Chapter 3

AN: Point of clarification: for those who don't know what Boston Baked Beans are, they are hard shell candy coated peanuts. Sorry if that seemed weird to anyone.

I'd like to send out a special thank-you to lb2bnsb1 and LittleLizzieZentara who each (probably inadvertently) reminded me of something very important: to write for the sake of writing, and because it makes me smile.

A ginormous thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, or followed. I'm honored.

Not beta'd.

As they drove the trees became more and more dense while houses—or any building for that matter—became fewer and farther in-between. Kate peered out her window at the fresh blanket of snow that line the road. She was glad she'd thought to pack a parka. "Castle, you're not gonna go all 'Deliverance' on me are you?" she asked as the road narrowed and the sky began to disappear.

"Hm. No. That was definitely not part of the plan, though I do play a mean banjo." They drove on in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. "And no, I'm not lost," he said defiantly.

Kate took her eyes off of the road to glance at him. "Did I in any way insinuate that I thought you were? Insecure much?" she joked and poked him in the arm. The road started to curve this way and that as they made their way into the trees.

"Almost there," he promised, and to her surprise, the very next curve took them down a straighter path into somewhat of a clearing at the foot of a mountain. Into the side of the mountain it looked like a cabin had been built. It was beautiful. As Castle parked the car next to the one already there, it became even more agreeable as familiar faces emerged to greet them.

The inside of the cabin was as stunning as the outside. The deck and stairs leading up to the door had not prepared Kate for the large sunken living room inside. Dark wood made up the floors, and (most of) the walls the ceiling—where there weren't skylights or windows. A few area rugs covered the floor in places, and comfortable looking furniture took up residence beneath the skylights. A fully equipped kitchen stood up and to the right of the sunken living room, and a cozy breakfast nook looked out into the forest.

Kate wondered what the rest of the cabin looked like. She turned and almost bumped into a luggage laden Castle. Alexis stood behind him with a couple of bags as well. Castle dropped the bags he was holding unceremoniously just in front of the door and went to stand in front of the massive fireplace in the living room. After warming his hands he looked to Alexis and raised an eyebrow. Smiling, she nodded in the affirmative.

"Good," he said. "Well, let's eat and then we can get settled in a bit."

Lunch was delicious and, Kate was pleased to discover, consisted of actual real food. When everything had been cleared away Martha and Alexis began playing a card game in the living room. Kate looked at Castle expectantly. This was his game. His move, and she was going to wait and see where he was going to take it. He casually began picking up luggage again and asked, "You, um, didn't bring your gun with you, did you?"

She eyed him suspiciously. "No...just my badge." She hadn't anticipated needing a gun on vacation, but thought it prudent to have her badge—just in case. Now she was wondering if she'd made a royal mistake.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Good." He started talking faster and began walking away from her as he spoke, making it hard for her to understand him.

"NowIknowwedidn'ttalkaboutthisbutwe'regoingtobesharingaroom."

He opened a door that led farther back into the house instead of taking the stairs to where she'd assumed the bedrooms were. When she caught up to him she understood why. She was standing in what must've been the master bedroom. He turned to face her with his palms up. "There are three bedrooms in this cabin," he began, "Mother's has a queen sized bed in it, Alexis has a full sized. Their rooms share a master bath complete with walk in shower, and jacuzzi. All of those rooms are upstairs. The master suite has a king sized bed and you can see the rest for yourself."

Her cheeks had seen more color in the past 12 hours than they had in the past week. "Can't-"

"Mother enjoys a little ice cream before bed. Then, she snores like a demon. I promise to keep my hands to myself and behave like a perfect gentleman."

So that was that, huh?

She walked around him trailing her finger along his shoulders. "A perfect gentleman huh?"

He gulped. "Yeah..."

She lightly scraped her nails along his biceps from behind. "And what if I don't want you to be a perfect gentleman?"

He was going to die.

He was going to die as an almost perfectly happy puddle of goo on the floor right here and now. He shivered involuntarily.

"You...you uh...make yourself at home and uh...OK." He spun on his heel leaving Kate to herself in the master bedroom.

She laughed to herself. He was so easy to mess with. And that's all that was, she told herself. Jest. Right? Flirting... Ignoring the butterflies who had decided to take up residence in her stomach she decided to check out the rest of the room while she had it to herself.

The master bedroom had a working fireplace in it, and she suspected the other bedrooms did as well. A king sized bed took up most of the room. This was flanked by a nightstand on either side, and dressers on opposing walls. The master bathroom had a large sink and ample counter space, two medicine cabinets, six drawers beneath the counter, toilet, walk-in shower (BIG walk-in shower), and a two person jacuzzi that was surrounded on three sides by beautiful stone wall. The bathroom was larger, in fact, than the actual bedroom. Kate suddenly wished she'd brought some bubble bath or bath salts. Oh well, she had a feeling that she and that jacuzzi were going to become fast friends.

Running a hand through her travel tousled hair, Kate walked back to the bed and lay down to consider her day. In less than 24 hours she had gone from the prospect of sleeping in for days on end, possible trips to the grocery store to survive the month at home, endless cartons of takeout despite the trips to the grocery store (who ever feels like cooking for one?), bubbles, alcohol, and curling up with her favorite books; to being whisked away to-she still didn't know exactly where, lunch with loved ones, the possibility of sleeping in, cooking for family (her family? Maybe it was too soon to be thinking that just yet. But in the car Castle said...), and the very real probability of curling up with her favorite author.

What a day.

Alexis was the first to notice when Kate rejoined the group. The young lady smiled widely and stood to meet her as she stepped down into the spacious living room. After sharing a brief hug, she whispered conspiratorially, "I'm so glad you decided to come."

Kate smiled in return, "Your dad didn't really give me much of a choice, but to be honest, I'm glad too...so far." she added as she caught Castle's eye. Returning her gaze to his daughter she asked, "Is Ashley joining us later? I haven't seen him yet."

Alexis blushed and laughed lightly, "No. Unfortunately his parents' trip was put on hold indefinitely and they decided to spend the holidays as a family at his grandmother's house in Colorado."

Oh. That meant that she was the only guest.

Before she could dwell on that thought for too long she felt a a presence behind her. "Family. It's probably better this way anyhow. I don't like sharing," he whispered in her ear causing a shiver to run through her.

Right. Family.

She leaned back slightly brushing against his chest before moving away from him to sit on the couch. She addressed Martha who had busied herself cleaning up the card game that had been abandoned. "So, where exactly are we?" Martha patted Kate's knee sympathetically. "North of the city," she said, "and somewhere in the mountains. I'm sorry dear, but geography was never my forte`. Unless you need to know where to shop, that is.

"Planning your escape so soon?" Castle inquired.

"Just considering my options," she shot back.

He scratched his head. "Mmm. Well, I suppose since you're already here I can tell you where here is." He paused for dramatic effect. "You are visiting MARK, at Castle's Keep."

Kate frowned. "Mark?"

"MARK. I'll let Alexis explain," he said sitting next to her on the couch and extending an arm to his daughter to go ahead with the explanation.

The youngest Castle blushed. "Have you ever noticed that cabins have names? Usually they're things like 'Serenity' or 'Enchanted Castle'. When I was eight I thought our cabin should have a name, but naming a cabin is like naming a boat. We couldn't agree or come up with anything that sounded good. So I came up with MARK: Martha, Alexis, Rick, and the 'K' currently stands for Keep because we're at Castle's Keep." Castle cut in to further explain, "The mountain. I named it Castle's Keep."

"Why does it not surprise me that you own a mountain?" It made sense. "So MARK then..."

"Yeah," Alexis continued, "We could have made it M-A-R-C, but Gram's last name is Rogers."

Kate nodded. "Makes sense. So how did you come to have a little-or not so little-cabin in the mountains?" she asked, genuinely curious. The Hamptons house made sense to her. The loft in Manhattan fit the picture that Castle liked to paint. Both places were home to the rich and famous, lap of luxury types. A cabin...not so much. To her surprise, Martha answered before Castle could open his mouth. "Richard wanted to be a good father. And he is. He wanted Alexis to have a place that we could all go together and be..."

"Normal," Alexis said. "Dad wanted us to have a place that was just ours. No distractions."

"I figured that it would be good for Alexis to not get caught up in the consumerism that Christmas brings with it, so coming out here has been a tradition since Alexis was three." He shrugged.

Kate was a bit taken aback at the simple truth of it. "Wow Castle. That's very grown-up of you."

"Yes, well, I think there is only room for one child in this family, and Richard isn't quite finished having his turn," Martha commented jokingly.

"Hey, I can be an adult when I have to," he said.

"Yes darling. You've really come a long way." She glanced at Kate thoughtfully. She stood abruptly laying the cards on the coffee table. "Well I do believe I have a date with my hot tub."

Kate looked at her father's watch. "So early? What about all of these traditions I've been hearing about? I figured you guys would have the place all decked out and everything." Martha just smiled and headed up the stairs to her bedroom.

Alexis giggled, "Don't worry Detective,"

"Kate, Alexis. Just Kate," she said gently.

Alexis blushed. "Kate. We will, don't worry. There will be plenty of time for that."

Time?

Castle barked out a laugh. "We take it easy on day one. This, Detective, is what we call a vacation. It's about relaxing and having fun."

Her lips formed a tight smile. "What an original concept."

"I'm thinking about marketing it."

"So...what now?"

Alexis stood and picked up a book that had been discarded next to the fireplace (far enough away not to cause any damage or accidentally catch fire...safety first!). "I'm going to go read a little in the game room. You're welcome to join me if you'd like. We've got an air hockey table, ping-pong..." she trailed off glancing at her father, "Or you could just take a walk or something. It really is beautiful here, but remember, you've got a month." She grinned and left the room with a happy bounce in her step.

A month.

With Castle.

Kate watched as a satisfied smile crossed Castle's face as he watched his little girl walk away. "She's been in need of a good vacation for a while," he said. "And I know that part of her is grieving that Ash isn't here to share the holidays with her, but honestly I think it's better this way. And that isn't just because I'm a selfish lunk of a man who wants his family all to himself."

She bumped his arm playfully. "What will you be doing?" she asked.

He grinned. "I ordered a few extra supplies. I was going to go pick them up. Care to come with?" he asked.

"Sure, sounds good." She was excited at the prospect of getting to see a little bit more of her surroundings.

"Good." He stood and stopped just short of the door and turned to face her. "You'll most likely want to be bundled up," he said and was out the door before she could say a word.

Kate sat on the couch with her mouth agape. He certainly liked to keep her on her toes didn't he?

A month with Castle. It was definitely going to be an adventure.

AN: I apologize for the somewhat passive-aggressive tone of the last AN on chapter 2. I do not wish to bully anyone into reviewing or leaving a comment. You are under no obligation (though I would be lying if I said it didn't tickle me pink when I get them). Please feel free to review when you want to.