A/N: Well, guys this is it! The last chapter! Since the e-mails aren't working, I'll reply to a few reviews here. By the way, thank you all of you for the wonderful reviews you gave me. It really made my month (the month of December was really rough on me emotionally). Your reviews made my day every day. Thank you to those who read but didn't review and most of all, thank you to the 98 people who put this story on alert and the 23 who put it in their favorites.

mamabear04: No they didn't sleep together. Temperance simply slept in his bed that night. See explaination further down this chapter.

molly c: Thank you for your really nice reviews and hopefully your sister won't yell at you for squealing too loudly at the end of that chapter!

And now, I'll stop talking and let you guys read. Merry "belated" Christmas every day and a happy New Year!


Christmas Day

Temperance sighed happily as she slowly opened her eyes. Memories of the previous night rushed through her mind. A smile spread across her face as she thought about their kiss. She could still feel the softness of his lips on hers. She could still feel all the love, all the compassion that his kiss had communicated. She turned on her back and stared at their ceiling. She was being irrational, getting all worked up over a kiss, but she found that, at that moment, she didn't care. She laughed out loud. She didn't care.

She turned to the man sleeping beside her. His strong arms had held her all night. They had fought over who was going to take the couch. She had argued that she was the guest and should have been sleeping on the couch but Booth had told her that because she was the guest, she was entitled to sleeping in his bed. After an hour or so of debating who was sleeping where, Booth had simply suggested they both sleep in his room.

"After all, it's not like we've never done that before." He had said.

And Temperance had blushed at his reference to their undercover assignment in Vegas the previous year.

It had been settled. Minutes later, they were both crawling under the sheets, her on the left, him on the right. The rule had been simple: they both stayed on their side of the bed. But when, around two or three in the morning, Booth had pulled her to him in the middle of the bed and planted a tiny kiss on her shoulder, she had simply sighed and leaned back into his embrace.

Temperance swallowed. If this didn't stop soon, she'd fine herself in a relationship with her work partner before she even knew it.

She was surprised he was still asleep. She had figured he would have been up with the son, trying to keep his son away from the presents until she woke up. Then again, they had arrived late the previous night and Parker was probably just really exhausted.

She stared at him a little while longer until she felt him stirring. Turning her back on him, she pretended to be asleep.

"I know you're not asleep, Bones." Booth mumbled from his side of the bed.

Temperance closed her eyes and grimaced. She had been caught.

She slowly turned back to face him and smiled. Booth smiled back sleepily.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked her.

"Yes. You?"

"No."

Temperance frowned.

"Why?"

"Because you kept kicking me."

Temperance slapped him hard on the chest, making Booth groan in pain.

"I do not kick in my sleep."

"That's what you think." Booth replied as he rubbed his painful chest.

Temperance rolled her eyes.

"I'm surprised your son hasn't dashed in your bedroom yet." Temperance said as she turned onto her back to look at the ceiling.

"We made a deal last night. Since we arrived late, I told him he needed to stay in his room until the clock said nine o'clock and it's currently... eight-thirty."

"Your son is very respectful of rules. I'm surprised, considering..."

Booth turned to his side and propped himself on his elbow, head resting in his hand.

"Considering what?"

"Considering you're his father." Temperance replied before smiling teasingly at him.

Booth gaped at her.

"By the way, are we going to have this fight often?"

"What fight?" Booth asked as he sat up and flung his legs over the side of the bed.

"You wanting me to take your bed while you slept on the couch?"

"Well you won last night." Booth reminded as he glanced around the room for his pants. "I slept in my bed."

"Yes but you didn't let me sleep on the couch."

"I've never going to let you sleep on the couch." Booth said as he grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on.

"And why is that?" Temperance asked.

"Because then I can't hold you in my arms."

Temperance blushed before looking away.

"Booth, I don't..."

Realizing his mistake, Booth quickly apologized.

"Sorry, Bones, I didn't mean to..."

"I know." Temperance replied, looking up briefly at him.

Booth cleared his throat.

"Come on, let's go celebrate Christmas. I know one kid who's probably going insane in his bedroom right now."

Temperance nodded before getting out of bed.

"You go ahead. I'll join you in a minute."

Frowning, Booth nevertheless left the room.

Temperance waited until Booth had left his room and had walked in his son's before opening every drawer in his dresser. What had she put his present? She searched for a few seconds before finding it in the top left drawer. Taking it in her hands, she closed the drawer and looked down at the carefully wrapped presents. Snowmen looked up at her and smiled. A nervous feeling crept inside of her and lodged itself at the bottom of stomach.

Hopefully he's going to like his present.

Before walking out of the room, Temperance wondered if the nervous feeling was a normal Christmas feeling.


Parker was jumping up and down when Temperance walked in the living room. In an instant, the boy stopped moving and smiled brightly at his father's friend.

"Tempe! Look what Santa brung me!"

"That's... nice, Parker." Temperance said, forcing a smile.

The present she was holding in her hands now seemed heavier than before.

She turned her gaze to Booth who was staring at her expectantly.

"What have you got there, Bones? Is it my present?"

"Maybe." Temperance replied as she walked up to the tree and set the small package on a bigger.

"Maybe not."

Booth chuckled.

"Can we pleeeeeeeease open presents now?" Parker whined as he jumped up and down once again.

Booth looked over at Temperance who was forcing herself not to laugh.

"Seems like we have no choice." Temperance said.

"How many e's were in that word?"

Temperance simply giggled. Booth smiled.

"Okay Parker, sit."

The boy sat on the floor. Temperance raised her eyebrows, surprised.

"This year is going to be a little bit different, okay Buddy?"

Parker nodded.

"It's not just you and me this year, Temperance is here too. So we'll have to be patient. We're each going to unwrap presents one at a time? Do you think you can be patient?"

"What does pasint mean?"

Booth chuckled.

"Patient means we have to wait our turn and we don't get fussy because it's taking a long time."

Parker nodded. He could be pasint.

"Tempance, sit down." Parker told the anthropologist as he patted the floor beside him.

Temperance sat down. Booth looked at them both before grabbing the first package he laid hands on.

"This is one is for Parker from Santa."

Squealing in delight, Parker roughly grabbed the present from his father's hands.

"Gentle, Parker."

"Sorry, Dad." The boy replied as he tore the paper of his present. "COOL! A SpongeBob Square Pants video game!"

Temperance examined the little box the boy was holding and immediately recognized the sponge in pants on the boy's comforter.

"This is... for me!" Booth said as he read the name of the name tag on the second present.

"Who's it from?"

"From Jared and Mike." Booth read.

Seconds later, he was uncovering a new pair of Christmas socks. Booth laughed loudly.

"I told my brother I had lost my old Christmas socks. I think I had those pair for like five years but I lost them when I moved from my old house to here. I must have told him that months ago, I can't believe he remembered."

Looking down at the socks, he smiled.

"Do you like my new socks, Parker?"

The boy nodded.

"They're cool!"

Booth chuckled.

Turning to the pile of presents, he examined it in search of a present for his friend. Behind the big box containing their new television, he found a tiny box with Temperance's name written on it and immediately recognized it as Angela's handwriting. He grabbed it and handed it over.

"From Angela." He simply said.

He unfortunately never got to see what it was. Whatever had been in the little box was immediately hidden. Temperance looked up at him, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"A naughty present, is it?" Booth asked, teasingly.

"Let's just say it came from Angela."

Booth chuckled before grabbing another present.


There was only three presents left. Torn wrapping paper was scattered across the living room floor. Booth glanced at his watch. It was nearly eleven.

"Okay, looks like we only have one last present each."

Temperance looked from Parker's new book, her eyes opened wide. Her present. She had almost forgotten about it. She turned to the tree to find the small present on the floor. Temperance felt her heart beat quicker. She eyed the present like a menace, like a bomb only waiting for the perfect time to explode. Time stood still as she watched Booth grab it and read the name off the name tag. He set it on his laps before sliding Parker's last present to him. Then, picking up a tiny box off the floor, he handed it to her.

"This one's from me."

His voice had something different. She looked up from the box and locked eyes with him. He almost looked scared. And at that moment, Temperance wondered if Booth could read the same thing in her own eyes.

"Parker, you go first." Booth said.

It was almost as if he was stalling for time. Parker nodded and slowly unwrapped. Temperance watched him intently. She could feel Booth's eyes on her every now and then and she forced herself not to look at him. The box in her hands grew heavier by the second. Finally, Parker had unwrapped his present.

"Thank you, Daddy." The boy said as he got up and kissed his father.

"You're welcome, Bud."

"Okay now it's Tempe's turn." Parker said, sitting back down and looking excitedly at her.

"I hope you like it because there's no way I can exchange it or get a refund."

Temperance looked over at Booth. He had lost his smile and almost looked serious. With slightly shaking hands, she undid the bow decorating the box before slowly unwrapping it. A red box in the shape of a squashed cylinder was hidden underneath. Frowning, she looked up at her friend. His eyes were glued to the box.

Slowly, she opened one side of the box and looked inside. A thin, white line was all she saw.

Her fingers shook as she pulled the piece of paper out of the box. A puppy standing on his hind legs and holding a heart in his paws stared back at her. Temperance frowned.

"A Valentine's Day card?" She asked, surprised.

Booth ran a tongue over his lips, moistening his dry lips.

"Just flip it over."

His throat felt dry and he was pretty sure his heart was going to beat out of his chest. He watched as Temperance slowly flipped the paper over.

Her voice caught in her throat. She wanted to say something but found that she couldn't. Her heart beat loudly in her ears, drowning the tiny voice of Parker asking over and over again what his father had given her. She stared numbly at the writing at the back of the Valentine.

A full minute of silence passed. Sensing the tension, Parker fell quiet, his eyes going from his father to Temperance. Something was going on that he wasn't understanding. His father looked serious, Temperance had tears forming in her eyes that immediately disappeared the second she looked up at his father.

"So?" Booth asked, his voice completely betraying the fear he was feeling at that moment.

"Open your present." Temperance simply replied.

Booth looked down at the box, his heart sinking. Why wasn't she answering him?

"Open your present, Booth."

Her tone told him he'd have to do what he was told to.

He smiled at how she had wrapped his present. Neatly, symmetrically. Totally her. His smile immediately vanished. She hadn't answered him.

The object was heavy, heavier than he had expected. He tried guessing what it was but found that he couldn't. Carefully, he tore one side of the present before taking the object between his thumb and his index and sliding out of its package. His heart stopped as his gaze fell on the object.

He remembered vividly the day this picture had been taken. It had been after Parker's play. They had gone out for ice cream in a parlor near Parker's school. Booth had wanted to take a picture of them all together and he had asked the waitress who had served them to take it. He had joined Temperance and his son on their booth across from his and had settled Parker between them. He watched the way his partner's head and his own were tilted in each other's direction. It was as though their heads had known longer than them that they wanted each other.

"What is it, Daddy?"

Parker's little voice brought Booth crashing back to reality.

"It's a picture frame with a picture of us inside." Booth replied.

Parker scooted closer to his father to have a better look.

"What does that say?" Parker asked, pointing to a word sculpted on the frame above the picture.

"It says 'love'."

"How about that one?" Parker asked, pointing this time to the word at the bottom of the frame.

"That's family."

Booth looked up at Temperance and smiled. She had given him her answer.

He let his son admire the frame for a few more seconds before getting up.

"Parker, you stay here and play with your toys. I just need to talk to Temperance for a couple of minutes, okay?"

Parker nodded.

Temperance got up and followed her friend to the kitchen. She barely had the chance to step inside the kitchen that she was already being pulled into Booth's arms. His lips came crashing down on hers and she had no other option but to kiss him back. This time, there was no shyness, nobody looking at them and it certainly wasn't slow. The emotions Booth was currently experiencing were all thrown into that kiss. He held her close, his hand at the back of her head keeping her from pulling away.

When they finally did, Booth kissed her on the cheek before hugging her close to him. Unable to do anything else, Temperance hugged him back.

"Thank you." Booth whispered.

Temperance smiled.

"Merry Christmas."

Surprised, Booth pulled away.

"Did you just wish me a merry Christmas?"

"Yes. I think I did."

Booth kissed her tenderly.

"Merry Christmas, Temperance."

"Merry Christmas, Seeley."

Booth smiled before claiming her lips once more. When they broke away, Temperance asked the question that had been bothering her since she had read the note.

"What confession were you talking about?"

Booth simply chuckled.

"Let's just say that if I ever want to get the whole truth out of you, all I need to do is to get you drunk."

Temperance frowned, making Booth chuckle once more. He kissed her nose sweetly before grabbing her hand and leading her back to the living room.

Parker, who was still playing in the living room, was unaware of how much his life had just changed that day. Later on during the week, he would ask his cousin Mike to read the note his father had written to Temperance.

"It says,

After your confession, I wasn't afraid to do this.

I like you a lot.

Will you give us a chance?

I wonder what your dad is talking about?"

Parker poked his head out of his bedroom and looked down the hallway. From where he was, he could easily see the living room and the couch where his father and Temperance were now sitting. Temperance had her head on his father's shoulder, the same way he had seen Camille do only the year before. Except this time, there was one tiny difference. His father looked happy. He was smiling as he held her hand. He never did that with Camille, Parker remembered.

"I think it means that Daddy has a new girlfriend." Parker replied.

Mike simply shrugged.

In the living room, Booth and Temperance exchanged yet another kiss, grossing out the two boys down the hall.


Temperance eventually found out about the bet. To say that she simply shrugged it off would be an understatement but she eventually forgave her partner's overconfidence when he swept her off her feet once again on Valentine's Day.


See you on Valentine's Day (wink wink)!