Yes, another Christmas related story. I bet you guys are all tired of them, aren't you? This chapter is just random. It doesn't necessarily take place right after the events of the first chapter of this story. It's just kinda there... Which is probably confusing to you guys but what I'm trying to say is that if there were more chapters to this story, it wouldn't really matter where this chapter fit in at.

Okay, I've obviously been up too long. Here's hoping the fic itself actually makes sense.

Also, this is a (belated) Fanfiction Christmas Present for all my readers!

I do NOT own Castle.

"I need your help."

Beckett looked up from her paperwork to see Castle standing by her desk, looking anxiously at her.

"With what?" She asked, wondering what kind of crazy plan he had come up with this time. Since it was a week until Christmas, there was no telling what he had come up with.

"I want to get a tree for the Old Haunt but since it's so close to Christmas they won't deliver anymore so I borrowed a truck, but it's too short so someone is going to have to ride in the back with the tree to make sure it doesn't slide out."

"And why should I help you?"

"Because no one else will. I already tried to bribe Esposito and Ryan into helping but Ryan's got something planned with Jenny, and Esposito apparently has plans as well. Please? All you have to do is make sure the tree makes it to the bar, then you can come back and waste your night away doing paperwork."

He was looking at her with his version of the 'puppy dog pout' and it didn't take her long to decide that doing this for him would be a lot less painful than saying 'no' and have him whining about it for days.

So with a sigh, she replied. "Fine, but I'm driving, you are riding with the tree."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Castle waited by her desk as she went to explain to the Captain that she would be back later, though he told her she didn't have to, then they headed out into the cold to get the tree.

Two hours later, they finally had the tree loaded into the truck and were on their way to the 'Haunt'.

When she agreed to this, she assumed that he had already picked out the tree, and that they just had to pick it up. But of course, things are never that simple with Castle and he insisted they spend an hour, in the freezing cold, looking for the 'perfect' tree.

As retribution for not mentioning that small fact, she was now gleefully hitting every pothole she could find, just to hear him complain about it from his place with the tree. The 'perfect' tree ended up being one of the biggest they had and it just barely fit in the back of the old pick-up truck. It seemed to be staying there pretty well, with all the ropes they had to secure it, but they definitely did not want it falling off in the middle of busy New York streets, so Castle stayed in the back to keep an eye on it.

Thirty minutes, and hundreds of potholes, later, they were pulling up to the back entrance of the bar.

While Castle climbed out of the back of the truck and stretched his nearly frozen limbs, Beckett headed inside to make sure it was clear for them to bring it in.

It took ten minutes, a few extra staff members, and lots of wrestling with the tree before they finally got the tree standing straight in the corner.

"Here, thought you might like a drink after all that." Castle said as he appeared from behind the bar with a glass for her, and one for him.

"Thanks." She took the offered drink, then took a look around the deserted bar. "Wow, you must be a worse owner than I thought. This place is deserted."

"That's because it's closed right now." At her questioning look, he continued. "I figured it would be easier to decorate without people running all over the place. The workers that were here just a few minutes ago were just cleaning up, I bet they've already left."

He sat his now empty glass on a nearby table and headed over to a huge pile of what looked like decorations, that she hadn't noticed until now.

"Okay, you are free to go now. I promised you could go back to work after we got the tree up so I called a cab for you, it should be here in a few minutes. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh and by the way? If you happen to get an early morning murder call, please be kind and don't wake me up. I'm sure I'll be up half the night working on these decorations."

"Alright, goodnight Castle."

He gave a small wave before diving into the boxes of newly bought decorations while she headed out the front door to wait for the cab.

True to his word, the cab showed up just a few minutes later. She should have hopped in and had the driver take her back to the precinct so she could do her job, but instead she found herself turning down the cab and using her rarely used keys to go back through the front door that had locked behind her when she came out.

When she walked back into the bar, Castle was already surrounded by open boxes and decorations and she took great pleasure in the girly shriek he let out when she silently walked up behind him and said his name.

"Geez Beckett! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Instead of answering his question, she brushed it off and asked one of her own. "Why did you buy so much stuff? You are going to be here all night at this rate."

"Yeah well, I wanted it to look festive. Has the cab not arrived yet? You can take the truck if you want, I'll probably end up spending the night here anyway."

"I sent the cab away." She said while taking off her suit jacket and rolling up her shirt sleeves. "You made me stand out in the cold for an hour while we found the 'perfect' tree and then we had to haul the damn thing in here. I think I deserve to get to decorate it."

"By all means then." Castle gestured at some boxes that were near the tree and she started opening them.

He was shocked, and slightly confused, but didn't question her, and instead, started hanging up some of the garland he had bought.

They worked in silence for a little while until Castle started to hear a soft sound. Even being the observant writer he was, it still took him a few minutes to figure out exactly what it was.

"Why detective Beckett, are you humming? And it even sounds like a Christmas song."

She wouldn't answer that question, but the soft sound immediately stopped, so he knew he was right.

Chuckling to himself, he went over to the sound system and set it to play various Christmas songs over the speakers.

Deciding that he had had enough of hanging garland for a while, Castle moved over to the tree and started helping her hang the various ornaments he had bought.

Beckett had just finished up a box of multicolored bulbs and was opening another box of ornaments, only these were not exactly your average Christmas ornaments.

She picked two out of the box and held the beer glass and wine glass ornaments up to eye level and raising an eye brow at him.

"I thought they were fitting." He said with a shrug, so she merely shook her head and they continued decorating the tree until every limb had either a normal ornament, or a bar related ornament hanging off of it.

Once that was done, they took a small break and had a glass of wine apiece before they set about decorating the rest of the bar.

They argued about which decoration should go where, but when didn't they argue over something? They talked about random things while they worked and everything was going fine until Beckett took some of the empty boxes out to the trash.

When she stepped out into the cold, she was surprised to see a decent layer of snow on everything, since it hadn't been snowing when they first got here.

Which meant there was a pretty good chance that Castle had no idea it was snowing.

Thinking that she had clearly been around the man-child too long, she quickly got rid of the trash and gathered up a nice pile of snow that she quickly formed into a ball.

She hurried back into the bar with her snowball, silently sneaking up on the writer who was too busy singing to Christmas carols to pay attention to her.

Beckett stopped right behind him and before he even knew what was happening, she pulled out the collar of his shirt and dropped it in, squishing it against his back for the full effect.

She quickly jumped back as he started flailing around and hollering, trying to get the snow out of his shirt until finally, he gave up and just took his shirt off.

"Sorry Castle, it was too good to pass up."

"I've been rubbing off on you, and I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing anymore."

Castle grumbled at her some more on his way down to the basement office to change into a shirt that wasn't soaked in snow, very thankful that he started keeping extra clothes down there.

When he came back out with a fresh shirt on, they got back to work and were finally done an hour later.

They hauled out the rest of the boxes together only to find that there was even more snow on the ground now.

She knew what he was thinking, even before he did.

"Castle, don't you dare. I don't have extra clothes here so-" She was cut off by the cold, wet ball of snow hitting her in the chest.

"Oops, sorry. It slipped." He lied as he ducked behind the trashcan. Beckett quickly gathered up a ball of her own and repaid him, soaking another of his shirts.

Their snowball fight could have lasted for hours, but it was too cold, and too late, to stay out for long.

When they went back inside, Beckett was reminded of why she didn't want to get into a snow fight in the first place.

"Great, now I have to go home in a wet shirt."

"I've got two dry shirts left, you can borrow one."

"Okay."

"But..." Of course there had to be a 'but' with him.

"What, Castle?"

"I was thinking you might as well stay here tonight." She immediately opened her mouth to protest but he held up his hand and continued on. "I know, I know. But if you haven't noticed, it's two-thirty in the morning and it's also snowing pretty heavily out there. I'm just saying it would be easier than going all the way back to your apartment."

Normally, there was no way she would even consider it, but it was very cold outside, and very warm in the bar, and she wasn't really looking forward to leaving the warmth. The multiple glasses of wine she had had over the course of the evening, and the holiday spirit, left her in a pretty good mood as well.

"Oh yes, I'm sure the booths will be very comfortable to sleep in."

He smirked at that. "Well you could sleep in one of the booths, if you really wanted to, but there is no need since there is a comfy bed downstairs."

"And share it with you? No way, I'll take my chances with the booths. Wait, you put a bed in the office?"

"I'll sleep on the couch. And yes I did. Which you would have known, if you had actually visited this place in the last week."

That was a barely concealed jab at the fact that they had barely seen each other at all the past week since Josh had been off work a lot so she had been spending lots of time with him.

"Fine."

"Perfect! Go ahead and go down stairs, the shirts are in the closet and you can pick which ever one you like. I'm going to make sure everything is locked up."

She nodded then headed down to the basement office that managed to look cozier every time she visited. The furniture had been rearranged so that a full-sized bed could fit in the corner without the room seeming crowded.

Beckett opened the closet, picked out one of the shirt and turned to head back up the stairs so she could change in the bathroom when she noticed a door that wasn't there before. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened it to find that Castle had apparently had a bathroom added on since she was here last.

She quickly made use of the bathroom, changed out of her wet shirt, then climbed into the bed. Once she was securely under the covers, she took off her pants so she would be more comfortable, and left them on the bed under the covers so Castle would never know she was in his presence wearing only his shirt.

Castle came downstairs a few minutes later and made himself comfortable on the couch with an extra blanket and pillow he pulled out of the closet.

The couch wasn't too far away from the bed, so it didn't take long for the sound of each other's rhythmic breathing to lull the other to sleep.

Okay brain, can I please finish 'Cold Chills' now? I'd really like to finish that one but you don't really seem to be in much of a hurry to finish it... Sigh.

I was going to have this as a stand alone oneshot but I figured I might as well just add it to this story instead.

I'll be through with the Christmas related things soon, I promise.