Here is chapter 25, enjoy!

After their visit to Nana, Rick and Kate went to the grocer's to get supplies for several days. He didn't say anything to Kate about her grandmother. He knew she would explain why she didn't mention her before when she was ready. But he liked the old woman. She was full of energy for her 88 years and she had a lot of funny anecdotes about little and teenage Kate. Some that even her parents didn't know about. He really wanted to know though. And Lizzie had insisted several times that he needed to push Kate. He decided he would ask her that night if she hadn't tackled the subject by then.

When they got back to the house, they put the groceries in the kitchen and settled on the couch, Rick with his laptop and Kate with a baby magazine. She had something on her mind though, he could tell. She was torturing the corner of the page she was reading. Well, that she was pretending to read. Rick could tell because she had spent the last fifteen minutes on the same page and her eyes were not moving along the lines and pictures.

"Kate, what's going on? Are you feeling ok?" Rick asked, putting his laptop on the coffee table.

"Are you mad?" she asked quietly, not turning to meet his eyes.

"About your grandmother?" he asked. When she nodded, he continued. "I'm not going to lie, I was hurt that you hid her from me, but I'm sure you had a good reason. I'm not mad Kate, I promise." he said, moving closer to her when he saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"I'm sorry Rick. I really wanted to tell you about her but … I guess I was scared." Kate tried to explain.

"Scared about what?"

"She has always told me 'Katie, if you bring a boy here, you better be sure about him, he better be the good one'. She made my mother's life hell at the beginning when she was dating my dad. She almost broke them up once. I think it was some test for her but my mom took it hard. She ended up loving Nana as her own mother but she never forgot their rocky start. I didn't want the same thing to happen to us." Kate said, moving into Rick's lap, cuddling into his arms.

"Nothing can break us up Kate. Not even your grandmother." Rick reassured her.

"She can be really scary you know. When I was here after I was shot, she came to stay here to help me but she was really mad. She scolded me every day for not giving mom's case up and building my life. She scolded me every time she found me staring at the back cover of one of your books. She always handed me my phone and told me to call you. I had to promise her to tell you how I felt otherwise she would not let me leave."

"I really like your grandmother." Rick laughed.

"You should have heard her when she called me to ask how my declaration went and she figured out I didn't tell you. I've never heard her like that. I was pretty sure she was going to come in the city and scold me as if I were ten again." Kate said.

"Well, I'm glad to know her now. She's really nice."

"Of course she's nice to you, your giving her a great grandchild. She used to look after children back in the city. She had opened a small day-care like facility where my grandfather worked. My father always told me he never really felt like an only child. He was always surrounded with the children of some of my gramp's colleagues."

"It's weird. I never heard either of you talk about her." Rick said.

"Well, they're not really on speaking terms. She never accepted the fact that he turned to the bottle after mom died. She told him to never come back to her as long as he was like that.. He's been sober for almost ten years now but he never dared go back to see her. When he comes here, he avoids her. And that's not difficult, she's an old lady. Her routine hasn't changed for the last thirty years. But I'm sure she knows when he's around. People talk around here. I think she's too proud to go and see him." Kate explained.

"Well then, I think the wedding will be a good occasion to reunite them." Rick said, kissing her lightly.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

After having decided not to bother about the past, Kate led Rick around the house. They walked slowly, hand in hand. Rick discovered a rather big garden, there was even a swing set in the back.

"I can totally picture you there, laughing while Jim was pushing you as high as he could and your mother yelling at him for it." Rick said, laughing at the scene he had pictured in his head.

"Well, you're not too far off. She was always yelling at him but not because he was pushing me too high. It was because he would swing with me. There used to be two swings and we would race to know who could go the highest and jump and see who'd go the furthest. I never won, not even once." she said, almost pouting at the end.

"If it makes you feel better, I bet you could take him now." Rick said, smiling softly.

"Yeah … but I really don't want hill to break his leg over this. I couldn't help be imagine my mother's face." she laughed. "And you better not do it with our child either!" she said.

"Why not? I did it with Alexis!" he protested.

"Yes, but you were young by then. You'll be 42 by the time he or she is born and like 46 by the time he or she can go alone on the swing."

"Are you calling me old?" Rick asked, a threatening look on his face but a smile on his lips.

"Not old. My father is old. Nana is old. You're just …. not really young anymore."

"You were not calling me old the other night. In fact, if I remember well, you were calling me God. And repeating it again and again, all night long. I think at one moment you actually bit the pillow so that you would not wake up your father who was sleeping in the bedroom next door."

"Ew Rick! Don't make me think about that! It's more than disturbing." Kate said, scrunching her face in disgust. "But I admit it. You're not an old man yet. You're absolutely perfect. Just how I need you. And it still works pretty well." she said, smiling as she put a hand on her stomach.

"Yeah, I know, I'm an awesome lover." he said, a devilish grin on his face.

"I agree." was all Kate had time to say before Rick kissed her passionately.

Things heated up pretty quickly. Kate broke away from Rick when she felts his hands slip under her shirt.

"Let's take this inside, I don't really want people on a walk around the lake to have a proof of how young you really are." she laughed, starting to run back towards the house.

Just as she was reaching the terrace, Rick scooped her in his arms and carried her inside, dropping her on the couch. As she landed not so gracefully, the TV clicked on. She threw the remote from under her onto the coffee table. Rick was ready to join her on the couch when the TV reporter got their attention.

"News flash. Senator William Bracken was arrested earlier today and is being charged with fraud, drug trafficking and active part played in several murders. The senator will be incarcerated in a high isolation cell so as to prevent any contact with the exterior. He was being investigated by the FBI for several months now and the agent in charge, Special Agent Jordan Shaw, assured that everything was ready for a trial to start as soon as possible. She said she hoped everything could be prepared in the next couple of weeks, stating that everything had already been set up on the prosecution's side…"

They were both distracted from the TV when both of their phones and the landline started ringing.