A/N: I love it when inspiration kicks in over night… We'll see how long this will last. Maybe (or hopefully) another chapter tomorrow… but not promising anything. I also tried to listen to one reviewer to get sort of like a Kate's POV. Happy? =) Hope I got that right too! And thanks again for reading, and most of all, reviewing!


Chapter 11

Three weeks later

"Thank you so much!" Kate sighed when Rick finally appeared on the door step.

One hour ago she had called upon him to come to her rescue. She was set up for babysitting tonight and she didn't want to spend yet another Saturday night all by herself. Since Rick was having a hard time ignoring her, he gladly agreed to help her. She though didn't need his help per say when it came to the sitting part, but rather more to the company part. It would make her feel less lonely, besides his mother was out of town for the weekend and none of his friends were up for a Poker night; so he needed the company just as much as she did.

"So, who's this little munchkin?" Rick wanted to know from Kate, who was busy balancing a fifteen months old on her hip.

"This is Kaley. Say hi to Rick, Kaley."

Kate cooed softly at the blond haired girl, trying to get her to wave her tiny hand at Rick. Kaley though didn't care much about the new arrival in the house, and instead turned her head the other side, longing to be set down again. With wobbly legs she held onto the couch as if her life depended on it.

The pair watched with bemusement as Kaley ignored them completely. She let go of the couch, making her softly land onto her bottoms, before getting on all fours and crawling right across the room and into the kitchen. As if the girl knew how to read the clock, she got back onto her feet and claimed for her milk bottle with a pointing finger.

Kate smiled, "No, not yet sweetie. First we're going to take a bath." She picked the girl back up from the floor and walking past Rick, she handed him the menu of the nearest pizza delivery, "I'll take the ham and mushroom pizza, please. Thanks…"

Since Rick was left alone in Lilly's living room, he quickly gave a glance across the menu before ordering the two pizzas for them to eat later on. Not knowing what to do, he went in search for the pair upstairs. All he needed to do was to follow the sound of their conversation to find the bathroom.

"Hey, everything all right? Do you need any help at all?" Rick wondered, but found out that Kate had everything under control. Her job was to take care of eight children every day after all. She thus easily knew how to handle only one child. His intensions offering his help were purely respectful.

Kaley was sitting in the bath tub with a few toys swimming all around her as she kept making gurgling sounds and talking gibberish every now and then. Her smile was contagious leading the two adults to smile goofily down at her in return. Five minutes later Kate lifted the girl out of the soapy water and wrapped a towel tightly around her as to not get cold. In a matter of few minutes Kaley was clad in a diaper and footy pajama.

"Momma!" Kaley exclaimed holding out her favorite toy at Kate.

Kate smiled tenderly, gave the girl a kiss to her head before combing the blond tresses with a soft baby comb. Drying blowing the girl's hair was another story as she started screaming bloody murder at the noisy object. It wasn't the first time Kate was looking after Kaley so she knew how to handle the situation. It didn't take long either for the few curls to be dry, but she still needed to comfort her for a little while until the big rolling tears subsided.

"Would you… just for two seconds?"

But Kaley was already in Rick's arms. Like a couple they were working and thinking in sync as so very often.

While Kate cleaned the used bathroom, Rick made his way to the basement right on time as the door bell went off announcing the delivery of their pizzas. He handed a twenty dollar note out to the teenager who thanked him for keeping the change. Rick was amazed at how calm Kaley reacted to the complete stranger carrying her around the house. He placed her into the high chair so he could set the pizzas into the over to keep them warm until dinner time. First they had to handle a very hungry young lady.

Right on the dot, Kate appeared in the kitchen and prepared a small slice of bread with cheese for Kaley before warming up the milk in the microwave. Next the threesome settled on the couch with Kaley cozily nestled against Kate's chest, sucking fervently on her bottle.

Kate felt Rick's eyes on her. It gave her goose bumps having him sit next to her and following every move she made.

"What is it?" she asked carefully not wanting to sound too harsh. It was driving her crazy little by little.

"Nothing… it's just… You know your way around pretty much with Kaley."

"It's my job" she retorted in the hope to cease his long glares. She still tried to keep her tone low.

"I know… I was just saying… I…"

Kate noted his stuttering and she couldn't help from thinking that he had been doing that a lot recently. He seemed to be different as of lately. She could feel it, and she could see it in his eyes. Rick didn't like her current boyfriend, that she knew. He was constantly on his guard of every movement he made around her. He hadn't told her his point of view directly, but from his miscellaneous talks he had had with her, she concluded that he didn't approve of Tom at all. Why, she didn't know. He would just have to deal with it. Then again, things weren't running quite as smooth as she had hoped they would. As of lately Tom was taking more night shifts or was hanging out with his buddies more frequently instead of with her. She had no idea what she had done wrong and she knew they would eventually have to talk about it. She dreaded the conversation but alas it was inevitable.

As if her relationship problems with Tom weren't enough, Rick was acting eerie around her too now. It wasn't only tonight that she could feel his eyes on her all the time. It was driving her nuts sensing him get all nervous around her, but she didn't dare bringing up the subject with him either just to quit it. Somehow she liked the tingles rising in her body every time he would look straight into her eyes. Even the most innocent touches like holding hands, brushing her arm against his while walking past him or a kiss goodnight was sending an electric current from head to toe to her. What was going on with her? She didn't know.

When her eyes swayed from the girl in her arms onto her best friend she felt it again, that electricity shooting all the way through her body. His sparkling blue eyes were literally transfixed on her, but the moment her eyes met his, he gazed away from her, which only increased her nervousness.

Kate took a deep breath and focused her attention back at the feeding child in her arms. Kaley's blue eyes started drifting shut. She was halfway asleep and forced herself to drink all of her milk. She was almost done when sleep eventually overcame. Her right hand rested against the little one's now full belly. Her regular breathing made her chest rise and fall. A sleeping child always gave her a certain inner peace, but with Rick's trained eyes on her again, she felt anything but peace. Thus she carefully lifted Kaley up to put her down into her crib in her room.

"Sleeping?" Rick beamed up at her. He knew fully well Kaley had drifted off to sleep during her feeding. He was trying to make conversation with Kate. Subtle he was not.

Kate smiled, "Like a log… Pizza? I'm starving…"

Rick nodded as they both made a beeline for the kitchen.

tbc