Avoiding the Mistletoe

Just a quick one-shot that I thought of and decided to post for Christmas. What if Castle DIDN'T want to catch Beckett under the mistletoe? Reviews are a great Christmas present! Hope you all have a great holiday season. I am still working on Comfort Comes in Many Ways and will be posting some more of that in the next day or so. Enjoy.

"Merry Christmas, Kate," Rick Castle said as he led her into his loft for his Christmas party.

"Merry Christmas, Castle," she replied as she handed him a small package.

"You didn't need to bring anything but thanks," he grinned and shook the package just as she knew that he would.

"You are such a kid," she smiled at him as she took off her jacket.

"You expected anything less?" he gave her his pseudo serious look before breaking into a grin again.

"Not really."

"Hi Kate!" said Alexis as she bounced over to the door. "Let me take your coat. Can we get you something to drink?"

"Thanks. A glass of wine would be nice." Alexis walked to the kitchen to let Martha know what Kate wanted to drink.

"Thanks, Alexis," she said as she accepted her wine.

"Have you met Ashley?"

"No, not yet."

"Come here, he's over there under the mistletoe."

"Alexis," Rick warned. Alexis just smiled then led Kate to the kitchen to meet Ashley and some other friends.

Soon, the party was in full swing and Alexis was having fun pointing out the mistletoe to anyone was who caught under it. She herself kept getting caught under it with Ashley until her father came and led her away from it.

"Darling daughter, you need to stop. Not everyone wants to be put on the spot like that."

"Okay, Dad. You realize you are standing under the mistletoe with Dr. Parish?" she commented impishly.

"Alexis," he cautioned.

"What are you afraid of me, writer boy?" Lanie said.

"Undoubtedly," he joked before he leaned over to give her a quick peck on the cheek. Rick then slipped away from the mistletoe.

Kate also made sure that she kept away from it. She was rather surprised that he wasn't staying under the mistletoe the entire time. And she was really surprised that he wasn't trying to catch HER under the mistletoe. Lanie and Alexis were the only ones who really noticed that those two were avoiding each other. Lanie also noticed that Kate seemed to be getting a little annoyed that Rick was hiding out.

"Hey, Kate," Castle caught her away from the mistletoe.

"Yes," she replied.

"Mother and Alexis just bailed on me and told me they are going to run off after you all leave. Could you stay for a few minutes and help me? I wanted to talk to you about something also."

"Sure."

The party was winding down and the only people left were the detectives. Kate started to gather up some cups and plates that were left and as she handed a stack of them to Rick, Alexis piped up.

"Dad, you're under the mistletoe." Rick and Kate both looked up surprised then looked at each other for a second.

"Gotta keep up the traditions, you two," insisted Lanie. Ryan and Esposito were watching with interest and they were all surprised when Rick simply gave Kate a quick peck on the cheek and turned to put the plates into the sink. Kate blushed first with embarrassment then anger before she walked away to do some more cleaning even though she wanted to just leave. She knew that she had been avoiding the mistletoe but she also knew that he was going to catch her under it at some point. She was sure that he was going to give her a real kiss, not a little peck. Kate hadn't realized how much she had actually been looking forward to that real kiss, and he had rejected her. No one would have said anything had they actually kissed under the mistletoe. Kate though that was the perfect excuse for a kiss but it seemed that Castle didn't want to kiss her even though he had flirted with her for the past two years.

Rick said his goodbyes to his friends as if there was nothing wrong. He knew that Kate was upset and he was going to have to explain his reasons to her. He just hoped that she was going to give him the chance to talk. He watched as she said goodbye to her friends. Rick had the feeling that he was going to be getting the cold shoulder from the guys and Lanie again.

"I'll talk to you guys later," Kate said. "I promised Castle I would help clean up some."

"Like he deserves that," Lanie mumbled as the door shut behind them.

"Kate," he began.

"Castle, it's getting late and I just want to go home, so let's get this cleaned up," she said rather abruptly as she walked back to the kitchen with more plates.

"Kate," he said as he took her hand gently in his and pulled her to him.

"Let me go, Castle," she said with barely concealed anger.

"I can't do that Kate. I need to explain something."

"What?" she asked still trying to pull her hand away.

"About the mistletoe."

"You don't need to explain anything," she tugged her hand again. "Let go of me, Castle. You obviously didn't want to kiss me, no big deal. Why should you have to explain?"

"Three things, Kate. Just let me say three things," he insisted.

"Fine," she stopped pulling her arm and he reached out and took hold of the other one also and started to caress her hands with his thumbs.

"First, I didn't want to kiss you, really kiss you for the first time, in front of everyone," he said as he lightly pulled her towards him.

"Stop that," she tried to tug her hands away again but stopped when he stepped closer to her, effectively trapping her between him and the kitchen island.

"Second, I didn't want our first real kiss to be just because of mistletoe."

"You didn't?"

"No, I wanted to kiss you and not because I had to due to tradition." He let go of one hand and lightly caressed her check.

"And third?" she whispered, no longer with any anger in her voice.

"Third, because I knew that once I started, I wouldn't want to stop," he stepped even closer to her as he lowered his head to finally kiss her.