(Season 8)
A/N: this is the second and final chapter of my Bonesology Fanfic exchange story for Jazzyproz. I hope you enjoy it.
I don't own Bones.
Oooooooooooooooooo
While she had been on the run it had been all about survival. She needed to stay at least one step ahead of not only Law Enforcement, but Christopher Pelant. She had taken her daughter with her, because she wasn't her parents and she would never abandon her daughter, but she had taken the child from her father and she still felt guilty about that even if she didn't voice that guilt. Booth had said he understood and maybe he did, but she had deprived him of his child and those lost months would forever be gone.
As Christmas approached, Brennan noticed that Booth hadn't mentioned trees or decorating and that worried her. The previous Christmas, she had felt under attack with Booth's incessant holiday plans, but she now realized that she had deprived him of something that both comforted him and brought him joy. His childhood had been horrifying and the few good memories he had centered around his grandparents. His happiest memories with them were during Christmas.
Now that she was a mother, she realized that it was important to create happy memories for her child and to give her traditions that she could enjoy. She didn't agree with the religious aspects of Christmas, but the idea behind the holiday seemed to be one of giving and being with your family. She could definitely appreciate those sentiments now that she had a family of her own.
She entered the kitchen and found a list of food items on a list lying on the counter. Booth hadn't mentioned cooking Christmas dinner, but it now appeared he was going to continue his tradition after all. The list seemed to be very similar to the list he had made the previous year which meant he still probably meant to give Mrs. Thompson and Mr. Moore their share of Booth's feast. She was glad and admired the fact that he hadn't abandoned his former neighbors just because he had moved.
Now that she knew he was at least thinking of Christmas, she felt that she needed to make sure he had the Christmas he deserved.
Ooooooooooooooooo
The Monday after Thanksgiving, Brennan went to work as usual, but once she arrived she walked into Angela's office in search of a favor. "Angela, I need your help."
"Sure, Bren, what do you need?" It wasn't often that Brennan asked for favors and Angela always tried to help out if she could. "I'm not working on anything right now."
Grateful that Angela had agreed to help her, Brennan explained what she wanted from her friend. "I want to buy a Christmas tree for Booth, but I have never actually bought one before and I don't want to make a mistake."
"You want to buy a Christmas tree?" Angela wasn't sure if she had just stepped into the Twilight Zone or not. "You don't believe in God or his Son, why do you want to buy a tree?"
Brennan glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation. "Last year, Booth removed his Christmas tree and his decorations from his apartment because of me . . . I don't wish to go into why, but he hasn't mentioned Christmas this year and I'm afraid he won't decorate this year because he thinks it will upset me. It won't . . . I have come to realize that Christmas means a lot to Booth. It is connected to his childhood memories and it gives him a sense of joy to celebrate it each year. I want Christine to have good memories too and not just memories of being separated from her father . . . she needs positive memories of her father and what better way to insure that than to celebrate Christmas?"
Brennan hoped she was explaining her thoughts clearly, but the look of puzzlement on Angela's face told her that her friend might not understand as well as she might. "I don't intend to celebrate the religious parts of the holiday that is for Booth to do. Mass is important to Booth and no doubt he will attend a service Christmas Eve. I just want to celebrate the family part of the season. My plan is to take a day off sometime this week, buy a tree, decorate it and if I have time, the house and maybe the yard with Christmas decorations. Booth has a few boxes of decorations, but I will need to buy somethings for the lawn. He doesn't own anything that can be used for that purpose."
"Oh Honey, I am definitely in." Angela grabbed a tablet from her desk and started a list. "We'll need to buy the tree the day we plan to decorate it, but you and I can use a few lunch hours this week to shop for what we'll need before then. We can keep the decorations in my office until it's time to take them to your house to decorate. If we both decorate the tree and the yard it can be done before Booth comes home on whatever day we choose to do this . . . This sounds like so much fun. Thank you for asking me to help you."
Angela's enthusiasm was almost palpable and brought a smile to Brennan's lips. "You'll help me decorate?"
"Are you kidding me?" Angela laughed. "I'm an artist. This is a chance to show off my artistic style. We'll do something a little non-traditional, but tasteful. I love Christmas and I've already got my tree up and decorated. I did it the day after Thanksgiving. Jack let me do it my way and it's beautiful." She picked up her phone from her desk and showed Brennan some pictures she had taken of the tree and the decorations in the living room, Michael-Vincent's room and the front yard. "Jack helped. It was so much fun."
Brennan admired the tree, the festively decorated yard and smiled. "It is beautiful."
"Thank you." Angela placed her phone back on the desk. "Of course the tree was decorated to reflect my style. We'll have to decorate your place to reflect Booth's style. This is going to be so much fun. I can't wait to go shopping."
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
On the day Brennan chose to decorate the house, Booth had told her about several meetings he was required to attend and that he wouldn't be able to meet her for lunch. Once she arrived at the Lab, she helped Angela carry the decorations they had stored in her office to Brennan's car and loaded them in the back seat and the trunk of the car. They then informed Cam of their plan to take the day off and she had agreed. Both of her employees rarely took vacation days and if they wanted to use them when it was quiet at the Lab then that was fine with her. Of course, she hadn't expected Hodgins to come to her as soon as Brennan and Angela left to say he was taking a day off too. "Why? It is short notice."
Hodgins shrugged on his jacket and checked his pockets for his car keys. "I want to help decorate Booth's tree. He and Brennan went through a lot this year because of Pelant and I want them to have a nice Christmas . . . I'm their friend."
She couldn't fault his reasoning. "Alright, go . . . have fun. If a body shows up, I'll take Clark to the scene and hold off on calling everyone back in as long as possible."
"Thanks Cam." Hodgins smiled at her and then rushed to the door. "I better hurry. I don't want those two to try to carry the tree into the house by themselves. It has to be set up properly to last at least to the New Year." With that, he raced down the hallway and out the exit.
Returning to her budget, Cam opened her excel file and started to check the numbers to make sure they were accurate. She needed to work in that new gizmo that Hodgins was salivating over. She was hoping the budget would pass as it was, but if they told her to cut anything the what's it would have to be cut and Hodgins would just have to accept it. Right.
Ooooooooooooooooooooo
It took the trio most of the morning and part of the afternoon to decorate the tree, the living room and the front yard. Hodgins made two trips to the hardware store to buy extension cords and outdoor power outlets. He had misjudged how much he would need during the first trip, but he hadn't known about the flood lights for the nativity scene, so Angela forgave him.
Once they were done, Hodgins checked to make sure everything that was supposed to light up did and that the cords were as hidden as he could make them. He had bought some fake snow at the hardware store during his second trip and used it to cover the power lines crossing the front yard. He set the lights for the yard decorations on a timer so that they would come on just as the sun set. All in all he was quite pleased with the affect and so was Brennan. "Thank you for your help. You too Angela. I have never decorated a tree before. My parents did that for me and Russ when I was a child . . . Booth decorated his tree last year . . . I did pay attention though, so I should be able to do it the next time without aid."
"You're welcome, Honey." Angela was very happy with how everything had turned out. Now she just hoped Booth would like it.
Ooooooooooooooooo
His meetings ran all day and by the time he left work, the sun had set and Booth was in a bad mood. He was sure he had missed dinner with his family and he resented that. He enjoyed watching Brennan feed Christine and sometimes he volunteered to do it when she was busy. He loved how messy his little girl was when it came to eating. It could be stomach turning sometimes, but all in all Christine could be very entertaining. He had really missed her when she was gone and hated missing family time with her now. He also hated it when he had to miss sharing a meal with Brennan at the end of the day. It was a relaxing time for both of them and he loved the routine.
As he drove down his street, Booth noticed lights in his front yard in the distance. Unsure what was going on, he felt his heart begin to race. What if Pelant was back? Picking up speed he hurried down the street until he was close enough to see that the yard was decorated with Christmas decorations. Surprised, he slowed down and pulled into his driveway. Once he was through the gate, he parked his SUV, exited it, hurried back down the driveway and into the front yard. Inspecting the scene, he felt a grin spread on his face. He was shocked and he wasn't sure what was going on, but he loved the surprise.
As he turned to go into the house, he noticed Brennan standing on the porch with Christine sitting on her right hip. "Welcome home Booth."
Hurrying up the stairs, Booth stepped onto the porch and kissed Brennan being careful not to crush his child while he did it. "You decorated the yard? How come? I mean I appreciate it, but . . . why?"
She returned his kiss and turned to open the front door. "Because I want you to celebrate Christmas Booth. It was unfair of me to object to your planned festivities last year. You love Christmas and I want our child to enjoy Christmas too." Once she was through the door she stepped into the living room with Booth following behind her.
As he entered the living room, his eyes were drawn to the tree located in the left hand corner of the room, near the fire place. "Oh my God, Bones." Stunned, he walked over to the tree and took in the decorations. The theme seemed to be coca cola bears and penguins. He recognized some of the decorations as his, but there were new ones too. Mixed in with the polar bears were bulbs with the Flyers logo prominently displayed in the center of each bulb. There were also some tiny hockey sticks hanging here and there on the tree and a couple of tiny ice skates. "Wow. This is so cool."
So glad that Booth loved the decorations, Brennan felt that she had to be honest with him. "Angela helped me pick out the tree and Hodgins set it up. Angela went with me to the store and we picked up the decorations that would match the ones you already own. You will notice we used your teddy bear tree topper. I didn't want to make any changes to your tradition. I know that the teddy bear belonged to your Grams."
He was almost speechless as he looked at the teddy bear. When his grandfather had moved into the retirement home he had to downsize his possessions and he had given his grandson all of his decorations including the tree topper. "My Grams actually made that teddy bear. She loved teddy bears and wanted an angel teddy bear for the top, but they didn't sell anything like it in the stores, so she just made one . . . thanks Bones. I mean it, thanks."
"You're welcome." Brennan was happy that her surprise had been such a success. "I still don't believe in God and I don't want to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, but of course that shouldn't interfere with your celebration. Don't expect me to go to Mass with you, but I won't say anything when you do. That is part of your celebration and I think you should do what is right for you . . . I want Christine to enjoy her childhood and I want to create happy memories for her. I know you love Christmas and I want her to love Christmas too. I want you both to be happy."
He loved Brennan so much and she was a constant source of surprise. Just when he thought he knew all there was to know about her, she did something like this and he knew he would never really understand her. But then that was the best part of being in a relationship with Brennan. Their relationship would never get stale of that he was certain. "I am happy Bones. I really am." He looked around the room and took in each decoration. "You and Angela and Hodgins did a great job, better than I would have done. Of course you bought new decorations. No way I had enough decorations to do the job . . . I'm going to have to double my grandmother's cookie recipe this year and give them a box of cookies. It's the least I can do after what they did . . . Wow I can't get over how great everything looks . . . Thanks."
Amused, Brennan chuckled. "You're welcome again . . . Booth, I really am sorry about last year. I didn't mean to make a sad memory for you and this summer, when I ran with Christine. I . . ."
Booth didn't want Brennan to dwell on the past. Moving close to her, he placed an arm around her. Careful not to press against his daughter, Booth kissed Brennan. "Hey, I told you that you didn't do anything wrong and I meant it. Yeah, I missed you both, but you're home now and if you have to ever run again, you know you have to take me with you."
"Yes, I do know that." Brennan felt a tear slide down her cheek. "Merry Christmas Booth."
As he wiped the tear from her cheek, Booth gave her a sad smile. "Merry Christmas Bones. I love you. I will always love you."
"And I love you."
Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
I hope you liked my story, Thank you.
