A/N: Thanks everyone for putting up with my poor Booth torture. Yes, I meant Angela, and not Brennan, and I also meant artist and not agent…which no one seems to have caught. And now for something a little lighter. Invis, I've put in a nod for you. Hope you like it.
Angela grinned on the drive over to Brennan's apartment. She felt like a spy doing reconnaissance work. Quietly, she hummed the theme to Mission Impossible as she went over the plan for the evening. It was already after midnight, and they only had a few hours to get everything in place. The tree was strapped to the top of her car, a box of wreathes, garlands and other decorations were in her trunk, and Booth's SUV was jam-packed with gifts.
When she saw the number of present Booth had forced Matthew into buying, Angela had kissed the man on the lips, making Hodgins glare at him. She snickered at his reaction. It's kinda sweet that he's a little jealous. Once everything was packed up, they had divided into the two vehicles, Angela offering to drive with Matthew. Booth declined and they were on their way. As they reached the apartment building, Angela gasped.
"Damn, what's he doing here?"
"Who?" Zach asked from the back seat.
"David." Angela killed the engine on the car and got out. She ran around to the side of the building and looked at the windows to Brennan's apartment. All of the lights were off.
"Booth so isn't going to like this." Hodgins whispered as he approached Angela.
"Yeah, well there's not much we can do about that. Let's just hurry up and get everything inside. It's too cold out here to just stand around."
XxXxX
Temperance sighed as she slept, and a small smile crept up onto her lips. She was looking at Booth as he stood behind her, one arm wrapped around her waist.
"You see those bones there? I'll love you until you look like that."
"That's a little creepy, don't you think?" She grinned up at him.
"I dunno. I kinda felt it was appropriate. You love your job. This is your life, and you are my life Temperance. I love you." With that, he lowered his head and captured her lips with his. She shivered as though a cold breeze swept over her.
Temperance groaned and reached to pull her covers up, but they weren't there. She grumbled a little as she reached across the bed and pulled them from David's grasp. As she wrapped herself in the warmth of the down comforter, she mumbled something about hogging covers and began to drift back into sleep, Booth's lips on hers once again.
XxXxX
"Careful with the tree! You're going to knock something over." Angela hissed as Booth and Matthew made their way into the apartment, having crashed into every wall along the way.
"Sorry Angela, but if you haven't noticed, this is a big tree." Booth whispered back, just as harsh.
"Give it a rest Agent Booth. Just suck it up." Matthew threw in. Booth glanced backwards to glare at him and got a branch to the face for his trouble.
"Suck it up? If you haven't noticed, I'm going through a lot of effort for your daughter, so you might try and be a little nicer to me."
"Seeing as how you want to be with my daughter, I'd suggest you follow the same advice."
"I've been nothing if not nice since I met you."
"Yeah, because abduction is such a nice thing to do."
"Are we back to that again?"
"Oh for the love of all things holy! Will you two shut up?" Angela hissed at the two men. Zach, Hodgins and Russ tried valiantly to not laugh. All three were holding their stomachs as they suppressed the silent giggling fit.
"Fine." They answered Angela and lapsed into silence. Please God, please let them be quiet for more than two minutes. That would give me a Merry Christmas.
XxXxX
David started awake. He was having a dream that Booth was standing on one side of Temperance, and he on the other. They both had her by the arms and were tugging her back and forth, yelling 'Mine'. Once he yanked her free from Booth's grip, she had kicked him to the ground.
David looked around, his mind still foggy and noticed he was on the floor. He peered onto the bed and saw Temperance sprawled over the top of it, arms and legs spread to the corners of the bed. With a sigh, he climbed off the floor and made his way to the bathroom, pausing at what sounded like voices coming from the other room.
Curious, he decided to investigate.
XxXxX
"You don't put tinsel on a tree that way, it looks sloppy." Booth hissed at Matthew as he watched Brennan's father toss several strands of tinsel onto the tree.
"What are you talking about Agent Booth? I've always put tinsel on the tree this way." Matthew glanced to Booth's half of the tree. Each branch had the silver strands laid carefully over the pine needles.
"Well, it looks sloppy. It's that whole 'thought that counts' thing again. Put a little effort into your work for crying out loud."
Everyone paused as they heard a door squeak open. Matthew and Booth jumped behind the tree, Zach dove behind a couch, and Jack pulled Angela down into the kitchen.
"I thought we turned off the light." A voice muttered down the hallway. Booth peered around the edge of the tree, and watched as David walked into the room and flicked off the table lamp. The man then turned around and went back to the bedroom. Just as he reached the door, he paused. He glanced back to the living room, his brow furrowed in thought. With a shrug, he stepped back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Booth moved from behind the tree and made his way toward the room, but stopped when he felt Angela's arm on his own.
"Sweetie, don't do anything stupid. You don't want to ruin everything now." She tugged him back over to the tree and handed him a stack of tinsel. "We still have a lot to do, now come on, finish with the tree."
Booth nodded and took a deep breath. I can handle this, I can. Bones will love this, she has to. God, please let her love this.
XxXxX
David climbed back into bed after pushing Temperance back to her own side. He heard her give a small moan and mutter something, but didn't catch the word. He grabbed the covers and pulled them around him, only to have Temperance tug them back. With a disgruntled sigh, he rolled onto his side and went back to sleep.
Temperance moaned as Booth kissed the skin just above her shirt line. He slowly began to unbutton her shirt, his tongue swirling over the newly exposed skin. She sucked in breath, but felt incapable of letting it out. She moaned again, louder this time, his name on her lips.
XxXxX
"What, you're not going to tell me how to arrange gifts around a tree? I'm shocked." Matthew muttered as he and Booth set the presents around the Christmas tree. Booth opened his mouth to retort, but paused, listening.
He looked at Angela, who only smirked at him, indicating she heard it as well.
"Boy, I hope that's a dream, 'cause that's gonna be awkward." Hodgins said, getting thwacked in the head by Angela and watched as Booth reached for his gun.
"What's awkward?" Asked Zach as he finished tacking up a garland.
"Never mind, Sweetie." Angela glanced at the clock. It was five thirty in the morning. She gave a quick survey of the room and smiled with pride. The room looked beautiful, with twinkling lights, decorations, and greenery everywhere.
"Well, what now?" Russ asked.
"Now, we wait."
