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He was nervous and way too early when he stepped into Remy's, scanning the mostly empty room and spotting a free booth just across from him he quickly walked over to sit down. From here he had a good view of the door. He didn't want to miss her or be missed by her.

Since he had some time to kill, he decided to order a burger only to barely touch it when it finally arrived. He went through his mother's instructions again. He'd been on the receiving end of a long prep talk this morning, his mother making sure he would keep his impulsive emotions in check, as justified as they might be. He should let Kate do the talking, keep the questions that were burning inside of him to himself for now. There was time for answers later, when things had settled. If he didn't like what he learned then he could still be upset. But right now his focus had to be on Jamie. She had to be his priority and everything else had to wait.

Martha had told him the fastest way for him to get to his daughter was a truce with Kate. She knew how Kate had haunted him over the past years, knew that he'd never been able to forget her, but she had made it very clear; he had to keep their story out of this. "Not now," she had told him repeatedly.

It was hard for him though, the why was gnawing at him. He wanted the story and by that he meant the whole story whether he would like it or not. He just needed to know everything, just like the night they had met for the first time. He could hold himself in check though, for his daughter he would wait for the answers he so desperately needed.

Glancing at his watch again, he sighed when he realized she still had more than 20 minutes to get here, if she was on time. With her job he knew she could easily be late. There was a fleeting moment where he worried she may not show up at all, but he pushed it away quickly. She would be here, he just had to be patient a little longer. Tapping his fingers against the table top, he continued ignoring his burger, keeping his eyes trained on the front door. She'd said she would be here.

She stepped out in to the hot evening air, the August heat having a tight grip on her city. Nervously running a hand through her hair, she pulled it back into a pony tail, her eyes on Remy's on the other side of the street. She wondered if he was already waiting for her.

Kate had changed into street clothes, leaving her uniform and service piece at the precinct. She thought she would feel less exposed at Remy's without it. She knew Royce and some of the other guys on her shift had already headed out for their weekly poker night at another bar, so she needn't fear running into them, but she might still be easily noticed in her uniform by other precinct members and she wanted to minimize the risk of that happening. Choosing Remy's had been a spur of the moment thing, she had wanted something familiar to ground her and hopefully give her some confidence. At first it hadn't occurred to her that it might not be the best place to go if she wanted to keep things off grid. But she hadn't wanted to call him again either to change locations. She would just have to deal with it now, just as she had to deal with a new nervousness that had spread through her over night even as she had thoroughly tried to ignore it.

During this whole disaster the past few days had been, she had been able to mainly ignore the short moments in which her heart had lit up with something like hope. She didn't want to feel anything for him, this was not about them. Itwas about Jamie and she needed to get those feelings she couldn't even define under control. It had been one night and she didn't know him and the little she did know, well, there were parts she wasn't very fond of. She scolded herself for thinking about him in this way at all and yet whatever he'd stirred up in her back then came bubbling to the surface. She couldn't allow that. It had hurt her once before.

He was chewing on cold French Fries when the door opened for the first time in the past thirty minutes and looking up he saw her coming in and scanning the room. Automatically getting up he watched her catch sight of him and cross the room. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a white shirt, her hair pulled back into a pony tail which made her look younger than a few days ago in her uniform. He couldn't stop his heart pounding wildly in his chest, when she finally stood in front of him, giving him a short nod, before slipping into the booth opposite of him.

"Hi," Rick said a cautious smile on his lips. "Thank you for coming. Can I get you anything?"

"Just coffee," Kate replied curtly, looking everywhere but at him.

Rick waved the waitress over, ordering both of them coffee before returning his attention back to Kate. She looked nervous and lost as she fumbled with the napkin holder and he decided it might be best if he carefully got them started.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am for this chance," he spoke softly, watching her eyes finally meet his. He half expected her to tell him that he hadn't give her much of a choice again but to his surprise she simply nodded, so he went on, "And I want to say again how sorry I am for what happened at your precinct the other day. I was out of line."

She studied him carefully only to find the same honesty reflected in his eyes that had caused her to spend the night with him and somehow it made her brave, "I should've at least heard you out, but you caught me by surprise." It wasn't easy for her to admit that.

"Yeah," he mumbled, staring at the untouched burger in front of him. He had already figured that out. Yet he was surprised she was admitting she had overreacted as well.

"So, how do you want to do this?" Kate finally asked him when the silence at the table lingered too long for her taste.

Rick looked at her, a tentative smile on his lips, "Maybe we could set up something like a play date, just a casual occasion for Jamie and I to get to know each other."

He watched her taking it in until she finally agreed, "Okay, yes we can do that."

"Good," his smile was growing. "As I said I'll follow your lead here."

"Good, because I want to take this slow," she gauged his reaction, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

"How slow?" He asked timidly, suddenly worried. Until now he had believed they were actually getting somewhere, but the look on her face told him there might be more obstacles in his way than he'd imagined so far.

"You'll only meet her when I'm there for now and it's just you. I don't want her to get used to people only to see them turn their back on her," she replied, her voice laced with emotion he didn't understand.

Rick swallowed, taking deep calming breaths, reminding himself this was not about him or Kate. It was about Jamie and he needed to focus on that and do what's best for her, no matter how the things Kate said made him feel. So he would accept Kate's demands and put his own feelings aside for now. Because no matter how much he tried to be rational about this, he was hurt by her distrust and it didn't sit right with him to be more or less at her mercy when it came to seeing his daughter.

"I'm not going anywhere Kate," he finally spoke, his voice as calm as he could manage, not wanting a repeat of the events in the alley, "I'm her father, that's a responsibility I don't take lightly and I will prove it to you. But I do understand you have to get to know me first, see that I'm trustworthy, so for now I will agree with this. For now." He repeated the last part to make it clear he wouldn't be fooled around with.

He waited for her reaction but she didn't give one, seeming to be lost in thoughts and contemplating his words, until she finally looked at him again, "Okay, sounds fair." She didn't like his tone, but there was a part of her that desperately wanted to believe him against all odds, against all her issues and insecurities and she wasn't able to get that part to shut up. Not when he was sitting in front of her, his blue eyes so intent and honest that she just couldn't say no.

"Okay, when?" He had somehow lost the ability to form complete sentences when she had not picked a fight with him over his wording.

"I'm out of work tomorrow at two," she said and his heart skipped a beat at the possibility, "and we could meet you at the playground in Central Park, the one near the Zoo."

He nodded eagerly. Tomorrow, he would see her tomorrow.

"One more thing though," she started with a firm tone in her voice and his heart fell, "You're not telling her you're her father."

Rick was about to protest but she quickly went on, "I mean not right away. I want her to get used to you before we explain things to her. I don't want her to get confused. Once she's comfortable with you we'll tell her, together."

He sighed in relief, he could live with that, it made sense, he didn't want Jamie to be confused either. Giving his daughter a chance to adjust to someone new in her life only seemed fair. "Yes, you're right," he agreed and recognized the surprise in her eyes. "She needs to trust me first." And he knew he wasn't only referring to Jamie, looking at the woman in front of him.

"So tomorrow?" He finally smiled brightly at her, unable to keep it in any longer.

"Tomorrow," she agreed and stood up. "I need to get home."

"Sure," he said, getting up as well and standing awkwardly in front of her as she rummaged through her bag in search of a pen and piece of paper.

She wanted to give him her number in case something came up and stumbled upon a picture of Jamie she had put in there a week ago to show to Royce. Reaching for a napkin to scribble down her number she contemplated her next move before she gathered her courage and pulled out the picture handing it over to him together with her number. "Here, my number in case you need to cancel."

"I won't cancel," he said absentminded and awestruck, when his eyes fell on the picture of his daughter. "She's gorgeous." He mumbled, before looking back up at Kate, his blue eyes filled with so much love she almost took a surprised step back. "Thank you." He stuttered finally, his voice shaking, while his lips turned up in another beautiful smile.

She gave him a nod, her own lips tugging upwards, even though she tried to hide it, "See you tomorrow, Rick."

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