And Everything Nice

3. Decorating

Still drying her hair, Kate wandered through the office, grinning softly as she spied Castle through the bookshelves. He was standing in front of a small tower of boxes, about waist high, diligently working at untangling a string of colored lights. The sounds of Mannheim Steamroller drifted out from the surround sound, filling the loft with the spirit of Christmas. Lily wasn't far from her Daddy, babbling quietly to herself as she batted and swatted at the buttons and spinners on the rim of her bouncer.

Pausing in the doorway, Kate took a moment to observe her husband as he was intently focused on his task. A squeal alerted her to the fact Lily had spotted her. The little girl jumped and wiggled in her bouncer, smiling that adorable gummy smile. Kate smiled back and wiggled her fingers toward Lily, before ducking back through their shared office space and their bedroom, hurriedly finishing up in the en suite bathroom. The shower had been needed after her numbingly long day, which had been filled with stacks upon stacks of paperwork. Only that brief visit by her husband and daughter, bearing hot cocoa, had helped her make it through all the tedium.

Now, she was home and ready to relax with her family. It still amazed her how much her life had changed over the last few years. She owed a lot to Castle. If he hadn't been as persistent, weaseling his way into her work and life, not giving up on her, she might not have this happy home life.

Kate put her hair up in a messy bun, and trotted back out, eager to join in on the decorating. It had been a long ten plus years since she'd actually enjoyed the activity. Her mother's death in the early part of January, when the Beckett family Christmas decorations had still been up, had put a damper on the festive holiday. Even after getting together with Castle, it had taken a while for her to truly feel that festiveness and joy again.

Little bright blue eyes spotted her first.

Lily squealed with delight from her bouncer, holding up her little hands.

Smiling, Kate hurried over and bent down to pick up her daughter. Lily babbled happily and nestled into her neck, pleased to be snuggling with her Mommy.

"How's it going, babe?" Kate asked, depositing herself and her charge on the sofa, more than ready to kick back and watch Castle fight with the string of lights. It always promised to be an entertaining show.

"Fine," he grunted, eyes narrowed, lips pressed in a thin line. A little line had formed between his eyebrows.

"You sure you don't need help?" Kate asked.

"I got it," Castle asserted, flirted his gaze up to look at her from across the piles of boxes. "Besides, you've got your hands full right now."

"Yeah, I do," Kate smiled warmly, nuzzling Lily and pressing an affectionate kiss to the little girl's crown. She sighed, in both contentment and resignation. "But I really should help you decorate."

"Kate, no, it's fine," Castle insisted. "I've got this."

Clutching Lily to her chest, Kate stood up and shook her head. "You've been struggling with the same string of lights for—what?—an hour?"

"No," he frowned, "surely not?" His eyes jumped over towards the digital clock on the surround sound system. "Whoa! Yeah… how'd that happen?"

Kate chuckled and lowered Lily back into her bouncer. The little girl didn't seem particularly pleased to be separated from her Mommy's warm embrace, but thankfully didn't create a scene. She merely slapped at the buttons on the bouncer, making as much noise as possible.

"She gets these dramatics from you," Kate said, glancing at Castle.

"Me?" he hooted in protest. "What was it you were telling me about your youthful antics the other day?"

"I was in my teens," Kate reminded him. "Let's just hope Lily doesn't follow in my footsteps when she's that age."

"Well, I'm sure Jim would say it would be payback," Castle commented, resuming his battle with the string of lights.

"No doubt," Kate concurred, remembering having that exact same discussion with her father the other day.

"Mother was a little disappointed Alexis didn't return the favor," Castle continued, unheeded. "She was a good girl. But alas, the fact alone made up for the lack of any childhood rebellion."

Kate understood immediately. "Boys."

Castle narrowed his eyes and his nostrils flared. "Yeah. Boys," he grumbled out with all the loathing one might have for your worst enemy.

"Well, we're a ways off from those worries with this one," Kate hoped. She bent down and ran her fingers over the fuzz of Lily's auburn locks. "Be a good girl now, and let Mommy and Daddy decorate the tree."

Lily looked up at for a long moment, before making a noise that almost sounded like begrudging agreement. She was soon distracted once again by the spinners and buttons on her bouncer. Grinning softly, Kate stood back up and stepped over to join Castle by the tree. She tenderly skimmed her hand down his back and he arched his neck over his shoulder to smile at her. Kate smiled back and then dropped her hand lower to squeeze his ass. Castle let out a little startled yelp, which made Lily erupt with giggles. Kate glanced back at her daughter and laughed along.

"Sorry, babe," she apologized and pushed up on her toes to kiss the pout off his mouth. And added, in a lower voice. "I'll make it up to you later."

"You better," he mumbled back with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows.

Kate bit her lower lip and met his heated gaze.

Lily's gurgling laughter snapped through their lust. They both chuckled. Shaking her head, Kate gestured towards the tangled string of lights.

"Let me deal with that, Castle," she offered. "You start unpacking the ornaments."

He huffed, dramatically. So very much Martha Rodgers's son. "Kate, I've got this," he steadfastly asserted.

Cocking her head, Kate planted her hands on her hips and gave him a sampling of her famous trademarked look. "Do you, Castle?"

He licked his lips and gulped. "I guess… er… um… I guess you can give it a go," he announced, handing the bundle over to her. "Wouldn't hurt to let you try."

"How gracious of you, Castle."

"I'm a gracious kind of guy."

He flashed her a wink, and as he moved to step around her, he gave her ass a playful pat. Kate merely pursed her lips in a tight smile, deciding it was only fair, considering how she'd surprised him earlier, and watched as he hurried over to the boxes of ornaments.

"You have any special ornaments you want to have put on the tree?" Castle asked nonchalantly, lifting the lid off the first box.

"Not really, why?" Kate asked, nose wrinkling as she focused on untangling the string of lights. She was really going to have to supervise the packing away this year. Castle just seemed to shove all the lights into the box without a care in the world.

"You sure?" Castle replied, sounding surprised.

"Yeah," Kate said distractedly, grinning triumphantly as she freed the first knot.

"All right," he sounded unconvinced, but Kate was too focused on her task to notice the disappointment in his voice.

After several minutes of work, Kate managed to untangle the whole box of lights, much to Castle's amazement.

"You really are extraordinary, you know?"

"So you keep telling me," Kate replied with a smile, padding around the boxes to check on Lily, who'd gone silent a couple of minutes ago. "Ah, looks like someone needs changing."

"I can do that, if you like?" Castle offered.

"No, I got it," she said. She didn't like that Castle did most of the heavy lifting, so to speak, during the day. They were a team, after all, and she wanted to pull her fair share.

"Fair enough," Castle shrugged, stepping over to the untangled lights. "I'll start stringing these up."

"All right, just be careful, babe," Kate said, hoisting the stinky Lily up and wrinkling her noise at the smell. "We don't need a repeat of the mistletoe disaster of 2013."

He held up a finger to object, but stopped, bobbing his head slowly. "You're right, that was a disaster."

Smirking, Kate swiftly left the room with Lily.

"All clean," she announced, returning with a freshly changed baby. "And look, Daddy wasn't really listening."

Castle was perched up on a ladder, stretching out with a string of lights dangling from his hands and wrapped around his torso. Shaking her head, she quickly brought Lily over to her bouncer, deposited the mewling baby, and hurried over to grab the base of the ladder before it could tip over.

"Castle, what did I say?" she growled.

He winced; no doubt more sorry he got caught than anything else. "I just wanted to have all the lights up before you go back," he explained.

"It doesn't need to be done in a hurry, babe," Kate told him, deciding it wasn't necessary to scold him too severely. "We can take our time, enjoy it."

His eyes nearly boggled out of his skull. "Wow," he exclaimed. "Kate Beckett with the Christmas spirit."

"I'm not the Grinch," she grumbled.

"I know, I know," he assured, stretching to finish the last bit of lights, wrapping the string around the top of the tree. "There!" He arched his neck. "Coming down now."

Kate stepped back as Castle climbed down the ladder. Grinning, he turned to her and slipped an arm around her waist, tugging her close as he gazed up at the sparkling tree.

"How does it look?"

"Perfect," Kate decided.

He snapped his attention back to her and narrowed his eyes. "You're not just saying that, are you?"

"No, Castle, I mean it," she attested, fiddling with the collar of his shirt. "What's going on with you?"

"Huh?" he feigned ignorance.

"Is this about the ornament thing?"

"What ornament thing?" Castle asked, pretending not to know what she was talking about.

She had to work hard not to roll her eyes. Sighing, she leaned more into him and wrapped an arm around his torso. "I lied, before, and I'm sorry."

"What for?" he asked, still playing clueless.

"I do have some special ornaments that I'd like to put on the tree," Kate elaborated in a single breath of air.

Castle swallowed and her eyes followed the motion. "You're not just saying that, are you?" he asked again, looking dubious.

"I…," she struggled how to explain. But this was Castle, her husband, the love of her life, the father of her child. She could trust him with anything and everything. "They're not here. My Dad still has them."

"They were your mother's," Castle said, instantly understanding why it as difficult for her explain.

She bit her lower lip and nodded. "I haven't pulled them out of storage since… since that year." God, why was she tearing up.

"Oh, Kate," Castle turned and pulled her into a warm embrace.

She sniffled and nuzzled into his neck, finding comfort in his familiar scent. "It's time," she continued after a long beat. "It's a way for my Mom to be here with us. On Christmas. For me. For Lily. For us. For our family."

Castle sighed, drawing back enough to meet her eyes. He brought a hand up and brushed the hair away from her face. "Sounds like a lovely idea."

Kate gave him a watery smile as she reached up to touch his face with trembling hands. "You've brought Christmas back to me, Castle. And now, you've given me Lily. You've given me so much."

"So have you," Castle asserted. "You've given me something so very precious." He moved his hand down to her chest, resting right over the spot where she'd been shot all those years ago. "You've given me your heart, and I take that trust very seriously."

"I know," Kate assured. "Rick, I love you."

"I love you, too." And he kissed her, with all the love he had.

Leaning back, Kate let out a soft breath. "Sorry for getting all emotional there."

"I like you when you're emotional," he replied. "It's kind of hot."

Huffing out a laugh, Kate rolled her eyes. "And there you go, ruining the moment."

"But did I?" he grinned. "Did I really?"

Kate thought for a moment, before shaking her head and smiling brightly. "No. I guess you didn't." Damn the man. He was right. He always seemed to know just what to say to make her smile and brighten her mood. And his infelicitous flirty comment had done just that. The man was incorrigible.
He winked at her. "Now, why don't we get started with these ornaments," he announced, stepping back and heading for the boxes. "And we'll make sure we save the best spots for your Mom's. How's that sound?"

Kate clutched her hands over her heart and nodded. "That sounds perfect."