A/N: Hello all! So, as I am sure you all are aware of, today was Thanksgiving. This morning, I got this idea for a Thanksgiving Castle fanfic, and wrote it during breaks from cooking and spending time with family. This is my first non-episode-based Castle fanfic, however it does contain "Kill-Shot" spoilers. This is a Caskett pre-romance. I may or may not write more, but it won't be a continuous fic. Rather, this may become a story filled with one-shots set in the same 'verse. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving all!


It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Kate Beckett was working on paperwork in the precinct. After the case she had just closed, she was thankful for the monotony working on paperwork brought.

Her mind wandered back to her session with her therapist yesterday. She had told him she was ready to start trying to take down the walls inside which had defined who she was and kept others out since her mother's murder. She needed to work on redefining herself so she could let others in. Let Castle in, a little voice in the back of her head added.

Speaking of whom, she felt his eyes burning into the side of her head. She paused from her paperwork "What Castle?"

"Oh nothing. I was just wondering what you were doing for Thanksgiving this year."

"I was planning on working, like I always do," Kate responded.

"On Thanksgiving? But, Beckett, that's a holiday"

"Murderers don't stop just because of the holidays, Castle," Kate responded dryly.

"I know that, but aren't you doing anything with your Dad?"

Kate felt a slight twinge of sadness hit her. Thanksgiving had been one of her mom's favorite holidays. She loved getting everything together for the family. Everything fixed was made from scratch. Her mom would stay up late the night before baking pies and in the morning would rise early to get the Thanksgiving feast prepared. Since her mother's murder, it had been too painful for either her or her dad to celebrate.

She finally responded to Castle's prompt, "We haven't celebrated since…" her voice trailed off.

Castle picked up on her meaning immediately and his eyes filled with understanding.

Beckett continued, "I have always worked, ever since I joined the force. It was better than staying at home."

"Well, I would like to propose an alternative."

"And what's that Castle?"

"Come over to my house for Thanksgiving." Not giving her a chance to interject, he rushed on, "It wouldn't be big. It would be just my mother, Alexis and I, and I know they would love to see you. We will have a turkey and a few sides, nothing too fancy. It would be fun." He finished and looked at Kate expectantly.

A part of her, still dependant on the walls, wanted to immediately make excuses. However, the larger part of her now wanted more. She wanted to be welcomed into Castle's family. She wanted the warmth family brought around the holidays. She wanted to belong and feel loved. Before she could think twice, she responded, "I would love to."

Castle looked pleased and somewhat surprised. "Great! We will be eating around 1:00, so any time before then you want to arrive would be great."

"Do I need to bring anything?"

"Just yourself."

"Okay, great, I will look forward to it. Now Castle, may I finish my paperwork?" She couldn't keep a smirk off her face as she said that last bit, letting him know full well that she would rather be making Thanksgiving plans with him than working on paperwork any day, but her job called.

"I will leave you to it then. I need to pick up Alexis from school. She has the rest of the week off."

Kate nodded, "See you tomorrow or Thursday Castle."

Kate continued with her paperwork, but this time she was filled with pleasant expectation of Thanksgiving.

The next day passed in a blur, and with no new murders for her team of detectives, Gates shooed them all home early. Surprisingly enough, Iron Gates evidently had a soft spot for Thanksgiving.

Soon enough, it was Thursday morning. Kate rose early, out of habit.

For awhile she paced around her apartment. She was restless. Usually she was at work by now. She wondered how early would be appropriate to show up. Finally around 10:00, she gave in and headed downstairs to drive over to Rick's place.

When she reached Rick's door, she felt butterflies form as she reached to knock. Before the butterflies could make her turn the other way and flee, she knocked. She heard delicate footsteps heading towards the door, as well as Castle's voice hollering "Is that Kate?"

Martha opened the door. "Detective Beckett, I am glad you're here. Come in, come in. Richard and Alexis are in the kitchen." Kate walked in. A wave of Thanksgiving feast scent hit her. "Smells delicious," she said as she shed her coat. Martha nodded and smiled, "They have been up since 6:00 baking pies and everything else. Here let me take that," she said reaching for Kate's coat and hanging it up. "Thanks, she responded and headed for the kitchen.

There were several different kinds of pie. Apple, Cherry, a cheesecake, and of course pumpkin pie were among the selections. Currently it looked as though Castle and Alexis were working on a green bean casserole though.

"This is what you call small?" Kate questioned with a smirk.

"We like pie," Castle responded.

Kate just rolled her eyes and asked if there was anything she could help with.

"Nope, just sit back and relax. Actually, Alexis, why don't you go help her pick out a movie?"

"Alright Dad. You sure you don't need any more help in here?"

"I think I am good. Thanks Pumpkin. I will be in in a few minutes to watch with you guys."

Kate followed Alexis into their sitting room.

"So Detective, what are you interested in?"

"Please Alexis, call me Kate."

"Alright Kate, what do you want to watch? We have pretty much everything from "You've Got Mail" to "Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

A section of DVD's on the shelf caught Kate's eye. "You have all the Harry Potter movies?"

Alexis nodded proudly. "They are one of my favorite series of books so it is only natural that I watched the movies as well."

"Why don't we watch one of those?" Kate suggested.

Alexis eagerly nodded and pulled out the first one.

Kate settled onto one side of the couch while Alexis settled into one of the arm chairs.

The opening credits had just finished rolling when Castle entered. "Oooh, is that Harry Potter I hear? Good choice Detective Beckett."

"Thanks. Who doesn't like wizards and magic?" she responded.

He settled onto the other end of the couch, leaving a decent amount of room between them. They watched as Harry grew up with the Dursleys, got his Hogwarts letters, went to Hogwarts, defeated the troll, discovered the mirror of Erised, and eventually defeated Voldemort for the first time in the series. Occasionally Rick would get up and check on the feast, but he would hurry back, not wanting to miss the 'good parts.' At some points, she noticed that Rick was watching her rather than the movie. She pretended not to notice and continued watching.

After the movie was over, Castle claimed that dinner was served. On the table she found stuffing, the green bean casserole he had been preparing when she arrived, the Turkey and several other dishes which had been prepared. Castle insisted that she had to try a bit of everything and she complied.

Conversation throughout the meal was light. They talked about Alexis's school, Martha's acting school, and some of the recent antics Ryan and Esposito had pulled. Eventually, Kate had emptied her plate and felt as though she couldn't eat another bite. Once Castle was assured that she indeed had enough to eat, and the others had finished Martha shooed them away so she could clean up.

Back in the living room, Castle had pulled out brightly colored box of what looked to be cards. She finally recognized it as a deck of Skip-bo cards. A smile grew across her face, "I haven't played that game in years." She exclaimed.

"Come join us then. We'll deal you in."

Castle dealt the cards, leaving Kate to play first. She felt a smirk cross her face as she looked at her hand and stock pile. Yup, definitely a good hand. It was a good couple of minutes before she could play no more cards and her stock pile was considerably shorter. Both Alexis and Rick looked amazed at her luck and she just smiled mysteriously at them. After that, her luck wasn't nearly so great, much to Rick's amusement. He didn't fail to tease her about it either. They continued playing and taunting each other until the game ended with Alexis as the winner, followed by both Kate and Rick with one card left in their stock piles apiece.

"So close!" both Kate and Rick exclaimed at the same time making eye contact as they did. They quickly averted their eyes from each other in embarrassment. Rick declared, changing the subject "And now it is time for pie!"

He took orders and soon returned with a slice of cherry pie for Kate, a slice of apple pie for Alexis and a slice of pumpkin pie for himself. He had none for Martha, as she had excused herself earlier to meet a couple of friends who didn't have family to join for Thanksgiving. Kate took a bite of her pie and bit back a moan of delight. "This is really good," she declared.

"Thank-you," Rick responded, "I would tell you the recipe, but then I would have to kill you."

"Don't want that. You wouldn't do well in prison Rick." She responded with a smile.

They ate their pie peacefully, each savoring the flavor. After finishing, Rick brought their plates to the kitchen and suggested they watch another movie. All three agreed to continue their Harry Potter marathon and put on The Chamber of Secrets. Taking their seats form earlier, they watched the movie.

After finishing the second movie, they decided to pop on the third movie and Rick went up to change the disk. When he came back he sat noticeably closer to Beckett, but still not touching. Kate found herself wanting to lean onto his shoulder but panic seized her, telling her to back away. What was she doing? Evidently, her tension showed because Rick leaned over and asked, "Everything alright?" Kate let out a breath. This was just Rick. She had told the therapist that she wanted to work to break down her walls, and he encouraged her to share more of herself with those she trusted, taking small steps to do so. She trusted Rick. It would be okay. She relaxed and scooted closer to him. She sensed him smile before wrapping his arm around her. She sighed. This felt right.

Around 9:00 Martha had come in only to excuse herself to go to bed.

They watched movies until it was close to midnight. Kate couldn't believe how quickly time had flown. Alexis had excused herself around 11:00, claiming she needed sleep. She was going out with a few friends to do Black Friday shopping and needed energy for the adventure.

That left Kate and Rick alone, snuggled up together. Rick murmured, "Stay Kate. Stay the night."

Kate's eyes widened as she looked up at him. "No, not like that, though if you wanted to, I would surely not complain. No, I meant stay in the guest room. It's late and you can drive home tomorrow. I am sure I have some PJ's around that should fit you."

Kate nodded, agreeing with his logic, "Thanks Rick"

"You've got it," he replied as he led her up to the guest room. He left her there for a few minutes and came back with a clean toothbrush and a pair of PJ pants and a T-shirt. He offered, "If there is anything else you need, let me know. I will be downstairs."

"Thanks Rick, for everything." She stood on her tip-toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek, which was slightly too long to be strictly platonic.

He looked deep into her eyes, his blue meeting her brown and responded, "Always."

Kate felt warmth fill her as he turned towards the door. "Goodnight Kate."

"Goodnight Rick."

Kate felt peaceful after the day. She knew that even a year ago, had she found herself staying over at Rick's loft overnight for no other reason than it was late, she would have panicked. Now, she was okay with it. She knew she wanted to move on with him. She just needed to take the baby steps to get there. Eventually, she was sure that she would be comfortable staying, not only in Rick's loft, but also in his bed. But for now, she was content to stay in his guest room after a wonderful day with a wonderful family.


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