"Hello," Lanie answers after the third ring. "Hey, Lanie. How is everything?" I ask as I sit on the end of my bed."Kate, girl, is that you? What's up?" Lanie questions happily."It's me Lanie, so how is everything back home?" I ask while fiddling with a loose string on my red comforter."Boring since you left; I haven't had anyone to have girl's night with," Lanie complains."Neither do I, although I have met some new people here." I explain with a small smile."Oh I'm sensing boy drama, details girl," Lanie says excitedly. I can picture her practically jumping up and down in the middle of her morgue with a giant smile on her face."His name is Rick, he is a major in the army, and he even defended me in a bar fight," I say dreamily."Hot? Responsible? Chemistry?" Lanie questions rapidly."Definitely, of course, and unbelievable," I say on a sigh as I lay back on my bed feeling like a teenager with her first boyfriend."What does he look like?" Lanie demands with a squeal."Tall, broad shoulders, impossibly blue eyes, and dark brown hair," I say smiling."How long have you two been dating?" Lanie asks."Were not dating! Yet," I exclaim."Well girl, I'd love to stay here talking with you, but a body just dropped," Lanie complains."That's okay I have to get ready for dinner with Rick, just tell the boy's I said hi," I say, smiling."Will do girl, bye," Lanie says hanging up. With a smile I leave my phone on the end of my bed, and get dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans with a tan tee-shirt. I put my hair up in a messy bun and then do my make-up, and go downstairs. Dad's in home nurse is already making dinner, so I give him a quick hug and kiss then I'm out the door.
"Kate!" Alexis happily calls as Martha ushers me into their home. Alexis has cute little jeans on with a Scooby Doo tee, and her hair up in little pigtails."Wow look at you, girl! You've grown into the shirt I got you!" I say while lifting Alexis into the air making her giggle."I like the doggie on my shirt, he's funny in the show," Alexis says happily as I settle her on my left hip so I can hug her."Scooby Doo was my favorite cartoon when I was your age, and you know what; I still watch it on the weekends," I pretend whisper to her."Daddy watches it to!" Alexis gasps with her tiny hands on her cheeks like its something special."Well it is one of the best cartoons out there, I mean come on a dog that helps solve mysteries!" Rick states as he walks out of the kitchen and I get my first look at him tonight. Rick's wearing blue jeans, a white tee with a flannel button down hanging open, and a smile on his face."So what has the Major cooked up this time?" I say jokingly."That would be a surprise, but I promise you will love it," Rick says smiling."Let's go color, Kate!" Alexis demands as she starts wiggling in my grasp."Alexis, use your manners or I'll have to give you more vegetables at dinner," Rick warns Alexis sternly."I'm sorry, Daddy. Don't give me vegetables, I promise to be good," Alexis pleads with tears trickling down her cheeks as she hangs her head."Why don't we go color while your dad finishes dinner, how does that sound?" I ask Alexis as I rub her back soothingly trying to calm her down. With a nod of her small head, were of to the Lego kids table in the living room.
"And she is out for the night!" Rick says as he comes back downstairs from putting Alexis to bed."Poor girl was so excited to see me again that she fell asleep right after dinner, which was amazing by the way," I say as I help pick up some toys in the living room."You don't have to help, you know. She's just going to get them right back out in the morning." Rick states as I dump an armload of toys into the toy box."It's alright, just a few toys." I say with a smile. After Rick has piled a couple more toys, we sit on the couch with a glass of red wine."My unit has been put on notice, effective this morning. My mother is leaving in the morning to visit family in New York, and if I do end up deploying I won't have anyone to watch Alexis. I already started the paperwork to request a little more time, but since I'm only on notice; they probably won't look at my request until its to late." Rick says sadly staring into his glass."How long is notice?" I ask."Thirty days." Rick says. For a while we just sit there. "I could watch her, if you're okay with it." I say shyly not daring to look up from the glass in my hand."Kate...I can't ask you to do that, you have your father to look after." Rick hurriedly exclaims."You didn't ask Rick, I offered. As for my dad, well he has a nurse that comes over to take care of him." I explain."You do realize that looking after a four year old is not easy, right?" Rick questions."I know that Rick, Alexis has a schedule so everything runs as smoothly as possible. Now I was never one of those teenagers that stayed home and babysat, but I'll get the hang of it." I say defensively.
For the rest of the week as much as possible I would help out with Alexis, getting to know what she likes to eat for breakfast; all the way to helping to tuck her in at night."So how was training today?" I ask as I help clean the kitchen from the ice-cream mess."Long and tiring, but the tropes are making splendid progress." Rick groans as he sits back on the sofa. Anything else I want to say was cut of by Rick's phone ringing."Sorry I have to take this." Rick says sadly as he walks into his home office while answering his phone. While I wait for Rick to come back, I clean up some of the toys littered around on the floor."You do know that I don't expect you to clean my house when you come over, right?" Rick asks as he sits back down on the sofa."I do know, but you're a hard working single father to a four year old that had more energy then the Tasmanian-Devil; and I thought I would help you out a little." I say as I close the toy box. After sitting down next to Rick for a moment in silence, I finally turn towards him."You gonna tell me what that phone call was about, or do I have to interrogate it out of you?" I ask quietly."I leave first thing tomorrow." Rick sighs as he rakes his fingers through his hair."You're leaving me?" A little voice cries behind us. We both turn to see little Alexis standing on the stairs tears streaming down her tiny cheeks."Alexis baby." Rick says shocked as he gets up and starts toward where she is standing on the stairs."No!" Little Alexis cries as she tries to run up the stairs only to trip and fall the rest of the way down instead. At her cry both Rick and I run to see if she is alright, but as soon as Rick tries to pick her up she cries even more and is trying to push him away. As Rick looks sadly at his little girl I gently take her from his arms and start to try and comfort the little girl."Hey, hey Alexis it's okay. Your daddy's going to be just fine. He just needs to make sure the people he works with do there jobs so we all can stay safe, and until he comes back home you'll be staying with me; and were gonna have so much fun just the two of us girls." I whisper softly in her ear as I gently rock her back and forth in my arms."Not true! Last time daddy left he got hurt, and he couldn't play with me for a long time." Alexis cries into my shoulder."And I bet that was awful for both of you, but your daddy has a really good team this time and they won't let anything happen to him." I say soothingly as I start to rub her back while her sobs turn into little whimpers. "Now sweetie I'm going to hand you to your daddy because I have to get to work, even though I'd love to just stay here with you." I tell Alexis as I give her one last hug then lay her in Rick's waiting arms. Before I actually leave I make sure to leave a kiss on Alexis' forehead.