AN: So by "Tuesday" obviously I meant Wednesday. ;o)
This is a little shorter, but hopefully still worth it. Thanks to everyone who is still with me, who has read, followed, favorited, or reviewed. Special thanks to melindaWRITER, thanks for the permission (apparently I needed it) and most of all for the encouragement!Special thanks to castlefreak005, I appreciate the confirmation of the idea. And also to AliceBD, 'Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's get some parfait," they say, "Hell no, I don't like no parfait"? Parfaits are delicious!" ;o)

Not beta'd. (I feel like a broken record... ;o)

Chapter 16

Castle's fingers gripped the edge of the wax paper that he'd placed over his cookies for prolonged secrecy and pulled it off with a flourish.

What was it about his fingers that had her so enraptured by them?

Kate watched his face as he uncovered this years masterpieces and wondered briefly how many different characters had been made and consumed over the years. He'd said that they didn't have to be absolute favorites. Meaningful. How many different characters had they been able to create without repeats? Of course it had been revealed that Martha, it seemed, had a tendency to recreate several characters annually to the point of being predictable.

Kate didn't want to be predictable.

For some reason, having an enigmatic air, just the thought of being able to surprise them—him, had been very appealing. So she'd based her choices on qualities that she admired, favorite childhood memories, and a few random other guidelines.

Had Castle done the same?

She'd find out soon enough.

His first cookie was wearing a gray (silver?) dress. And a pointy hat. Oh. That wasn't a dress was it?

"Any guesses?" Castle carefully held up his cookie along with its props.

"Really Dad? You're just going to keep making Lord of the Rings characters until you've run out aren't you?" Alexis laughed. She turned to Kate and explained, "Last year he made Pippin and Merry as a set, the year before that it was Sam, before that Gimli, Frodo...you get the idea."

"Gee Castle, I'm surprised you haven't done Arwen. She seems more your type." Kate joked poking him in the shoulder. He gave her a burning look. '

"Hey, I'll have you know that I always have a reason for those that I choose. As for my type, I'll get to that later." Kate nearly melted under the glance he gave her. She is not my type, you are,' his eyes seemed to say.

But he didn't dwell on it.

"This is Gandalf. I chose him," he shot a pointed look at his daughter as his mother rolled her eyes at him, "because he is not morally ambiguous or neutral like other wizards *cough* Merlin *cough*but neither is he infallible. I like Gandalf because he believes in something and takes action. He makes mistakes, but he offers sage advice and is oddly comforting even when he's predicting doom and destruction." He gently lay the cookie, complete with staff and hat back down on his tray and picked up the next one.

Kate laughed. There was no mistaking who this character was unless you'd been living under a rock. "Seriously Castle? The Cat in the Hat?" She couldn't hold back the laughter that bubbled past her lips.

Castle frowned at her and then at his family who were also not succeeding in restraining their laugher. "Why is it that you all are so quick to doubt my literary choices? I am the only author in this room. It stands to reason that I am the only one qualified too choose characters of great literary standing."

He harrumphed and carefully placed the cat cookie back in its place so that he could fake mope.

It worked.

Alexis rounded the kitchen island to give her father a quick hug, and Kate sidled up to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. Martha remained where she was leaning against the counter, but shook her head, "Darling, nobody is doubting your literary expertise."

"I'll have you know that I love the Cat in the Hat. Firstly because, come on! It's the Cat in the Hat! Secondly, he's a total anarchist who gets away with it. When you read his stories you feel a twinge of hesitancy, but then he pulls you in and it's all ok because he's the Cat in the Hat. Also, torturing that sanctimonious fish was pretty appealing too." He grinned sheepishly and Kate swatted playfully at his arm.

It was a comfortable arm. Really. Just the right amount of strength and pillow-y-ness. Mmm. Better pay attention.

He picked up his next creation and didn't leave anyone time to guess. "J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, come on, who didn'tsee this one coming? How cool would it be to never have to grow up?"

"Aww, Castle that's cute. You think you've grown up?"

He glared at her but his eyes didn't read anger. Nope. It was something much deeper. Much stronger. Much more dangerous.

And half a second later they were back to glistening with playfulness. "Fine. You can't come to my birthday party," he pouted.

"Really mature."

"Moving on, we have Bram Stoker's Dracula!" he said excitedly. "Not only is he a vampire, which is awesome, he's also a breakfast cereal. I don't see them making Ophelia Puffs, or Lady Chatterly Flakes, or..." He glanced down at Kate who had moved her head back to his shoulder, "Or whatever-you-chose Squares. He's awesome. End of story."

Kate snatched up the next one before he'd finished placing Dracula back on the tray. It was slightly soggy; an otherwise undecorated gingerbread man, save the fact that he was missing his arms. Unable to help herself, Kate lifted the cookie to her nose and inhaled.

"Rum?"

"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest, Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum," he sang softly, "Only this guy isn't a pirate."

Kate quirked an eyebrow. "Again, I ask: Rum?"

He smiled. "It was the first thing I grabbed that we had on hand. Get it? On hand! Cause' he doesn't have any!" He giggled like a little girl until he realized that his mother and daughter were now staring at him like he'd lost his mind. "What? It makes perfect sense. Go ahead. Guess. If anyone can get it it'll be one of you two. Sorry Mother, I just happen to know that you don't read much outside of scripts." To the other two he said, "It's like a brain teaser in cookie form." He crossed his arms as Kate spun the drunken little man around, being careful of course not to damage what was left of his body.

"I got it!" Alexis blurted out excitedly. She glanced at Kate and found that a smirk had crossed her face. She'd figured it out as well and nodded to Alexis to continue.

"The missing arms, they stand for A Farewell to Arms, and anyone who's studied anything about him should know that he was infamous for his drinking habits. It's Hemingway! Nice one Dad."

Castle beamed. "Good girl. Unfortunately I cannot reward you by letting you have him as you are yet underage and there is a cop currently staying with us." He squinted his eyes and threw a tight lipped smile Kate's way.

"Come on Castle, you're making me out to sound horrible. I'm not that bad of a stickler. Besides, you're at home. You're her parent. She isn't going to get drunk off of a cookie."

Alexis grabbed the cookie from Kate's outstretched hand and made short work of beheading the little man. "Thanks Kate."

Castle leaned down so that his lips brushed her ear. "I'll make you out all right..."

As much as she wanted, Kate couldn't stop the shiver that ran down her spine. His lips tickled, but his words were what really affected her. Judging from his smirk, he knew it too. She'd get him back later.

His next cookie sported a top hat and purple overcoat. Surprisingly it was Martha who spoke up first, "Willy Wonka, Richard did you really think we wouldn't see this coming?" She laughed hardily and waited for him to finish grumbling so that he could explain his reasons for this choice.

"Well, maybe it is a bit stereotypical for me, however my reasons for choosing him are legit. Wonka is a character whose eccentricities arise, for the most part, from his creative genius. He often bewilders the other characters with his antics, but is tolerated by the character of Charlie. I liken myself to him both for the creative genius part, and because I have Alexis, who, over the years has tolerated me."

Kate's hand slipped into the crook of his elbow and squeezed lightly. "Tolerate? Is that all you're looking for? Someone to tolerate you?" she whispered. "Castle—I-" He cut her off with an unexpected kiss.

"I know. But when I first discovered Mr. Wonka, I hadn't met anyone as patient as you...aside from my mother, but before she caught on, Alexis always thought I had my head on straight. She believed in what I was doing."

"Still do, Dad."

Right. Cookies. Just a few more and Kate realized that she'd be the center of attention.

Castle's next cookie resembled a ghost. She briefly wondered how he'd gotten his gingerbread man into that shape before she remembered that he'd had a few 'special orders' made for this not-so-little exercise.

"This is Arthur Boo Radley from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. I chose him because he is, arguably, the most potent character in the whole book and as such, inspires the other key characters to save him when he needs saving. Also, his name is Boo." He laughed and picked up the next cookie.

"Moving on, this guy is probably less known. Gay Stanhope Falcon, also known simply as 'The Falcon', was created in 1940 by Michael Arlen. The Falcon is a freelance adventurer and troubleshooter, definitely on the hardboiled side, he's a man who is described as having made his living "keeping his mouth shut and engaging in dangerous enterprises," though he was later redefined as a suave English gentleman-detective with a weakness for beautiful women."

He blew on his fingertips and pretended to shine them on his shirt. Cast a longing look in Kate's direction, and batted his eyes before clearing his throat and continuing.

"He also closely resembles the character of The Saint, so much so that Leslie Charteris sued for plagiarism and poked fun at the character in a later novel."

Hm.

Kate felt her face burn for a split second. Maybe he hadn't noticed.

He noticed.

Of course he noticed. Gave her a slight turn of the head questioning, but was kind enough not to comment.

His next man resembled Two-Face from the Batman series. "Castle, I thought these were supposed to be literary references, not comic book characters."

He huffed and shook his head, "Believe me, I know. I'm the one who makes up the rules, but I got called out a couple of years ago when I tried to submit Frank Castle (The Punisher) and Hal Jordan (The Green Lantern) as characters. These two very lovely ladies were quick to put me in my place. I only had seven submissions that year..." He shook his head ruefully.

"But no. This, my dear detective, is not a comic book character. This is the legendary Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I have for some time been fascinated with the idea of the split personality. This character feels as if he is constantly battling within himself between what is good and what is evil. He has spent much of his life trying to repress the evil urges within him that were not fitting for a man of his stature. This is an example of the ultimate battle between good and evil, the fight within. The fight inside. It is something, I believe that everyone struggles with, but this character was able to completely split his 'good' side from his 'evil' side, making it not only an internal struggle for control, but an externally represented battle as well. Fascinating."

"I dunno, Dad, you kind of have a split personality of sorts sometimes. There's the giant child personality who often fights for dominance over the serious father..." Alexis raised her eyebrows playfully at her father and Kate fought the smile that struggled to make itself known.

There were actually many more sides to Castle that she'd been privy to. Not all of them good, granted he had his moments that were frustrating as all get out, but most of them were fun. His romantic side, which she had only recently really seen blossom was one of her absolute favorites. Of course there was the doting dad, the devoted son, the caring friend, but the thing that got her right there—right in that place where no one else had managed to get to in her heart, he was genuine in each of those roles. He wasn't playing a part.

And she loved him all the more for it.

Two cookies to go. By the looks of it, they were both female. Huh. Castle really did put some diversity in his cookie character choices.

"This little lady is Catherine Earnshaw, the main female protagonist of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. I chose her because she isn't your typical strong feminine lead. She straddles the line between hero and villain. Sometimes you love her, others you hate her. She is...something to behold, indeed."

"Very interesting, darling," Martha mused, "I would have thought you to have picked Heathcliff..."

He didn't say it. Didn't make a comparison between Catherine and Kate. But she felt that it was there. Even if only a little bit.

But he moved to his last character quickly. Held her up for them all to see. It was pretty much unmistakable who this was.

If her cheeks had burned earlier, they were on fire now.

This must be one that he'd had special ordered. The cookie was unmistakably female in shape. A silhouette, he'd blackened the entire thing. She was holding a gun. But this wasn't taken from the cover of a book. This was an exact replica of a photograph. (who knew cookies could be that exact?)

A photograph that she didn't remember having taken. Ooh, he was going to get it, but first she had to be sure his family thought it fake.

"Nkki Heat. Really Castle? That's why you didn't want me peeking? You picked one of your own characters? Isn't that cheating or something?"

He was staring at her. Gaging her response. Trying to read her thoughts. He was obviously quite pleased with himself for this one. "I didn't want you peeking because I wanted you to focus on your own cookies. And because it's one of the rules. I chose Nikki Heat because how could I not choose a character based on you, Kate? She's smokin' hot, smart as a whip, not afraid to use her gun, and wicked good in bed."

"Dad!" "Richard!"

It was his turn to go beet red. "The character! I made the character good in bed!" He turned to Kate for help, but she was having too much fun with this. Let him dig his hole. "I-" he dropped his voice to a desperate whisper, "Not that you aren't good in bed, that isn't what I'm saying—I-"

"Hush." She placed two fingers on his lips to stop this from becoming worse than he'd made it. "Nikki Heat. I'm flattered, Castle. It's nice that she's getting represented."

"You didn't pick her?" he looked surprised. "I would have thought you would have picked her..." he said almost to himself.

"Don't worry Castle. My choices will give you the insight you're looking for. Or not."

He reached for her tray but she blocked him, poking his chest to keep him away. "There are many characters. Many choices and to limit me to ten is like asking me which of my hairs are my favorite. Therefore," she pointed fingers at both Martha and Alexis in turn as well, "you may read little into who I picked. I will, as requested, give explanations, however these are not necessarily reflections on myself or my absolute all time favorite characters. I tried to be diverse. A random sampling of those who piqued my interest past and present. Many were left out due to time constraints, etc."

That was ok, right? A little clarification just to get things straight. Expectations maybe lowered a bit. As much as she didn't want to admit it, it mattered to her what these three people thought about her choices in characters for gingerbread cookies.

And that was a little scary if she thought about it too much.

Heart pounding she turned, and pulled the wax paper off of her tray.

AN: I will try to update again in the next few days. Sometimes we can't control what goes on in life and deadlines are unable to be met. Sorry to keep it vague, but I'll do my best to make it in under a week. ;o)

Please review. I could really really (really) use a pick-me-up.