Here is the next chapter, I hope you like it. Thanks for reading, please review.

Rick took Kate to work, and no matter how excited she was, she wished she could stay with him all day instead.

"Maybe I should be a cop too," Rick joked.

"They'd never let you be a cop," Kate laughed.

Rick pretended to be hurt.

"So cruel, Katie. Have a great day, okay? Look after yourself."

"Thanks," Kate smiled, "I will."

"Seriously, if it looks at all dangerous, just push someone else in front of you. We'll deal with the aftermath later."

"Right. I gotta go. You have a great day too,"

She got out of the car, and Rick watched her walk inside the precinct. He knew she'd be a great cop – she was probably better than most of the cops in there already. He drove home, thinking he would get out his laptop and do some writing, then go out and buy some food to make an exciting dinner for Kate.

But when he arrived, there was someone waiting on his doorstep.

"Meredith? What are you doing here? I thought you were still in LA."

"No, I came back a couple of weeks ago. The job finished. And no one wants me to work now I look like this."

She looked down at her bulging, pregnant belly.

"Why are you here?" Rick asked, wishing she would disappear so he could go in and get on with his simple plan for the day.

Meredith dug in her bag, and produced a wad of legal looking papers.

"I want you to read these, and sign them."

"What are they?"

"They're something that means you can't back out of this baby thing. My lawyer's waiting in the car – I didn't want to freak you out by having him with me to start with. Basically they say that the kid is yours, and nothing to do with me, and if you crash and burn like I'm sure you will, you're still not getting any of my money."

Rick nodded. "Okay. If I sign, will you finally leave me alone?"

Meredith smiled. "You'll only see me again when you come to get the baby."

"And are you sure?" Rick asked, trying to see past the flirty, cheeky image that Meredith always tried to project.

"Positive. I don't want a baby."

Rick thought hard. "Look, I'll sign it. But are you sure you won't even want to see it? Even when the kid's older?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I guess I might be able to spare a day or two. But no joint custody, and none of my money. And I won't have to – I just can if I want."

Rick wondered if there were any mothers quite like Meredith. She really didn't seem to have any affection towards this child.

"Okay. Tell your lawyer to come on up."

He began to scan through the papers, but he read something and had a thought.

"Are you and your lawyer still around this evening?"

"Yeah, why?"

Rick had seen something about sole custody, and realised that if he was going to be with Kate, really, he would want joint custody with her. He'd have to ask her about it – it was so soon. They'd thought they would have three months to see how things went before they really decided. He hoped she'd understand.

"Well, I was wondering if we could change the custody thing. I have a steady girlfriend, and we've talked about this. It wasn't anything like how we'd planned to do things, but she's going to be a part of my life, I hope forever. We're thinking of moving in together, we practically live together anyway. And I think she should have custody too – I'd like her to be the baby's mother, if you really don't want to be."

Meredith was surprised. She had never thought of Rick as the settling down type. She wondered what this girl was like – she must be something pretty special for him to give up the bachelor status that he took so much pride in. Something made her want to disagree.

"I don't know, Rick. I'd have to think about it."

"Look, it's just the same. Even if she wasn't the legal mother, she would be the mother anyway. And it's not like I asked for this – you're the one who just turned up at my apartment wanting to sign away your baby."

Meredith thought hard. "Can we wait? Can I meet her?"

Rick sighed. "Okay. How about this – send your lawyer home, forget the signing for now. And stay here, and have dinner with Kate and me this evening."

After a pause, Meredith nodded. She put the papers back in her bag, and called her lawyer.

"I didn't think you'd be the one having to convince me," she said as Rick opened his door.

"Well, life is full of things we didn't think would happen. It'd be dead boring otherwise. You want to come in?"

"No. I have some shopping to do. I'll see you back here at, say, seven?"

Rick managed to conceal his relief. "Sure. Bye, then."

He resisted the temptation to slam the door. That woman was crazy. She'd got pregnant on purpose, he couldn't understand why she was now so desperate to get rid of the baby. Probably just extreme laziness. Or a guy. Or a job. Or maybe she just changed her mind, like she always did, and had come up with a new plan to create havoc and problems for other people.

Kate went back to Rick's apartment after work feeling tired and ready for a cosy, relaxing evening with her boyfriend. She knocked on the door, and he opened it for her, with a worried look on his face that he was trying to hide.

"What's wrong, Rick?" she asked, instantly worried too.

"Nothing," he lied.

She gave him a look. He sighed.

"Meredith showed up, while you were at work. She wanted me to sign something... and then she found out about you, and she got all weird... I thought she should meet you. It was going to happen sooner or later. But I said we'd have dinner together."

You could have warned me, Kate thought, trying not to get mad. He could have called her at work. She wished he hadn't invited Meredith – she wasn't very old, and she sometimes felt very naïve – but she knew adopting another woman's baby was a pretty big deal, and she'd have liked to have some time to think and prepare before meeting the woman whose baby she was basically planning to take.

"Is she here now?" she muttered.

Rick shook his head. "She'll be here soon though."

"What, exactly, did you tell her about me?"

"I said I wanted you to be the baby's mother."

She's going to hate me before even meeting me, Kate thought, but she smiled bravely, knowing Rick had meant to be nice.

"Thanks. What are we giving her for dinner?" she asked.

"I'm making pasta," Rick said, worried that all was not well with his girlfriend. But she wasn't letting anything on.

"I'll go get changed," she said, and went through to his bedroom. Once there, she wondered what the hell she was going to wear. The only clothes she had at Rick's were pyjamas, lingerie, police uniform, and she discovered one little outfit in his closet she'd worn out to dinner with him and forgotten to take home. It was a short, low hanging black skirt – Lanie had chosen it, Kate thought it was more like a belt than a skirt. But it was between that and sweat pants. She was not going to have this dinner in her work clothes – she needed to seem prepared, even if she wasn't.

She looked through Rick's closet again, wondering what to do with her top half. After a bit of deliberating, she decided on a dark red shirt of his, with her nicest lacy black bra. The top she'd worn to the date would have been a more obvious choice, but on closer inspection she found it was completely ripped down the back seem.

She tied Rick's shirt at the bottom, showing off a bit of her flat stomach. She thought about changing it, but decided not to – so what if Meredith was a bit jealous? She was twenty, she could be a bit bitchy if she wanted.

Twenty. And she was going to be a mother. She saw herself in the mirror, and wondered how this could possibly be allowed. Oh well, if Meredith saw her and decided to keep the kid, she and Rick could always have one of their own.

She wondered what had gotten into her. Was she jealous? So what if I am? She thought. He was the one who'd invited his ex to dinner without even warning her! She put on the limited jewellery she had at his place, and was relieved to find she had some mascara in her purse. She didn't have any shoes... She thought about it, and decided to go barefoot – it would make it seem like she really lived there. She couldn't believe some of the thoughts that were coming into her head, but she liked them too.

She walked into the dining room, oozing with confidence. Yesterday, she would have been a bit self conscious about how short the skirt was. But today she didn't even care. She walked over to Rick, silent because of her lack of shoes, and slipped his arm around his waist.

"Wow," he breathed. "That was quite a transformation."

Kate grinned, knowing he was watching her mouth. She let her tongue peep through her teeth at him, reminding him of what else she did with it. She felt him shudder.

"Are you serving wine with the food?" she asked.

Rick thought about it. "Meredith's pregnant. And you're underage."

"Meredith doesn't know I'm underage," Kate commented breezily, watching Rick out of the corner of her eye to gage his reaction.

Rick answered slowly. "No..."

"And it'd be normal for a couple like us to drink wine with our meal – if I were a bit older," Kate continued.

Rick saw where she was going. "Some cop you are. Sure. I'll open a bottle of red," he said, marvelling at how she could wind him round her little finger so easily, and also at how he loved every second of it. He poured her a small glass. She pouted like a five year old, which made him laugh. She laughed too, and gave in – she knew she was pushing her luck. He poured himself a glass the same size – she noticed, and smiled. At least he was fair.

She took a sip, enjoying it. It was much better than anything she'd had before – she'd never had rich people wine. She hopped up on the counter to watch Rick cook. When he was done, and the pasta and sauce were simmering gently, he went over to her and put his hands on her hips.

"I think I can see what kind of mood you're in. So when I ask you to be nice, I think you'll understand?"

Kate pretended to be shocked. "I don't know what you mean, Mr Castle," she said, but she winked at him, and nodded okay. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door.

What can I say? Kate needed some sass - and I wrote it listening to Lily Allen...Fuck you, fuck you very very much (not you, it's a song :P) Now write that review or you'll have Kate to deal with! Hugs and loveballs, Z xxx