Just a message for lv2bnsb1, if you really hate this story that much, I have a suggestion: just don't read it.

There are stories that I don't like, I just don't keep reading them.

Your reviews are still welcome if the become in the least constructive.

Thank you anyway, you make the number of reviews go up for this story, you'll be happy to know that YOU were the one to make it go over the 100-review stage!

For everyone else: ENJOY this STORY ;-)

This lunch turned into the whole afternoon spent at the science museum with the two Castles. At the end of the day, she couldn't tell which was the child and which was the parent, but what she could tell was that she hadn't had such a nice day out in a long time. They had gone back to her place afterward because Alexis wanted to try on the hat from her uniform – a request to which Rick hadn't been able to resist, asking her privately if she would model her uniform for him. That made her realize that she hadn't tell him about the promotion yet.

The next morning, when she was getting ready to go to the precinct, for the first time since she started working as a cop, Kate felt like she would prefer to stay home. Well, not home. With Rick and Alexis. But it was her job, and if Captain Montgomery had the paperwork ready, it was going to be even more interesting.

When she arrived at the precinct, she saw Montgomery in his office with a young man. As soon as he noticed her, Montgomery waved her to come in his office.

"Beckett, here is Officer Ryan. I trust you to show him around and make him feel welcome in the team." Montgomery said.

"No problem Sir." Kate said, smiling

Both officers got out of the Captain's office and Kate led the new guy to her desk and Esposito's.

"Hey Espo! This is … uh ..."

"Kevin Ryan."

"Yeah. He'll be working with us from now on. Ryan, this is Javier Esposito."

After the introductions, Kate gave Ryan a tour of the precinct. Before she had time to finish though, a detective asked them to go to the morgue and get some files for him, which was the occasion to show it to Ryan. What Kate did not expect to find there was … Lanie Parish.

"What are you doing here?" Kate asked, not bothering with 'hellos'.

"Hello to you too. I'm great, and you?" Lanie said, smiling.

"No, seriously, what are you doing here?"

"I finally got that internship I wanted. I was just working at the hospital until I got in here. I got a year-long internship and if I'm good, they'll keep me." Lanie explained, almost jumping with excitement.

"Well, that's great. Here is Officer Kevin Ryan, he's new here too. Well, I guess we'll see each other around." Kate said, turning to the door to leave.

"Hey there, wait a minute! How is writer boy?" Lanie asked.

"Who's writer boy?" Ryan asked.

"He's her boyfriend." Lanie almost chanted.

"He's fine. Now let us go back to work." Kate answered, blushing furiously.

"Oh, this must have been good for you to go red like that!" Lanie smirked.

"Shut up." was all Kate found to reply, charging through the door to leave.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

At the end of their shift, Kate, Esposito and Ryan decided to get together around a drink to get to know each other better. If they were to work together as a team, it was important that they knew each other and that they trusted each other. Since they were hungry, they opted for dinner at Remy's. When they arrived there, Kate had hardly passed the door that she had a little redhead attached to her legs.

"Hey Alexis. What are you doing here?" Kate asked, picking her up.

"Daddy was too lazy to cook dinner so we came here." she explained. "He's over there with that woman from the hospital." she said, pointing at a table toward the back of the diner.

Sure enough, there were Rick, looking at her with a genuine smile on his face, and Lanie, wearing a malicious look on her face.

Kate started to walk towards them when she remembered Esposito and Ryan.

"Kate, why didn't you tell me you had a gorgeous daughter?" Espo asked, trying to tickle the little girl.

"She's not my mommy." Alexis laughed, trying to get away from him but still in Kate's arms. "She's my daddy's girlfriend." she said proudly.

"Girlfriend, uh … I think we need to talk Kate." Espo said, looking serious.

"Stop being stupid and let's go join them." Kate said, walking to the table.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

They had a really good time all together, acting as if they had known each other for ever even if Kate and Javier had been the only ones to meet more than a week before. Ryan was a bit shy at the beginning but he easily mixed in. After Alexis had been picked up by one of her friends' mother for a sleep over - "that's what summer holidays are for Kate!" Rick had said when she made him notice that she had already had a sleep over two nights before – the conversation had become a bit less kid-friendly, Kate and Rick being harassed with questions.

Around 10 o'clock, they left the diner, each of them heading home. Well, not really each of them. Rick and Kate were having trouble letting go of each other. And all the kissing next to her car wasn't helping much.

"Come home with me." Kate said after a particularly passionate kiss that earned them some 'get a room' from passers-by. "We could finish what we started before your mother interrupted us the other day."

"Are … are you sure? I mean, I'd love to but I … I don't want to pressure you or anything." Rick said.

"I'm sure. I know it's … fast but … I really really like you Rick. And I'm the kind of girl who knows what she wants. And I want you." Kate said, kissing him one more time before going in her car, not having to wait more than five seconds for him to join her.

So, here you have the whole gang together!

what did you think of this chapter?