Fixing A Broken Wing - Chapter 3
A/N: This chapter is set after 4.11 Brotherhood of The Sea episode and approximately 3 weeks after the previous chapter. This is also the start of blossoming friendship between Dylan and Kate and thus one of my favourite chapter of the whole series... :):)
"Come on Charge, you promised me before!" 2 Dads was still trying to convince Charge about the whole skydiving idea. They both held their bottles of beer while standing around the BBQ area in Swain's backyard.
"Does it have to be skydiving?" Charge looked at 2Dads doubtfully, "Why couldn't we just go fishing?"
"Where's the fun in that?" said 2Dads incredulously. "We went fishing every shore leave!"
"Charge, if you are afraid…." Dylan started to offer his opinion before he was rudely interrupted by the man himself.
"Dutchy... sssshhh…"
Dylan raised his eyebrows at the interruption.
"Do not use that word…" Charge was looking to his left and right to see whether other people overheard the word being said.
"Okay..." He started to grin at the older man's antics. "I'll rephrase then. If you are worried..."
"Not that word either…" Charge interrupted again. Swain and 2Dads were now openly laughing at him.
"I like the word apprehensive." Charge nodded to himself, as if proud of his choice of word.
"Right…" Dylan's grin grew bigger. But before he could reply or rephrase his sentence, he got another interruption.
"Uncle Dylan?" Dylan looked down to find Chloe was pulling his pant leg to get his attention.
Silence descended on the other three men. Swain felt proud that his daughter was brave enough to approach the relative newcomer of the group. Not to mention that Dutchy had a giant stature.
Dylan crouched down to Chloe's level so that he wasn't scaring the little girl. "Yes Chloe."
"Could you please give me a piggyback?" her brown eyes were pleading him to say yes.
"Chloe, I would love to. But don't you want your Daddy to give you one instead?" he asked her patiently.
"Mummy said that Daddy hurt his back last night. So he can't do a piggyback today." explained Chloe innocently.
2Dads instantly choked on his beer. Charge also snorted loudly. Dylan was trying to keep a straight face, but in the end, he had to bite the inside of his cheek to prevent him from laughing out loud.
Swain was simply mortified by the whole situation. He could feel his cheeks turned bright red.
"If your Daddy said okay, then I'll do that with you." Dylan finally said.
Chloe eyes now turned to her Daddy's. Looking at his daughter's hopeful eyes, Swain instantly forgot his earlier embarrassment. He put his BBQ utensils away and lifted Chloe to his arms, ignoring the twinge on his back. Her arms instantly wrapped around his neck. He closed his eyes briefly, committing this moment to his memory. He then stroked her hair softly and spoke. "I'm sorry I can't give you piggyback today, sweetheart."
"It's okay Daddy…. You are hurt…" Sensing her Daddy's mood, she tightened her grip around his neck and kissed his cheek. "So can I?"
He smiled at her insistence. "Yes, you can. But don't give Uncle Dylan a hard time, okay?"
"YAY!" She lifted her chubby fists to the air. Everybody who heard the exchange between father and daughter couldn't help smiling broadly at their picture-perfect happiness. The good day just got even brighter.
Dylan was sitting heavily on one of the lawn chairs when he felt something cold on the side of his neck.
"I thought you probably need this..." A small smile graced Kate's face as she offered the cold beer bottle.
"Oh X, you are a lifesaver!" He grabbed the bottle, twisted the cap, and proceeded to take a long sip of the liquid. "Man... this is really good..." He then swiped the liquid that escaped from his lips with the back of his hand. Finally he looked at his XO who was settling on the other chair beside him.
Kate shook her head in amusement seeing the way he drank the beer, as if he had been stranded in the desert for a month. "Satisfied?"
"Very… Thanks X!" Their eyes locked for a few moments before as he expected, she averted her gaze.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Her voice made him followed her line of sight to find a beautiful scene playing out. Swain was pushing the swing that Chloe was in. The little girl was smiling brightly and squealing with delight. She looked back at her Daddy very often, probably to request a stronger push. In the background, Sally was constantly cheering them on. Swain then pulled his wife towards him and together they pushed the swing even higher.
He looked at Kate once again. Her features showed sadness and wistfulness. He wondered why though. Was it because of the man who broke her heart? Did he promise her happily ever after but then left her? At this thought, his fingers involuntarily tightened against his beer bottle.
Kate McGregor had always been a career-driven girl. Everybody knew that. Even Mike knew that. They both loved their career too much, although for a very different reason. Mike loved the sea and his patrol boat, whereas for her, she saw the Navy as the saving grace of her life. Her life with her mother had been a great struggle and by the time she finished high school, she desperately wanted to get away from that bleak town and find a much better life.
She had achieved that. She was a RAN Officer with a bright career ahead. But lately, as she reached her 35th birthday, she had thought about family, husband and kids. It might be just her biological clock ticking loudly, reminding her that she probably had to make a decision soon between having a family and being a career woman. It might also be the fact that she had been in love with Mike for such a long time that she couldn't help thinking about the future; a future that so far had been pretty uncertain and might not be possible anymore after that dreadful 'coffee' conversation.
She was angry at Mike, for his damn dedication to his boat and for never telling her what she actually meant to him. She was also angry at herself, for not having the courage to move on from him after years of heartache. But as she contemplated the sight of Swain's family in front of her, she decided that she had had enough of being angry. She might never have a family of her own. She might never get over Mike, but one thing she knew for sure, she would not wait for him any more. Life was too short to wait for 'Prince Charming' to finally get on his horse and rescue her from this whole mess of a relationship.
She felt much better after reaching that liberating conclusion. She finally decided to tear her eyes away from Swain's family and look back to the man sitting beside her; a man that, according to Sally, she owed a lot after the whole drunken episode a few weeks ago.
She turned her head towards him and found that he was looking at her strangely. His current look was similar to the one he had in their earlier interaction in Hammersley; a scowl with a touch of anger which was evident by his tight grip on his beer bottle. What did I do?
"Dutchy?" She called his name tentatively.
"Huh?" Dylan looked into her eyes again. Gone was the sadness and wistfulness in there. It was now replaced by steely determination. Good on you X.
"That beer must be warm now. You've been gripping that bottle so tightly." She brushed aside her earlier confusion and instead focused on distracting him from whatever he was thinking before.
"Oh…" He loosened his grip straight away, not realising that he did it in the first place.
"What? No smart remarks?" she pretended to be surprised about his quietness. "Hmm... I didn't know that a 3 and a half-year-old girl could make you tired so easily. Are you sure you didn't hurt your back as well?" she added cheekily.
Silence enveloping them after her words. He could not believe his ears. This was the first time that he didn't have to rake his brain to keep the conversation flowing between them. Kate McGregor finally initiated a casual conversation with him, using a joke nonetheless.
Kate started to squirm at his silence. Was I out of the line? Too friendly? I wish they invent a book of 'How to initiate a casual conversation with Petty Officer Mulholland without embarrassing yourself guide'. That would be handy!
She finally had enough of the silence and stood up from her chair. But before she had the chance to go anywhere, he finally found his voice again.
"Where are you going?" he looked at her confused.
"I thought you were ignoring me." She replied while folding her arms in front of her chest and raising her eyebrows at him.
He didn't answer. He just tapped her seat and flicked his head towards it, silently inviting her to sit beside him again.
"So, blonde or brunette?" said Kate after she settled on the chair for the second time.
Dylan froze. Oh Crap! "You remembered?" Please say that you don't.If she remembered that he carried her to the bedroom and the whole bizarre conversation after that, it was a great surprise that she hadn't killed him yet.
She smiled at his 'deer caught in the headlights' expression. "I remember getting out of the taxi and asking you that question, but after that, it was a bit of a blur." She scrunched her forehead annoyed. "Sally filled me in a little bit the next morning, but my head was so sore that I didn't really pay attention to what she said."
Dylan released his breath that he didn't realise had been holding. "Vodka would do that to you."
She cringed. "How many shots did I end up having?"
"Too many." He replied simply.
"Thank you." said Kate quietly. Their eyes met again, but this time, no one averted their gaze.
"For what?"
"For caring." She replied. "If there was one thing that I remembered from the conversation with Sally that morning was that you were the one that helped me that night. The one who looked so worried while in the contrary, she and her 'dear husband' were apparently a little bit amused by my behaviour. Not that I blamed them of course." She smiled wryly.
"No worries X." He gave her a bone-melting smile. The kind of smile he gave her that night to coax her to sleep, not that she remembered of course.
Damn! What a gorgeous smile!
Hold on a second... Did I just acknowledge that?
Kate could feel a tell-tale sign of a blush coming, but she still couldn't look away. He looked amused by her reaction, but mercifully broke their gaze first, as if he knew that she couldn't bring herself to do just that.
She shook her head softly to get rid of the smile-induced-cobweb in her head. Kate, you need to get a grip! It's just a smile. A beautiful one though... Oh shush!
"Are you alright now?" asked Dylan seriously.
"What do you mean?" she looked up alarmed. Please tell me he couldn't read my mind just before.
"That night you were upset about something, that was why you drank excessively." He chuckled humourlessly. "I know that it was none of my business. But whatever that was, are you still upset about it?" He tilted his head towards her, waiting patiently for her answer.
She was surprised by the caring that she saw in his eyes at the moment. If she still had any doubt about Sally's assessment towards the man in front of her, which she didn't, that doubt would have dissipated very quickly. There was one thing that she had learned over the years. Lips could lie, but eyes couldn't.
"I'm not." She finally replied with a small smile.
"Yeah?" he raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Definitely." She said with finality in her voice. She then decided to elaborate further for his sake. She had a feeling that he probably would not be satisfied with her one-worded answers. "It will take me a while to completely get over it. But I will, eventually."
"Good for you." With that statement, Dylan knew that this subject was officially closed. But before he got the chance to relax, she had opened another line of conversation.
"You know, you actually haven't answered my question before." Kate narrowed her eyes at him, slightly annoyed that he had been avoiding that particular question.
He groaned inwardly at her insistence. What a stubborn woman!
"I'm not going to answer that question!"
"Why not?"
He sighed. "Because... with all due respect X, you have blonde hair!"
"So you are afraid that I would be offended if you said that you prefer brunette?" she looked at him incredulously.
"No! I was afraid that if I said 'blonde', you would quote the whole fraternisation rule again to me." He openly chuckled at her now, remembering the whole incident in that tiny boat.
"Oh shut up!" His XO looked ready to whack him on the spot. "Seriously Dutchy, do you really have to bring that up again?"
"Sorry... I just can't resist." He smiled broadly at her, but he quickly realised that instead of smiling with him, she was actually scowling.
"Do you really want to know the answer?" he changed his seating position so that his whole body was facing her. He then leaned closer towards her, while looking at her seriously.
Too annoyed to reply, she only shrugged her shoulder.
"Blonde, brunette, red haired, black haired, it doesn't matter to me." He smiled at her surprised face. "Girls can change their hair as quickly as their clothes. Heck, even nowadays you can change your eye colour by wearing contact lenses."
He leaned even closer to her, making her heartbeat quickened involuntarily. "What makes a woman tick for me is this." He touched her temple softly. "And most importantly, what's in here." He softly touched the area just below her left collarbone. His finger then lingered in the area just a bit longer than appropriate. Their eyes met again, blue collided with green. But seeing her wide pupil staring at him, realisation dawn on him of what he was actually doing. He then removed his finger quickly as if it was being burned and leaned back to create wider space between them.
What the hell was that Dylan? She's your boss!
Awkward silence descended on them once again. They avoided looking at each other. Dylan looked to the BBQ area once again and Kate looked to the ground. He finally couldn't stand it anymore. He got up and started to walk back and forth around both of their chairs.
Her face softened seeing his distressed face. He thought that I would be angry at him.
"Dutchy?" In his musing, he didn't hear her. He kept doing what he was doing before, wearing the grass. "Dutchy!"
"What?" he answered a little too loudly, earning a raised eyebrow from Kate.
He finally stopped his movements and sat back on his chair, resignedly waiting for his punishment. "I'm sorry."
"For being honest in answering my question?"
"For being inappropriate." He countered seriously, referring to his touches before.
"Right..." She stared at his apologetic face for a while before she spoke again. "I think that we should just forget about that." Yeah right. As if I could forget. My skin is still tingling from his touch.
"X?" He was relieved that she apparently wouldn't pursue this matter further, but at the same time, he couldn't help but feeling a little disappointment that she didn't seem to be affected by his touch.
She smiled at his hesitation. "I think it's your turn to ask question now."
At first he was stunned at her diversion tactic, but then his lips quickly formed a grin. "You better be prepared then. This would be a hard one."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Bring it on!"
"There you go X, home sweet home."
They had spent the rest of the afternoon throwing questions to each other about anything; from the easy question about favourite movies to the hard one involving JFK's conspiracy theory. Before they knew it, they were the only one left in the backyard.
After helping Sally and Swain with the clean up, Dylan then offered her a lift home, partly because he wanted to make sure that she got home safely, but he guessed the bigger reason was that he simply didn't want their time together to end.
Kate climbed down from the bike and gave her helmet back to him. "Well, this is it then."
"Yeah...I guess I'll see you in a week? Unless we've been crashed sailed of course." I hope we can see each other sooner than that.
She nodded. "Yes. A week." She strangely felt disappointed that their conversation had to end.
"That was fun before..." What are you doing Kate? Let the man go home! For all you know, he might be bored to death with your chatter.
He felt hope soaring in his chest. "Would you like to continue some other time?" Please say yes!
She looked up to find his hopeful eyes staring at her. "I would love that."
He smiled broadly at her. He then decided to tempt fate once more.
"How about tomorrow?" Man, I sound so desperate! "I know a good breakfast place around here."
Kate shook her head amused at his insistence. At the same time, a battle was raging inside her mind. Her responsible self reminded her that the man in front of her was her colleague and her direct subordinate. It was one thing to interact with him so candidly in front of Hammersley family, but to have a private conversation in public place, where there might be other navy personnel and higher-ups hanging around sounded too risky. On the other hand, she really enjoyed their conversation this afternoon. It was good to just forget the complication in her life and focused on the things that made her happy. She also found out that Dutchy was good at distracting her from whatever cloud hanging around her head and made her laugh. She hadn't had a good laugh for a very long time. And to be honest, she was looking forward to feel that way again.
"Macadamia."
"Huh?" He looked at her confused. Her previous silence made him anxious and he had started to tap his bike's handle unconsciously.
"Macadamia pancakes. It is my favourite breakfast." She stated simply.
"Right..." He couldn't help but grinned stupidly at her. "I'll pick you up at 8 am tomorrow?"
His grin was infectious as she felt that her lips involuntarily curved up. "Sounds good."
"Good night X."
"Good night Dutchy."
To be continued...