Booth's spirits were certainly lifted by the thought of having a date with Bones, and he whistled a bit of a Christmas carol as he waited for the elevator to take him to his office on the fourth floor. Things are getting better for me…fa la la la la...la la la la...

He couldn't help smiling as he watched the numbers change over the elevator's metal doors. He knew it was a stretch to consider going out to dinner with Bones as a real first date, since they'd eaten literally hundreds of meals together at the diner, but this time it felt different. Maybe it was because it'd been so long since they'd had anything close to a normal conversation…

"When was that? When was the last time we just sat and talked about something besides work?," he muttered to himself as he stepped into the elevator. "Was it before I left for Afghanistan? Was it really that long ago?"

It was the unfortunate truth. As soon as he'd arrived home from his deployment, he'd told Bones about how he'd met someone special while he was gone, and things had gone to Hell quickly from that point on.

"I was such a fucking idiot…," he grumbled. "...and I'm not gonna waste the chance to make things right with Bones. I'm gonna make her see that I want to fix things...and then I'm gonna make her see how much I love her."

As the elevator doors opened onto his floor, another thought occurred to him as he walked across the bull pen. Avalon had suggested that he check with her before he made any attempt to reconcile with Bones.

That's ridiculous! I'm a grown man! I can make a date with a woman any time I want! Still…

Still, he was just superstitious enough to wonder if he should call the psychic to get her opinion about his plans with Bones. I guess it couldn't hurt, but Jesus, I feel so stupid! Why am I worried about what that crazy woman thinks?

Maybe that was because Avalon had been right about so many things in the past. She'd definitely been right when it came to his taking advice from Sweets and how fucked up that had been, so…

He pulled out his phone to make the call, surprised to see that he had a new text message. Opening it, he laughed out loud when he saw what Avalon had written.

The cards say tomorrow will be a good day to repair relationships. You need to take Temperance on a date. Yes, really! Trust me! A.

Pocketing his phone, he smiled happily. Things were definitely getting better

...fa la la la la….la la la la

Oooooooooo

Angela's curiosity was getting the better of her as she walked across the lab. Brennan had been gone a lot longer than the artist had anticipated, and now she wondered what her friend was up to. I thought she said she was going to the Hoover and that she'd be right back...hmmm…

She knew she couldn't really get away with camping out in front of Brennan's door, waiting for her to return. That would be far too obvious. Satisfying her curiosity would instead require stealth and skill. She'd need to keep the office under surveillance without it looking as if she was spying on her best friend.

Then she had an idea about how to disguise her true motives. She casually sauntered over to the small Christmas tree that had been set up on a table near the lab's entrance. The artificial pine had been decorated with red and white glass balls, red velvet bows, and tiny red and white striped candy canes. "Pretty...but not very imaginative.," she said to herself. "We need to spice things up…"

She jogged down to her office to get some supplies and was back within a few minutes. Pulling a string of lights from her pocket that had bulbs shaped like chili peppers, she began to wrap it around the tree. "There...that's better…it's a little less ordinary…but it still needs something else…"

After cutting some scraps of Christmas wrapping paper into squares, she then folded the squares into several origami stars, which she inserted among the branches. She stepped back to admire her handiwork. "Very nice…"

Angela was so involved in what she was doing that she didn't notice that Brennan had returned from her errand until several minutes had passed. Jamming the paper scraps and scissors into her lab coat pocket, she walked over to her friend's office and stood in the doorway. "Hey...I thought maybe you'd gotten lost. You were gone quite a while."

Brennan's brows knit as she stared at her friend. "I wasn't aware that I was on a time schedule. Do we have a deadline of some sort to meet?"

"No...it's not that." Smiling, Angela walked into the office and sat down across from Brennan. "I was just curious, that's all. I'd stopped by about two hours ago to see what you were up to, but you were gone. I didn't think going to the Hoover would take that long."

As she turned on her computer, Brennan shrugged off Angela's unspoken question. "I had a couple of errands to run."

"I see." Angela giggled as she leaned forward in her chair. "So...did you see Booth while you were at the Hoover?"

"Why would you ask me that?" Brennan looked at Angela with irritation. "Several hundred people work there, Angela. The chances of me running into Booth are….quite low…"

"Still...you could've had a courier take that package over to the Hoover if you'd wanted to. You didn't have to go yourself…unless you had an ulterior motive…like seeing a certain studly FBI agent..."

"Booth wasn't supposed to be there this morning!," Brennan protested, stopping as she realized she'd given herself away. "I wasn't supposed to see him…"

"But you did…" Angela was grinning from ear to ear. "Well? What happened?"

"Nothing 'happened'. We went to have a cup of coffee, and then he asked me to have dinner with him tomorrow evening. That's all there is to it."

"He asked you to dinner?!," Angela squealed. "Like an actual honest-to-God date? Really? That's wonderful! We need to decide what you're going to wear..."

Rolling her eyes, Brennan turned back to her computer. "Angela, I've eaten dinner with Booth many times over the years. I'd hardly consider the plans I've made to meet him tomorrow evening to be worthy of such excitement." She paused, hoping that Angela wouldn't notice how thrilled she actually was. "It's just a meal at the diner…"

"And that's why you're blushing, right? Because you're telling me about plans that aren't anything special? C'mon...it's alright to be happy about having a date with Booth, okay? Maybe you two can finally figure things out...you know, to where you're more than just work partners…"

"I think your imagination is running away with you again." Brennan narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Booth and I are going to talk about how things are between us. Right now, that's all there is to it. Therefore, I don't need any help with my wardrobe choices." She frowned as she turned back to her monitor. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to finish this journal article I've been working on. It has to be submitted before the end of the month."

Sighing loudly, Angela rose from her seat. "Okay, I get it. Things between you two are weird...but please, keep an open mind about tomorrow night. Don't hold him at arm's length just because you're afraid, alright? I think he really cares about you...a lot…"

"Goodbye, Angela…"

Frustrated with her friend, the artist left the office and walked back over to the newly decorated tree. As she admired her handiwork, she grumbled softly. "I hope they don't blow it this time. Getting those two together might take a real Christmas miracle."

A/N: thank you for all the kind reviews. I appreciate them very much. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year. Laura.