So, this is was the idea of ALIMOO1971 and she also is the co-reader and gives some advise on it – thank you for sharing this idea with me! :)

I hope you all like it and leave me/us some reviews :)

Alternate Universe → ET is still alive and is serving on the "Melbourne"

Peter Tomaszewski or Buffer, how everyone called him, had had a nice, quiet morning so far. After he had been able to sleep relatively long and then fetch a little snack and coffee from the galley, he was now on the bridge for his watch. No one had disturbed this peace – which was something like a miracle on a ship where 2Dads was serving. He had expected the technician to suddenly jump into his cabin, in the galley or on the bridge and to annoy him with some banalities, but nothing like this had happened to him yet. This had lead him to be in a real good mood and he really enjoyed this early morning.

He just sipped on his coffee and watched the beautiful sunrise as he saw and heard Nikki coming up the stairs to the bridge. A look on his watch told him that she was a twenty minutes early for taking over the watch duty from him, but this was nothing to be concerned about, sometimes people just couldn´t sleep after having a two week shore leave. He was happy to see her as they did not have a chance to talk to each other since they left Cairns yesterday.

"Hey, wonderful morning, isn´t it, Nav?", he smiled. "How was your shore leave?"

He had expected her to return his smile and tell him about her weekend with ET with whom she was engaged. After he had been injured during a diving tour he had not been able to work, his position had been filled by 2Dads and now ET was serving on the "HMAS Melbourne", making it possible for Nikki and him to continue their relationship. She had been more then happy in the last months, but the look on her face was the complete opposite. Her eyes were a bit red, she looked exhausted and her gaze was dark, sad and also a bit angry. When she heard his question, her eyes filled with tears and he felt his heart stopping for a second.

"How about the description 'awful'?!", she whispered under her breath as she tried to hold back some sobs and Buffer immediately had a bad feeling in his stomach, being concerned as he cared a lot about her.

Nikki made no effort to step away as he closed the short distance between them with two big steps and gently pulled her into a embrace. His caring had good and bad sides – sometimes she just felt as if he treated her like a piece of china, but on the other hand she had always somebody to talk with and regarding the events that had occurred to her, she really needed him as a friend.

"What do you mean 'awful'? I thought you and ET had planned to travel down to Sydney for some sightseeing!"

Nikki buried her face into his shoulder and he felt how her body started to shake from short sobs.

"We... we broke up..."

"Oh, Nikki..."

Tears rolled down her cheeks and he embraced her a little bit tighter before she continued:"He slept with his ex-girlfriend and she is pregnant, just like two years ago and... he decided to support her as she want´s to keep it this time... He swore a thousand times that it happened when he was drunk, but... I just couldn´t stay with him, he showed me that he did not change, he just covered his affairs more studious!"

Buffer could feel how the anger started to boil in his stomach. He had warned ET some years ago that he would kill him if he would ever hurt Nikki. His hands clenched to fists and he had to control himself to not start to scream on the absent man. How could have ET dared to hurt his... to hurt Nav, just as she had thought everything was nice in their relationship and that they would marry, having a family...

"This bastard!", he hissed after he calmed down a little bit. "Nav, the next time I see him I will punch him so hard that he won´t be able to walk for at least a week!"

A small smile stole it´s way to Nikki´s lips. Buffer had always been protective of her and right now she found his attitude kind of sweet. She looked up into his eyes and answered:"Don´t worry, Buff, I already gave him a huge black eye! After I threw the engagement ring at him. Hit him in the stomach."

"Good girl!", Buffer grinned and stroke through her hair. She thankfully leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat and his calm voice as he continued to talk:"Don´t worry about being alone, Nav. You still got me..."

He pinched together his whole face as he realized what he had just said and hurried to add:"I mean, you got me, Swain, Charge... Well, of course Swaino is married and Charge is old enough to be your father... - but don´t tell him that I said this!"

Nikki could not stop herself from laughing and wrapped her arms around Buffer. He smiled softly as she giggled against his chest and kissed the top of her head. It felt good to make her feel better, even for this small moment. Of course he knew that she would need some time to heal her broken heart, but Nikki was a strong independent woman and he was optimistic that she would get over this scumbag ET. Even if ET was his friend, Buffer could not find anything positive about his behavior right now and he hoped that Josh would not make any attempt to get her back and let Nikki be.

"Remember, I will always be there for you!", Buffer reassured her once again.

Nikki and Pete did not knew that they were observed. 2Dads had a wide, cheesy grin on his face as he watched the navigator and the bosun sharing a deep embrace. He stood on the stairs to the bridge, unnoticed by the two sailors. He thought about just walking in and making some comments, but then he decided he should go away – maybe he could use this against them at another point. He just quietly walked down again, as Mike came towards him.

"Oh, good morning, boss!", 2Dads said a bit louder than usual to make sure that Nikki and Buffer heard him and indeed they were heading to their places when 2Dads and Mike entered the bridge.

"Morning everyone, hope you all had a good night!"

"Yes Sir and we were just enjoying this beautiful sunrise!", Buffer explained while Nikki dried her cheeks. Mike took his usual seat in the commanding chair and nodded at them, then he turned to his navigator:"Nav, the X is not feeling well today, Swain has decided she should stay in bed for today, so I want you to lead the boarding parties today!"

"Ok, boss. That´s definitely something I need today!", Nikki answered with a attacking look on her face what made Buffer smile to himself. That was his Nav, a fighter and ET would never get her down so easy.