Mike walks cautiously up the steps to his house, not sure if she is really there or if his mind is playing tricks on him, since he has been thinking about her.

"Kate?" Mike asks, just to confirm that she is there.

"Yes."

"What are you doing here?" he asks while unlocking his front door.

"You said we needed to talk, so here I am."

"Kate, we have had a few drinks tonight. We might end up doing more than talking," he replies, stepping back to allow her to enter.

"And it's not like we've not done it before, Mike," she says as he shuts the door behind her.

"Kate."

"No, Mike. You say you can't trust me; that you cant have a personal relationship with me, but tonight? God damn it, Mike. I am totally confused now. You say one thing and your actions say something total different to me." They walk down the hallway to Mike's lounge. He turns the lights on and dims them before heading to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

"Hot chocolate or coffee?" he asks her.

"Hot chocolate, please," she replies as she sits down on the couch.

"Kate, the other day when we were talking?"

"Yeah?" She looks around, noticing a picture missing. The one she gave him of them.

"Just after you left, Maxine turned up. When we were talking, she said the same thing as you did. About me and the Navy; about it being my life, my love. I asked her if she told you. At first she played dumb but she gave in, in the end, and told me what happened. Why couldn't you trust me enough to tell me it was her?" Mike says as he comes through to the lounge with the two hot drinks, and sits down beside her.

"I do trust you."

"Then why do I get the feeling you don't? You don't trust me enough to be honest with me; to tell me the truth." Mikes words linger in the air. They sit there quietly drinking their hot chocolates for a few minutes, until Mike speaks.

"Kate, why didn't you tell me it was Maxine who put the hard word on you?" There is silence again.

"I did want to tell you, but I..." Kate can't finish what she is saying and Mike hears a hint of fear in her voice.

"Kate, haven't I been honest with you? Told you things that I didn't have to tell you after we broke up?" he says softly to her.

"Yes."

"Then what are you afraid of telling me? Why are you afraid of being honest with me? Whatever Maxine said to you, she had no right to say it. Even now, after I ask you, you still can't tell me. Kate, if you want a relationship with me, you're going to need to talk to me. Be honest, tell me things, even if you are worried about how I might react. And now would be a good time to start," he says, his voice soft and caring.

Kate gets up from the couch and moves over to the other side of the room and looks out over the water, watching the moon's reflection dancing across it.

"Kate, please talk to me?" he says, his voice cracking a little.

"I don't find it easy to do," she replies.

"Well, come work, you don't seem to have any issues at all. Why?" He asks softly, watching her as she stands at the window.

"Because I just can."

"Please, Kate. I'm trying to understand here. How am I meant to understand and learn to trust you, if you're not going to explain to me why you can be so open and honest at work, but on a personal front you won't tell me things, or you are having a go at me for the way I have been. I really do want there to be more between us. I want to be able to trust you. I want to be with you so badly it hurts, but as you know, I can't. No, I refuse to go through another break up with you. You have a choice to make, Kate, one you need to make tonight. Either you start telling me why you struggle to be honest with me, to trust me on a personal level, and we work through it together or- or we call it quits for good, and in seven weeks I walk away from everything that once involved us. Including you." His voice becomes sad as he speaks and she feels his pain when he talks about calling it quits for good.

As the words linger in the air, Mike goes to the kitchen, taking his empty mug and Kate's half drunken cold drink with him. Kate looks over her shoulder and sees him leaning against the sink, hunched over in a defeated pose. She turns back to look out the window, wiping a few stray tears from her face.

Ten minutes pass and nothing is said between them. Kate does not move from her spot. Mike rinses out and washes the two mugs, drying and putting them away before moving back to the lounge.

"Mike?"

"Yes?" he replies, turning to look at her.

"You don't make it easy for me when you say one thing, then tonight you held my hand, you put your arm around me, comforted me, and then you kissed me. You left me extremely confused on where things stand between the two of us." She moves closer to where he is standing.

"How am I meant to decide when you give me mixed signals. So if you want an answer from me maybe I need an answer to. It's not easy on me either, when we do this to each other. You want to understand why I struggle to be honest with you, well maybe I need to know where I stand with you?"

"So you want to know where you stand with me, do you?"

"Please."

"Ok then. I love you, have done since the day you walked into my classroom. I so badly want to be with you, to have you to hold when I go to sleep, to wake up with in the morning, to be with for the rest of my life. We have to make a choice. It either ends tonight and we both walk away or you start talking to me and we work through this together. If you can't, or don't want to, start telling me why you can't be honest with me over some simple questions, then it's over for good. And why, you may ask, is for the same reason I have have already told you. I can't handle another heartbreak. I need to know that if, and I mean if, we try to do this, that no matter what we came across you are not going to bail, run, hide - whatever it is you do. Because, Kate, if you say yes and we try, and in a year's time you've had enough of me and you leave, I will fall apart, and it won't be pretty. You already know my fears and concerns about us being together, now it's your turn. It's in your hands now." He punctuates his comment by heading to the bathroom and she is left watching his retreating form.

She stands there, absorbing what he has said. Can I be honest with him, can I tell him things that prevent me from being totally open with him? She sits down on the floor, her back leaning against the couch.

Can I put my fears my worries behind me, allow him to help me over come them? But what will he think of me when I tell him things from my past that make me who I am today, will he run? Will he pity me? Will he treat me any different to how he does now?

I can't lose him. I need him so much. He's become my rock, my everything. God, I have been so stupid; so dumb. I should never have ended it. His words and her own thoughts are spinning around in her head and she is oblivious to the tears running down her cheeks.

Mike returns to the lounge and hears Kate sobbing. Looking towards her, he is surprised to find her sitting on the floor. Well at least she hasn't run this time. That is a start.

Mike sits down beside her and pulls her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her frame and pulling her tightly to his chest. They sit like that for several minutes, Kate sobbing into his chest. Five silent minutes pass before Kate's breathing evens out and the sobbing subsides. He reaches down to lift her face so he can see her.

"Thank you for not running," he whispers, so softly to her that she barely hears it, and places a soft, gentle kiss on her forehead as she snuggles in to his chest.

They stay like this for what feels like hours, but really it's only been about ten minutes.

"Kate, are you up for more talking?"

"I suppose so, but only if I stay where I am now."

"I think that can be arranged."

"I take it from the fact that you're still here, that you are prepared to give me some answers?"

"I'll try."

"Ok, then. Why did you call it quits?"

"Um, well, Maxine. She sort of made it sound like I had no choice, and I didn't want to be the reason you had no job when rumors got out about us. I was also scared and worried because of the information Maxine have given me."

"Ok, so why would you not tell me that Maxine had informed you of what I had said to Fleet Command?"

"So much had happened since we broke up, in regards to you, Maxine and Ryan, that I didn't want to be caught in the middle; be the reason behind things not going well for you with them. I didn't want to be one that was blamed for it all."

Mike is silent for a few minutes, trying to process what has just been said.

"Honey, why were you scared and worried after seeing Maxine?" She gets up off his lap before she speaks.

"Well, um. When she said you were prepared to resign if they didn't rethink your posting, it threw me."

"Why?" She wanders over to the window, looking out towards the moonlit water.

"Because you did what you said. You were prepared to give it all up for me, and that scared me. Someone was prepared to do this for me. Then I started to think about how you would feel once it was done; would you regret it, would you blame me once it all had happened. I couldn't do that, I couldn't let you give it up, not for me." He watches her from his position on the floor

"Why not? You're worth it, if it means we get what we both want."

"No, it's not, because I'm not worth it." He is shocked. She thinks she is not worth it. Why does she think she's not worth it? He walks over and stands behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and gently guiding her back so she is leaning against him.

"So, if I get this right. At work you feel worth something, but in your personal life you feel you're not worth it?"

"Correct," she gets out softly.

"So, why can you feel like that at work, but not here with me?"

"Because at work, I've never felt worthless. I know my role, my job, and everyone around me respects me for it. I know exactly where I stand. Outside of work I don't know where I stand. I don't know who to trust fully and I've been hurt too many times to count, so I keep things close to my chest locked away from everyone, and at times myself. I'm sorry if it's not the answer you want to hear but it's hard for me to be open about us in the way you want."

"Why?"

"Because..." she struggles to get her breathing back under control and he senses something is wrong; something buried deep within her.

"It's ok, honey. We'll leave it there for tonight. Thank you for trying. Thank you for at least answering some of my questions," he says before placing a few gentle kisses on the side of her neck. They stand like that for a while, until he looks towards the clock and notices the time.

"Kate?"

"Mmm."

"It's bed time. Do you want to crash here, or would you like me to call a cab for you. You're in no fit state to drive."

"Can I stay here? With you?" she says, looking down at the floor.

"Sure, you use my bed and I will sleep on the couch," he replies after unwrapping his arms from her and guiding her to his room. Once there he gets out an old t-shirt and some old shorts for her to sleep in. He helps her into bed and gives her a gentle kiss on the forehead, turning to leave as she speaks.

"Please stay with me?"

"Kate, I..."

"Mike, please, just hold me. Let me get a few hours of good sleep." He changes into a t-shirt and boxers before he slides in beside her, pulling her body against his.

"Have you not been sleeping?"

"I sleep, it's just not the great. I toss and turn and spend a lot of time awake. Thinking; trying to work out what I had done so wrong that since the memorial I got left out of the loop. The last three weeks have been hell for me," she manages before starting to cry again.

"Shh, honey. It's ok," he says gently as he encourages her to roll over. He pulls her to his chest and she holds on to him while she cries herself to sleep. Feeling content with her nestled against his chest, it doesn't take long for Mike to drift off for his best sleep in months.