Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing. As to potty training Lily, she is 2 1/2 years old, and that was the age I started potty training my little girl, so I was drawing on my own experiences there. This chapter closes out the year 2019. And 2020 is going to be a very eventful year for the entire Castle family as I've written them in this story. :-)
Lily refused to go to sleep at her usual bedtime, and even the extra hour (until 8:30 PM) that her parents willingly extended her bedtime until on Christmas Eve. As much as Kate would have liked to blame the sugar cookies, and the presence of all three of her overly indulgent, especially on this night, grandparents, she knew that Lily's refusal to go to sleep until she literally dropped from exhaustion around 11:15 PM was mostly genetic, because she had inherited Rick's love of Christmas.
Leaving cookies and milk for Santa Claus, and carrots for the reindeer, was nothing short of a Broadway production, with Rick and Lily double- and triple-checking that they had everything. Jim recited "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" from memory, which brought back long-buried memories of Christmas Eves past for Kate. Even Reece and Jake sensed the excitement, as Kate's multiple trips to the bathroom attested, because the boys were responding to everything going on around them.
Madison and Mark had dropped by earlier, with presents for everyone and the news that they had found a condo on the Upper East Side and their offer had been accepted. They would be moving to their new place in early January.
Kevin, Jenny, Sarah Grace, and Nick were with Jenny's family tonight, and would be hosting Kevin's family tomorrow for Christmas Day, but they would be coming to the Castles' on Christmas Day in the evening, which, as Rick said, would make the holiday last that much longer.
Lanie, Alan and Will were also hosting all of their immediate blood family—Kate had received more than a few frantic texts from Lanie throughout the day, and even a couple this evening—and would be coming over on Christmas Day evening along with the Ryans, and Victoria and Gerald Gates.
Lily finally crashed in Rick's lap while they, Kate, Alexis, Javier, Jim, Martha, and Earl were gathered in the living room by the tree, watching Elf. Once Rick was certain she was really asleep, he leaned over to Kate and said softly, "Do you want to come up with me to put Lily to bed?"
The twins had finally settled down, maybe a side effect of the decaffeinated cinnamon tea Kate had been sipping on throughout the movie. "Yeah, I do," Kate whispered back.
Having overheard this quiet conversation between husband and wife, Jim and Martha immediately sprang into action, helping Kate get up off the couch while Rick gently shifted the sleeping Lily in his arms so as not to wake her. Rick carried Lily upstairs, and after Kate thanked her dad and Martha for getting her up on her feet, she waddled after Rick and Lily.
"Mom's got to be so uncomfortable," Alexis fretted after Rick, Kate, and the sleeping Lily had disappeared upstairs, "and I've been around a lot more since I've been on Christmas break, but I never hear her complain."
"And you won't," Jim replied. "If Katie's complaining to anyone, it's Rick, but I'm not even certain about that. She wants these boys, just as much as she wanted Lily, just as much as she wanted Rick, and you, Alexis, and you, Martha. Whatever it takes, whatever she has to go through, she'll do it. She's always been that way. Gets it from her mother. Johanna didn't really turn on me until the delivery room."
"The maternal instinct is primal," Martha agreed, "and very strong. Katherine is an amazing mother. It's a joy to watch her with Lily, and with Alexis, and it'll be a joy to watch her with Reece and Jake."
"I'm still having a hard time picturing Beckett and Castle with three kids under three years old at the same time," Javier admitted. "They're really gonna be jumping, that's for sure."
"Well, that's what they have us for," Martha replied, gesturing to herself and Jim and Earl.
"Absolutely," Jim agreed.
Alexis chuckled. "Remember when I walked in that morning and you were holding and feeding that baby boy that Mom and Dad had brought home, and they were just completely exhausted, and I asked how long I'd been gone?" she said to Martha.
"I remember that kid," Javier replied. "Castle kept callin' him 'Cosmo,' and Beckett did not like that name."
"Of course I remember," Martha replied. "Your dad was very out of practice at that point, and Katherine had never had that kind of experience before. It was a baptism by fire, to be sure. They've been through all of this now with Lily. Of course, two at a time is going to be a different challenge."
"It must not have fazed you because of your years in the theater," Earl mused, looking at Martha.
"We are night owls, aren't we, dear?" Martha said.
"Yes, we are," Earl agreed. "I'm still in awe that I get to be a part of all of this. But I've got a lot to learn."
"And several excellent teachers," Martha replied, threading her fingers through Earl's.
Upstairs, Rick changed Lily into her pajamas, and then Kate tucked her in. "Sweet dreams, Lily," she whispered, managing to bend down far enough to brush a kiss across Lily's cheek. "I love you so much, baby girl. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, sweetpea," Rick whispered as he hunkered down by Lily's toddler bed to kiss her goodnight after helping Kate straighten up to a standing position once more. Rick then straightened the string of Christmas lights that went up in Lily's room the day after Thanksgiving every year. Lily had definitely inherited Rick's love of all things Christmas, but she had a special affinity for the strands of tiny multicolored Christmas lights, and had since she was a baby.
Rick and Kate stood at Lily's bedside, watching her sleep. "She's going to wake us up before dawn to open presents and stockings," Rick said.
"I'm sure she will," Kate replied with a smile. "She loves Christmas, just like her daddy. And you and Lily have made me love Christmas again. And next year is really going to be nuts, with three kids."
"Are you concerned about that?" Rick asked seriously.
"I'm looking forward to it," Kate replied honestly. "Our Christmases are already so wonderful. Once Reece and Jake are here, they're only going to get better. I'm already wondering if we'll be putting up lights in the nursery like we do in Lily's room. Maybe we should just do that anyway, huh?"
Rick leaned in and kissed Kate's temple. "You're incredible," he said.
"Christmas is supposed to be a happy time," Kate replied, looking into Rick's eyes. "It's meant to be a season of hope and joy and peace and magic and miracles and dreams coming true. I never thought I'd see it that way again...until you. Lily only magnified those feelings, and Reece and Jake are going to magnify them more. We have years ahead of us of the kids waking us up before dawn, crawling in bed with us, jumping on the bed, rushing us downstairs to the Christmas tree. I can't wait for all of that. I especially can't wait for it because I get to experience all of it with you."
"We're going to have that," Rick promised Kate then. "All of it. For years...decades."
"I know," she replied with a smile, threading her fingers through his before they took one last look at the sleeping Lily and quietly stole out of her bedroom and back downstairs.
When Rick and Kate returned downstairs, the movie had ended. Alexis and Javier were bundling up. "We're going to Midnight Mass," Alexis said, carefully hugging Kate and kissing her on the cheek before giving Rick a goodbye hug and kiss. "We'll be back after that, and we'll do our best not to wake anyone."
"Merry Christmas, pumpkin," Rick said.
"Merry Christmas, Alexis," Kate added.
"Merry Christmas, Dad, Mom," she said. She and Javier had already said their good nights and wished a Merry Christmas to Martha, Earl, and Jim.
Javier carefully hugged Beckett, then shook Castle's hand. "Merry Christmas, Beckett, merry Christmas, Castle," he said.
"Merry Christmas to you too, Javi," Kate replied with a smile.
"Merry Christmas, Esposito," Rick echoed.
After Alexis and Javier had departed for Midnight Mass at Javier's home parish, St. Malachy, Martha and Earl said their good nights, promising to return bright and early in the morning.
"We can't promise to hold Lily off until you get here," Rick warned his mother.
"Of course not," Martha said, scandalized by the mere suggestion that her youngest granddaughter should have to wait any amount of time to open her presents and her stocking on Christmas morning. "That's why we'll be bringing our own gifts to watch her open."
"It's a good thing the workmen finished their construction last week," Kate said only half-jokingly. Now there was a huge playroom right next door to her and Rick's shared office. It only made sense, since they were about to double the amount of toys they already had, and the kids could use the playroom for many years to come. Not for the first time, both Kate and Rick were thankful that they had been able to buy the adjacent loft when it came on the market and expand their home in preparation for their family's upcoming growth.
When Martha and Earl had headed back to Martha's for the night, it was just after midnight. Jim Beckett was standing at the fireplace, looking at the stockings hanging in a row. Much fuss had been made over the new additions this year: a red stocking with a snowman on it and the name 'Reece' embroidered across the top, and a green stocking with a grinning elf dressed in red-and-white stripes and the name 'Jake' embroidered across it, to go along with Lily's white stocking with an embroidered string of multi-colored Christmas lights decorating the front of it, Alexis's green stocking with an angel on it; the red stocking with silver bells on it that bore Martha's name, and the green stocking right next to it with a Nutcracker soldier on it that was Earl's; the Christmas stockings Jim had unearthed from his attic, a snowflake on his own red stocking and a horse-drawn sleigh on Johanna's white-backgrounded stocking; a gingerbread man on a red stocking for Javier; and the green stockings hanging side by side, one with Santa Claus in all his finery on it and Rick's name across the top, and the other with a smiling Mrs. Claus on it and Kate's name across the top. (Kate had gotten that stocking as a gift the first Christmas she and Rick had celebrated together; he had said then that he hadn't gotten her anything, but he had actually gotten her the stocking and filled it with gift cards and trinkets, arguing that technically he hadn't gotten her an actual wrapped gift, and so that was the stocking she used instead of her childhood stocking, which had candy canes and the name 'Katie' on it.)
Kate followed her dad's line of sight and smiled when she realized he was looking at Reece's and Jake's stockings. "And next year, they'll be here," she said.
Jim grinned. "Yes, they will," he replied. "Any last-minute Santa's Workshop type of help you need from me, Rick?"
"No, it's all taken care of, Jim," Rick replied.
Jim nodded. "Well, before I head up to the guest room, I want to talk to you two," he said. "I know Lily will have us all up before the crack of dawn, so I'll be brief. You two are excellent parents. And it's no secret that I love being a grandfather. It's also just common sense to point out that when the boys do make their debut, you two are going to need help in those early months." He focused on Kate now. "None of this being too proud or too stubborn to ask for help either, Katie. You know what it's like to have a baby, but twins is a whole different ballgame.
"I'm not moving in," Jim hastily added. "But I am retiring from the firm. My last day will be December 31. I'm going to teach one course at Columbia next semester. But the rest of my time, I'm going to spend being a grandpa, and helping you out with all of the kids as much as you need. And I've discussed this with Martha; she's going to be giving you a slight variation on this...well, later today. Earl will also be involved, although never having been around newborns, he's more nervous about it than Martha and I are. We're not trying to usurp the two of you as parents. We just want to make sure that you have the help you're going to need as you adjust to having three children as opposed to only one...and also because we want to be able to spend as much time as possible with our children and our grandchildren."
"I know I've never been very good at asking for help," Kate said, "but I think I've gotten better in the last decade...after a few false starts and mistakes."
"You have," Jim agreed. "Which is one of the many things I have to thank Rick for."
"Jim, I...we don't know what to say," Rick said as he and Kate exchanged a look.
"Say you won't tell Martha I already told you about her plans to cut back on her work for the next year or so," Jim began.
"Agreed," Rick replied.
Jim looked at Kate then. "And then say that you'll let us help you when you need help, whatever the situation, whatever's going on, because we're here, and we love all of you, and we want to help you," Jim said.
Rick and Kate exchanged another look. "Agreed," she said, echoing Rick.
Jim smiled. "Good, I'm glad we've got that settled," he said. "Now, I'm going to go to bed, because Lily will undoubtedly have us all up before dawn." He hugged Kate, then hugged Rick, and after they said their good nights, Jim retired upstairs to the guest room, and Rick and Kate went to the master bedroom.
"We have an amazing family," Kate said when they were settled in bed.
Rick spooned Kate, kissing the back of her neck before letting his hand rest on her baby bulge. "And it's only going to get more amazing," Rick murmured before he fell asleep.
Kate was smiling as she drifted off herself, knowing that Rick was right, and that Reece and Jake would only make things more amazing when they finally arrived.
