Alexis falls asleep about half ways through the movie, her head lying on Kate's lap and her legs thrown over Rick. Kate cards her fingers through the long strands of Alexis' hair, scratching at her scalp on occasion and the soft motion may have helped put the girl to sleep.

Rick's arm rests across Kate's shoulders, his fingers tracing circles along her skin and she has to admit she's getting pretty drowsy herself, could probably be convinced to fall asleep pillowed against his side.

"I'll take her to bed," he murmurs, scooping Alexis up from the couch and carrying her up the stairs to her room. Kate wills herself to wake up a little, take the popcorn and the left over Chinese back to the kitchen. She washes the plates and packs the food into bowls in the fridge.

It isn't too long before Rick comes back down the stairs, shaking his head at her for doing the dishes and she rolls her eyes.

"She's out like a light," he sighs when he reaches her side, propping his hip against the counter, watching her as she puts the last plate away in the cabinet. It's really not even that late, nearing on six o'clock, but the adrenaline and stress of the day is enough to have anyone falling asleep earlier.

"Big day," she murmurs, moving to stand in front of him and she finds she has to look up at him slightly without her heels to make up for their height difference.

"This is so not how I had imagined today would go," he admits, one of his hands reaching up to stroke the skin of her cheek, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. "Especially not after last night."

Her lips quirk up, and her heart rate picks up a little as well, the memories warming her blood, lighting a flame in her midsection. "How had you imagined this day would go exactly?" She asks, lifting a brow, teasing as she allows one of her hands to rest against his chest, toying with one of the buttons.

He grins, a boyish smile that has her skin flushing with ideas of what he'd planned for her, for them. "Well, for one, I would have liked to wake you up with coffee and breakfast but you left pretty early."

She hums, the suggestion almost has her regretting her decision to leave early that morning. "It was a school day," she reminds him and he chuckles.

"Yeah, I hadn't really thought that through last night. I had other, more pressing things, on my mind." His gaze sets her on fire, her insides yearning and prodding her to take what she wants.

"Oh really?" she asks, feigning ignorance. "What had you so distracted?"

Rick moves closer to her, his hands reaching for her, unable to suppress the low growl that escapes his throat at her teasing. "Let's just say a certain English Professor has me wrapped around her little finger."

She laughs, lifting her hands from his chest to wrap around his neck and letting her fingers play with the short hairs at the nape of his neck. "I'm sorry you couldn't make me breakfast," she smiles. "That would have been nice."

"Oh, that's not all I had planned," he admits, his hands growing bolder, moving down from her waist to fit in the back pocket of her pants and tugging her closer. Kate gasps as the front of their bodies align, the enticing call of his lips so very close and she bites down on her bottom lip to keep from making any more sounds which would likely leave her embarrassed. Only she already knows what he can do with his tongue his hands, his body, how he'll set her aflame with his touch. She has no idea how in one night he's managed to learn her body and give her everything she needs, craves, and yearns for most. It makes it that much harder to resist, to reign in the outpour of desire. "After we were done with breakfast I would have convinced you to accompany me back to bed." He drops his head to her neck, his lips trailing along her smooth porcelain skin and she sighs, tightens her arms around his neck at his words, his maddening touch.

"I would have peeled off your clothes like I did last night," he whispers and Kate feels her knees grown weak, her breathing bordering on erratic. "I would have taken my time, rediscovered all the places that made you moan and gasp, kissed every single one of them." He punctuates the words with a quick swipe of his tongue to her pulse point, sucking gently at her tender skin and she can't help the keening noise that makes it past her lips.

"Bed. Now," she manages to choke out past the fire in her lungs and the maddeningly sharp need taking over her every muscle, every ounce of her brain. She doesn't protest when he picks her up off her feet for the second time in two nights, even though she'd usually make the remark that she is more than capable of walking herself to the bedroom. But it's the last thing on her mind when his lips nip at the lobe of her ear as he deposits her on the bed.

"Show me," she whispers, wishing they could go back and spend the morning on bed exploring each other as he'd planned. But they can now, and that's all that truly matters. And oh, does he ever.

The trail of his fingertips against the smooth plane of her back pulls her from sleep, has her hiding her face in the crook of his neck as her pulls her closer. Kate stretches her muscles, aligning their bodies together once more and he groans, slips his fingers through her hair, gently massaging her scalp. She smiles, presses her lips to the skin of his chest and pushes up on her elbows to meet his gaze.

"It's probably not normal that we're so good at that with so little practice," he murmurs, his voice gruff, sexy, and it only makes her want to nip at his shoulder, his jaw, anywhere she could reach, really. He's right, though. She's never had a connection this intense with anyone before. It's not that she hasn't had her fair share of experience but well, she doesn't think she's ever been with anyone so intent on bringing her pleasure, so focused on making sure she sees stars when they move together. It makes it easy to reciprocate.

"Probably," she hums. "But I'm not about to complain."

"Oh, no. No complaints from me. None," he clarifies, answering too quickly and she laughs, shakes her head at him.

They fall silent for a few seconds but it isn't awkward. She feels comfortable with him like this. Just because they've taken a step towards a more intimate relationship, nothing else about how they are has to change. "You know," he interrupts the silence, shifting slightly so that they can maintain eye contact more easily. "I was hoping we could talk more about this morning." She looks up at the alarm clock and finds that midnight still has yet to pass.

Her heart gallops in her chest as he brings her thoughts back to the few minutes they shared together before she had to slip from his apartment and head to work. He'd told her he loved her. And she'd said it back, though she thought he'd been asleep.

With Meredith taking Alexis out of school and everything that's happened, they haven't talked about it. She wasn't even sure if he remembered or if he heard her speak the words back to him. But it's the second time he's bringing up this morning. Why else would he be so keen to talk about it?

She nods, encouraging him to continue. "So, I was barely conscious," he starts, self-deprecating and she feels her chest tighten. She doesn't know if she can handle him making excuses or hear him explain that he didn't mean it that way. "You did keep me up until pretty late last night though, so that's partly your fault."

She raises a brow, waiting for him to continue but she swallows hard, wishes he would just say it and not beat around the bush so she can begin putting the pieces of her heart back together if that's what needs to happen.

"I um... I think I said something and I didn't mean-"

"It's fine." She interrupts him quickly, doesn't need to hear anymore. She pulls herself away from him, retracting her legs from around his. He doesn't feel the same way, didn't mean what he said in his half-unconscious state and it's fine.

Except it's not because she said it back and it had felt so liberating. She'd meant it. Still does and he-

"Kate, wait," he tries to stop her from moving away but she's faster, pulls her arms away and sits up, shifting her legs so they hang off the mattress. She pushes up on her feet and takes a few step away from the bed, her back to him.

"Really, it's fine. I don't need you to explain." She knows it's obvious that it's not fine, but she just- she needs a bit of time to process this. And hopefully after a few days it won't sting as much, won't tug at her heart that he never meant to say the words, that he wanted to take them back.

"Kate." She hadn't even realized he'd gotten out of bed to come over to her side. He's in front of her now, his eyes pleading for her to listen when she chances a glance in his direction. "Please, it came out all wrong and you didn't let me finish."

She doesn't want to hear this, doesn't want him to try and make excuses for the words that brought her so much joy a few hours ago, the words that are breaking her heart now. But he isn't giving her a choice. She meets his eyes reluctantly but allows him to say his piece. It's not like she could stop him from speaking.

"What I meant to say was that I never meant for it to come out like that, for the first time to be right after our first time, right after you flipped my world around and I-" he cuts himself off, frustrated, but she feels a sliver of hope edge its way back into her chest, her lungs expanding more fully as she takes in a breath. "I wanted to give you more, wanted it to be special the first time I told you that I love you. You deserved so much more than that, but Kate, it doesn't make the words any less true. Please don't doubt that."

Her heart rate skyrockets at the words, stunned because that's not at all what she expected him to say when she let him continue. "You... you really meant it?"

He reaches for her and this time she lets him draw her back to him, revels in the way his fingers dust against her cheek, like she's delicate, something he treasures. "I do. I wish I could have made it more special, I could've had it written in the sky, or taken you for a hot air balloon ride, or-"

Kate cuts him off with the slant of her lips against his and he sighs into her, one of his hands cupping the back of her head and the other banding around her waist, holding her to him. She slips her tongue past his lips, tangles it with his as she walks them back towards the bed. She turns them around and pushes down on his shoulders for him to sit but she's quick to follow, straddling his lap and climbing over him half a second later.

"I love you too," she lets the words fall free on a gasp when they separate to fill their lungs with air and Kate feels his arms tighten around her, encompassing her whole frame within his embrace. He pulls back, ignores the siren call of her flesh and how he wants to layer every inch with soft kisses and the swipe of his tongue. Their eyes meet and she doesn't think she's ever seen him smile so widely, so pure and full of light.

"You do?" he asks, giddy, like a little boy on Christmas and she can practically feel him bouncing beneath her, the energy flowing off of him in waves.

"I do," she confirms, can't help the smile that mirrors his. "You know, for a bestselling author, you could have found a better way to start that sentence back there. I thought you were taking it back."

"I know," he chuckles. "That's also kind of your fault, though. The words get all tangled up in my head when I'm with you."

She rolls her eyes at him but the corner of her lips remain turned up. He laughs at her reaction but scoots back up the bed, takes her with him when he falls back against the mattress. She cuddles up against him, her arm over his chest and leg thrown over his. She lets herself relax, breathe him in.

"I also wanted to talk to you about what Meredith said. You know it was ridiculous, right? She had no right to say those things about you or us."

Her body stiffens at the mention of his ex-wife and their unpleasant encounter at the airport. But she knows him, and after the confessions they've just shared, after he just told her that he loves her -again- she doesn't believe whatever Meredith had claimed.

"I know," she acquiesces, laying a kiss to his chest. But there is something else. "She did seem to think she was coming home with you, though."

Kate lets him figure out the question; what she's implying is clear. He sighs but moves closer, his fingers migrating from her back to sift through her long brown locks.

"I don't want to hide anything from you. Meredith and I... we were never going to work, we both knew that. She had no desire to be a mother and there was no way I was letting someone else raise Alexis... But, um... sometimes when she came back into town, well we..." he trails off but he doesn't have to say it. She doesn't have to think too hard to figure out why his ex-wife wanted to come him with him. She isn't upset, not mad. She doesn't have any right to be angry about the choices he made when they weren't together, when they didn't even know each other.

"And she thought she might come over tonight?" She pushes a little, even though, deep down she knows his loyalty lies with her.

"She probably didn't know about us. We don't keep in touch. And well, even though we aren't together, Meredith sometimes gets a bit territorial. She gave it a shot yesterday, tried to weasel her way in, but I tried to make it very clear that she wasn't welcome."

She nods, recalls the way he shut his ex-wife down immediately when she suggested she could accompany them home. "And just so everything is out there, whatever former arrangement I may have had with Meredith when she came into town, it's over now. There's only you."

She smiles against his chest and feels the gentle brush if his lips across her temple. The touch awakens the hunger she'd managed to subdue for the past half hour. But now that they're both recovered from their earlier round, their hearts open and raw and trusting, she doesn't want to subdue anything. She just wants him.

Lifting up from beside him on her elbows and swinging her leg over him, Kate straddles him. She drapes her body over his, aligned in every way that matters and captures his lips in a kiss she hopes makes it abundantly clear that she's on board with the revision of his arrangement with Meredith.

"Good," she whispers the word across his jaw and bites at his bottom lip. "Because I have no intention of sharing."

This time, he wakes before her in the morning, intent on preparing her coffee and breakfast before she has to leave for school. It's a struggle to peel his eyes open after the little amount of sleep they managed to catch, but the decision is easy to make when he thinks of the smile he'll hopefully be rewarded with. She's warm and soft against him, the call of her body making a strong case for him to forgo breakfast and wake her up with the touch of his lips to her skin instead.

But he wants her to know that it's about more than the mind blowing sex. He doesn't think he's ever been so physically compatible with someone, the connection electrifying, like nothing he's ever felt before, but it's more than that with her.

Hell, he's already told her he loves her. He wasn't prepared for the force of his feelings for her.

Yeah, he had no idea. He pretty much tripped and fell, with nothing around to hold onto but her heart. And despite how soon it is, he told her.

Now he wants to show her.

Well... Hopefully he showed her last night. Three times. Technically four for her. But like he said, it's about so much more.

So he's careful when he disentangles their limbs and eases away from the bed. He slips on some boxers, fits his arms through the sleeves of his robe and heads towards the kitchen. She left around six yesterday to be in for her eight o'clock class so he made sure to be up by five. He prepares the coffee machine but doesn't start hers right away, he wants her cup to be warm when she wakes. Instead he focuses on breakfast, gathering the ingredients for an omelet. He usually likes to put chocolate chips in there - a s'morlette, he calls it - but he has a feeling Kate might not share the same enthusiasm for it, so he restrains himself. He chops up the onions, tomatoes and peppers, adds some ham and by the time it's a half-passed five he tosses everything in the pan atop the stove.

He's focused on making sure everything's perfect, that this is the best damn omelet he's ever made and he doesn't hear her come up behind him, jumps when a set of arms wind around his waist. But he relaxes instantly at the feel of her cheek pressed to his spine, her body fitting against the back of his and it pulls a smile from his lips.

"What are you doing up so early?" She asks on a yawn and he can't help noticing how absolutely adorable she looks in rumpled clothes, her eyes still tired and the imprint of his pillow at her cheek. It's a sight he hopes he can start seeing on a regular basis.

She notices him staring and she starts to level him with a glare, but it doesn't deter him. He leans in for a kiss, leaving the pan for a handful of seconds to sip at the corners of her mouth. Kate doesn't hesitate to reciprocate, lifting her hand to his cheek, chasing his lips.

He pulls away before he can convince himself to scrap breakfast and take her back to bed and lays a final kiss to her cheek.

"Cooking you breakfast," he answers her question as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "I may have messed up our first morning together but I promise I'm going to make up for it." He turns back to the stove, adding a touch of salt and pepper to the omelet before heading to the cabinet to set out two plates.

"You didn't mess up anything, Rick," she assures him and even though he didn't think she blamed him, it still alleviates a weight from his chest. "But this is very sweet, thank you. I don't have much time, though."

"I know," he confirms. "I've got your coffee ready to go in a travel mug and I can put the rest of the omelet in a Tupperware if you don't have time to eat all of it-"

"I have a few minutes," she interrupts him with a kiss. "We're okay."

A/N: Thank you for continuing to be amazing, you guys! I couldn't keep doing this without your support. I also wanted to let you know that I'm now working on the final chapter of this fic. There will be 18 chapters as well as an epilogue in total! I'd love to know what you think of this update. - Zoe

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