Twelve

Candy Cane

Returning to her desk with a fresh mug of coffee in her hand, Detective Kate Beckett's mind was preoccupied with thoughts of her current homicide investigation. She'd had a thought about the security camera footage they received and wanted to go back through it to double check something. The last thing she wanted was to miss an obvious clue.

Her mind was so focused on pulling up the video footage that Kate failed to see the present that had been left on her desk until she nearly placed her coffee mug on top of it. "Oh!" she gasped upon realizing that there were two candy canes atop her desk. They hadn't just been randomly placed, either. Someone had put the canes down with their hooks facing each other, and each end pressed together so that they formed the shape of an elongated heart. Knowing only one person could have been responsible, Kate glanced around the immediate area, but didn't see him anywhere in sight. She had only been away from her desk for three or four minutes; he couldn't have gone too far!

Now curious, she placed her mug to one side of her keyboard and stood slowly, surveying the bullpen more carefully that time. Her fiancé wasn't even supposed to be in town; he was on a book tour and not supposed to be back until the following day. Evidently his plans had changed—or he'd sent elves to deliver his candy cane heart message. She would have believed either from him.

After two minutes of searching, she spotted him hiding out in a side hallway, just barely peeking around the corner. Wondering what he was up to, Kate strolled confidently down the hall until she rounded the corner and found him casually leaning up against the wall. He greeted her with a nonchalant, "Hey."

"Hey?" she laughed, still wondering why he was being so weird.

"Did you get my gift?"

"I did. What are you up to?"

He shrugged. "The last tour stop was canceled; the book shop had a major pipe leak and they'll be closed for weeks."

"Oh," she said in a sad tone.

"I know—it's a real shame for them, especially this close to Christmas, but it meant I got to come home and see you a day early."

Love shone in his eyes as he reached out and cupped her elbow gingerly. He was extremely respectful of her "no PDA's in the bullpen" rule but seeing as she hadn't seen him for three weeks, Kate simply couldn't resist. She threw her arms around his shoulders, pulled him in close, and sighed out, "I've missed you," into the open collar of his shirt.

His arms wound around her as he sighed out, "Me too. Me too."

"Hey! Hey! What is this? The make out corner?"

Grumbling at the fact that she'd been caught, Kate pulled out of Rick's embrace and glowered at her coworker, Detective Esposito. "Don't you have financial records to go through?"

"Yeah, and I found something interesting. Wanna take a look?"

"I'll be right there; thanks, Espo." Turning back to Rick, she sighed, "Duty calls, but I'm very glad you're back. I'll try to make it home at a reasonable hour."

"Woah, woah, woah—I'm not leaving," he said in an isn't-it-obvious way. "Not after I haven't seen you in so long. Besides, you need my help."

She let out a laugh. "We need your help? How do you figure that?"

"Espo said."

"I…don't think he did."

"It was implied."

She fought to keep her expression straight but failed and ended up grinning anyway. "Okay, okay—I guess you can listen in on what Epso has to say."

He scoffed. "You say that like it won't be helpful. Remember, Kate? I've been helping you solve cases for years now. I'm an instrumental part of your team."

"Is that so?" she asked, trying to keep her tone skeptical.

When he'd showed up at her precinct four years earlier, Kate had been shocked to say the least. After their Christmas Eve dinner together half a decade prior, she'd honestly never expected to see him again. Yet, there he was, asking her to have coffee with him, and subsequently requesting to shadow her and her team. At that point, she once again figured she'd never seen him again after he completed his three-day shadow, but the thing of it was: he never actually left.

For over a year they'd been nothing more than partners—colleagues. Then, the dynamic between them began to shift and, once she finally let herself, Kate realized the real reason why she'd felt such a connection to him that first evening they'd shared dinner together: he was, without question, the person she was meant to spend her life with. Once she stopped denying it, she was as happy as she'd ever been; they both were.

"Yep, definitely." Bringing his face closer to hers, he wiggled his eyebrows and said, "You'd be lost without me."

Teasing him she said, "Maybe."

He grumbled, but then surprised her by quickly moving his face towards hers and stealing a kiss. She scolded him with his first name, but he merely grinned. "Hey, Espo is the one who called this the make out corner. I just had to make sure it lived up to its name."

"You're crazy."

"Yeah, but you love it."

Despite herself, she laughed and agreed. "Yeah, I guess I do."

A/N - thank you so much for reading! Merry Christmas

as you can see...there was quite a big jump in time in this fic. maybe i'll fill it in someday...maybe. no promises lol