A BIG thanks to Kelly who wrote a few of the paragraphs in the story. My thanks is evident in the story. Please enjoy this, It took me quite a while to get it how I wanted. R and R x

The icy wind gently brushed her cheek as she made her way down Rhode Island Avenue. Pulling her coat closer round her body Temperance Brennan let out a soft sigh, the breath leaving a small mist in the air. She let her eyes wander over the pretty scenery. Even with the cars and the pollution they emitted; the city was beautiful. Windows, which ignorant workers slaved behind, were encrusted with a thin layer of ice; the unsuspecting people behind it were huddled in the warmth of their offices.

The street glistened from the melted snow, fallen the night before, and car tyre tracks indented into the cold sludge at the side. The sun shone down heavily in the Washington area, brightening up the dismal city area and flashing off of car mirrors. It was a breath-taking sight. The romance of it, how the feeling of simply walking down a ice-crusted street could warm a person. The mere fairytale look of a city landscape, covered in a winters sigh. She smiled sadly at the hundreds of people that weren't taking the time to just stop and look at the white city, too consumed by their own thoughts and own lives. How could people miss the sheer intensity of such a sight? The trees, clinging onto their roots in dire hope of staying alive while droplets froze on their spindly trunks. The fresh sound of ice cracking beneath boots, showing fragility in a hardened environment.

She turned left and made her way up the steps to her apartment building. She took the stairs carefully making sure not to slip. She entered the main door of the apartment and went and pushed the button to the lift. She shivered slightly as she waited thinking about what Christmas was going to be like this year. Ever since her parents had left before Christmas in 1992 she hadn't bothered with Christmas anymore. It pained her too much, to even think about the meaning of Christmas. The lights, the tree, the presents. It was meaningless to her now. Was just another day were people got drunk and exchanged gifts whilst listening to music and watching rubbish movies on the television. Christmas didn't mean anything to Brennan. It was just another word. It was just another day.

She entered the lift and pressed the button that corresponded to her floor. She carefully leant against the back of the lift and closed her eyes. She wasn't looking forward to going back to the Jeffersonian. She knew that Angela would once again try and force her to go to the Office Christmas Party, knowing full well what she thought about Christmas. She heard the familiar ding and opened her eyes and left the lift. She started making her way to her apartment when she was stopped by her neighbour calling out to her from the apartment behind.

"Merry Christmas Temperance."

Brennan turned around and noticed a teenager standing in the doorway. The teenager was roughly eighteen, Brennan wasn't really sure. She was wearing a black tanktop that was slightly sticking to her chest and the tight cropped jeans that she wore made the dips and curves of her body more pronounced. Her long brown hair rested gently on the top of her shoulders, the gold highlights glistened in the lights in the corridor.

"Merry Christmas Kelly."

"So you doing anything nice this year?" Kelly moved slightly and leant against the wall with her foot up and her arms folded, slowly chewing the gum that was in the side of her mouth. 'General adolescent behaviour' Brennan thought to herself.

"No. I'm just going to be relaxing and planning my book."

"Oh yeah. I read that. It was all about death and that woman, what's her name? Kathleen? Discovered who done it and how just from looking at the bones"

"It's Kathy." Brennan corrected the young teen.

"I was nearly right. So you're one of those aren't you? That can tell how someone had died from looking at the bones?"

"A Forensic Anthropologist." Brennan once again corrected Kelly. She was getting a little annoyed. She didn't have time for this.

"Yeah. That's just depressing. Hey, I like your top." Kelly tilted her head and sent Brennan a small smile. Brennan looked at her top, she was wearing a red low cut top. It wasn't anything special.

"So is that cute cop coming over for Christmas?" Kelly blew a small bubble with her chewing gum before again taking up that incessant chewing.

"No. He's seeing his son and he's an FBI Agent."

Kelly rolled her eyes. "Whatever. So does he have a big gun?" There was an obvious hint of sexual innuendo there but Brennan had either missed it or she was ignoring it.

"Look Kelly. I really do have to go."

"Kelly?" A deep voice could be heard from down the corridor. Both Kelly and Brennan looked at the approaching figure. A smile on Kelly's face told Brennan that it was obviously someone that Kelly knew. The figure grew closer and Brennan could see that he was very attractive. He was in his early 20's, had short brown hair that had been spiked up and was wearing jeans and a white shirt. He placed a soft kiss on Kelly's cheek

"Hey babe"

"Hey" Kelly smiled. "Temperance this is Matt. Matt this is Temperance"

"The Bones lady?" Brennan just gave a small nod. She wasn't going to waste more time explaining her job.

"I have stuff to do. Merry Christmas Kelly." she gave Kelly a small smile before turning to Matt "Pleased to meet you."

"You too Bones" Kelly laughed and Matt grinned. He thought he was being clever but Brennan knew better. Only Booth could get away with calling her Bones, although she didn't like it, he rarely called her anything else. She turned around and continued to make her way to her apartment.

"She's hot" she heard Matt say as she was opening her door and looked long enough to see Kelly hit him before she made her way into her apartment. She closed the door and could still hear the giggling of Kelly and Matt in the corridor. She took off her jacket and hung it up on the hook behind the door.

She made her way into the livingroom and lit the fire. In a couple of minutes the room would be warm and basking in a soft glow. In the meanwhile, she decided to go make herself a large cup of hot chocolate. She went into the kitchen and put the kettle on then grabbed a large mug and reached into the cupboard for the jar of chocolate. She placed three heaped spoons of the chocolate powder into the mug and replaced the jar. She waited patiently until the kettle done the familiar click meaning that it had boiled. She put the water into the mug and gently stirred the chocolate and the water together before picking up the mug and making her way back into the livingroom, which was now warm and was indeed, basking in a soft glow.

She sat down on the couch holding the mug tightly trying to warm her hands up. She was about to take a sip of the hot liquid. Brennan could almost taste it, the warmth, the chocolate and the steam that was drifting from the top only made her mouth water that little bit more. This, this right here in the little red cup, was what made her nights alone worth it. Her, hot chocolate and a good book was all she needed.

She thought about what Booth was upto now. Probably collecting Parker from his ex-girlfriend Rebecca's. Booth was a brilliant father, and although he didn't see Parker much, he always doted on the boy. She pursed her lips, blew across the liquid and tilted the cup to her mouth when she heard the familiar noise of someone knocking on her door. She sighed and placed the cup on her table and got up to answer the door. She hoped it wasn't Kelly, wanting to chat to her. She really wasn't in the mood. She had had a long day at work and the nights were the only time that she could have what was called "me time".

She answered the door, ready to shoo away whoever it was, when she got the biggest shock of her life. There standing in the corridor, was her brother Russ, holding what looked like a rucksack although it looked a bit tattered.

"Russ what are doing here?"

"Merry Christmas Tempe. Can I come in?" Brennan stepped aside so that her brother could enter. She was still in shock that he was here.

"Look Tempe, I knew that you would be spending Christmas alone, so I thought that I would come and keep you company." Brennan closed the door behind her and went and hugged her brother.

Russ dropped the rucksack and hugged his sister back before gently pulling away. "You look great Tempe"

"So do you. Come and sit down." Brennan and Russ went into the livingroom and she took her seat back on the couch whilst Russ took the chair opposite her.

"So how is Amy and the kids?"

"They're good thanks. Happy."

"That's good" Brennan took a sip of her hot chocolate and placed the mug back onto the table. She hadn't met them yet, but she knew how her brother felt about them. He had taken on her two kids and helped to raise them like his own. She was proud of her brother for doing that. That took a lot of pride and courage and he seemed to have both.

Russ went and retrieved the rucksack from the hallway and went and sat back. He opened the rucksack and handed Brennan two packages.

"What are these?" Brennan took the packages and looked at them. She noticed the gift tags and took a look at them.

"Tempe, have a good Christmas. Love mum and dad xx"

"Russ is this some kind of joke?" Brennan couldn't believe what had just happened.

"These are the presents that mum and dad bought you that Christmas they left. I thought that maybe you could open them"

"What makes you think that I want to open them?"

"Well we've found out what happened to mum and dad, and I wanted to apologise for leaving you. I shouldn't have. I don't want you to forget Christmas because of what happened"

"Russ…"

"No Tempe. I owe you"

"You kept them?"

"Of course I did. All these years. I wanted to come back and give them to you, but I couldn't. I didn't know what you would say if I just showed up. But now that I have found you again I don't want to lose you. And I don't want you losing faith in Christmas. So please open them"

Brennan looked at the presents again. Russ had a point. She had lost faith in Christmas. She wanted to open the presents but when she touched the ribbon she felt like that 15 year old again who had refused to open them. She looked up at Russ and took a deep breath and slowly untied the ribbon.

She gently unwrapped the paper, like she did when she was younger. She didn't like to waste the wrapping paper and kept them in a box that she had thrown away when she was being taken into care. Those wrapping papers had many memories. Memories that she had wanted to forget.

She pulled out the first present and laughed slightly. It was Bon Jovi's "Keep The Faith". She remembered asking her parents constantly for it stating how much it meant to her that she had that album and that without it, she could never be whole. She laughed as she thought about what she like and felt a bit stupid. She placed the album onto the couch and picked up the other present. It was smaller than the other one and felt light.

She carefully unwrapped it like she did with the other present. When she took the wrapping off, she noticed that there was a small red box that had gold lettering of 'Tiffany's' on the front. She opened up the box and inside resting on the black foam was a small silver dolphin necklace. She picked up the necklace from the box. It was beautiful. She knew that it was her mother's idea. Her mother loved dolphins. She remembered that she and her mother used to spend time drawing and painting pictures of dolphins.

A little tear rolled down her cheek as she ran her thumb over the dolphin and placed it gently back into the box. Russ got up and went and put an arm around his sister. Neither of them said anything, they didn't have to. Russ had given Brennan the best Christmas present she could have wanted. Faith.