Bones jerked awake with a gasp. "Kitten?!"

He was alone in bed.

He scrambled to his feet, stuffing himself into his robe as he raced out of their bedroom and down the hall to Katie's room.

Empty. If his heart still beat, it would have been pounding.

"Katie? Kitten!"

He flew down the stairs, landing neatly, and stopped to listen. Relief clogged his throat at the familiar heartbeat in the kitchen.

"Bones?" Cat's voice approached as she left the kitchen and came to him. "What's wrong?"

He crushed her to him, breathing in deeply to fill his senses with her scent. "Bad dream, luv. I'll be all right in a minute," he said hoarsely.

She squeezed back, allowing him to hold her for as long as he needed.

When he finally pulled away he took her hand firmly. "What are you two ladies doing?"

Cat led him back to the kitchen where Katie sat primly, drinking from a snowman shaped mug. "It's December, Bones." Cat said, a tinge of excitement and longing in her voice.

"So it is," Bones replied, glancing at the calendar with a festive, snowy scene on it. "Soon it will be Christmas."

Cat nodded. "I made cocoa. Had the urge when I saw the calendar."

"I had never tasted cocoa previously." Katie said, taking another sip. "It tastes good, though it has little nutritional value."

Bones claimed a chair. "People drink it because it tastes good."

"I love Christmas," Cat said, looking wistfully at the calendar again. "It was the best time of year, especially for my mother. She would bake and sing, and..."

Bones watched her trail off and look down into her mug. He smelled her scent change to sadness, and reached to put his hand on her arm.

"It was the time of year she seemed like all the other mothers. We never had a party or anything but she'd make a nice Christmas dinner," Cat continued.

"What is Christmas dinner?" Katie asked.

Bones and Cat looked at one another, stunned. True, their first Christmas together, last year, hadn't been much of an event due to certain circumstances, but they had no idea she didn't know the basics. It makes sense, given her upbringing I suppose, Bones thought.

"I guess we'll have to show her," Bones said. And he felt an idea begin to form.