"What!?" Kate screamed into the phone. "You can't be serious!"
"Yes! Her name is Scarlet and she reminds me of you! She's fifteen though, so a year younger and..."
Kate stopped listening, she was too busy trying to avoid her hyperventilating from sounding through the phone, her tears on the verge of breaking through. This can't be happening. Bianca kept on talking, Kate could just slightly make out the words of 'green eyes' and 'redhead' before she started gasping for air.
"Kate? Kate! Breathe! Come on honey, breathe," she suddenly felt his arms on her shoulders and when her eyes started focusing again she was looking right into his blue eyes.
He was breathing calmly, exaggerating each breath for her to follow. She tried her best, tried breathing with him, but the panic inside of her didn't subside, refused to disappear. Her hands were shaking and she realized he must've taken the phone from her because it was laying on the couch beside her.
"What's going on? Is Kate okay?" she vaguely heard Bianca ask from the speaker of the phone.
"I think she's having a panic attack, what did you say to her?" Rick asked, searching in her eyes for answers behind what was going on, why there were tears streaming down her cheeks. Why she was having trouble breathing.
"I just told her about our new sister..." Kate saw Rick's eyes widen with sudden understanding.
"Okay, I got it, I'm gonna try calm her down, she'll call or text you later," he stated before clicking on the phone to end the call. "Kate, it's gonna be okay, we will help her. We can put a stop to this," he said calmly, never once showing any sign of the stress she was feeling.
He was hugging her shoulders with his hands, keeping her gaze with steady eyes, breathing in a slow, soothing rhythm. Kate leaned down, placing her head in the crook of his neck, and took a deep breath to fill her nostrils with his scent. His arms gently fell around her in a comfortable hug, though it did put him in a weird position so it didn't take long before he excused himself and push her away for a second only to sit down beside her in the couch and pull her into his lap. The exact moment she was safely in his arms she found herself taking slower breaths, her heart started to calm down from the panic and she felt some sort of peace cripple down her veins.
"I got you," he whispered, kissing her head. "We'll solve this."
Swallowing hard she whispered with a broken voice, "How?"
He hummed for a few seconds, probably thinking of a way to handle this, a way to fix it all.
"Well, we could get proof of what they do to her and did to you, we show and tell the police everything," he told her and she only nodded.
He cuddled her closer, kissed her head again, and they sat like that for only god knows how long. He wouldn't relax his body until he felt hers doing so, until she was breathing normally, calmed down in his arms. He was scared of her reaction, how bad had they treated her in the beginning? Had she meant literally when she said they showed her what to do when they introduced her to their kind of escort services. Rick felt disgusted by himself for not knowing what he had contributed to when he first hired her, how could he have added to her pain?! Of course he didn't mean any harm about it but... had he only thought further than his nose then maybe he wouldn't have been so selfish. He never even thought of how she would feel about it, especially not when she had been so willing, now he understood that was a learned behavior due to whatever her foster parents had made her do as a teenager. Then again he did absolutely not regret meeting her. There was nothing more he wanted than to spend the rest of his life with her, even though he had a feeling it was too soon to have those thoughts he couldn't deny them. It was just something about her that pulled him to her, as if they were the ends of two magnets and the pull was too strong for him to refuse. He had never felt that with anyone else, and he somehow knew that he would never feel that with anyone else.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled and Kate wriggled a little in his arms to be able to look up at him.
"For what?" she asked in a weak voice, despite having stopped crying a long time ago there was still the hoarse aftermath in the sound of her voice.
"For helping those a... them to keep their business. If I hadn't fallen for my stupid buddies dare then at least they wouldn't have gotten my money to continue hurting you."
His eyes were so sad and filled with guilt Kate had no idea of what to do, she didn't like that glimpse at all. She loved it when his blue eyes were filled with happiness and love and joy, not this. This hurt her more than she thought was possible.
"You didn't know," she concluded, not wanting him to have guilt over it. "Besides, if you hadn't gotten into my life I would've never considered leaving. I was too scared to even think about it." She was quiet for only two more seconds before she added, "I'm happy you called for me, and continued to call me. Without you I wouldn't think I was worthy of love."
She hadn't really meant to let him know, not really meant for him to know the darkest of thoughts she'd had and still had sometimes. When she'd first gotten to Tom and Margaret she'd never been more grateful in her whole life to get away from the foster center, grateful she'd gotten her own room and could finally be left alone, but it hadn't taken long before she started regret everything. The second they had started telling her what they expected of her she'd wanted out of there, because obviously she was old enough to understand exactly what they were talking about. She hadn't had a boyfriend or anything like that but she'd had sexual education in school and knew about prostitution. It didn't matter how they tried to uptalk it by calling it an 'escort service', she understood perfectly fine what they wanted her to sell.
"You deserve all the love in the world."
His statement interrupted her thoughts and she gazed at him. How had she been so lucky to be the one he called to?
"I love you," she whispered, looking him into the ocean in his eyes.
The first split second he got a widened, surprised, expression but it quickly faded into a wide smile and there were that happiness and love and joy that she fell in love with months ago.
"I love you too Kate, more than you'll ever understand," he confessed with a confident voice.
The corner of her lips turned up in a mirroring smile before she leaned in to press her lips to his in a smooth kiss. The kiss was gentle and, oh, so filled with love she thought she'd melt away if they kept it up. They broke apart before it could turn into anything more, afraid they would loose themselves if they continued and they still had a reservation at a restaurant to get to. Kate had been hesitant when he suggested it, scared someone else might recognize her and confront her as to her absence, but he could be very persuasive when he wanted to.
"You find any college that sounds interesting?" Rick asked and pulled her back to the now.
"Uhm, maybe," she turned a little in his lap in order to reach for the iPad. "I mean, I don't think I'll ever get in but, uhm, New York University have these programs..." her voice died out, not really sure what she's thinking about.
"It might be a lot of work yes, but I think that if you really want it you can do anything," he said and they looked down at the screen together.
The night went splendid, no one coming up to them claiming they knew who Kate was, and it made her believe in herself again. She wasn't 'Nikki Heat' anymore, she was Kate Beckett again. She was feeling as though she was turning back into her old self, the one she had been before her parents died. It was amazing how Rick could make her feel as if everything was more than great. She couldn't help but find it adorable how he made sure to hold her hand when they walked back towards his building. They had together decided the night air would be a perfect end on another one of their perfect dates. Their fingers intertwined as they walked into the park that right now laid between them and their goal. Kate glanced at Rick who looked up at the stars and the moon that could be spotted past the light from the city.
"You know, someday soon I need to take you to the Hamptons. In a cloud-free night like tonight you can see endless of stars there, and I bet you will look more than beautiful in the moonlight," Rick stated, imagining them walking down the beach during a summer night.
Kate bit her lower lip in order to try an contain the smile that had kept growing the whole night and was starting to hurt her cheeks a lot more than she was used to.
"Mm, the moonlight is so beautiful when the light of the city isn't there to disturb it," she agreed, remembering both cold and warm nights she'd spent outside of the city she was born and raised in.
"You ever traveled somewhere special?"
Rick couldn't help but the curiosity that flared inside of him. Kate had told him little of her childhood, almost none, but she were slowly letting him know more and more and Rick was enchanted by her every small story. As he looked down at her he could swear her cheeks turned another shade of red while her eyes were set on the moon that could be seen in the sky.
"We had a cabin in the woods, there was a lake right behind it where we would swim during summer," she told him, and he could see the dream in her eyes. "You should've seen it, Rick. We went there every summer when I had holidays from school, I'd explore the woods every year to make sure everything looked the same and weren't damaged. My mom and dad would call me a cute little troll taking care of the forest as if I was home at last."
She chuckled at the memory and so did he, loving to see how much she enjoyed the memory she was seeing in her mind. She looked absolutely beautiful and so happy that he wanted to save this scenery in his own memories forever.
"Maybe we could visit it sometime, you and me," he suggested and her smile faded a bit.
Damn it, what did he say wrong?
"I don't even know what happened to it."
Her voice was not stronger than a whisper, and he cursed himself for even opening his mouth. Why did he have to destroy the happiness that had shone in her eyes just a second earlier?
"I'm sorry," he apologized quickly, but she shook her head and met his gaze with her eyes.
"Don't be. If I knew I would've loved to take you there."
They smiled at each other, and Kate stepped on her toes in order to kiss his lips for how thoughtful he was and for how much she loved him. They continued their walk home after the kiss, both enjoying the small touches they shared. His and her fingers gently moving up and down the insides of their arms. They only stopped touching when he unlocked the door to his loft, and once they were inside Kate couldn't help but put her arms around his neck in order to kiss him again. The kiss was soft, and it surprised him how far they'd gotten. Rick sometimes thought back to how they met, how he'd been determined to not loose a bet and called her. He remembered being so scared before their meeting, and remembered the small shock when he'd met her only to realize she was a few years younger than him. He strictly remembered all the times he had been so close to kissing her lips, oh how much he'd wanted to kiss those lips from the start, but how she'd pushed him away every time. He remembered all the times she had scolded him, told him not to do that again or she'd have to end their arrangements. But now they were standing in his hallway, sharing the softest of kisses! They only broke apart for enough time to catch their breath before their lips were fused together again, this time a little faster, a little more desperate. His tongue asked for her permission and was immediately welcomed by the stroke of hers against his. A familiar moan vibrated from her mouth into his and it didn't take long before his hands slipped inside the blouse she had put on.
Kate shivered at his touch, her skin catching flames as his fingers ran smoothly up her spine. God she loved the feeling he was able to give her. Her fingers fiddled with the small hair he had in his neck, and she felt him groan when she pushed her chest into his, closing the smallest of gap there had been. His hands moved quickly down to the back of her thighs and squeezed gently, so she jumped at the same time as he lifted her up into his arms. When she'd wrapped her legs around him he carried her backwards to their bedroom. He sat her down on the edge of the bed and as his hands left the back of her thighs they grabbed the hem of her shirt in order to pull it off. Once it was off their lips reattached and he softly pushed her down into the mattress. Suddenly his lips left hers and she was about to follow him but his hand landed on her shoulder to keep her down. Before she knew it he was stripping her pants off and laid kisses up her legs, making her a moaning mess the way only he could. When he reached her center she let go of a loud gasp, his hands landed on her hips in order to keep her still.
"Oh god, Rick," she moaned his name as he added his fingers, pushing them into her and slowly bringing her to her first orgasm of that night.
She fell apart under him and Rick couldn't help but smirk as he licked his lips, loving the taste of her on his tongue. He moved up, kissing her belly and licking her belly button before he moved further. His fingers were smoothly moving up and down her sides, making her highlighted skin shiver at his arousing touch. Removing her bra he started sucking on one of her breasts, nipping at her nipple which immediately sent shockwaves down her body.
"You have too many clothes on," she mumbled and he chuckled against her breast.
"Do I?" he asked and left her nipple to look up at her.
She nodded with blushing cheeks, it didn't matter how many times he did this to her, she was always blushing at how easy he could turn her into mush. Kate got to work on his shirt, unbuttoning it to be able to push it down his arms. He was still chuckling when she begun pulling at his belt, but she could feel the evidence of how turned on he was. She even palmed him through his jeans in order to stop his chuckling, which immediately resulted in a moan leaving past his lips. He pulled away in order to raise into a standing position, taking off his pants before returning to her waiting body. Their lips joined again, tongues battling for dominance as he placed himself at her entrance.
"Ah, yes," she moaned when he pushed into her.
He moved in and out, slowly stroking her walls to prolong every second of their pleasure. Kate felt her tongue loose in their battle as her body started squirming in arousal, her body meeting his thrusts in a beautiful rhythm. The sounds coming out of her mouth had him going faster and harder until they both screamed out, reaching their highs together. Rick let his body stay on top of hers for a little while, his head in her neck and her mouth right next to his ear for him to hear every breath she breathed out. He could hear the smile her lips formed from the sighs she was panting out.
"I love you," she whispered and he chuckled.
He kissed the top of her head before pulling out of her in order to pull her with him as he laid down on his back.
"I love you you too Kate Beckett," he said into her head, kissing in her hair again.
They'd figure it all out. They could overcome this. She knew they would, she could feel it.