Ch70
In the morning, he said goodbye to the kids and kissed Kate senseless before they left. And later that afternoon, he walked into the kitchen to find Brad making something to drink.
"Hey!" Brad jumped in shock.
"Gee, Mike! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
"Nah! Hannah can do that all by herself," Mike chuckled.
"Yeah, that she can. How was your time with Kate and the kids?"
"Short." Mike grimaced. "The kids are growing up too fast."
"Yeah, they don't stay small for very long. There's more coffee if you want some."
"Thanks, I'm heading upstairs, I need to prepare my stuff for tomorrow."
"Okay, would you like something special for dinner?"
"Nah, it doesn't worry me."
"Cool, I'll make something quick then."
"Great, thanks!" Half an hour later, Mike walked into the kitchen to grab a drink and found Brad cooking dinner.
"Hannah mentioned yesterday you shorted the list of houses." Mike said
"We actually have picked one."
"Really?"
"Yup, a four bedroom, five-bathroom house," Brad grinned.
"And how much did it set you two back?"
"Over five hundred thousand."
"Hey, that's cheap."
"Well, you know your sister. Hannah fell in love with it. Yet it needs a lot of work, it's vacant, and we can move straight away. With two months until Hannah and the kids can move up here, I've got carpenters, painters, and plumbers working on the house."
"Already?"
"Yep, Hannah reckons it will cost over one hundred thousand dollars to fix the house as we want it."
"That's a lot of money."
"It's an investment, once we are done the same place will be worth close to a one point five to two million dollars."
"Investment or not, I hope it makes you all happy."
"Even if the house doesn't, we hope it holds a lot of happy moments for us,"
They talked more about the house and their families until they finally called the night.
The next morning, Mike walked into Steve's office to get the latest reports before leaving for patrol. A month later, they had to stop at Darwin to restock, refuel and have shore leave for the night, which they gladly accepted after three weeks of living in the boat. The crew was planning on going to the pub they normally visited when on Darwin, but when they were about to leave a message reached all of them at the same time.
Several
"what the hell?" was heard.
"Be at Mantra Pandanas hotel at 1600 hours if you don't show up...toothbrush duty will be," Swain read out loud. "Sir? Do you know anything about this text message?" he asked Mike. Mike grinned.
"Have you seen the date, Swain?"
"I'll be there, sir." Swain grinned brightly when he remember what today is.
"Good. Then I'll see you there," Mike said walking back onto the ship.
"Swain, mate! You know something about this message?" Buffer asked
"Yep, and since we got couple of hours, let's go shopping," Swain said as he started to walk away
"Shopping for what?" ET asked
"Emma Flynn!" Swain called out. The others looked at each other
"Oh, it's Emma's birthday," Nav frowned. "But she's in Sydney."
"Or up here with Lieutenant McGregor, just read the last part of the message," Charge said
"Toothbrush duties?" ET said
"That's her," Buffer said. "So, what do you get a two-year-old?"
"Hey, Swain! Wait up!" ET yelled out as he ran towards Swain. The others also ran to catch up. Mike watched from the bridge with a smile.
"I think they figured it was you who sent the text message, Kate," Mike said on his cell phone
"Well, hopefully, they show up."
"I'm pretty sure they will. Now, for your request, what would I get in return?"
"You, sailor… can stay with me tonight."
"But we leave at zero eight hundred in the morning."
"And here I thought that why they invented the alarm clocks," Mike chuckled
"What did you have in mind?" he smiled
"You'll see when you get here."
"Of course, see you soon."
"I can't wait."
At ten minutes to four the Hammersley's crew showed up at the hotel.
"Hello, will you please follow me?" A man told them as soon as he spotted them.
"Excuse me, how do know us and why we should follow you sir?" Swain asked
"I know you are from the Navy patrol boat Hammersley. I was given pictures of all of you to be able to recognize you in case you came." He said before turning around and walking away.
"Let's follow him," Buffer said. The crew nodded and followed him until he stopped in front of double doors. He opened, and they were all shocked when the doors opened.
"Come in, guys," Mike said. The crew walked in to see the small room deck out with pink balloons, streamers, and people everywhere.
"You are on time, thanks for coming," Kate welcomed with a grin.
"Well, ma'am. It's not like you gave us much of a choice," Charge said
"What else would you be doing on a day like today while in Darwin?"
"Go to the pub, ma'am. But I would rather be here! So, where is the birthday girl?" Buffer asked looking around for Emma. Then, he felt a pull on his pants, he looked down and crouched.
"Happy birthday Emma!"
"Uncle Pete," He smiled
"How have you been Emma, will you give Uncle Pete a hug?"
She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck, he enveloped her in her arms and picked her up. When she pulled back, she saw what he got in his hand, and her eyes widened.
"Here, Emma. This is for you," he said giving her a small koala.
"What do you say, Emma?" Kate said
"Thank you, Uncle Pete," she placed a wet kiss on her cheek.
"Happy birthday Emma!" She turned to the voice
"Auntie Nikki!" She reached towards Nikki. And soon she was going from arm to arm exchanged hugs with everyone in the crew.
"Swain," Mike called over.
"Sir?"
"Tonight, you are staying on shore."
"Sir?" Swain frowned
"You enjoy your night off Hammersley, but remember to get some rest tonight," Mike looked over Swain's shoulder and pointed with his head. He turned around and smiled the turn back to Mike.
"Thank you, sir!"
"You should thank Kate…. tomorrow."
"Yes, sir." He looked at Mike somewhat doubtfully.
"Go on, Swain. I know Kate and Emma will understand"
"Thank you, sir," Swain turned around and walked over to Sally. He hugged her close and then he held her hand and walked out of the room.
"Swain looks happy," Kate said walking beside him and passing him a drink.
"Thanks to you," he pointed. "What time is dinner?"
"Food is about to get served." Mike wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her.
"Where are the kids?"
"Over there," Kate pointed. Mike turned to see the crew talking and playing with their kids which made them smile
"Emma's enjoying herself," Mike commented,
"Yes, she is." They walked over to the crew
"Enjoying yourselves?" Mike asked
"Yes, sir! Aren't we MJ?" ET asked MJ who giggling due to the tickles Et was giving him. Charge was doing the same with David, while Emma was sitting on Nikki lap's playing with one of her toys.
"Alright! Dinner time! We need to feed the kids?" Kate asked
"We can do it, ma'am," Charge said
"Are you sure, Charge?"
"Yeah, don't worry, leave the kids with us, sir, ma'am," Buffer said
"Just remember to leave some room for you know what" Mike pointed.
"Cake!" Emma said with big grin on her face
"She's got you there, sir," ET said
"Yes, I know. We will leave you to it then," Kate and Mike walked to where the food was following the other guest that had already started.
Over the next hour, everyone enjoyed dinner. After that, they all came together to sing Happy Birthday to Emma while the cake was brought out on a trolley.
"Emma, make a wish and blow the candles," Mike said to Emma who was in his arms. She nodded and closed her eyes before she blew her two candles. The crowd clapped and cheered.
"On behalf of Kate, Emma and myself, thank you for your gifts. We know that Emma will love and cheeriest them in years to come. As you know, we still got another month on patrol and won't be home to celebrate Christmas and new year with our loved ones. Kate suggested that next year when we all return we can have a belated Christmas party at our home."
"Thank you, sir," Buffer said
They talked while the cake was cut and distributed to all the guests. Not that much later, Michele and Patrick took the sleeping kids to their room while others started leaving.
"Well crew," Mike called over, "you can all go now and enjoy your night! Please, no hangovers tomorrow."
"Yes, sir!" The crew agreed, and they started leaving
"Nav, a word before you leave?" Mike said as the others walked out of the room
"Sir?"
"Swain and I won't be returning to Hammersley tonight," Nikki smiled
"I thought I saw Sally before," Nikki said knowingly. "Don't worry, sir. I'll call you if there any problems."
"Ok"
"Have a good night, sir."
"You too, Nav and thanks," Nikki walked out of the room leaving Mike and Kate to pick up Emma gifts and put them into bags
"What a day!" Kate said
"Yeah! You know, we should get out of here. There's plenty of food to be burned." They picked up the bags and walked out of the room while the staff was cleaning up.