Love on Ice

Chapter 40

Rick was watching Alexis, trying to keep her happy as well as taking Snow outside in addition to feeding all three of them. Kate, as far as he knew, had gone into work and Maria was still in the hospital though she had at least been moved to a room so she could have visitors now.

Rick was thinking of taking Alexis to see Maria tomorrow. It was nice and warm out so they were all outside getting some exercise. Being out here and playing with these two, showed him that not being on the ice any longer meant he was slowly getting out of shape. But without help he couldn't get to the gym to fix that problem and they didn't have any exercise equipment in the house. "GET HER, SNOW!" Rick yelled at the dog as Alexis ran off giggling and laughing the entire way. That was until Snow caught her and gave her face all the licks she could get in.

Alexis was still laughing when Rick's cell phone rang. Rick soon found out that the agent from a security company would be arriving in about fifteen minutes. It meant all he needed was the emergency generator representative.

"Stay here and play, pumpkin." Rick didn't worry about her getting out of the backyard. The backyard was totally enclosed.

Rick met her at the door and walked her throughout the entire house. He quickly found that their house had lots of windows that were mostly operable, along with a number of doors, two of which were sliding glass doors. Rick also learned that his garage door opener was old and anyone could gain access to his code to open it for themselves.

"Daddy!?" Alexis was done playing and wanted her dad. This was immediately followed by listening to Snow barking until she found Rick and the security agent.

"She's great at telling us there is an intruder but that's as good as it gets," Rick explained as he watched Ms. Smithson petting Snow who was soaking it up.

Rick was soon sitting in the living room with Alexis in his lap while Snow rested on the floor as Ms. Smithson went over Rick's options based on what he was willing to spend.

"Money isn't an option. Safety is the only goal." He didn't know for sure that any security system would have prevented them being attacked, but it might have and that was the point. "It also needs to work if the main power's off, not relying on an emergency generator since we don't have one yet."

Ms. Smithson had been there for just about two hours and with her help Rick had selected a security system for them to install. True to his word Rick didn't care about the cost. Safety of his family was the only thing he cared about.

They needed a control panel at the front door and at the door to the garage. And he was going to need new garage door openers since they had two. He needed monitors for each window and each door. Various motion sensors were going to be the hard part given that Snow was still growing and might make it to the size of a human, meaning she would activate the motion sensors.

However, they could arrange for the control panel to activate only the doors and windows or only the windows or everything. Basically an at home setting and an away setting.

They could also have remote panic buttons that would sound the alarm. A notation would be made in their account that Kate worked for the Vancouver police. It would mean that they would get top priority to any alarm they received.

Rick chose to tease her about not getting a zillion amp electrical shock that would fry anyone that entered illegally. He was thinking RoboCop when a car alarm fried this guy to a crisp.

After listening to what Rick was thinking she began laughing. "No, that's definitely Hollywood. Though we could add a canister that would dispense teargas but that would only work best in an enclosed space. A space you don't have." His home's floor plan was just too open.

That had the three of them up and looking to see if that room could be added. Ultimately only the space just off of the garage had any hope of being turned into a small space. "A tiny mud room off of the garage." Rick would think about it but for now, no.

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Rick was starting to wonder what they were going to eat for dinner and if he needed to go grocery shopping. Maria did all that and she wasn't here. What was worse was that when Maria couldn't, Kate did all the cooking. His idea of cooking wasn't really cooking but no one was going to starve to death.

Then the doorbell sounded and he found the emergency generator rep at the door.

That meant taking him to the electrical panel, looking at how the power entered the house, where he could install the generator, and what would power the generator. Rick had a choice. Diesel which meant a day tank under the generator or natural gas which was easier and less expensive. Naturally Rick wasn't concerned about the cost. He just wanted it to work and do what he wanted it to. That took them into the size of the generator and what it would power. Meaning what on the main panel was going to get powered.

Things in the kitchen came to mind so that they didn't lose what was in the refrigerator and what was in the wine coolers. After that it was what came next. Which turned out to be the security system. Yes, the security system would have a battery back-up, but the generator could power it in addition to the batteries.

Once this rep was gone Rick now had a schedule for when the security system was going to begin installation and when the emergency generator was going to be installed.

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Alexis was in bed with Snow right next to her like always. Rick decided to wait for Kate by doing some typing. He still had to finish his first book let alone get started on the next one. He was hoping he was up to the challenge of three books in five years.

He was lost in his typing until he needed to stop and stretch. He went looking for Kate and didn't find her so he called her cell phone and got voicemail.

An hour later he was still getting her voicemail. He was getting really worried. His first thought was that Bracken had tried again, that this time they had caught her driving home and taken her or perhaps even had run her off the road.

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Lanie had the day off and she could use it. It felt like the city had gone into a killing spree lately. Three of them involved cars so she had begun to think of that crazy movie where they used cars to kill people and gain points. Something about Frankenstein. The other three were more simple gunshot wounds. But it meant she and Perlmutter were up to their ears in dead bodies. Even they could only work on one dead body at a time. Maybe she shouldn't have taken her day off but she could use it so she had.

Right now she was relaxing with a glass of wine and wondering who she could call. She was horny and not above having a one night stand. She had an entire black book filled with names that could satisfy her need. A certain fireman came to mind.

However, she was interrupted by a knock on her door. Maybe if she was lucky her fireman had read her mind and had come to fuck her brains out.

"KATE?" She certainly was not someone she was expecting to see tonight.

"May I come in?" Kate asked her.

"Of course." Lanie stood aside and watched her walk in with a weekend bag in hand. Puzzled, she looking past her to see if Rick and Alexis were right behind her but she didn't see anyone. So she closed and locked the door.

"What's going on?" This didn't make sense to her.

"I need a place to crash tonight, Lanie. I can get a hotel room tomorrow."

"Of course. Why is it just you?" She had a husband, after all.

"It's a long story." Kate crashed on the sofa since she wasn't feeling all that well at the moment.

"Start with the short version then you can tell me the long version." Lanie stood in front of her and waited.

Kate took a deep breath. "I found out who sent those men to kill us. I'm here to find out why and if my mother's involved in this."

Lanie was ready to collapse. Her mother's case. She'd really hoped that after getting married and admitting that she had a daughter that Kate had given this up. Apparently not.

"What about your job?" Lanie began there.

"I took a week off so I could spend the time here." Kate had asked for some vacation and had gotten it easily. She knew she was playing on her captain's sympathy for what had happened at home, but it worked in her favor so she had used it.

"And your husband?" He should be the most important person in her life. Lanie watched her shake her head. "Kate, what have you done?"

"I'm going to find out if he killed my mother. That's what I'm doing." Kate was focused on that now.

"And you can't do that from Vancouver where your husband and daughter are located?" Lanie demanded but could guess the answer given that she was here instead of there.

"No, he's a U.S. citizen and outside of my jurisdiction," Kate replied, refusing to look at Lanie.

"Well you aren't a detective here any longer so he's still outside of your jurisdiction or have you not considered that?" How far off the deep end had Kate really gone?

"I don't care. I'm going to find out." Just then Kate clapped her hand over her mouth, ran to Lanie's bathroom, and threw up in the toilet. Once she was done she was aware that a wet wash cloth being handed to her. "Thanks."

Kate was back on the sofa and was feeling better when Lanie showed up. "Say AH." Lanie opened her mouth wide to demonstrate.

"Why?" But that was enough and Lanie jammed in an old fashioned thermometer into her mouth. Kate took it back out. "I'm not sick." She felt fine now.

Lanie shoved it back in. "Take it back out and I'll hurt you," Lanie threatened since threatening Kate seemed to be the only way to get what she wanted.

Kate glared at her and sat there fuming until Lanie took the thermometer out. "Normal." Lanie was unhappy with this result.

"I told you I wasn't sick," Kate said again.

"Says the woman who just threw up in my bathroom. Has this happened before?" Lanie was going to get to the bottom of this. Her best friend had just thrown up and she wanted to know why. "Kate?" She was taking too long to answer her.

"I threw up four times on the plane out here. I literally flew here with a barf bag in my hand," Kate admitted.

"Uh-huh." Lanie now had her first clue. If she asked Kate a question that she was betting was behind it she would either lie or blow her off so she thought up a new plan. "Don't move. If I don't find you here when I get back I'll have the boys hunt you down and drag you back here, tied up like a pig waiting for the fire." Lanie pointed at her while she found her purse and left Kate behind in her apartment.

Kate didn't know why her stomach was suddenly so upset. She was guessing it was food poisoning. It was just that she couldn't remember just what she had eaten. Needless to say she hadn't eaten all the way out here.

She was hungry so she began searching for something to eat. Finding something that might be worth eating, she opened the container, sniffed it, then covered her mouth and ran to the bathroom to throw up again.

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A very unhappy Kate watched as Lanie came back with a small bag and saw her walk toward her then hand her the bag. "Go use these." Lanie pointed toward her bathroom.

Kate opened the bag and recognized what was in it. "I'm not pregnant." It wasn't totally impossible given how often they had sex, but she wasn't pregnant.

Lanie stomped her foot and pointed even more forcefully. "NOW!" Lanie almost yelled at her. "And don't even think of just running tap water over them. These things are too smart for that trick." Lanie crossed her arms across her chest, glared at Kate, and waited.

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Rick had given up trying to get Kate to answer her phone so he called the station so he could talk to her.

"She asked for a week off and I granted it. She should have been home hours ago," her captain said.

"Thanks, I'll keep calling her." Rick hung up and called Jim.

"I haven't seen her, son. Though even if she was here she wouldn't come to see me. I would just turn her around and send her home and she knows it."

Rick ended the call and called Roy. "I haven't seen her or heard from her. Why would she be here instead of there? Did you two have a fight?"

"Not yet." Rick was furious and he was going to give Kate a piece of his mind. If she had just up and decided to chase down Bracken on her own he might do more than just yell at her. If she yelled back he might even threaten her with divorce.

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Kate was angry, depressed, and just a little bit scared. Embarrassed, one by one she peed on each stick, set them on the corner of the sink, finished peeing, and washed up.

"Here." Kate shoved them at Lanie, sat down and stewed as she glowered at Lanie for forcing her to go through this.

"When was your last period?" Lanie finally asked her much like she had wanted to ask her before she had left to buy these things. Knowing Kate, she would have just blown her off.

"I don't know." Kate was too angry to think about it.

"Like hell you don't, Kate. Every woman follows her period. Every single one and you're no exception so when was your last period?"

This time Kate actually thought about it. As she thought about her cycle she realized she was actually close to two months late. She dismissed it. "It doesn't matter."

"So you're here because of your mother's case. You up and left your husband and your daughter and I'm betting you told him nothing. Now he's sitting there, worried sick about where you are, and here you sit. Do you want a divorce?" Lanie stared at her.

"NO! Of course not." She was going to marry him again in a few weeks. The invitations had gone out recently. Even Lanie should be getting hers soon.

"Could have fooled me. You've run away from your husband and your daughter and told them nothing. If you hadn't come here first you might've gotten yourself killed and the next time I saw you it could've been on my table. Hell, Kate, the boys might be the ones that have to figure out who killed you." Lanie was so very angry and was going to tell her off.

Instead Lanie looked at the pregnancy tests and read each one. "Pregnant… Pregnant… Pregnant."

Shocked, Kate sat there. She had only ever had one scare in her life. Now it wasn't just a scare, she was pregnant. "They might be false positives," Kate said, her voice quavering.

Lanie shook her head. "Nope. It's nearly impossible. They're three sticks from three different manufacturers. You came here pregnant, having had morning sickness on the entire trip. I'll bet you even threw up while I was gone." Lanie saw the look on Kate's face. "You did, didn't you? Well congratulations. In your case it isn't just morning sickness, it's all day sickness. You're not going to be able to keep anything down. I might even have to take you to the ER to keep you from killing yourself as well as your baby."

It finally started sinking in that she was pregnant. She was having Rick's baby. Their baby. Shaking, Kate laid her hand on her belly.

"Phone." Lanie held out her hand and waited. "PHONE, DAMN IT!" Kate finally handed over her cell phone.

Lanie made a call and gave it back to Kate. "Tell your husband where you are. Tell him that you're pregnant and that you're coming home. That you have no intention of risking not only your life but the life of your baby. That or I'll throw you out and you can live on the street." Lanie was beyond furious with her.

Her best friend who had lost her mind because of her dead mother.

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Lanie had arranged for Kevin, Javi, and even Jim to escort Kate to the airport for her flight back to her home and her husband and her daughter.

Kate was forced to listen to Lanie, Kevin, Javi, and even her own father question just what she was thinking. Just what she was willing to throw away.

"We promise to show up to your wedding if you don't do something stupid like this again," Lanie said.

Even her own father had given her a piece of his mind.

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Kate had thrown up all the way home. Once again she sat there with other passengers around her watching and listening to her throwing up into her barf bags.

It was the same Kate who was walking dejectedly, embarrassed and humiliated toward baggage claim and ground transportation so she could go home.

She knew Rick and Alexis would be waiting for her and her humiliation would only get worse. She was walking with her head hung low and could only see the floor.

That was until she heard a little girl's voice that she knew so very well. "MOMMY!" Kate looked up and she saw a small child, her long orange hair swinging from side to side, rushing toward her with Rick standing at the line Alexis shouldn't have crossed, looking at her.

Kate scooped up Alexis and found herself being hugged fiercely. She could hear Alexis sniffling, telling Kate that Alexis was crying softly. It only took a few seconds for her own tears to fall.

Finally up and walking toward her husband, what she had almost thrown away became very real. Instead of a living family and a future, she had chosen to solve her dead mother's murder all on her own. Worse, she had no real plan on how to accomplish that.

She eventually reached Rick who just stood there and stared at her. Alexis was still wrapped around her neck and crying softly.

Rick was waiting. He wanted to hear the words. To know that Kate meant it and that she was going to stay home and not run out on him and Alexis yet again.

The words were temporarily stuck in her throat. Kate was used to being strong and always right. Only right now she was weak and horribly wrong. Admitting it to Rick was hard. Really hard. Still he stood there and stared at her.

"I'm sorry. So very sorry. Can we…can we go home now?" If she still had a home.

It didn't help that she had to use the barf bag she'd taken from the plane with her twice on the drive home and had to listen to Alexis ask her if she was sick.

The look Rick was giving her had her betting he was questioning if she wasn't just physically ill, but mentally ill, and maybe she was.