Will knew it was stupid as soon as the words were out of his mouth. His father was more than happy to reconfirm this if he ever questioned it. But there was no taking it back because Kate was already freaking out. She requested a transfer back to Chicago less than an hour after Will had confessed his feelings to her. Alan had tried to deny it because Kate refused to tell him why but changed his mind as soon as Will told him what happened. The next morning Kate was gone.
He had finally healed completely from his wounds and with his newfound ability to leave his bed he wanted to take Kate out. The problem was that he had taken her kindness and concern while he was injured as something more than it was. He had thought that she felt the same way and that they would spend their days living in Kansas City solving crimes and loving each other. It was a daydream that he should have left behind when his mind had cleared from the pain medication.
Alan said that he would consider sending a new partner to him when he got back to Chicago since Kate had left before him, but Will brushed it off. He didn’t need a new partner, he didn’t want one. It made something twist in his stomach to think that he was going to be stuck with someone who didn’t understand him like Kate did. If Alan really needed him to have a partner then Kenji would do just fine. Kenji was smarter than half the agents in Chicago anyway.
By some miracle Alan left him alone about it. Kenji was added to the official payroll and they solved crimes.
Or at least when they were working they solved crimes. Whenever they were off and were left with more than a minute to sit and think about something other than a case Will tried to fill the whole in his heart with anything he could find. Alcohol. Women. Pugilism. Poker.
Little helped to make him forget Kate.
One memorable morning with the hangover from hell and a face that was swollen from fighting Annalee had snapped at him that he was going to get the memory with Kate beaten out of him if he kept up like that. There were moments when he wished that she was right but a year later, even with the worst of his moping behind him, he still saw her in the crowd sometimes.
Like he did just then. At the train station. Except she wasn’t leaving. She didn’t turn into someone new nor did she just disappear from view. She just stared back at him and then nodded to him before walking toward them.
“Kate?” Kenji asked from next to Will.
“Kenji, how are you?”
“Good. Will and I have been working the cases since you left,” he said.
“What are you doing back here?” Will asked. Might a well cut to the chase.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“And you couldn’t send a letter?”
“Not for this.” Kate looked to Kenji. “Are you both busy right now?”
“No,” Kenji said. “We were just headed back from the Sheriff’s office.”
“Still Logan?”
“Yes.” Kenji shot Will a concerned look but Will ignored him. He had received that look plenty over the last year and was good at pretending it wasn’t there. “Would you like to come with us? Annalee made stew.”
“That sounds lovely. I’m starving.” She hiked the bag father up on her shoulder and started on her way to Annalee’s.
Will followed and could barely believe what was happening. He couldn’t figure out what it was that Kate could want. What would be so important that she couldn’t write? If it were something with his family, he hoped that they’d send a telegram instead of waiting for Kate to get on a train.
At the Dubois Kenji sat at the bar while Will sat at a table across from Kate for the first time in a year. “How have you been?” she asked.
“Fine.”
“Are you still upset with me?”
Will couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped him. “I’m not the one who ran away to Chicago.”
“You surprised me.”
Will shook his head. “I caught that. What do you want?”
“I shouldn’t have left.”
Tears stung the back of his eyes as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “That’s not an answer.”
“I missed you.”
“What do you want, Kate?” Will asked with more force.
“I just want to know; do you still feel that way?”
Will shook his head and caught Annalee’s eye and waved for a drink. For the first time in the last year she didn’t look pained to comply. “What’s it to you?”
“I want to come back.”
“But you can’t if I still have feelings for you?” Annalee put the drink down in front of him and he downed it as she spoke.
“It’s been a long time. It’s good to see you, Kate,” Annalee said with a tight smile. “How long are you in town?”
“I don’t know right now.”
Annalee nodded slowly but Will stood up and clapped her on the shoulder and thanked her for the drink.
“I’ll put it on your tab.”
Will gave her a thumbs up and started to walked towards the stairs. Kate stood to follow him but Annalee stood between her and the stairs. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Annalee, you don’t understand.”
“I understand. You want your best friend back and you thought that if you gave him enough time and enough space, he could fall out of love with you, but he was too far gone on you, Kate.”
Kate blinked a few times at the accusation and the edge in Annalee’s tone. She had heard it often with people a little too drunk at the bar but never aimed at her.
“I had to watch him fall apart and try to put himself back together. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Kate sighed. “I appreciate that you are trying to protect Will but that’s not what’s going on. I missed him, yes. But I realized while I was gone that I need him. And that I care for him more than I expected. That I have real feelings for him.” Before Annalee could respond she moved around him and headed upstairs.
If she had waited, she would have heard Annalee whisper “I don’t know if that’s better.”
She knocked on Will’s door and waited in the hall for him to answer but only got more silence. “Will, please talk to me.”
“No.”
She tried the door handle but found the door locked.
“Go away.”
“I will once I’ve talked to you. Open the door.”
There was silence for a long time and she was just about to knock again when he opened the door. “What?”
“Can I come in?”
Will moved out of the doorway and made an exaggerated gesture into the room while he glared at her. She went in and sat on the edge of his bed while he stood with his arms crossed.
“I came because I don’t know how to put this into a letter. There’s too much to say.”
“Not like you to shy away from long letters. I’ve read your reports.”
Kate took a deep breath. “I came to tell you that I shouldn’t have left just because you surprised me and your feelings scared me. I miss you, Will. And if you still feel that way for me, I want to have the chance to return your feelings. I want to try being with you.”
Will took a shaking breath. “It’s been a year.”
“I know.”
“Are you staying?”
“I was waiting to request the transfer until after I talked to you.”
“I don’t know if Alan will let you transfer again. He’s already got two agents here.”
“I think he can be persuaded.”
Will let himself smile. “Then come back. I’m willing to try.”
Kate’s smile lit up her whole face.
Two years after Will confessed his love to his partner and one year after she came back and asked him to forgive her, he had. He had forgiven her so much that he was on one knee in the home she still rented from John.
“Kate Warne, will you marry me?”
“Of course.”