This is my first attempt at Bones fic. It was rushed, is un-betaed and thus all mistakes are mine. I just wanted to get this up before the holiday was completely over. Merry Christmas!
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. I own nothing and I make nothing from it. :)
December 24, 11:55 pm
Dr. Temperance Brennan yawned and leaned back into her office couch. She had moved with her laptop from her desk chair about an hour earlier in an effort to coax her back muscles into relaxing and easing the ache she'd been feeling most of the evening. Having just finished a chapter in her latest novel, she allowed her eyes to close for just a moment.
A strange noise caused her eyes to fly open and she realized she had dozed off. She looked at her watch and noted with a sigh of relief that it had only been a few minutes, but then noticed that her watch had stopped working. She frowned and shook the time piece, but the hands on the watch did not move.
"Tempe, what are you doing here this late on Christmas Eve?" The voice was oddly familiar and not at the same time and sent a chill down Brennan's spine. She stood quickly, turned toward the door to her office and sucked in a sharp breath as recognition of the woman walking slowly towards her dawned.
Brennan was not exactly frightened, but she was definitely disturbed. She looked quickly through the glass front wall of her office toward the entrance to the lab to see if security were hot on the trail of the intruder. Seeing nothing moving in the outer lab area, she turned her attention quickly back to the woman standing in front of her and tried to relax, preparing for whatever response might be needed in the coming moments.
"It's okay, Tempe," the woman said in a soothing voice. "I know this is difficult for you."
Brennan studied the woman quietly, looking for something that might give her a clue about what was happening. The details she catalogued in her brain provided no useful information. Whoever was perpetrating this ruse had done their homework and anger was quickly surpassing all of the other emotions Brennan was working to suppress.
"I don't know what you hope to accomplish," Brennan said as she walked toward her desk intending to call security to escort the woman out. She was halted in her progress by an icy cold, but gentle touch that grazed her arm. Uncharacteristically, Brennan did not respond with one of her aggressive defensive moves. She simply stopped and studied the woman more closely.
"Tempe," the woman said again. "Don't you recognize me?"
"I recognize that you have done a remarkable job of making yourself look like my mother," Brennan said, "though I have no idea why."
"I look like your mother because I am your mother, Temperance," the woman said and she reached up with her icy hand to graze Brennan's cheek. Brennan flinched and leaned back away from the touch.
"My mother is dead," Brennan said in a much stronger voice.
"Yes," the woman agreed. "And I know you do not believe in life after death, ghosts or angels," she continued, "but I am your mother."
"You expect me to believe that you are some sort of apparition?" Brennan asked in a scoffing tone. "But you are solid." Brennan reached out to poke at the woman. "I can feel you."
"Yes," the woman said as she nodded.
Brennan frowned. "I must be dreaming," she said under her breath. "OK, for arguments sake and to speed things along, I'll concede you are my mother. Why are you here?"
"Well, that was easier than I expected," Christine said and chuckled.
Brennan folded her arms across her chest and sighed. "Look, the only logical explanation is that I'm dreaming. Say what you came to say so I can wake up and go home."
Christine smiled and walked the last few steps to the couch. She sat down and patted the seat next to her to indicate she wanted Brennan to join her on the couch. Brennan rolled her eyes, sighed and complied.
"You're still a stubborn girl, Tempe," Christine said as Brennan sat down. "And you haven't answered my question."
Brennan frowned in confusion and played back the last few moments in her eidetic memory. "I'm working. That's what I do here. I work," Brennan said. She was annoyed and still feeling wary of this visitor's intentions..
"You were invited to spend the evening with friends," Christine said. "Why are you working? There is no pressing deadline."
Brennan looked away. "I didn't feel like celebrating this year," she said quietly.
"Oh, Tempe," Christine said softly. "You've made quite a mess of things, haven't you?"
"What mess?" Brennan asked, her annoyance returning.
"You had been making such progress," Christine replied. "Two years ago, you even hosted a family gathering for Christmas. It was wonderful!"
"Well, a lot has changed in the last two years," Brennan retorted.
"And who is responsible for that?" Christine asked. Before Brennan could protest, Christine held up her hand and continued. "Listen to me, please. I don't have a lot of time."
Brennan frowned but said nothing.
"All I want is for you to be happy. You were well on your way to finding that happiness, but then you got scared and put on the breaks."
"I don't know what that means," Brennan said.
"You know more than you let on," Christine said. "You're so like your father in so many ways. But he didn't run alone." Brennan started to interrupt, but Christine continues on quickly. "Tempe, I'm so sorry our choices impacted you so deeply. I want to fix what we broke, if I can."
"There's nothing to fix," Brennan protested.
"Yes," Christine said sadly, "there is. You have such a generous heart and an amazing capacity to love. It's why you have done so well with so little." Christine paused a moment to consider her daughter. "But you have built some mighty walls around yourself to keep anyone from getting too close."
"I've never built a wall," Brennan said with a roll of her eyes.
"Emotionally, you have," Christine said. "Someone got very close to breaching those walls and it scared you." Brennan shook her head in protest as tears began pooling in her eyes. "You've already experienced the heart crushing pain, Temperance. Why do you continue to deny yourself the indescribable joy that should be renewing you and sustaining you through the difficult times?"
"I experience joy," Brennan replied.
Christine sighed and nodded. "You do," she conceded. "But you're missing out on one of the most wonderful and fulfilling experiences of a lifetime because you're afraid...because you don't believe you're capable of returning the love and devotion he wants to give to you. You want evidence, but won't recognize it when it's presented. The choices you've made since returning from your hiatus should be evidence enough that you are capable of returning that love and devotion. You've put his happiness ahead of yours consistently."
Brennan said nothing, but wiped a tear that defied her attempts to hold it back.
"You want evidence," Christine said quietly. "So, you shall have it, my dear daughter. And I pray you will examine it and analyze it. Then I hope you reach the same conclusion that has already come to everyone who really knows you."
"What evidence?" Brennan asked. She sniffed and wiped at another tear.
"You will be visited tonight by three more apparitions, as you like to call us," Christine said. "Please take this gift and know that I love you, that I have always loved you and always will."
Christine reached out and caressed Brennan's face. The numbing cold of her mother's caress sent a jolt through her and she closed her eyes in reaction. When she opened her eyes, the apparition was gone.
Brennan stood and looked around. She found only silence and stillness. She looked at her watch and noticed it was working again. It had only been about five minutes since she stopped writing and closed her eyes. Though she thought the encounter nothing more than an extremely vivid dream, she was overcome with a sudden feeling of sadness and regret which she quickly pushed aside.
Brennan stretched and yawned. Then she shut her computer down, packed up her stuff and decided to head home. It was late, or rather very early and she was tired.