Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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'Lieutenant Kate McGregor here to see Dr Lucciadello.'

'I will let her know. Please be seated.'

Sitting beside Mike in the naval hospital waiting room, Kate waited patiently for her appointment. On their trip to the hospital they'd discussed how best to approach this. There was no way that the navy could know – well at least not yet – that the father of Kate McGregor's baby was in fact her superior, and so there was no way that Mike could go into the appointment with her.

Releasing a breath, she wondered at the hard slog they had ahead of them as they went up against the navy. It wasn't going to be easy. Her thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of Doctor Abigail Lucciadello. 'Lieutenant Kate McGregor?'

Both Mike and Kate rise, but only Kate moves forward at her call. Lifting her head from the file in front of her, Dr Lucciadello turned to Mike. 'You are welcome to come in too Mr McGregor.'

'I'm not...' 'He's not...' said Kate and Mike, looking each at each other.

'I'm Lieutenant Commander Mike Flynn. We spoke on the phone?' said Mike finally.

'Ah of course. Lieutenant McGregor's boss. Now if you will excuse me,' she said with a smile, ushering Kate into a small room. Lying on the cold hospital bed in a hosptial gown, Kate wished that Mike could be with her today.

When Dr Lucciadello entered the room once again, she looked at her patient with a warm smile. 'How are we feeling? It must be somewhat of a shock to receive this news yesterday.'

'Yes it was,' said Kate with a self-conscious laugh. 'Hard to believe it was only yesterday.'

'Well, I'll just give you a quick check over, and then we'll see where we are.' As Dr Lucciadello ordered in a nurse to take a vial of blood, she pulled the ultrasound machine forward. Spreading cold gel on Kate's stomach, both turn as an image comes up on the screen. 'Based on this and your blood test, I put you at nine weeks pregnant.'

'Wow,' said Kate, releasing her breath, eyes still glued to the screen. Unable to distinguish between the random blobs, and knowing that her child was only the size of a peanut, didn't lessen the excitement one iota. Noticing that Dr Lucciadello is still talking, she struggles to focus.

'Now, as I'm sure you know, you'll be required to advise your superior of your pregnancy,' said the doctor firmly. 'Your medical records are confidential, but I am happy to pass on your relevant information if you wish to use a different doctor for the length of your pregnancy.'

'Thank you doctor,' said Kate, her eyes flickering back to the screen.

'Would you like a picture?' asked Dr Lucciadello with a smile.

'I can? Yes please,' said Kate, feeling a little overwhelmed.

'I'm sure the baby's father would love to see it,' added the doctor, as Kate raised her head quickly, wondering just what the doctor was implying. Seeing no signs of anything on the doctor's face, she nodded her head. 'Yeah he'd like to see it.'

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Leaving the hospital, Lieutenant Commander Mike Flynn and Lieutenant Kate McGregor head up to NAVCOM. Entering the bullpen, they make their way over to Commander Marshall's office. 'We need to speak with Commander Marshall.'

'I'm sorry sir, he's in a meeting,' said the junior officer. He'll be free in half an hour.'

'We'll wait.'

Twenty minutes passes as Kate and Mike sit outside Commander Marshall's office. To any outsider, they looked liked any two naval officers decked out in their naval uniforms, calmly waiting for a meeting.

But Kate felt anything but calm. The primary purpose of this meeting was to discuss the incident onboard the Iluka further with Commander Marshall. But she also had to think about advising Commander Marshall of her pregnancy. She was only nine weeks pregnant, there was a risk (small, but a risk nonetheless) that she could still lose the baby. She doesn't want to make an announcement and make all these changes if it will amount to nothing. But, at the same time, she was still pregnant.

The decisions she had to make were flooding her as she thought about how much her Navy life was going to change. Knowing that she was going to have to go on shore leave wasn't making it any easier to put the wheels in motion to do so.

Her mind was made up for her when the bullpen suddenly erupted into chaos. Both Kate and Mike stood as images flashed across the large television screen on the farside of the bullpen. The junior agent dashed into Commander Marshall's office, before all staff come pouring out.

The luxury cruise boat Queen Ardent has collided with a large fishing boat, the Atlantis, and was sinking three hours out of Cairns. They were carrying 600-odd passengers, and it was estimated that the time until the boat sank was five hours. The Atlantis could not be raised over the radio.

The Queen Ardent held enough lifeboats on board to carry all passengers, but Captain Dane Gillard reported that the Atlantis had smashed into their port side blocked their access several of their lifeboats. They weren't going to have enough to carry all their passengers.

Any and all assistance that could be offered was going to be needed.

As the bullpen went into further uproar, Commander Marshall heads toward Mike. 'Get your crew together. We've got a situation.'

Knowing that now was not the time to discuss her pregnancy, Kate and Mike rushed out the door. Being only five hours since they'd last seen their crew, all were relatively within reach.

Bomber, Nav, RO and Buffer were at breakfast when the call came through. Bomber whined as they all prepared to troop back to the ship.

Charge was at the store acquiring 'supplies' for one of his various endeavours when the call came through. Replacing the container of glue on the shelf, he was already planning up a stack of Titanic jokes as he happily returned to the ship.

Spider and Swain were at their respective homes when the call came. Spider had to pull himself out of from under the covers to reach for the phone as he grunted his understanding into the handset, as Swain kissed his wife and child goodbye and swore that the navy owed him at least 24 hours of shore leave – something that had been severely lacking lately.

The only person it was a struggle to reach was 2 Dads who finally answered his phone breathlessly on the third attempt and promised he'd arrive as soon as possible.

As 2 Dads bolted onto the ship half an hour later, HMAS Hammersley left the port stocked with supplies en route to the Queen Ardent and Atlantis.