Zinke's Reading Room

Title: Silver & Gold
Author: Zinke
Rating: G
Characters/Pairing: Kate Beckett, Richard Castle.
Spoilers: Tiny one for ‘He’s Dead, She’s Dead – but only if you devour dialogue with the same voracity as I do.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just Borrowing. No infringement intended.

Author’s Notes: This story was written for k8_rab as part of castle100’s 2011 holiday drabble exchange. The prompt she gave me was: present. I tried to keep it at drabble-length; really I did. But rather predictably, Castle decided to go a little overboard.

Thanks to both gabolange and girlunravelled for their suggestions and advice.


* * * *

And think of all the fun and joy
That would be lost on Christmas morning
If all the young folks didn't get to see
That sparkling happy tree.
- ‘Silver & Gold’, Burl Ives



It’s Christmas morning, and Kate Beckett can’t believe her eyes.

There’s a fire she doesn’t remember lighting crackling away in her apartment’s wood burning stove. A small, brightly decorated Christmas tree that she knows for a fact wasn’t there when she went to bed last night stands beside the fire, its ornaments sparkling in the early morning sunlight. And beneath the tree’s evergreen boughs sits a single small package wrapped in silvery paper and topped with a gauzy red bow.

Kate is still trying to figure out whether to pinch herself or call the police when her cell phone rings – to the unexpected tune of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’. All of it makes sense, however, the instant she looks at the screen and finds Castle’s familiar visage grinning back at her from beneath an ill-fitting snowy white beard and Santa hat.

He’s already ho-ho-ho-ing by the time she’s put the phone to her ear. “Santa calling.”

“Castle, how did you—”

“Nooo. Santa.” She can practically hear him grinning on the other end of the line as he continues, “I couldn’t help noticing that you finally have a chimney. And seeing as you’ve been such a good little girl this year, I thought I’d drop by.”

Kate should be angry with him; but the sheer magic of the moment Castle has created won’t let her. Instead she breathes in the scent of wood smoke and pine and settles herself at the foot of the tree. “Thank you, Castle. This is all very sweet of you. But,” she adds, her lips curling into a mischievous grin, “if you ever call me a little girl again, I’ll make you sound like one.”

“Noted. Now open your present.”



*fin.