Thanks for the support, and the editorial comments. Enjoy. At let us not forget, these characters are not mine.

Kate rose from her swing, stretched out her arm with cat like grace, twining her fingers with Rick's. Tugging him to his feet, "Why don't we continue this as we drive back to your place to celebrate?"

Rick pulled Kate into an awkward embrace as he maneuvered around the swaying swings. Blue eyes twinkling framed by crinkles from the smile on his face, Rick asked innocently "Thought I had to earn all your clothes?"

Dipping her head to nuzzle her face into his neck, Kate took a moment to breath in the familiar sent of his cologne, and rasped out "Not a lot left to earn." Taking a deliberate pause, Kate let out a breathy, "Except a few scraps of lace."

Castle tucked several wayward strands hair behind her ear and gave her ear a delicate, yet manly nibble. "Do I get to drive?"

Blowing gently into Rick's Kate whispered "Never gonna happen."

Growling softly, Castle began peppering light kisses down her jawline, "I have ways of making you change your mind."

Kate momentarily captured his bottom lip between her teeth, before happily pronouncing, "As of today it looks like you have a life time to trying to get my keys."

Waggling his eyebrows, "Yes and I will make the most of my powers of persuasion to earn the keys to your car, however, for now my dear detective, I have an antidote of potential proposal for your brassiere."

Kate snorted uncontrollably, "Couldn't just say bra, could ya? The last time I heard someone say the word brassiere was when my grandmother announced at a family gathering 'Johanna, looks like our Katie needs to go shopping for a brassiere.'"

Kate capped one hand over her mouth to prevent another snort from escaping, and beckoned to Castle to continue with the other.

"SO as I was saying for your brassiere I was on my way to propose Christmas Eve. I wanted you to know I didn't care, still don't care, if you believed in Santa, I believe in St. Nicolas enough for the two of us."

Rick recalled tossing his jacket over his arm, swinging open the loft's front door to the delightful surprising sight of a grinning Kate. "And there you were, on my doorstep. You blew me away by showing up, breaking your holiday tradition to come to me. And in that moment, you coming to me was enough. Your arrival was the perfect gift."

"You're a good man. Rick Castle, even if you didn't get me a Christmas present…" Tossing her head back to laugh, Kate asked "Who does that?"

Pouting fiercely, Rick grumbled, "You said, and I quote verbatim, 'no present.' I was respecting your wishes."

Stretching to reach his height, Kate tilted her forehead against his and murmured, "Castle, have Martha and Alexis taught you nothing? A girl never really means 'no presents.'

Turning up his pout by a solid eighty degrees, Rick groused, "My daughter and mother were more than willing to educate me in what Mother calls 'Woman Speak'.

Channeling his best impression of Martha Rogers, "Richard, darling have I taught you nothing? A woman like Katherine is to be courted, wooed. There is no hallmark occasion that doesn't warrant a keepsake for a woman like your Detective Beckett."