Hope 11

Kate was leading Rick down the concourse headed for the security area. She had hold of his hand and was smiling wide even though Rick wasn't. It was almost time to show off her boyfriend to her dad who she was sure was going to love him.

Rick, for his part, was still quaking in his boots so to speak though he was starting to feel better about meeting Kate's dad. Her enthusiasm and conviction that her dad was going to love him was finally starting to rub off. It didn't hurt that Kate was smiling every time she turned to look at him.

"DAD!" Kate finally let go of Rick so she could hug her dad.

"Katie!" Jim hugged her back. The almost entire day delay of her getting here had taxed his patience.

Kate let go of him. "Dad, this is Rick. Rick this is my dad, Jim." Kate suddenly realized she'd never told Rick his name.

"Rick." Jim held out his hand and then shook Rick's hand.

Rick tried to smile at him, but it wasn't easy. "Mr. Beckett."

"Just call me Jim, it's easier on all of us. So… how was your layover in Chicago?" Jim hadn't talked to them since finding out their flight had been ultimately canceled.

"It was fine, Dad, promise." Kate wanted out of the airport. It was going to be good to see New York again. If she was honest with herself she had missed it.

"They gave us a hotel room as compensation," Rick replied.

Jim glared at his daughter. "Just one room?"

Rick shrugged. "As if any airline was going to do more." Rick counted his stars that they had even gotten anything in compensation.

"DAD! Rick was perfect, so relax. Besides he's my boyfriend." Actually Rick had been almost more than perfect. Kate had counted this time and was sure that she'd had seven orgasms before they both got tired and ended up falling asleep, naked in each others arms. Seven orgasms had been a new record and Kate seriously wondered if she was capable of having more. Maybe another day she would talk Rick into trying to give her as many as he could.

Jim looked Rick over again and decided that he was a vast improvement over all of her other boyfriends. Jim questioned them to find out if they needed to wait at the baggage carousel. "Any other bags?"

Rick responded for both of them. "Just what we're carrying, sir… uh, Jim," he added after the fact.

"Then let's go." Jim wrapped his arm around Kate and let Rick carry both of the bags.

"How's school? Sure you still want to be a lawyer?" Jim knew just what it took to be a lawyer.

"Classes are hard and, yes, I'm still sure. Plus Rick has been helping me a little." Kate was doing what Rick was letting her do. Read what she was writing before handing it in. She was pretty sure he was the reason she was getting at least one of the grades she was getting. Her papers were perfect thanks to him.

"And you, Rick, what are you majoring in?" Jim turned his head to look behind him.

"Rick's a writer, Dad, and he's pretty good," Kate quickly answered.

"I'm majoring in creative writing with a minor in English. And Kate's being generous." Rick wasn't sure he was that great yet.

"He's being modest. You should see some of the stuff he dreams up. He's very imaginative and talented." Kate looked at him and smiled. She was only too willing to overlook that some of his imaginative ideas were not to her taste. But it was true that her taste didn't follow the public. A lot of books she liked to read weren't that popular.

"You got a new car!" Kate looked it over, unsure it was his.

"Yeah, I decided that I wanted a car that had a warranty. It even has that new car smell still." Jim smiled as he opened the trunk to allow Rick to put their bags inside.

Kate didn't recognize the route he was taking. She knew where she was, just not where he was going. "Have you moved too?"

"No, same old place. There's a lot of construction going on around me right now. For once I'm glad I'm a heavy sleeper. The noise they're making is unbelievable. It seems the only thing they aren't doing is blasting." Jim rolled his eyes then added, "You two might want ear plugs." He missed seeing Kate turn to look in the back seat and smile at Rick. It was her telling Rick that she was right about her dad being a heavy sleeper.

Kate turned back around to watch where they were going. She had plans on making love to Rick every day they were here. Get Rick to sneak into her room and fuck his brains out.

Rick asked his first question as Jim drove. "What type of lawyer are you? I mean, do you own your own business or are you part of a law firm?"

"The office that I'm a part of works mostly with corporations. We have a number of clients. It might be a bit boring, but it pays well. Occasionally there's a challenge, but mostly it's simple work." Jim was actually glad that none of his clients got into much trouble. Though he did work hard at making sure they didn't get into trouble.

"Here we are. No place like home." Jim found a place and parked on the street.

"You know where your room is, Katie. Rick, the sofa pulls out into a bed. It might not be the most comfortable bed, but it's all I've got." Jim felt a little bad about that. Just that it had always been just him and his daughter. "Let me find some sheets, a blanket, and a pillow and you'll be all set, Rick." Jim left them in the living room and headed for his bedroom to search.

"See Castle, my dad's nice. He hasn't shot you." Kate stepped in close and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"It's still early," Rick countered nervously only to have Kate laugh a little before she kissed him.

"Find your laptop and let him read what you've written. His taste is a little more your style." Kate thought he might actually like Rick's story about the perfect murder.

"Here we are." Jim announced himself but didn't miss seeing Kate take her arms down from around Rick's neck. It told him a lot.

"I've been procrastinating so I need to go to the store or we're going to starve."

"You don't have the turkey yet, Dad?!" Kate was shocked. It was going to take forever to thaw the bird. "I guess we're having ham." She liked both but had been looking forward to a traditional turkey.

"I know a trick if you have a crock pot. It'll have to be a pretty small turkey, but it also means we won't be eating turkey for days if not weeks." Rick smiled crookedly, trying to make a joke out of it.

"A turkey in a crock pot?" Jim had never heard of such a thing.

"Something my mother taught me. Mother isn't much of a cook, but she learned a lot of recipes that involved the use of a crock pot. Since there were only the two of us it also meant we didn't have much in the way of leftovers." Rick had learned to be thankful for that.

"What happened to your father? If I may ask." Jim was curious. He needed to learn about this boy that his daughter had brought home with her.

"I don't know who my father is. It's always been just my mom and me." Rick hoped he understood.

"Something we have in common, Dad." Kate meant them and her mother.

"So where's your mother? Is she here in New York?"

"Mother's an actress. Her play is presently in Kansas City. We do have a place here in New York. It's a little place over in the Bronx."

"Well I'm going to go shopping and let you two unpack. I'll see if I can find a turkey that will fit in a crock pot. That or we're having ham. No promises." Jim wasn't willing to commit to what he was going to find.

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Jim tried to be quiet and catch them at something. Kissing heavily on his sofa came to mind. He wanted an excuse to come down on Rick's head. To make sure he knew just how much Katie meant to him and to find out just what were Rick's intentions toward her. If it was all about sex, he was going to castrate him.

Granted, while Kate and Rick had done a little heavy petting on said sofa, Kate still had enough of her brain functioning to get them to stop before she let Rick take her.

Right now Kate was searching the kitchen for a snack since neither of them had stopped for breakfast. While lunch was coming up soon, she was hungry. Plus she was going to need all the energy she could get. Rick was so going to fuck her tonight.

For his part, Rick was in the bathroom willing his erection to go down. Kate had ground her hand all over him until he was about ready to explode. Of course, he'd retaliated by sliding his hand down the inside of her pants and slipping a finger inside of her.

Hearing, "Hi, Dad!" told him that her father was back. Still he had a problem to deal with before he could join them.

Rick had joined them just in time to hear, "We're having ham for Thanksgiving. You wouldn't believe the size of the turkeys that were left. And they were all still frozen," Jim announced.

"That's okay, Dad, ham's fine. What about all the side dishes?" Ham couldn't be the only thing they were eating.

Kate watched her dad place a container that had already made stuffing on the counter. All that was needed was to heat it up in the oven. Then there was a similar container from the deli that was full of au gratin potatoes. And another that had macaroni salad in it. Followed by yet another brimming with green beans. She was used to it since neither of them knew how to cook. She'd actually grown up on take-out. It was just that Rick was here and she wanted a real Thanksgiving dinner as a family.

"This is nice, Dad, but…" Kate stopped when she saw her dad pull out a bag of marshmallows, a bag of flaked coconut, some tangerines, and lastly, a container of whipped topping. "Ambrosia Salad." She beamed and kissed his cheek.

"It doesn't require any cooking, just some mixing of ingredients." Jim thought it was brilliant. Besides he'd made it before.

"What about…" Kate stopped talking when Jim placed a tube of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls next to all the other items. "Hopefully we won't burn them this time." Jim laughed at himself. He wasn't a gourmet chief and they both knew it. Kate, though, smiled widely and hugged him.

"I love you, Dad." She suddenly hoped she never had to choose between the two men in her life. She loved both of them so very much.

Rick announced his arrival. "Ham."

"Yep, you should have seen the turkeys that they had. The smallest was 25 pounds. We would be eating left over turkey for weeks. Well… I would anyway." Kate and Rick would be going back to school leaving him to deal with all the leftovers. Not that there would be much in the way of leftovers. One of the things about not cooking, was that he didn't have much in the way of Tupperware either.

"Oh, and I brought home this." Jim pulled out the last item and placed it on the counter.

Kate picked it up and studied it. Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Quick Bread Mix. "You have a bread machine?" Just when had her dad gotten one of those?

"It's new; it was a gift." Suddenly Kate saw her dad starting to look nervous. She was willing to overlook the fact that the bread was something they'd never had before, but she had to wonder who would have given a bread machine to her dad and why. He was hiding something and she wanted to know what it was. "What's going on?" Her dad didn't cook. Granted a bread machine still wasn't cooking, but it was close enough. Kate set the box down on the counter and glared at her dad. He was going to talk or he was never leaving this kitchen.

"I, um…" Jim had been dreading this part. "There's going to be four of us tomorrow for Thanksgiving." Jim scrunched up his face and hoped his daughter didn't hit him.

"Four!" How in the world could there be four?

"I'm just going to go over there." Rick randomly pointed in a direction.

Kate stopped him in his tracks. "You move and you die, Castle." She glared at her father. "What's going on?" She wanted answers and wanted them now.

"I… I may have invited someone over to join us." Jim swallowed hard, awaiting his daughter's wrath.

"You invited someone? Who? Dad…" He wasn't talking fast enough.

"Her name is Veronica. And she's nice. Plus she knows how to cook." Jim tried to offer a bright spot to this.

"Veronica." Kate repeated her name until a light bulb went on over her head. "You have a girlfriend! And you're only just now telling me about her?" Kate was so ready to hurt him.

Jim retreated back a step. "She's a good woman, Katie, you'll like her. She knows all about you. Well almost everything." He turned to look at Rick.

Kate took a quick peek at Rick before turning her daggers back at her father. It was true, she'd sprung Rick on her dad. She was convinced that her dad would love him. It was just she hadn't ever thought about her dad finding someone. AND NOT EVEN TELLING HER ABOUT HER!

"Start talking. Who is she and where did you meet her? Seriously, Dad? You wait till Thanksgiving to tell me?" Kate didn't know why she was mad, she just was. It wasn't like she wanted her dad to be unhappy, because she didn't. But he could have told her before now!

"Really, Katie? A surprise?" Jim turned to look at Rick who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was.

"Rick's different. I love him!"

"And you don't think that I love Veronica?" Why else would he have invited her to meet his daughter.

"You love her?" Kate instantly calmed down. Her dad had finally found someone! Why wasn't she happy for him? She should be happy for him. He was here alone. "Who is she and where did you meet her?" she asked far more softly. If this woman was important to her dad, she needed to learn more about her.

Rick added his 2 cents. "Veronica in Latin means True Image or Honest Image." Kate threw eye daggers at him. "Just saying."

Jim suddenly decided he liked Rick. "Give her a chance, Katie; she's sweet and is looking forward to meeting you. She'll be here for breakfast tomorrow. She's even going to help us cook all this." Jim had insisted on her not taking over the kitchen. He wanted his daughter to like her and not feel like she was taking over. He resigned himself and succumbed to the daggers his daughter was still firing his way.

"Her name is Veronica Miracle. She's an ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist in New Jersey where she has an office. She's pretty good at her job, too." Jim was proud of her.

"An eye specialist." Kate wasn't sure what she had been expecting but that wasn't it. "And where did you two meet?"

"She's a client for our office. …Not one of mine," Jim hastily added. "It took me weeks of running into her either accidentally or on purpose before I asked her out. I'm still amazed she said yes." She was intelligent, gorgeous, and kind. She was so far above him, far more lovely than he deserved. He'd been convinced that she was going to say no. But she hadn't. She'd even pressed him to invite her over for Thanksgiving so she could meet his daughter.

"Veronica is half Japanese. Her mother is from Osaka. She graduated from University of Mellbourne. She's a widow." Jim took a deep breath. "And I care about her…a lot. Please give her a chance, Katie." He really wanted these two to get along.

"She cooks," Rick commented helpfully. Plus Jim hadn't shot him yet and it looked like he wasn't going to poison him with the food or remove an arm or a leg. Rick did his best to look at Kate. "You sprung me on your dad. Give his girl a chance."

"Fine, I'll give this Veronica a chance to impress me. For you, Dad." She did want her dad happy and if this Veronica did that, she could give her a shot.

"Thanks, Katie." Jim hugged her. "She'll be here a little after 8:00 tomorrow morning. She said she was bringing everything with her." He meant fixings for breakfast.

"How long have you known her?" If they'd been together before she left for college she was going to hurt him.

"Not counting the weeks it took me to ask her out, about 3 months, give or take." Jim sucked at keeping track of anniversaries. He'd already explained that to Veronica. She had simply laughed at him and then kissed him.

"A hot breakfast tomorrow." Rick started smiling and waggled his eyebrows at Kate a couple of times.

Kate relaxed a little and actually gave a small smile. "This had better be the best breakfast I've ever had."