Chapter 7: pregnant Kate = angry Mike
Mike was angry. This was possibly the worst day of his life. Professionally he was grounded for the next weeks, not able to do much more than train his sailors while he wanted to do what he was paid for; actively protect Australia's border.
Grounded wasn't the only professional problem he had to deal with. Kate had lied to him and not just about one thing. She had just told him she was eight weeks pregnant which meant she should be off duty. Mike sniggered. Maybe that wasn't the main problem; they would all be on light duties so what was the difference?
Mike walked into his cabin and kicked the door shut so hard the wall shook. The difference was that Kate hadn't told him about her pregnancy before this patrol. She had actually told him she wasn't pregnant and to make it all worse she was pregnant by the guy who had fallen out of the sky, took over his girl and successfully wooed her into a marriage proposal.
It made it all too personal. Kate had told him she wasn't going to marry Jim and now, suddenly she was telling him she hadn't said that? She had given him the idea he was back in business with her, that after a period of mourning she would come back to him and marry him.
Mike was angry because he felt like a fool. He loved Kate, he still did, and he wanted nothing more than to be with her, but he could forget about that now. First of all they were stuck on this stupid ship for twelve weeks. During that time he couldn't do anything to win Kate back and secondly she was pregnant with another man's child and still in love with that man even though he wasn't alive anymore.
To top it all off he, the Captain of this ship, had to inform his superior about Kate's condition since he had pulled her off duty for the time being. Angrily he picked up the phone and almost barked:
"RO, get me Commander White!"
While Mike waited for the radio operator to get in touch with Navcom he tried to organise his thoughts. How in the world was he going to explain to Maxine that he had gone on a patrol with a pregnant XO?
"Mike," he heard the cheery voice of his friend. "I was about to call you. How is your patient doing? Do you already know more about her?" Maxine asked.
"I need to talk to you about something else," Mike said uneasily.
There was no response so Mike cleared his throat.
"It's about Lieutenant McGregor," he started.
"She's pregnant," he finished when there came no reply.
"She is?" Maxine exclaimed.
Mike was surprised she didn't sound angry or even surprised about it.
"Yes," he answered.
"How is she?" Maxine wondered, sounding like she was about to congratulate Kate if she could and wander off into girl talk.
"How is she?" Mike spat out. Irritated. "She's eight weeks pregnant!"
"And she just told you?" Maxine asked.
"Yes, she finally told me!" Mike emphasised. Kate must have known it for weeks and probably only had told him now there was no escaping anymore.
"You sound angry. Mike, I understand the situation isn't ideal and you would rather come back in and deal with it here, but she hasn't done something wrong, has she?" Maxine tried to calm him down.
"She should never have been on this ship!" Mike exclaimed. Maxine certainly didn't understand the full problem here.
"Oh come on Mike. She probably just found out herself. Anything can still happen in those early stages of pregnancy. What did you expect? I hope you didn't sound too upset when she told you. You did congratulate her, didn't you?" Maxine asked happily. She was clearly taking sides without knowing the full picture.
"She must have known for at least four weeks now," Mike told her as if that would make Kate look bad. "She could have found a moment to tell one of us before we went out on patrol," he added.
Mike was really angry. Kate's situation wasn't the worst he had to deal with right now but it was one that could have been avoided if Kate had been honest from the start. She had told him she wasn't pregnant when there were rumours going around and that was about four weeks ago. Why would she have lied to him?
"Listen Mike, as a woman, when you find out you're pregnant you want to tell a few people the good news starting with the father, the family and somewhere at the end of the list comes your boss. You don't tell your boss until you know for certain," Maxine answered his question unknowingly.
It still felt like a huge betrayal and Kate was certainly not back in his good books yet.
"You were never supposed to stay out long so I suppose Kate would have come in somewhere this week or the next to tell the good news. I think I was about ten weeks pregnant before I told the Brass about my pregnancy," Maxine rattled on.
"Yeah, but you weren't the XO on a patrol boat!" Mike interrupted her.
"No I wasn't, but pregnancy isn't an illness that stops you from making decisions and at eight weeks it's not physically stopping you from doing your job either. Kate is a sensible woman. She knows what she's doing," Maxine defended Kate.
Mike didn't know what to say other than that he still believed Kate should have told them sooner. Mike wished he could say something about his personal feelings as well but they didn't matter, not right now.
"Do you know if Jim is the father?" Maxine asked after a long pause.
Why did she have to make it personal after all? Was it going to make any difference who the father was?
"I didn't ask her but they were going to get married so I guess it's his," he answered.
"So, Kate loses her fiancé, finds out she's pregnant and to make things worse she's stuck on a patrol boat for twelve weeks with a woman on board with a serious illness," Maxine said sympathetically. "God, I hope you didn't make her life even worse by saying something stupid," Maxine threatened.
"I pulled her off active duty," Mike answered, knowing it had been a hasty decision and would be revoked.
"Then you can reinstate her and put her on light duties," Maxine snapped.
Mike sighed. Kate had done something stupid and he was copping a lecture.
"We will discuss this later but first we need to talk about the woman you picked up," Maxine continued towards another subject.
"We still don't know who she is. She's Caucasian, about twenty-five years old but where she came from we have no clue," Mike answered with a sigh. He was still angry about Kate but there were other things to worry about as well.
"Has she said anything at all?" Maxine asked.
Maxine was able to sound professional and had moved on to the next subject. For the time being Mike tried to leave his feelings and thoughts alone and do the same.
"She's mumbling. Nothing understandable," he answered. The woman was still a big mystery and as long as she was in and out of consciousness she would stay a mystery.
"Try and find out as much as you can. The Feds are breathing down my neck for more information. Lieutenant Howard has had contact with the hospital and ordered a lot of tests and equipment. I had a phone call about an hour ago that it's all ready to be picked up. I want you to come to port, pick it up, let the Lieutenant do the test, hand them over to the transfer team and then I want you to go back out at sea, not too far away, but I can't have you block the harbour. Oh and talk to Kate. She needs all the love and support she can get right now," Maxine finally ordered.
Before Mike could give a proper answer she disconnected and left Mike alone with his thoughts. Maybe he should check up on what was going on in the wardroom.
With a little detour past the bridge to leave some orders to sail to port Mike went down to the wardroom where he found Bird looking after the woman.
"Do we have a name already?" Mike asked cheerfully.
Bird smiled at him but shook her head. "Sorry sir. I did start calling her Sarah for the time being. It feels strange to keep calling her 'woman' or 'girl'. Doctor Howard said she will be fine as soon as the medicine starts working," Bird said, sounding impressed.
"That's good," Mike said. "Where is Doctor Howard?" he asked, noticing he wasn't in the wardroom.
"He's checking the X and said he would ret…" Bird started to explain but then the door opened and Timothy Howard walked in.
"She's perfectly fine sir. A bit stressed about the situation but that's normal. I guess I would be stressed too if I was pregnant and stuck on a ship," Howard stated before picking up a file and scribbling down his notes.
"Pregnant?" Bird asked sparkling while she stepped aside for doctor Howard to check on 'Sarah'.
"Anything to report Bird?" Howard asked, quickly looking at the young seaman.
"No sir, nothing has changed," she answered.
The two men started talking about the woman and soon Bird found herself being totally ignored. They didn't even respond when she first asked them to be excused and then told them she was going for a brew.
Bird walked into the galley where she found Kate standing, leaning against the sink, rinsing out a cup.
"Ma'am," Bird said enthusiastically. "I just heard about you," Bird looked at Kate's stomach and smiled.
Kate's jaw dropped and her face turned pale.
"I'm so happy for you ma'am. Getting a little baby. That's awesome!" Bird exclaimed.
Kate walked towards Bird and tugged her at her arm. "Could you keep your voice down? Not everybody needs to know," she hissed.
Bird placed her hand over her mouth and softly shrieked.
"I'm so sorry ma'am," she almost whispered.
Kate dragged Bird out of the galley towards the ship's office. There she closed the door and looked at Bird intensively.
"I guess you heard about me down in the wardroom but I would appreciate it if you would keep this piece of information to yourself. If and when I want to I'll share it with others and that would work a lot better if you don't broadcast it all over the ship," Kate said threateningly.
"Should I remind you not to repeat confidential medical information you're privy to? You're not given the information to then spread it around. Not even when you, personally, are excited or thrilled or sad. Can I trust you on that?" Kate asked.
Bird had gotten the message long before they had reached the office and looked apologetically towards Kate.
"Yes. I really didn't mean to do that ma'am," Bird apologised again.
Kate sighed and faced the white board.
"It's not your fault I'm in a bad mood. Forget about it and just…" Kate waved with her hands, not knowing what else she could say that really was of importance right now.
Bird didn't know what to say to the older woman but felt sorry for her. Sarah was the reason why they couldn't go home and that alone was something to feel bad about but being pregnant as well was something she didn't even want to think about.
"Are you feeling OK?" Bird asked, trying to make up for her mistake.
Kate waved some more with her hands and shrugged. "I'm not sick and Lieutenant Howard checked my vitals and everything is in order. I wished they would spend their time on more important matters like finding out who the girl really is or where she comes from."
Bird started to smile. "She was awake about fifteen minutes ago. Not awake enough for me to ask her questions but she mumbled again. She said something that sounded like 'an forfeit'. Do you think she's Australian ma'am?" Bird wanted to know.
This was news! Hopefully the woman would start to say more over the next few days. Kate started to get really excited.
"Did you tell doctor Howard?" Kate asked before she opened the door to leave the room.
"Not yet. The Captain came back and they talked. That's when I left," Bird answered.
Kate walked outside and was about to go to the wardroom when she remembered she was off duty and didn't want to see or talk to Mike for a while.
"The Captain," Kate asked curiously. "How did he sound?"
Bird shrugged. "Not any different from other days," she answered.
Kate nodded and let Bird pass her. "You go and tell them what you just told me. I'm going to my cabin," she said.
Kate entered her cabin and closed the door. Stuck on a ship for twelve weeks, pregnant and without a job. Could it get any worse?