14: The Beach

Reddington looked down at his shoes as he stumbled inelegantly down the pebble beach, the soft Italian leather absorbing chalk and sand. He'd known it was her the moment she'd spoken, even on the phone. He knew her voice by heart, every cadence, every brush of her tongue over her bottom teeth, every time she paused to bite her lip. And yet as he approached the lone figure on the beach he couldn't comprehend it, his knees threatening to buckle as they had before, the moment he'd realised she was truly gone.

Her dark hair whipped across her face in the wind, and right until the second she turned to face him he had wild thoughts; this was an imposter sent to finish the empty husk that was left of him or Katerina come out of the ocean to damn him for not protecting her only child. Perhaps there was no one there at all, and he had finally lost his mind completely, driven mad by consuming grief.

He stopped short as she turned to him, her shimmering blue eyes like calm waters next to the turmoil that he felt. She offered him a sad smile and his lungs tightened, the breath ripped from his chest. He felt his legs tremble and planted his foot shakily on the pebbles to steady himself.

"It's me" she said simply, her voice soft and salty like the sea air.

He closed his eyes then, a single tear escaping down his lined, drawn face. He hadn't cried when she'd gone, not once

She walked to him slowly and looked up at him, her eyes begging for recognition. For understanding.

He raised his hand to her face, touching her softly at first, then harder, pinching her chin as though her face was a mask he could yank away. A moment later his hand fell limply to his side.

"How?" he asked gruffly.

She sighed and tilted her head, her eyes full of regret.

"Nick…and Mr Kaplan."

His jaw clenched, his nails digging painfully into the callused skin of his palms.

"Kate" he said desolately.

He heard her breathing quicken slightly. "It was the only way. But it was dangerous… you wouldn't have let me.

"Oh you're right about that" he growled, his voice as rough as the sea water raking over the pebbles.

She swallowed a sob. "Do you remember what I said to you? Before I…"

"You said my name" he said slowly. It was all he would allow himself. He couldn't bear the pain of having heard what came after that.

"I said that I love you."

She said it quietly but with such conviction the force of it was almost enough to tear him down.

It was long moments before he responded, his answer barely distinguishable from the sigh of the ocean he loved so much.

"Yeah."