On her birthday during the first year of him shadowing her, Castle presented Kate with a delicate silver charm bracelet with a tiny, functioning pocket watch, a mini replica of her mother's ring, and a perfect scale replica of her detective badge hanging from the loops. He refused to say how he figured out when her birthday was, or how he had managed the badge and ring replicas. She rolled her eyes and said a very sincere thank you, touched by the sweet gesture.
She took to putting the bracelet on the opposite wrist of her father's watch every morning along with the chain holding her mother's ring.
The following year, he offered to take it to get it cleaned and repaired. It was suffering from being worn constantly throughout her rough and tumble job. On her birthday, she came back to her desk from getting coffee to find a small silver jewelry box sitting next to her keyboard. Inside was her newly shined bracelet, with the three original charms, as well as a small opened book, with the letters KB on the exposed pages. A reminder of the dedication in the first Nikki Heat book. Along with the bracelet was a handwritten note from the giver, which read, "Happy Birthday KB. Stay Extraordinary."
The following year, it simply disappeared from her locker at the precinct between the time she took it off for her shower after a particularly nasty arrest, and the time she went to put it back on. Kate was surprised, as their relationship had been slightly strained after Castle's summer in the Hamptons. However, it appeared on her desk the day of her birthday, this time with a tiny coffee cup for a laugh, and a clapboard in honor of the Nikki Heat movie in the works. Again there was a note, wishing the detective a happy birthday, and once again apologizing for his time away.
The fourth year into his shadowing, Kate's birthday fell while she was still in the hospital. She would be checking out just two days later. When her things had been given back to her once she had woken up, the charm bracelet had not been among the items. This year, the box and note appeared on her lunch tray, next to the blue Jell-O, while the devoted author was forcibly home to get some much needed sleep. This year the charms included a tiny quill, for the author's muse, and a miniature bullet, reminding Kate of her near death. The note this year wished, as always, a happy birthday, and also thanked her for fighting and staying alive. It made no mention of the words he had said as she fell unconscious, and the detective knew the writer would never mention it.
The next year, things had settled down at the precinct. They were getting used to the new captains way of doing things, and Beckett had healed up nicely and was back on full duty. Most important of all, the tension that had been going on for nearly half a decade was finally released, and, much to the rest of the team's relief and joy, the writer and detective were finally together. The newest addition to her growing collection of charms was an ice skate, a reminder of their first official date, ice skating in Rockefeller Center. The box was delivered by hand this time, with a kiss and a Happy Birthday.
The next year, a pair of silver bells were added, symbolizing the wedding of the pair, after a very drawn out courtship.
Each year, at least one charm was added to the bracelet, from a tiny teddy bear for their new baby, to a graduation cap, for Alexis' graduation from college. Charms commemorating achievements in the force, to tokens of places they visited for book tours. Eventually, every link on the bracelet was taken, and it jingled with Kate's every movement. Another was started, and the old one took a place of honor in her jewelry box. The three original charms were transferred to the new bracelet, a ring, a watch, and a badge, and continued the tradition with a new charm, much like one of the ones from the early years. It was an open book, inscribed with the letters KC, for the extraordinary woman that inspired an author, and changed his life forever.
a/n~ Okay, this has been sitting on my computer for a couple of months, and I'm finally getting around to putting it online. Obviously I do not own anything Castle related, and while there was another story recently with the same kind of idea, I had not read that one when this was written. Please review, it would make me happy!