I'm not even sure where this came from. If there is any OOC-ness, that's all me. That goes for any mistakes because I don't use a beta.

I hope you all enjoy~

Remember, I own nothing Castle.

"What do you want from me, Castle? It's not like you care who I do or don't marry!"

Beckett stomped her foot, feeling slightly like a hormone driven teenager. She didn't care though, she was tired of this game they had been playing. It was a very old game, having ran its course soon after it started. But still, they played it for six long years. Rain fell down on her as the puddle she stomped in rippled around her, her foot having disturbed it.

"I want nothing from you, nothing!" He slung his arms out in agitation as he pushed his soaking wet hair out of his eyes. He was drenched down to the bone, his clothes sticking to him in uncomfortable places.

"This game we're playing is getting old," she said with anger in her voice. The ring on her finger felt like it was suffocating her, strangling what little life she had in her and weighing her down. She didn't want it, she didn't want to get married, but she was stuck. She had played her own game this long and now she couldn't get out.

"This game we're playing? Please! I stopped playing a long time ago, Kate. I laid the cards out for you. I gave you options. It's not my fault you ran away. You're so good at that - running away." He let out a heavy breath as he stepped away from her approaching figure. "Just go. He'll be waiting."

She shook her head as she continued to advance on him, backing him up against the water fountain. She watched as he almost stumbled into the water but quickly held his ground. Everything was spinning. Nothing was making sense. Nothing had made sense since she had told him no over a year ago.

How was she supposed to take all of it in though? She had been in a relationship and she had kissed him - all in kissed him, holding nothing back. And then they had almost died together.. She didn't care that it was a year ago, she still felt the words she almost spoke to him on her lips. He had knew. She knew he did. But he had never said anything and she had thrown herself into her relationship again.

She had convinced Josh to come home when he could and then they had both promised to put more effort into them. He had stopped going on the out of country missions and she had stopped drowning herself in her job - consequently keeping her away from Castle. It wasn't her fault. He waited too long.

"I didn't wait too long," he told her suddenly as if he could read her mind.

And he could. He always had been able to.

"I would have chased after you forever, Kate, but you decided this. You told him yes." His voice broke as she stood inches away from him, clouding his thoughts. "You could've said no."

"No, I couldn't have!" She practically yelled this at him as she wiped away the hair that clung to her cheeks. "I basically made him stop his life for me, to help me put mine back together after that fiasco with the bomb.. I couldn't turn him away with a simple thanks. He deserves more than that."

He gave her a hard look as she stepped closer, his eyes studying every move she made. "Does he deserve someone who's in love with someone else?"

Her tongue practically curled backwards in her mouth, stopping any retort that may or may not have been about to come out. She just stared at him as the world around them continued on, as if this moment - their moment - wasn't happening at all. Just a blimp on the map. To her, though, it was her whole map.

"You can pretend to love him all you want and maybe at one point you had convinced yourself you did but you don't, Kate. You and I, and every one else that comes around us, knows that you're with the wrong man." Castle shook his head as he broke their eye contact, glancing around. "If this is what you want, fine. So be it, but don't come chasing after me and then try to lie to my face. I'm done."

Her world crumbled to her feet, suffocating her as the reality of his words shook her to the bone. She stared at him blankly, as if he had just spoken in some other language that she had never even heard of. He couldn't possibly mean what she thought he did, he couldn't - not after all this time.

"Yo-you're done?" Her words trembled out of her lips, her eyes full of fear as she tried to catch his eyes.

"I'm done. I quit. I give up. You win." He looked at her now, sucking the breath out of her when the tears showed in his eyes. "The fourth book will be done soon, I have no reason to follow you anymore."

"No.. no reason?" Her brain refused to connect the words that he had spoken so clearly, refused to acknowledge what this meant for them - for her. No more shadowing her? No more constantly being around and lightening her mood? No more pulling her pigtails? She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, refusing to believe it. "You can't do that," she barely whispered.

"I can't sit around and watch you be with someone else either, Kate. I can't keep killing myself for you." He wanted to reach out, to hold her. He wanted to take back what he had said about quitting. But he couldn't, he knew that. He had to do this, for him and for his family who watched him suffer everyday.

"You can't. You can't." She shook her head, the words coming out a whisper as she threw herself forward to him and clung onto his wet jacket. Tears were streaming down her face now, mixing with the rain. "Rick, you can't leave me."

"Kate," he sighed in exhaustion as he tried to step back away from her again. As much as it broke his heart, they were simply running in circles again and he hated that. Placing his hands over hers, he unclenched them from his shirt and pulled them away. "I never wanted to hurt you and I still don't but this.. this game, you called it, has to end. If it doesn't, we'll start hating each other."

She continued to shake her head, clinging onto his hands - she refused to let him go. "I'll leave him. I'll call the engagement off. Please, Rick, you can't do this."

His heart leapt into his throat as he looked down into her eyes, trying to tell if this was just panic speaking. He wanted to believe her, he so desperately did.. But he couldn't take that chance. He pried his hands from hers, stepping to the side.

"If you want me to stay.. You'll have to prove it." He leaned forward long enough to kiss her forehead. "I'll see you in the morning.

With that, she watched as he walked away. Her heart was racing as her body convulsed with sobs, bringing her to her knees. She wrapped her arms around her middle, not caring as her forehead touched the wet sidewalk. She couldn't believe that this had happened, she couldn't even begin to imagine life without him. As her cries got louder, so did the storm that surrounded her.