Back and Forth (A Castle Fanfiction)

Money Ball

When Kate and Rick came home the next day from their trip to the doctor, as they stood outside the door to their apartment, Kate's mouth pulled Rick's lips in further and further as their minds began to meld and their bodies drew closer and closer. In a rush of emotion and lust, Rick's hands moved from Kate's lower back, to her cheeks, his thumbs hooking into her back pocket.

As her fingers tightened around the ends of his hair, her chest rose and her lips pressed more firmly into his. Her tongue teased his lips as her back fell completely against the door. One of his arms pulled up to prop himself up over her as he absorbed her scent and entered her lips with a new found desire to explore the lands he thought he knew.

"Huh, hem," someone in the hall fake coughed. Rick lips pulled off of Kate's as the both looked at the woman with her young son behind her. "Maybe continue this inside," the woman said roughly and then continued with her son down the hallway. The couple instantly went flush as embarrassment flooded their bodies. They waited until the woman was fully out of sight before adjusting off the wall and starting into their home. When the two stepped through the door, Alexis was sleeping on the couch, her grandmother just tossing a blanket over her to keep her warm.

Once it was down, covering the child, Martha looked at the couple whose faces gave away their activities from before with smeared lipstick and splotches of red over flush skin. It was obvious she knew what had gone on outside by her hint of amusement in a subtle, "Oh. Aren't we smiley today."

"How was she," Rick asked, quickly changing the subject, knowing that, if given the chance, his mother could go on about this for hours.

"Delightful, as always."

Kate smiled. "She's pretty tuckered out, huh?"

"Yes, well, two hours at the play place at McDonalds always seems to do that to her." Kate smirked, walking closer to come see the littlest red head. Martha went ahead and assumed, "I take it the appointment went well."

"Yep," Rick stated, noticing the odd nature of his mother's mannerisms far faster than his fiance, "Our little Henry is one hundred percent perfect."

"Good," his mother smiled. "That's great." The woman's eyes then fled from her son's as she began to study the expecting mother on the floor and her granddaughter beside her. Alexis hadn't stopped talking about the fun she had had with Kate and Rick after her mother left since the moment the couple had walked out the door.

It was obvious by nearly everything Kate was doing that she was trying to keep the child as happy as possible. Knowing what it felt like to have to live with the fear of possibly losing a child in a custody battle if ever that issue came up, Martha was certain that was what drove Katherine to coddle Alexis. Rick was clearly certain that Alexis was safe with them and that Meredith would lose in any sort of legal battle such as that, but his darling fiance was not as assured. It was nice knowing that this woman cared that deeply for the child. It was nice that her son had finally found the right woman, and not some sleaze like Meredith, or for that matter, her third husband.

Jacob Daniels, Martha's latest husband was an absolute scumbag. In their divorce, he managed to take a majority of her life's savings, leaving her with practically nothing. Up to this point in time, she had been able to float by on what money she had left and the few jobs she attained here and there in less than prestigious theaters. Now, after about four years of living that way, Martha had finally reached the end of that lifetime. Finally, she was barely making her rent. It was now time to do what she had always prayed she would never have to do.

She sighed and said finally, "Actually, I've been meaning to talk with the both of you for a while now." She was clearly struggling, so the both of them gave her their full attention. "Richard, you know I've had some money problems..." He sighed and nodded. "Well... I- It's gotten worse, kiddo, and- I'm really struggling with all of this..."