This is a whole lot of nothing. Just fluff and nonsense. I should be wrapping presents but this is what I'm doing instead.

And of course the characters are still not mine.

She was curled up against him in her bed, not quite fully awake when he had asked her if she would come back to the loft with him.

"Kate, it's Christmas Eve, Eve Day, you have to come back home."

She looked up at him with raised eyebrows and took in a deep breath. She was there almost every night and it really was beginning to feel like home. "Castle, I have stuff to do, that I can't get done if I'm hanging out with you at the loft."

"You can do your laundry at my place."

"I'm not talking about laundry."

"Then what? What can you do at your place that you can't do at mine?"

"It's Christmas Castle, figure it out."

He smiled. "Oh, you have to wrap all of my presents. Well, you can lock yourself in the bedroom and take all the time you need."

"How about you stop hovering and let me do what I need to do and maybe, just maybe, I'll show up later, okay."

"You have to show up later. Your dad is going to be there for a few days." He moved over to the other side of the bed in anticipation of what was to come. And sure enough the pillow came crashing down on his head. "OUCH, Beckett, that hurt."

"You invited my father to your place for Christmas and didn't even ask me? What if I had wanted him to stay here…with me?" She walloped him again with the pillow.

"Oh, yea on your short, oh so comfy couch, in your cozy, warm apartment with all the really nice Christmas decorations." He put his arms over his head to shield it from the next barrage. Only this time she aimed for his gut. He let out a strangled "OOOF" and sat up and wrestled her onto her back, and covered her mouth with his before she could smack him again. She was struggling under him and trying to get leverage with her feet to flip him when he started tickling her mercilessly. Within seconds she was giggling. Every time she started to say something he would cover her mouth with kisses. One hand tickling her, the other caressing varying parts of her anatomy that was slowly rendering her useless. He knew she wouldn't surrender easily so he made sure she was beyond the point of no return before he eased up and she was ripping his clothes off of him and flipped him, forgetting about the pillow and his comment about her dad and only about her physical needs at the moment.

They'd been pleasantly dozing off and on when Kate said, "You do know that I am mad at you. I might even hate you just a little bit."

He raked his hand through her disheveled curls and chuckled. "Well, by all means I am going to have to piss you off more often."

She rolled her eyes at him and playfully slapped his chest.

He rolled onto his side so he could face her, brushing her curls off her shoulder. "For the record, it was Alexis who asked him and I have expressed to her how inappropriate it was for her to do that without your permission. She happened to mention to him that she was playing the violin at Midnight Mass and he said he would love to hear her play sometime and she asked if he would like to join us. One thing led to another and you know how the story goes. I believe her intentions were purely innocent. He is quickly becoming the grandfather she never had, she adores him and I think the feeling is mutual."

"It is. He really had a great time with her over Thanksgiving."

"Yes, they did do some bonding didn't they? I believe the plan for today is for them to shop for food and do some cooking and then he is taking her and Ashley to my mother's play this evening."

"Still mad at me?"

"I s'pose not." She moved onto her back and closed her eyes.

He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. She smiled at him. "You wore me out."

He chuckled and planted another kiss on her lips and nibbled on her neck and then his mouth travelled down her chest. She giggled and pushed him away and rolled onto her side with her back to him.

He hugged her tight and said. "Okay, I'm going to take a quick shower and leave you to your chores. I'll be back at seven to pick you up."

"Whas at seven?" She mumbled, not opening her eyes.

"I'm taking you out to dinner and then we can meet up with everyone at the theater."

"K."

She slept for another hour then crawled out of bed, put some Christmas music on the stereo and spent the day making her grandmother's Italian cookies, catching up on laundry and wrapping presents. At six she vaguely remembered something about dinner but found she was exhausted so she curled up on the couch thinking she would just doze for a few minutes and promptly fell into a deep sleep.

Castle rapped on her door at seven and there was no answer, he knocked again, figuring she might be in her room and not hear him so he pulled out his key and unlocked the door. He juggled a small tree and a poinsettia. He saw her on the couch and quietly placed the tree on the coffee table and the poinsettia beside it. He pushed the little button on the tree so the lights would twinkle. He took the blanket from the back of the couch and placed it over her then took off his jacket and tie and rolled up his sleeves. He cancelled their reservations and started washing the mountain of dishes in her sink. He was on the last dish when she appeared at his side and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty." He smiled. Her hair was up in a very messy ponytail with loose tendrils escaping all around her face; her t-shirt was covered with flour. He wiped some frosting off her nose and kissed her.

"Hey." She kissed him back. "Thanks for the tree and the poinsettia. I'm sorry about dinner."

He just chuckled. "Not a problem. Looks like you were pretty busy today." He nodded towards the table that was covered in little packages of cookies and all the presents on the floor. "You obviously needed the rest."

"Ummmmm." Her head was back on his shoulder. He dried off his hands and snaked his arm around her waist and led her back to the couch.

"Have you eaten anything today, other than cookies?"

"Nutella."

'Nutella and what?"

"Jus' Nutella."

"You do know that Nutella is not food?"

She looked at him stunned. "Yes. It is."

"No, it is not. That would be like calling mayonnaise food, only mayo is probably healthier than Nutella."

She wrinkled her nose at the thought of eating spoonfuls of mayonnaise. "I can't believe you jus' compared Nutella to mayonnaise." She moved away from him and lay back down on the couch with her feet in his lap and her eyes closed.

He started massaging her feet. "How about I make you an omelet?"

"No eggs left."

"Grilled cheese?"

"No bread, no cheese."

"Pasta, you must have some pasta?"

"Nope."

"How is it you don't have any real food, but you had Nutella?"

She opened her eyes briefly and smiled at him. "Priorities."

"All right, we're getting take-out." He took out his phone and called in a double order of fettuccini and broccoli Alfredo. He went back to massaging her feet and looked over at her with a concerned look on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Ummmm, sometimes when I make cookies I have some wine."

"Ahhhhh. So, let me get this straight, you made cookies all day, and had nothing to eat, except cookies, Nutella and wine?"

"Yep, but I also did laundry and wrapped presents."

"Maybe you should have bought some groceries." He looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Just how much wine did you drink?"

"Enough to make me happy." She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

He stopped massaging her feet and took her hands in his and pulled her up so she was sitting beside him. She climbed onto his lap and buried her face in his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

"I would have stayed with you."

"I know. I'm okay." She looked at him and placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him. Long, sweet kisses. "I had a very good day." She ran her hands though his hair and nibbled on his lower lip.

"Would you like to just stay here again tonight?"

She pulled back and looked him in the eyes and shook her head. Her hands were on his face caressing his cheeks and vey quietly she said, "No, I want to go home with you and spend Christmas together with my family."

He took in a deep breath and kissed her, taking a second to let his heart catch back up he said, "Well then, I guess we better sober you up and get going. We can still meet up with everyone after the show for ice cream."

She pulled out her ponytail and shook her hair out then gave him a wicked smile and said. "I might need some help in the shower." She climbed off his lap and pulled on his hand, and just as they passed the door there was a knock.

"That'll be supper."

She stood in front of him and undid a few buttons on his shirt. She slid her hand over his chest and up around his neck and whispered into his ear, "I'll see you in the shower." She kissed him and sauntered off towards the bathroom, pulling off her t-shirt and tossing it back at him.

"Yes, yes you will."

So, not sure there will be another update before Christmas, but I said that earlier this week too. Have to see how cooperative the muse is. I'm off to wrap presents, or knit, or read more fanfiction…..;o) Hugs :o) And thanks again for all the reviews, alerts and favorites. Best. Christmas Presents. Ever!