Disclaimer: Something about Castle and how I don't own it.

Author's Note: OK, a little Christmas one-shot to get us in the mood. Martha runs into Esposito doing a little holiday shopping.

Mother Goose: To Market, To Market

Esposito looked up from the display of scarves that had monopolized his attention for the past five minutes, surprised to see a familiar face. "Mrs. R?"

"Detective Esposito! How lovely to see you." Martha had been so focused on her own shopping needs that she hadn't even realized that she was standing across the fixture from her son's co-worker, for lack of a better term. "What are you doing here?"

Javier's face tinted in a slight blush. He had been out shopping for his Christmas gifts for his family, but he had been stopped by the display of soft looking scarves, thinking of only one person. Martha winked at the man, "Ah, I see, out shopping for a certain Medical Examiner?"

He looked at her in shock and then blinked his way out of his stupor. "What, no. No, of course not."

Martha's face lit up, she did love to tease people. "Oh, so did you get her jewelry for Christmas? Does it sparkle? You know, every girl loves a bit of bling, especially at the holidays."

Esposito stared at his shoes. "Uh, actually Lanie and I broke up, Mrs. R. A couple months ago. Castle didn't mention it to you?"

Martha frowned, her son hadn't talked to her about it. That was unusual, she'd have to ask Richard about it later. She now cocked her head and watched the detective. The way he was still looking at the scarves, she thought that there was a particular woman he had in mind to receive one. Realizing that she hadn't responded to Javier, she gave him a solid pat on the shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. What happened?"

"It's...uh... it was complicated." So the detective was still thinking of the beautiful ME, Martha hadn't lost her touch.

The actress waved her hand in dismissal. "Right, don't mind me. I'm just being nosy."

"Like mother, like son," Esposito whispered under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Martha wasn't offended, but she couldn't help ribbing him again, just a little. Like mother, like son, indeed.

"Uh, nothing. Nevermind." Esposito refused to make eye contact with the actress. Funny how he could stare down murderers without breaking a sweat, but just a few questions from his friend's mother and he felt the need to mop his brow. A change of subject was definitely in order, unfortunately his brain had ceased to function. "So, Mrs. R, do you think my... my... mother would like a scarf? How about this one?" He grabbed the closest scarf to him, an itchy wool the color of Pepto-Bismol with a bright green trim. "Girls like pink, right?"

Martha arched a sculpted eyebrow. "Do you hate your... mother?"

"What? No!" Esposito shouted then modulated his tone when he noticed a few shoppers staring at him, "I love her very much."

"That scarf doesn't show it. Girls may love pink, but not that pink. Besides, I think your mother would look much better in red." Martha grabbed the original scarf and shoved it in the back of the fixture. She wouldn't wish that on her worst enemy. Honestly, what were the buyers thinking? Her skillful hands picked over a few items before settling on a warm red scarf with gold embroidery detail. It was classy and sophisticated. Martha glanced at the tag before handing it over, pleased that it was also reasonably priced. A splurge without being over-the-top. "This is the one. Your... ahem... mother... will love it."

Esposito took the scarf, he could see Lanie wearing it. He started to thank Martha for her help, but she had already shifted down a little on the display, pulling out a green and white hounds-tooth patterned scarf. Gifts for complicated women were now on Martha's brain, and there was a certain detective that would look lovely with this tucked under her coat. It was definitely in Beckett's color palette, and a simple gift. Martha had an inkling that Kate had a hard time accepting gifts, especially anything on a deeper personal level.

Esposito between Martha and the piece of cashmere in her hand, "That one's nice too."

"Yes, it will really bring out Kate's eyes. Don't you think?"

He didn't know how to respond. He didn't need to give Castle's mother the wrong idea. He'd always thought of Beckett like a sister, he wasn't supposed to notice things like her eyes, was he? "Uh, yeah, I guess. Her eyes are kind of green, I think."

"Very observant of you, Detective." Martha was back to her teasing again.

Esposito shrugged, "Well, she's already got someone who spends a lot of time observing her, my job is just to watch her back." He gave the actress a brilliant smile, he could tease too. Especially when it came to teasing Castle about his unmasked feelings for Beckett. And even when Castle wasn't there to defend himself.

Martha led the way to a cash register and paid for her purchase, chatting easily with the cashier about the store's holiday traffic. She stayed with Javier as he bought his own gift. "So doing any other shopping today, Detective?"

"Yeah, I need to get something for my nephews, and my sister, and I pulled Ryan's name in the Secret Santa at work. Oh, and my parents."

Martha smirked, "I thought that your mother was taken care of."

Esposito blushed again, "Right."

She gave him a hip-check. "Lanie will love it. Don't worry."

The usually confident detective looked a bit shaken. "You sure? Maybe I should really give it to my Mom. What if Lanie doesn't want it?"

"Oh, she wants it. It's not over between you two. Not by a long shot."

"How do you know?"

Martha sighed, "Trust me, a woman always knows. And it's not over for you. I can tell."

"No, it isn't. But..."

He didn't finish his sentence. Martha had cut him off, stepping close to the detective, grabbing his cheeks between her hands and pinching them together. "You listen to me, Javier Esposito. It is your job to set a good example for my son and for Kate. You and Lanie are supposed to show them that friends and colleagues, they can fall in love too. You are supposed to show them that it's difficult, but that it's worth it. You can't run at the first sign of trouble, you have to be strong, for you and for Lanie, but for your friends too. They look to you, they watch you. If you can't do it, what hope do they have? They don't need any more reasons to keep them apart, they have enough issues as it is. So you are going to wrap that gift up and you are going to give it to Lanie, and you are going to repair whatever broke between you. You have to at least promise me that you will try."

"Uh."

She released his face, but fixed him with a glare. "Promise me, Detective."

"I promise. I'll try."

Martha smiled, stepped away from Javier and started walking again. "Splendid! Now that that's settled, I'll help you pick out a few more gifts. Buying things is sort of a hobby of mine, and you, sir, need all of the help that you can get."

"Ain't that the truth."

"And there's this little cafe around the corner. Afterwards, you can treat me to a latte, and pretend to be my boy-toy as a thank you for all of this help and free advice. It's a favorite haunt for some of my theater friends, and they'll love the gossip. And I don't mind the attention."

Javier steps had faltered at the mention of 'boy-toy,' and he fell further behind as Martha kept talking. She turned back to the detective and flashed him another smile, "Come along, dear. It's time to spend some of your money."