June 2009

"What's put that smile on your face?"

"Hello, Mother."

Martha crossed the loft toward him to cast an eye over his efforts in the kitchen.

"Pizza," he said, and she raised her eyebrows.

"You're that lit up over pizza? Really?" She cast a discerning glance over the countertop. "And might I suggest that even with the way you cook, that's a little too much pizza for just you, Alexis and I, so… we're having visitors tonight I'm assuming?"

He nodded. "Kate's coming over."

"Kate. I see. And… you're cooking her pizza?"

"What's wrong with pizza?" he asked, slicing through the mushrooms. "Besides. It's not just Kate. Ramona will be here too."

"Mmm-hmm."

"What?" He narrowed his eyes. "If you've got something to say, just say it."

"Well… it's awfully soon to be inviting her around for dinner with her daughter, isn't it?"

"It's not like that," he insisted, his stomach sinking as he lied to his mother and to himself. "We're just friends."

"Oh, Richard." Martha lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "You may think you're deluding yourself, but I can assure you I'm not fooled for a second."

He shook his head, his eyes on the ham as he concentrated on cutting it into ribbons. "I know. She just got divorced. It's… soon. Too soon. So yes, we're just friends. And if something…" He shook his head, the memory of his inadvertent kiss warming his cheeks. "Slowly. We're taking things slowly."

Martha nodded, her eyebrows raised in disbelief, and he sighed.

He could go slow.

He could.

Ramona swung her legs, kicking anything within reach, and Kate shot her another look.

"Not hungry, Mommy," she complained, her second slice of pizza sitting on her plate as everyone else ate and Kate shook her head in warning.

"Then sit still and wait for everyone else to be finished."

Ramona nodded, and Kate sighed in relief; peace was brokered, for a second at least.

"Richard tells me you're a lawyer," Martha said, and she nodded. "That must be very interesting! All those court cases. Witnesses lying in the box, judges shouting for order!"

Kate laughed. "I'm a corporate lawyer. I haven't seen the inside of a courtroom since law school." And her first time had been when she watched her mother's killer plead guilty. She shook the dark thought away. "I'm afraid most of my work is in mergers. Company law, that kind of thing."

"Oh. Well. We can't all be artistic," Martha dismissed, and Kate chuckled at the look Rick threw his mother, so reminiscent of the warning glare she'd just fixed on Ramona.

"Well I think that sounds important," Alexis said, and Kate grinned, pleased to have the vote of confidence. Obviously the younger girl was the diplomat in the family.

"I don't know that it's that important," she admitted, exchanging a confiding grin with Alexis. "But I always wanted to be a lawyer." Not always. "This is really great, Rick."

He beamed. "My key to feeding kids- feed them things you can stand to eat too. Makes for much happier mealtimes. Pizza's easy. Ham and pineapple on one, interesting ingredients on ours."

"Hey!" Alexis protested. "I was never a fussy eater. Was I?"

Rick shook his head. "As long as you'd helped me in the kitchen, you were usually pretty good at eating everything."

Alexis grinned, turning to Ramona. "Are you full? Or do you want to try a piece of mine?" Ramona nodded, reaching a tiny hand out to accept the piece Alexis cut for her. "Yum," Alexis encouraged.

Kate grinned at the two of them, taking a last bite of her dinner. For all Rick had claimed Alexis had mostly raised herself, she could see he'd actually done a fabulous job parenting her. The teenager had been great with Ramona all evening; her three year old had insisted she sit next to Alexis the moment she'd laid eyes on her.

"I can clear the table," Alexis said, standing and reaching for the plates, and Rick smiled at her.

"Thanks, Pumpkin."

"Thanks, Alexis," Kate echoed, startling as her cell rang in her purse, the high pitched tone slicing through the amiable mood. "Excuse me."

"Have you been drinking?"

Rick cringed as Kate lowered her voice to speak into the phone.

"No. If I'd known you intended to tuck her in of course I would have been there. But honestly, I don't really think it's a good idea for you to be there when we get home."

"Daddy?" Ramona asked, her eyes darting to Kate, and Alexis shrugged, reaching for the little girl's hand.

"I don't know." Alexis' gaze went to him before falling back to Ramona. "But hey, while your mom is on the phone do you want to come upstairs with me? I have some picture books up there. We could choose something to read?"

Rick smiled at Alexis in gratitude, and Ramona nodded. "Up. Read books." She tugged on Alexis' hand and he watched them climb the staircase before waving Kate toward his office.

"If you need some privacy," he whispered, and she nodded, mouthing her thanks.

"I'm at a friend's place, Gabe. No- you don't know them."

Rick clenched his teeth, the non-gendered personal pronoun grating on him. She shouldn't have to lie to her ex-husband.

"Darling, you knew it wouldn't be easy," Martha said, and he shrugged.

"I just want to help her," he said, stacking the plates into the dishwasher.

"Then be her friend," his mother urged. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have plans- bid Kate farewell for me, won't you?"

"Sure." He managed a weak smile.

"Oh, chin up, Kiddo," Martha said. "It won't be easy. But… she's worth it, Richard, and don't you let any roadblocks tell you otherwise. Mark my words, though, you need to tread gently."

"I'm treading gently," he protested, and his mother raised an eyebrow before heading for the front door.

He could do gentle. And slow. But he couldn't stand by and do nothing.

He sighed, pouring a glass of wine and topping Kate's up too as he leaned against the counter.

"Hey." Kate's voice was hesitant as she returned from his office.

"Hey."

"It's, uh-" she pointed. "It's really… it's like the Batcave in there."

He chuckled. "You like it?"

"Yeah. I do. The whole place, actually." She looked around, her eyes wide. "I didn't really stop to take it all in before, but it's amazing."

"I like to have a place I can retreat to," he told her, and her eyes clouded over.

"Yeah. I'd like that too. Where's Ramona?"

"The girls are upstairs. Alexis has a ton of picture books. And my mother went out-"

"Your mom went out?" Her eyebrow lifted, the surprise evident.

"Trust me, whatever you might read in the papers, my mother has the most active social life of anyone in this house by far."

"Good to know." She lowered her gaze, and he handed her the wine glass he'd just filled for her.

"Everything okay?"

She shook her head. "Not- not really. Gabe doesn't really drink-" she cast a wry look at the wine glass in her hand before taking a sip. "But when he does he goes all out, and it sounds like he started early today. He's…"

"He's not violent is he?"

"No! No, not at all. Really." She laid a palm on his arm and he froze, his breath catching for a moment before she dropped her hand. "But he's arrogant at the best of times, and when he's been drinking, he's downright rude and belligerent. So I'm not really looking forward to going back to the apartment. He's been staying in a hotel, but apparently he's chosen tonight to sleep at home."

Rick stared across the room. She couldn't go home. Not to that. Not with Ramona. A home was meant to be a sanctuary, not a battleground. "Stay here," he blurted out, the words tumbling from his mouth before he could catch them. "I just mean- we have a guest room. I know Ramona's already tired- there's a bath upstairs, and Alexis can find you a shirt to sleep in, and the two of you can share the bed, and-"

She leaned against the counter next to him, reaching out again, this time entwining her hand with his. "I couldn't intrude like that," she said, and he shook his head.

"No. You wouldn't be intruding. Because we have the space, and-" he sighed, dropping her hand and spinning so they were facing each other. "Kate. It just- I know you said he's not violent, but the thought of you walking into that makes me really uncomfortable. I'm not going to make you stay, but I wish you would."

"Really?"

"Really." He reached out again, squeezing her hand, and leaning forward.

"Mommy!" Ramona called from upstairs and Kate chuckled, pulling away from him as she set her wine glass on the counter.

"Shall we go upstairs?" she asked. "And I can bathe Ramona and put her to bed?"

"Sounds good."

He trailed behind her, unable to stop the words tumbling from his mouth. "The bathroom is Alexis' bathroom, and the bed in the spare room is already made up. I'll get you some towels, and now the books that Alexis is reading will be a bedtime story, and-"

"Rick," she said, peering over her shoulder and he stopped.

"Sorry."

"It's okay." Her soft tone loosened the tension he was carrying. "But let's take it easy. If she won't sleep here it's not worth pushing it."

He nodded, knocking on the open door to Alexis' room, smiling to see the three year old curled into his daughter.

"I think she's falling asleep," Alexis whispered, and Ramona shook her head.

"Not sleepy." But her heavy eyelids told a different story.

"We might even skip the bath," Kate said. "Come here, sweetie. You want to have a sleepover?"

"I sleep here?" Ramona asked, climbing down from the bed to look up at Alexis, and Kate shook her head.

"Not in with Alexis. But in with me-"

"Next door," Rick clarified. "The guest room is next door to Alexis' room."

"Next door," Kate continued, and Ramona nodded.

"Mommy, we read books. With elephants."

"Elephants, huh?"

"Like you," she said, curling into Kate and poking a hand into her mother's ribcage. "Elephants like you."

"Uh- we read Five Minutes' Peace," Alexis explained, and Kate chuckled.

"I don't know that one."

"Like mommy," Ramona repeated, her hand bunching at Kate's shirt and pulling it up. "See?"

Rick swallowed, taking a step back. Skin. So much Kate skin. And a fine dark line- His jaw dropped as he realized just what Ramona meant. An elephant. On Kate. On her ribcage. Oh. He'd like to see- She pushed her shirt back down, shaking her head at Ramona.

"Elephants," she agreed. "But we don't need to show everyone now."

"Not now…" Rick managed, and Kate shot him a dark look that could have been annoyance, or… arousal? "Um." He blinked, clearing the image. "Alexis, do you have anything that Ramona could sleep in? A shirt or something? And for Kate, too?"

"Sure." Alexis stood up, scrambling through her dresser and producing a couple of t-shirts and some leggings. "The sizes aren't right- for either of you," she laughed.

"Thanks, Alexis," Kate said, taking them and lifting Ramona up. "Can you recommend me another book or two? I'll go tuck this sleepy girl in."

Alexis handed over a couple, and Ramona raised her head from where it rested on Kate's shoulder, pointing at the one on top.

"Elephants," she said again. "Like mommy's picture."

Staying the night.

That was… unexpected. To say the least. But Rick had looked so earnest. And the idea of walking into a fight with a sleeping child in her arms was in no way appealing… what was the harm, if Ramona was happy to sleep here?

Kate ran her hand through her daughter's hair, smiling at the sight of her sleep slackened face, and stood, tiptoeing from the bed. Ramona was sprawled out - and just how a three year old could take up that much room she had no idea - and as she slipped into the hallway, closing the door behind her, she made her way down the stairs, only to pause on the second step.

"Do you know what you're doing, Dad?" Alexis' voice carried, and she froze, not wanting to interrupt their conversation.

"Of course I do, Sweetie," Rick assured her. They were silent a moment, and she heard the clink of glasses against the counter and footfall across the loft.

"I don't want you to get hurt. I know you like her," Alexis said, and Kate squeezed her eyes shut. She definitely should not be listening to this.

"I do like her."

Kate concentrated on keeping her breathing even. He liked her. The feeling was mutual. And terrifying.

"I like her a lot. And you don't need to worry, okay? I know what I'm doing."

Kate cleared her throat, making a show of treading heavily on the steps as she walked down the stairs, and Rick and Alexis whirled around, identical looks of guilt on their faces.

"I was just going up to bed," Alexis said. "Good night, Kate."

"Night," she called to her retreating back.

Kate watched Alexis climb the stairs before turning her gaze to Rick.

"Is everything okay?"

"Fine… how much did you hear?"

"Enough to guess you were talking about me," she confessed, dropping her eyes.

"Sit," he urged her, indicating to the sofas, and she sank down into the closest couch, watching him pick up their wine from the counter.

"So…" she said, accepting the glass he offered her. "You told Alexis you know what you're doing?"

"I-uh-" He shrugged, his features comically helpless. "I may have… oversold that a little."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning…" he shifted in, closer to her, and she was acutely aware of the heat radiating off him, the bulge of his arms through the button down he'd been wearing all evening. "Meaning I have no idea."

He reached out, a tentative touch as he ran his index finger across her wrist where her shirt had inched its way up her arm, and she watched as goosebumps formed, the hairs standing up straight, a shiver running through her veins. Oh.

"No idea," he murmured again, leaning in, his lips brushing against hers so softly, and she reached for his glass, setting it - and hers - on the table behind the sofa before inching closer, deepening the kiss. He tasted like wine and she let out an unintended gasp. Her mouth opened further, inviting him in and moving forward, his hand tangled into her hair as hers gripped his waist.

He shifted back, the movement startling her, a smile dancing on his lips.

"An elephant?" he asked, and she shrugged, feeling her cheeks warm. "I'd love to hear the story."

She shook her head. Tell him about seventeen-year-old Katie Beckett, wild-child?

That girl with her fake ID announcing her as an eighteen year old to anyone who cared to ask - surprisingly few had - had been a different person, her bravado a mere front as she'd held Maddie's hand while the needle stung her skin. Her mother's eyes had darkened with sadness when Kate had confessed what she'd done. "You'll regret it. One day I'll say I told you so." But she'd laughed and hugged her when she'd seen her favorite animal inked on her daughter's skin, whispered a belated blessing. "It's beautiful, Katie."

"There is no story."

"I find that hard to believe," he said, and she lifted a shoulder in response, leaning back in and pressing her mouth against his. He smiled, lips curling as he kissed her back for a moment.

"Are you okay?" she asked, his hesitance apparent in the tap of his fingers against his jeans.

"I meant what I said- I don't know how to do this. I- it's not just us at stake here, Kate."

She nodded, sinking into the cushions. "It's very… new," she offered, and he nodded.

"Very."

"So… what do we do?"

"Keep taking it slow," he suggested. "Which means… I have to stop kissing you, in case you don't make it upstairs to the guest room. I have to stop kissing you so I can stop thinking of how much I want to take your hand and lead you over to my bedroom." He pointed toward the office, and she swallowed; she'd peeked into his room when she'd been on the phone earlier. "I have to stop kissing you…" He leaned in again, pressing a last, longing kiss to her lips and she raised a hand to her mouth as he drew back, his eyes locked with hers.

He reached for the wine glasses, handing her hers and taking a sip from his own, the serious expression falling from his face.

"I have to stop kissing you… now. But Kate- you have no idea how much I'm looking forward to seeing your tattoo properly one day."

A/N: Thank you guys for all your kind words and messages and reviews and tweets, and thanks Kylie and Jamie for the beta. x