A/N: Michael is 26 Christine is 21…
Christine was driving home for her last college thanksgiving break and she was nervous because she was bringing her boyfriend, Tim home to spend the holiday with her family. Booth and Brennan had met Tim a few times over the last two and years and they liked him well enough. She was nervous about Michael meeting Tim; he'd never met any of the few boyfriends she'd had as a teenager.
"Chrissy, what's wrong? You seem nervous, your parents like me…. Well, your mom does, I'm not sure about your dad.."
Christine smiled, " Dad likes you, if he didn't you'd know and you wouldn't be sitting in my passenger seat right now. I'm nervous about Mikey meeting you, he's never met any of my boyfriends. He might not like you being in the house , mom and dad have been prepping him but sometimes that doesn't work…"
"I'm sure it will be fine. If he can't handle me being in the house, I'll go back to my dorm. It's not going to be a big deal."
"Usually when I come home for a break Mikey and I go the 5-dollar theater that shows old kids movies and out for dinner after. He'll want to go tonight; you'll have to stay with mom and dad…"
"That's fine. Relax Chrissy everything will be fine."
"I am relaxed. I just want everybody to have a good Thanksgiving, especially Mikey…"
"I get it." Christine smiled a little. Fifteen minutes later she and Tim were walking up the sidewalk in front of Booth and Brennan's house. Michael had the front door open before Christine waked up the steps. "Cwristine! You home now!" Michael stepped out on the porch and threw himself at Christine for a hug. "Hi Mikey! Did you miss me?"
"Uh-huh. I home until Monday…"
"Cool, I missed you too. I have to go back to school Sunday night."
'"K."
"Michael, let Christine come inside!" Brennan chuckled a little as Christine walked them both into the house, Tim followed them.
"Hello, Tim."
"Hi Dr. Brennan. Thank you and Mr. Booth for letting me spend the holiday with you."
"Of course."
Booth walked into the living room. "DAD! Cwristine home!"
"I see that. Hey Christine."
Christine let go of Michael and turned to Booth "Hi dad." Booth pulled Christine into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
"How was the drive?"
Christine laughed," the forty-minute drive was fine. Traffic wasn't bad, but it's getting there. Thanks for letting Tim stay for the weekend…"
"Of course. Separate beds though…"
"Dad, Tim and I have been-"
"STOP! I don't want to hear it!"
Christine chuckled a little. "Daddy, I'm not a little kid anymore…"
"To me you'll always be my little girl." Booth kissed her forehead and turned to Tim.
"Hello Mr. Booth thank you for letting me spend the holiday with you guys."
"Sure."
Christine lightly pulled on Tim's hand leading him to stand in front of Michael. "Mikey, this is my boyfriend, Tim. He's going to spend Thanksgiving with us. He's going to stay here with me…"
Michael nodded, " go movie now?"
"In a few minutes, I need to out my stuff in my room first. Think about where we're going for dinner."
"I want tacos!"
"Okay. Get your shoes on."
"K." Michael headed for his room. Christine and Tim followed a few minutes later. Tim stood in the doorway of Christine's room.
"Was your dad serious about the separate bed thing?"
"No, the only options are a air mattress in the man cave or Parker's bed and that's just…ew…"
"But…"
"He and mom lived together for two years before they were married. They lived in dad's tiny two-bedroom apartment, the second bedroom was Parker's…And trust me they had sex.."
"Good to know, but we're not doing anything this weekend." Tim walked into the room and put his duffel bag by Christine's dresser.
"Okay. You going to be okay here while Mikey and I go out to dinner and a movie?"
"Yeah, your mom's here she'll be a buffer…"
"Dad really is a big softy "
"That's an ex-Army Ranger Sniper and current assistant director of the FBI . Not to mention your mom would know how to hide my body where no one would find it…"
"They wouldn't do anything to you unless you hurt me and they wouldn't have a chance because I'd lay you out myself first."
"I know. I love you."
"I love you too. Do you want me to bring you back anything?"
"A spicey beef and bean burrito would be good."
"You got. Are you ready to go Mikey?"
Michael came into Christine's room, "Yeah. He come too?"
"You want Tim to come to the movies and out to tacos with us?"
"Um-hum.."
"Tim, do you want to go to the movies and out for tacos with us?"
"Sure."
"Cool. Let's go…"
The three of them headed downstairs. They met Booth in the living room. "Are you two headed to the movies?"
"Yeah, Mikey asked Tim to come with us…."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"That's big…"
"Yeah…"
Booth pulled out his wallet and handed Michael some cash. "Enjoy. I'm on my way to get mom and I Thai so we can have a movie night on the couch." Michael put the money in his wallet.
"Have fun. Do you want us to bring you back chips and salsa?"
"Yeah. Don't forget the queso and guac…"
"Got it."
Christine sighed when she got to. The theater and saw the crowed. "Mikey, do you still want to go the movies? It's crowded."
"um-huh."
"Okay." They got out of the car and Michael grabbed Christine's hand. "You'll be okay buddy."
"I know…"
"Tim, it'd be better if Mikey sat between us since crowds are hard for him to deal with."
"Sounds good to me, lead the way. I'll follow with the snacks."
"Thank you." Tim just nodded, not really understanding what might happen.
Twenty minutes later Michael was sort of settled between Christine and Tim watching two of the three Cars movies and eating popcorn. At the movie's end Michael tried to be the first one out of the theater. "slow down buddy. I know you want to leave but we have to let other people out first…"
"MMMMM…" Christine pulled Michael to her and motioned for Tim to go in front of them to act as a buffer. They were in the car ten minutes later headed to Michael's favorite Mexican restaurant.
"Mikey, it's crowded too. let's get pizza and go home. We can watch more movies in dad's man cave.
"No, I want tacos! I okay."
"Okay." Christine sent a text to Tim explaining that they might have to leave in the middle of dinner and if that happened she'd take Michael to the car and it was his job to pack their food up to go and pay. Tim replied back with a thumbs up emoji. They got a table in the back; Michael got his usual taco platter. Christine got the enchilada platter and Tim got the deluxe combo platter.
Despite being busy their food arrived somewhat quickly. Michael ate a few bites before Christine looked over at him. "Mikey, do you need to go home?" Michael nodded. " Okay. Let's go to the car. Tim will pack the food and pay." Michael nodded and took a last bite of his taco before getting up and taking Christine's hand. Ten minutes later Tim opened the passenger door and got in.
"Mikey, let go of my hand so I can drive home."
"No! I need you, Cwristine!"
"Okay. Okay… Tim you're gonna have to drive."
"On it. Are you okay?" Tim slid over to the driver's seat.
"Yeah, Mikey's anxiety has decided to join us at dinner tonight. Mikey. You're okay, but you need to let go of my hand so I can put my seatbelt on…" Christine quickly strapped herself in and put her phone on speaker before calling Brennan. Michael grabbed her hand as soon as the buckle clicked.
"Mom, we're ,on our way home. The theater was crowded, but he pushed through it and did good. The restaurant was worse but we tried it. Tim's driving, Mikey won't let go of my hand. He's safe. we're both strapped in."
"Okay. Dad and I will be waiting on you."
"We should be home in fifteen minutes…"
"Okay."
Twelve minutes later Christine let out a breath when Tim pulled in the driveway and Booth and Brennan were waiting on the porch for them. As soon as Brennan was next to Michael Christine got out of her car and followed Tim in the house.
Once inside Tim continued to the kitchen and unpacked the food while Christine got silverware and drinks. Before she sat down Christine put Michael's dinner and the refrigerator . "it will be a while before Mikey eats his dinner."
"Does that happen often?"
"No, not since mom and dad found a doctor that saw past his disability and found the right combination of medications that actually help him."
"That's good. What are they doing out there?"
"Mom gave him meds and is talking him though whatever is bothering him. when the meds kick in they'll come in and Mikey will go to bed for a while , or for the rest of the night since it's so late. Tomorrow or when he wakes up he'll eat his tacos and be fine. Dad's just there mostly for mom's moral support. Sometimes if Mikey's really adiated and upset he'll run and dad has to catch him. When he was about 13 he wasn't in a good place with his medications and he got so out of control that mom had to pick him up from school then after I got home mom had to call dad to help her with Mikey. When dad came home Mikey started to charge him. Dad told me to lock myself in the bathroom and wait for him to come get me out. I got in and heard Mikey slap mom…. Mom and dad don't know I know it happened….he's only been violent that one time…"
"That's good."
"I'm glad you were with us, the hand holding and not letting go is something new."
"Glad I could help. I would like to meet Michael and get to know him when he's doing better."
"I would like that too. we can try going out to lunch Sunday before we go back to school. Hopefully the crowds will be gone by then."
"Sounds good to me."
Just then Booth, Brennan and Michael came in the house. Michael walked over to Christine. "Chwistine, I sorry."
"Mikey, you don't have to be sorry, buddy. We'll all go out to lunch and the movies before Tim and I go back to school Sunday."
"K. I take nap now."
"Okay, have a good nap." Michael nodded and turned to follow Brennan upstairs to his room. Booth walked over to the table. "You did good, Christine. You too, Tim."
"When we got to the restaurant and I saw that it was crowded I suggested getting pizza, coming home and watching movies in the man cave. Mikey said he was okay…"
"Sometimes he is okay with crowds, it depends on the moment."
"What's up with the death grip hand holding?"
"We don't know, he's been doing that a lot the last few weeks. He has an appointment with Dr. Jacobs next Friday, he probably needs his meds adjusted."
"We're going to watch movies in the man cave."
"Separate couches!"
"Your chips are on the counter and the dips are in the fridge…"
B&B
A half hour later Parker and Adison made their way to the man cave.
"Parker, what are you doing here?"
"It's starting to snow in Charlottesville so we decided to come tonight and spend the weekend."
"Good plan."
"Where's Mikey?"
"He's napping. Our dinner and a movie didn't go well."
"That sucks."
"Yep. Where's Matt?"
"He fell asleep on the drive and woke up fussy when we got here .Dad and Bones took him. What are you watching?"
"Titanic. We just started it; we can rewind if you guys wanna watch."
"Sure."
An hour later Michael came downstairs carrying bags of chips, Booth followed with Michael's reheated dinner. Christine quietly changed the movie to the first Toy Story.
"Bones is upstirs holding Matt while he sleeps. He's probably going to sleep with us this weekend."
"Cool."
Booth filled up a small snack plate with chips, salsa guac and queso and some popcorn then he went to his recliner, giving Tim side eye for 'sitting with Christine on the same couch.
"Dad!"
B&B
The next morning Brennan woke to Booth watching her sleep with four-year-old Matthew sleeping in her arms.
"How long have you been watching us?"
"Not long. This is going to be the best weekend and holiday we've has in a while; all the kids home for a long weekend…."
"And their signifies others…"
"That too.."
"Booth, Tim is a nice young man….whom Christine loves dearly…."
"STOP! I don't want to hear it…."
Brennan leaned over and kissed Booth. "Booth, they're more than likely going to get married in the next year or so."
"I'm going to go start prepping the turkey."
'"Okay, take the cinnamon rolls out, but don't bake them yet. It's just after 6, let everyone sleep in a little."
"I might as well lay here with you two a little longer."'
"That would be nice." Booth grinned and pulled the blanket back over himself.
The day was fun, everyone ate homemade cinnamon rolls in front of the tv watching the Macy's Parade. After that was over Brennan made everyone but Booth disappear to the man cave to watch movies and play games until dinner was ready. Once the turkey was in the oven Booth joined the kids. That night after they were in bed, Christine turned to Tim, "Did you enjoy Thanksgiving with my family?"
"Yeah, dinner was the best thanksgiving dinner I've ever had. Well, except for the tofu turkey…"
"Yeah, but you made mom's day by trying a piece."
"I was honestly curious about what it tasted like…"
"We've all tried it at one point except for Mikey."
"I can't see your dad trying it…."
"He did, Parker and I dared him. I don't think he actually swallowed it though,"
"It was hard, but I did it."
Christine laughed, "I love you."
"I love you too." they kissed.
B&B
Sunday afternoon Christine, Tim, and Michael headed to the movies to watch two Cars movies again since Michael hadn't really enjoyed them due to his anxiety popping up. After the movies they went to the diner for burgers, fries, and chocolate milkshakes.
"Had fun…."
"That's good. I had fun too. we'll do it again in a few weeks when I come home for Christmas break…"
Michael nodded and pointed at Tim, "Come too?"
"Eh, I don't know if Tim is gonna spend Christmas with us, we haven't talked about it yet. Would you be okay with it if he did?"
Michael nodded and ate some fries.
An hour later Michael was home and Christine was heading back to school with Tim.
"I had a good Thanksgiving with you and your parents and brothers. This morning was fun too, I've never seen those movies."
"I had fun too. Theirs a couple more Cars movies. I'll grab them next time I go home and we can have a movie night."
"Sounds good to me. I can spend Christmas with you if it's okay with your mom and dad."
"I'm sure it will be, but don't you want to spend Christmas with your mom?"
"Julie and I haven't spent any holiday together since senior year…. She's taking a cruise to the Mediterranean with my aunt for Christmas. Hopefully she'll show up in a couple months for graduation…"
"Tim…"
"It's okay. I'm making Alfredo for dinner…"
"Okay. Mom sent pie…"
"Yum…"
A/N2: Still have two chapters to go….