Officer Kate Beckett is just trying to make her way through the holiday season with as little yuletide interaction as possible, but the more frequently she runs into a Santa Claus named Rick, the more he might be succeeding in warming her up to the season generally known as her least favorite. Caskett pre-series AU meet.
ONE
Kate Beckett stepped out of her cruiser in front of the sidewalk bearing oversized red-and-white striped candy cane markers and banner stretched between them stating, "Welcome to Santa's Village. Santa is: IN!" She groaned. It wasn't that she hated Christmas she just…well, she did not wish to celebrate it. If others wanted to celebrate? Fine, that was their business; she just didn't want to have Christmas screaming at her from every inch of the city. Of course, that was nearly impossible now that it was the first day of December, but she tried her best to avoid it and usually succeeded—that was until dispatch sent her to Ground Zero.
When news of a mugging at Santa's Village's Central Park location came through on her scanner Kate immediately hoped she was not the one sent to the scene. Give her a store robbery, a traffic accident, or—hell—she'd even write parking tickets! Anything but Santa's Village. Yet, there she was just a few hundred feet away from screaming children, impatient parents, and one very displeased grandmother who now lacked her pocketbook. God help her.
Taking in a deep breath, Kate adjusted the heavy utility belt at her hips and began to make her way down the candy-cane cutout lined path. She could already hear the hum of conversation from the groups waiting in line to sit on Santa's lap and ask him for a bike, a dollhouse, or…what did kids want these days? Video games, probably.
As she tucked her hands in her coat pockets, Kate was thankful for one thing: the weather that day was seasonably pleasant. It wasn't snowing, raining, or particularly windy. True, forty-eight was not the warmest for an outside temperature, but the sun was peeking out behind the clouds enough for her to feel reasonably warm with the multiple layers she wore, which was good. Adding blowing snow to her already anti-Christmas attitude would have meant a very unpleasant day for her.
Rounding a curve in the sidewalk, the full Santa's Village display came into view and Kate groaned under her breath; it was worse than she anticipated. Whimsical reindeer statues monitored the entrance to the line where dozens of families waited their turn with Santa. In the middle of the clearing, oversized boxes wrapped with red, green, and gold sat beneath twinkling lights and ribbon dancing in the light breeze. High above her, on a raised pedestal beneath a wooden hut labeled "North Pole" (what else?) sat the man himself in classic garb. Glistening snowflakes hanging from the trees above completed the park adornments. Really, the only thing missing was piles of white fluffy snow, though she very much doubted any of the parents minded the absence.
Knowing she needed to get to the task at hand, Kate searched the immediate area for the purse-snatching victim. She wasn't hard to spot: the tearful woman Kate guessed to be in her early or mid-seventies stood surrounded by a couple in their forties and three school-aged children. She approached them and inquired to confirm they were the ones who had called for assistance. When they confirmed, Kate continued with her perfect routine of getting the information necessary to fill out her repots as well as do what she could to help them.
Sad as it was, muggings were not often solved unless the thieves were dumb enough to use the stolen credit cards at stores with security cameras; and even then not always. The police just generally did not have enough information to go on other than eyewitnesses, which were often sketchy at best. Still, it was horrible, particularly for this woman who estimated she had four hundred dollars in cash in the bag; apparently she and her family had been planning their New York shopping excursion for a while and had only arrived the day before.
The young officer diligently took down their information and listened to their explanation of what happened before handing over her card and telling them she would get in touch if anything was recovered. Then, she began surveying the area, looking for posted cameras and asking the surrounding public if they had seen anything. Predictably, no one had or at least no one was willing to admit they had.
Kate's final task before leaving the scene was to check in with the big jolly man himself to see if he, or any of his helper elves, had witnessed the crime that took place just outside their "village." Though it was difficult to see through the crowd, it appeared that in addition to Santa, the village employed three elves: one manning the cash register, another helping Santa with the kids, and a third manning the booth handing out the pictures that people purchased with Saint Nick.
Considering her options, Kate decided to go in the "exit" side of the village to speak with the young man she estimated to be around twenty years old handing out purchased photographs. He was the one closest to the path on which the robbery took place and she hoped the one most likely to have witnessed anything. After waiting patiently for a young mother to pick up a picture in which her son appeared to be wailing, Kate spoke to the boy wearing a green elf hat, but was no help; according to him, he'd seen nothing.
Stepping back to let the next customer pick up their photo, Kate observed the area again. The cash register was facing the opposite direction of the path and, given how busy she was, she doubted the girl in a green elfish dress had seen anything, which left only Santa and his companion. They were side-on to the path and thus most likely did not see anything, but she would not have been doing her job if she didn't at least check.
Making her way up the path that traveled behind Santa's North Pole hut, Kate dodged families of excited children until she arrived at the side of where the jolly man was sitting. She waited until the child on his lap—a little girl with hair so blonde it was almost white—vacated the immediate area before clearing her throat and stepping up to the elf costume wearing girl manning the line. "Excuse me," she said, "I need to talk with Santa for a few moments."
While the elf nodded her on, the boy at the front of the line whined, "Hey! I'm supposed to be next!"
His mother tried to shush him, but Kate gazed down at him kindly. "You will be next; I just need to ask Santa some important questions."
Despite her tone, the boy pouted, which Kate ignored before turning to face the man in red. "Um, excuse me? Santa?"
Santa, dressed in his red coat trimmed in red, matching hat, and oversized—albeit quite fake looking—beard, gazed at her. "How can I help you, officer?"
"If I could just speak with you a moment, over here perhaps?" she gestured towards the path that led down to the photo pick up area where they would be out hearing range of the families; the last thing she wanted to do was upset them or cause a panic.
Santa nodded, stood from his seat to follow her where she gestured, and then repeated his question. Kate gazed up at him, now realizing just how tall he was since he wasn't sitting down. Certainly over six feet, she guessed, and judging by the fact that the skin around his eyes and nose was not wrinkled or weathered, but smooth, she assumed him to be younger than the character he was portraying by at least several decades.
"About twenty minutes ago a woman was mugged on the path out there, and I was wondering you saw anything?"
"Mugged?" Santa sounded horrified. His brow knit and he glanced out towards the path where Kate gestured. "Was she hurt?"
"No, she's unharmed, but her purse was stolen."
"Jeez, how awful. No I'm sorry I had no idea. As you can see it's been a pretty steady stream of kids this afternoon—first day we're open and all." From the way his eyes crinkled, she guessed he was smiling, though it was hard to tell with the beard in the way.
She bobbed her head having figured as much. "Well, if you do remember anything or see something else, please don't hesitate to give me a call." She handed over one of her business cards and he reached out his hand for it.
"I will, Officer…Beckett." He read from the card. "Sorry I couldn't be of more help."
She shook off his concern. "No problem, Santa; have a nice day."
Arriving back at his apartment, Rick Castle pulled his Santa hat off his head, and raked his hand through his sweat-dampened hair. He pulled out his keys, but before sliding them into the lock of his apartment door, he leaned his forearm against the frame, rested his head against it and took in a deep breath. Being Santa really was hard work!
Rick loved people, he really did. He loved children, too. But his first day as Santa had been…well, a lot. He had not anticipated quite that many people and the rapid cycle at which the kids would be seated on his lap and then whisked away again so as to serve as many Santa-fans in the short period of time allowed. Add on top of that the mugging just outside Santa's Village that had him on edge and it was suffice to say that he was completely exhausted. But it was only the first day; things would get easier for the next twenty-four. Or, so he hoped.
Turning the key in the lock, Castle stepped inside to meet the red-headed duo that was his family as they stood in the kitchen together. "Dad!" his ten-year-old called excitedly when he entered. She raced over to him and tried to stop a few feet away, but her sock-covered feet slid against the wood floor. He held out his hands and caught her beneath the arms as she stopped mere inches from him. "How was it?"
"Good, pumpkin; very good."
"Did you talk to lots of kids?"
"I did."
"And they asked for good things for Christmas."
He chuckled and answered honestly. "Some more so than others, but yes, Alexis; it was a good day."
"Do you want something to eat, Darling?"
Rick moved his gaze to the larger of the two red-heads and smiled. "In a few minutes, Mother; I want to shower first." He had been fearful of being too cold sitting outside on that winter day and had thus worn layers beneath his costume. As the afternoon wore on, he realized what a mistake this had been since lifting children up and down off his lap was more difficult work than he anticipated. The following day he would definitely be forgoing the long underwear.
Before he could take more than a step away, Alexis squeezed his arm and said, "I'm glad you're doing this dad."
"Me too, Pumpkin." He tapped the end of her nose with his index finger.
With that, Rick crossed into his bedroom, shedding off his Santa coat and pulling both the white t-shirt and sweat-soaked long-sleeved thermal shirt up and over his head. With a grimace, he dropped both into the hamper. In the bathroom, he began unloading the pockets of his red Santa pants, pulling out a half-eaten candy cane, several tissues, and finally the business card for an Officer Katherine Beckett.
Skimming his hand across his chin, he stared down at the card pinched between his thumb and index finger. Officer Beckett—she had certainly been an interesting addition to his day. Of course he was horrified that a woman had been mugged just outside Santa's Village—this close to Christmas, no less. Still, he was glad to have met the officer even in such unfortunate circumstances. She was, without question, one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen—not to mention the most beautiful officer of the law.
Humming to himself as he placed the card down on the bathroom counter in safe distance from the sink, he wished he had seen something—not just to aid in the solving of the crime, but so that he would have an excuse to call her and maybe even ask her out for a drink. Granted, he had her number, he could have still called her and perhaps would have had it not been for his Christmas mission that month. In January he would date again, but he and Alexis had a busy December ahead of them. Still, as he shed the rest of his get-up in order to shower, he hoped he would be lucky enough to see Officer Beckett again.
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone and I hope you enjoy this quick holiday story. There are 10 chapters and I will be posting one a day.