Ch. 26 I Don't Want To Miss You Like This, Come Back, Be Here

Kate woke to an empty apartment and ignored the blinking of her clock, notifying her that she was late to work. She wiped her face of the crust her tears had built up upon her cheeks. She staggered to her coffee pot and made sure her coffee was in progress before making her way to her bedroom.

The emptiness was a reminder that Rick was gone and hadn't bothered to call her. She checked her phone anyway knowing what she would find, an empty screen. She smoothed her hand over his side and wished that he would just appear so she could confess what she was going through. The memory of breaking down with her mother, was not lost on Kate. In fact, she wanted to spill to Rick what happened. She abandoned the empty bed for a fresh cup of coffee.

She walked into her library and placed the steaming hot coffee on her desk. She studied her notes and the missing pieces nagged her more than anything. Their investigation was stalled and that hurt her. She was solely against having a case grow cold. In fact, she would bulldoze through a case until she had her answers. She wanted these families to feel closure. To be able to say goodbye and feel like they can breathe again.

After a quick shower and a quick call to Johanna, Kate headed to her closet, wanting to look more professional than ever. She pushed all her dresses aside and quickly assessed her skirts. Most were flirty and more date night than connecting to a victim's family. She grabbed a gray, cotton skirt and remembered when she bought it that it had a belt. Sure enough, wrapped around the waist was a brown, faux, leather belt. Kate laid it out on her bed and pushed the rest of her skirts aside to get access to her tops.

She grabbed a soft, beige crop top with pink stripes across the front and accepted the fact that it just skimmed the waist of the skirt. She grabbed one of her blue blazers but only was going to wear it for show and the minute she left the residence of the families, she would take it off.

Happy with the results, she headed to fix her hair. She wanted to look professional but couldn't cut her style out of the picture entirely. She brushed it out and raised it into a high ponytail. Happy that the humidity wouldn't be able to make her hair cling to her back, she tied in a pink ribbon.

Quickly getting dressed was key, and she was completely ready to go in fifteen minutes. She scanned her phone once more for any sign of Rick but got nothing but an empty screen. She hesitated calling Alexis but thought better of it, as she was still dealing with a loss. Her mother was always there but they just got on a healthy level and Kate wasn't about to tip it. Lacey hadn't picked up once more and Kate didn't want Esposito knowing about what was going through her mind, so she shoved her phone into her bag without calling Lanie. It wasn't that she couldn't trust Lanie, she could but Lanie liked to be open and Kate wasn't ready to be completely open.

She slid her feet into wedges that were a shade of off white and brought her outfit together. She slid her files into her bag and checked her phone once more with nothing from Rick.

On the drive to Mae London's parent's house, Kate mentally clicked through her goals for the day. First was to talk to the rest of the families. Second was to head to the precinct and demand dominance over her case. Third was to put Cliff and his team in place. Fourth was to bring in any people that needed to be checked out. Like Damon Redwood and Dr. James Conway.

When Kate finally pulled up to the address of Mr. and Mrs. London's home, she wanted to give them peace with this visit. But all she would be doing was rehashing some horrible memories. She turned off her car, scanned the file over once more, then headed up the stoop. With a quick knock, an older woman opened the door.

"Come on in, young lady." She ushered her to a seat on a very comfortable couch. "You probably know that I am Ruth London, Mae's mother. She was an angel. Really." She left Kate to sit on the couch and came back with cookies and two glasses of milk.

Kate smiled but made no move for the dish. "Thank you but I am here to find some things out." The woman looked hurt and before she had a chance to fix it, Ruth spoke up.

"Mae used to love this, it was her favorite snack. I still find myself baking them." She turned her gaze to the fresh sugar cookies on the plate that was between the two.

Kate reached for a cookie and munched quietly and smiled when the taste made her taste buds jump for joy. "Ohmygoodness, these are amazing!" She devoured the rest of the cookie and happily downed it with a sip of milk. And now that the woman was pleased, Kate went to proceed.

"Don't ask to speak to Mr. London, he has long passed." Ruth looked to a picture of a younger man that rested atop her mantle.

"Am I to believe that she still resided here?" Being twenty-five, Kate figured that she would be long gone.

"Oh yes. My Mae stayed to take care of us. Randall was very sick five years ago, lung cancer. It didn't wait, it took him within a month. She feared leaving me all alone, so she stayed."

Kate took in the age of the woman in front of her. She figured she couldn't be any younger than seventy but felt like that was something that she would keep sealed. "When did you say the last time you saw her was?"

"Oh before work. She loved being able to help the other kids in the system. She was a social worker. She was always bringing her work home, I can't tell you how many kids she brought home. But that was her. She was quiet, kept to herself most of the time, but she loved people. Kids mostly."

"Do you know if she had any problems with anyone?" Kate slid out her little notepad and waited.

"At work? No. Everyone saw how dedicated she was. She truly lived to help others."

"Did she act different at all before she went missing?" Kate watched the woman's eyes crinkle as she tried to remember a past time that was all too present.

"That day? She was happy. She was smiling because she was bringing another child home until they could be processed. It was a chore. Her taking care of me then a child. But she cared and figured that, that was part of the job."

Kate wrote down, Child? Supposed to bring home? Name? Talk to co-workers."Did she ever mention who the child was?"

"No but she always called me to give me a heads up. But now that I think of it, she never called me. On her way home from work, she would take the subway. She always called me before she boarded. She never called."

Kate filled in the blanks. "So, she didn't make it to the subway? Are you sure she had a kid with her?"

"Yes. She left work and I know she was supposed to bring one home. She was always on point. She didn't waver. Detective Beckett, thank you." The old woman dabbed at her eyes.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you thanking me?"

"For bothering with her. For not giving up on my Mae." She dabbed at her eyes once more and looked down, feeling embarrassed.

Kate reached out her hand and grabbed Ruth's. "I care about her. I care enough to not give up until I found out who did this. I care Ruth. About you and Mae." She gently squeezed her hand and watched as the lines around Ruth's mouth crinkled upward.

"Thank you Detective. She was everything to me."

"Would you mind if I look around her room?" The woman released her hand and looked to the staircase.

"Sure, go ahead. First door on your left."

Kate slid her notebook back into her front pocket on her skirt and bounded the stairs, slowly. When she opened Mae's room, she wasn't expecting what she saw.

The room was very refined and everything had its own place within the room. Pictures were everywhere in neat frames and leveled just so. The pictures showed every kid that she had brought home and some carried home pictures. Her dresser had one perfume on the counter, White Diamonds. Her window had a ruffle valance and the bedding matched perfectly. Her carpet was immaculate and Kate figured that Ruth kept it the same way Mae had. Kate gathered that Mae took pride in keeping her room perfect.

She was bordered within the walls that Kate walked through and Kate could feel her spirit still loving and living within the room. She stepped back when she almost knocked over a piece of art that was balancing on the edge of her bedside table. The statue was a woman looking down at a child with a sad face on. Her hand reached out to the child but the child was looking the other way. Kate didn't know what she should read from that so she left it alone.

Kate wanted to find an anomaly within Mae's room and found it, poking out from under the bed. Kate kneeled down and reached under, removing the end of a cast. The cast was white and had tons of drawings from children. It was for Mae's left arm and Kate had a feeling that this was important.

When Kate headed back downstairs, Ruth was waiting for her at the end of the stairs. She had a plate with sugar cookies wrapped in cling wrap in her hands. "I thought that you could take them to go. I usually just throw them away anyway."

Kate thanked her and briefly mentioned the cast, not letting on that it was as significant as it was. "So, what happened to her arm?"

"She was helping some people at work and her arm was caught in the door. She had a fracture, not bad at all. But she made the most of it."

"Thank you once again Ruth." Kate walked herself to the door, cookies in hand but before she left, Ruth called her back.

"Detective?"

"Yes?" Kate turned around and saw Ruth approach her.

"Would you mind if I give you a hug?" She paused and felt the need to explain herself. "You are about the same age as she was supposed to be and well…"

Kate didn't hesitate but wrapped her arms around Ruth's small frame and pulled her into a warming hug. It was probably the only hug that Ruth had gotten in years.

"Anything you need." Kate said as she slid Ruth one of her cards.

And as Kate was back in her car, she slid out of her blazer and turned the air on. Kate scanned her notes and wrote some of the names of Mae's co-workers, the only ones Ruth remembered, on her page with more people she needed to talk to. But Kate felt a pang at the notation she made about the child that Mae had planned to bring home.

After Kate pulled up to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, part of her felt a little sunken in. Having a positive feeling about this would have been easily shared with Rick over lunch or dinner but now, everything was different. She wasn't sure where she stood nor where they stood. At the thought of him, she checked her phone once more but was left feeling a bit more empty.

"She was magnificent with these kids. They all had a problem that she was more than happy to fix or help. She did a lot of counseling but what she loved was having one on one with the kids." Maria Santos led Kate to Mae's old desk. "It's someone else's now but she would sit right there and half the time wouldn't look up from that desk."

Kate looked at the small area and couldn't imagine being hunched over the desk like Mae was. "She had a cast. How did she get that?" Even though Kate knew the story, it didn't hurt to get another version.

"It was about two weeks before she went missing. We were helping with the trucks. They are always bringing us extra supplies and we were loading them into our storage room when her arm got stuck in between the metal door."

"So it wasn't anyone's fault?"

"Nope. Accident. But she had it set right here. Well, near here. Her doctor set it." Maria led Kate back to her office and sat down in a leather chair that had seen better days.

"What was the name of her doctor?" Kate had her pen out and waited for Maria to recall.

"Con something. I can't really remember it that well. It was years ago."

"I understand. Do you remember her bringing home children?" Kate still stood, not wanting to give the wrong idea about this meeting.
"All the time. I was against it but she cared too much." Maria flipped her hair to her other side but it fell back to her face right away.

"Was she supposed to bring home a child the day she went missing?" Kate scribbled her question down before Maria answered.

"I think so but I don't recall which one." It was met with Maria licking her lips, dry throat, a tell.

But Kate didn't press, she simply thanked Maria and headed to Mae's old co-worker Darcy.

"Yeah. A little girl, um…" Her thin gray hair was pulled back into a makeshift bun and Darcy was built tough though she lacked size. "Cora something."

The name shocked Kate but she didn't let on. It sounded too much like Corrina but she had to remember that the names weren't the same. Instead she took a deep breath and tried to ask once more. "Did she keep records of the kids she brought home?"

"Of course. Mae was meticulous. She had her own filing cabinet but all her files were put into our record room once she, you know." Darcy was the kind of person that wasn't going to hold back and Kate counted on that when she asked her next question.

"Did she leave with Cora the day she disappeared?" Her pen was poised over her pad, eager and ready.

"Yes. But the kid came back to us. When we asked her what happened with Mae, she was mute." Darcy led Kate to their filing room and opened a drawer that was overstuffed with files.

"The kids she brought home?" Darcy nodded but then dialed someone asking them to come to the file room.

A younger man with jet black hair entered the room and looked Kate up and down. "What do you need?"

"Lance, carry these to her car for me. She needs them to investigate." Darcy got a bolt of energy in her expression and Kate figured that she was a mystery reader.

"Sure thing." Lance took the drawer right out and followed Kate to her car but not before she slipped Darcy her card.

"Thank you for carrying this for me." Kate held the door and watched his muscles flex as he bent to slide it on her backseat.

"No problem but to thank me, meet me for a drink?" He seemed pleased with his delivery but Kate's heart wasn't going to lend itself out for a drink.

"Sorry, I'm seeing someone." I think.

"I understand. Have a nice day." She waved back but ignored his constant wandering eyes.

Kate watched Damon Redwood pace his one bedroom apartment. His cold eyes didn't meet hers at all and he began twitching.

"I'm not here to bust you for drug possession." She watched his shoulders relax and felt sorry for him. He was twenty-six and hadn't changed his frat boy ways. He refused to grow up and somehow found himself addicted to more than the occasional drink.

"Then what you want with me?" He was going through withdrawal and he kept bouncing his knees.

"I am here to ask about Hallie Burns. You called her a cab the night of the party?"

"Yeah. It was late. I didn't want her to walk home with all that expensive equipment and I sure as hell was in no shape to drive." He nibbled his fingernails but they were already bitten down to the stub.

"Did you have a thing for Hallie?" She watched his eyes and he wasn't nervous at all when he answered.

"Sure. She was smoking but her little sister, Harriet, she was everything to Hallie and Harriet didn't approve of me so therefore neither did Hallie."

Kate smiled, mentally, remembering how it felt to have an other half.

"What time did you call her a cab?" She watched him try to remember.

"Around twelve in the morning. She was ready to go, her gig was done, I paid her the hundred we agreed upon and she drove off in the back of her cab. That was the last time I saw her."

"What cab service did you use?" She scribbled his words on her paper then waited for the name. "Damon?" She looked back up at him and his eyes began to droop. "Damon!" She dropped her pad of paper and walked across the carpet and kneeled in front of him.

He gave no response and she freaked. She was about to call 911 when he tapped his arm. Sure enough there were needle marks but not from heroine needles but insulin shots. She ran to his fridge and grabbed his bottle. She laid out his arm and shot him up. She waited for the sweat to stop and grabbed a kitchen towel and wiped the sweat from his brow.

His eyes opened slightly and looked to her, dabbing at his face. "Thank… you."

"Sure thing. Do you need me to call 911?" She continued to wipe his face, gently and felt his arm resting against her thighs.

"Just my doctor. Name's on the fridge. So is the taxi service." He tapped her leg letting her know he was ok. "Take them, I have plenty of cards."

Kate grabbed the cards off the fridge and quickly dialed the office of Jared Conway. When a soft, female voice answered, Kate brought the phone back to Damon.

"Yep. Need more. Thanks." He hung up and handed the phone back to Kate. She set it down on the coffee table and joined him on the couch.

"Are you ok?" She held her hands to herself and watched him start to act normal.

"I'm not on drugs, not today at least. I know it's stupid to gamble my life but I don't have anything. Don't judge."

And Kate didn't. She didn't have the whole story and she wasn't about to assume. "I'm not about that." She grabbed her notepad and stepped to the door. "I left my card on your fridge, you think of anything, no matter how small, you call."

"Will do Detective." He waved at her then fell back into his couch.

Back in her car and feeling satisfied that he hadn't done anything wrong to Hallie, she crossed him off her list as well as Mae's coworkers. She set up a meeting with Mae's doctor for the morning. She understood he was busy and he wasn't going to close the gaps that she needed. He was a person worth talking to but not in the case of taking him away from his patients.

She looked to her backseat that contained all the files Mae had kept and she checked her watch. She dialed Espo and got him on the third ring.

"Took you long enough." She smiled at the way jokes like that worked for them. "What do you have on the database?"

"Sorry to disappoint but Cap has us on another case. A murder on 59th and Broadway. Subway hit. Nasty business but she wasn't hit by a train but taken apart on the platform. How no one saw nothing isn't sitting well with me."

"Seems like we have a lot of zipped mouths. So what happened to our Red Two Shot case?" She waited for the answer, she didn't need him to answer, she already knew.

"Cliff took it over. Completely. And when you get back today, tomorrow, or whenever you feel like showing up, Cap is gonna chew your ass."

"I came by earlier and found no one. Want to explain that?"

"Mandatory meeting at 1PP. Shit is hitting the fan and somehow we're stuck in the middle." Espo covered the mouthpiece then let Kate go. "Got a lead. Talk later." He hung up and she felt carved out.

There was a meeting at 1PP and she missed it. Her case was no longer hers. They had a new case that she hadn't been called for. She wasn't sure she would be getting an ass chewing but a cuddling hug from Captain Montgomery. And she sure as hell didn't appreciate the coddling and being treated like she was glass. She wanted in.

"Cap, call me." She hadn't used a soft tone, she was beyond that. She checked her list once more and saw Ryann Flowers at the top of a blank page. Her stomach rumbled and she headed to the nearest deli, picking up Espo and Ryan a sandwich as if nothing had changed for her.

But her heart wasn't being fooled by her head. She missed Rick and with a blank screen on her phone, she went from missing him to longing him. She recalled Gates's words but they offered little strength. She wished she didn't miss him the way she did nor want him the way she did. She wanted to be with him and the aching feeling gnawing her stomach left her shielding her heart. She regretted redrawing her armor but had no other choice. She refused to ache for him and instead she blocked him out.

"Thanks for the sandwich." Espo ripped open the packaging and took a big bite out of his BLT.

"Yeah, no problem. Where's Cap?" Kate nodded to his empty and dark office. She tore off the cling wrap and took a small nibble out of her Italian Grilled Cheese.

"Busy at meetings. Stuck at 1PP." He shook his head as if Captain Montgomery was meeting his maker. But that wasn't such a dramatic stretch. If he was stuck in meetings, plural, he could be getting an ass chewing himself.

Ryan finished off his sandwich then handed everyone a bottle of water. He took a sip then looked at Kate. "You know your buddy Cliff is busy working our case over. Apparently, we need to work together on cases for a little while. Like we can't handle it ourselves. Bull shit." He rolled to his desk and Espo and Kate shared a look.

"You mean that we can't run the cases ourselves. We have to answer to him? I have to answer to him? But it's my squad!" Kate didn't care about the looks she was getting.

"Sure thing." Espo finished off his sandwich and began to chug back his water.

Kate no longer having the appetite to eat, handed her sandwich over to them. "Am I on the case?"

Espo and Ryan shared a passing look then looked down at their desk. Kate caught on and felt her stomach clench. "What? Tell me!"

"Cap said to keep you away from this. He thinks that you aren't emotionally stable. His words not mine."

Kate went from being angry at Captain Montgomery to feeling downright betrayed. It was one thing to say these things to her but to her fellow detectives? Not ok. She headed to her desk, grabbed her missed call slips then stormed out of the precinct.

Once she was in her car, she forced herself to take a deep breath. Her eyes began to blur and she immediately slid her glasses on. The humidity was closing in on her and she blasted her AC. She wanted more than anything to call Rick. But her phone was empty and her heart wrenched.

"Rick?" She gave in and pleaded for him. "I need you. Ok? I need you. I don't need a lot of people but I need you." She hung up and felt sure that he would be able to tell that she had been crying when she left the message.

Her phone beeped but her hopes were let down when she realized that it wasn't from Rick but from Lacey. She ignored the text and hugged herself. In the empty but chilly car, Kate fought to not breakdown. Her cell started to ring and hoping that it was Rick, Kate picked up.

"Kate? Would you like to meet for lunch?" Johanna's voice seemed nervous over the phone and Kate tried not to let on that she was crying.

"Sure. Where?" She wiped at her eyes and put her car into drive and headed to Pearl Diner. Having not eaten her sandwich, she knew she had to eat something. And even if she didn't, it would be nice to be able to talk with her mom.

When Kate pulled up, Johanna was already waiting in a booth for her. She waved and took her time getting to the table. It was a long enough walk to put her emotions on the back burner. There could and would not be any mention of Rick, she had to keep it that way. If she didn't, she might break. And Kate wasn't about breaking at all.

Johanna rose to meet her and pulled her in for a hug. "I am so glad you came." She let Kate go and both slid into the booth.

Kate looked for Elsie but saw no sign of her. "Where's Elsie?"

"At the park with my neighbor. I wanted to get you alone and get a chance to talk to you. So, how has your day been?" Johanna clasped her hands together being completely oblivious.

"Not too bad." Kate bit her tongue and stared at her menu.

"I love your glasses by the way. I always thought that you might need them eventually. But I am glad to hear that you are having a good day."

I didn't say that I was. You assumed. "Yeah."

"Honey? You mind telling me what's wrong?"

Even though she wasn't a mother to Kate, Johanna sure had the instincts to be. "Just frustrated. Getting blocked out of my case and…" She almost mentioned Rick and fought herself on it.

"And what?"

Kate took the bait. "He is gone. Rick. I haven't talked to him in like two days and I am freaking out. I don't want him to be hurt or… I'm worried about him. He hasn't called nor text me. I only called him a little bit ago but I need him. Mom, I need him." Kate's tears fell slowly and she leaned her head down and hoped that Johanna wouldn't notice.

Johanna slid into the booth seat next to Kate and held her in her arms. Johanna rubbed her head and Kate leaned herself closer into Johanna, happy to be held. Happy to be comforted.

"He is ok. Maybe you two need a break. It's a little heavy isn't it? Your relationship?"

"But that's why I need him. He's the only one that I have ever let in. I let him see every piece of me and he left me. How do I know that he's even ok?"

"By trusting him. Having a little faith. Kate, you have never depended on anyone. Why are you doing this now?"

Kate recoiled. "Because I can be that way with him. I can fall into him. Because I love him in the way that you couldn't love dad. He's my everything." She slid away from Johanna. "Maybe this is too soon."

Johanna, fearing that she was losing Kate once more, fought to take a step back. "I'm sorry. I'll back off. Can't we just have a meal together?"

"Fine." Kate quickly ordered herself Belgian Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Alongside that, a glass of chocolate milk.

Johanna ordered herself a plain salad and an ice tea.

After they ended their meal, Kate felt more comfortable. They couldn't rush the relationship they were trying to build and that's what it felt like. Kate pulled up to Ryann Flowers place and slid her blazer on.

"I'm glad that you came. We haven't heard anything in quite a while." Dan Flowers held his wife's picture in his hand and handed it over to Kate. "She was beautiful. Wasn't she?"

"Sure was." Kate loved the way she was smiling. It was a truly happy picture and the contents became more real. Kate handed him the picture back and looked around the dining room.

"Tara loved her mom. And it has been hard over the years, telling her what happened exactly. But she is just like her, a trooper." He checked the clock and sat back down.

"Her file said that Tara was left wandering? Was that normal for Ryann? To let Tara go off on her own?"

"Oh no. She watched Tara like a damn hawk. There was no way that Ryann would leave Tara by herself."

"Then how did Tara get to be by herself?"

"Ryann waited while she was in the bathroom and when Tara came out, Ryann was gone." He wiped at his eyes, feeling the part of him that was still so raw.

"I'm sorry to have to bring this up again but I am working the case now and I need to know exactly what happened."

"I understand."

She scribbled some notes down then turned back to him. "When did she take Tara to the park?"

"Around eleven. She would do that everyday. Take her to the park then come home and make lunch. She was routine."

Kate felt the jolt at the word routine and jotted that down on her notepad. "Was Tara alone in the park for long?"

"No. She found another mother and called me. She was four but she is bright."

Kate wanted to get what happened but lacked the presence of Tara. "Would it be alright if I talked with her?"

"Won't be home for another few hours. But sure. Anything that can help." Dan smiled out of reflex.

"I'll talk with her tomorrow. That should be alright." Kate didn't want to waste time or have him coach her but she couldn't wait hours when she had other people to get to.

"Yes."

"Thank you for everything Mr. Flowers." Kate stood and handed him her card. "If you think of anything."

"Maybelle loved singing. It wasn't a hobby, she planned on making that her career." Laura Farms spoke like she was having a high tea rather than talking about her dead daughter.

"Did she always walk home?"

"No. Never. She got a bus ride home. There was always a bus left to those who couldn't get a ride. I was at work."

"But she didn't take the bus home?" Kate didn't like the vibe that she was getting from her but wasn't about to judge.

"Sure she did. Bus driver told me that she did. She never made it to our house. The bus stop is down the street." Laura smiled at Kate and fussed with her pearls.

"You mind if I see her room?" Kate wrote down a note to talk to the bus driver.

"Sure. Down the hall."

Kate made her way to the door that held Maybelle's name. When she opened the door, she was surprised. Everything that had once been Maybelle's was all shoved against one of the walls. It was like her mom never cared. Kate figured that it couldn't have been easy living with Laura.

There was a pair of cowboy boots propped against the back of a chair and Kate smiled at them. Maybelle was a country girl down to her bones. There wasn't much she could gather from the room, seeing as Maybelle wasn't much part of it anymore.

"Thanks for everything Mrs. Farms. Here is my card in case you remember anything."

Laura looked at it like it was trash. "That won't be necessary."

Kate didn't know what to say to that so she just slid it back in her pocket.

"She couldn't sing her last week of choir but she still went to support her team."

Kate spun away from the front door and looked at Laura. "Why?"

"She had strep throat." And with that, the visit was over.

"She went out for milk. I told her that it wasn't necessary but she insisted." Mr. Diez sat with all five of his kids on the couch. They were all in high school and their pained faces were evident.

"Was that the last time you saw or spoke to her?"

"Yes. She left and never came back. When they found her the next morning, I couldn't believe what I was hearing."

"She was murdered. But why?" Little Catalina leaned on her knees and directed herself to Kate. "She was nice to everyone. No one met her and hated her. So why and who killed her?"

"That's what I am here to find out. Was anything different about your wife before she passed?"

"No. Everything was normal. She stayed home, took care of the house while I worked and the kids were in school. That's all."

"Did she have a routine?" Kate waited for another notation to be made but Mr. Diez shook his head no. "Did she ever leave the house when she was alone?"

"We only had the one car so no." He wiped his brow and apologized once more for the broken AC.

"Did one of her friends drive her around? A neighbor maybe?" Kate watched his face relax and she knew that there was nothing she could gather from the family more than what they had already shared with her.

"No. She never left the house." He grabbed a hold of Catalina and hugged her close.

Kate figured that they shared a stronger bond with Celine than the others did.

"Here's my card if you think of anything."

Kate checked her phone and decided on an early night. But she remembered she had Mae's files in her backseat. After getting help from Henry, Kate spread the files across her coffee table and poured over Mae's notations. She sat on the floor, a carton of Chinese on the table, in her pink, silk nightgown that had black lace trim along the top and bottom. The spaghetti straps kept slipping but she paid no mind to it.

There was a knock on her door and Kate wanted to ignore it but whoever it was, kept it up. Giving in, she went and opened it. And who was standing there, made her speechless. But she pulled Rick to her and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He pulled her up and into his arms and carried her back into her apartment. He kicked the door closed and didn't let her go. "I'm sorry. And I need you too."

Kate got her wish and was happy to find him safe. And it didn't hurt that he was in her arms. She knew that whatever part of her that felt like she should hide herself from him didn't really exist anymore. She wanted to be raw and open to him and knew that she could be that way with him. Gates's words and Johanna's evaporated from her mind as he found her lips.

She slid him out of his jacket and grew mad for him. She hungrily kissed him and wanted to feel him. She continued to hold him as they took a breath from one another. She was just glad that he had come home to her.

"I needed you to come back and be here. With me." She dared to look into his eyes and was glad that she saw that he mirrored her feelings.

"I always want to be with you. Only you." He tenderly kissed her once more before carrying her off to the bedroom.

And in the quite of her apartment, and the need to share each other, they made love. He remained gentle and caring as he showed her exactly how he felt.