A/N: You guys are amazing. I am still completely overwhelmed by your response to this story. Really. Thank you so much. This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer originally, but it's late and I need sleep, so I decided to break it in half. Hope you guys like it.

At the end of the tunnel

Chapter 18

"Mom..." Olivia breathed, her voice shaking so hard that all Kate wanted to do at that moment was to get to her child.

Jake seemed to snap out of his daze after seeing his daughter, and pushed past Olivia to flee the apartment. Kate took a deep breath and touched her cheek gently, trying to assess the damage. The pain was spreading from the point of impact on her right cheek to the rest of her face and her head was pounding.

"Rick!" She heard Olivia call out, fear so evident it her young voice, as Kate felt something wet on her cheek. Bringing her hand up in front of her, she gasped at the sight of blood on her fingers. "Rick, help!"

That son of a bitch.

"What's wrong, Liv?" Rick's voice registered in her brain and she looked up, eyes meeting his across the kitchen. "Oh, God. Kate." He crossed the distance between them and reached out to her, shocked. "Jake did this?" He breathed, still stunned. Kate nodded. "Jesus, Kate. We have to get you to a hospital."

"Dad hit her. I saw it, Rick. I saw it. He hit my mom!" Olivia said through her tears and Kate reached out to her daughter, touching her cheek gently.

"Honey, go outside and get your grandpa and Uncle Javi, alright?" She said as calmly as she possibly could, so not to scare her daughter even more. "Hey, Liv, look at me. I'm going to be just fine, okay?"

"But you're bleeding, mom!" Olivia exclaimed, brushing her tears away with the back of her hand, only for fresh ones to take their place. Rick touched her shoulder, making her look up at him

"Liv, hey. Go get your grandpa, okay? I'll take care of your mom, don't worry." He told her and she nodded, running off to the living room. The moment she was out of ear-shot, Rick turned to Kate. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch."

"Get in line." Kate retorted through gritted teeth, opening the fridge to get some frozen peas. "I can't believe he did this." She shook her head, wincing when it caused the pain in her cheek to kick up a notch. "God." She tried to swallow hard through the knot in her throat, but a traitorous tear escaped her eyes, despite her efforts to keep it together.

"Oh, babe." Rick pulled her to him gently, wrapping his arms around her for a moment. Taking the bag of frozen peas from her hands, he put it on the sink. "Let me take a look." He touched her cheek carefully, on her good side, and angled her face so he could take a better look at her quickly swelling cheek. "We need to get you to a hospital, Kate. How bad does it hurt?"

"Bad." She sighed, brushing a tear away. "But I don't think there is a fracture. It doesn't feel broken."

"Katie?" She turned around in time to see her father entering the kitchen. He gasped in surprise when he saw her bruised cheek. "Oh, my God, Katie. What happened to you?"

"Jake happened." She said angrily, frustrated when yet another tear made its way down her cheek. "What I need to do right now is go down to the station and report his ass. He wanted a fight. Now he's got one."

"You need to get this checked out first, Kate. I know you're angry, but you need to take care of yourself first." Rick tried to reason with her, but she shook her head with a grimace.

"Rick is right, honey. You can give your statement at the hospital. Isn't that how these things work? If you tell them it was assault?" Her father told her and she sighed.

"Beckett? Olivia said you needed help... whoa!" Esposito stopped in his tracks when he saw her. "What the hell happened?!"

"Javi, I need to report Jake for third degree assault. Can you come with me to the station?"

"That scumbag did this to you? I'm going to fucking kill him." He exclaimed angrily.

"Javi, focus. I need to get to the station and report this. Then I can go to the hospital." She added, turning to her father and Rick before they could protest. "They need to see this and take pictures. I'm going to nail his ass for this." She hissed, touching her cheek gently again. It already felt swollen and incredibly tender. At least the bleeding seemed to had stopped.

"Mommy?" She heard Olivia's voice and found her daughter at the door, looking scared and unsure. "Mom, are you okay?" Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together.

"Liv, honey, I'm going to go with Rick and Uncle Javi to get this taken care of, okay?" she went to her little girl and pulled her into a hug. "Dad, can you stay with them for me? Send everyone else home?"

"Of course, Katie. Don't worry about it." Her father reassured her and she nodded, turning back to Olivia.

"See? Grandpa is going to stay with you and your brother and I'll be back really soon." She pressed her lips gently to her daughter's hair, trying to comfort her somehow.

"But I want to go with you." Olivia said in a small voice, holding onto her tighter. "What if he comes back? I want to stay with you, mom!" She insisted, but Kate shook her head.

"Hey, I'll be as fast as I can, alright? You don't have to worry about me, honey. I'll be just fine." She reassured the young girl, who nodded reluctantly and accepted the hand her grandfather offered her.

"Let's go get your brother, sweetheart." Jim said and Olivia nodded before following him out to the living room. Once they were out of the kitchen, Kate turned to Rick and Esposito.

"Let's go." She took a deep breath, trying to get her emotions under control. "Rick, can you run to my room and get my purse? My wallet and everything I need is in there."

Rick nodded and filed out of the kitchen in a hurry. When he was gone, Kate sagged against the kitchen island and closed her eyes, brushing a stray tear away with her thumb. She felt her partner approach her, and opened her eyes when he touched her shoulder.

"We're going to get him, Kate. I promise you that." He told her earnestly and she nodded. "He's going to have a nice notch on his brand new criminal record now and I'll make sure he sits in the tank for a while."

"Thanks, Javi." She whispered, biting down on her bottom lip to keep from crying. "I just can't believe he did this, you know?"

"I know, chica. I know." He sighed heavily. "But let's focus on the bright side. He's just ruined any chance he possibly had of getting custody of the little ones. An arrest for assault and battery against his ex-wife? That'll do some nice damage to his career as well."

Kate gave him a wry smile.

"Every cloud has a silver lining and all that, right?" She chuckled and he nodded with a grin.

"That's my girl." He nudged her shoulder gently and nodded at Rick when he entered the kitchen with Kate's purse and jacket. "Come on. Let's get this over with."

The process of giving her statement and letting them take pictures of the damage Jake had done to her face was gruelling and more than a little humiliating. Kate felt like crying the entire time and only the fact that this was where she worked made her keep her tears at bay and her emotions under control as best as she could. Rick and Esposito never left her side and she couldn't be any more grateful to them than she was at that moment.

Once she was released, Rick drove her to the hospital while her partner stayed behind to follow up on her case and get an arrest warrant out for Jake. At the hospital, the doctor examined her cheek and ordered an x-ray to look for any fractures on her cheek bone. Her cheek was swollen and a red and purple bruise spread from the point of impact out. They desinfected the cut and, thankfully, she didn't need any stitches.

"How are you feeling?" Rick asked quietly while they waited for the x-ray results. She turned to look at him from her half-seated position in the gurney and sighed.

"Pissed off. Humiliated. In pain. You name it." She admitted and he took her hand, bringing it up to his lips for a comforting kiss. "I never thought he'd do something like this. Never thought he'd cross that line and it just makes me feel so... angry and betrayed... I never want to see him again, Rick. Ever."

"We'll make sure he pays for this, Kate. I promise." He pressed his lips to the back of her hand again and she smiled, reaching out with her free hand to run her fingers through his hair. "At least it's like Javi said, right? He doesn't stand a chance in getting custody now. So at least that part will be over."

"I hope so. I really do." She let out a heavy sigh and squeezed his hand. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being here. Being you. Loving me." She brought his hand to her good cheek and leaned into his touch, taking comfort in the warmth emanating from him.

"I should've protected you. Shouldn't have left you alone with him." He looked so guilty that she felt even worse. "He only did this to you because of me."

"None of this is your fault. Don't even think that." She covered his hand with hers. "Jake is being a sore loser. He doesn't love me, I doubt he even likes me anymore. He's cheated on me for years and now that we're separated he wants to play the married card. So don't even think about feeling guilty, Rick. Okay?" She searched his eyes, but he sighed and looked down. " Hey, look at me." She reached out and touched his chin, making him meet her eyes again. "I love you. You're the best thing that's happened to me in a really long time, Rick. I don't regret this or you. Not even for a second."

"I'm going to kill him if he ever touches you again." He murmured, pressing a kiss to her palm. "I'm not going to let him hurt you ever again, love. I promise."

"Ms. Beckett?" The doctor's voice interrupted their conversation and both turned to look at the young woman who had just pulled the curtain around her gurney away. "Hi, we got your results back."

"Does she have a fracture?" Rick asked, holding onto Kate's hand.

"I'm afraid so." She took the x-ray and put it up on the white board, turning it on so they could see it. "See this line here? That's your fracture. You got lucky, though. It's very, very minor, so you can easily treat this at home." Dr. Browns told them and Kate nodded. "I'll prescribe some pain medication and some anti-inflammatories for the soft tissue injury. Apply lots of ice on it and the swelling should go down in a few days."

"Thank you, Dr. Browns." Kate said when the young woman handed her the prescription and her discharge papers.

"No problem, Ms. Beckett. I hope everything works out for you." She said sincerely and Kate nodded with a grateful smile.

Rick helped her out of the gurney and wrapped an arm around her waist for support. Kate leaned against him and kissed his cheek gently before pulling him towards the exit.

"Let's go home."

A/N: Thoughts?