So this is set back when Kate was right into Nebula-9 and Rick has just become a single parent, which I'm putting at when Alexis was three. I initially intended for it to be a one-shot, but when I was planning it out, it got super long, so I decided to split it into chapters. This one is just setting the scene, and the next one (which I've got written already) is going to be much longer
Kate sighed as she looked up at the clock on the library wall. She still had two chapters to read before her class the next morning but she had promised her friend Henry Barnett that she'd stop by his dorm room to watch a new TV show with him. She wasn't really sure why - science fiction was not her usual choice in entertainment - but Henry had insisted. She looked down at her textbook and her pages of notes and back up at the time. She didn't want to let her friend down, but it was important to get everything done. She sighed, wishing she could just finish off her work before going back to her own room to sleep, but Henry was one of her few friends at Stanford. Kate decided to embrace life and began packing up her paraphernalia so she could leave. She'd have to get up early in the morning to get all her work done, but she hoped it would be worth it.
As Kate left the library, she smiled at the librarian who sat at the desk near the door. She spent a great deal of her time working in the library and, while she didn't know the librarian by name, she recognised her. The library was one of her favourite places on campus. Kate had always been a voracious reader and, while she wasn't reading for pleasure when she was in the library, she always felt safe surrounded by books. Safety was what she needed right now.
Stanford had been an adjustment for Kate. Not only was it strange living in California after growing up in New York City, but her whole friendship group was completely different. There were a few of her Stuy classmates at Stanford, Henry being one of them, but she had never been close with them. At Stuyvesant High School, Kate was more of a trouble maker, causing mayhem with Maddy and the other girls. She was a wild child and everyone knew it, although she always managed to avoid being in serious trouble.
She had not been close with Henry in high school. They were completely different people and it was only by chance that they started hanging out. Completely nervous, overwhelmed not to mention lost, Kate had run into her first class only to find that the class had already started. Looking around the theatre frantically for an empty seat, she'd heard someone calling her from behind. It was Henry Barnett. Since then, they had been hanging out and Henry had become one of Kate's closest friends at Stanford. Who would have thought?
(~Always~)
Rick was exhausted. He had always been his daughter's main caregiver, but he hadn't expected being a single parent would be so hard. He was lucky that Alexis was a good kid, but even a good three-year-old was a lot of work. He could only imagine how difficult it would be if he wasn't fortunate enough to have the flexibility that being a writer gave him. He loved that he could play with his daughter during the day and that he didn't have to put her into childcare, but it did make writing difficult. To compensate for the writing he didn't do during the day, Rick spent most nights typing away until the early hours of the morning. Since Meredith had left, he was also getting up early with Alexis, who would wake up at 6:00am without fail. He was exhausted, but he couldn't imagine doing things any differently.
While Rick missed having a partner in life and a mother for Alexis, in many ways, Rick was glad that Meredith had left. She resented motherhood and was constantly complaining about New York City. He had long known of her numerous affairs, but the day she called from Malibu and informed him that not only was she not coming home, but that she was divorcing him came as a complete surprise. He had fought hard to keep Alexis and had just won full custody the week before. Admittedly, it hadn't been difficult; Meredith hardly wanted to be saddled looking after a child full-time, but Rick had still been concerned that it would be difficult as a father to get custody.
For months he had been operating by instinct, hoping just to get by. He hadn't been thinking about the future with Alexis, and worried about what would happen later on in life. Would she want her mother? Could he be a decent father? As much as Rick loved parenthood, he worried, alot. Unlike many single parents, he wasn't overly concerned with money, though he knew he would have to continue writing if he wanted to give Alexis a good life, but rather with his skills as a parent. He had no idea what he was doing, even now that his daughter was three. What was a father supposed to do? Growing up, he hadn't had a father or steady male role model to look up to, and his mother had hired a string of nannies to raise him, something he refused to do. He had no idea how to raise his own daughter and he was terrified of screwing things up.