Disclaimer: I don't own Castle
AN: this is set in the Growing Pains universe, meaning Kate and Rick have four children instead of the three that are "canon" on the show. This is a stand-alone and takes place five years before the events in GP, so you don't need to read Growing Pains to understand this. For those who don't follow Growing Pains, the ages/names of the kids in this story are: Johanna aka Jo - 11, Ricky - 7, Luke - 4, Sara - one year.
"Mommy, Daddy! Santa came!"
Kate startled awake as her two sons climbed onto the king sized bed. The older of the two, Ricky, stood up between his parents and began bouncing on the bed.
"Wake up!" Luke, their younger son yelled as his brother jumped onto their father's stomach.
"We're up," Rick groaned as he moved the boy off of him. "Get your sister, we'll be down in a minute."
"Jo," Luke yelled for their older sister as he ran from his parents' bedroom with Ricky close behind him.
Kate laughed, pushing her hair from her eyes as she rolled herself out of bed. "I'll get the baby. Make sure the kids don't open anything before I get there."
Rick nodded and got out of bed with a low groan, following his sons' footsteps while Kate went to their youngest child's bedroom. "Sara," she cooed, as she walked to the crib, waking up the one-year-old. "It's Christmas. Santa came."
"'Anta?" the tiny girl asked as she pushed herself up. She held up her arms to her mother, who lifted her out of the crib.
"You have lots of presents downstairs," Kate told her.
"Hurry!" Sara demanded, kicking her tiny legs as Kate carried her down the hallway then down the stairs of their Upper East Side townhouse until they made it to the living room, where the rest of the family was waiting.
Luke sat next to a large pile of presents, all with his name on them, bouncing excitedly on his knees. "Finally," he said when he spotted his mother with the baby and dove into the pile of gifts.
"Hey, hey," Rick said as the four-year-old grabbed a large box from the bottom of the pile, sending the rest of the gifts toppling over. "Sara first," he said, making Luke throw the box he held into the tree.
Kate put the child in her arms on the floor, laughing as Sara ran half-way across the room on wobbly legs before losing her balance and falling over, then crawled the rest of the way.
Kate sat on the couch next to their oldest daughter, Jo, who was on the couch next to Rick, twisting a strand of her dark hair around her finger. "What's wrong?" she asked, putting an arm around the eleven-year-old's shoulders.
Jo shrugged one shoulder. She'd already gotten yelled at for nearly ruining Christmas for her younger siblings, when she announced on the drive home from Christmas Eve dinner at their grandfather's that Santa wasn't real. The news didn't seem to effect the other children though, who were simply excited to tear into the piles of new toys under the tree.
"I'm too old for this," she finally said.
"Too old for Christmas?" Rick asked. "I'm sorry, did you suddenly age 40 years and forget to tell anybody?"
The girl shrugged again, turning her attention to her baby sister, who was struggling to open a present. Ricky walked over to her to help move things along, jumping when Kate yelled. "Ricky, let her do it herself."
Ricky pouted, crossing his arms as he sat on the floor with a huff. "This is gonna take forever," he groaned.
Growing frustrated herself, Sara threw the small package onto the floor before looking at Kate. "Mama, help!"
Kate laughed and got off the couch to make a tear in the wrapping paper of the package Sara had been struggling with before handing it to her again, then pulled a box out of Jo's pile.
She returned to the couch, putting the package on her daughter's lap as she sat down again.
"Hey," Luke said. "Jo gets to open one? No fair, she's oldest!"
"I'm not opening it."
"Open it," Kate told her. "Boys, you can each pick one to open now."
Luke grabbed the large box he'd chosen earlier, while Ricky knocked his little brother over to get to his pile of gifts.
"Just what I always wanted," Luke said happily as he tore the wrapping paper off his new toy.
"What is it, bud?" Rick asked.
"I don't know!"
Jo rolled her eyes, looking down at the small box Kate had given her then at her parents.
"What'd you get, Joey?" Ricky asked while Luke bit the edge of the box of his new train set, trying to get the box to open.
"Don't bite it," Rick told his youngest son, going to help him open the box.
Kate looked at Jo, raising her eyebrows. Jo let out a low groan and pulled the wrapping paper away. Her face quickly lit up in a smile. "A phone?" she asked excitedly.
Kate and Rick had both been stern in their decision to not allow their kids to have a cell phone until they were 13, but buckled when Jo insisted it was all she wanted for Christmas that year.
"Thank you," she said, still smiling as she hugged Kate tightly.
"Don't thank Mommy," Luke told her. "Thank Santa. He's the one who got it for you."