It's Impossible Said Pride….

HERS

"You have no idea"

A declaration of victory.

Or so she thought.

Teasing words reminding him she would be no man's conquest. Not even the writer who captured her imagination long before she stole his curiosity.

That was her vow as she walked away.

Only, she had no idea how far he'd go.

Matching her step for step, his dizzying pursuit tested her at every turn. Still, she refused to surrender. Adeptly evading attempt after attempt until it occurred to her how far beyond conquest they already were.

So she made a new promise.

The annoyance who had inexplicably risen to confidant would never get close enough to break her heart.

Better men than a bored playboy had tried and failed. Her promise was safe.

Of this, she was sure.

That certainty went unchallenged until he dared trespass into the one place she swore forgiveness did not exist. Stunned by his betrayal, she walked away.

For weeks, anger held together her breaking heart until it's crackling became as hard to ignore as the reality that his presence too often lulled her into forgetting.

It wasn't the first time.

It wouldn't be the last.

Still, even as each new hurt taught her the impossibility of her promise, she knew it didn't matter.

There could be no future for the wayward writer boy and his reluctant muse. Together, they were a cliché and Kate Beckett was anything but.

HIS

"Call me your muse one more time & I'll break both your legs"

Together, they were magic.

Only she didn't believe in magic.

A career, on the verge of being consumed by the darkness of unrelenting writers block, rescued by the unexpected arrival of something new.

Nor did she believe in fate.

A murder scene, that brought the wickedness of his imagination to disturbing life, discovered by one of the few detectives in the city able to expose such unoriginal work.

Or soulmates.

An unwanted goodbye, nullified by the eleventh hour offer of a three book deal and a shameless excuse to stay.

And she definitely didn't believe in the power of the universe.

A trio of detectives discovering their absent partner, called to be the white knight to a woman he barely knew, when he too was desperate for help.

Coincidences.

That's what she called them.

He wasn't even sure she believed in muses.

She did, though, believe in love. This he was certain of. Only, twice divorced, Richard Castle was hardly anyone's true love.

It's Risky Said Experience…

HERS

"Why didn't you call?"

For years, she had a single blind spot.

Beyond her control, it pushed her to extremes. Time and again, her judgment failed, too often at the price of her own happiness.

Now she had two.

She never wanted to trust him yet she does. Every day he earns a little more even as her head fights her instincts every step of the way. Her days spent wondering if she's seeing only what she wants, or worse, what he wants her to. In a relationship that seems more complicated by the hour, she's no longer sure.

She was right.

Just not in the way she imagined.

Overly cautious and caught up in the attentions of another, she missed the signs that he was ready for something different.

That not yet had somehow turned into now.

Once she stopped second guessing, the truth was unbelievably clear. Easily discovered in the evidence she'd so carelessly dismissed. So, putting her faith in her heart and his, she prepared to confess what both had buried for long enough.

Only she was too late. The hurt, in eyes that so often exposed his secrets, already replaced with something she wished she'd never seen.

That night, she was the one left standing as he walked away.

Blindsided.

Again.

This time, months passed before she let him reclaim the place in her heart he so abruptly deserted.

Sometimes it's days, sometimes months but the outcome is the same. Always, because she no longer wants her life without him in it.

So, she swears she'll be smarter.

Promises she'll be stronger, even as she's choked by a firestorm of emotions.

Disappointment at her reluctance to shut him out forever. Anger at her heart for being his biggest cheerleader. Relief at how easily she depends on him again.

It's a firestorm only one man has the power to ignite.

HIS

"I'll do whatever you want, whatever you need"

As her self-appointed protector, that was his pledge. A promise worth keeping even if it meant letting her go.

Day after day, he studied her with as little respect for space and privacy as he could get away with. Justifying his actions by telling himself his job depended on knowing her.

And he did. Better than almost anyone.

For years, he memorized his muse's story under the guise of penning fiction. All the while, knowing the real story being written was theirs. Still, his confidence that he was one of those things she needed seemed to come and go. So, he settled in as her watcher while waiting for fate to intervene one more time.

And it did, only this time fate was cruel to the writer and his muse as it brought another man into their game.

Suddenly he had no idea what she wanted, what she needed. He only knew one thing for certain. Their time was running out.

Faced with the reality of someone rewriting his ending, he boldly asked for a weekend away. Somehow forgetting that the woman he knew could never say yes. Then in a moment of misguided valor, he rashly abandoned the imaginative theories and arguments that so often swayed her.

He barely tried at all.

This new desire to be honorable blinded him to the possibility that his adversary wasn't what she needed. Wasn't what she wanted. Foolishly believing she was happy, he refused to bear witness to someone else living their ending. So he moved on. Left before she went back to not needing him at all.

It was nearly a year before he learned she ended it before he ever left.

Ended it for him.

For a chance at them.

All those days spent watching and he missed it. The shock when he announced his plans. The sparkle in her eye as she joined their party. The struggle she had saying a goodbye that wasn't supposed to be a goodbye at all.

She didn't want him to go.

Not that summer.

Maybe not ever.

Finally understanding the truth, he wondered if the day would ever come when he could give her exactly what she needed – an open heart.

It's Pointless Said Reason…

HERS

"A control freak like you with something you can't control"

It hadn't always been that way.

Raised to follow her heart, she set out to find him. That wild boy with the fearless heart willing to risk anything for the girl he wanted. Not because he would win, but because their chance was worth fighting for. Her heart knew that boy would be her one and done.

That was before the twist of a stranger's knife shattered her world.

Before ten years of searching quieted the voice in her heart until it was little more than a whisper.

Now she led with her head.

Always.

Yet some truths of her heart refused to stay silent.

Her writer was that boy.

Playing by his own rules, he fought for her heart in ways she never imagined. He had been for much longer than she ever gave him credit for. And, sometimes whether he intended to or not, reminded her to fight for the dreams of that girl who disappeared in the yellow tape. For that life she chased so long ago.

He was definitely that boy.

Only, she could no more control him than she could her own heart. If she could, she would bring back the look that he so often showed her. The one that made her feel like they had a chance. The one she hadn't seen since that summer.

HIS

"You're not very good at this"

Their attraction was as undeniable as the reality that their romance ended before it ever began. A game that grew into a mess of complications made more impossible by the many chances both threw away too easily.

It didn't make sense. He was the man she wanted – her eyes told him that. He wanted her too, yet, knowing her better than anyone didn't stop him from hurting her time and again. In the end, they both knew he could never be that man she needed.

She deserved better.

Not a coward who, drowning in a pool of insecurity, let go of the one thing he really wanted. All because the man, who prided himself on trying anything, refused to take the one risk that mattered most. Because he couldn't stand hearing the voice that made his heart race declare that loving him wasn't worth trying for. Because he couldn't bear ever being the reason behind the heartbreak in those eyes he adored.

One and done. It's one of the few hopes she's allowed herself to hold onto. More than that, it's who she is.

He won't be the one to destroy that.

Give It A Try Whispered The Heart…

HERS

"I love you"

That the words weren't written by him doesn't erase the wish that one day they would be his. Doesn't make her want to stop imagining what that life would be like.

While begrudgingly allowing him to carve out a place in her world, she had given more of herself to him than anyone. The men she dated rarely were privy to the parts of her that he saw whenever they were together. Rarely, did she want to share them with anyone else.

Now, the man who so boldly pursued her from the start, seems shy, unsure. Only, this time his withdrawal gives her hope of another chance.

One that scares her less than it should.

Daring to let herself believe the possibility that his pursuit had been more than the dramatic machinations of an overblown ego. That maybe he always had believed in the real possibility of a future.

Their future.

She envied his power to believe. This world she chose, fraught with betrayals and lies, chipped away at hers every day. It brought her face to face with the dangers of believing in motives she could not prove. He changed that. The days proved it was okay to believe in him.

Them.

More and more, she believed a part of her always had.

HIS

"I'd get you out"

They saved each other more than once. It's what partners did.

This was different.

Before they ever met, she sacrificed almost everything to bring justice to her mom and save her dad. Time healed some of the scars from those battles but others remained, showing themselves every now and then. Remarkably, instead of boasting of sacrifices made, she simply honored those she loved in a way that only she could.

For those she cared deeply about, her loyalty had no end. Her partner, her friend, he wondered if she could ever care that much for him.

Then one day she answered without ever being asked.

The admission that she'd risk her freedom to return his left him speechless.

The law saved her. Gave her a way to fight back when she lost so much. That she would willingly turn her back on it for anyone shocked him. To throw everything she worked for away for someone else's happiness was no small thing.

It meant something.

Everything.

He didn't care they'd never shared more than a kiss on the cheek or a friendly hug. He knew Kate Beckett. Loved her. And if he really looked, the man who believed in magic knew that she loved him too.

Never again would he let her think she was anything but worth everything.

THEIRS

"You'll never get rid of me"

A suspect's letter put words to the truth.

Their truth.

Made without either realizing yet absolutely unforgettable.

Acknowledged time and again by actions never regretted yet always unspoken.

Battered by circumstance yet proven unbreakable.

Their promise.

Etched on the well-worn pieces of two hearts til not a single one remained.

A/N: Thanks to Ana for the quote "It's impossible said pride. It's risky said experience. It's pointless said reason. Give it a try whispered the heart." and the oneshot suggestion, to Emily for helping it make sense and to you guys for reading. Take care!