Kate and Rick went back to the loft. Rick started making dinner. Alexis had gotten her last minute prep for this trip to Costa Rica. Rick was still worried about her.
"Come on Rick I know you are still reeling from Paris. Remember she was abducted here. So no place is really safe" Kate said wrapping her arms around his middle and lying her head on his back.
"I know but something inside me is telling her do not leave me and the security of the loft." Rick said. "Kate did you have a talk with your Dad?"
"Well that was a quick topic change." Kate said.
"Not really it is just from one father's worries to another father's worries." Rick said. "Kate hand me my goggles I am going in on this one"
Rick started to chop the onion as Kate continued.
"No Rick it did not come up. I will talk to him when he is stronger. I just signed the paper to put him on the list. They will not even look at him until he is healed." Kate said helping to chop the peppers.
Rick looked over at the pile she was making.
"Whoa do you want to burn down the building?" Rick teased.
Kate just looked at the mount of peppers she had sliced.
"Oops I guess I went a bit overboard. Well at least they will be sliced for a later time." Kate said.
Kate scooped 2/3 then Rick looked at her like are you sure? She then looked at the remaining pile and took half of them away. Looking up at Rick he just nodded. Kate packed the excess. Rick added the sliced peppers to the steaming pot. Next the mushrooms were prepared.
Rick expertly sliced the mushrooms then added to the growing and crowded pot.
"Kate, would you please get out the Roma tomatoes?" He asked as he was setting up the splatter shield.
"Good place it there" Rick said pointing at the middle of the elaborate set up.
Kate was wondering what was going on she had never seen Rick make his amazing sauce before.
"Stand back Kate" Rick said as he swung a huge wooden mallet at the tomatoes. It went splat everywhere but he was not finished he added Zucchini to the mash he was making. Finally after going all Gallagher on the vegetables he scraped them all into the pot.
"Well Rick that is quite a production just to make sauce." Kate stated.
"Wha…? Oh you mean the smashing part?" Rick asked.
"Yeah it was worthy of a Gallagher production. Good thing you warned me." Kate giggled.
"Oh well you have to accredit Alexis for this discovery." Rick said stirring the mixture.
"How is that?" Kate asked.
"Well went she was doing blood splatter analysis she was using tomatoes as the substitute for the blood. Once she was done we had all these nicely smashed tomatoes. Not wanting to throw anything away I helped her scrape them into the pot of sauce I was creating. The secret to my sauce tasting so good was the smashing process." Rick said. "Here taste."
Rick held out the sauce which had been simmering.
Kate's lips touched the hot sauce offered by Rick on the spoon. It had such a velvety texture and the taste was very scrumptious too.
"Wow Rick that is amazing." Kate said licking her lips.
Only Kate could make tasting a spoon of sauce into an erotic experience. Rick was momentarily mute while he processed that she said something.
"Yeah" was all he could say.
Rick moved to Kate then kissed her deeply he could still taste the remnant of the sauce in her mouth as their tongues dueled for supremacy. The boiling water for the pasta started spitting and one drop landed on Rick's hand breaking him out of their trance.
"Oops Kate the water is ready." Rick said disentangling from her arms.
Kate pouted having Rick step away.
He added the pasta which was Bow Tie. Rick never like boring anything even pasta. This bow tie was made from Spinach.
Kate could not help but imaging Rick with Popeye's forearms.
"Chchchcch" He said in her mind.
Kate let out a chuckle.
Rick turned to look at her wondering what was going on. He had not said anything funny? Did he?
Kate was in peals of laughter and she pointed at the pot.
Rick decided to laugh along still not sure what he was laughing about but if it made Kate happy that is all that matters.
The happy couple was interrupted when Martha came through the door.
"Mother what unexpected surprise what are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be out on a date?" Rick asked.
"I was but my gentleman friend while we were eating got a pain in his leg and was rushed to the ER. I offered to go but he said no. So I came home to see you two lovebirds having a good time." Martha said.
"Oh Martha I am so sorry." Kate said stopping laughing immediately.
"Mother we have not yet eaten would you join us?" Rick said.
"Yeah I would like that since meal was ruined." Martha said getting settled.
The timer on the oven went off and Rick pulled down a basket and placed a cloth napkin in it using tongs he carefully placed the Garlic Bread then covered it. He pulled out the Salad which was made earlier. He got the plates and bowls down then strained the pasta.
The dinner ready Kate and he brought out the meal. Rick did the honors of plating the pasta. Kate was opening the wine. Dinner had commenced.
The opening salvo was done by Martha.
"Katherine Dear how is your father?" Martha asked.
Kate was a bit stunned since coming back from his hospital room she had not once thought about him other than the discussion earlier.
"Martha Not good he has Liver Cancer." Kate said then broke down crying. Kate saying those words made it all too real.
Rick looked askance at his Mother as he gathered up her into his arms. He was hoping to have this conversation later but leave it to his Mother to force the issue.
"Oh My Dear I didn't know. I am so sorry for you." Martha said surprised.
"Mother you have done enough please be quiet." Rick snapped while guiding her to their bedroom.
Kate cried like she had not cried since she did when her mother died.
"Kate he is not dead yet. He is happily healing from his surgery and broken bones. He is not in the grave yet. So do not put him there in your mind." Rick said holding and consoling her.
Gradually Kate started to cease crying she was almost all cried out She looked at this most wonderful and caring man.
"Rick thank you." She said in a quiet voice.
Never before had she broken down in front of anyone. He was special. He was her one and done.
"Kate you do not need to thank me. I am in this for the long haul. It should be I who should be thanking you. You let me in…I know that is hard for you to do." Rick said.
"Rick that is the point it should not be hard to seek solace." Kate said.
"Well in our case let's just say it is a work in progress. I know you are still hungry since your stomach just voiced its opinion on the subject. The Dinner is still hot. Why don't you clean your face and let's resume our meal?" Rick suggested.
"Yeah Rick I was bit over reacting. My father is not dead yet. So there is time." Kate said walking to the bathroom to clean up her face. Finally freshly scrubbed she returned to the table.
Martha was feeling so bad for the young woman to face cancer is a hard row.
"Katherine dear I never meant to pry." Martha apologized.
"Martha it is ok" Kate hugged the older woman.
"I am hungry let's eat." Rick announced.
The topic of conversation was on the restatement of Kate to NYPD.
"So how are you feeling Kate?" Martha asked.
"It was like being broken out of a trance Martha. It was as if I knew what I was doing would be bad for me but somehow I continued doing it. I'm so lucky your son was there to help me break out of it." Kate said.
"So that job in DC?" Martha asked.
"Martha I should have smelled a trap from the moment that Special attaché Stack started praising me. Then getting the job immediately should have even sent up more warning bells. I learned from Will that it took him 7 months before the FBI accepted him. I knew that getting federal jobs take time if it was not a political favor." Kate said.
"Yeah we can all guess which politician was pulling those strings." Rick said.
"Yes we certainly can and to think I voted for that man!" Martha said.
The table discussion turned to other things when Alexis came through the door.
"Oh…Wow you guys are eating late. I thought I was going to have to have leftovers." Alexis said.
"Hi pumpkin!" Rick got up and hugged his daughter.
"Hey Dad I got the itinerary here if you want to take a look. It explains what I will be doing in the Rain Forests." Alexis said as she got a plate then filled it.
"That is great Pumpkin I will look at it later. Right now we are celebrating Kate's return to NYPD." Rick said.
"Oh I knew they would take you back" Alexis got up and hugged her. "Congratulations Kate or should that be Mom…?"
Alexis pointed at her finger.
"Yeah it is beautiful. Alexis you can call me anything you want." Kate said giving the younger woman a big hug.
"Thanks Mom!" Alexis said breaking the hug to return to the dinner.
The dinner continued. Then finishing Rick and Kate were back in the kitchen doing the cleaning up.
"Rick thank you." Kate said hugging him after the last dish was dried and put away.
"Why now? I told you that you did not need to thank me." Rick said flummoxed.
"This it was nice having normalcy of a home cooked meal surrounded by family." Kate said being grateful.
She was thinking she would have missed all this if she was still stupid and continued on the path of destruction she was on.
"Oh well you are most welcomed. Come on Kate let's finish our wine before Mother does." Rick said.
Rick sat on the couch decompressing it was a very busy day. Kate was curled against him.
"Kate you know our engagement will not stay secret long." Rick said running his fingers through her hair.
"Yeah I know Rick how much time?" Kate asked hoping to hold of the press for a little while.
"We probably have two news cycles before it will leak." Rick said.
"How do you know that?" Kate asked.
"I went through it with both Meredith and Gina. We have to work fast." Rick said.
"Oh…I guess that is the price I pay for wanting to marry a Celebrity." Kate said kissing him.
Rick breaking the kiss he was serious.
"Kate if we don't handle the press they will make up all kinds of weird things." Rick said.
"Yeah you are right. How do you want to handle this?" Kate asked.
"Kate do you remember me telling you I had a meeting about the new Derrick Storm Book launch?" Rick asked.
"Yeah you were at Black Pawn offices before meeting me at the hospital." Kate said.
"I want you to escort me. We could give a press release and let them take pictures there. It would be better than when we were at a crime scene." Rick said nuzzling against her long neck.
Kate was in the throws of passion.
"Whatever you think is best Rick now take me to bed." Kate said.
She knew being naked on the couch with Alexis around would not be a good thing to happen twice. The first time was bad enough.
Rick picked her up bridal style and marched into the bedroom and slammed the door shut with his foot and placed her on their bed. He slowly undressed her as she undid his buttons too. Soon they were both sweaty and tired but happy. Sleep followed soon after with each being held in the others arms.