Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree


"Daddy, is it true you were naked on a police horse once?" Jake asks and Castle nearly chokes on the sip of coffee he'd just taken, his eyes wide as he looks down at his son and then glances over to Kate who is standing right beside him, doing her best to hold in her laughter but failing miserably.

"You told the kids about that?" he stage-whispers, not answering Jake's question, but his wife lifts up her hands, pleading innocent. The loft is alive with Christmas music, the massive pine tree finally up in the living room and they just finished taking out all the ornaments, garlands and decorations.

"I did no such thing," she insists and he's about to ask who else would be telling their kids about the misconducts typed up on his rap sheet when it hits him, can't believe he didn't think this was her doing before accusing Kate.

"Mother," Castle calls, interrupting Martha's conversation with Lily and Reece who seem to have taken a break from decorating the Christmas tree to listen to what their grandmother has to say.

"Not now, darling, I'm in the middle of recounting your scandalous tale of-"

"Actually, I think it's exactly the time, Mother." He gives her a stern look, what he hopes is an effective glare because he really doesn't need his kids knowing about … well the list of scandalous things he's done which he doesn't want his children knowing about is a pretty long one but that's not the point.

"Oh, Richard, you have to learn to laugh about these things, it's good for the soul."

He's about to protest, or cover Lily's ears in a last-ditch attempt to salvage her innocence from being soiled by his mother's words but Jim Beckett speaks up before his Mother has the chance to continue.

"Actually, I know a few scandalous stories about your Mom, too," Jim reveals, and although Rick knows full well the words were intended for Lily and Reece, his curiosity is piqued. Oh, he knows it's hypocritical but he so badly wants to hear this he's powerless to stop it. "So. there was this one time, your Grandma Johanna and I told your Mom she wasn't allowed to leave her room because she was grounded. But your Mom, she didn't take orders very well. She tried to sneak out, to slip out her window so that we would never know she left the house. The only thing is, her room was on the second floor and when she tried to climb down the side of the house, she tripped and ended up breaking her arm."

Lily gasps and Reece holds his arm as if he's afraid of the pain he can only imagine, having never broken a bone himself. Even Castle has to wince a little at the thought. That must have hurt like hell.

"That's not scandalous, Dad. It was pathetic. And I can't believe you just told them that."

Jim shrugs. "I couldn't let your kids believe Rick was the only one with scandalous stories to hide." Kate's father winks at Castle. Even after having three kids with the man's daughter, it never ceases to amaze him that Jim Beckett likes him, even when he knows about all the crazy things he's done.

"Momma, why would you try to sneak out like that?" Lily asks, sounding appalled.

"Because I was angry and I wanted to get back at my parents. But I ended up paying for it pretty bad," Kate explains, doing her best to spin it in a way that's not going to inspire their own kids to rebel against them. "Not to mention, I had a lot of work to do to get back on Santa's nice list for Christmas," she adds for good benefit, doesn't want her kids to think they can get away with something like that.

Lily and Reece nod, and Kate smiles, so very glad her children aren't half as bad as she was. Though they haven't reached the teenage years, so she still has reason to be worried.

"Don't worry, kiddos. Your Grandpa Jim and I have plenty of stories about your parents for another day," Martha winks, making the kids giggle as they turn back towards the tree to hang up more ornaments.

"Grandpa Jim, could you help me hang this one up high?" Reece asks and Jim doesn't hesitate, lifting up from the couch and picking up his grandson in his arms. Reece laughs as Jim pretends he's an airplane, flying him around the Christmas tree.

"Here, here, Grandpa! This is the perfect branch." Jim listens to his order, holds him up in the air high enough for him to reach the branch he wanted and he hangs the crystal red ball in the tree. He sets Reece down on his feet and then examines his grandson's handiwork.

"You're right, little man. It looks good up there." Reece smiles at the praise, his ears turning a slight pink.

"Grandpa, I want to be an airplane too!" Jake begs, tugging on his pants to grab his attention and Kate can see how happy her father is to oblige. He picks Jake up the same way he did Reece and chases Lily as she walks around the Christmas tree with gold garlands, imitating motor noises and making both of them laugh.

"Your Dad is always so great with them," Rick whispers in her ear as he wraps his arms around her from behind and lays a kiss to her cheek.

"Yeah, he is." Kate smiles. She watches as her father manages to entertain all three of their kids at once, a pretty challenging feat. "He never really had the chance to raise boys."

"He's just as amazing with Lily, though, so it can't just be the boys," Castle counters, resting his chin atop her shoulder. "You think we should ask him how he does it?"

"I don't know, I'd say we've managed pretty well so far, don't you think?" Kate asks rhetorically, turning her head to steal a kiss from his lips. He hums, nodding in agreement as he kisses her back.

"Oh, Lily, dear, I didn't get the chance to tell you about the time Richard tried to start a campfire in the bath tub," Martha starts, eager to recount the story despite the fact that she didn't find it entertaining at all when he was thirteen and set the shower curtain on fire.

"Mother!"