Christmas Story Chapter 2

AN: This chapter is dedicated to aligehri, hhooppyy, and castlefreak005, who took the time to let me know that this isn't a waste of time. I thank you very much. Your time and words mean the world. And to anyone who favorited, followed, or read: I thank you as well. I hope you like what I have to offer.

Still not beta'd. My very own mistakes.

Kate woke the next morning to a loud thumping in her ears.

Hm.

The dull thumping became a rapid beating and stumbling only once, she reached her door before it became obnoxious pounding. She pulled the door open to see Castle with his hand raised mid-knock looking bright eyed and all too awake for what time it was. His chipper demeanor soured quickly as a frown took over his beautiful face. "You aren't dressed." Not that he was complaining. In fact, Kate Beckett just rolled out of bed was something that he could get used to. Her hair was mussed from sleep, pajama pants and cami rumpled...she was just too adorable for her own good.

Kate's frown matched his own and she glanced down to confirm that, no, she was most certainly not dressed. The cool air from outside raised goosebumps along her arms and she tugged Castle into the apartment, locking the door to keep it out.

"I've got your coffee in the car." His sheepish grin was lost on her as she'd already turned and headed back towards the bedroom. He took a few long strides to catch up to her and caught her wrist, spinning her around. "Hey,-" Whatever he had been about to say was lost to her glare that simultaneously said 'I'm not running from you' and 'I'm going to kill you'. He released her wrist but kept following her to the bedroom.

She stopped abruptly just outside the door.

"Castle, you said 8:00."

"Yes."

"What time is it?"

His brow furrowed. "Uh...not...quite...8:00?"

Her arms crossed in front of her chest. She was not (yet) amused. "Is that a question?"

"Uhm...I mean..." he stammered, "I have your coffee in the car..."

Kate's hands dropped landing on her hips. "Castle it is 6:00 in the morning. The FIRST morning of mandatory vacation. TWO HOURS before our agreed departure time. What were you thinking?" Her exasperated sigh cut straight to him.

"You're right," his hand went to his forehead raking through his recently showered hair. To make light of things and offer up another joke, or be serious...judging from her body language he'd have to save the jokes if he wanted her to come with him. "I'm sorry. I really wasn't thinking. I could...do you want me to come back later? Or maybe.." He looked around, saw no luggage waiting. Right. She'd still been asleep. "I could help you pack?"

An eyebrow rose slightly on her unamused face. Her hands dropped from her hips as she let loose a resigned sigh.

He had her.

"Fine. You're here. You might as well stay."

He chanced a grin and moved to follow her only to be lightly shoved onto the couch. "No. You may stay, but I do not need your help packing," she thought a moment before sighing once more. "But I do need to know where we're going in order to pack appropriately," she admitted.

His grin reached his eyes. "Oh, no Detective. That's for me, and my mother, and my daughter to know, and you to find out. It's a surprise." He was far too enthusiastic as he stood and headed for her bedroom, a place that he was not usually granted access to, but their coffee was getting cold. Kate followed behind him in mild protest. "Castle."

"You don't have to pack enough to last the entire month," he said, "There is a washer and a dryer...suitcase?" She pointed to her closet in mild shock. He pulled out one medium sized suitcase and tossed her a small duffel. She managed to catch it, but her feet remained fused to the floor as he moved about pulling things out of her closet and folding them to put into her suitcase. He nodded towards the bag held loosely in her left hand. "Toiletries and personal items you can't live without," he said by way off explanation, "First," he pointed at the suitcase, "clothes." He stood back with his hands raised. "You've gotta do the rest of this part."

She took a cursory look at what he'd already thrown in: a couple of sweaters, long sleeved cotton

t-shirts from her closet, two pairs of jeans, ah. Underwear. He turned his back on her and covered his eyes with one hand, "Go ahead. I'm not watching," but she could still hear the smile in his voice.

"What am I packing for?" She winced. She sounded like a broken record to her own ears.

"Indoor/outdoor. Pretty much how you'd dress for weather here, but comfortable. And a swimsuit. Unless you prefer to skinny dip, but that's totally up to you."

She rolled her eyes. Into the suitcase she added several pairs of thick socks, two sets of pj's, underwear, etc, and looked at Castle questioningly. "Swimsuit?"

He turned to face her once more and grinned. "Trust me."

Right. Swimsuit. One or two piece? She tossed them both in, just in case. After she'd gathered her toiletries and personal items she shooed Castle out of the room so that she could get dressed. Thank goodness she'd had the presence of mind to shower last night. He offered to take her luggage down to the car and promised to return promptly-lest she talk herself out of going with him.

Twenty minutes later they were in the car and he was handing her a steaming cup of of coffee.

She inhaled deeply and took a cautious first sip. "Castle, how is this still hot? You got to my apartment nearly an hour ago."

He grinned sheepishly. "While you were getting dressed I got new ones." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. A slight blush colored her cheeks. He knew how much she liked her coffee. Needed it. Today he was asking her to put her life in his hands for the next month. To trust him. She'd definitely need her coffee today.

She smiled into her cup. "Thanks. Now will you tell me where we're going?"

Castle lifted his hand to his chin as he pretended to ponder the question for a moment. "Hmm...no. Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

She sat back with a "humph." Turning her cup around in her hands for warmth she commented, "You kidnap me on the first day of vacation and don't even have the decency to tell me where you're taking me. Shame on you." She tried to keep her gaze on her cup as she shielded her mouth, but he easily saw the corner of her eyes smiling as her lips quirked up.

He smirked as he pulled out into morning traffic. "Think of it this way: it'll be the best time anyone ever had being kidnapped. Everything's taken care of. All you have to do is relax and try to enjoy it. There may even be skinny dipping." At her glare he amended, "Ok, no skinny dipping. We wouldn't want to set a bad example for Alexis and Ash."

She looked at him in wonder. What kind of man invites his daughter's boyfriend and his...work partner to participate in big time important family holiday traditions? A good one, she thought, though she was still getting used to being a part of said family. "So who all will be at this shindig?" she asked curiously. Maybe this wasn't as special as she thought it was. Maybe it was some Big Annual Extended Friends and Family thing. Maybe-

"Well," he said as he turned onto the highway and headed north, "You, me, Alexis, Mother, and Ashley." Usually it's just me, Alexis and Mother, but this year Ashley's parents will be in Barcelona for a 'second honeymoon' so I had pity on the kid. And I just wanted you around."

She scoffed, "You want me around? I thought you said that it was Alexis who was excited about the prospect of me coming?"

He took his eyes off of the road so that he was able to look her full in the face. "Kate, you're family. We all want you there." He turned back to the road before admitting, "It just took me longer than everyone else to realize it."

Kate sat back and closed her eyes. "Things are going to be different when we get back, aren't they?"

Castle smiled to himself. "I certainly hope so. But let's just take it a day at a time, hm? See where things go. No pressure."

The sun felt wonderfully comforting on her face as they drove to who knew where. No pressure sounded pretty darn good to her.

At some point during their trip Castle had become unusually quiet. It was at this point that Kate realized that they had also stopped moving. She opened her eyes. They were at a gas station...somewhere away from the city if their current surroundings were any indication. She looked around to see where Castle might be and gasped when she found that he was still sitting next to her staring intently at her face. "Geeze Castle! What are you doing?" Her heart raced, though whether it was from being startled or from seeing the look in his eyes she didn't know.

He shrugged and offered a small smile. "You're just so adorable when you sleep."

"I was not asleep," she insisted.

"Oh yes you were. And you talk in your sleep." His smile widened as her frustration grew.

She straightened in her seat. "I do not. I wasn't asleep."

"Yeah? What's the last thing you remember?" He was too eager.

"Um...you...talking..." What had he been saying? She hadn't really been paying attention to whathe'd been saying, rather just getting lost in the comforting sound of his voice. Crap. "Something about...Alexis?"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "While that would usually be a very good guess, no." He paused. "Do I bore you Detective?"

Hardly. "No."

He sighed and opened his door. "Good. Then we'd best be moving along. They'll have lunch ready by the time we get there."

Kate opened her door and stretched her legs. "You still aren't going to tell me where we're going are you?"

"No ma'am," he said and walked into the little convenience store.

When they returned to the car Castle plopped a small paper bag on Kate's lap and handed her a fresh coffee. "So you can stay awake until we get there," he said, "wouldn't want you revealing too many things to me if you should fall asleep again." He smiled to himself and pulled out of the station.

Oh God. What had she said? But he was probably just yanking her chain. She decided to change the subject. "So what did you buy?" she asked as she peered into the paper bag.

"Snacks," he said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I thought you said there would be lunch when we got there. What is this?" she asked as she pulled a bag of green globs from the paper sack.

"Gummy frogs. And I said lunch should be ready when we get there, but we've still go a ways to go." He sat back satisfied with his answer, pleased that he had still not given her any hint as to where it was that they were going. For instance, if he had said 'we won't be there for another two hours,' she would have been able to do some quick figuring and probably come up with the general area. As it was they did still have a couple of hours to go, but he didn't want her guessing just yet.

Kate looked through the rest of the loot, pulling each item out one at a time: Boston baked beans, yet more gummy bears (it isn't a road trip if there aren't gummy bears), gummy worms, Twizzlers, and a bear claw. Frowning she asked, "Castle, didn't you think to get any real food?"

He glanced at the bag. "What? You've got a perfectly good bear claw right there. This is a road trip. You aren't supposed to eat healthy on road trips. Don't worry. You'll get real food soon enough," he huffed.

She opened the box of Boston baked beans. "Good. I just wanted to make sure we weren't feasting on milk and cookies for an entire month."

"We could-"

"No Castle."

AN: Here is a truth: This may not get updated for a couple of days.

Here is a GREATER truth: the likelihood of this getting updated sooner increased exponentially with each review received.

I thank you for reading, and sincerely hope that you are enjoying it.