This is something that I thought of when I read a story a long time back, though I can't remember the title or author. Zack had Jack come with him to his family home for Christmas. My thought was expand that and have the whole Squint Squad come. This takes place in the second season, though Cam does not come on the trip, and Booth never got back together with Cam in this AU. Also as this takes place before Sully come into the picture on the series, there is no Sully in this universe. B/B all the way in my little world. Gregg.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Booth looked at his partner and wondered what the Hell had happened in the last four hours. He had picked her up that morning. They'd had breakfast at the Diner. He'd dropped her off at work. Then he'd gone over to the Hoover to get the mountain of paperwork he had stacked up down to a small mole hill. Somewhere, somehow, between then and now something had happened. He shook his head and asked one question.
"Could you repeat that?" he asked. He didn't take his eyes off her, and made sure not to pay attention to anything but her voice.
"Zack has invited all of us to his family home for Christmas, and I think we should all accept," Bones replied.
Booth was trying to not come apart at the seams. The world had to be coming to an end. Bones. His beautiful, brilliant, and at times exasperating partner, the one who did not believe in Christmas, or anything associated with the Man Upstairs, was asking him to come to a Christmas celebration at the family home of the Squint who gave him the creeps. Yep. They were doomed.
"Christmas?"
Bones nodded.
"At Zack's in Wisconsin?"
Bones nodded again.
"You don't believe in Christmas, Bones."
"That's true."
"Yet, you want to spend the holidays with the rest of us all together? With Zack?"
"I believe I already said that, or at the least implied by stating the invitation that I was desirous of attending," Bones told him.
"But why me?" Booth demanded. Granted Rebecca was taking Parker on a special trip that he couldn't argue about seeing as it was a one time opportunity, despite how much he hated not seeing his son on Christmas, but Christmas with the Squint Squad?
"Because this is important to Zack, and I want to also spend some time with you during the holiday, without the threat of Valley Fever," she explained.
The second half of that sentence stuck with him. She wanted to spend time with him. Now that opened up some real possibilities. For the last few months since they had discovered that her Mother's remains had been in Limbo the two of them had been getting closer personally. In fact, except for her trip, during which Cam had been hired to run the Medico-Legal Lab, they had been spending most of their off work time together. That made him feel a bit better since it also meant she hadn't been going on any questionable dates that ended in her taking some schmuck to bed to take care of her urges, or biological imperatives as she so frustratingly put it. He hadn't been dating, either, and had been thinking more and more about the possibility of getting involved with her himself. She had quickly become his best friend, she was HOT, she was brilliant, and she had an endearing quality that he couldn't quantify, but it was there nonetheless. One other major factor in her favor was that Parker adored her, despite how seldom his son got to see her. And let's face it. He himself was feeling those same kind of "urges" and the possibility of dealing with urges with her was something that was a major feature in his thoughts. Why else would he be spending nearly every afternoon in confession for impure thoughts? His priest was constantly calling him a pervert.
"Do we get to have some alone time away from the rest of the Squints?" he asked, trying to hint that he was thinking in terms of "them" time mixed in with the possibility of some "quality" time.
Bones was not nearly as clueless as she made out to be. She knew exactly what Booth was hinting at, and she was in full agreement. She had been feeling a desire to get closer to Booth, and the growing, and deepening, of the bond between them had been having a very positive impact on her.
"I believe that can be arranged," she assured him with a smile.
Booth blinked. Did she actually wink at him? He replayed that in his mind and sure enough she had winked at him when she said it could be arranged! Hot damn!
"When do we leave?" he asked, now a bit excited about the trip.
"Since you'll be driving us in the SUV we should probably leave a few days before the holiday," she told him.
"WHAT?" he practically shouted. He lowered his voice when the other Diner patrons looked over at them. "I thought we'd fly?"
"Zack's afraid of flying, so we will be driving," Bones informed him. "As I knew you would go with us, I volunteered your driving services."
"Real big of you, Bones," Booth muttered. "But I can't just take the SUV on vacation. It's an issue vehicle!"
"Aren't you the one who says there's no such thing as being off duty for an FBI Agent?" she questioned.
Booth gaped. Of all the times to be exceedingly literal, she picks now. The very idea of being in such a tight confined area with the whole Squint Squad was not his idea of a good time, especially as it was a long ass drive to where they would be going. He made a mental note to bring a stun gun so he could inflict some damage if they got too "Squinty" for his taste. Maybe shoot Hodgins and Zack in the cajones for a bit of entertainment? That sounded good.
"Uh, Bones, when did this come up?" he asked. It was only a few days before the intended leave time, so something was fishy.
"Two months ago," Bones replied, a bit of a smug smile on her face.
"So you're asking me now because if I said no at this late date I'd look like a complete Jackass?" he surmised.
"Exactly," Bones smiled wider. "Did it work?"
"It looks like we're going to Wisconsin," he said with a shudder of horror.
"That's what I told everyone you would say when Zack asked us," Bones told him as she stood up. "I need to get back to the lab."
"We will be having a conversation about this new keeping secrets side of you, Bones," Booth said as they walked out of the Diner, his hand on the small of her back as always. "It's very unbecoming and unpartnerly."
"But effective," Bones rebutted with a laugh.
"So. Did he say yes?" Angela demanded as Bones walked into her office to drop off the information for a new forensic drawing that was needed.
"Of course," Bones said calmly. "I don't think he was excited about all of us spending another Christmas together, but when I informed him that I was interested in spending time with him completely separate from work, he was more agreeable."
"In other words, you lied," Angela nodded. "Good work, Sweetie!"
Bones looked at Angela a bit confused. "I didn't lie, Angela," she responded. "I really do want to spend time with Booth away from work. This vacation provides the perfect opportunity."
Angela just smiled. Her best friend had just lied no matter what she said, since she could just as easily spend some quality alone time with the man here in DC, and it was a wonderful development. She could hardly wait to see what Special Agent Studly had to say when they were all together in the SUV.
A/N: Here is the opening sequence. This one is this years Christmas story from me, and I will be posting chapters until it is finished in December. Expect one chapter every two weeks or so. I hope you enjoy it. Gregg.