They sat quietly across from one another in the booth. Kate recounted her conversation with Gates, informing Castle of their ultimatum. While relieved that Kate wasn't in immediate trouble, he was filled with a sense of panic. He couldn't imagine losing ether part of their relationship, but knew that something had to give. Although he knew plainly that he wanted her, he was less certain about Kate's desires.

"Kate, please tell me what you're thinking." He pleaded with her.

She sighed, "I'm thinking that the choice is obvious." He was a little shocked at her words.

"There's nothing even remotely obvious about this. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to help me with this one." He reasoned. It hurt to think that she could arrive at this decision so quickly, and he knew what her decision would be.

"Castle. I want…no, I need you in my life." He smiled at her words, suddenly filled with hope. "and if we continue this" she spoke, motioning between the two of them, "we stand to lose everything." Her eyes pleaded with him, needed him to understand.

"Please. You're the best partner, the best friend I've ever had. Our relationship is so new. Castle, if it didn't work out, if we didn't work out, we could lose everything. I don't think that I can take that risk."

"Kate, we were taking that risk before. That risk would always have been there." He argued with her.

"Yeah, but Castle, we thought we could have both. Now we have to make a choice. I'm telling you that I don't think I can lose you as my partner." Her eyes watered as she became overwhelmed by emotion at the thought of completely losing him. What if he was taken hostage?

"Kate, I don't know if I can go back. I can't just turn this off." He stated sadly.

"Castle, this shouldn't have happened." He was shocked by her words. They cut right through his heart. "I told you I would never regret it." His voice was shaky, broken. Kate reached out her hand and brushed his cheek tenderly.

"Rick, I will never regret a moment with you. Never." Her voice was breaking too, "but I should have known better. When I came to you I'd resigned, but now things are different. Rick, you could get seriously hurt or killed and I can't let that happen. Gates is right, we can't be involved if we work together."

"Just like that, Kate? You can choose just like that?" He couldn't keep the bitter tone from his voice.

"Damnit Rick, you tried to take a bullet for me last year. You can't do things like that! How would I live with that? How would I tell your mom, Alexis?" She needed him to understand, her voice was much lower and weaker when she added, "I can't live without you. We can't do this."

"Kate, I tried to save you before we were sleeping together. Don't you see? We're already in this. We've been in this for years. How much do you really think our not having sex is going to change things at this point? " He insisted.

She nodded, "I know. I know we're involved. That's why we need to put a stop to it before it is too late. I'd rather have my partner than nothing at all." She reasoned with him, ignoring the voice in her head telling her it's already too late.

"Why are you so certain that we wouldn't work, Kate?"

"I'm not certain, Castle. I don't know what would happen, but I DO know that we work as partners. I DO know that I need to be able to see you each day, and I need to have you beside me. I DO know that."

He let out a defeated breath, causing her to throw another question at him. "What about you, Rick? You say that this job brings meaning for you. You say that the impact we make on victim's lives, the justice we bring matters. Are you willing to give that all up on a chance that maybe we might work?"

He didn't respond. He couldn't. She was right. Still, he would always chose her, Always. They were put in an impossible situation, and it wasn't a choice he was prepared to make.

"So that's it. Just partners again?" He didn't try to hide the hurt in his voice, as she didn't try to hide the devastation on her face. She simply nodded.

"I'm going to miss you, Kate. I'm going to miss you at night. I'm going to miss being able to touch you." He placed his hand on top of hers. She didn't pull away, but turned her head away in attempt to gain control of her emotions. She didn't want to cry, this was hard enough already.

"I'm going to miss you too, so much." Her voice was high-pitched. It hurt, but she knew she was making the right decision. Afterall, she reasoned to herself, no matter how mind-blowing it was, the sex wasn't worth losing everything with him.

She sat on the couch, unable to move from her spot as he gathered the few things that he'd left at her place in the past months. It was the strangest feeling in the world, they were breaking up without breaking up. They were separating, but not fighting. Still, she felt her heart breaking in two as he gathered his few things.

She didn't want to lose the small reminders of him in her apartment, she didn't want to miss the lingering smell of him in her bed. For the millionth time that day, Kate second-guessed her decision. She knew that he would support her, regardless of what she chose, and that made it even harder.

It was as if they were both being sentenced to limbo. She knew that they couldn't be together, but that neither would be able to move on for some time. An ultimatum wasn't going to change the fact that they were in love. What was the point? She wondered to herself.

Castle dropped the box of his things by the door and turned back to her. He remained silent for a moment, but stared at her intently. It was obvious that he had something on his mind.

"Kate. If we have to give Gates a decision tomorrow, that at least means that we've got tonight, right?" His eyes were wide and pleading. He was asking her for just one more night. She stood, knotting her fists into the front of her shirt.

"One last night." She spoke, agreeing with him. One more night to help them cope, to capture the memories and savor one another. She extended her arm, inviting him to come back to her.

"Let's make the most of it, Rick." There was a sad desperation in her voice.

They both knew that tonight would be special; that it would contain all the love they felt, all the love that they would no longer be able to express. He approached her, bringing his palm to rest against her cheek. Leaning into his touch, she brought her hand up and intertwined their fingers.

"Can we make time stop?" He whispered as he leaned into her lips.

"We can try." She answered, speaking softly against him as he moved to close the final distance between them.

AN: So I know what they're trying to do is impossible, and YOU know what they're trying to do is impossible. Still, they're going to struggle as they figure it out for themselves. The next chapter will most definitely be rated M.