Hello!
Here's the second chapter to Lifeline. Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Nope.
Chapter 2
"I don't look pregnant in this, do I?" Kate asked as she turned to her boyfriend. She pulled the plain white t-shirt she was wearing down a little, and sighed with frustration when it, once again, seemed to cling to her stomach.
"I hate to break it to you, Kate, but you are pregnant." He quipped without even turning to her. Her response was to throw another shirt from the dresser at him. It hit him in the back of the head, which did get him to turn around.
Damn she had good aim.
"Not the time for humour, Rick. Answer the question."
Rick considered his girlfriend, and looked at the material of her soft shirt, which was ever so slightly tighter than usual around her abdomen. Kate had an incredible body, and he prided himself on having mapped out every inch of her perfectly over their relationship. The answer to the question was that no, to anyone else but him she wouldn't look pregnant. The difficulty of course, was answering that question without getting more things thrown at him by his girlfriend.
He knew that the combination of her hormones, and the anger she was still feeling towards her father, meant the she was not above starting to throwing things from on top of the dresser at him.
"I'm not sure how to answer that." He decided the truth was probably his best bet.
"Great. So I do." She moved her hands to the bottom of the shirt in an attempt to take it off. Rick moved towards her, only a few steps necessary to make it across their moderately sized bedroom, and stopped her movement just as the shirt rose above her belly button.
"What I meant is, yes you look pregnant to me," she looked up at him, their height difference made more obvious by the fact she was barefoot. It was cute, but did not, however, detract from the terrifying glare she was giving him that said if he didn't finish his sentence in the next few seconds she might do more than throw an ornament from the dresser at him. "But that's only because I know you so well. Seriously, Kate. I've been worshipping your body for years."
"Nice save." She said flatly, clearly not believing him. He linked his fingers with hers, and loosened one of her hands grip on her shirt, leaving the other holding it in its position.
"I mean it Kate," He reassured. He placed her hand on her stomach, and his hand over hers. "Yes, your body is changing, and I'm already enjoying watching it happen. So, I have noticed that your shirts are getting a little tighter."
He leant down and kissed her, which she returned gladly. A sure sign she was coming round to his way of looking at things.
"Of course, if your really question is will Maddie notice you are pregnant when you meet her for lunch later in between classes, then I can guarantee you she won't. Until you tell her of course."
"You guarantee me, huh?" She moved her arms away from her abdomen, and linked her hands around his neck.
"Yes. She'll probably just think you've put a bit of weight on. Freshman's 15 and all that."
He at least had the dignity to look sorry when she moved her hand to pinch his ear.
"What time will you be home later?" He inquired as she moved through their living room to find her shoes.
"Around 6, I think? I have class all morning, then I'm meeting Maddie. A have another class in the afternoon, and I'm planning on going to the campus library to study for a bit after." She sat on the sofa to tie up her shoes, already exhausting thinking about the day ahead. "How about you?"
"I have a meeting about my thesis, then class until the late afternoon. Then I've got a shift at the Library. I'm hoping to try and drop off manuscripts at a couple of publishers between all of that. So maybe 10." He moved towards her and placed her take out cup of herbal tea on the coffee table in front of her. He sat next to her as she finished tying her shoes.
"We're going to go all day without seeing each other? Again?" She hated herself for pouting a bit. Kate Beckett didn't pout. Kate Beckett did however, like to spend time with her boyfriend from time to time. She placed her feet back on the floor and placed her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I hate it too. I'm just trying to pick up as many shifts as possible so we can buy stuff for the baby."
"I know." She lifted her head and kissed him lightly. "It just sucks. I know I shouldn't complain, how many girls my age in this position would have a boyfriend who is so supportive? I just miss you. Even though we live together." She felt embarrassed by that admission, and her cheeks flushed a little.
"I miss you too. I'm not working this weekend though, maybe we should put Sunday aside to just spend the day together. No family, no friends, no papers or thesis. Just you and me." He gently moved a lock of her hair behind her ear.
"That sounds perfect," She leant in and kissed him gently, "I'll see you later." She picked up her tea and got up, "I'll try and stay up later to see you when you get home. I can't promise you anything though, your child seems to like sleep even more than you do."
"KBex!" Maddie practically screamed, her enthusiasm had clearly not been dampened by the stress of college. "How are you?" She pulled Kate into a quick hug before settling back down into her seat at the table.
"Hi Maddie, I'm good. How are you?" She removed her coat and put it around the back of her chair before sitting down. Maddie still hadn't answered her, and she looked up at her friend who was staring back at her in shock. "You ok, Mads?"
"Oh my god. Kate Beckett - are you pregnant?" Her voice, if possible, had gone up even more decibels.
She was going to kill Rick.
By the time Kate entered the apartment again just past 6pm she was exhausted. She'd always that that, in her somewhat limited contact with pregnant women, they had been over-exaggerating. She found now, even at this early stage of her second trimester, she felt like the walking dead. Kate dropped her keys into the small bowl on the table near the door, and her bag stuffed full of textbooks on the floor rather unceremoniously. She made sure it was in a place that Rick wouldn't trip over when he came home later, but she just couldn't find the energy to take all the way to the bedroom.
Kate looked around the her apartment and smiled to herself. They'd been living here for around four months now, and somehow it felt every bit like home. The living area and kitchen were open plan, which meant that they had spent many evenings with him insisting she put her feet up whilst he cooked dinner, claiming that her sitting there and keeping him entertained still counted as helping.
The furniture was all mismatched, different items they'd picked up from second hand shops, but she liked the feel it gave the place. The coffee table and the small dining table were made of different woods, and there weren't two matching chairs in the whole apartment. The television was Rick's from his mother's place, and whilst it wasn't the most modern of models it did the job.
The only two brand new items were the couch in the living room, a gift from Martha that Kate wasn't entirely sure she could afford - although she found herself grateful whenever she settled into its soft green material. The other piece of new furniture had been the bed in their bedroom. Rick had found the idea of sleeping in a second hand bed 'creepy,' something that Kate couldn't quite get her head around. Although, once the bed had been delivered she was glad of her boyfriends mistrust of a pre-owned bed. It was comfortable, and although it had cost them just about half of what their monthly rent did she was glad for it now. She dreaded to think how uncomfortable she would be by the end of her pregnancy, so she was happy for the small mercy of the bed she had dubbed as 'too large' for the size of their room.
Kate sighed to herself and scrubbed her hands over her face. A nap. That's what she needed. She moved over to the couch and laid down, pulling the blanket draped over the back cushions down onto herself.
"Just 30 minutes." She whispered to herself, already drifting off.
Rick was later home than he had expected, much closer to 11pm than 10pm. He'd had a bad day, starting with his meeting regarding his thesis, and ending with a particularly snotty woman who had irked him in just the wrong way during his shift. He was exhausted, and all he wanted to do was make something quick to eat and then go to sleep.
As he moved towards the kitchen, going over a mental inventory of the food they had in their cupboards, he heard a soft snore coming from the couch. He smiled as he looked over the top of the couch to see his girlfriend fast asleep nestled under a blanket. He moved his eyes over her, and saw that her shoes were still on - which was a strong indication that she had fallen asleep within minutes of getting home several hours ago and had not woken up yet. Which in turn meant that she had not eaten anything this evening.
Look's like he's cooking for two then.
He moved round and crouched down next to her head, he gently moved some hair that had fallen over her cheek.
"Kate, wake up." He gently prompted. She was a light sleeper, even in the exhaustion he knew she felt at the moment, so she stirred almost immediately.
"What time is it?" She slurred. One of her hands moved from under her blanket to rub the last remnants of sleep from her eyes.
"Close to 11." He said tenderly, pulling back from her as she moved to sit up.
"Oh God. Your child is ruining me. I only meant to sleep for half an hour. I haven't even eaten." As if to punctuate the end of her sentence, her stomach let out an almighty growl. They both laughed at the sound, and he pressed a kiss on her forehead before moving towards the kitchen.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet me, Katie." Her father said as she slid into the booth opposite him. This had always been their thing, since she had been quite little. He'd take her to a diner, just the two of them, and let her eat whatever she wanted. "I wasn't sure you would."
"If I'm honest, Dad. Neither did I." Her retort seemed to physically knock him back a little, but she fought hard to keep her resolve as she shrugged out of her coat. "Rick convinced me that I should hear you out though."
"I am sorry, Katie. I know that some of the things I said were hurtful. I was just in shock." His fingers curled around his cup of coffee, and she studied the look on his face. He did look remorseful, but Kate had a feeling that it wasn't going to be that easy. "I just want to stop you from making a mistake." Kate's reply, already surging with a little anger, was disrupted by the arrival of the waitress.
"Anything I can get you?" She directed at Kate.
"Yes please, just a coffee. Decaf." She smiled at the girl, trying to not give away the tension of the table. The girl nodded and moved away.
The father and daughter remained in silence, simply looking at their own hands until Kate's drink was placed on the table. She mouthed her thanks to the waitress before pouring a little milk into her coffee. Decaf was definitely not the same as the regular stuff, so the stronger it was the more she could pretend it was the real deal.
"I'm not making a mistake." She said softly, looking up at him from her coffee cup. "Sure it's not ideal, or great timing, but I can make it work."
"It's just so unlike you to be so optimistic. What happens if things go south between you and Rick? It isn't overly common for people to stay with their first boyfriend for all their lives."
The question startled her. It's not like she hadn't thought about it. Most of their relationship so far, bar the last few months they've lived together, had been easy really. Not impacted by too much of the real world. He'd still lived with his mother during the first few years he was at College, and because she had been in High School she had lived with her parents. The biggest stress of their relationship had been her freaking out during her SATs and him helping her study. They'd been inseparable, the 'perfect picture of young love' as Maddie had put it during their lunch the day before.
She loved him, and he loved her. She knew that and there was no doubt. This baby though, at this time in their lives would put a stress on their relationship. She hoped with every part of her that even on the bad days, where they had no sleep and she had a final the next day and had snapped at him, that they could work through it. She knew, that even if they did break up he would still be there for their child. Even though the thought of being without him made her breathless, the knowledge of how much he already loved their baby eased the pain in her chest.
"We'd work it out. For the sake of the baby." She answered after a while, knowing her father was staring at her expectantly. He sighed, and seemed upset that he wasn't getting through to her.
"I just don't want you to regret this."
"I might regret the timing. But never this." One of her hands moved down to her stomach, moving over the slight bump.
Kate realised that this probably the most honest conversation with her Dad that she had in years. His attitude towards Rick had driven a wedge between the once close father and daughter. Johanna had always joked that when Kate had been younger, her and Jim had been as thick as thieves, always trying to come up with a new way of winding her up.
"Why don't you and Mom come over for dinner soon? I know we missed Thanksgiving," Her voice drifted off, remembering how she had purposely avoided her parents calls in the days after her birthday. "But I thought we could just celebrate a bit late."
"Katie, it's already December." He laughed, and she smiled at him.
"So? I think it should be fairly obvious by now I don't mind doing things in the wrong order." They exchanged a smile, and Kate knew that things weren't perfect between her and her Dad, far from it, but that they were getting better.
Things are (slightly) resolved. yay!
Also, if the sickening fluffy optimism of it all is making your teeth fall out, please stick with me. I have plans for this and I can assure you that it will change.
To those you reviewed Chapter 1 - thank you so much! I appreciate the feedback and try to take it onboard.
However, to those who asked me to not kill of Johanna, sorry to disappoint but I am going ahead with the canon side of things as far as that is concerned. The theme of Season 8, or at least from what I can tell the first part of season 8, is all about how this obsession with her mother's murder is in Kate's DNA, and how she is so blind sighted by it. So this is a take on what would have happened if she had something to live for when it all started.
Please review. Next chapter should be soon.
