CH13
It is now one month later: (July)
As expected it had rained for days right on schedule. It had also trapped everyone inside right up until Rick came out of their master bedroom after three straight days of rain carrying a pair of super soakers and handed one of them to Alexis.
Nerf Super Soaker Freeze Fire Blaster
Nerf Super Soaker Alphafire Blaster
Rick and Alexis quickly teamed up on getting Kate wet. "CASTLE! I'm going to shoot you!" Kate yells at him.
"Not without a weapon Kate." Rick points out and goes back to shooting Kate.
Kate has her hands up to try and protect herself. "Then were is mine?"
"Same place I got these. Our bedroom." Rick tells Kate, just doesn't stop shooting her.
Kate ran for the bedroom while Rick and Alexis re-filled their weapons.
Kate came running back out into the main room, after having to find that she needed to load her weapon too and looked around. "Where did the cowards go?" Kate asks looking at Jim and Martha. That got Martha to point at the still open back patio door.
Jim and Martha watch as Kate runs out the door screaming.
Super Soaker Thunderstorm
It left Jim and Martha staring at where all three of them had gone. "I don't recall Katie ever acting like this before." Jim comments, still staring at the still open door.
"I blame my son. … I must have gone wrong somewhere." Martha knew her son was still a child at heart, just not to this extreme.
It was at least an hour later when a completely soaked, it was still raining outside after all, Rick, Kate and Alexis came back inside laughing while still giving someone a quick squirt of water.
Rick and Alexis headed for their respective bathrooms to get clean. "Excuse us." Kate tells Jim and Martha and follows Rick into the shower, where Rick pins her to the shower wall and has his way with her. Not that Kate even tried to stop him. Her voice telling him 'Don't stop, don't stop' may have had something to do with it.
Kate was drying her hair still naked while Rick was still drying off using a towel. Kate suddenly stopped however she didn't turn the dryer off. "We didn't use protection." Kate whispered out.
That got Rick to drop his towel and step up behind Kate and wrap his arms around her. "It took more than just one time to get you pregnant last time and we have gone without protection before and you didn't get pregnant." Rick tries to take some of her fears away.
"I'm not losing another baby Rick. … I'm not." Kate lowered the dryer but didn't turn it off.
"Your period is in about a week. If it doesn't come than we can start making decisions about what to do." Rick offers.
"You know when my periods are?" Kate stared at his image in the mirror in front of her.
"Kate, we've been together for 15 years. Of course I know when your periods are." Rick wasn't clueless when it came to Kate.
Kate turned off the dryer and placed it on the counter and spun in place so she was facing him now, and then put her arms around Rick's neck. "I love you and I don't want to think of my life without you. …. Or Alexis."
"If you do end up pregnant than this will be the last time we do this Kate, it has to be. I don't want to lose another baby any more than you do." Rick kisses her.
"You three have fun?" Jim asks Alexis who came back first.
"Actually yes." Alexis sat down on the sofa between the two. "The first few times we came out here, mom was so, … serious. She didn't smile, didn't laugh. We had to drag mom to do things with us. It took a few trips out here to get mom to open up. Now mom is a lot more fun.
Mom is more alive now." Alexis tells them.
Jim was still adjusting to Katie being called mom, however it did make him happy to see Katie so happy, and apparently he had Rick and maybe Alexis to thank for that.
Rick and Jim were each carrying one of the coolers down to the boat one day. They had decided to go out cruising. Kate was carrying one of the Tommy guns along with one of the duffel bags that had three of the 100 round drums while Alexis had another duffel bag that had their two SIG's along with all 10 clips.
Kate had kicked herself. She had brought more ammunition for her service weapon but failed to bring more clips, so the SIG's had been the best choice.
Jim and Martha had seen the Lady Martha from a distance but had never been aboard her. "This is not a boat Katie, it's a Yacht." Jim comments once he gets inside below decks.
It had two sofas, two coffee tables and 2 low back chairs. A full kitchen with a breakfast bar that could seat 5. Along with a dining room table that could seat 6.
The main bathroom was a little compact but tasteful. It also had an interesting shower configuration. It had glass doors on each end that opened from either the main bathroom or master bathroom.
Heck it even had a combination washer/dryer onboard along with 3 bedrooms. There was even a sitting room behind the two pilot seats.
There was even a sofa area aft that could seat 3 that you could sit down on and watch where you came from.
Jim had gone fishing out on boats before, just that this wasn't a boat!
Martha, Kate and Alexis found themselves out on the aft sofa while Jim joined Rick in one of the plot chairs. "You've done this too I suppose." Jim was still trying to wrap his mind around this event/theory.
"Actually no, this is a first for all three of us. Since we brought you and my mother with us this time, we're doing a lot of new things." Rick tells him as he pays more attention to where he was going.
"Have a destination in mind?" Jim questions.
"I do actually. I was thinking of beaching us on an island that you and my daughter marooned us at." Rick tells him.
"I marooned you on an island?" Jim was immediately lost.
"Kate and I were getting closer together, but we weren't talking to each other about what we were feeling. Too afraid of scaring off the other. So you and my daughter hatched a plan to maroon us together for 3 days, alone." Rick tells him as he approaches the island in question.
"I came up with a plan to get you and my Katie together, on purpose?" Jim needed to hear this again.
"It worked to. All we had was each other, a pair of towels, a single bottle of water and a bag of jerky, for three whole days. It forced us to talk to each other, really talk.
We've been together ever since, time after time. We've become a family because of it, so in a way I have you to thank for helping me fall in love with the most amazing woman I've ever met." Rick turns to look at Jim and smile at him.
"Fifteen years at this, if you are correct. Most couples would be married and have children by now." Jim was only just starting to grasp what these three had been through.
"Yeah, you would think." Jim thought he sounded sad suddenly.
Rick beached the boat and everyone was forced to go over the side into the water to reach the beach. Rick put out the anchor to hold the boat in place, not that they were going to stay here all that long.
Rick, Alexis and Martha headed down the beach looking for sea shells, leaving Kate with her dad. Kate took one of the SIG's while Alexis took the other.
"Rick tells me I marooned you two here." Jim was looking for confirmation.
That got Kate to chuckle. "Yeah, you did. You and Alexis hatched this plan to leave us here alone. … It forced us to talk to each other dad. Until than I was still in my shell, surrounded by all my walls that I put up after mom died.
We still didn't talk much for the first two days, well beyond what was necessary. It wasn't until the third day that we broke down and started talking. Rick was actually first. There wasn't anywhere to run and we had to talk to cooperate if we wanted to survive. We knew Alexis would come back eventually. It took all day for Rick to make it past some of my walls. Enough that we kept talking and getting closer.
Now I don't know what I was waiting for, what I thought I was going to accomplish hiding behind all my walls.
Rick is amazing dad. Unlike any other guy I've ever met. One minute he's an adult and deadly serious, and the next second he's a 12 year old child. Sometimes it pisses me off, while other times he brings out the child in me that I had hidden away.
He makes living fun dad." Kate only now noticed that she had tears running down her face and wiped them away.
"Mom died and you chose a whiskey bottle and I chose to close myself off and dive into my work. You got sober and I stayed behind my walls, until Rick.
I love him more than anything dad. He's made me live again and enjoy living." Kate wipes away more tears, knowing that she has never told her father any of this. Not in the weeks prior to flying out here or talking with him on the phone.
"And Alexis?" Jim asks, since he had Katie talking more than she had talked to him in months if not years.
"Alexis!? … Alexis is a brilliant young woman who has gone through more pain concerning her mother than any person should have to put up with.
Meredith, her real mother, the woman who gave birth to her. Meredith simply ignores here. Doesn't love her, doesn't care that Alexis exists unless it suits her to notice. Doesn't call to just say hi or that I love you and miss you. Doesn't come to her birthdays, doesn't send presents, not even so much as a card.
Then out of the blue she'll call and say she is coming out for a visit, but never shows. Then suddenly she does show up so she can get into Rick's bed for sex, and then she blows right back out again without even saying hello to her daughter." Kate wiped away still more tears for Alexis.
"I had mom for 19 years and losing her did this to me. Meredith doesn't hate Alexis, she does something much, much worse. She ignores her own daughter.
Why doesn't my mommy love me? Why doesn't my mommy want to see me? Why am I not good enough for my mommy?" Kate stopped walking and wiped away here tears that were flowing even faster now.
"It hurts my heart dad. … What that woman has done to that beautiful young woman. I can't help but wish she had been mine at birth so I could have taken away all that pain." Kate wraps her arms around her dad and let's herself cry, something she hasn't ever done for a very long time.
"That's why she calls you mom." Jim gets it now, feeling Kate nod her head.
Kate finally calms down. "Alexis may be 16, but she's my daughter now and I'm never going to stop loving her. She deserves every ounce of love I can give her." Kate steps back from her father and wipes away her tears and sniffles.
"Than do what you think is right Katie. … It's good to see you happy. I'm sure your mother is dancing wherever she is." Jim knew if Johanna was here she would be happy for Katie.
Jim and Kate eventually caught up with the others. "We found sea shells mom, like this one." Alexis held up a large sea shell like you would see in those commercials that someone would blow into.
There were no coconuts, there was however a picnic on the beach using the two coolers along with a duffel bag that had the two SIG's in it and all 10 clips.
"Except for the sunburn I'm sure to have, this is nice and I could get used to this." Jim comments.
That got Alexis to dive into the duffel bag and come back out with a bottle of sunscreen. "Turn round gramps." Alexis offers and squirts out some into her hand. Not noticing Jim's look of shock on his face. Still he turned around and let Alexis rub on the sunscreen.
Martha leaned in close to Kate. "Did Alexis just, …?" Martha whispers hopefully only loud enough for Kate to hear. Getting Kate to nod her head and smile wide at Alexis. It helped her love Alexis even more.
Picnic was BBQ pork shoulder sandwiches, with fruit, bags of potato chips and some cold drinks thanks to the ice in the cooler.
"Now all we need is a volleyball or badminton net, even a soccer ball." Jim offers.
"Wood for a campfire, marshmallows, smores, a guitar and someone who can sing." Rick offers.
"Katie plays guitar and sings." Jim offers.
"DAD!" Kate had just found a reason for her father not to be here. Parents loved to embarrass their children.
"You didn't tell me you could play and sing." Rick glared at Kate.
"I can't, I don't know what my dad is talking about." Please stop talking dad.
"We even paid for her guitar lessons, and you have a nice voice Katie." Jim kept right on digging himself deeper.
"Don't pay any attention to him babe, he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's confusing me with my mom or my sister." Kate tells them and keeps praying.
"You don't have a sister." Rick counters.
"Who told you that?" Kate answers back.
"You did." Rick responds with a slightly shocked face.
"I lied." Kate knows it isn't her first lie, besides the fact that she's lying now.
"Really?" Rick glared at Kate not believing a word of it.
"Well we don't have a guitar and I don't want to kill all the plant life in the area so I'm not singing, so yes, … I lied." Conversation was now over!
"The guitar is in your apartment Katie, I've seen it." Jim counters enjoying Kate's pain, besides it was his job to embarrass his daughter, wasn't it?
"I don't know who this man is, I've never seen him before in my life." Kate goes back to praying, not that it seems to be working.
Alexis leans into Kate and whispers. "You're doomed mom." Alexis knew Rick wasn't ever going to forget this, even if they did repeat this all over again.
Kate simply moaned and hung her head low, not seeing her dad smiling wide at her discomfort that he had a part in.
Martha was simply enjoying the show of a family being together. Something she had wished for her son and granddaughter for years. Now if she could just get more grandchildren.
It was going to be dark in the not too distant future. "We need to get going Kate, I've never had to pilot us home in the dark, and we didn't turn on the lights at the dock to even see it." Rick points out.
This time Kate was sitting next to Rick while he piloted them back home. "We should have brought our parents out here with us earlier. It's fun having them around." Rick offered.
"Speak for yourself babe." Kate was still put out with her dad.
"Kate, he's only being a father, tell me you didn't enjoy it." Rick challenges her.
"I didn't enjoy it." Kate immediately tells him without looking at him.
"Kate?" Rick didn't believe her.
"O-kay it was fun right up to the point of the teasing." Kate gives in.
"And you loved that too because the entire day felt like a family day, something that you know you loved." Rick counters taking a quick peek at Kate.
Kate however remained silent even if a small crack of a smile reached her lips.
Kate was listening and feeling Rick sleeping as she was cuddled up close. Kate couldn't remember when she became a cuddler but she was enjoying the closeness and warmth that came with it.
"You're still awake." Rick suddenly comments and works at placing both his arms around Kate and pull Kate in closer still. "Is there a reason for this?"
"I just keep replaying the day on the beach over and over in my mind." Kate explains.
"With or without the guitar?" Rick teased which earned him a quick light strike to his chest.
"Your dad was simply being just that Kate. … A dad." Rick comments.
"You don't understand babe. … My dad hasn't been a dad for a very long time. Not since before mom died." Kate talked softly, still processing what happened today.
"Give him a chance Kate, maybe he'll surprise you while he is out here. It's not like he can run away and go to his apartment, and except for mother's wine and the beer in the store, there is no alcohol anywhere near here." Rick points out.
"I just, … I don't know what to do with a dad anymore. He disappeared into the bottom of a whiskey bottle after mom died and I grew up on my own, and then add doing this over and over again.
I mean I know he's my dad, it's just that I've done without for so long." Kate tried to explain.
"Then maybe it's a good thing we brought them and are stuck here for the next few months. You two get to reconnect and find each other again.
You've both changed Kate. You've gone through loss and so has he. … Has it occurred to you that after he got sober that he felt like he had lost you too? Didn't know how to reconnect any more than you did?
He is still your dad." Rick points out. "He relied on his wife to help him reach you, now he has to do it alone, and he's never been alone before."
"And suddenly I show up with a future husband and a grown daughter, with a story straight out of Twilight Zone." Kate is starting to understand.
"Oooo, nice display of your geekiness." Rick teases and earns him yet another swat to his chest.
"Just remember Kate, to you it all makes perfect sense. This is all new to him and except for your mother's books, he doesn't know anything about me." That was the part that had Rick nervous.
"I know you met mom, … I just wish she had a chance to get to know you. See what I see." Kate was still missing her.
"Your mom is learning about me Kate. She is learning through you and your dad. Your mom has left her mark in both of you. She sees what you two see." Rick offers getting serious.
"Who are you and what have you done with my fiancé?" Kate questions while smiling with her face still buried into his chest.
"Makes you want me doesn't it?" Rick smiles down at Kate.
"And there's the man child that I'm engaged to." Kate teases, only to squeal when Rick spins them and Kate finds herself on her back with Rick hovering above her.
Kate spent the next hour finding out just how her fiancé wasn't a child, but all man.