Ch56
Nikki walked into her apartment a week after Sam had delivered the letter. She had her mail redirected to a post office box and therefore, the moment she opened the door she saw the white envelope. With a frown, she locked the door behind her and grabbed the letter.
Discarding her keys and purse on the table, she had close to the door she walked to her bedroom keeping the letter in her hand. She lowered her duffel bag and kicking her shoes off; she opened it. She did a quick read before reading it again slowly with a frown.
"Who the hell is Josh?" she wondered out loud as she placed the letter back in its envelope. Leaving that one be for the moment, she opened the one that would have her next career move. "to Cairns it is…" she grinned. "HMAS Hammersley, here I go."
She did a quick read again to verify the name of the Captain of the boat and noticed while she had two weeks to find a place to move. She was very grateful because the navy paid for all the furniture movers for officers moving somewhere else, otherwise, she would be in trouble.
"Better soon than later," she muttered to herself. And standing up she walked to the kitchen to get herself a drink and starting on several calls.
Chris walked into his home two days later, and Sally rushed to him and kissed him deeply.
"I missed you, Chris!"
"I missed you too." He smiled softly. "How are the boys?"
"Good, handful as usual. Ah, something came for you yesterday," she added over her shoulders looking around until she found it. He lowered his bag and took the envelope she had found for him, he took the contents out and soon he had a grim face.
"What's wrong?"
"I've been transferred."
"What? Where?" Sally asked surprised.
"Cairns, I'll be on a patrol boat, the HMAS Hammersley to be exact." He looked up at her.
"There's more, isn't there?"
"I start in twelve days," he finished with a sigh. Her hand found his free one and gave it a light squeeze. He looked up at her confused and saw her smile softly.
"We better find a place to live there," surprised by her reaction, he pulled her into a tight hug.
"We have to tell the boys…"
"We can do that tonight, together." He lowered his head and kissed her. They separated as they heard the front door opening.
"Dad! You are home!" Chris turned around smiling at his three sons
"Yes, I am." The three boys ran towards him quickly, forcing him to take a step back to stabilize himself as he hugged them back.
A week later, Nikki entered her new apartment, boxes covered most of the place, and she started the tiring process of unpacking making the most of the free days she had before presenting herself at Hammersley.
That same day, Josh arrived home to find an envelope in his mat. He picked it up, opening it while kicking his door shut. He read the letter as he made the way to his room. With a sigh, he placed the letter on his bedside table before starting to sort the things from his bag.
The day Hammersley was due to sail, all the crew was busy loading boxes onto the boat. Lieutenant Commander Black and his XO were on the wharf when they spotted a woman in uniform walking towards them. She was carrying her duffel bag, behind her, a man was also in the same situation.
"Lieutenant Commander Black?" she asked saluting him. He nodded. "I'm Lieutenant Nikki Caetano; I'm your new navigator, sir." She introduced herself quickly.
"Lieutenant," he saluted back
"Lieutenant Dixon," she said smiling
"Nav! It's good to see you again."
"You too, Dix," she smiled.
"You know each other?"
"We went through training together, sir." Nikki clarified. "And you are?" Lt Commander Black asked the man that now was standing close to them.
"Petty officer Chris Blake, sir." He saluted. "I'm called Swain; I'll be the chief medic and diver sir." Chris saluted them all which they did in return
"Swain, Nav, welcome to your home away from home. Welcome to Hammersley"
"Thank you, sir."
"ET, show Swain and Nav their cabins, please."
"Yes, sir," he said walking over to them
"Hi, I'm Josh. Everybody calls me ET since I'm the electric technician."
"Chris...Swain" they shook hands
"I'm Nikki or Nav"
"Welcome, come on. I'll show you both around and introduce you to some of the crew," ET said as he walked onto Hammersley saluting Thor. Swain and Nav followed suit. After showing them their new home, they returned to the wharf to help with the loading. Two hours later, Swain took Hammersley out for the first time.
Just as they were starting to head north, they noticed a patrol boat returning to port from its patrol. The CO picked up his binoculars and smiled when he noticed who it was.
"Childers, this is Hammersley," he said picking up his mic.
"This is Childers; Banjo is that you?"
"Yes, it is Mighty Mike. Are you returning from your patrol?"
"Yup. What are you doing on Hammersley?"
"Temporary replacement. They are going to need a CO. I heard the brass are trying to find one."
"What happened to John?"
"You haven't heard?"
"I was on patrol, what happened?"
"Mike, I'm sorry, but John was shot three weeks ago. You need to talk to Steve about it."
"I will. Tell the crew to take one final look at this boat. It's being decommissioned."
"I know about that. So, you're doing a shore post until something come up?"
"Not really, after the decommission of Childers I'm on maternity leave."
"What? Did you knock some woman up, mate?" he said laughing
"Yup, that woman is my wife. And if she hears what you just said, I'm pretty sure she will manage to make you scrub all the toilets on Hammersley with a toothbrush."
"Whoa, that's a woman I got to meet, who is she?"
"Lieutenant Kate McGregor," Nav who was listening turned to her CO in shock.
"Wow, mate! She must be some woman."
"That she is! She's due in March, maybe earlier because they are twins."
"Twins? Congrats. Mate. When we return, I'll give you a call."
"I'll wait for it. Fair winds! Childers out," the CO lowered the mic.
"Sir," he turned towards Nikki
"Yes, Nav?"
"If you want to know… I meet Lieutenant McGregor before, sir."
"Really?"
"Yes, she was the instructor for a course I was doing last year, before my promotion."
"And what is she like?"
"Hard taskmaster, sir," she chuckled.
"What?"
"I just remembered… her nickname is Princess Perfect," his eyes widened.
"You know why?"
"Apparently she's top in everything she does. Everything she passed with one hundred percent."
"And she married Mighty Mike," he muttered shaking his head.
Later, after the navigation course was set, Nav went below decks to get a drink. She was walking towards the kitchen when ET walked out from one of the rooms and bumped into her
"Ops! Sorry, ma'am."
"It's ok, ET." She smiled at him.
He gave her space to pass to the other side before he walked in the opposite direction. He reached his cabin and took the letter out of his bag. He read it one more time before he decided to find Nav. He found her in an empty dining room.
"Ma'am?" He started seating across from her. She raised an eyebrow. "Nav, this might sound strange, but a week ago I found this letter under my door, and both, your name and this boat are mentioned," he pushed the envelope towards her. "Please, read it."
"Sure?" ET nodded, with his permission Nav took the letter out. Her expression changed as she read the letter. Her shock was evident as she placed it back and returned it to him.
"Well, I should confess I received one as well. I was trying to decide if talking about it with you," she said, finding hers in her pocket. "Here, you can read it."
He took it, and Nav observed him until he passed the envelope back to her. He shook his head and smiled.
"How weird is it that we both received letters like these."
"Yeah." She grinned. "I know that dating would be against the rules, but rules don't say anything about getting to know people, right?" She nodded. ET smiled.
"Well, I would like to get to know you as Nikki," Nav smiled
"I would like that."
Childers docked for the last time, and everyone was busy getting everything done to get ready for the fair well that was scheduled for that afternoon. After finishing his paperwork, Mike went to see Steve. After that, he went for lunch at a café close to NAVCOM and returned to the Childers to finish packing. Once he checked everything was in a box, he changed to his dress whites and out of the Childers for its farewell.
"Kate!" he called over as he spotted her in the wharf.
"Mike," she whispered to him as they hugged and kissed.
"And what are you doing here?"
"We are here for support, Mike."
"Dada!" He turned to Emma's voice, and she jumped at him trying to get free from Hannah's arms.
"Hello sweetie! I missed you."
"Dada," she said jumping into his arms. Then she spotted Kate, "mama."
"When did she…?" he trailed surprised.
"Yesterday," Kate said smiling.
"Well, I'll have to teach her some new words," he kissed Emma's cheek before passed her back to Hannah.
"I need to go. I'll find you afterward."
"Sure, go!" They kissed quickly before he walked towards Steve. And the girls towards the seating area to find a place for them.
"Mike sure looks hot in his uniform," Kate muttered to herself.
"Kate!" Hannah turned towards her blushing. "I can't believe you just said that"
"Well, it's true! You can blame it on hormones," they giggled
"I must say that my brother does look good in his uniform."
"Do you remember Emma's birthday last month?"
"Who wouldn't? Why?"
"Well, back then I told Mike to get out of his uniform before I rip it off him in front of everyone," Hannah's eyes widen
"You didn't!"
"Yup, and that's exactly what I want to do now," she said giggling
"Kate, you got it bad."
"I know!"
They got quiet as music start, and the crew of the HMAS Childers stood at attention. The top brass showed up, and a long list of speeches commenced. When it was finally over, people mingled. The crew went to find their loved ones, and loved ones went to find the crew. Finding it hard to move in the crow, Kate, Hannah and Emma remained seated and Mike walked towards them as he promised.
"Nice speech, Mike!" Hannah said barely able to hold Emma from jumping into Mike's arms.
"Thanks, Hannah. How are you feeling Kate?"
"Hungry"
"Kate?"
"Hey, I'm carrying twins, and you asked."
"Can you hold it a while longer? I need to get changed before we leave."
"Looks like someone wants to join you in the boat," Kate smiled as Emma jumped up and down in Mike's arms pointing her hand towards the Childers. Mike smiled.
"Boat" Mike said.
"Dada!" She said pointing to the ship again.
"What is it, sweetie? You want to go to the big boat?" Emma jumped up and down and nodded. "Come on then" He walked over to the plank and into Childers, and people remaining inside smiled as they passed.
"I'll go and get Emma," Hannah said
"Thanks, Hannah."
Inside the ship, Hannah found Mike, and he showed them around. They reached the bridge and Mike placed Emma on the ground. She kept one hand on his bigger one since she was still mastering how to walk steadily. Hannah took the camera out and started recording the moment. Soon, Emma found a seat and wanted to get in. Mike grabbed her, and in a swift movement, she was seating on the chair with Mike's hat on her head. Emma was giggling and playing with the hat.
"Will you be ok with her while I go get changed?" Mike asked Hannah.
"Yeah, go." Mike walked off the bridge at the same time Buffer entered it from the other access.
"Well, it looks like we might have a new captain in a few years," he commented noticing Emma
"Why do you say that Peter?"
"Because, ma'am, that's the captain chair."
"Really? No wonder she wanted to be up there out of three chairs."
"Could be" then he looked down at Emma
"Hey, Emma, do you want to go up?" He pointed upwards, and she smiled and nodded. "Ok, here let me help you" He picked her up. "We better leave the hat here." Hannah followed them up to the top, her camera still rolling.
"Hey! Look! There's your mummy!" He pointed to the wharf
"Mama!" she pointed
"Yes, mummy is there. Wave to her!" He showed how and Emma repeated the action. She squealed when Kate waved back at them.
Emma looked around and started to point to different things, and Buffer explained to her what they were. Then, without nothing Buffer could do to stop it, Emma pressed the horn making everyone jump. Emma started to cry, and Hannah picked her up.
"SHH! It's ok, Emma," she said rubbing her back.
"Hey," Buffer called, Emma turned towards him. "It's ok, baby girl. You pressed the horn."
"Who pushed the horn?" Mike asked as he rushed towards the bridge.
"Emma did, sir. It was an accident," Buffer explained as Emma threw herself towards Mike.
"Hey, sweetie! Were you trying to get everyone's attention?"
"She was on the seat, pointing at different items, sir. And then she launched herself to the button."
"Well, even if she wasn't trying she did get everyone's attention." Mike grinned. "Charge hit his head on the bulkhead and cursed at whoever did it."
"Ouch! That must have hurt" Hannah said
"Yeah. Are you ok, Sweetie?" He asked Emma and kissed her forehead before leaving her again on the chair. "Look! Mummy's looking at us!" Emma waved towards Kate. Once her mother waved back, she started to point at the other buttons and soon, she pushed the horn again. Mike grabbed her quickly before she did it again.
"I think that's enough, Emma. Come on," they walked down to the bridge, Mike stopped to pick his hat and bag.
"Mike, give me your bag," Hannah said
"Thanks," he gave her his bag and placed his hat on Emma's head, and they walked off the Childers. "Sorry about the horn blast, sir," Mike apologized with the top brass, who were waiting for him at the wharf.
"We saw what happened Mike," Steve said smiling at him
"Well, Lieutenant Commander, it's one way to fair well the old boat."
"Yes, sir."
"Kate! Look at this," Hannah showed Kate the footage of Emma being on the captain chair which made her smile
"She's too young to join" Kate whispered.
"In a few years, she will. At least, if she takes after any of you."
"Maybe," Mike said smiling.
"Is everything set up at home?" Mike asked once they were back in the car.
"Yes, Mike. The only thing that needs to be done is drinks in the cooler" Hannah said
"Ok and the neighbors?"
"They have been informed, and they understand."
"Good"