Happy (Belated) Holidays to everyone!
So I heard a comment by a little kid a few years ago and then this idea hit me fairly recently and I couldn't get it out of my head and I haven't had the greatest couple of months and there's currently no end in sight so my muse with the chapter stories and one-shots I am attempting to write have kind of run away and don't look like they're coming back anytime soon… so when this idea didn't disappear I knew I just had to write it whether it was good or not… not sure what I think of it so you'll have to let me know…
Title: The Oops in the Mall
Summary: It's Christmas time again and Booth and Christine are at the mall to meet Santa… Thing's don't exactly go as Booth plans, but he should have expected that since her mother always catches him by surprise too.
WARNING!: IF YOU ARE VERY YOUNG DO NOT READ… you shouldn't have clicked on this one anyway since it's rated T…
Disclaimer: It wasn't part of my Christmas presents so still don't own.
Booth walked into the mall with Christine in his arms, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
"What are we doing here, Daddy?" Christine asked him.
"We're here to get a picture of you with Santa Claus," Booth told his now three year old daughter as he made it to the area that the photos with Santa were being done.
"I thought Mommy was coming, too?" she asked him.
"Mommy wanted to, but something happened at work and she can't leave right now, but she still wanted me to bring you today so that we can send the pictures to all our friends and family for the holiday. She said you could tell her all about it later. But, since Mommy isn't here maybe we could shop for a present for her after the picture too if we have time," Booth told his daughter as he stepped onto the line. It was fairly long so he figured they may be waiting a while.
"Ok, Daddy. What are we getting Mommy?"
"I don't know yet. Do you have any ideas?" he asked her. He watched as her forehead crinkled in concentration. Her eyes then lit up as and he could tell she thought of something and was proud.
"Something pretty that she'll like!" Booth chuckled lightly at the answer his daughter gave him.
"Ok. We'll definitely find Mommy something pretty that she'll like," he told her as the line moved forward slightly. Christine put her head on his shoulder as he continued to stand on the line with all of the other parents and children. Both Christine and Booth just stayed silent listening to the chatter around them. Booth could tell she was thinking about something and let her be. The line had moved up another few feet when Christine broke the silence.
"Daddy?" she asked him.
"Yeah?"
"I don't want to get my picture taken," she told him, lifting her head from his shoulder and staring at him with her bright blue eyes. Booth's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he turned his head to look at her.
"Why?" he asked her, curious about why she didn't want to get her picture taken. "We get a picture of you with Santa every year."
"But Mommy says that isn't even Santa," she said. The mother with the little boy in front of them turned around to glare at Booth when her child then asked her what the little girl had meant by that not being Santa and if Santa was real. Booth winced when he saw the glare and was just happy when she got off the line and didn't smack him for Christine's statement.
"Yes, but what else did we say?"
"That the Santa at the mall was hired because Santa was really busy and the fake Santa wanted to help Santa bring Christmas cheer to the good girls and boys." He blinked in surprise at her near perfect quote of what he told her. He knew though that he shouldn't be surprised since she is Brennan's daughter, too.
"What else did I say?" he asked her and watched as she furrowed her eyebrows in concentration again.
"Not to say that the mall Santa was fake while we were at the mall because people might get upset and mad because they want to believe that he is the real Santa." The mother that was now in front of them turned to glare at him as well before huffing and walking away. Christine was doing a better job of getting the line to clear faster than the actual photographers, Booth thought. He watched Christine's eyes widen and could see fear in her bright blue eyes. "Does that make me a bad girl, Daddy, since I didn't listen to you and said while we were in line at the mall that the mall Santa was fake?" Booth watched as the parent now in front of them took their child and got off the line as well. She cleared out three parties in about five minutes. Someday he was sure he would be proud of that accomplishment… maybe, but for now his heart broke for her at the fear he saw in her eyes as she continued speaking. "I don't want to be a bad girl, Daddy," she told him, her eyes welling with tears. "I don't want to be put on Santa's naughty list. Is he going to put me on his naughty list for saying what you told me not to say?" Booth's heart broke even more at her tearful question and he kissed her on the forehead.
"Of course not, Christine. You just forgot. There is no way you are a bad girl. People forget things all the time. That doesn't make them a bad person because they didn't mean to do it. You won't be put on Santa's naughty list for forgetting something. In fact, Daddy forgot something too recently."
"What did you forget, Daddy?"
"Well, I was the one who put away the laundry this week and I forgot where I put my socks because I didn't put them in the draw I normally do and do you know what I found this morning?"
"What, Daddy?"
"That I only had two socks left in my draw and they didn't even match!" he told her like it was an absolutely horrible thought.
"Really?" she asked, giggling at the idea of her daddy wearing different socks.
"Yep," he told her bending over to let her stand on the floor for a minute. He then pulled up his pants legs to reveal an orange striped sock and a green sock with polka dots, making Christine giggle even more. He then dropped his pants legs and picked her up again as the line moved forward. "So do you think Daddy was put on the naughty list for forgetting something?"
"You said adults can't be put on the naughty list because Santa only brings presents to little girls and boys and not grown-ups, so you can't be on his naughty list because you couldn't be on his nice list either because you're a grown-up and grown-ups don't get put on Santa's lists." Booth suddenly wished that she wasn't that much of a genius anymore because she was throwing everything that he had said back in his face. He was now pretty sure by the age of six her IQ would be larger than his.
"Ok, well if I was a little boy then, and forgot that, do you think I'd be put on Santa's naughty list?"
"If you were a little boy your Mommy or Daddy would put away your laundry for you like you and Mommy do for me and they would take out your clothes for you, too, so you couldn't forget to do that." He sighed at her logic.
"Let's pretend my Mommy and Daddy weren't as nice as me and Mommy then and made me put away and take out my laundry. Do you think Santa would put me on the naughty list for forgetting?"
"That's just silly," she told him simply.
"Exactly! So, if being put on the naughty list for forgetting something is silly, why would he put you on the naughty list for forgetting something?" He watched her furrow her eyebrows again, thinking.
"I don't know." He kissed her forehead again and smiled.
"Exactly!" He saw that they were basically at the front of the line now and there was only one person in front of them and they were already in the process of getting their picture done. "So, what do you say to getting your picture taken with mall Santa for the pictures for all our friends and family and just pretending for a minute because in a way he is like the real Santa because he just wants to bring Christmas joy to little boys and girls like the real Santa?"
"Ok, Daddy," she told him as the photographer came over to them and led them over to the jolly old fat man.
Booth put Christine on Santa's lap and he spoke to her as Booth moved slightly to the side, but still very close.
"So what's your name?"
"Christine."
"And what would you like for Christmas this year?" he asked her.
"I already sent Santa my Christmas list. Is your beard real because it looks fake and you should really have a real beard to pretend to be Santa. I don't think Santa would be happy to know that people are using fake beards when pretending to be him." Santa looked stunned and the photographer quickly took the picture of Christine and him to get the line moving again. Booth just looked mortified as he took the photo from the photographer and Christine from Santa's lap. He mumbled an apology to both as he quickly scurried away from the area. His cell phone then rang.
"Booth." It was Brennan on the other end of the line. "No, we just finished with the pictures," he told her when she asked if they were still on line. "Ok. We'll come over and pick you up now then," he told her when she said she could leave now. "We might also need to forgo the photo next year or find another mall because I don't think we'll be allowed within 40 feet of the display next year." She asked why. "She's definitely your daughter and practically repeated our conversation we had to have with her about Santa versus mall Santa after she heard our conversation. We need to watch what we say when she may still be awake." They had had that conversation just after they had put her to bed one night and she had asked about it the following morning. "We'll see you soon," he then told her. She responded and he hung up.
He looked over to Christine again. "Let's go pick up Mommy and then we can head home."
"I thought we were getting Mommy a present after?"
"We were going to if we had time, but Mommy's ready to be picked up and I think security wants us away from Santa and the mall during the holiday season," Booth told her when he noticed the security officer watching them from a distance. He figured one of the unhappy mothers had reported them.
"I don't know what that means," she told him and he couldn't help but to smile at how much she sounded like her mom.
"And you don't need to. We just need to find another good place another day to find Mommy a gift," he told her as he left the mall.
"Ok, Daddy."
This was going to be interesting trying to get presents this year at the mall. Maybe next year they would forgo the photo. It would be easier… or maybe he could pay Charlie to dress up as Santa at the Hoover and he wouldn't need to worry about being permanently banned from the mall… He'd have to discuss it with Brennan…
So what did you think… good, bad… make my day and leave a review please! And Happy (Belated) Holidays to all…
Thanks to everyone who does take the time to review!