'Tis The Season

Joy, Peace on Earth, and the Kindness of Strangers - A Christmas One-shot - Pre-Show AU

"Daddy! Daddy! It's almost time for Santa!"

Richard Castle was nearly knocked backwards as the small but powerful red-headed girl collided into his leg the moment he opened the apartment door. She banded her arms around his hips and pushed her face into the side of his sweater before beaming up at him with her excited blue eyes.

"Santa! Christmas!" She continued as though he hadn't understood what Santa's visit implied. She gave an excited hop and then hugged him a bit tighter.

Chuckling, he stroked his hand down the back of her head, gathering what he could of her swinging orange locks and giving them a playful tug. "I know that pumpkin."

She took a step back and gazed around him towards their oversized, glittering Christmas tree. "He didn't come early, did he?"

Castle hummed as though deeply considering her question. He tapped his chin with this index finger and then said, "I don't think so, but why don't you go check just to be sure?" She took off running immediately and then he turned towards the other red-head in his doorway. Stepping aside so she could enter, he greeted her with the bob of his head. "Meredith."

For a moment she gave him a look that said, "Really? Are we doing this?" before flat out ignoring his polite-but-distant greeting and pressing a kiss onto his cheek. "Merry Christmas Eve," she said as she stepped inside and began lining up some of the large shopping bags she carried inside the door.

Castle pressed his lips together tightly as he turned away from her to shut the door. Though he still had not officially decided on the best ways to interact with his ex-wife with their divorce being less than a year-old, cheek-kisses were certainly borderline. Considering Meredith had never been one to understand appropriate boundaries, he couldn't say he was shocked that she insisted on a certain level of physical intimacy with him even long after they took off their wedding bands; however, considering that she had left him for another man, Castle wasn't really looking for anything more intimate than a handshake—and even that might have been pushing it

Knowing that would be an argument he would never win, he merely pushed the thought from his mind and instead turned towards the bags now filing the foyer. There were eight in total from six different Manhattan stores, some of medium size but most of them large. Considering that she had always enjoyed shopping as a sport, he wasn't surprised, though the haul was clearly excessive.

"What are all these?"

"Just some things for Alexis—oh, and that one has something for you and your mother in it," she explained, pointing towards the one on the end with the Bloomingdales logo.

"Thank you, but that wasn't necessary," he said, considering he had only given her two bottles of her favorite wine—plus some cookies he had made with their daughter. Meredith gave him a cat-like grin a she swung her hips back and forth leading him to wonder what exactly was in the bag. Unfortunately, as dinner was still in the oven, he didn't have time to worry about it too much in that moment.

"Anyway, if you could just…where's Alexis's bag?" he asked when he realized the mass of packages did not contain the small pink backpack he'd sent her away with yesterday. Meredith only held her purse and he knew Alexis hadn't been carrying anything, but he glanced across the apartment to be sure. Alexis only had on her emerald-colored coat; no bright pink backpack.

"These are Alexis's bags and—I know, I know—it's too much but I just couldn't-"

"No, not shopping bags; her backpack—the one with her clothes and toiletries in it."

Meredith cringed. "Oh…right. About that."

Castle's heartrate spiked immediately. "You don't have it!?"

The red-head stepped forward and stroked both her hands delicately down the front of his sweater. "Oh Ricky the subways are just so crowded right now. Alexis was holding it but she put it down and…well, don't be mad at her."

"I'm not; she's six!" he responded as his annoyance grew. "Where were you during all this?"

"Carrying these of course—some of them are quite heavy."

As Meredith's classic half-pitiful, half-pathetic "please don't be mad at me" expression crossed her face, Castle saw a flash of red in front of his eyes. "I...you…what…" He stammered out before pinching the bridge of his nose and taking in a deep breath. Alexis's bag lost somewhere on the subway on Christmas Eve…Certainly not idea, but they could figure it out.

"Okay—when was the last time you saw the bag? Did you contact the MTA when you realized it was missing? They must have some sort of lost and found or something."

Meredith gave a shrug so casual one would have thought she merely lost a pack of gum out of her purse. "I'm sure they're closed for the holidays now. Besides I…I don't remember exactly what car we lost it on but don't worry—I bought Alexis enough clothes today to make up for what she lost, and I'm sure you can cover a replacement backpack."

The fact that Meredith clearly thought the only issue to be a monetary one made his blood pressure spike again. "That's not the point, Meredith. Was Bunny-Bear in the bag?" he asked, referring to Alexis's beloved stuffed animal that, somewhat oddly, looked like it had been parented by both a rabbit and a grizzly.

"I guess, probably," said with a shrug.

Castle nearly exploded. "And what's going to happen tonight when Alexis can't sleep because she doesn't have him?"

"She has plenty of other toys."

"But she sleeps with Bunny-Bear! Every night!"

"Well…she'll just have to learn to live without him."

"Meredith!" he shouted a bit louder than he should have as he threw up his hands. Unbelievable—she was unbelievable and yet he should have seen it coming.

Practically from the day they brought Alexis home from the hospital Castle had been the girl's primary care giver. He was the one that comforted her when she was hurt, cared for her when she was sick, and was the one she could depend on no matter what so of course it stood to reason that Meredith not only was careless enough to lose her bag, but saw no significance whatsoever in losing her cherished toy. She would think any other toy would be sufficient as a replacement and surely if they were still married she would have left Alexis's room long before her tears had dried—or, worse, simply told her to get over it. Now, Meredith's carelessness on this occasion like so many others before it would be Castle's mess to clean up—on Christmas Eve no less!

Before Castle could respond further to the situation, Alexis returned to his side, shrugging off her coat. "There are more presents, but I don't think any of them are from Santa."

He took her coat when she held it out to him and moved towards the closet to hang it up. "No, they're from me or from Gram, honey. Santa will come overnight—like he always does. Why don't you…why don't you say goodbye to Mommy and then wash your hands for dinner," he said, eager to get Meredith out of the house before he really lost his cool.

The little girl gave her mother a tight hug. "Merry Christmas!"

"What do you say?" Castle reminded her before she could slip away.

"Thank you for my gifts!"

Meredith stroked her hair and then kissed her forehead. "Of course, angel. You call me tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay."

Castle waited until Alexis slipped into the bathroom beneath the stairs before turning to her and giving her a terse, "Good night Meredith."

She gave a little shrug and said, "Merry Christmas, Ricky."

Still angry she hadn't even apologized for losing the bag, he didn't return her sentiments, only closed the door behind her, gazed at the pile of packages, and rolled his eyes. So much for a fun and joyous Christmas Eve.

As the subway car she rode on screeched to a halt, Kate Beckett gripped onto the handrail beside her seat intent on using it as an anchor to stand, but then, just as her butt cheeks lifted from the hard plastic, she thought better of it and plopped back down. One more stop; she'd ride one more stop and then get off.

At that evening hour on Christmas Eve the subway still had a decent number of travelers—though, to be fair, it rarely could be classified as "virtually empty"—but the crowd was sparse. That was just fine with Kate. She hadn't wanted to sit home alone in her apartment, but that didn't mean she wanted to interact with dozens of people—particularly not if they were all in a festive mood.

After two more minutes of riding, the subway car began to slow for its next stop and Kate pulled herself up into a standing position, not really caring about which stop she disembarked. She had no intended destination; she only intended to wander until it became too cold outside, or it was eleven p.m.; whichever came first. Only then would she go home and find her father in surely what would be a drunken state as he hadn't really been sober for very much time over the prior few days. That was one of the reasons she'd been pushed from her apartment in the first place. She didn't want to sit home in the undecorated space simply staring at the clock wondering at what time he would stumble in.

When the doors to the car finally opened, Kate stepped out and saw that she was at the Prince Street Station in southern Manhattan. She shuffled her way towards the stairs along with the half dozen other passengers that had disembarked, deciding that she'd walk around outside for maybe an hour or so before taking a train back uptown.

Just as she had put one foot on the bottom stair leading up to the street, a peculiar sight caught her eye. Near the top of the trash can at the foot of the stairs was what appeared to be a child's stuffed animal, staring at her. Normally Kate would have ignored the creature—or anything else in a subway trash can—but for an inexplicable reason, it drew her eye. She took once step closer and gazed down at the brown fur covered animal, which had rounded ears like a bear's, though they were a little tall to be bears ears, but a snout that looked much more like a rabbit. Strange.

Upon further examination she didn't see that the animal looked damaged in any way. All of its limbs were attached and she didn't see any stuffing protruding out. One of the ears appeared a bit tattered and light on brown fur, but no more than any other well-loved child's toy would have been. Kate looked for several moments but could not see an obvious reason for the toy to be in the trash, which led her to wonder if perhaps it had been dropped by the child and another subway patron had chosen to throw it away.

Thinking that notion rather sad, Kate stepped up right beside the trash can and only then realized that the brown beast was actually resting inside what appeared to be a pink child's backpack. The pack's zipper was open all the way and the pink edges were stained, but Kate believed that dirt was from the trash can and might not have previously been on the bag. Like the stuffed animal, other than some wear on one of the straps, she could not find an obvious reason for why it had been discarded. Odd.

Though she could not understand why, Kate felt the urge to pick up the bear-rabbit creature and examine it, but in doing so she realized that it sat upon clothing inside the bag: denim leggings and a red top, both in a very small size. Seeing this she once again went back to her theory that the stuffed animal along with the bag had been accidentally dropped, but who wouldn't have noticed such a large object going missing? The toy, possibly. But the larger bag? That seemed odd, unless perhaps the parent figured the bag had been lost on the already-departed subway car and didn't bother going back for it?

Just as another subway car whooshed by on the nearby tracks, Kate grabbed the backpack by its straps and began to lift it out of the trash. There weren't too many discarded items on top of it—just a McDonald's bag and another unmarked white plastic container—but she discovered, much to her dismay, and open soda had been dumped in the trash as well, leaving brown sticky residue dripping all over the bag and back into the trash.

"Gross," she commended aloud as she stepped back so none of the liquid would get onto her boots. She was just about to release the bag back into the trash when a label just inside the pack caught her eye. It was white with red lettering printed in neat block text.

Alexis Castle, 595 Broome Street, New York, New York.

Unfortunately, there was no telephone number, but with that label Kate could only assume that Alexis was the little girl who owned the bag. Or perhaps it was the mother of the child who owned the bag? Either way, this bag somehow originated on Broome Street, which made sense as it was only a few blocks away.

For several more moments Kate gazed down at the bag and the stuffed animal resting inside. It was nearly Christmas and the little girl who owned the bag wouldn't have her toy, which she clearly loved enough to pack in her bag. Kate remembered fondly the stuffed dog she'd toted around for several years during her youth, and though she didn't remember the event itself, her parents had often told the story of them tearing apart the apartment trying to find the little guy one evening after she'd lost it. Was the patriarch of the Castle family doing similarly? Or had they simply cut their losses once the bag went missing?

Considering that it was Christmas and that she really had nothing better to do, Kate decided to wander her way down towards Broome Street with the bag in tow. With it still dangling from the strap, Kate dropped it to the ground and used her gloved hands to zip up the pack, making sure the stuffed animal and clothing wouldn't fall out on her trek. Then, she determined which side was the least sticky, and held the bag so that was the side that touched her leg as she walked down the nearly vacant streets that Christmas Eve.

Maybe the Castle family wouldn't be home. Maybe they wouldn't want the bag back once they found out it had been in a subway trash can (that thought certainly would have given her pause), but at least she would make the effort.

Once Kate found the appropriate building on Broome Street and realized it had a doorman, she groaned to herself. She had hoped to just ring a buzzer and leave the bag by the door for the Castle family to collect, but now she had to explain her quest to the doorman, who would surely think she was a little bit crazy, but she had come that far; she wasn't simply going to throw the bag at him and run (though she did briefly consider it.)

"Merry Christmas ma'am," the doorman greeted her the moment she stepped on the carpet outside the apartment entrance. He stepped up nearly blocking her path and asked, "Can I help you?"

"Um…maybe. I found this bag—I think it was lost by a resident here; the Castle family?" she said the name as though it was a question, for the first time fearing the label inside the bag might have been old or incorrect. Wanting the doorman to be the one to make that judgement, she peeled back the flap of the bag so that he could see the label with Alexis Castle's name on it. "See—right here."

The doorman ducked his head to examine the label and then ushered her inside the atrium of the building, which was thankfully much warmer than outside. "Just wait here one second ma'am."

"I could just leave it with you if…oh…" Kate's voice drifted off when the doorman went over to a telephone affixed to the wall in the corner and picked up the receiver. She gazed down at the bag in her hand then back up at the man before biting down on her bottom lip. What if the Castle family had visitors? What if she was interrupting their holiday? True, it wasn't as though she was barging in trying to get free food or simply ruin their night, but it still made her feel uncomfortable.

"Yes Mr. Castle…a pink bag with—is that a unicorn or a horse on the front?"

"Oh!" Kate startled slightly when she realized the doorman was asking the question to her and not to the man on the other end of the phone. "Um…" she gazed down at the front of the bag and then back up at him. "Just a horse I think—a white horse."

"It's a white horse. Yes...okay, sir. Merry Christmas to you, too." The doorman hung up the phone and then walked over to the door leading into the lobby of the building. Smiling at her, he said, "Mr. Castle says you can go up, ma'am."

"Oh no I don't—I could just-"

"Go on," he said gesturing into the lobby. "Fifth floor—Penthouse A"

"I…Thank you," she said weakly before walking into the lobby and turning towards the elevators. Hand delivering the bag was not exactly what she had in mind, but with the conversation she'd overheard it did sound as though the family had lost the bag, so at least her journey would be worth it.

Stepping off the elevator on the top floor of the building, Kate walked uncertainly into the hall, looking for signs of a door that would lead to Penthouse A. She walked forward down a small hall, but as soon as she saw the door she noticed the large "B" on the front of it and quickly turned to walk in the opposite direction. Just past the elevators she caught sight of a doorway that had an extra festive amount of garland strung above it. When she was close enough to see it, she saw a wreath was hanging on the door. There was no letter "A" on it so she merely hoped it was the correct apartment and knocked carefully in the center of the wreath.

The door opened almost instantly and she came face to face with a tall man with a boyish smile and brown hair that flopped down over his forehead. He wore a green and red checked sweater with intermittent gold threads that was actually very unattractive. She wondered if this was on purpose just as he greeted her with, "Hello!"

"Hi…" She cleared her throat and held the backpack more prominently in front of her before continuing. "I'm so sorry to interrupt your evening, but-"

"Not an interruption at all. Please."

Kate walked into the apartment when the man stepped aside half expecting it to be full of family members, or, at the very least, a little girl (or wife?) named Alexis, but instead the space was empty. Recessed lights illuminated a vacant kitchen, and the main sitting area seemed to be lit only by the immense Christmas tree and a few candles on the coffee table. "Oh I…I'm sorry. It must be late—is it late?" Truthfully, she had no idea about the time; maybe she had been walking longer than she thought!

"No, it's only eight thirty. I'm Rick, by the way."

"Kate—oh sorry." She apologized when he held out his hand to shake hers and she instead took a step back. She held up the bag a bit higher and said, "My hands are dirty from this. I think this is your…daughter's?"

He smiled graciously. "Yes, that's it and—oh it even has Bunny-Bear."

"Bunny-Bear?"

He pointed towards the head of the strange creature that was just peeking out from behind the zipper. "The little brown guy."

Kate gave a small chuckle. "Oh yeah…I couldn't figure out what animal that was."

"Neither can we, to be honest—that's why Alexis named it both."

"I see."

The man nodded and slipped his hands down into the pockets of his jeans. "Well, Kate, I have to tell you—you might have saved Christmas."

Not expecting such a comment, she blushed furiously and shook her head. "Oh I'm sure that's not true."

He smiled at her and his eyes sparkled just a little bit. "It is—I promise. Here let me take this."

She handed over the bag delicately. "It'll need washed—it was in a subway trash can."

The man grimaced. "Ah…well then Bunny-Bear will get the spa treatment in the washer tomorrow. Bathroom's right there if you want to wash your hands."

"Thank you." She nodded to him before slipping into the room he gestured towards. Her hands were clean as they had been protected by her gloves, but she did want to rinse some of the sticky residue off of them before it became unmanageable.

She did the best she could to clean up in the Castle family bathroom before pulling off her damp gloves and putting them in her pockets for the time being. Then, she stepped out of the bathroom just in time to see Rick emerge from a space behind the kitchen, which she presumable to be some sort of laundry area.

"Seriously," he continued the moment their eyes met again, "you saved the holiday. The only way I convinced Alexis to go to bed without Bunny-Bear was by telling her Santa wouldn't come unless she did…and that we'd go on a five-borough search for him tomorrow if need be, but honestly I never thought we'd see him again. Where'd you find the bag?"

"Trashcan in the Prince Street Station. I saw the bunny-bear thing sticking out of the trash and it caught my eye. Then when I realized he was in a backpack full of clothes I thought he might have been lost."

He hummed. "Yes—by my ex-wife earlier today. I—oh I'm so sorry. Where are my manners?" He smacked himself in the forehead with his palm and then gestured towards the kitchen. "Can I get you a drink? Some egg nog perhaps?"

"No, thank you."

"Mmm just as well… Since my mother made it, the egg nog is heavily spiked and you're..." He looked her up and down before guessing with a wrinkled brow. "…eighteen?"

"Twenty," she corrected.

He nodded. "And so you were on your way to meet your friends for a Christmas Eve meal? Or drink with a fake ID—I don't judge; I had one too."

She let out a breathy sound when he winked at her. "No, no—just on a walk."

He gazed at her a bit suspiciously, as though he didn't believe she was just out for a casual stroll that evening, and Kate couldn't blame him for it; she admitted it was highly unusual, but as he was nothing more than a stranger she didn't have to explain herself.

"Well…" She began, backing one stop towards the door. "I guess I'll…"

"Right, right." He interjected. "I don't want to keep you—particularly not on a holiday—but at least let me get you something for returning Alexis's bag."

Kate had no idea what he was going to offer her, whether it was a monetary gesture or something else, but it didn't matter; she had no intention of accepting. "Oh, no, Mr. Castle—that's completely unnecessary."

He gave her a pointed look. "To my distraught daughter it's very necessary. And please—call me Rick."

"I just wanted to help someone at Christmas, Rick. 'Tis the season, and all."

He considered her comment for long enough that she should have realized another refute was coming. "Well…at least let me get your address—Alexis will write you a thank you note."

"She doesn't have to do that."

"Oh I'm not going to force her—she'll want to, I'm sure of it."

"I…Okay," Kate finally gave in, having a feeling there would be no way for her to escape without bending a little bit to the insistent man's wishes.

"Great! C'mon into the office—there's paper in there."

"How old is she, by the way? Alexis, I mean." Kate asked as she followed Rick across the apartment, through an impressive bookshelf display, and into a dark room. He lit it up a moment later by turning on a lamp and she was able to see that it was indeed an office—and an impressive one at that.

"Six. There's a picture of her right there if you want to see." He pointed behind her before turning back to his desk drawer where he was rummaging.

Kate rotated until she spotted the photo frame on the bookshelf showing a grinning red-headed girl in front of a sign for the Bronx Zoo. "She's adorable. I…" her voice drifted off when her eyes focused on the books behind the picture. They were all novels by the same author—Richard Castle. Strangely, through there were a dozen books on the shelf, there were only two titles displayed on the spine. Eight of one title and four of the other. It seemed strange to her that a person would have four copies of the same book, let alone eight, when suddenly the connection jumped into her brain and she let out a little gasp. Rick was short for Richard.

Turning around, she gazed at the man now proudly holding up a pen and notepad and asked, "Are…are you Richard Castle the author?"

"I am. Have you read my books?"

"I…um…" Kate stammered a bit in the presence of the man she'd heard her mother speak fondly of many times. "Just one, but I've wanted to read more. I'm just busy…school…"

"NYU?"

"Columbia."

He grinned and then handed out the pen to her. "Very impressive. Here you go."

Kate stepped forward and took the pen and notepad and then leaned on the edge of the desk while she wrote out her full name and address.

"So, ah…where are you from originally?"

"New York."

"City?"

She turned her head and gazed at him from behind her hair. "Yes…why?"

He shook his head. "Oh, no I just…I thought if you were a college student away from home I'd…invite you to Christmas dinner tomorrow as a thank you."

"Oh that's completely unnecessary. Besides I'll…I'm going to my aunt's on Long Island," she said, fibbing slightly. Theresa had invited her and her father for a meal, but her father had already made it clear he was not interested in celebrating anything remotely associated with Christmas and Kate was torn between spending the holiday watching her father sleep it off, or being inundated with what was sure to be too much Christmas cheer for the sake of a meal.

"With your parents?"

She cleared her throat and handed the notepad and pen back to him. "Just my dad, actually. My mother isn't with us anymore," she said, trying not to flinch at the pain in her heart as she spoke the words. It wasn't Rick's fault he'd touched upon a very sensitive subject; he was merely being conversational, but that topic was one she definitely wanted to avoid.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he told her and she appreciated how genuine his tone was. After a beat, he continued. "This is my daughter's first Christmas without her parents being together. It's…rougher than I thought it would be for her. She spent last night and almost the whole day today with Meredith but…tomorrow morning will be different. Ah…sorry." He shook his head, his cheeks turning noticeably rosy. "Too much egg nog for me tonight, I think."

Even though their situations were clearly different, Kate certainly fell for the girl and it made her even happier about her decision to return the lost backpack. "Don't worry about it; I understand."

"Well," Rick glanced down at the notepad and then back up at her, "Kate Beckett, thank you very much. And Merry Christmas."

She nodded before turning to walk out of the apartment. "Merry Christmas to you, too."

A/N: Merry Christmas and thank you for reading!

This idea came to me last night and I just had to write it :)