A/N: Thank you everyone for your kind words regarding my cat. I really appreciate it. She's still hanging on though! Sorry this chapter is so short too. I needed to end the chapter where it is because it made more sense for where I'm taking the story next.

The rest of the work week was tense between the two librarians. Kate avoided Rick as much as she could, which was difficult given their need for collaboration on the forthcoming move to the bigger library. The new library was set to open in less than three months and the construction crews were working on the interior of the building for another six weeks. Rick and Kate were the ones who were supposed to be agreeing on the finishing touches, like the placement of the furniture and book shelves. Given that Kate was furious with Rick, not much was getting done before their tentative two-week deadline.

As the week turned to into the next, there were only three days until their deadline. A frustrated Rick swung open the front door to his house and threw everything along the wall before dropping face first into his couch. He restrained himself from screaming into the throw pillow and instead let out a long and angry groan.

"Dad? Is that you?"

Rick turned his head from the pillow and called back, "yes, did you need something?"

Alexis appeared from the hallway that led to the bedrooms. "No, but something came for you by certified mail. It's from Black Pawn."

Rick jumped from the couch. His daughter gave him a hesitant smile as she handed him the letter with such delicacy it was like the envelope held a tiny bomb. Rick tore open the letter and scanned over the single page. Alexis watched flinching like she anticipated an explosion. When her father's face changed from concentration to elation, Alexis knew the letter only held good news.

"What does it say, Dad?"

"They're publishing it! They're publishing In a Hail of Bullets! They are sending me a ten thousand dollar advance check as well. Oh my God, Alexis, do you know what this means?"

Alexis jumped into Rick's arms, squealing in delight. "Dad! I'm so proud of you!"

Rick was nearly in tears, his hand over his mouth. He needed to call… His heart dropped when he remembered again that Kate wasn't speaking to him. He wanted to tell her. She was the first person he thought of to break the news to, not even his mother crossed his mind before Kate. It was killing him to not run to her house, bang down the front door and tell her his amazing news. It was killing him that they weren't speaking, except the tense words about the layout of the new library. It was killing him that he hadn't had his lips on hers in over a week and even more than having his book published, he wanted to kiss her again.

"Alexis, can I ask you a huge favor to keep this just between us for now?"

"But, Dad, why? I thought you'd be shouting it from the rooftops!"

"I promise I'll tell you why later, but for now, I want this to be hush-hush, at least until the new library opens."

"Okay, Dad…"

Kate was in charge of the library while Rick took a last minute two day leave after they had finally agreed upon the layout plans for the library. Kate had been working for the Hawthorne Library for four months and in that time, she somehow managed to convince Rick of the importance of collection maintenance even if it meant recycling books. While Rick was away, the recycling crew was going to be stopping to pick up that month's collection of discarded materials. Even though Rick still cringed at the idea of tossing damaged books, he found ways to avoid the back room when the recycling truck was scheduled to arrive, leaving Kate to let the crew in every month. Weaving her way past the full recycling bins to the back door where the truck waited, Kate spotted a book sitting on a pile in one of the bins and she faltered in her steps. Normally the book wouldn't have caught her eye, but she'd seen the book in Rick's office a couple times before; it was the James Patterson book they first argued about before she started her job. Rick didn't know that Kate knew he had kept it, but she'd seen it sitting in the bottom drawer of his desk where he stashed his secret candy, that also wasn't very secretive. The poor but recognizable taping job proved to Kate that it was the same book. With her hand against her breastbone she swallowed back the emotions of seeing their book in the trash before letting the recycling crew in the building.

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