"Kate?" he whispers, still staring up at the ceiling with the same nagging thought circling around his mind. He's been awake for about two hours without being able to let it go and just go to sleep, and he has a feeling he won't be able to until he's voiced his question.

His wife groans beside him and he curses himself for needing to wake her up to kill his own curiosity and get sleep. Why can't he just be like normal people and sleep through the night?

"Yeah?" she mumbles and he feels the bed shake a bit as she's moving around, most likely to look at him because he swears he can feel her sleepy hazel eyes land on him.

He keeps his gaze up at the ceiling though, embarrassed he's waking her up yet another time. "When I came back after that Hamptons trip with Gina, you told me to go back to my hamptons, my book parties and my ex-wife…" he can almost feel how she's suddenly wide awake, listening to his every word. "Did I…" he swallows hard, "did I really hurt you that bad?"

He's not sure why but it's keeping him awake. All of a sudden the scene had entered his mind and he just couldn't let it go. She'd looked so upset and now that he thinks about it he can almost swear he'd seen tears in her eyes. Now the image won't leave him.

"Where's this coming from Rick? It's a long time ago," she says low, she's gently crawling onto him, her hand on his chest as she's leaning over him with a confused and worried look in her eyes.

He shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. But I can't stop thinking about it," he admits.

"It's in the past babe, which also means we got past it," she leans down and pecks his lips in reassurance. He gives her a look and after a moment she sighs in defeat. "Yes. You hurt me that bad. But it wasn't right for me to blame you, you didn't know I broke it off with Tom to accept and follow you to the Hamptons."

"Hold up!" his eyes widen at the words and grabbed her hand that way he does when he gets excited or surprised about something. "You broke up with Demming for me?!" he hisses, getting frustrated with himself for not seeing it sooner.

Kate feels her insides freeze. She hadn't meant to tell him that. Why did she tell him that? "No." It's too quick and she knows it's impossible to talk herself out of this one.

"Why didn't you tell me!" his voice is pitchy and she's rolling her eyes. She feels his chest freeze and his eyes widen even more. "Oh, you did. Or, tried to," he mumbles and she nods.

She sees him start to blame himself, sees his mind going through every possibility that could've been. He's probably trying to figure out how much sooner they would've gotten together if only he hadn't left with his ex-wife. He doesn't need this. She leans down and claims his lips in a long, slow kiss which he immediately responses to. Once their lips part she lets her nose still touch his as their breaths mix between them.

"It's in the past, babe," she half-whispers, half-says. "I wouldn't change it for the world, we're together now and that's all that matters."

She kisses him again and can feel his worry going away, feels his heart underneath her hand calming down. This time, when they part, she snuggles into the crook of his neck, her arm around his body with her fingers clenching his shirt.

"I love you," she says, not too loud but loud enough for it to be clear.

He sighs contentedly and she smiles, because she already knows what his next words are going to be.

"I love you too, thank you."

She smirks and snuggles closer, putting her lips to his neck to let her lips whisper across his skin as she says "Always" before they both go back to sleep.

THE END