A/N: Hey guys! It's been awhile since I wrote anything for this story. Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed the previous chapters, I truly appreciate your feedback. Merry Christmas!
Goddamnit, could this day get any worse?
Booth kicked out hard at his front tire and was rewarded with a shooting pain that reverberated from his big toe all the way up to his knee.
"Shit," he exclaimed to the empty street.
His cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and flipped it open more violently than was probably necessary.
"What?"
"Seeley? Where are you? The play's about to start."
Damnit, he knew that. Didn't she think he knew that?
"I know, Rebecca, my car broke down."
"Seeley, he'll be devastated if you don't show up."
Booth kicked the tire again, but it did no more good than it had the first time.
"Have you called for a tow?"
Did she think he was a complete idiot?
"Yes, Rebecca. They can have a truck out in two hours." He growled the last few words as he remembered the tone that punk kid on the phone had taken with him when he'd told him how ridiculous that was.
"Two hours? Seeley, you have to be here in twenty minutes."
Booth let out a deep sigh and rolled his neck on his shoulders.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just…tell him, if I'm not there…tell him I tried my hardest and I love him."
He could almost hear her roll her eyes.
"Whatever, Seeley." And she hung up.
Booth stomped to the back of the car, then turned around and paced back to the front.
He was a good father, damnit. And damn Rebecca for making him feel like he wasn't. He took Parker when he could. He paid child support. He attended parent-teacher conferences. He called almost every evening to say goodnight. It wasn't his fault that his stupid SUV had chosen this particular afternoon to break down.
He kicked the tire again, then tipped his head back, holding in a howl of frustration. And felt a cold flake land on his cheek.
Great. Just fucking great. Now it was snowing.
Slowly, reluctantly, he pulled his phone back out of his pocket.
He pressed speed dial and waited.
She answered on the third ring.
"Dr. Brennan."
He had to smile.
"Do you even look at the caller ID before you answer the phone?"
She was quiet for a couple of seconds, then, "Booth?"
He chuckled quietly. "Yes, Bones, it's me."
"What's wrong? Do we have a case? I'm kind of busy, Booth. The next five chapters on the new book are due tomorrow and…"
"I'm sorry for calling, Bones," he interrupted her. "You get back to your writing. I'll be fine."
"No, Booth, what is it? Are you alright?"
He smiled at the barely veiled concern in her voice.
"My car just broke down, Bones. I'm fine. I'll just wait for the tow truck."
"Booth," she said with some measure of exasperation. "If you need a ride, just ask."
Now he felt like an ass for calling her. She was busy, and now she was going to insist on coming out here to retrieve him.
"Well, it's just that Parker's school play is today, and I promised I'd be there. He's playing a reindeer."
She mumbled something about ridiculous notions of flying rangifer tara-whatevers. Then she let out a small sigh.
"Where are you?"
"Bones, really…"
"Booth. Tell me where you are, now."
He gave her the street name, telling her that he was about two miles down, headed north.
"I'll be there in five minutes," she said, then hung up.
Sure enough, five minutes later her sporty little hybrid pulled up to the curb a few yards behind his SUV. She rolled down the window and stared out at him.
"Well," she said with that patented Temperance Brennan eyebrow raise which he'd come to secretly love. "What are you waiting for? Do you want to be late for Parker's play?"
He grinned as he made his way around the hood of the car and folded himself in on the passenger's side.
"Of course not, Bones. Let's go."
They were halfway to Parker's school before either spoke again.
"So, which reindeer is Parker going to be?"
He glanced over at her. "Huh?"
"Which reindeer, Booth? You know, Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen…"
He was pretty sure his jaw must have been on the spotless floor of her overpriced car at that point.
"You…you know about Santa's reindeer?"
She took her eyes off the road long enough to shoot him an annoyed glare.
"I was a child at one point, Booth. I heard the songs, I read the books. So, which reindeer is he playing?"
He stared at her for about a full minute more before he was able to scoop his chin back up and make any sort of intelligent noise.
"Uh, Blitzen, I think. I know he wanted to be Rudolph, but some little girl in his class got the part."
She nodded serenely, as if they were discussing bones, or the latest book they'd read, or the weather in Europe. Anything but Santa's reindeer.
"I'm not surprised he wanted to be Rudolph," she stated emphatically. "Rudolph could be considered the alpha male of Santa's reindeer, and Parker, much like his father, shows many traits of an alpha male."
"Much like his father?" Booth asked with a small chuckle. "I am sitting right here, Bones."
"Yes, I know that, Booth." She glanced over at him quickly, real confusion evident in her blue-grey eyes.
He let out a laugh, which he quickly stifled at the look on her face.
"What? What is so funny, Booth?"
He shook his head, turning away from her to peer out the window into the lightly falling snow.
"Yeah, um, never mind, Bones."
She huffed quietly and was silent for the rest of the ride.
They arrived at the school with two minutes to spare. Booth was about to thank Bones for the ride when she pulled into the lot and began looking for a parking spot.
"You can just drop me off at the door, Bones. No need to park."
She swung into an empty spot and turned off the car. Without turning to him, she said, "Actually, I was kind of hoping you wouldn't mind if I came along. A child's Christmas pageant would be a wonderful opportunity to observe Christmas traditions and family…"
"Bones," he interrupted her and her head popped up, her eyes locking with his. "Parker would love it if you came to see his play. And so would I."
He loved the way she tried to justify herself; as if attending Parker's class play would be a great exercise in anthropological research, when he knew that deep down, she just wanted to sit with him and watch a bunch of kids run around in silly costumes. Maybe she was remembering a pageant from her own childhood, maybe she was trying to create new Christmas memories, maybe she just needed a break from writing for awhile. It didn't really matter why she wanted to come, Booth was just inordinately glad that she did.
She nodded once, then reached between the seats to grab her purse.
They entered the auditorium just as the house lights were fading. Booth grabbed Bones' hand and threaded his way towards the middle where Rebecca was saving a seat.
"I'll just sit back here," Bones whispered in his ear. "There's only one seat, and I don't want to intrude."
He kept his grasp on her hand. "Forget it," he whispered back.
He leaned down to the guy on the other side of the seat Rebecca had saved. "Excuse me, would you mind scooting over one seat so my partner can sit with me?"
The guy glanced up at Bones, who gave a small wave and smile. The guy's face broke into a broad grin and he moved over a seat.
"Great," Booth mumbled as he seated himself between Rebecca and Bones. "Real smooth, buddy, trying to pick up a woman at your kid's Christmas pageant."
"What?" Bones whispered very close to his ear.
He had to suppress a shudder at the way her breath warmed the side of his neck.
"Nothing," he breathed and settled in to watch his kid be the best damn reindeer the world had ever seen, ignoring the way his knuckles itched to connect with that other guy's face.
"Did you see me, daddy? Did you see me in the play?"
"I sure did, bub. You were the best Blitzen I've ever seen."
Parker's grin could have lit Time Square. He bounced up and down, his hands dancing in front of him as he spoke.
"And did you see me, Dr. Bones? Did you see the way I danced and pranced across the stage? Reindeers really fly, you know. But I was just a pretend reindeer, so I couldn't fly. I saw this guy fly on TV once, but my teacher said we didn't have the epickment to do that here."
"Equipment," Bones corrected. "And the plural of reindeer is reindeer."
Parker stared up at the forensic anthropologist like she was from another planet.
"What's a plural?"
"Plural refers to more than one of the referent," Bones said.
"Refererent?"
"No…"
"More than one reindeer is still reindeer, bub, not reindeers," Booth said, deciding to put an end to the poor kid's confusion.
"Oh. Okay."
Bones lifted her head to glare at him, but Booth just grinned at her.
"Rebecca can drive me home, Bones, if you need to get going and finish your book."
Rebecca, who had remained silent up until this point, probably trying to decide what to think of Bones' presence there, nodded and said, "Oh, yeah, of course."
Booth was glad that she could at least set aside her dislike for him long enough to be nice to Bones.
"Oh, um, I don't mind," Bones said. "I'm sure you want to get Parker home for bed."
Parker groaned at that statement, but Rebecca smiled and accepted Bones' offer.
"I'll see you this weekend, buddy," Booth told his son, bending down to pick him up and give him a hug.
"Kay, daddy."
They said the rest of their goodbyes, then headed out to Bones' car.
"I was actually going to head back to the Jeffersonian," Bones told him once they were in the car, waiting for it to warm up.
"Bones, its 7:30, no way am I letting you go back to work."
"I have to finish my book, Booth. And all of my notes and planning are on my computer there."
"Have you even eaten dinner yet, Bones."
She put the car in gear and carefully backed out of the parking spot.
"I, um, don't remember."
He stared incredulously.
"That's a no."
"No, it's…"
"Bones, don't lie to me, you're not very good at it."
She turned quickly to glare at him before focusing her attention back on the snowy road.
"Fine, I haven't eaten yet."
"Great. Stop at the pizza place on Main and we'll grab a half-pepperoni, half-veggie."
"Booth, I…"
"Then we'll go to the Jeffersonian and I'll keep you company while you finish your book."
"Booth, you don't have to…"
"Watching you write would be a great experience in observing an author in her natural habitat…and all that bull."
A wry grin pulled her lips up at the corners.
"You're mocking me, aren't you?"
He held up two fingers, about an inch apart.
"Maybe a little."
"Fine, Booth. You may keep me company while I finish my writing. I'll probably need you to keep me awake, actually. I've been up since 4:30."
He smiled despite himself.
"Oh, I'm very good at finding ways to stay awake."
"Brennan, sweetie…"
Angela froze as she stepped into her best friend's office. Then slowly, inexorably, a wide smile spread across her face.
Brennan was seated on her sofa, her laptop open and running on her lap. Her fingers were still poised on the keys, her legs curled up beneath her. Her knight in FBI standard issue body armor was stretched out next to her; his arm around her shoulders in the most possessive manner Angela had ever seen; her head pillowed on his sweater-clad chest.
Angela gave an almost silent sigh, then slipped out of the office, pulling the door closed behind her.
She didn't know what had led to their cozy little moment, but she knew that whatever it was, it was a step in the right direction for those two. She just hoped that maybe it would pull them out of denial land long enough for them to finally get their heads out of their asses. She grinned to herself. A girl could keep on hoping.
A/N: Thanks again for reading, and don't forget to let me know what you thought!
For anyone waiting on an "Ex at the University" update…hang in there. I'm working on the epilogue to my Plum fic, and then The Ex will be my top priority. School's out until the end of January, so hopefully I'll have lots of time to write. Happy Holidays to everyone!