(The Future)
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I don't own Bones.
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The leaves raked in the front yard into several piles, Booth moved into the backyard to begin to rake the oak leaves covering part of the yard. After being told by their mother to go outside and play in the fresh air, Christine and Hank each donned a jacket and walked out of the front door into the nippy air.
"Oh boy." Six year old Hank saw the piles of dead leaves and immediately ran towards one of the biggest pile and dived into it. Waving his arms around, he laughed and jumped up and down in the crunchy leaves. "This is so much fun, Chrissy. You need to jump in one too."
Her arms across her thin chest, Christine shook her head. "If Dad sees you messing up his piles of leaves he's going to be mad."
"Nuh uh." Hank jumped backwards into the pile and laughed. "He won't care."
Certain that her father would care, Christine slowly shook her head. "Did you know that slugs and leeches like to hide in dead leaves?"
Standing up, Hank looked at his sister in confusion. "No they don't . . . um, what are slugs and leeches?"
Her face as serious as she could keep it, Christine sighed. "Gosh don't they teach you anything in school? Slugs are snails. You know what snails are. Slugs just don't have shells that's all."
Nervously, Hank looked down at his body, but didn't see any slugs. "What are leeches?"
Tsking, Christine shook her head. "Well, leeches are these sluggy looking worms that drink blood from anyone they can. They bite you, but their mouths are so small you can't feel it. They crawl onto you then they move up your pants legs and under your shirt and they bite you. Like I said, their mouths are small so you don't feel them bite, but boy when they do they suck blood from you. They just drink and drink and drink . . ."
With a scream, Hank moved out of the pile of leaves and stripped off his jacket. Next he removed his shirt and pants and looked down at his stomach. "Look on my back Chrissy. Are there any leeches on me?"
Moving around Hank, Christine quickly leaned over, picked up a small twig and pressed it against her brother's back. "Oh, gross here's a leech. Don't you feel it?"
Terrified, Hank screamed and ran towards the front door and as quickly as he could he opened it and ran into the house. "Mommmmmyyyyyy."
Calmly, Christine picked up her brother's jacket, shirt and pants and walked towards the door. Before she could reach it, her father ran around the side of the house and straight to where she was. "Christine was that Hank screaming? What's going on? Is he hurt? Where is he?"
As she turned to face her father, Christine realized she was probably going to be in serious trouble very very shortly. "Hank was jumping in the pile of leaves and he thought a leech had got on him. He took off his clothes and ran into the house."
His eyes mere slits, Booth stared at his daughter rather intently. "And why the hell would he think he had a leech on him? How does he even know what a leech is?"
"I may have told him about them." Christine averted her gaze and stared at the sidewalk. "I was telling him about stuff I've learned in biology class. How was I supposed to know he would think he got one on him?"
"Christine?" Booth reached out, took the clothes from her hands and pointed at the door. "Go in the house."
Certain she didn't really want to face her mother, Christine tried her Boothy charm smile. "Would you like me to finish raking the leaves in the backyard? I wouldn't mind."
His eyes glinting, Booth moved over to the door, opened it and stepped back. "No way. You created this symphony, so you have to dance to the music."
Reluctantly, the pre-teen walked into the house and could hear her brother wailing in the living room." Uh oh."
"Mmm, yeah uh oh." Booth followed her in to the house and closed the door behind him.
As they moved closer to the living room, both father and daughter saw Brennan squatting next to Hank and moving her hands up and down his back. "Honey, there are no leeches on you. I promise. Most leeches prefer shallow bodies of water. It would be extremely unlikely to find one in a pile of leaves in our front yard."
"Chrissy said she saw one on my back." The boy trembled and tears followed his words. "I felt it Mommy."
Christine felt her father's hand on her shoulder and looked up at his dark face. "It looked like a leech to me."
Slowly shaking his head, Booth gently propelled his daughter over to where her mother was waiting. The girl knew she was in trouble and nervously offered up an apology. "I'm sorry?"
"Are you saying you're sorry or are you asking me whether or not you're sorry?" Brennan picked up her son and held him in her arms while glaring at her daughter. "Well?"
She knew she had better fix it or her situation might worsen. "I'm sorry. I was just teasing him. I didn't know he was going take me seriously."
Hank glared at his sister and complained. "That wasn't nice Chrissy. I was playing. You were mean."
Booth shook his head and held up the boy's clothes. "Come on Hank. We'll get you dressed again and we'll go out for some ice cream." Booth turned to look at his daughter as the boy slid out of his mother's arms. "As for you Missy, you will go to your room and memorize 10 words in the dictionary and not easy ones either." He grasped his son's hand and faced his wife. "Bones you pick the words and make them really hard too."
Amused, Brennan tried not to smile. "I will. When you go to the ice cream shop bring me back a quart of coconut ice cream, please."
"Do I get any ice cream?" Christine was certain the answer was no when both parents turned to look at her. "I guess not."
Snorting, Booth shook his head. "I guess not is right."
After Hank had his clothes back on, Booth left the house with the young boy leaving his daughter with Brennan. "This isn't fair. I was just joking."
"Whoever told you that life is fair, lied to you." Brennan moved across the room, picked up the American Collegiate Dictionary from the child's desk and opened it. "Perhaps words that begin with x this time."
"X?" Christine rolled her eyes. "No one has a sense of humor around here."
Brennan handed the book to her daughter. "You should know that's true by now, Christine." Amused at the dumbfounded look on the child's face, Brennan shrugged her shoulders. "Your Aunt Angela says it's a handicap I have to live with and so do you."
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