"Kate. Kate, wake up, please."

She knew this voice. It was Rick's. He was putting a wet washcloth on her forehead. It was so cold. Why was he doing that? She felt tired and wanted to sleep some more. Why wake up now?

"Come on Kate. Come back to us." she heard him pleed again.

He seemed concerned. And who the hell was 'us'? She tried to open her eyes but her eyelids were too heavy. He had seen the movement though.

"Come on Kate, I know you can hear me. I saw you move. Come on."

After a few more seconds, she finally managed to open her eyes. His face, worried, was right above hers. He stroke her hair with his fingers and smiled, relieved. She smiled back, weakly, glad to know he was there for her.

"That's it." Rick encouraged. "I was so worried."

Her mind was definetely a blur. She remembered going back to her grandparents loft and the argument. She remembered most of what her grandmother had spit out at her, about her and her mother.

She finally recognized the room she was in. It was her grandparent's loft's living room. She was laying on the couch and Rick was kneeled on the floor, still putting the wet washcloth on her forehead. "Rick?" she said, barely above a whisper.

"Yes, Kate. It's me. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." she lied. Her head spinning as she sat up. "But I'm really confused. I'm sure you can clarify everything for me later." she paused. She tried to stand up, but her knees were to weak and she fell back on the couch.

"Hey, you might want to wait a bit before you start walking around like that."

"Rick, forget about later. I want to know what happened." he nodded and just stared at her. She arched a brow. "Now?"

"Oh, right! You passed out while they were fighting. Do you remember the fight?" she nodded "I caught you right before you hit you head." he said, proudly.

Kate could hear her grandfather. He was in another room and whatever he was saying sounded muffled. She couldn't tell who he was talking to either. She couldn't hear any other voices. "Is Erin still here?"

Rick shook his head. "She went out after your grandfather told her to leave." he paused for a moment, remembering how Phillip had said it wasn't Kate's fault, but Erin's, because she had been the one to push Johanna away and how he couldn't stand her and her drinking any longer. "Apparentely, they're getting a divorce."

Kate's eyes filled with tears, the thought of being the motive for her grandparents' break-up. She still felt kind of dizzy, even though she was back to laying on the couch. She recklessly and stubbornly tried to stand up, but ended up falling back on the couch. Again. "Woah, slow down. What did I just tell you? You've fainted, you can't expect to be well enough out of the sudden to stand up that fast!"

Her grandfather walked in the room before she had time to say anything back. He looked relieved to see her awake. "Kitty-Kat!" he rushed to her side, hesitating as she moved away from him. "I'm glad you're okay. I just got off the phone. I was talking to your father, letting him know what was going on here."

Kate was taken aback by the information, her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, not letting any sound come out, until she finally composed herself and managed to say something. "Wh-What did he say?"

Again, her grandfather hesitated. "Just spill it, Phillip! I can handle whatever that is!"

"He said he doesn't care. That he can't deal with it right now." he looked down to his feet.

Hearing that really hurt Kate, but she worked hard enough on her poker face and didn't let herself look that way. Rick seemed to notice, though. He put a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her. "What time is it?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"It's already 1, Katie. Are you hungry? I can fix us all something to eat." Phillip offered, trying to change the subject and make the rest of the day better.

"No, not hungry at all. You hungry, Rick?" he shook his head. "I'm just tired. Rick, will you help me upstairs?"

"I will." he put Kate's arm around his neck and his own around her waist, lifting her up and leading her slowly to the room upstairs. Phillip tried to help, but Kate sent him the same death glare his Joey used to and he knew he shouldn't come any closer.

Rick noticed an absurd amount of mystery novels on her bookcase, as they entered the bedroom, but decided not to comment.

He scooped her up in his arms, surprised that she didn't fight him, and placed her on the bed, tucking her in. He kissed her forehead and moved away to sit on a chair by her desk, but she grabbed his arm. "Lay here with me? Please." he nodded, took his shoes off and layed there with her.

She snuggled up on his side, her arm crossing his chest and her head resting on it, as he stroke her hair, and she quickly fell asleep. He placed her head on the nearest pillow as soon as she was out, put his shoes back on and headed down stairs to the living room's couch, where Phillip still sat.

"Mr. Beckett?"

Phillip looked up from his hands, at Rick. "Oh, no, son. I'm not a Beckett. I'm a Mason. Katie's father, Jim, is a Beckett. And you can call me Phillip."

"Okay, sir, thank you. I wanted to formally introduce myself to you." he raised a hand, saying his name and the older man shook it. "I live in the building and go to the same school as Kate. We are... great friends."

"Sorry, son, but I can see you are way more than friends. The way you look at each other says enough."

Rick blushed. He knew he did, he could feel the warmth on his cheeks and neck. "Sir, would it be okay with you, if I-I asked her to be my girlfriend?"

"It'd be more than okay with me, as long as it's okay with her."

"Thank you, sir." he grinned. "Thank you."

"Just take care of my little girl, okay? I can't lose her. She's all I have left."

"I will, always. I promise."