This is the Secret Santa 2011 story for animallvr4eva
Disclaimer: Since they haven't done a Christmas episode yet, I obviously don't own this most wonderful of shows.
"So how did you talk Gates into going along with this?" Kate asked Castle as she watched the writer carry a three foot tall pine tree into the break room of the precinct.
"Are you saying you doubt my ability to charm the ladies, Beckett?" Castle's eyes were sparkling with mischief as he turned to the detective with a smirk on his lips.
"You, charm the Captain?" Kate couldn't contain her giggle at the thought. "Not in a million years, Castle."
"I'm hurt at your lack of faith in my abilities, detective," Castle said with a pout.
"I think your ego can take it." Kate rolled her eyes and shook her head at her partner's childish reaction.
"Where do you want this, Castle?" Ryan asked, a red metal tree stand in one hand and a box of Christmas decorations in the other.
"Over at the corner," Castle said, gesturing to the direction he meant. As soon as Ryan set the metal object down, Castle set the tree inside. Once he got the tree stabilized, he looked back over at Kate. "So, what do you think?"
"It's leaning a little to the left," Kate said. Castle slightly adjusted the position of the tree and looked inquiringly at Kate, who nodded that the tree was now straight.
"Did the Captain say we could decorate the whole precinct?" Kate wanted to know when Esposito came into the break room a few moments later with a huge box in his hands.
"Nope, just the break room," Castle said as he hunkered down by the box Ryan had brought in, taking out a string of holly and setting it on the table. He pulled out three more strings of the festive plant, setting them next to the first string.
"Good grief, Castle!" Kate exclaimed when Lanie and Jenny entered the room a minute later, both carrying boxes that Kate was sure were filled with more Christmas decorations.
"Ah, the music is here," Castle said, taking the box from Lanie's hands. He set it on the floor near the espresso machine and pulled out a portable CD player. He plugged it in and strains of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" filled the room.
"What singer is that?" Esposito asked.
"You've never heard of Andrea Bocelli?" Castle asked, shocked.
"What is that, opera? I didn't think you were the kind to go for opera, Castle," Ryan said.
Kate was surprised that Castle listened to the Italian tenor. She had enjoyed the musician for years; she had even taught herself a couple of his songs on her guitar. But it hadn't occurred to her that Castle would share that particular interest with her. She smiled when she heard a group of kids join Bocelli in singing the song. Castle enjoying listening to kids sing didn't surprise her at all.
"It's not opera," Kate said. "He's kind of a cross between opera and modern."
"Huh," Ryan said.
"Here, you and Esposito can hang the holly," Lanie said, taking the strings from the table and handing them to Ryan. Exchanging a look and a shrug, the two male detectives went to work on hanging the greenery.
"So, where's the mistletoe, Castle?" Lanie asked, searching in the box where the holly had been.
"Wanting your Christmas kiss, Lanie?" Castle asked with a playful smirk. "You don't need mistletoe for that. All you have to do is ask."
Kate could feel herself scowling. Castle and Lanie occasionally flirted, but it bothered Kate a lot more than it used to. She didn't want to dwell too much on why that was.
Castle had never mentioned wanting to kiss Lanie, however. Kate wasn't entirely sure what she would do if that ever happened. She clenched her fists as she watched Castle walk over to the M.E. Looking out of the corner of her eye, Kate noticed that Esposito didn't look too happy, either.
"Not for me, Castle," Lanie said. She looked pointedly over at Kate and smiled slyly.
"If she doesn't want it, I'll take it."
Kate was barely able to stifle a groan. That voice had been grating on her nerves for weeks, ever since Barbra Trenton, the newest robbery detective, had arrived at the precinct. She was aptly named, for the woman looked like a life size Barbie doll, with waist length blonde hair, blue eyes and a figure that mirrored the popular toy. She was Tom Demming's new partner on the force. Kate wouldn't care if the woman had kept to the robbery division. Instead, the new detective had made a play for Castle on almost a daily basis ever since she'd arrived. Thankfully Kate had been able to interrupt the pair with case-related issues each time things had gotten remotely personal between the two.
"I'll have to find the mistletoe first," Castle said to Barbra with his 'greeting fans' smile. Kate bit back her own smile when Castle made no attempt to find the mistletoe, but instead started pulling ornaments out of one of the boxes.
Castle's love of science fiction and fantasy was evident in the objects he put next to the tree. There were ornaments that depicted Yoda from Star Wars, Spock from Star Trek, a UFO that looked like the ship from Forbidden Planet and the marshmallow ghost from Ghostbusters. And that was just the first few ornaments that Castle took out of the box. As Kate had suspected, the box was full of them. After all those ornaments were out, Castle went over to one of the other boxes and pulled out ornaments that were more traditional-bright green, red and gold bulbs, candy canes, gingerbread men and snowflakes. Lastly he pulled out some multi-colored lights, which Jenny helped him put on the tree.
"Come on, Kate, the tree isn't going to decorate itself," Castle teased, handing her an ornament. Kate almost dropped it when she realized that he had given her one that portrayed Han Solo and Princess Leia kissing.
Forcing herself to keep her hand steady, Kate put the ornament on a branch at the very back of the tree. That was not something she needed to be looking at for the time the Christmas decorations would be up.
Not wanting to take a chance that Castle would give her another embarrassing ornament, Kate took another one out of the box, relieved that it was a harmless depiction of C-3PO.
"Is there something we can help you with, Trenton?" Kate asked when she noticed that the other female detective had made no move to leave.
"I have the notes for the Snelling case," Barbara said, referring to the case involving a robbery and double homicide that had just been wrapped up that morning. "But I can see that you are all busy, so it can wait."
"Why don't you stay and help?" Castle asked. "After all, the more the merrier."
Barbara sent a triumphant smile Kate's way and took a few bulbs to hang on the tree.
It took almost a half hour for the two female detectives and Castle to finish decorating the tree. Kate had forced herself to keep her distance from the other two, refusing to even glance at the pair any more than necessary.
Conversations between the others swirled around Kate. Any of the light-hearted feelings she'd had about decorating the precinct with the gang had vanished with Barbara's arrival.
"Found it!" Castle cried suddenly, holding up the mistletoe.
Kate had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed that he had resumed looking for the plant that had suddenly become her least favorite Christmas decoration.
Kate looked up just in time to see Barbara make her way over to Castle. The other woman's lack of subtlety amazed Kate. Although she really should have expected it, considering how even the first time she had met Castle Barbara had acted like a stereotypical fan girl slash writer groupie. She had barely stopped short of asking Castle to sign her chest. If the robbery detective had asked Castle to do that, Kate wasn't sure what she would have done.
Kate still wasn't sure what to do as she watched Barbara put her hands on Castle's shoulders while Castle lowered his head. She could feel herself shaking with the effort it took to keep herself from tackling the woman and ordering her to not get within a hundred feet of Castle ever again.
A loud buzz startled the pair and both Barbara and Castle jumped.
Kate recognized the sound. She didn't know if it was a drill or the real thing, but the fire alarm didn't cause her to do anything more than blink.
"Come on, Castle," Kate said, grabbing the writer's hand and tugging him towards the door.
Castle, having been at the precinct long enough to have been involved in a few fire drills, simply followed her as he usually did.
The few inches of snow on the ground that greeted the group once they made their way outside made Kate wonder where her normal observational skills had been for the last hour. Although the temperature had been below freezing, the sky had been clear a few hours ago, the last time she had been outside of the precinct.
Kate was glad to see that Barbara was with the other members of the robbery division. When she saw Castle glance over at the blonde, Kate's reaction was immediate. She bent down, gathered some snow in her hands and quickly made a snowball. Not even bothering to look, Kate threw it at Castle. The white ball of snow hit him squarely in the chest before breaking, the snow creating a thin cloud of white as it drifted back to the ground.
"Snow ball fight!" Ryan cried.
In seconds snowballs were flying. No one bothered to form teams. Instead, each person simply threw snow at whomever they could hit with the cold white powder.
Kate laughed as Lanie hit Esposito in the leg. Esposito grinned at her and threw a snowball that hit her in the arm. Castle, not to be outdone, threw two snowballs, one hitting Ryan in the back and the other hitting Kate in the knee. Ryan threw a snowball that went wild and everyone gasped when it hit Captain Gates. Thankfully, it exploded harmlessly on her booted foot.
"Sorry, Captain," Ryan said sheepishly.
Captain Gates merely nodded at the Irish detective. "No harm in letting off a little steam," she said, a small smile forming on her lips at the stunned reaction of her team. "Carry on."
With that, the captain walked away, leaving the others to their impromptu winter play.
The next day was a day off for Kate, so she and Lanie decided they would spend the day shopping. Kate had gotten Jenny in the Secret Santa draw that Castle had talked everyone into participating in when they returned to the break room to finish decorating. She had no idea whose name Lanie had drawn; she just hoped it wasn't Esposito. Things were still strained between the two, and Kate didn't want her friend to have to feel awkward at Castle's Christmas party the following Saturday.
The friends decided to go to their favorite mall, one of the smaller ones near Remy's. Kate had never made a big deal over Christmas since her mom had died, but she loved to be out in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. She had always been a people watcher, and she loved the excitement in the air. Although every bit as often it was an air of rush and panic, but Kate never let herself dwell on that. She always had plenty of time to accomplish the little she did to celebrate the season, so she just let herself relax and enjoy.
"So girl, when are you going to tell Castle?" Lanie said after the pair had been browsing the shops for a little over an hour.
"Tell Castle what?" Kate asked. The question seemed to have come out of nowhere, but the detective doubted that was the case. Chances were that Lanie's mind had been on her and Castle off and on for most of the morning.
"That you don't want him to go out with the cop Barbie, of course," Lanie said.
Kate couldn't scold Lanie for using the derogatory term; not when she had been the first to use it when she'd told her friend about the new detective's reaction to meeting Castle.
Kate sighed. "He's free to date whomever he wants, Lanie," she said quietly.
"You sure about that?" Lanie asked. "From what I saw yesterday, Castle dating someone else would bother you a lot more than you want to admit."
The memory of Castle and Barbara standing under that mistletoe, seconds away from kissing, flashed through Kate's mind.
"You're right," she shocked Lanie by saying. "I can't stand the thought of him with someone else. I just-"
"You just what, honey?" Lanie asked.
"I don't know how to tell him," she whispered.
Lanie's eyes lit up and a beaming grin graced her lips. "I do," she said gleefully.
Kate was confused by Lanie's attitude. The M.E. knew all about Kate's difficulty with expressing her emotions, particularly to Castle. Why was Lanie now acting like it would suddenly be easy for Kate to get the words out?
"How?"
"You should talk to Santa," Lanie said.
Kate's eyes widened.
Talk to Santa?
She couldn't be serious.
There was no way Kate could spill her heart out to some strange man. Talking to her therapist was bad enough.
"Kate, I really think you should talk to Santa," Lanie insisted.
"Lanie, I am not going to..." Kate's voice trailed off as she looked closely at the man sitting in a big red chair, two young kids on his lap. She would recognize those blue eyes anywhere.
It was Castle!
Lanie was right. She definitely needed to talk to Santa.
Kate couldn't believe she was really going to do this. But she had been standing in line for over an hour, enduring the frowns of parents and laughter of the kids around her. And she hadn't chickened out.
She could do this.
Finally, Kate made it to the front of the line. On shaking legs she approached Castle.
"So who do we have here?" Castle said, obviously not having noticed Kate's presence just yet. He looked down, where Kate was sure he was expecting to see another child. His gaze swept upward and his jaw dropped in shock. "Kate?" he squeaked out.
"Hello, Santa," Kate greeted him with what she hoped was a flirty smile. "I know I'm a little old for this, but there's something I really want for Christmas, and it's something only you could give me."
Castle's eyes widened and for a brief moment he had the look on his face that he always got when his mind was filled with a new Kate fantasy. After a moment he blinked and smiled. "Well then by all means, come sit on Santa's lap and tell me all about it."
Her eyes sparkling with the humor she was barely able to suppress, Kate situated herself on Castle's lap.
"So what can Santa bring for you this year?" Castle asked.
"I need an outfit," Kate started.
"An outfit?" Castle's tone clearly expressed his confusion.
"Mmmhmm," Kate murmured. "A very special outfit."
Castle gulped. "What," he cleared his throat when his voice cracked, "kind of outfit would you like Santa to bring you?"
"It has to be red," Kate began.
Castle's dazed look made Kate want to laugh.
"But the boots definitely have to be black leather," Kate continued.
Castle shook his head to clear it and met Kate's gaze with his blue eyes dark with a fire that threatened to spill out at any moment.
"What material do you want the red outfit to be made of?" Castle asked.
"Velvet," Kate said. "It has to be velvet. With a white furry trim."
Castle said each word like it was its own separate sentence. "White. Furry. Trim?"
"Mmmhmm," Kate said, slowly licking her upper lip, drawing Castle's gaze to her mouth.
"Anything else?" Castle asked, tightening his arm around Kate's shoulders.
"Oh yeah," Kate said. "It's the most important part."
Kate could feel Castle tense as he asked, "And what would that be?"
"A gray wig," Kate said.
"A gray-" Castle's eyes narrowed in confusion, "wig?"
"How else am I going to be able to be Mrs. Claus?" Kate asked, forcing her tone to remain light.
"Santa?" Kate said after a few moments when Castle didn't move a muscle. "Do you think you'll be able to help me out?"
Castle turned a beaming smile on Kate. "I can definitely fulfill that request," he promised.
Kate didn't even try to fight the loving smile she bestowed on him. She knew that her expression probably mirrored the one she had worn when she'd found Castle safe inside the blown up bank. This time, she didn't force herself to restrain her impulse to kiss him, but mindful of Castle's current role and the children all around, Kate only allowed herself to kiss him on the cheek.
At that moment, a camera light flashed.
Kate couldn't believe that Castle acted as if nothing had happened the next day. And the next. And the day after that. All week long, Castle was his normal easy-going self, building theory with her and backing her up during interrogations. He didn't even drop the frequent innuendos that were practically his trademark.
By the night of Castle's party, Kate was a bundle of nerves. Had she pushed things too far? Had she freaked him out and ruined everything?
What if Castle thought she was expecting a marriage proposal and the whole idea horrified him?
By the time Lanie arrived to pick her up, Kate was fighting a full-blown panic attack. Doubts bombarded her mind. Not doubts about wanting a future with Castle, but doubts that he wanted a future with her.
Lanie, recognizing the signs of such a condition, asked if she should call Castle.
Kate knew why her friend would ask such a thing. Under normal circumstances, Castle would be able to calm her down faster than anyone. When she allowed him to.
But now...
Kate forced herself to take some deep, slow breaths. After a couple minutes, she was able to calm herself enough to at least be able to leave her apartment.
When they reached Castle's building, Kate felt another attack start. It took more than ten minutes for her to be able to force herself to get out of the car.
"Everything will be fine, honey," Lanie assured her friend as they got into the elevator.
"But Lanie, what if you're wrong?" Kate asked worriedly. "What if I'm wrong? What if everyone is wrong?"
"We're not, sweetie," Lanie said, giving her friend a quick hug before the elevator doors opened. "Trust me."
Kate nodded and led her friend to the door of Castle's loft. Castle opened the door, immediately gathering Kate into his arms and giving her a huge hug. Not a side hug, but a full frontal hug where her head rested for a brief moment against his chest.
The feeling of Castle's arms around her caused all of Kate's fear to drain away. She knew the man well enough to know that he wasn't the type to play with a woman's emotions. If his feelings had changed over the past few months, he would have kept his distance. Especially after what Kate had not so subtly hinted at when she'd been sitting on 'Santa's' lap.
"Darling, we're so glad you're here," Martha said, giving Kate a brief hug once Castle had let her go. "And Dr. Parrish, so nice to see you again. Welcome."
"We have hot chocolate, eggnog, and apple cider," Alexis called from the kitchen. "Which would you like?"
"Or we have wine," Castle said. "But Alexis is in charge of the non-alcoholic beverages."
"Eggnog sounds good," Lanie said.
Kate knew that alcohol would be a bad idea, so she parroted Lanie's choice.
Holding Christmas mugs decorated with candy canes, Lanie and Kate joined the others in the family room. Within the next twenty minutes all of the guests had arrived-Castle had uncharacteristically decided to keep things small this year and there was only the gang at the precinct and Alexis and Martha.
Nerves hit Kate when Castle finally said that it was time for the Secret Santa exchange. What would Castle have gotten her if he drew her name?
Jenny loved the matching white furry earmuffs, gloves and scarf that Kate had gotten her. Esposito, who had gotten Ryan, had given the man a bottle of his favorite wine, along with a jar of honey. The group laughed at the reference to Ryan's nickname, 'Honeymilk.' Ryan, who had gotten Lanie, had given the M.E. tickets to an upcoming concert where the headliner was a performer he had heard that she liked. Jenny, who had drawn Esposito's name, gave the detective a new winter coat.
Kate started to get nervous again, although thankfully she didn't have a panic attack to deal with this time. But based on who was left, Lanie had drawn either her name or Castle's name. Considering that Lanie had been there with her at the mall, Kate wasn't sure which she preferred.
When Lanie handed Castle a gift, Kate wondered at its flat size. It was like it could be-
Kate couldn't control the blush that burned her cheeks when Castle held out large framed collection of pictures. Each of those pictures where of Kate sitting on Castle's lap. With the largest one clearly showing Kate kissing 'Santa' on the cheek.
"Wow, Beckett, I didn't think you believed in Santa," Ryan joked.
"Well, a girl can change her mind, can't she?" Kate replied, smiling despite her embarrassment.
Castle took pity on Kate and quickly handed her gift to her. Kate couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes when she unwrapped the package. Because Castle had 'made' her present. With a green cover with a silhouette of Nikki Heat wearing a Santa hat, was a book with the title "Christmas Heat."
Kate couldn't resist her impulse to jump up and give him a hug.
Castle had written a book for her!
Castle returned the hug, dropping a kiss on her cheek.
"Thank you, Castle," she said on a choked whisper. "I love it."
"Wow, Castle," Ryan said. "When did you ever find the time to do that?"
"It's something I've been working on off and on for the last couple years," Castle said. "It was actually the first Nikki Heat story idea I ever got. I worked on it when I needed a break from the regular novels."
A fantasy popped into Kate's mind at that moment. She and Castle were cuddled on the couch at the loft and Castle was reading "Christmas Heat" to her.
She promised herself that before the Christmas season was over, that fantasy would become reality.
Once again, a story took me by surprise. I actually thought there might be a little more to this, but it just seemed like the perfect place to end it.
