A/N: I am fairly certain I'll fall behind on this, but thought I'd try the Bonesology Holiday Challenge – twelve days, twelve prompts, each one a stand-alone chapter involving the same couple. Here's #1 - Mistletoe! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas!

Disclaimer: I own nothing Bones related except my imagination. (12/25/15)

As soon as Booth and Brennan walked in the front door of their home, Brennan silently dropped her purse on the nearest flat surface and headed into the kitchen while Booth, hands sheepishly tucked into the front pockets of his jeans, followed cautiously behind her. Max, who had come over to babysit the kids while the partners were at a holiday party being thrown by one of Booth's co-workers, was sitting on the sofa in their living room reading a book and looked up in surprise.

"You're home earlier than I expected," he noted.

Booth shook his head giving Max a look that any man who has ever encountered a woman in a bad mood would recognize as a 'caution: tread lightly' kind of look.

Max was smart enough to know when the best thing he could do for self-preservation was to skedaddle, so he slipped his shoes back on his feet and stood up from the sofa. Unfortunately, his jacket was tossed over the seat back of one of the kitchen bar stools, so he was going to have to approach Tempe before he could make his escape. "I checked on the kids about 30 minutes ago and they're both sleeping soundly. Christine went to bed around 8:30 and Hank went down just a little later at . . . whoa, what the hell happened to you?"

The words slipped out of his mouth before he could reign them in as soon as he got a good look at his daughter. When Booth and Tempe left to go to the party earlier that evening, her hair had been neatly swept up in some sort of elegant knot on top of her head, but now it was looking a little lopsided with several tendrils pulled loose and awkwardly dangling around her face. The left side of her bottom lip looked a tad swollen and there was just a smidgeon of blood visible in one crease to indicate that something must've hit her hard enough to split her lip. The deep emerald green dress she wore fell to a point slightly above her knees and the satiny material that tastefully showcased her figure was held up at the top by a couple of spaghetti straps. However, one of those spaghetti straps now appeared just a few threads shy of being torn completely from the bodice, as though her dress had been pulled forcefully while she was still inside it.

As Max watched, Brennan opened the freezer and pulled out an unopened bag of peas which she held against the knuckles of her right hand. Knuckles that, at a glance, looked to be red and slightly swollen. "Just a little misunderstanding, that's all," she answered dismissively.

When Booth snorted, Brennan's gaze flew to him, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed and her lips turned down at the corner. "Did you have something to add, Booth?"

"Ooooh, no. No. Whatever you say, Bones, I'm with you 110%."

She pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "You know that there's no such thing as anything more than 100%." Brennan flexed her fingers under the cold package of frozen peas and muttered under her breath, "And it certainly didn't appear you were 100% with me earlier this evening."

"Hey, now. That's not fair. I explained and it wasn't my fault. It was the mistletoe and she kissed me, not the other way around."

"Like French people kissing on the street?" she asked somewhat sarcastically.

"Ah, yeah. Sure."

Brennan shook her head. One of her first kisses from Booth had been under mistletoe and there'd been nothing chaste about that kiss. It had left her out of breath with her mind reeling and she'd spent the rest of the afternoon wishing they hadn't had an audience, they hadn't been at the Jeffersonian, and they had followed that kiss to where it promised to go – her desk, her couch, her floor, her wall – she'd imagined scenarios for all of them that afternoon as she pretended to work. "Hmm. Well, I might have been able to handle a quick buss on the cheek, but I refuse to apologize. When I saw Agent Lucchetti place her palms on your chest and start to slide her hands up towards your neck, that was just too much and it was unacceptable."

"In my defense, there was no tongue action. I promise, I didn't open my mouth to her." Agent Christy Lucchetti had ambushed him under a strand of mistletoe and following the holiday tradition, Booth had leaned down to give her a quick, friendly kiss. However, she'd latched on to him, catching him by surprise, and had tried to force a much more intimate kiss than was appropriate, attempting to pry his lips apart with her tongue. "I did try to push her away, you know."

It was Brennan's turn to snort. "Not fast or hard enough. I've told you before, she is extremely attracted to you. She exhibits numerous traits of a female primping for a male's attention when she's around you, flirting and projecting forth her bosom, and my munificence with respect to her behavior was at an end."

"Yes, well," he chuckled. "You certainly surprised her when you grabbed her hand from my shoulder and twisted it around until it was hoisted halfway up her back, between her shoulder blades."

"It was an effective maneuver, wasn't it? She let you go."

"Yeah, Bones. It was definitely effective." It was also HOT as hell. Call him shallow if you want, but watching his wife physically stake her claim on him in front of an entire room full of people, well, he was still sporting a partial erection that he was certain wasn't going to go away until he got a chance to physically stake his claim on her. "Although, I don't think you were expecting her to spin around on you like that to escape your hold." Booth stepped closer and lifted her chin so he could see her lip. "Looks like she managed to clock you pretty good with her elbow when she twisted herself free," he said softly, his face only a few inches from hers.

Listening to the snatches of their conversation, Max was able to figure out that some woman must've tried to kiss Booth in a way that his daughter took offense to. He wished he could've been a fly on the wall for that exchange. But, since they both seemed to have forgotten his presence in the room, he figured it was time for him to sneak out. "Well, kids, you seem to have everything under control, so I'm heading home now. G'night."

Without turning their heads to look at him, Booth and Brennan both simultaneously echoed his farewell. "Goodnight, Max."

As they heard the click of the front door close behind him, Booth gently ran his finger across her lip. "Is it tender?"

"Not too badly. Perhaps a kiss would make it feel better?"

Booth leaned forward and sprinkled several small kisses across her lip, chin, and cheek. "How's that? Any better?"

"Mmmm. Getting there, but I think I'll need a few more."

Booth gave her his sexiest smile as he stepped forward again, forcing her to back up against the counter where he pinned her in with one of his arms on each side of her and pressed his erection against her core. He alternately pulsed and rotated his hips gently, creating a delicious friction she felt through her clothing. "You know, Bones, when she pulled free of your hold and popped you in the lip, Agent Lucchetti was looking pretty smug. Granted, it only lasted for about two seconds because when she grabbed the front of your dress, that right hook you delivered would've made Oscar De La Hoya proud."

"I don't know who that is."

"He's a fairly well known boxer."

"Oh. Well, she deserved it."

"Yeah, she did. I was almost afraid to look when I heard a ripping noise from your dress. Then, before she could retaliate to your punch, you swept her feet out from under her and she landed flat on her ass. You moved so quickly and fluidly, I'm still not entirely certain what it was you did, but whatever it was, it was damn impressive. She consistently scores pretty high on our hand-to-hand combat training exercises and when you pushed her onto her back with your foot and then placed that gorgeous strappy tan sandal of yours next to her throat as you threatened her for messing with your man, I bet every guy in that room got an instant hard-on."

"I did not threaten her, Booth." Brennan placed her palms on his chest and started to caress his upper torso.

"Ha. I don't think I'll ever forget what you said to her. Let me see, I think it went something like . . . In case you don't fully understand, I'll say this just one time. Special Agent Seeley Booth is MY man and if you ever touch him in a non-professional manner again, yours is a body that they'll never find . . . and Bones, that was a threat."

"It was a promise, not a threat."

"I swear, you even growled at her."

"I did not growl, Booth."

"Yep. You definitely growled and it was sexy as hell."

Brennan just rolled her eyes and stretched her body against his, pulling his head towards her. "Enough teasing, Booth. I'm just glad we no longer need mistletoe as an excuse for osculation. Now, shut up and kiss me, my man."

A/N: Enjoy?