A/N: A bit after Between the Good when Katie and Ned are engaged and their wedding is closer. Enjoy xx Mariah
Katie - 20
Ned - 24
Katie stepped inside their room around two in the morning, but Ned as awake waiting for her as he told her he would. She'd left around ten o'clock when her mother called about needing her help with a spirit.
That was really all she had time to tell him.
"Hey, how are…" He barely has a chance to start talking.
"I just need a shower first," Katie said, voice tired while sliding her shoes off at the end of the bed. "Won't take long."
"Alright," he offered her a quick smile and moved his attention back to his computer in his lap as she pulled her jeans off and set them on the bed.
She closed the bathroom door a moment later.
Ned waited a full minute before he turned the laptop off and looked up to the place where her towel was hanging since that morning. She hadn't come back for it, instead, the shower stream started and he moved out of bed to pick it up. He noticed she also left her nightgown laid over the dresser, so he picked it up and walked to the bathroom.
He knocked twice before he slid the door just a bit open.
"You forgot your towel and nightgown, babe." He murmured, looking to the steamed glass of the shower stall. "I'll just leave over the sink."
"Thank you." Her voice was shrill when she answered.
He halted in the doorway. "Is everything alright?" Ned could only see her blurry shape nodding her head behind the opaque glass.
"Yeah, fine. Had a long day, is all."
"Are you sure? Did something go wrong tonight?" He insisted calmly, fumbling his fingers over the doorknob. She shook her head and murmured an affirmative no. "Have you eaten yet?" He asked, thinking about how long it took her to come back from wherever she had gone with Melinda.
"Not really. I hadn't gotten home long after you and I only ate yogurt this morning." She said over the sound of the spray of the water.
"I'll get you something and we can catch up then, ok?" He said.
"That'll be perfect. I love you," she said, cleaning some of the steam to smile at him.
Ned headed to the kitchen in their apartment quietly, turning lights on his way there. He wondered what had happened when Melinda called, and where she'd gone off to so late at night. If everything went well, it was probably her most recent ghost that he'd heard about.
Zachary Radcliffe, a mobster from the 1990s that had come attached to an antique set of pool cues her mother had gotten.
He put water in the kettle and placed a coffee cup on the counter while he searched for his fiancee's go to tea in the nearest cupboard.
While he waited for the kettle to boil, he went into the fridge and picked a container of leftovers from this week. It was chicken alfredo, one of his favorite things she made.
He quickly warmed it up on a plate while the kettle whistled and he made her tea, grabbing the cup and plate before walking back to their bedroom.
Katie had just put on her nightgown when he walked in, moving her hair out with a quick motion of her arm as she got into bed. He walked to place the plate on the bedside table near her, sitting beside her. A smile grew on her face when she realized that he finally had the chance to greet her properly, and he tucked a strand of her wet hair behind her ear before he leaned to kiss her.
"How was your day?" He whispered, holding the tea toward her.
"My school day was normal," she sighed, bringing the steaming cup to her mouth. "But very tiring, and lots of grading terrible papers for Professor Payne."
"What about later?" He asked.
"Tell me yours first," she said. "I heard you had to chase someone on foot today on campus. Word spread pretty fast about a hot blond cop running through the west end of campus."
"Yeah, something like that." He shrugged with a smirk, glancing to her tired eyes. "I ran through several buildings, but I caught him."
"Of course you did. You're Ned Banks, the hero cop of Grandview." A wide smile appeared on her lips as she spoke to him. "I'm happy to be marrying you."
"Yeah, Jamison and I got there just in time." He straightened his posture. "The kid had just stabbed some other kid in the hand with a pencil during class and he took off when we got there." He changed to a serious tone and she raised an eyebrow as she ate her food. "But like I said, I caught him."
"Good," she said. "Tonight was long. I crossed Zachary over. We had to go all the way to BayBridge, so that's why it took me so long."
"That's good. How'd that go?" He questioned when she smiled again and a giggle slipped out. "From the beginning, Katie." He requested.
"You worry too much, but since you asked I'm glad I crossed him over. I had a lot of dreams about killing people lately and after my mom found the sister of the girl he loved, that he killed, we crossed him. He needed forgiveness, even if he was a terrible person," she sipped her tea like she was just talking to him about the weather and it was nothing of interest.
His face was still twisted in confusion when she glanced to him again. He moved his mouth several times, but no words came out.
"I'm fine, Ned." She said once she finished eating after a couple of minutes. "I promise. It was a normal, tear-jerking crossover. Nothing important missed."
"Okay," he said, nodding, pressing a kiss to her forehead and moving to get in on his side.
"We should get our own house," she said out of nothing and stopped eating again.
"Why?" He asked. "Are you serious?"
"I am." She can hear the conviction in his voice and he reached for her hand when she put the plate on the side table again. "Don't you want that?" He rounded her fingers gently, massaging her knuckles. "It doesn't have to be now, but I was hoping we'd be living in a house by the time we're married. Just consider it, alright?" He brought her hand up to kiss the back of it, looking at her puzzled expression.
They fell into a weird silence while she finished her tea and scrolled through social media on her phone. Her eyes were focused on the plate in front of her while Ned fumbled his fingers in his lap.
"You mean around here, right?" He asked before she raised her eyes to look at him. "Not in the city or in a different state, but in Grandview, right?"
"Yes, of course." She said steadily. "We can talk about this tomorrow if you want. It's our day together, right?"
"Yeah. Our day," he nodded.
It doesn't go as easily as it usually does, even after they're both tucked under the blanket with the lights out and snuggled cozily, neither of them actually went to sleep.
Ned played with the hem of her nightgown against her thighs, rolling it on his fingers slowly, he concentrated on her slow breathing, imagining if she was asleep already and using her steadiness to pull him into sleep.
His chest was glued to her back and she can feel the soft bumps of his heartbeat, Katie enjoyed the closeness, the irradiating warmth coming out of him in waves, and he kept quiet tonight about her icy foot tangled between his shins to warm up.
Even playing quiet, they both know the other one was awake.
"Just say it already," she whispered into the dark.
He sighed against the back of her neck, and she waited for him to give her a denial about her idea of wanting to buy a house.
"You like high ceilings, right?" He whispered back. "And hardwood floors?"
She giggled and fumbled under the duvet when he talked, turning in his embrace to face him.
He chuckled, resting his chin over her head as he tugged her closer. She stayed quiet for the next minute, twisting the fabric of his shirt.
"Why are you laughing?" He asked.
"I wasn't expecting you to say that." She admitted, squeezing him a bit more closely to her.
"What you thought I'd say?" He gazed at her, seeing mostly just a shadow of her features by the darkness in the room.
"That it's too expensive or we should wait until I'm pregnant," she shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess that does sound like me. But I know that wouldn't make you too happy," he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "That said, do you like high ceilings and hardwood floors?"
"I do. I really do." By the tone of her voice, he knows for sure she's keeping a wide smile. "And natural light. I want a lot of things actually."
"We can spend all day tomorrow talking about houses, okay?" He said and searched for her hand under the duvet, then leaning in to kiss her forehead. "I love you, Katie."
"I love you too." She stretched up to find his lips, but within the next minute, she interrupted with another question. "One bedroom or two?"
"It depends on if this is a lifetime house or just temporary," he said.
"One is fine for now. I still need to finish college before we have babies," she decided quickly. "What about breakfast nook?"
"Whatever you like," he hummed against her ear.
"You need to be part of the decision." She said firmly. "I want you to love our house as much as I will."
"Well, I can't decide about the breakfast nook now, but we need a place with functional heating so your cold feet won't freeze me to death during winter." He chuckled.
After a few weeks, they'd spent hours looking up houses and viewing them, days shooting emails back and forth with different realtors because they were looking at houses way out of their budget. Then they discussed a "reasonable" budget every spare moment they had together, and their little fantasy became more and more real every time they went to a showing.
But today was the day of their tenth house showing, and Katie was really excited about this one. Like so excited she'd woke Ned up at six in the morning.
"You do realize the purpose of having a day off is to, ah, sleep in, right?" Ned mumbled, voice still raspy and low. "To catch up on what we're lacking from working all the time?"
"Not in my book," Katie pinched lightly at his ribcage. "I'm a firm believer in using this valued time wisely, by running away a little while. Since, you know, we're here nine times out of ten anyway."
"Not for long," he muttered, a sleepy smile playing on his lips.
"I know," she beamed back at him, eyes growing starry. "But the sooner we get up, the sooner we'll get to see the house. This is like my dream house, Ned."
He cracked one eye open, her smile nearly blinding him as it does most mornings. And nights, and afternoons, and basically every time it appeared, which was a lot these days.
Her fiance reached out to caress her cheek, thumbing at her chin, fingers inching into her hair, lifting her head upwards—and promptly stole her pillow out from under it.
"Hey!" she shrieked.
He let out a victorious noise and covered his face with the pillow, now sandwiched between it and his own.
After a beat, he made a tiny crack between them to peek at her. "You'll get this back when you learn how to appreciate it," he said with a firm nod and closed the gap again.
"Ned," she all but purred, running her fingers down his tee shirt and over his thigh to reclaim his attention quickly. "Come on, now." She huffed and crawled over to straddle his abdomen, removing the pillow herself. "We have plans."
"I suddenly like where these plans are going." His words tumbled into her mouth as his hands reach her ass through her pajama shorts to pull her flush against him.
She giggled, sucking his top lip between hers. When they broke the kiss, panting against each other's chests, Katie peered over to the clock on her side that read 6:23 A.M.
"Well," she ducked her head down for two more gentle kisses, "I suppose, we do have all day to catch up on what we're lacking from working all the time… "
Instead of letting her finish her train of thought, Ned flipped them over and pinned her against his stack of pillows.
He slanted her lips open for a heated kiss that sent shivers all through her bloodstream as he pulled her flush to him, one hand sliding under her shorts while the other slid her matching tank top off. She arched to help him push it over her shoulders, then set to work on yanking off his in turn.
After all, today, time was theirs. They weren't going to waste any time.
By seven thirty, they were decent enough to make themselves breakfast and take the morning by storm. Katie drove, giddy and buzzing with excitement (and poking Ned awake when he started drifting off against the window).
"Honestly, I thought I'd woken you up enough," she scoffed well into the trip.
He's about to fire back, but his stomach decided to audibly protest for him."Think you worked up my appetite, at least. Those eggs weren't enough."
Eyeing Rosie's Diner on the corner, Katie grinned and switched on her blinker. "Glad, I'm good for something."
"Oh, but you knew that." He replied snarkily. "That's why you wore a mini skirt today."
She was still grinning when she parked the car.
She definitely knew that.
"We can stop for a bite before we go to the real estate office," she said, turning to look at him as she took her keys out. "Sound good?"
"Yeah. All good. Just worried my mom is totally going to kill me for not calling her about this," he sighed, running his hands over his thighs nervously.
"Yeah, but you and I both know that she just is going to show us her dream house." She explained as they got out together and she met him along the street.
"I know. I know." He said with a laugh and held open the diner door for her as they walked inside. "I'm not disagreeing with you, but would you use a different antique dealer than your mother?"
"I guess I see your point," she sighed and followed him as he found them a booth. "Do you want to call your mom and see if she can show the house to us instead?"
"That would be easier on my conscience," he said, sliding in on one side and winking at her. "Thank you for understanding."
"Of course, my mom gets jealous too." She said, opening the menu on the table in front of her.
"Yeah, I know." He chuckled, opening his menu.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, kicking him under the table.
"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "I just remember your mom got pretty jealous when we went to dinner with my mom twice in one week that one time."
"Yeah, well… let's not get me started on my list of things that your mom does that annoys me." She said, glancing up from her menu to smile at an older woman in a server's uniform. "Hi, Rosie. It's nice to see you."
"Good to know I still can't sneak up on you, child. So you're marrying the boy now?" The older woman said, smiling as she saw the ring on her finger and Ned across from her.
"Yeah. In six months," she caught his attention when she spoke again, but obviously not in conversation with him and they met each other's gaze.
"That's nice. You know, I always had a good feeling about him." The woman said as she disappeared when the server brought them water.
"Sorry you guys have been here so long, but this morning has gotten away from me." The girl apologized with a grin as she pulled out her writing pad. "Can I get you guys anything to start off?"
"I'm gonna get a coffee," she said, glancing back at the menu for another second. "And the two eggs with white toast."
"Coffee for me too, and the double stack with eggs benedict. Basted, please." Ned said, nodding to the waitress as she hurried off. "Who were you talking to?"
"Just Rosie," she said, leaning back into her seat.
"Like the Rosie?" He turned the menu over and pointed to the name.
She nodded and rolled her eyes at him. "Get a grip, Banks. I see ghosts." She pulled out a notebook from her purse and flipped open to the last used page. "Now this house we're going to see is checks all our boxes," She spun her notebook-turned-spreadsheet around and pushed it until it bumped his elbow. "See babe?"
"I cannot believe you color coded this, Katie." He met her narrowed brow and smirked. "No, wait. Actually, I can believe it."
"It's easier for me and there's nothing wrong with that!" She defended, rolling her eyes. "Red is for your wants, blue is for mine, purple for where they intersect, gold for things I really want but can be costly—"
"Yes, okay, I'm glad you used an entire box of colored pencils; that's a real commitment." Katie scolded his sarcasm by stealing a slice of bacon off his plate. "No, I'm serious! You even lined it with a ruler, babe. That's a classic finals week move I haven't seen you do in a while. That means business."
Biting her lip to keep her grin at bay, she took the notebook back, tracing the checkmarks with her fingertips and sighing dazedly. "You know, maybe I should marry someone who doesn't make fun of my organization."
"You know I love how organized you keep me," he said, smiling at her as he slid his foot up against her leg. "I'm sorry for making fun of you."
"Thank you," she reached forward to hold his hand. "Now call your mom and switch realtors. I have a really good feeling about this house."
"I have a really good feeling about this one," Katie told him again, tugging him along the sidewalk.
The extra spring in her step keeps her pace at a higher speed than his and her enthusiasm was incredibly contagious; Ned just liked to keep his fiancee on her toes for his own amusement.
"I couldn't tell," he chuckled, enjoying her babbling on.
"And don't think I haven't noticed how uneasy you are about it being a smidge over budget," she pointed out in the same breath and emphasized the word smidge by demonstrating with her free thumb and index finger.
"What? Me?" he glanced around nonchalantly, ducking his head. She gave him a knowing look and he caved. "Okay, maybe a bit. I feel bad enough your parents are paying for the majority of the wedding. I guess growing up with a single mom will do that to you."
"Hey," she stopped them in their tracks, reaching up to cradle his face in her hands. "It's alright, Ned. I know that. I have known you for my entire life, believe it or not." She rose on her tiptoes to press a long kiss against his cheek. "Besides, my parents make way more than either of us do and are generous. They want us to be able to buy a house," she squeezed both his hands in hers, eyes shining, "I think, in the circumstances of finding the perfect home...a little splurging won't wreck us too badly."
In a quick move, he broke his hands free only to capture hers with them instead and brought her knuckles close to plant kisses upon.
"You're brilliant, you know that? Have I mentioned that before today?" He said softly, leading her up to the one level house.
"Only several times," she said, wrapping her left arm around his waist. "Now see, I like the curb appeal. Like I told you."
"It is a nice color and has a garage." He said, opening the front door to see his mom and smiled. "Hey, mom."
"Ned, Katie! I'm so glad you're here. I was just turning the lights on," Delia said, coming to give them each a hug. "I'm so excited you two are looking at houses now. It feels like everything is falling into place now."
"For sure," Katie said, squeezing Ned's hand as they walked into the kitchen. "See this is just beautiful like I told you. Marble countertops and a gas stove. It's my dream."
"I'll give you guys a few minutes to look around. I'll be in the backyard," Delia said, slipping out the side door.
"I told you this is perfect for us. Look," she said, glancing over the open concept house.
They could see into the dining room from here and walked a little bit and could see into the living room. Off the kitchen were the master bedroom and en-suite master bath. There was even a small half bath off the entryway of the house too.
Katie was, as always, correct; the house was almost exactly what they wanted. Hardwood floors, natural light, large windows, and high ceilings. It had curb appeal and a garage. The guest bedroom was even and a decent size and really only needed a fresh coat of paint to be perfect. The backyard was a nice size and the kitchen had been recently remodeled.
In short, he wanted it.
They both did.
With a smile, he turned to Katie. "This is perfect, babe. I can really see us living here. How do you feel about it?"
"Just the same," she replied. "We have to put an offer on this place, Ned. It's going to sell."
"Well, as soon as my mom comes back, let's do that." He said, hugging her. "Let's put an offer in."
Katie squealed gleefully and threw her arms around his neck. "I can't wait to cook in this kitchen."
He smiled mischievously and pulled her closer by her waist. "Not to mention, we'll get to christen every single room of this place."
"Now, Ned, we don't own the house yet." She giggled, pulling back enough to brush their noses against each other. "We probably shouldn't be doing anything naughty in it."
"I disagree. We should test drive it to see if the mood works for us," he teased, licking his lips. "What do you say, master bedroom, give it a spin?"
"You're very bad. Your mom is right outside," she bit her lip and leaned in to kiss him lightly. He pulled her closely and moved to lead her into the bedroom, but she stopped him by pulling away. "Of course, I knew you would say that. Which is why…"
She guided his hand up her skirt, where he quickly realized two things: she was wearing nothing underneath, and she was apparently rather interested in his suggestion.
Was this why she'd worn the skirt?
The feel of how wet she was, created a reaction in him as well, very quickly. Katie raised an eyebrow and trailed her hand up against him to rub against the front of his trousers.
"So… the bedroom?" She asked.
"You know, I've always thought the kitchen is the heart of any house. And since we're already here…" He turned her around, pressed her against the counter and hiked up her skirt, using one hand to fondle her while the other undid his zipper and entered her from behind. "Might as well."
The sudden penetration made her gasp, and she grasped the counter in front of her as his arm came around her to pull her flush against him. As he continued to thrust deeply, her breaths grew shorter and faster.
She could barely contain her moan as the orgasm spread through her body like fire. Ned's release followed shortly thereafter, and they collapsed against the counter, legs trembling.
After a few moments to recover, neither of them pulling away or moving until he caught a glance of his mother in the window.
"Oh, shit, my mom." He hissed and pulled away from her rather quickly.
Katie pulled her underwear out of her purse and slid them on quickly and fixed her skirt.
"When did you take those off?" He asked.
"A magician never reveals her secrets," she winked and rearranged the front of his shirt hastily. "Now pull up your zipper."
It was not a moment too soon, for shortly thereafter the woman did indeed return.
"So what do you think of the house?" Delia asked the smiling couple, eyeing them as he pulled his zipper up as nonchalantly as he could.
"We love it. I totally have to take some pictures to show my mom." Katie said, pulling out her phone. "But we want to put an offer in, right, babe?"
Delia probably did not expect the veracity with which her son simultaneously replied, "Yes, we want to put an offer in! We love it."
"I, for one, think that went very well," Katie said, clapping excitedly.
"Oh, I definitely agree. My mom had cookies!" Ned said happily.
"I mean the house itself. Plus we put in an offer," She rolled her eyes fondly.
He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that it was alright."
Chuckling, she bumped her hip into his as they walked. "C'mon, you know you loved it. You even said so."
"Eh." Ned made a so-so hand gesture, before matching her grin. "Okay, it was fantastic. That what you wanted to hear?"
"Exactly right." She weaved her arm through the crook of his elbow, sighing happily and leaning her head on his shoulder. "It's a cozy little house just for us with beautiful hardwood flooring—"
"Perfect for sock sliding and Super Bowl Halftime show reenactments—" she pressed her forehead into his arm to stifle her giggling.
"The window over the sink in the kitchen is just incredible. I think it just needs a touch of color to really make it homey, maybe some throw pillows or a new cushion on the window seat—nothing a trip to Ikea and a phone call to my dad won't fix."
"And since we're buying it we can have pets, Katie," he said, grinning down at her expectantly. "Which means..."
"We are not getting a huge dog, Ned." She reminded him "Perhaps a cat or a dog under seventy pounds. But a huge dog is out of the question."
"Well," he smirked, "last time I brought it up you said it was completely out of the question. I'm wearing you down." He snuck a kiss to the top of her head before she can argue. She doesn't.
They reached the car in blissful silence, Ned opting to drive home so she can flip through the hundreds of pictures she had taken.
Most are standard wide shots of the interior, to later be used for a virtual three-dimensional walkthrough for her family and Hannah, but there are a few fun ones amongst the mix: Katie grinning cheekily in front of the window over the sink with her thumbs up, Ned laying face-down in the middle of the floor (two cookies totally visible in one of his back pockets), a joint selfie with the neighbor's excitable dog—who popped over when they were in the backyard to investigate his potential new friends, and many other cheesy shots when Delia wasn't looking.
Her thumb stilled on the one room they hadn't really spoken about: the extra bedroom. It's a touch smaller, but still spacious. They had just planned on it being a guest room. For now, since she wasn't done with school yet.
She hovers over it for a minute too long, causing her to trail off mid-sentence.
"I suppose we'll be taking the big one," he noted, stirring her from her thoughts.
"Well, of course, we will." She said.
"And as for that one… an officer or a guest bedroom?" He asked.
"I'm sure we'll find a use for it, eventually." She said, glancing over at him. "It won't be empty forever."
"Yeah?" He met her eyes briefly before flicking back to the road, a light blush on both their faces.
"Yeah," she said softly, almost dreamily. "Your mom wasted no time on bringing us up to speed on the number of preschools and elementary schools in the general vicinity."
"Or the playground down the street," he added.
She smiled at him again. "Not very subtle, was she?"
"No," he laughed. "Not in the slightest. I bet your mom put her up to it."
She dropped the phone in her lap and tangles their fingers together on the center console, thumb running over the back of his hand and a zing of excitement zipping through her veins at their future setting its pace before their very eyes.
"Probably," she giggled and squeezed his hand.