He held her close the entire night, standing vigil over her, ready at a moment's notice to wake her from her nightmares.
He studied her. Noticed every hitched breath, every fluttering eye movement, every time she parted her lips and sighed. She didn't dream again. Well, given the faint smile on her lips between four and half past, she did, but at least they were pleasant this time around. She didn't have another nightmare, wasn't ripped from her sleep by her own imagination.
She woke naturally around seven, just as Rick was seriously struggling to keep his eyes open. She leaned into his chest for a moment and sighed softly before her eyes opened and found their way to his.
"Hi?" She asked confusedly. Rick smiled a little self consciously. "Were you watching me sleep?" Rick shrugged. "Little creepy, Rick." He chuckled.
"You scared me last night Kate. I wanted to make sure I was awake to wake you if you had another nightmare." Kate smiled softly.
"Thank you, that's sweet." She smiled. "But you didn't sleep at all?"
"I slept from half ten till two." He offered sheepishly.
"Rick, I am aware that writers are notorious insomniacs, but you cannot survive on three and a half hours sleep." She chastised gently, sitting up beside him.
"I've heard that an hour before midnight is worth two after." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Then you have still only slept for five hours." She sighed. She shook her head, looking over his shoulder for a moment before seemingly coming to a decision. "You need to sleep. You will crash and burn otherwise."
"And Alexis?" He reminded her softly.
"I, I could..." she filtered off, suddenly hesitant.
"Yes?" He prompted softly.
"I, I could always wake her up, give her her breakfast, play with her for a while? Four year olds are hardly rocket surgery." He smirked at her.
"You barely know her Kate." He reminded her gently, not wanting to offend her.
"And you will be right here if we need you. Do you not trust me?" Rick smiled tenderly.
"It isn't about trust Kate. I know my daughter is in safe hands with you. I'm more worried about you in hers actually." He joked, bringing a smile from her. "Just, wake me, if anything happens okay? Even if it's tiny. Even if it's just to ask my advice, just, come wake me. Please?" Kate nodded.
"Of course." He smiled before yawning. "Get some sleep." She pressed a feather light kiss to his forehead and slipped out of bed.
Kate crept into the butter yellow room and leaned against the doorway as she watched the little redhead sleep.
The room was beautiful really, now she had a chance to see it in daylight.
The white washed pine four-poster bed, with white gossamer drapes, and intricately hand carved head and foot boards, sat in the far corner, the matching wardrobe in the parallel corner.
The door opened straight onto the bed while the dresser sat in the opposite corner to the wardrobe.
In between the furniture on the far wall, sat a huge toy box. That too was white washed pine with hand prints of all colours all over it. They ranged from tiny to huge.
Kate smiled to herself.
The smallest could only belong to a new born, meaning Rick had printed his daughter's hand against the wood when she was first home. The smaller ones varied slightly, all the way up to what could only be four year old Alexis' hand span. The bigger ones didn't change, but she could guess those easily. Daddy Rick had printed his own hands right beside his baby girl.
Kate couldn't help the beaming smile that crossed her face. He was such a good daddy.
She silently made her way to kneel beside the head of the bed, watching for another moment as the tiny angel before her slept. She looked so very peaceful and Kate was almost regretful she had to wake her.
She gently teased a fire red strand from the child's porcelain forehead and stroked her cheek with the backs of her fingers.
"Alexis, hey Little Red, time to wake up." Kate murmured gently. Alexis' eyes fluttered slightly before she blinked owlishly at Kate. "Hey, good morning." Alexis smiled.
"Morning Kate." She murmured, rubbing her tiny fist against her eye. Kate smiled back. "Where's daddy?" Kate perched on the edge of the mattress and couldn't help but to keep stroking the child's cheek.
"He's sleeping, he was up all night." Alexis sighed and it was all Kate could do not to giggle.
"Was he writing again?" Kate smiled brightly.
"Something like that." She wouldn't worry her with the truth. "You ready to get up?" Alexis nodded slowly before pushing back the covers and crawling into Kate's lap, flopping her head against her chest. "You okay?" She felt her nod against her sternum.
"Daddy and I always cuddle before we get up." She explained around a yawn. Kate smiled and held the girl close.
"Then we shall too." She rested her cheek against the tiny red head and breathed her in. She was in serious danger of getting used to this.
Breakfast was an uneventful affair.
Kate made pancake batter, while Alexis sat perched on the counter furthest away from the stove, so as not to risk burning herself.
Kate poured most of the batter into a jug and left the rest in the fridge for Rick to cook when he woke up. Alexis had insisted that 'Daddy would be grumpy if they had pancakes without saving him any'. Once they were cooked, they sat at the breakfast bar and ate their smiley face pancakes with syrup hair.
After they had eaten, Kate sent Alexis off to get dressed while she crept back into Rick's room to dress herself.
She quickly scribbled a note on a sheet of paper from his notepad beside his bed, saying that they had had breakfast and there was pancake batter in the fridge for him. She carried on to say that she was taking Alexis to the park for an hour or so and had her phone if he needed her.
She left it on what had been her pillow, and couldn't resist kissing the tip of his nose before she left.