I thought of this idea and I've spent the last few days having some fun writing it out. Hope you like it. And no, of course I don't own Castle. That would just be silly. I merely give them adventures that they can't have in the show (for obvious reasons).
"Fine. Yes, it's magical," she admitted, although somewhat grudgingly.
"Was that so hard?"
"Yes," she teased. "Excruciating."
"If this is what excruciating pain feels like, then I must have a high pain tolerance." His arm tightened around her just a bit as they both stared up into the branches of the tree in the darkened room. She'd balked when he grabbed her hand and tugged her to the floor, but eventually she relented and lay down with him, heads under the Christmas tree, and just stared at the lights twinkling through the branches.
There was a certain magic in it, a simple beauty in the peacefulness of watching the lights as the Christmas melodies poured softly out of the stereo, of smelling the pine and feeling his arm around her as they relaxed under the tree. She felt herself getting sappy, yet again. It had all started last Christmas when they'd met at his door, and had shyly agreed to start some new traditions, together. And this year, as soon as Halloween was done and Christmas items were starting to appear in stores, Castle had subtley started mentioning Christmas. It was everything from when to open presents, to Christmas dinner to discussing the merits of ugly Christmas ties and gaudy Christmas sweaters at greath length over lunch with the guys.
Now, it was just the two of them. Alexis was still with the boy from last year, Max, and had been invited to go skiing in Utah with his family. Martha got together with some old friends and went on a Christmas cruise. And though Castle was sad and somewhat disgruntled at the prospect of them both being gone, he'd grudgingly accepted that times and traditions changed and he'd diverted his attention to Kate. On her side, Kate realized and was more comfortable with the importance of her place in his life now, and she tried her best to console him and indulge his attention, and participated in many planning sessions on how they would spend their Christmas together. New traditions. And of course, she already knew that she wouldn't be volunteering for the Christmas shift this year.
Of course, when all of that Castle Christmas attention was directed toward Kate and Kate alone, it had the potential to get a bit overwhelming. She realized that she'd have to put limits on it. No big parties. No big 'Christmas-y' activities every night. She agreed to exchanging gifts, but she made him agree to a spending cap. Even though he whined that he had to make up for no presents last year, he eventually relented and reluctantly agreed to her terms. She didn't want him to get something ridiculously expensive for her, just because he could.
They'd opened their presents after he had a Skype call with Alexis. He was like a kid in a candy store. She found that she was even a little bit excited, because this was the most celebrating that she'd done for Christmas in well over a decade. But she was also nervous, because she really didn't know what he might come up with. Castle and presents? Yeah, she was nervous.
But it all turned out okay, with a beautiful sweater for her, along with some trinket items, including a new set of nested dolls for her desk, although this time, they were police officer dolls. How he found nested police officer dolls, she couldn't fathom, and he didn't do anything except grin at her mysteriously and tell her that her desk 'needed' them.
He was more than enamored with the motorcycle helmet she got for him, with promises to take him for a spin on her bike when the weather was a bit better. And when he asked if she'd be wearing tight, black leather, she responded with a coy, 'Maybe.'
By the time they'd stretched out under the tree, he'd plied her with an excellent dinner and probably too much of a really good bottle of wine. They watched the lights for a while and then after giving her a kiss, he silently got up. He reached out a hand to her and, turning off the lights on the way, led her to his bedroom.
She was feeling a bit loose from the wine, and almost a bit giddy from the unusual feeling of not dreading Christmas this year. Aside from worrying about if Castle would go off the deep end in the celebration department, she'd actually found herself looking forward to it a little bit. Of course, she had to force the bad memories out of her mind, but she found it was easier this year. She'd lost part of her family all of those years ago, and the Christmas traditions that went along with her. But now she was forming a new family, although unconventional, and it worked for them. And not for the first time, she realized that she was the happiest she'd been in a very long time.
On the way to the bedroom, they stopped to polish off the rest of the wine that was in the glasses still sitting on the table. "Merry Christmas Eve," Castle said softly as he raised his glass to clink it with hers.
She was getting sappy again, and she felt her eyes get misty. "Thank you," was all she could think to say. He looked at her quizzically, knowing her response was about more than his casual Christmas sentiment. She gave him a little smile and whispered, "For new Christmas traditions. New memories. Good memories."
o-o-o-o-o-o
Much later, they slept. Or rather, she slept, completely mellowed and sated from the wine and their 'other' celebration. He, on the other hand, couldn't sleep for all of the whirling that his mind was doing. He knew what the thought of Christmas conjured up for her, and it meant so much that she was trying to break free of those bad memories to make happier ones, with him. Even though she'd put stipulations and limits on the amount of Christmas-y activities, she still did allow him some, and he thought she'd enjoyed herself.
Of course, the one thing he wanted to get her was prohibited by her gift stipulation. He got it anyway, and he knew just had to figure out a way around it.
It wasn't really a Christmas gift anyway, not exactly, but he still wanted her to have it at Christmas, so she could have what would hopefully be a good memory to overshadow those tragic ones that were so much a part of her. And as the evening wore on, he came up with the perfect way around her gift stipulation. When the idea popped into his head, he couldn't help but smile, because it was so cliché. Of course she caught him, but he was able to cover by telling her he was happy she was there with him and then he pulled her into a kiss that showed how happy he really was. It wasn't a lie, but she just didn't yet know the extent of his happiness.
So now, he lay there in his bed and watched Kate sleep. Just to check, he moved a little bit and nudged her, but she slept on. While she could be awake in an instant when she was on call, he knew by now that she could sleep deeply when she knew that she wasn't on call. And with a little bit of wine and other activity to relax her, he knew she was deep in dreamland.
Gently and slowly, he got out of bed and tiptoed out to the living room. When he'd taken care of everything in there, he tiptoed back into his room and to the dresser. Soundlessly sliding one of the drawers out, he reached in the back until he felt the little box he'd hidden there. He took the ring out of the box before shoving the box to the back of the drawer again. After shutting the drawer, he crawled back into the bed, watching Kate the whole time to make sure he hadn't awoken her.
He looked her hand that was resting gently on the sheet. Gently, he reached for it, and slipped the ring over that third finger. He stopped suddenly and snatched his hand away when he heard her breath hitch, but she didn't open her eyes. After her breathing evened out again, he managed to slide the ring the rest of the way onto her finger.
He settled back down, and once again, he couldn't help the grin that formed on his face as he stared at her hand that was now adorned with his ring. He liked seeing the ring on her finger; he hadn't been prepared for how much he would like the sight of it. He had no idea how she'd react when she woke up and found the ring there, but he knew how he'd play it and he thought he was ready. Well, he hoped he was ready.
He just hoped that it worked.
And with one more last, satisfied look at the ring, he cuddled up to her and closed his eyes, ready now for some visions of sugarplums to dance in his head.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Kate awoke slowly and stretched. She knew it wasn't terribly early by the amount of light that was filtering in through the window, and she could feel that Castle was still asleep side of her.
It was a nice way to wake up; warm under the blankets on a cold Christmas morning, with the person you loved most curled into you under those blankets. She could feel his soft breaths against her shoulder when he exhaled. Even though she was turned away from him, she knew exactly how he'd look: face relaxed, hair rumpled, and just ... sweet.
After a few more minutes of just wallowing in the fact that she didn't have to get out of this cozy bed, she stretched again as she turned toward the sleeping Castle next to her. But as she did, there was a funny feeling on her hand as it skimmed along under the blankets. She casually took her hand out from under the covers to investigate the strange sensation. And then as she held her hand up, she felt the breath freeze in her lungs and she was sure that her heart had probably stopped beating.
There was a ring on her finger.
A beautiful, exquisite, not-huge-but-definitely-not-small diamond ring.
On her finger.
Of her left hand.
Where an engagement ring would go.
She could only stare at it. She instantly started to go back through her memory banks to try to remember if she'd blocked out something important, like a ... conversation to go along with the fact that there was a ring on her finger. But no. No. She knew she didn't black out. She had some wine, sure, but it certainly wasn't enough to make her pass out, and she certainly had some vivid memories of what had happened after that. So how the hell did this ... ring get on her finger?
Just then, she felt a strong exhalation of warm breath on her bare shoulder again. Of course. She didn't know what was going on or how the ring had gotten there, but she knew who was behind it. She sat up in the bed and looked at him, somehow thinking that he would wake up. But he didn't, so she did the only thing that she could think of, and she pushed on his chest. "Wake up, you oaf!"
He stirred haphazardly. "Whaaaa...? Huh? Kate?" His eyes focused on her finally, and then his face relaxed into a smile. "Hiiii. Oh, Merry Christmas, I guess."
She rolled her eyes. "Merry Christmas? That's all you have to say? What the hell do you call this?" And she held up her hand, fingers spayed out, showing him the ring.
He made his eyes focus on her hand, and even though he knew it was there, seeing the ring on her finger after so many months of thinking about it was still a jolt, especially right after he woke up. It made him rear his head back against the pillow as his eyes grew wide. "Kate? Is that a ... ?"
She fixed him with a narrow eyed glare. "You know perfectly well what it is. What I want to know is ... why is it there?"
"I ... Kate, I thought we were exclusive," he said with something of a pout. "How could you go off and get ... a ring from someone? And when did you even have time to do that? I mean, I didn't —"
"Oh, shut UP! You know darn well there's ... oh, for goodness sakes. Listen to me...trying to explain it when you are obviously the only one who knows what's going on! Castle, what the hell are you trying to do?" And she held up her hand again as if to make her point about the ring.
"Me? You're the one who went and got engaged to someone last night while I was sleeping!"
"Me? Oh, right. Sure. I could barely move after we were done with each other last night, and I supposedly went out somewhere and got a ring and then crawled back into bed with you? Right." She rolled her eyes again.
"Well what other explanation is there?"
She just glared at him and said, "I'm looking at him."
"Me? You think I did that?" he said innocently. He grabbed her hand and looked at the ring more closely. "While I must say that it does look exquisite and I have to admit that whoever chose it has excellent taste, I have to point out that this would have run me well over our gift budget that you set forth for this holiday season. So therefore, this could not be from me." He shook his head smugly. "I worked hard to live up to our agreement."
"So you expect me to believe that it just materialized on my finger sometime during the middle of the night?"
He sat up so he could face her better. Pretending to think about it for several seconds, he nodded slightly and told her, "Well, there is one other explanation."
"Really," she challenged. "And what is that?"
He shrugged. "It's actually quite simple. It's Christmas morning." He leaned forward with a grin and look exactly like the ones he had when they thought they were looking for a superhero killer. "Who do you know that comes in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and leaves presents for people?" His voice could hardly contain the excitement.
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Oh, come on, Castle! Do you expect me to believe that Santa Claus gave me this ring? That Santa Claus essentially proposed to me?"
"Well, no, because you don't remember the proposal, obviously. But since the ring is on your finger, I guess the expectation is there."
"The expectation of what, exactly?"
"That you're engaged."
"That I'm engaged," she repeated with exasperation. "Great. So, according to you, I'm engaged to Santa Claus."
"Well..."
"So I'm going to be Mrs. Claus," she said sarcastically, "and I'm going to give up my job as a detective to go live in a fictional land in the north pole and bake cookies for pointy-eared elves. Oh, brother."
"No, there already is a Mrs. Claus, so there can't be another one. I'm sure that Santa, of all people, wouldn't condone bigamy. And incidentally, I'm sure that Mrs. Claus is a modern woman, and she has much more in her life than baking cookies for the elves. After all, she probably has to manage the elves' workshop, not to mention tracking the weather currents for the traditional Christmas Eve journey."
She rolled her eyes again, and then made a move to pull the ring off her finger. But before she could do it, he grabbed her hand to stop her. "Don't," he said softly.
"Why not?" she challenged.
"Because it's ... Christmas morning. And Santa obviously wants you to get ... married." He said the word slowly, and Kate felt a funny little jolt in her stomach as she heard it come out of his mouth. But he continued and she tried to focus on the logic that he was trying to spin. "It doesn't mean you have to marry him. I mean, he gives people things all the time, right? But he doesn't expect to use everything with everyone just because he gives it to them. Like ... he gives a kid a Wii. Santa's not going to be playing Wii Sports Resort with the kid, right? Someone else has to stand in to actually use the present with the kid."
"You're equating this rock with a gaming system?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, no, not exactly ... but you get the idea. You just need a ... a stand-in. A proxy." He was still holding her hand, and he rubbed his fingers over hers.
"A stand-in?" she asked a little more softly, conscious of how his hand held hers so gently, that tangible physical link between the two of them, the sparkling ring sitting at the juncture where their hands met.
"Sure. Like, well ... me." Somehow, his voice had lost the confident air he'd had when he'd spoke about Santa. Now his voice was softer, and if she wasn't mistaken, just a little bit unsure.
"You?" Kate repeated in an equally soft voice.
"Uh, yeah. Sure. I mean, Santa gave you the ring, and you know you can't give a present back to Santa. So you have to use it. and since it's obviously an engagement ring, then you kind of have to be engaged. So, you know, I'm available..."
"You're available..." she parrotted, not really sure what else to say. This conversation had taken on an almost surreal quality and she was suddenly at a loss for words. She was still a bit foggy from sleep and reeling from finding a gorgeous diamond ring on her finger, but now Castle was starting to be serious. And the combination of that diamond ring with a serious Castle was rendering her just about incapable of coherent thought.
"Well, yes," he continued, but then his eyes grew big. "Or, no, I'm not available. Well, I mean I'm available, but only for you. Look, it's ... I love you and you love me, so you know, if you have to be engaged because Santa gave you a ring, then I'm the logical person to be at the other end of that engagement, right?" He shrugged in a casual, oh-so-cute way that belied the uncertainty that was underlying in his words.
Oh, God. Kate's mind was starting to clear enough to realize that this was IT. He was going to ... oh, God. "Castle ..." was all she could manage to get out in the way of a response, and that was just a whisper.
He couldn't read her, not fully, so he just forged on and continued to weave his tale of the big jolly man in the red suit. "Santa's a really cool guy, and he's a great judge of gifts. He always knows what people want, and I think ... " His explanation trailed off as he gazed down at their still-joined hands, and then he seemed to be the one who was at a loss for words right then, when before he'd been so full of explanations and ideas.
"You think ... ?" she prompted, managing to find her voice.
He looked back at her and gave her a little smile. "I think that maybe Santa was really giving me my Christmas present when he gave you that ring."
"Your Christmas present?" she repeated softly.
He nodded a little sheepishly. "I've been thinking for a while ... about that next step for us. And Kate ... it took us four years to take the first step, and I don't want it to take another four years to get to the next step. So I guess that Santa knew that—you know, because Santa knows all of this stuff—"
"Like when you're sleeping and when you're awake or if you've been bad or good?" The words just popped out of Kate's mouth.
Although he was surprised at her playing along, he grinned at her. "Exactly." He took a deep breath. "So, Kate ..." he started, picking up their still-joined hands and giving her a little kiss on her knuckles, "Will you marry me?"
She gaped at him. "Oh, my God. Castle ... " This time, she said the words out loud as her eyes got misty and her heart started thumping wildly in her chest. Her eyes flicked down to the ring and back to his face again. Her mouth was open and her eyes were big and shiny. But she wasn't saying anything, and he was starting to get nervous.
"Is that a yes?" he asked after several quiet seconds. "Because I'm not sure, and Santa probably has elves watching to make sure—"
"Seriously?" she interrupted, finally able to speak. "And shut up about Santa already. But you just seriously asked me ... I know once before you asked me with Ryan's ring for Jenny, but that wasn't serious, and now you're saying all of this stuff about Santa Claus and elves, so how am I supposed—"
He'd leaned forward and silenced her words with a quick kiss, and then he leaned his forehead against hers. "I'm serious. I love you, I do more every day, and I will forever. I'm as serious as those diamonds in your ring."
The last two words stuck out to her. "My ring." My engagement ring, she thought. She pulled her head back from his and looked down at the ring. Yeah, it was a pretty serious ring. Looking back up at him, she said, "Castle ..." but then stopped when she saw the look on his face.
He was looking at her so earnestly. She could see him so clearly now, the worry, the trepidation he felt over doing this. She knew it wasn't because of him, but because he was worried about her reaction. But she looked into his face and she saw everything she'd ever hoped of having, of feeling. That love, that other piece of her. She saw her future, with him. And even though she didn't think she'd ever be ready for this, now that the moment was here, she realized that she was indeed ready. She was ready to acknowledge that he was it for her, and she just had to say that one word.
So she did. And it was just that simple.
"Yes."
The word bubbled up out of her mouth, the voice to everything that she was suddenly feeling. It was uttered quickly, without preamble, and Castle wasn't even sure if he'd heard her correctly, or if it was just wishful thinking on his part. But then she smiled just a bit, and when her eyes overflowed she reached up with her other hand and wiped the moisture from her cheeks.
"Seriously?" It was apparently now his turn to say the word. "Did you just say ... really?" His voice was getting a little bit higher, like it tended to do when he was surprised about something.
She smiled more, partially at his reaction, partially from the giddiness that was starting to bubble up inside of her now that her mind and heart had accepted this step. "Seriously. As serious as you are about believing in Christmas magic."
His eyes grew big before his face broke into a grin. "That's pretty serious."
They sat grinning at each other like idiots for several seconds before Castle grabbed her in a hug and they fell back onto the pillows. "Wow." He flipped her over and gave her an enthusiastic kiss.
"We're really doing this?" he asked after a long kiss.
"Yes," she said, still somewhat amazed that she'd agreed to this and was actually quite okay with the idea. "But not right now, obviously," she laughed.
"How about tomorrow?" he countered. She looked at him, and darned if he didn't seem like he was serious.
"I think we need a bit more time, don't you?"
"Technically, no," he said excitedly, "I know people, you know. We could so do this tomorrow."
"Whoa, there, Big Rick. Let's not get too excited quite yet."
He nuzzled her neck. "You know you never have a problem getting me excited. Especially when you call me 'Big Rick'."
"I'm sure that's the case," she said dryly. "But we still do need some time, if for no other reason than for me to get over the fact that you tried to use Santa Claus for your own personal gain. And because you totally used Santa to circumvent our spending cap for gifts."
"What?" he said with mock outrage. "I have no idea what you're talking about. You know, Detective, I'm not sure that I like what you're insinuating. And I'm sure that Santa himself would be appalled at your claims that someone else was helping him create his magic."
She glared at him as he was still grinning cockily above her on the bed. "Really? You're still going with the Santa Claus angle?"
He shrugged. "Whatever works. You just can't deny the magic of Christmas. Or Santa."
Just to further prove his point about Santa, he'd planned to show her the disturbances he'd created around the fireplace, where Santa had ostensibly entered the house through the chimney. But alas, the newly engaged couple became occupied with creating new Christmas morning traditions, and the scattered ashes around the fireplace were never even addressed.
And later that night, a sleepy Detective could swear that she heard a few jingle bells as she drifted off to sleep. And no matter what, she'd never admit to hearing a jolly voice saying, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night."
Hope you all enjoyed that little ditty. Let me know what you think, if you don't mind. I'd love to hear from you!
And I know that I'm publishing this on a truly sad day for America. I cannot fathom what those people are going through; I can only offer my most sincere sympathy. For everyone else, I hope that my little story brings a smile to your face for a little while.