The holidays were hard to avoid, especially around December. They were even harder to avoid when everyone you worked with was filled to the brim with holiday cheer. Each year during the first week of December something took over everyone at the Jeffersonian. Attitudes shifted to from jaded to jolly and festive holiday decorations started showing up in all the right places. Temperance Brennan had fallen victim to some strategically placed mistletoe only a few years prior, and now she was cautious whenever she entered a room with her partner Seeley Booth. On a couple of occasions she had caught him checking the ceilings for the hanging branch. The kiss in her office wasn't' something they liked to acknowledge or remember, well at least not around one another.
After years of trying to avoid the holiday spirit Brennan had finally surrendered. She couldn't bring herself to buy a live tree worried the needles would leave too much of a mess behind. One Friday night after staying late at the lab she ventured into a local store and purchased a fake tree. She felt as if she was faking Christmas a bit with an artificial tree, but after weighing the pros and cons she was happy with her decision. She smiled as she looked at the picture on the box while she stood on line at the cash register. The decorated tree advertised on the box reminded her of the tree Booth and Parker had brought to her and her family one Christmas.
"That smile says it all." The elderly woman at the register wore a festive vest, complete with blinking lights and little bells.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." Brennan replied unaware of what the woman was talking about.
"You're ready to spend Christmas with someone real special." The cashier handed an open mouthed Brennan her change.
"Next in line!" The woman yelled, preventing Brennan from defending her purchase.
While she had been shopping a light dusting of snow had covered the ground. It wasn't enough to cause any kind of dangerous conditions, but just enough to make things look pretty. She tossed the large box into the back seat of her car and headed home. She would spend her Friday night listening to a CD of her favorite Christmas songs and decorating her apartment. Not exactly what other women her age would consider an exciting start to the weekend, but it was good enough for her.
Two hours later she found herself sitting on the floor surrounded by scattered limbs of her artificial tree. She had managed to get everything else set up. Christmas candles were lit and she had even placed a few festive decorations above the fireplace. Building a tree had proven to be more difficult than reassembling a shattered human skull. When she looked at the clock, it was only 9:30 p.m. Booth would most likely still be awake. She searched underneath the pieces to her tree until she found her phone.
"Hey there Bones." His voice was cheerful when he finally answered. She was relieved she hadn't woken him.
"Have you ever assembled an artificial tree?" Her lack of a greeting was nothing new. She had always been a straight to the point type of girl. He smiled as he imagined her situation.
"Do you need some help, Bones? I can be there in twenty minutes." He jumped at the chance the spend time with her outside of work. Outside of work and on a Friday night, he would grab a bottle of wine from the pantry before he left.
"Considering the snow fall I'm sure you'll encounter some cautious drivers, so I'm sure it will be more like twenty five minutes." She watched as more snow fell from the sky while they spoke.
"Whatever you say Bones. I'm on my way." He hung up his phone and grabbed a pair of jeans. The thermal he wore underneath his black t-shirt would work to his advantage in the cold weather.
When he arrived at her apartment the snow had started to stick to the ground. The weather didn't bother him around this time of year. He barely needed to knock before she greeted him. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. Dressed in a pair of jeans, a white tank top and a long black cardigan sweater, she still managed to look casual. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail, a few stray pieces were tucked behind her ears. He could sense that the tree was getting the best of her.
"Excellent idea." Her eyes fixed on the bottle of red wine in his hand.
"Looks like you could use a glass." He replied as he entered the apartment. She quickly grabbed two glasses from a cabinet.
"So what seems to be the problem? Big, bad tree giving you a tough time?" She didn't even have to look at him to know he was smiling. She could always hear his smiles in his voice.
"I told myself I would be jolly and happy this year. I went out and purchased all of the appropriate decorations and even managed to deck the halls, but this tree is making me rethink my intentions." It wasn't easy to discourage Brennan but somehow this average sized artificial tree had managed to do just that.
"How about you let me have a look at it. We'll figure it out." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her over to the mess on the floor.
"Nope, that's where you're wrong Bones. The Grinch is without a doubt the better Christmas movie." Booth continued his argument as he put the top of the tree in its place.
"But Booth, Rudolph is undeniably the most recognized symbol of the Christmas holiday." Bones shot back, not even noticing that he had finished putting the tree together.
"Ah ha! There we go Bones, now that is what I call a Christmas tree." He raised his hands in the air as a sign of victory.
"Technically it is just an artificial tree until I adorn it with the proper decorations." Booth hands fell to his sides in defeat as she spoke.
"But you did do a nice job putting it together. Thank you, Booth." She placed her hand over his arm, running her thumb over the rough pattern of his thermal.
"Anything to help you Bones, you know that." Their eyes met for a moment, holding a somewhat uncomfortable gaze.
"I should probably get going before the storm gets any worse." Booth finally broke the silence as he headed towards the window.
"Woah. I would hate to see it get any worse than this." He added as he opened the curtain enough for her to see. In the two hours that he had been there a substantial amount of snow had fallen.
"Booth there is at least 4 inches of snow on the ground. It would be incredibly reckless for you to drive in these conditions. Now I know you're going to remind me that you have 4 wheel drive and that your SUV is made for this type of weather, but look at all of those other weather appropriate cars sliding all over the place." She pointed to at least 3 cars that were sliding off the road as she spoke.
"Well then what are you suggesting, Bones?" He raised his eyebrows playfully as he spoke.
He emptied the last of the red wine from the bottle into their glasses. The night had turned into an impromptu sleepover, something he was rather excited about. Most of their time spent together was consumed with death and crime, but tonight he had the pleasure of being completely consumed with everything that was Temperance Brennan. He noticed all of the little things, like how carefully she had spaced out the decorations hung around her fireplace and how perfectly she had patterned the green and red candles on her bookcase. Now he was able to truly appreciate all of these little details, where as at work he was forced to overlook them.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is the last of the wine." Booth handed her a glass.
"That's okay I have a few bottles here somewhere if we want more." As she spoke Booth couldn't help but notice the slightest tint of purple on her lips. He knew she didn't get the chance to unwind all that often and was just happy he was around to witness her doing so.
"What did Parker ask for this year?" Brennan asked as Booth handed her another tree ornament from the box.
"A cell phone, can you believe that? I didn't get my own cell phone until a couple years ago. He's 8 years old for Christ's sake." He barely lifted his gaze from the box of decorations as he spoke.
"Well anthropologically speaking Parker is simply evolving. Times are very different from when we were children, especially for you since you are 5 years older than I am." She was usually painfully honest, but the wine seemed to increase it just a bit.
"You know you have quite the collection of ornaments in here Bones." He stood up with a few assorted ornaments and began hanging them on the tree. Bones watched him carefully, making sure she approved of his placement. When he lifted his hand to hang the final one he immediately froze. He could sense that she had also seen the mistletoe that he had mistakenly grabbed from the box.
"Geez, how the heck did that get in there?" Booth's voice had an adorable nervous tone to it as he spoke. Almost without realizing it he threw the mistletoe on to the couch. He brushed his hands off on his shirt as if the mistletoe had left some kind of residue on his fingers.
"It's mistletoe Booth, not a spider." She smiled as she walked over to the couch and picked up the tiny branch. She gripped the decoration between her thumb and pointer finger and dangled it in front of his face.
"See, it's really not that scary, is it?" She asked. Booth swallowed hard, trying to think of the proper response.
"You know, it's just that the last time we came face to face with mistletoe, well..." He was unable to complete his thought before Brennan's lips were painfully close to his.
"We kissed?" He could feel her hot breath against his lips, sweet with the smell of red wine. He closed his eyes and tried to regain his composure, dizzy from a mixture of the wine and her presence.
"Yeah, I remember Bones." His voice was nearly a whisper. As he spoke his bottom lip brushed against her top. The fact that she did not back away after the contact only encouraged him. Quicker than he could comprehend, his lips were covering hers and her hands were in his hair. There wasn't a single thought in either of their minds. The room was silent until they nearly knocked over the Christmas tree.
"We can't destroy my masterpiece." His smile was only centimeters from hers. She could have cared less about the tree. Her smile was because she finally realized what the cashier at the store had been talking about. She was meant to spend this time with Booth.
Please R/R. Thanks.