AN: So this was pretty fast. I wanted to get this posted so that I can pack all day tomorrow. I get to move soon. Fun, huh? Anyway, things pickup a bit here. I was thinking this might need to move up to an M, but I think at least for the moment it's still tame enough to be at T. Let me know what you think.

It was an odd sensation that woke Brennan up in the morning. She lay snuggled in Booth's arms, his left arm coming up across her shoulder from underneath, and his right firmly anchored around her waist. It wasn't the feeling of contentment to be in his arms that woke her up; it was the building arousal that did it. As they lay spooning on the floor of Booth's room, Brennan could feel her partner's erection nestled in between the globes of her cheeks. She shifted her hips backwards, pressing into his hardened length, smiling slightly when he groaned and ground back into her. Booth shifted his left arm and pushed Brennan's hair off of her neck before kissing the delicate skin there. She moved her head to the side to give him better access to her as she reached back behind her and wound her fingers through his hair. Brennan bit back a moan as his other hand began to roam over her body, gently sweeping over her abdomen and hips.

Booth began to trail kisses down her back, bunching up the fabric of the shirt to reach more of her skin. When he reached the edge of her panties, he traced along the hemline with his tongue to her side. He nipped gently at her skin, pushing the tee shirt out of his way as he gently swirled his tongue around her belly button. Temperance arched into him, moaning slightly as he trailed up her body, past the valley between her breasts and to her neck. She nipped his shoulder as he sucked on the dip of her collarbone. He moved up to capture her lips with his own, manipulating them as he sat both of them up, pausing briefly at a light tinkling sound. His hands on the hem of the tee shirt, he pulled away from her for a moment.

"Bones?" Temperance looked at him before capturing his lips this time and tracing them with her tongue, seeking entrance. He granted it after breaking the kiss to pull off her shirt. She ran her hands down his bare torso as he cupped her full breasts, eliciting a moan from her. She shifted closer to him as her hands reached the waistband of his sleep pants and tugged at the waistband. With the tug came the sound of tinkling bells again. Booth paused and looked at Temperance curiously.

"What?" She backed away from him, thinking he changed his mind…if that was even possible at that point. She crossed her arms over her breasts as Booth continued to look at her.

"Where are your wings?"

"Huh?"

"Don't you know that every time a bell rings, and angel gets its wings?" Brennan looked at him rather aghast before groaning.

"Please tell me you didn't just quote 'It's a Wonderful Life' during foreplay." At his rather guilty grin she groaned and stood up. That's when he noticed the source of the bells. There were two small jingle bells on the hemline of her red boycut panties.

"I'm going to get some coffee, do you want some?" Booth pulled himself up from the floor and winced. The look didn't get past Temperance.

"Are you okay?" She watched as he adjusted his weight, trying to find a comfortable stance.

"I'm fine. My feet are cold is all." He offered her a tight smile and limped his way out of the room. She shook her head at his stubbornness as she grabbed the shirt and threw it back on. The fractures in his feet were probably bothering him, and sleeping on the floor probably didn't help. With one more sigh, she left the room to head for the kitchen.

When Booth emerged from the room, he had to squint in the much brighter light of the house. Heading to the kitchen, he adjusted himself but then made a bee line for the bathroom when he saw that Max was up. Booth wasn't entirely sure what Max would think about him and Brennan sharing a room.

"Hey Booth," Max called from the kitchen. Booth cursed under his breath and made his way back toward the kitchen.

"Yeah Max?"

"Have you seen Tempe this morning? She's usually up before I am." Booth glanced over his shoulder and saw her exiting the room still looking delightfully rumpled.

"I'm sure she'll be here in a minute." He glanced at her as she walked, enjoying the gentle tinkling of the little bells. She offered him a small grin as she passed on her way to coffee.

"Morning honey. Merry Christmas." Max gave her a little peck on the cheek before handing her a mug of coffee. "Russ and the girls will be over after lunch to open presents here."

"Okay, great." She took a sip of coffee as she sat down at the table. Booth watched her for a moment before leaving the kitchen for a shower. As he walked away, Brennan grabbed her phone and waited for the bathroom door to shut before she made a phone call.

"Christmas present," Angela said as she answered the phone. Brennan looked at the phone for a moment before starting to talk.

"What was that about?"

"I didn't get to talk to you yesterday, so I couldn't give you your Christmas Eve present," Angela explained as if that answered the question. "So, have you finally broken down and talked to Booth?"

"Sort of."

"What do you mean sort of?"

"He talked and I listened." Brennan fidgeted, hoping that Booth wouldn't come out of the bathroom while she was on the phone.

"And what did he say?"

"Nothing that I can tell you about. Listen, Ange, I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"The 'I'll love you forever' kind of favor."

It was a few hours later that Brennan pulled Booth to his room, her laptop under one arm which had Booth curious. What was going on? She set up the laptop onto the bed and turned it on.

"Bones, what are you doing?"

"You'll see in a minute." She quickly opened up a program then waited. It took another minute before Angela's face appeared on the screen.

"Bren, I hope you realize I'm only doing this because I love you so much. Merry Christmas Booth." The artist winked at the special agent before ducking off screen. It took a moment and some murmuring before the screen was filled again, this time with Parker.

"Hi daddy! Merry Christmas," the little boy said excitedly. Booth looked at Brennan with tears building in his eyes. He mouthed the words, 'thank you' before turning back to the screen. Brennan patted him on the shoulder and left him alone to speak to his son.

As she made her way out to the living room, she heard the familiar voices of her brother's family as well as that of Gavin. Having not expected him that day, she made her way to the living room to see what he was doing there.

"Gavin, what a surprise," she said as she stepped into the room. He smiled and approached her, a small, wrapped box in his hands.

"For you," he said as he handed the box over. Curious, she unwrapped the box and looked inside. "I know how much you like to take walks, and with the weather so cold, I thought you might like that." He nodded to the box as she reached inside, pulling out a fluffy scarf. He smiled as she felt the material between her fingers.

"Thank you, it's really nice." She wrapped the scarf around her neck as Gavin reached over to finger the material himself.

"Looks beautiful on you."

"Gavin…" she began, but was cut off as Booth ran into the room, picked her up, swung her around and planted an enthusiastic kiss on her lips. Gavin watched the entire thing with his jaw dropped.

"Bones, thank you so much. That's the best Christmas gift anyone could have gotten me." He kissed her one more time before setting her down. Gavin looked from one to the other. Something had obviously occurred between the pair over night; in fact it seemed as if a lot had occurred.

"Temperance, what's going on here?" He looked from one to the other a little bit angrily. She was his girl, so what was going on?

"I just set up a chance for Booth to speak to his son face to face for Christmas."

"That's it huh? Nothing else going on between you two, because you seem a lot closer today." The pair looked at each other, but didn't say anything. The silence after the question also drew Max's attention. "That's what I thought. What interest could you possibly have with him? He's dangerous Temperance. I saw the way he was firing that rifle at the shooting range. You don't just get that good. Where'd you learn to shoot huh?" Gavin rounded on Booth. The two just stared at each other, Booth's jaw working as he clenched it tightly. Gavin looked around at the group, challenging them to speak up. "That's what I thought. And you all think you can trust him."

"Stop it Gavin, you don't know what you're talking about." Brennan crossed her arms and looked at him coldly. He turned his attention from Booth to Temperance.

"Don't you tell me that. You're the one that seems to be taking up with him when I thought we had something going on."

"Well you apparently didn't have a problem with it when you thought I was married to him. Then you were perfectly okay to have displays of affection."

"That's before I found out he was married."

"And that makes a difference to you?"

"Absolutely it's different. You're married to him, then you're here to gain some perspective or to get on with your life. But if he's out here and he's married to someone else…" He let the implication hang in the air. Booth's hands contracted into fists, and Brennan remained outwardly calm, though inside she was seething.

"What exactly are you accusing me of?"

"You're a kept woman," he spat.

"You son of a bitch! You have no idea what's going on here." Booth lunged forward to hit the man, but before he could move, Max had him held back. Temperance opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by her brother who punched the shooting range owner. He staggered back and dropped onto the couch.

"No one accuses my sister of something like that, you hear me?"

"Gavin, get out of this house. I don't want to see you around here again." Max kept his voice even but firm. Gavin reached up and felt his nose. It wasn't broken, but there was blood gushing from it. He got up and glared at the family.

"Screw you all. You're all messed up to be defending that asshole." He glared once more at the group and walked out, swiping at and crumpling the piece of paper that was stuck to the leg of his pants. As Gavin left, Brennan rounded on the three rather irate men.

"I can't believe the three of you. I could take care of that myself you know."

"No one accuses you of what amounts to prostitution Bones. I couldn't just stand by and let him get away with that."

"It wasn't your place to take care of it. You can't keep taking care of my problems."

"That's not…"

"No, I don't want to hear it. Can you all just let me take care of myself and stay out of my affairs?" Brennan looked over the group before storming off to her room. Booth watched her walk off and dropped his head down to his chest. Some Christmas this was turning out to be.

It was in the evening when Russ and his family left. The day had been somewhat subdued after the earlier fight. Booth was sitting on a couch, staring into the fire as it died down to embers. Max was in the kitchen putting away the left overs, and Temperance sat at the kitchen table while working on her laptop. It was quiet, and no one was talking. As Max finished up with the food, he wiped off his hands and headed to the back door.

"I'm going to grab some more firewood. I'll be right back." Booth looked back at him and gave a quick nod. As Max stepped out to the backyard and shut the door, Booth sighed and leaned his head back onto the couch. Brennan looked up from her computer at him.

"You know I don't think you can't handle problems yourself."

"I know that, but you've got to at least let me try first. None of you needed to jump in for me."

"There's just something about that guy I don't like, and his accusations today certainly didn't help."

"Gavin's harmless Booth. He's not going to hurt anyone physically."

"I don't know. He runs a shooting range for God's sake. He's probably very capable of doing harm."

"He's not the type."

"Isn't he?" Booth turned to look at her, but jumped when he heard a loud yelp and a crash from the backyard. He jumped up from the couch, racing to the backyard with Brennan right on his heels. As they flung open the door, Brennan gasped.

"Dad!" She ran to her father who was laid out on the ground, a gash on his forehead as Booth took off after the fleeing attacker.