Spirit of the Season
Disclaimer: Don't claim to own Castle. The writing geniuses over there are much more evil.
AN: What happens when two writers decide to tell the same story from different points of view? The working title for this was "The Project of Awesome!" We hope you agree. For Castle's perspective follow: CuffedBunnies.
AN2: Did you miss us? Sorry guys, the delay is all my fault. A real life Angels run stole my energy and delayed both pieces. But some very cute children appreciate your patience. Alas, we're coming up on the delivery deadline here in the real world, and the trees are still heartbreakingly full. If you have one near you, and you can, please consider adopting. Trust me when I say, it doesn't have to be nearly this big.
For CB, because her telepathy is better than an alarm clock.
Day 9: Toyland
December 8, 2012
She slipped out of bed at 5:30 the next morning. When he grumbled at her, she hushed him, said she'd see him later. She didn't have to go in on this Saturday, seniority usually gave her the perk of normal weekends. But she wanted to make sure the papers from yesterday's case were in order.
She'd briefly considered handling it by email or phone, knowing that Castle had said something about plans for the day before he drifted off last night. But it would be better just to get her hands on it in person, faster that way.
Besides, she wanted to drop of a box of their varied cookie creations. She'd sent plenty of cookie dough back to Columbia with Alexis, but between the several dozen they had baked and Martha's two kinds, yeah, they were overwhelmed besides, she knew Ryan had traded out a shift so he'd have time to go see family with Jenny later in the month. He'd appreciate it.
She'd wrapped everything up neatly by 7:15. Even made up a separate little stash of cookies for Ryan, unsure when he started. No sense in him missing out if the early shift made breakfast of them.
Now on to whatever Castle might have planned. That man and his plans were going to undo her. They have already. Making her lighter, and different and more. Why did she ever think she needed that before she could be with him. What she needed was him, it turned out. How had she missed it for do long?
Her phone beeped. She pulled it out and took in the message on the lock screen. Castle, of course. Earlier than she would've expected, though. Just one word this time. Toyland. Well, that was...oh, toys. The last round of the shopping they'd done a few days back. He'd mentioned both the giant Toys R Us in Times Square and FAO Swartz, and she had a feeling her budget might just get blown at the latter. But then, who didn't blow their Christmas budget on an outrageous Christmas toy now and then? Wouldn't be her first time.
You're up early. Excited? She sent, smiling. Man child, yes. But hers, anyway.
His reply came right back, so she knew that he was right there with his phone, texting chat style. Excited to spend the day with you.
Oh, sappy Castle, then. This day was gonna be fun. You just want to ride the Ferris Wheel. She sent it off, and waited. Let him try denying it. She knew better, even if she knew both things were true.
That's just icing on the cake. Coming back for breakfast?
She was already out, though. Half the battle. Excited or not, if she went back to the loft on a Saturday morning, she risked being dragged back to bed. She knew from experience. And god, it's tempting, but...she opened the phone's dial pad, called him rather than texting.
"I take that as a yes?" He asked by way of greeting as soon as he picked up the call.
"Not quite," she answered, "How about we meet at the Starbucks at 47th and Broadway? That way, we can start out a little sooner."
"That sounds wonderful. See you there in about twenty minutes?"
"I'll be waiting," she answered, then she hung up, slid the phone in her pocket, and headed for Starbucks.
She had both their coffees in hand when he stepped out of the cab, but he didn't see that, or from his movements, her.
"Slow down, Writerboy," she said, as she took a step back. "You're lucky we're both not wearing the coffee."
She watched as he righted himself, amused at the surprise on his face when he looked at her. "You got me coffee?"
"And I got a smile," she said happily, because yeah, he was smiling, and he was right, it felt awesome. She leaned in and kissed him, just because she could do that now.
"Thank you," he said, smiling wider.
She didn't know why he was so surprised. Just because he always – oh, yes, because that was his way of showing her, when he couldn't kiss her good morning, and she just gave him both. Well, damn. She was on a decent roll today.
"So, you ready to hit the toy stores?" she asked.
"Only if you are. They're not as much fun if I'm the only one who's excited about going."
"I've got the kid's lists with me, and I think I know someone who wants a ride on the Ferris Wheel. I'd say I'm pretty excited for the day."
He nodded, and offered his arm to her. "All right. Then we should start making our way to Toys 'R' Us, don't you think?"
Kate had signed out her car after all when she stopped at the precinct this morning, deciding it would be the best way to haul whatever toys they purchased around the city and back home. But they were close enough to the store that they walked from the coffee shop.
Even at the early hour, the Toys "R" Us in Times Square was mobbed with pre-Christmas shoppers. In the end, they decided to take a couple spins on the Ferris wheel – which was more fun than Kate realized it would be – and head straight for FAO Swartz.
It made logical sense to Kate, since the specialty store would have more unique items, and if they needed something more generic there were any number of places to acquire them besides that giant zoo.
"I love this place," he said as they entered, "I can't tell you how many hours Alexis and I have spent in here, just playing around."
She could just imagine. She always could, actually. From the time that he'd talked about taking his daughter to the Museum of Natural History, for games of Indiana Jones exploration among the dinosaurs.
Now? Now that she is seeing more that side of him? The father who would take his tiny little girl to sci-fi convention dressed as Princess Leia to his Darth Vader, or host massive family cookie making marathons, who is more or less fluent in his knowledge of just about every classic children's book? That version of Castle spending the day with his child in a giant toy store? Yeah that's nothing.
And she thinks again: so lucky. Alexis was such a lucky little girl. Any child of his would – will...Stop. Just stop, Kate. Push it back, not the time.
She pulled out the list that she had made of toy related wishes from her collection of angel tags. The infants they had pretty well covered the other day, that left the toddler/preschool aged kids, the younger age kids around second-grade, and the older kids.
Castle and decided that he wanted to start with the younger kids and work his way to the older kids. Since she found that as good a place to start as any, they headed for the preschool age toy section.
They had barely been in the section for more than a handful of minutes, when Castle started pushing buttons. At first it was funny, and some of the things were even kind of cute. But within a matter of minutes, he had activated just about every toy with a button and a sign that said "TRY ME!" and he showed no signs of stopping. God, it was a loud mess. She wondered if they would be kicked out for making people crazy.
Kate grabbed his wrist and pulled it down sharply.
"What do you think you're doing?"
He looked confused. "I.. um... playing?"
He seemed so genuine. And suddenly she realized that it was fueled by desire to play, rather than there to annoy. "Do you have to make them all go off?"
Castle's only word of anything that could even probably be considered an apology was to point out that they had not yet reached the electronics section, where inevitably, there would be more buttons to push. Lovely.
She was only just recovering from that experience when he discovered the little table with some sort of dancing monkey on it. It's silly and ridiculous, but according Castle you can't deny a child dancing monkey.
She wondered what it was with him and monkeys, anyway. Then she remembered the kidnapping case back in the first year. Alexis's favorite stuffed monkey. She wondered if the memory inspired the fascination or something. Maybe it just fit him. She shrugged it off, grabbed the silly thing. It is cute, and fairly practical as a grow-with-me toy, so why not? Table with a dancing monkey? Check.
They still needed something for the toddler age girl, and she spotted a pretty cool looking art table. Picked it up for his approval. The thing has chalkboard surface on one side, whiteboard on the other. Plus a paper roller for permanent art. She figures the girl's feminine sensibilities will appreciate the quieter toy. Or maybe it's just all the button activated noise they've left in the back.
Her brain does check at the idea of giving a kid a whiteboard, and she realized how much her job has warped her brain a little. Jeez, Kate, get a grip. She sets it in the cart while Castle gets the acompaning supply bundle. She's not mentioning the whiteboard. Won't start him up on it.
They move on to the younger primary school kids. "We should get the biggest box of Legos we can find," Castle suggested.
She was all for it, because the store's Lego room is really impressive. When she started to orient herself in that direction now, she spied the area with train sets.
"What about trains?" she asked, "boys that age are into trains, aren't they?"
"Yeah, that would be great!" he said, taking the lead. "I know right where they are! Come on!"
She let him lead her to the section of the store she had spotted, because really she didn't let him do that enough. And he was so clearly excited. He had straight from a larger remote control units, of course. "I love these. I had one when I was growing up, and quite literally, wore it out. It was my fav-"
He spotted a particular set on the back wall, and headed for it immediately. She followed. "The Polar Express! How awesome is that? I used to read the book to Alexis every year, then they came out with the movie, and then we changed our tradition to watch it every year instead."
Castle is inspecting the box, but she didn't even need to look to know that it was the full Lionel O gage set, and honestly well over her per-kid budget for this particular child. But it was amazing, and Castle's enthusiasm was infectious. She could make up the difference. This one had been a genric tag anyway, "age appropriate toy" her only instruction.
Decision more or less made, she turned her attention to her partner. He was still lost in thought. And it occurred to her, he was still thinking about Christmas with his daughter.
"You really miss all that, don't you?" She asked, "Having a little one around the house at Christmas?"
"Yeah," he answered, and she watched him closely, considering his answer. "I do. Christmas is so different when you have kids, and see all the magic and wonder through them. And the Polar Express... well, it's an important part of the holiday, for me, anyway."
Yeah she had a few childhood memories connected to that story too. Mostly the book. She shared the story, mostly to banish the thoughts of little ones that have begun to swirl in her head again.
"I remember my Mom and Dad reading the book to me at Christmas once. They fluffed my pillow behind my head, and made sure I was comfortable before they started. Then, Mom sat on one side of my bed, and Dad was on the other. They both held the book in front of me, and took turns reading the pages. I'm not sure if I even really knew how it ended until the movie came out."
It was a warm happy memory, being sandwiched in the middle of her parents like that. So safe. Unfortunately, it fails miserably at its mission of distraction because the image in her mid shifted just a little and now - damn it, Kate focus.
She reached out and took the box from him. "Anyway, I think it's a great idea. We should make sure the book ends up in his pile too."
It was cute really, the way he hugged her for it. Like she'd given him a present. She should. An idea started to form in her mind.
"We make a pretty good team," he said as they separated. And yeah, they do. It just, it tended to overwhelm her sometimes. Made her crave things. More.
"Girl, about the same age," she said, and it wasn't a continuation of her inner dialogue. It wasn't. "Let's try the Lego room.
While Castle was transfixed by the giant and impressive Lego statues in the room, she went searching for appropriate gift. Though, "Lego city" kind of distracted her, too. God, the detail was amazing. She spotted something and oh, yeah. Perfect.
"Hey, Castle. Check this out." She inspected the box while she waited for him to wander over. This was really cool. Sort of like a building yourself dollhouse.
"Hey, that's awesome. Set right in her age range, too. And the pieces look just a little bigger, so you don't have to worry about her sticking them up her nose."
She sometimes forgot she shared these things. Castle on the other hand never forgot a thing. "She's a couple years older, I'm sure she'll be plenty smarter."
"What actually possesses an incredibly intelligent girl to stick a Lego up her nose anyway?" He asked.
"Defiance, most likely," she said with a rueful laugh. He looked at her as if he could believe that, and she laughed harder.
"Okay, okay. Our middle school boy wants a casterboard." Okay, now that was her kind of cool.
"All right...Roller blades and stuff like that is over here," he said, starting to lead the way. And then, he surprised her.
"I'm not real sure about getting someone else's kid a skateboard. They're not really the safest thing in the world."
She rolled her eyes because, really Castle? "This from the guy who wants to buy the apartment across the street and install a zipline."
Castle stopped in his tracks. "How did you..." He paused, seemed to recall she might keep track of the fan sites. "Still. I'm not so sure."
"If we get all the proper safety equipment to go with it, it will be fine," she said. Seriously, Over Potective Daddy Castle was kinda cute, so she let him focus on the safety stuff, headed to find the boards.
She had heard of these before, but never really had a chance to mess with them. As luck would have it, she found section fairly easily considering there were a number of kids rolling around on the things under the supervision of an employee.
Well, this was cooler than she thought. There was a space for each foot with a kind of pivot connecting them in the middle so it looked kind of like wave shape.
Suddenly, the guy monitoring all the activity was behind her. "Would you like to try it out?"
"Oh, I -" She shouldn't. Right?
"We have an adult one, right over here. Seriously, give it a shot. Playing on these things is the best part of my day."
It...okay, yeah, it looked like fun, do she stepped on. Oh, man. It was cool...smooth, with the design giving it an easy flow of movement that gave her a natural balance. It had been a long time since she'd done anything like this, but it felt amazing.
She did a few small lines and turns, eyes mostly down watching her footwork and for signs of other boards. Then she glanced up and came to a stop.
"Castle?" Crap. He was watching her. She was pushing the board to the side with her foot, trying to look non-chalant about it. "How long have you been there?"
"No need to be embarrassed, Detective, you looked like you were having a good time, so I let you have the moment. So, how was it?"
"I..." she pulled her fingers through her hair and smiled, collecting herself. "It was fun. I think he'll will enjoy it."
"Awesome." Castle found a box with the same model she'd been riding, because the others were for smaller kids. and put it in the cart, then pulled her close, and she melted against him. "You know, I love it when you come out to play like that. You don't have to hide from me, okay?"
"I know. It's just been a long time since I've boarded. I wanted to know if I could still do it."
"You were great. Or at least, I thought so."
"Thanks."
Castle suggested that they check out the stuffed animals for the smaller girls next, and she readily agreed. But then, of course he got distracted by shiny objects. Of course.
She let him for a while, because really she was getting used to it now. But yeah, she drew the line at the dirty joke from that Joss Whedon web movie. In a toy store full of kids? Besides, that man kills off almost all his most relatable characters. Seriously, enough good guys died in real life. This she knew. Too well.
"Wow, Castle, you had to go there, huh?" She rolled her eyes and started to walk away. Let him cool down some. But, oh good lord, the man has found buttons again.
She was one aisle over, the riot still audible, when she spotted another floor model. Oh yes, this was exactly what she needed. She picked it up and made her way back from where she had come.
The Nerf gun was huge, and a little unwieldy, but she was a decent shot even with this thing. She nailed him in the temple before he even looked up. It made her grin.
When he turned make a run for it she nailed him hard in the shoulder, and then, just because she can, square in the butt.
That tripped him up, and sent him down hard. But he was laughing, so she went with it and stayed in character. She hovered over him, gun up, all business. "Go ahead, I need the practice."
That put him over the edge of laughter again, and she goes with him. Because quoting Nikki quoting her? Yeah, very meta, but funny.
"You okay?" she asked, "It looked like you hit the floor pretty hard."
Castle shook his head. "I'll be fine. But really, did you have to shoot my butt?"
Kate shrugged and smiled, "What can I say, it was an easy target. And funny."
"Easy target, huh?" He pulled her next to him, staying just a few inches from her lips, teasing her. "When we get back to the loft, we're going to suit up for a game of lazer tag, and I'll show you how easy a target I can be."
"First thing's first, Writerboy," she pointed in the direction they'd just run from, "We've got toys to buy."
"Oh yeah, there is that." Castle smiled as he took her hand, "We should finish the important stuff, then we can play."
Oh, yeah. She could do that, she could play with him. Because, this had been an amazing day. And it wasn't even over yet...
"Race you to the giant piano?" she asked, grinning. She could play here, too. They had all day.
