#CHB2023

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #8: Shortcuts Season 6

"Nope, not going that way."

Kate laughs. "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope, that's a street full of nightmares." Ryan agrees.

"And I've gotta have my partners back," Espo agrees.

"But this is the latest shortcut I found to the Old Haunt," Kate insists. "And I said it was my round." She keeps walking, Castle at her side and the two of them share a look of amusement as they listen to their friends complaining about the Halloween decoration as they pass it and she throws a look back to see which one of them is creeped out the most despite their bravado.

"You knew this was here didn't you?" Castle whispers.

"This isn't even a shortcut," she whispers back, tucking herself into his side. "It adds like ten minutes but Lanie saw this on her way to work the other day and I knew I had to get those two down here."

Castle chuckles, pulls her close to press a kiss to her. "I love it when you use your wicked ways."

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #22: Memorable

Post Series

It had been long overdue. So very long overdue. And while it still isn't the trip he'd imagined for her, he's thrilled to see her light up as the screen brightens and their flick begins.

He'd told her to pack for a weekend bike trip, he had a surprise upstate for her and they'd left the kids with Alexis and it had been worth it. Cuddled under the stars, a blanket out and the heat from the bikes cooling beside them keeping them warm.

"So, we're totally gonna make out, right?" he whispers to her in the dark.

He feels her laughter, feels her cuddle closer, her lips against his jaw.

"Did you bring me to a scary movie to get lucky?" she teases, her fingers squeezing his thigh.

"Well, I did book us a room up the road at a bed and breakfast," he tells her.

"You've got it all worked out then, Mr Castle," she kisses him fiercely. "Thanks for the surprise babe."

They settle in for the movie, Kate teasing her husband at all the scary points and the two laugh their way through a film they've watched together at Halloween every year since they got together. This year, under the stars, is definitely a memorable viewing.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

Can you do #30 on the prompts list? Thank you so much for your stories!

CHB'23 #18: No Competition Post 2x06 Vampire Weekend

The party is dying down but he's enjoying himself with his friends, sitting with a few beers and trading stories.

"No, you had to be there," Ryan's giggling. "I'm chasing the head one way, Espo has the ass going the opposite way down the street."

"Except neither can see where they are running," Espo continues the story. "Fool misses the fire hydrant right in front of him. Goes down. Hard."

Castle is laughing, hearing the teams tales of woe of arrests of Halloween past, doesn't envy Lanie the task of determining fake or real blood.

"How about you, Castle?" Lanie says. "You must have had some wild Halloween parties."

Castle agrees. "None that I will mention with mother present," he teases the medical examiner.

"You haven't done Halloween until you've done Halloween with your theatre troupe," Martha insists. "Now, there is some commitment to the bit."

Castle groans but he watches his new friends, his partner turn rapt attention to the actress, knowing from experience that none of them had ever experienced anything the way Martha Rodger does.

"Go on then, Mrs R," Ryan encourages. "What's the weirdest Halloween experience you've had?"

"I was once doing a modern retelling of Much Ado About Nothing, you know, the Shakespeare play?" She checks everyone nods before she continues. "It was dreadful but we couldn't make the director see that his modern tweaks to the story just weren't working. Harriet, one of the actors, she insisted on trying to perform a séance and contact Shakespeare to rectify the situation and..."

She waited, watched them all get drawn in.

"Bam!" She clapped her hands, watched them jump. "Stage light blew out above us, Harriet was dreadfully frightened she'd summoned something that she quit the next day and we went back to the original."

Castle sat back, laughing at the looks on his friends faces. Martha Rodgers was definitely no competition when it came to tall tales.

Prompt: séance

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #29: Shall We? Post Series

"Careful you don't swallow your tongue, Castle," she teases.

Her husband is staring at her and she thrills at the ability to still render him speechless.

"Mommy! Mommy! You made it!" She hears the kids cry. Lily speeds towards her in her own witches costume, eagerly pulling Alexis along by the hand in her own witches outfit and the twins are too busy showing off their zombie costumes to her and she admires her husband, dressed as Billy Butcherson.

"Of course," Kate assures her daughter. "Wouldn't be much of a costume without the rest of my coven? Besides, who's gonna stop Daddy from eating all the candy before we get it home?"

That breaks him from his daze and she grins at him. "Come on, babe. Let's get this trick-or-treating started."

"Looking like that," he glances up and down. "Someone's gonna end up with a great haul by the end of the night."

"Promises, promises," she whispers, leaning in to kiss him hello. "Shall we?"

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #15: Something For Us Season Seven

She watches the red head walk through the door, smiles when as she finished stirring the cocoa she'd been making, adds the weird Halloween marshmallows Castle had picked up and watches Alexis kick off her shoes, hang her coat and drift into the kitchen.

"Hey, how was your day?" Kate asks.

"The usual," Alexis replies, sitting down on a stool and letting out a sigh of relief. "You settling in for the night? Dad's out, right?"

"Yes," Kate nods. "Got my laptop setup in the bedroom. Was going to get comfortable and watch Practical Magic while your Dad isn't here to talk all the way through it." The two share a grin.

"I've never seen it," Alexis admits. "I was kind of too young when it was all the rage and it's not the kind of film that Grams or Dad like."

"You never watched it with your Mom?" Kate queries. She doesn't like to pry too much where Meredith is concerned. "I saw this with my Mom. I think it's the kind of thing you do with your Mom or girlfriends, really."

"My Mom has a rivalry with Nicole Kidman," Alexis smirks a little. "Not that Nicole Kidman knows that. Or who my Mom is. But Mom won't watch anything Nicole Kidman is in. A red head thing, she told me when I was a kid. I just let her get on with it."

Kate smiles in sympathy, can imagine the diva have a weird rivalry for no real reason.

"Hey, you wanna join me?" Kate asks, a small hopeful smile on her face. "Honestly, there's snacks and I can't eat them all. Get yourself a drink and come watch it with me. I can move in here with my laptop if that's more comfortable."

Alexis smiles. "Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't," Kate assures her. "Who knows? If you like it, maybe it can be our film."

Alexis smiles. She likes the sound of that.

"Okay, let me get myself a cocoa and I'll be there," Alexis nods.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #9: Heirloom

Post Series

"Daddy, Daddy! It's just like Mommy's!" He hears across the store. He directs the twins around a display, watching where they stick their hands while he tries to look at what Lily is so excited about.

"What have you got Sweetpea?"

She beams up at him, eager to show him the treasure she's found. He'd promised Kate he wouldn't buy the whole store. Just one thing. He took that to mean one thing each. And they were having fun checking out everything in the store but Lily hadn't been this excited so far.

"Daddy, can we get it? Please?"

"Let me see," he says, looking at it carefully.

"Why Mommy?"

"It's like Mommy's elephants," Lily explains. "The family."

Castle grins, understanding what Lily means.

"Look Daddy, six of them," Lily points out. "One for all of us and Mommy and Lexy and can we get it?"

"Of course," Castle agrees immediately. "This is gonna be a family heirloom one day."

"What's that?" Lily questions.

Castle chuckles. "I'll explain it to you on the way home. But seeing as that's for the whole family, go pick something for you while I look with your brothers."

Lily dances a little happy wiggle and he watches her turn to look, find the boys eyeing up the clown masks. Oh, they could have some fun with those.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

And whispers, please.

CHB'23 #19: Wake Up Call Post Series

"Cassle," she grumbles, half asleep. "Cassle, stop."

She really doesn't want to be awake just yet but he's making it difficult.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Ugh," he groans. "What's going on?" He asks, sleep evident in his voice.

"You're whispering in your sleep," she complains. "And while I'd usually interrogate you, cut it out."

She hears him chuckle. "It's not me."

Ugh. That means...

She feels the bed dip and feels a cold nose press against her hand. She opens an eye to find their dog Cosmo waiting to be petted, his body adorned with a ghost costume.

She shakes her heads. That means the sounds...

And then she heard the twins voices coming from the office, whispering ghost noises.

She feels Castle chuckling beside her.

"Oh no! Dere's a ghost gonna get you," they call dramatically. "Booooooo. Booooooo."

"You just had to explain the trick part of trick-or-treat to them, didn't ya?" She casts a glare at her husband, watching him throw back the covers and beckoning for Cosmo to come to him.

"Don't be scared Mommy," Jake calls.

"Yeah, juss Cosmo," Reece giggles beside him where she can see their heads poking between books on the bookshelf. "Daddy can we have pancakes please?"

Of all the ways her sons have woken them, that might be the one most like their father yet.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #3: Trick Then The Treat Season 7

He looks a little too eager when she comes through the door. She's tired, a little weary from a tough case and not having him around today to keep her spirits up and he looks way too eager and she looks around their home, suddenly suspicious.

"Welcome home, honey," he greets her, crossing from his office to hug her.

"I'm afraid to ask," she mutters into his chest and she hugs him back.

"What?"

"You have that look, babe."

"I drew you a bath," he tells her and she steps back to look at him, can't help the smile. The way he takes care of her.

"Oh, so it's your 'gonna get Kate naked' look."

He grins at her, takes her hand and leads her threw to the bedroom, into the bathroom and the sight that greets her makes her laugh.

"Oh my god," and he looks so proud of himself. The skeleton she'd bought for him perched in the bath, her hair wrap around his head and her candles floating.

"Ryan told me about your case," he admits. "Thought you could do with a little laugh and a little relaxation."

She turns into him, presses a kiss against his jaw.

"Get rid of skeletor and you can join me instead," Kate tells him, stepping back to start undressing.

"Trick or treat to me," he utters as he heads to the bathtub to remove the Halloween decoration and enjoy an evening with his love.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #26: Snack Breaks

Post Series

They've been in and out of her office every ten minutes like clockwork, checking this detail and that order and helping themselves to her snacks.

"Hey, do you two not get fed at home or something?" She teases as they poke their heads through the doorway.

"Us?" Espo tries to look innocently at his partner.

"We were just thinking about lunch," Ryan shrugs. "Thought we'd check if you wanted us to maybe get you something?"

She crosses her arms and stares at them. "Uh huh. And your frequent visits wouldn't have anything to do with the Halloween snacks on my desk?"

"Who? Us?" Espo feigns shock.

"Can you blame us?" Ryan confesses, receiving a look of annoyance. "You've always had the best candy. Even more so now Castle gets that nice import stuff."

"Yeah," Espo nods. "And Lily... you guys always make those nice cupcakes."

She stares at them, shakes her head. Her two best Sergants and closest friends, coming around hoping for goodies.

"If you spent more time at your desks and less time in here looking for Scooby snacks, you'd have that paperwork finished and I'd hand over the treat bags Lily insisted I bring her Uncles."

She laughs as she watches them rush back to their desks. Leans forward for another chocolate covered pretzel she'd watched Castle and Lily make at the weekend.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

Dialogue prompt “Shut Up and give me some candy” please. Also thank you 🙏🏻

CHB'23 #5: Shudder Season 6

"Not until I see a trick."

"What?" Espo splutters. Kate sits back in her chair, munching on the M&Ms she's just been given by Castle, smiling smugly at her friend as his hand is batted away by the writer.

"Beckett didn't have to do a trick," Javi complains.

Castle grins at her, a look so heated that Espo and Ryan walk away from Beckett's desk. "I don't know 'Sito, she's pretty good at tricks."

"Shut up and give me some candy," Javi complained, taking the candy bar the writer offered, tossing one to Ryan too as they headed back to their desks.

"Dude, I don't wanna know about any of Beckett's tricks," Ryan muttered, shuddering.

Castle and Beckett's laughter follow behind.

"Don't worry Espo," Beckett called after him. "The trick is putting up with him."

"Hey!"

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #4: Protector

Season Five

She’d spent many nights curled up on the sofa with him, a glass of wine and a movie playing. Cuddled and eventually ignoring the movie all together.

He’d pulled up a new Netflix horror, finding himself in the Halloween spirit and she’d been content to sit with him, trading digs and yelling at the characters on the screen for making stupid decisions. 

He’s holding her close and she loves it, the feel of him, curls closer into him. Feels him turn his head, bury his nose in her hair but somehow the position feels a little off.

“Are you hiding behind me?” she accuses, pulling away and turning to him, a look of disbelief on her face as she takes in her boyfriend. 

“You’re always telling me it’s your job,” he teases. “You’re a worthy protector.

Her goofy, braver than any person she’s ever met, stands up to murderers and gang members regularly boyfriend cowering over a zombie movie makes her smile.

“Okay, I’ll protect you,” she tells him, curling back to his side until the next jumpscare, when he squeals and she can’t contain the laughter at the sound that escapes him.

___________

Prompt: cuddling

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #7: Sticky Fingers Season Three

She doesn't have to look for him when she enters, he's naturally the consummate host and is making sure everyone is having a good time and can see him heading her way with a drink.

"We called a truce this year," he reminds her, checking her costume for any surprises.

"Now, where would the fun be if you're expecting it," Beckett teases, accepting the glass of wine he hands her. "I came straight from work anyway. The best I could do was vampire."

"Best you could do?" He looks her over in her white blouse, her leather jacket, the fangs she'd slipped in and her darker, thicker eyeliner and the paler foundation she'd applied. "You put Kate Beckinsale to shame."

Even under the pale foundation he thinks he sees a blush. "Not so bad yourself Pennywise."

"Alexis is around here somewhere with a yellow raincoat," he grins and she smiles at him, the excitement of talking Alexis into dressing up again after last years heartache had been all he'd talked about all week.

"The loft looks... good," she notices the decorations around her. "Castle, where did you get the tape? This is too good to be that cheap party shop stuff."

She notices him looking around himself nervously, faking someone calling his attention and watches him flee. She needed to keep a better eye on him at the 12th evidently. She finds Lanie with the boys, joins her friends and waits to get her own back on her partner when he least expects it.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB'23 #6: Three Voices Post Series

"Mommy!" She heard three voices shouting from the top of the stairs.

"We ready!" "We brushed our teeth!" "Will you read our story now?"

She sets aside the dishes she's pulling out of the dishwasher, closing it for now and wiping her hands on a towel as she crosses around the kitchen for the staircase.

"I'm coming," She tells them. "Butts in bed, please."

As she passes the stairs though she's pelted with something, making her squeal and bat her hands, hearing the laughter of her children from above and her husband across in the kitchen. She stops the swinging items and finds herself face to face with three handmade ghosts hanging from the staircase.

"We got you Mommy," Reece utters, causing his siblings to laugh harder.

"They're good ghosts, right Mom?" Lily calls down, still chuckling to herself.

She turns to look at Castle who tries to appear innocent but can't hide the mirth in his eyes. "They are their mothers children," he mutters.

"You will pay for this, babe," she promises.

"Mommy, will you still read to us?" Jake checks.

Kate huffs, heaving herself up the stairs. "You three had better be in bed when I get up there or Mommy will have to get her own back."

She sees them take off for their room, admires the patience they possessed to wait long enough to prank her.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

I saw this prompt on another fandom but I thought it would be perfect for Caskett!

Prompt: "Can we do ugly sweaters for Halloween too or is that just Christmas?”

CHB'23 #10: Contentment

Season Six

She's just pulling her hair out of the collar of her t-shirt, checking her outfit in the mirror when he comes running into the bedroom, a package clutched in his hands and she watches him launch it on the bed before turning to her.

She watches him in the mirror, slide up behind her and wraps his arms around her.

"You are up to something, Mr Castle," she fixes him with a stare, the one that he knows means there's no use denying anything.

"I have something to ask."

"Should I be concerned?" She teases.

"Can we do ugly sweaters for Halloween too or is that just Christmas?"

She smirks. "Who said I'd do them at Christmas?"

"I have my ways," he assures her.

"What's in the package?"

"Okay, so I was looking for costume ideas and I found these sweaters... and well, I was excited and thought we could wear them out for the marathon at the Angelica."

She crosses to the bed, sits back and watches him tear into the packaging, smirking at the excitement on his face.

He watches her face when he pulls out the bright orange one. "Don't worry, this is for Alexis. She'll probably only wear it at home but I liked it."

He unfolds it and holds up a pumpkin sweater and Kate smiles, knowing how much he missed having her at home.

She watched him stroke it for a minute before putting it aside and morphing into a manchild again, eagerly pulling out two black sweatshirts. They both were adorned with a skeleton, front and back and she actually thought they were pretty cool. And he looked so eager, matching Halloween sweaters kind of made her heart soar a little.

"Okay, I like those. I'm in. You book the tickets and I'll make sure I'm home in time to be your date," she promises, pulling the sweater in her size out of his hands, pressing a kiss to his lips and stepping away to try it on and watched again in the mirror as he watched, a look of contentment on his face.

[thefifthsister-notactive]

CHB '23 #1: Warming Up

Post Series

The jostling of the bed and small hands shaking, grabbing on to her are what wake her.

“Mommy,” he whispers. “We can decorate now?”

“Daddy,” another voice pipes in. “It’s ‘tober now.”

And she laughs, rolls over and opens her eyes to find her boys perched on top of their father, her daughter sitting on the end of the bed.

“We have all day to put out the Halloween decorations,” Kate assures them, patting the bed and hoping Lily might join her for a cuddle before she’s ushered from bed entirely.

“Can we bake some cookies?” Lily asks. “The ones with all the colours?”

Kate smiles, tucks her daughter into her side and watches Castle rise from bed, throwing the boys on the mattress beside her and eliciting giggles from them. 

“What’s the rule?” She hears her husband ask their boys.

“Nothing happens until Mommy gets coffee,” they reply in unison.

“Happy Halloween month,” he tells her, ushering the boys from the room and she listens to her boys make their plans for the Castle Haunted Loft while Lily starts to lay out her idea for their first batch of Halloween cookies. It was going to be a long month if this was just the Castle family warming up…

[thefifthsister-notactive]

Halloween prompt: ravens.

Please and thank you 🙏🏼

CHB'23 #24: Prize

Season Two

"So, am I getting it back?" She hears behind her. She turns away from Lanie, her prize still clutched in her hand.

"Oh no," she tuts. "I won this, fair and square Mr Poe." She shakes his raven at him. "You will just have to find some way to win it back."

"Drinking contest?"

Kate chuckles. "Oh no, I will only concede this raven, if and when you can get one over on me, Castle. Which is never going to happen."

And with that he watches her walk away, stopping to talk to his mother and he feels his heart betray him a little more. She really was something special.