CH62

Kate had gotten up in the morning and had made it up to Rick for last night by making love to him. Doing everything she could think of to please him and only him. Then again in the shower. Getting dressed she went with Rick upstairs to find some breakfast.

Once upstairs she was immediately spotted by Alexis. "MOM!" Alexis screams and runs into her wrapping her arms around Kate.

"Good morning sweetie. Did you sleep well?" Kate asks her. Getting a nod from Alexis.

"Come on, lets find some breakfast." Picking Alexis up and taking her over towards the kitchen.

"You know what you want pumpkin?" Rick asks her.

"How about some cereal with fruit on top?" Rick offers up.

"Ok." Is Alexis's only response. "Are you staying mom?" Alexis asks.

"I have to go into work today sweetie. But I'll be back." Kate has to tell her.

"No, I mean are you staying here? You went somewhere else yesterday." Alexis asks innocently.

Both Kate and Rick look at each other with shocked looks on their faces. Kate takes the moment to grab Rick and start dragging him towards the stairs.

"We'll be right back sweetie. Just eat your breakfast." Kate tells her.

They only make it down one flight and Kate stops and looks at Rick.

"Kate she's just a child. She doesn't. …." But gets interrupted by Kate putting a finger over his mouth.

"I want to know what you think Rick. What do you want. I know Alexis asked innocently. But I want to know what YOU are thinking." Kate is serious. Talk to me Rick remains unspoken.

Rick moves in and wraps his arms around her. "I think you know I love you. And I think most of your clothes are already over here anyway. You spend almost every night and several days here as it is.

And I want you here! Alexis obviously wants you here. And you are her MOM, which we still need to talk about by the way.

So question is do you want to be here. Do you need a ring before you take this big a step?" Rick finishes.

Kate stares into his eyes for a time searching them and thinking. "I love you Rick and yes I love Alexis. Any woman would count herself blessed to have a child like her. And no I don't need a ring, yet. I noticed yesterday that I missed being here so very much." This gets a chuckle out of Rick as he remembers Kate showing up last night with a soaking wet panty.

This earns Rick a slap in his chest. "You two have changed my life so very much. You two have become someone I don't think I want to know how to live without." Kate tells him.

"So you'll do it? You'll move in with me. US.?" Rick formally asks.

"I have some things I would like to find space for, …." And is interrupted by Rick kissing her.

Ending the kiss and pulling back to look into Kate's eyes. "We will find space for anything you want to move or don't even have yet." Rick promises.

"I guess you'll have to teach me my new address then." Kate tells Rick. Then they both hear.

"YES!" As Alexis comes racing down the stairs and crashes into both of them.

"It seems we have a spy." Rick exclaims.

"I'm not a spy dad. I'm your daughter." Alexis states.

"I think it's safe to assume we have Alexis's seal of approval." Kate is kind of asking Rick.

"We can meet at your old place and start tagging what comes here, what goes into storage and what gets donated or thrown out. Like your refrigerator." Rick offers.

"And what's wrong with my refrigerator?" Kate is shocked.

"Nothing a bio-hazard suit and a trip to a contaminated waste site couldn't fix." Rick teases. Which earns Rick another slap on his chest. Although Kate is smiling.

"Come on pumpkin, Kate and I still need breakfast before she leaves for work." As Rick picks up Alexis and heads back upstairs.

Having finished breakfast Kate had to go back to her now old apartment to pick up her car. Getting a kiss from Alexis and Rick at the front door before she opened a Transmat wall.

Kate and the guys got a relief from the paperwork just before lunch that same day. They got a body drop.

Kate stepped up to Lanie, "Hey Lanie, what have we got?"

"Female, 22 years old. She has defensive wounds on both arms." Lanie starts.

"So she put up a fight." Kate comments.

"Not that it did her any good. See this here?" As Lanie moves her hair away so Kate can see the bruises on her neck.

"Someone strangled her." Kate notices.

"He was strong too. I'm betting there is internal damage. But I'll know more once I get her back."

"Time of death?" Kate asks.

"Based on liver temp and condition of the body, maybe an hour or two ago." Lanie comments.

"Javi what have you got?"

"Neighbors heard a loud argument and sounds of a fight. They called 911 and got uniforms out here. However when they arrived everything was quiet and no one answered the door. The neighbors say the vic has a boyfriend. But there have been no problems reported before now." Javi tells her.

"Have we got a name of this boyfriend?"

"They have only seen him a couple of times. Until today it was all quiet." Javi continues.

At this time Ryan comes running in. "Beckett, we've got a jumper on the roof."

It was only four more floors to the roof so they all took the stairs.

The second they all got on the roof they spotted him just in time to see him go over the side.

All three went over to the edge and looked down. He had hit the concrete below and they could see a uniform move over to his body and check for a pulse. Finishing he stood up and looked up and shook his head.

Turns out it was a simple case and by the end of the day they had most of the answers.

Her name was Sara Parker. He boyfriend was Scott Reed. Lanie had determined that Sara had recently had an abortion. By the look of the technique used to terminate her pregnancy it had been done by an amateur and not done by an approved professional.

It had ruined her chances of having children in the future. Family members had known that her boyfriend had proposed after finding out. They were just above the poverty level but he was willing to try and make it work.

They had fought about the killing of his child. Likely his emotions got the better of him and he had killed her. Then in remorse for his lost child and killing his girlfriend he had jumped and killed himself.

The family members on both sides were devastated. They both had a rough time in life so far. They had hoped that the child would help them change things. Speculation was that Sara couldn't see how having a child would improve her life, only make it more complex.

Since money was short she had chosen a simpler option that had cost her the life of her unborn child and her own and in the end, her boyfriend.

Kate had gone home that night and had kissed Rick and had put as much of herself as she could put behind it. Rick knew there was something driving that kiss, but he kept silent. If she wanted to talk she would.

Then Kate went straight for Alexis and wrapped her up in her arms, kissed her and told her that she loved her. Then sat on the sectional with the two people she loved most next to her and watched a movie marathon of Shrek.

Picking up an already asleep Alexis, Kate carried her down and tucked her into bed. Kate just sat on the edge of the bed watching Alexis sleep for a little while. Reaching over to push a strand of hair out of her face and bent down to give her a quick kiss. Then headed for her own bedroom.

"Something you want to talk about?" Rick asks as Kate slides into bed and is enveloped in Ricks arms.

Kate is silent for some time. Just trying to snuggle into Rick as close as she can and soak it up.

"We had a case today." Kate starts. "A young girl got pregnant by her boyfriend." Kate pauses and Rick remains silent. "She decided to have an abortion." Another pause. "She had it done in some illegal back alley procedure." Again Kate stops and Rick can see the tears starting to form in her eyes.

"It cost her the ability to have any more children. The boyfriend found out and we think he snapped." Kate pauses again. "He killed her then he jumped off a building, killing himself." Kate's tears are running down her face and her lower lip is trembling.

Rick just pulls her in tighter and kisses her. "And you thought of Alexis all this time?"

Kate just nods her head.

"Now you understand what it means to be a parent. MOM." Rick tells her.

Kate just tilts her head up. "Rick?"

"Kate you care what happens to her. You help her every chance you get. You've taken over the tuck Alexis into bed duties each night." Rick ticks off a few items.

"Rick, I, …."

"Kate if for a second I thought you were trying to replace me or muscling into what was my territory, I would have said something long ago.

Kate, Alexis has decided on her own to wrap your heart around herself and hang on tight. And tell me if I'm wrong, but you are enjoying it." Rick bends his head down to look at Kate.

Kate is quiet for a moment. "You're not wrong. I love her. More than I ever thought I would ever love anyone since my mom died. I was just a teenager still when she died. I never really thought about having children. And after she died I never even gave a thought about what I was giving up.

Now I can't see my life without her in it. She can turn me into a puddle of goo just having her look at me." Kate giggles a little. "Big bad, kick ass Detective Beckett, wrapped around some five year old's little finger. … I'm not even sure what's happened to me?" Kate concludes.

"If you asked me, now you've become your mom." Rick tells her. "You're scared, aren't you?"

Kate nods. "I'm scared of something happening to her. I'm scared of what will happen to her should Bracken succeed. Hell I'm even scared of what will happen to her if something happens to me on the job.

I'm not sure how you do it Rick, and you've been all alone till now." Kate concludes.

"I've made arrangements at least financially should something happen to me. If I let what would happen to me some day get to me, I would go nuts.

I just try to live the day and do everything I can to make sure the next day is just as safe as the last one.

Even I worry about what I would do if anything happened to you on the job. Sometimes it scares the crap out of me." Rick confides. Opening up a little.

Kate tilts her head up to look at Rick. "Are you asking me to quit my job?" Kate is now worried.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Rick lifts up a little so he can see Kate better. "You listen to me Katherine Beckett. I would love you if you were in the Air Force and went away on a deployment for a year and worried that you would get shot down and never come back.

I would love you if we ended up living in a cardboard box in some alley somewhere. And if, god forbid ,you take a bullet and end up a quadriplegic, I will still love you! And so will Alexis!

You quit your job and I will still love you. I'll just be incredibly mad at you." Rick concludes his little speech.

Kate lifts up and pushes Rick down onto the bed and looks into Rick's eyes. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, but I'll thank him till the day I die because he did."

With tears running down her face. "Make love to me Rick. I want to feel you close to me. I want to feel loved not just hear that I'm loved. Because I love you, so very much!"

And Rick did the only thing he had ever done when making love to Kate before. He paid no attention to how many or even if she did have an orgasm. He only paid attention to every single inch of her. With a touch of a finger tip or a scratch from his nail. He kissed, licked or just brushed his lips over every single piece of her that he had just touched.

And when he was up near her face he would whisper in a few "I love you's".

Rick when done held Kate as close to him as he could. He just laid there holding onto Kate and stroking little circles on her upper arm with his face buried in her hair as he breathed in and softly kissed the top of her head.

When he was certain Kate was asleep, Rick thought about the Barrett Jackson auction that was in about a month. He had his favorite off the list on their web site. No matter the cost he was going to get her something that would surprise her. A little 'I love you' combined with a house welcoming gift.

He would discuss with Lucile what it would take to phone in a bid or do it on-line. He didn't feel the need to be there. After he got it he would arrange for transportation to have it shipped here and put in the garage.