When they arrived at the cabin it was late at night. The kids had long ago fallen asleep and Rick was drifting in and out of sleep. He knew the exact moment that they had reached the cabin. Because when they came within seeing distance of it, he heard Kate whisper, "What on earth?"

He was fully awake and said, "Do you like it?"

She stopped in front of the cabin and watched the lights twinkling. There were more lights than Kate had ever seen before. In addition to the thousands of twinkling lights, there were several inflatables in the front yard. Someone had even climbed onto the roof and put a Santa's sled on the roof. The lead reindeer even had a red nose.

Kate smiled and she asked, "How did you do this? How did you even know? How..."

Rick smiled and asked quietly, "Do you like it?"

Kate couldn't respond. She was too surprised to say anything. She simply nodded, "Yes, but how did you even know where the cabin was?"

Rick smiled and told her, "I might or might not have had a little help."

Kate shook her head, "My mother told you where the cabin was. Didn't she?"

Not sure whether or not she was mad at him, he hesitated and told her, "Maybe.. Look Kate, I didn't do this to make you mad. I was just trying to..."

It was then that Alexis woke up and asked, "Do you like it Kate? Daddy and I came up here last weekend and decorated it for you, Sam and Noah."

Kate smiled at the childlike excitement in Rick's daughters voice. Even if she had been truly upset, there was no way that she could have stayed angry at him. Not when all he had been doing was trying to make this time memorable for all of them. Kate finally turned to look at Alexis and told the little girl, "I love it Alexis."

Alexis asked in a quiet tone of voice, "Do you think Noah and Sam will like it?"

Kate noticed that her son and daughter were now wide awake. The two of them were quiet and staring at the lights. Then, Noah whispered with all the wonder of a three year old, "Pretty lights mommy."

Samantha could only nod and whisper, "They are pretty. Who did this mommy?"

Kate smiled and pointed to Rick and Alexis. Then, she said, "They apparently had help from your grandmother."

Rick nodded and whispered, "She was only too happy to help. Especially when I told her the plans that I had."

Laughing, Kate smiled, "I bet she was."

Then Alexis said, "Wait until you see the inside."

Kate turned to look at her, "The inside?"

Alexis nodded, "Yeah. We decorated the inside also."

Rick groaned and rolled his eyes, "That was supposed to be a secret sweetheart."

"Sorry daddy."

"It's okay pumpkin. Lets go inside and see the rest of the surprise."

Kate parked her SUV and then hurried to help Noah out. The little boy hurried up the steps of the cabin and waited for his mom to unlock the door. When she did, she turned on the lights and the place lit up inside. There were lights everywhere and they had even set up a little train set that went around the entire inside of the building. It would make stops at the North Pole station and would blow a whistle every so often.

In one corner, there was a huge Christmas tree. The biggest one that Kate had ever seen. There had to be almost as many lights inside as there were outside. The ornaments hanging from the tree were colors of purple and gold. It was something out of a storybook.

Kate felt her heart leap and swell with love at the sight over the fireplace. There were five stockings hung over it. On each one there was a name embroidered on it. Kate walked over and ran her fingers over each one. The first one that read Rick was green and so very soft. Kate could tell that it was as expensive as it was gorgeous. The one for Kate was a deep red with white trim. It was just as soft as the one for him.

Kate smiled at the ones for Alexis and Samantha. Alexis' had a picture of Cinderella and was the colored the lightest blue. Samantha's had Eeyore on it and in his mouth he held a candy cane. Kate laughed through her tears at the one for Noah. It had a picture of Mickey on it and the tops of the stocking had little mouse ears.

Kate turned to look at him with tears in her eyes and she whispered, "This is..."

Samantha looked at everything and told Alexis, "This is awesome Lex! I love it! Isn't it great mom?"

Nodding, Kate couldn't form a response. She could only look at the wonderful, wonderful man standing beside her. He had done all of this for her and her children. For no other reason that he wanted them to start building happy memories and start getting to know his son. Kate finally whispered, "This is amazing Rick. I love it."

The smile that he gave her was enough to light up a small city. He asked her softly, "You really like it?"

"I don't like it."

Alexis and Rick both turned to her and asked, "You don't?"

Shaking her head, Kate smiled and told them, "I love it. Thank you. This was more than I could ever have asked for. It's amazing."

Alexis smiled, "Your mom said that you would like it when she met us here and helped us pick out the..."

"Alexis..."

Alexis smiled and whispered to her father, "Sorry daddy."

Kate laughed and asked, "Why's it such a secret?"

"She wanted to do something nice, but she didn't want us to let you in on the secret. I was just supposed to tell you that the elves helped."

Rolling her eyes, Kate smiled, "That definitely sounds like my mom."

Walking over to Rick, Kate leaned in a gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. Then, she put her arms around his neck and hugged him. She felt him stiffen up and for a moment she thought that he was going to pull away. However after a moment, she felt him return the hug. Then, she whispered, "You are an amazing man Richard Castle. Thank you so much for making this such a special day."

She almost told him that she love him, but managed to stop herself just in time. She couldn't tell him that. At least not yet. She wasn't sure how he would take her telling him that. She felt that it was still too soon to say those three big words. However, she had a feeling that by the end of their time in the woods together. Saying I love you wouldn't be such a scary thing...