The day after Thanksgiving he started planning. He hadn't started decorating yet, but he'd still gone into full Christmas mode. He told her everything he wanted their family to do together for the holiday and all that he wanted to put up around the inside of the house. Since their baby was still so little and Chicago so cold they agreed to do Christmas at their apartment. Which also made him even crazier because the spare room needed to be changed from the nursery to a guest room for two adults, a toddler, and a baby. Her sister-in-law had offered to stay at a hotel, but they wouldn't hear of it. They missed their family too much and wanted to spend as much time with them as possible while they were in Burbank, even if it meant a little bit of extra work on their part.

She hoped her husband would mellow out as the holiday got closer, but it only seemed to make him more crazy. It felt like every day he was bringing something home or putting up a new direction.

"Enough!" She finally said one afternoon as he started taking about getting someone to be Santa for their party.

"What's wrong?" He asked sounding hurt and concerned.

"Chuck, you've been talking about Christmas not stop for the past three weeks. I need a break."

"But Sarah its only a few days away and Ellie and Devon will be here soon and..."

"Stop." She interrupted him.

"But Sarah."

"No more buts Chuck, you can take one day off from all this planning."

"I just want it all to be perfect for..."

"For Elle I know. Gosh, you're starting to sound like Ellie when she was planning Clara's first Christmas!"

He paused eyes growing wide, "you remember that?"

"How could I forget that. Ellie was going crazy with decorations, wanting fake snow, and even getting a picture of Clara on Santa's lap. You're not going to make Elle do that are you? Cause she is far too young to..."

She was suddenly caught off by her husband's lips on hers. After a long and very passionate kiss he finally broke away, his goofy grin on his face.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" She asked once she'd caught her breath.

"You remembered."

"Yeah...so..."

"Sarah, you remembered." He repeated again with more emphasis.

Her eyes grew wide as she finally understood the importance of the moment. She's remembered something all on her own and so casually, like any normal person would have. In that moment she's forgotten all that had happened almost two year ago.

"Oh my gosh I remembered!" She gasped.

His smile grew even wider. All of this was another step in the right direction towards getting her full memory back. She knew it wouldn't be long until they no longer needed to be excited about a new memory and they could be casual and share stories from their past like all other families.

"Do you...do you remember anything else from that Christmas?" He asked carefully.

From his tone, she knew there was more to the memory and it wasn't good. She thought hard, trying to visualize that day.

"Shaw?" She half guessed, but something in her gut told it was right.

He nodded his head giving her the confirmation she needed to keep going.

"He...he broke out of prison? There was some kind of computer hack...a virus...the Oman virus! And he came to the Buy More and chained me up and lowered the temperature so I was freezing. And then he made me watch him try and kill you and then...and then..."

He quickly pulled her into his arms as the memory became more detailed. She was working herself into a panic trying to remember, but also overwhelmed with the emotions that came with it.

"Hey you did it, and you don't need to think about it anymore." He said soothingly trying his best to calm her. "As you can see we both made it out alive and relatively unharmed, and Shaw is back in prison where he belongs."

"That's what you meant when you said Morgan once saved me." She suddenly said picking her head up to look at him. "Morgan was the one who found me in Castle."

He let out a laugh, "yes we do have Morgan to thank for that. And do you remember the party after?"

She nodded her head, "Beckman helped plan it, it was everything that Ellie had wanted, including Clara on Santa's lap."

"And you didn't have time to get my gift, but you gave this one back to me." She pulled away the held up her wrist that now held two bracelets. The one that he'd given to her their first Christmas together, and regifted that year, and the new one he'd given to her the day their daughter was born.

He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. "That's right."

"That was a good part of the night."

"I would say it was more than good. Especially what came after that because you were still cold and I came up with a pretty amazing plan on how to warm you back up, once the party died down."

She playfully smacked him across the shoulder.

"What?! I kept you warm all night didn't I?"

She smiled, that memory came back very quickly. "Yes you did. Are you going to recreate that night too this Christmas?"

"If you're lucky, though I think we can do without the kidnapping and actual freezing part."

"Sounds like a plan."

"So can I get back to my Christmas decorating?" he asked his eyes twinkling with hope and excitement.

"You could, or we could recreate that night right now if you want." She rubbed her body up against him and gave him peck in the lips making him want more.

He looked down at her body and behind her at the stacks on Christmas decorations trying to make up his mind. Their baby decided to make the decision from him as she let out a loud wail.

"To be continued?" She asked already walking away to get their daughter.

"Think of it as an early Christmas present."

She turned around shocked, "sex is an early Christmas present?"

"No, pausing making Elle's first Christmas prefect for sex is the present."

She rolled her eyes and continued to walk to the nursery. It was very lucky her husband and daughter were so cute or else they would both be in big trouble.