Author's Note: I am officially raising this story's rating to a big fat M. You'll see the reason right in the end of this chapter. Please enjoy!
Ps. I know. I'm bipolar. No chapters in almost a week and now two in three days? I promise I'll try to be more consistent. Thanks for sticking with me in spite of all that.
Chapter 12: The Life
It was the morning of December eighteen. Kate and Rick were about to start Christmas shopping, and that's why Quinn had a very special pair of sitters.
"Hey, dad!" Kate gave Jim a warm hug. They were standing on the doorway, Jim and Martha standing side-by-side and Kate facing them. Rick was in the kitchen feeding Quinn. "Hi, Martha! Nice to see you."
"Hello, dear. It's been a while." Martha said. The elderly woman was wearing a long green dress, a polka-dotted blazer, and black pumps. She was quite the sight, especially if you considered her red-hair and the fact that pretty much everyone else in NYC only wore black, grey and navy blue.
"It has been a while. Come in." Kate said, gesturing for Jim and Martha to enter the loft.
Rick finally felt secure enough to leave Quinn with someone else other than him or Kate. Now, almost three weeks after her health scare, he finally gave in. "Hello, mother. Hi, Jim." He said, but didn't walk towards them. He was still trying to make Quinn eat some kind of gooey orange baby food.
"We're gonna get going. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time." Kate told them.
"Okay. You can go and have fun. We'll watch the little one." Martha said, running a hand through Quinn's hair.
"Goodbye, guys. And thank you." Rick said to Martha and Jim, while grabbing Kate's hand. They so rarely were alone. Even for one afternoon of forced gift buying, it was great. Being with her, in every little situation, every small thing, it was enough to make him happy. She was enough to make him happy. Not Kate alone, but his family as a whole. The women in his life drove him absolutely crazy, but he loved them oh-so-much.
"Bye." Martha said. Quinn waved to them, as Jim picked her up from the highchair. He wasn't with Quinn often, certainly not often enough, but the two of them shared an inexplicable bond. Perhaps it was the things they loved about each other, perhaps it was fate, but of one thing Kate was sure. No matter what happened, Quinn would never be alone again.
…
"What about this?" Rick and Kate were at the Women's section at Neiman Marcus trying to find a gift for Martha. Rick was trying to convince Kate to just buy anything and let Martha return it later, but Kate refused to let such thing happen. No, they'd choose every single gift carefully, even if that took them the entire day.
Kate looked at the blazer Rick was holding. It was a horrid shade of yellow, and it had pelicans printed all over. The buttons were big, lime green. It was, hands down, the most awful-looking blazer she'd ever seen.
"You can't be serious, Castle." She said. "That is awful. Keep looking."
"Despot."
"What did you just call me?" She asked, even though she'd heard what he said.
"Nothing. How about this one?" Rick held up a gorgeous emerald-colored dress. It was a floor-length, sparkly, beautiful dress. Kate immediately knew that was the one. It would match Martha's hair perfectly.
"Wow, that is gorgeous." She touched the dress' soft fabric. "I think it's the one."
"Great. Let's pay." He said.
"Okay, okay." The two of them walked towards the cashier to pay for the dress.
…
"Quinn, get back here!" Jim yelled. He and Martha were running after the little girl for almost fifteen minutes, and he was sure they'd never catch her.
"Noooooo! Run!" Quinn yelled, still running.
"Quinn!" Martha yelled. Suddenly, she remembered one of Rick's tips to calm her down. Singing. "How about we sing a song?"
"Song?" Quinn asked, stopping just before she collided on Martha's legs. "Nana sing?"
"Yes, nana will sing." Jim said, giving Martha a glance.
"And Pop will sing too!" Martha said. She knew Jim hated to sing.
"No, Nana will sing by herself. Pop doesn't sing." He denied.
"Pop sing too!" Quinn began to run again, this time faster.
"Okay, okay. Pop will sing too." Jim gave in. it was the lesser of two evils, after all. he was way too old to run after a toddler for that long.
"Yay!" Quinn clapped. She ran to the couch and sat, as if waiting for her private concert.
"What are we gonna sing?" Martha asked Jim.
"I have no clue. You said we'd sing, you choose the song." He hissed.
"Fine. 'Horse with no name'?"
"Whatever."
"Start, start!" Quinn yelled.
"On the first part of the journey, I was looking at all the life." Martha began. She elbowed Jim so that he'd join her.
"There were plants and birds and rocks and things. There was sand and hills and rings. The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz. And the sky with no clouds. The heat was hot and the ground was dry, but the air was full of sound." They sang. "I've been through the desert on a horse with no name, it felt good to be out of the rain. In the desert you can remember your name, 'cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain, la, la, la, la, da, la."
…
"Finally." Rick said, as they left Barnes and Noble, where they bought most of the gifts. Mystery novels for Alexis, fishing books for Jim, Dr. Seuss collections for Quinn, and so on.
"Oh, come on. It wasn't so bad. And the dress we got for Martha is gorgeous, isn't it?" Kate said.
Suddenly, Rick pulled her into an embrace. "No. You are gorgeous." He said, on the crook of her neck. He kissed her slowly, while they embraced sloppily. It wasn't the easiest of tasks, kissing someone while carrying dozens of bags.
"Mmm." She murmured. "I wish we could extend that day." She said.
"Perhaps we could." He said.
"We shouldn't."
"Yes, we should. I'm gonna call my mother. I'm sure she'll love the idea, she loves babysitting Quinn." He said, while rubbing the back of her neck. It was her soft spot. She had no way of saying to when he did that. He picked up his phone and dialed Martha's number. "Hello, mother." He said.
"Hi, Richard. Are you on your way?" Martha asked.
"Well, I wanted to ask you a favor. Do you think you guys could handle Quinn for the night? We were thinking about getting a hotel room."
Martha sighed. She wouldn't say no, she couldn't. But she had long lost the hang of children, and babysitting Quinn was harder than Rick thought. "Yeah, sure." She answered.
"Thank you, thank you, and thank you. We appreciate it, really."
"Yeah, yeah." Martha said.
"Bye." He said. He then looked at Kate and said "We're clear."
"Great." She said.
…
"Hey, Jim?" Martha asked. He was sitting on the living room couch, with Quinn on his lap, watching 'Tangled'.
"Yeah?"
"We're in for the night."
"What?"
"Yeah, Richard just called. Asked if we could keep her so that they could have a night alone." She explained.
"And you couldn't say no." He concluded.
"Yeah. But if you wanna go, it's fine."
"No, I'll stay."
"Sure?"
"Yes. We should order something. Quinn's starting to get hungry, and frankly, I am too."
"Is Chinese okay?"
"Perfect." He answered.
…
Author's Note: I hope you liked the scene, this chapter, and please keep reading and reviewing. I LOVE reviews. Thanks!
