AN: sorry I haven't updated this in so long. This chapter took forever to get out and it pretty much only exists to fill up some holes I made in previous chapters
Kate woke instantly when she rolled over, knowing Rick's body was missing next to hers before she could even open her eyes. She sat up, glancing around the room but it was dark, the door to the hallway closed.
She carefully rolled out of bed, her injured arm curled against her swollen stomach as she left the room. She quickly checked his office, wondering if he'd fallen asleep writing as he sometimes did but that room was empty as well.
She jumped when she heard voices in the living room. And gun shots. She turned and ran quietly back to their bedroom, retrieving the gun kept in her bedside table and returning to the living room, aiming the gun awkwardly with only her left hand.
Her eyes darted around the room, sighing softly when she saw the television on with Rick asleep on the couch, the remote still in his hand. She put her gun on the table and sat carefully next to his legs, taking the remote from him to turn off the TV before she touched his knee. "Rick, wake up," she said, giving his leg a slight shake.
He mumbled incoherently about a body.
"No, there's no body."
"Early," he murmured, not opening his eyes.
"Then come back to bed."
He grunted, rolling his body halfway toward the cushions. "I'm fine."
"You can't be comfortable out here. Come on." She grabbed both his hands, tugging him into a sitting position.
"I'm fine, really. Just go back to bed."
She frowned as he pulled away from her and laid down again. "What's going on?"
He bit down on his lip, sitting up once more and pulling the t-shirt he was wearing up to show her a red and purple bruise on his back.
"What the hell happened?" she asked as she reached out to touch the small bruise.
"You. You literally kicked me out of bed. Five times."
She quickly covered her mouth to keep from laughing. "I'm sorry," she said, trying and failing to keep her face straight.
"Right. So I'll just stay out here if that's ok with you."
"Well, it isn't. You know I can't sleep without you. Do you really want me to not sleep tonight? Come on, if I kick you again I'll kiss it and make it better."
"Strange, pregnancy has made you violent and affectionate."
"Well I don't mean to be violent. Not to you anyway."
"Further proof the baby hates me," he mumbled, putting his hand against her stomach.
She rolled her eyes. "Just because it won't uncross its legs during the sonograms so we can tell if it's a boy or a girl doesn't mean it hates you."
"I just wanna know if we should paint the nursery blue or pink."
"So we'll paint it green. Besides, won't it be kind of fun if we don't know what it is? We can be surprised when it's born."
"I don't like calling it it though. Meredith and I knew Alexis was going to be a girl as soon as we could, she had a name before she was six months along."
"Well, Little Castle here likes keeping secrets."
He let out a low groan, looking at her stomach. "Don't keep secrets from Daddy. He doesn't like it and it raises his blood pressure."
"Which makes him whine and that annoys Mommy. Kind of like my fiancée refusing to come to bed at 3 in the morning."
"I don't wanna get kicked again."
"Already with the whining. Come on." She stood up and took his hand again. "Back to bed," she said, tugging on his hand until he was standing as well.
He followed her out of the living room, looking at the gun on the table. "You said you're gonna try to not kick me but you're not gonna shoot me right?"
She smiled, picking her gun up. "Not tonight. Let's go to bed."
