Moving Forward (Completed)

Chapter Seven

Katherine grumbled incoherently when Rafael's alarm went off, pushing at his shoulder but never actually waking. Rafael smiled and quickly shut his alarm off, yawning as he sat up, his eyes making their way to the woman lying next to him. Her breathing had leveled out again, her hair was half covering her face, and her arms wrapped around the pillow. Carefully, he climbed out of bed, not wanting to disturb her and made his way to the bathroom to shower.

When he returned to his bedroom, fully dressed and ready for the work day, he quietly chuckled to himself at the fact that she hadn't moved. Instead of waking her, he grabbed the spare key he kept in his desk drawer and a sheet of stationary paper his mother had given him with his initials, RB, printed in a dark navy blue on the bottom right corner. He scripted out a note for her and left both the key and the note next to her phone on his nightstand before heading to work.

Katherine squeezed the pillow tighter and then stretched, blinking a few times as her eyes adjusted to the light. His sheets were really soft and she pulled them tighter around her as she turned to face where she had expected to find Rafael. The side of the bed he had slept on was of course empty since he had left for work over two hours ago. Katherine sat up and glanced at his clock, nine thirty. Yawning as she rubbed her eyes, she reached for her phone noticing the note and key sitting next to it.

Katherine,

As much as I wanted to, and believe me I wanted to... I couldn't bring myself to wake you. Not knowing how little sleep you had had when my alarm went off. I've set the coffee maker up so all you have to do is press start. There's eggs, bacon, fruit, and other possible breakfast foods in the kitchen if you're hungry. Help yourself. Feel free to shower or anything else you need to do to get ready for the day. Seriously, mi casa es tu casa. I'll get the key from you at dinner tonight, 7pm? I hope your sleep was as peaceful as it looked.

Rafael

She climbed out of his bed and slipped on her underwear and shirt from yesterday, smiling as she made her way to the kitchen to start coffee.

"You have really pretty handwriting."

Her text was almost immediately returned. "Please tell me you're roaming around my apartment in what you slept in."

"I didn't sleep in anything last night."

"I know."

Katherine rolled her eyes at the smirk she knew was plastered across his face. "I'm wearing what I ate dinner in last night."

"That's actually better."

"Don't you have work to do?"

"Yes, but this is more fun."

She smiled at his comment and poured coffee in the cup he had set out for her. "You're really cute."

"So are you, but duty calls... your friend and Carisi are heading my way."

"Lucky them." She grinned as she pressed send, taking a sip of coffee.

"See you at seven."

Katherine moved to the window to look out, coffee in one hand her phone in the other. Careful not to spill, she sat the coffee mug on the hardwood floor and used her phone's camera to check that the makeup she hadn't removed from yesterday wasn't smeared all over her face. She cleaned up the few smudges around her eyes and noticed her hair looked really good from the front. The side and back were a little crazy, and despite being slightly messy the front had volume and a nice wavy thing going that she had attempted but had never actually succeeded at styling before. She picked the mug back up and stood with her back to the window and took a picture of her self and then rotated the camera horizontal when she realized she could get Central Park nicely framed in the shot behind her. Originally, her intent was only to snap a photo to see if she could replicate the hair later, but she looked really good and that was something she rarely told herself. The lights in his apartment lit her nicely and the window all but disappeared behind her just leaving the view of Central Park surrounded by buildings.