A/N: Here's my latest update. For Jaed, I'm trying to get to Christmas as quickly as I can, so please bear with me. It'll all be worth it in the end, I promise.

When Angela showed up at the medico-legal lab on the morning of the twenty-third, Temperance just looked at her with one eyebrow raised. Angela was wearing what could only be described as an outfit appropriate for Santa's Little Helpers. She was wearing a really short, red dress that had a flared skirt lined in white fur, a Santa Hat, and thigh high red stockings with fuzzy cuffs.

"Merry Christmas all!" She cheerfully called out to the group. Zach looked at her in surprise, but Hodgins walked over to her and planted a kiss on her lips. She looked at him; surprised, then remembered that she hadn't yet taken down the mistletoe.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Angela." He said, looking her over appreciatively.

"Am I mistaken, or is there supposed to be a party here today? Please tell me we aren't working, because after last year, I strictly forbid any of you from looking at anything even remotely science related."

"Angela, this is still our job." Temperance snapped, making Angela look at her in surprise.

"And it's also the Saturday before Santa shows up, so I think we could all do with a little fun time. Sweetie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Ange." Temperance turned away from her best friend and headed for her office. Angela took it as a silent cue for her to follow, and once they were in the office, she shut the door and plopped down on Brennan's couch.

"Bren, you are not fine. Something's happened. Did David break up with you?" She tried to keep the hope out of her voice, and judging by Tempe's reaction was doing a pretty good job of it.

"I cheated on David."

"What! With Booth? You slept with Booth?"

"No." Temperance sat at her desk and put her head in her hands. "I kissed him. Well, actually, he kissed me." Angela looked at her best friend and tried not to laugh, then a thought struck her. When did she have time to see Booth?

"Sweetie, is this about the whole mistletoe thing, because I think it's been well established that it didn't count."

"No, last night. Well, technically this morning. I didn't even think about David when it happened."

"Whoa, when were you at Booth's?"

"Two thirty this morning. I had to talk to him about something."

"Was it case related?'

"No."

"Then why didn't you talk to me?" Angela was hurt. This was the first time that Brennan didn't want her advice. Okay, that wasn't true, but it was the first time that her friend hadn't at least told her the problem.

"Because I knew what you'd say, and I wanted a second opinion." Angela did laugh this time, her hurt feelings pushed to the wayside. Temperance looked at her friend, confused.

"I can only assume this advice has something to do with David."

"He wants me to spend Christmas with him at his parent's house. I didn't know what to do, so I went to talk to Booth."

"And what did he tell you?"

"He told me to go home and get some sleep. Then he kissed me."

"Okay, first off, whether you go or not is entirely up to you. You know what I'm going to say, so I'm not going to say it. Secondly, Booth kissing you is not cheating. You would have to initiate, or carry it farther for it to be cheating. Now, do you feel better?"

"A little."

"Good, now get into that Christmas party and have a good time. Take Hodgins and Zach with you. It has to be infinitely more interesting than racing beetles."

"Aren't you coming?"

"In a minute. I have a phone call I have to make."

XxXxX

"How can you not like A Christmas Story? It's probably the best holiday movie ever." Booth looked at Matthew Brennan, incredulous.

"No, that would be A Christmas Carol. The old one, not that redone version with Bill Murray."

"Oh come on, it's a great book, but there are so many movies that are better."

"My preference is for classics Agent Booth. They don't make movies like they used to."

Booth rolled his eyes and returned to wrapping the gift in front of him. He carefully creased the paper to make the folds crisp, then pulled it tight and taped it. He smiled at the neat job, and then looked over to Matthew. The man didn't know how to wrap a gift.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm wrapping this, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you've mangled the thing."

"It's a gift, it's the thought that counts. Haven't you ever heard the expression 'don't judge a book by its cover'?"

"Yes, but you need to put just as much thought into the presentation as you do the present." Booth snagged the gift from Matthew to fix the loose, slightly crumpled paper.

"You know, anthropologically speaking a gift is just a way of establishing dominance."

"Yeah thanks for that."

"And by giving a sarcastic response, you are trying to keep your dominance in this situation."

"Oh for Christ's sake, this is like talking to Bones. At least she doesn't do it on purpose."

"Doesn't do what?"

"This! The whole scientific talk thing. And you know when you're using psychology, so stop it. Why is it so hard to just do something nice for someone, no strings attached?"

"Because there are always strings attached. There's no such thing as a free lunch. You're doing this to win over my daughter. You have a motive Agent Booth, everyone does." Matthew smirked. Booth narrowed his eyes at Matthew, and then looked down at the gift he fixed.

"And you are not going to use the sloppy wrap thing to get out of doing these."

"Damn, you figured it out."

Booth sighed, and then glanced heavenward for patience. His cell phone rang.

"What?" He snarked into the phone without checking the caller-id.

"Is Bren's father giving you grief, Booth?" He could hear Angela's smirk.

"You have no idea."

"What's this I hear about a kiss last night?"

"Mr. Prostate almost ruined everything by opening the bedroom door when Bones was on her way out."

"Oh, nice save there. It seriously threw her for a loop though. You should be proud of yourself."

"No, I just feel a little like an ass."

"There, there Booth. Relax. She's not all that interested in David anyway. She's looking for any excuse to end the world's most boring relationship."

"You mean she needs to take that leap of faith."

"Yes. Now, as soon as Russ shows up, I want you to get your cute butt down here and tell her how you feel. Then, we wait for Christmas Eve." Angela hung up the phone, leaving Booth staring at his own. As he put the phone back into his pocket, the doorbell rang. Before he could get to the door, Matthew was there, answering it. The long pause and stunned look led Booth to one conclusion, Russ and finally arrived.

"Russ?"

"Dad?"

The two men stood there for another minute, staring in disbelief. Finally, Russ stepped into the doorway and embraced his father, the shock of seeing him there having passed. Booth smiled as he watched the pair. As much as Matthew got on his last nerve, he knew what the man was feeling. He thought of his son, Parker, knowing that he would do anything to keep him safe. With a shake of his head, Booth picked up his keys and left the house to give the men some time to catch up in private.