Alexis cried herself out a short time later and managed to eat her lunch.

She was almost silent throughout and, given what a great time they'd had that morning, it made both adults' hearts ache to see her in so much pain.

Rick went straight up to her room when they got home, smiling apologetically at Kate. She shook her head, understanding that he needed to sort this out between them before putting her down for her nap.

She didn't need to be privy to the conversation, one so personal between father and daughter. It wasn't her place.

Instead, while they were upstairs, Kate went about making coffee for herself and Rick, having a feeling he'd need the caffeine to stay awake, and the the familiarity of the beverage to calm his nerves after this.

She knew how frayed the nerve was when it came to his ex wife, having needled it herself. Knowing that she was still causing his baby girl pain, despite her not even being there, it would be enough to make him crack.

She needed to do something to offer him comfort, even if it was just make coffee.

More than an hour later, Rick slumped into the couch cushions, running a weary hand across his eyes and around the back of his neck. He sighed deeply, leaning his head back as his eyes slipped closed.

In the next moment, his nose was filled with the glorious and welcomed scent of freshly brewed coffee.

"Here." Kate murmured gently. Rick slowly opened his eyes and found Kate sitting on the edge of his coffee table, a sympathetic smile on her lips, two mugs of coffee in her hands. "She asleep?" She asked softly once he'd taken his drink. He slipped it like it was precious lifeblood, raising his eyebrows quickly to answer her question.

"Yeah. She dropped off a couple of minutes ago."

Kate nodded. She'd had a feeling he'd need to watch her for a few moments once she was asleep to rediscover his footing on solid ground.

Rick sighed deeply, cradling the mug between his hands in his lap. "That woman has no right to do this to that beautiful, loving, passionate little girl." He said through gritted teeth. Kate had a feeling he wasn't even speaking to her, he just needed to get the words out. "Alexis is perfect and then that woman hurts her so irrevocably that I can see this never leaving her. What did my happy baby girl do to deserve her?" He asked rhetorically. Kate sighed softly and put her mug down beside her, and doing the same with his, before resting her hand on his thigh. "Sorry."

"No, Rick." Kate shook her head. "You don't have to apologise to me. She's your daughter. You have every right to be angry about this. You need to get it out or you'll make yourself ill. I'm happy to be your sounding board. God knows you've been mine in the last few days." She reminded him gently. He flashed her a half-hearted half grin before dropping his head into his hands.

"Alexis was barely three when her mom left." Rick started slowly. "I came home one day; I'd been in meetings all day with a publisher. I had just started writing with the intention of them being read, and wanted to know that I had a chance of being published once it was finished. I came home and Alexis all but threw herself at me. I'd never seen her like that, Kate."

He sighed and Kate softly stroked her thumb back and forth on his thigh. "I picked her up and she buried her little face in my neck. I asked her what was wrong and..." Rick trailed off and swallowed.

Kate opened her mouth to tell him he didn't need to tell her, but he continued before she could form the words.

"She told me 'mommy and a man were in her room and mommy sounded funny'. She thought her mom was in pain, in trouble."

He chuckled humourlessly. "I told her to go play and I'd see if mommy needed help. She smiled and kissed me before running off to play. I uhh, I went to our room and opened the door. She was there Kate; she was uhh, riding her director."

Kate felt sick. The pain on Rick's face made her want to claw the woman's eyes out and she'd never even met her.

"She didn't notice me until I cleared my throat." He shook his head, a sardonic smile on his face. "We had a blow-out, knock-down-drag-out argument. God, Kate the neighbours called the cops." He sighed. "She left that night. She went to California and I haven't seen her since. She promised Alexis she would come and visit. That she'd be here for her birthday and for mother's day and thanksgiving and all the rest of it. And I haven't seen her since. Kate, tell me, how does someone just walk out on their baby and never look back?"

Kate shrugged and squeezed his leg gently.

"I don't know." She whispered dejectedly. "I'm so sorry Rick. You deserve so much better, both of you." Rick smiled slightly. "I mean it Rick. I, I could never walk out on that angelic baby upstairs and I'm nothing to do with her, and haven't even known her for a week."

He sat up slowly and gently tucked his right hand around the side on her face, his thumb gently sweeping circles across the light dark smudges beneath her eyes. He glanced at the wound on her cheek quickly before locking their eyes.

"She adores you. She doesn't care that you barely know us." Rick murmured, his eyes never leaving hers.

"When I explained that her mom still loves her, she's just bad at remembering to call when she's on set- a complete lie given how I have no idea what she's doing nowadays- she told me that if her mom really loved her, she'd act more like you. She looks up to you Kate. You make her happy."

Kate felt heat creep up her neck as she fought to not blush.

"You make both of us happy, Kate." He whispered.

She dropped her eyes to her lap at that. Her heart was slamming against her chest so hard she would have sworn he should be able to hear it.

"Kate, look at me." He asked, his voice soft but not giving her any impression it was a request.

She hesitated before slowly dragging her nervous eyes up to meet his own calm gaze.

"I'm going to kiss you now, unless you stop me."

She sucked in a ragged breath and felt her hands start to tremble.

"Stop me Kate." He murmured. Kate shook her head slowly. Rick gave her a tender smile before slowly leaning in and capturing her mouth in the sweetest kiss of her entire life.