Happy Easter! I realize that this is a very different year for everyone due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we all have some great ways to recognize the holidays. My family is spread out, but we will all be having dinner together via ZOOM video conferencing. Each of us will be preparing the same meal and will be eating at the same time with each home up on the screen for everyone else to see and interact with. With that in mind, I decided to see how that would work with this story, and here is the result, which will be covered in two chapters. I hope you all enjoy it and have a wonderful holiday. Gregg.
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Day 3, Cont.
Booth couldn't believe it. He had completely forgotten! He was so caught up in the joyous moment of spending time with the kids in the Man Cave watching movies on the mammoth ultra HD screen since he finally did end up choosing the lessons for the day, that it didn't occur to him to think of what day it actually was! He was going to be hitting the flames in the hereafter for sure! It was Easter! One of two Religious days of the year that he always made doubly sure to not forget! Granted there were others that were important, but Easter was in the top two! Bones and her damn lessons and early mornings had him so wound up that he couldn't remember the exact day! Then there was Hodgins and his whining about the Hell he was going through with Billy. He would deal with that in a bit. First, though, was Bones. He was not going to go through Easter with Vegan cuisine! No way! He wanted Turkey and Ham! Stuffing! Mashed potatoes and sinful amounts of gravy! Candied yams! Green bean casserole like his Grandmother used to make! Summer sausage and cheese chunks for a snack! Apple pie for dessert! Maybe even some passion salad!
"Bones!" he bellowed, earning him a glare from Christine and Hank who were watching with rapt attention Hank's favorite movie, Cars.
"Is there something wrong, Booth?" Bones asked from the doorway. She had been working in her home office on a new chapter in her latest book.
"It's Easter Sunday!" Booth said, making it seem by his tone that a major apocalypse had occurred.
"Yes," she replied. She was somewhat amused that he had apparently forgotten what day it was.
It always amazed him how someone who was as brilliant as she was could be so adamantly in denial of the existence of God and all of the majesty that lay within the Christian faith, or any other religious faith for that matter.
"I want real food!" he said firmly.
"We have real food," she told him, a twinkle in her eyes.
"Not that Vegan junk," he rejoined. "I want meat!"
"Dad!" Christine said, offering her own version of a disappointed shake of her head and roll of her eyes.
"We don't have meat, but I do have tofu turkey and Vegan pastrami," she told him.
"Bones, that makes me want to hurl," Booth said as he blanched at the thought of eating tofu and Vegan pastrami. ESPECIALLY on Easter!
"What do you suggest, as we do not currently have any meat or meat products in the house," Bones goaded him. She was enjoying the bickering, as she always did, and wanted to see how far he would go to get his precious meat laden meal.
"I'm going to get a hold of Aubrey and have him bring me a smorgasbord of meat and all the trimmings for a totally awesome Easter feast," Booth let loose, his tongue ahead of his mind, realizing that if Bones for some reason decided to reject his desire for meat then he would need to be doubly careful or he and Aubrey would be dead men.
"That sounds reasonable, though you realize that after today your meat intake will be rationed to a healthier balance," Bones magnanimously backed down, though she was really doing what she had planned all along. Booth may be a skilled tactician, but his bull in a china shop approach made it simple for her to plan ahead and manipulate his tendency to her advantage. Now she would be able to modify his diet in a positive way, and he had given his agreement. Far better than unilaterally making the change, though a bit of unilateral maneuverings had been necessary.
Booth couldn't believe that he'd just won! It was a miracle! Granted, it was Easter, so the Man Upstairs must be feeling generous in his outpouring of love and protection of humanity, but this was an almost cataclysmic proportion miracle here! Before he could get Aubrey on the horn and arrange some real food to be delivered, he needed to deal with Hodgins' BS. He would worry about the "healthier balance" stuff later!
"Excellent!" he said aloud. Looking down at the kids he smiled. "Keep up the good work and watch the sequel. Daddy needs to take care of a few things." He chuckled when Hank shouted "Yeah!" and Christine glared. Yep! Things were getting back to normal. He made a mental note to discuss confession with Mitch. It was Easter, after all!
Angela was sitting with Michael Vincent after he had finished his Easter Egg hunt through the area of the house away from the Man Cave. She was very nervous about how easily the virus could spread and wanted him safe. She had relented, finally, after a talk with Brennan about it being safe enough to have her Father and Hodgie in the Man Cave for the remainder of the quarantine. She wasn't sure why the two men she had hired to be here in the hazmat suits in case anything was needed had chosen five in the morning to get Hodgie and her Dad from the emergency shelter and move them into the Man Cave, but she was sure that the large breakfast she had arranged for her two "prisoners" more than made up for it. She had to chuckle at all the text messages that Hodgie had sent her insisting that the Man Cave was a safe enough place for him and "the Sadistic Nutbar" as he always called her Father. Just as she was about to make some deviled eggs from the eggs that Michael Vincent had found her phone rang.
"Hello?" she said as she moved over to the counter to get started.
"Feed that husband of yours some real food so he quits texting me every half hour saying his rights are being violated and that your Father is planning some new tattoos for his sorry ass," Booth said without preamble.
Angela looked bewildered as she looked at the phone in confusion. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "They've been eating like kings from the moment they were put into the Emergency Shelter. I made sure of it, and those oafs I hired to take care of all of that have been delivering the food!"
"Hodgins and Billy have been choking down nothing but Liver and Onion MRE's from the moment they got in the shelter!" Booth told her stridently. "Then this morning Billy was given a feast and Hodgins was stuck with another MRE of liver and onions."
Angela got immediately suspicious. "I need to check on something," she said. "I will deal with this."
"Good," Booth said happily. "I don't want anymore text messages interrupting my Easter."
Angela got in a hazmat suit of her own and went to where the oafs were ensconced.
"Alright, you two," she said in an angry tone. "I want to know what the Hell is going on. I just got informed that my Father and Hodgie have been sucking down Liver and Onion MRE's for two days. I sent down whole feasts for those two. Now where's all the food?"
The two idiots knew the jig was up, so they admitted it all. They'd been living high on the hog and letting Billy and Hodgie eat the slop that the Army called a meal. Then the shit really hit the fan. It turned out that Billy had arranged for Hodgie to get the Liver and Onion MRE's today and told the oafs to enjoy Hodgins' meals.
"You two are fired," Angela told them immediately. "And don't even think about being paid. That food you've been snagging is easily worth more than you would have made."
Now the only question was what to do to make it up to Hodgie, and also punish her Dad for what he'd done that day. It would take some thinking.
A/N: This is the setup chapter for what I wanted to do with this particular day. Tomorrow's chapter will be the solution, and Hodgins will finally be eating real food. I'm still trying to figure out a suitable punishment for Billy for his nefarious actions. I hope you all enjoyed this one. Again, Happy Easter! Gregg.