Christine's Pov

I watched as Dad and Mom came through the front door from my place on the couch, seeing both of them carrying a lot of bags. Michael was at the other end of the couch, watching the T.V with my legs on his lap, and a large blanket was covering the two of us. It was December and it was bloody cold today. It was very close to Christmas and I was very much hoping my brace was off by then. It had only been less than a day, so obviously I didn't know how long it was going to take to get better, but right now it was still very painful and I had taken anti-inflammatory's.

"What exactly did you buy? You know we were planning on ordering pizza for lunch, right." I said, surprised that they had brought so much.

"We brought some shopping that we needed as well." Mom said as they took the bags into the kitchen. "And we want you to have fun. We know things have been strained between you and your friends because of Darius' death."

I smiled at her. "Thanks Mom. We're hoping that today will help us bridge the gap that's grown between us." I admitted, which is when there was a knock on the door. "That's probably Kate." I said, trying to get up.

"I'll get it, you stay on that couch and rest." Mom said and I didn't even fight her on it. If my mother was one thing, it was persistent. Not to mention the fact that it was really cold today.

I watched as Mom opened the door and Kate walked into the house, rugged up in a thick jacket. She was barely showing, but her baby bump was definitely there. She'd find out the gender soon enough.

"Oh god, how bad is your ankle?" Kate asked the second she saw me and I chuckled.

"It's not that bad, it just looks worse than it is." I said as she sat on the couch across from me, a hand on her stomach.

"Well I'm glad to hear that, you've been hurt far too much lately." She said and I couldn't help but agree with her. "When are the other's supposed to get here?"

"They'll be here soon, so I should probably start getting the food set out." Michael said as he carefully moved my leg off his lap, then put it back down on the couch once he was off it. I went to move, but he gave me an easily identified look. "You stay put."

"Well, Booth and I are heading out, so you enjoy your day and try not to leave too much of a mess." Mom said as she pulled on her jacket at the door.

"I'll try to keep that in mind Mom, just enjoy your day off with Dad. You rarely ever have a full day off." I said as I looked over at the two of them, smiling at them.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure she does." Dad said and I watched Mom just shake her head as she walked out the front door, Dad following soon after.

"Well, if they're going, I'll give you a hand Michael." Kate said and I watched as she got up off the couch.

"You sure?" Michael asked and Kate just rolled her eyes at him as she walked over to him.

"I'm pregnant Michael, not an invalid." Kate scolded as she reached him, and I watched as Michael raised his hangs up in surrender. Obviously, he was quickly realizing not to piss off a pregnant woman.

They started moving around the kitchen, getting the food ready (it's not like they had to do much as it was all coming out of packages, and that was a good thing since Michael still really needed to learn how to cook) and putting them in or on whatever dishes they could find. I felt quite lazy, sitting on the couch and watching them do all the work, but it'd be pretty hard for me to help them right now and not make a mess.

I heard knocking on the door then and I reached for my crutches, only to have Kate walked over and move them just out of my reach. "Hey!"

"Stay on your ass, I can get the door." She said and I scrolled at her.

"You know, I'm not an invalid either." I said, throwing her words back at her. I didn't want to sit on this couch all damn day.

She just ignored me and I sighed, which is when Michael came over and placed two bowls of chips down, along with a large two-liter coke and lemonade, with stacked cups as well. He patted my head before he went back to the kitchen.

"Christine, what happened to your foot?" Stacey asked as she came in with Anna and Ford, which made me think that Ford had driven them. He and Stacey definitely seemed to be settling into a relationship.

"I had a bit of an incident with a bully of a girl on the other team, but it's not that bad. It just looks worse than it is." I said and Anna shook her head as she came over to sit near me on a kitchen chair we'd brought in to the lounge.

Ten minutes later, Layla and James arrived and all our friends were together. Things were tense, it was obvious, and everyone was barely saying anything, which caused Michael and I to look at each other – Michael was now sitting back where he had been before. For James, silence was normal, but it wasn't for the rest of them.

It was only a few minutes into the silence after everyone's greetings that Kate had enough. "Alright, that's it. All of you, minus Christine and Michael, stop acting so weird. I can't stand the silence, though I know it's normal for you James." She erupted, staring down everyone as they flinched guiltily, which is when she sighed. "I know things have been weird because Darius died, but we're still friends and we all know that he wouldn't want this. He wouldn't want you guys avoiding me because you don't know what to say to me."

It took a minute, but Ford chuckled. "He'd probably smack me personally and tell us all to grow up." Ford said and everyone nodded. Ford sighed a second later, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're right to be mad at us, 'cause we have been avoiding you, and I'm sorry. It's just been hard."

Kate went over to him and swatted him on the shoulder. "Yeah, it has, but that's why I want my friends around. You guys don't have to pretend that Darius isn't gone or pretend that you don't miss him, but no matter what we are friends and I want to at least get back to something close to what we had before." Kate said and I knew that this was important to her, because she'd gone through a lot lately and she didn't want to lose her friends too.

"Then I guess we better get this party started and start bonding again." Layla said, standing up off the couch and grabbing a controller. "So, who's arse am I kicking first?"

We all started laughing and I looked up at Kate, who was smiling in relief as her hand rested on her stomach. She was happy and that made me cheer up instantly because she was my best friend and I wanted her to be happy.

Now this was normal.

X

It was still a little bit tense as the game started, but after a little while we all settled into our normal routine, though it was minus one key person. Ford and Michael were playing against Layla on the PlayStation, James watching them as they did, and the other girls and I were talking about random things. One main topic was about the baby, which Stacey and Anna were hoping was a girl, which is what Kate was certain she was having, though I knew part of her wished that it was a little boy that looked like Darius, but she wanted it to be a girl because Darius always wanted a little girl.

Thankfully, they were keeping to the "keep it clean" rule, but they were irritated at me because I stole the Dorito's and was keeping them on my lap, playfully slapping hands away as they tried to take some.

"Come on Christine, share." Ford complained and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"No, go get the other bag from the cupboard. You can go grab that." I said and he stared at me.

"You couldn't have said that earlier." He said and I just shrugged. What was the fun in that? "Stace, any chance you can go grab it? I don't want to lose to Layla."

"You're lucky I like you so much." She sighed and she got up off the couch. She knew where they'd be, they all would. They'd been here enough to know where the food cupboard is.

"You should've just gotten him to get up girl, it would have saved him the embarrassment of losing." Layla said and I shook my head. She was super competitive, and that showed often.

"Hey Chris, what are you guys doing for Christmas?" Anna asked me and I looked over at her.

"Same thing we normally do as far as I know. Breakfast in the morning, meeting up with Michael's family for lunch and then a Christmas dinner with family. Whether Parker will be here depends on his plans, but Grandpa will be." I said, because that's what I knew about Christmas, which I was really looking forward to. I loved Christmas. "What about you guys?"

"We're going to Tulsa to spend Christmas with our grandparents. Our grandmother always cooks up a storm when we go there." Stacey explained as she came back with the other bag of Dorito's, which she handed to Ford who took them eagerly.

"Darius' family is having a low-key Christmas, so I'll be with them of course. They're still not in a truly festive mood, but they don't want to ruin the day for Nathan." Kate said and I was honestly so happy that she was living with them. Her parents were awful, but Darius' parents, they were amazing.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a low-key Christmas. My family Christmas' are always so chaotic because there's so many of us. I have far too many boys in my family." Layla said and I wanted to laugh that she was complaining about boys when she was basically one herself – she'd yet to find a guy that was intimidated by her because of how athletic she was. I'd probably have the same problem since I'm athletic and smart, but I had Michael.

"What about you Ford?" I asked, considering he was so busy trying and failing to beat Layla at the game. Michael was actually neck to neck with her, and he was making Ford lose too.

"Damn it Michael!" Ford cursed as Michael slammed his car off the track – at least they weren't playing a sport or shooting game, though I'm sure they would soon. "Despite Michael just being a dick, my family are just having a simple Christmas – Lana absolutely loves it, so of course it's going to be all about it."

"It's not wrong for a young girl to love Christmas – if Lana loves the holiday and still sees it with joy, then let her, because once she's older that's going to be gone." I said, because even I didn't view Christmas with as much joy as I used to, though I still loved the holiday.

"That's what I'm looking forward to seeing; my child's eyes lighting up on Christmas day, though I'm going to make sure that they know that it's about far more than just presents. That's all my parents thought it was about." Kate said and I would have gotten up and patted her on the shoulder, if I could reach.

"Kate, you're nothing like your mother or your father." I said, because she wasn't – she was the exact opposite. "Now, can someone give me my crutches so I can get up?" I asked.

"Why?" Stacey asked and I sighed.

"Because I need to go to the bathroom." I said, which I wouldn't have had to do if Kate hadn't moved them on me.

Anna got up and went to grab them for me, and I took them easily. I pulled my blanket off and got up off the couch, using my crutches to get up the stairs, which wasn't fun. I was going to be so glad when my ankle stopped hurting and wasn't swollen anymore.

X

We got pizza for lunch and I ended up laughing my head off with the rest of the girls because Michael and Ford got into a wrestling match over the least piece of meat pizza. I was being serious too; they were literally on the floor and Ford had been winning. Funny thing is: they were so busy fighting that they didn't see Layla take the last piece of pizza out of spite and eat it until she leant over them and finished off the crust. That just made us laugh more, which made Kate run to the bathroom.

The other girls and I had ended doing a round of Karaoke – okay, more than one round – and Michael and Ford had joined in because they had been forced to. Some of us sounded really good, but Anna was not the best singer in the world, which she admitted.

After that, Layla and I teamed up to hunt down the boys in a team death match and I kept shooting down them both, which of course irritated them both; Michael more so because he wanted me on his team because he knew I was so good at these games, but the other girls had insisted that it be girls' vs boys'.

In the end, our get together was a success – the whole reason we'd had it was to bridge the gap that had grown between us since Darius' death and we had done that.

By five, everyone had gone home, mainly because they needed to get home to have dinner with their families. That included Michael, so I was now sitting on the couch in the living room with a book in my lap as I watched old episodes of Grey's Anatomy. I figured Dad would want to watch sports when he got home, but they were home yet, so I was watching what I wanted. I had let Gretzky inside and he was lying on the ground beside me, his head resting on his paws. It was actually kinda weird how silent it was because my friends had gone home, but at least they had cleaned up for me.

I heard the front door open and I watched as Mom and Dad came in carrying Chinese food, which made Gretzky raise his head, but he lowered it again once he saw who it was and shut his eyes again. He was so well trained, but he slept more now because of his age.

"Did you two enjoy your day out?" I asked as Dad walked over to my and placed the Chinese food on the coffee table.

"Yes, it was quite enjoyable." Mom said as she made her way over to the kitchen. "Would you like a drink Christine?"

"Yes please, just a sparkling water." I said to her, realizing that we were obviously eating in the living room tonight, which we did often when we had takeaway instead of a home cooked meal. "Dad, I can turn off this so you can watch the football."

"Christine, you were watching this first. I mean, the match tonight is supposed to be a good one, but I know you like watching this." Dad said. I just rolled my eyes and turned the show off, before changing to the T.V and putting on the football.

"Dad, my shows on a DVD; I can literally watch it at any time. You miss the football and you'll have to bring the match up online later or a replay, and you hate doing that because you like watching it the day its on." I said, shaking my head at him. "Now what's mine out of the food?" I asked.

Mom came over and handed me my drink, before handing my one of the boxes and chopsticks. "Thanks Mom."

"Your welcome." She said before she sat at the other end of the couch I was on, having stepped over Gretzky who didn't even flinch.

"So, Christine, how did it go?" Dad asked, before suddenly shouting because the team he was rooting for got a touchdown. I really wasn't paying attention to who was playing.

"It went really well actually; things aren't as tense anymore." I said with a smile on my face, because I was glad things were fixed between us.

"Christine, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." Mom said and for some reason I had a bad feeling, though I don't know why.

"What is it?" I asked, putting down my food in caution, while Dad kept eating.

"Are you and Michael having sexual intercourse?" Mom asked me and Dad started choking on his food, while had an overwhelming feeling to run away, which is what I normally did when she brought the sex topic up.

"Bones." Dad complained. "Why are you bringing that up now? Or, at all?"

"Christine has been dating Michael for a substantial number of months and she's a young, healthy adolescent female who surely has hormonal urges, and Michael's a healthy athletic adolescent male who can't help but have hormonal urges, so it's a valid question. And if I ask now with Christine's ankle swollen, she can't create a reason to get out of answering it or run off, which she normally does." Mom explained, though it was obvious Dad wished she just wouldn't bring this up – Dad really didn't want to know if I was having sex with Michael, because he didn't want to know that I might be doing that with Michael when he wasn't around.

"Mom, I'm not having… sexual intercourse with Michael." I said after a moment, trying not blush because I didn't want to talk about this, especially in front of my dad.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about Christine, unless you're lying about not having sex with Michael." Mom said and Dad got off the couch.

"I need a drink." Dad said and I wanted to throw the pillow at him for leaving me to handle this alone.

"Mom, I'm not lying about it. Michael and I have barely even spoken about it and if we do… do it, it'll be when we both want to, so can we not bring this up again." I said, because I really didn't want to have this conversation. I knew about sex, there was no way I couldn't, but that wasn't really on my mind right now.

"Well, I think it's good you're waiting. A good age to…"

"No, no, no; stop Mom. I really don't want a logical or any other scientific explanation about sex okay. I know about it and I'm not having it, so please can we just eat dinner and watch football." I said, not just for my sanity, but for Dad's too.

"Well, you are my daughter and you are very intelligent, so I guess we can leave this discussion for now." Mom said and I let out a sigh of relief as Dad sat back down, which is when he turned up the T.V.

"That means I can get back to watching the game." Dad said and I chuckled. For someone who's done it a lot, my father was very squeamish when it came to talking about sex, but since we were talking about me having sex, I guess it was understandable. One thing I knew for sure though was this: I was not telling my parents outright when Michael and I took that next step.

"Who do you think is going to win Dad?" I asked him as I watched Gretzky get up and walk around the table to plate himself beside Dad, who gave Gretzky a piece of meat from whatever he was eating.

"Well, that's easy." He said and I already knew his answer, so I smiled, before I grabbed my dinner and rested back into the couch comfortably, happily beginning to watch the football with my dad.