A/N: It's taken me an age to get this chapter out, mainly because I had to have half a dozen goes at the encounter with Meredith before I got something I finally felt I could use. I still don't think it's great but it is at least better then the other failed attempts (which shall never see the light of day!). The rest of the chapter pretty much wrote itself in one afternoon and hopefully you'll enjoy reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it :-)
Kate stood next to Rick and stared at his ex-wife in shock and surprise. Meredith!? What the hell was Meredith doing here? Rick's ex-wife hasn't shown her face since they'd left her at that hotel almost a week ago and she finally decides to put in an appearance right now? Just as they were about to...Kate shook her head trying to dismiss the image of a few moments ago from her mind. Now was not the time to focus on what she'd almost initiated...no, there would be another time for that. Right now she needed to focus on why Meredith was here, in front of them.
"Meredith, what the hell are you doing here?" Rick demanded.
"Richard!" Meredith replied, sounding shocked at his tone. "I came to see you...and Alexis of course," she added, almost as an afterthought.
"Alexis? But Alexis isn't here," Rick said.
"So I see. And where is our daughter?"
"She's out. And that's not the point, what are you doing here?"
"I told you, I came by looking for Alexis..."
"That's not what I meant. What are you doing here, inside our home? How did you get in here?"
"In here? I...ah...well I got Jorge to let me in of course," Meredith said, trying and failing to sound off-hand. It didn't take the years she'd spent interrogating suspects for Kate to immediately know Meredith was lying, and for someone who was supposed to be an actress really lying quite badly.
"Don't lie to me Meredith. I know neither Eduardo nor Jorge would let you in here because I specifically told them not to."
"So that's why...," Meredith started to say before trailing off. "Richard, why would you do that?"
"Why would I do that? Why do you think? To stop you coming in here as and when you feel like it! For God's sake Meredith you don't live here anymore, you can't just come and go as you please!"
"It never bothered you before," Meredith replied. She paused, gave Kate a quick glance before leaning in towards Rick and lowering her voice, although not enough so that Kate couldn't hear every word she said. "I can remember more than one occasion where you've been very...uh...happy to find me here waiting for you..." she said, her tone sultry and full of the implication of shared intimacy.
Kate found the hairs on the back of her neck rising at Meredith's unsubtle reminder of her past with Rick and her hand twitched involuntarily towards the gun at her hip as she fought a sudden urge to yank Meredith away from Rick and handcuff her. Rick was also clearly aware of the awkwardness of the situation as he coughed uncomfortably and glanced her way before replying.
"Yes...well...," he stuttered before pulling himself together. "That may have been true but I told you last week things have changed. I thought I made myself clear then...that part of our relationship is done. Now answer my question, how did you get in here?"
"W...what?" Meredith said, stepping back from Rick in surprise.
"How did you get in here?" Rick repeated again.
"I...uh...used a key," Meredith stuttered her response, her voice suddenly full of uncertainty.
"A key?" Rick said slowly. "And where, exactly, did you get a key from?"
"Where did I..." Meredith said. "Um...from Alexis..."
"Alexis!" Rick said in surprise. "Alexis gave you a key?"
"Ah, well, no. Not exactly," Meredith replied, looking uncomfortable.
"What do you mean, 'Not exactly'?" Rick demanded.
"I copied her key, alright!" Meredith said loudly, turning away from them. Rick glanced over at Kate and she shrugged in response. She had no idea why Meredith would steal and make a copy of her daughters' keys. She was pretty sure however that Alexis would not be best pleased when she found out!
"You copied her key...when...why...?"
"When she was in L.A. I borrowed her keys one day and had a copy made..."
"Meredith," Rick said after a few moments. "Why? Why would you do that?"
"Why? Because I was going to surprise you..." she said. "I...I thought you would be pleased to see me. Evidently I was wrong!"
"Pleased to see you? I'm very pleased you wanted to spend more time with Alexis but I don't understand how that relates to you breaking into our home to do so..."
"I didn't break in!" Meredith protested, whipping back round to face them. "I used a key!"
"A key which you obtained without permission," Rick pointed out. "Why would you do that?"
"I told you, I wanted to surprise you..."
"Surprise me; well you've certainly achieved that!" Rick said as he moved around his ex-wife and into the loft. Not knowing what else to do Kate followed him inside and headed towards the kitchen. They may just have come from lunch but she felt an urgent need to have something in her hands right now (other than her cuffs and gun) and a hot cup of coffee seemed to fit the bill. She would have simply left them too it but she couldn't quite shake the mental image of Meredith jumping Rick as soon as she was out of the room and preventing that was one of the main reasons she was supposed to here, watching her partner's back. Remaining had nothing to do with her not wanting to leave Rick's side, no nothing at all. She was here for his sake...not hers. She winced as she bit down a little too hard on her lip which she'd been unconsciously worrying between her teeth.
"So, other than breaking into my home what have you been doing in New York for the past few days?" Rick asked as he took a seat at his kitchen counter.
"What have I been doing...?" Meredith repeated in confusion at his sudden change of subject.
"Yes. I thought we would have seen more of you by now, given that you came to town to spend some time with our daughter, but this is the first time you've appeared in the past week. What have you been up to?"
"Up to? I've not been up to anything Richard," Meredith said with a false laugh. Kate raised an eyebrow at the second obvious lie from Meredith in as many minutes but said nothing. She didn't want to get involved in the discussion between Rick and his ex and frankly she thought she knew her partner well enough to know he would have detected the lie just as easily as she had.
"I've been busy, seeing a few old friends. Friends who actually seemed pleased to see me..." Meredith added.
Rick simply ignored the barb from his ex-wife and, as Kate suspected, homed right in on Meredith's evasion. "Why are you really here Meredith?" he said quietly.
"You know why I'm here..." Meredith started but he held up a hand to silence her.
"Yes, yes, to see more of Alexis and to 'surprise' me. Well you've had plenty of opportunity to do both over the past week but we've seen and heard nothing from you. You forget Meredith, I know you very well and I know when you're up to something..."
"I'm not up to anything Richard," Meredith said with another false laugh.
"Meredith, even if I hadn't spent much of the past four years in interrogation rooms listening to all sorts of people try, unsuccessfully, to lie their way out of trouble I know you better than that. You've only come to New York a handful of times in the past few years and there was always a reason and the reason was never Alexis, or me for that matter. Now I'm not saying you don't love our daughter because I know you do but we both know she's not the only reason you're here."
"Richard..."
"Please Meredith," Rick said with a sigh. "Please, just save us some time, drop the act and tell me why you're really here."
The room went very quiet for a few moments and Kate held her breath. The two of them seemed to have forgotten she was still in the room as they locked gazes, neither seeming willing to back down. But Kate thought Meredith was finding out Rick had changed a little bit over the past few years and one of those ways seemed to be a greater willingness to challenge her, something she probably hadn't experienced much of before. So it was Meredith and not Rick who cracked first and broke eye contact.
"Fine," she said. "Have it your way. I did come to New York to spend some time with Alexis but...but there was another reason. I came because, well because there has not been a great deal of work around recently in L.A. for a woman...," she paused and took a breath. "...a woman of my age and I was hoping to see if there was any work here. So I've spent the last few days visiting a few old haunts and theatre friends trying to get a part, an audition for a role, anything..."
"And have you?" Rick asked after Meredith trailed off.
"No," she replied bitterly. "It's the same story here as in L.A. No-one wants an actress of my age! They all want somebody...y...younger!" she finished, half-sobbing.
For the first time ever Kate found herself feeling slightly sorry for the women in front of her. She may be one of the most self-centred women she'd ever met and she knew she'd not exactly been a great wife or mother to Rick or Alexis but she would have to have a heart of stone not to feel some sympathy for Meredith as she came face to face with the inevitability of her aging. Which was not to say she was old. Meredith could only be a small handful of years older than she was, but she was closer to forty than thirty and even Kate knew this spelt trouble. She looked over at Rick and was not surprised to see a look of empathy on his face as well. He of course would know better than most how brutal and fickle the world of show business and fame could be.
"You'll find something Mere, you always do," Rick said to his ex-wife softly, using an abbreviation of her name Kate had never heard him use before.
"Not...not this time Richard," Meredith sniffed, wiping her eyes. "I can't turn back the clock and no director or producer wants...this," she said, waving an arm to indicate her body.
"You're still a beautiful woman Meredith," he said walking over to stand in front of her. "You still have a lot to give, someone will see that."
"Do you think so?" Meredith asked, her voice uncertain.
"I know so," Rick replied confidently, smiling at her.
"And how about you Richard?" Meredith asked.
"Me?"
"Do you still want me Richard?" she said, stepping closer to him.
"Meredith..." he began but she cut him off by reaching her hands around his head and pulling his head down to kiss him, hard on the lips.
Kate jerked up in surprise. She'd become completely caught up in the drama unfolding in front of her eyes but the shock of seeing Meredith pull Rick's head down to kiss him like that, just as she herself had been about to do only a few minutes before - that was enough to break the spell and yank her back to reality. She stepped forward to pull the woman off Rick but stopped suddenly as the rest of his words to his ex-wife registered. He had called her a beautiful woman and the sound of his voice when he'd said so made it very clear he still cared a great deal for the woman who was kissing him. Maybe he did want her; he kept going back to her even after they'd divorced after all. Kept returning to this woman regardless of what she'd done to him. Did he still love her? In which case what was she to him? Just someone to fill in the time until Meredith needed him again? Was that all she was to him, despite everything he'd said?
"Stop" Rick said, pulling back from Meredith and holding her at arm's length. "Stop."
"Richard," Meredith breathed, trying to move forward to kiss him again as Kate stood frozen to the spot with indecision.
"No Meredith," Rick said, stepping back away from his ex-wife. "You are a beautiful women and someone will realise that sooner rather than later and you will find something. I will always care about you; always love you for the gift of our daughter, but that part of our life is over. I'm sorry but it's over. There is someone in my life, someone who I love more than I ever believed possible," he added, looking past Meredith directly into Kate's eyes. "And she is the only one I want by my side for as long as she will have me."
Kate stared back at Rick, her head spinning as she tried to adjust to her wildly swinging emotions. The sudden but all too familiar fears and doubts of just a moment ago were being washed away in a surge of emotion so strong she felt she might pass out from its intensity. A thousand different moments from the past few years were playing themselves out in her head; a smile here, a word or a touch there, each moment almost insignificant in itself but coalescing together now into something beyond words to describe. She'd had a small taste of this feeling last night, when she'd read his words about his love for her and when she'd forced him to say them out loud. This might even have been how she would have felt if they'd not been interrupted by Meredith when they'd arrived and they'd been moments away from kissing. But it was what she felt right now and the force of it was beyond anything she'd ever experienced and rendered her incapable of any speech, of any reaction to his words other than a slight dropping of her jaw.
But even through the whirling of emotions in Kate's mind she couldn't help but be aware of the other woman in the room, who had followed the gaze of her ex-husband to also stare at her. If she had been capable of any movement her hand would have returned once more to the cuffs at her belt as she registered the look of anger which flickered on to Meredith's face as she realised who he was talking about. She finally turned away after a few moments and grabbed a purse from behind her and fished around inside it.
"Here," she said suddenly, throwing a key at Rick which he just about managed to grab to his chest. "Take the damn key since you obviously don't need me here. I don't know what I was thinking anyway," she said before stalking away.
"Meredith, wait..." Rick called to his ex-wife but she ignored him and yanked open the door to his loft, slamming it loudly behind her as she exited as dramatically as she'd appeared.
Rick disappeared into his study shortly after Meredith had left and Kate thought it best to leave him to his own thoughts for a while. She knew the argument with his ex had upset him more than his was willing to admit and it would probably take him some time to recover his normal good humour. So with nothing better to do she retrieved her laptop from her room and resumed her trawl through Rick's notes, although given the all of the emotional turmoil of the past 24 hours (she was still reeling a little bit from Rick's words) she decided to stick firmly to the safe waters of the Derrick Storm folder.
As often happened when she immersed herself in one of Rick's stories, she must have completely lost track of time as it seemed like only minutes later the front door opened again and Alexis came in.
"Hi Kate," Alexis said brightly as she closed the door behind her.
Kate looked up at the young woman and for a horrible moment thought Meredith had returned as she was struck for the first time by Alexis' resemblance to her mother. She could suddenly see how beautiful Meredith would have been as a younger woman, and how difficult she would find the slight but inevitable fading of her looks as she got older. Rick was right; Meredith was still a beautiful woman, just one who had lost the subtle luminous quality of youth which Kate could see on her daughter right now.
"Hey," she said. "Err...have you had a good day?" She asked, at a loss at what else to say.
"Pretty good," Alexis said, moving past her and into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and rummaged around for a second before reappearing with a can of soda in her hand.
"Drink?" She asked, offering the can to Kate. She shook her head and Alexis came round to sit opposite her. She opened her can and took a long drag before sitting back. "Man, I needed that!"
"Do your friends not let you drink?" Kate asked, with amusement at the look of pleasure on the younger woman's face.
"What? No, of course not," Alexis said with a smile. "It's just that they sometimes get a bit carried away when they're shopping and forget about the necessities of life...the other necessities I mean, besides shopping!"
Kate laughed. She remembered the amount of hours she and her friends had spent in malls and shops when they'd been Alexis' age and at the time she would probably have agreed that shopping was one of the necessities of life. That was before her mother had been killed of course, after which shopping had for many, many years simply become another one of those chores to be done only as and when required. Kate pulled her thoughts back from that dark time; she did not want to become lost in those memories.
"Don't you like shopping then?" She asked.
"Oh, I don't mind it," Alexis said with a grin. "I just think my limit is a little lower than some of my friends, low enough that I start to notice the lack of sustenance! Talking of which, have you had dinner yet? I really can't be bothered to cook tonight but there's a great restaurant around the corner which I'm sure I can convince Dad to take us for dinner. Where is he anyhow?" Alexis asked looking around as if that would make her father appear.
"He's...uh, in his room." Kate set her laptop down beside her and leant forward so she could speak quietly to Alexis. "And I'm not sure your father's going to want to go out tonight," she said.
"Why?" Alexis asked cautiously, picking up on Kate's quiet tone with one of her own. "What's happened?"
Kate closed her eyes briefly, how was she supposed to explain Rick's argument with Meredith to their daughter! Cursing silently to herself she opened her eyes and decided to stick with the truth, or at least the parts of the truth which Alexis needed to understand.
"Your mother was here when we got back from lunch," Kate began and Alexis gasped in surprise.
"Mom was here?" She asked.
Kate nodded. "Yes. They...uh, some words were said and, well, which I think has upset your Dad."
"What did she say?" Alexis asked wearily.
"Alexis, I'm not sure it's my place to..."
"Please Kate," Alexis pleaded. "I know what my mother is like. What did she do to upset him this time?"
Kate sighed, there didn't seem to be any way she could avoid telling Alexis what had happened but she would have to choose her words carefully. Alexis may know what her mother was like but she was still her mother and it really wasn't her place to artificially paint her in a bad light to her daughter.
"Alexis, when I say your mother was here I mean your mother was literally here," Kate gestured around to indicate the loft. "She was waiting inside when we got back."
"Oh," Alexis said. "She didn't she get Eduardo or Jorge to let her in again did she? I hope not because I know Dad told them not too and if they did...if Dad complains they might lose their job!"
"No, no. They didn't let her in," Kate reassured Alexis quickly.
"Oh thank God for that. Dad would hate to be the cause of Eduardo or Jorge losing their jobs. They've worked here for years, they're almost like family!" She paused for a couple of seconds then sat up straight. "If Eduardo or Jorge didn't let Mom in then how..."
"She...she let herself in Alexis," Kate said quietly.
"She let herself in? But Mom doesn't have a key? Dad has always been very selective about who has unrestricted access to the loft and...well...I didn't think he would give a key to Mom..."
"He didn't," Kate said, filing away Alexis' comment about how precious Rick was when it came to handing out keys to his home. He'd seemed pretty blasé about it when he'd virtually forced her to take and use the key he'd given her!
"But how...?" Alexis asked.
"Alexis, she...uh...she took a copy of your key," Kate said quickly, feeling really uncomfortable. "I'm sure she only meant to have it for emergencies or...or something," she finished lamely.
"She copied my key!" Alexis exclaimed, her voice rising. "My key!"
Kate simply nodded, not knowing what else to say. She felt as if she was back in high school, telling tales on one of her classmates behind their back. She had to suppress a shiver of guilt. She was not a teenager anymore and neither was Meredith. And she wasn't saying anything the woman hadn't admitted to doing out of her own mouth.
"No wonder Dad is pissed!" Alexis said. "What happened then? I bet Dad demanded Mom give him the key."
"Err...yes, yes he did. Alexis, I think you should talk to your father about what else happened..."
"No Kate," Alexis said, interrupting her. "I want to hear what else happened before I go and talk to Dad. He won't tell me because he thinks he's 'protecting me'. He still sees me as a little girl who doesn't understand! Well I'm not a little girl anymore and I've always understood a whole lot more than he thinks I do. Please, just tell me what happened."
Kate looked at the determined expression on the young woman's face in front of her and was once again struck at how mature she was, at how grown up she was. Alexis had fortunately never had to deal with what she herself had gone through and Kate hoped, prayed, she never would. But whatever mistakes Rick had made with Meredith she absolutely had to agree his daughter was worth all of it. Kate was reminded of the hundreds of interviews she'd done with loved ones, about how often she'd had to tell them about some secret or another they'd kept from them. Sometimes good, often bad, but always something which caused the family pain as they realised they didn't know their husband, sister or son as well as they thought they had.
"Alexis," Kate said carefully. "How much do you know about your parents' relationship...after they got divorced I mean."
"If you mean do I know they used to get together for...well you know," she said, colouring slightly. "I know what they did, although I try very hard not to think about it!"
"I can imagine," Kate said with a sympathetic smile. No child alive liked to think about their parents having sex, the thought of her own father for example...Kate stopped right there with a small shudder. "Right, well, uh, your mother was feeling a little...insecure...about her looks. Apparently she's been finding parts a little harder to come by recently and when your father tried to offer her some sympathy and encouragement she...uh...kissed him," she just about managed to say as the words brought back the image of Meredith doing just that and it was not an image she ever wanted to remember.
"She didn't...!" Alexis gasped.
Kate nodded. "Your...ah...father pulled back and told your mother that he didn't want that kind of...relationship...with her anymore and, she, um, didn't take it very well."
"She didn't start throwing again things did she?" Alexis said with a groan.
"Uh, no, not this time," Kate said, relieved that whatever else had happened this afternoon Meredith hadn't started throwing the furniture around, at least not in Rick's loft. God knows what she might have done to her hotel room when she got back! "Your mother...uh...gave...him the key she'd copied and then stormed out." She finished.
Alexis looked at her for a while and then said. "And that's it, that's everything that happened."
"Uh-huh, that's everything," Kate lied. Alexis really didn't need to know the details of what her father had said to her before her mother had stormed out.
"I think you're deliberately leaving things out Kate," Alexis said shrewdly.
"No, no, that's everything," Kate said, desperately.
"Hmmm, maybe," Alexis said, sounding completely unconvinced. "Right, well I suppose I better sort it out."
"Sort it out?" Kate said, looking up at Rick's daughter in surprise. "What do you mean, sort it out?"
"I mean I'm going to go and pull my Dad out of his sulk then the three of us are going to dinner. I'm still famished!" And with that she stood up and strode off towards her father's room leaving Kate sitting there, her mouth open in surprise.
Rick was sitting on the edge of his bed as he had been for most of the afternoon. He knew he was being rude, leaving Kate alone without any good explanation but he didn't quite know how to face her, not after what Meredith had said and done this afternoon. Meredith's actions must have hurt her and he feared it would strike at the very core of her fears. He knew Kate despised the thought of becoming just another notch on his bedpost and even though he'd told her he loved her he knew it wouldn't take very much for her to start building that wall between them again.
Lost in these gloomy thoughts as he was, Rick almost hit the ceiling in shock when his bedroom door was suddenly flung open to reveal his daughter standing there, her red hair literally looking aflame as it was backlit by the lights from his lounge.
"Alexis," Rick said, his heart pounding rapidly. "What the hell are you doing? You scared the life out of me!"
"Good," Alexis said as she closed the door behind her and came to sit on the bed beside him. "If that's what it takes to get you to stop sulking then it's worth it."
"I'm not sulking!" Rick protested loudly.
"Not sulking? Kate tells me that you've been in here most of the afternoon. If you're not sulking then you're just being very rude to our guest!"
"That's not fair," Rick protested weakly, taken aback by the forcefulness of his daughter. Unlike her mother, and despite the pervading myth about red-haired people, Alexis was generally slow to anger and he'd rarely ever seen her like this, not even as a small child.
"Tough," Alexis said. "I understand Mom paid a visit today and said and did some things which she shouldn't have. Well, she's next on my list to have words with - especially about a certain key - but right now I'm hungry and I want you to stop sulking so you can take me and Kate out to dinner."
"Dinner?" Rick said, trying to keep up with the torrent which was his daughter.
"Yes dinner! So you told Mom that the two of you were through...about bloody time if you ask me! I've never interfered with your personal life Dad, a courtesy I hope you will return," she added, her eyes full of meaning.
"I can't promise that," Rick managed to say. "I'm your father, it's my job..."
"It's your job to bring me up to know how to choose the right person; then you've just got to trust me. But enough about that, we're talking about you and not me. So you finally told Mom you're through and she didn't take it very well. Well you can't be surprised by that, did you ever think she would?"
"No, but..."
"No buts. You told her, Mom reacted badly and then left. So what? I know you don't love Mom and she most definitely doesn't love you. Yes, yes, I know you still care for each other," Alexis said, waving away his protest before he could interrupt. "You will always love Mom but you don't love her. Dad, I know it's Kate that you love and if you ask me..."
"You know that?" Rick managed to say.
"Of course I know that, the whole world knows that. Perhaps the only person who doesn't know it is Kate herself, although I think she might finally be getting the idea."
"H...how do you know..."
"Dad, do you think I'm blind? Despite what you may think I'm not a child anymore. I know how you look at her and I've seen how she looks at you. For God's sake, why do you think I was so happy to have her come and stay here? Because Mom might 'catch her out' in her lie she told - puh...lease!"
"Alexis, honey," Rick tried to stop the flow of words from his daughter but she ploughed relentlessly on.
"No Dad, don't tell me I don't understand. I do understand and if you haven't worked it out by now I would be delighted if the two of you finally work things out. Kate is a good woman who cares a great deal for you, what more could a daughter want for her agèd father?"
"Agéd! Who are you calling agéd!"
"You, if you don't hurry up and tell Kate how you feel! How hard can it be, really? I mean you're already sleeping together..."
"What!" Rick said, jumping to his feet and staring down at his daughter, who for the first time since she'd barged into his room suddenly looked a little less sure of herself.
"I...uh...I saw you, the other night," she said, looking uncomfortable.
"You saw us," he said slowly. "What were you doing? Spying on your 'old' man?"
"What! No of course not! I came home the other night and went to look in on you, because I'd spent most of the day helping you get up and sit down remember? I was concerned about you so I went to check on you but when I walked in Kate was already here, the two of you so dead to the world you didn't even stir when I took out the plates from your dinner!"
"You came in that night," Rick said, collapsing back onto the bed and subconsciously rubbing his ribs, which had given a small protest at the jolt when he'd jumped to his feet.
"Uh...yes. Look, I'm sorry Dad it's none of my business,"
"Humph, didn't seem that way a few moments ago when you were busy telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing!"
Alexis blushed and turned away from him. "Sorry," she mumbled quietly.
Rick grinned and pulled her into his arms, almost smothering her completely.
"Dad!" Alexis gasped as he hugged her tightly. He was so proud of his little girl, or perhaps he really should start to think of her as a young woman as she certainly seemed to understand more than he'd given her credit for - and he gave her a lot of credit.
"For your information," he said into the top of his daughter's hair. "Kate and I are not sleeping together. Yes, we may have fallen asleep together but we are not sleeping together."
"Dad, I really don't want to know..."
"Tough," he said, enjoying throwing his daughter's angry words back at her. "Rest assured, if that ever changes I have absolutely no plans on telling you...mainly because I suspect you'll work it out for yourself quicker than I can get the words out!"
"Eww, Dad, stop!" Alexis protested, trying to cover her ears.
"And," he added quietly. "Kate does know how I feel." Alexis stilled in his arms and he hugged her even more tightly. "She knows how I feel Alexis and she's still here," he said, saying out loud his thoughts from this afternoon, before Meredith had appeared to ruin his day. "Do you understand? She's still here," he finished with a whisper.
Alexis freed herself from his embrace and turned to look him on the eyes. Rick knew she could see the tears in his eyes but he didn't care. She'd already told him she would be happy for him and Kate to be together, had even admitted helping to push things along by encouraging Kate to stay here. Kate knew how he felt about her and Alexis knew how he felt about Kate and both seemed to be quite content and happy with the idea. What more could he ever want?
"Now," he said, kissing his daughter on the cheek. "Did you say something about dinner?"
Kate remained sitting on the couch where Alexis had left her, her eyes trained on the door to Rick's room and her laptop forgotten at her side. Alexis had been in there for a few minutes and she'd heard raised voices on one or two occasions. But it had all been quiet for a while now and she had no idea what that meant. She worried her bottom lip in her teeth as she tried to imagine what Alexis was saying to her father, or what Rick was telling his daughter. Had she gone too far in telling Alexis about what had happened this afternoon? Would Rick be angry with her for interfering in what was really a family affair between him, his ex-wife and their daughter? What would she say if he came out and asked her to leave? After what he'd said this afternoon that was perhaps unlikely but there wasn't really any real reason for her to stay now as the possibility of Meredith showing up out of the blue had already happened.
But the problem was she didn't feel ready to go home. A few days ago she'd have jumped at the chance to return to the safety of her apartment but a lot had happened in the past few days, before this afternoon's encounter with Rick's ex. She knew she had no real reason to stay, and certainly no right too, but she didn't quite know how it would feel to go back to her empty apartment now and she really didn't want to find out just yet.
So it was that when Rick's door finally clicked open Kate started guiltily and rose to her feet in trepidation, half-convinced Rick would descend upon her and demand she leave immediately. But instead of the angry father she'd been fearing Rick emerged from his room with his arm around his daughter and they were both laughing. And when Rick saw her standing there his face broke into one of the biggest grins she'd ever seen on his face.
"Kate, are you hungry? My daughter here tells me she could eat half a horse and I'm prepared to have a go at the other half if you are?"
"Hey!" Alexis protested, punching her father's arm in much the same way Kate herself did on occasion.
"Hungry?" Kate said quietly, taken aback by the sudden shift in mood. Rick had been sulky and sullen when he'd gone into his room and Alexis had been angry and irritated but now they were both grinning like idiots, seemingly without a care in the world.
"Yes, Alexis wants to go to this great restaurant around the corner. You'll love it!"
"You want me to come with you?" Kate asked hesitantly.
"Of course we do," Rick said in puzzlement. "Err, only if you want to come with us of course," he said, suddenly hesitant.
"Of course I want to come," Kate said quickly. "It's just that after this afternoon and what...what I told Alexis about what happened I wasn't sure..."
Rick took his arm from around Alexis and moved to stand directly in front of her. "Kate," he said quietly. "You have nothing to worry about. It's me who should be sorry, for abandoning you all afternoon whilst I sulked over Meredith!"
"I told you he was sulking," Alexis said from behind them.
"You, sshh," Rick said, pointing at his daughter without turning to face her as he kept his eyes locked on Kate's. "Kate, I am sorry I left you alone and I'm really sorry you had to explain my ex-wife's behaviour to my daughter. I should have been here to do that and you have my thanks for taking the responsibility."
"Your...thanks," Kate said. She had been prepared for Rick to be angry at her for telling Alexis about the argument but not for him thanking her for it.
"Yes. Thank you," Rick said, leaning forward to kiss her forehead in the same way she'd done to him earlier on. He pulled back far enough that he could look directly into her eyes and she could tell he was not lying, was not just saying that to spare her feelings. He was genuinely grateful and his eyes were full of the same emotion she'd seen there earlier on that day, in the moments before she'd leaned in to kiss him and Meredith's appearance had thrown such a curve ball into the day.
"Ahem," Alexis coughed from behind them. "If that's all sorted then I'm still famished and I'm not getting any less so standing here!"