Chapter 2
It had been two days since they had spent more than a couple of hours together at the loft, and Kate missed her partner. She had picked him up for work both mornings, and they spent a little time making out in the car in the parking garage for his building before they left, but it wasn't the same as waking up with him all warm and sleepy and comfortable beside her…or often wrapped around her.
It was now Saturday morning, and she had the day off, so she wasn't dressed yet; she was taking her time about getting anything done until she had fully enjoyed her coffee and a decent breakfast. She smiled to herself. Castle would be proud. She had a decent breakfast in front of her, and he wasn't even there to push her about it. Of course, it was to make up for the fact that most of yesterday's nutrition had been coffee and M&M's or crackers from the snack machine at the precinct, but he didn't need to know that.
Just as she was finishing her breakfast, there was a knock at the door. She checked through the peephole, and it was Alexis.
"Hi," she said, opening the door for her guest and hoping for something good to come of this visit. "Come in."
"Hi, Kate. I came to see if you might want to help us decorate the loft tonight. Dad's getting out all the boxes. I'm supposed to be at the grocery store getting cookie making supplies."
"So he doesn't know you're here? He didn't send you?"
"No. I came on my own. He misses you a lot, and I know he wants you with him. I think you miss him a lot, too."
Kate looked down, doing her best not to growl loudly, 'Oh, God, yes, I miss him.'
"Do you have something else planned?"
"No."
"Then will you come? It takes us all day…sometimes into the next day. He's a bigger kid than I am…plays Christmas carols while we work, throws flour at me while we cook, has to play with the train under the tree before we can finish decorating…"
"And you love every minute of it, don't you?"
"Yeah," Alexis grinned. "You do, too, don't you?"
"I haven't been there for Christmas, but I've been on the receiving end of a few flour flips."
"And what did you do?"
"Are you kidding? I flipped back," she answered with a grin. "He should know better than to mess with a cop."
"Then you should have no trouble coping with Richard Castle at Christmas. Come on. You can help me with the cookie shopping. We'll surprise him."
"You're sure you want me there?"
"I'm sure. He'll be so happy to see you…and I need to get used to seeing you together together. If he has anything to do with it, you're probably going to be there forever, and I can't think of anybody I'd rather see him with. I think I was just feeling a little insecure about where I fit in now."
"Honey, you fit right where you always did. I don't want to change that. If it works for you, though, now you have both of us when you need us."
"I've known for a while that you'd be there if I needed you. I just didn't have to share my dad with you then. You really love him as much as you said?"
"Yeah. I do."
"Okay, then. Let's go buy cookie stuff and get back to him."
"Give me about five minutes. I'll go get dressed." Stopping as she walked toward her bedroom, Kate asked, "How did you get here? Should I drive us back?"
"We can get a cab to the store. It's close enough to walk from there."
"Okay. Be right back."
They picked up everything on Alexis' list and a couple of things Kate questioned if they had and they bought just in case.
When they got to the loft, Castle impatiently met Alexis at the door. "I didn't think you'd ever get back. Was the line at the grocer's that long?"
"Look who I found while I was out," Alexis answered, moving so he could see Kate holding the second bag of groceries.
"Oh, wow! Best find ever!" he said with a grin. "Where did you find her?"
"At her apartment. I invited her to help us decorate. I figured she's had over four years to figure out how goofy you're likely to get."
"You went to get her? Thank you," he answered, kissing his daughter on the head; then he took both grocery bags from the two women, put them on the counter, and pulled Kate in for a big hug and a quick kiss."
"So where do we start?" Kate asked, looking at the huge stack of boxes and wondering where he kept them the rest of the year. "Looks like it could take all day to decorate that humongous tree."
"It usually does," Alexis chimed in as she put the butter and eggs in the refrigerator. "Most of it, anyway. "Then we decorate everything else."
"When was the last time you decorated for Christmas, Kate?" Rick asked softly.
She looked down and hesitated before she answered. "When I was nineteen. After that…"
"Are you okay with all this?"
"Yeah. I'm actually looking forward to it."
He smiled and kissed her forehead, then started moving boxes. "Let's find the tree decorations. The boxes are all labeled."
A number of boxes later, Kate asked in disbelief, "All this goes on the tree?"
"Yep," Alexis answered. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Kate laughed as Castle enthusiastically opened all the boxes looking for the star for the top of the tree. As he found things, he played, wrapping tinsel garland around Alexis' neck, as if it were a feather boa, tying a piece in a bow around Kate's pony tail, making the super hero ornaments fly… About forty-five minutes later, with not an ornament yet on the tree, Kate laughingly asked Alexis, "So what was it like growing up with Peter Pan as your father?"
"It was great," she answered and kissed his cheek.
"It's not bad having Peter Pan as a partner, either."
Castle leaned his other cheek toward Kate, and she kissed that one.
"I have an idea," he said suddenly. "Why don't we call Tinkerbell and Wendy and the Lost Boys and have a decorating party. We can order food later. What do you think, Pumpkin?"
"Dr. Parish, and the guys?"
"And Ryan's wife, Jenny."
"Why not? We might get this done faster."
"Faster? You have met the Lost Boys, haven't you?" Kate asked Alexis pointedly.
"Well with four more pairs of hands, at least it might not go any slower," Alexis speculated. "Go ahead and call them, Dad."
Castle went to the study to get his phone, and they heard him animatedly talking to Esposito, who said he was already with Lanie and he'd call Ryan.
Martha got home about the time they had emptied one box and had actually hung those ornaments on the tree.
"Oh, good Lord," she exclaimed. "He's decorating. If I had known, I'd have found something to do for a few more hours. Kate, you poor darling, how did he rope you into this?"
Kate laughed, obviously having fun, and her partner couldn't have been happier.
By the time the rest of the party got there, Castle had insisted on getting out the train to show Kate the cars and the village they put up with it. The two of them were sitting cross-legged on the floor with Alexis, laughing over various Christmas mishaps involving the train while Martha answered the door.
"Beckett?" Esposito exclaimed.
"Hey guys."
"What have you done to my girl, Castle?" Lanie asked in amusement. "'Cause I think I see Kate Beckett sitting on the floor laughing and playing trains with a tinsel bow in her hair. Have you let this woman get too deep in the eggnog?"
"Hey, Ryan. Look at that train set." Javi seemed fascinated. "Did you have one of those when you were a kid?"
"My brothers and I had one together. You?"
"Nope. Always wanted one, though." He plopped down on the floor with the three already there. "How much of this stuff have you got?" he asked in amazement.
"He has a partner in this train stuff. We've lost him for a while," Alexis told Kate. "We might as well start the cookies. Grams always helps with that. We can drag Jenny and Dr. Parish in with us. There are plenty of bowls and spoons in this kitchen."
They got out the recipes and ingredients, and the women gathered around to decide who would do what while Ryan joined the other boys on the floor with the trains. They occasionally heard comments like, "So cool." "Dude, did you see this?" "I didn't even know they made these." "Oh, wait, you've got to see this one."
Lanie looked at them with one hand on her hip. "Well, isn't this your typical holiday gathering? The men are over there playing, and we're all in the kitchen."
"Give them half an hour." Alexis answered wisely. "By then we'll have all the cookie dough made, and as penance, they can watch the clock and get them in and out of the oven. And trust me, we'll get it done a lot faster without Dad in the kitchen." They all laughed, then got busy.
About twenty minutes into the cookie project, Kate and Alexis were putting sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator and starting a new recipe. When the flour was being measured, Alexis got an evil gleam in her eye and threw some flour at Kate. "Hey, it's a Castle tradition," she explained.
"Didn't we discuss just this morning that you don't mess with a cop? This is so on, kid," she laughed giving back a little more than she received.
Alexis squealed and ran to the other side of the counter, flinging flour behind her and ducking below counter height to avoid the next puff of white dust from Kate's direction.
At Alexis' squeal, the men looked up, and Esposito laughed. "Yo, Castle. Looks like your women are having a food fight."
"It's a flour fight, and they started without me," he answered. Trains forgotten, for the moment, he headed for the kitchen as he watched Alexis sneaking around the counter to get Kate from behind.
Martha, Lanie, and Jenny had cleared the kitchen and were watching from across the room.
"Do they do this kind of thing often?" Jenny asked Martha.
"Yes," Martha drawled. "And it looks like they've corrupted Kate. It usually doesn't last long, and they're very good about cleaning up after themselves. It's best to just stand back until it's over."
Ryan and Esposito stood up and looked at one another, wondering if they should laugh or not and decided they couldn't help it. Detective Kate Beckett was stalking an eighteen year old around the kitchen counter with flour in her hair and on her face, and a handful of it ready to assault her teenaged prey.
Castle reached across the counter to arm himself to meet them and sneaked around the counter to surprise Alexis as she suddenly stood and grabbed more flour to attack Kate again. Kate, catching the movement, turned to throw her flour at Alexis and got Castle instead, so Alexis threw hers at him, too. With both hands full, he took advantage of being between them, gave a victorious shout, grabbed both of them around their necks with his arms and rubbed flour over their faces, then kissed both of them on their heads.
By then everybody in the room was laughing at the spectacle and the three in the kitchen were trying to dust themselves off.
"Now they'll all clean up and behave like sane people again," Martha announced. "And we can safely get back to cookie making. Can I get you something to drink while that happens?"
"Sure. Is it safe to walk in there?"
"I think the path to the fridge is relatively unscathed," Martha answered, looking resigned. "Be right back." She returned with wine glasses and a bottle of wine. "Have a seat," she said to the other four. "Might as well be comfortable while they pull themselves back together."
Castle brushed at Alexis' pony tail, and most of the flour came out.
"It might have been more fun with three of us," Alexis said with a grin, and Castle couldn't stop smiling.
He turned to Kate and helped her get most of the flour off her face, too. She brushed at his shirt, but only succeeded in smearing what was there.
"Go get some clean clothes, Pumpkin," he said to Alexis. "We need to get back to work." Taking Kate's hand, he said, "Looks like the jeans can be saved. Come on. I'll find you a T-shirt."
A few minutes later, Kate returned wearing one of Castle's long-sleeved T-shirts with the sleeves pushed up. Martha held out a glass of wine. "It seems you've been initiated into the family Christmas tradition. I was hoping you'd help calm them down."
"What fun would that be?" Kate asked.
"Honey, that man is sooo good for you," Lanie answered.
"I don't know if we can ever take you seriously again," Ryan joked.
Castle came back in a clean shirt, and carefully put the parts of the train set in its box, moving it out of the way. "Let's see if we can empty a couple of boxes of decorations and get them on the tree, then we'll order food. Maybe somebody could get some cookies in the oven for while we're working…and Alexis makes great hot chocolate.
"You guys don't have ornament fights, do you?" Lanie asked. "'Cause if that happens, I'm going home."
"You're safe Dr. Parish, Alexis answered, smiling as she came back down the stairs sans decorative flour. "We don't throw things more dangerous than flour."
"Good to know," Lanie answered.
Ryan was still grinning at the whole idea, and Jenny looked at him sternly. "Don't even think about trying that at home, Kevin Ryan."
"Yes ma'am."
"Getting the dust mop, Dad. You get everybody started on the tree. Want to throw your shirt in the dryer, Kate? Most of it comes out that way."
"You guys have this down to a science, don't you?" Kate answered.
"Yeah. Did you have fun?" Alexis asked as she pushed the mop across the floor, clearing a wide swath of flour dust.
"Yeah. I can't believe I did that, but it was fun. Thanks for inviting me."
"I've got this. Why don't you help Dad with the tree? I'll be there in a minute."
After emptying two boxes, Castle ordered food. "That's a lot of food," Kate whispered.
"It's okay. I have a lot of money," Castle whispered back and bumped her shoulder with his.
By the time the third box was emptied, the food had arrived, and they took it to the now flourless dining table and talked and laughed as they ate.
"Thanks for all the help," Castle said to everybody in general.
"I wasn't sure about spending the day decorating a Christmas tree, but it was fun," Esposito admitted. "A little unorthodox in the cookie making department, but entertaining. Good blackmail material," he said with a grin.
"You're welcome to stay as long as you want, but don't feel obligated to do any more. I don't think we've ever gotten this much done in one afternoon."
"No way, man. I'm staying until that train is set up under the tree," Esposito said.
"How many more boxes until we get there?" Ryan asked. "I'd kinda like to see that, too."
"Two more. One is smaller than the others. That one's mine. Alexis ornaments, starting from Christmas number one. Some were bought for her. Some she made, or we made together."
"Dad, you're not going to show them all that stuff, are you?"
"I want to see," Lanie said with a smile. "I want to see what my sensible, efficient, reliable, older than her years intern produced when she was little."
"Fine. It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have to tell the stories over and over." She rolled her eyes at the thought.
"Don't worry, darling. There are a few on the tree already that date back to your father's younger days. If he gets out of hand, I have a few stories of my own."
"Thanks, Grams."
After dinner, they emptied the last couple of boxes. Kate noticed that Castle removed a few things and inconspicuously put them in one of the empty boxes, but he seemed so intent on doing it when no one was looking that she knew there must be a reason. Other than that, his philosophy seemed to be 'If it's here, it goes on the tree.' She tucked that away in her mind and saved it to ask about later.
Around dark, they finally got around to setting up the train and a little village for it to run through under the tree. Kate, Alexis, and all the men were on their stomachs on the floor watching it. Alexis put a handful of cookies in a couple of open cars, and before they turned it off, they stopped it to retrieve the cookies and nibbled as they watched for another couple of minutes.
"Kate and Castle and Alexis...they'll make a good family, won't they?" Jenny whispered to Martha as the other three women stood watching the pseudo-adults on the floor.
"They haven't figured out yet that they already are, but today might do it," she whispered back. "I think all of you are part of it, too."
"Today was almost like being home for Christmas," Lanie answered. This place has that good family vibe."
"My son has made his mistakes, but he's a good man. Family is what he's always wanted most, and he holds it close. I've made my mistakes, too, but I must have somehow done something right. I didn't ruin him completely." She put an arm around the shoulders of the women on each side of her, and smiled. "I'm glad all of you were here today. You're welcome any time."
The group in the floor turned off the train set and got up to stand and admire the tree with the others. "We did good," Esposito said, and he and Ryan fed the birds.
Castle had an arm draped across Kate's and Alexis' shoulders and had both of them tucked to his sides. "Yeah, we did. I don't know about everybody else, but I'm ready to sit down for a while. We have a ton of Christmas movies."
"Nah. I think we'll go sit down at home," Ryan answered. "Want some help putting those boxes away?"
"No. We can do that tomorrow."
"Then I think I'll head home, too," Javi said. "Ready, chica?"
"Just need to remember where I left my purse," Lanie answered"
"I think it's next to the door of the study, Dr. Parish," Alexis told her.
"Thanks, hon," Lanie answered. Retrieving the purse and turning to Esposito, she said, "Now I'm ready."
Everyone said their goodbyes, then Castle walked them to the door and thanked them again for all the help; and they all went home, leaving Rick's family and Kate.