Sorry for the delay. I've been super busy and have only had internet on my ipad, which makes posting things quite difficult. I should have the next chapter in a few days.

Rick fingered the envelope as he waited in his desk chair, eyes trained on the door. Alexis was playing quietly in front of the TV, oblivious to her father's obvious nerves. She really was a good kid. He glanced in the envelope once more before opening the top drawer of his desk and placing the envelope underneath the planner that sat in the drawer. Standing, he walked over to the couch and sat, all the while watching his daughter play.

"Alexis, time to get dressed. Do you want help picking out something to wear?"

She turned to glance at her father, her large blue eyes smiling. "You could tell me what I'm doing so I know what to wear?"

He grinned. His daughter was so smart, so much like her. "Not that easy pumpkin. To your room. If you're quick I'll try to braid your hair."

Alexis stood, running to her room. After a moment, she reappeared, childish glee shining in her eyes. "I'll be quick, but you're not braiding my hair! I've still got knots from last time!" He watched as she again disappeared.

Meredith was in town. Rick hated when she showed up, out of the blue and surprised them. She would usually appear having not rung to speak to Alexis for weeks, and whisk her off to some restaurant or play that was entirely inappropriate for a child her age. Alexis would return home, either hyped up on sugar or utterly exhausted past the point of no return, and Meredith would disappear once more. It was awful, and he couldn't say no. Rick couldn't stop his daughter's mother from spending time with her. That would be too cruel. His daughter deserved to have Meredith in her life.

This time, however, she had called. Her plans were known, and Alexis was excited. He, on the other hand, was not. He was terrified. It wasn't that he had doubts, or that he thought Alexis would begin to like Meredith more. No, it wasn't that at all. Alexis should like Meredith. A child had every right to spend time and be loved and love their parents. He was terrified of the mess that Meredith would leave in her wake.

He was now a single parent, and it made dealing with a young, albeit easy, child all the more difficult. When he needed his daughter to do something, he didn't have another person to play off. He couldn't brush her off, telling her to ask her mother when she was begging for something ridiculous. When she was sick and refusing to take her medicine, he had no one there to help him. So when Meredith rang and told him that she was coming to town and wanted to spend time with her daughter, Rick had a sinking pit in his stomach; he was going to have to clean up some sort of mess.

Rick wasn't even positive that his ex-wife would bother to show up. He had written it in his planner but Meredith was hardly known for her reliability. He hadn't bothered to tell Alexis that her mother was in town; he didn't want to explain to his daughter that her mother thought something (or someone) else was more important. No. Instead, he told Alexis that she was going to have a surprise; that she would get to do something fun. He made the right choice.

He stood and walked back to his desk. Opening the drawer once more, he flipped through his planner, checking the date he had made the note on. Yes. He had remembered correctly. Sighing, his hands drifted back towards the drawer, hovering over the envelope, unsure whether he was doing the right thing in picking it up. Doing that, well, it would be like giving up.

This time would be different. Meredith would show up. Alexis would get time with her mother. But it didn't stop him from buying two tickets to 'Disney on Ice', just in case.

~C&B~

She had to go. She had promised him. More to the point, she wanted to be there. She wanted to go. She was just scared. Plus she had three papers and an exam in the next week and really needed the day to get on top of her work. But she promised Henry.

Kate sighed as she kicked the covers off the bed, willing herself to get up and ready herself for the day. Glancing at the clock that sat on her bedside table, she realised she had slept through breakfast. It was 10:30am. She was meant to be at Henry's by now. Great.

Reluctantly standing, she pulled off her pyjamas, leaving them in a pile beside her bed. Before quickly reaching for the jeans she had laid out the night before. She paired it with a simple black t-shirt and quickly grabbed the leather jacket she had bought over the summer.

For a hot minute, Kate contemplated doing her hair and putting on some makeup, or even looking in the mirror, but it seemed like too much effort for half past ten in the morning. She pulled on her boots, again glancing at the clock and decided that she really had to buy a watch. One day.

Deciding that she could afford to be late, Kate sat on her bed once more, her head in her hands. She tried to remember everything she knew about the show she was going to have to sit through. It was called Nebula-9. It was science fiction. And that was about it. Great.

Standing, she grabbed the empty bookbag from beside her bed, where she had thrown it the night before. She threw in her wallet and keys, quickly adding her discman and a notebook with some study notes. If the show was awful, she could always leave to study. She wouldn't be lying if she said she had work to finish. It wouldn't be wrong. No. Not at all.

With a final look over the room, Kate left, locking the door behind her. Plugging her headphones into the discman, she put them over her ears and pressed play, and Kate let the music wash over her.

Everything would be okay.