set an indeterminate number of years in the future
(Castle)
He can smell the gingerbread the moment he steps off the elevator. He smiles. He'd insisted that they not wait for him to start the process, mostly because he knew how his Black Pawn meetings tended run over.
He can hear Christmas carols playing through the door, mixing with laughter. He slips inside quietly, watches the goings-on in the kitchen with amusement.
There's a tray of gingerbread men cooling on the counter, more in the oven from the smell of things. Charlie and Nolan are sitting on the island where Kate is rolling out more dough.
"Okay, guys," she says, "this a special kind of dough for making ornaments, so you can't eat it."
"Why not?" Charlie asks, pouting. She loves eating cookie dough, which is probably his fault. More dough tends to go in their bellies than on the pan when they make cookies together.
"Because it has glue in it, baby," Kate answers. "Glue's not good for you."
"And it tastes pretty yucky, too" Castle adds.
"Daddy!" He's in the kitchen, scooping Nolan up before the little boy can fling himself off the counter.
He accepts a sticky cinnamon kiss from Charlie, then turns to Kate. "Hi," he says, leaning in for a kiss.
"Hey," she says. "Sorry we started without you, but I wanted to get to the ornaments before bedtime."
He shrugs off her apology. "I told you to start without me if you had to." He turns back to his daughter. "What are we doing, Monkey?"
"We makin' ornaments, Daddy," she says. "We gonna make snowmen and angels and Santas!"
"And Rudolph!" Nolan adds, waving a reindeer cookie cutter in the air.
"Sounds like fun," he says. "You know, I used to make these with your Gram when I was little, and then I made them with Alexis when she was little."
"Really?" Charlie gasps. "Mommy said she used to make them with Gramma Jo."
"She did?" He turns to Kate with mock surprise. "What a coincidence."
She shakes her head, sticks her tongue out at him when the kids aren't paying attention. "The dough should be thin enough," she announces. "The youngest gets to go first."
"That's me!" Nolan squeals, raising his arms in victory. Castle helps him position the reindeer and press it down, and then helps him move the shape to the cookie sheet.
He notices the frown on his son's face. "What's wrong, buddy?"
"His nose, Daddy," Nolan says. "Rudolph's s'posed to have a red nose."
Castle turns to Kate, who's helping Charlie punch out an angel. He raises an eyebrow and she nods, tilting her head towards the cabinets behind her.
"We've got just the thing," he says, rummaging for a moment before pulling out a bag of bright red cinnamon candies. He takes one and presses it into the reindeer. "See?"
His son nods, then starts squirming in Castle's arms. "I make more now."
He sets Nolan back down on the island, then finds a toothpick and starts making holes in the ornaments that are on the pan.
"Mommy?" Charlie asks. "Can I have a candy nose?"
Kate looks to him and he shrugs. "You can try one," she says. "But they're kind of hot. You might not like them."
She pops a candy into her mouth, chews it slowly. "Do you like it?" Kate asks.
Charlie thinks about it for a moment before nodding. "It's good."
Castle grins. "Better than cookie dough?" he asks.
His daughter rolls her eyes, gives him a look far too reminiscent of her mother. "Nothing is better than cookie dough, Daddy."
"I'm sorry, you're right," he surrenders.
Kate grins at him, and he can see the mischief sparkling in her eyes. "There's something I'm wondering, Daddy," she says. "How exactly do you know that ornament dough tastes yucky?"
He clears his throat, can feel his cheeks reddening. "I may or may not...have eaten some. A long time ago."
Their children erupt into giggles. "Did Grams yell at you?" Charlie asks.
"No," he says. "But Alexis did."
They laugh even harder, Kate joining in. "Daddy's silly," Nolan says, earning nods from Kate and Charlie.
"That's very true, baby," Kate says. "But we wouldn't have him any other way, would we?"
The kids shake their heads. "He's the bestest daddy ever," Charlie declares.
Castle grins, fighting tears as their attention turns back to making ornaments. He's not sure about bestest daddy ever, but he is definitely the luckiest guy in the world.