(The Goop in the Girl)

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I really don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

To say that Max was shocked might be an understatement. "You want me to stay with you and Booth at your house during Christmas?" He had definitely not seen that coming. "Thank you, Tempe. I can sleep on the couch, so you don't have to worry about me."

"Don't be ridiculous Dad." Brennan was a little insulted that her father thought she might be such a terrible host. "Booth and I went shopping for furniture for the guest bedroom. You will have the option of sleeping in Parker's bedroom since he won't be with us during the holiday or you can use the new guest bedroom in the basement. Parker uses a twin bed. The guest bedroom has a full-size bed."

"Oh, I'll take the full bed, thank you." Max hadn't seen the new house yet and was eager to see what it looked like. "Will you have room for Margaret? You know the cousin I told you about? She'd like to meet you."

Since she didn't really know Margaret, Brennan wasn't sure she would like her cousin to stay in her house. It might be a lot to ask of her boyfriend too. "Unless she wishes to sleep in a twin bed in Parker's room the answer would be no. Booth's grandfather is going to use the other guest bedroom. He needs that one because it has an attached handicap bathroom."

"Oh, okay." Max thought he'd talk to Margaret and see if she wanted to stay in his apartment or a hotel. "I'll see what she wants to do." He really wanted his daughter to meet Margaret, but Tempe was living with Booth and she might be balking because of that. "Would you like me to bring a Christmas tree or . . . I don't know, a turkey or a ham?"

Brennan shook her head. "Booth already has a tree up. He did an excellent job. As for a turkey or ham, Booth already has a turkey in the refrigerator thawing. We won't need a ham unless you want one. If so, then you may bring one." It seemed like a lot of meat, but she supposed they could freeze some of it. "I am making tofu-turkey and we both plan to bake a few desserts."

"Sounds good." Everything sounded taken care of, but he decided to bring some wine, some presents and perhaps a cooked spiral ham. He didn't feel comfortable staying for Christmas and coming empty handed. "It's settled, I'll be there Christmas Eve. This is going to be fun, Tempe, just like when you were young."

"Not hardly." Brennan shook her head. "I'm not a child and I'm living with a man now."

Max knew he had a long way to go to get on his daughter's good side. "I meant as a family. We'll be together as a family."

"Except Mom is dead and Russ is in North Carolina."

A very long way to go.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

The bomb went off and Booth was knocked to the ground. That his head didn't hit the ground very hard when he was thrown back was miraculous. When Booth was thrown from his feet, he had tried to twist so that he would land on his side. He was only partially successful, but his head had been protected enough and that was all Booth had hoped for.

Once he was no longer stunned, he staggered to his feet, then fell to his knees. His ears were ringing and at the moment that was all he could hear, bells echoing through his head. His hands over his ears, he glanced towards the bank and saw a bloody mess on the road and sidewalk. The bank robber had set off a bomb he was carrying with him and that criminal was no longer recognizable as a man. Large and small pieces of him were everywhere and so was the money he had been carrying.

After a few moments, he stood back up and felt his back protest which made him angry. His back had been alright since Brennan had given him a massage and now it looked like it had been hurt again. As he leaned against the truck, he watched police cars pull up near a taxi next to the bank, but cautiously enough not to run over the remains or blood soaked money. That was good, because if the body parts were damaged further, he knew his girlfriend was going to be pissed.

"Booth . . . Booth."

He didn't hear his name called at first, but Brennan's touch on his arm finally got his attention. "Bones . . . how'd you get here so fast?"

"Not so fast, Booth. It took us seventeen minutes to get here after we heard what had happened." Brennan was now worried that Booth had injured his head. So was Cam.

"Booth, let me examine you." Cam moved closer and waited for Brennan to step aside. She gently moved his head down and inspected it, running her hands gently over his head. When she found a bump on the back of his head towards the left side, she moved her finger over it and watched her friend wince. Just to make sure it wasn't serious, she pulled out a pen light from a pocket and studied his eyes.

Concerned about the lost time, Booth stared at Cam's nose while she looked at his eyes. "Seventeen minutes . . . it doesn't seem like seventeen minutes since the bomb went off . . . I don't think my head hit the ground, but maybe it did."

"There is a bump on the back of your head, but it's not where you had surgery, thank God." His skull was weak where his tumor had been removed and it could have been fatal if he had fallen hard on that section of his skull. "I think it's just a hematoma . . . bleeding under the skin. Most bumps aren't something to worry about. Your pupils are normal, you aren't dizzy are you . . . nauseous . . . headache?"

"No, I'm not dizzy and I don't feel sick." Booth wanted to take over the crime scene and Cam and Brennan were in the way. "Look, I can deal with bumps. I need to get to work."

"No Booth." Brennan shook her head. "You're covered in evidence. We need to take you back to the Lab."

A little horrified, he looked down. His suit was spackled with blood and human tissue. It reminded him of his time in Iraq. He had lost a friend who had stepped on a mine and had been blown up. Booth had been across the road, but he had been hit by the shock wave when his friend had been torn apart. He had been thrown to the ground covered in blood and his friend's torn flesh. "I . . . uh . . ." He pulled himself together. "It isn't much. I'll just give you my jacket."

"No, Booth." Brennan knew that Booth wasn't aware of just how much tissue was on him. "It's on your pants and it's in your hair."

Since he knew that he had no choice, he nodded his head. "Let me give out some instructions before I leave the scene." He waved at Agent Harris who had just checked on the people inside the bank. "Harris, you have to take over for now. I have to go to the Lab."

Harris had noticed Booth's condition when he'd arrived, just before Cam and Brennan had arrived. He'd already surmised that Booth would be forced to leave. "Are you alright?" He walked closer to where Booth stood. "You look terrible."

"Well you stand near someone when they blow up and then tell me about it." Booth was not happy. "Just do your job and I'll come back as soon as I can . . . I see we have two others that were hit in the blast."

"Yeah, a cab driver and his fare. The cab driver needs a doctor." Harris had already talked to the woman fare. "The woman is covered in more shit than you are, but she isn't hurt. I guess she'll have to go to the Lab too."

Brennan glared at the agent in disbelief. "Of course she will." Really, Harris should have known better as far as she was concerned.

Glancing around the crime scene, Cam sighed. "I'll stay and supervise the retrieval of the body parts. This is not going to be easy."

"No shit." Harris shook his head. "I have to get the money collected too and I guess it's probably covered in blood and goop too."

"Yes, we will need the money brought to the Lab, so that Hodgins can check it for human remains."

Staring at a bloody, burned twenty-dollar bill laying at his feet, Harris sighed. "This is going to be fun."

Ooooooooooooooooo

Once Booth was stripped down to his underwear, Brennan considered taking those too. "There is blood on your boxers Booth."

"No way, Bones. I gave you all I'm going to give you." At least they were in an examination room and the door was locked. "You're going to have to go out to my SUV and bring me back my gym bag."

While he sat on a table Brennan examined his head. The bump worried her, but for now it didn't seem to be serious. "You were lucky not to have sustained cranial damage. I think Cam is correct and the bump is nothing to worry about." As she removed bits of flesh from his hair, she realized that she could have easily lost him earlier that day. A tear fell down her cheek and she knew that she needed to put her fears aside. Booth was fine and sitting right in front of her. "Max says he will come for Christmas and Hank called me this morning to say he was coming too. He offered to take a cab, but I told him that one of us will come and get him . . . Max wants to invite a cousin I have never met to spend Christmas with us."

He wasn't sure if he wanted a stranger in their house. "Do you want her to come? I mean you don't know her, you just said so."

Careful to pull what looked like a piece of artery from Booth's hair, Brennan placed it in a specimen cup. "Max wants her to come. I think he wants me to connect with what family I have left."

"If you want her there, then invite her." Booth flinched as she tugged something from his hair. "Neither of us have much family . . . She can stay in Parker's room . . . that is if you want her to come."

It seemed like a weak form of acceptance of the situation, but Brennan knew that Booth was family oriented and he would overcome his dislike of loss of privacy if it would help her find a new family connection. She just wasn't sure if she was interested. "I'm done." I'll go get your gym bag and you can change into whatever you have in the bag. I'm going to keep your suit, shirt and tie. You know they're ruined anyway."

He knew it, but he hated to lose a good suit and the tie was new. "Yeah . . . damn it." Before she left the room, Booth stood up, stepped closer to her and kissed her. "I'm okay, so stop worrying. As for Margaret, invite her. She might be interesting and it will make Max happy."

"Alright." She returned his kiss. "After you interview the woman that was in the cab, you need to go home and bathe. You are covered in too much blood to actually go back to work right now."

"Yeah, I am pretty gross." His nose wrinkled. "I've been through this before . . . in a war zone . . . it never gets easier being splattered by someone that used to be alive . . . it just doesn't."

Oooooooooooooooooo

He moaned in pleasure. His day had been a long one and by the time he had returned home, his back was stiff and he felt sore all over. Brennan had arrived shortly after he did and once he had taken a hot bath she had insisted on giving him a massage. "Damn Bones, that feels so good."

Amused, she continued to massage his back. "You have several bruises on your body, most notably on your left shoulder and arm, your left hip and your left leg. You obviously tried to twist to the left to avoid falling on your back, but that action strained your back muscles. You were lucky you weren't closer to the bank robber when the bomb went off."

"Yeah." When he closed his eyes he still saw the look of fear on the man's face just before he blew up. It was the same look his friend Roger had had when he had realized he had stepped on an IED. Booth had been talking to his friend as they had been walking along the dirt road and he had witnessed the complete destruction of his friend. "The guy didn't have a chance . . . he was afraid. If he had control of the bomb, why was he afraid? He didn't have to blow himself up. Something just seems wrong . . . we need the identity of the bomber."

What he was saying made sense and that made her wonder why the bomber had blown himself up. "We should know by tomorrow." Finished with his massage, Brennan leaned over and checked the bump on Booth's head. Satisfied that it was still the same size as it was that morning, she stood up and pulled the blanket up to cover her boyfriend. "Sleep Booth. I'm going to take a bath and join you . . . Do you wish to go pick up Hank tomorrow or would you like me to do it?"

Drowsy, Booth thought about it for a few seconds. "I'll go get him . . . I need the identity of the bomber."

"Alright." Grateful that Booth hadn't been seriously hurt that morning, Brennan gathered up a pair of pajamas and a pair of panties from the dresser and walked over to the bathroom. Pausing in the bathroom doorway she turned to look back at her partner. "I would like the rest of our week to be less adventuresome."

"You got it Bones." He was almost asleep. "Me too." His back no longer hurting, he felt grateful that Brennan cared so much for him. "Love you."

"I love you too, Booth."

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

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