A/N Thankyou to everyone who reviewed the first chapter and glad you enjoyed.
I still do not own Bones or P2, and Ranger is the name of my brothers dog, he's a golden retriever though.
Chapter 2
"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" came Parker's squeaky voice from the backseat of his fathers SUV.
"Soon bud..soon," Booth replied whilst checking for any new messages on his cellphone. He had had this sliver of hope that Brennan may have called him or perhaps left a message, but he huffed a loud sigh when his inbox came up empty.
"How soon?" groaned Parker.
Booth whipped his head around. "I said soon," he repeated with his voice sounding a little harsher then he initially intended.
Parker slouched back in his child seat pouting.
Great! What a way to start the evening. He was just glad that the traffic had been surprisingly quiet which had cut their travelling time down significantly. Why am I getting angry at him? I should after all be overjoyed that i'm going to be spending Christmas with Parker. Rebecca it had seemed just couldn't help but bombard him with the normal threats that if it had been any other day he probably would have taken seriously, although now all he could care about was that this was the season of goodwill and him and his son were going to have the best Christmas ever, and nothing or no-one was going to ruin that.
"I'm sorry daddy," came his sons apology a few moments later which made Booth feel as guilty as ever.
"It's okay bud, it was daddy's fault too. I was just..." he trailed off deciding not to involved his son in his whole i'm missing Bones speech.
The next words out of his sons mouth though caused Booth to almost career off the road. "Daddy do you love Dr Bones? cause mommy says you do."
Whoa I didn't see that one coming. Can my own son read my mind now? The more worrying aspect of it was though was what the hell Rebecca had been filling his head with. Pulling over to the side of the road he decided to set things straight.
"Look Parker I don't know what your mom had been telling you but i'm certainly not in love with Dr Bones." If only I could convince myself as much as i'm trying to convince my son.
Parker begun fumbling around with his cuddly nemo toy he had brought with him. "So she's not going to become my new mommy then?"
"What!" why would he even ask something like that. "No Parker she isn't." I'm going to kill Rebecca, she doesn't have the faintest idea how I feel about Bones. I respect her character, integrity, intellect, even her stubborn nature, and headstrong personality...and...and god I love her like crazy. He was suddenly interrupted from his wild imagination by a tap on the shoulder.
"Daddy?"
"Yes Parker."
"Is Dr Bones going to be spending Christmas with her mommy and daddy?" It was a innocent childlike question, yet Booth couldn't help but feel the guilt welling up inside him for leaving her alone.
"Dr Bones' mommy is in heaven, and... well her daddy lives far away so he won't be able to come visit her." Okay so it was a little white lie, but explaining to a six year old that her father was in jail didn't sit too well with him.
Parker sniffled loudly. "That is so sad, now Dr Bones is going to be lonely."
Her and me both, although I have Parker and she still has no-one. "She'll be fine." Noticing that Parker had released the restraints from his child seat he promptly buckled him back in and prepared to get back on the road, but it seemed his son hadn't finished yet.
"Why don't we ask her to come stay with us?"
"Who?"
"Dr Bones silly," laughed Parker.
Is he serious? "I thought you just wanted this to be the two of us."
"No-one should be on their own on Christmas eve, right daddy? and besides she's so smart and she can tell me lots of stuff... So what do ya think?" A cheeky grin spread across his face and his eyes innocently lit up as he saw his father contemplating his offer.
"Would you like me to ring her then?" I'm really not sure if this is a good idea, but then it's not really a good idea Bones being left on her own over Christmas. I would say it was Parker's idea then it wouldn't look so bad and she may, just may have a change of heart.
Parker began jumping around as far as the restraints allow. "Yay! Yay!" Booth ruffled his golden locks and then retrieved his cellphone and dialled Brennan's number, and waited.
"Cmon Bones pick up." He had been willing for her to answer, but when it diverted him to her voicemail he slammed down the phone in major disappointment. His brow furrowed as he dialled again. "Please Bones pick up," but again he was left with her voicemail. Now disappointment turned to obvious worry as his normal alpha male self became concerned for her welfare.
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Brennan groggily awoke to the sound of some retro christmas song playing softly in the background. Her ears were ringing and her head was buzzing. The light above her was bright, so bright in fact she had to squint just to take a look at her surroundings. Through her blurred vision she could make out a figure wearing something long and red. As her senses became more alert she picked up on the aroma of scented candles.
Noticing that his guest was awkening from her little slumber the figure moved quickly over to her. "Hey," he whispered caressing her cheek as he did so. "Did you have a nice sleep?"
A sudden panic arose as she realized she was not the safety and comfort of he apartment, she wasn't even in the familar surroundings of her lab, she didn't actually know where she was. "Where am I? What happened?" Before she could recieve an answer and as if on instinct she steadied herself up and attempted to make an escape."
"I wouldn't...do that if I..." The warning however came too late as she went crashing to the floor. Her assailant tutted as he lifted the chain that had been wrapped around her ankle and was attached to the heavy table leg. As he leered over her and her vision cleared she was finally able to get a good look at her mystery attacker "Tom?"
"I'm glad you remembered me," he said as he gently took her arm with the intention of helping her up. Brennan however didn't take so kindly to his assistance and she used what little strength she had to push him away.
"Get away from me!"
A little startled at her apparent hostility Tom grabbed her arm again, this time a little more harshly and on this occasion she didn't protest as much, and he was able to get her seated back down. "I'm sorry I had to chain you but it was for my own safety as well as yours," he assured her in a calm and collected manor.
Brennan cast him a confused stare. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" She crossed her arms tightly waiting for an answer.
"As far as I can see I haven't done anything wrong." He crossed the room and brought back some takeaway meals one with which he pushed towards Brennan. "I'm just being a loyal friend who couldn't bear to see a lovely woman such as yourself spending Christmas alone. I mean with that friend of yours agent Booth spending this special time with his kid, I figured you deserved some company too."
He's crazy. "Tom I appreciate you looking out for my welfare like this, but really it's not necessary. I've spent the past fifteen Christmas on my own, spending another year alone now isn't going to cause me any harm."
"That's where you're wrong Dr Brennan, everybody needs somebody and it's no use pretending it's not. I know it seems you can hide in your precious lab, as it would seem an escape from the outside world. I even know how dedicated you are to your job, but ask yourself one question. Will it love you back?"
What is he talking about? Is he a psychologist now? "Please Tom, please just let me go and we can forget about this whole misunderstanding."
His eyes narrowed as he raised his voice. "Misunderstanding! Are you that despondent of my hospitality?"
"No..it's not that." So far he had been calm so the last thing she wanted to do was to antagonize him.
"I think so Dr Brennan, or may I call you Temperance?" He grabbed the untouched box of food and threw it across the room in a fit of rage, and that was when she became aware of movement. First it was a black wet nose sniffing at the contents which had spilled on the floor. The next was large druelling mouth with big teeth, then a head, and lastly the body which belonged to a very large dog, a rottweiler to be exact. Brennan gasped as memories came flooding back from the time she had been held captive by Jamie Kenton. The constant growling and barking of those vicious dogs made her skin crawl. I really hate those dogs.
Tom smiled as he saw her sudden change in mood, it was frightful, almost fearful. "Ah you don't have to worry about Ranger he's a big ole softey when it comes to certain guests who are friendly and cooperative."
"Wow it's getting warm in here don't you think?" He removed the red coat he was wearing and then cast a glance at the jacket she was wearing. "Maybe we should take that off?"
"I'm perfectly fine Tom," she declared as her heart beat faster completely convinced he was going to try something inappropriate.
As if Tom also knew what she was thinking he quickly reassured her. "I'm not going to hurt you Temperance, besides i'm not that kind of guy. I just want to get to know you a little better so we can be friends." Does he honestly expect me to believe him? As he reached for the buttons Brennan swung her arm and her fist connected with his jaw.
There was a shriek as Tom stumbled backwards in obvious pain. Ranger growled as he stalked towards her snarling. His fang like teeth showing in all their glory as he barked viciously.
Brennan froze as she found herself face to face with this beast who didn't look like he was about to be mans best friend right now. Backing away from Rannger Brennan trembled uncontrollably until she heard a whimper when she realized he too had a chain preventing him from being free.
Tom composed himself as he began patting his pet. "It's okay boy. Daddy's fine. Temperance here was just being a bad girl." He suddenly grabbed hold of her chin forcing her to face him. "Oh Temperance you were lucky that this time Ranger was chained up, but try anything like that again and I may be forced to set him loose." Now just inches from her face he spoke in more of a mocking tone. "And may I remind you that he is VERY protective of his master."
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A/N Okay so the question is what is Booth going to do? Is he going to carry on to Vermont with his son or go back to see what has happened to Brennan.
