Kate adjusted his old t-shirt, it seemed that no matter how many times she'd worn it, it still held that scent that was uniquely him. She bit her lip nervously and reached for the covers. Gingerly she pulled them back, watching him. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she wondered how they'd come to this point. For so many years she'd been able to throw back the covers and crawl in with him without a qualm. Now they were back at the beginning. The beginning! He'd come to her as she'd sat on their swings wishing and hoping he'd do just that. He'd come to her, and now they had a chance to get it right. A chance to show they'd lived and learned. A chance to be better than they were before. If they could manage that, it would most certainly be 'epic'. They had been spectacular. And like all spectacular things, when the foundation begins to crumble, the crash is equally spectacular. Clothed in his scent, and coated with hope, she slid in next to him. She warmed as he turned toward her in his sleep, like he'd done so many times before. She closed her eyes as he gathered her to him, pulling her body nearly on top of him as was his way. She felt him relax beneath her as every muscle in his body seemed to sigh with relief. Melting in to him, she slid in to sleep.

And just before dawn, slid in to love. They'd moved together in a mix of instinct and desperation. Swaying slow and easy like an old ship bobbing on the waves. She moved over him, making her apologies with each stroke, each bunch and release of her muscles, each whispered promise. Every move all together new, all together familiar.

He'd clung to her, tamping down the urge to take over, to take her. Knowing even in his sleep laden state that she'd come to make her case. To make their peace. He didn't bother fighting back tears, he was open and vulnerable and oh so relieved. Later when they lay spent and molded to each other he'd felt the tears drop from her cheeks to his chest. Their struggle was the same. He'd stroked her back, her hair, her side, memorizing her lest this dream slip away, and as slow and easy as they'd woken they drifted back to sleep.

He woke alone, and on a sigh, hung his head. Last night's dream had been more vivid and had touched him more deeply than any of the others. He took a deep breath and tried to shake it off, but when the distinct scent of her filled his senses he paused. Looking toward the door he saw her in nothing but his white dress shirt carrying two cups of coffee. He heard her chuckle as he scrubbed his fists over his eyes and stared again.

"No," she said with a smile. "It wasn't a dream."

He grinned back and accepted the cup she offered. Running a finger along her thigh he said, "oh I beg to differ."

She blushed, then setting her coffee on the night stand, turned to him. Battling between keeping the playful banter and getting the hard part over with, she opted for the latter. "Castle…" she frowned. "Well, I was going to tell you that I am also once again single, but…" She took his hand. "I'm hoping that's not true."

"It's not," he said simply.

"Good." She averted her eyes, kept hold of his hand. "Thank you for coming to me. How did you know I was there?"

He chuckled. "I didn't. I took a walk to try to work out what I was going to say to you."

"Like you do when you're dialoging a story?"

"Yes, the most important story of my life. 'The Mystery of the Failed Marriage'," Sadness once again set in. He took a long slow breath. "…and there you were."

Her eyes smiled, and she shook her head. "It's not just your mystery to solve Rick. Isn't that how we started? Isn't that always how it should be? We solve it together?"

He nodded, raised her hand to his lips. "That's what I'm hoping for."

"Me too," She said softly. "I'm sorry I couldn't say anything at the park. I was just so stunned. I'd been wishing… And then there you were, it was almost unreal. You drove off before I could call after you."

"Sorry," he said. "What were you doing there?"

"I was doing the same thing. I just took a walk, trying to work things out. It's just so complicated!"

"You see, I think that's where we went wrong," he said, warming to his topic. "Complicated is our specialty. We used to be able to solve a case with almost nothing to go on. But when our number came up, when it was our case to solve, we…"

"I walked out of the room," Kate cut in, all levity gone. "I walked out of that room and that was the end of it. I just couldn't have that conversation if it was going to be the end of us. I just couldn't. And I made it a self-fulfilling prophecy. I know it was my fault."

He frowned. "No it wasn't."

"Don't argue with me," she told him, complete with a raised eyebrow to settle the matter. She ran a thumb over the skin of his wrist. Long ago he'd learned she reflexively did this when thinking. "Castle, this scares me to death. More than anything my deepest fear was losing you, losing US, and it happened. I've thought and thought and thought about it. I haven't stopped thinking about it since we signed those damned papers!" Her lips pursed, nostrils flared. "What did I do? How did I fail so badly at showing my heart, that you thought I'd…" Her eyes welled up. She was so damned sick of crying! Crying for him! Crying for her failures! "…I'd want to be away from you? I know we were fighting, I know it was rough but…"

He wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Shhh, don't do this to yourself. I was the one…it wasn't you!"

Pain flashed in her eyes. "So you did want to be done?"

"No," it was a whisper. "No I didn't. I just didn't want to see one more tear in your eye. I just didn't want to make you unhappy. I was so sick of seeing you cry! So sick of seeing you angry, and hurt! I just couldn't hurt you anymore. But I didn't want to be done, I never want to be done! I just want to be done with hurting you!"

She nodded, and rather than pull away, and pace and argue as was their way, she quietly moved in to his lap and put her arms around him. "I couldn't take anymore either," she said against his neck. "I was hurting you, and I couldn't seem to stop. We were different, something had changed. I was afraid your feelings had changed too. I wanted to fight, to tell you that I didn't want to call it quits, but I was afraid of your answer. I was a coward, I should have fought for us. I'm sorry."

"We both blame ourselves. If I'd loved you better…!"

"If I'd loved YOU better!" She pulled back, held his eyes. "Babe, I want the blame to just stop. Can it just stop? I don't want to carry around this regret anymore, and if your regret is the same, I don't want that for you either. Listen to me, okay?" When he nodded she continued. "I don't care how tough it gets. I'll fight for us with my last breath if I have to." She laced her fingers with his. "I would rather spend my life fighting with you, than making love with anyone else! So let's just begin. We start now, we start here!"

Overwhelmed, he leaned in and kissed her. "That will be easy for me, so much easier than pretending we've ended when we never did. It was never over for me."

"Me either," she said softly. "I love you, can we just start from that? I love you…" she kissed him back and cherished his words enough to give them back to him. "That's never not been true."

He gathered her close and laid her back on the bed, cradling the back of her head in just the way he knew she liked.

He kissed her face, "It's not over."

"No."

She laced her hands through his hair, took his mouth, "It'll never be over!"

"No."

"Mine!" She gasped.

"Always."

End... Good? Bad? Working 13 hours over night? Let me know.