Hey people,

I got through day 1 of my crazy work project so I'm celebrating with a new chapter. It too hot to do anything right now but sit in front of the air con so it's a good excuse to write!

Hope everyone is enjoying the fic, thanks to those who have left feedback.

Much love!

Here we go...

The Ties the Bind

Chapter 6

The police left Paul's room, Dutchy looked around for any sign of Kate. He wanted to have a word with him without her. He stood at the door way, what was he thinking? He was about to give him the big brother talk, but he wasn't the big brother. Paul noticed him hovering and waved him in, he did another check for Kate, all clear, he entered cautiously and sat beside him.

"Hey mate, how you feeling."

He looked away and played with his drip cord.

"Like an asshole..."

Dutchy didn't want to make him to feel worse but he needed to make sure he wasn't going to hurt Kate again.

"Why did you do it?"

Paul closed his eyes and leaned back on the pillow.

"I don't know, bad habits I guess and I know that's a shitty excuse. It just reminded me of... everything, everything that I had done in the past and I just wanted to escape. I just felt like Mike was right, if I wasn't here she wouldn't be going through all of this."

He looked up at Dutchy for confirmation.

"Paul he's not right, but you're making him look right! You can't break anymore promises okay?"

Dutchy held his glare, Paul dropped his head.

"She told you didn't she?"

Dutchy nodded slightly.

"How are you here then?"

Dutchy tilted his head confused about his question.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you hate me? After what I did to her, I know you like her Dutchy..."

Dutchy didn't know what comment to deny first.

"She asked me to let it go, she said if she could forgive you then I should... and yes, I like her, she's my best friend..."

Paul rolled his eyes.

"Okay, whatever you say..."

"Anyway, I can see firsthand what disliking you does, it gets you shut out, like Mike... I just want you to know what she's giving up for you mate. Kate and Mike have been waiting a long time to be together and she's pushing him away for you..."

"Hey, it's not my fault he's being an ass..."

"No, but he's doing it cos he cares for her... I just want to make sure that's she's not potentially losing her partner because you can't keep a promise..."

Paul thought about Dutchy's words for a moment.

"Do you think he'd talk to me? Do you have his number?"

Dutchy nodded, Paul passed him his phone and Dutchy entered Mike's number.
Kate walked back into the room and handed Dutchy a coffee, she could sense some tension.

"What's happening in here?"

She sat down next to Dutchy and gave him a concerned look, he gave her a reassuring smile.

"Nothing... we're all good..."

Kate sipped on her coffee glancing between them, she didn't have the strength to question them.

"Right, so what are we gonna do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Paul... we can't just pretend you didn't OD..."

Dutchy felt a little awkward being a part of the conversation, he stood and placed his hand on Kate's shoulder.

"I'll umm, just wait outside..."

She gave him a nod and he left.

"Sis, I know my promises mean jack but if I can stay with you I promise I won't do it anymore. It was a slip up, I mean what Mike said is kind of true... none of this would be happening if I hadn't come back..."

"That's not true Paul, the feds still would have been wrong about their intel and blamed someone..."

"Yeah okay, but..."

"No buts..."

"Have I really ruined things with Mike?"

Kate sighed.

"It's okay, I don't know if we're ever going to get it together, if he can't understand..."

She didn't want to get into it, it was the least of her worries right now.

"Look, it's not your fault..."

Kate sighed, Paul reached out and held her hand.

"You have to know that I love you and I just don't know why I do these things, will find some way to make it up to you..."

She gave him a half-hearted smile wanting to believe him.

"Let's see what we can do about getting you out of here..."

Kate left the room to speak with the doctor. Paul watched her leave, he stared at the door for a moment and then at his phone on the bed. He picked it up and sighed, he dialled a number and held the phone to his ear.

15 minutes later Kate re entered the room. She sat beside him and let out a frustrated huff.

"They won't release you till tomorrow..."

"Well, there's no point you staying here when you could be doing... well anything else."

She laughed and shook her head.

"It's okay..."

Paul gave her an insistent look.

"Kate, I'm fine, I can't do anything stupid, I'm in a hospital...seriously! go!"

Kate held her hands up in defeat.

"Okay, okay..."

"Just make sure that the fridge is stocked with food, I'm starving gonna do a big cook up!"

Kate got up and gave him a kiss and a hug.

"Okay, well call me if you need anything..."

Kate left the room and walked down the corridor, as she was exiting the hospital Agent Knowles and Rowe entered. They gave her a nod, she glanced at them with a cold look and ignored them and kept walking.

Dutchy stood as Kate approached.

"What are they doing here?"

Kate shrugged and glanced back at them, they were standing at the nurses station.

"Don't know, don't care..."

Kate and Dutchy sat on the couch having a drink, Dutchy glanced at Kate periodically, she had noticed but was trying to ignore him. He held his gaze a little longer, Kate groaned.

"Dutchy!"

"Sorry Kate, but I know you're sick of the question but are you okay?"

She took a large ship of her wine and sat back on the couch with her knees at her chest.

"I don't know..."

Dutchy didn't want to be a wet blanket but he knew that Kate wasn't good at talking about her personal life, little own if she was having problems in it.

"What if he does it again..."

She didn't want to think about it, she gave him a firm stare.

"Dutchy..."

Dutchy folded his legs on the couch and turned to face her.

"Well, isn't it a possibility?"

"So you don't trust him either?"

"It's not that Kate, I'm trying to get you to talk about it, I mean, I just want you to be prepared, just in case. I just... I don't like seeing you like this..."

"Well how about I tell you about the real Paul, the awesome big brother that I grew up with. The man who is so caring and loving, who would do anything for anyone that he loved.

Dutchy nodded and smiled, if anything it may make him feel better about why Kate covered for him. He grabbed his beer and made himself feel comfortable.

"Okay, he was my escort to my first primary school disco cos he thought no one was good enough for me..."

Dutchy laughed.

"I would have thought you could have held your own."

"I could, but he just wanted to make sure... umm, when my dog ran away he made posters and coordinated a search, he made all of his friends go look for Barry..."

"Barry?"

Kate laughed.

"Yeah, I don't know why my parents let me name my own dog at 7... I always felt safe with him, I didn't have to worry about anything. When our parents would fight he would try and distract me like we would build forts and play movies and music really loud and if his friends asked him to come out he would stay with me."

These stories did make Dutchy feel better about him but that was the past, he wanted to believe her but he just didn't want to see her hurt by someone she loved so much.

"So, when I was like 8 my bike was taken by the local bully."

Dutchy interrupted.

"Let me guess, he went and got it back and told them if they did it again they would be in big trouble..."

Kate shook her head.

"No, well kinda, he went around to their house and discovered that the kid was home alone, his parents were well, not around a lot. He was a bully because no one was there for him, he didn't have a family or support. He took money for kids because he didn't have any..."

"Yeah but that's not an excuse..."

"I know, but Paul offered for him to do some of his chores for his pocket money, he taught him life skills but eventually Human Services found out but Paul and my parents convinced them to let the boy move in with us and he improved. He became this lovely boy, so grateful that someone cared, imagine if he was just left there..."

Dutchy smiled.

"Well okay, yeah that's pretty nice of him... what happened to the boy?"

Kate took a sip of her wine and hesitated.

"It was Jay..."

"Oh Kate..."

She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Another reason why I thought I was doing the right thing, he killed the kid he saved..."

Tears trickled down her cheeks.

"I don't think he will ever forgive himself for that, it was the beginning of the end for him, he went into a depression spiral. The drugs became more serious, my parents didn't know what to do and he just changed, he was no longer this person that I grew up with."

Dutchy scooted closer to her placing a hand on her knee.

"So why are you fighting so hard for him?"

"Because in the short amount of time he's been here I can see the old Paul, there's that sparkle in his eye, it's like the hope that used to be there has returned."

Dutchy gave her a reassuring smile.

"Well I hope you're right."

The next day Kate, Dutchy and Paul arrived back at Kate's house and found Mike sitting on the step, he stood as they approached. Kate walked straight past him and unlocked the door, she walked in the house without saying a word. Dutchy knew that he needed to give them some alone time, he glanced at Paul.

"Good luck..."

Kate turned to see Dutchy leave, she was about to call out after him but Paul shut the door.

"We gotta talk, the 3 of us. Your safety blanket can't be here..."

Kate gave him a scowl, Mike was still standing at the door way, she gave him a nod to enter. They sat on the couch waiting for each other to start, Paul glanced at them both and scoffed.

"Okay, I'll start..."

Kate interrupted and shot an angry look at Mike.

"I hope you're not here to lecture me..."

Paul placed a hand on her arm trying to calm her.

"No, I messaged him Kate, we need to sort this out. I can't be the cause of you two not being together..."

She shook her head.

"Yeah well, I can't have my boyfriend accuse you of things you didn't do."

Paul let out a frustrated huff.

"Kate..."

They both looked in Mike's direction, he glanced at each of them a sighed.

"Okay, truth time? Kate, I am worried that you'll defend Paul even if he's on a downward spiral..."

Kate was about to object to his comment, Paul squeezed her arm to stop her.

"But I'm worried cos I care about you."

"Okay, so you need to trust me then. If I can trust and forgive him then why can't you? Dutchy can..."

Dutchy's name was the last name that he wanted to hear, how was it that he was the bad guy and somehow Dutchy was the good guy in all of this.

"Why am I being compared to Dutchy?"

"Because he's a friend and somehow he understands so why can't my boyfriend?"

Mike desperately wanted the conversation to remain calm but she was making it increasingly hard.

"Kate, I'm trying to be honest with you..."

"Right, well let me be honest with you, I'm surprised you're here, I'm surprised Maxine hasn't warned you off me!"

He paused, she knew what that meant, it was true.

"Right, I get it. I'm tainted, don't worry you can tell her that there's absolutely nothing going on."

Paul tried to interject.

"Kate..."

Kate shot him a look.

"Paul?!"

Paul knew when he was beat he exhaled loudly in frustration.

"Maybe I'll leave you two for a minute..."

Paul got up and went to his room. They both hesitated before speaking, Mike took her hand in his.

"Is this really over?"

Kate slowly pulled her hand away from his.

"I think it was over before it began...Mike, if you can't understand how important family is then we're not on the same page."

Mike ran his hands over his face and stood up.

"Kate, I really hope for your sake I'm wrong...I'll go..."

Mike left her house, Paul came down the stairs and gave her a judgemental look, he had heard everything. Kate stood up and walked past him into the kitchen.

"Don't give me that look, it's not that simple! There's a history, not a great one but I'm not going to get it to it cos you'll get all big brother-y, but it's okay. Let's just concentrate on getting you better... do you want me to call your work?"

"Yeah, that's going to look great, call in sick on my 3rd day..."

"I'm sure they'll understand."

"Can you just leave out the drug part..."

Kat nodded and picked up her phone.

A few hours later Kate wandered aimlessly around the house, Paul was sitting on the couch watching TV. He laughed while watching her pace around.

"You got ants in your pants?"

Kate stopped and frowned at him.

"I'm bored okay? The house is clean, the washing is done, I've cleaned out my wardrobe. I need to go back to wok..."

Kate's phone beeped, it was Dutchy. She frowned as she read the message.

Paul stood up seeing her expression.

"What's up?"

"There's a meeting at Navcom for all Hammersley crew, but I haven't been notified."

"Yeah, but aren't you suspended..."

"Yeah but, I dunno...I'm gonna go in..."

"Kate, are you sure that's a good idea?"

30 minutes later Kate stormed into Navcom, she peered into each of the conference rooms for any sign of her crew. She spotted them, Maxine was in the middle of addressing them, she took a deep breath in before opening to door.
The crew were startled to see her, Maxine approached her and escorted her out of the room. Dutchy stood near the door trying to listen.

"Kate, I'm sorry you can't be here. To be honest they shouldn't have let you into the building..."

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way."

She gave Kate a warning look, she didn't take any notice, she was sick of being treated guilty until proven innocent.

"Ma'am, you can't honestly believe I'm behind this..."

"No, but the problem is if Paul is, would you protect him?"

Kate paused, Maxine took that as an admission.

"I'm sorry Kate."

"Ma'am what proof do they have?"

Maxine hesitated, she couldn't divulge any information, it was too big of a risk. Kate was surprised at her hesitation.

"There's proof?"

Maxine made quick eye contact with her then looked away.

"I can't discuss it Kate, I'm sorry. You're suspended...I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"When do I get to tell my side then? Defend myself?"

Maxine didn't reply, Kate stared at her for a moment and then left, Dutchy scurried away from the door so he wouldn't be seen as eaves dropping.

Later that day Kate and Paul were sitting on the deck enjoying the afternoon sun.

Paul noticed Kate's quiet demeanour.

"Everything okay?"

"Ah yeah...why?"

"You've just been pretty quiet since you got back from your meeting..."

"Yeah well, it turns out I wasn't welcome..."

There was a knock on the door, Kate got up to answer it, she opened the door to a serious looking Dutchy.

"Dutchy, what's up?"

He had an uncertain look on his face.

"Ah, can we go for a walk?"

Kate was puzzled by his tone, she nodded and yelled out to Paul.

"Just going for a walk..."

Paul leapt off the couch and ran to the door.

"Ah, Dutchy mate..."

Dutchy barley made eye contact with him, he noticed Dutchy's strange behaviour.

"What's with the long face?"

"Ah nothing, I just gotta talk to Kate about work..."

"And you need to go for a walk for that?"

Kate could sense that he was getting defensive, she tried to make him feel more at ease.

"Yeah, I need to get out the house, I'll be back soon..."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek and grabbed her handbag and walked out the door with Dutchy.

They strolled down to the water and walked along the beach. Kate knew that he wanted to discuss something serious but he had been dancing around it since they left her house.

"Dutchy, would you just spit it out."

"This meeting today..."

She stepped in front of him trying to stop him, he wasn't concentrating on where he was going and bowled her over, they fell on to the sand with a thud.

Dutchy rolled off of her completely embarrassed, she burst out laughing. Dutchy began to laugh at her laughing, she sat up and her fit of laughter but seconds later it turned into sobs. Dutchy immediately stopped laughing as he realised she was crying and pulled her in close.

"Hey, what's all this about..."

Her sobbing continued, after a few minute she managed to compose herself. She propped herself up and sat next to Dutchy wiping her face.

"Just ignore me..."

"No, what is going on?"

"This meeting, it wasn't good was it?"

Dutchy took a minute to think how to explain, she glanced at him, his expression told her that it was bad.

"Should you be telling me this Dutchy? I don't want you to get in trouble."

He took a deep breath in.

"I think you deserve a heads up, I mean..."

Their conversation was interrupted by her phone, she grabbed it out of her bag and looked at the caller ID, it was Navcom.

"Well you may not have to tell me anything..."

She answered the phone.

"Kate McGregor... Yes Ma'am, give me 15..."

She hung up the phone and chucked it into her bag.

"Time to face the music..."

"I'm coming with you...Don't argue!"

They walked back to her house and drove to Navcom, Dutchy hung back as Kate walked into Maxine's office.

She was faced with Mike and Agent Knowles, she sighed knowing that she wasn't going to be able to get a word in. She stood in front of them, her fingers twitching, she could feel the adrenalin pump though her body, she was ready for a fight. Maxine stepped forward.

"Kate..."

Agent Knowles cleared his throat, he didn't like that she was so personal with her staff. Maxine shot him a judgmental look.

"Ah, Lieutenant Commander..."

"Ma'am, is this where I get to defend myself?"

She shook her head slightly, these were the moments where she hated being in charge.

"Lieutenant Commander McGregor, we now have evidence that your brother is a part of this..."

Kate dropped her handbag on the floor out of pure shock.

"Evidence? What evidence?"

Agent Knowles reached into his pocket and pulled out a clear bag, he shoved it in front of her face, she scrunched up her face not knowing what the contents was. Agent Knowles rolled his eyes at her confusion.

"Oh don't play dumb Lieutenant Commander, these are trackers and listening devices. We found them all over the ship..."

Kate knew what he was implying but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of hearing her denying it, instead she shrugged it off.

"You took your bother on a tour of the boat?"

Kate rolled her eyes, she knew he knew he did.

"Yes..."

She smiled politely at him, she was going to make him work for it. He was becoming impatient with her insolence.

"Are we on the same page Lieutenant Commander?"

"Umm, I'm not sure that we are Agent Knowles, you see there are 23 people that work on that ship, not to mention the maintenance workers, other crews..."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you now accusing your shipmates..."

"No, once again you're twisting my words, all I'm saying is that those people may have had other people let into the area just as I did... I don't think it's fair that you target my brother just because he has a record."

"But you can't deny that he had the opportunity and the drug link doesn't help."

Kate knew he had a point, instead of denying it she stayed silent. Agent Knowles let out a frustrated huff.

"We are waiting for the results of prints..."

"Of course his prints are going to be on the ship..."

"Yes but there will be partial on the devices... my partner Agent Rowe and some officers are on the way to collect him now..."

Kate pulled out her phone from her bag, Agent Knowles snatched it away.

"Don't be stupid..."

Kate was livid, she wanted to prove her point so she pushed further.

"So PO Mulholland was on the boat with us too, you going to interrogate him?"

Maxine cleared her throat and lowered her voice.

"Ah no, he's been suspended too, pending a full investigation..."

Kate couldn't believe what she was being told, she ran out of the office to find Dutchy. Mike ran after her to stop her, he grabbed her arm.

"Kate, wait, please...just let us explain..."

She looked back at him disgusted.

"I can't even look at you, you say that you hope he's innocent yet you stand in there with them and back them up..."

"I haven't said anything..."

"Exactly!"

She snatched back her arm, Mike grasped at her again, this time a little harder.

"Kate, don't be stubborn about this! You need to cooperate..."

She snatched her arm back again, Dutchy heard the commotion and came running up to them. Kate gave Mike another death stare.

"Don't tell me what to do Mike..."

Dutchy put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kate?"

She turned to face him with a concerned look on her face.

"You're suspended too?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, that's one of the things that I was going to tell you..."

Mike over heard his comment.

"PO Mulholland, you were instructed to keep the details confidential until we had spoken to Lieutenant Commander McGregor and until we had Paul in for questioning..."

"It wasn't fair Boss, I can't believe you're taking their side..."

"It's our job Dutchy!"

Agent Rowe came running into the main office of Navcom, Maxine and Agent Knowles came out of her office.

"He's gone..."

End of Chapter 6.

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