The Turbulent Road Ahead
By SigmaStar79
A/N: I have found a wonderful Beta in Sez, to whom I have the deepest respect for. If it wasn't for her, this story would not be as good as it is Hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 16
Gerald once again sat back in the chair that overlooked Cairns, sipping a lager. In front of him he had laid out all the pictures he took from Christina's house, with the exception of two. Those pictures were still in the frames he took and were currently in his lap. The first one was a copy of the one he took the first time. Shamus, Kate, Christina and their children all posing for a family picture, the silver frame was engraved and stated the picture was taken last year. The second picture was in a blue metallic frame and said it was taken this year; maybe the month before. This was the picture that angered him.
The McGregor family stood together on board an Australian naval ship called the HMAS Hammersley. Shamus stood proud in the back, his hands on each of his daughters' shoulders. Both of his daughters stood more apart then the last picture. Like in the last one, Kate, the older of Shamus's daughters, was in full Naval uniform, her Whites pristine and pressed. Christina was in a flowing white sundress with a blue belt. Behind Kate was a man with his arm around her, holding her close. His other hand was pressed protectively on Kate's stomach, indicating she was pregnant. Both were smiling big and looked happy. The man was also dressed in full Navy whites, his uniform as pristine as Kate's uniform.
'This man must be Uncle Mike' thought Gerald as he looked at the picture closely. 'And Kate is pregnant by the way he is holding her, how interesting that both sisters will be pregnant together'
Looking over to Christina, he sees another man in Navy whites standing behind her, his hands on her hips and standing very close. He is wearing a smirk and seems too happy to be touching Christina. It is not hard to determine that this is the Pete mentioned in his son's picture.
Looking at his daughters, Andrea is sitting and facing the same direction as Kate, wearing a white uniform almost identical to her aunt, but has a patch on the side stating she is in her local schools naval ROTC program. Sarah was also sitting, but facing the same direction as Christina. She is wearing a light blue dress. Both of his sons are wearing what looks to be little versions of the white naval uniforms and are sitting on the deck, Indian style, with their legs crossed.
Sitting back and taking the last swig of his lager, Gerald puts down the pictures to get another. Coming back with another drink, he picks up a scrapbook that has the boy's names on it. Looking through it he sees pictures of them right after they were born, their first steps, their first birthday. Their first picture shows just how different the identical twin boys are. One is almost sleeping while the other seems wide awake and angry. Two pages showing their second birthday seems to show it more. Christopher with a dragon toy and looking mad at the camera like he didn't want his picture taken and Daniel with a toy whale, looking around curious of everything. He had to laugh at his boys; they were perfect in every way.
Closing the book, he picks up the one that belonged to Christopher alone. His full name on the front in bold Red letters on a black background with dragons all around; Christopher Alan McGregor. While the fact he has Christina's maiden name ticks him off, he lets it go, for now. Opening it, he saw pictures of his son at school, in martial arts classes. Pictures of him and 'Uncle' Mike at some zoo. One picture is of Chris and his aunt Kate in a pool. Apparently he had been playing a game and won. Chris was cheering in happiness while Kate was smiling at him proudly.
One picture caught his eye. It was Chris and Pete. Pete was in a defensive block while his son was attacking him. This did not please him one bit. That man had no right teaching HIS SON how to fight. That was his job!
Closing the book aggravated, Gerald takes another long swig before picking up another scrapbook. This one is Daniel's. It has a dark blue background with a large navy ship in the middle with Daniel's full name written on the side of the ship.
Daniel Shamus McGregor
That made him smile realising that both boys held part of their grandfathers' names; Shamus being her father and Alan being his. Opening the book, the first picture he saw was Dan standing on the bars, holding on tight and smiling. The next picture is of Dan sitting in a large chair on what looked to be the ship's bridge. He laughed at seeing the picture of Dan seemingly attack Mike while he was shirtless and face down in his rack in his cabin. Apparently he had been sleeping. The next picture showed a groggy but laughing Mike with a laughing Daniel. The caption underneath said it all.
'Uncle Mike got a personal wake up call courtesy of Daniel. And here he thought nothing was worse than 2Dads singing 'Oh Danny Boy' for a wakey wakey song. Guess a 7 year old boy will do that to a 40 year old man lol'
He burst out laughing at that comment. He didn't think Mike was that old, he was certainly built well for a man his age. The next few pictures showed Daniel in several different places. The next few pictures were of his Aunt Kate helping Dan put together a model ship and her showing Dan how the radar worked and then at the navigation table. The last few pictures were of Daniel and Pete. Pete holding Dan up behind the ship gun. Pete showing Dan the typhoon. Pete and Dan peeking out the curtain of Pete's upper rack. The last picture was of Pete seemingly asleep on the boat deck with a small Daniel who was also sleeping, using Pete as a pillow. The caption underneath explained the situation more.
'After a day of exploring HMAS Hammersley with crew, Pete and Daniel decided to watch clouds and fell asleep. SO CUTE! I guess no one warned Pete that 7 year old boys were tiring '
Gerald closed the book. He had already looked at the others apart from the ones marked 'Mike & Kate' and 'Christina & Pete'. He didn't need to see the one of his ex wife and her boyfriend. He already knew they weren't married from the info his informant dug up on her. He didn't want to see her happy with another man. The one with Mike and Kate just didn't interest him, considering the front picture was of Mike and Kate in civilian clothes and holding each other smiling at the camera.
Calling up his informant, he checked up on Christina. Finding out she was out of the hospital and at a house under renovation, he smiled and asked him to send pictures immediately. He wanted to see what his little Irish song bird was up to.
Christina helped the Flynn women set up the spare bedroom, the kitchen, the living room and the bathrooms before taking a lemonade break down stairs. A heating and cooling man had just arrived was installing a new central air unit outside. It seemed the guys were taking a break as well as they were up from the basement. You could tell they had been working hard as they were sweating and were covered in wood dust and plaster.
"How is the basement going?" asked Catherine.
"Good" replied Joe while stretching. "Got all the framework for the new walls up and all the wiring is done. We got the insulation done and out of the way too. After this little break, we are going to cut and install the drywall. After that we will mud and tape and we will be done with the walls until tomorrow."
"Jeez, you Flynn boys know how to get things done don't ya" Laughed Christina drinking her lemonade.
"We do, but we also had your dad's help. He has already cleaned up the area we have finished and laid down all the tack strips. He has also already pre-cut all the carpet. When we have finished putting up the drywall, we're going to put it all down while my boys start moving the larger pieces of furniture upstairs"
Joe looked confused as the women started laughing. It didn't take Shamus long to realise why.
"You've already done that, haven't you Christina?"
"Yes Sir" Christina said with a grin while the women just laughed at the frown Shamus was giving his daughter.
"You just got discharged from the hospital girl, what were you thinking!"
"I was thinking I am your daughter, and that Kate and I got our attitude, spunk and notion of hard work from you. I was raped, Dad and I have a small concussion, OK. That didn't say I couldn't work"
"There is a chance you're pregnant, Christina Ann. What if you-"
"If I lose the baby, while it would break my heart, it might save some heart ache. Dad, you're not the one who has to explain to this child that while it has the same father as siblings that his or her father had to rape me for them to be conceived. I'm leaving this in God's hands, and that's it."
Shamus just sighed and shook his head. While he knew Christina was right, it still bothered him that she had done so much so soon. The touch of her hand on his made him look into his daughter's eyes.
"I understand you're worried Dad, so am I, but there is nothing more I can do with a clear conscience. I have to place this in God's hands and move on, or it is going to be like a cancer and eat me up from the inside out and I will never be rid of Gerald"
Shamus smiled at his daughter's wisdom. She was in fact a McGregor woman.
"How did you and your sister turn out so wise and smart?"
Christina smiled and so did everyone else at the table when she responded.
"Because you're our father, we carry your genes and stubbornness. That and we both had Grandma McGregor with us for nine years before she passed. That woman taught you while she loved you."
Shamus smiled at the memory of his mother. Small and petite she was, but full of fire, Kate had been nine when she was taken and Christina was nine when she passed on. Christina was right, Katelyn LaFern McGregor was one hell of a woman and her spirit lived on through her granddaughters.
When Mike walked into Kate's hospital room, she was no longer in bed. At first he was worried something may have happened, until he felt her hug him from behind. Turning around, Kate didn't have time to really react when Mike Flynn grabbed her and kissed her like his life depended on it. When they came up for air, he placed his forehead against hers while looking in her eyes and placed a hand on her belly.
"Hey beautiful, I missed you"
"We missed you too handsome"
The baby gave a firm kick to show she was around and both Mike and Kate chuckled. Getting down on one knee he kissed the protruding belly in front of him.
"Hello to you too princess, I heard you gave mummy a hard time while I was gone."
The baby pressed into Kate's stomach to try and make her presence known. Mike placed both hands around the small child and smiled. He looked up at Kate at the same time Frances walked in. Not expecting her brother to be back, she watched carefully. She wanted to see what her brother did when he thought he was alone.
"What did the doctor say? Is she OK or is there something they need to do or-"
"Right now there is nothing Dr. Harper can do. She is thinking of sending me home with strict instructions if anything happens again, but I will know more tomorrow when the blood tests come back"
"OK" replied Mike. That was when he noticed his eldest sister watching them. He already knew Frances wasn't helping but he also knew that was because of unresolved issues with him. Unresolved issues that he had to handle.
"I didn't see you there sis. Watching over your sister in law and little niece while I have been gone"
"I was but I don't see why as I have been informed it's not your baby"
"Frances" Mike exclaimed in exasperation "The baby is mine; I can have a DNA test done when she is born to prove it, but I guarantee it's mine"
"OK I'll bite" said Frances. This needed to be settled. "I know if this is your baby, you broke the rules to have her. You broke up with your girlfriend to sleep with a whore who probably got pregnant on purpose to either trap you or to get herself promoted. Wake up lil brother and see her games"
Mike and Kate knew right then that Frances had been talking to Maxine, which Mike should have foreseen. Now he had a really big problem to handle swiftly.
"Frances, I don't know what you have been told, but I was never with Maxine. I can call Ryan and he can tell you that. Whatever Maxine has said is a lie and I can prove it. I have been in love with Kate for over eight years now, but I let my career get in the way of the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm not going to let Maxine White fill your head with doubts because she has an obsession with me. I can prove it sis, look into my eyes, you know when I'm lying better than Mum does. After that I can call Ryan."
Frances looked her brother in the eyes and saw he was telling the truth. Now she felt totally ashamed. Mike was telling the truth and she had acted like an ass. She knew she was in the wrong and what she had to do.
"I'm sorry Mike; I don't know why Maxine lied to me. But I have known her longer than anybody; can you see why I took her word first?"
"Yes I can. I also understand after you're ex husband you have a hard time trusting people. You can trust me Frances, and you can trust Kate. But you have to tell me Frances, what does Maxine have planned?"
Frances looked at her brother then at Kate, then back at Mike. "She wants to confront Kate for breaking your relationship up. She thinks Kate got pregnant on purpose to ruin you. She is planning on filling charges against Kate for fraternisation, but not you. She filled several papers about Kate being a heavy drinker; an unfit parent. She reckons that Kate must have slipped you something when you were together having dinner and had taken advantage of you knowing her cycles and when she would become pregnant. Maxine thinks that if Kate hadn't become pregnant, you two would have been married within the year. "
"I can't blame her Mike" said Kate placing her hand on his arm to calm him. "She has known Maxine for a long time and she thought she was protecting you as a big sister should. I would protect Christina with my life; Frances is just doing the same"
Mike looked back at Kate and again thought he had hit the mother load with forgiveness. The fact that Kate was so ready to forgive Frances from an older sister's point of view showed him just how wonderful he had it to be able to be with her again. He had screwed up so many years ago; he wasn't going to do it again. Looking back at Frances, he smiled and hugged her, which caught her off guard. She was expecting a fist to the face, not a brotherly hug. Her look said it all to Mike.
"Like Kate said Frances, you were trying to protect me, I can admire that. But we need to talk. I need to know what Maxine knows."
"Well she found out the day Christina got attacked that Kate was in this hospital because the hospital refused to tell her anything about a possible patient. She is waiting for an all clear from me for the confrontation. She has wedding rings Mike"
"OK" said Mike "No harm, no foul it seems; just no more contacting her. I don't need Maxine trying to hurt Kate or Cat"
"I understand and I'm sorry"
"No need for apologies. Just help us protect this one" said Kate as she took Frances's hand and placed it on her stomach in time to feel the baby move. Frances couldn't help but smile. She was going to be an aunt.
Maxine was standing outside a convenience store when a black sedan pulled up. A man got out and walked over to her.
"You got the 150"
"You got what I need?" asked Maxine. She wasn't about to play any games. The man pulled out a clear box and Maxine pulled out the cash. With her cargo in hand, Maxine got back in her car and drove off. She would wait until no one was around before she struck. Soon her precious Mike wouldn't have to worry about Kate and her unwanted brat anymore.
At 1300 hours the Flynn men got an unexpected surprise as Dutchy and Pete showed up to help. Pete offered his truck and Dutchy offered his car. Together, the men not only finished the drywall, mud and taping, and the carpeting, but the front and back landscaping was done and the garage was also fixed. All the men would have to do was come back the next day to put the filling over the mud and taping and let it dry before sanding it down. Then the basement would be able to be painted. Pete and Dutchy had helped move most of the furniture from Mike's place to the new house and at Pete's insistence, helped Dutchy move all the furniture upstairs before Christina could act. Instead, Christina was quite pleased to see Pete come in the second time from going out with her four kids in tow. She let them play outside while she helped cook a large family dinner.
Soon the men had adjourned with their extra set of clothes upstairs to shower in one of the two bathrooms while the women severed up dinner on paper plates and plastic silverware to minimise the clean up afterwards. The sound of a car pulling up surprised everyone, but not as much as the man that walked in the door.
"If I had known you all were going to finish my 'To Do List' I would have made it bigger" said Mike as he walked into the kitchen and kissed his mum on the cheek. He told her that the problem with Frances was finally fixed up and Catherine was relieved. She had been worried about her oldest for the past week.
"So you got Frances to help Kate, huh?" said Christina as she had a bite of her salad.
"Yes. Maxine had her thinking Kate was using me and thought she was protecting me. Kate said she understood from a big sister's perspective and even said there were no hard feelings. They are currently looking at baby toys online that are educational for Cat."
That made his Mum and Kate's sister laughed and his Dad shake his head. Leave it to Frances to jump into her job while also being an aunt.
"Looks like the teacher in Frances is coming out" said Joseph."Watch out Michael, she try and have her in advance classes by the time she's two"
Mike laughed and saw Dutchy there with Carol and Pete there with Christina. Mike only had to raise his eyebrow for Pete to respond to the request in his eyes.
"We both have been helping. We cleaned up here, but we still plan to fulfil our other plans."
Mike nodded his head and took a drink while both women looked at their new boyfriends then at each other. What they said to each other made everyone laugh out.
"Navy guys"
Frances found she was enjoying Kate's company now that she got things cleared up with her brother. They were currently talking about what Mike was like at sea and Kate was telling funny stories about him. She had to admit she hadn't laughed this hard in ages, and she now had enough ammunition against her brother Mike to last for the next thirty years.
"Tell me he didn't"
"Yes he did' said Kate laughing. "He tried to aggravate me by singing our song for a wakey wakey song. It wouldn't have been so bad I hadn't been dating someone else at the time. The moment I got to the bridge, it only took one look and the whole crew was scared. Poor Charge clapped his hand on Mike's shoulders and promised him a wonderful eulogy at his service and ran off the Bridge"
Frances laughed again and shook her head, "Yeah that is Mike for you. He gets super jealous at times and when he does he refuses to play fair. At least you give him a run for his money"
"That I do" said Kate smiling. She had to admit, she was having fun. "Not long after I was first posted, there was this woman who was obsessed with being rescued. I got so annoyed at having to continually rescue her, that as she was sailing off the third or fourth time we saved her I told her to hit a reef and Nav told her to get eaten by a shark."
"I would have paid to see his face when you both showed your displeasure"
"He gave his 'what the hell' face to both of us before walking away from us. Me and Nav just shrugged, which I think just made him even more mad."
Both girls giggled as Kate told stories from on the boat, and Frances told stories from their childhood.
"Know that scar between his eyes?"
"Yeah, he said he flew down on the old Hammersley stairs during a bad storm". When Frances started laughing, Kate knew there was something juicy about Mike's little scar.
"What?"
"He said he fell down the stairs did he. Hmm, that is funny, considering he got it when he was 12 and the doctor came over see Dad when he was sick. The doctor brought his granddaughter with him and the girl waved at him. Mike was riding his bike and was so transfixed, he ran right into one of the fence posts. He went right over his handle bars and busted his forehead open."
Kate cringed and laughed at the same time. Frances laughed too. It was nice having a girl's night with someone. It gave them both a chance to leave their work personas aside and just be them and have a little fun.
Meanwhile a white sedan was waiting in the hospital garage looking right at Frances' car. They would wait until Frances Flynn was gone before entering. They had a job to do that they were paid good money for. The job was to cover the boss while he took care of loose ends.
The loose end was Kate McGregor.