And Everything Nice

4. Tinsel

Pulling her key out of the lock, Kate pushed the front door open, smiling at all the garland and bright lights arrayed throughout the loft. She'd always liked Christmas as a kid, all the colors and festive lights, all the treats, and of course the presents. It had been wondrous. All that changed when her mother was murdered. Christmas wasn't a time of joy and happiness as it had once been. Her young adult years had been spent much differently than those that came before.

Now life was different.

It all started when she fell in love.

It took some time, but Kate had come to appreciate her husband's enthusiasm for the holiday season.

Castle loved Christmas, often going somewhat overboard in the decorating and holiday cheer. Going overboard was a Castle trademark, a fact she learned early on in their acquaintance. His enthusiasm for the holiday had made her uneasy at first, but she'd warmed to it over time, eventually deciding it was better to create new memories with him than wallow in old memories of sadness and grief.

And now life had changed again with the birth of her daughter.

This being Lily's first Christmas, Kate had allowed her husband to go—what she was affectionately calling—the Full Castle.

"I'm home!" Kate called out, closing the door behind her. "My meeting at 1PP got postponed until tomorrow afternoon, so I knocked off early." She removed her coat, and paused, glancing out into the open space of the Loft, frowning when she didn't immediately hear a response from her loving spouse. He usually made sure to greet her the moment she returned home. "Castle?"

After depositing her coat into the closet by the front door, Kate stepped around the sofa and narrowed her eyes as she stared up at their Christmas tree. Last night had been fun, stringing the lights and hanging the ornaments. They'd left spots open for her mother's keepsake ornaments they'd yet to retrieve from her Dad. Jim was going to come around on Thursday with a box.

Knitting her eyebrows together, Kate crouched down to examine something on the floor. It was glittery and shiny. Reaching out to touch it, she realized it was a single strand of tinsel. Odd. Craning her neck, she gazed back up at the tree. No tinsel was visible upon the branches and boughs. Frowning further, Kate stood and glanced around the living room.

There, by the armchair, she spotted another hint of shiny tinsel. Kate inched forward and after further examination, she discovered a trail of tinsel leading away from the tree. Shaking her head, Kate could only imagine what might have happened, and none of it was good, considering her husband hadn't yet come to greet her.

Suddenly, a tiny pulse of worry swept over her. Did something happen with Lily?

Picking up the pace, Kate hastily followed the trail of tinsel through the Loft, winding around the kitchen island countertop, and back around, heading for the office. Her heels clicked on the hardwood floor as she stalked through the doorway and glanced around. The office was spotless, everything in its place, except the trail of tinsel on the floor leading to their bedroom.

"Castle," she grounded out under her breath, "what have you done?"

God, she hoped he hadn't covered their bed in tinsel. He'd actually done that once, thinking it was romantic, as if tinsel was akin to rose petals.

It wasn't.

Kate let out a relieved breath when she found their bed devoid of sparkling bits of foil. It only lasted a moment, though, as she heard a squeal coming from the en suite bathroom.

Taking a calming breath, prepared for the worse, Kate maneuvered around the bed and gently nudged the door to the bathroom open. Her eyes went wide in surprise and horror.

"Castle!" she cried. "What the hell happened?"

Jerking away from the mirror, Castle spun around to face her, covered from head to toe in sparkling tinsel.

"Kate, you're home early."
Straightening her back, she folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow, trying very hard not to laugh at the ridiculous sight.

"Um…," he raised a hand to ward off any admonishments. "This looks worse than it is."

"Care to explain?"

Castle opened his mouth, and then closed it. He squinted and then pressed his lips into a thin line before gesturing towards the stroller parked next to that ridiculous Boba Fett statue. Sitting comfortably inside the stroller seat was Lily, who started babbling happily and wiggling her arms with delight when she spotted her Mommy.

"I'm here now, Kate said, stepping forward and bending down to hoist her little one up into her arms. Lily cooed contently, leaning her head against Kate's shoulder. Rubbing her hand tenderly up and down Lily's back, Kate spun around to glare at Castle. "What happened?" she repeated, much more sternly this time.

"Okay, so it was like this," Castle started, and launched into a detailed and longwinded tale involving late morning feedings, numerous diaper changings, cartoons during lunch, prep for an afternoon walk, a stroller parked too close to the coffee table, an opened box of tinsel on said coffee table, and curious little hands. "And to make a long story short," he said after pausing for a breath.

"Too late," Kate huffed, rolling her eyes as she gently rocked Lily.

Castle grinned, catching the reference to one of his favorite movies. Kate just narrowed her eyes at him and he sobered quickly.

"Fine, I'll confess," Castle declared dramatically. "I left the tinsel out thinking that when you got off work, we could have fun sprinkling them all over the tree, and yeah, I'll admit, maybe on the bed as well." He added a waggle of his eyebrows with that last bit.

"Do I look amused, Castle?"

"No, no you do not," he reluctantly conceded. "Still," he chirped up. "At least she didn't try eating it."

"No, she just threw it all over you, is that it?"

"Pretty much, yep," Castle bobbed his head. "So, as I said before, it looks worse than it was."

Kate pursed her lips and glared at him for a long moment. He squirmed a bit under her gaze, much to her pleasure. "All right," she decreed. "But, Castle, next time… don't leave the tinsel out. No matter how excited you are."

"Agreed," he nodded vigorously. He turned back to the mirror and continued removing the tinsel from his hair. "And here I thought it would be easier the second time around."
"Lily isn't Alexis."

"You can say that again."

Kate smirked. "Lily isn't Alexis."

"Ha-ha, very funny," Castle feigned a laugh, and continued with his work of removing the tinsel from his hair, seeming to spend more time there then with the rest of himself, which was curious, as he was literally a walking pile of tinsel at this point.

Lily laughed. Kate grinned at her daughter. "She thinks it's funny."

"I've learned my lesson," Castle expounded. He pointed a finger at Lily. "I'll be keeping a closer eye on you."

Their daughter made a raspberry noise that made Kate chuckle as Castle's eyes went wide with delight. Only he would find such joy in his baby daughter discovering how to make that particular noise.

"Well, babe, why you clean yourself up," she told her ridiculous looking husband, "and I'll take Lily on her walk."

"But I wanna come," he stuck out this lower lip on a pout.

Kate met his pleading look in the mirror. She shook her head. "You have cleaning to do, Mr. Castle," she announced. "And I'm not just talking about the walking tinsel tree that you've become. You left a trail of tinsel strands all the way from the living room."

He grimaced. "I was in a hurry."

She smiled at him as she placed Lily back in her stroller, swiftly securing her into her seat. Turning back, she reached up and patted his cheek. "Remember our rule?"

He sighed, and grumbled, much like a sulking little boy. "My mess, my clean up."

"Bingo," Kate grinned, then pushed up to press a kiss to his lips. "We'll be back in an hour. That should give you plenty of time." She stepped back and directed the stroller out of the bathroom, leaving a pouting husband in her wake, but ready for some quality girl time with her daughter.