When Alexis heard her phone go off, she started to stir. She didn't remember falling asleep and it took her a few minutes to realize that she was sleeping on her father. She started to slip off him when he tighten his arms around her.

"Dad, I need to get up, I have to go to school" she laughed, watching him, his eyes still shut.

"Are you ok to go to school? You can stay home if you want. I can call the school and …"

"It's ok dad, I can go to school. I'm not going her to let her ruin my life!" Alexis declared, finally getting up.

"That's my girl" Rick said, getting off the bed and taking her in his arm. "I'm going to get breakfast ready" he said before heading downstairs.

About fifteen minutes later, Alexis went down to scrambled eggs and French toast.

"Dad! I have only five minutes to eat before I have to leave for school, I won't have time to eat so much!"

"Hey, I need to eat too!" Rick said "not everything is for you in this house" he said, eating a toast to illustrate his words.

"Do you know where Kate is?"

"I think she went home. Maybe she sent me a text. Let me look at my phone" he said, looking around in the kitchen. "Have you seen my phone?"

"No" Alexis laughed "Well, I have to go now. When you see Kate, can you tell her I'd like to talk to her?"

"Sure, no problem" he answered, watching her go to the door, but stop in her tracks as she passed the coat closet in the hall. "Something wrong?"

"Are you sure Kate's gone home?"

"I thinks so. Why?"

"Well, her shoes and coat are here" Alexis answered.

"Oh" was all he managed to say

"Well, I'll let you find her, I really need to go now. See you later!" she said before leaving the loft.

Rick went to see for himself. Opening the coat closet, he saw her coat and her shoes. Looking around the living room, he saw her phone and keys on the coffee table. Really confused, he went to his room, just to check. And there he paused. She was in his room. In his bed. Even in his shirt! He spent about five minutes watching her. She was simply … perfect. Her hair was neatly spread on her pillow. Her face was calm and she had a look of innocence, of happiness. Not an usual look for Kate Beckett when she was awake. She was wearing one of his shirt and sleeping shorts. Only two or three buttons of the shirt were fastened, leaving her flat stomach in full sight and he could even see the base of her breasts. She was perfect … and she was his! He couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if he had met her before his other wives, how it would be if she was Alexis's mother. She would certainly not have said anything close to what Meredith had told them the day before. He hadn't noticed that she woke up and was startled out of his thought when he heard her.

"What did I say about the staring?" Kate asked, stretching in the bed, causing the laps of the shirt to fall further apart.

"Uh … keep doing it?" Rick tried, moving from the doorway to the bed and laying down next to her.

"I don't think it's exactly what I …"

She was cut off by his lips literally crashing on hers, but she didn't resist one second. She felt his hand move up her torso until he was cupping one of her breasts. With his other hand, he unbuttoned her shirt. When finally broke up the kiss, he laid his head on her chest, just above her heart.

"I love you Katherine" he simply said

"I love you too Richard" she answered, passing her hand in his hair.

In a way, this felt like the most intimate moment they ever had. It was not said in a moment of lust. It was not said in a moment of sadness. It was more than a simple declaration of love between the two. For Kate, the simple fact that he had called her by her 'real' name made it more of a promise. A promise for everything and always. They staid like that for a few minutes … until Rick noticed her bag full of clothes.

"What is that?" he asked, pointing to the bag

"What does it look like?"

"a bag"

"It's a bag, then" Kate laughed

"What's in the bag?" he asked, lifting his head from her chest to try and take a peek.

"Clothes."

"You're staying here?" he asked, turning to look at her

"Well, if you don't mind. It's already Wednesday and if we leave early on Saturday to go and see my dad, I thought it would be easier to stay here. So I brought my clothes until next week."

"You should stay here next week too"

"Rick …"

"No Kate, I'm serious. You have no idea how well you fit in here" Rick said, moving from her and laying down next to her.

"I think we've already seen how well I fit in your bed" Kate laughed, snuggling closer to him.

"Not only in my bed. You fit in my home, in my family … in my life."

"Rick, we've only been together for like two weeks!" Kate said, lifting her head to look at him

"I know but … it just feels right, you know?"

"I know, I've never felt anything like that before. Not just for you but … about the situation in general… I mean … I don't even know how to explain it" she said, blushing

"I know what you mean" Rick laughed, caressing her cheek. "It's exactly the same for me"

"we're strange" she said

"That, we are" he laughed.

"How was Alexis this morning?" Kate asked, sitting on the bed and buttoning her shirt.

"I don't know … she seemed fine but I'm not so sure. I just can't believe it happened!" he said, getting up. "I prepared some breakfast if you want, I'll jump in the shower and change clothes, sleeping in jeans is not the most comfortable" he added, going into the bathroom.

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

They were having a light lunch – the pizza leftovers – when Rick remembered.

"Oh, Alexis wanted to talk to you this morning" he said.

"To me? Why?" Kate asked, both surprised and embarrassed.

"I don't know. I guess it has something to do with what happened yesterday" he said "But if you don't want to it's ok, she will understand" he added, seeing Kate's face.

"No no no, I want to it's just … I don't know how to do it. I mean … I love Alexis but I barely know her. I won't know what to say or…"

"You're gonna be just fine. She looks up to you, you know? The very first time she met you she told me not to mess around with you because you could kick my ass in two seconds and that she wanted to learn how to do it. And the other day, when I told her we were together, she just … shrieked with happiness and jumped on me. I swear I didn't know a human being could make such a sound. I'm sure even Lanie isn't so bad!"

"Do you think she would mind if I went to her school? After class of course, maybe we could talk and eat something or …"

"You do whatever you want" Rick said, getting up and kissing her forehead "I just want both my girls in bed before midnight".

He winked at her, took the plates and headed towards the kitchen.