.:xoxo:.

Her mother clasped onto her hand gently as she turned to look around the park. Katherine Beckett had never seen snow before…at least, not in New York, not this close. She strained out, away from the cover of her mother's umbrella and caught a dust of fluff - which instantly melted in her hand. Slowly, she brought her hand closer to her face to examine the drop of water up close while blindly following her mother around the park.

When her mother stopped to sit on the bench and chat with some old friends, she managed to slip her hand from her mother's grasp and wandered off. Her mother knew that she had gone off on her own, Kate knew that, but it doesn't matter: Because her mother would always be there for her to watch over her, protecting her from whatnots.

Always.

She ran through the nearest patch of snow, her arms spread wide as she studied how her wellies made funny imprints in the snow. Giggling, she pretended that she was like a bird, flying high above the clouds that were now the snow beneath her feet when suddenly, the wind picked up and blew her scarf right off her neck - the scarf that her mother had sewn for her last Christmas; the present that she wore everyday even if it was far from keeping her warm and a little over-sized. Instantly, her bright emerald eyes glanced up at the thin cloth now waving in the breeze.

She chased it.

Completely forgetting about everything else and engrossed to no end in her task, Kate climbed over benches and stumbled over ledges as the wind continued to carry her scarf away. Then she stopped after struggling onto her last ledge. The wind had blown her scarf into a tall tree and now, her scarf was swaying at her from one of the higher branches. She looked down and she could feel her little gut sink.

The ledge was pretty high and Kate felt like she was toeing the edge of a cliff. Then she looked up at the colours just out of her reach…rather, far out of grasp for her small hands. She frowned, already feeling the lump rising in her throat as she calculated the odds in her head.

Nonetheless, that scarf was her utmost favourite and Katherine Beckett wasn't about to let some rogue wind take that away from her. Calming her nerves, she attempted one last time to swallow the lump down as she crouched, steeling her eyes. Then she leapt with all her might, mind and soul, stretching as far as her little body would allow.

Maybe she imagined it, but her heart skipped a beat as she felt her fingers brush the very fringes of the branch. But alas, in the next moment, she was falling. And Kate landed with a muted thud on the padding of her thick winter coat, her little backside stinging.

Reality dawn onto young Kate Beckett and her eyes watered. Hugging her knees to her chest, the lump in her throat grew thicker and her vision, though still narrowed onto the scarf, had begun to blur. The stinging on her bottom was nothing compared to the pins pricking away at her eyes or the knife now twisting around at her insides. She bit her lower lip in a feeble attempt to stop the quivering but when she saw the scarf swaying in the wind again, the tears started to flow.

As if to mock her further, the wind howled and the snow, that was so much like a young chick's soft feathers before, fell down heavier, and harder, like little pebbles stoning her in her shame.

With her face buried in her knees and little Kate weeping over her failure, she did not see a young boy stopping in his tracks and glancing over her curiously. He hesitated for a moment before sucking in a deep breath and approaching her with quick, measured steps.

The boy cleared his throat and Kate looked up just in time to see a Kit Kat bar shoved in her face.

"…I'll give you my chocolate bar if it makes you feel better…" His voice was a little soft and shaky, but warm, nonetheless.

Kate hastily swiped the tears from her face as she continued to look at him, feeling a small tingling in the pit of her stomach from his piercing blue eyes. "…Wh-at?" She managed to choke out at last, her voice slightly hoarse from all the crying.

"Here." She watched, her mind taking a little longer than usual to process what was going on as the boy took her hand in his own, placed the chocolate bar in it and closed her fingers around it before retracting his hands back. Then he grinned and said: "There! Now it's yours." He paused, raising his eyebrows just a bit, before continuing in a slower tone; "You know, it's Christmas Eve! …So, why are you crying?"

Kate frowned and forced herself not to look up at the branches, lest the tears decided to pour again. "…M-my...sc-scarf…" She bawled the last word out, squeezing her eyes shut as she pointed her shaking finger to the top of the tree. Little Kate felt a soft pat on her shoulder as she sobbed and the soothing voice spoke again.

"Wait here. Don't worry! I'll get it for you."

The warmth of his hands left her shoulder and she rubbed her eyes, sniffling a little. Then she looked up and watched the boy, only just a couple of years older than her, walk up to the tree and studied it, a small frown etched upon his brows.

She blinked, and he was on the bench, carefully positioning his hands on the bark. Then, with one foot on the back of the bench, he pushed himself off and grabbed onto one of the thicker branches. Kate stared, slightly wide-eyed, as he hugged the wood and arched his back to wrap his legs around it. The boy swung himself the right side up and, with very cautious movements, he began to scale the tree.

Minutes later, he was up there, right next to her scarf. Young Kate Beckett watched, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest as the boy stretched his hand out and carefully dislodged the scarf from the gnarled hands of the tree. Smiling, the boy began to work his way down with her scarf safely tucked away under his arm.

"There!" He grinned cheerfully as he wrapped the scarf around her neck and secured it in a tight knot. "All done." Kate saw his smile widen, if that was even possible, and she could not help but blush a little and beam back at him. She had opened her mouth to say something; but it was just at that moment that the wind blew by, carrying her mother's voice with it.

"Katie!"

And then her smile faded.

It was getting late, and she knew it. But that was not it; because the snow, too, was coming down harder now and she knew her mother would be getting worried. Young Kate Beckett needed to get back.

Kate looked back up at the high wall; the ledge she jumped – no; fell off – and she could already feel another lump rising in her throat. Howwasshegoingtogetbacktohermothernow?She bit down on her lip in an attempt to stop it from quivering as she glanced around, willing her little mind to come up with a solution. When she thought of none, Kate exhaled sharply and approached the wall, placing her tender hands gingerly on the rough granite. And then, she leapt.

She leapt, clawing at whatever matter she could touch and scratching the soles of her wellies against the hard stone as she scrambled up. Little Kate Beckett ignored the stings from her palms as the rocks scratched into them. She needed to get back to her mummy. She needed to get back into the safety of her mother's wide umbrella from the now heavy snowfall.

But though young, Kate still had reality in check. She bit down harder on her lip and braced herself for the hard landing as she found gravity acting on her again.

Except; she never touched the ground.

There was a loud yelp and a big flurry of snow being kicked up as Kate tumbled into a heap with the boy under her.

"-Sorry…" Her voice was a little flustered as she jumped up, cheeks flushing a deep red.

"Nah. It's alright…" He got up slowly, rubbing his reddened arms where the ground scraped him. "…Here. You need to get back up there? Let me help you." He turned to smile at her and Kate found her own cheeks widening in response.

"Careful…there…there we go…"

Kate was standing on the boy's shoulders; but even at that height, she only managed to close her fingers in on the edge of the ledge. Cautiously, she tightened her grip on the stone as the boy under her struggled for more balance.

"…Ok! Now I'll give you a boost up. Put your foot on my hand so I can push you up."

Kate nodded, even though she was half sure he wasn't able to see her, and did as she was told. She gasped, her eyes widening in an instant as she felt the boy's hand clutched at her boots and heaved her upwards.

There was another short tumble before Kate found herself lying on her side in the soft snow. Slowly, as if in a dream, she sat up and rubbed her head. Then she looked down at herself; at the scarf now tied snugly around her neck, at her bruised palms, at the chocolate bar poking out from her coat pocket.

Little Kate Beckett was sure this wasn't a dream.

She really had met her prince charming. Well, not that kind that saved you from ferocious dragons, but rather, the kind that was warm and caring: The kind stranger who had too much time on their hands and too little a body to hide such a big heart.

"Katie!"

Her mother's voice jolted her back into reality and Kate sat up, suddenly aware of her current objective and situation. And then she remembered the boy.

Kate whirled around and let her eyes scan over the snow-covered floor so far below.

But all that was left of him were the displaced snow where he had been. That, and the chocolate sticking out of her coat that she now gripped onto tightly, as if it were magic and her prince charming would come back if she wished hard enough.

"…Did you go on a little adventure all on your own?"

She looked up at her mother, blinking slowly and finally realizing that her mother had once again yanked her back from her reverie with her caressing words and soft touch as she clasped Kate's free hand in her own. Kate opened her mouth to say something; she wanted to tell her mother about the wonderful boy who had helped her; like how much he was like her personal guardian angel. But little Kate was at a blank as her mother led her under the shelter of the umbrella again.

"Come on, sweetie. Time to go home…"

The cooing voice was enough to get Kate's feet from unfreezing themselves and they, mother and daughter, walked home together, hands holding onto each other gently. But, of course, young Kate Beckett's eyes never left the spot of imprint in the snow just after the ledge, under the tree. Nor had her free hand leave the chocolate bar she hid in her pocket from her mother's watchful eyes.

- Epilogue -

Katherine Beckett smiled as she walked through the park, warming her hands on the Grande-sized cup she held in front of her. She was pretty much convinced that her choice of coffee was the best form of sustenance for the soul; a skimmed latte with two pumps of sugar-free vanilla. She looked down at her heels kicking up the white flurries and almost laughed at a distant memory.

She didn't like to bring up memories of the past – they made her insides burn with an odd sort of stinging pain. But at the same time, she knew she needed those memories. Because they were the only things left anchoring her to this life. Well,there'salways…

No.He'sacolleague – afriend… Apartner.

Kate shook her head, but she was unable to stop the corner of her lips from twitching upwards as she sipped at her cup. "Castle…" She murmured softly to herself as she rolled her eyes sky-wards, her smile turning into a grin as she imagined him sitting somewhere in his apartment, like Bruce in his bat-cave, typing out the newest chapter of the Heat series.

Kate stopped at a ledge and looked over at the oak tree. Her grin faded as she sat down carefully, letting her legs dangle off the edge as she wrapped both her hands around the cup. She exhaled slowly, watching her breath condense before her eyes like smoke from a dragon's mouth.

There, she sat and waited for time to come and pass while watching the dry branches wave in the winter breeze.

It was a while before someone walked by and paused, looking her over from top to bottom as she sat there. The man hesitated for a moment before walking over and settling down next to her. Then, Kate heard that warm and oh-so-familiar voice again.

"…Fancy meeting you here, Detective. Of all the times, too…"

Kate sighed to mask her laughter as she countered smoothly; "It's Central Park, Castle. Besides, I'm on my day off."

"Well, in my defense, Central Park is four-hundred and eighty three acres big. Even if we were both in Central Park at the same time, what are the odds of being in the same area?" He chuckled. "…No murders lately?"

"No annoying writer tugging at my pig-tails." She pursed her lips for a moment. "…Spoke too soon."

"…Nice scarf, Beckett."

"Yeah. …My mother gave it to me." She added the last bit in an undertone.

"…Is that why you were so fixed on getting it back?"

Kate's brows furrowed as she turned to study him. But all he did was look back innocently at her, smirking his signature smug grin which didn't help very much. "I mean," He added hastily, "from that tree." nodding to the oak in front of them.

Richard Castle watched, amused, as her brows un-knitted themselves to be raised before her jaws dropped as her eyes widened.

"…Castle—?"

"—Yup. That was me… Also, if I remembered correctly—"

"How did you…— "

"Oh. That's easy. I've been to many cities and shops…but there was only a one other time that I ever saw that scarf you have around your neck right now." He replied smoothly with a nod. "And so. As I was saying; if I remembered correctly, I believe you owe me a candy bar."

"…Wow, Castle…Thank-thank you…I never really got to thank you properly. So, thank you."

"Always."

They paused for a moment, hearts swelling in their chests but neither party saying anything. She bit on her lower lip as he sucked in a deep breath. The smug grin had returned.

"…Don't think that being my muse gets you out from owing me a candy bar." He gave a grin and Katherine Beckett found herself beaming back at him.

"Actually, Castle…I think it was a chocolate bar. Kit Kat to be exact, if I remembered correctly."

Kate took a deep breath and calmed her nerves down, her emerald eyes surveying his sapphire ones as they sat in silence for a while, just soaking in the company of each other.

"…Merry Christmas, Castle." She nodded to him.

"…Merry Christmas, Kate." He reached out to hold her hand.