Kate found herself face to face with – not Rick. She was greeted by a well-dressed older woman with bright red hair and a big warm smile.
"Katherine, so nice to finally meet you! Come in, dear."
"So nice to meet you too, Mrs. Rodgers." Kate followed Martha inside the loft, clutching the container of brownies to her chest. "My mother was a big fan, she took me to see one of your shows a few years before she passed away. The Glass Menagerie."
"Please, call me Martha. That was quite a few years ago you must have been a child."
"Well, no, I was 15 at the time." Kate suddenly felt self conscious about the age difference between her and Rick. She was 22 years old and Rick was 31. The near decade between them had not been an issue, but with Martha's offhanded remark she wondered if her boyfriend's mother might not approve of their relationship. Kate's eyes roamed the loft, searching for a familiar face.
"Speaking of children, Richard is in his office." Kate stood halfway between the living room and the kitchen, not really knowing what to do. "Go ahead, dear, he's expecting you." Martha said as she took the brownies that Kate was still awkwardly clutching like some sort of security blanket.
"Thank you, Martha." Kate crossed the room and entered Rick's office. He was typing pretty quickly and seemed to be completely oblivious to her arrival. She slipped behind his chair and watched him for a few seconds, fingers flying across the keyboard, an adorable look of concentration on his face. Yeah, he was pretty cute. Kate leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her boyfriend's neck as she put both of her hands on his shoulders. He startled, briefly, but then relaxed into her touch. She began to move her hands in a soothing massage. Rick leaned back into her touch with a groan.
"Kate, you're early. It's only - " Rick looked at his watch. "Wow, it's already six. Time really flies by when I'm in the zone. Oh Kate, oh that feels good." He turned around in his seat and stood so that he could greet his girlfriend properly. "Keep touching me like that and I'm going to have to drag you into my bedroom."
"Down, boy, we're not alone tonight. I have some people to impress."
"Oh, right, dinner. So you met my mother already?" Holding Kate's hand, Rick led her out of his office and back into the main living space.
"Yes, she let me in. Where's Alexis?"
"Probably upstairs reading. She's really excited to meet you." As if on cue, Alexis came bounding down the stairs, her long red hair tied back in a ponytail. She flew right into her father's side and Rick reached down to put an arm around his daughter. "Well speak of the devil, here she is!"
"Hi, Alexis, I'm Kate. I've heard so much about you and I'm so excited to meet you." Kate crouched down so that she could speak to the little girl at eye level. Alexis smiled at Kate, but didn't say anything. "Thank you so much for my unicorn picture. It's so beautiful and I love unicorns!"
"Me too! Daddy told me you like them and I'm really good at drawing them. I can draw butterflies really well too. Would you like a butterfly drawing?"
"I love butterflies! That would be great, Alexis. Maybe you could show me how to draw a butterfly?" Alexis smiled, clearly excited.
"I can! And I have the most beautiful butterfly book. The butterflies are three dimensional and covered in glitter. They are so pretty, do you want to see it, Kate?"
"I'd love to see your book, Alexis." Kate stood up to her full height, ready to follow Alexis to see her treasured book.
"Daddy, can I take Kate to my room and show her my book?" Alexis asked her father.
"Sure, pumpkin. We have a few minutes before dinner. Go ahead and show Kate your book, I'll come get you when dinner is ready."
Alexis walked over to Kate and took her hand. "Come with me, my room is upstairs." Kate looked over her shoulder and exchanged a smile with Rick. Alexis took an immediate liking to her father's new girlfriend and both adults were visibly elated.
"Don't let this one get away, Richard. She's a keeper." Martha gave her son's arm a gentle squeeze. She was impressed with the immediate connection between Kate and Alexis.
"I won't, mother. I wouldn't have introduced her to Alexis unless I was sure that she'd be around for a long time." Rick hadn't introduced his daughter to any of his dates or girlfriends since Meredith left. Martha knew that bringing Kate here to meet his daughter meant that he was serious about her. Now, after meeting her, she was happy to see that the young law student was as smitten with her son as he was with her.
"And exactly how long is that?" Martha already had an idea what he meant, but she wanted to hear him say it.
"I love her and someday I'm going to marry her."
Kate followed Alexis upstairs to her room. She had not seen this part of the loft before and really had no idea exactly how big it was.
"Is it just your room up here, Alexis?"
"Oh, no. There's two other rooms up here. One is the guest room that Gram stays in when she babysits me. The other one we use as a library, well I call it the library because there's a lot of books in there. Daddy said it could be for my little brother or sister if we ever decide to have one. I'd just love to have a little sister. Do you have any sisters?"
"No, it's just me, but I always wanted a little sister." Kate was a little flustered at the news that her boyfriend had expressed to his daughter that he might want more children. She supposed that was a normal thing to want, but she was young and still in school and having kids was not exactly something she thought about. She knew she wanted kids someday, but Alexis was already seven years old and surely she would want a sibling sooner rather than later.
"Here's my room!" Alexis opened the door to a room with light purple walls and a white twin sized bed decorated with purple and green butterfly bedding. There was a matching white desk and a bookshelf full of more books than Kate imagined any other seven year old would have.
'Wow, Alexis, your room is beautiful! I see you really love butterflies."
"I do! The book I told you about is here by my bed." The book was called Good Night, Sweet Butterflies and there were 10 glittery butterflies that stood out on the cover of the book. "My mom got this book for me when I was 3, just before she left us." Alexis looked a little sad for a moment, but perked right up as she continued to talk about the book. "I know it's kind of a baby book, but now I can read all the pages myself. Can I read it to you?" Kate sat next to Alexis on her bed and listened to the little redhead read her favorite book. "Hush, sweet butterflies, not another peep. It's time to find a place where you can go to sleep…"
Rick came upstairs to fetch his favorite girls for dinner and stopped at the door to Alexis' room when he heard his daughter reading to Kate. He didn't mean to spy, but the moment was just so precious and so perfect and he didn't want to interrupt until the story was over. So he stood off to the side, listened to his little girl read and couldn't help the tears that gathered in the corners of his eyes.
"Sweet dreams till morning when you can wake and play, on another colorful springtime day!" Kate put her arm around Alexis and gave her a hug.
"You read so well, Alexis! Thank you for sharing your favorite book with me. I loved it." Alexis smiled shyly and hugged Kate back. Rick took a step inside the room and announced his presence.
"That was beautiful, pumpkin." Then he looked Kate right in the eye and said, "Really beautiful." He wasn't talking about the story. Now it was Kate's turn to smile shyly. "Now, if you two lovely ladies will join me downstairs I can promise you a delicious home cooked meal."
Alexis ran ahead of the two adults and Rick took the opportunity to steal a kiss from his girlfriend before following his daughter downstairs. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear as he pulled back.
"She's wonderful, Rick. Thank you for letting me meet her. I adore her and I think she likes me too."
"I'm so glad that my two favorite girls are getting along so well." Kate reached up and wiped away a smudge of her lip gloss from the corner of Rick's mouth and the two walked downstairs, arm in arm.
Dinner was great. Rick had made a delicious lasagna and cooked a variety of veggies to go with it. Kate's brownies were a big hit and Alexis insisted that she come over another day and teach her how to make them. Kate promised to do just that. Martha was delighted to see how well Kate fit in with her family and for the first time she felt like her son might have a second chance at happiness. And really, if she thought about, it would be a first chance at true love because things were never this right with Meredith.
When dessert was over and the dishes were cleared, Martha offered to take Alexis to bed before heading out for the evening. After she said her goodbyes to the young couple, Rick and Kate went up to kiss Alexis goodnight. Martha told them that the little girl had specifically asked for both of them so they headed upstairs together.
"Kate, will you be here in the morning when I wake up?" Kate looked over to Rick, unable to answer the question.
"Of course she will, pumpkin. I promised her some of our famous Castle pancakes and she doesn't want to miss out on those, do you Kate?" Well, that was a pretty clear answer.
"Of course not, I'm looking forward to those pancakes. I've heard so much about them. I definitely don't want to miss out on the pancakes." Kate looked directly into Rick's eyes when she said those last two words, emphasizing them and making it very clear that she wasn't just talking about the pancakes.
"Good, I'm glad." And with that, Rick and Kate took turns kissing the little girl on the forehead and saying their goodnights before heading back downstairs.
Once downstairs, Rick took the bottle of wine from dinner and emptied the rest of it into his and Kate's wine glasses. He handed Kate her glass and led her over to the couch. With one touch of the remote control the fireplace came to life and lit up the room with romantic ambiance. He held up his glass of wine to make a toast. "To a very successful evening."
"To a wonderful evening." Kate agreed. They clinked glasses and took a sip. "So you promised me some pancakes?"
"Oh yeah, about that. Sorry that I kind of forced you into staying over without asking you. Well, I'm not really sorry because I really want you to stay over." Kate laughed.
"It's OK, I'm glad you answered for me. I didn't want to assume."
"Consider it an open invitation to stay over whenever you like. Now that Alexis has met you, there's no reason why you can't stay tonight or any other night." Kate's heart skipped a beat at the enormity of what that statement meant. This relationship was so new, but at the same time it wasn't. They met in a moment of crisis and found each other months later. The initial spark of attraction had grown into a full-fledged flame.
"I would love to stay over tonight." Kate took the glass of wine out of Rick's hand and put it on the table with her glass. She slowly climbed onto his lap and took his face in her hands. She looked deeply into his eyes before leaning in to kiss him. He tasted of brownies and wine and she gave herself entirely into the kiss, wanting to show him exactly what he meant to her as she nipped his bottom lip before deepening the kiss. She pulled back and trailed kisses down his jaw until she reached his ear. "So, you liked my brownies?" she whispered.
"Oh, Kate." Rick moaned as he pulled her back for another kiss. "I love… your brownies." He kissed her again more thoroughly. "Your brownies are the best brownies I've ever had and I don't want any other brownies as long as I live." His hands were under her sweater caressing the curve of her waist as he thoroughly devoured her with his mouth. Realizing that they should probably not be doing this in the living room, Rick turned off the fireplace and led Kate back to his bedroom where he could show her just how much she meant to him.
AN: Something weird happened because all of the sudden my story was getting hundreds of hits a week past my last update and that has never happened before! Thank you for the reviews, likes & favorites. I'm just floored with the positive response that I'm getting! I had fun writing this chapter because if it's one thing I know, it's seven year old girls. My older daughter is seven and that's one of her favorite books. We checked it out of the library once and she loved it so much I bought it for her as a surprise. It's out of print now, but I was able to find a used copy in excellent condition on Amazon :)