Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm for this story.
After a solid week of consecutive nights of being awakened sometime during the night by a crying Lily who would then only go back to sleep when in the presence of the Christmas tree, Rick finally strung some Christmas lights on the wall above her crib, and much to his and Kate's mutual relief, it worked. Lily went back to her regular sleep schedule, and when she did awaken for a feeding or a diaper change, she was able to enjoy the Christmas lights in her own room.
The leadup to Christmas was a crazy busy time for everyone. Kate called and invited Madison to spend Christmas Day with them, but Madison declined, informing Kate that she already had plans. "You're not working on Christmas Day, are you?" Kate asked. "Because I've done that. It's a terrible way to spend Christmas, Maddie."
"No, I'm not working," Maddie replied. "I'm having dinner with Mark."
"Mark Fallon?" Kate asked, surprised.
"Yes," Maddie said. "We've been talking and texting and we've had a couple of coffee dates, and I picked him up at the airport when he came back from his mom and stepdad's after Thanksgiving-"
"Whoa, you picked a guy up at the airport after Thanksgiving? The woman who, the last I knew, never went beyond five dates with any man, is making airport pickups?" Kate asked incredulously.
"He's different, Becks," Maddie said seriously. "He's different from any other man I've never known. We haven't even kissed yet. Well, he kissed me on the cheek before he got out of my car that day, but it hasn't gone beyond that."
Kate was floored. "You're really serious about him," she said, amazed.
"I really could be," Maddie agreed. "I never wanted to get serious about anybody. But Mark… Mark is the kind of guy a woman gets serious about. He doesn't deserve anything less. And this is new to me, because I've never had a relationship like this before. The only thing I know is that it is a relationship. And I don't know where it's going, or what it all means. I like being with Mark. I can be myself with him. His schedule is as insane as mine, so it doesn't faze him. I don't think he's had a real Christmas in years. I know I haven't. So we're gonna get together and cook Christmas dinner together at my place. I have the better kitchen. Not that I've seen his, but I'm taking him at his word."
"Well, if you guys want to come over here after you've had your dinner, you're welcome. We're having an open house, pretty much, Christmas Day afternoon and evening," Kate said.
"We might take you up on that," Madison said. Kate noticed Madison's use of 'we.'
"Great," Kate replied. "And if I don't talk to you before then, Merry Christmas, Maddie."
"You too, Kate," Madison said. "And Castle and Lily and Alexis and your dad and Castle's mom. You have quite a family."
"I really do," Kate reflected. At that exact moment, Rick came downstairs carrying Lily, fresh from her bath and dressed in a white fleece footed sleeper with Santa Clauses all over it.
"I have to get going," Madison said.
"Hot date with Mark?" Kate teased.
"No, catering an office holiday party tonight," Madison replied.
"Well, we're getting ready to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas as a family," Kate replied. The front door opened then, Alexis removing her key from the lock as she entered the loft. "Alexis just walked in, and Lily's fresh from her bath. I'll talk to you soon."
"Talk to you soon, Kate," Maddie echoed before ringing off. Kate ended the call, put her phone on vibrate, and welcomed hugs in succession from Alexis, Lily, who laid her head on Kate's shoulder, and Rick, who added a kiss to the crown of Kate's head.
"I called for the pizza in the cab. It should be here soon," Alexis said after returning from putting her things away in her bedroom. At that moment, the pizza arrived.
Kate settled Lily in her swing while Rick brought the pizza to the coffee table. Alexis brought napkins, waters and sodas from the refrigerator, and then Rick tuned the TV to the correct channel. Lily loved all the music, gurgling and babbling and waving her arms and kicking her feet. She was a little young to really focus on the cartoon, but the music was a big hit with her. Rick, Kate, and Alexis all three had grown up watching A Charlie Brown Christmas every December; there hadn't been a single Christmas of Alexis's life that she and Rick hadn't watched it together.
On one of the commercial breaks, Rick lifted Lily out of her swing so she could snuggle up on the couch with him, Kate, and Alexis for the remainder of the show. "Are there any other Christmas cartoons we should do this with?" Kate asked. She had only started really paying attention to Christmas again in the past few years, since getting together with Rick, and her knowledge of Christmas cartoons ended around 1990.
Rick and Alexis exchanged a look. "I'm not sure," Rick mused. "They change most of them from year to year. Some of the older cartoons don't get shown at all anymore. Well, they still show Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but I can't stand that one."
Kate looked at Rick, surprised. "You can't stand Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?" she asked. "We're talking about the same Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, right?"
"The Rankin-Bass stop-motion puppet version where everyone but Rudolph's mother, Clarice, and Hermey treated Rudolph like reindeer droppings," Rick replied.
"That's the one!" Kate exclaimed. "I can't stand it either!"
"You can't?" Rick asked, amazed.
"No," Kate said strongly. "I saw it for the first and only time when I was five, and I was so angry at everybody who was so mean to Rudolph. My mom and dad had to work really hard to get me to go and see Santa Claus after that."
"Me too!" Rick exclaimed. "Of course, Rudolph's dad being ashamed of his nose and covering it with dirt pushed all kinds of buttons with me as a kid. It's the only Christmas special in history that portrays Santa as a complete...well, you know."
"Oh, I know. Even at the age of five, it really bothered me that Santa said that Rudolph wouldn't make the sleigh team unless his shiny nose faded away. And then, when there's the big blizzard and whiteout conditions, Santa goes and tells Rudolph he has to lead the sleigh team or else none of the kids in the world would get any presents. He was using Rudolph for the very reason he rejected him earlier. That message is just all kinds of wrong to be sending to kids," Kate said.
"Absolutely," Rick agreed.
"And as if that wasn't bad enough, you also had all the other elves being mean to Hermey because he wanted to be a dentist instead of making toys," Kate said.
"Yes!" Rick exclaimed. "And the Misfit Toys made me sad."
"Me too," Kate said. "I was cheering when Rudolph and Hermey ran away from everyone who was so horrible to them."
"And there again, after running away, when they came back, yeah, everybody apologized. But they had to, because it was a kids' show, and not just any kids' show, but a Christmas kids' show. And even then, that head elf guy sounded like he was begrudgingly letting Hermey open his dentist office after Christmas."
"He did," Kate agreed.
Alexis had lifted Lily into her arms from Rick's lap while Kate and Rick were dissecting Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Lily looked up at her big sister, and Alexis looked down at Lily and said, "They do this all the time. If you haven't gotten used to it yet, Lily, you will."
A Charlie Brown Christmas returned from commercial and concluded then, ending Rick and Kate's conversation about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and shortly after the family had finished watching it together, Lily fell asleep on Alexis's shoulder. Rick and Kate accompanied Alexis upstairs to get Lily settled for the night.
When they returned downstairs, as they cleaned up from their dinner, Alexis said, "I have a confession to make."
"Should we be sitting down for this?" Rick asked.
"I watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer over at Paige's house when I was six," she replied, "and I didn't like it either, for all the same reasons you and Mom mentioned." Her phone rang then, and she looked at the screen. "And on that note, good night." She quickly hugged Rick, then Kate, and they heard her answer the phone as she hurried upstairs, "Hi, did you get a break in the case?" so they knew she was talking to Javier.
"So you don't like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer either," Rick said when they were alone.
"No, I like Rudolph, it's most of the other characters I have a problem with," Kate said, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Well, Alexis is in her room on the phone with Esposito, and Lily is in her room sound asleep," Rick mused. "Whatever shall we do with ourselves?"
"Mmm, I have a few ideas," Kate said, leaning in to kiss him, nipping lightly at his jaw.
"Tell me more," Rick said as he pulled her flush against him.
"It'd be more fun if I showed you," Kate said, threading her fingers through his and pulling him towards their bedroom.
"Lead the way," Rick said as they all but dashed into their bedroom, muffling their laughter with kisses before collapsing onto their bed in a tangle of limbs, and their laughter soon gave way to passion.
Mark and Madison enjoyed their Christmas dinner together around 1 PM, after spending most of the morning cooking together in Madison's kitchen. Madison had an artificial 5-foot tree ("I'm not really home enough to keep a real tree alive, and I find Christmas lights both beautiful and soothing," she had told Mark when he complimented the tree upon his arrival.)
After dinner, Mark excused himself and went for his coat. Madison was initially confused, since she had thought their dinner had gone well, if a little light on conversation—not in an awkward way, but she sensed that Mark had something on his mind and she was giving him plenty of space and time to bring it up.
Madison followed Mark to her living room, to the coat rack by her front door. He was reaching into one of the pockets and he removed a small package wrapped in red-and-green-striped wrapping paper with a red bow on it. He turned to her with a shy smile and said, "We never said whether or not we were exchanging gifts, but I saw this and I thought, if you didn't want to consider it a Christmas gift, you could consider it a hostess gift." He extended the package to her. "Merry Christmas, Maddie."
Madison took the box and eagerly ripped off the bow and tore into the wrapping paper. The box was stamped with the Hallmark logo, and when Madison opened it, she found a beautiful porcelain snowflake ornament with silver filigree between the points of the snowflake, and silver glitter on the snowflake. Attached to the top of the snowflake was a white silk ribbon which held a small charm engraved '2017,' with a hole in the top for an ornament hook to hang the snowflake on the Christmas tree.
"Mark, it's beautiful," Madison replied. "Thank you." She went to the desk in a corner of the living room, where she had put her extra ornament hooks, removed one, threaded it through the hole at the top of the charm, and then went and put the ornament on the Christmas tree. Then she opened the large rolltop of the desk and removed a package slightly larger than the one Mark had just given her, wrapped in gold foil. She closed the rolltop and crossed the room to where Mark was standing by the Christmas tree and held the package out to him. "I got you something too, and it'll have to be considered a Christmas present. Merry Christmas, Mark."
Mark opened his present from Madison. It was a black leather trifold wallet that Mark silently stared a hole through for a long, silent minute. "I noticed the last time we had coffee that your wallet was looking a little...well, ratty," Madison said. "I wasn't sure if getting you something New York Giants-related would be welcomed or not, because of The Coach, so I went with the wallet. If you don't like it, though, I kept the receipt, so you can return it and get a different wallet, or get something else entirely. I-"
Mark looked up from the wallet to meet Madison's gaze and interrupted her. "It's a great wallet," he said. "And you're right, I do need a new one. I like this one very much. Thank you." He swallowed hard and replaced the wallet in its box. "I've been putting this off," he said, "and it doesn't really feel like an appropriate conversation to have on Christmas Day, but I haven't been sure how to bring it up, and you just gave me an ideal opening."
Madison sat down on the couch, and Mark sat down next to her, still holding the wallet in its box in his hands. "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna come right out and say it," Mark began. He looked into Madison's eyes and said, "I was married, Maddie. My wife died on September 11, 2001. She worked for Fiduciary Trust Company at 2 World Trade Center—the South Tower. She was in Trust and Estate Administration. We were on the phone together when she rode the South Tower down when it collapsed at 9:59 AM that morning." He set the box with his new wallet from Madison on the coffee table, then reached into the hip pocket of his navy blue Dockers and pulled out his current (ratty) wallet. He flipped it open and removed a picture of a pretty, smiling auburn-haired woman and held it out to her. "This is Kim, my wife. We were together for nine years, married for six of them. No kids. She was my college sweetheart, and my first real love."
"She's beautiful," Madison said, studying the picture of Kim carefully before returning it to Mark, who carefully slid it back into its plastic sheath in the wallet before putting the wallet back in his pocket out of habit.
"She was," Mark agreed, "inside and out." He blew out a breath. He rarely talked about Kim with anyone but his in-laws, her family, since he was still close to them; she had been their only child. But he knew he needed to tell Madison what he was about to tell her.
"Mark, before you go any further, I have to tell you something," Madison said. "The night we met, at Kate's campaign event? I thought you were handsome and attractive. I still think that. And I was interested in pursuing you. Kate pulled me aside and told me that you were a 9/11 widower, but she didn't give me any details. So I knew this already, and I didn't say anything because I didn't think it was my place to say anything, and I hope you won't be mad at Kate for telling me. She didn't want me scaring you off by being too aggressive."
Mark absorbed this, then nodded once. "I'm not mad," he said. "I appreciate you giving me the time and the chance to tell you myself. There's a reason I'm telling you this now, though. I've been trying to work up to it since the day after Thanksgiving, when you surprised me by waiting at the airport when I got in from Boston. I just...It's still hard for me to talk about Kim with very many people." He was looking at her intently now. "But I want to talk about her with you because...okay, in the last sixteen years, I haven't been a monk. But I never had a real relationship with anyone else. There were women, but it was just sex. No real substance. No strings. And these women knew that going in, so there were no hard feelings when it was over. I didn't want anything more."
He shifted on the couch, clearly nervous, but feeling things he hadn't felt in sixteen years, and determined to see this conversation, difficult as it was for him, through to the end. He was looking deeply into Madison's eyes, and her eyes were locked on his. Her own heart was pounding, and she hoped her pounding heart wasn't obvious to Mark.
"I don't know how to do it anymore," Mark said. "Be in a real relationship. I never thought I'd have the need to know how to do that again. After Kim died, I went back to school. I worked all day at my computer systems analyst job, and took courses at night to get my degree in Criminal Justice. Within two weeks of getting that degree, I was working for the Department of Homeland Security. And I've been all about the job for the last ten years.
"And then I met you, Maddie. And I wasn't looking for anything. I sure wasn't looking for anything serious. Hell, I don't even know how to flirt anymore, and I knew you were flirting with me the night we met, but you weren't put off or scared off by me. You're the first woman who hasn't headed for the hills after trying to flirt with me in a decade and a half. And even though I wasn't looking for anything, I found something. I found you, Madison." He swallowed hard, their eyes still locked. "I don't know how to be in a real relationship anymore," he repeated. "But I want to try and figure it out...with you, if you want that too, because this, us, this is something, and it's going somewhere, and I don't know where, but I know that I want to find out. I like being with you, Maddie. I like talking to you and having coffee with you and I'd like to spend New Year's Eve with you, and if you're working, if I can be there, I'll hang out in a corner all night. I'll put on a waiter's uniform and hawk trays of champagne and hors d'oeuvres if I can just be with you at midnight when the New Year comes in, because for the first time in sixteen years, I'm looking forward to the New Year, and that's because of you." He paused, then said, "That's it. That's all I have to say."
Madison took a deep breath and then she spoke. "I've never had a really serious relationship. Well, not since high school anyway, and it was only...you know...high school serious. We were going to different colleges thousands of miles apart, so we broke up, and I never saw him again. I've always kept things casual. I've been all about my job too, and when I met you, you intrigued me, and I wasn't looking for anything serious either, but I found it. At least, I think it has the potential to be serious. And I know that I want it to have the potential to be serious. Because you...Mark, you're not the kind of man who does anything less than serious. And I want to give this a try too. I'm not any better at being in a real relationship than you are. And it's been a lot longer than I'd like to admit since I've been in one. Longer than you. But you're different. Good different. I want us to try, and to see where this is going, because you're right: there's something here, between us, and I don't know where it's going either, but I want to find out. I want us to find out. And you don't have to hawk champagne and hors d'oeuvres on New Year's Eve. I'm taking the night off. So we have a week to figure out what we're going to do for New Year's Eve." Madison paused. "Wow. You're the first real New Year's Eve date I've had since I was seventeen."
"As long as there's no pressure," Mark quipped.
Madison laughed at that. Mark smiled, more than just a flash of a smile, and a real and genuine smile that made Madison's heart pound even harder. "Maddie?" he asked.
"Yes, Mark?"
"I'd really like to kiss you right now."
"I'd really like it if you kissed me right now."
Mark moved closer, and Madison met him in the middle of the couch. He framed her face in his hands, and her hands went to his shoulders. He touched his lips to hers, gently at first, and she responded in kind. The kiss deepened slowly, gradually, and when the need for oxygen forced them to stop kissing, they pulled apart slowly, struggling to catch their breath. "This is the merriest Christmas I've had in seventeen years," Mark said softly.
"Me too," Madison replied before initiating their second kiss.
As he had the year before, Jim spent the night at the loft on Christmas Eve. So did Javier. Lily sensed the excitement, so neither she nor her parents got much sleep that night, and they were up for the day at 6 AM on Christmas morning. Rick tapped out a quick text to Martha, letting her know they were awake and would hold Lily off on opening presents as long as they could.
"I smell coffee," Kate said as she finished changing Lily's diaper and then zipping up her footie pajamas that made her look like a miniature elf. Rick was wearing a red t-shirt with a Santa Claus hat and two thumbs pointing upward emblazoned with the words "THIS GUY LOVES CHRISTMAS." with his flannel sleep pants.
Kate was similarly attired, having found a t-shirt at The Disney Store that she hadn't been able to resist buying. Her shirt was white and proclaimed in red cursive letters, "Happiness is Castle (with the 'a' in the shape of a castle), Lights and Hot Coffee," which she had surprised Rick with the night before, wearing it with a pair of gray yoga pants for pajamas.
"Maybe one of Santa's elves stayed behind to surprise us," Rick said.
Kate just smiled before picking Lily up from the changing table and carrying her downstairs. Rick followed them, and they found Jim in the kitchen in his bathrobe, pajamas and slippers, pouring cups of coffee. "Merry Christmas, Katie, Rick," he greeted them with a smile. He looked at Lily in Kate's arms and his face lit up. "And a very merry first Christmas to you, Lily Jo."
Alexis and Javier came downstairs then, Alexis in light blue pajamas with Christmas trees in red, white, green, pink, and purple all over them, and Esposito in a plain long-sleeved gray t-shirt and red plaid pajama pants.
"It's Christmas, Lily!" Rick exclaimed. They headed into the living room, Rick carrying their mugs of coffee, Kate carrying Lily, Jim right on Kate's heels, and Alexis and Javier trailing after the others.
When Lily saw the Christmas tree, sparkling and shiny, and the sea of wrapped presents beneath it, her little mouth made a perfectly round 'O' and then she started babbling excitedly, "Ah ya ya ya!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide and shining as she looked from the tree to Mommy and then Daddy.
"Oh yeah, Lily's definitely a Castle," Alexis said.
The front door flew open then, and Martha entered with a flourish. "Merry Christmas, everyone!" she exclaimed. She carried an overnight bag along with her purse, and wore green loungewear pajamas and black ballet slippers beneath her overcoat, having hailed the first cab she could after receiving Richard's text message, so determined was she not to miss her youngest granddaughter's first Christmas.
Lily was able to sit up on her own, and everyone gathered around her on the floor, Kate grabbing a throw pillow from the sofa to sit behind Lily. "Everyone was obviously very good this year," Martha remarked.
Rick grabbed a medium-sized package wrapped in candy-cane-striped paper. "Okay, Sweetpea, are you ready to open your first Christmas present?" he asked. He set the gift in front of Lily, and she looked from the package to Mommy and Daddy with wide eyes.
Kate reached out and tore off a large strip of the wrapping paper. Lily watched her mommy raptly. "You can do it, sweetie," she said.
Lily reached out and tugged at the paper, and a small piece came off in her hand. Kate and Rick helped her unwrap the gift the rest of the way, revealing a small tower with several stacking rings in different colors.
Lily caught on to the general idea immediately, and her family members took turns putting wrapped presents in front of her and helping her open them. She babbled excitedly as she ripped the wrapping paper off everything from bath toys to teething rings to stuffed animals to a playmat to a bouncer to Baby's First Blocks to a sit-to-stand learning walker to cloth and board books, all of which were a big hit.
All of the adults were much more interested in helping Lily with her presents than in opening their own, and agreed to wait until Lily was down for her morning nap to open their presents. Jim opened some of Lily's new toys, and everyone exclaimed over her presents.
While Rick was making a big batch of pancakes for breakfast, Kate stole up behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest and resting her chin on his shoulder. "Merry Christmas, babe," she said.
He expertly flipped the pancakes before turning his head to meet her waiting kiss. "Merry Christmas, Kate."
Javier and Alexis were up on the couch now, snuggled together, while Jim and Martha helped Lily play with her stacking rings.
"Lily has given Christmas back to my dad," Kate said. "You have this way of making things better, making dreams into reality...for me, for my dad, for Lily and Alexis."
"We make things better for each other," Rick replied. He turned away from the stove to wrap his arms around her. "Your heart, your love, you...You are the best gift of my life, Kate. Every day."
They were kissing when Alexis exclaimed teasingly, "Hey, the pancakes are burning!"
"Oh, well, that's just the first batch. The first batch never turns out well," Rick said after he and Kate reluctantly stopped kissing.
"Ga yah yah!" Lily exclaimed.
"You tell 'em, Lily," Javier said, amused.
After Rick had scraped the burnt pancakes into the trash and started another batch, Kate tugged at his shirt. When he turned his head to look at her, she leaned in and whispered in his ear, "You're the best gift of my life too, Rick. Every day."
He stole a quick kiss before turning his attention back to the pancakes so that this second batch didn't burn.
