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Kate was walking along the road minding her own business. The dark street was empty, looking kind of scary in the glum shine from the street lights. Suddenly, there lies a man ahead. She takes hesitant steps towards him. Then it isn't a random man anymore; it's her father. She runs to him, falling to her knees beside him.

"Daddy! Daddy, wake up!" she tries shaking him awake, but to no avail. "Daddy, please!" There are empty bottles lying all around him, proof of what he has been up to since last time she saw him. She tries to take his pulse, but can't feel anything. "No, daddy, don't you dare leave me too, not like this, daddy, please". Tears are rolling down her face now, and she's trying to shake him still, but nothing's working. The bottles lie everywhere and the darkness is all of a sudden way too much to handle.

"There is nothing you can do, Kate. Just leave it alone, kid." Mike was standing there in the shadows, watching her with a grim expression.

"NO! Help me, please, we got to help him, Mike. He can't be dead, he isn't- he just needs some help, we need to take him to a hospital, anything", she was shaking her head desperately, tears running down her cheeks. This could not be happening. She would not lose her father; not like this. He was the only family she had left in this world.

Suddenly, Rick appeared next to Mike. "Let it go, Kate. He is gone. Be with us, you don't need to spend more time on him. Just stay with the people you truly care about." He gave her a hesitant smile.

"No! How could you say that? I need to help him, please let me help him! He's my father, the only family I have left, Rick". Kate could feel how the sobs wracked her body.

"He's gone, Kate. There is nothing you can do for him anymore."

"NOOO!" Kate sat up in her bed. She was drenched in sweat, her hair clinging to her shoulders and neck. Looking around the room, she realized pretty fast that she was in her own bedroom; not in some deserted alley. The pounding of her heart slowed down. Her father was still alive, probably sleeping in the cell where she left him, hoping to get him sobered up.

Not that it had helped the other times she had done that, but maybe tonight would be it. Maybe he was ready to start living his life again, this time without alcohol. Though, she knew not to get her hopes up too high. She was most probably hoping against every sane thing on this sober-up thing. He had made it clear that he was not interested in getting sober. He was only interested in stopping the pain he felt. He only wanted to stop remembering that his wife was taken from him in the most horrible way. But couldn't he stop to think about his daughter's pain for a second? She had lost her mother. She did not need to lose her father as well. And maybe it was selfish of her to think like this. She at least felt guilty as hell whenever she did. Yet she wanted him to be there for her. She needed her father in a time like this. And instead of helping her deal with this, he just gave her more to deal with. Not only did she think about her mother's murder, but she also worried about losing her father, leaving her orphan at age 20. That was not fair of her father. No matter how selfish she was being, she needed him to be there for her. At least a little bit.

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The sun was shining down on the hustling New York street. People were everywhere, enjoying the nice weather. Just as she was stepping out the door of the coffee shop, she walked into someone.

"Kate?" she was met with a familiar set of blue eyes.

"Rick!" she exclaimed. She had not expected to run into him here, which was rather stupid considering this was their coffee shop. He looked at her with an accusing expression she did not like.

"This the way I have to meet you now? My girlfriend slash perhaps-adoptive mother of my child running into me on the street?" He glared at her.

"Rick, I've just been-"

"Busy, yeah, you said so. Two weeks ago, Kate. I've been calling and texting about meeting you all week. You could have at least picked up the phone!" she could see how angry and hurt he was.

"Just- I'm sorry, I was going to call back, but-"

"When, Kate? We've been dating for over half a year now. You have practically taken my daughter in as your own and then something, some problem, comes up and you refuse to talk to me?" the look he gave her broke her heart a little. "I have been worried. Two weeks is a long time, and Alexis has been asking about mommy. I didn't know if it was time to tell her that her 'new mommy' had left her too. She is just a small girl that needs a mother figure. I thought you might be that person. The logical part of my brain was screaming at me that this was waaaay too early, but my heart finally won. I chose to trust you, not only with my heart, but with my daughter's. And then, what, you're leaving us?" before she had time to answer, he carried on, "Or are you just sick of us already, is that it? You know, I thought you were special, Kate. I thought you were the right one to let into our lives, let myself fall in love with, but now I'm starting to think I was wrong."

They were looking straight into each other's eyes. Kate could see all the hurt she put there; all the misery she was the cause to. Her actions had made him doubt his own choices. This had wounded him deeper than she thought she was able to wound anyone. She could also see the anger in his eyes; anger because of the way she had treated not only him, but also his sweet, little girl. All the feelings from the last month came crashing over her, and she couldn't hold any of it back for a second more. She broke down in huge sobs.

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Kate Beckett was not one to cry easily. She was a hard-nosed, no bullshit officer with the NYPD who had learned to put on a mask at work to seem professional. She had learned to hide her emotions the last few months, at least in public. But when that mask disappeared, when the wall inside was gone, there was nothing stopping her from breaking down completely. The sobs wracked her entire frame, as she stood outside the coffee shop on a New York street corner, facing her boyfriend. She lifted her hands and buried her face in them, as to not cry out loud so much. The sound was stifled some, but she was still shaking with the sobs.

Rick stood and watched as his usually too strong girlfriend broke down right there in front of him. It was like a dam broke and everything came pouring out. The beautiful, vigorous girlfriend he loved so much was shaking with sobs he sat free. Her cries were only partly muffled by an attempt to cover her face with her hands. He had done this. This was his fault. The words he had spoken – no, shouted – at her, had made her cry. When he saw her eyes staring up at him after they collided, he had decided that he was to show her no mercy. She had brought this on herself, and she was going to have to pay for it. He had said what he meant and wanted the words to hurt her bad. The way she had treated him and Alexis, he had thought she deserved it all. But now, with this small, sobbing woman in front of him, he couldn't help but to regret it all. He had come on way to hard on her. This was his fault. He had done this to her. It was his fault she was crying her eyes out in the middle of the street. God, what a gigantic ass he was.

"Oh, Kate, oh, God, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said all that. Kate, I'm sorry" he took a step forward. She shook her head just a tiny bit, and tried half-heartedly to turn away. He just closed the remaining distance between them and put his arms around her. At first, she resisted. He only tightened his grip on her, and she couldn't keep him away anymore. She leaned into him and gripped onto his shirt like he was the only thing keeping her on her feet. He hugged her close as he felt her body shake, and his shoulder getting soaked in her tears.

Kate knew she should have tried harder to resist him. She knew he had a bunch of good points in his little speech. She wasn't good for him. She wasn't good for either of them, really. There was just no way that she could help herself when he wrapped her in his strong arms. She just sunk into his embrace, holding on for dear life, hoping he wouldn't disappear from her, despite her horrible act these last weeks. She cried into his chest for a few minutes. Then his voice rumbled through her.

"Maybe we should go back to the loft and talk about this", he calmly said. "Mother has Alexis and we can just take a cab home to the empty space; get things out in the open." She couldn't do anything but nod, as he led her to a yellow taxi pulling up.

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A/N: That was it for this week. Let me know what you think