Christmas Across the Pond
Supervisory Special Agent Seeley Booth stretched his long legs, trying to find a more comfortable position in his airline seat. Despite the fact that they were flying first class at Brennan's insistence, which he grudgingly appreciated, the long flight from DC to London was still tediously tiring, and being restricted; confined to any chair, even a very well-padded one, was tough for an active guy like himself. He glanced over at his wife, who'd fallen asleep reading the latest Anthropology Today journal. Even after 16 years of marriage and many more of partnership, she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. And the amazing fact she'd agreed to spend her life with him still took his breath away in gratitude.
He looked across the aisle at his children. Sixteen-year-old Christine was engrossed in a Harry Potter movie on her tablet; ear buds stuffed into her ears to obscure the engines' droning deep-throated roar. Eleven-year-old Hank was likewise electronically distracted from his surroundings, playing the latest installment of a Call of Duty or Kingdom Hearts video game. He wore a more substantial headset with a small mike attachment. On other occasions, Booth might have interrupted his children's absorption with digital images and tales, but for now he let them be. His kids hated inactivity as much as he did, and losing themselves in some fantasy world would more painlessly occupy their time until the aircraft landed at Heathrow.
Only one family member was missing. Parker was on a sabbatical studying in the UK with his wife, and occasionally joining Billy Gibbon's extended European band tour to play with Angela's father. Booth's eldest son had indulged his musical dreams for several years between earning his undergraduate degree and pursuing graduate school, and was an accomplished guitarist. The ZZ Top overlord had taken a liking to Parker years earlier and mentored his musical training when in town. Marianne Booth's dancing talents seemed to have morphed into gifted fingers for her eldest grandson. The young couple would join their family for Christmas and Boxing Day.
Learning of Parker's stint in England, Booth had suggested the possibility of a family visit to Brennan. Their good friend Inspector Cate Pritchard had come to the States a few years earlier for a police conference and spent a long weekend with them. It would be good to see her again. Liam, her son with Ian Wexler, was now at university in Oxford where his father had once taught, halfway through his undergraduate studies in forensic criminology, combining the investigative passions of his parents.
Booth leaned back against the soft leather upholstery and closed his eyes. The next two weeks would give his younger children a sense of their ancestry and an appreciation of the country which had given the world its Magna Carta. The agent privately considered himself a participant in the long tradition of Ango-American jurisprudence, protecting their citizenry from mayhem through adept policing, clever sleuthing, and fairly-dispensed justice. He knew Caroline Julian would explode with laughter if she ever heard his musings, and likely Temperance Brennan as well.
A long-misplaced but never forgotten ornament on the Christmas trees of Booth's childhood was a tiny metal replica of Big Ben, the Westminster Palace clock tower. Pops had brought it home to Grams after the war, and it hung amid the branches of their Douglas fir each year. Booth remembered the cool feel of its ribbed length the first time his grandfather had let him hold it.
There were a few small presents for Christmas morning secreted among Booth's and Brennan's suitcased clothing, but this trip was their family gift for this year. Angela had helped Booth research some history regarding Junius Brutus Booth, forebear of the famous theatrical family, who left England for America in 1821. He had winced upon learning that the man had left his wife in London, crossing the ocean with a mistress who eventually bore him ten children. Apparently Pops had judiciously omitted that dubious fact from the family history he told a young Seeley already aghast to learn he was related to Lincoln's assassin.
Angela shared privately with Hodgins her findings that Junius Booth was a two-timing Don Juan. Telling his wife he would be appearing in Shakespearean plays across the US for several years, Junius sent back money to support her and their young son which kept his dalliance secret for a few years. But several blackmailing relatives arrived demanding financial support to keep quiet about his burgeoning American family. Eventually in 1846 his now-enlightened wife arrived in America to call his bluff and divorced him in 1851. The bug man and his wife chuckled heartily over this sharp contrast between their staunchly faithful friend and his philandering ancestor. Their smiles faded as Angela mentioned Junius' alcoholism, which also plagued Vietnam pilot Edwin and Jared.
The Booth-Brennan clan enjoyed a memorable Christmas holiday, touring England, visiting with Cate, now head of Scotland Yard, and sharing a wonderful Christmas evening dinner at her comfortable London townhouse. Liam and Parker stood back to back, comparing their heights. As Booth admired her 9-foot tall Noble fir situated between a handsome walnut bookcase and a toasty brick fireplace, Cate reached up into its branches and retrieved several vintage ornaments from her own youth. Sharing the background of each, which her grandparents had given, which her parents had bought, some from Ian, a few Liam had made as a child, she noticed Booth growing quiet, and asked about his holiday traditions. Answering briefly, he told her how significant his grandparents had been in his life. As perceptive an investigator as Booth, Cate surmised there was much more to that story than the evening permitted.
With baggage limitations, each member of the family returned home with miniature keepsakes of their trip. Christine bought Westminster Abbey, Hank selected the London Eye, Brennan chose tiny replicas of the Radcliffe Camera and Ashmolean Museum; while Booth came away with Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, and a tiny set of handcuffs and billy clubs presented by the bobbies he'd addressed during his previous visit. These trinkets would join the couple's treasured childhood ornament collection bedecking their Christmas tree each year.