Sorry I've been so absent lately! I've had to take some serious tests lately, and I just haven't had the time or the sanity to write recently. I have an INCREDIBLY busy summer, but I really hope to update Letter to Booth and Everything I've Done before I am offline for several weeks.

Anyway, I again had the opportunity to work with the amazing 5546Laura. She, as always, wrote Booth's perspective and I wrote Brennan's. This is from The Man in the Fallout Shelter.

~AlphaGirl13


Booth's POV, written by 5546Laura

I was sitting in my favorite chair, finally relaxing in my own home late on Christmas night, enjoying a beer, and flipping through the channels on the television. Jesus…120 channels, and there was nothing interesting on...not even NCIS reruns. No bowl games, no hockey, just a blow out basketball game….I stopped channel surfing as something interesting popped up...but no way. I am not going to watch rugby or Australian rules football, or whatever the hell that was. I'm not that desperate. I went through the channels again, hoping to find an old movie, but it looked like I was out of luck. I mean, at this stage of the game, I might even be willing to watch Rudolf again. Parker loves that movie, so I must have seen it fifty times over the last month. I guess I've got it memorized by now. There just wasn't anything on television worth watching tonight, so I turned off the set. I sat in my chair a few minutes longer, slumping back as I finally realized just how tired I really was. I was really beat, and it was midnight. Might as well hit the sack. I was really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight.

I drained my beer, and got up to put the bottle in the kitchen, groaning as I tried to stretch out my stiff back and sore neck muscles. Two nights of sleeping on the floor of Dr. Goodman's office had done a number on my back. Nothing like a forced Christmas quarantine to make a guy feel old, it seems. God, I'm so achy...now I know how Pops must feel everyday. But I guess in the long run it was worth it. Just remembering how much Parker enjoyed playing with the robot that Zack had given me this morning makes me grin like an idiot. Parker has officially proclaimed that his dad is the coolest dad in the world because of that crazy thing. He likes to make the robot do push ups and back flips, even if it doesn't always do what it's told. I know I would've never been able to find that kind of gift at a toy store, especially since I had waited until the last minute this year to do my shopping for his gift. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to be cooped up for a couple of days in the lab with that bunch of squints after all. I've gotten to know them all a little bit better, and I received a great gift to pass along to Parker.

Of course, Rebecca didn't see it that way. To hear her tell it, I deliberately asked Zack and Hodgins to expose me to a deadly airborne lung fungus from the remains I'd brought to the lab a few days before Christmas, just so I could personally screw up her social life by ruining her Christmas plans. Seriously, how unreasonable could one woman possibly be? And then she acts like I should be especially grateful because she lets me see Parker for a few hours on Christmas Day. He's my son, too, and it's no skin off her ass, is it? I mean, all she had to do was to drop Parker off at Sid's place. She didn't have to see me at all, except when she came to pick him up. Then it was bitch, bitch, bitch about how she had to change her plans around just for me to see my kid. Finally I just decided not to worry about it anymore. I couldn't do anything to fix the situation, you know? I think she just really enjoys being mad at me, so there you go...Merry Christmas, Rebecca.

So now I'm lying in my own bed, and I know I should be asleep, but it's not working out that way. I keep tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable, but I can't seem to relax. Everytime I close my eyes, there she is….there's Bones, standing on the steps of the lab platform, watching all of us rush away after we got the all clear from the lung fungus tests. I mean, I was all for hightailing it out of there myself, but when I turned around to say goodbye...it was like it wasn't even Bones I was looking at. I was looking at some sad, scared teenaged girl who was watching the people she loved abandon her all over again. The squints, and me, too, I guess, are the only thing close to a family she has left. Nobody came to see her at the lab last night during the visiting hours. All the rest of us had family or friends come to see us, but she doesn't have anybody, you know? Of course, she was shrugging it off, acting like it was no big deal that we were leaving and she'd be alone, because that's how she handles the sticky emotional stuff. She told me to go have Christmas with Parker, and not to worry about her, but I just couldn't let it go. I took a deep breath, and invited her to meet me and Parker at Wong Foo's. I was pretty sure she'd say no, but I had to ask. I just couldn't stand to see her looking so lonely like that on Christmas Day. I guess I wanted her to know that someone cared about her.

I was kind of surprised when Bones showed up a couple of hours later this afternoon. She said it was just to tell me about Ivy Gillespie and her granddaughter, but I think maybe she realized she actually wanted some company today, it being Christmas and all. And the ironic part? The woman who did nothing but piss and moan about how gifts are used by people to establish 'anthropological hierarchies' on a 'whole holiday devoted to the pursuit of status' gave Ms. Gillespie the best gift that could ever be given to anyone. Ms. Gillespie was able to love and cherish Careful Lionel's memory again because Bones took the time to look her up and tell her the truth about what had really happened to him, not to mention giving Ms. Gillespie's granddaughter an old penny worth a fortune. Of course, Bones acted like it was no big deal that she gave that woman the love of her life back after all these years. To her, it's just what she does, and that's just who she is. In her mind, she's got to use the talents she has to find the truth for other people.

It was time for me and Parker to leave, so we said our goodbyes. Parker waved and smiled, and Bones waved back, giving us a smile of her own. I think maybe that's my gift from her. She may finally be willing to see me as a friend...as someone she can trust. I hope so, because the truth is...I can't think of a finer person to be my friend.

Merry Christmas, Bones.


Brennan's POV, written by AlphaGirl13

I'm sitting on my bed and I can't seem to make up my mind. There are dozens books sitting in front of me and I can't choose one to read. Standing up, I walk over to the shelf and grab my old college advanced anatomy textbook. But one glance at the first page and I promptly slam it closed with a frustrated sigh. Setting it harshly on the bed, I lay back and close my eyes, wondering what Booth is doing right now. Is he still with his son? Or is he perhaps sitting at alone at his apartment? He would hate to be alone on Christmas. I scrunch up my face, holding my eyes closed as tightly as I can. I hate being alone on Christmas. I hate the reminders of my old life. Shaking my head, I sit up and walk briskly out of my apartment. Wallowing in self pity and sorrow are not conducive to forgetting pain.

I climb into my car and drive without thinking. I turn at some intersections, and I drive straight through others. Unwanted memories flood my mind as street signs whizz past. My mother smiles at me as I shyly unwrap a small gift from under the tree. Russ grins mischievously as he holds my stocking high above my head. My father laughs heartily while I smile stupidly at a new anatomy puzzle.

Tears prick at the corners of my eyes and I slowly stop the car. The empty street stretches out in front of me as I grip the steering wheel. The gifts from that Christmas are still sitting, unopened, in my office. Booth would tell me to open them. Sighing, I pull off to the side of the road and rub my eyes.

When Christmas comes each year, I'm different. I'm the same logical, unbreakable anthropologist, but it's more of an act than usual. The pain that I felt so keenly that Christmas has faded over the years, but pain never truly goes away. A single flower petal can remind a man of a lost loved one, a song can remind a girl of a lover long gone, or a string of brightly colored lights can remind a scientist of the girl she used to be.

Sighing, I shake my head to clear my thoughts and pull back into the empty street. I drive slowly to the Jeffersonian, skirting along back roads and avoiding what little traffic peppers the streets. Booth would tell me to open the gifts. He would ask me what I'm so afraid of, what I'm still waiting for. Honestly, I can't answer those questions. I couldn't bear to get rid of the gifts, so I took them with me when I entered the foster system. I was never able to keep them in my apartment, so I've locked them in a cabinet in my office. And I haven't taken them out in years. Until tonight I guess.

The lab is dark and quiet. Everyone has gone home to their families for Christmas and there's a dark nostalgia to the atmosphere. Memories dance across the dark crevices of the lab as I stand nervously in the front hallway. My breathing hitches and I try to sort through the images flooding my mind.

I see torn wrapping paper and glowing lights. I see stuffed stockings and steaming cookies. I see my parents growing quiet and secretive. I see Russ walking away. I see years of Christmases with strangers and then years alone alone. I see years of fleeing the country, of digging in muddy pits. The final memories that play in my mind are the scenes of my colleagues touching their hands to the glass that separated them from their families. No one had come to see me. There was no one for me to see.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I can still see his smile. The one he had the entire time we were at Wong Foo's. He had offered me an invitation to join him, and after some consideration, I had accepted the offer. This is the first Christmas I haven't spent alone since my last year in the foster system. He had offered. He knew about my parents, and yet he didn't press. He only offered himself to me. He offered his companionship, his trust. No one but Angela had given me that in a long time.

I open my eyes and sigh. Flicking the light switches, I stand silently in front of the forensics platform. Booth gave me someone to trust, someone to talk to. Even I can tell there's a difference between our friendship and my friendship with Angela. He has given me little pieces of himself. He has shared things with me and trusted me. And maybe that's his Christmas present to me, giving me someone to trust. Giving me a friend.

I watch the lights slowly click on. I hesitate; the gifts are a beast I have yet to face. But Booth gave me the courage to at least try. He offered me his strength without asking for anything in return. I can't think of a finer person to be my friend.

Merry Christmas, Booth.


Hope you all enjoyed! Review, let me know what you think of my writing(I always appreciate constructive criticism). Check out 5546Laura's stories, she's an amazing writer.

~AlphaGirl13