A/N: Well I'm finally back after a week of silence. I was hoping to finish this story before Christmas but my boss decided that 46 hours of work and two exams were more important than a Bones fanfic. Anyway, I'm back now. Hopefully you will like this chapter. This story is almost over. :-(

Temperance groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Her muscles ached, she felt sore all over and her head was currently pounding. The sun suddenly seemed too bright and she closed her eyes only to snap them back open a moment later. Slowly, she examined the room she was currently in. The walls were light blue, unlike the ones in her bedroom which she had kept white. There were no drapes hanging from the window and the bed seemed smaller. Sitting up, she looked down at the sheets. A weird sponge dressed in pants stared back at her. Rubbing the sleep off her face, she tried to make sense of her surroundings.

She remembered going to the Christmas party. She remembered the kiss. She shuddered. The kiss. They had kissed. They had kissed in front of all of their colleagues. Everybody had witnessed Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth's first kiss.

Stupid mistletoe. Temperance thought to herself.

She smiled as she thought of how they had both reacted to it. It had been more than she thought it was going to be. The way their bodies had fit so perfectly seemed almost too surreal to be true. The way his strong arms had held close, crushed her against his body, sent shivers down her spine as she thought about it now. She had felt safe, felt like she had been supposed to be there.

Stop it, Brennan. Stop being so over-romantic, it's disgusting.

Then they had avoided each other for a while. Booth had gone over to talk to Hodgins and Temperance had walked off in the opposite direction with Angela and a new technician named Sophia. After that, nothing. Blank.

She did remember drinking but now, as she sat in what she hoped with all her heart was Parker's bed, she wished she hadn't drunk that much.

A noise from somewhere in the house reached her ears. She groaned as the pounding in her head only intensified. Slowly, she flung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up.

She walked, unsteadily, out of the bedroom and sighed in relief when she immediately recognized the hallway. Booth's hallway. At least she hadn't made the stupid mistake of going home with another man.

The noise had come from the kitchen. Passing the grandfather clock in the living room, she immediately realized that it was past noon. She was surprised. She barely ever slept later than nine o'clock.

She quietly stepped in the kitchen.

"Hey." She said, her thick voice quivering.

She cleared her throat, making Booth look up from the sink.

"Hey."

Wow! He looks like hell. Temperance thought to himself.

"How are you feeling?" Temperance asked as she opened the fridge to take some orange juice.

"Like crap. You?"

"Same." She replied, giving him a half-hearted smile. "What happened last night?"

Booth chuckled.

"We got really drunk." He replied as he opened the cupboard and began placing plates on the shelves, making them clink together.

Temperance grimaced.

"Do you have to make so much noise?"

Booth didn't reply.

"Who droves us home?"

Booth smiled at the word 'home'. Did she really consider his place like home? Had she even realized what she had just said? He turned to face her and noticed how trashy she looked in her dishevelled clothes, her tangled hair and no make-up. He also realized that he didn't care. He still found her pretty and he was pretty sure he could get used to seeing her like this every day. He smiled.

"What?" Temperance asked, annoyed.

Booth said nothing.

"What?" She repeated. "Booth, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Sorry." Booth said as he snapped back to reality.

Then, turning back to the dishes, he replied to her previous question.

"Zach and Angela brought us back in our respective cars. Hodgins followed behind in his own car to drive them back."

"You remember all of this?" Temperance asked after swallowing her entire glass of orange juice.

"Yes, why? Don't you?"

Temperance shook her head. Booth simply nodded, hurt flashing in his eyes. She didn't remember.

"We... I mean, we didn't..."

"No." Booth replied, clearing his throat. "We didn't. I wouldn't have anyway."

Temperance nodded, grateful.

"Thanks, Booth."

"You're welcome."

Temperance's stomach growled. Booth raised an eyebrow in mockery.

"Hungry, Bones?"

His partner rolled her eyes. He chuckled.

"There's leftover pancakes in the fridge if you'd like."

As she began to fix herself some breakfast, Booth watched her roam around in his kitchen. She had spent so much time here in the last few days, she was beginning to know where everything was. A smile tugged at his lips as he realized he was enjoying watching her make breakfast but his smile disappeared when memories of the previous night flashed before his eyes.

The muffled sound of music reached his ears as Booth unsteadily made his way back to the party room. His vision was slightly blurry and he knew right away that he had drunk too much. He would never be able to drive home.

He glanced down at his watch which showed midnight. Maybe he should just ask someone to drive him home. Temperance, perhaps, hadn't drunk tonight. He frowned as he realized he hadn't seen her all night.

He was about to step back into the party room when the double doors swung open and Temperance came staggering out. He felt her collide with his chest and instinctively held out his hands to steady her. Moving the hair out her face, he immediately knew that he'd have to find someone else to drive him back home.

"Booth." Temperance slurred. "I'm so ha...ppy to see you. I missed you."

Before he even knew what was going on, Booth felt a pair of lips on top of his. He froze, too shocked to react. Temperance pulled away and began to giggle.

"Everybody saw us kiss, Booth. Everybody. The entire staff of the Jeffersonian saw it. It's not how it was supposed to happen."

Booth frowned. What was she talking about?

"It wasn't supposed to happen that way." Temperance repeated as she let go of her partner and slid down the wall beside the door.

She fell heavily on the floor. Booth joined her.

"It was supposed to be more private, more... romantic."

"Well what's not romantic about the mistletoe, Bones?" Booth asked, teasingly.

Temperance slapped him playfully.

"People weren't supposed to see it. We were supposed to be alone. You would tell me that you love me and I would tell you that I love you too and then we would have kissed. It's how it's supposed to be."

Whether it was from the amount of alcohol he had sucked into his body or simply because his partner wasn't making any sense, Booth was confused. He wasn't quite sure what his friend was talking about. A first kiss was supposed to happen in particular way? Since when? Every first kiss was different. Sure, he hadn't expected their first kiss to happen in front of all their colleagues but it didn't mean it hadn't been special.

He was about to turn and tell her so when he felt a pair of arms circle his. Seconds later, Temperance was nuzzling herself against him.

"I love you, Booth."

Booth's voice caught in his throat. Just then, he looked up to find Angela staring down at them.

"Booth, I asked you a question."

Booth shook his head as he snapped back to reality for the second time in five minutes. He turned his attention to his partner who was eyeing him suspiciously. Booth felt himself blush under her gaze, her beautiful, blue gaze.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What did you say?"

"I asked you if you had syrup, for the pancakes."

"Uh yeah. Second door, first shelf."

"Thank you." Temperance said as she turned back to the cupboards. "What were you thinking about anyway?"

"Nothing." Booth lied.

Temperance sat down at the table. Booth followed her. He watched her in silence as she began to eat.

"Where's Parker?" Temperance asked as if suddenly remembering she hadn't seen him.

"Rebecca's parents, remember? They babysat him last night."

"Right." Temperance replied. "I forgot."

Another minute of silence passed.

"So what do you have planned for us today?"

Her question took him by surprise. He hadn't thought about today. In fact, he hadn't planned anything. He hadn't thought that Temperance would have slept over, moreover that she would be excited to see what he had in store for her. He hadn't known that she had enjoyed the little attention he had been paying her over the last few days. She certainly hadn't shown it. Or had he simply missed it?

"Uh actually... I didn't have anything planned today."

A wave of guilt washed over him as he saw the disappointed look in her eyes.

"Oh. Okay." Temperance replied, looking down at her breakfast.

She felt stupid. How could she have believed that Booth wouldn't have better things to do two days before Christmas than to spend time with her? He probably had loads of chores and stuff to do. Did he host a party for Christmas? Did he go to his parents' for dinner? Temperance quickly realized she didn't even know what Booth actually did for Christmas. One thing was sure, he probably didn't need a Christmas killer like her.

"Well I just assumed that you would be sick and tired of me by now." Booth quickly added, jokingly.

A small smile tugged at Temperance's lips.

"I was planning on wrapping presents today. Feel free to stay and help me if you'd like. I have to get everything done before Parker gets here. Mona is bringing him over at three."

"And Mona is?"

"Rebecca's mother. You'll see, she's really nice."

Temperance nodded.

"So, what do you say? Want to help me wrap some presents?"

Temperance giggled as she tried to wrap a triangle-shaped box but only managing to rip the red and white thin paper.

"I haven't done that in such a long time." She said as she tried to tape the wrapping paper.

Booth smiled as he watched her.

"You're pretty good for someone who hasn't done that in a while."

"Thanks." Temperance replied, looking up briefly at her partner.

Temperance felt her heart beat faster. She smiled inwardly. She was beginning to like the effect Booth was having on her.

"So, how do you celebrate Christmas?" Temperance asked as she pushed the box aside and grabbed another one of Parker's presents, this one in a more conventional form.

"Well," Booth began, grabbing a present himself, "on Christmas Eve, I go to my parents' house. All my family is there, my brother, my sister and my nieces and nephews. We have this big dinner, we exchanged gifts, we sing songs. It's pretty cool. Parker loves it there. I usually get him for Christmas Eve. I think Rebecca actually enjoyed our parties because it's the only time that she'd allow Parker to be with me before Christmas."

Booth paused for a split second.

"The party usually lasts until at least midnight. Then we "race" home to make sure that Parker is in bed before Santa comes. He's always so scared that Santa will skip our house because we're not there or because he's not asleep."

Temperance smiled.

"Depending on if Parker is with me or not, I put the presents under the tree right after Parker's asleep. If not, I wait until morning. Then, when Parker gets here or wakes up, it's straight to the Christmas tree. We unwrap the presents, then we do our stockings and then I cook this big breakfast for my little guy. Then we spend the rest of the day playing with the presents I got him for Christmas."

"Sounds like fun."

"How do you used to do it? With your parents, I mean?"

Booth looked up at his partner, hoping he hadn't struck a chord. But Temperance smiled at him as she began to think back to her childhood Christmas memories.

"Most of my friends unwrapped their presents on the 25th at midnight but we didn't. Our neighbors had parties but we preferred staying alone, just the four of us. We would all sit down in front of the fireplace, Dad would grab a Christmas book and he'd read to us. I remember, once, he read us "A Christmas Carol". It took us three hours. But my dad was pretty good at entertaining. The three hours simply flew by. Then, we'd go to bed around eleven. I always tried staying up late because I wanted to prove, both to myself and my parents, that Santa Claus didn't exist. I'd wait until my parents were gone to bed before I sneaked back in the living room and sat down in my father's chair. But every year, I always ended up waking up in my bed, with a note on my nightstand that said "There is no use trying to stay up late for me". It was signed Love Santa every time.

I'd run downstairs to find the living room bathing in presents. My parents would lit up the Christmas tree, we would all sit down together and unwrap our presents. Then we'd eat breakfast before getting ready to go to my grandfather's house. My dad never wanted him to be alone on Christmas. My grandmother died when I was just a baby and my mother's parents died in a fire just after Russ' birth. Both my parents are only children so we didn't get to go to big family parties. So, every year, it was only just us four together. Back then, I always thought that that was how it was going to be. Obviously, it didn't turn out that way."

Booth smiled sadly at her.

"Well this year, it's going to be different."

Temperance frowned.

"How come?"

Booth scooted over to be beside her and grabbed her hands in his. When she didn't pull them away, Booth went on.

"Because this year, you'll be with me."

Squeezing her hands gently, Booth let go and went back to his original spot, across from her.

"Why are you so nice to me?"

"What do you mean?" Booth replied, focusing on the present in front of him.

"Well you've been awfully nice with me lately, bringing me shopping and to your son's play. You even brought me to New York for a very romantic dinner and skating at the Rockefeller Center. I just want to know why you're doing all of that."

Booth sighed.

"Because I didn't want you to be all alone for Christmas again. Christmas should be spent with family, not on our own."

"But I don't have a family."

"Bones, remember when I told you there was more than just one kind of family?"

Temperance nodded.

"Well, welcome to your second family."

A smile tugged at Temperance's lips and she found herself fighting back some tears. Booth considered her family. Never, since her parents had disappeared, had anyone treating her this way. Everyone had simply given up on her. But Booth hadn't. And now, he considered her part of his family.

"So, what do you say? Will you come with me to my parents' tomorrow night?"

Temperance blinked back some tears and swallowed.

"Yes."

Whoa! It doesn't even look like she just agreed to go to his parents' house with him. Seems more like she agreed to marry him. Sorry 'bout that!