Kate had to get up early the next morning to make it to Hammersley in time ready to sail at 07:00. She had to drop of Noah and Lisa at her parent's house on the way.
Her and Mike were set to sail so he couldn't look after the kids, it annoyed Kate so much that she always had to drop her kids off at her parent's house she hated having to always rely on them.
"How long are you going to be gone this time?" Lisa asked her Mum as they pulled up at their Grandparents house
"I'm not sure sweetie" Kate said reaching for her handbag
"Your always leaving" Noah said under his breath as they got out of the car and made their way to the front door
Kate heard what Noah said, she aways knew being at Sea would be hard on the kids especially now that both their parents were at Sea. Kate's mum answered the door and gave her a sad look,
"Hey Katherine, come on in kids" she said as the kids walked inside making their way to their rooms
It had gotten to be a usual thing Kate and Mike being out at Sea so her parents brought a house 20min from Kate's and set up bedrooms for the grandkids.
"Sorry to do this again Mum" Kate said giving her mother a sad look
"It's ok Katherine, we understand it's part of the job"
"Thanks" she said softly
"Do you have time for a coffee? You look like you need one" her Mum said moving aside to invite her in
"Actually.. I don't have time sorry" Kate said looking at her watch
"Another time then" he mum smiled at her
"I better go"
"Kids come say goodbye to your mother" Jane called out (Jane Kate's mum)
Kate heard a door slam and Lisa make her way towards the door
"Where's your brother?" Jane asked
"He's sulking" Lisa answered moved outside and embraced Kate in a hug
"Bye Mum, stay safe" she said hugging Kate tightly
"See ya kiddo, be good for your Grandma ok" Kate said kissing Lisa's head
Lisa pulled away from the embrace and made her way back inside
"Stay safe Katherine" her Mum said giving her a hug
"Thanks Mum, I should be home in a few weeks but I'll let you know" Kate said giving her Mum a quick hug before she made her way back to her car and made her way to the Navy port.
Kate couldn't help but let the tears fall as she drove to the Navy port, she hated leaving the kids, if Mike was home sure but having to leave them with her Parent's each time was exhausting and taking a toll on not only her but Noah and Lisa too.
As she arrived at Port she noticed Mike's car already here, she was not looking forward to seeing him what was he doing here anymore he didn't have to come in until the crew arrived at 06:30. Right now it was only 05:30.
Kate turned the ignition off and pulled down the sunvisor and flipped the cover over the mirror, her eyes were red and puffy and she had dark circles under eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well since Mike left 2 months ago.
She cleaned herself up and dried her eyes, she knew Mike would know something was wrong straight away she just hoped he wasn't in his cabin where she would bump into him as she passed.
She arrived in her cabin glad Mike was no where in sight, she closed her door and started to get changed into her Navy DPNU's ready to start getting things sorted for when the crew would arrive.She needed to sign off on the latest shipment of supplies and set the rosters for there patrol.
Kate was making her way to the bridge when she heard rustling coming from the galley, she turned on her heel and looked through the window area, there was Mike making himself a coffee and sandwich.
He did look good in his DPNU's Kate thought but was breakin out of this thought when Mike spotted her
"Ma'am I didn't know you'd be here so early" he said taking a bite out of his sandwich
"I needed to sort the rosters and sign off on the delivery, Why are you here?" she asked trying to avoid looking into his eyes
"I couldn't sleep so I figured I'd come here and get some paperwork done"
"That doesn't look much like paperwork" she said pointing to his sandwich
"I got hungry" he joked
Kate smiled, she missed his laugh. She immediately lost her smile and put her serious face on
"So where are the kids?" he asked trying to lighten the mood
"With My parents, as usual" she answered back harshly
"Kate... I..." he began saying
"Don't..." she said turning around and making her way to the bridge
It was around 07:15 when Hammersley finally left port, once the crew had taken the supplies on board and cable party closed up they were off on their Patrol.
Mike was sitting in the Navigator's chair and Kate in the Captain's, she could feel his eyes on her everynow and then as they took Hammersley out of port, she ignored him and when he wasn't looking she'd look at him.
2Dad's made his way onto the bridge cheerier than ever, he was whistling to himself, Mike and Kate turned in their chair's to look at him, when he looked up he immediately stoped seeing the look on his CO and XO faces.
"So where are we going this time Ma'am?" he asked making his way next to the Captain's chair
"Just a routine patrol 2Dad's you know like we have to do every month to make sure everything out here is safe" Kate said looking at him with a unamused face
"Yes Ma'am" 2Dad's said looking towards Mike as he made his way back to where Charge was sitting
Just after lunch RO received a call "Ma'am there's a call for you, it's your Mum"
"Thanks RO I'll take it in my cabin" Kate said as she arose from her chair "XO you have the ship" she yelled as she made her way down the stairs and to her cabin.
Mike took control of the ship and began wondering why Kate's Mother was calling her, was their something wrong with the kids?
Kate sat at her desk and closed the door as she picked up the phone
"Hello Katherine?"
"Hey Mum, is everything alright?"
"Yes everything is fine dear I just wanted to talk about something I came across while at your house"
"Why were you at my house?" Kate asked surprised
"Noah forgot his school bag, we dropped by on the way to drop the kids off at school"
"Right, so what is it you wanted to talk about?" Kate asked knowing full well her mother probably went to her house to snoop around
"Well there was an envelope in the mailbox it had a stamp from a Lawyer's office, so I opened it..."
"Mum you had no right to read my mail" Kate said getting flustered
"Katherine, why didn't you tell your Dad and I you were looking into filing for a divorce from Mike?" her Mother asked concerned
"Because I haven't decided anything yet" Kate said brushing her hand through her hair
Kate hadn't told her parents that her and Mike were separated and that he was living in his own apartment, as far as they knew they had a fight about work but resolved the issue.
"I thought you and Mike were happy"
"Mum it's not that simple, ok"
"Katherine... Lisa told me Mike doesn't live at home anymore, that he hasn't for the past 2 months. What happened?" she asked concerned
"He chose the boat, and he didn't even talk to me about it. I will be civil at work but I just can't do it anymore, we decided it was best to separate fof awhile" Kate said tearing up
"Oh Katherine I'm sorry, why didn't you tell us?" her Mum asked sadly
"I didn't want to seem weak, I need to be strong for the kids" Kate said wiping the tears off her cheeks
"Katherine are you absolutely sure you want a Divorce though? Do you still love him?"
Mike made his way down towards Kate's cabin he wanted to make sure everything was ok with the kids, but when he got to his cabin he wasn't expecting to hear what he heard,
"I don't know Mum, it was just a thought. I know if I applied for a Divorce at least I won't need to keep praying he'll choose me over the boat, Of course I still love him, I always will but I can't keep competing with his love for the Sea" Kate said breaking down
Mike couldn't believe it Kate was considering Divorce, he knew she'd be mad about him coming back on the boat but he thought it was just a temporary thing until they worked things through
"Oh Katherine..."
"I gotta go Mum, can you not say anything to the kids please just until I figure out what I'm doing" Kate pleaded
"Ok, stay safe Katherine I love you"
"I will, love you too" Kate said hanging up the phone.
Kate arose from her chair and made her way into her bathroom she turned on the tap and splashed water on her face, she looked at her Navy tags in the mirror 'Flynn' was staring back at her, she ran her fingers across it and began to cry again.
Mike was pacing back and forth in the corridor deciding wether or not to confront Kate about what he heard, as he went to leave Kate's cabin door flung open and he came face to face with a puffy eyed Kate.
"Mike... How much of the did you hear?" Kate asked sniffling
"Ah nothing I only just got here" he lied
"Right, well I better head back up" she said moving past him and making her way back up to the bridge
Mike was left standing in the hallway kicking himself, why didn't he confront her. He knew there was a time and place and this just wasn't it, he pushed it to the back of his mind to talk to Kate about it later and made his way back up to the bridge.