December 20, 1999
"Where are you taking me?" she asks.
"This is it," he says as they walk past the lobby to the elevator bank.
He positions her in front of an elevator and presses the call button behind her.
"Now, you stay here," he says.
"Okay?"
He dashes to the other side of the elevator bank and presses another call button.
"All right, if we both randomly pick the same floor, we're meant to be together now."
The boldness of his statement hits her in the chest. Meant to...what?
"You're insane."
"Will you do it?" he asks, hopefully.
Normally, she'd already be running in the other direction, but for some reason, she wants to try. He's wriggled his way through the hole in her wall and he makes her feel reckless and alive.
The elevator behind her dings open. She puts one foot inside.
"Okay."
He gets inside his own elevator, opposite her, holding it open.
"Take a breath, and then when the door closes, hit a button," he instructs.
"I don't understand this," she says, suddenly nervous.
"You don't have to understand. You just have to have faith."
"Faith in what?"
"Destiny," he says and she has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Her heart flutters in contradiction.
They both take a step back into their elevators and she suddenly yanks the Bloomingdale's bag out from her purse and grabs something inside it before calling out to him.
"Hey."
She throws the crosshatch-patterned bag toward him and it sails in a graceful arc over to his elevator. He catches it neatly.
"It's Kate. My real name's Kate," she says just as the elevator doors close shut.
He turns the name over in his head. Kate. It fits her—simple yet strong.
Then, Rick takes a breath and without thinking, presses twenty-three on the elevator panel, the penthouse floor.
He opens the bag and finds one of the gloves inside and smiles. One half of a whole.
He's anxious as the elevator travels upwards and the floor numbers slowly increase. At the thirteenth floor, the carriage slows to a stop. He jumps a little when the doors slide open.
"See? You were right. Let's go, buddy," a man says as he and a small boy wearing a devil's costume enter the elevator.
"Uh—" Rick interjects, "It's heading up."
"Oh, that's okay. Josh likes to ride either way. Don't you, Josh?"
The little boy growls and reaches for the button panel, punching at random numbers.
"No, don't do that!" Rick exclaims in a panic.
"Hey, calm down. He's just a kid," his father says.
Josh hisses and Rick balks, holding the bag closer to his chest as though to defend himself. The kid looks ready to stab him with his plastic pitchfork. Rick briefly wonders why the hell a kid is dressed as a devil in December.
The elevator starts to rise again but moments later, stops with a clunk. Rick shoots his gaze up to the number indicator above the doors and fills with dread as he watches the floor numbers flash between fifteen and sixteen.
"Looks like we've stopped," the dad observes.
Rick clenches his jaw but lets out a breath when it begins to move again.
"We're going again," the dad comments.
"Thank you," says Rick with a forced smile, pushing down the desire to strangle the man and his aptly-attired demon child. Maybe if he explained himself, they'd leave.
Kate hesitates when the doors to her elevator close shut. Her fingers hover over the number pad before deciding on twenty-three. She exhales and leans against the back wall, the other glove clutched in her hand.
Maybe this whole thing is ridiculous, but her heart is racing and she can't remember the last time she smiled so much that her face hurt.
Rick rushes out of the elevator on the sixteenth floor, Josh and his father trailing behind him.
"Where is she? Is she here? Is she here?" Josh chatters excitedly. Instead of leaving, the devil boy and his dad had decided to join his search.
"No, no. I don't think so," Rick announces, glancing around. He quickly hops back inside.
"Come on, Josh," his father urges as the boy loads back in.
"Okay, stay alert," Rick says, pressing the close-door button repeatedly and willing the elevator to move faster.
On the twentieth floor, Rick runs out with Josh as additional hotel guests flock behind them, everyone invested in his pursuit for the woman with the glove.
"Is she here?" A woman with her dog asks eagerly.
"No, not here. Back in the elevator," Rick says, ushering everyone inside, the dog yapping loudly.
Kate sits cross-legged on the twenty-third floor, waiting in front of Rick's elevator. She leans back on her hands and twists her lip nervously. It's been too long, and she feels like an idiot. She can't believe she let herself get swept up in the magic of the moment and talk of fate. Fairytales aren't real. She knows that all too well.
Wiping at an errant tear, Kate stands up and shoves the other glove in her pocket. She presses the call button and boards the elevator next to Rick's, the doors immediately sliding shut behind her.
Seconds later, Rick's elevator arrives on the 23rd floor and he steps out, a lone figure, everyone else gone.
He scans the room, disappointment piercing through him when he finds the place deserted. She's not there. He quickly steps back into the elevator and punches the lobby button. He'd been to practically every floor.
When he reaches the lobby without any interruptions, he dashes out and looks around for her dark gray coat and red scarf. He spots a brunette woman by the hotel entrance but when he reaches her and touches her on the shoulder, it's not Kate. He swivels his head around, desperately seeking any sign of her, but when he comes up empty, he decides to try his luck outside. He heads south on the sidewalk and mistakes a few other women for Kate before stopping short and huffing out a breath. He scrapes his hands through his hair, frustrated.
He missed her.
She was gone.
Kate walks north, hugging herself tight. She briefly thinks about heading back...maybe he's waiting around. But she ignores the thought and keeps moving forward. They hadn't picked the same floor. It wasn't meant to be, and she had a boyfriend.
Ten blocks later, she's rebricked the hole in her wall, sealing the gap shut. A bell chimes in front of her and she glances up at someone coming out of a storefront. She pauses, staring at the gold lettering on the door that spells out Argosy Book Store. Her hand subconsciously reaches for the book in her purse. Was it another sign?
If you don't believe in even the possibility of fate, you'll never ever find it.
She told him they were locked in...and she wasn't one to break promises.
Pulling out her purple marker, she writes her name and number on the dedication page of her first edition copy of Love in the Time of Cholera and heads inside the store.
Rick mopes on his way home. When he arrives at his shabby apartment, he finds his girlfriend waiting on the doorstep, tears trailing down her face.
"Meredith, what are you doing here?"
"Ricky, thank god, where've you been?" she asks, throwing her arms around him. Confused, he pats her on the back gently.
"What's wrong?" he asks.
She wipes tears from under her eyes.
"I'm pregnant."
Kate shouts for her dad when she walks through the door later, shrugging off her coat.
"You wouldn't believe the crowd at Bloomingdale's," she says, unspooling her scarf and laying it on the entry table.
She pauses when she doesn't hear his response. Only the quiet babble of the TV. "Dad?" she probes, walking into the living room.
She freezes at the sight of her father laying face down in a pool of his own vomit.
"Dad!" she yells, rushing to him. She feels for a pulse just under his chin and notices a faint beat. Relief courses through her as she grabs for the landline and calls 9-1-1.
"I came as soon as I heard."
Kate looks up to see her boyfriend entering the waiting room at NYU Langone.
"Jacques, you really didn't have to do that. I thought you had a big dinner at the governor's mansion. Won't your father be mad?"
"This is more important than that," he presses.
"He's a king."
"Of a very small country. Almost like a mayor," he says in his accented lilt.
She sighs. What was she doing? It was too much.
"Look...I think we should take some space."
Jacques processes her words, his mouth turning down into a frown.
"Are you breaking up with me?"
"I need more time to focus on family. My dad needs me."
"Let me help," he insists.
"Jacques, please."
"You don't know what you're giving up," he protests.
"I know we planned on going back to Stanford together when the year was over, but...I can't. I won't."
"Why not?"
She huffs, wringing her hands together and glancing away.
"I applied to the Police Academy last week. It's what I need to do."
"Is this about your mother? Why can't you let it go?"
Her eyes flash. "Let it go?"
"Her case is closed," he says, "But you keep pursuing it."
"They're covering something up. I know it," she argues.
Jacques shakes his head, pity in his gaze. "You're really lost, aren't you?"
Kate bristles. "You think you know me, but you don't," she fires at him, anger building in her chest.
"Because you won't let me in," he shoots back.
He's right, but she hates him for it. He doesn't understand that she won't let anyone in because everyone she cares about ends up leaving her or getting hurt. She thinks of Rick and what could've been. Looking at Jacques, she's filled with a new determination. She can't risk anymore distraction in her life.
"We're done," she says, her tone final, "You should go."
"Eight weeks?"
"What do you want to do?" Meredith asks.
"Whatever you want."
"I don't know. It could interfere with my acting. What if a baby's the reason I don't become famous?" the redhead wonders.
Rick wants to say that a baby won't be the reason she doesn't become famous, but he doesn't have the nerve to tell her she can't act, so he bites down the ugly retort, instead saying, "A baby won't stop either of us from achieving anything."
"You really think so?"
"Yeah, I do," he says, knowing it suddenly to be true.
"Okay, then I want to do it. I want to have the baby," she decides.
A strange feeling of calm washes over him. He's going to be a dad. A fierce want bursts through him as he imagines himself building forts and reading stories to his kid, and most importantly, introducing Star Wars to them. He smiles at the thought.
"I'll do the right thing. We can get married," he says, quietly locking Kate away in a hidden corner of his heart. It wasn't meant to be.
"Oh, Ricky," she says, falling into his embrace.
"Everything's going to be alright," he murmurs.
A/N: They mention it in the episode "Food to Die For" (2x22) that Beckett dated a royal when she was younger, and I always thought it would be fun to include it in a fic!