The Christmas Song

The kids have been bouncing around all day, excited about the toys they received from Santa and looking forward to showing them off to their Gram, Grandpa Jim and Alexis when they come over for dinner. They should all begin to arrive in about thirty minutes now.

"Momma, I need help with my dress!" Lily calls from upstairs, knowing Kate is in the kitchen trying to finish everything up with Castle.

She lets her forehead fall against his shoulder in defeat. "We'll never be done in time for when they get here," Kate groans.

"Hey, it's fine. Everyone will understand. We're hosting with three kids, no one is expecting this to be perfect. I'm sure Alexis and your Dad will be happy to lend a hand with what's left when they get here."

A remote-controlled helicopter whizzes right past their heads and Kate startles, ducks out of reflex not to get hit in the face.

"Dad, look! I finally got it!" Jake exclaims from the living room with the controller in his hands.

"That's great, my man. But remember I told you, not in the kitchen okay? It's dangerous while your Mom and I are cooking."

Jake nods and steers the toy away from them, back towards the living room.

Castle turns his head towards her and lifts her chin up with his index finger, laying a gentle kiss to her lips. "It's going to be okay," he whispers and she sighs, feels the corners of her mouth tug upward slightly. He's right. Their family won't judge them if they aren't completely ready with Christmas dinner and this really shouldn't be anything stressful.

"Thanks." She reaches up on her toes, not wearing her heels yet and presses another kiss to his lips.

"Always," he answers with a grin.

"Mom!" Lily calls again from upstairs and she huffs.

"Now go help our daughter with her dress, I've got everything covered down here."

She's halfway up the stairs when she hears a violent crash behind her, what sounds like glass shattering. "Oops," Jake mumbles guiltily, looking down at the broken pieces of a vase spread out below his helicopter.

Kate pinches the bridge of her nose but before she can move back down the stairs Castle is already there. "I've got it, it's okay. Go help Lily."

She hesitates for a moment but nods, walks the remaining distance up the stairs to find her daughter.

"Mom, it broke," Lily informs her, her bottom lip already trembling when she enters the room.

"What? How come?" She asks, moving towards Lily and kneeling down to her level.

"I was trying to pull up the zipper by myself when you weren't coming upstairs and I pulled too hard." Her voice shakes as she explains what happened, and Kate motions for her to turn around so she can assess the damage.

It seems like the end of the zipper is broken but she might still be able to pull it up for Lily to wear this dress tonight.

"Gram is going to hate me." Lily is facing away from her but Kate knows from experience by the sound of her voice and the shaking of her shoulders that she's crying. "I promised her I would wear this dress for Christmas, she got it for me as a gift."

Kate tugs at the end of the zipper, once, twice, three times and it finally gives, moves up the length of her daughter's spine. It was just stuck in the material.

"You fixed it?" Lily turns to her, wonder in her voice when she feels the dress tighten around her body.

Kate nods, smiling. "We'll still have to get this zipper fixed but you can wear it tonight."

"Thank you!" Lily throws her arm around her in a hug, unknowingly also providing Kate with the comfort she didn't know she needed tonight.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." She holds on tight to her ever-growing little girl. "Also, I never want to hear you say that your Gram will hate you. That will never happen, you hear me?" Kate says as she pulls back and her daughter nods.

"Merry Christmas!" Kate hears her father's voice from downstairs as he's probably just arrived with no one to greet him, seeing as she is still upstairs helping Lily and Rick was most probably still cleaning up the broken glass in the living room.

"Grandpa's here!" Reece exclaims, rushing down the stairs to see Jim waiting at the door and Lily scurries past her, out of her room to do the same.

Kate makes her way down the stairs in time to see her father pulling Rick in for a hug, all three of their kids bouncing around them by the front door, eager to tell their Grandpa about the gifts Santa brought them.

"Merry Christmas, Katie," he greets, holding her tight when she reaches them and she lets the familiar feel of her father's arms around her calm her nerves, giving her the boost of energy she needs to believe that everything will alright after all.

"Oh my, it looks like we're right on time!" Martha chimes in from behind Jim, Alexis standing by her side and hugging the kids as they jump for joy at the arrival of the rest of their family.

Alexis and Jim help finish up the final touches on dinner - Castle insists that Martha stay out of the kitchen so she and the kids set up the table together while Kate pours everyone drinks. They manage to get everything ready in no time, much faster than she and Castle would have alone and of course, he was right: no one in their family seems to care about the fact that this isn't the perfect reception.

"Momma, Lexi made my favorite cake for desert!" Jake tells her excitedly as she hands him a glass of sparkling apple cider.

"Wow! I hope you thanked her, that must have been a lot of work," Kate suggests, just to make sure her son hasn't forgotten his manners.

"I did. And I gave her a big hug too," he nods. Kate smiles and runs her fingers through his hair.

Good boy.

Jake heads back to the kitchen and she's about to do the same, help her Dad set the turkey on table but she feels familiar arms wrap around her middle.

"Hey, you okay?" Castle whispers in her ear, laying a soft kiss to her neck. Her smile widens and she turns in his arms, loops hers around his neck, pulling him close.

"You were right. It's perfect like this," she admits leaning in to steal a kiss from his lips.

"Every Christmas with you and our family is perfect, Kate."

A/N: I would like to take the time to personally thank all of you for reading my stories this year and sharing your love and passion for these beautiful characters. It is an honour and privilege to write for this fandom and I hope you'll join me for new stories to come. It was a pleasure to write these little stories and glimpses into the Caskett family life during the holiday season, I hope you all enjoyed them! Thank you all again and a very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Happy holidays! -Zoe

Twitter: ZoeKeller

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