Hey everyone sorry again for the delay – got exams and coursework coming out my ears :P – anyway hope you like this.

Chapter 11

Rick smiled as he crouched in front of Kate's desk at the precinct looking at the little girl who stood wobbling in front of him, he had his hands ready to catch her should she fall, she caught hold of his arm and giggled happily smiling happily at him with her blue eyes sparkling, then she looked over the short gap where her mother was kneeling smiling at her daughter, she held out one hand to her "ma ma ma" she said, Kate smiled and held out her arms to her daughter.

Kaylee hesitated and looked around, her daddy was next to her assisting her now, her uncles Javi and Ryan were standing next to Ryan's desk, her big sister Livie was standing behind her mom holding up her phone ready to catch the moment on film looking like she was about to burst with excitement.

Rick watched Kaylee look around, trying to decide if now was the right time, she must have decided it was because she turned to face her mother and took a tiny shaky step towards her, she paused before taking another, then another, two more and she giggled as she tumbled into her mother's arms.

Kate laughed in delight as Kaylee took her first stumbling steps towards her and giggling stepped from her father to her mother and fell into her arms, she scooped her daughter up laughing as she kissed her cheek, Rick whooped from as he too leapt up the pride evident on his face moving over to his wife and daughter "yay" Livie squealed bouncing forward lowering her phone as she stopped filming "Kaylee took her first steps"

Esposito laughed and ruffled Kaylee's hair "clever girl Kayldd" he praised, she giggled happily smiling at everyone as they surrounded her, she grinned at her daddy "dada" she said proudly "yeah princess" Rick said with a smile "you are so clever aren't you" he smiled at her, then he sighed "what" Kate asked as she smiled at Kaylee, he looked at her "she will be one next month" he said "god this year has flown by"

Kate smiled at him "I know" she said moving forward "things always seem to come sooner than they should" he smiled at her and kissed Kaylee's forehead, before Kate crouched and set her on her feet, she looked at him "dada" she said "yeah" he said softly gazing at her proudly, Kaylee smiled at him happily before she giggled and fell back against her daddy before sliding down and beginning to crawl, Ryan laughed "I can walk but crawling is so much easier" he said, everyone laughed back, smiling at the tiny child sitting on the floor grinning up at them, she grinned toothily at them showing her three teeth off proudly.

Kate smiled at the little girl in front of her, now eleven months old, she couldn't believe how time had flown, how it had been almost a year since she had given birth to her tiny adorable ray of sunshine, she couldn't believe it and she didn't want to believe it, time had gone by so fast, it felt like it was slipping through her fingers.

She sighed as she looked at the clock on the wall "you know what lets call it a day boys" she said "I think we have had enough excitement for one day" both men grinned as they leapt up obviously eager to spend time with their own little ones who had already experienced their first birthdays much to everyone's amazement, no one seemed to be able to believe how quickly time had gone by, she bent to lift Kaylee up into her arms before she pushed Livie's feet off of her desk "oi feet off the paperwork" she said "come on time to head home" "k" Livie said from where she was texting on her phone, Kate rolled her eyes "will it kill you to put the phone down for five minutes Livs"

Livie looked up at her "I'm sending Alexis the video of Kaylee's first steps", her phone chimed and Livie grinned as she stood "and Alexis says she is coming down this weekend to see her" she frowned "take it she doesn't want to see us then" Kate laughed as she grabbed her bag and they all headed to the elevator.

XO

When they got home the phone was ringing and Rick rushed to answer it, it turned out to be Alexis who wanted to hear every detail of Kaylee's first steps and Rick eagerly launched into an over exaggerated description, Kate rolled her eyes as she crouched down setting Kaylee on her feet "your daddy really is a bit of a drama queen isn't he baby girl" she whispered, Kaylee giggled "mama" she said happily making Kate smile.

She watched Livie tussle with Rick for the phone eager to speak to her sister and Rick laugh as he held it out of reach, rolling her eyes she moved forward and grabbed the phone "hi Alexis how are you" she said moving away from her husband and daughter "hey Kate I'm good thanks how are you, sounds like you have your hands full down there" Alexis said "yep hard being a working mother of three" she said shooting Rick a pointed look as Alexis laughed "anyway let me try something Lex"

She moved forward and crouched in front of Kaylee where she stood in front of her toys holding a little wooden block "hey Kaylee" she said "Lexie is on the phone, can you say Lexie honey, say Lexie" Kaylee looked at her confused before she smiled and giggled and Kate placed the mouthpiece of the phone next to her mouth just in time for Alexis to hear her little sister say "Lex eee"

She grinned and placed the phone back to her own ear in time to hear Alexis give a delighted squeal "oh my gosh" she squealed "that is aw amazing, oh I so cant wait to see her" "yeah well make sure you come down soon" "oh I am going to" Alexis said "and I will so be down for her birthday" Kate smiled "you had better be" she teased before looking over "anyway your other little sister wants to walk to you Lex, see you soon ok" "bye" Alexis chimed as Kate handed the phone to an impatient Livie before bending to look at Kaylee who looking up at her with her blue eyes sparking cheekily, she reached out to brush hair away from her face smiling at the innocent child in front of her before she looked over to find Rick and Livie playfully tussling for the phone again, she gave a sigh as she picked Kaylee up "you know honey sometimes I think that you and I are the only sane ones in this house at the moment"

And almost as if she understood her Kaylee giggled and went "ya"

XO

Rick grunted as he heard giggling, then he rolled over to see Kate sitting on the edge of their bed smiling at Kaylee who was on her hands and knees patting his stomach a huge grin on her face "hello my princess" he mumbled a grin sliding onto his face as he reached over and picked Kaylee up sitting her on his stomach "is it your birthday today monkey" she giggled, he grinned "how old are you today" he held up one finger, Kaylee giggled again and grabbed his finger "that's right your one" he said, he sat up pulling her against his chest, then he smiled at Kate who was grinning back at him "this time a year ago you went into labour" she smiled "yes a whole day of pushing a small human through an even smaller hole, unforgettable" she moved round and kissed the top of Kaylee's head "but it was worth it" she said, Rick smiled "sure was" he said and swung himself out of bed.

They had asked for the day off and Gates had granted it much to their delight, they had the whole day to spend with their little angel on her birthday, not that she understood, they fed her and dressed her before Livie came bouncing down the stairs happily singing 'Happy birthday' to her little sister as she danced around the living room with her before they brought out her presents, they hadn't held back and her pile of presents was even bigger than her, she giggled happily in delight tossing the paper all over the place whilst Kate and Livie laughed as Rick wrestled with a few toys trying to put them together swearing under his breath "language Rick" Kate chided "there are innocent ears in this apartment" he smiled "I am pretty sure she doesn't understand" he said, Kate sighed from where she sat on the arm of the sofa watching "even so if her next word is bad I am not going to be the only one out to get you" she threatened, he smiled "duly noted" he said "Kaylee" he said turning to his daughter "don't say any bad words until you are at least 20"

Kaylee just stared at him before turning back to her game of tossing paper about "jeez Rick she is only 1 now suddenly you are wishing her life away" Kate said, "oh no I am definitely not wishing it away" he said "ah ha" he then exclaimed sitting back "finished" he tilted his head to one side "what is it supposed to be anyway" Kate laughed.

At that moment there was a knock on the door, Kate furrowed her eyebrows wondering who that could be as she rose from her seat and went and opened the front door.

Lanie shot past her into the apartment squealing "happy birthday Kaylee" making Rick yelp as in his surprise he banged his head on the cabinet behind him, laughing Kate turned to see Esposito, Ryan and Jenny with Danny and Jake standing in the doorway grinning "hello" she said "what are you doing here" she asked as she stepped aside to let them in, Ryan smiled as he hugged her "we couldn't miss Kaylee's birthday" Kate smiled as she shut the door "and was giving Rick a concussion part of the plan" she asked as they stepped towards Kaylee and the pile of presents which increased as their team added their own, Rick was still sitting grumbling as he rubbed his head, as Livie laughed loudly, Kaylee was giggling at her daddy until she spotted the rest of her family, she looked up and smiled at Lanie and laughed holding up her arms for a hug.

Laughing Lanie bent and picked her up "I can't believe you are one baby girl" she gushed "that makes three of us" Rick said still rubbing his head smiling at Kaylee as she giggled happily "oo lets not forget pictures" he said diving for the camera and snapping a handful of photos "now open presents" Lanie urged "yeah we haven't got all day" Rick joked looking at the pile.

Kaylee certainly was spoilt, she got everything she could possibly need and more, from more farm animals, to hundreds of brightly coloured books with interactive parts which awed her, building blocks, lots of little dolls, a very loud musical piano that everyone was soon regretting showing her how to use as she sat there giggling merrily slamming her fists against the keys. And a beautiful wooden rocking horse, painted in bright colours with swirling patterns, it looked just like a carousel horse, it even had a seat back for her to lean against, it had a little faux leather saddle and a bridle attached with reins that Kaylee clung too, the smile on her face as she sat on it was absolutely beautiful, her eyes were wide with delight as she rocked back and forth, whilst Rick snapped photo after photo madly.

Nobody stopped smiling as they watched Kaylee play with her toys and Danny and Jake tried to play too and Rick with the help of Ryan and Esposito set more things up for her, Jenny, Lanie and Kate went and made a huge birthday cake with 'Happy 1st Birthday Kaylee' written in swirling writing just like the ones on Danny and Jake's birthdays.

Martha and Jim arrived not long after that and then Alexis, once the family was complete and all presents were open they all ate lunch and sang happy birthday to Kaylee who sat giggling on Livie's lap reaching out determinedly to get to the cake, smiling Kate went to fetch some plates and a knife, when she turned round Rick had taken a dollop of icing and was allowing Kaylee to eat it scraping it off his finger to suck at her own mumbling in delight "Rick" she growled, he grinned "yes Kate" he said innocently whilst everyone else laughed.

Kaylee grabbed at the icing then and splatted it against Rick's face causing everyone to almost collapse laughing so hard, Rick scowled at his daughter and then placed a dollop neatly on her nose and he smiled as she nearly went cross-eyed trying to see it "now I ask you" Ryan said looking at the two of them "who is the bigger child" both of them grinned cheesily as everyone laughed and Livie leapt around snapping more photos.

Kate reached over and took Kaylee from Rick "you are cheeky" she said to her as she looked at her eyes shining, then she patted her cheek covering it in the icing still on her hand making Kate gasp and scowl at her daughter who was giggling as she moved to the other cheek, she raised her eyebrows "done" she asked, she could hear everyone snickering, she smiled and wiped the dollop off of her nose, she grinned at her "good job you're so cute sweetheart" she said smiling at her.

She heard a yelp and looked over to see Rick wrap his arms around Livie wiping icing across her cheeks "dad" she gasped before she began to laugh, she struggled half-heartedly before turning to look at him "seriously" she said "yep" he said a twinkle in his eye "seriously" she smiled reaching behind her to grab some ammunition before she wiped cake and icing across his forehead, he scowled "yep" she said "seriously" Kate was laughing hard at their' antics, as was everyone else and they couldn't help but smile at them, they really had that special father daughter relationship.

The two of them looked around the room and then with a smile both of them launched gleefully at Alexis covering her in icing as she shrieked, Kate laughed from where she stood with Kaylee watching, but it wasn't long before Rick gleefully leapt at her ignoring her squeal of "don't you dare", covering both her and Kaylee in cake, once she had staggered away to where the parents we watching she looked over to see Rick and Livie going at each other again, Livie was still laughing as she backed away from Rick "no Dad" she said giggling "that is taking it too far" Rick just grinned though as he leapt towards her wrapping one arm around her and ignoring her protests opened his hand above her head allowing a handful of flour to rain down on her, covering her, then he stepped away as she stood there scowling at him through the still airborne flour, then she sighed before she spun round and grabbed an egg odd the counter and dived at him and broke it on his head. Everyone roared with laughter as he stood there egg yolk dribbling slowly down his neck, he looked at Kate who gave him a look and he sighed, "I guess I deserved that" he said and everyone laughed.

More cake and icing bombs flew around their kitchen before they all stopped out of breath, laughing absolutely covered in cake all of them, they ate what was left, Kate setting Kaylee in her high chair with a few small chunks which she nibbled at happily. Kate couldn't stop smiling, this was a perfect first birthday for Kaylee, she couldn't have asked for anything better, surrounded by friends and family.

I know incredibly cheesy but oh well – sorry it is so short – got a bit of writers block with this one at the moment sorry

Please review with any suggestions that you may have

Thanks

Mysticgirl