Chapter 10

"Oh my god." Kate groaned as she pushed open the loft door with her hip, struggling with both her keys and the three cloth bags of groceries she toted. "I don't know what's wrong out there today–is it a full moon or something? Because people are just—"

Kate froze mid-sentence as the living area of the loft came into view. She had been prepared to go on a rant about rude individuals bumping into her on the sidewalk and an insane woman who had practically accosted her when she took the last bunch of ripe bananas off a shelf, but the story died on her lips at the sight before her. Alexis was seated on the couch next to an auburn-haired woman Kate had never seen before. More alarmingly, that strange woman was holding her baby. The grocery bags immediately slid from her grasp and onto the floor.

"Wha—who are you?"

"Oh my goodness!" The woman chortled in a nasal tone of voice Kate did not find pleasant. She rotated towards the office area of the loft and called out, "Ricky! When you said she was young you didn't say this young."

"Kate'll be 20 next week; we're having a special dinner." Alexis chimed in, much to Kate's chagrin.

The auburn-haired woman laughed as though she were at a stand-up comedy show. "Twenty? Really? You left that part out conveniently, Ricky."

"No, it was quite purposeful, I assure you," the man entering the room from the office said. With his presence, Kate regained some of her footing and took two steps forward. Turning towards her, Rick did the introductions. "Kate this is Meredith; Meredith, Kate."

Oh, this was Meredith; Alexis's mother and Rick's ex-wife Meredith. Well, now the scene before her was beginning to make a little more sense—but only a little. Yes, some days she still had new-mom brain-fog (though, thankfully, five weeks later, their routine had been solidified and things were becoming easier), but she definitely would have remembered Rick mentioning that his ex-wife was coming in to town. Maybe he had forgotten in his equally sleep-deprived state.

"Did, you, um come to see Alexis?" Kate asked.

"No," Meredith said while gazing down at the baby. Then, she looked up at her daughter and smiled quickly. "Well yes of course, but since she just wouldn't stop talking about how cute her baby sister was I had to come see for myself! She is sweet." Meredith rocked the child for a moment before glancing up at Kate, back down at the baby, and then up to Kate. "I think she has your eyes."

Kate resisted the urge to snip out, "I know," as that fact had been well documented between all their relatives. Stepping around the couch, Kate approached saying, "I'll take her now."

"Don't be silly; we're fine—wouldn't want to wake her, dear."

Kate fought the urge to snarl territorially at the woman. Meredith spoke to her as though she were silly—silly and no older than Alexis. Ridiculous! Kate had been a mother for five weeks—of course she knew how to take her child from someone's arms without waking her. Even if Emily did stir, she usually went back to sleep after a few moments snuggled against Kate's chest.

"Alexis, please help Kate with the groceries." Rick requested of his daughter. She got up and moved past Kate, who seemed rooted to the spot. In fact, she did not move or breathe until she heard Alexis grunt, "Ooh this one's heavy."

"Oh! Sorry!" She turned and hurried over to the struggling six-year-old and picked up all three bags. "I got them, just help me with the fridge door." As they worked together in the kitchen, Kate could still hear Rick chatting with his ex in the next room.

"How old is she again?"

"Five weeks, two days."

"And still so little! Here I thought you'd be using the expensive formula, Ricky."

"Actually Kate's still breastfeeding."

"Oh."

Kate could hear the judgement in the elder woman's tone and felt the muscles in her stomach go tight. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Emily's size; the pediatrician had told them as much at their one-month visit. She was growing within the normal range and there was nothing at all to be concerned about.

As if Meredith's tone wasn't bad enough, when Kate walked out of the kitchen a moment later, Meredith stood up and asked, "Have you considered supplementing?"

Resisting the urge to hiss her answer through gritted teeth, Kate said, "We don't need to. She's already gained two pounds; she just started small. She was a week early." She tacked on at the end, as if it made any difference at all. This woman clearly was going to throw all levels of judgement at her no matter what Kate said.

"She's already too long for the pink footie pj's I picked out for her, Mommy." Alexis added.

"Oh well. My mistake." With a poorly hidden eye roll, Meredith unceremoniously plopped Emily into her father's arms before sashaying back to the entry way. There, Kate spotted a black rolling back of luggage she had not previously noticed due to her shock. Meredith picked up the handle and moved towards the master suite on her right. "Now…where should I put my bag for tonight? Your room, Ricky?"

"Ah, no." Rick stopped her just before she stepped through the doorway. "Kate and the baby are in my room. You can, ah, take the guest room I suppose."

Alexis ran over and grabbed onto her hand. "We can have a sleepover mommy!"

Meredith squeezed the child's hand in return. "Sure thing, honey. Why don't you come help me unpack?"

Once the mother-daughter duo had disappeared up the stairs, Kate gave Rick a pointed look. He immediately began with an apology.

"I'm so sorry! She just showed up here completely unannounced about fifteen minutes ago—I had no idea she was coming."

Kate walked around the couch and took her child from Rick's arms. Carrying her over to the baby swing, she said, "It's fine." What else was she supposed to say? It was Rick's apartment; he could have as many guests as he wished.

"It's obviously not but…this is Meredith – it's what she does."

Kate glanced back to see the man sitting on the couch with his hands covering his face. Her irritation softened into pity. He clearly didn't want this and, from the few stories she'd heard, Meredith could be quite a handful.

"The last time she was here was in June. She called me as she was getting on the plane to come here. She stayed three days—in my bed, mind you, while I slept in the couch. She was only here for an audition, barely spent any time with Alexis. I only spoke to her once since then. I mentioned the baby only because I knew Alexis would talk to her about it and Meredith finding out that way would be far worse. I'm sorry; I did try to keep you out of this whole…" he paused to gesture towards the stairs, "mess."

"It's okay," Kate said, that time meaning it. It seemed Rick was simply a victim of the situation. "Did she say how long is she staying?"

"She didn't—but I doubt it'll be more than a few days, especially if she just came to be nosy about the baby."

Kate raised a questioning eyebrow. "She won't want to spend time with Alexis?"

Rick let out a bitter laugh and pushed himself up off the couch. "Trust me—it's better that she doesn't."

The following morning Kate awoke to find the king-sized bed empty, which was unusual. Most often she woke before Rick—assuming Emily did not wake them both simultaneously. Kate was simply more attuned to the little one's softer fusses and grunts, whereas it took a full wail to rouse the writer.

Kate yawned, and arched her back in a stretch and then lay flat on her back, gazing up at the ceiling. The prior night had been, well, less than ideal. Meredith had insisted on going out to dinner with her former husband and child. Rick initially invited Kate—a move that clearly irritated his ex—but Kate wisely refused; she and Emily would have a quiet night in—and so they did. Even after the trio returned Kate didn't dare leave the bedroom if for no other reason than she didn't want to face any more of Meredith's stares. She went to bed shortly after Emily's last feeding and didn't wake until Rick entered the bedroom a few hours later. He asked if she was okay and she confirmed before going back to sleep.

Pushing herself up in bed Kate glanced down into the bassinette to see Emily was still sleeping. Her last feeding had been around four a.m. so that was not shocking. In fact, it was a blessing that meant Kate might actually get to eat her breakfast at a reasonable pace and enjoy it before the child awoke and began crying for her first meal of the day.

Kate tore herself away from the beautiful little girl and slid out from beneath the bedcovers. Really, motherhood had not been bad so far. Actually, it had been lovely. Exhausting beyond belief to the point where she continually wondered how she was able to function in such a zombie-like state, but it was worth it—unquestionably worth it. Every babble, every almost-smile, every time Emily's tiny fingers curled around Kates it was worth it—a million times over. She loved her so much and they were doing amazingly well, all things considered—though not nearly as well as they would have been doing without Rick.

Without question, Rick was an incredible father. Beyond description, even. She had been skeptical of his cohabitation plan and how much he would really be able to help her during overnight feedings, but his assistance turned out to be instrumental. Rick would hop out of bed the moment Emily cried, and would pass her over once Kate got into position. After the baby nursed, Rick would take over burping duties so Kate didn't even have to get out of bed. More amazing, he didn't even seem to care. He looked exhausted and seemed fueled solely by coffee–especially for those first few weeks, but never once said he was tired or that he wanted a night off even though she had offered several times.

They were, much to Kate's surprise, a really great team together. They had not known each other that well before Emily was conceived and had grown only slightly more acquainted in the months before her birth, but their dual parenting had never felt awkward or forced, but natural. Feeding time, bath time, play time—everything meshed.

The more time she spent with Rick, Kate was glad for his presence not just because of how much he helped, or how comforting it was to have someone around who actually knew what was happening, but because he was someone to share the joy with. When Emily had her first real smile the week before, Kate had nearly broken down in tears, but Rick's arm had been steady around her shoulders as he coaxed Emily into smiling again and again; that had been one of her favorite moments. Well, one of her favorite moments other than the ones when Emily peed on her father; those were always funny.

Making her way into the kitchen, Kate glanced down at herself and noticed a mark in the center of her Stanford t-shirt that she had not before. It was definitely spit-up, but she could not recall when it happened…or the last time she washed that shirt. Scrunching up her nose, Kate grabbed a paper towel, ran it under the kitchen faucet and began to dab at the spot on her shirt.

She remained in this position a minute later when footsteps on the stairs could be heard. Thinking it might be Alexis, Kate looked up with a smile that vanished instantly upon seeing who it was. Meredith bounced down the stairs in an outfit positively absurd for the end of the first week of November: a tank top, under which she clearly wore no bra, and pajama shorts that may as well have been cheeky underwear for all they covered of her bottom. Kate fought the urge to curse in response.

"Oh, good morning," Meredith said cheerfully. Before Kate could mumble out a hello, Meredith pointed to her shirt. "Did your older brother or sister go to Stanford?"

"I went there. Last year." Kate grumbled.

The auburn haired woman chortled while reaching for a banana. "My mistake. Did you have to delay your schooling there or…are you taking classes by mail or something?"

Classes by mail!? What did she think this was? 1920? "No, I transferred to NYU; I'll start again in January."

"That's nice."

Having enough of the elder woman's condescending attitude, Kate decided to throw back a subtle barb of her own. "So, uh, I think Rick said you're an actress – have you been in anything I would have seen?" She imagined the woman's credit roll to include scene-stealing spots like Woman in Café #2 or Murder Victim in Bathtub.

"Not unless you flew to LA for a play while you were at school – I mostly do theatre." Meredith explained, her nose high in the air.

"Ah…"

Fortunately for Kate, Rick came down the stairs a moment later and greeted them each politely. He approached the already-brewing coffee pot when Meredith intercepted saying, "Oh let me get that for you Ricky. Did you sleep well?"

Rick nodded. "Ah, yeah okay. Em was only up twice so that's good."

Meredith's eyes widened. "Twice. Well I didn't hear her –thank goodness for thick walls." She laughed cheerfully before handing Rick a coffee mug and skimming her hand up and down his arm as she did so. "Here you go, darling."

While witnessing the appalling if not slightly pathetic actions of the elder woman, Kate felt her stomach clench and realized that—shit—she was jealous. Jealous of Rick's ex-wife! What a nightmare!

She and Rick were not a couple. They had only had sex one time nearly a year earlier and had been existing as barely more than acquaintances ever since. True, they were sharing a bedroom, but they hardly had deep, meaningful conversations. Most of their time in the same space was spent sleeping or taking care of their child! Sure, they'd swapped a few stories, but nothing of a terribly intimate nature. Therefore, there was no solid reason for her to be jealous. It had to be the sleep deprivation. Yes, that was it; her mind was playing tricks on her.

"Well," Meredith began after her continued stroking of Rick's arm did not yield any return affection, "Alexis and I have a busy day ahead of us so I'm going to get ready. See you around."

Kate turned away as Meredith shimmied out of the kitchen, wanting to keep her blood pressure as low as possible. "So," she began as she brushed past the writer to retrieve a cup of java for herself, "Meredith seems fun."

Rick nearly snorted into his cup. "Oh no. She's not. I…I'm going to tell her she can only stay one more night."

Kate turned around to see he faced her with a curious expression. Bringing her cup up to partially hide her mouth she said, "You don't have to do that on my account." Did she want to see Meredith prance around half-naked again? Of course not, but the woman was Alexis's mother, and if anyone understood how important having a mother was, it was Kate.

"No it's for all of us." Rick exhaled heavily, set down his cup and then stared up at the second floor of the apartment for almost a full minute before confessing, "Meredith had an affair with the director of a play she was doing about two years ago."

Kate sucked in a breath. Well, that was an interesting, but not entirely shocking bit of information. She had assumed the couple divorced just because their fighting and disagreements became too frequent, but an affair certainly must have caused a more unfortunate end—especially for Rick.

As though he'd heard her thoughts, he continued with, "That was the main catalyst for our divorce, but our relationship had never been perfect. If it hadn't been for Alexis…well, anyway. Shortly after I discovered the affair Meredith packed up and left – moved to California without second thought."

Kate breathed in sharply again, though for a completely different reason. "She left Alexis?" Kate thought about the little girl sleeping peacefully in the bedroom and her heart wrenched in agony. How could she just abandon her child? Such a move was unthinkable. Nothing but a life or death situation would have kept her from Emily. Hell—she began to feel sad if they were apart for more than three hours!

"Yeah, she left Alexis. There was a brief period of time when she argued for joint custody. I told her not a chance in hell and she gave up shortly thereafter. She only seen Alexis a handful of times since. Being a mother never did fit in to her schedule."

"I'm sorry," Kate said softly.

Rick shook off her concern. "Don't be; we're better off for it, sad as that is. Anyway—the point is that I need to put my foot down. Meredith can't just blow in and out of this apartment anymore. She, Alexis, and I are no longer a family. We are—you, me, Emily, Alexis, my mother, your father. We're a bit of an unusual family, but we're all a family, thanks to Emily and that's the way it needs to be."

His kind words touched her. They were as he described: a very unusual family. But they were also a family she was quite proud to be a part of. "Thank you for saying that."

"It's true. Ah—oh." Rick chuckled when sounds of crying could be heard from the bedroom. "Duty calls. Let me know if you need anything."

Kate nodded, abandoned her cup on the counter, and went to tend to her daughter.

A/N: as always, thank you so much for reading & reviewing

some might have seen this announcement on my tumblr/twitter, but just to reiterate: Chapter 12 of this story ends "part one" after which there will be a time jump (no, i wont tell you how long the jump is ;) ) After that, this story will go on brief hiatus while i post my Christmas fic from Dec 10-20th and then this story will resume for "part two"

Thank you!