December 14 - 2029

The cabin is splitting at the seams. The six of them and the dog have spent as much time outside as possible, because there isn't really space for them all to squeeze inside the little wooden house. It's freezing, snow in a blanket over the earth since they got here. Jim is in the kids' room with the twins in the bunk bed, and Lily is on a blowup bed on the floor of Kate and Rick's room.

He'd been grumbly about it, annoyed that he wouldn't be able to have Kate all to himself. In return she had threatened to bring Lily in the bed and relegate him to the floor, and he had promptly shut his mouth. It's actually nice, in a way. Two of his three favourite girls are close by, right there when he opens his eyes in the morning.

His youngest daughter is a gangly, grumpy preteen. She's snippish and furious and she turns her back on all of them about eight times a day. And still he loves her so fiercely. She's all Beckett, all stubbornness. It means that she clashes with Kate often, and he has to kiss the tears from his wife's cheeks and promise her that Lily still loves her. It puts him in a difficult position, because he really doesn't want to choose sides, but both of them come to him when they're hurting.

Right now, Jim is outside with the three kids. They skated on the lake this morning, so everybody is bruised and tired. Grandpa is teaching the children how to split logs for kindling, and later he's promised to show them how to set a fire.

"Hi," a sweet voice says. Slender arms slide around his middle, and Rick feels the press of his wife's nose at his spine. He wants to turn and see her, but she's clinging tight. "Are you just watching?"

"I was watching Cosmo."

Their dog is getting to the twilight of his life now. He's ten years old, so Rick has been keeping a careful eye out. He's still his alternately sleepy and goofy self. It's just that bit more difficult for him to jump in and out of the back of the SUV these days.

"He looks pretty good. Enthusiastic." Kate comes to stand beside him instead. Her fingers lace with his and she lays her cheek to his shoulder. "Don't hover, babe. You'll jinx him."

She's right. Rick turns to see his wife and he steals a kiss from her happy mouth. It was a big year for both of them. He had a party for his sixtieth with practically everybody he knows. Alexis and Kate and his mother organised it together, because they know how happy it makes him to be surrounded by people. How he feeds off of other's pleasures.

For Kate's fiftieth last month they kept it much more lowkey. Family dinner at the loft, with the Ryans and Espo and Lanie and their families. All of the people Kate loves most dearly. She's gorgeous still, of course. Slender and graceful and letting strands of grey thread through her hair. There's a timeless class about her now that reminds him of Audrey Hepburn or Ingrid Bergman.

"Snowing." Kate tips her head towards the window. Sure enough, fat snowflakes are drifting down. It doesn't make much of a difference when there's so much snow already laying, but it's beautiful to watch. "Wanna go out in it?"

"Not at all," he says immediately. She laughs and wraps both arms around his bicep, pleased with him. "It's cold out there. And Jim has them busy. I want to enjoy you."

"Oh do you now?" She arches an eyebrow at him.

He growls and goes for her mouth, his hands at her hipbones. He's clumsy with yearning, but Kate's soft kisses gentle him. She tastes like hot cocoa and he moans into her mouth. Kate lifts onto tiptoe in her socked feet, her body surging against his. Her arms slide around his neck and she hums, angling her jaw to deepen the kiss.

The French door opens and a rush of cold air comes howling inside the cabin. They break apart and Kate peeks around him to see what's causing the interruption.

"Mom, I think Cosmo's cold. Can he come in?"

"Of course he can," Kate tells Jake.

Their soft, sweet boy has the dog's leash tight in his gloved fist. Cosmo is wearing snow booties and his grey fleece jacket, looking distinctly unhappy about it. Their son comes inside the cabin and brings the dog with him.

"Can you help him with his coat? We're doing a contest for who's fastest to split the log."

Rick winces and darts a glance outside, but Jim has Reece under control. Their son is adventurous, but they're both wary of that spirited streak tipping over into recklessness. Jake has already hurried back outside to join his siblings.

The dog stands just inside the doorway, dripping snow onto the hardwood and staring at them with huge, doleful eyes.

"Alright, alright." Kate kneels down beside Cosmo and unfastens his coat, easing it off his skinny body. The boots are next and once they're off Cosmo shifts his weight from foot to foot, as if remembering what the floor feels like under his bare paws.

"I hope they hurry up and get the fire going," Rick grumbles.

Since April, since he's officially been in his sixties, he's been wary of becoming a grumpy old man. His wife assures him that that won't happen, that he's not old and he finds too much joy in life to ever be so miserable. It does help to have her so earnest and beautiful, reminds him of all his many blessings.

"Remember when we were here as newlyweds?" Kate comes back to him and tucks her body in close to his. "And I taught you how to light the fire?"

"You sure did," he leers at her, earning himself a twitch of amusement at one corner of her mouth. That first New Years as her husband was fifteen years ago now, but he still remembers every detail. Sometimes when they're alone together in the cabin he imagines he can see the spectres of their younger selves dancing together in the kitchen or lazing in the bath.

Kate is studying him, her head tilted to one side. After a moment she smiles like she's delighted with him. "I fell even harder for you over those few days. Snow madness, I think."

"Must have been," he grins back. When he kisses her the curious work of her fingertips at his ear makes him shiver. They break apart again on a sigh and she pushes on his shoulder until he sits on the couch.

Cosmo takes it as an invitation and hops up to drape himself over their bodies. Rick scratches behind the dog's ears and Kate wraps her hand around his paw and squeezes.

After a little while, Jim and the kids come back inside. They're all freezing, puffing the cold out of their lungs and stamping their numb feet. Lily has her hair in two braids, a wooly hat on her head. She's smiling, a rare sight these days. Her braces make her awkward and reluctant, but she's as beautiful as her mother.

"Hey, Lilypad. Did you win the contest?"

"No, peanut did. It's okay." She shrugs, already whipping out her cell phone to check for any missed texts. There's no wifi here, which their daughter had wailed about when they planned their trip, and a patchy at best cell reception.

It's been wonderful to see her with her nose in a book again, or writing in her journal. She's fiercely protective over it, especially with Rick. He doesn't even get to see any of the creative prompts she does for English class. She lets Kate read them sometimes, but never him. It stings, but he understands.

Lily flops into an armchair and dangles her legs over the side. Her thumbs move furiously over the keypad as she texts and her feet swing, her heels thudding against the side of the chair. Kate untangles herself from beneath the dog and goes to collect everybody's wet shoes and coats, arranging everything on the airer to go in front of the fire later.

The boys are setting up for another Nerf battle, part of the war that's been raging since they received the guns for their birthday in January. Their fights have gotten more and more complex in the following eleven months. Jake is building a barricade out of dining chairs, and Reece is scribbling on what looks like a map of the cabin's layout.

"Dad, can you help me?" he calls out.

Rick heaves himself off the couch, his ageing bones protesting. Every time he stands up now that old skiing injury in his knee pops in protest. It's not painful, not exactly. More like awareness. The sands of time, he calls it, and Kate sighs at him.

He debates for a minute, and then shrugs and gets right down onto the floor with his son. Reece might have to help haul him up again later, but it'll be worth it. "What's up, peanut?"

"I'm doing my plan of attack. Jake won the last battle and I don't wanna lose again."

Rick spends the next fifteen minutes plotting out various strategies and routes through the cabin. Reece is a clumsy oaf of a boy, too tall to keep all of his limbs in order. He's never really going to have stealth on his side, but Rick figures out a couple of ways he can get the drop on his brother.

"Thanks, Dad," Reece says once they have multiple plans all outlined in different colours. "I'm glad you're on my team."

He startles and darts a glance to Jake, not wanting to upset him. Instead, he finds Kate helping their son arrange the dining chairs for maximum protection. Fair enough, then. He's team Reece and she's team Jake. The boys are raring to start the battle, but Kate insists that they get a fire going first.

Jim gathers all three kids by the hearth and walks them through it step by step. It gives them a moment away from prying eyes and Rick laces his fingers with his wife's and leads her to their bedroom. He backs her up against the door and slides a knee between her thighs, opening his mouth at the hollow of her throat. Her hips snap upwards against his and she makes a needy, breathy sound.

"Rick, babe, please. Not fair."

"I can't help it," he says into her jaw. "You're such a great mom. Makes me hot for you."

Kate's fingers sift through his hair, her nails scratching at his scalp. His eyes slam closed and he drops his head to her collar bone. He knows it's cruel of him, that they can't start anything right now, but his guts ache with need.

"I'm so glad I married you," Kate says. She tugs on his ears until he lifts his head to see her. "How you love me, all of us. . .you're amazing."

"Ditto, honey," he says. She accepts his kiss and the splay of his wide hand at her side, but when his tongue touches the seam of her mouth she breaks away from him.

"Our kids are out there. My dad."

"Our dog."

"Right." She lays her palms flat against his chest to hold him off. "I love you so much, Rick Castle, but I need you to keep your hands off me."

She says it so seriously that he can't help the spill of laughter out of him. It makes her laugh too, shaking her head at herself. He kisses her cheek, smooth and warm. "Yes, ma'am."

When they emerge from the bedroom the kids have managed to get the fire going. They rush to tell their parents all about it, talking loudly over the top of one another. Jim is in the armchair, Cosmo curled up in his lap like a much smaller dog.

"Okay, okay, one at a time," Kate says. She sits on the couch and the kids crowd around her, taking it in turn to tell her about the part they had in setting the fire.

Rick heads for the kitchen to fix some hot cocoa for everybody. While he works, he listens to the sweet voices of his children and the more melodious, richer tone of his wife. She makes them feel so important, so valued. They always have her undivided attention. He doesn't know how she does that.

"Dad!" Jake calls out and he turns to see his son. "Come back. You're missing family time."

"Coming, my man." He takes a second, takes a couple of deep breaths, and then he can join them once again.