Thank you to all my readers, followers, and reviewers. I hope you enjoy this chapter, as it's one of the biggest ones in the whole story.


Javier surveyed the dozens of Christmas trees of all shapes, sizes, and thicknesses on the lot, and then looked at Alexis beside him, her cheeks pink from the cold, a sky blue beret that matched her parka perched on top of her head, practically bouncing with excitement, and he couldn't keep from smiling. "I haven't really done anything for Christmas in years," he said.

Alexis looked at him, her eyes shining brightly with happiness and holiday spirit. "Well, you're with me now, so all that's going to change," she said. "A Castle Christmas is, by its very definition, big and fun and filled with decorations."

"You're not gonna make my apartment look like the toy department in Elf, are you?" he asked.

"Not an exact copy, but you're thinking in the right direction!" she exclaimed. At the stunned look on his face, she burst out laughing. "I'm kidding," she assured him. "I swear, Javier, I'm kidding. We'll work our way up to that. But come on, don't you miss having a Christmas tree?"

"Sorta," he said. "That's why we're here, isn't it?"

"Yes!" Alexis exclaimed. "And I'll finally get to see your apartment."

"It's not that impressive, trust me," Javier said.

Alexis threaded her arm through his and they began a slow stroll up and down the rows of trees. "Maybe not yet, but wait until I'm through with it. I'm an apprentice elf in good standing. Do you have ornaments and lights and tinsel and garlands, or will we need to get those too?"

Seeing how excited Alexis was, Javier rested his other hand on top of hers. He had a few things from his mother and grandmother, but he hadn't put up a tree in several years, so he wasn't really sure what kind of condition they were in. The strings of lights were probably burned out or a fire hazard. So new decorations would be a must. "I think we'd better get those too," he said.

Alexis fairly radiated light and elation. "Good answer," she said.

While Alexis and Javier were wandering through the rows of Christmas trees, Rick and Kate arrived at the lot to get their tree. Neither couple knew the other was there at first.

But while Kate was inspecting a 10-foot Scotch Pine, Rick caught sight of a familiar-looking flash of sky blue beret and parka and red hair. "Hey, Alexis is here!" Rick exclaimed to Kate.

Kate looked up from the tree she'd been inspecting. She took the two steps that put her right next to her husband, and they both saw Alexis in profile, laughing. They saw her arm shoot out and pull a man towards her. The man's back was to them, so they couldn't see his face. But he brought one hand up to reveal mistletoe. Alexis tilted her head and beamed at him. "She's with The Boyfriend!" Rick exclaimed. "Come on, turn around so we can see your face, guy."

No sooner had Rick said those words than The Boyfriend held the mistletoe over Alexis's head. She gave him a coy look, and then, with his hand still holding the mistletoe over her head, he held out his other arm. She stepped into his embrace, her arms going around his neck, and they kissed.

The kiss lingered. "Okay, you can let her go now," Rick said, even though Alexis and The Boyfriend were too far away to hear him.

"Babe, they can't hear you," Kate said. Now she was peering at them critically, thinking there was something familiar about The Boyfriend, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Alexis and The Boyfriend pulled apart, and Alexis was laughing. They still had their arms wrapped around each other. Alexis snatched the mistletoe from the hand The Boyfriend was holding above her head. Holding it and still laughing, she started to make a break for it…

...and that was the moment that The Boyfriend took off after her, laughing and looking at her like she was the only person on Earth…

...which was also the moment that Rick and Kate saw his face and saw that Javier Esposito and Alexis's secret boyfriend were one and the same person.

Rick and Kate watched, speechless and shocked, as Javier caught up to Alexis, picked her up, and, both of them laughing, whirled her around, setting her on her feet and then looking up when she held the mistletoe over his head before she went up on tiptoe and he lowered his face to hers and they kissed again.

"Esposito is The Boyfriend!" Kate exclaimed in a stage whisper. "Shut the front door!"

Rick watched Alexis and Esposito kissing, and his emotions were churning and roiling. He was all over the place. He wanted to go over there, pull them apart, and pound Esposito's face in. He wanted to demand that they never see each other again. He wanted to know what they were thinking. He wanted to know how long this had been going on.

But he stood there frozen to his spot, looking at them in misery, because he saw the way they were looking at each other. He saw the way they laughed together, the way they held each other, the way that Alexis triumphantly brandished the mistletoe over Esposito's head when they broke the kiss, and the way Esposito looked at Alexis, a mix of humor and...this was the hard part for Rick... and love etched deeply into his face.

Could this be serious? Could this be the real thing for Alexis and Espo, the way it was for him and Kate, and for Ryan and Jenny, and even for Lanie and Alan, and for Gates and her husband?

Rick wasn't sure what to think or how to feel. He didn't have enough information to process all of this.

For her part, Kate was just as shocked as Rick. She had noticed a subtle change in Esposito the past few months. It was becoming clearer to her every second that the reason for that change was Alexis...or that she had a lot to do with it, at the very least.

Kate had just as many questions as Rick did, all of the same ones he had, and a few more besides.

Since Alexis and Espo were in their own little world, as Alexis pulled Espo towards a scraggly tree that looked like it was straight out of A Charlie Brown Christmas, only slightly taller, and they stood there looking at the tree and debating about it, since they kept looking from the tree to each other and they were both talking animatedly, Kate looked at Rick, and saw the misery and the uncertainty and the "how the hell did this happen and what exactly is it?" written all over his face, and she knew that she had to get him out of there before Alexis and Espo saw them, that she needed to go over all of this with Rick before they confronted Alexis and Espo with what they knew.

"Babe, we should go before they see us," Kate said, gently pulling Rick after her.

"They're not gonna notice us, Kate. They're in their own little world," Rick said glumly, but he let her pull him away. He looked back over his shoulder at Alexis and Esposito just in time to see Alexis motioning Harvey, the owner of the tree lot, over to where she and Esposito stood in front of a 5-foot scraggly pine tree that looked like it belonged in a stage production of A Charlie Brown Christmas. He saw Espo lean in and say something right in Alexis's ear, and watched as his daughter's expression softened before she laid her head on Espo's shoulder for a moment before standing upright again while Espo paid Harvey for the tree, and then he couldn't watch anymore, and not only because Kate had pulled him around a corner so he couldn't see Alexis and Espo any longer.

Though they beat a hasty retreat from the Christmas tree lot, Kate told Harvey to tag the 10-foot Scotch pine for her and Rick and they'd be back to pick it up tomorrow. "Oh, and don't tell Alexis that we were here," Kate added.

"My lips are sealed," Harvey assured her. Rick fumbled his wallet out of his pocket to pay for the tree. "She'll be ready and waiting for you tomorrow morning, Mr. Castle. Merry Christmas."

"You too," Rick said.

"Merry Christmas, Harvey," Kate said. Then she steered Rick to the car and when he got in the passenger seat without a word, she seated herself on the driver's side and drove them back home to the loft.

They both stayed silent until they were in the living room, their coats and scarves and gloves put away, and then Kate sat down on the couch, where Rick had already flopped down heavily, his head bowed, his hands clasped and dangling between his knees.

"Say something," Kate requested softly.

Rick turned his head to look at Kate. "I never, in a million years, thought that The Boyfriend would be Esposito," he said.

"Neither did I," Kate agreed.

"How long has this been going on?" Rick wondered. "When did it start? How...why did it start?"

"Well, let's think about this for a minute," Kate said. "When is the first time Alexis mentioned that she was dating somebody?"

Rick thought back. "The weekend we went up to your dad's cabin," he said. "We invited her along, and she declined."

"Yeah, that's right," Kate remembered. "She was on the phone and she ended the conversation when we walked in, and that's when she admitted that she was dating someone, and it was still new. So it's only been going on for a few months."

"She said he was older, and he was in law," Rick recalled.

"Both of which are true," Kate mused. "Alexis is gonna make one hell of a lawyer."

"She left out the most pertinent information!" Rick exclaimed. "Why didn't she just tell us it was Esposito?"

"Babe, you're gonna have to ask her that," Kate said.

"Oh, believe me, I will," Rick said, jumping to his feet. He started walking towards the front door.

"Where are you going?" Kate asked.

"I'm gonna go kill Esposito," Rick replied with a straight face.

"No, you're not," Kate said matter-of-factly.

"You're right," Rick said. "You're better at intimidation than I am. You kill him, and I'll watch."

"I'm not killing Javi either," Kate said.

The miserable look from the Christmas tree lot returned to Rick's face. "Did you see them earlier?" he asked Kate.

"I did," she replied.

"It's not like I've spent a lot of time spying on Alexis and her boyfriends," Rick said, "but I've never seen that look on her face before. And I've never seen her act like that before either."

"Off in her own little world with her boyfriend," Kate said. "I've never seen Javi like that either. He and Lanie...there was chemistry, but I don't think they were ever really in love with each other. Not like Lanie is with Alan. Seeing Lanie with Alan versus seeing her with Esposito...the difference is night and day. She never would have even thought about moving in with Javi. She and Alan are looking for a place to make their home together."

Rick's face fell further as he slumped against the front door. "The way Alexis was laughing with Esposito, teasing him with that mistletoe...she laid her head on his shoulder...Kate, she was looking at Esposito the way you look at me."

"I know," Kate replied. "And Javi was looking at Alexis the way you look at me. I never even saw him look at Lanie in exactly that way. I think this could be serious, Rick."

"No wonder Esposito didn't look depressed on Thanksgiving about not being with his new girlfriend! He was with her the whole time!" Rick realized.

"Sneaking around, like we thought," Kate said wryly.

"It's worse than that," Rick said.

Kate got up from the couch and walked over to meet Rick at the door. "How is it worse than sneaking around?" she asked. "Would you rather they were just friends with benefits...the occasional booty call, and on again and off again, like Lanie and Javi were?"

Now Rick looked sick. "She's my daughter," he said emotionally.

"She's my daughter too," Kate said gently. She smoothed Rick's furrowed brow. "Which is why I want her to have what you and I have."

Rick sighed. "Alexis has always been an old soul, wise beyond her years, mature for her age," he mused. "But Esposito..."

"Pi," Kate said. "And I'm not talking the dessert, or 3.1416, when I say that, either."

"Point taken," Rick said. "But I don't have to like it."

"Not right away you don't, no, but if this is heading where it seems to be heading, it would be easier all the way around for everybody if you got to like it eventually."

"You know I don't think Esposito's a bad guy," Rick said. "I just...I never pictured him with Alexis."

"None of us did," Kate said. "But sometimes, when you're not looking for it, that's when love finds you."

"I don't want to lose her, Kate," he said worriedly.

"You won't," Kate assured him.

"I'm not gonna be the number-one man in her life anymore," Rick said.

"Not in the same way," Kate agreed.

"How did we not figure this out?" Rick asked.

"Probably because we've been sitting on a pretty big secret of our own," Kate said, gesturing to her abdomen.

Rick looked at Kate's belly; her pregnancy was just beginning to show, and she had taken to wearing loose-fitting clothes while she checked out maternity clothes online before going shopping. He rested his hand on the small bump that was their unborn daughter. "Can we keep her from dating 'til she's thirty?" he asked hopefully.

"Probably not," Kate said earnestly. "And you know, we don't have to wait around for Alexis and Javi to come to us now that we know. We could go to them and tell them we know all about them."

"But we don't know all about them," Rick pointed out.

"Ah, but they don't know that," Kate said. "And you won't rest until you do find out all about them."

"You sound like you have a plan," Rick said, and he sounded more cheerful.

"I think I do," Kate said, and proceeded to fill Rick in on her idea.

"I like that," he said when she had finished. "I like that a lot. Can we do that?"

"Is tomorrow soon enough?" Kate asked.

"Yes!" Rick exclaimed. "Tomorrow we get our answers! And in such a creative way that's so true to who we are."

"I thought you'd enjoy that part," Kate said.

Rick looked pensive now. "You saw how they looked at each other," he said again.

"I did," Kate agreed.

"They were looking at each other the way you and I look at each other," he said.

"Yes, they were," Kate agreed. She wound her arms around his neck. "And if they can have what we have, but not take quite as long a time to get there, and not have as much baggage as we had, then I'm happy for them."

"Our story is still the best story," Rick said.

"Definitely," Kate agreed. "And our story is still being written."

"Every day," Rick said before pulling Kate into his embrace. She hugged him tightly, hoping that things wouldn't get too out of hand the next day when they talked to Alexis and Javier.


It was a slow day at the 12th Precinct; no murder to solve. Ryan looked up from his pile of paperwork to see Esposito staring at his phone with a besotted grin on his face.

Needing a respite from his boredom, Ryan wheeled his chair over to Esposito's desk and snatched the phone out of his hand.

"Hey!" Esposito said, affronted. "Gimme back my phone!"

"I just wanted to see what you've been staring at with that goofy look on your face all day," Ryan replied.

"I have not had a 'goofy look' on my face all day," Esposito retorted.

"You clearly haven't been anywhere near a mirror today," Ryan replied. He focused in on Esposito's phone, and saw that Javi had been grinning at the wallpaper, which was a picture of Javi and Alexis standing next to a small Christmas tree covered in colored lights, a hodgepodge of ornaments, paper snowflakes, and strands of tinsel. They both had luminous smiles on their faces, and their cheeks were touching. Ryan thought they outshined the Christmas tree.

Wordlessly Ryan handed the phone back. Esposito looked at the picture again before sliding the phone into his shirt pocket. "That's it?" he asked. "You're not gonna give me crap anymore?"

"No, I'm not," Ryan said.

"Why not?" Esposito asked.

"Because I don't believe in mocking love," Ryan replied.

"Whoa, wait, what? Love?" Esposito asked.

Ryan looked at Esposito intently. "You're not actually going to stand there and tell me you're not in love with Alexis? Because that picture is all the evidence anyone with half a brain would need to see that that's the case."

"I'm not discussing this," Esposito said. "She should hear it first."

"You haven't said 'I love you' yet?" Ryan asked, his paperwork forgotten once more.

"Neither has she," Esposito said, somewhat defensively. "I'm waiting for the perfect moment to tell her. I don't want to freak her out or scare her off or go too fast."

Ryan leaned closer to Esposito. "Javi, look at her in that picture. She loves you. It's obvious. As for the perfect moment, those are rare. Remember how I ended up proposing to Jenny? You can build something up in your head, and then it happens in what you initially think is the least romantic way possible, but it turns out to be right after all. It isn't the where or the how that really matters. It's that you say it at all."

Before Esposito could reply to that, the elevator doors opened, revealing Beckett and Castle, striding purposefully into the precinct side by side. "Beckett, Castle, this is a surprise," Esposito said.

"Yeah," Ryan added. "It's great to see you, but we don't even have a murder we're working on. Just a lot of paperwork."

"We're here for another reason," Kate said succinctly. "Esposito, a word?" She inclined her head toward the nearby empty interrogation room.

Esposito gave a nod, then headed towards the interrogation room. Castle followed after him, and Ryan stood up, but before he could take a step, Beckett said, "No, Ryan. You wait here. This is between Espo, Castle and me."

Then Beckett headed for the box, and Ryan dove for his desk phone. Punching in Alexis's cell number, he waited anxiously for her to pick up. "Hello?" she greeted him cheerfully, thinking it was Javier calling her from work, maybe to ask her to meet him for lunch or to firm up their dinner plans.

"Alexis, it's Kevin," he said. "I swear to you it wasn't Jenny or me, but Beckett and your dad just showed up and pulled Javi into an interrogation room to have a word with him. I think you guys have been made."

"Oh no!" Alexis exclaimed. "I'm fifteen minutes away from the precinct. Keep my dad and Kate from killing Javier until I get there, okay? Please, Kevin?"

"I'll do my best," Kevin promised. Alexis ended the call then, so Kevin replaced the receiver and hustled to the two-way mirror outside the interrogation room to watch, ready to step in if things got too heated between Castle and Beckett and Javi.

In the interrogation room, Javi knew what this was going to be about. Somehow, Castle and Beckett had found out about him and Alexis. Everyone had been doing so well keeping their secret, and Christmas was so close now. He wondered idly who had slipped up and given them away as Beckett closed the door. Castle was seated at the table, his hands clasped on the tabletop in front of him, his posture stiff and tense.

"Have a seat," Kate said, taking the chair next to Castle as she motioned to the chair opposite theirs.

Esposito dropped into his seat, waiting to see how this was going to start before he said anything.

"You didn't mention whether or not you're bringing your new girlfriend to our place for Christmas Eve," Kate began.

"No, I didn't," Esposito replied.

Castle leaned forward. "But then, you won't have to bring her, will you, Esposito? Because she'll already be there, just like she was at Thanksgiving. Your girlfriend is Alexis."

Esposito wasn't about to deny it. "Yes, Alexis is my girlfriend," he said, looking Castle right in the eye.

"Once upon a time, Lanie was your girlfriend," Castle said.

"Not like this," Javier replied.

"What does that mean?" Castle asked. "You forget, Esposito, I've known you for eight years. I know you're something of a player."

"I'M a player?" Esposito asked. "You had a photo shoot with stripper female cops in the precinct, you brought a stewardess bimbo you picked up on a flight from Vegas to a crime scene and let her drive off in your Ferrari, and you're calling me a player?"

"Yes, I believe that's exactly what I'm saying," Castle said.

"All right, so I have a past," Esposito replied. "Everybody does."

"Some of us more than others," Castle said.

Esposito's eyes narrowed. "If you've got something to say, Castle, just come right out and say it," he said, his voice low and dangerously controlled.

"Why Alexis? Why, out of the literally millions of women in New York City, are you dating my daughter?" Castle asked. "My 12-years-younger-than-you daughter."

"You're ten years older than Beckett," Esposito said.

"That's different!" Castle exclaimed.

"How? Because it's you and Beckett, and not me and Alexis?" Esposito asked.

Kate laid a hand on Rick's arm, trying to keep him calm. "Javi," Kate said, "how long has this been going on?"

"Officially or unofficially?" he asked, focusing on Beckett.

The corners of Kate's mouth twitched as she fought a smile, thinking how like her and Rick that sounded.

Before Beckett could say anything else, Esposito went on. "We were going to tell you at Christmas. Who told you?"

"You did," Kate replied. At Esposito's puzzled look, she said, "Rick and I were at the Christmas tree lot yesterday, and we saw you and Alexis there together."

"Oh," Esposito said. "We didn't see you."

"Of course you didn't. You only had eyes for each other," Kate replied.

"So help me, Esposito, if this is just some fling, if you're just marking time or playing around with my daughter until some hot model or bereaved relative comes along," Castle began.

Esposito shot up out of his chair and slammed his palms down on the table. "That's really what you think of me?" he demanded. "Not that it's any of your damned business, Castle, but Alexis and I haven't even slept together, because we're not ready for that yet. This is not me being a creepy cradle robber, this is not me playing around or having a fling until something better comes along. There isn't going to be anything better than this for me!"

"Months! This has been going on for a few months!" Rick shouted. "Why didn't you say something? Why didn't Alexis say something? Why the secrecy? What, are you ashamed to be seen in public with my daughter?"

Esposito shot to his feet. "Stop putting words in my mouth, and stop thinking the worst!" he shouted. "You wanna be mad at me, you wanna hate me, fine, but don't you stand there and disrespect Alexis in that way."

Alexis came barreling into the precinct and hurried towards the interrogation rooms. "Alexis! In here!" she heard Kevin calling. Alexis skidded to a stop beside Kevin at the window and watched the trio in the interrogation room anxiously.

"Don't you tell me I'm disrespecting my daughter!" Rick shouted. "For a guy who claims that this isn't just a fling, you have spent months not being honest and aboveboard with us, and you've got Alexis doing it too!"

"Everything is at stake here!" Esposito retorted. "You guys...you're family to me. You know that." He looked from Castle to Beckett, then back to Castle again. "This has taken both Alexis and me completely by surprise, and we knew it was going to affect not just us, but you and Beckett. I don't want to lose the two of you. But I don't want to lose Alexis either, because she's the best thing that's ever happened to me. The only reason we didn't say anything right away is that we wanted to be sure where this was going before we told you."

"And where is it going?" Kate asked, even though she already knew the answer, and deep down, so did Rick.

"I've never felt this way before, about anyone," Esposito said.

"What way?" Castle challenged.

Alexis opened the door to the interrogation room just in time to hear Javier declare forcefully to her father, "I'm in love with Alexis!"

Before she could stop herself, Alexis blurted out, "You are?"

Javier, Rick and Kate all three turned to look at Alexis, standing in the doorway of the interrogation room, Kevin hovering behind her.

Javier hung his head. "Aw, dammit," he said. Then he lifted his head to look at Alexis. "That is not how I wanted to tell you that I love you for the first time," he said.

Alexis was beaming, and Kate and Rick recognized it as the same smile she had had on her face at the Christmas tree lot yesterday. Kevin saw Alexis's face and her smile and saw that it was the same smile from the picture of her and Javi in front of Javi's Christmas tree that was Javi's phone wallpaper.

"It still counts," Alexis said. "I wanted to say it first, though. I've been trying to find the perfect moment to tell you that I love you. This may not be the perfect moment, but I love you too, Javier."

Javier's face lit up. "You love me? Really?" he asked hopefully.

"I love you, really," Alexis replied. She stepped up next to him and threaded her fingers through his.

They both turned to look at Beckett and Castle. Alexis was struck by how sad her father looked. Kate didn't look surprised. "What gave us away?" she asked.

"We saw you at the Christmas tree lot yesterday," Rick said quietly.

"Oh," Alexis said just as quietly. "We were going to tell you, Dad, Kate. We were going to tell you at Christmas. We just wanted to be sure where things were going before we said anything."

"And you're sure now," Kate said, stating it as a fact.

Still holding hands, Alexis and Javier looked at each other, then looked back at Kate and Rick. "We're in love," Alexis said, unable to keep the joy out of her voice, eyes, and face as she said it.

And in all the years Kate had known Javi, she had never seen him look as happy as he looked right now, standing there, holding hands with Alexis and looking at her in utter amazement. That was a feeling Kate knew well—the awe at knowing that the person you loved with every fiber of your being loved you back in exactly the same way.

Kate looked from the happy couple to Rick, and saw the misery in his face again.

"So you're together, and you're in love, do we have that right?" Kate asked.

"Yes." "Yes." Alexis and Javier answered in unison.

"What happens next?" Kate asked.

Alexis and Javier looked at each other before looking back at Kate and Castle. "We're not in any rush," Alexis said.

"No," Javier agreed. He looked at Alexis now. "You're graduating in February, and starting law school next summer. You have goals, plans, dreams. And I want to be right there beside you as you accomplish them."

"I want you beside me as I accomplish them," Alexis replied, looking back at him. "And I want to be by your side as you accomplish your goals and plans and dreams."

"I want you by my side too," Javier said. "I am completely committed to you, Alexis. I'm in this for the long haul."

"I am too," Alexis replied. They turned to look at Kate and Rick again, and Alexis said, "The best way to sum it up right now is that we're together, and we're staying that way."

"That's right," Javier said.

A beat of silence passed, and then Rick spoke. "I have one question for you, Alexis."

Alexis focused her full attention on her father. Rick looked at his daughter wistfully, then asked her, "Does he make you happy?"

Alexis was whirled back in time to another time and place, when she had been the one asking that question of Rick, about Kate. And now, she gave her father the same answer he had given her when she had asked him that question about Kate.

"Yes, he does," she replied. She let go of Javier's hand and walked around the table until she was standing in front of her father. "We weren't expecting this to happen," she said. "We didn't plan for it to happen. But we're happy, Dad. And we're taking things slow."

Rick looked at Alexis, mustered a smile, and then gave her a big hug, which she eagerly returned. "I'm still your little girl," she said so only he could hear.

"Forever," Rick said firmly.

After releasing Alexis, he walked over to Esposito. "You can understand how shocked I was, can't you?" he asked.

"Yes," Esposito said.

"I know you're a good man, Espo. It wasn't personal, the things I said earlier. As far as I'm concerned, nobody will ever be good enough for Alexis."

"I will spend the rest of my life trying to be good enough for her," Javier said seriously. And everyone in that room—and Ryan watching from outside—knew that he meant it, knew that he had just made a declaration of his intentions without formalizing anything because it was too soon for that. But Kate noticed that Alexis's smile grew wider, and watched Alexis gently bump Javi's shoulder with her own.

"This is gonna take some getting used to for me," Rick continued. "But I want to make one thing clear right now: if you ever break Alexis's heart, I will demolish you, and I'll leave just enough of you after the demolition for Kate to finish the job."

"I understand," Esposito replied. Then he looked deeply into Castle's eyes, wanting the other man to know and understand exactly where Esposito was coming from. "Castle...I'd lie down in front of a train for Alexis. I wanted what you and Beckett have, what Ryan and Jenny have, and I didn't think I'd ever find it. But I did, with Alexis." He looked at Alexis again before looking back at Castle, still completely serious. "I wasn't expecting it, but she's the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I'm not gonna do anything to mess this up."

"See that you don't," Rick said.

Kate approached them then. "Be happy," she said to Alexis and Javier.

Alexis and Javier looked at each other before looking back at Kate. "We are," Alexis said.

"And Rick wasn't kidding about what will happen to you if you break her heart," Kate added.

"I won't," Esposito said. "I know you could totally kick my ass, Beckett. And I've seen some of the damage Castle has inflicted on your behalf. Alexis means more to me than my own life. There's no way I will ever break her heart."

"We'll remember you said that," Kate said, nodding at Rick.

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Ryan walked into the interrogation room. "So, is everything and everybody okay?" he asked cautiously.

"I think so," Alexis answered. She looked to her dad and Kate. "Are we?"

"I think so," Kate replied.

"It's gonna take some time for me to get used to this," Rick said. Then he looked at Alexis once more. "But for you, I'll do my best to get used to it."

Alexis let go of Javier's hand to go and hug her dad again. "Thank you, Dad," she said. Then she hugged Kate. "Thank you, Kate."

"One big happy family," Ryan said.

"That's the goal," Javier said, looking at Castle and Beckett once more.

"Yes, it is," Castle said. He gave Alexis a wistful smile, and she understood how he felt. It was how she had felt when she first realized how seriously in love her father and Kate were.

But Alexis had a good relationship with her father, and a good relationship with Kate. She knew it had taken time for her to come around, to give Kate a real chance, to accept her as her father's soulmate and love of his life. Her father and Kate had both been nothing but patient with her on that score, and she vowed to herself to return the favor now, as they got used to her and Javier being a couple.

And, being her father's daughter, Alexis knew, deep down, that everything would work out in the end for all of them.

It would just take time, but they had time.


Snow started to fall in Manhattan around 2:00 on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. "A white Christmas!" Rick exclaimed jubilantly.

Kate looked out the window. "Maybe a light dusting," she said.

"Okay, so, we're only going to have Ryan and Jenny and the kids, and Gates and her husband, for a little while tonight," Rick said.

"And my dad," Kate said. "He's stopping by on his way up to the cabin." Rick had given Christmas back to Kate, but Jim Beckett still sequestered himself at the cabin every December, arriving on December 24 and staying until the afternoon of January 1.

"If anyone can give Christmas back to your dad, it's Sweetpea," Rick said. "Maybe next year, he won't be able to resist spending Christmas with us. It'll be her first one out here. He'll want to be a part of that."

"That would be nice," Kate said wistfully. There had been a time, long ago, that Jim Beckett had loved Christmas almost as much as Rick did. But that had ended with Johanna's death. Kate wasn't going to put any pressure on her dad to start celebrating the holiday again, even after she and Rick welcomed their daughter. If he never celebrated Christmas again, Kate would respect that. She wasn't sure how he was going to take the baby news. They had never really talked about her having kids someday. Kate's mother had put what she (Johanna) referred to as "the Mother's Curse" on Kate when she was a wild teenager: "Someday, I hope you have a kid who acts just like you do!" Kids were an abstract concept to Kate back then, though, but she thought her mother would have been excited to be a grandmother.

"So we'll have Mother, Alexis, Esposito, Lanie and Alan for the whole evening," Rick continued, bringing Kate out of her reverie.

"And all of their presents are wrapped," Kate said. She rested her hand on her baby bump, which she was still camouflaging with oversized, loose clothes. She beamed now, the smile that never failed to melt Rick's heart, the smile he was already hoping and praying their daughter would inherit. "I can't wait to see the looks on everybody's faces when they open them and find out about the baby."

Afternoon gave way to evening, and with the tree lit up, a fire blazing in the fireplace, and dinner almost ready, Rick and Kate greeted their family. Alexis had gone ice skating at Rockefeller Center that afternoon with Esposito, and they arrived first, and together. Martha was right behind them, and within a few minutes, Lanie and Alan, Gates and her husband Gerald, and the Ryan family arrived. Jim Beckett was the last to arrive, and Kate saw in his eyes how difficult it was for him to be around all the Christmas decorations, and the smells of the traditional Christmas Eve dinner.

"Everyone, if Kate and I could have your attention, please!" Rick called. "We're very happy that you're all here, and since not all of you can stay for the whole evening, Kate and I would like to give you all your Christmas gifts from us now."

Kate was standing by the Christmas tree, and she bent to retrieve a stack of boxes. Rick followed suit, and they went around the room passing them out.

"Dad," Kate said, handing him the wrapped box with his name on the tag. "Lanie, this one's for you and Alan..."

"Mother," Rick said, handing Martha her gift. "Alexis." He gave Alexis her box. Esposito was standing right next to Alexis, of course, and Rick paused for only the shortest beat before handing him his present. "Esposito."

"The Ryans," Kate said, handing Kevin his family's gift.

"And you and your husband, sir," Rick finished, handing his last box to Kate's.

"You got us all the same thing?" Ryan asked, having noticed that all of the presents were identical in size, shape, and even wrapping paper and ribbon.

"We did," Kate said, "but we don't think there will be any objections."

"So can we open them now?" Lanie asked.

"Commence ripping off the wrapping paper!" Rick pronounced. Kate found his hand and squeezed it as they watched their family and friends unwrap their presents.

"A picture frame," Alexis said, being the first one to get her box completely open.

"And a letter?" Ryan asked.

Taped over the slot in which the picture in the frame rested, each frame bore an identical sheet of paper that said the following.

Everything was silent for a couple of minutes while everyone read what Kate and Rick had written together.

"I am half Kate Beckett

The beauty, brains, and bravery

She possesses, I will inherit

At least, my daddy hopes so

But half my genes are Richard Castle

And my mommy hopes I'll have his heart, his optimism, and his way with words

But whoever and whatever I turn out to be

You'll meet me in May, unless I'm late (which Mommy and Daddy hope I'm not)

Greetings, my family

I can't wait to see you

Ready I'm getting to come forth and meet you

Look beneath this paper for your first glimpse of me"

"Oh my gosh!" Jenny exclaimed. She and Kevin had finished reading first, and Kevin pulled the piece of paper off the frame to reveal a copy of Kate's last sonogram picture.

"You guys are having a baby!" Kevin exclaimed, being very familiar with sonogram pictures.

Everyone else removed the top sheet to look at the picture. "Kate, you and Castle are having a baby!" Lanie exclaimed.

"I'm gonna be a big sister?" Alexis asked, looking from the sonogram to Rick and Kate excitedly.

In response, Kate unbuttoned and removed the baggy, oversized jacket she had been wearing. Lanie, Alexis, and Martha all gasped when they saw Kate's baby bump, and Esposito, Gates, her husband, Alan, and Jim Beckett all just stared at Kate and Rick, while Sarah Grace chattered to Nick, who was strapped into his baby seat, and Kevin and Jenny sprang to their feet and rushed to Kate and Rick.

"Congratulations, Beckett, Castle, this is terrific!" Kevin exclaimed. He hugged first Kate, then Rick.

"We're so happy for you!" Jenny exclaimed, as she hugged first Kate and then Rick.

The dam broke after that, and everyone but Jim Beckett rushed towards Rick and Kate. "I'm really gonna be a big sister. Really?" Alexis asked eagerly, hopefully.

Kate pointed out the baby in the sonogram picture. "You see that little blob right there?" she asked.

"Yeah," Alexis said, looking from Kate to the picture and back at Kate again.

Rick looked at her. "That's your baby sister," he told Alexis.

Alexis let out a shriek of happiness. "Baby sister? It's a girl?" she asked.

"It's a girl," Kate said. "We just found out a few weeks ago."

"Wow," Alexis said. "Wow!" She launched herself at her dad, hugging him tightly, and then she hugged Kate tightly before springing back. "Oh, I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't do that, hug you that tightly, I mean," she said.

"It's fine, Alexis," Kate said.

"Congratulations, Beckett," Esposito said, hugging Kate. Then he looked at Castle and held out his hand to shake. "Congratulations, Castle."

Rick shook Esposito's hand, then pulled him in for a one-armed hug, clapping him on the back, right between the shoulder blades.

"Thanks, Espo," Kate said.

Martha pushed and elbowed her way through the throng and embraced Rick and Kate at the same time, her eyes misty. "I'm so happy for both of you...for all of us, really!" she exclaimed. "Another granddaughter! This is wonderful!"

Rick looked at Kate. "I don't think we're gonna be able to top this next year."

"Well, next year, she'll be here, and we'll all get to make a big fuss over her first Christmas," Lanie said. "That's good enough for me." She reached out and rested her palm on Kate's baby bump. "You're gonna be a mom," she said. "I'm so happy for you, Kate. You too, Castle." Lanie hugged Kate, while Alan shook hands with Rick, and then Alan hugged Kate while Lanie hugged Rick.

"And you're going to be a godmother," Kate told Lanie. "Assuming you say yes."

"I say yes!" Lanie exclaimed.

"I call godfather!" Esposito and Ryan exclaimed in unison.

"You're already godfather to both of my kids. I'm not anybody's godfather," Ryan said.

"But I have experience being a godfather," Esposito argued.

"Guys, you're both gonna be godfathers!" Kate exclaimed. Gates and her husband were approaching then, and Kate said, "And sir, since our daughter is going to have two godfathers in Ryan and Esposito, Rick and I would really like it if you would agree to be our daughter's second godmother, along with Lanie."

"I would be honored, Kate, Castle, but on one condition," Gates said, fixing them with the look they had seen from her thousands of times at the 12th Precinct.

"What's that, sir?" Rick asked.

"That the two of you stop calling me 'sir' and start calling me 'Victoria,'" Gates said firmly. "I don't want my goddaughter to grow up calling me 'Aunt Sir,' for Pete's sake."

"We'll work on it...Victoria," Kate said.

"Yes, we have another five-and-a-half months, as long as she doesn't come early," Rick said.

Jim Beckett had hung back from everyone else, just watching Kate and Rick as everyone else congratulated them and fussed over them. He looked from the sonogram picture to Kate.

Kate looked at Rick, and inclined her head slightly in her dad's direction. Rick, knowing she wanted to talk to her dad, dipped his chin in a nod.

Kate approached her father. "Dad?" she asked tentatively.

Jim couldn't stop staring at his daughter's belly. "You're having a baby," he said.

"Rick and I are, yeah," Kate said. "You're gonna be a grandpa."

"And it's a little girl," Jim said.

"Yes, she was very cooperative at the last sonogram," Kate said. "You're getting a granddaughter."

Jim swallowed hard, and Kate saw the tears in his eyes. She wasn't sure if they were tears of joy, tears of sorrow that her mother wasn't here for this, or if the baby news coming on Christmas Eve was just too much for him, given his refusal to celebrate the holiday since Johanna's death.

"Wait right here, Katie, okay? Don't move from this spot. I'll be right back," he said. He turned toward the front door, then stopped, turned back, handed Kate his copy of the framed sonogram picture, and then hurried to the front door, opened it, and hurried out, closing it behind him.

Rick, having seen all of this play out, excused himself from everyone else and rushed to Kate's side. "Kate, what happened? Why did your dad leave?" he asked.

Kate looked at Rick, and he saw the confusion in her eyes. "I don't know," she said. "He told me to wait right here, don't move from this spot, and he'd be right back, but he gave me back the sonogram picture. I...I didn't have any idea how he would react, but I didn't think he'd run out like that."

"He said he was coming back, though," Rick said.

"Yes, he did, but I don't know where he went or what's going on with him," Kate said.

At that moment, the front door opened again, and Jim Beckett stood there, carrying a suitcase. "I was wondering if I could impose on you and stay here tonight," he said, unable to keep the nervousness completely out of his voice. He reached out and took the sonogram picture out of Kate's hands, hugging it to his chest protectively.

"That's where you went? To get your suitcase from your car?" Kate asked.

Jim nudged the front door closed with his foot and set his suitcase down. "Rick gave Christmas back to you, Katie. And I just could never get there." He held up the sonogram picture. "But I remember the Christmases we had when you were a little girl. And if your mother," his voice broke on the word 'mother,' but he cleared his throat, recovered himself, and continued, "if she were here, she would be so happy for you and Rick, and thrilled about becoming a grandma. And on your birthday, I said that your mother was so much more than how she died, that we need to remember the way she lived."

"That's right, you did," Kate said.

"So it's time for me to stop holing up at the cabin every Christmas," Jim said. "I want to spend Christmases with my family again from now on, and next year, I want to hold my granddaughter up to the Christmas tree and watch the look on her face as she looks at all the bright, shiny lights and decorations, and I want to watch her tear into her presents and upend her stocking so the contents spill out all over the floor. I'll go to the cabin for New Year's Eve, but if it's all right with you and Rick, I'd like to stay here tonight. I can sleep on the couch."

"We haven't started converting the guest room to a nursery yet, Jim," Rick said. "You can sleep up there."

Jim carefully set his framed sonogram picture on top of his suitcase, and then took hold of both of Kate's hands. "My baby girl is having a baby girl of her own," he said. He looked at her bump. "May. That's an excellent month for a birthday."

"It'll be good to have a happy occasion in May to celebrate from now on," Kate agreed.

Jim hugged her gently. "I love you, Katie," he said.

"I love you too, Dad," Kate said. She kissed his cheek before he let her go.

Then Jim turned his attention to Rick. "Congratulations, Rick."

"Thank you, Jim," Rick replied. "And congratulations to you too...Grandpa."

"Grandpa," Jim repeated. He smiled at Kate. "I like the sound of that."

Then Ryan exclaimed, "Hey! Everybody look at what Beckett and Castle wrote again! Look at the first letter of every line."

"Why?" Lanie asked.

"Just do it," Ryan exclaimed. "Look what the first letters spell from top to bottom."

Everyone pored over their copies of the poem again. After Ryan, Gates was the first one to figure it out. "'It's a baby girl,'" she said. "That's what the first letter of each line spells out when you put them all together." She looked up from the paper in her husband's hands to Kate and Rick. "Very clever."

"Thank you, sir...I mean, Victoria," Rick corrected himself. "Kate and I wrote it together."

Martha and Alexis had been pouring cups of hot apple cider and were now passing them around to everyone. When everyone, including Kate and Rick, had a cup of cider in hand, Martha said, "A toast." Everyone raised their glasses. "To the new member of our family who will be gracing us with her presence next year. She will be as strong, as fierce, and as extraordinary as both of her parents."

"To my little sister," Alexis added.

"Do you think the world is ready for a person who's half Beckett and half Castle?" Esposito wondered.

Rick and Kate looked at each other and beamed. Her arm went around his waist, and his arm went around her shoulders. Before either of them could say anything, Gates said, "Since she's half Beckett and half Castle, she'll have the world by the tail before she starts preschool."

Everyone laughed. Rick gently tapped his cup of cider against Kate's. "To our daughter," he said.

"To our daughter," Kate said, gently tapping her cup of cider against Rick's.

"To Baby Girl Beckett-Castle!" Lanie exclaimed, and everyone echoed her before sipping their cider.

Later that night, when Alexis and Jim were asleep upstairs and everyone else had gone home, Rick was sitting by the Christmas tree, waiting for Kate, who had left to get what she called "a very special present" for him. "Are your eyes closed?" Kate called from their bedroom.

Rick slammed his eyes shut. "They're closed," he said.

"They'd better be," Kate said. He heard her soft footfalls as she walked into the living room, then felt her stop right in front of where he was sitting on the couch. "So, have you been naughty or have you been nice?" Kate asked.

Rick opened his eyes and saw Kate standing there, her robe tied closed over her pajamas. She wasn't holding a wrapped package. "I've been nice and naughty," he said, "but I don't see you holding a present."

She reached out, took his hand, and put it on the belt of her robe. "That's because the present is under here," she said.

"Ooh, so we get to be naughty together now," Rick said, waggling his eyebrows as he untied Kate's robe. He was expecting some kind of lingerie, but when he opened the robe and then pushed it off her shoulders to pool at her feet on the floor, she was wearing yoga pants and an oversized white t-shirt that said in pink letters edged in black "I'm a One-Writer Girl"-exactly like the onesie she had given him nine days ago.

"I'm blaming this partly on the hormones," Kate said, "because otherwise, I never would have done something this sappy, but-"

She was cut off when Rick stood up, framed her face in his hands, and kissed her deeply. She stepped closer to him and kissed him back, her tongue tracing the seam of his lips until they parted for her. "Not sappy," he said softly, his forehead pressed against hers. "Perfect."

"Merry Christmas, Rick," Kate said, pulling back to look at him.

The smile on his face and the love shining in his eyes matched hers. "Merry Christmas, Kate," he replied before pulling her in for another kiss.