A/N: Thousand apologies. I know it's been months since I've last updated. You guys have been terrific. Sending me so many reviews and what do I do, I leave you hanging with only one more chapter to come. It's horrible. I got side tracked by my latest ship and my muse decided to go for that ship and forget this one. I didn't have any inspiration at all and I wanted this to be good. Not to finish it just to...you know, finish properly. You all deserved more. It's strange how my muse works because I wrote this in like two hours, my muse suddenly hitting me.

Also, the lack of some quality G/K moments have been bugging me. It's harder to write fics when your ship's moments have gotten less and less.

But here it is, the last chapter. I hope I did well and didn't get too fluffy. This needed to be resolved and I hope you are happy with the way I did that. Thank you all again for your patience. It meant a lot to me to open my mailbox and find an email with kind words, telling me to finish the fic because you can't wait anymore (Milouze, it was your encouragement that made me write this chapter. Thank you!). This is the end of the fic. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and I hope this last chapter was worth the very long wait!

Chapter fourteen

Losing you was the first and most important thing that came to his mind, yet he didn't say it out loud. "I want you to be happy, Kate." He wanted to step away from her again, but her hold on his hand held stopped him.

"Don't walk away."

"You said it yourself Kate, there are so many things complicating this. I wish it was easy, I wish…"

"Stop it. Tell me the truth, Jethro. What's really holding you back?" When her question was answered with another silence and his lack of eye contact she blew. "Damnit, Jethro. Is this how it's going to be, that no matter how hard I try, you'll never let me in? Is that it?" Angrily she let go of his hand and stalked off to the kitchen.

He was left standing alone in the living room. In the kitchen he heard Kate slamming the cupboards close. If he was honest with himself he deserved her rage. This had been the problem all along in his life. He didn't let people in. Sure he'd spend his life with three women, but not one of them he'd actually shared his feelings with. Never shared his biggest fears or his greatest moments. It was his way of protecting himself. However he realized that he did want to let Kate it. He wasn't going to let this chance pass him by. He didn't want to look back, blaming himself for his own stupidity.

Slowly he walked to the kitchen. He found Kate with her hands leaning against the counter, her back to him. He saw how tense she was. Quietly he took his place, leaning against the counter opposite to her.

"I'm sorry, Katie." His voice was soft, roughed by the emotions he felt. He saw her shift, yet she didn't turn around. He sighed, he was going to have to do the talking before she would turn around and give him another chance. "I'm trying to do the right thing here. I can be a difficult man, Kate. I don't share things easily. I've always closed myself off when things got personal. It's the way I am and it's not something I can change overnight. I want to try, but you've got to give me a chance. You've got to be patient with me." He watched her, there was still no change. She was just as tense and didn't turn around, didn't meet his eyes.

He looked at the floor and continued. "My three ex-wives all had the same problems with me. I was never home, work occupied too much of my time. And secondly and maybe the most important, I never let them in. I never told them what was going on in my mind. I would come home and sometimes simply ignore them because I couldn't deal with my feelings. Sometimes it's difficult to let a case go, the nightmares followed me home, finding me in my dreams. I didn't…, no I couldn't share those awful images with them. They wouldn't have been able to handle that. If I was struggling, how were they going to deal with it? So I shut them out, trying to protect them. Maybe I shouldn't have made those choices for them, shouldn't have wanted to protected them. I guess it went from bad to worse."

Kate shifted on her feet. With her head still down, she stared at the counter, letting his words sink in. Her outburst had finally provoked in him in truly talking to her. Hearing the emotions in his voice she wanted to turn around, but she held herself back. Why exactly? She didn't know, in a way she thought this was maybe easier for him.

Seeing she was staying still, he stepped closer, needing to feel her body warmth before he continued. "Beside all this, Kate, I don't want to hurt you. People have their prejudices. I don't want them to judge you. They will, I'm sure they will. Saying you're doing this to sleep your way to the top. There will be talk about us."

This made her turn around and watch him. He wasn't looking at her, he seemed to be staring of in space. "We'll be walking down the street and people will look at us and judge."

"I always thought you didn't care what people thought about you."

"I don't, but I care about you."

"Tell me more." Kate asked, sensing there was more.

"You deserve happiness. Kate, I'm not getting any younger. You're going to want things, like have children or I don't know… do something wild. I've lived a whole life already. I want to settle down, take it easy. I don't want to burden you and I think I will."

"Hey." Kate whispered, placing her hand on his chin, tilting his head so he had to look at hard. "Do I still have a say in this?" Taking his hands in hers she pulled him closer. "I can deal with all that, okay? People can think what they want to think. I don't care. I don't care about any of that. This.." She said, placing her hand on his chest, above his heart. ".. feels right."

Placing his hands on her hips he pulled her close before his lips descended on hers for a tender kiss. Looking in her eyes he saw the love, the love that she also found in his. There was also a seriousness in her eyes, telling him there was more.

"I'm not going to push you. I know sharing your feelings isn't easy for you. I understand, I just want you to try, Jethro. I want you to let me in."

"And I want you there. You've gotta be patient."

"I will."

Kate's smile warmed his heart. He couldn't resist and kissed her again. Letting the passion grow for a moment he pushed her back against the counter. With his hand in her hair, he held her head in place, deepening the kiss. He heard a groan, wondering if it was hers or his. Not before long he was pushed back by Kate's gentle hands.

"Let's take things easy."

The End