A Few Days Later
Takes place a few days after season 5's Secret Santa

New tradition. He liked the idea of that. They'd all sat around the table, enjoying each others company. Martha and Alexis had served Kate a plate, welcomed her as part of the family like they always did and soon everyone was full of good food and conversation flowed easily.

They shared stories. Alexis told Kate about some of the traditions her and her Dad had at this time of year, some wilder anecdotes of the Castle family when she'd been little and her Dad had dressed up as Santa for her. Kate laughed at stories Martha told of her and a little Castle celebrating with her theatre friends after productions were done for the day and she asked Martha about the Nutcracker show Castle had mentioned to her earlier. Castle watched his girlfriend carefully, making sure this wasn't all too much for her but he basked in the beauty of his three favourite people

He was pleasantly surprised when Kate shared stories of her own. Tales of her mother that he knew she kept close to her. He'd heard about ice skating with her Mom. He'd seen the photos. Knew that it was something special she'd shared with her Mom and he was pleasantly surprised and saddened to learn about the neon skates she'd coveted; one of the things she'd lost in the explosion of her apartment a few years ago. He was proud of his daughter when she invited Kate to join them skating in a couple of days time. And the smile that Kate couldn't hide warmed him and when she thanked Alexis for the offer and said she'd try her best to be there, as long as a case didn't keep her away, he was thankful for to have all the people he loved the most around the table with him tonight.

That night as she curled into his side, he couldn't help thinking about a little Kate Beckett, all the things she'd look forward to at this time of the year and all that she must be missing. He could never fix it, he could only help her on her quest for justice, on her search to find an end to all of this. He could only hope that together they'd find some way for the woman in his arms to always feel relaxed and comfortable as she had been this evening.

Kate had kissed him goodbye and made her way into the precinct for her Christmas day shift but promised to come back that evening when her shift was over. Beckett was never far from his thoughts and they'd texted one another while he, Alexis and Martha went about their day together and it gave him a little time to put his plan to action.

When she'd crawled into to bed with him a few nights later, he grabbed the surprise he'd tucked under his side of the bed. He handed her a small red gift bag. She looked at it and then up at him, about to protest when he cut her off.
"Before you tell me off, this isn't a gift. This is a… new tradition. We said we start and you coming to the loft last night, that meant a lot to me Kate. Hopefully this can be another new one for us"
He gestured to the bag, encouraging her to open it. She smiled at him, pulling the bag toward herself and opened it, rummaging through the tissue paper and he watched as the smile turned to surprise, a small flicker of sorrow and then she turned to him with gratitude as she pulled th not-gift from within. From her fingers spun a tree ornament; ice skates painted neon.
"Now, I know it's not exactly what you had before but I saw this in a store and had to get it for you. The tree is gonna be up for a few more days," He looked a little nervous because she hadn't said anything yet. She was just watching the skates spin from her hand. "I thought that you could maybe hang it. I mean, if you want to."

Her gaze shifted from the skates to him and he could see the emotions playing across her face again. "Yeah, I'd like that." She told him with a smile, hopping out of bed to do just that. Castle followed after her, overjoyed when she placed it on the tree with the rest of his family ornaments.

He couldn't help the grin that came over him. "But now I have nothing for you," she told him. "Well, I can think of something you might enjoy," she teased, pushing him back towards the bedroom.