"What? What's happening?" Kate almost yelled, startled when the person had jumped on them on the bed and whispered something she had not understood in her ear.

Rick had been struggling with the bedside lamp but when it was finally turned on and he saw who was laying on his girlfriend, he just lost it.

"Meredith? What are you doing here? It's … three in the morning!" he said after checking the alarm clock. And then, suddenly, he pushed her out of the bed.

"Rick! Be careful, I think she's drunk." Kate said, kneeling on the bed to look over the edge where Meredith had fallen.

"I am not drunk!" she said, getting up and straightening her clothes. "What's going on here?"

"What's going on? YOU are asking what's going on? You're the one who's jumped on us at three in the morning!" Rick yelled.

"Rick, you're going to wake Alexis up." Kate said, trying to get him to calm down by moving her hand up and down his back.

"What are you doing here?" Meredith asked Kate.

"I live here!" Kate said. "Now, answer the question. What are you doing here?" she asked, using her detective voice.

"Well, I have an audition early in the morning so I took an earlier flight so I could sleep here."

"Well, you can sleep on the couch, or in one of the rooms upstairs but you're certainly not sleeping in MY bed." Kate said. "Now, I have the week off so I would like to sleep."

"But Kitten …"

"Kitten is taken. He's MY Kitten now so back off. And if I ever see you trying something like that again I'll make sure you never enter this loft again. Do you understand?" Kate asked, her face red with rage.

"Sure, whatever. He's gonna throw you away like the others anyway." Meredith shrugged, eyes widening when she saw Kate start to jump on her, only to be restrained by Rick's arms around her waist.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

When Kate walked in the kitchen in the morning, she groaned when she saw Meredith sitting at the kitchen counter. She got two mugs out of the cabinet and turned the coffee maker on, searching for cereals while it was brewing.

"Meredith? What are you still doing here? I thought you had an early audition." Rick said, walking in the kitchen. "It 10." he continued, sitting on a stool near Kate and putting a hand on her thigh.

"I do. It's in an hour."

"You call 11 an early audition? Really?" Kate asked, still not having accepted their early wake up call.

"Well, it's before lunch, so it's early." Meredith answered seriously.

Kate was trying really hard not to laugh. She was saved by Alexis coming down the stairs with a large suitcase already packed.

"You know the plane is only at 6 tonight right?" Meredith asked, looking strangely at her daughter .

"Yeah, but it's already packed and since I'll go to have lunch with Paige, I won't have to drag it downstairs when I'm in a hurry." she laughed, kissing her dad and Kate on the cheek before taking a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Oh she's back in town for the holidays? She's the one who's in Boston right?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. She's majoring in math."

"Well, there are crazy people on this planet." Rick said, laughing.

"Who's Paige?" Meredith asked.

"Really mom? She's my best friend. She has been for more than ten years now!" Alexis answered, angry. "Well, I have to go. We plan on gossiping all afternoon so we better start early." she laughed. "I'll see you around four!" she added, going out the door.

"Well, I'd better get going too. Wouldn't want to be late for this major audition" Meredith said, emphasizing major, wanting Rick to ask her about it. When he didn't, she just gathered her things and left the loft.

"Uh! I thought she would never leave!" Kate said, letting her head drop on the counter.

"I'm sorry about last night." Rick said, getting off his stool and hugging Kate form behind.

"Well, it's not as if you could know she would show up." Kate said, leaning against him. "I'm sorry for the way I acted it was …"

"So hot!" Rick couldn't help finishing for her.

"Really?" Kate laughed.

"Yeah. I love it when you get all possessive. And the way you were ready to jump on her, oh my God, it was sooooo hot." Rick said, kissing her neck.

"Well, I don't like being jumped on when I'm sleeping, that's all. And then she tried to seduce you even with me in the bed? I'm sorry but I can't let that happen. You're mine and that's all there is to it. She was stupid enough to let you go, serves her right. I'm not going to do the same mistake."

"I love when you talk like that." Rick said, kissing her passionately.

"Well, I'm sorry to tell you that but you're stuck with me for good." she said, smiling at him.

"That's fine by me." he replied, kissing her quickly once more.

"Hey, what do you say we go to the cemetery now? We could go have lunch at Remy's afterwards." Kate proposed.

"Sure! let's go!" Rick declared, lifting her from the stool.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

When they arrived at the cemetery, Kate stopped Rick.

"Do you mind letting me have a few minutes alone first?"

"Of course not Kate. I'm honored you asked me to come with you. Just make me a sign when you want me to join you." He answered, kissing her forehead before watching her walk ahead to her mother's grave.

For a while, he walked around, looking at the different graves but his eyes seemed to be irresistibly drawn to Kate. She was kneeling in front of her mother's grave, and seemed to be talking to her. With her red winter coat and her long brown hair, she looked like a little girl. He couldn't imagine what she must be feeling. Having lost a parent that way must be awful, for lack of a better word. He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw her stand up and look at him. He took that as his cue to join her. He walked slowly to her and took her hand when he joined her. He put the flowers he had bought on the grave and took Kate in his arms. They stayed there for a while, in each other's arms, in silence. When Rick's stomach grumbled, Kate laughed.

"Maybe we should go eat something." She said.

"We can stay a bit if you want."

"No, it's fine. Thank you for coming with me." She said, kissing him softly before getting out of his arms.

After saying goodbye to her mom, they walked out of the cemetery hand in hand.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O

After having eaten at Remy's and come back to the loft, Rick had gone to write for a while before taking Alexis to the airport.

Kate was cooking dinner for herself and Rick when the front door burst open and a very very angry Rick rushed towards his office. Before Kate had time to react, Alexis entered the loft, dragging her big suitcase behind her, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Alexis? What happened?" Kate asked, walking to the young woman.

"She didn't show up. She forgot about me Kate! Who would forgot about their own daughter for a vacation that had been planned for months?" Alexis asked, crying harder as she threw herself into Kate's arm.

Tada !

So, what did you think of this chapter? like it? Don't like it? Let me know ;-)