Love on Ice
Chapter 23
"DADDY!" Alexis had spotted him first. She ran to him, got scooped up, and peppered with kisses.
"What are you doing up?" Rick asked her since it was past her bedtime.
"I'm a big girl now. I'm four." Alexis held up four fingers.
"And it's past the bedtime of a four-year-old," Rick informed her, though he didn't take her upstairs and into her bedroom.
"Hi, babe." Kate was happy he was home, too. She walked over to him and kissed him in front of Alexis who was beaming.
"Is Maria still up and here?" He was thinking he might as well get this over with.
"Right here, Mr. Rick." His dinner was in the warmer. Once he knew that she was going to retreat to her room.
"You two better sit down for this," Rick said and put Alexis down in a chair.
"Why?" Kate didn't like the start of this. It had bad news written all over it and she hated bad news.
"Just sit, please." Rick waited for everyone to sit down. He knew this wasn't going to go over well and he was pacing instead of talking.
"Babe?" If it was bad news she was of the just rip the Band-aid off and get it over with kind of person.
"We lost yet again which you likely know by now. Immediately after I was taken to one side by the coach. …I've been traded." Rick's shoulders slumped. Even he didn't really want to be traded. It meant turning his life upside down.
"WHAT?" Kate yelled. Then she remembered her dream life. He was traded then but this felt like it was too soon for that.
"We're losing. My new team is winning and is looking to make sure they can make the playoffs and maybe win it all. The Islanders traded me. The Islanders get two rookies and money and Vancouver gets me."
"Vancouver! Not California?" Kate remembered him being traded to California, not Vancouver. "Canada." The only benefit she saw was that they'd just recently been in that city and had even gotten to see some of it.
"There's more. I'm expected to be in Vancouver and play with the team on the 28th against the Minnesota Wild."
"That's two days from now!" Kate fell back into the sofa she was sitting on.
"I see." Maria was taking it a lot better. "Is there a plan?" She was hoping he had one already. She liked this family and while Vancouver was really far from her family she was willing to move with him if he asked her.
"Not really. Not yet, anyway. I need to pack and catch a flight out tomorrow and live in a hotel while I look for a new home. Then sell this one and figure out how to move everything out to the new one. I have money but I'm not rich enough to own two homes at the same time. We may have to make a lot of decisions over the phone for this." Rick just didn't have time to do everything before his first game. He knew he was going to be living out of a suitcase for longer than he liked but he didn't have a choice.
"Move to Canada." Kate wasn't sure she could do that. She still had so much she needed to do here. She had to find out who killed her mother first and foremost.
Rick finally sat down and tried to think. "I'll need a new driver's license. New insurance for everything. Change my address. Find Alexis a new preschool if Vancouver even has preschool." Now Rick sank back into his chair. "This is going to take time." He had no idea just how long, either.
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Kate was laying next to Rick in their bed and she couldn't sleep. There was far too much to think about with what Rick had announced. "You're thinking too hard." Rick was still awake as well. He had a lot on his mind, too.
"You can't decline and not be traded?" Kate wanted to stay and keep things just like they were.
"My contract doesn't include a no trade clause or my ability to say what team I'm willing to be traded to. Vancouver's a good team. It could have been worse. It could have been the Rangers." Rick still hated the Rangers.
"That's not much help," Kate said. She only hated the Rangers because of those three idiots, one of which still wasn't playing. He hadn't yet recovered from having his kneecap broken.
"I have to fly out tomorrow so we're going to have to do this over the phone." He had to be there and ready to play. He had so much to arrange. He even had to figure out how to get both cars to Vancouver. Probably his first so he wouldn't have to use taxis for everything.
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Kate woke up and found Rick gone; she hated it. He was supposed to be naked and asleep right next to her. They hadn't even had sex last night. "Move." God, she hated the idea of it.
Once showered and dressed for her day at work, she checked on Alexis and found her sleeping peacefully.
Kate saw Maria in the kitchen cooking breakfast as usual. "Have you seen Rick?"
"I believe he's in the computer room, Miss Kate. He has a lot of things to arrange before he leaves today."
"Thanks." Kate momentarily thought to ask if she was going to move with him but she didn't. She went downstairs and found him at one of the computers that were down there.
Kate walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. "Hey, babe."
"I've found a hotel and I have a hotel room for a week so far."
"Georgian Court Hotel." Kate saw the name and the room name he was booking for him. "Executive Suite, 430 square feet, living and office area. …You're really doing this?" Kate wasn't sure she could do it.
He sighed deeply. "I don't have a choice, Kate. We have to move to Vancouver. You knew this was a possibility." Rick turned his head to look up at her.
"I know, but it was just talk then." Kate took a step back from him.
"You don't plan on moving, do you?" Rick had been kept awake all night and this was one of his worries.
"I don't know. I've lived in New York City all my life. My dad lives here. It's the only city I know." However, Rick heard something her dad had warned him about. Her dead mother's case that she hadn't yet gotten past.
"I won't have a job if I move. I'm not a Canadian so I can't get one." This move spelled the death of her career. She was never going to figure out who killed her mother if she moved to Canada.
"I have no choice here. This house is going to get sold and soon. Alexis needs a new school and I need to ask Maria if she's willing to move with me or I'm going to have to find someone else. I've already arranged for a time to have my car picked up and shipped. This may take a few weeks to complete." Rick had no illusions that it could be accomplished over a week or even a weekend.
"I don't know. I just don't know." Kate felt herself being torn into two different people. She loved her life but her mother was calling to her. She needed to solve who killed her.
Rick wasn't ready to push her. Like tell her if she didn't move they couldn't get married and would end up separating and possibly permanently. It hurt his heart like it had never hurt before but he wasn't willing to push her just yet.
He shut down his computer. "I need to get packed since I fly out in a few hours." The flight had cost him a fair amount given that it was a last minute flight. "Have a nice day at work. I won't be here when you get home tonight." He was going to be in Vancouver.
Kate got a quick kiss and watched him leave. Her heart was right behind him but a part of her was trapped right where she was.
After giving Alexis a quick kiss and seeing Rick packing in their bedroom Kate still had to drive into work soon. "Rick." She was really scared. He was moving and would be taking Alexis and Maria with him and selling the house she lived in with them. Lanie had her place so she wasn't going to have a place to live soon.
"I'll call you and Alexis every day. I need to spend my days off looking for a new place. I'll send what I find for your approval. Once my car arrives I'll get a new driver's license and new insurance. …A new bank and new money. Jeez." This trade was really becoming a pain.
"Go catch a killer I know your job means a lot to you." Rick finally kissed her and watched her leave. He wasn't going to be here when she got home and knew he was going to miss his family.
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Kate didn't catch a case the entire day and was stuck doing paperwork which meant her mind was on Rick being traded. It finally had her up and knocking on Roy's office door. "Sir, do you have a minute?"
"You catch a case?" He knew he wasn't informed of one.
"No, sir. Um, Rick got traded to Vancouver yesterday." Kate had a question for him.
"NO! No more poker games?" He wasn't making any money off of the games, but he wasn't losing a lot, either. "So you'll be leaving us." Roy knew Rick had proposed and Kate was wearing her engagement ring at work and was actually happier than he had seen her.
"I don't know. I need to know what it takes to get a detective's job in Canada." This was her chosen profession and she wasn't going to just up and change it because Rick got traded.
"I don't actually know, Beckett, but I can look into it and write up a recommendation for you. Give me until tomorrow and I should have an answer for you."
"Thank you, sir. I'll let you know what I decide." Kate left him and Roy watched her walk away. He'd heard something he didn't want to hear. She was actually thinking of not moving with Rick to Canada. That would mean no marriage and she would end up never seeing Rick or Alexis again.
That had Roy getting up to close his door to get some privacy; then he made a call. He had someone he needed to talk to about what he was afraid of.
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Kate wasn't interested in lunch when the boys offered; her cell phone started to ring. She hoped it was a case but why were they using her cell phone when she was at her desk? "Beckett."
"Hi, Katie. Have you got time for me for lunch today?" Jim asked. "I'm betting you have to get home so dinner's out."
Kate looked around then looked at her watch. "I suppose so. I don't have a case. Where are you thinking?"
"Your favorite Chinese place close to work in say 30 minutes?"
"Chinese!" Kate liked the sound of that and he did know her favorite place that was close to her work. "Thirty minutes will work. Thanks, Dad." Kate hung up and gathered up all of her paperwork that she'd been working on, put her weapon in her holster, and headed out.
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She saw that her dad had beaten her there. "Hi, Dad." Kate sat down across from him and didn't need a menu. "So what's up?" Had something happened at his work he needed to talk about?
"Tell me about Rick, Katie." Jim was determined to help his daughter. He wasn't failing her again.
"Rick?" Kate could sense something. He knew something but how could he know anything? She had only told Roy and no one else.
"I know he was traded to Vancouver, bug."
"How do you know about that?" She had only learned yesterday.
"I'm still a baseball fan but my daughter loves hockey now so I follow hockey. Rick being traded is in the news," Jim told her which wasn't a lie. Rick being traded was on ESPN and the NHL network. Even if he had first learned of it from Roy not long before now.
"Yeah, he got traded to Vancouver. He's already gone and won't be home when I get there tonight." She still hated the idea of it.
"So what are your plans?" If she didn't have one he was going to have to help her with one.
"I don't know, Dad, I really don't know." Kate felt like she was being torn into two people.
Kate watched Jim hold up his left hand. "You said yes, Katie," he reminded her.
That had Kate looking at the diamond ring on her finger. She was getting married and she really did want to get married to Rick. She couldn't see herself marrying anyone else…ever.
She kept looking at her ring. "I don't know, Dad. I still have to solve Mom's murder. I can't do that from Canada. I can't even get a job in Canada. I'm not Canadian." Kate had no idea what it took to get a job in Canada but she was betting she needed to be a Canadian citizen to get a job like the one she had now.
"Maybe." Jim knew something she didn't. It had never come up because she didn't need to know. "You might be able to be a Canadian citizen."
"Yeah like six years from now." That wasn't going to work.
"I don't know for sure but it shouldn't take that long. What you don't know is that your mother had dual citizenship in Canada and United States. Her parents that you haven't seen since you were really little were Canadian. They moved away when your mother was little. It might be possible with a little work to get your own dual citizenship. You have the history behind you."
"It will take some research and probably a lot of paperwork but don't rule it out so fast," Jim told her and both of them ceased talking as their food arrived.
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Kate hugged her dad and thanked him both for lunch and the information. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with it but at least she had something to work with. She still didn't know how she was going to solve her mother's murder living in Vancouver.
She hadn't gotten a case for the entire day and actually got to leave early enough to get home before Alexis went to bed. Maria was even still cooking when she arrived.
"MOMMY!" Alexis came racing and Kate knelt down to hug her and felt tears well up for no reason.
"You crying." Alexis was sure it was her fault and her dad was gone and far away.
Kate raised her hand and actually did find tears. "I love you and I don't know what to do, is all." She was still horribly conflicted.
"Miss Kate." Kate was saved when Maria showed up. "Dinner in about 10 minutes."
Since Rick was gone Maria sat with them this time. "Do you know what you're going to do, Maria?" Maybe if Kate knew what she was doing it would help her.
"My family has already told me what I should do." Maria almost couldn't believe it. "They said it was just one flight between here and Vancouver. …With a two hour layover in Chicago in a snowstorm." Maria laughed which had Kate chuckling with her.
"I'm sure Mr. Rick will find a room for me again." He was a good man and he paid well and she loved Alexis and him. Just not in the way Rick obviously did. "And yourself, Miss Kate?" Eventually she was going to get to call her Mrs. Kate and she liked the sound of that.
"I don't know yet." She didn't have enough answers yet to decide.
"You don't know? You don't plan on marrying Mr. Rick?" Maria was taken aback at this revelation.
"Yes, no, I don't know. It's not that simple." It was really complicated and it was driving her crazy.
"You marry a person because you love that person. You want to spend the rest of your life with them, I spent my life with my husband until God took him because he had plans for him. I have two beautiful daughters that are all grown up and have families of their own. They don't really need me now but Mr. Rick and Miss Alexis do. So do you, actually." Maria wished she hadn't said that. She was pushing and she didn't want to do that.
"I have a job and a career of my own. I'm not Canadian so can't get one in Vancouver." Suddenly her dad's words came back to her. She might be able to be a Canadian but it could be a long shot.
"How do you know if you don't try? My daughter's just like you. She decides what she can and can't do and refuses to change. The more I push the more she pushes back." Maria thought her oldest daughter was such a pain.
"So I'm stubborn?" Kate challenges back at her.
"You, Miss Kate, are determined. You decide what you want and let nothing get in your way. If marrying Mr. Rick is truly what you want then you'll do it. Nothing is complicated unless you let it be."
"POTTY!" Alexis suddenly announced to everyone within earshot and that might've included the neighbors if the windows were open, which they weren't since it was cold outside.
"Let's go, Miss Alexis." Maria beat Kate so she took Alexis to the closest bathroom and helped her.
Maria hadn't really helped, Kate decided. She was determined to find out who killed her mother. Her heart was telling her to marry Rick and move to Vancouver. She just didn't know how she could possibly do both which meant one had to go.
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Kate was sitting in Alexis's bed and was reading to her when her phone rang. "Babe!" He had kept his promise to call.
"DADDY!" Alexis could hear his voice. So Kate put him on speaker.
"Hi, pumpkin. Did you two know that we won last night?" Rick asked them.
Now Kate felt like shit. He'd been traded and she hadn't even tried to follow his new team. "Who did you play again?" she inquired since she didn't even remember that.
"Minnesota Wild and while we didn't technically win we did tie so we got two points which is what matters. We're 29-16-5-0." The Canucks were way out in front of the Islanders. If they kept this up reaching the playoffs was going to be easy.
"Really?" Kate knew that was better than the Islanders. "Does this mean I can't wear your jersey any longer?"
"Daddy winned!" Alexis had heard win out of all that.
"Close enough," Rick laughed. "And don't you dare stop wearing it. Or maybe you should. Maybe one day it'll be worth something."
"It's worth something now, babe." She would never think of selling it. It was her very first hockey jersey.
"I have four days between January 30 and February 4 to start the house search. Also a real estate agent will be out tomorrow to look at the house. She'll likely ask you to keep it clean for showings and throw you all out so she can."
"Um, babe." Kate had something to tell him. "I had lunch with my dad and he told me that Mom had a dual citizenship. Canada and United States. Her parents were Canadian. Dad thinks because of that I might have a chance at getting a dual citizenship."
"So you could get the job you want here." Rick now had hope that Kate wasn't going to just up and dump him in favor of her dead mother.
"Maybe. He didn't know what it would take and Captain Montgomery said he was going to look into it for me. So maybe." Kate wanted to think this was going to work out. She just didn't know how she was going to solve a murder in New York City while working in Vancouver BC.
"Roy will find out, give him a chance," Rick urged and thought Roy was going to be his next call. Maybe between him, himself, and Jim they could talk Kate into moving out here and getting married here.
"So how's your hotel room?" Kate asked him.
"Lonely, incredibly lonely," Rick said quietly. Kate was going to find out what he meant all night long and again in the morning. As well as every night and morning after that.