Thank you to everyone who continues to give encouragement, enthusiasm, and support to this story. I'd like to take this opportunity to give a shoutout to my guest reviewers, since I can't respond to you personally, with a special note to guest reviewer ChaCha. I hope all of you keep enjoying the story.
Jim and Martha were looking on eagerly, anxiously, as Kate read what they had written for her campaign, with Rick reading over her shoulder. She was silent for the first few sentences of her biography—the standard fare about where and when she was born, the schools she had attended, and the fact that she was a lifelong resident of New York City.
Reading about her mother's murder changing the trajectory of her education and career plans, bringing her home to New York City from Stanford, and her finishing college and then going on to the police academy didn't hurt as much as it would have even a couple of years ago.
But she finally had to speak up—tactfully, of course—at what must have been Martha's doing: "'Meteoric rise through the ranks of the NYPD?'" Kate quoted. She looked up at her dad and Rick's mother. "I think that's overstating things a little. I was on the force for fifteen years and I was promoted at regular intervals and after meeting the department's requirements—passing exams, physicals, those kinds of things."
Kate and Rick were both surprised when Martha's only reaction was to sigh, reach into her pocket, pull out a five-dollar bill, and hand it to Jim, who silently extended his hand with a grin quirking at the corners of his mouth. Jim accepted the bill and pocketed it without comment.
"You bet on what Kate's reaction to what you wrote for her campaign?" Rick asked, surprised.
"It beat arguing," Jim replied. Then he added in a stage whisper, "Your mother can be a bit stubborn, Rick."
Martha rolled her eyes. "Oh, you want to talk stubborn, Mr. 'Technically you can spell 'judgment' with an 'E' but it's better and more widely accepted to spell it without the 'E'?" she countered.
"Believe me, Jim, I've noticed," Rick replied.
Martha looked at Kate now. "Perhaps I went a bit overboard...got a little too theatrical, as your father said repeatedly, Katherine, but it's only because I'm so proud of all that you accomplished as a police officer."
Touched, Kate said, "Thank you, Martha. And I love that you're so theatrical. It just..." She trailed off.
"Doesn't quite work in this situation," Martha finished for her. "I understand completely."
Alexis arrived then. "Done!" she announced triumphantly, waving a sheaf of papers above her head. "I finished getting signatures on campus!" She hurried across the room and handed the papers to Kate. "Hi, Gram, hi, Jim," she said, and they returned her greetings.
Kate flipped through the papers. "Alexis," she said, surprised, as she looked up at Alexis. "There must be 500 signatures here!"
"540 to be exact," Alexis said as she removed her parka, beret, and gloves.
"That puts you at..." Rick began, rummaging through a thick file folder on the coffee table. Seeing what he had scrawled on a sticky note on the last page of signatures that Lanie had given Kate when they had met for lunch the day before, he looked at it, then looked up at everyone and declared, after doing some quick math in his head, "One thousand nine hundred and fourteen signatures total!"
"Which is way past the minimum 540 signatures you need to get on the ballot!" Alexis exclaimed. Martha and Jim joined Alexis in a chorus of congratulations and exultations.
Kate looked at Rick, seeing the love and pride shining on his face. She looked at him in wonder. "I'm gonna be on the ballot," she said, awestruck. Intellectually she knew that would be the case; that was the goal, the entire point of all of the signatures everyone had collected for her. But it was only just now hitting her for the first time what this all really meant.
"I never doubted it for a second," Rick said.
Kate hugged Rick, then stood up and went around the room, hugging Alexis, Martha, and Jim, each in turn, as she thanked them all for what they had done to help her fledgling campaign so far.
"Well, I doubt you'll need us to write any more of your campaign literature, since you have a ringer," Martha said, looking at Rick knowingly.
"Mother, Jim, I promise to be much kinder in my revisions than Gina ever was to me," Rick said solemnly.
"So, how are you feeling these days, Katherine?" Martha asked. No conversation Kate or Rick had with any of their family or friends passed these days without eventually turning to the baby and how she was doing and how Kate was feeling.
"The morning sickness is almost completely gone, and I won't miss it," Kate said feelingly. "She's moving a lot, and everything's going like it should, according to Dr. Elliott. Oh, and Rick and I are going to start working on the nursery," she went on, looking at Rick. "We have to pick a paint color, and furniture, and Lanie keeps bugging me about registering for stuff for the baby shower she's insisting on throwing me. I get the impression, since she didn't get to be my maid of honor and have a hand in our wedding reception, she's going to really go overboard for this baby shower from the way she's talking."
"You and Sweetpea deserve it," Rick said.
"Awww, you're calling her 'Sweetpea' like you've always called me 'Pumpkin'?" Alexis asked. "That's so cute, Dad."
Rick grinned. "She seems to like it," he replied.
"She Sweetpea, or she Kate?" Alexis wanted to know.
"Both," Rick answered.
"Something else Sweetpea likes here lately is kickboxing my insides, so if you'll excuse me for a few minutes..." Kate said. She got to her feet and headed for the bathroom.
"I think that's our cue to leave," Martha said. "I have a class in a couple of hours anyway."
"I have some studying to do," Alexis said. "I'll be at the library."
After Rick had hugged and kissed both his mother and his daughter goodbye, Jim, who was lingering after bundling up before heading out into the cold, said quietly, so there was no chance Kate would hear him, "You and Katie haven't bought a rocking chair yet, have you?"
"No," Rick replied. "We're still looking at nursery furniture online. We don't want the baby news making it onto Page Six."
"Don't get one. I've got it covered," Jim replied. "And don't tell Katie, all right? I want it to be a surprise."
"Okay," Rick replied, wondering what Jim had up his sleeve regarding the rocking chair, since he looked downright excited about it.
Kate returned then. "Did Martha and Alexis leave already?" she asked.
"Mother had a class to get ready for, and Alexis is studying at the library," Rick told her.
"Are you taking off too, Dad?" she asked Jim then.
"Yes, I have some things to do this evening," he said. He hugged Kate and kissed her cheek. "Take care, Katie." He shook Rick's hand. "Rick."
"Jim," Rick replied. After Jim left, Kate and Rick went back and sat down on the couch.
"Okay, then, the next step is to submit the signatures so that I can officially be on the ballot and run for City Council," Kate said. "We have time to edit my campaign bio...I can't believe I have a campaign bio." She still sounded awestruck.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Rick said, taking Kate's hand. "When I signed my first contract, for In a Hail of Bullets, I felt the same way. And then when I had to sign off on the galley proofs before the book went to press, it happened again."
"Do you ever get used to it?" Kate asked, propping her head on her fist as she rested her elbow on the back of the couch. She really wanted to know.
"I still feel that same thrill every time I sign off on the galley proofs for a new book," Rick replied.
"This is all so new to me," Kate said.
"You're gonna be great," Rick told her. Then he addressed Kate's baby bump. "Isn't your mom gonna be great as a City Councilwoman, Sweetpea?"
Lily gave a hearty kick then, and Kate stroked her belly, having discovered recently that that sometimes calmed Lily down. "Well, when both of you put it that strongly, how can I disagree?" Kate asked.
Rick looked at Kate earnestly now. "One step at a time, Kate," he said.
"I've gotten a lot better at that since you came into my life," Kate admitted. "So, one step at a time. The next step, then, is to submit the signatures so I get my name on the ballot. And there's no time like the present."
"Can I come along?" Rick asked.
"Of course," Kate said.
And so it was that one hour later, Katherine Beckett was officially a candidate for City Council from District 1 in Manhattan.
"Look at this view," Lanie said in a hushed voice as she stood in front of the living room windows. Alan had taken immediate notice of Lanie's facial expressions and body language, and the way she had reacted to this apartment, from the second the landlord had ushered them inside. It was a two-bedroom on the tenth floor of a building on West 68th Street, and Lanie was now standing in front of the living room windows, a half dozen in all that took up the bulk of one wall and looked out over the city.
The landlord had wisely gone to wait in the hall after Alan asked him to while he and Lanie looked the place over. Alan had never been a man who cared all that much about what an apartment looked like; as long as there was room for his belongings, and it didn't have roaches, mice or rats, he was fine with it.
But since he and Lanie had started looking at apartments together, Alan had realized how important things like square footage, closet space, and the layout of the apartment itself truly were.
This, he reflected now as he quietly stole up behind Lanie and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and lightly rested his chin on the crown of her head, was because this wasn't going to be just another apartment. This was going to be home. More to the point, this was going to be his and Lanie's home together. These bare walls and floors and windows on the city were waiting for them to put their imprint on them and make this empty apartment into a home that would say, "Lanie Parish and Alan Masters live and love here."
"I think this is the place," Alan said.
Lanie twisted around so she could look over her shoulder at Alan. "Oh, Alan, really?" she asked hopefully.
"We've looked at 28 apartments," Alan said, "and this is the only time you've reacted in such a strong, positive way. This is it. If you can see us living here, that is."
"Can you?" Lanie asked. "I don't want to bulldoze you into anything, Alan." Lanie knew full well that she was a force of nature, whereas Alan was more laid back, which was just one of the many reasons they complemented each other so well.
"You're not bulldozing me into anything, honey,"Alan assured her. "We could look at another 28 apartments, and I don't think we could find something with so much space, in such a great neighborhood, and that we can afford. But more importantly, we could look at another thousand and twenty-eight apartments, and I don't think you'd get the look on your face in any one of them that you did the moment we walked in here for the first time." He rested his hands on her shoulders. "If you're happy, I'm happy. That's the deal."
Lanie beamed at Alan. "I can see us here," she said. "If you're sure about this place, Alan-"
"If you're sure, I'm sure," he replied. "A two-year lease sure. That's what the landlord is offering."
"A two-year lease? Really?" Lanie asked.
"Really," Alan said. "What do you say?"
When looking back on this moment in the months and years ahead, it would always strike Lanie that she didn't have to think about it. She didn't have any nervousness or doubts about moving in with Alan, or about signing a two-year lease, because she knew in her heart she would still be with Alan in two years. She knew in her heart that she would still be with Alan in fifty-two years. And this gorgeous apartment on West 68th Street was where she wanted to make a home with him.
"I say yes," Lanie replied decisively. "Absolutely, positively, get the landlord in here so we can sign on the dotted lines yes."
Alan grinned, the boyish grin that made Lanie's heart melt every time, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way that Lanie so adored. "All right, then," he said. He turned to go and get the landlord, but Lanie stopped him by grabbing his hand. Then she leaned over and kissed him. He kissed her back before going to get the landlord, and in a few minutes, the apartment was officially theirs.
