Thank you so much for all of your reviews! I'm amazed...truly, thoroughly amazed. I received more reviews for Chapter 2 of Blizzard than for any other single chapter that I've written. Wow! You guys are awesome!

Hope you enjoy chapter 3.

Disclaimer: the usual, don't own any of the characters mentioned below. Still own the snowblower though, thank goodness.


After she walked around to the front of the house after their little snowy interlude, she'd walked right up to the idling snowblower, adjusted the levers, and started plowing a path down the driveway. She was desperately trying to not think of what had just transpired between them in the back yard, so she'd grabbed the first thing she saw-the reason they were out here anyway-and got to work. And in a way, it was kind of fun, maneuvering the big machine like that. Much better than shoveling, anyway. She'd lost track of where Castle was; she was now lost in her own little world of trying to make the driveway a cleaner, better place, void of snow. She knew she'd have to think about it at some point, and she knew that she'd probably overanalyze it, but she wanted to do that when she was relatively alone, not with the potential of him breathing down her neck at any second. Although if that kiss earlier was any indication, her traitorous mind surmised that him breathing down her neck might not be a bad experience at all.

Then, as if merely her thoughts had conjured him out of nowhere, the object of her ruminations was suddenly behind her, doing exactly what she was worried about. She'd taken her hood down when she was brushing herself off, so she felt the warm breath by the back of her ear as she heard him say "Watching you do that is just so sexy." But nonetheless, even despite her thinking-knowing-that he was likely to invade her personal space, her senses were off because of the thoughts swirling in her brain, and because of the noise of the snowblower, and she never heard or even had any sense of his actual approach. She was lost in her own world of snowblower noise and troubled thoughts that she was trying not to think. So when she felt his breath and heard his words, she was startled, and jumped back so forcefully that the back of her head connected with something hard as she let out a little yelp. She instinctively let go of the handles of the machine and grabbed her head as she turned around to level a glare at the cause of her pain.

But as she turned, she registered the painful exclamations of the person behind her, who was evidently in some pain himself. "Ow, ow, nose, ow..." Castle was saying as he clutched his face. And she could see blood starting to run from his nose.

"Oh, my God, Castle!" She quickly felt inside her pocket for the little purse-pack of tissues that she'd put there in case her nose ran when she was outside. She took off her gloves and grabbed a few, quickly holding them to his nose and then taking his hand to make sure he held them to his face. "Pinch the bridge of your nose," she instructed. He tried to tip his head back, but she put her hand on the back of his head and held it forward. "No, just hold the tissues there and pinch."

"Ow, ow, ow...sheesh, that hurts!"

"Sorry, Castle. I didn't know you were there, and you scared me and I jumped. Your nose must have gotten in the way of my jump." She still had her hand on the back of his head, and after reaching back to the snowblower to shut it off, her other hand hand moved to lightly grasp the elbow of the arm that he was holding to his nose.

"I always thought you had a hard head, but now I know for sure that you really do," he told her, his voice a little bit muffled because of the tissues he held under his nose.

She rolled her eyes, but she kept her hand at the back of his head to make sure he held it forward. As he was waiting for the blood to stop flowing from his nose, Kate unconsciously started to gently run her fingers through his hair, lightly massaging his scalp with the tips of her fingers. She may not have been aware of what she was doing, but Rick certainly was. He was hyper-aware of her close proximity, and the tenderness of her touch on his head. He just about forgot about the pain in his nose and he closed his eyes to savor the feeling of her touch.

They stood there like that for a few minutes, until Kate broke his reverie by asking "So how does it feel now?"

Not really thinking, just enjoying the sensation of her hands touching him, he responded, "Really nice."

"What?" she exclaimed. "You have a bloody nose and it feels 'really nice'?" she tried to clarify, but then became aware of her fingers running through his hair and quickly snatched her hand away.

At her exclamation, he realized that he'd not been thinking about his bloody nose when he answered her first question. Trying to cover, he stepped away from her slightly and said "No, uh, well kind of...uh, it's feeling a little better. I think it's stopping. Do you have any more tissues?"

Grateful to have something to do with her hands after that, she reached into her pocket and handed him another wad of tissues from the pack. "Thanks," he told her. "I'm going to go...yeah, up there, and, uh, throw these away," he told her, gesturing toward the garage. And he took off toward the house.

Kate turned back to the snowblower, thinking to herself, 'Did I just lose my freaking mind'? She's barely touched the man in the years that she's known him. But now, in the last twelve hours, she's cuddled up to him and fallen asleep on his arm, put her arm around him twice, then he kissed her nose followed by him kissing her for real, then she kissed him back really for real (and what a kiss it was!), and most recently, after vowing to get a little space, she finds herself running her fingers through his hair. And she didn't even realize it at first! What the hell was wrong with her?

It was probably Castle...he probably spiked his water supply with some aphrodisiac. Yeah. She wasn't in control of what she did. No! She put her hands to her face and groaned, then ran her fingers through her hair, wincing when she touched the tender part of her head where it had come into contact with Castle's nose. Now she was starting to think up Castle-esque wild theories. What the hell was wrong with her?

No, she didn't have time to think about this right now. She could analyze it later. Now, she had to keep busy and get herself back on an even keel. She didn't need to be distracted by this...this... what could she call it? Castle madness? Insanity? Yeah, that about summed it up. She bent down to the snowblower and hit the magic rubber plunger button a few times, adjusted the throttle, and then pulled the cord, taking out some of her frustration in her situation by giving the cord a really good yank. Of course, the engine started right away and disrupted the silence of the morning with its loud noise, and thwarted her efforts to get a little more of her frustration out by yanking on the cord more.

She adjusted the settings and started blowing the snow again, now electing to go across the driveway instead of up and down. She got several paths cut across the driveway before she was alerted to the presence of another person. And when she was alerted, it came in the form of a snowball that was thrown and landed with a plop on her arm. She looked over to see the offending party, and spotted Castle, with a red nose and a sly grin, holding another snowball as if he was ready to take aim again. She motioned him over and shouted at him, "What's with the snowball?"

He shouted back "Couldn't risk surprising you again."

She stepped away from the machine and held out her arms, as if inviting him to take a stab at it. "Here, try it."

"Oooo, you're actually letting me drive, Detective?" he asked with a sly grin.

"It's yours anyway, Castle. And it's your house. Why am I doing all the work?" she chided.

"You're just my backup while I had an injury timeout. I'm back in the game now."

She rolled her eyes at him and he turned back to the snowblower with a grin. She stood and watched (well out of the range of the spray of snow this time) while he cut a few more paths with the snowblower, and was suitably impressed that he remembered to turn the chute when he changed directions so the snow didn't get blown onto the already-cleared portion of the drive. After she was convinced that he could handle it, she wandered over to his front lawn area. Getting an idea, she picked up some of the snow and made a snowball. Perfect. She packed a little more snow into her snowball, and then put it down on the ground and started rolling it around the yard, watching it get larger as she rolled. Once again, she got lost in what she was doing as she tried to block out the recent events, so she never noticed the person come up next to her. But luckily, she caught sight of the purple boots before she could be too startled, and she looked up into the smiling, excited face of Alexis.

"Are you making a snowman? Can I help?"

The girl looked like she was still rumpled from sleep, and after Kate took in her attire, it appeared that she'd rolled right out of bed and had put on her outdoor clothing, not even bothering to change out of her pajamas. "Sure! But Alexis, did you just wake up?"

"I heard the noise from the snowblower and I couldn't go back to sleep. And then I saw that was actually my dad working using it! I didn't know he knew how to work a snowblower."

"He didn't. And it was pretty interesting watching him figure it out. I even took a faceful of snow from that thing."

"Oh my gosh! He really did that?"

"He sure did," Kate confirmed.

"I hope you got revenge. If not, I can help," the girl offered eagerly.

"No, I took care of that. I gave him a bloody nose." At Alexis' shocked expression, Kate laughed. "No, I didn't really punch him in the nose. But he walked up behind me when I was using the blower, and he startled me, and my head hit him in the nose when I jumped."

"Ew! But he must be okay then?" She crooked her thumb at him, where he was still happily running the snowblower and didn't seem to be injuring anything else...human or landscaping.

"He's fine now. It didn't seem to bleed that long, so I don't think it's broken or anything." Kate's mind flashed back to how her fingers were lost, playing with the hair on his head while they waited for the nose to stop bleeding. She quickly pushed the thought away and smiled at Alexis. "Etes-vous prêt à faire un bonhomme de neige?"

Alexis looked at her, somewhat puzzled, but trying to decipher what Kate had said. "Is that a snowman?"

"Oui."

"Bonhomme de neige," she tried out the new term. "Oui oui!"

Alexis helped her roll the big ball Kate had been making for the base when it got too big for her to move alone. Then Alexis started on the middle and Kate started on the head, trying to keep up some of the french dialogue as they worked. Soon they heard the snowblower stop and noticed Castle walking out of the garage toward them. "Good morning, pumpkin! You're up early," he told her, walking over to give her a quick hug.

"I heard the snowblower and I couldn't sleep. And then I saw Kate was making a snowman so I came outside right away."

Castle looked at his daughter. "I guess that explains the pajamas." Then he noticed the mounds of snow that they were rolling. "Hey, you're not supposed to make a snowman without me!" he pouted.

"You had work to do. Us ladies are on vacation, and we also happen to be getting some homework done in the process."

Alexis pointed to the mounds of snow. "Bonhomme de neige," she said proudly. Then, looking at him, she said "Hey...votre...nez...est rouge."

Kate looked at him more closely and noticed that Alexis was right. She looked at the girl and, nodding her head, said "Un peu. Mais pas trop rouge." She shrugged.

Castle's head volleying from the previous night was starting again, as he looked from one to the other, having no idea what was being said, although it was obvious it was about him by the way they were looking at him.

"Okay, what is it? Are you talking about my butt again?"

"Dad!" Alexis exclaimed. "Puh-leeze! That was embarrassing enough the first time."

Kate, laughing, gestured to the three mounds of snow on the ground "Bonhomme de neige. Snowman. Or it will be," she explained. "And then your daughter was merely commenting that your nose was red."

"Did you tell her why it was red?" he challenged.

"Yes, I did," she confirmed. "I took full responsibility."

"But you really shouldn't sneak up on people, Dad," Alexis scolded. "So it wasn't all Kate's fault."

He looked at his daughter. "Why do you take the first opportunity to gang up on me with someone else?"

But instead of letting Alexis answer, Kate just said "Stop whining, Castle. Anyway, you know she's right." Alexis just nodded, loving it that Kate could hold her own with her dad and she didn't fawn all over him like she saw so many women did. And she was really nice to help Alexis with her french too.

Just then, Alexis' coat started playing a tune. Alexis took off her glove and reached into her pocket to grab her phone. As she answered it, Rick shook his head. He leaned close to Kate and whispered, "She wanted to come out here so quickly that she couldn't get dressed, yet she still manages to take her phone with her?" She was glad he spoke quickly, because his hot breath that was tickling her ear as he spoke wasn't really allowing her to stop thinking about all of those things she wanted to stop thinking about.

But as soon as Alexis' found out who was on the other end of the phone, her excited squeal was enough to ruin any train of thought, good or bad. Kate watched in amusement as the girl chattered animatedly. Then she put the phone to her shoulder and asked Castle, "Dad, Julia's here too! And Emma and Stephanie came with her! Julia wants to know if I can stay over at her house tonight. Please, Dad? I haven't seen them in forever! Please?"

Rick looked at his daughter, but then became aware of the woman beside him, who had been invited by his daughter for the purpose of helping her with her french. How would Kate feel about Alexis leaving like that? He walked a few steps closer to Alexis. "Alexis, honey, you asked Kate to come with you to help you study. It's not really fair to ditch her for your friends, is it?"

Kate could see Alexis' face fall as she realized how her request sounded. "Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry, Kate! I never meant..."

Kate cut her off. "Alexis, if your dad says it's okay, go be with your friends. It's only overnight. We have another day or two past that. And you can always try to text me in french if you get bored," she joked with a smile. "I'm sure you guys have books I can read if I get bored, or I could always teach your dad some more french."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Go...if your dad says it's okay. Have fun."

Alexis turned to her father. "Dad?"

"What about supplies? The rest of the blizzard is going to hit in a little while. Do they have enough of everything for another person?"

Alexis got back on the phone and asked about supplies, and was assured that everything was fine and the other family had plenty. After she relayed the information to her father, he gave a little shrug and said "Have a good time."

She squealed and got back on the phone, making the final arrangements before hanging up. "Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Kate. I have to go shower!" she said quickly before running toward the house.

"And eat something," Rick called after her, recalling his and Kate's conversation from earlier. He turned to Kate. "Are you really okay with her leaving? I know you came along specifically to help her."

"Castle, it's fine. I'll have plenty of time to help her later. Let her have fun with her friends. Being snowed in with your friends is probably much more fun that being snowed in with your father and your father's..." she paused, not totally sure of how to refer to herself, "...uh...me."

He looked at her for a moment, but then smiled and said "Hey, we have a bum de neige to finish."

She rolled her eyes. "Castle, it's a bonhomme de neige, not a bum de neige," she instructed, pronouncing the word slowly. "And see, I'm teaching you french already."

He got a gleam in his eye and a smug little smile took over his face. "Yes, you are a good teacher. I think I could learn very quickly from you." He stepped a little closer, definitely coming closer to invading her personal space again before continuing. "I especially liked that french lesson in the back yard before. Or shall I say, that french kiss lesson. I know I wouldn't mind some more lessons like that."

Kate's mouth fell open in shock-shock that he would so blatantly bring it up-before she could stop it. She wasn't ready to acknowledge this yet. She hadn't even been able to think about it yet, or dissect it in her own mind!

But then he took another step closer to her, with that smug-and, oh God, sexy-smile still on his face...


Poor Castle. I just love doing silly things to him. Wonder if I can figure out a way to make him trip over a couch in this fic (those of you reading 'The Plan' know what I'm talking about). Oh, and just wait until the second half of this storm hits. It's going to be such a wicked one! Can't you feel it getting cold already?

Just a note about the french...I do know some french. And I know I'm using the more formal ways of addressing people; the 'vous' instead of 'tu'. That's the way I learned it way back when, and it was supposed to be a more universal way of learning it. I don't know if it's still done that way, but if so, I figured Alexis would learn it the same way. So if you know French and I'm wrong, Sorry!

And I can't resist doing a shout-out to the SUPER BOWL CHAMPION GREEN BAY PACKERS and SUPER BOWL MVP AARON RODGERS! Woo hoo! The Pack rules! It was a hard-fought game against a worthy and classy opponent. I was so impressed by the lack of trash talking before, during and after the game. Very refreshing.

Hope you liked this chapter! Reviews are always very much appreciated!