Ch 52

The next morning, Mike kissed Kate and Emma before they left home for work and daycare. Twenty minutes later, he got into town to find paint sample sheets. He marked the colors he liked and left them on the kitchen bench with a note for Kate. After that, he walked into the room to get his bag ready.

That night, by the time Kate arrived home with Emma, Mike was already back at Cairns. He was leaving for a patrol the next day. So, instead of feeling a bit depressed out of missing him, she returned to her previous routine. Once Emma was in bed sleeping. She prepared herself some dinner and was just then, that she noticed what Mike had left for her on the bench.

"Kate, I found these paint samples. I've already marked the ones I like. Which ones do you like? Love, Mike" Kate picked up the sheets and smiled with Mike's choices.

On one, he picked two called 'Navy blue' and 'Horizon Haze.' On the other group, he marked "sea life" and "ionic sky." She checked all the sheets searching for Mike's options and loved them. Then, she went through them again trying to find the ones she liked without being biased by Mike's picks. In the end, she added only two more called 'start dust' and 'vibrant' which were variants of yellow.

It was almost two weeks after Mike's departure when Kate was at home working on some papers when her cell phone rang.

"Kate McGregor, hello," she answered distractedly.

"I miss you," Mike's voice reached her from the other side of the line. Her eyes widened in surprise for a few seconds, and she lowered her pen and sat back in her chair.

"I miss you more, Mike. Where are you?"

"Back in Cairns for the night. We answered a mayday and towed the boat to port."

"How have you patrol been so far?"

"Good, how's Emma?" Kate smiled

"She's good. I think she loves playing with her bath toys more than playing with me," Mike smiled.

"Well, she is a water baby."

"That's true," Kate said caressing her baby bump

"I spoke to Steve today."

"About what?"

"Leave when twins are due."

"Oh, what did he say?"

"He said it's good timing. The final patrol for Childers is in February. Just when you are on maternity leave."

"Good timing."

"It is. Did you see the color charts?"

"Yes, I love the ones you picked, but I also added a couple in case we have two more girls."

"Which ones?"

"Hang on they are in the kitchen," she stood up and walked towards the fridge in which the list was hanged.

"They were a variety of yellow called Stardust and Vibrant."

"Yellow?" He asked, and she could hear the cringe in his voice. Kate laughed.

"They are not bright yellow, Mike."

"Oh! Good!" they talk for another ten minutes before they hung up.

Over the next month personal at Watson bay started to notice Kate's expanding stomach and it was finally obvious to everyone that she was pregnant.

When Mike was finally back at Kate's condo, he let himself in and fixed his stuff, stowing them away. Then, checking the hour, he went to the kitchen to make dinner. Is the smell of home-cooked meal coming from her apartment what makes Kate aware of Mike's return; when she entered her home, she smiled brightly.

"You are back!" She grinned as he walked towards her.

"I missed you," He said, kissing her.

"And I you, Mike!" They kissed once more, and Emma complained of being left alone. Mike bent over and picked her up.

"Hello sweetie! Daddy missed you," he whispered kissing her forehead.

"I'll let you talk, while I'll go and get out of my uniform," Kate added kissing his cheek before disappearing towards the room

"Are you hungry?" Mike asked Emma, walking towards the kitchen.

Kate completed her getting home routine before getting to the kitchen. Emma was in her high chair, and Mike was preparing her something to eat.

"Mm something smells good," Mike turned to Kate and smiled

"Well, I hope it tastes as good as you said it smells. How was your day?"

"Good." She kissed, "How long will we have you?"

"Until Friday"

"Your 'good timing' skill is still excellent," she grinned

"Why?"

"My appointment is tomorrow afternoon."

"Oh, that is why Steve gave us an extra twenty-four hours of leave! No wonder he gave me one condition."

"He did? What was it?"

"He wants to know what we are having this time" Kate laughed

"It sounds to me more like a bribe than a condition," Mike shrugged.

"Well, it might be. But either way, I won't complain when it gives me this kind of chances," he said pecking her lips. They chat while they feed Emma.

After Emma had her dinner, and theirs was almost ready. They kept their daughter in her high chair playing with some toys while they ate theirs. When they were done, Mike took care of the dishes before taking Emma for a bath. She splashed the water everywhere and had fun while Mike was trying hard to wash her. Kate took that opportunity to record the moment.

"Emma, you are getting me wet!"

Emma giggled as she splashed more water, Mike simply allowed her to play in the water until it was time to take her out. By then, he had a towel opened on the floor next to him, he picked Emma and placed her down drying her before standing. He stood up and noticed Kate holding a camera.

"Kate! Turn it off!"

"Nope," Kate giggled. "You are just too cute together." Then she noticed a strange look on Mike's face before he pulled Emma away from him.

"Thanks a lot, Emma!" he huffed, looking down and then up to a giggling Emma

"What's wrong, Mike?"

"Emma just peed on me!" he explained, and Kate laughed, and lowered her camera to record the wet stain. Mike shook his head and walked past Kate talking to Emma.

"That was mean Emma! And what's worse, your mummy recorded what happened!" Emma giggled waving her arms around for an answer.

"Watch it, sweetie! You almost gave me a black eye," Mike complained, and Kate kept recording everything until he turned the lights off and walked out closing the door slightly. He turned to Kate.

"Now I need a shower," he grumbled shaking his head. Kate stopped her recording the moment he disappeared into their room.

The next day, Mike meet Kate at Watson Bay car park. When she saw him, she smiled walking towards him He rushed to her and embraced her Mike kissed Kate.

"Ready to see the twins?" Kate asked grinning broadly.

"Yes, you?"

"Absolutely! Afterwards, we can stop by home; I'll need to get changed to head for a late lunch and maybe some shopping."

"Sounds good to me, but aren't you hungry?"

"There are vending machines in the hospital, Mike," she pointed as they got into Kate's car and drove to the hospital. Once there, Kate stopped by a vending machine to get a nut bar and a packet of chips. She munched what she got while waiting for Dr. Knight. She grabbed Mike's hand and placed it on her stomach, where he could feel a kick. A woman looked at them from the other side of the room.

"When are you due?" Kate turned to her with a smile.

"March next year, and you?"

"In two months. But march? Wow, you must be having twins or triplets," Kate smiled

"Twins," Kate grinned. "They would have been triplets, but I lost one."

"Sorry to hear that. Do you know what you're having?"

"We'll find out today."

"Did you follow the American president's race? It seems to be everywhere nowadays."

"No, ma'am. I don't have time to watch much Television."

"Oh, Henry Haze won the election." The woman shrugged. "What is that do you do? If you don't mind me asking."

"We are both in the navy, Ma'am."

"Navy? My husband is in the navy, and he's never on time for any of our appointments. He will be lucky if he's there in time for the birth of this one."

"What's your husband name, ma'am?"

"Commander Johnson, do you know him?"

"Yes, we do. I'm Lieutenant Commander Mike Flynn, and this is Lieutenant Kate McGregor, ma'am," the woman smiled.

"I'm Alice Johnson; it's nice to meet you both."

"You too, ma'am," Kate said

"So, you both are stationed here in Sydney?"

"No, I am. Mike is up in Cairns. He's the Captain on one of the patrol boats up there."

"Ah, so you must know Steve Marshall then," Mike grinned

"Yes, we've known each other for years. Kate also served under him while on HMAS Anzac over in Iran couple years ago."

"So, you are that McGregor! Steve mentioned you in his letters; he said you are a hard worker and a master of something."

"Taskmaster," Kate said

"That one. He also said that toilets were very clean by the time you returned from your tour."

"Yes, they were," Kate grinned.

"Sorry I'm late," they turned to the voice. Kate and Mike stood up

"Commander Johnson, sir," Kate said

"Lieutenant McGregor, Lieutenant Commander Flynn, this is a surprise."

"For all of us, sir," Mike said

"Please, sit down."

"Last time I saw you two was before Christmas last year. You just had your daughter and now" He looked at Kate's stomach then back up to Kate

"We wanted our kids to be close in age."

"Well, you two sure didn't waste any time," Commander Johnson said, and Alice took her husband arm

"As you should talk," Alice grinned. "Our oldest is twenty-one, and youngest is thirteen and well," she put her hand on her stomach

"Bit of age gap," Mike said

"It was a surprise. After I had our daughter, I was told I couldn't have anymore and well... here we are"

"I bet it was a shock to you, sir."

"Yes, it was. I sure was glad to be sitting down when she told me."

"But what's worse, when our daughter showed up that night to tell us that she pregnant he fainted," Mike and Kate laughed

"That's truly a double shock sir."

"Yeah, she's due in three weeks," he said as he shook his head

"Kate McGregor," a nurse announced.

"That's us. It was nice meeting you, ma'am. Sir, congratulations and good luck" Kate said

"Thank you and you too," Mike and Kate stood up and followed the nurse down to Dr. Knight office

"I wonder if Steve knows about it," Mike whispered

"Mike!"

"What?" he said grinning

Ten minutes later, Kate was on the table with Mike next to her, and they were watching the twins on the monitor

"Everything looks great here."

"That's good."

"Do you want to know what you're having?"

"Yes," Mike said

"Kate?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, you are having a boy and… a boy. Congratulations!" Mike bent over and kissed Kate.

"Twin boys."

"Yeah," they watched as Dr. Knight took their measurements. When it was all done, Kate got dressed, and they walked out of the hospital already talking about painting bedrooms.

Later that night, Kate was seating on the floor with Emma while Mike was recording what Emma was doing. Kate held Emma as she stood up.

"Go to daddy," Kate said as she let go of Emma. Emma looked at Mike while smiling then she took one step forth as she almost lost her balance

"Mike, are you getting this? It's our baby first step."

"I am Kate! Come on Emma! You can do it!" Mike held out his hand.

Emma looked at it then she took another step before she fell on her backside. She moved, crawling towards him. She reached the couch and pulled herself up, and walked to him.

"That's it, Emma, you are doing it," Kate said smiling.

Emma reached out to Mike's hand and grabbed before she wobbled towards him keeping his hand firmly gripped for support. She was frowning in concentration looking at the floor in front of her and then, she was close to the shoes and looked up.