Snow Days: A Christmas AU

Chapter 1

"What do you mean you're going to be late?" Kate Beckett held out a hand in silent apology when her carry on banged into the shoulder of an unsuspecting first class passenger.

"An opportunity came up. Whitman could do it but it's the surgery of a lifetime and I said…"

She adjusted as best she could in the narrow aisle, phone pressed to her ear. An impatient throat behind her, and she started again her toward her seat only to stumble over an outstretched foot.

"Watch it!" She snapped, eyes narrowing at the perfectly groomed man in the seat to her left. Her attention turned back to the call when her boyfriend's voice filtered through again.

"What?"

"No, not you. This jackass had his foot in the aisle."

Kate pushed her way to the back of the plane and shoved her bag into the overhead compartment. She stared at her seat in the middle of the row and sighed. Of course. The man wedged next to the window was sweating through his wool Christmas sweater. She had already nearly missed her flight due to traffic and TSA, not to mention this latest disagreement with her boyfriend. Maybe she would get lucky and the aisle seat would be vacant.

Josh," Kate continued once she was settled next to Christmas Sweater. "I cut my visit with my dad in LA short because you said you wanted to spend Christmas with me."

"This is important, Kate."

"And I get that. Your work is important and sometimes you get called away, so do I, but it's different when you volunteer for it. I'm just asking you for once please try to make it work. For us."

A body plopped into the seat next to her and Kate groaned. A large bicep pressed into her shoulder and she glanced to the side, catching a glimpse of a navy and red checkered shirt. Plaid Flannel, as her brain had named him, adjusted again, jostling her while he squirmed for his seat belt.

"I have to go. I'll be landing at JFK around three. I really hope you'll be there."

Kate stabbed the "end call" button, her hands falling to her lap and head thumping against the cracked leather headrest in tandem.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Kate's eyes shot open and her head inched around to stare at Plaid Flannel. "Excuse me? Were you listening to my conversation? What the hell?"

"Well, I wasn't so much listening as unintentionally subject to your conversation since we are crammed in here like sardines, or pickles, but I heard it. Yes."

"And you just thought it was your place to butt in?"

"I, um, yes?" He replied, his expression softening.

Kate's retort died on her lips when she peered at his face. He looked familiar… "Wait? Weren't you just in first class?"

"Yes. Yes, I was, and I believe you were the one kind enough to call me a jackass."

Christmas Sweater humphed out a laugh and Kate shot him a look.

"Right. I'm sorry about that, it's been a long morning," she mumbled in apology when she turned back. "But in all fairness you did have your foot in the aisle."

"I was adjusting."

"Well, next time adjust after the passengers have boarded."

"Maybe if you hadn't been on the phone and had been watching where you were going…"

"Are you always this much of a jerk?"

"Are you always this much of a priss?"

The two glared at each other, arms crossed until the flight attendant came over the speakers. Kate faced forward with a huff and pulled the safety pamphlet from the seat back in front of her, studying it a little too hard. It was going to be a long flight.

Richard Castle sighed at the text message on his phone. Alexis, his teenage daughter, was having a blast skiing with her friends in Aspen for Christmas, and his mother was touring with her latest production. That left him and Gina, his ex-wife and current girlfriend, for Christmas. He sent back a quick affirmative to Gina's question about attending a swanky Christmas party that evening and lifted his hip, sticking his leg out into the aisle, to shove his phone back into his pocket. He would be home from his latest book tour just in time to be shown off as the famous Rick Castle, Master of the Macabre, to all of Gina's friends. Some days he wished he could just be Rick. Normal.

"Watch it!"

Rick let out groan when a pointed shoe collided with his shin. That was going to bruise. He twisted around best he could in his seat to apologize but bit back his statement when the owner of Satan's stilettos murmured into her phone about him being a jackass.

Turning around to face forward again, Castle caught a face full of squirming toddler, the little girl hanging out of her mother's arms and halfway to falling into his lap.

"Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry," the woman holding the blonde tornado voiced over the child's babbling and squealing. "She's a handful today."

"No problem," Rick said with a smile. "I remember those days. Here, take my seat. It's a long flight. There's more space up here in first class."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Thank you so much." The woman gushed. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Castle replied. He hustled out of the seat so the young woman could sit and made quick work of retrieving his bag while the flight attendant directed him to his new seat… Right next to Stilettos. Great. Rick pasted on his most charming smile. There was still time to redeem the situation.

He studied her for a moment out of the corner of his eye: the hunch of her shoulders while she hissed into her phone, the irritated crease in her forehead almost hidden by a curtain of brown hair. She was pretty, had the potential to be beautiful if she weren't so angry.

"Trouble in paradise?" He winced when the words slipped out of his mouth, stifling the air between them. She turned to him with a glower.

"Excuse me?"

Yeah, it was going to be a long flight.

"Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking."

Kate took a deep breath, dislodging her hand from where it had accidentally clutched Plaid Flannel's forearm instead of the armrest.

"As you are aware, we are experiencing some pretty severe turbulence. Due to weather we are being rerouted and will be landing in Bozeman, Montana. I apologize for the delay but hopefully we will be able to get you back in the air and on to your final destinations shortly."

"Montana?"

"Bozeman?"

"Around the turn of the century, Bozeman was actually the nation's leading producer of peas- fresh and canned. Leading it to be nicknamed the Sweet Pea capital of the nation."

Both Kate and her seatmate's heads turned to look at the man by the window only to have him give them a shrug in reply. "I like trivia."

Kate thudded her head into her seat back. Montana.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. All flights have been grounded for at least 24 hours, until this storm passes. The next flight for New York is scheduled for tomorrow evening."

"Christmas Eve?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Kate rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Fine. Can't do anything about the weather."

"No, ma'am." The ticketing agent, Cindy, chirped and Kate's teeth sank into her cheek. "Okay, you're all set. If you see John at the end counter he can help you get a hotel room, but the big Christmas festival is going on so you probably want to hurry before everything gets booked."

"Thank you, Cindy."

Kate pushed her way through the throng of angry passengers, to the reservation counter only to collide with a broad muscular back clad in navy and red flannel.

"So we meet again."

"Son of a…" Kate groaned under her breath. She could not get rid of this guy. "Hello again."

"Hi." He greeted before turning his attention back to the young man behind the counter.

Kate took the moment to look around, catching sight of a blonde woman holding a squirming toddler to her right. She did not envy the woman. Traveling during the holidays was hard enough but traveling with a child…

"You're in luck, sir. There is one room left. Last one."

"Only one?" The man asked. "Oh. Well, give it to her." He gestured to the woman with the little girl. "I can rough it for the night."

The blonde turned to him, shock etched on her face. "Really?"

"Really," he replied.

"First your seat on the plane and now this? How can I repay you?"

"Just get that little cutie home for Santa."

"Thank you. Thank you." The woman said and Kate couldn't help but smile.

Once the woman had her reservation, Kate stepped into her vacant spot at the counter. "Are you sure there isn't anything else available?"

"I can check again but everything else said 'no vacancy'," John replied.

John tapped away at the computer keys. "Actually I might have just found one, it's a couple towns over but they just had a cancellation, due to snow ironically. Let me just call them real quick. Betty isn't so great with the computer."

"Does that mean it has 'snow vacancy'?" Plaid Flannel quipped from his place next to her while John dialed and Kate let slip an audible groan on an eye roll.

"Yep," John confirmed, holding a palm over the mouthpiece of the landline. "Last one. Do you want me to book it for you?" His gaze bounced between the two of them.

"Oh, we're not…"

"We don't know…"

They both started, and Kate could feel the heat rising up her neck, flushing her cheeks.

"You take it," Flannel stated, smiling at her, blue eyes twinkling. "Like I said. I can rough it for the night."

"No, you should take it. You were here first and you already gave one room away."

"I mean, I guess we could share."

"Share?"

"We are adults."

"I have a boyfriend."

"So do I— a girlfriend. I wasn't implying… Are you always this difficult?"

Kate eyed the rows of hard plastic chairs. "Fine. We can share, but if you so much as look at me wrong I swear I know 37 different ways to incapacitate a man."

"Only 37? I would have expected more from you— I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Kate." Kate supplied. "Kate Beckett."

"Nice to meet you, Kate. I'm Rick Ca-Rogers."

John handed over the reservation with a smirk. "Enjoy your stay."

Kate glared while Rick beamed back at the man.

She was going to regret this.

A/N: Peace and joy to all of you this December 2015 and Merry Christmas to those of you celebrating it! Thank you all for being such wonderful readers. Special thanks to Kate Christie, Fembot77 and Airbefore for jumping on the beta train and editing this on such short notice.

This was inspired by the Lifetime Christmas movie Flight Before Christmas (so ALL the fluff). I do not own it or Castle, but these words are my own. This is set in an AU season 3/4 time frame. Enjoy!

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