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Chest tightening, Castle answered the door. "Hi, Castle I'm just here to get..."

"Yeah, I know," Castle replied. "A girl can't exist without her wardrobe."

Kate cupped his cheek. "Castle, I'm sorry. I know you don't understand and if there were any other way to do this, I would. You know I love you."

"How do I know that, Kate? Because you say so? You also said we'd be partners in crime and life always. Now look. You walk out after less than a year and you don't even think enough of me to tell me why. You won't even tell me what I did. If you won't tell me, I can't fix it. Maybe you don't want me to fix it. Maybe you were never really ready to commit to this relationship. When I disappeared you thought I got cold feet. Maybe you were projecting. Maybe you've had cold feet all along."

Kate closed her eyes as tears began to leak from beneath her lids. "Oh Babe, that's not it at all. You didn't do anything wrong, not a thing. You've been with me, supporting me all along. There are just things I can't tell you."

"Kate there have always been things you couldn't tell me. You couldn't tell me you heard me say I love you when you were shot. You couldn't tell me about your interview with the AG's task force. You couldn't even tell me you get stage fright. You've just never been able to let your wall down with me. But Kate, I'm your husband. I'm the person you should be able to tell everything. If you'll just tell me, we can work it out. Please Kate, if you think somehow you're protecting me from something, you're not. Not knowing didn't keep me from being kidnapped, tortured, beat up, or nearly killed. All it does is keep us apart and I can't stand it. My guts are full of razor blades and my heart is in shards. Whatever it is, it can't be worse than this."

"Believe me Castle, it could. It is. But I'm working on it. You'd said you'd trust me. I'm asking you, no I'm begging you, to keep trusting me. Let me do what I have to do, please. Then I'll be able to tell you everything."

"Kate, I want to believe that, I really do. But you just keep moving further away."

Kate wrapped her arms around his neck. "I may have moved out, but I love you as much today as I did a year ago when we took our vows, more if that's possible."

Castle pulled her to him. "Then show me Kate. Show me I haven't spent the last seven years chasing a mirage." His fingers plunging deep in her hair, Castle brought his mouth down on Kate's. There was no sweetness, no tenderness, just hunger and desperation. He expected that at any moment she'd pull away, but she didn't. Her need was as deep and soul wrenching as his. She pressed against him, reveling in his heat and hardness. She was starved for it, all of it. Her hips ground urgently, as if she could bring him inside her through their clothes. He grasped the tightly rounded globes above her thighs, lifting her upward. She curled her legs around his back, lips never leaving his.

It was a long way to the bedroom - too long. They fell to the hardwood floor. Castle thrust his hand beneath her skirt, tearing away the barrier of silk that blocked his way. His fingers found her wet and longing. She writhed under his touch, reaching blindly to pull his belt loose and jerking roughly at his zipper. He was in her hand, a dewdrop already sticky against her fingers. Fingers encircling the throbbing shaft, she guided him within. He pushed hard, sheathing himself with one thrust. She was astride him, clinging like a wild creature. He arched to meet her. They grappled, struggling to touch, to taste, to be one again. Castle craved every part of her, every inch of skin he'd loved only in his dreams. His hands were under her blouse, releasing her breasts from confinement to fill his hands and his mouth. She moaned as he brought her sensitive nipples to aching points. Their tongues met, catching and twining. Kate screamed as contractions ripped not just through her abdomen but her entire being. Castle was caught in the cascade, as she drew more from him than he thought he possessed. Kate collapsed on his chest, now bare, his shirt in tatters from her ruthless hands.

"Rick," Lucy called from her place on the table, "Alexis just used her key to the outside door. She's on her way up."

"Omigod!" Kate exclaimed. "I need to get some clothes on."

"Well you still have plenty of them here," Castle told her, smiling contently. "And we can always go retrieve the rest, now that you're back."

Kate picked up the remnants of her things and headed for the bedroom. "Castle, I'm not back. I told you I love you. I hope that you can believe that now. That you'll be able to wait for me. But nothing's changed. I still have to do what I need to do, and I need to do it by myself. Now I really have to take my stuff and go. But when I come back, if you let me, it will be for always."

Rick pulled on an intact shirt while he watched her dress and pack. He helped her carry her suitcases to the door and asked Lucy to call the doorman to help. Most of Kate's suitcases were wheeled into the elevator on the doorman's cart. With one last bag in her hand, Kate turned back to look at Castle through the still open door of the loft. I love you, Castle. Please try to understand that I'm doing this because I love you. Always."

Not bothering to wipe the tears from his cheeks, Castle walked away, leaving the door ajar. Neither of them could bear to see it close.