Booth stepped into the Jeffersonian medico-legal lab and stopped for a minute to watch Bones as she worked. It was almost six in the evening, long enough for Angela to believe he was avoiding the place. He swiped his card, stepped up on the platform and stood behind the forensic anthropologist. He leaned in toward the table as she set down a bone. Her hands were shaking slightly with his proximity to her. A small grin took over his expression. He moved closer, until his lips were right by her ear.

"Happy Holidays Bones."

Brennan shivered at the gentle caress of the words over her entire body. Hold it together. It's just Booth. Slowly, Brennan looked up to take a moment to better compose herself when she noticed the mistletoe hanging directly overhead. Damn it, Angela. She took a breath and slowly turned her head until she was looking directly at Seeley Booth. His body trapped her as he stood with one hand on either side of her arms. The two stared at each other for a long moment, Brennan trying to ignore the assault of sensations his nearness was causing.

"Booth…"

"You know you're standing under mistletoe, right Bones?" Seeley asked, his voice down to a sexy rasp. Her breath caught in her throat at the sound and she could only nod in response. Seeley inched his face a little closer, his eyes turning serious. "You wouldn't deny me a centuries old tradition, would you, Temperance?" He made her name sound like a gentle touch. She gave a tiny shake of her head, and began to close her eyes as Seeley moved in ever closer. He stopped, his lips only millimeters from her own. He could feel her shaking, and snaked one arm around her waist to steady both of them. It was then he felt it. Brennan moved the tiny distance left between them and made contact with his lips.

Booth tried to inhale, but found it impossible to do anything but maintain the contact between himself and Brennan. He deepened the kiss, pouring all of his emotions into it when he felt her respond to his touch.

Brennan was under sensory overload. The kiss was sending electricity to parts of her body she didn't think could feel that way. She could feel the emotions Booth poured into the contact and was surprised, and a little frightened, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she brought one arm up to the back of his neck and pulled him closer to her as her fingers stroked through his hair. Vaguely, she was aware of a flash or two, and the sound of an alarm. It wasn't until she felt Booth forcibly removed from her that she became aware of what was happening. She turned in time to see David's fist connect with Booth's face.

"David! What are you doing?" She gasped as she looked at him. He turned to look at her and saw the confusion in her expression. He immediately felt guilty. Brennan turned and saw security guards rushing up. She gave a shake of her head, sending them back to their posts. Seeley stood and felt his face where he had been hit. It was beginning to swell.

"For crying out loud, it was just a kiss under the mistletoe!" Seeley grouched as he glared at David.

"Sorry, but it looked like a hell of a lot more than that." David conceded. He moved over to Temperance and kissed her on the cheek. Brennan noticed two things in that moment; first, she felt no spark when David kissed her cheek, and a look of some sort quickly flashed across Booth's face before it was gone. "Are you ready to go?"

"What?" Temperance looked at David, confused.

"Dinner? We're supposed to go out for Italian, remember?"

"Oh, right, I forgot. Let me just…Zach, can you finish up here?" Brennan left the examination platform and rushed to her office to grab her coat and purse. David looked over a Seeley, who was still glaring at him.

"Look, I'm sorry. It just looked like…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Booth looked from David to Angela. She looked at him sheepishly. "Angela, can I speak to you in your office please?" Angela followed Booth back to her office, and winced when he slammed the door shut.

"Look, Booth, I'm sorry you got hit, but if you could see what I did…"

"If Bones ends up getting hurt by all of this, I'm never going to forgive you for suggesting it in the first place."

"She won't end up hurt. I know Bren, and for the first Time, I think she's aware of the fact that she's attracted to you."

"If that's the case, then dinner's going to be hell on David, isn't it?"

"You're probably right. Now come on, I think we have some preparations to make."

"What? Where are we going?"

"Shopping. You can't give someone Christmas without decorations." Angela grabbed his hand and dragged him from the building, closely followed by Temperance and David, walking hand in hand to his car. Booth had to fight the urge to look up his license plate number in order to tow the car. His stomach turned as David gave Temperance a kiss on the lips. Angela watched Booth and smiled.

"Booth, don't worry. She doesn't love him."

"If she doesn't love him, then why are you so worried she'll accept his proposal?"

"Because she likes the safe option, and she'll throw herself into that sort of commitment whole-heartedly."

"And I'm not safe?"

"Booth, you make her feel things no one has ever made her feel. You've slipped past her defenses, and I'm willing to bet that you know much more intimate information about Bren that her boyfriend does."

"You think so? I mean she let him read her novel and not me."

"That's because your opinion matters more. I don't think she could handle it if you didn't like it."

"Angela?"

"Yeah?"

"If I weren't in love with Bones, I think I could kiss you."

"Thanks Booth, now can we please go? It's freezing out here."

"Sure thing. Oh, and Merry Christmas, Ange."

"Same to you Booth." She grinned at him and hopped into his SUV.