A/N: Hey guys! Late as always haha. At least I didn't hint when I was expecting to post this time. Anyway, here's the epilogue to this little story.

Thank you SO very much for all your support and your beautiful words. You've been great to me and I love you all for it.

Until next time! Enjoy :)

Epilogue

One year later. Christmas Morning.

"Castle, if you wake up the baby I am going to kill you!" Kate scolded her husband through gritted teeth, trying to balance the mountain of pans she had taken out of the cabinet. "It took me hours to get her to sleep last night."

"I know, Kate." The writer mumbled as he picked up the spatula he had just dropped. "I was there with you the whole time."

The dark circles under his eyes, which matched hers, were the proof to that. It had been a very long night for both of them. Actually, it had been a very long four months.

Beckett looked regretfully at her husband and bit her lower lip, her nose scrunching adorably in the process. "I know, babe. I'm sorry I snapped at you." She apologized, stroking his back softly. "She's just so hard to comfort…"

"I wonder where did she get that…"

"Very funny." She replied, slapping his ass a little bit too hard.

"Ouch! What?" Castle laughed. "She's a tiny Beckett clone after all. Just saying."

Kate laughed and shook her head in amusement, turning to work on the coffee machine.

They had agreed on surprising their family with an opulent Christmas breakfast and, even though they didn't have much rest the night before, thanks to their light sleeper of a daughter. Here they were at 7 in the morning, making Christmas tree shaped pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausages.

Castle flipped the last of the pancakes and poured orange juice into the six glasses he had lined up on the counter; then turned to help his wife with the bacon.

"Mmm. That smells good, Mrs. Castle." He whispered against the shell of her ear. "Can't wait to get a bite."

His teeth pulled on her earlobe as his hands wandered under the hem of her shirt, leaving goosebumps in their wake and making Kate squirm.

She barked his name as a warning, but it was to no avail, when he pressed his body against her back and started nuzzling her neck. "Rick." She sighed, too into it to sound annoyed. "Aidan could come down any minute."

"I am sure we would know if he was awake." He murmured against her skin. "Being quiet is not exactly one of our son's many qualities, Kate."

"I wonder where did he get that." She mocked in reply, slapping his hands off and raising an eyebrow at him when he pouted.

"Your pancakes are burning, you goofball."

"Oh, damn!"

Their breakfast was ready by 7:30, and they were a little surprised – and disappointed - that not a single member of their family was up yet.

It was Christmas morning; where was everybody?

Placing the last plate on the dinner table, Castle checked his watch again. A quarter to eight.

He could understand that his mother and daughter, and even Beckett's dad were still asleep. It had been a long day for all of them, but what he could not believe was that their five year old was still not in the living room, half way into a sugar overdose and surrounded by mountains of wrapping paper and toys.

"This is weird. Where is Aidan?" The writer muttered, sitting down on one of the chairs. "He should be up by now, he never sleeps this late. Like, ever. Not even when he's sick. Remember that time he had the flu and woke us up before 5 am every single morning?"

Kate smiled and nodded, sitting on his lap and stroking the soft locks of hair at his nape. "Yeah, I remember that. Hard to forget when I was eight months pregnant and had to move around with a kid hanging off my neck for a week…"

Castle laughed at the memory of how their son had been so clingy during his sickness. It had been a hard few days, but they held some good memories as well. The second day into it, Aidan had called Kate 'mommy' for the first time since the adoption had been final, and his wife had been so emotional about it, that she kept tearing up every time she as much as thought of it. She still grinned like an idiot every time the boy called her that, which made him fall in love with her a little bit more each time.

Kate nuzzled his neck and pressed a soft kiss there. "Maybe he stayed up late to wait for Santa." She offered. "He didn't get to do it last year."

Castle chuckled. Last Christmas day, they had found the boy asleep when they came out to place the presents under the tree very early in the morning. He had been lying on the couch, facing the tree and covered with his bed comforter. After waiting up for Kate that night, none of them wondered why his plans for catching Santa by surprise had failed.

"True." Castle agreed. "We need to teach him how a stake-out goes." He added, pecking Beckett on the lips. "Too bad he's too young for coffee."

"Too bad?" Kate squeaked. "Thank God! He's hyper enough without the extra caffeine, thank you very much."

A soft whimper coming from the baby monitor that Kate had placed on the kitchen island caught their attention, making both of them smile.

"Well, at least one of our offspring is ready for breakfast." Castle sighed, letting go of his wife and following her upstairs.

"Yeah. Too bad she's only ready for mommy's boobies yet."

"Hey. I'd be perfectly happy if that was the only thing I could eat." The writer chimed, pushing the nursery door open to let his wife in.

"Castle!" Kate hushed.

"What?" He asked amused. "It's true."

"Aww."

The writer stopped in his tracks and frowned at his wife. She had been scandalized just one second ago, what was so- oh.

"Look at that." Kate whispered; leaning into his side and smiling so broadly he thought her face would split in half.

The scene before them was the sweetest thing he had ever seen. On the rocking chair, beside the crib, was Aidan, asleep and all bundled up in a blanket, his hand reaching through the bars for his sister's who was grasping the boy's index finger, trying to put it in her mouth.

"Isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

Castle smiled and kissed the top of her head, nodding in Aidan's direction. The boy was starting to stir in the chair, his eyes scrunched closed as he yawned loudly.

"Morning, bug." Kate greeted, leaning down to kiss the boy on the forehead, and then crouching in front of him. "Did you sleep here, baby?"

Aidan nodded and reached for Kate, snaking his arms around her neck and letting her pick him up from the chair. "She was scared, mommy." The boy explained. "I took care of her."

"Yes, you did, sweetheart." She agreed, hugging her boy closer and smiling at her husband.

Castle assented. "You are the best big brother ever." He said, ruffling the boy's hair and kissing his shoulder.

"Really?"

"Absolutely!" Kate insisted. "Now, how about we have some breakfast and you open your presents, huh?"

"Yayyyy!"

Kate moved towards the door and winked at her husband, who was already leaning over the crib. "Carry her downstairs for me?"

"Sure." The writer replied, turning to smile down at his daughter. "Morning, Sadie bird." Castle cooed. "Were you trying to eat your brother's finger?"

Little past 8:30 am, everybody was up, had eaten breakfast and were now completely entranced opening their Christmas presents.

Piles of wrapping paper surrounded the tree. Their family was laughing and cheering Aidan while he tried to ride his shiny new bicycle. While Alexis took pictures, Jim and Martha tried to put the helmet on the boy, who kept moving and squirming in his grandfather's grip.

Rick and Kate observed them from the couch with little Sadie fast asleep in her mother's arms. They both smiled at the picture they made, so happy and comfortable around each other.

Kate sighed loudly as she leaned her head to rest on her husband's shoulder. "I don't know how people do it." She whispered, her finger stroking Sadie's chubby cheek.

"Do what?"

"Get away from this." She simply said.

Castle frowned and leaned away from her, prompting for a more elaborate answer.

"I mean, I've been here with you guys for six months since I started my maternity leave. How am I supposed to go back to work? All I ever want to do now is stay home, cuddle up with my babies and watch Disney movies until we fall asleep. Is that too much to ask for?"

"No, it is not." He agreed. "I understand you, love, but you knew this day was coming." He mumbled against her temple. "You still have two weeks home, though."

Kate huffed. "That is not nearly enough. You get to be here all the time."

That made Castle wince. He knew she didn't mean it as an accusation, but he also knew that, since the day Sadie was born, Kate had become extremely protective and attached to both their kids, and he truly feared the day she had to go back to work.

"You know you could just stay, right?" He asked, his hand wrapping around hers on their daughter's tummy. "If you feel like you don't want to go back, then don't, Kate."

She gave him a watery smile and nodded. "I know, babe. I'm just being emotional. You know how much I love my job. It's just these stupid hormones. They've ruined me."

"I think you're cute when you're emotional." He let out without thinking. The look he got from his wife, made him rephrase his statement. "I… I mean, you're… Let's pretend I didn't say anything, ok?"

Kate rolled her eyes and smirked, her focus returning to their family and their little cyclist, who was now wearing his helmet and opening a new gift.

"Mommy, look!" The kid yelled. "It's the book grandma Jo read to you when you were little. Grandpa asked Santa for it and he brought it to me!"

The boy ran to Kate brandishing the book, almost smacking it into her face when he got close enough to her. "Easy, baby." She laughed. "Let me see."

"Where The Wild Things Are." Castle read. "I loved that book as a kid too."

"Really?" Kate and Aidan asked at the same time, making the author smile and nod stupidly.

"Can we read now?" The boy requested. "Grandpa can do it!"

Aidan rushed towards where Jim was and handed him the book, pulling on his sleeve to make him walk faster to the sitting area.

"You read, grandpa."

He climbed onto the couch, right between Kate and Castle and pressed a kiss to one of his sister's feet. The baby was now awake, having finally noticed that something interesting was going on around her. "It's story time, Sadie bird." He whispered. "You listen, ok?"

Everybody in the room smiled at the boy's sweet gesture, and then Jim started to read.

"The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind…"

Castle observed his family for just a moment longer, an unstoppable grin growing on his face. He had never been happier than this, and the feeling was so overwhelming that he felt the tears forming in his eyes and constricting his chest.

"You were right." He whispered in his wife's ear.

Kate frowned and turned to look at him at a loss. "About what?"

The writer chuckled and stretched his arm to rest over her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. "This Christmas beats last year's by a lot."

THE END.

Thank you so much for reading, everybody. It's been a great ride. Let me know what you think. Your opinions are always appreciated.

To tshlw: Thanks again for being an awesome cheerleader and for encouraging me and helping me break my writer's block. You're the best.