Don't own them, but I like to borrow them because they are shiny. FYI, I'm starting Monday morning over from Bones POV, so…yeah…
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Temperance Brennan woke with a start today was important day. She hastily threw the covers back and padded over to her door trying to open it as quietly as possible. Sneaking down the hallway trying not to wake the occupants in this wing of the house she made her way down one flight of steps and up the other into the other wing that house the rest of her family. Pushing open the door she requested she snuck in side ready to spring onto the bed when a voice in the dark whispered, "I've been waiting for you for an hour. Do you know that I went into that godforsaken Wal-Mart buying all the syrup and honey that I could find? People looked at me like I was some sort of perverted sexpert!"
Brennan rolled her eyes in the dark, "Come on let's get this over with so I can get a couple more hours of sleep before heading to the store, I want to makes sure that we get everything we need for tonight."
Christopher nodded and grabbed the reusable shopping bags full of the surgery breakfast toppings. They made their way down the hallway and opened the door to Chloe's room as quietly as possible. Brennan moved clothes, shoes and anything else in site that was personal and moved it into the closet; after all, the goal was to pull a prank, not to ruin things that had meaning.
Christopher worked to cover the bedside tables with honey, while Brennan squirted the syrup all over the floor, the partners in crime working together to not box either member in a surgery situation. Once there was only a little path from the bed to the door left uncovered they worked on covering the bed the best they could without physically touching it and risking waking their sleeping sister.
Task completed Christopher moved to the door and Brennan took a new bottle of syrup spreading it carefully from the bed to the door, as she ran out of product she would had Christopher an empty bottle and she would give him a new one. Getting to the door she covered the inner door knob with syrup and walked into the hallway.
Christopher grinned reaching into one of the bags full of now empty bottles and dug out a couple of bags, holding them up for Brennan's inspection she found them to be those colorful marshmallows and she smiled. Taking one of the offered bags she opened it reaching in and grabbing a handful she tossed some into the room not really caring about the sleeping occupant. Marshmallows were light and airy, it wasn't like they would make too much sound when they hit the things, and they wouldn't hurt if Chloe was hit with some and she wouldn't likely waken up.
When the last bag was emptied they pulled the door closed quietly and waved to each other going back to their own rooms for a few more hours of much needed sleep.
The next time Temperance woke she hurried to get ready for the day pulling on jeans and a t-shirt. Going downstairs she had a quick breakfast consisting of a muffin and some coffee. When she was halfway through with her muffin and on her second cup of coffee Christopher walked in his attire almost matching her own. He yawned out a 'morning' before going to get a muffin to eat and a cup of coffee.
"I'm thinking that we should make homemade spaghetti tonight." She said casually, they had already decided that they were going to cook for the Pines but they hadn't decided on what they were going to cook. "It's one of his favorite meals."
Christopher nodded taking a big bite of his muffin, "Sounds good. I'm ready to go when you are." He said, and Brennan was both surprised and relieved that nothing came flying out of his mouth as he spoke.
Brennan grabbed her bag off the table and stood, Christopher following suit. They made it out into the great room just as Avery was coming down the stairs, "Morning." He called to the duo, "Going somewhere?"
"To get some things for tonight's dinner." Brennan said, and to be honest neither wanted to be there when Chloe woke up.
Avery nodded moving towards the library, "Travel safe, it's raining."
Brennan nodded, "We will be back in a little while, do you need anything while we are out?" at the shake of his head she added, "If anyone misses us you'll tell them we'll be right back?" This time he nodded.
There was a slightly muffled scream coming from the siblings' wing of the house, it was far enough away that they only just heard it, Avery moved towards the stairs as Christopher grabbed Brennan's arm calling out, "Okay, so we'll see you later." And the two practically ran out the door, down the steps and into the Audi.
They made it out of the driveway before bursting into laughter, both trying to one up the other for what they imagined was going on in the house at that moment. It made the short ride to the grocery store very pleasant despite the rain that was falling harder all around them.
When they got to the store they grabbed a shopping cart, and once they had almost everything for the meal they planned for the night, they went to one end of the store and started working their way to the other side just in case they spotted something else they needed.
They had made it to the candy store, arguing over Christopher putting candy into the shopping cart, and Brennan taking it out and putting it back on the shelves, "We don't need any candy!"
"Yes we do, you can never have too much candy!" Christopher said pulling a couple bags of pixie stixs off the shelf and tossing them around Brennan and into the cart.
"Christopher!" she said just as her phone rang, pulling it out she answered keeping her narrowed glare on her brother, "Brennan."
"Where are you?" It was Booth, of course, and he sounded a little out of it.
"I'm shopping with Christo-" she watched in horror as Christopher put several bags of mixed candies in the cart, "no put that back!" she returned her attention to the phone call at hand with one last pointed look at her shopping companion, "Are you okay? Did something happen?" There was something in his voice that caused her concern.
Booth sighed, "Everything is fine. I just thought…You know maybe you decided to go buy me a horse for lunch or something."
Temperance couldn't stop the laugh over the horse joke, as she took control of the shopping cart and started making her way out of temptation isle. "If I can get Christopher out of the candy isle I will be back soon." She said, though she wasn't looking forward to the drive back knowing that it would be in the rain, which reminded her, Chloe had called to yell at both of them and after they gave their most insincere apologies Chloe had mentioned what she wanted to do with the kids to make sure they still had a fun day even with the rain. "It's pouring outside, Chloe was going to talk to you about taking the kids to the Abbe Museum. They have exhibits and workshops for the children. And then the Acadia Repertory Theatre has a children's theatre program."
"Sounds good Bones, I'll be sure to find her and talk to her about it. Drive back safely."
She could tell that he was using that tone where he was worried or annoyed with something but didn't want to bother or upset her, she hoped it wasn't something she did, and maybe she shouldn't have made the comment about him and Andy last night. Maybe she really did miss her chance. "Booth are you sure you're okay?" a thought struck her, "You didn't corner Morgan did you? I thought I said he was standoffish, only comes to these gatherings so that Wes can interact with his late mother's family." Not that they didn't try to include Morgan as well, just the lawyer just didn't seem interested.
"No, no. Haven't seen him I've just been thinking. I've missed you Bones" he said sincerely.
Brennan smiled at the declaration and hope sparked that maybe they hadn't missed their chance after all, "You saw me only hours ago." She said looking over to make sure Christopher hadn't snuck back to the candy isle, instead finding him playing with one of the live lobsters. "Christopher put that down! I'm serious if I have to yell that you are stealing things to get you thrown out…I'm not above it!" to spite her he picked up another one and started making them 'kiss' by pressing their bodies together, "Booth I have to go. Christopher is playing with live lobsters." And now they were dancing a really bad rendition of the Can-Can. "They are not puppets you shouldn't be waving them around like that. How would you like it if some stranger was making puppet shows with your food?" she asked and moved closer as he removed the rubber bands holding the claws closed. "CHRISTOPHER!" she said in warning but it was too late the lobster with the free claw found it's tormenter's hand and clamped down hard.
In shock and pain Christopher let the other lobster fall as he jumped back knocking into a display of bread and falling to the ground. He pulled the lobster off his hand yelling in pain drawing the attention of other shoppers and staff. "Are you okay?" she asked bending near him as an employee did as well, "That's what you get for taking those rubber bands off the Chelipeds." She said matter-of-factly.
The employee turned to her with a blank expression, "He did what to what?"
Brennan rolled her eyes annoyed, "The pincher and crusher claws, you moron, you work in a store located near the shores where you can find…" she trailed off Christopher was hurt, this wasn't the time to give a lesson to someone, "just get him a band aid or something." Booth would have been proud of her for not continuing her lecture. BOOTH! "Booth?" She asked wondering if he was still on the line, "Booth I really do have to go…I've" she took a deep breath, "I've missed you too." And with that she hung up the phone putting it back into her pocket.
"Were you seriously having a heart to heart as I lay here bleeding to death?" Christopher glared at her holding his hand protectively.
Brennan looked over his hand; there was a little blood and a lot of swelling. "I was not having a heart to heart!"
The employee came back with the manager who apologized many times offering to pay for the groceries, while Brennan applied that bandages they had brought presumably from the first aide section of the store. She was as gentle as she could be using her skill to make sure no bones had been broken. "That's okay. "She said helping Christopher stand, "It was an accident." She said knowing that the fault didn't happen because of their service but because her brother was a total idiot.
They paid for their purchases with promises that Christopher was okay, and they wouldn't be suing the store. The drive back was made mostly in silence. Christopher pouting that he was hurt, and Brennan annoyed that he had gotten hurt for acting like a little kid.
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After making the sauce with Booth's help Brennan returned to her room getting a couple more hours of sleep, she had after all gotten up in the middle of the night for her prank, and then gotten up extra early to go shopping with Christopher for their supplies.
When she woke a few hours later, she opened the door to find that Booth's door was also open and he was in watching TV on the small television, when he noticed her he shut off the T.V. and stood moving towards her, "I'm sorry did the TV wake you up?" at the shake of her head he grinned, "Did you have a good rest?"
Brennan nodded, "It was alright, I tossed and turned but finally fell asleep, I feel more rested." She said, "I need to go downstairs and check the sauce."
"I stirred it a couple of times while you were sleeping it smells amazing." He said following her down the hallway, "I don't understand why you made it so soon."
"What do you mean?" she asked glancing at him.
"I'm just saying that I don't understand why we made the sauce 32 hours before we were planning on using it." Booth said as the partners walked through the oversized house making their way to the kitchen.
"Booth, it has in no way, been 32 hours." Brennan said with an eye roll, "The sauce has to simmer so the flavor cooks into everything. It's not one of those disgusting cans you just peel the lid off and heat." She said with a shudder, "Meat sauce, what does that even mean? Have you looked at some of that sauce? Explain to me where the meat is!" she pushed open the door, moving to a drawer and pulling out a large spoon. Moving to the stove she took the lid off setting it aside and dipped the spoon into the red mixture. Holding up the sauce filled spoon she blew on it before offering it to Booth.
"What?" he asked.
"I need you to taste it, it's got meat in it…" she said, "I need to know if it tastes perfectly. Not good Booth, it has to be perfect."
"You really care a lot about these Pine people?" Booth asked.
"I was locked in the trunk for two days, if it wasn't for Mr. Pine." She trailed off.
Booth pulled up short, "Wait, I thought Christopher's father is the one who got you out of that trunk." He said remembering back to the first meal he shared with the prankster.
Brennan nodded, "He is."
"But his last name is Relic." Booth said raising his eyebrow.
Brennan nodded, "That's correct." She smiled at a memory, "After getting Avery and I out of the foster care system when I was fifteen we came to stay with him and his family. And the help would always call us Master Mead and Mistress Brennan." She said and couldn't help the look of discomfort at being addressed as such. "Christopher became annoyed and decided that if we got to keep our names instead of taking the names of our new 'parents' then he was changing his name too. I'm not even sure how he came up with Relic, but Mr. Pine said that if that was something he wanted to do then he wouldn't stop Christopher." She grinned, "I think it part of it was because after Avery and I got more comfortable with the family we started calling them our family and Christopher always thought it was fun to call us siblings and then stay our full names. It always confused people that we had three different names. Mary kept Pine though, she was always hanging out with us but didn't need to feel different, or maybe by being the only child to have the name Pine she was different." She shrugged.
Booth stored all that information in his head, along with everything Avery had shared with him, it had already been an emotionally trying day and it wasn't nearly over yet. He was finally going to meet the man that saved his partner. "I'm glad that you have everyone here to look out for you."
Brennan nodded, "I am too. Though I am glad that I also have dad and Russ too." She looked up at him, "They know about this family." She said, "Dad said he watched out for me, so he knew that I ended up okay."
Booth nodded, "I'm glad that they are okay with it, or at least not making you feel bad for finding a family when yours couldn't be there for you."
Brennan nodded not saying anything for several seconds before remembering the spoon in her hand that she luckily hadn't spilled. "So that's why this meal has to be perfect."
Booth nodded more understanding of why his partner was acting like a basket case over a meal. "Okay, I'll give me honest opinion." He said and she held up the spoon for him to take. Booth looked at the spoon before meeting his partner's eyes. With a bold move he took hold of her wrist instead of the spoon handle and brought her arm closer so he could get the spoon in his mouth. The sauce had grown lukewarm but it was still very delightful and he closed his eyes stopping the moan before it embarrassed him. "Please say you'll come over and cook for me every day." He said opening his eyes and releasing her.
Brennan was looking at him with an unreadable expression, giving a slight shake of her head to clear her thoughts she tilted her head, "Why do you need me to cook for you?"
Booth chuckled, "Because that is the best sauce I have ever tasted." He said honestly, "I was kidding about coming over to cook for me."
Brennan watched him for a moment before shrugging, "I could do that." She said moving to put the spoon in the sink so she wouldn't have to look at him, "A couple times a week if you would like."
"I would like, but you don't have to do that. I can feed myself." He said watching her, a little worried that he had scared her off, willing to give her room, but unwilling to let her go.
Brennan shrugged, "I know, but if I came over and cooked for you, you wouldn't be eating burgers and fries all the time. You'd get a little healthier…at least a couple times a week." She turned and met his glaze, "I know plenty of ways to prepare dishes that would satisfy your need for your alpha foods of unhealthy meats, but prepared in a way that would also be healthier for you then going out to eat. Or, I'm sure, healthier than having you prepare them yourself."
Booth didn't know whether to be offended that she thought he ate hamburgers and fries all the time or that he probably didn't know how to –which he didn't- cook a healthy meal version of his favorite meals. But he wasn't going to let that stop him from accepting the offer of having the woman that he loved come over to his place to take care of him. And while she was doing that, he was going to woo her until she couldn't say no to giving them a chance. "I accept." He said with a wide smile.
Which she returned, "On one condition," she paused and he raised his eyebrow in question, "if I'm going to be doing all this cooking for you then I'm going to expect payment in form of one Seeley Booth Grilled Cheese Special." She said and held out her hand to shake on her terms.
Booth looked at her hand and paused as if he really had to think about it. "Okay, but one of these meals better contain some macaroni and cheese." He took her hand in his and shook it, holding on a little longer then needed before releasing her and stepping back.
Brennan grinned before laughing a little, "I find it humorous that we just negotiated meals." She said laughing again, and Booth joined in. When they stopped Brennan got serious, "The sauce was okay then?"
Booth shook his head, "Better than okay, I told you best I've ever had. Seeley Booth Seal of Approval."
She squinted at him, "Is there really such a thing as the Seeley Booth Seal of Approval? Because I haven't heard of it and I've traveled a lot."
He chuckled, "Not yet, but mark my words, by the end of the week you'll get your seal, and an official document saying that you're got it."
"Got it what?" she asked.
"It." He replied, "You know, it. The X factor, the right stuff."
"The X Factor." She repeated.
Booth stared at her, "You know what we have a lot of T.V. to catch up on. When we get home Parker and I are going to start your lessons up again. We'll take on the X Factor; it's like American Idol only so much better because it isn't quite as stupid."
"Why would I want to watch something that was stupid?" she asked seriously, "And who is the American Idol, are you talking about the president because let me just tell you…"
"Seriously Bones? Not even American Idol, I guess it's not important, the show lost its appeal years ago, and now that Simon and Paula are gone it's not even worth it." He said.
Brennan nodded like she agreed with him when in reality she had no clue who the American Idol was, who Simon or Paula were, though she assumed that one of them must be the idol. "Okay." She said non committed having no idea what he was talking about.
"You know what never mind, we'll iron out the details later, and right now we need to make this place sizzle. What needs done?" he asked wanting to take as much stress away from her as he could.
Brennan looked around the room and shrugged, "I'll need to cook the pasta, but I won't do that until they arrive so it isn't overcooked. Elsie set the table already…I guess its all set."
Booth nodded, "So why do you go upstairs work on that book of yours. Make sure you tell how wonderful Andy is at making hamburger a beautiful brown and how delicious his sauce tastes." He added with a wink.
Temperance laughed, "He didn't make the sauce, I mean, you didn't make the sauce I made the sauce you helped with the other stuff."
"Cooked the hamburger didn't I? Ergo, I made the sauce complete." He said cockily, "Which mean's Andy is one good cook."
Brennan just laughed, "If it makes you sleep better at night."
Booth nodded trying to look serious, "It does." He cracked a smile.
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Because the prank and the lobster thing were on my mind. And look! Its 2am my normal posting time, so you get this extra post tonight. Hope it wasn't terrible.
