Hey everyone, I am so sorry it took so long to get this up! I actually meant to have it up last Monday, but life has been super busy lately and even though I had it done about a week ago, I didn't have time to edit or post it. So here it is. I am hoping to get at least one more chapter up before the end of the week, maybe two if you are luck. Chapter 3 is already half done :) As always please review and let me know what you think. If you think I should continue, or even if you just have suggestions about what could happen. Thanks so much for reading!
Rick couldn't stop thinking about Kate all the way home; couldn't get her out of his head. He saw her hair, her eyes, her strength, her beauty, and that adorable smile she had tried to suppress as she watched him blinking up at her from the ground. As he walked down the busy streets of New York City, he continued to write Kate's story in his head, but there were so many holes, so much mystery unsolved. He wanted to know everything about her, to understand the beautiful mystery that was Katherine Beckett.
Kate. That's what she had introduced herself as, but he just loved the name Katherine. He guessed Kate was a nickname. One she pick out? One her parents called her? More mystery. Rick got the sense that she wasn't the type to share her secrets. He knew it would take time, and he might never learn everything about her, but he could be patient, and he would be willing to take whatever she would give him.
Rick was so deep in though that he walked right past his building. He backtracked, smiling sheepishly at Frank the doorman as he entered his building. He trudged up the ten flights of stairs, not wanting to be forced to socialize with his neighbors in the elevator. They always asked him how his mother is, where she is tonight, invite him for dinner. He wasn't in the mood for their sympathetic looks of pity tonight; he had too many other things on his mind.
He pulled his key out of his back pocket, gripping his Green Lantern key chain as he slid the key into the lock.
"Mother…? Are you home?"
Hearing no response he closed the door and locked it behind him. Figures, he thought, his mother is never home. She is probably at play rehearsal, or out for drinks with the cast, or dinner with the director. Honestly he had no idea where she was, he never did. All Rick knew was that his mother was never home, and he had had to learn to take care of himself.
Kate was distracted the whole way home, something her mother noticed easily.
"What's on your mind Katie-Cat?" her mother inquired giving her hand a squeeze.
"Nothing" Kate replied still somewhat distracted.
Johanna Beckett was a lawyer and could tell when people were lying. She knew that there was something on her daughter's mind, and she had a feeling it had to do with a certain boy they had met in the park earlier that day.
"Katie, come on tell me what you are thinking about." Johanna said a little more persuasive. "Might this have anything to do with a young man named Rick, who you attacked earlier?"
"I didn't attack him! It was self defense!" Kate exclaimed.
"I know sweetie I was just teasing you" Johanna giggled. "But really Katie, he's what's got you so distracted isn't he?"
Kate let go of her mother's hand, skipping ahead, a smile spreading across her face.
"Maybe" she smirks, twirling around.
"Well it's good to see you in such a good mood for once my little grumpy" Johanna teased.
"Yeah" Kate sighed contently as they reached their front door, "I think I am."
It was a little after midnight when Rick awoke to noises in his apartment. He listened carefully to the familiar sound of his mother banging around the kitchen, it didn't sound like she had company tonight.
Although he was used to it, Rick was annoyed at having been woken up in the middle of the night, seeing as he had had enough trouble falling asleep that night.
He had been thinking about Kate, he had been thinking about her non-stop since the minute she left him standing dumbfounded in the park. He saw her face on the walls of his apartment, felt her touch as he ate dinner alone at the table, and heard her voice in his head whenever he closed his eyes.
Sleep had taken so long to finally come, and he was not pleased about being woken from it, but he had to admit that the crashing and banging that was echoing through the apartment let him know his mother was home, that she was safe.
Although Rick always made it seem like he didn't care that his mother was never home, like he didn't mind that he has had to take care of himself, like he didn't stay up late at night wondering where his mother was, he did. He cared, he minded, he worried.
Today, for the first time in months Rick allowed himself to be happy. He had allowed himself to let go of his worries and his duties. Today Rick took a break from being the grown up his life forced him to be. Rick had smiled more today than he had in the past month. And it was all because of Kate.
That beautiful, strong, and mysterious girl that he had met today had flipped some switch in him that allowed him to experience everything that he had been missing for years. She gave him hope.
Rick knew how crazy it sounded; he had just met her, barely even spoken to her. Heck she had all but blown him off, but still she changed him, gave him hope that he too could be happy, live a normal life although his circumstance forced him to act older than his age.
Rick knew he needed more; more hope, more happiness, more smiles, more Kate.
He was convinced he would see her again. Tomorrow. He would go back to the park tomorrow, and the next day, and the next if he had to until he saw her again.
And upon that decision, Rick drifted peacefully back to sleep, dreaming of Kate.