Hey there!! My name is Gabby! I've read a lot of Bones fanfiction lately and decided to give it a shot!

Dont own anything!

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Booth picks up another soaped plate from the pile and rinses it out before putting it in the drier. He had insisted on staying after Christmas dinner to help Brennan clean up. He continues the process of washing the dishes as he listens to the conversation taking place in the living room.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay over" Brennan asks Margaret, "I can take you to the airport myself tomorrow"

"No it's fine" Margaret shrugs awkwardly, "All of my things are at the hotel anyways"

"It's okay, honey" Max puts a hand on his daughter's shoulder, "I'll take her tomorrow, you just sleep in. It can do you good to sleep eight hours sometimes" he grins

"I get plenty of sleep everyday dad," Brennan says annoyed

"Taking a nap at your office couch does not count as sleep Tempe," he pats her shoulder, "I'll call you tomorrow after I drop Margaret off, maybe we could have lunch"

"Okay" Brennan nods, "See you tomorrow" she gives him a peck on the cheek. She then turns to Margaret, "Umm, it was nice to meet you," they hug awkwardly

"Yes, you too" Margaret nods as they break the hug.

"Bye Booth!" Max shouts, "tell Parker Marry Christmas for me"

"Sure thing Max, bye" Booth yells back from the kitchen, "Bye Margaret, nice to meet you"

Margaret widens her eyes uncomfortably before letting out an almost inaudible "Bye."

And with one last Ben Franklin quote, she and Max are gone.

Brennan shuts the door behind them and moves to the kitchen, "You do know I have a dishwasher right?" she asks Booth as she spots him washing the dirty dishes

Booth turns to her briefly and nods "Yes, I do" he shifts his attention back to the sink "I just find this oddly relaxing"

Brennan stands next to him eying him strangely, almost worriedly

"What Bones?" Booth hesitates a little uncomfortable with her worried glare

"It's just, umm, I don't recall you ever liking to wash the dishes," she shrugs, "at least not before your brain tum—" His warning glare stops her as their eyes lock

He doesn't like to be reminded of how his brain tumor changed him, not when he is still afraid he might wake up one day and completely forget who he is. He realizes how harshly he is staring at her and softens his gaze.

"Like I said I find this ODDLY relaxing, oddly being the key word here" he clears his throat

"Sorry Booth, I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay Bones, I just—it's okay" he offers a grin

She grins back at him agreeing to drop the subject for now, "You're doing all the work there, at least let me help" she gets a hand towel and starts to dry the dishes from the already overstuffed drier, "You know, anthropologically speaking all manual activities that don't require a great deal of effort to get done, like, for example, washing the dishes, are found to be relaxing by most people"

Booth turns to her and gives her a charming smile. Yes she could sometimes be a pain in the neck and annoy the hell out him with her witty scientific comments, but most of the time, like this one, she would say the most perfect things without even knowing it.

"Thanks Bones" he says bumping the side of his rear too hers

Brennan nods glad that what she said has comforted him and smile back to him bumping her sides to his.

They work quickly through the remaining dishes, enjoying some small talk in the process and when they're done they move to the living room.

Booth sighs and drops himself on Brennan's couch, putting his feet on her coffee table before getting the clicker from the end table and turning the TV on. "You know, you need a bigger TV"

Brennan rolls her eyes, "Well, since this is my house and my TV, I think I get to choose how big of a TV I need"

Booth throws his hands up in defeat, "Just saying Bones," he grins, "a good friend always tries to give advice, even if it's unwanted"

"You know, people that watch a lot of TV are more likely to have eye problems as they mature," She states matter-of-factly as she finally takes a sit next to him

"Lucky for us we are still youthful," he beams at her his eyebrows wiggling

Brennan chuckles lightly

"Just saying Bones," Booth continues, taking her chuckle as encouragement, "Parker and I could come here on the weekends and watch a ball game, huh? After all you did agree to be my village"

"Yes," Brennan nods, "I did agree to be your hamlet of eight hundred people or less. However I don't see how that or offering to spend my weekend watching sports is going to persuade me into getting a bigger TV"

"Aww, come on Bones" Booth feigns a hurtful expression, "I thought you enjoyed my company well enough to award me a few hours of your precious weekend. Besides, as you yourself explained it, Parker needs a childish outlet to practice his battle skills to become an alpha male like his daddy here, and there's nothing better then a good old ball game"

Brennan rolls her eyes again, "That's not what I meant when I told you sports—" she stops herself and sighs, "Booth, you're more then welcome to bring Parker by over the weekend to watch sports, but just don't expect me to buy a bigger TV for you to do so"

Booth's chocolate brow eyes fills up with something Brennan can exactly name, "Aww Bones, that's really sweet," Booth gulps trying to hide his emotions. There it is, her heart muscles surprising him again.

Brennan nods in return, her azure eyes taking a darker shade as she tries to read her partner.

They keep their eyes on each other for a few seconds longer but turn to the TV when they feel it's about get a little awkward. They fall into a comfortable silence as Booth fiddles with the remote control to find something better to watch. He navigates through the guide until he sees that Casablanca is just about to start and turns to that channel knowing that Brennan is an old movies fan.

Brennan smiles as Booth changes to the channel that Casablanca is starting, and lets out a short snort when he mumbles "oldie but goodie," knowing that he probably doesn't find the movie all that good and is just putting it on because she likes old movies. And even though Casablanca isn't one of her favorites, she can't help but grin broadly as pleasant memories of her childhood fill her thoughts.

Booth looks at his partner with adoration as she chuckles at his comment, glad that she is looking at the screen as he does so. She has no freaking clue to the warmth that her laugher brings him, and how he'd do anything to make her do so.

During the first ten minutes of the movie Booth finds it more interesting to watch his partner and how her flawless face gets all squinty as she tries to rationalize the characters' beliefs and choices and etc. However, somewhere along the way his head starts to drift off as he recalls their previous moment in the kitchen and how he had so rudely cut her off when she was only trying to express her worries about him, to him.

Without any warning he picks up the clicker from the place he had left it to rest and turns off the TV.

"Hey," Brennan protests, "I was actually watching that Booth" she says, turning to him with an annoyed expression that quickly dissolves when she sees his contemplative features.

They turn to each other but surprisingly, to Brennan, Booth isn't quick to meet her gaze and instead looks at his hands which are resting on his lap.

She studies her partner's face seeing something that he rarely lets her see; insecurity.

"Booth—" she starts but he cuts her off

"I'm sorry Bones, I'm sorry I kinda snapped at you when you said that thing about washing dishes" he meets her gaze hesitantly

Brennan nods, she hadn't meant any harm, and she was just looking out for him. But she is also used to Booth's difficulty to opening up, and even though it sometimes makes her feel rejected, ever since the his brain tumor she has been careful at pushing his boundaries, "It's okay Booth, I know you didn't do it on purpose" she reassures him

It's Booth turn to nod, "I didn't. It's just that…um, I'm afraid that I'll wake up one day and I won't recognize who I am, you know?" he voices his fears

When Booth starts to confide in her, Brennan isn't sure if all the alcohol he had consumed that night had finally made it's way into his system or if he had just embraced his catholic side and delved into the 'Christmas sprit', although, from an anthropological point of view people do indeed become more emotional during festivities, especially towards the end of the year.

But as she keeps listening to his heartfelt confession, she can feel that he is truly agitated with his 'condition'. His intention for opening up no longer matters to her as she reaches out to touch his hand, "Booth, just because you forgot how to do your plumbing, or had a insignificant relapse on how to shoot your gun, it doesn't mean you're gonna wake up one day and not remember your name. If I recall it correctly after you stopped fussing about how you couldn't shoot your gun anymore and started focusing on the actual task it ended up pretty well"

"I don't fuss!" Booth retorts before letting out an exasperated breath, "And it's not insignificant, not to me" he looks down at their joined hands before returning his gaze back to hers with more intensity, "I was all about plumbing and handiness and all that stuff before my brain tumor, and now I'm not"

Brennan nods. She isn't used to be the one answering this kind of questions, she is usually the one asking them. She takes the time to think about what he usually says to comfort her before speaking, "Booth, change is a natural course of evolution. Everyone changes, sometimes it's deliberate, you know by choice—"

"I know what deliberate means Bones" the corner of Booth's lip tug up

"and sometimes it's involuntary, like in your case," she continues as though he hadn't interrupted, "And besides there's a lot more to people than your their manual skills Booth, you taught me that" she says before smiling mischievously at him, "aren't you also all about sports, and justice and God, and love and—"

"Are you being sarcastic Dr. Brennan?" Booth eyes lit up as he jokes, not so secretly loving the way she was busting up his ego.

"Booth, I'm serious" she says, keeping her playful smile nonetheless. "And I'm no medical doctor," she restarts seriously, "but since it's been fairly long since your operation, and you haven't had any other serious complications that have impaired your brain from healing, I don't think you can loose anything anymore. But again, I have no evidence of this"

"What about what I have already lost?" Booth asks, not completely reassured, "Don't I ever get that back?"

"I don't know" she says sincerely, "What I do know is that if you want you can relearn any manual skill you've lost. You might not have the steepest learning curve but from the five years that I've been working with you I know that you can do almost anything if you put your mind into it"

"Or I can always count on dummy books," he smiles, feeling a lot better

"You can surely try that again," Brennan grins, "you were not born with these skills after all"

"Right," Booth nods, "but what if I forget that I like brown sugar?" He throws her a charming grin, replaying the conversation they'd had a while ago

"Well, you can always call me," she smiles back

"What if I can't reach you?"

"Then you can follow your heart, or your gut, or whatever wants to speaks to you at the time, because even though in my own experience I find that logic and reason are the wisest tools to use, listening to your organs has often worked for you," she eyes him soothingly not noticing that her hand had given his a involuntary squeeze

Booth beams at her, "You know Bones, even though sometimes you can be as thick as a bone, you're a freaking awesome friend"

"Bones have varying density, Booth" she eyes him as though he should know that before breaking into a smile, "but you're a very magnificent friend too"

If his smile could get any bigger it would have. Brennan isn't one to throw around compliments if she doesn't believe them, and having her spend a good ten minutes just stroking his ego with compliment after compliment for the sake of comforting him makes his heart swell up in pure bliss and hope. Being admired by the person you love and cherish does tend to have that effect, and if he has gained anything from this brain tumor, if any good came out of it, it was finally being able to recognize his feelings for his partner. Now he only has to muster up the nerve to tell her about it and then pray to God she feels the same way and is not scared to act on those feelings. But as Gordon Gordon had said, all he needs is 'hope and patience'. With her words today she has just reinforced his hope, but patience, now that is another story, especially after hearing her say the things she did, after feeling her soft and surprisingly delicate hands on his, after having been slowly but surely intoxicated by her sent all night long.

Booth clears his throat to push away his dangerous thoughts, "I almost forgot I have something for you" he remembers, standing up to find his coat. He searches though his pocket and finds the small box, "It's nothing fancy, but I remember you told me you lost yours, so I thought I'd buy you a new one" he walks back to the couch and extends the box to her, "Merry Christmas, Bones"

Brennan snatches the box from his hands and eyes him curiously before opening the box with a smile. Once she sees what's inside her smile grows into a full blown grin as she pulls the keychain from the box. Attached to the ring that holds the keys there is a four inch delicate silver chain and at the other end of it there are two silver pendants; one of a cute little flat skull and the other a round sign that has 'I Heart Bones' written on it. Booth can't help but wonder if she sees the double meaning in it.

"This is very endearing Booth, although the skull could use a little more detail" Brennan says

Booth rolls his eyes, "Yeah I know Bones. But since this is a keychain and not a study model I think we can let that slip"

"Yes we can" Brennan nods, "thank you, you didn't have to"

"Nah," Booth waves off, "It's nothing, really"

"Still, thank you. It's very nice Booth" she stands up, "I have something for you too" she smiles proudly

"Yeah?" Booth asks surprised

"Yes" Brennan nods but doesn't move

"Am I supposed to guess where it is?" he hesitates

"No" Brennan shakes her head confusedly, "just stay here" she orders

Booth chuckles at her demanding tone as she scurries off "I wasn't planning on going anywhere"

Brennan comes back with two rectangular boxes about the size of her palm sitting on top of each other and tied together with a bow. She steps in front of Booth and hands the boxes to him.

"Two for the price of one huh?" he teases, "When did I earn the brownie points?"

Brennan eyes him clueless, "I don't know what that means"

Booth tries to muffle a guffaw, "Never mind Bones, thank you"

"You haven't even seen what it is and you're already thanking me, what if you don't like it?"

"Bones, it's the thought that counts," he explains

"Okay," Brennan nods, "just open it"

"Someone is giddy" Booth states in sarcasm

"I'm not giddy" Brennan counters, "I simply want to know if my choice of present was satisfactory"

"Fine, I will put you out of your misery" He snorts. He carefully undoes the bow that is holding the boxes together and puts it on her coffee table, slowly as to not let his presents fall he removers the lid of the first box to find a beautifully crafted belt buckle with the phrase 'American Law Man' engraved on it. "Wow Bones, this is really nice"

A proud grin appears on Brennan lips, "There's one more"

Booth chuckles and shakes his head at his impatient partner, "Yes Bones, I can see that"

He closes the first box and rests in on the coffee tale before opening the next one. When he sees the contents of the second box he doesn't know if he should laugh out loud or bury his head in the nearest patch of sand. It is another belt buckle, a round one this time, but the words engraved on it are far more provoking than those on the previous one. It is obviously meant as a joke, much like his 'Cocky' belt buckle, but the question is, does Bones get that it is joke?

He looks back at her face and sees her eyes tinkling the way they only do when she is holding back laughter. Knowing that she gets the joke, and had meant it as a joke, he is finally able to let out a relieved sigh before breaking out in laughter.

Seeing him laugh makes holding her laughter quite impossible and she breaks into giggles with him.

Booth's eyes sparkle with bliss as he hears her carefree laughter. She doesn't usually let herself be this buoyant, although in his opinion she really should, because she looks radiant.

When they stop laughing and he finally finds the will to look away from her flawless face and down at the round belt buckle with an engraved arrow pointing up with the phrase 'The Man' below it and one arrow pointing down with the phrase "The Legend", as her voice fills his ears

"It's pretty good" She states proudly

"Yeah Bones, it is pretty good" He agrees

"Especially since you like to call attention to your crotch" she says matter-of-factly

"Yes, right, thank you for pointing that out" Booth feigns annoyance but he knows he wouldn't have her any other way

"I'm not admonishing you Booth. Anthropologically speaking it takes a lot of confidence to display—"

"Yeah, okay" Booth cuts her off, "I get it"

"Booth, you don't need to be ashamed of—" she tries to continue but he silences her by placing a finger on her lips

"Bones, I'm aware of all my alpha-male characteristics, we don't need to go over them again" He says, feeling the flesh on his finger burn as it touches her soft lips before clearing his throat and letting his hand fall back in place

She lets him have this one, realizing that she is too tired to start bickering with him about his inability to converse about anything that touches on the subject of sex or sexual tendencies.

Booth doesn't miss her long tired blink and after looking at his watch he isn't at all surprised, "Geez Bones it's almost four in the mourning!"

Brennan looks toward the clock hanging on her wall and her eyebrows rise in surprise, "Wow, time does go by fast when we're having fun"
Booth grins at her comment, feeling content that she thinks he is fun to be around, "Well, I gotta go"

"You're welcome to the couch" she offers

"Thanks Bones, that's sweet, but um…I was thinking about getting up early tomorrow and flying to Quebec to see Parker," he smiles sheepishly, "And you probably want to sleep in so it's best I go home"

"Okay" Brennan nods and they start to move towards the door

"This was really nice Bones" Booth states while putting his new belt buckles in his jacket pocket before throwing it on, "I'm glad you ditched Peru and decided to do this"

"El Salvador" she corrects him, "and yes, this was surprisingly entertaining"

"It shouldn't be surprising" Booth points out

Brennan eyes him confused

"You were surrounded by people that love you Bones, you shouldn't be surprised you had fun"

Brennan takes his explanation and nods in acceptance "Well then, I guess the only two things keeping this from being a the perfect Christmas were Parker's and Russ' and his family's absence"

"Yes" Booth agrees, "Maybe next year, huh. That is if you don't go to Guatemala" he teases

Brennan rolls her tired eyes at him

"What are you doing for the New Years?" he asks trying to prolong their goodbye a little bit more.

"I don't know, maybe I'll go to El Salvador after all" she shrugs

"Alright" he nods, "Let me know, maybe we could spend it together"

"Okay" Brennan she nods, "as long as it doesn't mean we have to go to a religious gathering"

Its Booth's turn to roll his eyes at his partner, "Don't worry, no religious gathering of any sort. Scouts honor," he jokes

They fall into silence their eyes begin a silent conversation. Nothing needs to be said for them to know that they are both reminiscing over the night's events

"Thanks Bones," Booth breaks their spell, only to stir a new one as he reaches out and grabs both her hands giving them a firm squeeze, "Thank you for everything, thanks for tonight"

Brennan is taken by surprise and her eyes widen. She isn't used to this level of intimacy with Booth. Yes they had touched before, but this simple gesture of taking her hands in his feels more intimate then any hug they've ever shared.

To his surprise she doesn't pull away and instead lets his eyes tell her everything that his lips are not voicing. He's not thanking her for the presents she's given him, or for inviting him over. That he's already done. He's really thanking her for being his friend, for listening and for understanding. He's thanking her for not judging, and for supporting him.

Unable to control himself, Booth lets his gaze slip from her eyes, down to her soft and inviting lips, back to her eyes, and before he can even register what he's doing he leans down and plants a solid peck on his partner's lips.

The kiss lasts no more that a few seconds for both of them are too shocked to do anything but widen their eyes. Booth nibbles her bottom lips slightly as he pulls away and before she can respond in any way he leans downs and whispers, "That Bones, was me listening to my heart" before he walks away.

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