Frozen Love (A Castle Fanfiction)

Holiday Outcomes

Once the holidays started getting closer, Rick started to get more and more child-like. The loft was filled with Christmas decorations that Brayden couldn't stop staring at for a week. Rick pointed out festive activity after festive activity, which was fun and all, but- the holidays had never been the easiest time of year for me. So, while he dragged me through the stores to buy gifts for our son and for Alexis and Martha and we took the family picture for the family Christmas card which we had to write and we did activity after activity for the season, I put a smile on my face and did everything I could to be merry and joyous like a normal human being.

Then Christmas Eve came. I had the night off, I was able to be home with Rick and everything was going perfectly. Alexis and Rick had gone out for part of the day to do something that Martha said they did every year. This was obviously the first year they took B with them, but I didn't really have a problem with that since I was inside cooking all day and they were only gone for a little under three hours.

When they got back, Rick was smiling and laughing and he and Alexis were singing some Christmas Carol I didn't recognize. Brayden was smiling feverishly and laughing a bit, still staring at the tree with a mystified look. I smiled from the kitchen and commented, "I take it everyone had fun."

Alexis laughed and stripped off her coat. "I think this was the first year ever that dad actually skipped around and acted like this was the Wizard of Oz."

"Hey, I had my Dorothy and Todo. Now if only the boys had been there. I missed my Tin Man and Scare Crow."

"And where do we fit into this delusion?" Martha questioned.

Rick replied, "Well, as much as Glenda's presence was missed, the Wicked Witch of the West was far from our minds." His mother gave him that famous stink eye of hers while I continued to smile.

B then made bubbles and caught my attention. As I wiped my hands on the apron around my waist, I neared Castle in the kitchen and held out my hands, making baby coos as I collected my son. "And how is my little man, huh? Did you have fun with daddy and Alexis?" He didn't respond, obviously. He only chewed in his finger.

"Everything smells delightful," Castle commented.

Alexis added from the kitchen, "It looks just as good."

"You can thank Katherine for that, she's done most of the hard stuff," Martha nodded my way.

Rick then added, "Thank god."

I smiled, "Well, my mother used to act to stereotype around the holidays and only around the holidays, so, I figured I might as well follow the example."

"I'm sure she'd be proud," Rick stated, laying a gentle kiss on my cheek. I smiled and once again pushed away the mild pain in my chest. "What time is your dad getting here, again?"

I laughed and recapped, "Here's a shocker, he called about an hour ago and said he couldn't make it."

"What? Why?" Alexis questioned.

Rick knew, and for that reason, he didn't say a word when I just shrugged off her curiosity. "We never really celebrate Christmas. I mean, we just don't get into the holiday spirit." While I was watching Brayden, Castle didn't think I saw him gesture to not pursue the subject, but I was kind of glad he did more than I was annoyed by it.

After this exchange, I gave B back to his father and went back to cooking with Martha and Alexis. I felt like such a stereotype that it actually got under my skin a bit, but I had to embrace the moment. Still smiling, when everything was just about ready, the others let me off the hook to go change out of my flour-covered jeans. I was back in a flash. Rick had set the table, Martha had begun to move the rolls and other table dished to their places and Alexis was holding her brother, waiting for me to take him. Once everything was ready, Rick smiled, cut the ham and we were smack dab in the middle of the meal I hadn't had in ages.

When we were finished, Castle moved us all into the screening room and we snuggled up to "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street". After the end credits began to roll, Rick looked at his watch. "Almost midnight," he said gently.

I looked at them all with complete confusion as the rest of them got super excited. Martha noticed my look. "Oh, Katherine, darling, in this house, at midnight every year, Richard grabs one of Alexis' old Christmas books from when she was young and reads it to us with a pair of cookies for each of us and a glass of warm milk."

My eyes turned to him. "Really, Castle? I mean, that's sweet and all, but... why?"

"It used to be the only way I got that one to sleep as a kid and we just never stopped the tradition," Rick smiled as he explained. I couldn't help but smile. He then shipped off to the next room and came back through the doors with a grin. "Oh, Kate, you picked the right year to start with. Book three in our three book cycle, T'was the Night Before Christmas. It was Lex's favorite when she was five." As Alexis smiled, I moved over and made room for him and her to be on the couch. Martha happily sat in the chair on the at the other side of the couch and listened.

Just as the page turned, B gave a small fuss and I adjusted his blanket more around his feet. I ended up handing him off to Rick, however, as I was starting to get too tired to hold him still. With Brayden in his arm and Alexis leaning on his shoulder, he began with the first lines:

T'was the night before Christmas,
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.

As he continued with the famous lines written on the page, somehow flipping the pages without disturbing either of his children, I was able to watch how absolutely gifted he was at being a father. Somehow he was able to actually embody that perfect father every kid dreamed of having. He was gentle and kind, warm and compassionate, caring and adorable in every way. The way he was with those kids, one could never guess he was so irresponsible at times. It was like he'd mastered being a man-child and a perfect adult combined. He was a Picasso of interesting identities, with looks sculpted perfectly to some rugged cherubic Zeus statue. It was... extraordinary. He was extraordinary.

By the time he was finished with his book, Alexis was barely awake. Somehow, all these years later, she still dozed to the soothing rhythm of the poem. When the book was closed, Alexis shipped off to bed, a kiss on her forehead and a wish for a good night from her father sending her off in the same direction as her grandmother. From his place, Castle levitated off the couch and gracefully glided into the front room, putting away his book and making it to the bedroom without so much as a sound being made to cause B to stir. When he finally laid Brayden down in his crib, I was on the end of our bed just simply watching every move he made.

He rose from lying our son down and turned to me, looking more serene than I had seen him ever before. When he looked up at me with his radiant eyes, clear pools engulfing me in a sense of love I'd only ever felt with him, I couldn't help but stare back with a smile of simplistic joy. His confusion came without a change in facial expression, "What?"

"How long until the wedding?" I questioned with a complex grin.

He answered, "Five-ish months. Why?"

I grinned further. "Let's elope."

"What? Why?! You have your heart set on a big wedding," Castle replied, taking the seat beside me, missing the most sincere smile I'd ever allowed myself to hold on my lips.

"No, I- I dreamed of a big wedding once, but- now I just want to be your wife. I want to know that I'm going to be able to share the rest of my life with you. I want Brayden to have married parents, and-..." I held back.

He looked at me like the last part was obviously something important. "And what?"

I breathed in deeply and told him directly, "I want to have another baby."