Maybe one day she'd come clean - but it would involve too much right now. It would involve telling him that she loved him, and she wasn't ready for that yet. Especially now, after all this, she'd worry it would just cheapen it. Kate wanted to tell him but she didn't want to abuse that power she knew she had over him, and she felt like dropping it now, after how badly she'd hurt him, would just make him doubt the sincerity.

Not that she didn't think he already knew, in his own way. He told her he loved her enough to make Beckett think he was pretty secure in how she felt, even if she hadn't verbalized it. But she still knew it was something she needed to learn to say.

She raised her head and captured the back of his head with her palm, moving him down so she could kiss him gently on the lips. "We can go snuggle now if you want."