Chapter Text
Chapter Fourteen
He picks the song with care. The Johnny Cash thing had been spur of the moment. And he’d been lucky enough that she’d known the words. He could write one but he doesn’t think that he could put everything he feels for Kate into words. It would probably fall short.
The song he picks is a Buck Cherry one.
He heard it on the radio a while back and every time he hears it he thinks of Kate. He just has to make sure that Kate actually stays for the performance that he doesn’t do anything to piss her off in that time.
That’s going to be trickier.
The day of the Grammy’s, they have to arrive at the award show early for the dress rehearsals. Kate arrives wearing jeans and a t-shirt, with no makeup on, her hair pulled up in a ponytail. He tries getting near her just to talk but she avoids him.
Every time he tries to go near her she starts talking with someone. Including one guy Seth is pretty sure was an intern that was just getting coffee.
Finally, he has to resort to drastic measures.
He breaks into her dressing room using his credit card.
Kate is sitting on her couch talking on her cell phone when he enters. She jumps up, dropping it on the table. “What the hell is this Seth?”
“We’ve got to talk,” he says.
She crosses her arms. “We talked yesterday. It went about as well as can be expected. I don’t really want a repeat of that. You can walk out the way that you came.”
“I don’t want to walk out the way that I came. I want to talk to you. I need to talk to you because I said all of the wrong things yesterday. I was an idiot. I know what I need to say now.”
“You know what you need to say now?”
“I know what I want to say,” he corrects, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I never should have broken up with you that way. I shouldn’t have broken up with you at all. We had started something and it was good.”
“It was very good,” she agrees, “and you shouldn’t have broken up with me like that but we’re not together now.”
“No we’re not,” he says, “but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop fighting for you, Kate. You’re the one that I want. You’re everything that I’ve wanted. You make me better. And we’re better together.”
She doesn’t say anything. She just stares past him for far too long. Then she picks up her cell phone. “Rafa, I’m sorry about that. He just came in. I couldn’t stop him even if I tried. That’s just how he is.”
She gestures to the door.
He sighs, and leaves her alone. Maybe he should have done that to begin with. He’ll be surprised if she even shows up for their performance that night. He heads out of the dressing room, closing the door on the way out.
He is about to walk away when the door to the dressing room opens. Kate leans against the frame. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“I’m sorry, but I meant what I said. I’m not going to stop fighting for you. I take what I want and you’re what I want, Kate.”
“I didn’t mean the speech. I meant breaking into the room. I was in the middle of the private conversation. You can’t just do that you know? It’s called not being an asshole. If you had just waited---“
“Oh, if I had just waited what? You’ve been avoiding me all day.”
“Because I was trying to decide if I was going to break up with Rafa on my own,” she says, “but you don’t have to worry about that anymore. You did that for me.”
“Kate, I’m---“
“Don’t pretend to be sorry. This is what you wanted isn’t it?”
“Not like this.”
“Go to hell, Seth. Go to hell.”
“Kate----“
She slams the door on him, locking it. He hangs his head and goes back to his own dressing room. He wants to make the performance mean something. He wants to make it so great that she’ll take him back. But somehow he doesn’t think that performing in front of thousands will mean as much as he wants it to.
Seth picks his guitar up, strapping it onto him and begins to play as he walks in the direction of Kate’s dressing room. A tiny crowd gathers as he plays the Buck Cherry song, a surprisingly cheery little melody.
It takes a few seconds for Kate to open her door, as he sings, “Miss you all the time, Underneath a stormy sky, You take away the rain, And leave me with a sunny day, Stay here by your side, And never let you go now…….”
He finishes the song, to applause from the small crowd gathered around them. Kate stands there glaring at him with her brilliant, green eyes. He doesn’t mind being glared at by her just as long as he gets to look at her.
“That’s what I should have said,” he tells her.
Kate steps out from behind the door. He winces instinctively, thinking that she just might slap him. Except she doesn’t slap him. “You are a moron.”
He smirks. “I’m aware, sweetheart. But I happen to be in love with you, Kate. And I’m not going anywhere. You got that?”
“I got that.”
She glances around at the crowd of people and to Seth’s surprise, she pulls him in by his shirt. Seth locks the door behind them.
“We can’t just pick up where we left off,” she says, “too much has happened.”
“I don’t want to pick up where we left off. I’m not the same person that I was then. I just need to know that you and me….”
“We’re okay,” she says, “we’re okay.”
She stands on her tip toes, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kisses him. Seth picks her up and carries her to the couch. “Yeah, we’re gonna be okay sweetheart,” he agrees. And he believes it for the first time in a long time.
Because as long as he has her, he's always going to be okay.
Fin.