Rick backed away from her until the kitchen bench stopped him. "I can't believe that you're doing this to me after everything we've been through."
Kate closed the distance between them until she was only an arms length away. "I'm sorry, Rick, but I can't let it go on like this any longer. We both know it's time."
"You're not even giving it a chance to work out," he accused, with a slight tremor in his voice. "Lanie said . . ."
"Lanie only told you what you wanted to hear. But you had to know that this wouldn't have a happy ending."
"I thought that maybe . . ." Rick trailed off at the sympathetic look in Kate's eyes. He'd known all along that it would end like this, but that hadn't stopped him from hoping otherwise. "This isn't fair."
"Rick," she said gently. "Rick, look at me."
Rick turned around to face the woman who was so cruelly about to hurt him. Not that she cared, not really. Because if she did then she wouldn't be doing this to him.
"You know it's over. I can't let it continue like this, knowing it's hurting you . . . knowing that if I don't end it now it will end up hurting you even more."
"Who are you to decide?" Rick threw at her. "Who died and made you God."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, because suddenly the sympathy that he'd counted on to buy him more time was replaced with derision, and he knew that that wouldn't get him anywhere. "Oh my God, enough already," she snapped.
"But – "
"No, we tried it your way and it didn't work. Now we do it my way."
He was fighting a losing battle, but he had to try one more time. Maybe if he tried those puppy-dog eyes that she swore didn't affect her in any way, shape or form. Despite all her protests, he knew that she'd always been a sucker for them before, so he adopted the look that he hoped would win the battle. "But –"
"That's not going to work, Rick, so you might as well just give me your hand."
He didn't want to. He wouldn't. He was stronger than her . . . pound for pound, anyway. She couldn't make him do anything he didn't want to do.
"Now," she ordered, interrupting his silent defiance, and damn if his arm didn't shoot out of its own accord.
Kate snatched his hand before he had a chance to reconsider and quickly extracted the splinter that was starting to fester in his index finger.
"Ow!" Rick cried. "It's easy to see why you became a cop instead of a doctor. Your bedside manner is atrocious."
"You're such a baby," she laughed.
"But you love me anyway."
She pretended to think about it. At least, he hoped that she pretended to think about it. "Kate? Not funny. I'm wounded and in dire need of some TLC.I could have died from infection. Or blood loss," he added as he noted a spot of blood on his fingertip. "Coming that close to death changes a man, Kate. It really does."
"You had a splinter –" she began, but stopped and sighed when she saw that he'd busted out those puppy-dog eyes again. "Fine, I love you. Even though you are the biggest baby – "
Rick took a step forward and wrapped his non-injured arm around her. "You can stop now, that's all I needed to hear."
"You're good now?" she asked, pressing into him.
"It was touch and go there for a while, but I think I'll survive," he grinned.
"Then why don't we take this somewhere a little more private and I'll show you exactly how good my bedside manner can be," she prompted.
"Be gentle with me," he said with mock distress. "I've been through a traumatic experience."
Kate trailed a line of kisses from his neck up to his mouth. "I can't make any promises."
His breath hitched in his throat, all thoughts of wounds and splinters forgotten. "That sounds more than fair."
End.