Evening Blues Chapter Fifty Two

Jim swallowed hard as he raced through his brain trying to come up with something to tell Kate, that didn't sound off and made some sort of sense so she wouldn't figure out what they really talked back.

"Uh, you know fishing, boating, guy stuff"

Kate knew her father liked to fish but she wasn't sure if he was telling her the truth. She looked at him as the corners of his mouth were turning into a grin as if he knew something else. She sighed as shrugged it off, she wasn't about to use her detective skills to interrogate her own father, besides it was with her boyfriend, how terrible could it be?

Rick paid the pizza delivery guy and set up the pizzas on the counter. Jenny, Kate and Lanie grabbed their few slices first and headed towards the deck. Kate sat down on the single chair while Jenny and Lanie occupied the sofa. Lanie swallowed her pizza before she piped up.

"When we get back, we should all go have a girl's day"

Jenny's eyes sparkled. "Oooh, I agree, I know this great shoe store that I go to all the time!"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Well you already got Lanie excited, she is a shoe fanatic!"

Lanie scoffed. "Like you don't love your heels and leather jackets?"

"Just please help me resist Lanie's urge to go into Victoria Secret"

Jenny giggled as she swallowed her pizza. "You don't like going into that store?"

Lanie threw her crust at Kate before answering. "One time I took Kate there when she was still in the police academy, and some really hot guy kept following her around, hitting on her, asking for her number, it traumatized her."

"Ok first of all, the guy was a total psycho, he was NOT hot, and it didn't traumatize me!" Kate attempted to correct her best friend.

Lanie and Jenny laughed as Kate's face blushed red. "Anyways, she hates going in there because I always help her pick out really cute things"

"Don't listen to her, she doesn't 'help' she practically forces you to buy them, one time she asked me what Rick's favorite color was as she was searching through the lace bras!"

Jenny almost spit out her soda, she quickly wiped off her mouth and turned towards Kate. "What did you do?"

Before Kate could answer Lanie piped up. "She ran off to the pajama section, and didn't even pick out anything sexy, that's the whole point of going into that store!"

As the three of them laughed, Alexis came onto the deck with a plate a pizza and a soda. "Can I come out here with you guys? Dad and the guys are talking about video games and gram and Jim are talking about plays or something"

"Sure" all three women replied in unison.

"We were just talking about our Victoria Secrets experiences" Lanie said as she took a bite of pizza

"Uh, no you were teasing me about my experience" Kate corrected.

"What about you Lex?" Jenny asked

Alexis blushed as she sat her drink on the table. "Uh, one time my mom took me, and oh God, it was a disaster"

"What happened?" asked Lanie

"Well, we went in, just for her a new robe, and then she spotted all these bras and underwear sets. There a whole rack of them, and she started picking out like half of them, handing them to me to hold on too. Meanwhile all these guys are walking past the store, and I'm holding like ten bra sets. They all started winking and smiling really big, and I went to turn, and I ran right into the rack. I knocked them all off, making this HUGE scene, everyone is staring, my mom is laughing, the guys that walked by have all stopped to watch the mess and here I am STILL holding onto the ten sets."

All three women smiled and tried their best not to laugh.

"Wow Lex, that definitely beats Kate's story!" Lanie said as she muffled her laughter with a bite of pizza.

Alexis turned to Kate. "What happened to you?"

"Uh a creepy guy was following me around the store, and Lanie goes overboard."

"I do not and that guy was totally hot!" Lanie protested.

After the women finished their pizza, they gathered up their plates and sauntered inside. Rick was placing the left over pizza in the fridge; Martha was doing the dishes, leaving Kevin, Javier and Jim playing a card game at the table. Lanie and Jenny quickly placed their plates in the sink and joined in the card game which quickly turned to poker despite the women's protest. Alexis helped Martha wash the dishes as Kate dried them.

Rick finishing throwing the empty pizza boxes away and stepped behind Kate, pinning her against the counter. He placed his hands on her hips, and kissed her shoulder. Kate blushed a little bit since Rick was being very intimate in front of everyone, including his daughter. She tried to brush him off with a swift movement of her shoulder, but he didn't take the hint. He pushed her hair out of the way and kissed up her neck towards her jawline. Kate felt a chill run down her spine, as she continued to attempt to dry the dishes.

"Richard, really, were trying to do dishes here" Martha said as she rolled her eyes

"Yeah dad, ew" Alexis crinkled her noise and grimaced.

Kate gently elbowed his stomach to give him one last warning. He sighed as he stepped away and grabbed an empty seat at the table. Martha finished the last dish and made her way to her room to rehearse another play script. Alexis started helping Kate dry the rest of the dished before putting them away.

"Sorry about your dad Lex"

"It's ok, At least he I didn't walk in like the last time."

Kate and Alexis laughed as the remembered the last time Kate and Rick were caught kissing, both girls were beet red, and Rick just soaked it all in. After they finished the dishes, Kate retreated to her room, and changed into her blue striped bikini and her new board shorts.

She made her way past the couch towards the deck. Jim watched Rick as his eyes never left Kate once she entered the living room. She put her toes in the water to test it before slipping into the Jacuzzi's bubbling water. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the seat.

After a few minutes of the only sound of the waves in the ocean and the bubbles in the Jacuzzi, she heard the water rustle and her eyes quickly popped open to see Rick, Lanie, and Javier all step in. She moved over to quickly make room for the small group.

"Mind if we join you?" Lanie asked

"Nope, I see I started a trend" Kate said as Rick put his around her.

"So I guess we have to leave tomorrow morning huh?" Javier asked in a disappointed tone.

Kate sighed. "Yeah, paperwork on Monday"

Both detectives groaned as they leaned back onto the seats.

Time passed and it was well around 10:00pm. Everyone had retreated towards their room to pack up their bags, and get ready for tomorrows trips back into the city. Kate finished packing the last of her clothes before changing into her pajamas. She climbed into bed and settled against Rick, under the covers. After saying their good nights, the couple drifted off to sleep.

When Kate emerged from their bedroom in the morning, she spotted everyone's bags piled behind the sofa. She found the group sitting scattered on the deck enjoying the site of the beach before it was time to leave.

"Hey guys"

"Hey" they replied

Kate sat down on the arm rest beside her dad as she turned her eyes towards the waves crashing against the sand. After a few minutes had passed, Rick finally joined the group before gathering up the guys to help pack the SUV's. After everyone's bags were stuffed in the vehicles, they made one last check of the house before climbing into their previous seats.

The drive back home was boring to say the least. Everyone was disappointed to have to leave, so therefore not much was said on the way back. Rick assured Kate they would be back, but she just wanted to turn the car around and dive back into the waves. She had been very convinced at first that she didn't need the miniature vacation that she needed to do her paperwork. Now that the vacation had come and gone, she was dreading the paperwork that called her name at the station. Rick finally pulled up to his loft and helped everyone unload their bags. Lanie and Javier left first, followed by Kevin and Jenny. Martha and Alexis said their good byes and made their way towards the loft.

Kate quickly hailed a cab and Rick helped Jim with the bags. They all said their good byes, and Rick watched as their cab pulled away from the curb. He made his way up to his loft, and entered. Alexis was sitting at the bar checking messages and Martha was hanging up her coat.

"So I need to tell you girls something" he blurted out.

Alexis and Martha whipped their heads around and were surprised at the serious tone Rick was using. Martha sat down beside her granddaughter at the bar and the y both swiveled their stools around to face Rick.

"Ok?" Martha said with a confused look on her face.

"So, you know how all you girls went shopping?" Rick said.

Both of the women nodded their heads.

"Well while Kate was gone, I was able to talk with her father"

Martha's eyes widened. "About?" she said skeptically

"Well…" he trailed off as he pulled the ring out of his bag. "I asked for his blessing"

Alexis's eyes sparkled as she watched her father carefully open the lid to the blue box. The very second the light hit the diamonds it glistened. "Wow dad!"

"Richard! That is gorgeous, Oh my, its absolutely beautiful"

"Do you think she will like it?" he said as watched his mother and daughter swoon over the ring.

"Richard darling the girl is probably going to faint, how many carats is this?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, it was the biggest one there"

Alexis squealed as she hugged her father before grabbing her bag and heading upstairs.

Martha smiled as she closed the blue box and handed it back to her son. "When are you going to ask?"

"I don't know yet"