."

"It wasn't planned, it happened by chance." Comes from Kate. She got on well with Barb, right from the start they hit it off

"So where did he head off to then?"

"He's off talking to his men, to see if they know anything about our house being burnt to the ground and our boat being blown up last week." Comes from Mike as he sits beside Kate.

They talk for over an hour before Gary comes back and joins them, he doesn't say anything about what he has found out, deciding to enjoy the company of his friends, with his wife who he knew had missed seeing these two, but she knew why she had to go and hide away, their child was far more important to both of them, so hiding away somewhere safe was what she did.

2 hours later

"What do you mean you lost him, and that two crew members from Hammersley were with him." Jim says to his fellow team member. He shows Jim the photos he took. Jim looks at them and is pissed off at what he sees, Kate and Mike cuddled up together talking to their target and looking so friendly as well, like they have known each other for some time. And the fact they also disappeared when their target did, says to him they know him far better than what his team knows their target, and that pisses him off, because he should have known that these two knew Gary and his team.

4 hours later. Early hours of the morning

"Do you two need to return back to that ship tonight?" Gary asks Mike, as the two share a drink.

"No we don't, we were just there because it was there." He says, hoping Gary will ask them to stay.

"Then you're staying here I meant what I said earlier Mike, you can stay here for as long as you need too. By the way my men are checking out what has happened, they find out who did it." He says to him, this to Mike means it wasn't Gary main set of guys that did this to them, that it could be some of the other guys that Gary employs ones that may not be so loyal to him as his main guys.

An hour later they all head off to bed.

During the day more information came about regarding the arsen on their home and the bombing on their boat. It wasn't Gary men that did it, but someone he employs to help move stuff, someone who was apart of everything ten years ago and wasn't happy to see them back around again, knowing how good a relationship the two had with Gary, they knew that Mike and Kate would get whatever they wanted from Gary, plus he always gave them the bigger better paying jobs, where they had to work their arse off.

Kate and Mike also met Barb and Gary's son Tom, who was a well adjusted 9yr old who was loving school. You could see the love they had for their child. It made Kate long for one of her own.

The 5 of them had a lovely day together, before Tom had to leave to head back to the mainland to go to school, during school time he lives with Barb's sister, them paying for him to go to one of the best private school's there are, plus they pay for her kids to go as well. For Mike and Kate it helped take away some of their pain, they just could be themselves again, and they could relax. They knew Hammersley was in good hands, they just wanted to enjoy themselves and get on to Gary's good books.

They are all tucked up in bed when an alarm goes off and then the sound of gun fire can be heard. Everyone inside the house is suddenly awake and alert.