A/N: You've been a great audience. Here's the final chapter for you. Enjoy! (And let me know if you did!)

Chapter 8: Confessions

After coming home from work Kate had taken a shower and changed into a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a white tank top before curling up on the couch. She was so exhausted, all she wanted to do was sleep. But she also felt restless and the memories of her earlier conversation with Tony wouldn't leave her mind. She hadn't cried in front of him and she was proud of it, but now, finally alone, she gave up the fight and let the tears fall freely.

It was exactly then that her doorbell rang. Kate groaned, but didn't move. The bell rang again, then the visitor started to knock. Kate wiped her eyes, sighed deeply and slowly got up. She'd just ask whoever it was to go away.

She'd almost reached the door, when she suddenly heard Tony's voice from the outside: "Kate, please open the door. I know you're home."

Closing her eyes she leaned her forehead against the cool wood. Why? Why did he have to make everything even more complicated? Couldn't he just leave her alone?

"Kate", he repeated, softer this time. „Kate, please."

"Go away", she said. She'd spoken so quietly she wasn't sure if he'd heard her. But she was afraid that when she spoke louder he would be able to hear the tears in her voice.

"I'm not going away", he told her. "Not before we've talked."

"We have already talked, remember?" she said. "And I told you I didn't want to talk anymore."

"But I do!"

Kate sighed and tried one more time to send him away. "Go away, Tony, please." She was almost begging this time.

But still he refused. "No. We are going to have this talk. It's up to you to decide if we'll do this through your closed door or if you want to face it."

Slowly she reached for the knob and turned it. She opened the door a few inches and looked at Tony through the gap. He met her gaze, but didn't move. He waited for her to ask him in.

"If I let you in and we have this talk, will you leave afterwards?" she asked.

"If you want me to."

"Okay", she whispered and stepped back to let him in.

Then he was standing in her living room and didn't move nor speak. He was staring at the couch with a strange expression on his face. After one minute or so Kate just left him there and went into the kitchen to poor herself a glass of water. When she turned around to go back she found him standing in the door, blocking her exit.

"Do you …" She swallowed with some difficulty then finished her sentence: "Do you want something to drink?"

He shook his head.

Why doesn't he say anything? Kate wondered. She felt uncomfortable because of the way he was blocking her in, so she pushed past him to get into the living room. But she immediately regretted it because she got so close to him in the doorway that all her senses were suddenly flooded by his presence. She hesitated for only the fraction of a second, but Tony noticed and reached for her hand to turn her towards him. Then they were standing there facing each other, only inches between their bodies. Tony still held her hand and Kate felt her knees go weak. She desperately wanted to throw herself into his arms, so badly that her whole body ached. But then she came back to her senses and freed her hand. Quickly she walked into the living room. Tony turned towards her, but stayed near the entry.

He still hadn't spoken, so Kate finally asked: "Tony, why exactly are you here?"

"Because there's something I need to know."

"And that would be?"

"I need to know why you are angry with me."

"Why I am angry with you?" she repeated, almost laughing at the absurdity of that question. "Is this your way of sorting things out? By asking me why I'm angry?"

He shrugged. "I've already tried to do it by having a decent conversation with you, but you ran away, remember?"

"So is it my fault now?" she snapped.

"I'm not suggesting it's anyone's fault. I'm only saying that I'm the one who tries to make things work between us again – and it would be nice if you could be a little more cooperative."

Kate forced herself to count from ten backwards before she answered. Had she spoken immediately she would have perhaps used quite a variety of dirty words. But after the pause she decided that it wasn't worth the effort. "Tony, I don't think this is going to work", she said. "It would be better if you left now."

"Don't do that, Kate", he sighed and went towards her. He stopped right in front of her and looked down into her eyes. "Don't send me away now." He could see that she was fighting an inner battle. She wanted him to go, but obviously she also wanted to sort things out between them. He could see that she'd been crying earlier, because her eyes were still slightly bloodshot and they shone with held back tears. He was so sorry that he'd done that to her. And it was obvious that being with him made it still harder for her, but he couldn't leave, not before he knew. Not to mention that he didn't want to leave. His heart beat faster than usual and there was this light and at the same time disturbing feeling in his stomach just because he was standing so closely in front of her. Without consciously thinking about it one of his hands came up and cupped her cheek. And for the fraction of a second he felt her lean into his touch. But then she suddenly jumped back as if she'd been burned. Without letting him out of her sight she slowly backed away and moved around the couch as if it could serve as a protective shield between them. Tony sighed deeply. The hand which had touched her was now clenched up into a fist to keep it from shaking.

Kate crossed her arms in front of her chest and nervously cleared her throat. When Tony looked at her she saw that he was feeling as uncomfortable as she was. So she decided to make this thing as easy as possible for both of them. "Listen, Tony", she said. "You don't have to do this. Really. I will be fine. And I promise I will keep myself together at the office. It won't affect our work if we don't let it. So you can just leave, okay?"

Her words had sounded so rational that Tony felt almost convinced by what she had said. But then he thought about it again and shook his head. "I'm not leaving."

Sighing deeply, Kate made an encouraging gesture towards him. "Well, then I suggest you start to say whatever you are here to say."

"If it were as easy as that", he sighed. "I was thinking about what to say the whole night, but I haven't come up with anything yet."

"Why didn't you ask the woman lying in bed with you? Maybe she could've helped you out?" Kate suggested bitterly.

She was taken aback by the expression of obvious shock on Tony's face.

"You … you … I forgot that …" he stammered.

"What?"

Tony wanted to hit himself. "You thought I had slept with Candy, that's why you shouted at me today."

Kate felt quite embarrassed. She really had lost all control when they had talked in the break room earlier. But, wait! Had Tony just said …? "What do you mean: I thought you had slept with her?" she asked carefully.

"Nothing has happened between Candy and me." He watched her closely while saying that. Had he just seen some signs of relief on her face? He wasn't sure, but continued all the same: "I met her at a club and bought her a drink. But then I realized I was not interested and I went home."

"Not interested?"

"Not at all."

"But … why?"

Tony didn't answer. He looked at Kate for some seconds, then stared to the ground. "I didn't want to hurt you by going out with that girl", he finally admitted. "And I'm sorry if I did."

"But then why did you agree to meet her in the first place?"

"I don't know, seriously, I don't. I guess I just wanted to show you that what had happened between us wasn't such a big deal and that things could be normal again."

The moment he finished his sentence and looked at Kate he realized that what he was trying to explain had come across completely wrong. Was there a more stupid thing in the world than telling her that sleeping with her hadn't been a big deal? Kate had already started to relax a bit, but now he could actually see her body tense. The expression on her face became hard and angry. Suddenly she came towards him around the couch and when she reached him she pushed him towards the door with her hands on his chest. "Out!" she shouted. "I knew this was a mistake. Get out!" When he didn't move she continued to punch his chest with her hands. "Get out! I don't want you here! I don't want to see you ever again!"

Tony had no idea what he should do now. He finally managed to grab her wrists and hold her so that she had to stop beating him. She tried to free herself, but he didn't let her. It took a while, but finally she calmed down. Then she closed her eyes and dropped her head, her whole body shaking with her sobs. Tears were running down her face now.

"Kate, I'm sorry", Tony whispered. "I didn't mean it that way. I wanted …" When he still couldn't find the right words he moaned in frustration. "Why does this have to be so difficult?"

"I don't know", she said almost inaudibly. She had no power left in her to fight him. When she tried to free her hands this time, Tony just let her go and she brought as much distance as she could between them by backing up against the wall next to the closed door to her bedroom. She reminded Tony of some scared animal that tried to find a place to hide.

Now he thought twice about every word before he spoke again. He really had to get it right this time. "I guess when you opened the door for me you were expecting an apology", he said. "But I didn't come here to apologize, because I am not sorry for what happened between us. But I am sorry for what it did to us and I know that this mess is partly my fault – well, not only partly, I guess."

"No, Tony, you don't have to take the blame", Kate said immediately. "It was not your fault."

"But I was the one who left. Because that's what I do. The moment things start to get complicated, I run."

"But you are here now", she said. When he smiled at her, her stomach tied up into knots. Why he had to have this effect on her, she didn't know. There he was, about to explain to her why he thought that they shouldn't be together and all he had to do was smile to make her want to jump him. She sighed.

Tony knew that she now was ready to listen to whatever he had to say. And he was determined to say it – no chickening out this time. He still didn't know for sure if Abby was right with her theory, but he was just going to stick to the truth and then he would leave it up to Kate to decide whether she liked what she'd heard or not.

"When I came here to see you that evening I didn't have any bad intentions. I only wanted to check if you were okay, see if you could use some company. What happened then was … I hadn't planned for that to happen. How could I have … I would never have thought that you would let me get close enough to you to let anything like that happen. I was so surprised at first, but it felt so good, so I let it happen. Now I know that I should have stopped it … stopped us. You were not feeling well and I took advantage of it even though I knew that you'd regret it. And I am really sorry for that. I should have been stronger because you didn't have the strength at that moment."

After that he just stood there silently for what seemed like ages and didn't dare to look up from his hands. When he finally did look over at Kate he saw that she had sat down on the floor with her back against the wall, her arms wrapped around her knees. New tears glistened on her cheeks.

"Was that an apology for what happened?" she asked silently.

"No", he answered. "I've already told you that I am not sorry for what happened. All I'm sorry for is the way it happened, at that moment when all you needed was someone to comfort you."

Again it was silent in the room for a long time. When Kate finally spoke, her voice was so quiet he could barely hear her: "You acted like nothing had happened. You continued where we had left the day before when work was over. You didn't even have enough courage to face my reaction, you just sneaked out while I was sleeping. Everything would have been alright, but by acting like that you made me feel used and worthless. You made me realize that I was nothing more than one more girl on your list."

If up to that point she hadn't managed to hurt him with her words, she now definitely had. She saw that his eyes went wide in shock and he somehow seemed to become smaller. He didn't look at her anymore. Her heart was beating like she had just finished a five mile run. She hadn't planned to say that to him – the words had just fallen out of her mouth.

Now she watched in shock as Tony turned around and slowly walked towards the door. What did that mean? Did he just accept what she had said? Then it was true? Until now Kate had secretly hoped he would admit that to him the night with her had meant much more than a simple one-night-stand. That everything that had happened afterwards had been nothing but a stupid misunderstanding. But now he was about to leave and Kate just couldn't accept that.

He had already reached for the doorknob when Kate suddenly jumped to her feet and called out his name. Slowly he turned around and she was shocked to see tears shimmer in his eyes.

"Tony", she said weakly. "If it's not true … If I have made a mistake, then … Oh, please, just talk to me!"

Suddenly he stormed across the room until he was standing right in front of her. Startled, Kate pressed her back against the wall. She could almost feel the tension in his body and it scared her because she didn't know what was coming next.

"I was ashamed", he suddenly said and his gaze locked on hers so intensely that she couldn't hold it, so she looked away. "I was ashamed", he repeated. "Okay? Because normally I don't pursue women who are in desperate need of comfort. Normally I don't take advantage of other people's weakness. But I did it with you. And the fact that it happened that way, with you, Kate, you of all people …" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he was able to continue: "That's what I feel ashamed for. That's why I sneaked out like a coward. I didn't want you to tell me what a huge mistake we had made. I didn't want to hear it. And that's why I acted like nothing had happened."

"But it was me who kissed you first", she whispered, her gaze fixed on his chest. He was so close to her she could feel the heat radiating off his body. When he didn't react she looked up and saw an expression of utter surprise on his face. "It was me who started it", she continued, her voice soft. "Because I wanted it. And because I wished that it would be more than just sex. But it wasn't fair to have these expectations. I can't force you to feel the way I do."

"The way you do?" he asked hoarsely.

She nodded and looked to the ground. Tony carefully put two fingers under her chin and lifted her face so that she had to look at him. "But it did mean something to me", he said. "It meant everything to me. How could it not?" Slowly he lifted one hand to her face and wiped away her tears.

Suddenly Kate let out a small sob. She made one step forward, wrapped her arms around his back and buried her face in his chest. She felt him sigh deeply, then his arms went around her shoulders and he held her close. It felt so good and she was so relieved that her knees went weak and she had to hold on to him even more tightly. Tears started to run down her face again.

When Tony noticed that she was crying, he put his hands on her shoulders and held her at arms length to be able to look at her. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes." She nodded, crying and laughing at the same time. She wiped her tears away with both hands and smiled at him.

Tony saw her smile and felt a heavy weight disappear from inside his chest. He smiled at her in return and one of his hands wandered from her shoulder to the back of her head where it threaded through her hair. He bent down to kiss her, but Kate put one finger over his lips and shook her head.

"Uh-uh", she said.

"Kate!" Tony moaned. "Are you trying to kill me?"

She shook her head, trying her best to keep her expression serious. But he noticed the smile that she hid and looked at her questioningly. "What is it?" he asked in an amused tone.

"How do I know that your intentions are serious this time?" she wanted to know. She had meant to tease him with it, but the question came out sounding a lot more serious than she had wanted it to.

"You want to know about my intentions?" he asked.

When she nodded, he looked into her eyes, then softly stroked one strand of hair out of her face. The touch of his fingertips on her cheek made her shiver and the tender gesture made her heart ache. He continued to run his fingers through her hair while he spoke: "When I kissed you two nights ago, I meant it. And only yesterday I realized that I don't want any other woman in the world. Because you're different from the others. You make me think about roses and candlelight dinners. You even made me think about monogamy once or twice – ah!" He gingerly touched his arm where Kate had just slapped him. Now she was grinning wickedly. Tony took one step forward so that she was caught between his body and the wall. When he put his hands on the wall on either side of her head, there was no way left for her to escape.

"Am I allowed to kiss you now?" he asked politely.

The wicked grin appeared on her face once more and Tony started to realize that there were a lot of things he didn't yet know about Kate Todd. A lot of things that he couldn't wait to learn. "What are you still waiting for?" she teased.

When their lips finally met, Kate's eyes fluttered shut and her arms went around his neck again. As the kiss became more passionate, she tried to get even closer to him and sighed in relief when he pressed her harder against the wall. He dropped his hands to her shoulders and let them roam down the sides of her body. His lips left her mouth and he pressed gentle kisses down the side of her neck.

It was then that Kate caught his hands on her hips and slipped out of his grip.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked in confusion.

But Kate only smiled and opened the door they had been standing in front of. "Maybe you want to follow me and find out?" she suggested.

Shaking his head in disbelief he watched her walk down the short corridor and disappear inside her bedroom. When Tony reached the door she was standing in the middle of the room, facing him. She reached out one hand and he went to her without hesitation. Tony didn't know what he would do until he reached her, wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. Shouldn't I have kissed her? he wondered, but only pulled her closer. It was then that he realized how scared he had been during the last two days, scared that he might have lost her forever and would never again be able to lie next to her when she was sleeping.

Kate was surprised that he only held her close, but saw no reason to complain. She snuggled closer to him and enjoyed the fact that the searing pain inside her chest had finally vanished. He had made it go away. For a moment she wondered why she had no second thoughts. She had always been very careful when it came to approach a new relationship. But tonight something was different. She could tell by the way Tony held her that there was no need to worry. She knew that the next morning she wouldn't wake up alone.