Hey everyone !

I'm soooooooooooooooooooooo sorry for the delay ! i just got back from my year in the UK and I had a lot of things to sort out at uni and ... well, let's just say that administration is not the strongest point of French Universities (or maybe just mine :/( ...)

anyway, here is the chapter 16, enjoy !

"I'm sorry … what?" Rick asked.

"I want Alexis back" Meredith repeated.

"Honestly … I don't know what to say. I don't know if I should cry or laugh"

"Why would you laugh?"

"You know Alexis is turning 18 in two weeks, right?" Rick asked, incredulous.

"Really?"

"You don't even know how old your child is?" Kate asked, not believing what she heard.

"Well, I don't see her often."

"And whose fault is that?" Rick all but yelled

"Well, it's certainly not my fault if she wasn't interesting back then!" Meredith yelled.

Rick just … stopped. Stopped talking. Stopped moving. Stopped breathing. How could she say that about his daughter? HER daughter. He was brought out of his thoughts by a pain in his hand. Kate was crushing it, her knuckles completely white. Her face was red. She seemed like she was going to explode.

"Meredith, get out, now" Rick said, trying to stay calm.

"Why?"

"Why? WHY? You never talk like that of MY daughter, MY baby. You left her 18 years ago and now you tell me it's because she was not interesting enough for you! How dare you talk about her like that? You don't even know her! You didn't even know she was turning 18 for God sake. You don't deserve to have a daughter like her! I swear, if you don't leave right now, I don't know what I'm going to do to you but I can assure you it won't be pleasant. You get out NOW! And don't ever think of coming back!" As he was talking, his voice grew louder, he was boiling with anger.

Meredith saw that it would be better for her to leave. She took her purse and turned towards the door. Rick and Kate followed her with their eyes. The three of them stopped moving when they noticed Alexis standing at the door. She was completely paralyzed by what she just heard. The only movement was coming from the tears rolling down her cheeks. Her eyes were wide open. Rick had never seen her with such an expression of fear… and hatred. When Meredith started to walk towards her, Alexis finally moved, stepping backwards.

"Alexis, I …"

"Don't talk to me!" Alexis yelled

"But I …"

"Don't come closer!" Alexis cried in hysterics

"Alexis, listen I …"

"I've heard enough. I don't want to see you. NEVER !" she yelled before running up to her bedroom.

Meredith turned back to Rick. He was stunned by what just happened. His tears were falling, he was literally crushing Kate's hand. No one was moving. Kate was the first to react. She got her hand free from Rick's and walked up to Meredith.

"You're going to leave now. And don't come back until it's Alexis who wants to see you. If I hear that you tried to meet her before she is ready to see you again, I swear I'll kill you. Do you understand me?"

"Who are you to talk to me like that?" Meredith asked, getting angry

"I'm someone who knew your daughter's birthday and who can put you in jail if you don't leave right now" Kate answered threateningly.

She was ready to push her to the door if necessary. Meredith's lawyer must have seen it because he went to her, took her arm and literally pulled her to the door, saying "I'm so sorry" before closing the door behind them. When she turned around, she couldn't find Rick. She finally noticed him, on the floor, curled into a ball behind the couch. He was crying his eyes out.

"Rick?" she asked tentatively, kneeling next to him and caressing his back. "I'm so sorry Rick".

He seemed to get back to himself and sat next to her. Before she had the chance to do or say anything, he had her crushed against his chest, crying in her neck. She let him calm down before backing away. She was going to say something when they heard footsteps in the stairs. Alexis was standing there, looking more dead than alive, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"Daddy?" she called weakly

In the next ten seconds, Rick got up, ran to his daughter, took her in his arms and carried her as if she were two. He went up the stairs. Soon after, Kate heard a door close. She got up from the floor and sat on the couch, trying to get her head about what just happened. How could someone say things like that? About anyone, and even more about their children. She felt a sudden need to go and see her mother. She gathered her things, left a note informing the Castles that she would be back for/with dinner.

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

After an hour spent at the cemetery, Kate got back to her apartment where she packed some more clothes and went back to the loft. She needed to be with them. Even if they were not in the same room, she needed to know that she would be there if any one of them needed her. On her way there she bought some pizza. When she entered the apartment, everything was quiet. She put her things in Rick's bedroom, put the pizza in the kitchen and slowly made her way up the stairs. She walked tentatively towards Alexis's room and slowly opened the door. What she saw brought new tears to her eyes. Here they were, asleep on her bed, arms wrapped around each other. Rick was on his back across the bed, Alexis completely on top of him. He was twice as big as her. They seemed to sleep very deeply. Kate tiptoed into the room, took a blanket from the foot of the bed and spread it over them. She kissed each of them and left the room as quietly as she could. She went back downstairs, took a slice of pizza, a plate and went to settle in the living room. She turned on the TV but couldn't really see what was on, too preoccupied by her thoughts on the afternoon. At about 10pm, Rick and Alexis were still upstairs. Kate went in Rick's room, changed into her night clothes and went to bed, as if it was natural for her.