Once the elevator doors opened and we had gotten into the loft I let go of the breath I didn't even knew was holding in. Martha and Alexis immediately went into their rooms and started packing for their trip to Paris. Rick still held my hand and dragged me towards his bedroom, once we got inside he let go of my hand and walked towards his closet.
"If you see anything you like of my clothes then just take it out and leave it on the bed. We can't risk going out shopping too much so we need everything we can get" he said and I looked at him while he threw shirts, pants and underwear on the bed.
I didn't quite know what to do, he did tell me to search through his clothes but it felt wrong. What if he had something he didn't want me to see? Or what if I took one of the shirts and it turned out he didn't want me wearing it?
"Kate" Rick sighed and dragged me out of my thoughts.
I looked up and him and he waved me to come to him. I went towards him and when I was there he pointed to his drawers.
"I have nothing to hide, and I mean it, take anything as long as you like it" he said and I looked into his ocean blue eyes.
I nodded and he pulled out his drawer with shirts and I started looking through it while he went and got bags to pack the clothes in. I found a red button shirt and I took it up and threw it on the bed. Further down I found a green shirt, I took it up and looked at it. If I was not mistaken it had a green lanthern symbol on it and I smiled. So, he was a marvel fan? I threw it on the bed and Rick looked up at me and I smiled at him. He smiled back before packing down the green shirt. I moved along and took a few more shirts and then took out some of his sweatpants. I decided to steal one of his sweaters too because I really thought they were comfortable, and when I was done we walked to the living room where Martha and Alexis stood.
"You two take a cab, here's some money" Rick said and pulled out a bunch money handing over to his mother.
She nodded and I looked at Rick with confused eyes. Where did he get that much money from? We walked out the door and I insisted on holding one of the two bags Rick had packed and he must've seen the determination in my eyes because he gave me the bag without much arguing. Once we came to the loby Martha turned to me.
"It was nice meeting you, be safe, okay?" she said and she hugged me.
"I'll try, have a good time in Paris" I said and hugged her back awkwardly.
When she let me go she turned to Rick and Alexis opened up her arms. I bent down and took her in my embrance. I hugged her tight and she hugged me as tight back.
"See you soon, love you mom" she whispered the last part in my ear and I got tears in my eyes.
She didn't know me, and yet she called me mom. How could this be possible?
"Keep her safe, darling" I heard Martha whisper and I figured I wasn't supposed to hear it but my heart melted by how it seemed like everyone here already saw me as family.
I had never met such amazing people. We let go and walked different ways. Martha holding Alexis's hand towards the place where the cabs usually stopped and me and Rick towards the parking garage.
"How come you guys are so nice to me?" I asked and before he could open up his mouth I added "and not now, I mean from the start, you've all been nice from the start even though I'm just a hom..."
"Was" he cut me off and I looked at him.
"What?" I said confused.
"Was, as in was a homeless, you're not anymore. You're with us now" he said and I tried to hide the small smile that crept on my lips and the blush I felt on my cheeks.
"You didn't answer my question though" I said and we reached the car where Lanie was now seated in the driver's seat.
"I will, later" he said and I nodded, accepting he didn't want to talk about it in the car for others to hear.
"FInally, come on" Lanie said once we got into the back seat.
"Sorry" Rick and I said at the same time.
We looked at each other and I could feel Lanie's gaze in the rearview mirror. Rick smirked at me and I blushed again. Lanie drove off and I kept quiet while Rick and Lanie talked about where we were going and when the boys where going to be there and so on. I stopped listen after a while since I didn't feel like it was directly to me, besides I didn't want to spy if they wanted to talk about something that I shouldn't know about. I kept focusing on things like what was going to happen, if Bracken really knew I was still out there, what he would do, how fast he would be able to find me and so on. I tried to think of a scenario where he found us and I was trying to figure out how I could keep Rick and the others from getting hurt, but I couldn't think of one since they knew what had happened. Andt hey would know what happened to me, so they would all want justice. Especially the two cops, Esposito and Ryan. I got a feeling Rick would do anything in his power too if I got killed by Bracken, and Lanie seemed like a person who wouldn't let anyone mess with her friends so she would probably join the other three to get justice for me.
"Kate?" I opened my eyes, not noticing I had even closed them.
Rick looked at me with a smile and Lanie had turned in the car seat to look at me. She was the one who had spoken.
"What?" I asked with a raspy voice and looked at the two.
"We're here" Lanie said with a smile and turned around to get out of the car.
"Where?" I asked sleepy and tried to adjust my eyes to the sun outside. "How long have I slept?" I continued asking and looked around.
"About two hours, maybe, you seemed like you needed it so we didn't wanna wake you" Rick said and I heard Lanie pick out some bags from the luggage.
"Where are we?" I asked again and Rick smiled at me.
"Someplace safe" he said and I smiled back at him. "Now, let's go, we can't stay in the car all day" he said and before I could do anything he leaned forward and pecked my lips.
I felt my cheeks get hotter and we jumped out of the car. We walked into the gigantic beach house.
"Woow" I whispered and Rick came to my side and took my hand.
"I know, it's Lanie's family's beach house. She said we could stay here for a while, till we solved your case" he said and I nodded.
"Let's get to work, shall we?" Esposito, I think it was his name, came to us and Rick nodded.
We followed Esposito into the house and he led us to the living room where Ryan, I think, and Lanie sat around a table with a lot of papers in front of them.
"What's that?" I asked and I felt stupid for asking so many questions.
And it didn't help with being tired, only made me more confused.
"These are the files of your mother's death, plus here's some for you" Ryan said and I looked at him with a questioning look.
"What do you mean for me? I haven't done anything, other than getting falsely accused of stealing but that's nothing you would look into, right?" I asked, suddenly worried they would believe the cops and think I was a thief.
Lanie looked at me with a reassuring smile.
"No, we don't look into that, don't worry" then she got serious, "someone filed you missing about the time you said you ran away, but we can't find who."
"Five years ago? Why would someone be trying to find me? Unless..." I said since my thoughts were thinking a bit further than my mouth could talk.
"Unless who?" Ryan asked and I looked at them.
"Unless it was Bracken who tried to find me so he could finish the job" I said and they all 'oh'ed.
"It says here it was a relative, you sure there wasn't anyone who actually was looking for you?" Esposito asked and held up the paper with the missing file.
I walked over to him and took the paper from his hands to read it myself. I read it for myself.
Who's missing? Katherine Beckett
Age? 17
Female/Male: Female
Description: Brown hair, pretty face, hazel/green eyes.
Reported by: concerned relative
There was a lot more to be read and I tried to read it all but it was blurry.
"But I don't have any relatives, not that I ever got to meet before my mom died" I said with a confused voice, "must be Bracken's attempt to wipe it under the rugg."
Rick held out a hand and I gave the paper to him. He eyed it and I turned to the three sitting around the table.
"Anything you've found?" I asked and they looked at me with concerned faces.
"How did you understand it was him? We can't find anything at all suggesting it" Lanie asked as kindly as she could.
I thought back. What had opened my eyes?
~~
"Mom, what are you doing?" I asked as I walked into our apartment.
I heard a lot of noise from someone walking around the apartment. I got into my mom's office and found her going through her stuff.
"Katie, I'm gonna need you to promise me to take care of yourself if something happens to me" she said and I looked at her shocked.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked and she glared at me.
"Language" she said and I immediately apologized.
She nodded and continued looking through some papers she had found and read in them.
"What's going on?" I asked but she didn't answer me. "Mom" I said louder and she looked up at me.
"Katie, I'm working on something big, I don't know what will happen to me if they find out. But I can't tell you too much, if I do then they might head after you too and that's something I can't let happen" she said and I started to get scared.
"Mom, talk to me" I said and she could hear the fright in my voice.
She sighed and put down her papers to walk towards me and take me into her arms.
"I'm working on a big case, William H. Bracken, remember that name, he's the one behind all the frauds and murders I've been working on. He doesn't want me taking him down but I got proof, Katie, so now nothing can stop me" she said with a smile.
"But mom, what if something happens, what if they come after you?" I asked afraid of loosing her.
"I've been to similar scenarios before, don't worry Katie, just... promise me to be a good girl just in case something happens, they shouldn't but if" she said and she wouldn't stop bugging me until I finally promised.
"Oh, and here, I think you should have this" she said and took off her necklace with the ring my dad had proposed to her with.
I tried to argue, it was her necklace and I was afraid I was going to loose it, but she put the necklace around me and hid it under my shirt.
"I'll be back tonight, don't wait up" she said and kissed my head before she put together her papers and walked out the door.
I had no idea that this would be the last moment I had with her before it happened.
~~
"My mom told me" I said and they looked at me like I was crazy.
"Riiiight" Esposito said and I could see the doubt in the two guys faces.
"No, not like that!" I exclaimed when I understood why their faces had fallen.
They thought I had lied to them and made everything up. Like a lunatic.
"I mean, she was a lawyer and the day she died she told me who she was gonna convict, who was behind a lot of frauds and murders in the city. She told me I to promise to take care of myself if anything happened to her, she told me that they in worst case scenario would try something. She told me that she would be back" the last part was only a choked whisper.
But everyone had heard me, the room was so quiet that even the quietest of whispers could be heard. I felt my heart wrench and I could feel tears start to water in my eyes. I tried my best to hold them back, and when I felt Rick's hand on my back I closed my eyes and took strength from this small gesture that gave me so much comfort which I had no idea I could get from anyone else but my mom.