A/N: Like I said in the other Christmas fic, I am way too busy right now to update daily…I hope I'll manage two chapters tomorrow but I can't promise so yeah… enjoy whenever you can…if you can…According to your reviews and alerts and favouriting and stuff you do enjoy it which makes me very happy. So, go on and enjoy some more. Also, JennaBennet, I'm sorry you didn't get this before you left but you know, I do have work to do during the day :P I'll see you son =)

Day 10 – Frost

Sometimes winter in New York was no fun at all. Sometimes it could get not only below freezing and snowy and all but actually really cold and frosty and misty and it wasn't nice at all. Today was one of these days. The fog was hanging low, the sun literally had no chance at all to get through all the clouds and the water drops and the snow was getting really dirty now and to make matters worse frost had covered everything overnight.

The streets were very slippery and Beckett had to watch every single step that she made to not fall over (she'd very irrationally put on her heels because they were comfy and warm but not the best thing to walk on slippery ground…).

What bothered Beckett the most though was the fact that it wasn't even a nice and dry cold but a very humid one. Cloths didn't help against it because the little water drops in the fog managed to get through every single pore of every single piece of clothing and it made her shiver.

The precinct didn't help much either. It was warm and heated and nice but her clothes didn't really warm up and all she wanted was a nice cup of coffee or even chocolate made or brought by Castle just because he could warm her up with just a look but he wasn't there yet so she just got up and made her own cup.

He came in about two hours after her. She really didn't know why he always came in so late. There was literally nothing to do for the guy at home. He wasn't even writing even though he should and he woke up with her, sometimes even got up with her and yet he was always two hours later than her.

"Jeez, it's freezing…" he moaned and sat down while moaning some more.

"Are you all right?" she asked and he shook his head.

"My legs hurt…"

"What, from the ice rink?"

"Don't laugh. They feel terrible, like a stick has been rammed into them and I can't do anything with them any more…"

"Aw, you poor soul you."

"Sounds like you're perfectly fine…" he grunted and Beckett laughed.

"Of course I am. I am exercising enough to not get muscle pain."

Castle grumbled some more and didn't realise that Gates was standing behind him. Beckett only just noticed too and her heart skipped a beat. How much had the Captain heard?

"So…you went to the ice rink?" Gates asked and Beckett wanted to sink into a whole in the ground and Castle actually jumped up a bit.

"We uhm…I…I mean, I…"

Gate's scrutinised him with a judging look like she so often did and Castle had a hard time finding the words he wanted so Beckett helped him out.

"Yes Sir, we were ice skating. He initially wanted to go with his daughter but Alexis was busy with her friends so he asked me because he knows that I am quite fond of ice skating and we didn't want to waste those tickets so we went."

Gates looked from Castle to Beckett and back, her eyebrows raised and Beckett was sure she wasn't going to let it go but the Captain finally sighed silently and shook her head.

Beckett released a breath she didn't realise she was holding and then asked, "Is there anything you wanted, Sir?"

"What? Oh, yes. You've got a cold one," Gates informed her and gave her the address to the murder scene.

The frost was still covering everything and the drive to the scene was a nightmare but they eventually made it, got all the information, rode back and started their investigation. It was a day like every other at the twelfth and in the evening Kate was looking forward to her present. She'd opened the little bag in the morning and out fell a bubble that you could throw into water to make a bubble bath and she really needed a bath after being cold all day.

Beckett had told Castle to go home earlier not because of the bubble bath – although that was part of the reason – but because she could feel Gate's eyes on them. She feared that her Captain was suspecting something and they needed to make her realise that everything was the same old, same old.

When she got back to the loft a couple of hours later she could smell the bubble bath as soon as Castle opened the door for her.

"Lavender…" she recognised and he nodded.

"I thought you might have guessed the present and it's all ready for you. All you need to do is slip into the warm water and enjoy."

"That sounds absolutely wonderful. Thank you, Castle."

"Anytime."

"You know what though?"

"No…"

"Are your legs still hurting?"

"Yeah…nothing's changed…"

She smiled cheekily and leaned closer to him, her lips over his ears and she whispered, "You know…a hot bath might just do the trick," and she could hear him catch his breath.

Beckett laughed quietly, took Castle's hand and dragged him to the bathroom where everything was covered in Christmas confetti and the tub was full of bubbles once they both got rid of their clothes they slipped into the warm water, relaxing their muscles and enjoying the warmth.