Summary: *SPOILERS FOR 3x24* "Look me in the eye and tell me that meant nothing to you, and we can be done and I'll leave and you'll never see me again." Castle fights back after Kate tells him they are over, but can he save their partnership?

Author's Note: This is based on the US promo for Knockout, when Kate tells Rick that they are over. It's just my thoughts on how their conversation might go and how they end up revealing their true feelings to each other...it's all wishful thinking, I'm sure. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Castle or anything related to it.

It's Not Over

"Castle, we are over." The words pierced a hole through his heart and as she turned to walk away, he did the only thing he could think of. He reached out and grabbed her firmly by the wrist, pulling her back to him. Before Kate had a chance to react, his other hand reached up to rest on her neck and he leaned in to kiss her.

Kate lifted her free hand to his chest and was fully intending to push him away when her brain registered the fact that Rick Castle was kissing her-for real this time-the way she had always wanted him to. And before she knew what she was doing, her hand was gripping his shirt and she was kissing him back, passionately.

Castle knew it would be easy to lose himself in the kiss; in fact, he was already fighting to maintain control, and although he wanted nothing more than to stand there with her all day, he knew he had to get his point across before she realized what was happening and drop-kicked him into tomorrow. He reluctantly pulled away, opening his eyes to find her staring at him in shock.

They both opened their mouths to speak but nothing came out. Castle recovered his voice first and began to talk, hoping that whatever his brain came up with was not going to push her away for good. "Tell me we're done," he said, his hand dropping from its place on her neck and trailing down her arm to take her other hand. "Look me in the eye and tell me that meant nothing to you, and we can be done and I'll leave and you'll never see me again." The idea was heartbreaking, but he knew it had to be said.

"Castle, I..." she began, her eyes drifting down to stare at her feet.

"Kate," he interrupted, "say it. Look at me and say it. If you really want us to be done, I need to know."

"I..." she trailed off again, unable to form a complete sentence. Hell, her head was spinning so fast she could not even put two words together right now.

"Kate," he began again, and he took her left hand and placed it on his chest, above his pounding heart. "Feel that?" he asked. "That's what you do to me. Tell me you don't feel the same."

She returned her gaze to him and saw the anguish in his eyes. "I...can't," she stammered. And it was true. She could not honestly tell him that, because the truth was that her heart was racing too and her lips were tingling and the skin where his hand had been was on fire. It was the most she had ever felt in a kiss before, and she knew she could not hide from him any longer.

"I know," he said, bluntly. "Because I don't think you really want me to leave. I think that you're upset and stressed and angry because you're exhausted and you've been betrayed by someone you trust. I understand how important this case is to you, but that doesn't give you the right to push everyone away and throw yourself into this case alone, because you're going to get yourself killed. Does your mother deserve justice? Absolutely. But she wouldn't want you to get yourself killed in the process."

"Castle, I'm a cop, it's my job!" she exclaimed, seeming to finally find her voice...and her stubbornness. "I'm in danger all the time and it's not going to stop me now."

"No, Kate, solving cases as part of the team at the twelfth is your job. Going in to ridiculously dangerous situations alone and getting yourself killed is not."

"I have to go alone," she said, raising her voice. "This is my case and it's too dangerous and I can't have one of you guys killed because of me."

"Well I'm not going to sit back and watch you walk into a death trap," he said.

"Castle."

"No, Kate, you don't get it," he said. "They're going to kill you, just like they killed everyone else who is tangled up in this."

"Which is why you can't be in it with me," she snapped.

"Kate, we're partners," he said. "Dangerous or not, I'm not going anywhere. I meant it when I said I'd always have your back."

"I don't care what you meant, Castle, you have a family to think about. Do you know what it would do to them if something happened to you?"

"The same thing that it would do to me if something happened to you," he shot back. "Kate, I care about you, so much more than you know. Do you have any idea what it would do to me if they got you?"

"You'd get over it and move on, just like you always do," she replied confidently.

Castle, who had still been holding her hands at this point, dropped them abruptly and grabbed her shoulders firmly, forcing her to look at him. "No, Kate, I wouldn't," he said. "I would never get over that. Never."

She looked at him, shocked that he was gripping her so tightly, but also at the implication of his words. "I..." she began. Damnit, she thought, I'm a detective, I can speak a sentence without stuttering. Steeling herself, she began again. "Castle, I can't deal with this right now. I can't deal with our messed up relationship when I'm so close to catching this guy."

"I'm not asking for you to deal with our relationship right now, not with everything that is going on," he clarified. "All I'm asking is that you not throw away our partnership because you don't want to face the truth."

He assumed she would react badly to his words, and he was right. "The truth, Castle," she spat, "is that I can't have you mixed up in this. She was my mother, not yours, and I have to solve this case on my own, even if I die doing it."

"No, Kate," he said firmly. "The truth is that you can't do it alone. You need backup. And trust me, you're not going to find any better backup than two cops who love you like a sister and a partner who is so in love with you that he has been shadowing you for three years because he can't imagine his life without you in it."

The silence was deafening. Castle was so surprised at himself for finally admitting it that he could not even find the words to lessen her shock. Kate's mind was racing, trying to process his words, and she was starting to freak out, so she did the only thing she could think of. "Go home, Castle," she said. This was more than she could handle right now and she knew that if he stayed any longer, she was going to either punch him or end up in bed with him; and she could not deal with the consequences of either of those courses of action right now.

"Absolutely not," he said, his feet still firmly planted in place.

"Castle, go," she said sternly. "I need you to leave."

After a lengthy staring contest, in which they both seemed to be working on perfecting their glares, Castle broke first. "Fine, I'll go," he conceded, realizing that she was not going to give in, and that by staying, he was only going to make things worse. "But answer one question first," he continued without giving her a chance to protest. "Why do you really need me to leave?"

Again, there was a long silence, as Kate tried to decide what to say. She could lie, but at the moment she could not think of anything else to say, so by default she settled on telling him the truth. "Because I know that you would take a bullet for me, and I would never forgive myself if that happened," she answered softly. "You mean too much to me."

"Kate..."

"No, Rick," she said firmly. The combination of this case and her confession was causing her to be emotionally raw and she needed to be alone to get herself under control. "I can't deal with this right now. I need to solve this case. On my own. Then we can worry about everything else."

"If you die, we won't have a chance to," Castle said. He cringed as the words came out of his mouth, but she needed to hear them.

"Why are you so insistent that I'm going to die?" she asked, annoyed.

"Because everyone else who has taken on this guy is dead," he exclaimed, shocked that she could not seem to see that. "I already told you that. How can you not see that you're going to be their next target?"

"Go, Castle," she said, ignoring the fact that he was probably right. "I'll see you when this case is over."

This time, she turned away before he had a chance to catch her. He watched her leave with a heavy heart, knowing that this could be the last time he laid eyes on her. A stab of pain went through his heart at that thought and he vowed that he would do everything possible to keep her safe and bring her out of this alive. It was the only way he would be able to go on with his life. With a sigh, he pulled out his phone and dialed Esposito. He would tag along with the guys instead, if that was what it took. Despite Kate's insistence, he knew that she was going to need help. And he had no intention of giving up on his promise of 'always.'

THE END

Thoughts?