Back and Forth (A Castle Fanfiction)

Decisions

When Tuesday rolled around, three days after Rick proposed, Kate was beyond beat. She felt as though she could have slept another three hours, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, the two jobs plus school plus baby preparations plus pregnancy shit was all together taking one hell of a toll on her. She didn't want to, but knew she needed to draw back on something. She just wished it didn't have to be one of the two jobs she was working because she needed money, and one paid far more than the other. And Cavin really needed someone. She just- couldn't work that way anymore.

Today, Javi and Cavin were due back from their camping expedition, and Kate was due for her final tutoring session with Cavin. She had already turned in the papers to resign. Now she just had to break the news to the boy who would already be heartbroken. Javi brought Cavin straight to the bookstore directly after he told Cavin about the fact that he was leaving. When Cavin walked through the doors, he didn't look angry or wounded, he just looked slightly saddened. He seemed to understand that this wasn't Javi's fault, he just didn't want it to happen. He wanted another two weeks.

When Cavin sat down, morose and seemingly weak, Kate questioned, "How was camping?"

"Fun, I guess," Cavin stated.

"What did you guys do?"

He shrugged. "Camp stuff."

Kate sighed. "What's wrong, bud?"

"Javi's leaving early for some kind of sniper training. I don't want him to go."

"Oh, Cavin, I'm sorry. I'm sure Javi doesn't want t leave you any more than you want him to leave," Kate attempt to cheer him up.

The boy just responded, "I know," without looking at Kate. He already knew all of this, and Javi had explained to him time and time again why he felt he had a responsibility to do what he was doing. He just hated it. He just kept quiet.

"Well, do you want to go pick out a book? Or go over flashcards?" The boy shrugged as though he didn't care and then picked up the flashcards on his side of the table to hand to Kate so that they could get started.

As they went through their typical routine, Kate watched the boy slowly get a little less focused on the negatives of the whole day and he slowly became a bit more involved. He wasn't exactly himself, but he seemed distracted enough to be okay with it. So, when the time came for the two of them to part and Javi came to pick him up, Kate asked if the two of them wanted to come to the loft for dinner.

When they got there, Rick was waiting with a dinner for five already cooked up, and his Nintendo 64 set up. Though she was surprised by his preparations, given that there were no plans in place originally, Rick was less than surprised by the fact that his fiancé had invited the child over as a means to stall and to cheer him up a bit more. Alexis and Cavin almost immediately scurried toward the Legoes and built a star fleet while Javi and Kate spoke on the couch. While the kids switched between Legoes, Nintendo, and light sabers, Kate asked Javi, "So, how did he take it?"

"Not as badly as I thought he would," the soldier replied.

Rick commented from behind Kate, "He seems happy right now."

"He is," Javi replied. "He really enjoys spending time with you both and Alexis."

Kate the swallowed hard and dropped her head in shame. "About that..."

"Mommy," Alexis said from the floor, "can you fix it?" She held up her Lego boat for Kate which had fallen apart a bit, and required some maneuvering of pieces to keep from breaking apart. When she handed it back to the girl, Alexis smiled and said, "Thank you," before returning to her game.

Javi smiled at the three year old and told the couple, "It's about time she called you mommy. You're both great parents."

"Thank you," Kate replied looking at her writer for a moment and then toward Javi.

The man then said, "Anyways, what were you saying?"

"Oh, um, yeah... I just- I don't want to, but- I kind of have to... Ahh."

"She has to give Cavin's tutoring sessions to me for a little while, here at the loft. Pregnancy is starting to take its tole, and with the engagement, she's got to lighten her load, so I'm going to be tutoring Cavin for a while." Kate was shocked silent. He hadn't said a word about this to her until this moment. She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing.

"Cavin, did you hear that," Javi asked his Little Brother.

The boy looked up. "No. What?"

"Rick is volunteering to tutor you while Kate takes it easy for a bit. You should say thank you."

"Thank you, Rick," the boy replied with genuine gratitude and excitement. Being a foster kid, a Little Brother, and having Javi as a mentor, he understood what a commitment volunteering was and that good people who did it from the kindness of their hearts should be respected and admired. Or at least that was what Javi always told him. That and never pick a fight with someone who could potentially win.

After about thirty minutes, everyone sat down to eat and took another hour and a half to talk about the world. Rick and Kate told Javi about the engagement and their plans for the baby. Alexis, in excitement, showed Cavin the nursery which currently only held her old changing table and crib and a dresser they picked out to match. The crib Kate had bought when she thought she would be alone was set up in their room the way Rick had done when Alexis was an infant.

Once Javi and Cavin left, nearly the moment they walked out the door and Rick turned to look at his fiancé, her loving smile caused him to ask, "What?"

"I can't believe you did that."

"Volunteer?"

"Yeah," she answered, stepping closer, lacing her hands on his hips.

He replied simply, "Well, I knew Cavin really needed to learn, and I didn't want you to feel guilty about having to drawn back on the things you do," taking her into his arms and holding her closer as he stroked her back.

She then told him with honesty and serenity, looking up into his eyes, "I don't know how I got lucky enough to find you."

"I was the lucky one to have found you," he said watching her gaze.

She then made a strange, half amused face as she asked, "When did we become the sappy, cheesey, makes people want to gag type of couple?"

He smiled. "I believe that was the moment you said always." Kate then gave a look that said both "shut up" and "you're probably right", making Rick remember for the billionth time in the last two hours why he wanted so desperately to marry her. He then leaned down and lightly kissed her cheek just before she stole a kiss from his lips. When they pulled apart, their heads softly fell together and they memorized the moment. Neither said a word to the other. They didn't need to. They already knew that they loved each other, and that was all that mattered. That was all they needed.