Ch 80
An hour later, Mike and Swain families left and took the kids with them. Kate and Mike stood for a while before getting home for their nightly routine and some well-deserved sleep. The next day, they relaxed next to the pool as they waited for the family to show up.
"Morning, Mike, Kate"
"Morning!" They said as the kids ran towards them greeting them with hugs and kisses.
"Mum, dad, you can leave the kids with us and spend time with Brad, Hannah, and their kids," Mike suggested
"Are you sure, Mike?"
"Yes, mum."
"I'll bring them clothes around noon tomorrow."
"There's no need. They have clothes here."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, mum," Mike smiled at his mother concern.
Later that day, Kate went to make the kids beds while Mike took care of them. And soon they were putting them to bed. They watched each of them for a few minutes before leaving to join their family downstairs for a couple of hours before they left and they climbed into bed.
"It's good to know that the kids are here," Kate said placing her head on Mike's chest.
"Yeah, it seems like we are a regular family."
"We are a family," Kate whispered before she moved to kiss him.
"Kate?"
"Hmm"
"What's with the envelope mum gave to you?"
"It's from the real-estate. I'm selling the condo."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I thought about it for a while, especially with all that work you did in the kids' room."
"Well, I did the same work here."
"Are you mad because I made up my mind without talking to you first?"
"No. I was going to ask when you told me about that letter. But the timing was never good." Kate hummed in agreement. "Any plans for tomorrow?"
"Well, we need to do some shopping for the twins' birthday."
"It's hard to believe they turn one on Friday."
"Yeah, time goes so fast!" Mike kissed her, and it quickly escalated to a passionate session of lovemaking.
The next day, they took the kids to town, went shopping and to the zoo. By the time they arrived at the house, the kids were already tired. A quick bath had them calmly sleeping on their cots.
"They sure were tired," Mike whispered closing Emma's door.
"Even if Emma tried hard to keep herself awake but they did have an active day."
They walked to the kitchen and Kate made them something to drink, and remained there for a short time before heading to bed knowing the kids would be up early in the morning. They chose to spend every day with the kids enjoying the rarity of being all in the same city for once.
On Friday morning, their family, the crew and their loved ones showed up for the first birthday of the twins. Kate recorded everything that happened, and the camera went from hand to hand allowing all of them to be present in the recorded video.
"Hey," Mike said placing a kiss on Kate's neck and wrapping his arms on her waist. "What are you smiling at?"
"Our kids, the crew," Mike turned to see what Kate was talking about. Emma was on Buffer's lap, MJ with ET and David was asleep on Charge's arms.
"They had a busy day."
"Yes, they have. And we will have one on Tuesday, with our third wedding anniversary," Mike grinned placing a kiss on her cheek.
"Let's get our kids to bed."
"Enjoying yourselves?" Kate asked as they walked towards the group.
"Yes, ma'am." Nav grinned.
"Buffer, I'll take Emma and put her to bed."
"I'll do it, sir."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir. Come on ET, Charge. Let's put these kids to bed."
They carefully stood up and walked to their bedrooms. Kate went with them to open doors and pull back the bedding. She opened Emma's room first, and as soon as Buffer placed her on her bed, Kate removed her shoes and socks and covered her with the sheet.
"Night Emma, sweet dreams," Kate whispered placing a soft kiss on Emma's forehead.
"Sweet dreams," Buffer whispered placing her care beer under her arm as she slept.
Then they walked out of the room. And the process was repeated with MJ and David. Once all the kids were sleeping on their beds, they all walked back to where they were before. The party lasted a while longer and went it was finally over, Mike and Kate crawled back to bed.
On Tuesday morning, Kate stretched on the bed only to notice how quiet it was. Frowning, she got up, and after a trip to the washroom, she walked to find Mike getting back to bed.
"Mike? Why are you getting back to bed?" He grinned, pulling back the covers and patting her place.
"Come back to bed."
"Only to get out in five seconds when the kids are here," she pointed, and he chuckled.
"Mum and dad got them for the day."
"What?"
"Aha," Kate walked to her bedside and noticed the way Mike was looking at her. Seating on the bed, she pulled the cover and turned towards Mike placed his hand on her face and moved forth to kiss her, but stopped before he reached her lips.
"Happy anniversary, Kate," she smiled brightly before she moved forward to kiss him.
"Happy anniversary, Mike," Kate whispered against his lips before they kissed once more.
They spent all morning in bed making love and falling back to sleep. Kate woke up feeling spent and rolled over, picking her phone before she lowered back and snuggled to Mike's side.
"What time is?" Mike asked.
"After eleven," she grinned before they kissed once more. They made love one more time before showering together.
Once they were clean and sated, they went into town to a restaurant for a late lunch. After that, they walked through the rainforest, seeing different birds and animals. They walked around it, holding hands.
"It's beautiful here," Kate said
"It sure is," he whispered, Kate turned towards Mike and let go of his hand and wrapped around his neck before she kissed him. His arms wrapped around her waist and minutes later resting their foreheads together.
"What are you thinking, Kate?"
"How happy I am. And you?"
"I'm very happy," she shook her head. "Let's go and get a cup of coffee."
"Sounds good to me," they kissed once more before walking away with their arms around each other. They spent the afternoon sightseeing, until dinner time, where they had a quiet romantic dinner. Mike offered her hand, and they stood for dancing. When the song finished, Mike spotted someone he knew and grinned.
"Kate, there's someone I want you to meet," he held onto her hand and walked to someone.
"Admiral Davidson, sir," Mike said, and the old man turned around
"Yes?"
"You might not remember me, sir."
"No, I don't. What's your name?"
"Mike Flynn, I served under your command on the Hammersley, sir. I was a midshipman."
"Flynn?" His eyes widened, and he smiled.
"Mighty Mike Flynn?"
"Yes, sir."
"Do you still have the book I gave you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Where are you posted now?" Mike grinned
"On the Hammersley, sir. Until her decommission."
"You are back on that old boat?"
"Yes, sir. I'm the captain now."
"You are a Lieutenant Commander?"
"Yes, sir."
"And who's this lovely young lady?" Mike turned to Kate and then to his old CO.
"Retired Admiral Ian Davidson I would like you to meet Lieutenant Kate McGregor. She's the XO on the Hammersley"
"Pleasure, to meet you, sir."
"You too, Lieutenant... Hang on, if she your XO? You know the rules."
"I do, sir. But Kate, more than the XO, sir, she's also my wife."
"You are married? Does the fleet command know of this?"
"Who do you think sent Kate to the Hammersley, sir?"
"Mike went through eight XO before I came aboard, sir."
"Eight? Weren't they good enough?"
"Sir, if you were in my boots, you would be replacing them as well."
"Really, sir. Two of them ended up at the Captain's table and got honorary discharged." Kate said
"That bad, huh?"
"Yes, sir. One changed the course and came close to hitting the reef. And the other one," he huffed. "lied to me, and told sexist comments about me and negative comments about my family."
"Well, you are lucky you got Thor watching over the Hammersley," Mike smiled
"Yes, sir."
"When is the old boat due for the decommission?"
"November, sir."
"Are you going to be on the new boat?"
"I don't know, sir."
"There you are, Ian," they turned to see another guy walking over to them
"Zac, do you remember Mike Flynn from the Hammersley?"
"Mighty Mike? Yes." Ian pointed towards Mike. "Well, I'll be damned, Mighty Mike Flynn, how are you?"
"I'm good, sir. Retired Captain Zac Black, this is my wife, Lieutenant Kate McGregor. Kate, Captain Black was the XO on the Hammersley"
"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm new XO, and Mike's the current Captain of the Hammersley."
"You are back on the old boat."
"Yes, sir. Until her decommission in November."
"And you are here with your families?"
"That would be us, sir. We married, it's our third wedding anniversary, sir." Kate said
"And who idea was to put you on the Hammersley, Lieutenant?"
"The fleet command, sir. I've only been on there for two weeks."
"Some knucklehead screwed it up, by the sounds of things."
"They did, sir. But they are leaving Kate as XO until the decommission, sir." Mike said.
"Then, Lieutenant watch out for this one, from my experience on the Hammersley, he's a bit of a cowboy." Kate smile
"Oh, sir. He hasn't changed a bit. But I haven't seen him in action."
"McGregor, you said? Tom mentioned one that won the Sward award a few years ago, the top in ADFA classes," Ian said looking at Kate, "are you related?"
"No, not related. It was me, sir."
"You?" He raised his eyebrows
"Yes, sir."
"Her nickname is Princess Perfect for having the highest score in ADFA. And she's one hell of a hard taskmaster."
"So, you are Princess Perfect?" Davidson asked
"Yes, sir."
"Well, young lady, you are well known in the fleet command. Both of you are"
"We know, sir," Mike grinned.
"Come and sit down with us, Mike. I think you might know some of the others," they walked over to a group of men sitting around the table.