This is my Christmas present to those of you who are still reading my Bones stories. I hope you like it.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Living in Edwin Booth's house was a game of chance for both his children and his wife. Was Edwin sober and in a good mood or was he drunk and in a rage?

While Edwin believed that his children should always have a birthday party it was rare for them to attend the birthday parties of their friends. It wasn't that their father objected to parties, it was more about the fact that he didn't have a lot of money to spend on presents for children that weren't his. It humiliated him that he didn't have money to spend on frivolous things and it reminded him how far he had fallen since his days as a pilot in the Air Force.

On a cool Autumn day, Booth had been invited to his best friend's birthday party and much to everyone's surprise, Edwin had allowed him to go. Booth wasn't certain why, but he suspected it was because his mother had begged her husband to let their son go to the party. Her husband had been sober for a week and Marianne was hoping that this time he would stay sober.

Bobby Moretti had turned seven years old the previous week and was the same age as his friend Seeley Booth. They both attended the same school and played together when Edwin let his son visit Bobby. Excited to see Booth at his party he explained to his best friend that his mother had some games that they were going to play for prizes. Eagerly, Booth followed his friend into the living room and greeted the children that were already there.

When the games started, Booth found that he had been handed an envelope by Mrs. Moretti. Every child was to open the envelope when she said they could. Each envelope held puzzle pieces and the object of the game was to place the pieces together correctly to form a picture. The person who finished first won a prize. When Booth opened his envelope, he found that it was a postcard cut into strips and as quickly as he could he rearranged them so that everyone could see it was a picture of a black bear and her cub. Holding up his hand, Booth shouted with glee. "It's a bear."

Amused, Mrs. Moretti handed Booth a plastic fish. The small fat fish was made of thin plastic with a red string piercing the top in a loop. The little fish was a vibrant red, white and yellow. Staring at his prize, Booth laughed and thanked Mrs. Moretti. He liked the little fish and decided that he would use it as a Christmas tree ornament the next time they put up a Christmas tree.

Eager to show his mother and father his prize, after the party he raced home and slammed through the door. As soon as he had entered the living room, he knew that he shouldn't have slammed the door open then closed. His father, a glass of whiskey in his hand, strode over to where his son was standing and slapped him. "We're human beings in this house. We don't act like animals and just run into houses and slam the door."

His hand resting over the side of his stinging face, the boy nodded his head while tears escaped down his cheeks. "I'm sorry."

Pushing the boy towards the staircase, Edwin berated his son for bad manners. Once Booth was upstairs, he walked into his room and softly closed the door behind him. Removing his plastic fish from his jacket pocket, he hid it in the bottom of his t-shirt drawer where his father wouldn't find it. He was afraid that if his father saw it, he would smash it into flat little fish and Booth wasn't going to let that happen.

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When Booth and his brother were rescued from their father by their grandfather, he made sure his little fish came with him. For two years his little plastic fish had been kept hidden in his t-shirt drawer and now that he was leaving his father's house he made sure his prize wasn't left behind.

During his first Christmas with his grandfather, he had helped decorate the Christmas tree and the front yard. While they were decorating, Hank had talked about Christmases he had spent with his parents and his brother and how they each had special decorations that they placed in the tree. Hopeful that his grandfather wouldn't mind if he hung his little fat fish in the tree, Booth showed it to him. "Pops, this is my fish. I won him when I was seven. Can I hang him in the tree?"

Taking the fish in his hand, Hank was careful not to crush it. It seemed that the plastic used to make the fish was thin. "What a fine looking fish. He kind of looks like a Goldfish doesn't he? Of course you can hang him in the tree. I wish I'd had a great looking fish like this one when I was a kid."

Proud of his toy, Booth grinned as he hung it on a branch half way up the tree. Standing back, he admired how the colors seemed to glow in the twinkling lights circling the tree. "Thanks, Pops . . . I've never hung it in a tree before. I was afraid . . ." He didn't finish his sentence, but Hank knew what his grandson was saying.

"Yeah, well you're living with me now, so I expect to see that little fish in the tree every year." Hank was still mortified that it had taken him so long to find out that his grandchildren were being abused by his son. The rage he had felt the day he had struck Edwin and pushed him away from Seeley was still a fresh memory. "Jared, do you have a special decoration you'd like to put in the tree?"

"No Sir." The five year old boy was still nervous around his grandfather and rarely spoke to him. He was careful around all adult men. He just didn't know if he was supposed to trust them or not.

Sad that his little grandson was still cautious around him, Hank clapped his hands together and rubbed them briskly. "Hey, I have an idea. Let's make some decorations. I have some poster board and I think there's a bottle of glitter and I have glue and crayons. We can make some special decorations that will belong to each of us and we'll put then in the tree. How does that sound?"

A smile breaking out on the little lad's face, Jared nodded his head. "That sounds like fun and I can have a special ornament like Seeley."

Still pleased that his fish was hanging in the tree, Booth followed his brother and grandfather into the kitchen where they spent the afternoon making camels and dogs and horses and whatever else the boys could think to make. Happy to see his grandsons so busy playing and having fun, Hank began to have hope that they might be able to overcome the abuse they had suffered at the hands of their father. He would do his best to give them a normal childhood and hope it was enough.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

When Booth moved into his apartment in Washington D.C. he did so with the knowledge that he was living near his young son and that he would be able to take care of the boy properly when he visited. Before Christmas arrived, he made a trip to Philadelphia to see his grandfather and to retrieve his fat little plastic fish. He had dreamed of the day when he would be able to settle down in one place and not constantly move from one post to another. Now that he had a permanent home, he wanted to put up a Christmas tree and place his fish in that tree. Since his son was a toddler, he was careful to place the fish high in the tree so Parker couldn't grab it from the branch.

Standing in front of his decorated tree, the lights twinkling in glorious color, the myriad decorations placed haphazardly on the branches, Booth thought it was probably the best Christmas tree he had ever had because it was his. He had bought some decorations from the Salvation Army Thrift Store and though some of them were old, he appreciated their simplicity. He was also proud of the NHL Flyers ornament he had bought that year. The tree was his and it showed who he was, if anyone cared to look.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Their first Christmas together, Booth bought a medium sized fir tree and placed it in the corner of the living room. After he decorated it, he poured a glass of eggnog for him and his girlfriend. It was alcohol free because of her pregnancy, but he thought it tasted good. "I know you don't celebrate Christmas Bones, but this tree is yours as well as mine. I think Parker will like the new decoration I bought. It's not easy finding a Christmas dinosaur . . . Angela did a good job adding the Santa hat on his head." When his son had asked for a Christmas dinosaur for the tree, Booth had thought he was going to have to let his son down, but Angela had come to the rescue.

Curious, Brennan moved closer to the tree and touched a little fat plastic fish hanging by a faded red string. "A fish?"

Stepping closer to the tree, Booth sipped some of his drink and stared at the fish. "It's the first Christmas Ornament I ever owned. I won it at a birthday party when I was seven . . . I know it's kind of odd to see a fish in a tree, but I like it."

"I do too, Booth." He was obviously proud of the decoration and Brennan liked that something as simple as a plastic fish could make her boyfriend happy. They had been together for a few months now and they were still learning new things about each other. "I don't have my first decoration anymore. When my parents abandoned me, I didn't think to take my decoration with me to Foster Care . . . it was a blue star. It was made of glass, so it probably wouldn't have survived my moving so many times."

"You put up a great tree a few years ago." Booth remembered that Christmas and regretted that they hadn't been closer at the time. There were a lot of painful memories between then and now, but the past was best left there. "Hey, we can buy a tree for your apartment and I'll decorate it with your decorations . . . we can have two trees. Parker will love it."

Amused, Brennan sipped some of her drink and thought her boyfriend was often filled with childlike wonder when it came to Christmas. "I think that's a good idea. We can have our Christmas party there since your apartment is so small . . . That reminds me, we need to mail out our invitations this week."

His arm around her shoulders, Booth kissed her cheek. "Our first Christmas together as a family . . . Merry Christmas Bones."

"Merry Christmas Booth."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Merry Christmas everyone.