December 20 - Wind in hair

"You haven't said anything about your Christmas party," she murmurs, moving around him to get to her wardrobe. "I thought that was your Rodgers family tradition?"

She pulls out the ubiquitous white shirt, shrugs it on as his fingers trail over her hips, scale her ribs. Kate bats his hand away to button up her shirt and he finally lifts his eyes to meet hers. But he doesn't say anything.

"Castle?"

"I don't want a bunch of strangers in my place for Christmas," he says finally. He looks apologetic, but that might be the best present he's ever given her.

Relief. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to do the party with him - as us or as him with herhelp. "Okay. No strangers. But I feel like we need to do something with your mother - include her, you know?"

He shrugs at her, but he's at least nodding.

"Castle. I don't want to leave her out," she warns carefully. They had such a good weekend with her father, and maybe it was strategic, adding people slowly to their mix, but she doesn't want to ignore his mother just because the woman will be at the loft with them on Christmas Eve.

Kate needs to be purposeful.

Castle snags her hand. "Maybe just dinner? Invite everyone over here tomorrow for dinner together," he says, and his eyes slowly light up. "Yeah. That's perfect. Just our precinct family with Mother and Alexis. That way if it really is the end of the world, we'll all be together - so Ryan and Jenny and Esposito and Lanie and-"

"That sounds good," she hedges, ignoring the end of the world comment. "You might want to tell them about it first. See if they can make it, Castle."

"They can. I've been talking to the boys about a Christmas thing already."

She huffs softly and reaches for her cardigan, shrugging it on in deference to the cold she can already feel leaching in her windows.

Suddenly his hands are on her hips as he sits propped up against her dresser, tugging her into the vee of his legs. She balances with her fingertips at his thighs and leans in to his expectant kiss, a soft and warm good morning.

"Plan your Christmas dinner, Castle. I have to solve a murder."

"Please do."

Back at his place, Castle scrubs at his wet hair and shakes his head, glances in the mirror. He looks less tired and worn out than he felt most of this week, and he has a sinking suspicion it's because he slept in her bed.

Is he having dreams he doesn't remember? Kate hasn't said anything about him waking her up with them, but it's possible. He had dreams after they were locked in that freezer; he never recalled them in the morning, but he'd been ragged-looking. Like his sleep was continuously interrupted.

Could be. Maybe he'll worm his way into her bed again tonight.

He grins.

Time for Advent.

Castle pads barefoot into his closet to pick out a shirt, shrugs it on over his undershirt, tucking it into his jeans carefully. In his bedroom, he's still struggling with his belt when he flips open the window with his nail.

Whoa.

Wait.

Is that a real finger?

He hunches over his dresser to get a better look in the window and cautiously pokes at the thing inside.

Rubbery.

Whew.

Castle reaches in and pulls out a rubber thumb, a kind of skin, actually, so that the thumb fits over his natural one and-

Holy shit.

He laughs out loud as the top of the thumb flashes red, a light somewhere inside blinking, and then he remembers.

He calls Kate even as he's heading for his laptop, waking it up, running his finger impatiently over the track pad of the mouse, and then she answers.

"Hey there."

"You got me a blinking thumb."

"Um. Yes."

"Is this from Drake's magic shop?" he asks, a little breathless because maybe it isn't, and if not, that is fine, it's fine, really, but if it is-

"Yes."

"Oh, you're perfect." And maybe tonight that one thing with ice cubes?

She laughs over the phone, a soft and dry sound. "Okay, Castle. Hurry up with my coffee."

"You already had coffee."

"Doesn't mean I don't want it again."

"Yeah, you do," he mutters throatily, has to hang up.

He annoys the crap out of her all day with those damn magic tricks. He came into work an hour after her, having gone home to shower and change and look in his calendar, and so yes, it's her own fault, but-

"Castle," she says carefully, raising an eyebrow.

"This is the coolest thing ever," he says with relish, making the fake thumb light up. He hits one fist against the other one and the light disappears. Then he opens his fist and the red clown nose rolls off his palm and drops to the floor.

She has to admit, his sleight of hand and misdirection are quite well done. It actually fools her eyes into believing he's squeezed the red nose in his fist so tightly that it lights up his thumb.

A little bit.

She can suspend reality long enough to let the magic do its trick on her. Especially for him.

"Castle," Ryan says hurriedly, coming back into the bullpen with something in his hands. Kate studies his face, the tension in his shoulders, and wonders why Ryan is sharing evidence with Castle first. "Hey man, you gotta explain this to me again. I don't get it."

Explain-

"The coin funnel, Ryan. Come on. Easiest trick ever."

Oh no.

He brought magic tricks from home. Not just the light up thumb?

"Castle," she says evenly, narrowing her eyes. "Did you bring. . .more than the thumb with you?"

He jerks his head back to look at her, then slowly turns to Ryan. "Walk away. That's her scary face."

And then they both break for the conference room.

Kate stands up from her desk slowly and watches them enter, sees past them to Esposito who is shuffling cards.

Oh no. Not-uh. They have a case.

He gets sent home. How embarrassing.

Sent home not by Captain Gates, who is snickering from her office, he is sure, but by his-

Girlfriend?

Ug. What a terrible word. His girlfriend. She's not - she's more than - it's not that he doesn't want her to be-

She snags him by the pocket of his coat before he can get all the way inside the elevator and she leans in to press a quick kiss to his mouth.

"Behave. I'll be home in a couple hours."

"Still working on Dos Coffee?"

"We've got the ex-boyfriend coming in for questioning, and I can't have you pulling doves out of your sleeves."

"I'm honored you think me so proficient. But I've never mastered live animals. Unless you want to include yourself-"

She shoves him into the elevator.

"Wait," he pushes his hand between the doors. "Yours or mine?"

"Yours."

His mother interrupts the magic by coming home a day early. But Kate slaps his hands away - only to retaliate with her own hand coming over his - oh my, Kate Beckett, that is so not cool.

Then she brushes her fingers over his shoulder as she stands to greet his mother, kissing cheeks and hugging and dragging Martha's suitcase inside the door.

"Mother," he says, warm as he can make it when she's ruined the mood yet again. "How was Florida?"

"Boring. A complete snooze. And I mean that literally. Everyone in Florida is so old," she complains, tugging her lime green gloves off her fingers.

Kate laughs softly, warmly, and takes his mother's coat, hands it back to Castle to deal with. He sighs and hangs it up in the closet, hears Martha getting settled on the couch with Kate, the two of them talking. He takes his time, zoning out of their conversation just so he can hear the rhythm of their words, get a sense for the familiarity and friendliness.

He's glad to hear that it sounds honest, not faked. Kate likes his mother, has always been more sympathetic than he has, really, but after that disastrous dinner, he's wondered.

"Oh, darling, Kate says you're having a dinner party this year," his mother calls out.

He shuts the coat closet and comes back to them on the couch with a smile. "A dinner party. I thought it would be nice to have a more intimate crowd."

"That sounds magnificent," she says. "And I have some splendid recipes for appetizers. Although you will have it catered, I suppose?"

Kate looks astonished, but he's already nodding. "Of course."

"Catered?" she asks, glancing between them. And then her face blanks and smooths out. "Okay. Right. Of course."

He grins because he knows that's knocked her down a little, but this is a Castle Christmas party.

He's not going to be serving it himself. That's ridiculous.

"Think you can find a caterer this late?" Kate asks carefully.

His mother is already rising from the couch for her purse. "I know just the woman. She's a saint in the kitchen and I'm sure she'll do it. Richard, you remember Clara?"

And already his mother is digging into a plan, spreading out her datebook on the kitchen bar and grabbing the house phone to call. Kate looks completely discombobulated on the couch, but he leans in and kisses her softly.

"This is what Christmas looks like with the Rodgers family," he says quietly, a laugh in his voice that he knows she can hear.

She grimaces but nods. "I did. . .ask for it," she says finally.

Yeah, she did.

Kate pushes on his shoulders and stands up, heads for his mother.

He loves her. She never gives up.