AN: Happy Holidays Everyone! I thought I'd update with a holiday chapter. Also check out the one-shot, "Mini Beckett: Small World", if you didn't already, which is about Christmas when Emily was five. Thank you again to everyone for following, favouring, and reviewing this story. Here's the next chapter everybody, enjoy. Don't forget to Review. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters.

Christmas with a Real Family

I was sitting in the precinct, waiting for my aunt to finish her day. It was that time of year again when all schools were closed for the holiday season. It's been snowing a lot lately, and even though the snow can be annoying after a while, it's still a pretty sight to see.

I was slumped in the seat next to my aunt's desk and playing a game that I downloaded on her phone. I was trying to kill this creepy alien looking monster, but every strategic move I made, the alien was one step ahead of me. I caught a glimpse of black dress pants standing in front of me and I looked up to see Castle watching me play the game.

"I love Phantom Aliens: Destroy Everything. It's a really great game. I destroyed that alien boss with the mega ray gun," he said.

I did as he said and after a few blasts from the mega ray gun, I destroyed the alien boss monster.

"Thanks Castle. I've been trying to beat him all day," I said.

"No problem, I had trouble with him myself before I figured out that little trick," he said.

"So what's up?"

"Nothing, I just came to see Kate."

"She's interrogating someone with Esposito right now."

"Okay, I'll wait."

"Hey, Castle what's up?" Ryan said as he came over to the desk.

"Nothing much, just came to see if there was a murder," he said.

"Not right now. We just finished a small case for a local robbery," Ryan said.

"Oh, cool. Looks like it's been a slow holiday season," Castle said.

"Yeah, it is. Usually we're flooded with holiday murders, domestic disputes, and suicide calls, but so far it's been pretty calm," Ryan said.

"I guess that's a good thing. So what are you doing for the holidays, Ryan?" Castle asked.

"Probably just spend some time with Jenny. I don't really know," he said.

"That's cool. I plan to spend Christmas with my family and uphold our family tradition," Castle said with a smile.

"Sounds like fun," Ryan said.

"Yeah," Castle said.

"I'll see you two later, I have to go turn in these files," Ryan said.

"Bye," Castle and I said as he left.

"How about you mini Beckett?" Castle asked.

"I don't know. Aunt Kate doesn't seem to be in the spirit this year," I said.

"Huh, well that's interesting. Maybe we can spend some time together, all of us," Castle said.

"That would be really cool," I said.

"Yeah, it would," Castle said.

"What will be cool?" my aunt asked as she came over.

"That we spend Christmas together," Castle said.

"I'll think about it," Aunt Kate said.

"Aww… but Aunt Kate. It would be fun to spend time with them," I said.

"I said I'll think about it. I might have to work. If I do, maybe you can spend time with Castle and his family," she said.

"Okay," I said.

"You might have to work?" Castle asked.

"Yeah, we always need people to fill in," she said nonchalantly.

"That sucks. I thought we'd be able to spend Christmas together," Castle said.

"Yeah, I know. Remember no presents," she said.

"Right, I know," he said.

"You can get me a gift though," I said, cutting in.

My aunt smacked me lightly on the shoulder and said, "Christmas is not all about gifts."

"Yeah, I know. It's about love and family, and yadda, yadda, yadda…" I said.

"Be good, or you or Santa will be putting you on the naughty list," Castle said.

"Yeah, you're right," I said.

"Castle, there is no…" Aunt Kate started, but castle through a hand over her mouth.

Aunt Kate mumbled something into his hand while giving him a glare. He released her and she said, "What was that Castle?"

"There's no what?" I asked.

"Um…" Kate looked at Castle and he looked at her with raised brow.

"There is no naughty list," she said looking to be in thought.

"There isn't," I said.

"Nope, it's all made up to make kids be nice. But you should still be good because he'll still be determined to give you coal," Castle said.

"Oh, okay," I said.

Aunt Kate gave him a look, and he shrugged his shoulders with a small smile. I wondered what they were secretly talking about through their body gestures. We all went home for the night and I wondered the whole night what my aunt was really going to say.

The next day came around and I was hanging with my aunt once again at the precinct and we finally got a murder just after ten o'clock at night. She called Castle on our way to the precinct and I couldn't wait to see what was in store for this murder.

When we got there we walked through the park to the crime scene. Castle was complaining about his family skipping out on their family tradition to hang out with on Christmas Eve. He asked if Aunt Kate was going to make it, but she was still not sure if she could. We got to the body and what was in front of my eyes was a dead Santa.

"And now Santa is dead!? When will it end?" Castle said with shock.

"Not Santa. This is horrible," I said.

"I hate to break it to you two, but… He's just Santa's helper," she said, looking over at me with caution on her face.

"We don't know that," he said.

"I have to admit, with that beard and that belly? He looks like the real deal," Lanie said.

"If by the real deal, you mean an overweight man in a red suit, who is hopefully carrying ID?" my aunt said.

"Yeah. Along with lots of candy cane wrappers, though I don't think that ID of his is gonna do you much good," Lanie said, showing us an evidence bag with candy canes and then handing over the victim's wallet.

Aunt Kate opened it up and said, "Kris Kringle. Address, the North Pole"? That's cute."

"Maybe he's the real Santa. Like Miracle on 34th Street," Castle said.

"Cool," I said.

"Yeah, but with no happy ending. This Santa fell out of the sky around 9:30pm" Lanie said.

"From an aircraft?" Aunt Kate asked.

"Maybe, but it wasn't a commercial plane, I can tell you that. With a fall from high altitude, we'd see severe frostbite on his eyes and his face," Lanie said.

Ryan came over to us with a sigh and said, "Hey, so I just talked with the family. They didn't see or hear any planes overhead."

"That doesn't make any sense. He had to have fallen from somewhere," Aunt Kate said while pointing her flashlight up into the sky.

Castle chuckled and said, "I'm sorry. Are we overlooking the obvious here?"

"He fell from his sleigh," I said.

"Yeah… He hit some turbulence, slipped out of his sleigh and fell to his doom," Castle said.

Aunt Kate rolled her eyes and Ryan said, "Santa, lying there dead. You gotta ask yourself, what kind of world do we live in?"

"A world in which there…" she cleared her throat, stopping her sentence and continued, "People don't fall out of nowhere. Can you check with Air Traffic Control and find out what flights were in the area?"

"Sure. Bah, humbug," Ryan said as he left.

"So was the fall cause of death?" Aunt Kate asked.

"It looks like it, but I won't know for sure until I get him back to the morgue," Lanie said.

"Well, Santa or no, he sure is committed. And you're saying there's nothing in his wallet that indicates a break in character?" Castle asked.

"Nope," Lanie said.

"Except for these boots. They are definitely not from the North Pole. They're custom-made from a leather shop in Queens. Got a pair of motorcycle boots there. Hopefully they'll have a record of who this man is," Aunt Kate said.

We headed back to the precinct and I couldn't believe Santa was dead. He wasn't the real Santa of course, but still, one of Santa's helpers is just as bad. I wonder how he got into this whole dilemma, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Castle was writing on the investigation board and he was smiling as he wrote the name of our victim. Ryan came over to us and said, "Hey, so I just heard from Air Traffic Control, but you're not gonna like the news. They have no record of anyone flying over the park during the time our guy hit the ground."

"How is that even possible?" Aunt Kate asked.

"Santa had his sleigh in stealth mode," Castle said.

"Sounds legit," I said.

"No. I mean, after 9/11, how is it possible that someone can just fly over Manhattan?" she said.

"Sightseeing choppers do it all the time. There was this one time, I took a midnight loop around the Statue of liberty with this Latin…" Castle stopped short.

We all gave him some odd looks and he said, "Publisher."

Captain Gates came up and said, "No. He's right. There's a Manhattan flight corridor which doesn't require you to radio in if you stay under 1,300 feet. My mother-in-law is a licensed pilot, as she keeps reminding me. Part of a larger effort to make me feel inferior."

We all gave each other looks and Captain Gates said with a chuckle, "I'm sorry. Did I just say that out loud?"

"Sounds like she's staying with you, Captain?" Ryan asked.

"One day soon, your in-laws will visit, too. And when they do, think hotel. Oh, Lord, I hate the holidays," she said and walked off.

Castle whispered, "Yet another quality she has in common with the Grinch."

"So, if we don't know where our Santa fell from, do we at least know who he is?" Aunt Kate asked.

Esposito came up and said, "Well, hopefully we will soon."

Aunt Kate's phone started to beep as Esposito continued what he was saying, "Unis rousted the owner of that boot store in Queens. They're getting him to open up the shop and check his invoices."

She checked her phone and said, "Lanie's got something for us. Can you keep us posted on the boots?"

"Yeah," Esposito said.

I followed Aunt Kate and Castle, as we headed off to the morgue. When we got there Lanie said, "Remember how you asked if that fall is what killed him? Well, it wasn't. I pulled this out of his back."

She showed us a bullet and Aunt Kate said, "And that is a .38. Do you still think he fell off his sleigh, Castle?"

"No. Clearly, he was shot out of it. Talk about a war on Christmas," Castle said.

"Or he was just shot in an aircraft and pushed out. So, do we have anything else?" my aunt asked.

"Just this, embedded in his suit. A chip of paint or some kind of enamel. Cherry-red," Lanie said handing over an evidence bag with the red paint chip.

"From a sleigh," Castle and I said together.

Aunt Kate rolled her eyes and Lanie said, "I don't know yet. I'm sending it down to the lab for analysis."

"Probably from a sleigh," Castle said matter-of-factly.

"Are we any closer to figuring out who he is?" Aunt Kate asked.

"We are now," Esposito said as he walked in, he continued and said, "Name's Edmund Smith. Lives in the Bronx. Got his ID from that boot shop."

"I'm sorry, you just came all the way down here to give me this?" Aunt Kate asked.

"Yeah, I mean, you told me to keep you posted. You did say that, right?" Esposito asked.

"You know what? Um… Castle and I are gonna go and check out the place and see what there is to see. And also drop Emily off at home," Aunt Kate said.

I followed Aunt Kate out with Castle behind me and asked, "Why do I have to go home?"

"Because it's already way past your bed time," she said as she continued walking.

I groaned because I wasn't going to be able to see some more of this awesome case.

I woke up around 11:00am since I got home around two in the morning. I was wondering what was going on during the investigation. I wanted to know who the killer was. Who would kill Santa? Why did they kill Santa? This is definitely a strange case.

I stayed home watching cartoons, but my mind kept wandering to the case. I bet it's getting interesting and I'm missing the whole thing. While I was getting bored, there was a knock on my door and I answered it. Standing there was Castle and Alexis with smiles on their faces.

"Hi, guys. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"We were going to go shopping together and I thought it be fun to invite you," Alexis said.

"Really!? That would be awesome. I'd love to come," I said.

"Great. Get your coat and boots and we'll be on our way, "Castle said.

I grabbed my coat and threw on my boots, so I could hang out with Castle and Alexis. We went to tons of different shops and the mall. It was so much fun hanging out with Castle and Alexis. We even had some hot coco as we hung out at the mall. We bought so much stuff, our arms were practically covered with bags and bags of goodies.

It felt great to be included in their holiday shopping spree and I really felt a part of their family. After we were done with the hours of Christmas shopping, we headed back to Castle's place to drop off the gifts. Castle's place was awesome and really in the Christmas spirit.

"Wow this place is awesome, Castle," I said.

"Thank you mini Beckett," Castle said.

"You're welcome. Your tree is huge," I said.

"15 feet," he said.

"Sweet," I said.

"Yeah, we really go all out on Christmas decorations," Alexis said.

"I can see that. This is definitely the best decorations I've ever seen," I said.

"You haven't seen this much before," Alexis asked.

"Nope. Wow, neat train," I said, looking at the toy locomotive go around a small city.

Castle chuckled and said, "Just don't touch it."

"I won't," I said.

Alexis and Castle started talking about how they're not going to be spending Christmas Eve together and Alexis mentioned she was going out with a boy, Max, she met at an annual bad poetry contest before Thanksgiving. Castle tried to get her to invite him over, but Alexis said it would be too much pressure to let him meet her father on Christmas Eve.

She told him that she wanted to see Max before he left for London with his Family for Christmas. Castle gave in and let her go ice skating with Max.

"Besides, you'll be with Beckett and mini Beckett," Alexis said.

"Right," Castle said, seeming disappointed.

"Oh, and don't worry, I'll be home in bed before Santa comes. Bye Emily," Alexis said.

"Bye Alexis," I said.

She left and Castle looked a little gloomy.

"Don't worry Castle," I said.

"Yeah, I know. I just wish your Aunt Kate didn't have to work," he said.

"She has to work?" I asked, my own disappointment seeping in.

"You didn't know?"

"No."

"Sorry Emily. Well, maybe you and I can hang out together on Christmas eve."

"Sounds good. We'll have fun."

"I bet we will. But in the meantime, why don't we try to bribe Captain Gates to let your aunt off for Christmas."

"I like how you think."

"Well thank you."

We headed over to the precinct and Castle had a small gift wrapped with a bow for Captain Gates. Captain Gates walked in front of us right when we stepped off the elevator and Castle called for her.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked.

"I just wanted to make sure you got this before you took off for the holidays," he said.

"Oh. Well, thank you, Mr. Castle. Oh, I'm sorry, I don't have anything for you," she said.

"Please, just being here each day is a gift. I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all that you do. You, and Detective Beckett," he said.

"Mr. Castle, I am on my way uptown to meet my mother-in-law to have tea and eat those tiny freakin' sandwiches. So why don't you just say what's on your mind?" she said.

"I'm just so worried about Detective Beckett. I mean she works so hard. Don't you think she deserves a little holiday?" Castle said and then grabbed my face and said, "And look at this little face. Do you want her to miss out on Christmas with her aunt? Isn't there someone else who could take that Christmas Eve shift?"

"First of all, how I schedule my people is not you concern. And having said that, Detective Beckett volunteered to take that shift," Captain Gates said.

"She did?" I asked glumly.

"When did she do that?" Castle asked.

"Earlier today, she came to me and asked to take Detective Eldin's shift. He has a family," she said.

"But Emily," Castle said.

"I know, but I guess Kate felt it was more important for him," she said.

"Okay, then. Problem solved," Castle said and she left.

"I can't believe Aunt Kate would do that," I said.

"Emily, don't be sad. Maybe she has a reason," he said.

"Or maybe she doesn't want to spend the holidays with me anymore."

"I don't think it's you."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. She loves you."

"I hope so."

We went further into the precinct and watched as Aunt Kate and Ryan were trying to figure out where the victim was on a big map where they marked down the where the helicopter could have gone.

"Hey, Castle, Em. You coming, Castle?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," he said.

"See you soon Emily," she said.

"Okay," I said.

I was hurt that my Aunt Kate took the Christmas Eve shift. Why would she do that? We had such a nice one last year. Was she mad at me for something? I don't remember doing anything really bad, I just got out of the hospital. Was she just hanging out with me because of what happened? I pulled out my locket which I kept inside my shirt and opened it up.

We were smiling in the picture from the photo booth and we looked extremely happy as we hugged and looked at the camera. I wasn't even concerned about the case anymore, I was only worried about why Aunt Kate took the shift. I really do hope it's something completely different then not wanting to hang out with me.

They came back about an hour later and started talking about an expensive clock that the fake Santa stole from a company that hired him for their party. Aunt Kate and Castle were trying to figure out why he stole the clock. Castle gave one of his out of the box theories and it was actually quite funny. Aunt Kate went back on topic, pushing Castle's crazy theory aside.

Esposito came bye and started telling them about what he found out about the Santa. Turns out, the guy never worked at the party before, but he was determined to work it this year. We went into the break room after they talked and Castle started making Aunt Kate some coffee.

Aunt Kate was sitting on the table, flipping through the case file, still trying to figure out what was going on. I sat next to her on the table, still mulling over in my head why she didn't want to celebrate Christmas with us, especially me. When she was done she put the folder behind us and said, "It makes no sense. Given everything that we know about this guy, this is completely out of character."

"Well, sometimes people do inexplicable things," Castle said as he gave her the coffee he made which had a cool design in it.

Aunt Kate smiled at it and said, "There's an explanation for everything."

"Is there? You volunteered to take Eldin's shift. Don't pretend. If you aren't ready, why not just tell me?" he said.

"Why don't you want to spend it with me?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, Castle. You too Em. I didn't mean to…" she said drifting off.

"Didn't mean to what?" he asked.

"Christmas means something different to me than it does to you," she said.

"It's Christmas. I mean, how can it be different?" he asked.

She sighed and said, "Castle, every winter, as soon as that chill rolls in, I'm right back there that alley. January 9th, and we still hadn't taken our Christmas decorations down. And by the time my dad and I did, it was like we were putting Christmas away forever. We haven't opened those boxes since."

"I didn't know," he said.

"That's why every year my dad goes up to his cabin. And ever since I became a rookie, I have taken the Christmas shift. Because I know that there are families out there that are celebrating together in their homes and I am keeping watch, and that is my tradition. And that is important to me. It's as important as your tradition is to you. And I'm sorry Castle… and Emily. I thought I could let that go, but I..." she said, shaking her head.

"I understand," Castle said with compassion.

"How comes we celebrated last year?" I asked, feeling bad for my aunt.

She looked over at me and said, "I wanted to do something special for you, Em. It was a hard year, and you were just coming home from the hospital. You needed it and I wasn't going to let my personal stuff get in the way of your holiday joy."

"Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome," she said and placed a kiss on my temple.

She smiled at Castle and then her phone started to ring.

"Beckett," she said, putting it on speaker.

Ryan's voice chimed through the phone and said, "Yeah, so I got a custodian who was up on the roof last night for a smoke."

"Did he see anything?" Aunt Kate asked.

"It's not what he saw. It' what he found. The place was cleaned earlier in the day, but when he got up there, there was trash blown all over the helipad. Probably from the rotor wash when it took off," he said.

"What kind of trash?" she asked.

"The kind that looked like someone had been waiting for someone. A soda can, candy wrappers and an empty pouch of pipe tobacco," he said.

"Pipe tobacco," Aunt Kate said with realization.

"Now, who do I know that smokes a pipe and flies?" Castle said.

We waited for Ryan and Esposito to bring in our potential suspect and I sat in the chair next to my aunt's chair, like always. I was happy we were able to find out why Aunt Kate wasn't in the holiday spirit and relieved it had nothing to do with me.

Later on Esposito and Ryan brought in a Santa that was our potential suspect. He was kind of a creepy looking Santa clause and I hoped the real one didn't look anything like him. Castle and Aunt Kate went in the interrogation room to interrogate him.

They came back a little while later explaining the case and apparently the guy wasn't our killer. There was someone else on that roof shooting at the both of them. Ryan and Esposito came up to the desk and were explaining how they were going through the security footage and how they saw the neighbor kid, Tim Cabot, on the elevator at the place, following Edmund, our dead Santa.

Captain Gates came bye and said she got something from the class action suit against SunCove Funding. Her contact at SEC dug some things up and it turns out our dead Santa was the person who tricked people out of their homes. Turns out the Cabot kid's father died in a car crash after he fell asleep behind the wheel working three jobs to pay the inflated mortgage, on Christmas Eve five years ago.

Castle and Aunt Kate went to Cabot's apartment to talk to him about what happened. I stayed at the precinct trying to keep myself occupied. When they came back it turned out Tim didn't commit the murder and they went back to Case Commerce to find out if someone worked there who used to be a part of SunCove with Edmund.

Turns out it wasn't the man from Case Commerce, it was Edmund's wife. They brought her in for questioning and it turns out she was the killer. All because she was afraid that she was going to lose all the money he left her, after he up and left, so he could put the past behind him.

As we were leaving the precinct Castle was reminiscing about his past and the Christmases he spent with his mom. It wasn't much, but he loved how his mother could make a little something out of the little money they had because she was a single mother and an up and coming actress. While they were standing at the elevator, I couldn't help but notice they were standing under the mistletoe.

Castle and Aunt Kate noticed too after they finished they're conversation, but they couldn't kiss because they couldn't let the precinct find out about their secret romance. They kind of just stared awkwardly and wished each other a Merry Christmas.

She cleared her throat and said, "Have fun with Castle."

"I will. I love you, Aunt Kate," I said.

"I love you too, Em," she said.

I hopped on the elevator with Castle and we headed to his place to spend Christmas Eve together.

Turns out when we got to Castle's place, Mrs. Rodgers and Alexis were there with food filling their dining table. It smelled yummy in there, and it really felt like the holidays were truly here. I just wish Aunt Kate was here to celebrate too.

We all sat around the table, getting ready to eat some of the food. Everything looked delicious and I couldn't wait to dig in. Alexis and Mrs. Rodgers said how they decided to cancel their plans to spend time with Castle and adhere to their family tradition.

Castle decided that he was wrong about tonight and that there was somewhere else he needed to be. I smiled at that. He really did love Aunt Kate, enough to break his family tradition. He opened the door to leave and standing there was Aunt Kate. They started babbling at the door and his mother said, "Oh, for God sakes, Richard. Invite the poor girl in."

I ran to Aunt Kate and gave her a big hug when she came in.

"Hi, Em," she said.

"I'm glad you could make it," I said.

"Me too."

They walked in all the way and stood at the tree together. I took a seat back at the table, watching them with pure joy.

"It's beautiful," Aunt Kate said looking at the tree and decorations.

They kissed and it was so sweet, yet still pretty gross, but that's what adults do. It was great to have a special holiday with all of my favorite people. We all sat around the table and started eating the scrumptious dinner they made. As we all ate and chatted amongst each other with happiness gracing all of our faces, I couldn't help but take it all in with gratitude.

Santa is definitely real because he gave me the wish I always wanted, Christmas with a real family. And I couldn't ask for any other family to be placed with. This is definitely a start towards a Wonderful Life.

The strangest thing happened after I finished my thoughts, a bell started ringing, and everyone looked around with questionable faces.

"I think an angel just got its wings," I said.

They all smiled at me and I wondered if my grandmother was the lucky one, or even my mother.