A/N: So, ugly sweaters for the anonymous reviewer!

"Oh God," Rick muttered, holding the sweater up with a look of disgust on his face. How had his mother ever thought he'd wear such a garish combination of wools? If he didn't know that knitting wasn't in her skill set; he'd have thought that she'd made the offending item herself for it was so awful – bobbly and itchy, complete with wonky stripes and a random block of black (because that was incredibly Christmassy). Catching sight of his muse picking up a present of similar size and shape, wrapped in the same silver snowflake paper, he couldn't help calling out, "No, Beckett, don't open it!"

But it was too late. Her fingertips had already slid along one of the edges of paper and pulled, ripping the package open and displaying a second gaudy jumper that easily rivalled anything Molly Weasley ever made her sons in the Harry Potter series.

"I am so sorry," he told her, rushing across the bullpen as a look of revulsion and confusion spread across her face. Beckett's flat gaze turned upon him, as though she thought that he had knitted the thing that was being passed off as a Christmas sweater. "My mother," Castle explained, pointing off in the direction of the breakroom.

He had probably been most shocked of all the cops on the floor when his mother stepped off the elevator, laden with bags overflowing with gift-wrapped presents that she soon handed out. Beckett's had been left on her desk, the detective herself having been elsewhere.

"What the Hell is this, Castle?"

"A sweater, I think." He shrugged helplessly, picking at the material before holding up his own as evidence of what it was supposed to be.

"Are those meant to be reindeer?" Beckett asked, her nose scrunching as she peered at his own sweater and the oddly shaped lumps interspaced somewhat evenly along one of the rows of stripes.

"God knows," Castle replied, not even bothering to have a look himself. "I don't even know where she got these. I hope she's not bought everyone these ugly sweaters."

"I don't know, Castle, yours doesn't seem so bad. The reindeer could even pass for elephants."

"Well, yours has a better colour scheme," he countered. At least Beckett's pullover didn't combine brick-red, lime green, black, white and brown; hers was more tastefully coloured in dark green, blue and indigo – still bright, but at least the colours went well together.

"Yours doesn't look as itchy."

He stared for a moment, wanting to be sure that his muse wasn't joking before he made his offer.

"You wanna…switch?"

Beckett glanced around the bullpen, searching for his mother's bright ginger hair, before replying with a question of her own, "You think she'll mind?"

Castle snorted. "She'll probably think it's a sign of a sickeningly sweet friendship developing between us."

"Right, because that's going to happen," Beckett said drolly with a roll her eyes that was quickly becoming familiar after just a few months shadowing her. They both heard his mother's voice from around the corner, just a few minutes warning before she would see them both. "What the Hell," Beckett told him, grabbing his woolly sweater from his hands before chucking hers in his direction.

He had only just pulled it on, finding the fit snug but actually surprisingly comfortable over his shirt, when his mother rounded the corner, talking off LT's ear, completely oblivious to the police officer's boredom.

"Detective Beckett, Richard, the two of you look like you should be standing at the head of the table carving a Christmas turkey," his mother exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight at the sight of them. At their blank looks, she continued, "You match!"

Eyes wide, Beckett spun to face Castle, her gaze darting down to flick between both of their jumpers with a growing sense of panic and horror.

"We don't match," Rick assured her, finding that instead of appearing relieved; Kate backed away from his outstretched hands, tugging at the neckline of her sweater to pull it back over her head, ruffling her short, dark red locks into a mess.

"Sorry, the Captain's got a policy on inappropriate officewear," she explained a little tersely, taking the time to fold the pullover back up with enough care to not alert Martha. "This is great though, Martha, thank you."

His mother smiled, stepping forward and enveloping Beckett in a hug that she blatantly didn't expect nor know how to react to. He tried not to smirk at her standing there, arms awkwardly stretched out before folding lightly enough around his mother's frame that it appeared she was barely touching her.

"Merry Christmas, Detective."

"You too, Martha," Beckett replied just a second too slowly, waiting uncomfortably beside her desk as the actress finished her present-giving rounds and said her goodbyes. The second the elevator doors closed on her, Kate dropped into her chair and hung her head in her hands, shamed and embarrassed by her poor acting and excuses.

"So, a policy on officewear?" Castle joked, parroting her own lame reasoning back at her.

"Shut up," she groaned.

"Don't worry about it, Beckett-"

"-Do you think she noticed?"

"My mother wouldn't notice an actual bull in the bullpen. Nor would she care," Rick added, sitting with his chin on his closed fist as he imagined his mother walking straight past an oversized cow munching on the corner of Karpowski's desk.

"A bull? I was that bad?"

"Nah, you were fine right up until she went in to see Captain Montgomery and he put on his festive tie straight away…"

Beckett groaned again, running a hand through her hair.

"Hey, it's not your fault – the sweaters are horrible. I wouldn't want to match me in one of these either."

A/N: Just a short one, but I hope you guys enjoyed it all the same. Let me know what you thought!

Thank you so much to everyone who's been reviewing lately – I love hearing what you guys think!