Zack was gone, to begin with.
When he had been at the Jeffersonian, Zack Addey had been the student, and later colleague of one Dr. Temperance Brennan.
And while she was a pleasant woman for much of the year, there was one time where, be you even friend, you were treated as her greatest foe. This time was Christmas, a point where the world all seemed brighter and full of joy. But for Temperance Brennan, she saw none of this.
It was December 24th, Christmas Eve.
Dr. Brennan, along with her colleagues, had been forced to come in on this day, in order to finish up their last case before the holiday season. They were all trying to make the best of it, but Temperance seemed to gather all their frustration on herself, and celebrate it fully, darkening the halls of the already empty Jeffersonian.
"Merry Christmas, Bones!" Booth called out, sliding into her office. Temperance glared at him, taking in his appearance. He wore his normal suit, but this time was sporting a green and red tie with little reindeer upon it, and she could just spy his Frosty socks peeking out from under his pant cuffs. Her eyes slowly made their way to the top of his head, where a red Santa hat was perched.
"That hat is not very functional." She stated, going back to her reports.
Booth frowned, his voice taking on a higher pitch. "Why, Merry Christmas to you, Booth!" He returned to normal pitch. "Thank you Bones." High once more. "Oh, you are quite welcome!"
"What are you doing?" Temperance asked, tone making it clear she was in no mood to chitchat.
Booth decided to ignore the question. "Come on, Bones…case is solved, we got the bad guy, and Marley is all set to be taken on the 26th. Lets go."
The 'Marley' Booth was referring to was their latest victim: Two weeks ago, hikers had discovered a skeleton wrapped his chains at the bottom of a river. Once it had been discovered that the man had been dead for 7 years, Booth had nicknamed the remains Marley, much to Temperance's disgust.
"His name is not Marley. His name is Thomas York." Temperance stated.
"Yeah yeah yeah…businessman, never around, so his son killed him so his mother could move on and marry the man she truly loved." Booth said, giving a wave of his hand. "Now, come on, let's get going. Parker wants us to take a picture before we leave."
"What?"
"Picture? You know, a captured image on film?" Booth said.
"I know what a picture is, Booth." Temperance said with a huff. "What I wanted to know is why Parker wanted to take one?"
"Come on, Bones…Parker just wants to have a Christmas picture with him and the squints." He wiggled the ball on the end of his cap. "Me and him even got everyone hats t wear…it will be fun!"
"First of all, it is Parker and I, not me and him." Temperance stated. "Second, I don't have the time."
"What do you mean, don't have the time?" Booth asked, annoyed. "The case is solved, Bones, what is there left to do."
Temperance frowned. "I have a lot of paperwork to finish before they can transfer the body."
"Cam already did that." Booth countered.
"Well, she did not do it to my liking, so I am redoing it all. And after seeing how she filled these forms out, I am now concerned that I must go through all the forms for our last few cases to ensure that she handled them properly. I do not wish for a murderer to be let off on a technicality."
Booth narrowed his eyes. "You are trying to get out of Christmas again, aren't you?"
Temperance laughed. "I…I don't know what you are talking about."
"You do this every year…try and find some way to avoid Christmas, to pretend it isn't happening."
"I have no clue where you came up with that silly idea." She sighed when it was clear that Booth wasn't going to let up. "Give me a few minutes, and I will try and find time for one picture."
"Well, that's a start!" Booth said, heading out her door. "Oh, Hey Angela."
"Booth." Angela said, heading into her friend's office. Temperance looked up at her, her normal happiness at seeing Angela tempered by her foul mood. She also noticed that Angela was wearing a Santa hat shaped like a Christmas tree, obviously one of the hats Booth and Parker had picked out. "Well, looks like I found the Grinch."
"I don't know who that is, but I am assuming it is Christmas related."
"It is, sweetie." Angela said, moving to stand next to Temperance. "Listen, I know you don't like doing the normal "Christmas thing", so I came up with a great plan."
"I already have work to do…" Temperance began.
"Just hear me out, ok?" Angela stated. "My dad is on tour this year, and I really don't have anyone to spend Christmas with, so I got together with some other artists I know, and we are going to be volunteering at a homeless shelter. We will serve food, play music, I'm going to do portraits…" She paused when she saw Temperance's sour look. "You hate it."
"No…no no no." Temperance said. "It's…I already donate heavily to organizations to benefit the poor and needy, there is no need for me to give my time as well."
"Why not? They can always use more help!" Angela exclaimed.
"I'm sure they could, Angela, and it is great for you, since you lack the funds to do anything truly meaningful. But wouldn't it be better if I took the time I would be using to help one unfortunate person to write another book, and donate a portion of my money to a shelter? That would go to help 20 people in need. Its simple math, really."
Angela shook her head. "But it's a chance to get to know your fellow man, to commune with them…"
"I commune with my fellow man plenty, thank you." Temperance said. She reached into her purse when it was clear that Angela was not happy with her answer. "Listen, here is 50 dollars…buy one of them a scarf or something, ok? I promise to give more when I get a chance."
Angela took the money, glaring at her friend. "You know, maybe if you spent some more time around people, you would realize why so many people don't like you." She turned on her heel, storming off.
"Uh…did I come at a bad time?" Temperance's father, Max, asked, entering the room. Temperance took one look at the Santa hat he wore (shaped to look like Frosty the Snowman) and threw her hands up in disgust.
"No, not at all, other than I am trying to work and people keep trying to drag me into their outdated religious rituals." She paused. "Did you know Christ wasn't even bore on Christmas…he was most like born in the spring, and we only celebrate on the 25 because that was a holy day on the pagan calendar?"
"Uh, no, I did not know that. Did you know that 'A Christmas Carol' is the most reenacted piece of fiction ever?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Max shrugged. "I thought we were sharing Christmas facts. I learned that one when I did that Christmas Carol performance a few years back while in prison…the Neo Nazi that was playing Mrs. Cratchet told me."
"Dad… am very busy at the moment…"
Max shifted uneasily. "Listen Tempie…Russ said I shouldn't ask you this because you'd only say no…"
"Which is foolish to say, not knowing what my reaction would be…"
"But…Russ and Amy are having a family dinner tomorrow…and we would all like you to come."
Temperance tilted her head. "There is something to be said for knowing the history of a person to gauge their answers."
"Come on, sweetheart…one meal…"
"Dad, we can have dinner any time you want…but I am going to be real busy tomorrow…"
"Doing what?" Max asked, grabbing a handful of paper and waving them in her face. "Spending time with forms and dead people, when people who love you want to be around you, to spend time with you?"
"What I do is important, so do not think to belittle it."
"I am not belittling anything, Tempie, but for God's sake, it's Christmas! You are suppose to be with family on Christmas…not alone!"
Temperance glared at him. "You didn't think that when I was 15."
Max looked as if he had been shot. "Tempie…your mother and I…"
"I don't want to hear it." Temperance said, closing all discussion. "I take back what I said…I really don't want to have dinner with you, even if it weren't on Christmas." She turned her back to him, the conversation over. After several moments, she heard someone take a step towards her.
"I said get out of here!" She shouted, whipping around…
…to find a startled and scared Parker standing there, wearing a reindeer hat and holding a small bag.
Parker took a step back before running away, bag left in his wake. Temperance moved to go after him, only to find herself now backing up as an enraged Booth stormed into her office. Temperance hit her bookshelf, eyes wide as Booth slammed his fists on either side of her, pinning her there. Never had she been this scared, especially around her partner.
"I know you are having a rough time." Booth said through grit teeth. "And I know why you feel the way you do about Christmas. But for the rest of us, this is one of the best times of year." He leaned in closer, and Temperance was reminded of another Christmas they had been this close, with mistletoe and a toe curling kiss. Only this time, there would be no kisses, no startling warmth pooling in her belly. "You know…there are a lot of things you do that I do not understand, that I think are stupid. But damn it, Temperance, I make an effort not to voice them. And even then, I don't go out of my way to make everyone miserable." He shoved himself away in disgust. "But hey, you want to be a masochist, go right on ahead! But I am through trying to cheer you up, through letting you belittle things that bring me joy." He narrowed his eyes, pointing a finger at her. "And I swear to God, Temperance, you ever talk to my son like that again…." He didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he reached into the bag Parker had dropped and threw Temperance it's contains: A black Santa hat with the words "Bah Humbug" written upon the brim. "We got that as a joke…but it suits the mood, doesn't it?" He spun on his heels, marching off. "Merry (censored) Christmas, Bones!"
Temperance waited a few moments before making her way to her door. Out on the platform, she could hear people talking, and could tell Booth was doing his best to hide his anger and get Parker feeling better. Wisps of Cam asking him questions while Hodgins cracked jokes filled the air around her.
But instead of swallowing her pride and going out there, Temperance Brennan shut the door to her office and went back to work. Let others waste time on the meaningless holiday called Christmas.
There were more important things to do.