CHAPTER FOUR

Castle had his arm draped over Kate's shoulder and was using the stick that she took from a small sapling that she'd been able to break off near the ground level. They were following the edge of the ravine that Castle had tumbled down to its bottom.

They'd been shuffling along slowly. Kate could tell Castle was having difficulty because he was putting a lot of weight on her shoulder. And he was limping badly. She could also tell by the sweat on his forehead, even in this cold, that he was having a hard time.

Kate never looked at her watch. She didn't want to know how long it was taking them, but her internal clock told her they had been moving for around fifteen minutes and they hadn't gotten very far. She took another quick look at her phone, but there was still no signal where they were.

Suddenly, Rick pulled his arm away from her shoulder, and let himself ungracefully flop to the ground. He sat on the snow covered ground, grimacing. His face showed the pain he was dealing with. She kneeled down next to him.

"Okay, we can rest for a few minutes. Catch our breath." Kate took his hands in hers.

He shook his head. "No, I'm not going any farther. I can't. I can't endanger your life anymore with my injury. You need to go on while you're still fit enough to do so. Maybe, once you get back to the lodge you can bring back a search party to pick me up."

"We have to keep going." Kate squeezed his hand. "There's no telling how long it would take me to find the lodge. Then put together a rescue party and find our way back? If you just sit here, you'll probably freeze to death."

Castle turned and gave her a weak smile. "Better just me than the both of us." He leaned in and kissed her cold chapped lips. "I want you to know that Alexis and you were the best things that ever happened to me. I can't say I have any regrets because I was blessed with being able to wake up with you every morning, and know that you loved me."

She punched him in the arm. "Ow." He cried out. "What'd you do that for?"

"Because you're being a jerk." She shifted until she was sitting in the snow next to him. She sighed as she leaned against his shoulder.

He frowned. "What are you doing?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "What does it look like I'm doing? If this is where it ends, I at least want to get as comfortable as I can."

Rick looked on her in horror. "No! You don't understand. You can still get up and find a way back to the lodge. You can survive this."

She grabbed his chin and turned his face toward her. "If you're staying here, then so am I. Don't you get it? We are together, and we are staying together. If you want to just give up and sit here until you freeze to death. Then I will to."

"Don't be stupid, Kate. There is no reason for you to sit here next to me and freeze."

"Sure there is. The best reason of all."

His brow furrowed. "What's that?"

"You're here and I love you. And as long as you are here, so will I be. I will not leave you behind."

"You are a devious one, Katherine Castle. You know I won't let you sit here and freeze with me."

She smirked. "I was pretty much counting on that. But if just sitting here was the way you wanted to go out, I would accept that too. Now get up off the ground and let's drag our sorry butt's out of here."

Castle, conceding to Kate dominant will in this case, managed to stand up again with the aid of his walking stick and her strong arms. They then resumed their walk through hell.

Kate pointed over toward the ravine's wall. "We need to keep checking that as we move along. We need to find a way that will be easy enough for us to climb up out of here.

They'd been walking for maybe ten minutes when Castle tapped Kate on the shoulder and pointed up toward the top of the ravine. She let her eyes follow his direction. A smile came over her face.

"Ohmygod, he's so cute." Kate gushed. They were staring up at what looked like a young deer standing up top near the edge of the ravine, and he was looking down at them.

Castle looked at the deer, then at her. "How do you know it's a he?"

"He has antlers, though he looks kind of young to have antlers."

Castle shook his head. "He's just standing there watching us."

Kate chuckled. "I guess we don't look very threatening down here."

The pair moved along, but the young deer kept pace with them. Sometimes he would move ahead, but then he'd come back and look down at them.

The snow had finally stopped, but it was still pretty cloudy so the light to see by was not great. But Kate couldn't shake the feeling that there was something different about that deer, aside from being too young for antlers.

He continued to keep pace with them for the next twenty minutes or so, which surprised both of them. Suddenly the deer stopped, and faced them both. It felt like he had arrived where he had planned to be.

They started to continue walking the way they were going, but after they'd gone about twenty feet, the deer ran up level with their position, then turned and went back to the place he'd stopped at before.

Castle looked at Kate with a confused look on his face. "Do you think he was trying to tell us something?"

Kate shrugged. "You stay here, I'll go back and see if I can figure out why he's acting that way."

Rick, with both hands now on his walking stick, watched as Kate went back to the position where the deer was now standing. The little deer seemed to bob his head like he was trying to tell her something.

She looked at the side of the ravine in front of her and she let out of happy whoop. Kate quickly ran back to where Rick was standing. She grabbed his arm.

"You won't believe this, but there are a series of shallow cuts in the side of the ravine right there that are almost like a set of stairs."

"Do you think they might be something the locals cut into the side of the ravine to get up and down?" Castle wondered.

"Who cares!" She slipped his arm around her neck and shoulder again, and they began their trek toward the embankment, and hopefully up and out of this damn ravine.

It wasn't an easy climb for the two-headed, three-legged creature that they had become. But after a couple a close calls, and some real sweat producing effort, they found themselves on the top.

They still weren't sure where they were, and there was no guarantee that just moving vaguely northward would put them on a course that would intersect the lodge. But their spirits were high and some of the depression had lifted.

Kate looked up and saw the young deer standing about twenty feet away from them. She couldn't keep the tear from sliding down her cheek.

"Thank you." She nodded at the little critter. She noted that he seemed to have a thicker coat than what she would expect to see. She wasn't aware that a deer's coat thickened up that much to adapt to the changes in the weather. But then what did she know about deer anyway?

The young deer shook his antlers back and forth, then turned and began walking amongst the trees moving basically northwest. He only had gotten about another twenty feet when he turned his head toward them. He trotted back that twenty feet and watched them, as if waiting for Rick and Kate to begin following him.

The two of them looked at each other then shrugged their shoulders and began to follow the little fellow. They had no better route to choose from.

"Do you think he might just take us to where ever his den, or whatever they call home, is?" Rick looked over at Kate.

"Yeah, like I would know." She glared at him. "He's been our savior so far, no reason to stop trusting him now."

They walked as best they could amongst trees and the underbrush. Rich was really hurting so their progress was rather slow. The young deer would lead, but he would often have to come back and give Rick and Kate a chance to keep up.

Rick was literally sweating from the pain. Kate was getting worried.

Then not five minutes later, Kate could see lights shining through the trees. The little deer stepped behind a large tree and just looked at the two of them, then over toward the lights. She could just see a dark outline of a large building just visible between the trees.

Once they broke through the cover of the trees, they could see they were near the south end of the Woodland Lodge and Resort.

Kate looked back and saw their little friend standing partially behind a tree trunk looking at them. Tears were rolling down her eyes.

Castle nodded and addressed the little deer. "Thank you my friend, I will never forget this night for as long as I live."

The light coming from the Lodge allowed them a little better view of their rescuer. Kate furrowed her brow. "Oh, I think he's been hurt, Rick."

He took her hand in his. "Why do you say that?"

Kate shook her head. "His nose looks like it was bloody."

Suddenly they heard a rustle of leaves and turned and watched as their little friend ran off in the opposite direction, made a single leap into the air, and flew off into the night sky.

"That wasn't blood." Rick said with a big smile on his face.

Kate's mouth was hanging open. "That was… that was… It couldn't be. Deer can't fly."

Rick was chuckling. "No they can't. But eight tiny reindeer, and sometimes a ninth, can." He put his arm around her and hugged her tightly. "Best Christmas ever!"

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EPILOUGE:

Kate had managed to get Rick back into the lodge in one piece, but he needed medical attention right away. Due to the out of the way location of the lodge, The Woodland Lodge and Resort kept a small medical room staffed by a rotation of medical students getting extra credits toward their degree as a general practitioner.

They weren't equipped to deal with serious emergencies, or unusual problems, but most of the minor injuries and such could be handled by the person on duty. If they ran into something beyond their studies, they called in an emergency helicopter for an air lift to the nearest hospital that could handle the emergency.

Luckily a sprained ankle, even a badly sprained ankle fell within the purview of the med student on duty.

After treating both Rick and Kate for some minor frostbite, with a nice warm shower and some basic medicines to fight off any cough or cold problems. Rick was then fitted with a walking cast and a single crutch, then sent up to their room to rest and relax.

They had originally planned to stay only through the twenty sixth. So Kate made a call to the airline and was able to switch their flight to one on the twenty eighth. There was no problem extending their stay with the lodge. So, while Rick was somewhat slow of foot, he could still get around enough for them to enjoy a couple of extra days at the lodge.

As it turned out, the two of them seldom left their room. But that bearskin rug sure got a work out.

One afternoon while they were in the restaurant having a nice midday meal Rick reached over and took Kate's hand in his.

"It's been two days since our ordeal in the great outdoors and I haven't heard you say a single word about it."

"And you won't. What's there to say?" She shrugged her shoulders.

He smirked. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it might be worth talking about how we were saved by…"

She had placed her hand over his mouth. "Don't say it. Don't you dare say it." She reached up and pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "It's bad enough I'm going to have to live with the idea that I imagined a child's fairy tale might have had some part in our rescue. But that doesn't mean I have to talk about it… ever."

Castle chuckled. "Don't be a sore loser, Kate."

She shook her head. "No, I figure if I give it a few months I'll be able to convince myself that I hallucinated all of it due to the stress we were put through just saving ourselves."

Rick had to hide his smile. "Oh, and how do you figure you'll be able to do that?"

Kate waved her hand in the air. "Easy, we came across a yearling deer and in the hope that following the animal could get us out of where we were, we just followed it. It was just our good fortune that the little deer came close enough to the lodge so we would see it."

Castle shook his head slowly. "Okay, but how do you explain…"

Kate held up her hand. "It was just a young deer, it did not have a red nose, and it most certainly didn't fly off into the night." She took a drink from her glass. "Now if you want to talk about anything else, I'm here to listen. But if you want to keep blathering about a child's Christmas song then I'm going back to our room."

Rick put both hands out while he was laughing. "Okay fine, I'll let it go… for now. But just know that I will never forget this, and I will never let you forget it either. I think that this must be your punishment for not believing in Santa as a three year old."

She glared at him, and Rick could have sworn that he heard her growl at him.

They spent most of the time left before they had to leave for the airport sprawled on the bearskin rug in front of the large fireplace. Somehow they didn't feel much need to leave the room very often.

Now they were on their way to the airport to catch their plane back home. Kate drove because Rick's ability to deal with the auto's pedals was severely compromised.

The plane ride back to New York was nearly as pleasant as the ride up, less the extra Christmas additions. Since they planned to take a cab back to the loft they didn't restrict their imbibing. So by the time they touched down, they were both in a good mood. Neither were drunk, but then neither were sober either.

Rick was just allowing himself a little pain relief, while he was sure Kate was trying to 'forget' part of their adventure. He would back off for a while about their meeting with a Christmas celebrity, but he was going to file it away to use as ammunition the next time Kate decided to make fun of one of Castle's fond beliefs.

They made it back to the loft just as the sun was setting. Rick's mood had picked up considerably. While he had loved going away with Kate, there were parts of that trip that weren't quick so nice.

He smiled as some of the tender loving care that Kate had administered to him the last couple of days floated past his memory. He glanced over at her and noticed the look on her face and figured she was remembering those moments too.

He stopped before he opened the door and turned toward his beloved bride of nearly eight years.

"I know that this trip didn't quite end up the way you planned it, but I have to tell you that barring the injury, it was a really enjoyable time."

She leaned into him. "Yeah, for me too. But then I've always enjoyed doing stuff with you." She smirked. "And to you."

He turned toward the door but she pulled him back to her and kissed him like she hadn't done so just a few minutes ago in the taxi. "Next time let's forgo the injuries. They tend to cramp our style."

He grinned. "Works for me." He unlocked the door to the loft and pushed the door open.

"Surprise!" The multi-vocal greeting startled both of them.

Rick and Kate stared at the room full of people in confusion. Everyone was there. Alexis and Max stood up from the couch. Jim got up from one of the side chairs, and Martha stayed seated but she was the most vocal of the group.

Kate knowing she looked like an unmade bed, in her sweats and her hair pulled back in a messy bun, tried to hide behind Rick.

Castle stood there for several moments with his mouth hanging open. Everyone was here?

It took another couple swallows to get his voice to respond.

"What are all of you doing here? I thought we were going to do our Christmas tomorrow?"

Alexis took over the proceedings. "Well, we've always done the stockings on the mantel the night before, and then the presents under the tree in the morning, we all decided we'll do it that way this year too. Just a week later."

"But all the stockings and the stuff I have for them aren't even up yet?" Castle whined.

Alexis rolled her eyes, which somehow looked kind of familiar to Rick. She stepped back and directed his attention to the fireplace mantel, which held six stockings hanging from it.

"Oh come on dad, I've known all you hiding places for years." She gave Kate a wink. "And an Elf who knows the loft very well, helped me out."

Rick whirled and squinted his eyes at his grinning wife. "Is nothing sacred anymore?"

Kate closed the gap between them, took Rick by the arm, and helped him over toward the couch. Rather he wished to go there or not.

She kissed him and sat next to him. Alexis took up her normal task of passing out the stockings.

Everyone had a stocking, and as a rule they contained small fun type of presents. Nothing that cost a lot of money. Usually the most expensive item would be a nice pen, or small piece of jewelry.

The chatter was chaotic and humorous as the little presents were handed out.

After everyone received the contents of their stockings, and everyone was settled, Alexis and Kate brought out the Christmas cookies and began filling mugs with either hot chocolate or coffee depending on their preference.

After everything had settled down. Alexis brought up what everyone else was curious about.

"So dad, what's the story with you and a sprained ankle?" She pointed at the walking boot he was still wearing. "I never really got the whole story from Kate."

Rick glanced at Kate, then turned toward his daughter. "What did Kate tell you?"

Alexis scrunched up her face. "Well, she said you went out for a romantic walk in the moonlight." He nodded. "Then after you'd been out for a while the weather turned and some kind of snow squall blew in."

Rick nodded. "Yeah, and the snow and wind were enough to have us lose our way back to the lodge."

Alexis nodded. "And you wandered around and fell off a cliff?"

He chuckled. "No not a cliff. I slipped off the edge of a ravine and tumbled down to its bottom. Kate discovered what had happened and she slid down to the bottom of the ravine to help since I had badly sprained my ankle."

"And the snow covered up your trail so you didn't really know where you were going?"

Rick nodded again. "That's right."

Alexis spread her hands out and shrugged. "So how did you ever find you way back?"

Kate's eyes grew big as she noted to huge grin on Rick's face.

"Castle!"

FIN

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A/N: So there you have it. Everyone home and safe. Thanks to all for the continued support over this past year, and I hope for each and every one a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.

All Readers are Appreciated, Review if you wish (Remember Santa's watching)