Title: Happy New Year 2009

Author: CooperTrooperSG1

Rating: K+

Summary: Follows "Christmas Eve 2008" but all you have to know is that Brennan spent Christmas with Booth and Parker and they kissed under some mistletoe again. This story takes place a few day's later, on New Year's Eve.

Author's Note: I'm glad people liked my other story. I'll split this in chapters this time... I was being lazy last time and just didn't want to bother splitting it up, but I do understand what people meant about how it would be easier to read that way. Thank you for reading, and I hope you like this story.

Ch 1

Seeley Booth hadn't even had time to get out of his 4Runner before his son flew out of the front door and was running towards the vehicle as fast as his little legs would carry him.

Rebecca came chasing after him, carrying Parker's backpack, as Booth got out of the car hastily to greet them.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Parker called eagerly, jumping at him for a big hug.

Booth swung him up into the air – which wasn't nearly as easy as it used to be – and smiled at him. "Hey, buddy, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah! Do I get to stay up until midnight tonight?" he asked hopefully.

"Well, it is New Year's Eve… so I guess I'll just have to let you try, won't I?"

Parker cheered and squirmed to be put down so he could scramble into the backseat. He was clearly eager to get going.

"Don't worry," Booth said to Rebecca. "I'll tire him out so much I doubt he'll make it past nine or ten."

"I'm not worried, Seeley. He hasn't stopped talking about Christmas since you dropped him off… oh, and that reminds me, please thank whoever gave him that horrible ant farm for me," she added a bit sarcastically.

Booth chuckled. "Yeah, that's one of the squints at the Jeffersonian – the bug guy. So, um, I'll bring him back tomorrow, before lunch?"

"I'd rather pick him up, if it's okay with you. You'll be at your place?"

"Of course, where else would we be?" he asked, confused.

Rebecca gave him a funny look but didn't elaborate. "Okay, well, I'll pick him up at about eleven." She opened the back door and smiled at Parker. "Bye, angel, have fun! Be good!"

"I will," he promised as she set his backpack down in the backseat and shut the door.

Booth said goodbye to Rebecca and went around to the driver's side. He got in and turned to Parker, smiling. "Hey, buddy. Are you excited about New Year's Eve?"

"Yeah!" Parker said eagerly. "Let's go, let's go!"

"Okay, calm down," Booth said mildly as he buckled his seat belt.

They hadn't even reached the first stop sign when Parker asked, "Where's Tempe?"

"She's working tonight, I think," Booth said, then wondered if this was going to be a problem.

"Working??? On New Year's??? And you don't have to work? What's she doing?"

"I don't know, buddy. She does a lot of stuff at the Jeffersonian that has nothing to do with what she does with me at the FBI," Booth explained.

"Yeah, but… how come she doesn't want to come over tonight?"

"I don't know, Parker. But you saw Bones for a long time at Christmas – she doesn't usually stay away from work for that long. You're not trying to tell me you don't think you and I can have fun without her, are you?"

"No," Parker admitted. "I still want to have fun with you, Daddy. I just wanted to see her too, that's all."

"Oh. Well, maybe you can call her in a little while," Booth offered.

Parker seemed okay with that solution, because he started telling Booth about the rest of his Christmas Day – how boring and long the lunch had been, how hard he had tried to behave all day, how annoyed the adults had been when he spilled his milk on the Christmas tablecloth… Booth was only half-listening; listening enough to commiserate with Parker, but his mind was wandering.

The truth was, Booth hadn't exactly invited his partner over for New Year's. They had tried very hard to act normally after their mistletoe kiss this year, and had succeeded… he thought. Every time he'd seen her since then, he thought they had both acted normally. But the problem was, they were both kind of acting normal, not just being normal.

True, it was getting easier and easier the more time that passed, and he was confident that in another couple of weeks, everything would really be completely back to normal.

Somehow, he doubted that being together on New Year's Eve at midnight, when you were supposed to kiss whoever you were next to, would help things. If anything, it would undermine everything he thought they'd accomplished with their newly-installed, once-a-year-at-Christmas rules.

Particularly because he had spent Christmas night and part of the next day reading her newest book cover to cover and, in addition to the addition of a Parker-like character, there had been a couple of scenes between Andy and Cathy that had forced him to put down the book, drink a liter of water, think about baseball and rotting dead bodies, and chant under his breath that Andy and Cathy were not himself and Bones.

Still, he couldn't help but agree with his son on one thing; he would have liked to see her too, that's all.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Temperance Brennan was on the platform at the Jeffersonian, examining remains from one of the drawers in limbo, when her phone rang. She set down the femur in her hand reluctantly to pick up her phone and scowled at the display. Angela. Not that she had anything against Angela, but she was getting a bit tired of the every-thirty-minutes-on-the-dot phone calls.

"Ange, I'm still at work. Work which I would be able to do much faster if you would stop calling me every thirty minutes," she said into the phone.

"Sweetie, come on. It's New Year's. You shouldn't be alone. Come to my party. You can kiss Hodgins when the ball drops."

"You kiss Hodgins when the ball drops," Brennan replied churlishly, then instantly regretted it. Whatever her best friend said, even Brennan could see that Angela wasn't really over Hodgins, and neither was he. "Sorry, Angela."

"It's okay. Look, what's Booth doing? Maybe you can bring him along."

"He has Parker tonight."

"Awwww, well bring the little guy too!"

"Angela, I really don't think that any party you throw is going to be appropriate for a seven year old child. Besides, I'm sure Booth doesn't want Parker out that late. You know, driving on public roads on New Year's between midnight and three is statistically the most dangerous…"

"All right, all right, they're not coming," Angela interrupted. "Fine. But I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you joined their private celebration."

"I'm not going to interrupt what little time they get together, Angela. Look, this holiday is even more ridiculous than most; all it does is signify the beginning of a new calendar year, which in itself is a completely arbitrary system of marking the passing of time…"

"Bren, please. Some of us are hosting a party for this ridiculous holiday and need to be in the proper spirit when the doorbell starts ringing."

"All I'm saying is that it isn't important to me, Angela. There's no distinction to me between staying late working tonight and any other night of the year. I hope you have fun at your party."

"Okay," Angela sighed, sounding defeated. "But if you change your mind, you know where I'll be."

"Thank you."

"Bye, sweetie."

"Bye."

Brennan pocketed her phone and got back to work, hoping that was the end of the phone calls from Angela. Her party would be starting soon, so she probably wouldn't have any other chances to call her.

However, despite her best efforts, Brennan couldn't focus all of her attention on the remains on her table. The truth was, she had been glad that Booth hadn't asked her to come over for New Year's. She had been concerned that since she was there when Booth had worked the arrangement out with Rebecca that Parker would want her to come over again. It was much harder to say no to Parker than it was to Booth, and she wasn't sure if she would have been able to do it.

But luckily Booth had relayed no invitations from Parker for New Year's like he had done for Christmas.

It made things much simpler. She didn't need to weigh all the pros and cons of seeing Booth on a day when tradition dictated kissing so soon after they had agreed to kiss annually at Christmas.

The decision was already made, and it made things much easier.

He would come in on the second or third with a new case for them, and everything would be normal.

No problem.

She frowned at the femur that was stubbornly refusing to be interesting enough to more than thirty percent of her brain and set it down.

Maybe a cup of coffee would help.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

TBC