Kate yawned as she walked over the gangway. This last patrol had been long and tiering, and as usual she was the last to leave the ship, not including the 2 sailors that were required to stay on watch whilst in port.
Walking through the doors of NAVCOM she knocked on Mikes office door. She needed to hand over the reports from the last patrol.
"Kate" he smiled turning to face her. When he looked at her his face fell. She had dark circles under her eyes and looked like death warmed up "is everything okay is the baby alright"
"yes I am fine and yes the baby is alright. I am just knackered. Please tell me the brass have sorted my placement because I cant and don't to go back out. This one doesn't seem to understand the navy watch system" she placed her hand on her belly . yawning she rubbed her eyes trying not to fall asleep on her feet. "well"
"we can talk about it later. Right now lets get you home." He shut down his computer before leading her out and to his car.
Kate fell asleep before they had even reached the guardhouse and the main road. 20 minuets later mike pulled up on to the drive.
"Kate" he whispered gently shaking her on the shoulder "were back" he smiled as she came too
"what" she rubbed her eyes slightly disorientated "oh" she realised where she was.
"do you want anything to eat?" mike asked as he unlocked the door and put Kates sea bag in the hall
She shook her head "think I am just going to lie down for a bit" she smiled climbing the stairs. She was asleep before her head had even hit the pillow.
Mike checked on her a couple of times even taking her some tea and toast knowing she needed to eat. But she didn't stir or touch the toast.
She awoke the next morning with the autumn sun streaming through the gaps in the curtains. Rolling over she found the space next to her empty with a note left on the pillow.
'sorry I didn't wake you emergency situation at NAVCOM be back soon I hope Love M' she could hear the sarcasm in his writing but the 'Emergency' had her worried. It usually meant something bad had happened and Hammersley and other available ships stood to be sailed immediately.
She quickly picked up her phone and pressed mikes number it rang twice before Mike answered
"Mike whats happened, is everything okay does Hammersley need to sail..." she didn't pause for breath.
"calm down Kate remember what the doctor said about stress. Yes everyone is fine and no Hammersley is needed. Its just something I need to deal with. I should be back soon"
"well whats the emergency" she asked still unsure that mike was withholding the whole picture.
He sighed he knew she would find out sooner rather than later. "Maxine..."
"oh" her voice fell yet again Maxine was coming in-between them. "whats happened to her" she asked not really caring. Hoping Nessie had taken one look at her and wolfed her down. She giggled slightly at the image that had entered her mind.
"its not whats happened to her more what she has done to the crew of the ship she was on"
"what did she do" she asked more worried for the crew of the British ship than Maxine her self
"she almost steered the patrol boat she was on in to the 3rd larges whirlpool in the world in the Gulf of Corryvreckan"
"how the hell did she manage that surely the British have excellent charts of the waters surrounding them"
"I don't know but I have just got off the phone with the commander of Clyde and he was not best pleased"
"is everyone okay?" Kate asked
"from what I was told yes. Shaken but they are okay. Look I have some paper work to deal with"
"but Its my scan today..."
"I know and I am so so sorry..."
"what ever" Kate was deflated "see you whenever" she hung up. Maxine ruining what was suppose to be a happy moment yet again and she was on the other side of the world.
Sitting alone in the waiting room for her scan. Thankfully today it seemed that they were running on time for once.
"Kate Flynn" the sonographer called.
Sitting on the bed she waited for the grainy black and white picture to appear on the screen.
"so the baby is growing nicely and there is a good strong heart beat. Do you want to know the gender?" the sonographer asked
Looking over her shoulder for a minuet forgetting mike wasnt with her. "umm no thank you" she smiled weekly wishing he was with her. He should be seeing this. The sonographer handed her the prints of the scan. "thanks she smiled sliding of the bed.
She headed home deflated and annoyed. She knew that Mike being captain meant that there would be meetings that he couldn't avoid at NAVCOM. But surely he could have sorted this one out so he could be with her.
Her phone buzzed with a message from Bird.
'you at home got something for the baby, coming with bomb and nav"
Kate sent a reply saying not at the moment but she would be in about half a hour. When she got home the 3 girls were waiting on the door step. Holding several boxies and balloons with baby shower printed all over.
"whats all this" Kate asked smiling. "you know I am not due for another 4 months"
"yes but with Hammersley's schedule and that we though considering that we have a few days at shore then a baby sower would be perfect. And the fact that you are due to be posted to shore before we next sail" Bomber smiled
Kate opened the door and the 3 girls followed her in. Placing the present boxies on the coffee table.
"where is mike, thought he was at the hospital with you" bomber asked
Kate shook her head as if she hadn't understood the question.
"Jess can you go give bomber a hand with the rest of the stuff from the car"
"sure" jess smiled and bounced out of the door
"Spill now whats up with you and mike"
"nothing he's just at NAVCOM sorting out something knocker did in the uk"
"what did she do?"
"almost sank a patrol boat by driving it in to a whirlpool in the Gulf of corryvreckan, its the 3rd largest whirlpool in the world"
"how did she do that. I mean the Royal Navy say that you should only sail through there if your a skilled navigator and I wouldn't even attempt that" Nav replied looking the area up on her phone.
The other 2 soon came in. Holding more boxies of food "are we expecting the entire RAN" Kate laughed seeing the amount of canapes prepared by bomber
"no just us and sally said she might pop by later" bomber smiled
"Present time" Bird grinned pulling her two boxies out first
Kate opened the first box and found baby sized DPNUs with dog-tags with Baby Flynn engraved on them. The second box had a baby sized white shore uniform with the Australian defence force medal ribbon and midshipman epaulets.
"these are cute" Kate laughed turning the boxies round to show the others.
"they are pretty cute." Bomber grinned.
"this is from the rest of the crew." Nav smiled handing her a basket with several items that she may need. Baby-grows, vests, and some pampering products for her. Relaxing lavender soaps and several relaxing scented candles. "2 dads did want to include a monkey but I thought the elephant would be more appropriate"
"thanks Nav and thank the crew for me aswell" Kate looked through the basket at all the goodies. "these look amazing" she pulled out some of the soap. It was expensive stuff.
"do you know what your having?" bird asked sipping the mocktails that bomber had made
"no. We wanted it to be a surprise" Kate smiled back.
"I have a brill idea. Lets do the ring test. My sister did it at one of her friends baby showers and it was right. Do you have a chain?" she asked
"will these do" she took her dog tags from around her neck handing bomber the chain.
"perfect and I need your wedding ring aswell"
Kate wriggled the ring off her finger and handed it to bomber
"okay lie down on the sofa" bomber directed as she threaded the ring on to the chain. Holding it over Kates bump. Holding it till it settled she let go of the ring. The ring began moving in a circular motion.
"what does that mean?" Kate asked
"its a girl. I think. Best of three" bomber smiled. This second time the ring went from side to side in a pendulum movement
"why has it done something different" bird asked
"don't know." She shrugged "could be non identical twins" She joked
"help me now" Kate grinned "but this is a pile of crap."
It was after midnight before mike eventually arrived home. Dumping his briefcase in the hall he wasnt expecting Kate to still be up.
"Kate?" he sounded shocked when she turned the lamp on next to the sofa.
"what was pressing then" she asked annoyed
"what" mike asked
"well you were gone over 12 hours, so what was so pressing that you missed my scan of OUR baby"
"I told you Maxine almost sank one of the UK patrol boats. I had to have a video conference with the admiral over there then have a meeting with the admiral here, then I had to speak to Maxine. And report back to the admiral and fill out a report for both. all made difficult with the 10 hour time difference"
" and you couldn't have just taken a hour to come to the hospital for the scan"
" it was impossible I am sorry. I will make it to the next one"
"that's not the point mike. You said you didn't want to miss a second of this and you are. You may as well be the one to take over on Hammersley" she spat
"Kate, don't be..." he was interrupted by his mobile ringing in his pocket. "one second"
"what ever mike I am off to bed, the spare room is all made"
She headed up the stairs alone, she heard mike on the phone, before hearing his tread on the stairs and him opining the spare room door. She didn't want to be like this but he hurt her and once again he was putting the Navy or someone else before her and their baby.
so I wanted to include a little drama. the whirlpool is real and is just of the coast of Scotland in between 2 islands and is very dangerous. it is the larges whirlpool we have in the uk. anyway please let me know what you think.