Thank you all for the response to the last chapter, and be warned Meredith will come back to play just not now. With out further ado, chapter 11 If you guys have any ideas what Alexis should call Meredith let me know, cause I think in Alexis's mind Mommy belongs to Kate

"Alexis, sweetie what's wrong?" Kate asked, quickly making her way up the stairs towards the sobbing three-year old. Sitting down beside Alexis, Kate pulled the small girl into her lap, wrapping her arms around the three-year olds shaking body.

"D…d…Daddy doesn't w…w…want me" Alexis sobbed, burying her face into Kate's body, trying to hide from the world.

"Oh, sweetie that's not true, what makes you say that?" Kate said, although she knew exactly who had put that idea into Alexis's head. If I ever see Meredith again she better hope I don't have my gun on me 'cause it sill not end well. Kate thought as she tightened her arms around the crying child.

"She said it, so it has to be true, she doesn't want me either" Alexis hiccupped, not needing to explain who 'she' was, fear coloring her delicate features as a thought hit her, "If they didn't want me does that mean you don't either?" The thought sent the sobbing into another fit of tears, as she clutched Kate tightly, afraid that if she let go Kate would leave. Kate felt tears begin to build in her eyes, how could anyone ever do this to Alexis?

"Alexis, listen to me for a sec, okay sweetie?" Kate requested waiting for Alexis to focus on her and what she was about to say. "Your Dad and I both love you so much, and I promise you that I will always, be here for you."

"But what if you leave? She did and she hurt daddy when she did" Alexis asked quietly. Kate's heart broke at little as she listened to Alexis's fears.

"Alexis, I can't promise that your daddy and I will stay together, I hope we do but I don't know the future anymore than you do." Kate said, Alexis nodded her head and started to cry softly again, thinking that this meant Kate would leave her too. "But," Kate said sensing Alexis's thoughts, "Even if we do break up I can promise you this, I will always be there for you, and I will never leave you like your mother did." Alexis looked up at Kate, her blue eyes still shining with tears.

"Promise?" she whispered, Kate pulled Alexis closer and kissed her on her head.

"I promise, I will never leave you." She mumbled into Alexis' hair, loud enough for only Alexis to hear. Kate's reassurance must have been exactly what Alexis needed to hear because suddenly Alexis was looking up at Kate with a large smile on her face. "Why don't you go get changed into clothes you can get messy and then you can come help me make some cookies, okay? And then your daddy and I have a surprise for you." Alexis nodded her head quickly and ran to her room to change. Swiping at her eyes Kate made her way down the stairs shocked when she saw Rick in the kitchen, head in his hands as he tried to keep his own tears at bay, muttering to himself.

"What have I done to my little girl? This is entirely my fault." Kate walked towards him and lightly placed her hand on his shoulder so that he would be aware of her presence. Rick turned his head to look at Kate, The expression on his face so similar to the one that Alexis had worn minutes before.

"Rick, you haven't done anything wrong, do you hear me? You love Alexis more than anything in the world, and she knows that, it's just she's so young, so when Meredith came in here and started saying those things, she got confused." Kate soothed, "That's one of the reasons she was upset, she didn't know who to believe, you who has been there for her all her life or her mother who supposedly would never lie to her. She knows now that you love her and won't leave her. Now go clean yourself up a bit because I know you don't want Alexis to see you like this." Rick nodded his head in agreement, and walked towards the bedroom once more to clean himself up, just as Alexis came running down the stairs.

"Mommy I'm ready now. Can we make two kinds of cookies? Cause I can't decide, I want choco chip, but I know daddy would really want your special triple chocolate ones, so if we make both then we can cheer daddy up as well." Kate nodded her head in agreement, shocked that the crying three-year old from moments before had vanished.

"Okay Alexis, let's do that, I'm sure your dad will appreciate the thought."

"What do we need first?" Alexis questioned while Kate started to pull ingredients off the shelf, and began to explain all of the ingredients to Alexis, immersing themselves in the task at hand.

A half hour later after realizing that Kate was right, Rick emerged from his office in a slightly better mood, wanting to spend the rest of the day with his two favourite people. Arriving in the kitchen Rick was met with a sight that he couldn't help but laugh at. Alexis was covered in flower and a dusting of cocoa powder, while Kate looked perfectly clean except for the cocoa powder that covered her cheeks and the small amount of flour that had settled in her hair.

"What on earth happened in here?" he teased. Kate's head snapped up having not noticed Rick's arrival in the kitchen.

"Why don't you tell him Alexis?" Kate said, nudging Alexis forward slightly.

"We were making you cheer up cookies Daddy. But I spilled the bowl of dry stuff when I was mixing, but its okay cause we had more so now there are cookies baking and Mommy says that once they're done and have cooled slightly we can have one." Alexis said excitedly, not bothered in the slightest that she was absolutely covered in flour and cocoa.

"That sounds like a really good idea pumpkin, but I think we should get you cleaned up before you have any cookies okay? That way you're not covered in flour."

"Okay daddy," With that the three-year old ran up the stairs and waited for her father to help her get cleaned up. Turning to Kate Rick was amazed.

"I don't know how you did but you are amazing, you somehow managed to turn this absolutely sucky evening and make it incredible by cheering up Alexis and myself, So I will clean all this up and you can go have a shower. You kind of have flour in your hair." He said pulling Kate into a hug and placing a kiss on her temple.

"Okay if you insist," She teased, "But Rick once everyone is cleaned up we should tell her we're going to the Hamptons okay? That will cheer her up even more." Rick nodded his head in agreement as Kate went to go take her shower, pausing when she reached the doorway, "Crap, Rick we'll have to stop by my apartment tomorrow so that I can get some clothes for the Hamptons." With that Kate stepped into the bedroom and Rick made his way up the stairs to help Alexis get rid of all the flour that was decorating her body.

"Daddy can I ask you something?" Alexis questioned after her bath, while her father braided her hair.

"Of course you can pumpkin."

"Why doesn't mommy live here all the time?" Rick froze, how do you answer such a delicate question simply enough so that a small child can understand it.

"Well Pumpkin, I haven't asked mommy to live with us yet" He said

"Why not? You love each other, and mommy is here most of the time anyway."

"Alexis trust me okay, I will ask Mommy to move in with us when I fell the time is right, and when I feel mommy is ready for it okay?"

"Okay daddy. Can we go have a cookie now?"

"Of course we can." Picking up Alexis Rick made his way down to the kitchen thinking about what his daughter had said and his response. He had said he would ask her when the time was right little did Alexis know Rick planned on asking Kate to move in with in the next few months, he just wasn't sure how he was going to do it. Maybe once they were all in the Hamptons he would be struck with inspiration.

Rick snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Alexis squirm in his arms, realizing that they had reached the kitchen he gently placed her on the ground and watched as she ran towards the plate of cookies. Looking around the room Rick started to wonder where Kate had disappeared to; his question was answered moments later when Kate emerged from the family room holding a series of movies.

"So I was thinking that we all deserve to veg out on the couch, what do you guys think?" She questioned

"Yay," Alexis cheered, "Can I choose the movie?" she asked, turning to her father with a look that he couldn't refuse.

"Of course you can Alexis, why don't you go show Kate what movie you want to watch and I'll make popcorn?"

"Okay daddy, mommy come on," Alexis said grabbing Kate by the hand and dragging Kate out into the family room.

"Any idea what movie you want to watch Sweetie?" Kate questioned once Alexis had run to the pile of movies.

"Yep, wanna watch Tangled." Alexis said grinning broadly as she held the movie out to Kate so that it could be set on the TV. Once the movie had been set up Kate and Alexis situated themselves on the couch and waited for Rick to join them.

"One massive bowl of popcorn for the ladies," Rick announced waltzing into the room, plopping himself down between his girlfriend and his daughter. "Now before we start the movie Pumpkin, Kate and I have a surprise for you,"

"What is it? Is it a violin?" Rick looked confused

"A violin? Why would you think that?"

"Cause I really want to play" Alexis said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well no it's not a violin, but if you want one we can talk about it when you're older. Your surprise is that we are all going to the Hamptons for the rest of the week and then Kate has another week off after that." He smiled, looking over at Kate who looked confused.

"Since when do I have two weeks vacation?" she asked confused how her one week break ended up as two weeks.

"Montgomery told me before he left, something about never seeing you this happy and you having a massive backlog of vacation days you needed to take." He smiled as Kate nodded her head in agreement looking forward to the extra week off she had with her family.

"Mommy, will you go in the ocean with me? Daddy says I can't go with out someone there and you promised last time that you would." Alexis pleaded

"Of course I will Sweetie not a problem." Kate assured the little red-head, "now come on the movies starting."

For the rest of the evening the small family sat happily in front of the TV, each planning different activities they could do once they reached the beach house. It wasn't until Alexis fell asleep on Kate that they realized how late it had become. Gently picking up his daughter Rick carried Alexis up the stairs into her bedroom, placing her carefully on her bed where she had dreams about the Hamptons and the three people who she cared about most.

Please review it helps me update faster if I feel that there are more people who are reading the story and want to see what happens next.

So I hope you guys enjoyed this, I'm not 100% happy with it but this chapter kind of needed to be done next up will be the week in the Hamptons another slightly filler chapter but I promise once they get back you'll have a bit more plot line with Meredith making her return. Hope you all had a good holiday and happy new year to everyone.

Carolyn