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After breakfast, and after everyone was dressed, the adults took turns exchanging presents while alternating between helping Lily finish opening her gifts and playing with Lily and her new toys. Lily was most interested in the wrapping paper, so she got to help with the wrapping paper removal on most of the bigger presents. Javier was afraid to let Lily help open his gift to Alexis—a new charm for her charm bracelet, the Scales of Justice—because he thought Lily might put it in her mouth, so Jim distracted Lily with his gift from her. Lily eagerly ripped the elf-covered wrapping paper off the gift, and when Jim opened the box, he saw a frame inside which rested a heavy piece of card stock with a tiny handprint in pink paint in the middle, with the words "My fingers may be small, but I can still wrap Grandpa around them. Love, your Lily Jo, Christmas 2017" written in pink and green print and divided as evenly as possible above and below Lily's handprint.
Jim looked up from the gift to beam at his granddaughter besottedly. "That's exactly right, Lily Jo." Then he picked her up and deposited her in his lap, giving her a smacking kiss on the cheek. She patted his jaw, scrunching up her face distastefully at his beard stubble, which made Jim laugh heartily.
"Yeah, Lily's not a big fan of stubble, even in Pat the Bunny," Kate said, marveling, as she always did, at seeing her dad in full grandpa mode.
"Like mother, like daughter," Jim and Rick said in unison.
"Ah, so your decision to remain clean-shaven is because of Katie too," Jim said to Rick.
"Well, at first, it was to impress her. I was pretty scruffy-looking on our first case, and I figured shaping up my appearance was the first step in showing her that I wanted to be serious about her," Rick admitted.
Kate recalled the subtle change in Rick's appearance between their first case together and their second. "You shaved because of me?" she asked.
"You do like my ruggedly handsome face better without facial hair," Rick pointed out.
"True," Kate agreed.
"It's a Beckett woman trait. Johanna never liked me with facial hair either," Jim reflected.
"I remember that short-lived mustache of yours, Dad," Kate replied. "Neither Mom nor I liked it. You didn't look like you with it."
"Johanna said it was like kissing a scrub brush," Jim remembered, and instead of pain in his eyes, there was the bittersweet joy of a fond memory of his beloved wife.
"It's also a Castle woman trait," Alexis said. "I much prefer a clean-shaven face to one covered with a mustache or a goatee or a beard. Although I admit, part of that influence came from a different source than Dad." Rick and Kate exchanged a look, knowing Alexis was referring to Pi.
"Well, that's good to know," Javier said, running a hand down his own freshly shaved jawline.
After Christmas dinner, Martha suggested a carol sing and wouldn't take no for an answer. So the family gathered around the piano as Martha played and sang their way through "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Jingle Bells" (with Martha doing a wicked and seamless segue into "Jingle Bell Rock" from the end of the song), "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "White Christmas," "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," "Silver Bells," and they ended with "Silent Night."
After the carol sing, the others said their goodbyes; Jim was headed to the cabin the next morning until New Year's Day, Alexis and Javier were meeting Matias for Chinese food, and Martha was ready to head home. Christmas phone calls came in for Kate and Rick from Lanie and Alan, who were spending Christmas in the Chicago suburbs with Alan's family, and had gotten the news that Alan's sister and brother-in-law were expecting a baby in the spring; Kevin and Jenny, who were exhausted after spending half the day with Kevin's family and the other half with Jenny's but promised to come by the next day and see the family; Victoria and Gerald, who also promised to stop by and see the family the next day; and Kate got a text from Madison that she would talk to her soon, but she and Mark wouldn't be coming by Christmas evening.
It had been a busy but wonderful Christmas, and Kate was almost as tired as Lily. Rick had given Kate a first edition of the very first comic book Elektra appeared in, the January 1981 issue of Daredevil, along with a new briefcase for her City Council work, and a pair of diamond earrings for Christmas.
Kate had gotten a first edition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes book, A Study in Scarlet, for Rick, along with new Laser Tag gear for him and Alexis, and an external hard drive for his laptop, since he had been talking about getting one because he needed more space for his computer.
Rick and Kate had leftovers for dinner, Kate nursed Lily, and then Rick cleaned up the kitchen and, on returning to the living room, he sank down on the couch and watched and listened as Kate sat on the floor by the Christmas tree, playing with Lily. Kate handed Lily her differently shaped blocks and gently coached her on which shape block went into which hole in the lid of the block bucket, cheering Lily on when she got it right, and covering Lily's tiny hand with her own to direct the block to the correct slot when Lily didn't and explaining why the block fit in that particular slot.
Kate was so tired that she actually fell asleep before Lily, right there on the floor by the Christmas tree. Rick got up, picked up Lily, and put her in her swing. "I'll be right back, I'm just gonna carry Mommy to bed, Lily," he stage whispered. Lily, facing the Christmas tree, babbled almost absently at her daddy, so enthralled by the Christmas tree was she.
Rick carefully picked Kate up and carried her to their bed. Laying her down gently on her side of the bed, he made quick work of undressing her, slipping one of her sleep shirts over her head before pulling the covers over her, leaning down to press a quick, gentle kiss to her lips, and whispering, "Sweet dreams, Kate. I love you."
He returned to the living room to find Lily still staring happily at the Christmas tree. He picked her up out of her swing, which he hadn't started, and sat down with her on the couch, facing the tree. "You got Mommy to fall asleep for the night," he said. "She played and ate so much today, with you and all of us. Mommy loves Christmas again, and you love Christmas too. You're really gonna miss the pretty tree when we take it down next week, but this is a yearly thing, so it'll be back next year. And Mommy and I get to have all our Christmases with you from now on, Sweetpea. This was your first one, but I promise, I'm going to do everything I can to make them all magical for you."
Lily, feeling tired herself, snuggled up close to her daddy and let his warm arms and his heartbeat and his voice soothe her. "You're amazing, Lily. Every bit as amazing as your mommy. I love watching you and Mommy together. I love it when it's the three of us. I love it when our whole big family is together. I love it when as much of our family as possible is together, like we were today. And I love it when it's just you and me, like right now." Lily snuffled and whimpered a little, sticking a finger in her mouth to rub at her sore gums; teething had begun, but they weren't into the worst of it yet. Rick noticed and said, "Here," as he slipped his finger into her mouth and gently rubbed her gums. "Is that better?" Lily gnawed on his finger furiously in answer, and he said, "Okay, then. Daddy at your service."
Lily babbled a little bit, then resumed gnawing on her daddy's finger, and Rick said, "I hate teething, because I know how much pain it causes you, and I hate it when you're in pain. I want to make everything better for you. Some things, I can't spare you from, though...like the teething. I couldn't spare Alexis from it, either. But I'll do everything I can to make you feel better. I absolutely will." Lily had fallen asleep, lulled to sleep by her father's heartbeat, the pressure of his finger on her sore gums, and the timbre of his voice.
Rick sat holding Lily until he was sure she was soundly asleep. Then he carefully carried her upstairs, and, without waking her up—Lily was a very sound sleeper—changed her diaper and changed her into a red-green-and-white-striped sleeper. He stood at her crib and watched her sleep for a few minutes, marveling at how she was the best parts of himself and Kate, but already so much her own little person, loaded with a personality uniquely her own. That part didn't surprise him; she was half-Beckett and half-Castle, plus a direct descendant of Martha Rodgers, whose picture belonged in the dictionary next to the word 'personality.'
Lily's first Christmas had been a great success. After leaning down to kiss Lily good night and whisper her wishes of sweet dreams and tell her how much he loved her, he quietly stole downstairs, locked up, then headed to his and Kate's bedroom. After washing his hands and brushing his teeth, and changing into his pajamas, he got into bed beside Kate, who rolled over, snuggling into him, her head resting on his shoulder, and said sleepily, "You're the best, Rick. I love you."
Kate instantly fell back to sleep again, lying on her side, her head on Rick's shoulder, her arm thrown across his stomach. He turned his head to kiss her forehead and said into the quiet darkness, "I love you too, Kate," before he wound down enough for sleep to claim him as well.
2017 ended with everyone off in different directions. Although Mark did not have to carry trays of champagne and hors d'oeuvres, he did spend New Year's Eve at Q3, which was packed to the rafters, with Madison. They would look back comically on the fact that at midnight, Madison was stuck in the kitchen putting out a fire (figuratively, not literally) regarding a misplaced engagement ring (which was found in a glass of champagne instead of on top of the chocolate cake as the nervous prospective groom had requested), while Mark was literally standing in line for the men's room, because that's how busy Q3 was. So he and Maddie didn't get to kiss until 12:03 AM, but as Mark said, and Madison heartily agreed with him, "Better late than never."
Alexis and Javier spent the evening with Matias, taking him out to dinner, but deciding to refrain from returning to Times Square after what had happened the year before, the story of which they had shared with Matias over dinner. When their evening was interrupted by a call from work for Javier, which he excused himself to take, and Alexis and Matias were alone, Matias said to Alexis, "Javier loves you very much."
"I love him very much," Alexis replied.
"Yes, you do," Matias said with a nod. "I never in my life looked at a woman the way Javier looks at you." He laid his hand on Alexis's forearm. "Promise me you'll take care of him, and love him, for the rest of your lives, Alexis. It's important to me. I don't want him to end up like me." His gaze was laser-focused on her, his words pleading in a way she had never heard from him before.
Alexis was a bit taken aback by the intensity of Matias's plea, but, while the steps Javier was taking with Matias were small, and not at all hurried, his COPD obviously meant that Matias was closer to the end of his life than having an unlimited amount of time with which to build some kind of relationship with his son, and Alexis could understand Matias wanting reassurance that Javier wouldn't end up all alone, the way Matias himself had, even though their circumstances were vastly different.
"I promise," Alexis said, and she both and saw Matias visibly relax after she uttered those two simple words that held a world of meaning to both of them, for different reasons. Alexis knew she would be spending the rest of her life with Javier. They hadn't had any formal discussions about it, but they both knew they were in this for the rest of their lives. Alexis wanted with Javier what her dad had found with Kate, the woman she considered her mother, and what Kevin had found with Jenny. She had a feeling that Javier was waiting until she was through with law school to bring up marriage, and that was fine with her. Law school was tough, but she was tougher. The love and support of her whole family was helping Alexis make it through more than anything else; she had already seen a couple of her classmates flame out and leave school, unable to handle the massive amounts of information and the pressure cooker of stress. Alexis was determined that that wasn't going to be her, that she would graduate with her J.D. and become a lawyer and put the bad guys away.
Javier returned then, looking both put out and apologetic. "Body drop," he said, "Ryan and Lanie are on their way, and they're not any happier about it than I am."
"It's your job," Alexis said.
"The scene is secure, according to Hastings, and she's down there with the uniforms already, so thankfully we're not far from your motel, Matias. I'll have time to drop you off, and then you can drop me off, Lex, before you head home."
"I'm going back to your place," Alexis replied, "so I'll be there when you get home. I turned the place into Santa's Workshop with the decorations, so I'll help you take them down tomorrow."
Javier paid for dinner, and when they returned to the motel, he and Alexis both walked Matias back to his room. "It's about 35 minutes early, but Happy New Year, Matias," Alexis said when they were standing outside the door to Matias's room.
"Happy New Year to you too, Alexis," Matias replied. He surprised her by hugging her, the first time they had hugged. Alexis hesitated only a few seconds before hugging him back.
Then, although they had only progressed to a handshake basis at the beginning of December, Matias turned to Javier and hugged him tightly, surprising him. "Te quiero, a mi hijo. Estar seguro." ("I love you, my son. Be safe.")
Javier couldn't say it back yet, couldn't tell Matias he loved him yet. He honestly wasn't sure if he ever would be able to say that. He just knew he didn't hate Matias anymore. So he responded, "Lo haré y te perdono, Matías." ("I will, and I forgive you, Matias.")
When Matias released Javier, his eyes were wet with tears, but the biggest, brightest smile possible graced his whole face. "Thank you," he said thickly, swallowing hard. He clasped Javier's shoulder. "Thank you, Javier."
After Matias was safely inside, Javier's phone buzzed in his pocket. A text from Ryan, he was certain of that without even looking at it. "We'd better get going," Alexis said. She knew not to push Javier on what he had said to his father, but she also knew that forgiving Matias was the biggest step Javier had taken regarding his father yet.
When they arrived at the crime scene, Javier put the car in Park, and he turned to face Alexis for a kiss, but she was already out of the car. Confused, he got out of the car to find her standing there next to the driver's side door. Before he could ask her what was going on, she said, "Because we won't be together at midnight, we're gonna have to celebrate the New Year a little early." She wound her arms around his neck. "Happy New Year, Javier."
He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Happy New Year, Alexis," he said before he gave her a kiss that lingered until Ryan and Lanie, who arrived one right after the other, started busting their chops.
"I thought significant others were banned from crime scenes after Kate and Castle left the 12th," Lanie said. "If I'd known this was an option, I would have brought Alan with me, instead of leaving him at home with the Christopher Reeve Superman movies."
"Make out on your own time, you guys. Javi, you're on the clock," Ryan said.
"Oh, like you wouldn't be kissing Jenny if she were here," Javi retorted.
"Yeah, but Jenny's not here, and it's freezing out here, so let's get to work already. I'd rather not have to freeze any longer than absolutely necessary," Ryan said.
"All right, all right," Javi said. He gave Alexis one more quick kiss. "Text me when you get back to my place so I know you made it there safely, okay?"
"I will," Alexis said. "I love you. Lanie, Kevin," she called, "Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year, Alexis," Lanie said.
"Happy New Year, Alexis," Kevin echoed.
When Alexis reached Javier's apartment, before she even shed her coat, she texted Javier that she was safely at his place, and he texted back that he was glad to hear it and would be home soon.
Martha was out for the evening with a bunch of her theater friends, Victoria and Gerald were attending a New Year's party for 1PP employees, and Jim was still up at his cabin. Alexis, after texting Javier and shedding her coat, hat, gloves, and shoes, called Rick's cell phone to wish him and Kate and Lily a Happy New Year. It was 12:15 AM by this time.
"Javier got called to a crime scene, along with Kevin and Lanie," Alexis replied.
"I don't miss that," Kate said, since they were on speakerphone with Alexis on Rick's phone.
"Neither do I," Rick agreed.
"I'll be home around lunchtime tomorrow," Alexis said.
"Okay, we'll see you then, pumpkin," Rick said. "Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year," Kate added again.
"Happy New Year to you guys," Alexis replied.
After they had exchanged "good night"s and "I love you"s, Rick ended the call and replaced his phone on the bedside table. Then he turned back to face Kate; they were relaxing in bed, having ordered in Thai food, put Lily to bed hours ago, and checked on her twice, and then made love. They'd been talking and kissing in the afterglow, when Alexis called.
"I spent a lot of New Year's Eves working, or watching New Year's Rockin' Eve," Kate reflected as she looked deeply into Rick's eyes. "But this is my favorite way to spend New Year's Eve: all wrapped up with you, Lily sleeping in her room, Alexis having checked in for the night, our parents off doing their own things and okay."
Rick moved closer then, his hands beginning to wander over Kate's body beneath the covers. "Those are all great things," he agreed, "and my favorite was kissing you at midnight."
"We were doing more than kissing at midnight," Kate reminded him.
He gave her a naughty grin. "Yes, we were," he said. He moved even closer, but just as he covered her body with his, she flipped them over so that she was lying on top of him. "Your reflexes are one of the infinite things I love about you," he said. Her eyes sparkled in the dim light of their bedroom, and she was smiling with her whole face, and when he said this, her eyes sparkled even more brightly, and her face lit up even more. He smiled up at her, and Kate fell in love all over again with the crinkles around his eyes, his boyish smile lighting his entire face, his eyes glowing with love and happiness.
"This is going to be a big year for us," she said. "I officially start with the City Council in a few weeks...Lily will be one year old in May...You'll be starting the actual writing of your new book soon...Alexis will be finishing up her first year of law school."
"Ah, yes, the book," Rick said. "I, ah, I've been kicking around a few ideas for it." He looked down for a second, a bit nervously, then looked up into Kate's eyes again. "It's not going to be a Nikki and Rook story. I'm not done with them, but I'm...well, I'm giving them a rest."
"Really?" Kate asked, surprised. This was the first Rick had mentioned about it, although he never did let her see his books until the first copies arrived at their door, before their street dates, when they were available for purchase.
"The way I look at the world has shifted a lot in the last couple of years," he said, rubbing a hand up and down her back, reveling in the softness of her skin and the solid warmth of her, which gave him the courage to continue. "I think I have stories...or at least a story...to tell that doesn't involve murder and death and villains trying to kill Nikki and Rook. I have an outline for four chapters, and it's not like anything I've ever written before, but Kate...I really want to do this. It may completely stink-"
"Not possible," Kate said, resting her palms flat on Rick's chest, and her chin on her palms. He could feel her breath on his face. "You are far too good a writer for anything you write to stink, Rick."
He cracked a smile then. "You're kind of biased," he said, gesturing to her current position.
"I'm really not," she said. "I read your books over and over before we ever met. You have a gift with words that very few people in the world are blessed with. Whatever you write is going to be incredible."
Rick grew serious again. "I honestly don't know what the reaction will be, or if Black Pawn will even want to publish it, even with Gina out of the picture," he said. "But I want to take this chance. I have to take this chance, and see if it's possible for me to branch out, to be any good at writing anything other than murder, because I can go to that place in my head anytime. It's a part of me, and sometimes it's almost reflexive." He reached up to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear, then wrapped his arms around her. "But these past few months, when I was sitting at the computer, working on the outline, beating my brains out to come up with something, I found myself thinking in totally different directions for the first time since I started writing. And I want to see if I have what it takes to write a good, solid story that doesn't involve at least one dead body."
"You do," Kate told him just as seriously. "You absolutely have what it takes. And I'll be waiting to read this new story in a new genre." She knew better than to ask what genre it was; Rick might not have even definitively decided yet, and she knew that a lot could change in the rewriting and editing processes. "I know this is a big change for you, but you can do this. I know you can, Rick. And you have all of my support." She looked deeply into his eyes. "You've taught me a lot about taking chances, and stepping outside the familiar and what used to be my comfort zone. You're the best chance I ever took, Rick. Have I ever told you that?"
"No," Rick replied, looking at her with such love and such awe.
"You are," she said. "I will always be grateful that you never gave up on me, or on us, and that you're my one and done, and that you love me in a way I never even dreamed it was possible to be loved...and I am so proud to be your wife."
Rick just looked at her for a moment in the dim light of their bedroom. "I didn't know I could have this," he said. "I didn't know I could be this happy. I didn't know you were out there, that our paths would cross and change everything for me, for both of us. I spent a lot of lonely years myself. I had Mother, and Alexis, and there were times I thought, 'Most people don't even get that much in their lives. It's wrong to be greedy. It's wrong to want more.' But no matter how many times I told myself that, you were there in my head, Kate, in my soul. For so many years, I didn't know your name or where you were, but you were the dream I most wanted to come true: to be loved by you, in the strong and wild, deep and passionate, even-the-stuff-that-drives-you-nuts-about-me-is-okay-with-you, for always way that only you have ever loved me, and I love you back that same way, and it's so much better than any dream I ever had." He saw the raw emotion in Kate's eyes at what he had just said, and knew his own eyes were a mirror of hers.
Rick lifted his head from the pillow to rest his forehead against Kate's. Her lips found his, and she kissed him hard, his head falling back against the pillow as she felt his hand come up to cup the back of her skull and his tongue slip under hers as their bodies reawakened with all the love and passion they felt for one another.
Kate moved beneath the covers, aligning their bodies, teasing him as she lowered her head to meet his kiss again. She sank down as he lifted up, and she felt him slip inside her, both of them moaning into the kiss before they made love again.
Spooned together in the afterglow, right on the edge of sleep, Kate whispered, "I love you, Rick."
"I love you too," Rick whispered back sleepily, threading his fingers through the hand of hers that was resting across his chest. "Always." And then Rick and Kate slept in the early hours of a brand-new year.
