A/N Many of you said that you enjoyed seeing Perlmutter in chapters 8 and 9. I developed such a soft spot for him that I've written a one-shot about his backstory. If you're interested, it's "Lost and Found."

Disclaimer: The only part of Castle that I own is the TV on which I watch the show.

Dad was kind of cranky this morning, even though he was eating waffles with chocolate syrup on them which is one of his favorite breakfasts. "What are you two going to do today, while I'm stuck in that titanically boring eight-hour marathon with marketing and publicity?"

"Oh, maybe some Christmas shopping," Mom said. "Gonna meet Alexis for lunch. You know, things like that."

"You're going without me? I can't believe it. I'm the guru of Christmas shopping, Beckett. I have a black belt in Christmas shopping. I love Christmas shopping."

Mom put her coffee mug right down and wiggled her finger at Dad. "I don't think gurus have black belts, Castle. Even if they did, you couldn't come with us because we're shopping for you."

Then Dad looked happy instead of cranky and squirted a whole lot more chocolate on his waffle. "Oh well, then, that's different. Shop away." And then he licked all his fingers and kissed Mom and me and said bye he'd see us later.

But you know what? As soon as Dad left Mom called Alexis up.

"If your Dad asks, you and I had lunch today at Community Table, okay? I have to pick up his Christmas present and it's complicated. It's going to take a while and I don't want him to know." Then Alexis must have been talking because Mom didn't say anything for a while. "No, I'm not telling you. No. Absolutely not. Your father will worm it out of you." She was quiet again for a little bit. "Nope. Thanks for covering for me, though."

"Alexis has a worm that Dad is going to get? Why does he want a worm? I thought only birds like worms."

Mom ran up the stairs with me and got me dressed fast. "I had to make up a story for Dad so that he wouldn't know what we're really doing today. I already got his Christmas present, but it's a really big surprise and you and I are going to drive out to the Hamptons right this minute to fix it for him, okay?"

I especially love going in the car when Mom drives because she does a lot of cool stuff and she can pass other cars like crazy and she plays all kinds of different music. But today she was singing along very loudly with something on the radio that was horrible.

"I don't like that song. I don't want you to kiss Santa. You should kiss Dad. And I don't want you to tickle Santa under his beard like in that song."

She kept on singing it, so I decided to make a lot of noise.

"PPPFFF NAH NAH NAH."

She looked at me in the mirror for a second but then she started singing again. I had to take drastic measures. That's something I learned from Gram. Drastic measures. It's what you do when you really hate something. So I screamed as loud as I could and tried to look cranky like Dad did this morning.

Mom looked at me in the mirror again. "You don't like this song, Eliot? Want me to stop?"

"Yahyahyahyahyah."

"Sounds like you mean business. I won't sing it anymore."

I waited for her to look in the mirror again and when she did I smiled my best smile.

When we drove up to our house there was a truck in the driveway and two men were inside. Mom got out of the car, so the truck guys got out, too.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting."

"No, ma'am," one of the men said. "We just got here. Do you need a few minutes to get ready for us?"

"Nope, come on in. It's so cold, can I make you some coffee?"

"Those are magic words. Thank you."

"That's what Mom always says about coffee. It's magic."

The two guys were carrying a long package all wrapped up in bubbly stuff and after we got our coats off we all went to the room at the back where there are a lot of games. It looked different than when I saw it before because someone had made a big empty space on the floor that was the same shape as the package. "I'll leave you two to it. Eliot and I will be back soon with your coffee. Holler if you need anything."

She made the coffee right way and we took it to them, but then we went back to the living room. The guys didn't holler, but whatever they were doing was so noisy that we had to move to Mom and Dad's room in the other end of the house. She read while I was on my play mat, but I fell asleep. I woke up because I heard one of the guys call Mom's name, and she scooped me up. We followed him back to the room with the games and whoa! It was the piano in the floor like at FAO Schwarz. Mom clapped and I tried to clap and the two guys looked so happy.

"This is fantastic. My husband is going to flip out. It's his Christmas present."

"You mean it's staying here? Wow! This is the greatest surprise ever, Mom."

"Would you like to give it a try?"

"Yeah, Mom, do it!"

"You know what? You two did all the work. Why don't you try it first? It's harder than it looks, but it's so much fun."

"Really?"

"Really. Go ahead, music men."

They got on and they looked at each other. And then they said one, two, three and started going and it was 'Chopsticks'! Just like Mom and Dad and I played in the store. When they finished they were bending over and laughing and breathing loud.

"That was awesome," one of them said.

"Wait 'til you see this," Mom said. She passed him her phone because she secretly a made a video of them on the piano in the floor. "Go ahead and email it to yourselves. You should have it."

They said thank you and were picking up their tool bags when Mom said, "Would you mind returning the favor? It will take just a minute."

"Not at all."

"Here's my phone again. If you could just start the video when I nod my head?"

"Sure."

Mom held me tight and got on the floor piano. And then she nodded and started to go up and down those keys, and at the exact same time she was singing, like she did in the store but a different song.

"We wish you a Merry Christmas,

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

And a very BIG year!"

"Mom! You made a joke! Because Dad said that movie he loved with the floor piano was called 'Big'. That's a good joke."

We bowed and then she took my hand and put hers and mine on her lips and we blew everybody a kiss. We all went to the front door and Mom said thank you and gave the two men some money and then we all left.

While we were riding home Mom said, "What do you think, Eliot, is Dad going to like that?"

"Yayayayayaya!"

"I think so, too. But remember, this is our secret, so don't tell Dad."

"Never! I will never tell the secret."

When we got to the loft, uh-oh, guess who was already home?

"Hi, you two. Christmas shopping, eh? So where are the bags?"

"No snooping, Castle."

"I can't snoop since you're empty handed. Where did you hide my presents?"

"Not telling."

"What if I kiss you?"

"Mom, yes, kiss him. Kiss Dad instead of Santa!"

But before he could, she grabbed him and gave him the biggest smooch. "Still not telling." And she blinked her eyes at him and her eyelashes went fast. "But believe me, it's a biiigggg, biiiigggg surprise."

"Mom! Don't give him a hint!"

A/N Many thanks from Eliot (and me, his translator) for all the reviews, follows and favorites. He loves them.