Chapter 12

Beckett dreaded the morning. Most of what was left to the case, with the exception of the forensics from New Jersey, was paperwork. Beckett was not anxious to get to it and Castle consciously avoided it.

Kate lay in the circle of Rick's arms, his chin lightly touching her hair. Her fingertips lightly stroked the fine hair on his forearms. Rick came slowly to wakefulness, not entirely sure if the Kate in his arms was real or part of his dream scape. "Hi," he murmured as his eyes opened and Kate was still there.

"Hi yourself," Kate answered, snuggling into his body.

"I don't sense enthusiasm for the day," Rick told her.

"For paperwork, no." Kate affirmed. "But you can avoid it, I can't."

"Maybe we can build enthusiasm for something else," Rick suggested.

Kate turned to face him, flicking a quick glance at his lips before returning to his eyes. "What did you have in mind?"

"How about a food fight?" Rick asked.

Kate sat up flabbergasted. "A food fight? What are you, twelve?"

"I'm young at heart." Rick answered. "C'mon. It'll be fun!"

Rick pulled on a pair of shorts and nothing else and ran for the kitchen, looking for ammunition. He grabbed a bag of marshmallows, long abandoned in the rejection of smorelets, and began to lob them at Kate.

Kate was not to be outdone. While catching marshmallows and returning fire, she made it to the freezer, pulling out ice cream. Taking a healthy scoop she advanced on Rick, smearing it dead center on his chest. It was all out war. Rick thrust his fingers through Kate's hair, pulling her face toward the chilly mound. It smeared and dripped over both of them as Martha came thundering down the stairs. "What is this?" Martha trumpeted in her grandest diva tone. "Richard, I know you never grew up, probably my fault, but Katherine? I thought you had more sense."

Kate swiped at the ice cream on her face and Rick grabbed her hand. "Shower, now," he said, pulling her away from his mother's wrath as quickly as possible.

Pulling off what clothing they had along the way, Rick and Kate tumbled into the shower laughing. They didn't turn on the water right away. "That looks good," Rick said, eying the ice cream still on Kate's face and he began to lick it off. Kate did the same with what was left on his chest, and they took the last of it from each others' lips. The chill of the ice cream turned hot as their bodies met, and hotter still as Rick took the briefest possible moment to turn on the pelting spray. The pressure of the water brought a new level of arousal, even as the last drops of sticky sweetness were washed down the drain. Rick brought Kate to him, hard, and she opened to take him deeply in. Drops of hot spray flew against the walls of the enclosure as Rick thrust to find more and more of Kate and she pressed ever tighter to fulfill her need for him, until the well filled and overflowed as the water flowed over them.

Martha covered her smile with a glare as Castle and Beckett approached the kitchen again, this time clean and fully dressed. "You are going to clean this up." It was definitely a statement not a question.

"I'll take care of it, Mother," Castle soothed. "I have things to do here today."

Beckett shook her head. "Anything to get out of paperwork, Castle."

Castle grinned. "You know me so well."

Castle made Beckett a latte and pancakes before she left for the 12th. As soon as he'd picked up the marshmallows and sponged up the sticky drops of ice cream, he retreated to his office to check his laptop. He was very pleased with what he saw and came out to the great room again to start unpacking his train set and lining up decorations to be hung on the tree.

Castle spent most of the rest of the day decorating everything in the loft except for the tree, which would be saved as a group effort. Beckett called to say that the report from New Jersey had come in positive for cyanide and she would easily be able to wrap up in time to come back to the loft for dinner. Castle called Alexis to come join them as well and then proceeded to call his favorite deli to put in an order.

By five o'clock everything was in place. Food was laid out buffet style. A pan of hot chocolate was gently warming on the stove and eggnog was chilling in the refrigerator. Castle even had candy canes to stir the hot chocolate with.

Alexis was the first to arrive and she and Castle drank hot chocolate and exchanged news until Beckett came through the door. Castle went upstairs to get Martha, who came down the stairs reluctantly. "Honestly Richard," she said. "I really don't feel very festive right now."

"Mother," Castle told her. "You have an early Christmas gift from about seven hundred people that may change your mind. Wait there just a minute."

Castle brought his laptop out of his office and put it on the counter so that everyone could see the screen. "I present to you," he announced, "the 'Starring Martha Rogers Investment Group'. Small investments from hundreds of people will be funding the opening of your play. You are a leading lady once more."

Martha's eyes glistened. "Richard, I don't know what to say. This is amazing."

"Actually I got the idea from Alexis," Castle explained. "When she told us about crowd sourcing her research for the moot trial, I decided to see if anyone had ever done it for Broadway. I found out there was a production of 'Godspell' that was successfully funded this way about a year ago. I thought I'd give it a shot. It looks like a lot of people want a little piece of show business."

Martha swiped at her eyes. "Thank you. I guess I am feeling festive after all."

"All right!" Castle exclaimed. "Let's get this tree trimming party started!"

Years of memories went up on the tree, from the cookie angel that Alexis had made in first grade to a crystal N.Y.P.D. badge that Castle had commissioned especially for Beckett. The last ornament was a gift from Alexis to Kate and Rick, a ceramic wedding cake ornament topped with a bride and groom that looked amazingly like them. "I had a friend of mine who takes pottery classes make it," Alexis explained. "I gave her a picture of the two of you."

It was Kate's turn to tear up. She threw her arms around Alexis in a massive hug and both of them were soon engulfed in Rick's arms as well.

It was close to midnight and Alexis decided to stay the night rather than travel the New York streets uptown. She sent a text to Buttons to let her know she'd be gone and settled into her old, but ever ready room. Martha grandly swept her way upstairs as well, leaving Rick and Kate with a small amount of cleanup which was rapidly accomplished.

Rick and Kate stood, arms around each other, staring at the softly winking lights and shining ornaments. "The tree I had last year was beautiful," Rick said. "But this one is better, because you're a part of it. I can't imagine my life without you."

"I can't imagine my life without you either," Kate told him. "Richard Edgar Alexander Rogers Castle, I love you."

Finis

A/N That's it for this one. For those of you who watch DWTS before Castle on Monday nights, there really was a crowd financed production of Godspell and it starred Corbin Bleu, first runner up for this year's mirror ball trophy. I will be starting the next story pretty much immediately. It will be called "Relapse". The premise will be that the antidote that Castle got to the toxin in Valkyrie and Dreamworld was not permanent. I've had this one on my mind for quite a while. I did foreshadow it a tad in Growth II. We'll see how it goes. I hope you'll join me. A huge thank you to my reviewers. You really get my engines going. Love, Sally