"Two months?" she asked as he nodded silently and watched the shock cover her face as she stared at him. "You're going for two months" she whispered as he nodded again, not knowing what to say to her. He knew she'd hate the decision but they'd talked about their work and this was part of his job and it had to be done! "I don't want you to go Rick, I don't want you to go away" she mumbled, his arms tightening around her as she buried her head into his chest and felt the tears run down her cheeks again.

"I know you don't sweetheart but it's the job and we both have to sacrifice things Katie for work even when we don't want too" he muttered into her hair as she remained perfectly still for a moment, not wanting to move out of his arms. "I'll call every night, it'll be like the good old days when we first started dating" he explained as she stared up at him and smiled weakly. "Remember when we called every night, hoping that your father wouldn't notice" he muttered against her lips as she nodded and gently kissed him.

"Who's going with you then?" she asked as he groaned. "Gina is going isn't she?" the brunette moaned as he nodded gently and sighed, entwining his fingers with hers as she buried her head into his chest again.

"Katherine Beckett, the wonderful love of my life, you have to start trusting me because you're the only woman I want" he smiled as she stared at him in shock. Lifting her into his arms, Rick smiled as she stared at him and watched as he carried her towards the couch. "I promise you, Gina is nothing to me. I don't want to spend my life with her, I don't even want to spend a night with her because she isn't you" he declared as he gently pressed a kiss to her forehead, then both her cheeks and finally on her lips. "I love you" he whispered.

"I love you too and I'm sorry for being emotional tonight" she declared as they sat together on the couch, arms wrapped around each other as they relaxed. "I know I need to trust you Rick, I am going to work on it and deep down I know that you're only interested in me but it's the other women I don't trust" she explained as the writer stared at her. "I don't trust Gina or Madison or any of the other women who fling themselves at you" the brunette admitted as he moved her so her head was resting on his lap.

"I promise Kate, you're the only on the whole planet who I'm interested in" he declared again, hoping that if he said it a million times then she would begin to believe it. "Come on we have a little girl out there who has probably just realised that we're missing" he stated as he stood up and helped pull her off of the couch before leading her out of the room towards to couch.

"Daddy we saved you some pizza" Alexis smiled as she watched her father sit down in the armchair and pulled the brunette onto his lap before nodding at his daughter and reaching across for the pizza box Alexis was pointing at.

"Thanks pumpkin" Rick smiled as the redhead nodded.

"Can we go and play in my room for a while daddy?" Alexis asked as she looked across from Paige to Ashley as the writer nodded and smiled, watching as the three children ran towards the stairs and disappeared before Rick looked across at the three adults who were finishing off another pizza.

"So what happened with you two?" Lanie asked, earning a nudge in the ribs from Javier who glared down at her. "What? I'm allowed to ask, they don't have to answer" the medical student moaned before elbowing him back; the two of them continuing it before it went too far and Kevin ended up being hit.

"Guys grow up, Esposito you're supposed to be a cop" Kevin moaned as Javier laughed, Kate and Rick smiling as they watched their friends.

"So are you Ryan so man up" Javier teased before throwing a cushion at the other man who glared across at him before rolling his eyes.

"Guys, I already have three children upstairs, I don't need three more" Rick teased as Kate cuddled up in his arms; Lanie watching her friend as she took in how weak Kate seemed. "One day they'll grow up" the writer smiled at her as she nodded.

"I hope so" Kate whispered before kissing him gently. "I love you" she whispered quietly so only he could hear before he smiled and nodded, gently kissing her again before she relaxed back and watched her friends for a moment before yawning.

"Why don't you go up to bed?" he asked as she shook her head.

"It's Alexis' party" she moaned as he shrugged.

"And she's busy and would understand, go and get some sleep, you haven't stopped working Kate" he declared as she nodded and stood up, smiling across at her friends.

"I'll see you guys later, thank you for coming tonight. It means a lot to Alexis" she smiled, moving towards her bedroom as Lanie stood up and stared at her. "Everything okay?" Kate asked.

"Actually, could I talk to you?" Lanie smiled as Kate nodded and walked towards her bedroom with her friend. Entering the room, the brunette slowly sat down as the medical student stared at her. "What's going on with you and Rick?" Lanie asked.

"Nothing's going on" the cop lied as Lanie crossed her across her chest and glared at her friend.

"Katherine Beckett don't lie to me" she warned. "Since I've known you you've never been that cuddly with writer boy" she explained as Kate shut her eyes and groaned. "Do you want to tell me?" she asked.

"He's going on a book tour for two months" she admitted as shock covered Lanie's face. "We had a fight because I thought he'd been cheating on me with Gina and he admitted that he was actually going on a book tour" she explained as Lanie sighed. "I don't want him to go Lanie" she whispered as the medical student stared at her.

"Why don't you want him to go?" Lanie asked as Kate shut her eyes.

"The last time he went away mom died and we've never been apart since, I don't know whether I'll be able to…" she began before falling silent.

"Able to what?" Lanie questioned.

"I don't know whether I'll be able to cope Lanie. Rick's always there, he stops me from doing too much work or being stupid, he makes sure that I eat every meal and he makes the nightmares go away. I don't want to imagine what I'll turn into when he's gone" she admitted as tears ran down her cheeks.

"You'll be fine, you coped when you were training" Lanie muttered.

"That was different, he came to see me every weekend, we spent weekends together Lanie" Kate admitted as he held her close to him. "When he goes away we won't get that" she muttered as she lay down across the bed and shut her eyes. "I hate being weak but Rick's the constant being in my life, he makes sure everything is okay".

"Get some sleep, you're tired and you're not thinking straight" Lanie whispered as Kate nodded and reached across for the blanket and buried herself underneath it. "You'll be fine when Rick's gone, you'll be perfectly fine because we're all going to be here for you" the medical student whispered as she stood up and walked out of the bedroom, turning when she reached the door to see Kate lying perfectly still in the middle of the bed.

"Everything okay?" Javier asked as he noticed Lanie walk towards them.

"I just never realised how lost she was Javi" she admitted as Rick stared at her in confusion, not understanding what she was saying as Lanie moved to sit beside the cop who tightly wrapped his arms around her as she shut her eyes.

It's a short chapter but I wanted to get it up. I'm also not too sure about Kate in this chapter but this is how it came to me and well, it's a story so it's allowed to be slightly OOC at times.

Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow!

Please review, your response has been amazing so far and I just love hearing what all of you have to say.