So sorry for the long delay in updating my stories, with looking after my dying father to helping my mum cope wiht him being in care, then no longer being with us. I now feel like I can write again, and enjoy it. :)

Kate sits back down at her laptop and decides to open the email from Jim and read it.

Dear Kate

I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you the other day when I came to your place in regards to Mike and you. It was a shock to me to find out about you and Mike having known each other before Hammersley, as well as a relationship already and that you grew up with his family.

Over the last few days I have come to realise you were no, are right, you can't switch off over five years of loving someone, along with having known them for as long as you say you have known them.

It is hard that the whole time you were at the hospital I was the one making contact with you. But I do believe you still love him far more than I think you realise or even want to allow yourself to love him again. When you guys got that phone call of Mike's accident you suddenly collapsed onto the floor thank god the couch was there for your back to go against, you were in shock, your colour became pale, it was like looking at someone dying, losing blood. It reminded me of that time on Hammersley when Mike and I got injured, and now with the new information from you the other night, it explains why you were like you were when he got injured.

Many years ago I lost the love of my life, the one person who I thought I would have it all with. The Army was what kept me going after her passing. It took years before I could date or even think of marriage again. You reminded me of her, with the way you are with your job, your passion for life. It was properly why I asked you to marry me, you made it easier for me to think of going down that road again. Thank you Kate for allowing me to love again, and giving me the hope of having it all again after Amy.

I do want to stay friends with you Kate, you are a wonderful woman. Worth having in my corner when needed. But please do this one thing for me, if not for me for yourself, for Mike. Go tell him how you truly feel, go be with him. He is your family Kate, I know it's something you never spoken to me about but now I know why, Mike and I really haven't always seen eye to eye, and I can understand why he has always been like he has towards me. Family is so important Kate, even if you're not with Mike, think long and hard before you go be with anyone else. Will you be able to move on from loving him and will you be able to spend time seeing him and the family.

At the end of the day Kate, Family means everything. I'm still apart of Amy's family. Please don't go and lose the only family you have left, Kate. Family is everything.

We will talk again soon.

Jim.

She sits there reading over the email several times, tears falling down her face. She remembers him talking about Amy. She goes to type a reply but can't work out what to say. So she shuts down her laptop and heads off to make herself a drink. She feels bad for not replying but what do you reply with when you don't know what to say.

BACK IN TIME

Mike is sitting in the Comcen onboard the frigate he is currently posted on.

"Mum, is she okay?" Mike asks his mother after telling him that Kate had been hurt . She can hear the worry in his voice over being informed of Kate's training accident.

"Yes she will be, nothing major, a concussion is her main issue, they're sending her home for a few weeks to rest. Dad is on his way to get her now. She's not allowed to fly." she says back to her son.

"That is good of dad to do that. Is Lizzie with him?"

"Sadly no she has chemo tomorrow and it's her last round as well. And you know the drill when she has her chemo."

"Yep I sure do, give her a hug from me tomorrow when you see her, and thank mum for being there for her, I know it means alot to Kate but it also means alot to me too." Mike says to his mother.

"It's what family does for each other Mike, she may not be blood but she is family. Once dad is home with her I will let you know how she really is and give you a call, try to not worry too much we will look after her." She says she knows he will worry about Kate, but she is hoping that with her being at home with them it might help him feel better and allow him to focus on the job he has ahead of him.

"Thanks Mum. When you talk to dad next tell him I say to drive safe." Mike says back to her, then they say their goodbyes before he hangs up the phone.

Mike heads off trying to not let his emotions get the better of him, knowing there is nothing he can do with being so far away from home right now. He heads off to the gym area on the ship to start working out. While working out all he can think about is Kate, and how much he wishes he was there, and also how much he was hating being stuck on this frigate, but he knows he has no choice he has to do this, but still doesn't make it easier for him being so far away from the love of his life.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

Following morning Kate wakes to her mobile going off in her room, she answers it without looking at the screen to see who it is.

"Shit sorry Kate I thought you would have been up by now?" Millie says to Kate over the phone, having heard her half sleeping voice when answering.

"Hi Millie, what time is it?" Kate asks as she rubs her eyes with one hand.

"It's 9am unlike you to sleep this long unless you had a late night drinking or doing it with Jim." Millie says with some cheek thinking that Kate had a long night going at it with Jim.

"No, I wasn't drinking and Jim has left me." Kate says to MIllie, leaving Millie shocked on the other end of the line. For Millie this explains why she never answered her phone last night. She also hears Kate's slightly sad tone when saying that to her.

"Oh shit sorry to hear that he seemed so great, he got on with us all and we all liked him." Kate can hear that Millie means what she says from her tone of voice. There is silence over the line, neither sure what to say to the other person right now.

"Why did you ring Millie?" Kate finally asks, having now sat up in her bed. And confirming on her clock the time.

"Oh yea sorry your information had me sidetracked. Look I know things aren't that well between us right now, but I'm hoping like hell you will want an update on my brother after his major surgery yesterday?" Millie says Kate hears some fear in her voice and worry as well. Millie hears some deep breaths from Kate, waiting to see if Kate will hang up on her or not, change the subject or maybe she hopes like hell she may want to know what is going on.

Kate sits there taking deep breaths, trying to decide what to do she wants to know but also doesn't want to know. She decides to bite the bullet and ask how he is doing. Jim's words playing over in her head, you love him more than you care to admit to yourself.

"So what happened to him?" Kate finally askes, in a very faint tone of voice.

"He had to go have brain surgery yesterday, they also did more work on his leg and also while they were operating on him they ended up having to open him up again.." Millie says to her, and Kate can hear the worry in her voice, and love as well that they have for Mike, Kate also has tears rolling down her face after hearing what is going on with Mike.

"He had brain surgery?" Kate says fear, surprise and shock showing in her voice knowing what they often lead to.

"Yea the blood clots were causing issues. It was why we had Steve come around to your place yesterday, cause Mike hasn't removed you from his paperwork yet, the medical team deemed him unfit to do that at present, due to his concussion he sustained in the accident."

"Oh" comes from Kate when she hears Millie's reply to it all, and why Steve was at her place as well. Kate now understands why Steve was around trying to get her to sort things out, had she bothered to allow them to tell her what was going on or even answer her phone at times she would then know Mike can't remove her.

"I'll come down and get the paperwork sorted then so you guys can decide and not have to ring me over it all." Kate says Millie is shocked at hearing Kate say she is going to come down. But it's the tone that is more the worry for Millie, it's the tone she used after her mother died.

"That would be nice, will you come and see Mike at all, I know hospitals aren't your favourite place after your mum died in one, or I can come meet you at a cafe and we can have lunch together?."

"No idea to be honest and I will be in touch re having lunch." Kate replies, they then say their goodbyes.

While Kate starts to pack she rings and makes a hotel reservation for a few nights, then she rings Steve. She feels like going AWOL, but she can't bring herself to do that.

"Sir, I'm ringing to let you know I'm heading down to see Mike's parents to get the paperwork sorted for his medical needs, and on another note, why wont you accept my reassignment, you don't want me to leave the Navy but your also not allowing me to go be elsewhere to work. What am I meant to be doing? I don't want to be some pawn, I just want to get back to work."

"I'm not letting you do what you did when your mother passed away, Kate." Steve says and lets it sit for a few moments before speaking again. "I also know what it did to Mike. and there is no point going above my head on this one, I have the chief's approval to do as I see fit. Look you can have any patrol boat here in Cairns, but at present I don't want you going anywhere. I also was informed this morning that Maxine paid you a visit a week ago, just before you headed off to your step parents place. Are you able to confirm this?" he asks her, having received word that Maxin went to Kate solace after Steve had given strict instructions not too.

"Yes she did turn up, nothing to worry about." Kate replies back with.

"Please Kate don't lie to me, Maxine was given instruction to not go near Mike and you, and she turns up at your place." This leaves Kate shocked

"Why did you say that to her?"

"Cause she is under investigation Kate, for informing you of Mike reassignment and not going to him directly, plus a long list of other issues as well. Also have you finished going over the paperwork I left for you?"

"Been over it a little bit."
"Please can you go over it, make sure nothing is missing and get it back to me please. It's important, and I can't ask Mike to do it. SO I only have your side of it all right now. As much as I would love to have his side I'm not allowed to, doctors orders." Steve says to her.

"I will go over it and drop it back to you before I leave."

THE ALFRED HOSPITAL

"How did you get on sweetie?" Kerry askes Millie, when she walks back into the room they been staying in during the day

"She answered the phone this time, though I did wake her, and she spoke to me, we had a moment like the last 6 months hadn't happened at all, but on a sad note Jim has left her, oh and I told her about Mike she let me, but mum I left out the part about his memory she doesn't know, I just told her due to his concussion the doctors will not allow him to sign the papers to remove her, she doesn't know that he has forgotten about that conversation with her."

"Well it's not a lie they wont let him sign anything due to the concussion and his memory anyway."

"She is going to come down and sign everything over to you guys, she isn't sure if she will come and see Mike, I'm hoping she will."

"Well maybe we have to play her at her own games and not answer her calls until she comes here to see us.

"That means mum." Millie replies back to her mother. She rubs her belly as it has been giving her some grief over the last few days.

"Well if it's okay for her to do it to us, why can't we do it to her?" Kerry replies back with.

"I still think it's not a wise idea mum, she should come if she wants to come, not because we are making her come. She's hated hospitals ever since Lizze died in one." Millie says to her family, they all remember that time, Lizzie was getting her life back together after winning her battle with cancer, to then have some stupid drunk driver cause an accident and sadly she was injured badly, those injuries claiming her life a few days later.