THREE – Mittens

Setting: Castle, Season 7

After stacking the last dish in the dishwasher, Castle squirted soap into the appropriate slot, snapped the lid closed, and then returned the soap bottle to its storage spot under the sink. Then he closed up the dishwasher, pressed the start button, and turned around to survey the counter and make everything had been put back in its proper place. Once that was confirmed he wiped his hands on a kitchen towel and hung it back on the hook mounted on the upper cabinets.

With his post-dinner routine was complete, he moved towards the hallway but then found himself slightly surprised that it was vacant. Just as he started to clean up Kate had disappeared into the bedroom to change into warmer clothes before their walk. He thought for sure she would be done before him, but yet she didn't seem to be, which he found odd.

A few days earlier, Castle had suggested that the two of them walk around their neighborhood in the evening and enjoy all the light up Christmas displays. While his wife agreed this was a sweet idea, that evening had a wind chill in the low-twenties and she was afraid she would be too cold to enjoy it. Seeing that as a fair point, Castle looked at the weather report and found an evening that would be much warmer so they decided to reschedule. At a practically balmy thirty-four, that evening turned out to be perfect, though he understood Kate would need to wear something warmer than the long-sleeved t-shirt and calf-length yoga pants she'd been walking around the house in.

Walking into their bedroom, he spotted her sitting on the floor on her side of the bed, her head barely visible above the plastic storage containers and boxes that were stack there. A little over a month had passed since they married and she moved into the loft and thus not all of her belongings had been fully put away yet. In part this was because they were still shifting around his things, which had been taking up more than fifty percent of the space, and in another part because she said she wanted to use the move as an opportunity to purge things she didn't want or need anymore. Castle saw no issue with either of these things causing a delay. Her clutter didn't bother him especially since he knew he had more than his own fair share of stuff sitting around that he probably didn't need to hang onto anymore.

"Kate? Are you ready to go?"

"Oh…sorry. Sorry I guess I just got a little bit distracted. I was looking for…and then I thought…" With a huff of breath she shook her head and then rotated her body so she was facing him. Using her hand against the mattress she pushed herself up into a standing position and sidled her way out between he boxes. "Sorry; we're probably running late now."

He walked forward. "There's no time-table for our date, love; I just want to spend time with you. Besides, I just finished loading the dishwasher, so you're not late at all."

She nodded. "I just get frustrated every time I see all this stuff piled up. I know I need to take some more time and get though it, but there's just so much going on—especially this time of year. You must be so annoyed with them sitting here."

"Not in the least," he said. When she gave him a look indicating she didn't think he was being truthful, he continued with, "I'm serious. Every time I see those boxes I'm reminded that you actually live here full time now because you're my wife—and what could be better about that?"

Castle didn't care how many reminders he had that Kate was his wife; the more the better! From her stack of boxes (which he knew would ultimately go away) to their wedding rings to the Mr. & Mrs. frame Alexis got him for his desk that held their wedding photo. He loved his wife. He loved that they were married. Every moment of their life together was a joy, so why wouldn't he want more reminders.

Smiling, Kate leaned in to kiss him softly and said, "You're very sweet."

"I know."

"But look what I found!" She jogged the five steps back to the box pile and pulled a pile of red fabric from the top of one box. Hurrying back to him, she held out the items for him to see.

Castle stared down at them curiously as the wheels of his brain began to turn. "Mittens…I know these. Did I give you these?"

"Yep! The first year we worked together you gave me these for Christmas."

Rick nodded, remembering the event. They still had a rather tumultuous relationship back then, though it was steadily improving. He had been worried that giving her too much of a Christmas gift for some reason might irritate her, so he went with the very subtle yet practical red mittens and presented them to her with his gratitude for her allowing him to shadow her. "Ah, yes back when you couldn't stand me."

She let out a breathy laugh. "I wouldn't stay that. You…annoyed me at times for sure but giving me these mittens was a very sweet thing to do. I wore them that year, then thought I lost them, but as it turns out they just got shoved back in my closet behind some old shoe boxes. I only found them when I fully emptied my closet to move. So now I can wear them again."

As she slid them on her hands a rather peculiar expression crossed her face, leading him to ask, "What?"

Shaking her head, she smiled down at her hands. "Oh, nothing…I was just thinking: if the last time I had these on someone told me I'd marry the man who gave them to me, my head might have exploded. Not in a bad way just…back then I didn't understand the way you made me feel so it probably came out as anger and annoyance more than it should have. I was just…afraid of facing something that could be real because that meant opening myself up in a way I never had before. But I'm so glad I did."

His heart swelling with love for her for the thousandth time, he leaned down and kissed her gently. "Me too. Now are you ready to go on our walk?"

She slid her mitten-covered hand in his and said, "Yeah, let's go."