Katja Pt. 09

"So," He smiled, "What do you say? Would you consider this?"

Erik and Katja looked at each other. Then Erik said to her, "I knew this was going to happen, and I knew he would put it in a way where it would be stupid to say no."

Katja looked at him and she shrugged. They knew each other enough by now, not to have to talk.

Erik looked at him and said, "Would an answer tomorrow be all right? I'd like to talk about it and think it over with Katja tonight."

Uncle Geoff smiled again, "Of course, this is not decision to made lightly. I would also like you to see, if you decide you will, if you would be able to convince Ariel and her mate to join you two. Her mate can assist you, and possibly between you two, maybe add two or three of your previous associates from the Navy to join you, ones that have actual construction backgrounds."

"They would work for you as... civilian contractors I believe the term is, to assist you."

Then he got serious, "Erik, Katja, please do not think you are being offered this just to have someone there. We do think, between myself, the Captain and Mr. Sharpe that you are the ones most qualified."

Uncle Geoff smiled and said, "Well, I need to go now to finalize the meeting next month. Katja, I heard Azlan will be there also as part of the Australian crew, it will be good to see him again."

Katja smiled and nodded, "Yes, he sent me a message that he was coming. I can't wait to see him, it's been a long time."

"Well then," He continued, "Please let me know as soon as you've made a decision. Have a good night."

Erik walked him to the door, "We will sir, but I think you already know what the answer will be."

Geoff laid a hand on Erik's shoulder and squeezed it, "Yes nephew I do. I wouldn't have even brought it up unless I was almost completely sure. But you two talk it out between you."

The door slid shut, and Erik walked back to Katja were she sat in thought. He sat down next to her on the rooms couch, and put an arm around her to pull her close. Katja laid her head on his shoulder and sighed.

She turned her head up and kissed him, "You know we have to say yes my mate. It's a good idea for one and it will help us settle there."

Erik nodded, "Your right, I just told uncle Geoff that. To tell you the truth, I really don't see any downside to it."

"Then I guess we tell him yes." Katja mused. "I wonder if we can convince Ariel and Tony?"

Erik shrugged, "I'm not sure, they haven't really said if they had any plans. I know we were talking about our own business, that's something we can still do after the town is done. I also think we could find a few guys from our old crew to join us on a temp basis for two or three years."

"Well," Erik shrugged again. "All we can do is ask them." He hugged Katja again and kissed the top of her head. "Why don't you give me a hand shutting everything down and then we'll go to your office for a bit and then get the hell out of here."

They headed home after they picked up Ariel from the garage. On the way home, Ariel wondered why they were so quiet, they hadn't said anything outside of hi and are you ready to head out. Ariel shrugged to herself, maybe it was just one of those days.

Not knowing it, she was getting to the point they were. She was also getting bored with her job as supervisor. She loved the crew, but with Erik teaching them, and Katja running everything, things had been quiet and jobs were done correctly and on time. Efficiency she found, made everything run well, but was very boring.

Once they got home, they all went in to get cleaned up and changed. Most days, Erik and Katja would take some time to play since being around each other all day and not being able to do anything, did tend to get them worked up. Some days, they would actually shower together and enjoy themselves instead of using the cleansing unit. They had found that the unit set on low, like Erik used it, dried Katja off remarkably well. Of course, she insisted that he still "Check her" afterwards, but that was fine by him and her.

Today, they had too much on their minds to do much more than play a bit. So, once they cleaned up, they dressed and came back out. Erik got them something to drink and a bag of the snacks for Katja to munch on to hold her over to dinner. Ariel joined them and got a snack bag herself. They found all the different bags good, except for the cuttlefish ones and the mini fish, but the shrimp snacks were their favorite.

Tony came home and said hi to everyone, then he said he was going to clean up and change. Ariel came over and asked grinning, "Need some help big boy?" Tony smiled and nodded, then picked her up to carry her in with him.

Erik and Katja laughed as Ariel said her normal, "Put me down you big ape." They always noticed though, that she never struggled to much as he carried her.

They came back out about a half hour later and joined them on the couch. Erik looked at Katja and she nodded.

Then Erik said, "Since we're all here and comfortable, we need to talk to you two about something."

"So that's why you two have been so quiet." Ariel said. "There's nothing wrong is there?"

Erik shook his head no, "No, everything's fine. It's just that Uncle Geoff and us had a discussion today. To keep it short and sweet, he offered us something today when we were talking about what was next since all the classes will be done soon." Then he and Katja told them about how they were offered the positions out at the new town and what it entailed.

The Erik said, "He also asked us to convince you two to join us. Ariel, you would be working with Katja, and Tony, you'd be working for me. He also wants us to see if we can find two or three of our old crew to join us, he'd like ones that have actual construction backgrounds. I'll be the liaison officer, you'd be straw-boss and the rest would be civilian contractors working for my office. Basically, it's just to keep an educated eye on everything and help when problems or questions arise."

Then he added, "This would be for however long it took to get the town completed. After that I don't know, but the "Our own business" idea is still floating around in the back of my head."

Then Katja said, "We've more or less have decided to do it. There's to many things about all of it that align with what we were planning anyhow."

Erik nodded, "Also, if you don't accept, you can stay here. We're not going to sell this place, we'd put it up for rent. That is unless you guys stay, then you can keep living here and we'd figure something else out with it."

Then he added, "Also, he doesn't need to know about you two and the others right now. We have to give him an answer, but you can wait if you want, to make a decision."

Ariel and Tony looked at each other, then Tony said, "Give us a bit to talk about it. Also, even if we don't, I'll still give you a hand finding the others he wants."

Erik nodded and said, "Thanks I appreciate it."

"Oh, and Ariel," He added smiling. "You get promoted to Lieutenant if you accept. Katja gets Senior Lieutenant and their making me a Commander. The rest would be civilians so Tony you wouldn't have to worry about being and officer. I doubt they'd have a uniform that would fit you anyhow."

Tony laughed, "Well that's a plus."

Ariel had a look of disbelief on her face, then laughed, "Me? They want me to be a Lieutenant? Ensign was bad enough; the Goddess help the officer corp."

Then they talked about what they wanted to do for dinner. Nobody felt like cooking so they decided to order sandwiches from the deli. The others told him what they wanted and he called up to place the order. Then they heard him say after he placed it, "No, no problem, I understand. I'll just come and pick the order up. About how long? Okay fine I'll see you in a bit."

He hung up and said, "Their delivery guy had to leave, some kind of emergency. I'll go and pick it up in a little bit."

They talked for a bit longer about what they be doing once they got to the new town. Then Erik checked the time and said, "I'll be right back." He kissed Katja and then grabbed his keys.

Once she heard him pull out, she turned to Tony and said, "Tony, can I talk to you about something I found out today, before you two go discuss everything?"

Tony smiled, "Of course you can Kat, what's the matter?"

Katja smiled, "Nothings the matter, I think, I do need some advice. Erik was telling me about his family and how he hadn't heard from his sister in years. Well, since I'm in a family kind of mood, I had a friend of mine in security see if he could find out anything. He did, he found her and sent me the file with all the info."

Then she told him some of what it said and the circumstances. "She had gotten married, and it turned out that the human she married, started to abuse her. She had apparently put up with this for a while until she couldn't take it anymore and got him arrested. They put him in prison for this and some other things they found he was involved in. She got put into something called a witness protection program, I'm not really sure what that means. The report also said, her ex-husband had been killed recently while he was in prison due to some problem with some of the other prisoners."

"So," Katja asked, "Do I tell him? You've known him longer than anyone else. I'm just not sure what to do."

Tony looked at her then, sighed, "Yeah, I remember when he stopped getting letters from her, add to that, it was about the same time his mother died. He was sort of upset, then he came to the conclusion, "Fine, she doesn't want to have anything to do with me, so be it." But from what you just told me, the reason they stopped was because she was in a witness protection program. That's something they do when a person gives them information like she did. They do it to protect her, by moving her, changing her name and basically taking the person off the grid so no one can find them and retaliate against them."

Then Tony thought a minute, "They probably protected her ex also by doing that. If Erik had found out, he would have taken care of it himself, they'd never would have found her ex anymore, if you know what I mean. Erik is someone you really don't want to get on the bad side of. He can be cold, calculating and no one would have known about it. I've seen what he is capable of when someone is in trouble, let alone if it was somebody he loved and cared for."

He thought for a minute, "Katja, I think you need to tell him, he'll decide what he wants to do with it. His sister had to do what she did, and he'll know that. It should also heal whatever hole he got in him from not hearing from her anymore."

Katja looked at Ariel, and she nodded. "Katja, I don't know him as well as Tony does or you for that fact. But I do think I know him good enough to say, he'd want to know this."

Katja nodded, "I think your both right, I'll tell him later when we're alone."

Erik came back with the food, and they all joined him in the kitchen. They ate and talked until they finished, then Ariel and Tony said they were going to their room and talk and would see them later.

Erik told Katja he'd finish cleaning up and refill their glasses. She nodded, then went out into the living room and booted up her computer while she waited for him. He came back out and Erik smiled as he saw her computer, "Doing a little shopping?" He asked.

Katja smiled and shook her head no, then she patted the couch for him to sit next to her.

"No, not shopping." She said. "Umm.... Erik, I have something to tell you and I hope you won't be mad."

Erik down at her and smiled. "Kitten, there's nothing, outside of saying your leaving me, that would make me mad or upset. What is it?" He joined her on the couch.

Then Katja said hesitantly, "After we talked the other day, when you said you didn't know anything about being a father and how you didn't have any family but us, I had a friend of mine in the security office look into tracking down your sister." She stopped there to see how he would react before going any further.

Erik looked at her a little stunned, "Why? I told you she stopped writing to me."

Katja continued, "Well, because family is important love. It made me a little sad to think you didn't know anything about it. So, since I was in a family mood as it were, I asked him to see if he could at least find out about her. And he did, I have the whole report on my computer."

"You're not upset, are you?" She asked him.

Erik sighed, "No kitten, I'm not. I understand why you did it, so don't worry." Then he asked, "Where is she?"

"She lives out in California right now." Katja replied. Then she proceeded to tell him what her friend had found out.

She looked at Erik, "You see love? She didn't have a choice. I asked Tony for some advice before I told you and he explained what the witness protection thing was, I didn't know what it meant. Do you want to read it? I have it opened up."

Erik nodded, so she handed him the computer, then waited as he went through the report.

She watched his face as he read it, and besides a little tightening around the eyes, she couldn't tell how he felt about it.

He finished and closed down the screen, then set it on the table. He looked at her and she could see his eyes were shiny with tears. She opened her arms and she held him as he cried. She held him tight and stroked him, purring to calm him down.

Finally, he said, "Thank you kitten for finding out for me. All these years and I thought she just didn't want anything to do with me."

Then Katja said, "We have her phone number if you want to call her. Since she was only just removed from that program, maybe she's been looking for you to. We found her because we have more ways of searching for it and getting information. And it still took my friend some time to find everything out."

Erik shook his head, "Not right now, let me get everything under control first."

Then he hugged her fiercely, "I love you my Mate, I can't thank you enough kitten."

Katja hugged him back and then kissed him. "Family is everything my Mate, she also deserves to have her brother back and to be told she's going to be an aunt." She wiped his tears with her hand and kissed him again. "You'll see, everything will be fine my love." Then she curled up against him and hugged his arm.

Meanwhile, Ariel and Tony were discussing what they were offered. Tony asked her, "Well, what do you think about it babe?"

Ariel shrugged, "It doesn't make much difference to me love, as long as I'm with you I'm happy. It's not like my job will change all that much either. I think it's more important right now how you feel about it. This would be a bigger change for you."

Tony nodded, "I suppose your right, it will mean changing jobs. I'm sort of like Erik, were both mechanics but we have a working knowledge of the rest, you can't be around it as long as we were and not pick it up. Also, it's not like we'd be actually doing the work, were just making sure it's done right and the way we want it. Finally, it's not like it's forever, it's just a couple or three years."

He looked at her, "Would you like to do it? Don't worry about what I want, I can be happy anywhere."

Ariel looked at him in thought, "Well, we would be around Erik and Katja, plus there's the kids coming. It'll be nice to play aunt to them." She giggled, "We can spoil them and give them back."

Tony laughed, "How about this, we don't have to give him an answer right now. We're going out there with them next month, to see if we like it. That's the whole reason we were talking about going out there anyhow, this would just like moving sooner if we do. If we do like it, the answers yes. Sound good?"

Ariel nodded, "Yes, I think I like that that idea."

Then she smiled, "Now, since we made this life changing decision, I would like to play a little if that's all right by you."

Tony grinned, "When is it not?"

Ariel giggled, "I know, but I was being polite."

Erik looked up at the clock and figure it would be late enough in California, he punched in the number and hesitated before he pushed the send button. Katja hugged his arm and he looked at her and she nodded. He pushed the button and listen to the phone ring three times before someone answered.

"Hello, can I help you?" He heard his sisters voice say.

He found that he couldn't get the words out. Then he heard again, "Hello, is there anyone there?"

Erik cleared his throat and said, "Uh, hello Helen. It's your brother, Erik."

There was silence on the line, then he heard a stunned, happy voice say, "Oh my God, Erik? Is it really you?"

He sniffed as tears rolled down his face and with a catch in his voice said, "Yes Helen, it's really me. Uh, how are you?"

"Much better now, how did you find my number?" She asked.

"My Mate got it for me. I'm married now." He said.

Helen laughed, "Yes, I know, I saw your picture in the paper about a week ago. You married one of the Lyonness."

"Yes, I did, her name is Katja." Erik replied. "I told her how we haven't been in contact for years, so she had one of our security people track you down. He also told us the reason why I haven't heard from you or couldn't find you. Is everything all right now?"

Helen sighed, "Yes, it is now, since it's all over. I've been trying to find you since I got out the witness program, but I had no idea where to look. Then I saw your picture, but there wasn't enough information to look for you."

"Yes, I can understand that, we have a little more access to information than you would." He said. "So, what are you doing now?"

"Just trying to get adjusted to not being in hiding for the most part." She replied.

Then Erik broke down and tears rolled down his face as he said, "Sis, I'm sooo sorry. I never knew any of it and I thought......I thought, that you didn't want anything to do with me anymore, the letters stop coming, your phone was shut off. I just didn't know what to think. Fuck, please don't hang up, I'll be right back." He got up and walked quickly out of the room.

Katja was stunned by his outburst, but she thought she should say something to his sister. She picked up the phone and said, "Uh, hello, Helen, this is Erik's mate, Katja. He should be right back."

Helen was a bit stunned at Erik's outburst, but even more so when she heard a woman's voice. It was a beautiful voice with a slight accent. So, she asked, "You're his, mate, you said?"

"Yes, I am," Katja replied. "Or wife if you preferred, either term is correct."

Helen asked, "Uh, is he all right? He sounded quite upset."

"I think he is." Katja said. "What you probably don't understand is, that he thought you wanted nothing to do with him for some reason and he's spent the last eight years very upset. Now he finds out, that you had no choice in it the matter, and he's been.... what is the human word.... resenting you for it all these years and he's extremely upset with himself for thinking like he did."

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Katja asked.

"Yes, I do, thank you for explaining to me, I was a little confused there for a minute. He's never acted like that, that I know of."

Katja sighed. "Helen please don't mention this to him, I was talking with a very close friend of ours when I was deciding whether to tell him or not. He told me how it was back when they were in the Navy. I believe it was because of having this happen at the same time frame as losing your mother. In his mind, he had lost you both."

Helen sighed also, "Yes, I think I see what you mean."

Then Katja said, "I hear him coming back," she set the phone down. Katja looked at him as he walked into the room, he was pale as he sat down and picked up the phone.

"Helen, it's Erik, I'm back now. Sorry about that." He told her.