Disclaimer: Do not own Castle. Would love it if i did, but i don't!

Dedicated to my friends at the ABC boards: Nerwen Aldarion, EmmaLeeLove, Mandier2, Jangiefan, iCaskett, QueenoftheCastle1021, Number1Castlefan1227, Blueslurpii, and everyone else! Also, to the people who LOVE castle and LOVE Christmas like me.

Detective Kate Beckett was sitting at her desk staring at the file. They just wrapped up a case in which a teenager was killed during a drug bust. After grilling the suspect's girlfriend, the girlfriend confessed in sobs that she pushed him down the stairs and he hit his head and died. She looked outside those tall vertical windows that showed a light drizzle of snow. The precinct was in good spirits for the winter holidays, but Kate Beckett was quite the opposite. Each year there was a Secret Santa throughout the homicide department at the 12th. Please, do not Esposito pull my name out of that basket she thought. Last year, Kate Beckett put on her piece of paper that she did NOT want anything. Christmas is a time for people to find great opportunities for murder not gifts she thought. But Esposito gave her a bottle of his homemade egnog. Naturally, she thanked him and to be polite she drank it. What she did not know, was that Esposito put alcohol in it. She made him do desk duty for two weeks.

"Well look how nice this is." She looked up to see Richard Castle walking towards her with a cup of coffee in his hand. She took it from him gratefully and tasted the sweet, bitter flavor of-

"Castle, what the hell!" she spit out eggnog from her mouth. Unfortunately, she jerked her hand up and spilled the rest of the eggnog on herself. She looked up and glared at Castle.

"It was a surprise that was supposed to make you happy…not mad." Castle gulped as Beckett stood up, striding to the bathroom. Castle breathed a sigh of relief. Ryan and Esposito came wheeling towards him. Esposito stopped and stopped Ryan as he almost headed into the desk.

"Sup, bro?" Esposito looked as Beckett's desk. It was covered with the remnants of her eggnog "well it looks like you made her scream."

"More like yelp, but I'm working on it." Castle winked and the two detectives wheeled themselves back to their chair. Beckett came walking past them, and gave Castle an icy stare.

"I'm sorry. Can I make it- WOAH what are you wearing?" Castle looked at Beckett, his mouth open. Beckett was wearing a tank top. She bent down and pulled a sweatshirt from underneath her desk where she kept her spare jacket.

"Well, if someone got me coffee and didn't make me spill eggnog all over my shirt, I wouldn't look so ridiculous!"

"Someone's in a bad mood."

"Well, eggnog isn't making my day any better. Great! I even smell like it."

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down."

"Yes."

"No."

"Beckett."

"What?" they both stared at Ryan who approached the desk. "We got a murder over at Niemen Marcus."

"Why didn't I get called?"

"Did you check your cell phone?"

"No."

"There's your answer. The snows made the electricity go out. We're running on a generator."

"Thanks Ryan. Let's go Castle."

They drove in silence. When they reached Niemen Marcus, they saw cops all over the place. Beckett and Castle ducked under the yellow crime scene tape and saw the body.

"Ho-ho-no," Castle muttered as he saw the body. There was a man dressed like Santa Claus's elf lying in a pool of blood. His eyes were sullen and looking up at the ceiling. The man could not be more than 40 years old. "Looks like someone was about to get coal in their stocking."

"Shut it Castle." Beckett rolled her eyes, but for a split second, she smile ever so slightly, confirming she was indeed humored. They walked towards Dr. Lainie Parish and knelt down besides her. As Castle bent down, his face got suddenly pale and he lost his balance.

"Woah, you alright there Castle?" Beckett asked, her face full of concern.

"I-I-I-I know him." And for the first time in his life, Castle saw black.