After all of the presents had been unwrapped and marveled, everyone slowly cleaned up the mess and ventured back towards the TV room or the kitchen for desert. Brennan was gathering up the last of the wrapping paper and compressing the trash bag so that it could help more when she was greeted by Robby's mother.
"Temperance." She said, getting the attention of the scientist, "I'm Nancy, Robby's mother." She said, extending her hand out.
Brennan smiled and took her hand graciously, "You have a beautiful little boy." She said.
Nancy smiled and looked into the TV room where Robby was occupied by a coloring set that he had received for Christmas from 'Santa'. She turned back to Brennan and took her hand back politely, "Thank you. So," she said crossing her arms, "That was quite a gift Seeley gave you." She said smiling knowingly.
Brennan lifted her hand and touched the necklace that she had put on just after receiving it and smiled, "Yes. I don't know why he did that." She said shaking her head.
Nancy shrugged, "It's the way men are. They tend to show rather than tell; my theory is that they're too wimpy to confront us about how they feel." She laughed.
Brennan cocked her head to the side and studied Nancy's face trying to understand what she meant by the statement. Knowing that she was not good at gleaning information indirectly as Booth did, she decided to ask, "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
Nancy half laughed and then stopped when she saw that Temperance was being completely serious, "You're kidding, right?" she asked. When Temperance didn't answer she took a step closer to her, "Maybe it isn't my place to say this, but I think it is obvious that you and Seeley have feelings for each other."
Brennan looked away from Nancy for a moment trying to decipher her meaning, "What kind of feelings?" she asked.
Nancy looked at her as though she were insane, "Romantic feelings."
Brennan stared at her for a moment longer and then laughed, "No!" she said incredulously, "No… Booth, Seeley and I. We're… we are partners. That's it." She said, emphasizing her point by drawing and invisible line with her hand in front of her.
Nancy quirked her eyebrows and smiled at her, "I hate to break this to you Temperance but partners don't buy each other expensive jewelry and they certainly don't spend the holidays with each other's family." She said turning around and heading toward the kitchen. As a last thought she turned on her heals and leaned toward the perplexed Temperance, "And they definitely don't stare longingly at one another either." She said, winking at Temperance and making her way into the kitchen.
Brennan shifted on her feet and looked around the room before walking to the threshold and peering into the TV room where Booth and his brother Jared sat on the couch, beer in hand. She studied his profile and tried to determine whether or not what Nancy had said was true. She realized that she certainly didn't know whether or not she had romantic feelings for Booth, but she found that she did in fact enjoy looking at him. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed one of the smaller girls sitting on the floor of the TV room near Booth. She was holding a doll that was dressed in a navy blue pant suit. Temperance panicked for a moment seeing the similarity between this girl's doll and the doll that Frankie had had.
She immediately made her way into the room and squatted down next to the little girl, "Hey there." She said.
"Hi!" the little girl said looking up at her, "You're Uncle Seeley's girlfriend, right?" the little girl inquired.
Temperance looked up at Booth who was staring back at her with a stunned look on his face. She quickly looked away, slightly flustered, "Uh, um… what is your name?" she asked evasively.
"Molly and this is Georgina." She said raising the doll up to Temperance's face, "I just got her from Santa."
Temperance blinked and took the doll out of the girl's hands, "She's pretty." She said, looking at the facial features of the doll. Her face was the same as the one from her dream, the only difference being her hair color and apparel, "Who makes these dolls?" she asked.
Molly turned around and grabbed a box from behind her. It was a typical doll box with a sheer front and a colorful pastel design on the cardboard, "It's a new line of American girl dolls that just came out. My friends are going to be so jealous." She giggled.
Nancy came up behind her and sat down on the couch near the two, "Temperance, this is Robby's older sister."
Temperance nodded and Molly turned to look at her mother, "I'm telling her about my dolly, Mom." She said, then turning back to Temperance.
Nancy leaned forward, "Oh, these dolls are wonderful." She said excitedly, "It's a new line for career based dolls. The whole brand is meant to empower young girls to become anything they want. They have all sorts of career choices and so many more being planned for production."
Temperance nodded and handed the doll back to the little girl, "That is quite wonderful." She said skeptically, "What other kinds do they have?" she asked.
Molly smiled and started digging around in the doll box, then pulling out a magazine and flipping through the pages. She handed Temperance the open magazine with all of the dolls listed with their prices, "And the ones that aren't out yet are on the next page." The little girl said, straightening out the doll's hair and sitting her on her lap.
There were about thirty dolls on the page ranging from school teachers to doctors, pediatricians (which came with a medical bag and a puppy or kitty of the child's choice), Actresses and Concert Musicians, "These are quite extraordinary." Temperance said, then noticing the prices, "And quite expensive."
Nancy laughed, "Yeah, they cost an arm and a leg, but it's worth it to see the expressions on their faces when they open the box." Nancy laughed.
Temperance looked up at Nancy quizzically when she heard Booth say from across the room, "Not literally, Bones." She turned to look at him and he was scooping a mouthful of ice cream into his mouth and winked at her.
She rolled her eyes and flipped the page in the magazine and looked down. There she was, Delia the scientist coming out in December of 2009. Temperance gasped and closed the magazine abruptly, looking up at the taken aback Nancy and Molly. She shook her head; she had to have been imagining it. She opened the magazine again and flipped to the appropriate page.
Standing in the middle of the page was Delia. White lab coat with her name scrawled across the right breast pocket. She was stunned. She had to have seen the doll on television or in an add in the newspaper. She didn't own a TV and never read the paper. She shook her head again and rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was seeing it properly and not hallucinating, but she was still there on the page.
"Temperance, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost." Nancy said, putting her hand on Temperance's shoulder.
Temperance flinched away, "Ghosts don't exist." She said firmly and standing up. She turned around, avoiding Booth's eyes and walked into the foyer and putting on her coat. She needed air. She needed a moment alone so that she could think rationally.
Stepping out into the cold brisk winter air, Brennan took a breath and closed her eyes. Not a moment later, Booth was walking out the door as she suspected he might.
"Bones, what is wrong?" he asked, completely concerned for her.
Brennan looked up at him and then back down at the ground, "Nothing." She stated firmly.
Booth tilted his head to the side, "Nancy said you saw a picture of a doll and then bolted. That doesn't sound like nothing." He said.
Brennan sighed, "You're going to think I'm crazy." She said.
Booth laughed, "Well, if you're crazy then I am a vegetable. Tell me what's wrong."
Brennan turned and sat down on the bench that was placed beside the door. Booth followed, sitting down next to her, "I've been having these dreams," she started.
"Nightmares?" Booth asked quickly, "Are you having more gravedigger dreams, Bones? You should have told me."
"Booth!" she said, "I can't tell you if you don't stop talking!" she laughed.
Booth laughed as well, "Go on." He relented.
"Not nightmares. They're just strange. The first night it was my father. It seemed so real. He was in my apartment and he was talking about how I need to be happy and how I'm heading down a path that could lead to an extremely unhappy life. The next night it was myself and I was saying the same thing to me." She said looking up at him.
His eyes were focused on her and his expression blank as she told the story. She continued, "The next night, it was a little girl. She said her name was Frankie and," she sighed loudly and closed her eyes to envision her again, like she had been doing all day, "Booth, she was so beautiful. You should have seen her." She said turning and smiling at him, he smiled back at her and put his hand on her back, urging her to continue, "She said she was my daughter and she begged me to change so that she and I could meet one day."
"This all sounds… lovely, Bones. But what does it have to do with a doll?" Booth asked softly.
"Frankie, she had a doll with her that she called Delia. Delia was a scientist. I was looking through the magazine and there she was." Brennan responded.
Booth paused to think for a moment, "You probably saw a girl with the doll around town, Bones."
"Delia the scientist is still in the production phase. She doesn't go on the market until December of next year, Booth."
Booth shook his head, "Then you probably saw an internet add for it or something."
Brennan shook her head, "No, Booth. The first time I ever saw that doll was in my dream last night."
Booth shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you, Bones. I think you should probably just let it go and chalk it up to one of those inexplicable things that just happens."
Brennan sighed, "You're probably right. It just, scared me, that's all."
"I know, Bones." He whispered.
The front door creaked open and Mrs. Booth stuck her head outside, "There is still a lot of dessert left and I found that video of Seeley and Boppy!" she said.
Booth turned to look at Bones and shrugged. He stood up and offered his hand to Brennan who glared at it and stood up by herself. He laughed and guided her back into the house.
