A kiss for Christmas is all that I want, yeah

A kiss for Christmas, don't make me wait for love

This Christmas all that I want is

A kiss for Christmas. Don't make me wait, love

~Luther Vandross, A Kiss For Christmas

Kate stepped into Rick's apartment, already pulling her scarf through its knot so she could rid herself of it and her coat. She felt his presence close behind her, and she smiled when his hands joined hers to help her off with the wintry paraphernalia. "Thanks," she breathed, fluffing her hair out of her collar and tousling it mindlessly with her fingers. "I feel like I'm playing hooky from school."

He grinned. "Does that make me the rebel kid who's led you astray?"

"If the shoe fits…" She glanced around but saw no other signs of life in the loft. "Where are Alexis and Martha?"

"Alexis sent me a text earlier – they went shopping for some last minute gifts."

So they were alone. Just the two of them.

To distract herself from the electrified awareness that shot to her center, she moved to the sofa and sank to a seat, propping her feet up on the coffee table and relaxing into the softness of the cushions. He braced his weight with his arms against the back of the couch and leaned over so the breath of his words puffed her hair into little wisps of sensation. "Do you want any coffee? Tea? Cocoa? Wine?"

"Hmmm…." She stretched languidly, bringing her face closer to his with a tempting grin. "Wine sounds good."

He didn't move, simply stared at her lips for a heartbeat or two, indecision wrestling with desire in his mind. Settling it for him, she rested her back against the sofa arm and turned her attention to admire the tree. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he hesitated, and her lids fluttered closed in regret when he let his hand drift across her shoulder on his way to get the wine.

Letting her head slump back against a pillow, she growled at herself and her wall. Her eyes opened and meandered around the living area before coming to land on a sprig of something plant-like on the coffee table. She pushed herself into a full sitting position and reached for it, laughing out loud when she saw what it was. A bundle of mistletoe dangled from some sort of wire which in turn was attached to a headband. When worn, the mistletoe would be suspended over the wearer's head – making that person 'under the mistletoe' no matter where they stood or sat.

"Leave it to Castle," she murmured under her breath, a smile tugging at her lips. She fiddled with the contraption while conducting an inner debate. Her decision finally made, she folded her legs under her and waited for his return. She heard him enter the room, glasses clinking in his hands, and she accepted the glass he handed her – looking up at him in curiosity when he refused to relinquish it.

"I heard you laughing." His voice had a gravelly undertone, as though he'd just woken up from a good dream, and his gaze was riveted to the mistletoe now hanging temptingly over Kate's head. "I figured you'd found it… I didn't think… I mean… Kate."

Her name rumbled in his throat, hitting her with a wave of need, and she guided the wine glasses to their home on the coffee table before he spilled any on the couch. He didn't seem to be aware of much other than the mistletoe, herself, and the war that she could see raging in his subconscious. "Castle," she whispered as she stood to her feet. She hated to see the anguish she had put him through the past year – it was written across his face as clearly as words on a page – and she was determined to make atonement.

Starting now.

"I believe I'm standing under the mistletoe," she told him softly, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together. He grinned at once, though his face fell again quickly as more doubt crept into his thoughts. She tugged him closer until their bodies brushed against each other. "Castle – stop thinking and kiss me."

"Kate –" he shook his head but didn't step away. "Kate, you don't have to do this." His steady resolve from the other night seemed to have vanished into thin air, and he gulped thickly as she shifted closer to him. "I can wait… until you're ready."

"Rick," she sighed, drawing her hands up to clasp together behind his neck, her fingers grazing the tendrils of hair at his nape. "I may never be ready. My wall may not come down for a long time." She freed one hand to gently trace his jaw, hoping he could see in her eyes all of the affection (love) that she felt for him. "But I've decided something lately. You've waited long enough. And… I want – very much – for you to build a door. Or a window. Or a crawl space. Something to get on the other side of this thing."

His hands trembled as they rose to circle her waist, his touch slipping just beneath the hem of her sweater, the heat of her skin nearly burning him. "Kate." Her name was just an exhale of air, and she closed her eyes against an onslaught of emotions as his lips brushed her forehead. He trailed light kisses down her nose and drew a shaky breath as he hovered over her mouth. "Oh…. Kate."

With his last murmured word, his lips closed over hers.

Her moan mingled with his, and she felt as though her feet were floating off the ground. His kiss intoxicated her senses, her stomach a knot of desire and euphoria; with the hand still at his neck, she pulled him closer and sighed happily when he nipped her bottom lip in mock reproach. For all the need trembling through both of them, the kiss stayed surprisingly chaste – almost tentative and inquiring, as though testing the ice on a wintry pond before stepping onto it. Rick's hands cupped her chin. Kate's fingers fisted in his hair. A bubble of desire welled up in Kate, evoking a ragged whimper of a groan from deep within her – a groan that was echoed by her partner as he finally (finally!) deepened the kiss.

The clatter of the door being unlocked penetrated the haze that enveloped them, and Rick slowly ended the kiss with a wistful sigh. Kate protested with a quiet cry before the noise behind them began to register with her. She moved away, her eyes conveying her regret, and lifted a hand to remove the mistletoe headband – until Rick's hand halted her intended action. "Leave it," he whispered. "That wasn't nearly enough."

Her cheeks flushed with pleasure despite the moisture gathering in her eyes, and her dazzling smile just about erased his memory as to why he'd stopped kissing her in the first place. The taste of her kiss – merely a taste – had sent his hormones into overdrive. He'd once thought that whenever they finally kissed again it would satisfy the craving that had been building in him since their undercover lip-lock outside that warehouse. The truth was clear now – he had been so very wrong. That kiss hadn't satisfied anything. It had merely intensified the way his body, his heart, his soul ached to be one with her.

"Hello the house!" Martha sang out as she and Alexis entered the loft, waving her shopping bag with a dramatic flourish. "We managed to leave a little bit for the other last-minute shoppers."

Alexis grinned and shook her head. "Don't worry, Dad. We left more than a little bit." She glanced at Kate, and her smile broadened. "Hi, Kate! I see you found Dad's mistletoe hat-thing."

"Hi, Alexis," Kate returned the warm greeting. "Yeah." She flicked the flower with her finger and chuckled as it swayed overhead. "It's a new look I'm trying out for the holidays. Very fashionable, don't you think?"

"Oh, definitely," Alexis teased. "Tres chic."

"I personally love it," Rick piped up, tipping his wine glass in Kate's direction. "If my opinion counts."

"It doesn't," Martha assured him as she popped her head around the corner from the kitchen where she'd headed moments before. "And it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that having Kate walk around with mistletoe perpetually over her head would be your every fantasy come true, my dear."

To Kate, he whispered against her ear, "Not my every fantasy." Smiling secretly at the shivers that rocked her frame, he directed the rest of his comment toward his mother in a voice loud enough to be heard. "Can we not talk about my fantasies, Mother? That's just wrong on many levels."

"I second that motion," Alexis agreed wholeheartedly, passing by Kate with a hushed, "Way to go, Kate!"

"Well, did you at least get to put it to some use before we got home?" Martha asked from the kitchen doorway, her hands indignantly planted on her hips. "Because, we could always go to Grand Central a little early and wait for you two to catch up." A raucous wink accompanied her final words, and Rick groaned, embarrassed at his mother's interference and implications.

"Grand Central?" Kate asked, sparing the room from whatever he was about to say. She discreetly hooked her finger through one of his belt loops and looked at him in anticipation of his answer.

"Yeah – we try to go every year down to Grand Central Station and watch the light show they put on," he explained, a twinkle in his gaze that conveyed his delight at her possessive touch. "Another Castle family tradition."

"I've never been," she replied in surprise. "There's apparently a lot going on in this city at Christmas that I've never done."

"Is that 'I've never been' as in 'I've only skated a few times' or can I take it more literally?"

Kate pursed her lips against a grin at Castle's teasing. "Haha," she retorted dryly and raised her hand as though she was in a courtroom. "I, Kate Beckett, do solemnly swear that I have never seen the light show at Grand Central." She dropped her hand and cocked her head to the side. "Is that better?"

The movement made the mistletoe do a little dance from its perch, catching Rick's attention and causing him to lick his lips from a sudden thirst. He used her finger in his belt loop to his advantage, tilting his hip so she would have to pivot into him to maintain her balance. He caught her by the arms and dipped his head. Just before his lips caressed hers with an exquisite tenderness that Kate never imagined he possessed, he called over his shoulder to the other women in the room, "Pardon me a moment. I feel the need to indulge in another tradition."

"Giving thanks yet?" he murmured privately into her mouth as his kiss danced a scattering of sensations through her insides.

"Definitely," she answered around the gentle mingling of their lips.

Traditions really did have something going for them, Kate decided. Especially when a Castle or three came along for the ride.