"Bones! Will you just choose something, throw it in a bag and let's get going!" Booth yelled up the stairs, as he paced around downstairs. His frustration at her inability to pack for a skiing holiday was causing him to become increasingly agitated. He rubbed at his temples, chanting to himself ten minutes and we'll be on our way. Just ten minutes more. Ten minutes.
Max came out of the kitchen holding Christine, grinning like he had won the lottery. And for him, being asked to look after Christine for three days by himself was exactly like that. He loved his granddaughter like nobody else. And the fact that Tempe trusted him enough to leave him in charge of her daughter's wellbeing. Even more than that, Booth trusted him. That meant everything to him.
"You do realise that it would be quicker if you went up there and helped her, right?" Max said. Booth stopped pacing and looked at Max from under his hand. "She told me she had it. She said, ten minutes. I asked her to pack yesterday, but no. She was too busy. Ten minutes in the morning she said." Booth's voice was amping up.
"Just go. Take over. You know that what we find simple, she just can't seem to get a handle on. The woman is a genius in her field, but packing for a three day weekend, completely stumps her. Just go do it for her Booth. It'll be worth the forty minutes of her ignoring you in the car. Trust me." Max said, nodding to him to get upstairs.
Booth hesitated. He knew Max was right of course. Max knew his daughter better than anyone. Even better than he did, and that was saying something. "Fine. You're right. I'll be back down in a minute" he said taking the stairs two at a time.
He stopped, his hands wrapped around the door jams on either side of the doorway. Brennan turned and stared at him. She was holding a sweater in one hand and a baseball hat in the other. Booth's eyes darted around the room. There were clothes on every surface. "What happened? Did the closet burp and all your clothes come flying out?" he said trying not to laugh at her distressed expression.
"I told you I would be ten minutes Booth!" she exclaimed.
"I know. And that was" he looked at his watch "Twenty minutes ago". He stepped into the room and took the clothes from her hands. "You. Sit." He said pointing at the rocking chair in the corner of the room. He pulled out the odd assortment of clothing she had put into her overnight bag. He turned and stared at her holding up a pair of denim shorts and a summery dress "you're kidding, right? It's cold. And wet. And there's snow. And it's cold" he said.
Brennan folded her arms. "Well. I've never actually been skiing before. And I've seen those documentaries with the snow bunny girls. They never have much clothing on. So I naturally assumed it must be warm when the sun is out." She defended her clothing choices. Booth sniggered, he knew what documentary she was talking about. She had watched one of those college movies with the kids working at a lodge during their winter break.
"That's not the type of place we're going Bones. It's more secluded and it's definitely not going to be warm. So." He picked up two pair of thick leggings and a pair of jeans off the bed, deftly folded and deposited them into the bag. Next he threw in two thick sweaters, a couple of long sleeved t-shirts and a cozy flannel shirt. He topped the bag with a few pairs of thick socks and some clean underwear and zipped it closed. He turned and smiled at her, hands held out "Ta-Da! All done." He said.
"You didn't pack pyjamas" she said, pointing at the bag. Booth smirked "I know".
He picked up the bag and pointed at the bed "Just throw on something warm and bring your jacket. The ski gear is already in the car." He said walking out the door. Brennan stood staring at the mess on the bed and shook her head. I only needed ten more minutes she thought as she pulled on a hoodie and picked up her thick blue jacket and walked out of the room.
Downstairs Booth was in the kitchen filling a hamper with all the food he had previously gone and purchased for their weekend. Smoky sausages, creamy soft cheeses, pickles, ham, some wonderful crusty freshly baked bread, steaks, salad ingredients and a number of snacks. He had thought of everything. He picked up the hamper and the esky which held a good assortment of alcohol including a good bottle of scotch he had been hanging on to for the right occasion. He walked out of the kitchen and grinned at Max and Brennan, "Got the good stuff right here!" he announced lifting the hamper and esky up as far as he could and walked out the front door and placed them on the back seat.
It had taken them forever to agree on a holiday destination. Brennan had been pushing for some obscure island where there were skeletons and a historical dig. He wanted sun, sand and seclusion. Then out of the blue one of the agents he worked with mentioned he had a chalet in the mountains that he let friends use. Booth asked if it was going to be free any time soon, and as it happened, it was. So he threw his island vacation idea out the window and decided to surprise her with a mini vacay of fire and ice. He joked that he was going to bring the fire. Of course, Brennan hadn't got the joke and he'd had to explain it to her which immediately made it sound lame.
He ran back to the house and grabbed Brennan by the arm, pulling her towards the car "Time to go. Gotta get on the road to beat the traffic. Thanks Max. You have our number. But only for emergencies, right?" he winked at Max tugging on Brennan's arm to make her move. She tried to pull her arm out of his grasp "Bye Dad. Bye Bye Christine, baby. Mommy loves you. I'll be home soon. You be good for Grandpa Max. Love you baby." She said smothering Christine's chubby cheeks with kisses.
"Bones. Come on. She'll be fine. She's with Max, right?" Booth said, coming back to quickly kiss his daughter on the cheek, then placing both hands on Brennan's back, began propelling her towards the door. "Ok Max. Later! See you Tuesday afternoon" he said as he put his hand on Brennan's head and all but pushed her into the passenger seat. He turned and grinned and waved at Christine as he ran around the car and got into the driver's seat.
Max stood and watched them drive off. He stood holding Christine, watching until they turned the corner then walked back up the path to the front door where he saw their two bags sitting by the door. "huh. Oh well he did say not to call unless it's an emergency. And this isn't our emergency is it baby?" he said to Christine as he used his foot to push the bags back inside the front door. "Besides, how bad would it be? The two of them being stuck in a chalet, in front of an open fire, with a bottle of wine, with no clothes? But don't you tell them I said that!" he said to Christine, as she laughed and grabbed at his nose.
"I can't believe you forgot our clothes Booth!" Brennan wailed as she checked the trunk of the car for the third time. "Well, if I hadn't had to pack everything, including your clothes, I might not have forgotten. I'm sorry. OK? I am sorry." He said his hands on his hips. Brennan pushed past him and walked into the chalet, barely taking in her surrounds. Booth followed her in closing the door behind him.
"Beautiful, huh?" he said looking around. The polished timber floors, the timber wall panelling, the heavy drapes in the windows. The thick white fur rugs in front of the giant fireplace caught his attention momentarily and a picture of her lying naked in front of a roaring fire flashed through his mind. He smiled and turned to see her standing in the kitchen holding a bottle of red wine. "We're going to need a lot more of this" she said.
"Not a problem. Don told me the bar is fully stocked if we need anything extra." He replied.
"I hope you brought a corkscrew?" she said, not hiding the sarcasm in her voice. He nodded, "Yes, as a matter of fact I did, but there is also probably one in the drawer in the kitchen." Brennan flicked her hair "Thank goodness you remembered that" she snapped back. Booth took a breath and rubbed at the back of his neck.
"Come on Bones. It's a few clothes. It's not like we need them, right? I mean, we're warm, we have ski clothing. We don't have to go outside if it's too cold. We can just, you know, hang out in here with the fire going all day long." He hesitated and stepped closer to her, bending to try to look into her eyes. She was looking down at the bottle in her hands, her hair hanging over her face like a curtain. "There's a wicked hot tub upstairs" he ventured, reaching out and pulling her hair away from her face. "We don't need clothes for that" he added, smiling seductively at her.
Brennan took a deep breath and exhaled slowly holding the bottle out to him. "Open this." She said shortly. Booth took the bottle, his lips clamped together tightly. This was not going to be easy he thought, when she suddenly smiled and walked past him towards the stairs. "Bring two glasses" she said and pulled off her sweater and dropped it at the bottom of the staircase without looking back.
Booth stood watching her go, then fist pumped the air with his free hand "Alright!" he said. He turned, rummaged through the drawers, found the corkscrew and opened the wine. He found two large wine glasses and followed her up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him.