I just rewatched the video and got a bunch more ideas. So now it's just a matter of actually writing them. Here's the first.
I changed the part about this that upset a couple people. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry, you weren't really missing much. Again, I'm sorry if I've offended you, and I hope that you won't stop reading this story just because of one little section.
Also, thank you to everyone who's reviewed this story, we're now back over 100 reviews, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. Big thanks as well to everyone who has favorited and followed this, your support means so much to me, really.
I think that's everything. Hope you guys like this chapter better.
#9 Because she's the most remarkable, maddening, challenging, frustrating person he's ever met.
"Kate, time to wake up, honey." Rick murmured as he stroked his girlfriend's hair.
Kate groaned and rolled away from him. Rick smiled and scooted closer to her and continued to stroke her hair. Kate reached a hand out and started batting at him, landing a few halfhearted slaps to his chest. Rick just smiled in response and leaned in and kissed her temple.
"Kate, come on, sleepy head. Time to get up. The day's a wastin'."
Kate groaned again and aimed a kick at him, landing a hit to his shin with her heel that had him hissing slightly. When Kate heard the noise, she smiled gleefully and tried to go back to sleep. But Rick was still there. He traced his fingers up and down her sides and Kate couldn't help but squirm at the sensation. Finally Kate sighed and rolled onto her back and glared at Rick.
"You better have a damn good reason for waking me up." She said.
Rick smiled and kissed her lips softly. "We're going for a walk." He said when he pulled away.
Kate looked at him for a moment. "Nope." She finally decided. "Not a good enough reason." With that, she rolled away from him again and pulled the blankets over her head. Rick watched her for a moment before he reached out and tentatively reached out to pull the covers back slightly.
"You move those covers any further down at all, and just watch what I do to you." Kate growled.
Deciding, rather stupidly, to see what she'd do, Rick grabbed the covers fully in his hand and pulled them away from her body so that they landed at the foot of the bed, and Kate was left with only one of his shirts and a pair of his sweat pants to protect her from the cold November air.
Almost immediately after he pulled the covers away from her body, Rick's ear was trapped firmly between Kate's fingers. "I warned you." Kate hissed, her expression telling him that she was beyond pissed.
"Apples, apples." Rick cried, and he rubbed his ear when she released it. "Come on, Kate. It's nearly noon." Rick complained when she made no move to get out of bed. Instantly, he could see that that had been the wrong thing to say.
Kate reached out and grabbed his other ear, twisting and tugging it. "That may be the case, but your baby kept me up all night because she's decided that my bladder and kidneys are trampolines. So unless you want to see what life without an ear is like, I suggest you tuck me back in and go write until I decide to wake up. Understand?"
Rick tried to nod, but winced when it only lead to her tugging his ear more. "Yes." He said softly, trying to keep the tears out of his eyes. Kate looked at him for a second longer before releasing his ear, causing Rick to sigh in relief. He stood up and walked around to Kate's side of the bed and pulled the blankets up around Kate's chin, smiling when she sighed happily and snuggled back into the warmth that remained. Rick chanced a kiss her to forehead and was relieved when she sighed in again in response.
With one last look at his girlfriend, Rick made his way out of the bedroom and through his office into the living room, where Alexis was sitting on the couch.
"I thought you were waking her up?"
Rick sighed as he sat down. "I tried. She tried to rip my ears off in reply."
Alexis nodded as if that made perfect sense. "She say when to wake her up?"
Rick shook his head. "I figure if she's not out by 6, I'll go wake her up. But I felt her tossing and turning all night, so I know she didn't get any sleep. And now that she's on desk duty, she can slightly alter her schedule."
Alexis nodded in reply, and the two of them spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV together, until she left around 4 to go back to her dorm. An hour later, the door to his office opened and a very sleepy looking Kate came stumbling out, making her way directly to him and into his lap. She curled into his chest and yawned widely.
"Good night." Rick said softly, hoping she wasn't going to shoot him again.
"What time is it?" She asked.
"A little after 5."
Kate sat upright and glared at him. "You let me sleep all day? Rick, how am I gonna be able to get anything done tomorrow if I won't be able to sleep all bight? I'm supposed to be sticking to my normal schedule!"
Rick held his hands up in surrender. "I tried waking you up around 11, and you tried to rip my ear off. Twice."
Kate gave him a look that said she clearly didn't believe him. "Yeah right."
Rick sighed. "I'm serious, Kate. See?" He asked, pointing to his ears, which were still slightly red from the abuse they'd taken earlier.
Kate continued to look at him. "Why?" She asked.
Rick shrugged. "I was trying to wake you up. You said if I didn't tuck you back in I was gonna find out what it was like to live without an ear."
"Tuck me back in? You mean because you ripped the covers off me?"
"Yes! Because yesterday you got mad at me for letting you sleep all day. And I didn't want the same thing to happen today. So I was gonna take you for a walk through the park."
"The baby's too cold for a walk." Kate said after a moment of silence.
Rick smiled and gently laid his hand on her stomach. "The baby is inside your body. She's plenty warm."
"Unless I get cold. In which case, she'll be surrounded by cold."
"Not if you bundle up." Rick said.
"What? And look like a giant puff? No thanks."
Rick sighed and let his head fall back on the couch. After a moment, he lifted Kate and set her back on the couch and stood up. "Fine. What do you want for dinner?"
"I'm not really hungry." Kate replied, although she quickly realized that was the wrong answer.
"Frankly, I don't care if you're hungry, Kate. I should have forced you to eat something when I tried to wake you up earlier, but I was a little distracted. So you're gonna eat something now, and you're not going to grumble about it, because there's a baby that is relying on you for everything. Can't you stop being frustrating for just long enough to make sure that you feed our baby?"
Rick's tone was angry, and it made Kate wince internally. She looked at Rick and could see the anger rolling off of him in waves. "Macaroni and cheese?" She asked meekly, worried he'd yell at her for not picking something highly nutritious. But she'd been dreaming about his macaroni and cheese just before she'd woken up.
Rick sighed. "With or without bacon?"
"With. Please?" Kate was still avoiding eye contact with him, and it hurt, but Rick knew he deserved it. He sighed and felt the residual anger leaving his system as he turned and pulled out everything he'd need to make their dinner while Kate shifted and laid down on the couch.
20 minutes later, the loft was filled with the warm scent of macaroni and cheese and bacon, and Kate realized how hungry she was. She heard hurried footsteps coming toward her, followed by a clatter as something landed harshly on the coffee table.
Instantly, her eyes flashed open, even though she didn't remember closing them. She saw two bowls in front of her, and she cautiously raised her eyes until she was looking at Rick.
Rick was confused when she first looked at him, until he recognized the emotion in her eyes as fear. "Shit. I'm sorry, Kate. The bowls were hotter than I expected and I was about to burn my hand, so they landed a little louder than I'd intended."
Kate nodded as she sat up, still a little timid after their encounter before dinner. Rick sighed and sat down beside her. He reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear before running his thumb under her eye.
"I'm sorry. For earlier." He murmured as he leaned in and kissed her forehead tenderly. "You just drive me crazy sometimes."
"Sorry." Kate whispered as she looked down at her lap. "And I'm sorry for trying to rip your ear off."
"It's ok, they've gotten used to it." Kate didn't respond to Rick's attempt at humor, so he tried a different tactic. "Hey." Rick said as he raised her chin so her eyes met his. "It's ok. I know you, I know how challenging you can be. I didn't exactly get tons of sleep last night either."
Kate looked ashamed. "Sorry. I should have-"
"What? Slept in the guest room? How would that have fixed anything? We both established long ago that we can't sleep properly without the other there."
Kate smiled slightly. "Yeah."
Rick leaned in and kissed her nose, earning a giggle from Kate. He reached out and handed her one of the bowls and began to eat from the other. Kate finished hers in record time and went to get more. She looked at the pan he'd cooked it in and then looked at her bowl before she shrugged and deposited her bowl in the sink and grabbed the dish and brought it over to the couch, glaring at Rick when he had the nerve to laugh at her.
Kate had eaten nearly half, and threatened to stab Rick with her fork twice when he'd tried to swipe some for himself, when she looked out the window and smiled. She set the dish down and hurried over to the door, where she pulled on a pair of boots and hurried out of the loft. Rick followed after her, making sure to grab coats for both of them, and pausing to lock the door, before he went to the end of the hall and had to wait for the elevator, since Kate hadn't bothered to wait for him.
When he got to the lobby, he looked around until Eduardo opened the door and gestured with his head that Kate was outside. Sure enough, Rick found Kate twirling around in circles with her arms out wide. He smiled and walked up behind her, startling her slightly, but he managed to get her into her coat and wrap a scarf around her throat.
15 minutes later, they were still outside, and Rick couldn't tear his eyes away from her. People walking by were staring at them, but they neither noticed nor cared. Rick wrapped his arms around Kate and pulled her into his body, smiling when she giggled and kissed his cheek. Her nose was cold to the touch, but Rick didn't care.
"You're truly remarkable. You know that, right?"
Kate smiled up at him. "Thought I was maddening? And challenging? And frustrating?"
Rick smiled and kissed her nose, always loving her reaction. "You still are. All of those. But mostly, you're remarkable."
Kate laughed and kissed his lips, smiling when he deepened it. After they broke apart, Kate leaned in so they were sharing the same breaths.
"Actually, I'm mostly cold. Take us inside. Baby's cold."
Rick smiled and kissed her once more before leading her back to the door. He wrapped her arm around her shoulders and kept her close to him the whole way.
So that was slightly longer than I'd anticipated. But yeah. There you go. Hope you liked it.
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)
