Chapter Two;
Reunions and Dances

Kasey was the only female figure standing on the docks that morning as the CO of the Armidale walked down from the ship. She'd had her headphones in her ear all morning, pointedly ignoring the dark-haired man at the other end of the group that kept glancing her. He'd even tried to say hello, to which Kasey had simply turned up her iPod so that all anyone could hear was the sound of Fallout Boy blaring out from her earpods. Now her ears were ringing, but at least he'd stopped trying to communicate with her.

It had been her father's secret desire to get his only daughter off base and away from him that had made her come. And by secret she meant he made it pretty bloody clear to her this morning when he basically kicked her out of work and ordered her to get down to the dock and join the others.

So here she was, having arrived ten minutes late, but wishing she wasn't.

She pulled out her headphones, tucking her iPod in her dress uniform pocket, as the Armidale CO, or a man she knew better as Unkie Jon, joined them on the dock with a smile. "Hello final four." He joked. Kasey lowered an eyebrow at him. She wasn't alone as the man next to her snorted and Robert pulled a face. "So, who do we have here anyway?" He dipped into his pocket and drew out a list. "Okay, Leading Seaman Wallis?" The large man next to Kasey stepped forward. The CO nodded at him. "Able Seaman Hart?" The man next to Robert stepped forward. "Leading Seaman Green?" Kasey stepped forward with a grin. He acted like he didn't know her. "And, Leading Seaman Dixon." He nodded at Robert then gave a grin. "And, if you aren't sure, I am Lieutenant Commander Jonathon Trent. For the next week you will be enduring my wrath as you struggle to prove yourself to me." He gave a cold smile. "And I can promise you that this will be no walk in the park. I need someone keen to work long hours, deal with my bad manners, work diligently on and off the ship including boarding parties and work well with my very close-knit crew." He chuckled at their faces and his cold smile wiped away. "I hope I'm not asking too much." The four of them glanced between themselves then looked back at Lieutenant Commander Trent. He waved back towards the Armidale. "So, who's ready to meet the crew?"

Slowly they followed him aboard.

"You!"

Standing at the kitchen bench, Holly Dixon turned with a chuckle. "Yes?" She said, failing to control the smile creeping onto her face.

"What did you say?" Robert demanded, his 12-year-old face contorting in anger.

His angry face failed to scare his elder sister. "Say? I don't recall 'say'ing anything." She grinned and batted her eyelids in an attempt at innocence, but in this she was nowhere near blameless.

Robert raised his hands in exasperation. "Holly!"

Holly just shrugged. "Technically…" She said, giving him a slight tip of her head, "I simply suggested that, maybe, you were going to ask her to the Year 6 Dance."

Robert frowned. "She attacked me at lunch time, telling me she was excited to go and that she was so happy she could now tell that cow Emily Parsons that she had a 'date' for the dance. A date Holly! A date!"

Holly turned away, going back to making her sandwich. "Well, were you going to ask her to go with you to the Year 6 Dance?"

"Yes, but as a friend, not as a 'date'. I don't do 'date'."

Shoving her sandwich in her mouth she turned back to her brother. Ripping the sandwich from her mouth she gave him a peanut butter-covered toothy grin. "There's a lot of things you don't 'do' little brother. Probably why it was Kasey that go you into oh, let's list them…" She dropped her sandwich on the bench and started counting on her fingers. "The soccer team, the debating team, the swim club, school captain elections and, oh, your group of friends. Face it Robert, without her… and me…" She framed her face with her hands in a 'ta da' motion. "You would be a lonely little sad sack, sitting at home every afternoon annoying me." She rolled her eyes. "Not that you aren't doing a great job of that right now." She muttered.

"Holly!" He protested again.

"Robert!" She returned in much the same voice. She grabbed her sandwich and her magazine. "Get a grip. It's just a dance. Just be thankful you didn't have to go with…" She shuddered. "Riley O'Rourke, the school creep." She shook away memories and feigned holding back vomit. "Now, run along Robert and go mope all over someone else. I have high school work to do." She disappeared, leaving Robert frowning at the mess of bread and open peanut butter jars she'd left on the bench. Cleaning up after her, Robert eventually went to find some of his own homework.

The Armidale was exactly like the Hammersley and so it didn't take RO long to find his way around, but three hours into the first day many of his competition mates were well and truly lost. Tank Wallis, whose last ship was the Coastal Survey vessel the Benalla, couldn't find the garbage room and Pelican Hart, who'd just finished a long stint with the Landing Craft Heavy the Labuan, lost his cabin after just 40 minutes aboard. As for Kasey, whether she was lost or not, she never let him know. In fact, only two hours into their time aboard, RO realised she was avoiding him. He didn't mind too much. He still wasn't sure what he'd say to her now anyway. Did 'hello' suffice after all this time?

His first shift with the Armidale not set to start until well after the ship left port, Robert found himself wandering the halls looking for something to do and someone to meet while still trying to get Kasey out of his head.

Seeing her on the dock that morning hadn't been a surprise, he'd known she was going to be there, but still there was the fact he hadn't seen her since they were 18 that made things hard. It had been 10 years, and like him she had changed, but he'd never expected so much. She'd always been pretty, but now there was something about seeing her in full uniform that made RO frown at himself. The way she held herself and the fact she had a pen stuck in her ponytail had almost made him smile when he'd first seen her. She wasn't the Kasey he remembered from high school. But then, he wasn't exactly like how he'd been back then either. He just wished he could talk to her, see what life was like for her now. The problem was… she was avoiding him.

He didn't blame her. Their past hadn't been peachy. It had started okay, with Robert wishing she'd left him alone and Kasey determined to make Robert more of a 'people person', a job she eventually gave up on in their second year of high school. They'd even attended two school dances together; the first one by Kasey's hand but the second was, though he would never admit openly, his idea. It had all gone wrong though in their last year at high school when Kasey had openly announced that she was following in her father's footsteps and joining the Navy. Robert, who'd had the idea of joining planted in his head for a while now, had taken it badly for some reason. He'd announced that he did not, under any circumstances, want to attend recruit school with her and that she should take a year off to think about it. Hurt, she had avoided him until the day he left Sydney bound for Melbourne and Hastings recruit school. She'd been at the airport, hiding in the background and pretending she wasn't there. He hadn't spoken to her. Later Holly would inform him that she had taken her university offer and gone to Sydney Uni doing Media Writing. After that she'd fallen out of contact with Holly. And then a letter and it seemed she'd taken up recruit school after all. They'd become friends again. Until…

RO sighed, rounding the corner before he hit the stairs that took him to the bridge. That day when everything had gone wrong for them. He hadn't spoken to her since. He'd tried to put it in the past and forget about it. But now, here she was, coming down the stairs towards him. RO stopped. Coming down the stairs towards him? His eyes widened as he realised she wasn't a mirage and was actually walking towards him.

"Kasey."

She raised her head and lifted her eyes from the floor, finally seeing him. Her eyes widened, shocked that she'd allowed herself to run into him, and then she gave him a quick nod. "Robert." She tried to continue past but he stood in front of her.

"Kasey?" She sighed, beaten. "Can we talk?" He asked.

Biting her lip she eventually nodded. "Okay, let's talk."