CH22
It was now 1 month later:
It was two months into classes at NYU and both Kate and Lanie were sure they were doing great. For both of them it was about learning what they already knew about, mostly.
It was towards the end of October and it was Alexis's 6th birthday today. Kate had learned that this planet celebrates by giving presents and Kate had been trying to figure out what to get her.
It had taken Kate a few days to figure out what to get Alexis. Rick had told Kate to get her something from the heart, something she meant. So Kate had finally worked out just what to give her.
Rick had called the day before to tell Kate to bring something warm to wear and bring a swimsuit if she had one, or she could skinny dip if wearing a swimsuit presented a problem.
Kate knocked on the front door and was again greeted by having the door open and the smell of Rick blowing out and into her lungs, breathing him in. It had been an entire week without him and Kate stepped into Rick and buried her face into his chest.
Before she could kiss him however and taste his mouth Kate had her legs wrapped up by Alexis.
Kate dropped her bag to wrap her arms around Alexis. "Hi birthday girl." Kate kisses her head.
"You coming with us?" Alexis knew where they were going.
"You know where were going?" Of course she would know, she lives here. "Where are we going?"
Alexis however shakes her head and zips her mouth closed.
"Well maybe I won't give you your birthday present than." Kate teases since she has no intention of not giving it to her.
"NO!" Alexis grabs Kate again.
"Go get your bag pumpkin so we can start driving, I'll keep Kate from escaping." Rick offers.
Alexis however was conflicted, if she let go of Kate she might not get her present and Kate might escape. However she needed her bag and get Kate in the car so they could leave.
"Better run birthday girl. The sooner we get wherever we're going the sooner we can celebrate." Kate tells her kissing her head again.
Alexis was silent in the back seat of the car while Kate was stewing in the front seat. Kate hated surprises and Rick was keeping one about where they were going.
"Alexis, honey tell me where we are going." Kate tries something different.
However before Rick could caution Alexis not to talk or Alexis to give up the secret, Rick saw Kate take in a strong breath through her nose. Now Rick was looking at Kate with a question on his face.
Kate was looking around with a concerned look on her face. "Slam on the brakes Rick! … DO IT NOW!" Kate yells at him since he didn't do what she told him to when she first asked.
Rick slammed on the brakes, feeling the tires lock up and leave black marks on the road since the car did not have ABS. ABS was becoming more available, however Rick's car was old enough to not have it.
Rick was trying to pay attention to several different things at the same time. First, there was a car behind them that was almost riding his bumper that was forced to slam on the brakes too. Second, was watching Kate undo her seat belt and open the door and was opening the driver's door of the car behind them almost instantly.
Third there was a car out in front of them that also had slammed on the brakes.
Kate had the driver's door open and ripped the driver's seat belt out of its mounting and pulled the driver out of the car and spinned quickly slamming his head into the side of his own car. Letting him fall unconscious onto the road.
Kate then leaped into the car and grabbed the passengers arm and bit him and started drinking.
Rick was trying to keep an eye on what was happening behind them while also watching the car in front of them backing up very fast till it stopped just in front of his car.
Kate was still in the car behind them when the passenger of the car in front of them got out with a gun pointed at him.
Rick still had the car running and he slowly put the car back into drive and waited.
Then suddenly in the blink of an eye, the man with the gun was gone and Kate was standing in his place. Then he watched her slide over the top of the car and rip the driver's door off and toss it far into the distance.
Kate then grabbed his arm and bit him and started drinking.
Kate then undid his seat belt and lifted the guy out of the car and carried him to the back of Rick's car. "Open the trunk babe." Kate calls out. Having Rick push the button and Kate drops him in the trunk and closes it. Then Kate gets back in the passenger seat and buckles up.
"Drive please." Kate tells him.
Rick doesn't even think, just starts driving. It took Rick a few minutes. "What was that?"
"That's what the guy in your trunk is going to tell us." Kate tells him, only to see Rick still has a question on his face while Alexis didn't look scared but did have a look of something else.
"I'm a vampire. That means my sense of smell is improved, as is my strength and speed. I could smell the men in the car behind us. They were excited and worried. It told me they were up to something.
The two in the car in front of us was something I didn't see coming." Kate explains.
"I don't suppose you can read minds too and tell us what is going on?" Rick asks.
"Sorry, I just know they are up to something, just not what. And I was not going to let them get to either of you. Maybe the guy in the trunk can tell us something." Kate explains. "How long until we get to where we are going?"
"About an hour." Rick tells her.
"He'll be out for about two hours since I bit him." Kate tells him. Kate then turns to look back at Alexis. "You ok back there?" Alexis was just smiling back at her.
Alexis was simply impressed by the entire thing. To her Kate was amazing.
Kate watched as Rick pulled up in front of a huge house. After stepping out of the car, Kate could smell the ocean. "Who lives here?" Kate was looking everywhere.
"I bought a house in the Hamptons not long after I moved to New York with Alexis. We usually spend some of our summers out here. It's getting a little cool to be out here this time of year.
I thought since you hadn't been here before and it was Alexis's birthday, we could combine the two." Rick explains.
"WOW!" Kate was still impressed.
"Come on I'll give you a tour and then we can figure out what to do with our friend." Rick offers.
Kate has let Rick take her bag while Alexis gives her a tour.
"I need some rope and something to use as a gag." Kate tells Rick.
Kate soon has what she wants and takes the guy out of the trunk. "I'll be right back." Kate tells Rick with their friend from the car over her back, and Kate takes off running for all she's worth.
It's an hour later when Kate comes back without their friend. "Do I want to know?" Rick asks.
"He's hugging a tree in the middle of nowhere. I was going to let him stay there for a few hours before I go back and ask him some questions." Kate tells him. "You recognize any of them?"
"I didn't see most of them, but the two I did see didn't look familiar. … I have no idea what they wanted." Rick wasn't involved in anything. "Have you seen the house?" Rick changes the subject.
"A little, Alexis here gave me a quick tour." Kate looks down at her smiling. "Right?"
"Before it gets too cool outside we should show you the best part." Rick offers and takes her hand and heads for the back door.
Outside is green grass, beach just yards away and the sound of the ocean. "I've written a lot of my books out here. It is so calm and peaceful to sit out here. … The pool is this way." Rick starts walking taking Kate with him.
"I need to turn the heater on, to warm up the water. It should be ready some time tomorrow." Rick disappears into a small building and comes back out a moment later.
A little later Rick is making lunch for himself and Alexis while Kate watches on. "Do you need one of your blood bags?" Rick asks. Knowing that they had brought 5 of them with them in a cooler, with the plan of leaving what Kate didn't use behind for next time.
"I'm fine, I actually bit two of those men on the road, so I don't really need any of the ones that we brought with us. … But I will for birthday dinner anyway." Kate leans over and kisses Alexis's head.
Kate had noticed that Alexis had been paying attention to Kate drinking blood while she and her dad ate food. It seemed to be important to Alexis that Kate ate when they did.
"So what do we do first?" Kate asks looking at Alexis.
"Beach, before it gets too cold." Alexis offers. It got Kate in the master bedroom where she found her bag. Kate was in her bikini and just sliding on a cover when Rick walked in to change.
Rick stepped up to Kate. "You just remember who gets to take that back off later." Rick whispers into her lips.
It earned Rick a kiss. "We'll just have to see." Kate teased as she left the room. Finding Alexis waiting for her at the doors leading to the beach.
"You need a towel Kate." Alexis shows her the one she had.
"OH!" And Kate ran for the closest bathroom to grab a towel and was back standing next to Alexis in no time.
"Better?" Kate asks smiling at Alexis.
Kate never did take her cover off, it was just too cold for that. However Kate could dream what this place was like when it was warmer. Walk on the beach just in her bikini; go out into the ocean to swim.
"It must be very nice out here when it is warmer." Kate commented while she and Alexis walked.
"It's the best in summer. We can make sand castles. Dad won't let me swim in the ocean; he says the ocean is too strong for me." Alexis confides.
"It's cold Alexis, we should go back inside." Kate leads her back to the house.
They are half way back by the time Rick finally makes it outside. "We're cold and going back inside." Kate tells him as they collect him and go back inside.
Kate found herself searching the house alone looking at everything. Kate found another study room similar to the one on New York. Kate was running her fingers across several of the books located here. "His life involves books." Kate talks to herself. And yet he had mentioned that he was in the military once. How did he get from that to writing books? There were still so many things Kate didn't know about Rick.
But if she was fair there were a lot of things Rick didn't know about her either.
They had only known each other for close to 3 months. Kate had already reached one conclusion that was going to come out later. Maybe it was time to get an answer to another question.
Kate found Rick sitting on the floor helping Alexis build something with what looked like brown and green wood sticks. And there were a lot of them too, a whole lot.
Alexis seemed to be building something simple while Rick was trying something much larger.
"Hi you two. …. Can I borrow your father for a moment?" Kate asks, holding out her hand to Rick.
"You just want to kiss him without me watching." Alexis teases.
It did however get Kate to freeze. She hadn't planned on kissing him, but since she brought it up, Kate helped Rick to stand and kissed Rick in front of her. "Happy now?" Kate smiles at Alexis who was grinning.
Kate guided Rick to the study filled with books and closes the door. "I have a couple of questions Rick."
"Do I get another kiss if I answer them?" Rick was smiling. Kate however looked back at him with a serious look.
"Fine be serious, little miss boring. Ask your questions." Rick leaned up against one of the book cases that was from floor to ceiling.
"You said you were in the military and took a bullet in your back. How did you get into the military and then from that into writing books? … I mean you have a lot of books." Kate sweeps her arms at all the books. "There are some back in New York that have your name on them."
"Mother is an actress, however unlike Meredith, mother would take any job she could find. Some of them paid very little. We lived in some real dive locations, or sometimes didn't have any place to live at all.
I went from school to school because we moved so much. Even state to state. … I spent a lot of my time behind stage hanging out with other actors or actresses. Mother did what she could. I never did know who my father was. He was gone before mother even found out she was pregnant.
Since I had a lot of time to myself, I got into my fair share of trouble. … One of the things I found I could do was writing stories. I had a lot of imagination when I was young. However it was also that young imagination that got me into trouble.
Even I could see I was headed for even bigger problems if I kept it up. It was all just wasted fun and games. … Then I ran across this guy just outside of one of the many little colleges that I attended. The next thing I knew I had signed up for a four year stint in the Navy.
The navy's idea about making military people was to break them and then re-build them. I found that I could be very, very serious. It was a different me. I had spent all my life being the jokester and having fun. Since i was a very serious person now, i applied for specialized training and gave it my all to get in. I've always thought why do things half way when you can put your entire soul into doing it.
I'm still not sure how or why i joined the Navy. My memory of that time is kinda a blur. It may have had something to do with not having someplace to live at that time. I may have wanted to take some of the pressure of raising me all alone off my mother. There may be a dozen other reasons.
We went out on my very first mission that I can't talk about, and took a bullet in the back while we were working on extracting ourselves. It was my first and last mission and I found myself discharged from the Navy for medical reasons.
I went back to writing, however I also had a more serious nature about me. And I worked real hard at finding more fun in my life. Being serious got me a bullet in my back.
I started writing and had a few books published when I met Meredith. What started out as just a good time, turned into her getting pregnant." Rick paused since he had been doing a lot of talking, and Kate was just standing there listening.
"Alexis." Kate whispers out.
"My life changed the second I held her the first time. Then I came home and found my wife in our bed having sex with another man. I threw both of them out and Meredith filed for divorce two days later.
I guess having sex with whoever she wanted to was more important to her." Rick pauses again. "Maybe being part of a family frightened her. I don't know. I still don't understand Meredith."
"And she has ignored Alexis since day one." Kate reflects on what she has learned and already knew. "I don't understand that woman. Alexis is the most precious thing I've ever met. How can she give birth to a child and not care about her own child?" Kate still didn't understand Meredith and it soon had Kate blinking back tears.
"I've spent years trying to get Meredith to be a mother to Alexis. She'll call to say she is flying out to spend time with her, only to call an hour after she was supposed to show up telling me that she isn't coming. Leaving both of us at the airport waiting for her flight that she isn't on." Rick thinks he has answered her question.
Kate couldn't keep the tears back anymore, what that woman was doing to Alexis hurt too much.
Kate soon found herself in Rick's arms while Kate let go and cried into his shoulder. Kate could feel her heart breaking. "You love her, don't you?" Rick asks. Feeling Kate nod her head. "Does Alexis know?" Feeling Kate shake her head this time.
"It's one of my birthday presents for her. I came to the conclusion that I loved her and decided she should know that she is loved and not ignored." Kate talks into his shoulder.
It got Rick to hold her tighter. Kate loved his daughter and was spending her weekends with them, even out here in the Hamptons. Rick knew he was falling in love with her. Backing off from the sex had allowed him time to get to know her and her them.
"Any more questions?" Rick asks while still holding onto her.
"I'm a vampire." Kate mentions again.
It got Rick to chuckle. "Yeah, I noticed. Pretty cool huh?"
It got Kate to pull away from Rick just enough to look at him, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "I'm a vampire Rick. You're technically my prey. I hunt humans so I can bite them and get the blood I need." It was a cruel way of putting it, but it was the truth.
"And you think that should keep us apart? …. What you need physically Kate isn't what my mind or my heart sees. Fine you drink blood, something I can easily provide, even if you can't live from biting me.
Humans live by breeding their food and then slaughter it to live. We live because we kill, what makes you so different from us? Who or where we get our food from?
I don't care about that Kate, and neither does Alexis. You've given her something she doesn't have, and trust me, she's going to go nuts when you tell her that you love her. I'm already going nuts knowing that you love her.
You're a vampire. … So what?" Rick didn't see any problem that couldn't be overcome.
Kate smiled, wiped away a few more tears and kissed him. "There is still one more problem between us." Kate points out.
It caused Rick to put on his best "What?" look on his face.
"I'm a vampire and you're human Rick." It seemed obvious to Kate, however Rick had a "So what" look on his face.
"We're not going to have children together." If they do end up staying together, their family isn't going to get any bigger. Kate wasn't going to get pregnant.
"You sure about that?" What made Kate so certain?
"Pretty sure, yeah." Her parents had never brought it up, but then Kate hadn't actually asked either. They were too busy just trying to stay alive and live their lives.
"So you have no intention of having sex with me?" Rick teases, since he was pretty sure that Kate did.
Kate lightly slaps his chest. "That's not what I meant and you know it."
Rick's smile gets wider. "So you do want me to make love to you?" Rick keeps teasing.
Kate could now feel her heart beating in her chest and was instantly nervous. They were talking about something Kate had only ever dreamed about before. Being a vampire that was being hunted to extinction made it something that could only ever be a dream.
Kate buried her face back into Rick's chest so she could breathe him in. She needed the courage to answer his question and Kate was already thinking about what it would be like to be made love to by Rick and how she could make love back to him.
"YES!" Kate answers by talking into his chest.