A/N: Sorry to those of you who have been waiting for some Caskett fluff. Here's some to sate your appetite. I didn't mean for Kate to be away for 5 chapters, my bad!
I went back to the apartment and changed into normal clothes, jeans, and a t-shirt. I grabbed one backpack with some stuff in it and had the front desk call me a cab.
I got to the airport around 10:30. I got a flight for 2:00 am. I got in at 4:00 and I was finally in front of the loft by 5:00. I used my key and slipped in. It was still dark. I dropped my bag and kicked off my shoes in the living room and quietly made my way upstairs. I curled into bed next to Rick and fell asleep.
An alarm went off at 8:00. I pinched my eyes tighter and reached out for my own alarm, which wasn't even going off, but I was tired and I couldn't tell.
When I pulled away Rick, while still asleep, wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him. I smiled and when he woke up he saw me looking up at him. "Kate?"
He was completely stunned.
"They released me for the day. I have to be to work tomorrow morning, but you asked me to be here."
"I didn't think you'd be able to…"
"I didn't think I'd be able to either."
"How long have you been here?"
I still had the watch around my wrist.
Before I said how long he got up. "That means we need coffee. Java Loft it is."
He got dressed. "I'll get the coffee and you wake up Alexis."
"Don't forget to get her a caramel ice blended."
"What?" He asked confused. He never got Alexis coffee.
"That's what she drinks when we go out." I said like it was normal.
Rick really wasn't aware of how many times I'd hung out with his daughter. I had always assumed she'd told him. He knew she had my number and called me, but not much more.
After I heard the door click downstairs I pulled on my jeans and one of my nicer shirts from the closet that I'd left here and headed into Alexis's room.
"Rise and shine." I said awkwardly.
She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. I was surprised she got any sleep the day before move in. I knew I never did. "Kate?" First she seemed confused, as if everything wasn't right with the world and then she smiled.
"Is it okay that I'm here?" I asked worried that it had been al Rick's idea. I didn't want Alexis to have a bad day.
She hugged me suddenly perfectly awake. "I asked Dad to get you here, but he didn't think that you could leave DC for this."
"You asked?"
"I wanted my family there." She said so matter of fact.
We got up and headed to the kitchen. She started to make breakfast for her Dad. I grabbed the stuff from her and told her to sit down.
She tried to protest. "It's not a big deal Kate. I always make Dad and me breakfast."
"Not today you don't."
She seemed amused and a little unsure of what to do.
"There are certain days Alexis where he should be making you breakfast."
She shook her head like there weren't any such day.
"Like all the time." I added playfully.
"Who's side are you on?" Alexis asked. I saw the fiendishness of Rick for just a moment in her eyes. She was wondering if I'd tag team with her against him.
I only smiled and she smiled back.
Rick walked in. He handed me my cup of coffee. I took a sip and realized how much the coffee place in DC paled in comparison. Rick awkwardly handed off the iced coffee to his daughter.
She looked surprised.
"It's from Kate." He said.
She smiled, "Thanks Kate." She said happily taking a huge sip.
"Since when do you drink coffee?" He asked.
"I don't drink it regularly, only when I go out with friends or on special occasions."
Between the three of us it was easy to move Alexis's stuff downstairs. It took practically no time at all. We got into the car and drove to Columbia. The campus was amazing and I couldn't believe that Rick could afford this.
I remembered taking out a million loans to go to school out in California although if it hadn't been for my parents I wouldn't have had them paid off by now.
Alexis rented a basket on wheels to get her stuff upstairs. It took two trips. When we walked in the room it was empty. Her roommate wasn't there yet. She claimed the bed to the right and we set everything up.
We started to put up pictures on her walls just as her roommate walked in.
The girl was Alexis's height with light dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. She was with her mother. They were both the spitting image of one another. The woman immediately approached me and held out her hand. I took it.
She said, "It's lovely to meet you, I'm Olivia's mother Patricia." She spoke with a very thick English accent.
Rick smiled and spoke for the both of us. "This is Kate and I'm Rick and this is Alexis."
She went to shake his hand next and nodded in Alexis's direction.
"I hope that the girls will be great friends."
She turned back to Olivia. "Sweetheart, I'll see you at Christmas." As she left she said, "Love you."
The way she acted reminded me of Meredith.
We glanced at her boxes that still needed to be unpacked. It was awkward that we'd stayed to help Alexis the whole morning and now we were still here and Olivia was just standing there.
Alexis handled it beautifully. She was so thoughtful, just like Rick.
"So, do you want any help unpacking?"
She looked over at us as if she didn't want to be an inconvenience if we'd had plans with Alexis, which we did.
Alexis turned to us, gave us both real big, but quick hugs and said, "How about I stay here and help her unpack and then maybe the four of us could catch an early dinner before you leave?"
Olivia smiled brightly at the word four.
Rick nodded happily. "Definitely."
Olivia smiled, but said politely. "I don't want to be any trouble." Her accent sounded Scottish.
"Nonsense." Rick said.
"We'd love to have you." I added.
Rick and I went and got lunch off campus.
We were sitting in a booth just talking.
"I can't believe it's already year two for college." He said starting to feel old.
"I haven't known her that long, but I keep imagining her in that silly laser tag costume the first time I came to the loft."
"Last year we finished laser tag and promised best two out of three, but we haven't really played much since."
"You know that Alexis will always be there for you." I said trying to cheer him up. "She's your daughter."
He nodded. I could tell his mood had improved a little, but it was okay that he was a little sad. Move in was always exciting and sad. It was just the way it had to be.
"How's the book going?" I asked.
"Boring." He said. "No small talk. We are so much more interesting than that."
"Okay, plans for dinner."
"I had reservations at Maddie's place, but Q3's out." He said. "Can you call to cancel reservations and drop in Madison's name so they're not mad?"
I nodded. "What name was it under?"
"Malcolm Reynolds." We always used character names or a combo of different names so that no one would know that it was us. The most outrageous reservation that we made had been under the name Big Bird.
Rick watched me closely. The starring was stating to feel welcome or maybe I just didn't mind because of how little we had seen one another lately.
"Hi," I said. "This is Inara Reynolds. I'm canceling our reservation for tonight at 4:00. Something came up. Can you tell Madison that I'm so sorry?"
The woman was nothing but nice once she heard the name Madison.
Rick gave me a tour of the campus for fun to kill time and then we went into the library since Rick and I couldn't resist the books.
When we went in we weren't expecting a gaggle of new students to be having their schedules explained in detail to them. Rick had access to Alexis's schedule on his phone so he went up and asked. "Can you show me where these classes are?" He didn't mean it as a joke, but it came off that way.
I was standing behind him totally embarrassed, but also kind of enjoying the odd looks the kid was giving Rick.
There were a few parents with their kids, but not very many and they all had a kid close by. We were wandering around without Alexis.
The kid looked up, "Are you serious?"
Rick looked around. "I'm always serious." He said.
I laughed and the kid looked at me strangely.
He started to explain where the classes were. "What year are you?" He asked like it was funny.
"Sophomore year for us." He wrapped his arm around me and walked away leaving the poor kid to wonder about who we were and what we were doing there.
I ducked out from under Rick's arm. "Really?"
"What?"
"You could have said that we were seniors." I offered. Even though it was still impossible it may have been more believable.
He shook his head. "The dean said last year that parents experience college life alongside their children. As their children become freshman so do the parents. Now we get to be sophomores." He was so adamant about it.
"I think you're taking that speech too seriously."
"Maybe, but for today we're sophomores."
