A Castle Christmas - A One shot
by Emina88
Description: Rick and Kate celebrating Christmas together, first time as a married couple.
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle. If I did I would not write fanfiction about it. This is purely for entertainment.
This is in spirit of Castle Secret Santa and this one shot is dedicated to Liz (YahLiz on ).
Enjoy and please review!
A ray of light hit his eyes, he tried to move his head out of the way from the bright light but since he had opened his eyes already, he noticed that the whole room was bright. There was no idea to even try to fall back asleep. He looked at the female figure lying close to him.
Castle suddenly remembered what day it was, Christmas Day and the first one he would spend together with his new bride. He smiled for himself, he couldn't be happier than he was. He had been together with Kate Beckett for four years and they had married in August. Still all jolly over their married bliss.
Castle peeked at the alarm clock that was standing on the night stand, it showed 7:50 am. He kissed Kate's cheek and she stirred a bit but instead of waking up she just turned around. Rick got up, trying to be as quiet as possible and he went out to the kitchen. He was in there for a while making coffee, pancakes and slicing fruits for their breakfast. He hurried as much as he could, so he would finish before Kate woke up. He put their breakfast on a tray and went back in to their bedroom. He put down the tray on the night stand. He slipped under the covers, scooting close to his wife. She was radiating heat, lying there fast asleep with her hair tangled spread out over her pillow. He spooned her and tucked some hair behind her ear, playing a bit with the ends of her hair. Kate began to stir.
"Wake up beautiful. Time to get up."
There was no response, just a muffled grunt. He hugged her close and continued to speak "Come on, I'll make it worth your while" in a teasing voice.
There was a sleepy "Mmmh okay" before Kate opened her eyes and turned to look at Rick. They both smiled and Kate leaned in to give Castle a quick peck on the lips.
"Happy Christmas" she said.
Castle answered: "And to you. Okay sit up! I made breakfast to eat in bed". He had a huge proud smile on his face which made Kate smile as well. They both scooted up against the headboard, Castle grabbing the tray and putting it down in between them over the covers.
"You made the foamed hearts!" Kate let out in an excited high pitched voice. It turned out higher than she meant to. But Castle didn't seem to mind.
"Anything for you" Castle answered while handing over one of the cups to Kate. The foamed hearts and other figures in their coffee had become a bit of a stable in the Castle household.
They took their time eating breakfast in bed. Today there was no real stress. They have all day to prepare for tonight's Christmas dinner with the family.
"It feels a bit strange that it's so quiet and it's Christmas Day" Castle said before he continued
"No Alexis in sight or even mum to rush in here, all excited and in a hurry to open their stockings". "Do you miss it?" Kate asked. It took a while before Rick answered.
"Yes and no". Kate looked a bit confused but she remained quiet in order for Rick to continue.
"In a way I miss all the commotion that goes on when you have young kids in the house, everything about Christmas excited Alexis and she questioned me for days, even weeks about what she would get. We put up all the decorations together and hanged our stockings while singing Christmas Carols as loud as we could. Nothing can compare to your child's joy and excitement for Christmas."
"Sounds amazing" Kate interjected.
"Oh it was" Castle said with longing in his voice but he quickly added "But don't get me wrong, I love these relaxing holidays with you too".
"At least you will have some commotion tonight when the rest of the clan will get here. And who knows perhaps next year it won't be so quiet".
Kate didn't realise what she had indicated before she got a puzzled look from Castle.
"Oh my god Kate, are we pregnant?" he said.
"What?! Now, I didn't mean that." Kate's cheeks turned pink.
"I just meant that perhaps we will soon and that I look forward to having those kinds of Christmases with you in the future."
Rick planted a long slow kiss on Kate's lips and afterwards said "me too".
Rick's eyes glanced to the window and Kate's eyes followed. Outside of the window snowflakes were falling down and it had done so since last night.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" Kate asked with a smile.
Castle nodded, kissed her cheek and quickly got out of bed while saying "Let's go". Kate just laughed and followed him out of bed, getting dressed and ready for a walk.
As they walked side by side on the snow covered sidewalk, they held hands and admired their surroundings. Everything was covered by snow, a winter wonderland and there wasn't much noise. There were hardly any traffic out, such a calmness. They walked by a coffee cart and they stopped to get two hot chocolates with extra marshmallows. They drank them on their way back to the loft.
Back at the loft, after warming up cuddling on the sofa exchanging one small Christmas gift each, it was time to prepare for dinner.
They stood next to each other slicing and dicing. Getting the food ready, there was going to be a big smorgasbord of delicious food ready for tonight.
Kate's phone made a sound and lighted up from an incoming call. She looked over at the counter where her phone was and she saw Lanie's picture on the screen. With a quick relieved sigh she put down her knife and wiped her hands on a tea towel.
"Hello Lanie" she answered while she moved away from the kitchen area, she walked by the sofa and into their bedroom. Castle finished his cutting and then he took over Kate's cutting board while thinking no point in waiting for her to come back, it might be a while. And Castle was right, Kate returned to the kitchen just as he was all done with the cooking.
"Okay perfect, yes we will see you all then. Happy Christmas and say hi to Espo from us. Bye Lanie!"
She hang up the phone and looked down at the kitchen counter where she left her potatoes half done. They were now gone.
"Oh, did I talk that long?" she asked Rick.
"No worries I took care of it, I know you two…".
"Yes you do, thank you" Kate interrupted while standing up on her tiptoes to give Rick a kiss on the cheek.
Rick took a hold of Kate's face and held her steady while giving her a full on kiss and Kate passionately reciprocated. After a moment they broke apart, both panting from being out of breath. They looked at each other and both chuckled.
"So we decided on a time for New Years" Kate stated.
"What about New Years?" Castle asked.
"We have plans with Lanie and Espo, Ryan and Jenny. You knew that."
"Oh right". Castle leans in for a romantic peck on the lips and then he continues "Time to get ready for tonight's dinner".
Rick is off to take a shower and midst his way to the master bathroom he turned around, winked at Kate and said "Care to join me?"
"I would love to but we don't have time for THAT right now" she answered with a smile. She followed him in to their bedroom but didn't follow him into the bathroom. Instead she went into the closet, picking out her outfit for tonight's occasion. She had bought a new maroon coloured dress for the holidays and she was excited to wear it. It fitted her perfectly and it showed of her slim figure. She took the dress from its hanger and laid it down on the end of the bed. She took out a matching pair of shoes, a jumper, and tights. She went over to the dresser and picked out her jewellery. She also picked out a new set of underwear that she had gotten earlier that day from her husband.
She heard the sound of water stopping and Castle came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips.
He smirked at her and walked towards her, in an attempt to get her attention and he got it alright. Kate bit her lip while examining Rick's naked upper body.
"Not now" she said weakly.
Rick came closer, with a huge smirking grin on his face. Wiggling his eyebrows. He moved his hands to the knot on his hip, on his way to remove the towel wrapped around him.
"NO" Kate said more firmly, kissing him quickly before running in to the bathroom and shutting the door behind her. Castle could hear her saying "Later" from the other room.
He chuckled for himself and answered back with "It's a date!" before going to get dressed.
When Kate came out of the bathroom some time later, with her hair and make-up done, in her bathrobe Castle was nowhere in sight. Kate proceeded with getting ready.
She was almost done now, she only had her jewellery to put on and she stood in front of the full length mirror. Somehow she got lost in thought and did not notice when Castle appeared in the doorway. He stood there for a while just watching her from the door frame. He could not believe how lucky he was that he got THE girl, and that they were still crazy for each other as well as bickering and teasing each other like always. He could not contain his joy and he had a big smile on his face when he moved up behind her. He put his arms around her, hugging her from behind. Kate startled a bit before relaxing in to Rick's warm embrace. Rick started kissing her neck, small pecks alongside her shoulder up to her ear. Kate exhaled and moved her head to expose her neck even more. She then turned around, still close in Rick's arms and she kissed him long and slow. Rick leaned his forehead against Kate's and asked: "You ready for the madness to begin?" Implicating that any minute now their family would show up and as on cue the doorbell rang.
They were now all gathered around the table, Richard, Kate, Martha, Alexis and her boyfriend of a year, Jake and Jim and his lady friend Sophie. They had all sat down to begin the feast. The table was beautifully decorated with metallic red and green colours and it was fully packed with food. They all had pitched in with something. Castle stood up raising his glass in a toast.
"I will make this quick so we can eat" he began. His eyes went first to his mother, then to Jim, his daughter and lastly to his wife Kate. Kate stared and smiled back at him.
"To family" Rick finished and the others joined in "to family!"
The End.