A few moments later Kate drew Alexis in close and stood up, shifting the girl onto her hip as she left the room to go downstairs.
Rick was stood in the kitchen, leaning his back against the counter, sipping coffee and staring into space when Kate stepped in front of him, her feet between his own and took his mug from his hand. He watched with curious eyes as she set it down behind him and snuggled into his chest, wrapping her spare arm around him while she buried her face into his chest, holding Alexis between them. Rick hesitated for only a moment before encasing them both and holding them tight. He kissed Kate's hair before resting his cheek against her crown.
They all stood there for a few moments before anyone said anything.
"You okay?" Rick murmured, gently squeezing Kate's hip. She pulled back and only gave him a second to see the tears in her eyes before kissing him deeply. Rick kissed her back, having no idea where this was all coming from, but knowing that Kate needed this from him more than she needed him to point out that Alexis was between them. When she pulled back, she leaned herself back into his chest, her breath hitching softly.
"Daddy, does this mean you and Kate are boyfriend and girlfriend?" Alexis enquired quietly, pulling far enough back in Kate's arm to see him. Rick smiled and nodded, cupping the back of her head gently in his huge palm.
"Yeah baby girl we are. You okay with that?" Alexis nodded quickly.
"I'm good." She looked at Kate for a moment before looking back up at him. "I'm gonna go get our drawings so you can put them on the fridge, you can talk to Kate." Rick smiled at his intelligent considerate daughter before kissing her forehead and carefully extracting her from Kate's grip. She tightened her hold reflexively as Rick tried to remove her.
"Hey, Kate, it's okay." He whispered soothingly. "She just wants to get down, it's okay." Kate relaxed her grip and fisted her hand in his shirt the moment the four year old was clear. Rick carefully let Alexis slide down his body, unable to bend to put her on the floor, before winking at her as she ran to the stairs and wrapping his arms around his girlfriend, holding her close enough to hopefully hold her together.
"Kate? Kate Honey, what happened?" Rick asked several minutes later, never once letting up his hold on her.
"I told Alexis." She whispered, trying ever so hard not to let her voice shake. Rick pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"About your parents?" He asked gently. Kate shrugged.
"Didn't tell her he's an alcoholic if that's what you're asking." She told him defensively, her posture stiffening. Rick squeezed her gently.
"Hey, I trust your judgement on this. I'm pretty certain you would have made it kiddie proof." Kate relaxed back into his chest. "How'd it go?" Kate sobbed, startling Rick. "Not well I presume?" He asked confused, Alexis had seemed fine when Kate had brought her down.
"She told me she was sad that I was sad." Kate sobbed. "She told me, she loved me." She shook her head against his chest and buried herself as deep into his embrace as she could. Rick sighed deeply and wrapped his arms even tighter around her.
"I'm sorry Kate. I'll, I'll talk to her." He shook his head to himself. Kate startled and pulled back far enough to look at him. Her eyes were red rimmed and tears were still pouring down her face, it broke Rick's heart to see her like that.
"W-why?" She asked tentatively. Rick gave her a small half hearted smile.
"I can't tell her to not love you, but if her telling you makes you this upset Kate..." She shook her head.
"Rick." She paused, dropping eye contact for favour of staring at her hand as it played with one of the buttons on his shirt. She slipped the disk back and forth in the hole, contemplating how to put this. "Her, her loving me. It, that isn't what made me cry. Jeeze Rick I'm flattered." She shook her head.
"I don't understand Kate." She quickly looked up at him before going back to watching her fingers.
"I...neither do I." She whispered. "I've made Alexis so sad. Just being here and not dealing with this properly and crying all the time. I break that little girl's heart over and over and yet..." she trailed off on a sigh. "How can she love me when I do that to her?" Rick gently lifted her chin and captured her mouth in a soft, slow kiss.
"Because you're you Kate." He murmured, kissing her forehead before letting her tuck it back into the crook of his neck. He rested his chin on her crown with a sigh. "She loves you for the same reasons you love her. Because you care for each other, because you understand each other. Because you're both such brilliant extraordinary people and you both have such big hearts that you can't help but love each other. Kate, she loves you because since she's known you, you have never put a condition on your affection for her. Her mother always had conditions, and you simply don't. She's five Kate; that means a lot to her, to me too actually." Rick leaned his cheek into her hair. "Kate, she loves you because you are amazing." Kate sighed brokenly.
"I love her too Rick. I, I know I've known her for two weeks and I know I shouldn't but..." Rick leaned back, effectively stopping her mid-thought.
"Kate, I fell in love with that little girl two seconds after meeting her. You think I care that you love her after only two weeks? Kate, I adore that you love my daughter. I'm so proud that, even after all you've been though in the last month, you can still open your heart to the joy of loving someone. And I'm made up that you've fallen in love with probably the one person in your life at the moment who you will never ever question their feelings. Because a child's love, especially my child's love, is unconditional." Rick smiled at her softly. Kate shrugged slightly.
"I don't question yours either." Rick chuckled.
"For that, I'm glad. But I think we have a little way to go before we start exchanging the L word." Kate nodded. "But Kate. I'm happy my daughter loves you and I'm ecstatic that you love her." Kate rested her head on his chest and sighed softly. Rick had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, she'd just taken a step in the right direction.