Hello lovely readers (and welcome to those who are just coming in) and welcome to my little Christmas Project - one among thousands I'm sure. Yes I know there are many christmas/caskett related fics but I have yet to do one and the inspiration struck me so here we go. As the title suggests, this is based on the twelve days of christmas song (with a twist of course). If any of you are familiar with Bob and Doug McKenzie from SCTV you will know their amazingly awesome song the '12 Canadian Days of Christmas' which embodies just about every Canadian Stereotype out there. And that is the inspiration for this particular series. Now they only got up to '8' before they got a little distracted so '9'-'12' will be of my own creation. Everyday from the 13th to the 25th, I'll be posting a little story about the Canadian version of Christmas. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Please review and as always, you can follow me on twitter at vatrask

Enjoy 3

Rick Castle loved Katherine Beckett; he saw no reason to lie to himself anymore. His family knew it; the precinct knew it – hell anyone who had read the Nikki Heat books knew that Rick loved Kate – the only one who didn't seem to believe him was Kate. He had told her once, out of desperation, but it was never discussed again and he was beginning to think that was for the best. That didn't mean that he loved her any less or that he would stop loving her as he waited for her to return his feelings; it just meant that those impromptu make-out sessions in the break room would have to stay in his head for a little bit longer. But as the holiday season rolled around, he found it harder and harder to keep those visions of filling the void in the Caste family to himself. It began with his mother offering to set him up on a dating service – a plan which he suspected was more for her than for him – and it slowly escalated with the little things Kate started to do for him – smiles, glances, lingering touches – until he reached his tipping point two weeks before Christmas. They had just closed a god-awful case involving the kidnapping and murder of three little girls – the murderer being of the psychotic grieving father nature – and it had taken a toll on everyone involved, especially Kate and Rick. Both of them had taken a hard look at their family relationships and the result was like a cheesy closing scene set to a cheerful love song.

"I am never letting my child go to daycare."

Rick stopped dead as he pulled his coat from the behind the chair. "You want children?"

Kate turned at hearing the anxious surprise in his voice with a small smile on her face. "I said 'child' Castle and yes I suppose I would like to be a mother someday, if I can find the right father." Her eyes lingered on his for a moment longer before she averted her eyes and pulled the collar of her jacket up a little tighter. "Good night Castle." She was doing it again, he inwardly groaned, that thing where she gave him something to think about – all night long – and he wasn't going to take it anymore.

"Hey Beckett," he called as she turned the corner. The detective poked her head over and waited for him to ask her the inevitable "do you want to grab a drink with me." She almost giggled but she saved herself the embarrassment by just smiling a little.

"Are you trying to get me drunk, Mr. Castle?"

"Only if it'll help." He smirked, already knowing the direction this evening was headed.

Beckett tilted her head to the side in thought before biting her lip to hide a smile. "Only if you're buying." And with that, she turned and continued her journey to the elevator, this time waiting for Castle to run and catch her, a concept she quite enjoyed. As they stood side by side on the elevator lift, Castle turned with a smile.

"So you're really going to let me buy you a beer?" She pursed her lips but didn't look at him directly.

"Maybe just one." And then it was decided. Rick observed her features as they rode the elevator in silence. She had a look of peace on her face that he rarely saw in her anymore – a look which he feared had been shattered by the sniper all those months ago. Seeing it on her face gave him a small sense of hope; maybe there was still a chance for them. She may not be ready to love him yet but so help him he was going to woo her until she at least thought about loving him – that all he could ask for really.

And the wooing would start with this first beer.

The Old Haunt still smelt like stale beer to Kate but she was beginning to enjoy the subtleness of the air – or maybe it was just the company – as they both took a seat in the corner of the bar, as far away from the other patrons as possible. It's not that they were antisocial; they just wanted to have a nice quiet drink together. Rick raised his hand to Jake who arrived promptly to take their orders. "Two beers." He instructed as Jake ducked underneath the bar to acquire their drinks.

Kate squinted at him curiously. "Two generic beers and Jake knows what we want? Don't tell me you've only got one kind of beer in this joint? Cause if you do, I might have to get my service elsewhere."

"Oh trust me detective you won't get service like this anywhere else." And there was that endearing leer that always made her eyes roll and her heart flutter. How did that man do that? "And we have many fine beers here at the Old Haunt; we simply take pride in knowing what our best customer enjoys." As he spoke, Jake placed two matching bottles in front of them, stunning Beckett into silence. Well, almost silence. She still managed to smirk as she raised the bottle to her lips.

"Oh you have no idea what I enjoy Castle." No idea.

A/N: If you guys are interested in hearing the song you can find it here: youtube: /watch?v=sEbUtpPQihM