December 18 - Candy Cane

"Gwam!"

Lily makes a beeline for her grandmother the moment they emerge from the theater, holding out her arms in greeting. She's been waiting for this moment for weeks, preparing day in and day out, getting ready to show Martha Rodgers, Tony Award nominee and one of the favorite people on the planet, exactly what she's made of.

"Gwam, did you see me?" she asks as soon as she nears, looking up at Martha with undisguised hope. "Did you have so much fun?"

"Oh, my darling, I am so proud of you!" Martha gushes, cupping Lily's face between her hands. "You were absolutely magnificent."

Lily beams, looking back at them. Kate waves from behind Reece's stroller, nodding for her daughter to continue her conversation with her grandmother.

Rick eases the other stroller closer as well, nudging Kate's arm with his elbow. She blinks, tearing her eyes from her daughter to find her husband smirking, pleased with himself and his success at sneaking around.

"You got it?" she asks.

"Mhmm," he gestures with his head, drawing her attention behind his back. "Your dad has the second one waiting at the restaurant," he adds. "He said he'd meet us there."

Kate nods. She knows her father wishes he'd been able to make it out of the deposition on time, but he's already promised to make it to Lily's next show.

"Okay," she says, snapping back to smile at Lily when she calls Rick's name.

"I'm here, Sprout," he says, moving around Jake's stroller to kiss his mother's cheek and kneel in front of Lily. Kate reaches over, gripping the handle to keep the stroller from going anywhere, just in case. "And Mommy and Alexis and I wanted to give you these."

Lily's mouth drops open at the gift, the bouquet of red and white flowers he's offering her. they match her costume, right down to the ribbons wound around the outside of the stems. "For me?"

"They're yours," Martha says, brushing a hand over Lily's hair. Kate can tell her fingers come away glittery and covers her mouth to hide her chuckle. Ah well, Martha's used to it. "Because that is the traditional way to congratulate you on a wonderful job. And you did a beautiful job."

Lily hugs the bouquet to her chest, pressing her face into the flowers.

Martha scoops her up, waving off Rick's murmur to be careful. "You hit all your marks, knew all your lines, knew your moves, and all the words to every song," she adds, pressing her lips to Lily's rosy cheek. "You're a chip off the old block, kiddo. I have never been so proud of you."

"Fanks, Gwam."

Martha grins. "And now I think we should introduce you to another tradition of the theater life," she says, carrying Lily over to Kate. Beckett takes her baby girl, dropping kisses on her cheek as her mother-in-law continues, "The after party. Get ready, darling; it's gonna knock your socks off."

Lily giggles, nodding in excitement.

Not bringing the double stroller had been a good idea at the time, but as they try their best to juggle two ungainly strollers without waking their occupants, two massive bundles of flowers, and one exhausted four year old, Kate wishes they'd switched after leaving the theater.

"You okay?" Castle asks as she attempts to steer down the hallway, turning with Lily.

"Yeah," she breathes. "Just trying not to wake them by hitting a wall. Or dropping the flowers again."

Her husband shifts their daughter. "I can get one if you need me to," he offers.

Kate shakes her head. "You worry about getting the door open, Castle."

"Right," he agrees. He hefts Lily again, attempting to reach into his pocket for the house key only to flail a little and come up empty.

"Babe," Kate murmurs, holding her key out to him. "Use mine."

He takes it gratefully, moving ahead to their door and (gracefully) shoving it open for her to steer the boys inside.

Beckett exhales in relief once they're all safely back in the loft. It had been a great evening; they'd had a fun dinner at Lily's favorite restaurant with their family and been able to celebrate the girl's theater debut with joy and laughter. She's glad to be home, though, glad to get the boys out of their strollers and into their pajamas and see about getting Lily cleaned up and ready for bed, too.

She checks on Reece and Jake before moving to help Castle slip Lily's coat off her shoulders.

"She's going to need this again tomorrow, isn't she?" she murmurs, plucking at the girl's shirt. The candy cane stripes ripple under her hand.

"Yeah."

"We should've made sure she changed before she ate, you know," she says. Rick chuckles, nodding.

"That's why she was wearing the napkin bib at dinner," he explains. "I didn't even think about it, but Mother pointed it out and she practically lined her front with napkins to be sure if she dropped something, it would land there."

She chuckles. "Smart woman."

"She does have her moments. My mother, I mean. Lil's already wise beyond her years – as wise as a four-year-old can be, anyway. Especially when ice cream is involved."

Kate kisses the back of her daughter's head. Budding actress or not, Lily had done an amazing job tonight; she can't wait to see how she'll do tomorrow and for the final day of the run. It's no wonder her daughter is exhausted.

"Who knew it would be so tiring to be a candy cane in the Christmas play?" she says, grinning at Castle's chuckle.

"I know. But she is the lead candy cane; that's a lot of responsibility."

"Mmm," she agrees, rubbing a circle on Lily's back.

"Come on, let's get peppermint here and the mini canes to bed."

She nods, pressing her lips to Lily's hair once more before lifting her head and stealing a kiss from her husband's mouth.

"We'll get them into bed, and then I'm going to get you into bed, too," she murmurs, nipping at his lip.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was actually the first one I wrote for the 12 Prompts of Christmas. Thank you for reading!