Sorry there's been a time gap since the last time I published. But here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
Note: I updated this chapter, as there was some confusion. A few people thought the person Kate talked to on the phone was the baby's father. I worded that in the wrong way...the person is RICK'S father...not the baby's. Sorry! Here's the updated chapter. Hope this helps.
Chapter 3:
Kate's buzzing phone jolted her out of a deep sleep. For a moment, her head spun and she couldn't remember where she was. But reality caught up seconds later and, with a groan, she turned in bed to hit the phone and silence the sound. Dragging her body slightly out from under the covers, she glanced over to make sure Rick was still asleep. He was, face buried in his pillow and arms sprawled out on either side of his body. As quietly as she could, Kate swung her legs out from under the warm sheets and let out a soft hiss when they hit the cold wood floor.
Her phone buzzed again, but this time she snatched it off the bedside table and recoiled when the white light hit her eyes. The screen read "one missed call" and "three new messages". Kate slipped her feet into Rick's slippers that he kept by the bathroom door and silently left the bedroom to sit on the couch. The missed call was from a restricted number. The messages were from Vikram. She opened up the first message and squinted in the light as she read. Vikram seemed anxious, asking her to call him when she got the chance. With a glance at the bedroom door, Kate left the apartment to stand in the hall. She didn't want to wake her sleeping husband.
The phone rang twice before Vikram picked up.
"Hey. Glad you called."
"What's going on?" She asked, trying to decide whether she was worried or annoyed with him for texting her at five in the morning on a Sunday.
"You got a call from a restricted number this morning. Am I right?"
Her annoyance deflated and she was left with worry, unconsciously shooting a paranoid glance down the dark hall to her left, "yes I did. Why?"
"It's somebody you're going to want to talk to. They will call you back later. Make sure you're there to take it." He paused, "and make sure you're alone when you do."
"Vikram…I can't keep lying to Rick about this."
"I know. But just this once you need to. Believe me, this is a call you're going to want to take. Kate, if you want this whole thing to be over, this is your chance."
There was a long silence between them in which Kate felt she could hear every creaky floorboard and open window in the building. She shivered.
"I have to go now." He said finally, "take the call."
The phone beeped and the call was over. Kate was left alone in the eerily silent hallway. After a moment, she turned and slipped back inside the equally quiet loft. But now, she was much more awake then she had been before.
Rick opened his eyes to light streaming in through the curtains and spilling across the bed. Sitting up slightly, he noticed right away that Kate was gone. With a groan, he forced himself out of the bed. It was a Sunday and the clock on the bedside table read 8:00. There was no good reason for her to be up this early. But then again, she always seemed to be these days, and it killed him to never wake up with her beside him anymore.
"Hey there sleepyhead."
He turned on his heels, startled by the sound. But he was quickly settled when he saw her sleep-tossed figure leaning against the door frame.
"Morning beautiful." He responded, catching her raised eyebrows at the use of the adjective, "why are you up so early?"
"Early, babe? It's 8:00."
"On a Sunday." He added, making his way toward her.
She was so amazingly gorgeous standing in their bedroom doorway with her tousled brown curls and sleepy eyes. The fact that she was carrying their child added to her beauty. Although it wasn't showing at all on her abdomen yet, it did on her face. He had heard that pregnant women glowed, but not until now had he truly noticed it.
"I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep." She responded.
"Well I miss waking up next to you." He said sheepishly, expecting the playful eye roll he got in return.
"Come on cheese man, let's have breakfast."
By midday, Rick had left for an obligatory book signing he had complained about for hours and Kate was alone in the loft. Without thinking about it, she had begun to pace around the living room the moment he had left, anticipating the call she knew would come. She hated herself for doing this. She was beyond sick of lying and keeping things from her husband. She was exhausted. And she wanted her life back. The life with Rick in the loft. The life where she was precinct captain and her only worries lied in unsolved cases. The life where she was the mother of their child and they could live without fear of the unknown.
But she also knew that wasn't an option. And, despite everything else, she knew the only way to truly keep her husband safe was to hold back the truth. And it killed her.
Her ringing phone startled her out of her thoughts. For a moment, she hesitated in grabbing it off the counter, afraid of what would appear on the screen. And when she did, she knew she had been right.
"Beckett." She answered, trying to hold her voice steady.
"Kate." A deep voice, obviously digitally altered, spoke.
"Who are you?" She asked firmly, forcing her nerves down.
"Some things must be kept a secret."
"Then how am I expected to trust you?" She asked with a quick, nervous glance at the curtained windows.
"I'm not sure I can give you that assurance without putting you in danger."
Kate bit her lip and quickly made her way back to the bedroom, where she shut the door and took a seat on the bed. Somehow, being there made her feel safer.
"I'm already in danger."
"That's why I'm calling." He responded, "to keep you safe, Kate."
There was a long silence in which she contemplated her situation. Vikram trusted this man, so why shouldn't she? Maybe he knew something about him that she didn't know. But then, why was he so keen on holding back his identity?
"Give me one good reason to trust you with my life." She demanded.
"I have been watching you for two weeks now. If I wanted you dead, you would already be that way." He replied, sending chills down her spine.
"So what do you need from me?" She asked.
"Vikram informed me that there's something I need to know about you. A sort of…recent development."
"And if there is…why do you need to know?"
"He hinted that it could be a potential threat to our situation. I need to know everything, Kate, if you want to stay alive."
"I'm pregnant." She stated without emotion. Somehow, whoever this was made her trust him. She knew, from basic detective training, that she shouldn't. But her instincts told her he was there to help her.
"I thought so." He replied.
"How did you know?" She asked, skeptical. She knew he had been watching from afar, but it suddenly stuck her that both men she worked with seemed to have seen it even before she had.
"It was obvious in the way your mood changed. And you didn't drink coffee starting Wednesday morning. You always drink coffee in the mornings." It was slightly eerie to Kate just how much this guy noticed about her. Sure, she had stopped drinking coffee when she'd found out. But it wasn't like she ever made a big deal of drinking her coffee in the mornings.
"I could see a change in Rick, too." He added a silent moment later, "mostly in the way he treated you. Suddenly with so much more care. It was like his protective father came out when you told him."
"You know about my husband?" She asked, throat growing dry. At least until now she had thought that trusting this man was only tracking her work life. Now she knew that wasn't true.
"Like I said, Kate, I need to know as much as I can in order to keep you safe. But I can tell you are still holding back information from me because you're not sure you should trust me. I can protect you better if you trust me."
"I find it difficult to trust a person who is so intently keeping their identity a secret."
He paused for a long moment, and Kate almost feared he had hung up. But his voice came back a moment later.
"You already know who I am, Kate. If you think hard enough, I trust it will come to you."
Kate was silent for a moment, trying to riddle out what he had said. And it came to her moments later. There was only one person in her life who kept to the shadows and would go to lengths to keep her family safe. One person. And suddenly everything made sense.
"You're his father…" she said into the phone, immediately regretting it. She knew the trouble he had gone to in order to keep his identity hidden. But she had never specified whose father he was.
"Good, Kate." He said, seeming not to have picked up her accidental slip-up, "we need to hang up now. This conversation has gone on for too long to be safe anymore. Just remember that I'm always behind you, waiting in the shadows. I won't let you down. I'll keep your family safe. But just know, it isn't safe to tell Rick. Not yet, anyway. He needs to stay as far from this as possible."
"I won't tell him." She assured him, "our secret's safe."
She heard the soft click of the phone on the other line and took the phone from her ear, pressing end.
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. And just know...I am strongly against Kate and Rick EVER breaking up (they're my OTP) so don't fear! I am a writer of happy endings! Love you guys!