Brennan smiled as Max lifted Christine high as he could to place a bauble on the tree. Booth was standing on a ladder, trying to find the globe on the lights that wasn't working.
"See? This is why I wanted to buy new LED lights Booth." Brennan said, her hands planted firmly on her hips.
"Or at the very least you should have check that the lights were working before you put them on the tree. You know you'll never find it that way." Max said as he set Christine down on her feet.
"Pop Pop Pop Pop Tee!" young Hank called out to his grandfather who turned and grinned at the toddler who was holding up a Flyers bauble.
"Really?" Max said, taking the bauble from Hank and holding it up in the air.
"What? That's a great decoration." Booth said, frowning.
"It's not exactly Christmassy though is it?" Max asked placing the decoration towards the back of the tree, reluctant to place it at all.
"Of course it is! It's bright. It's shiny. It's got that gold, glittery stuff on it. Hey! Why are you putting it back there?" Booth said, noticing what Max was doing.
"I'm making room for the special decorations I brought with me. I thought it was about time I contributed to your tree Tempe." Max said, holding up a finger. "I'll be right back"
Brennan rescued a string of red beads from Hanks hands "No No Hank. Gentle. These will break if you pull them like"
Just as she said that, Hank squealed and pulled the strand tight between his fists. Tiny, red, shiny beads flew into the air and skittered across the floor.
"Oh Hank! No! Look at that!" Brennan cried.
Max walked into the room holding four small boxes.
"Dad! Watch out" Brennan screamed as Max's foot stepped onto several of the red beads, his eyes popping open as he felt his foot begin to slide.
Booth saw what was happening and yelled "Watch out!" as he jumped from the ladder and landed heavily behind Max, grabbing at him as the older man tumbled to the floor.
Max landed squarely on Booth's chest, forcing the air out of his son in law's lungs with a loud "oof!"
"Oh God. Bones. My back" Booth said, his voice quavering.
"Dad, are you alright?" Brennan asked, taking the boxes from Max. He had managed to hold onto them as he fell.
"Of course he's alright! He used me as a mattress!" Booth growled loudly, then groaned as Max tried to sit up on Booths stomach. "For God's sake man, get off me!" he yelled.
"Oh Booth, stop it" Brennan said, grabbing her father's hands and helping him stand up. "You've scared Hank!" she added, turning and attending to her young son who had burst into tears when Booth had yelled at Max.
Max stood and pressed his hands into his thighs and blew out a deep breath "Phew! That was a close call! I could have broken a hip or something!" he said.
Brennan picked up Hank and bounced him on her hip, shushing his loud crying "Are you sure you're OK Dad? " she asked Max.
"Yeah, thanks. I'm just fine. No problem at all. I may have fractured my lower back, but I'm just going to lie here while you take care of your father WHO ISN'T HURT!" Booth boomed.
Brennan's attention snapped back to Booth. She was going to tell him off again, but suddenly realised that he hadn't moved. She immediately became concerned. "Oh Booth. I'm sorry. Can I help you up?" she said putting Hank down and holding her hands out to grab his hands. She started to pull, making him yelp.
"Oww! No! Bones. Wait. Just. Just give me a minute." Booth whimpered.
"Where does it hurt?" she asked.
"Where doesn't it hurt would probably be a more pertinent question Bones. I just want to lie here for another minute and then." Booth frowned, not really sure that he could get up.
"I'm going to call someone" Brennan said suddenly, turning to grab the phone.
"NO! Don't call anyone. I'll be fine. I just need to slowly roll" Booth tried to roll and was quickly forced back by a searing pain in his hip and lower back.
"Booth, I'm sorry. You should have just let me fall" Max said, concerned that Booth really was hurt badly.
"Don't be stupid Max. You didn't make me jump. Uh. Can you go grab me a couple of pain killers out of the medicine cabinet? The ones in the yellow box with the blue writing. I'll take them, then when they've kicked in. I'll try to get up." Booth said.
"No. Booth. No. I really think I need to call an ambulance. You can't take any medication until we know what damage you've done." Brennan said, her medical persona kicking in.
"No ambulance Bones. Don't be stupid" he argued.
"Don't call me stupid. What if you've really hurt your back?" she said back, her voice lowered as Christine came over to her father.
"Daddy are you going to be a paropegink?" she asked.
"A paraplegic? No baby. I've just hurt my back a little bit. I'm going to be fine." Booth said, hoping that he was telling her the truth.
"Oh" Christine said, disappointment tinging her voice.
"Why did you ask that Christine?" Brennan asked her daughter, confused by her reaction.
"Well. It would be fun for me to sit on Daddy's lap and he wheel me around. Teddy Markson's daddy is a paropegink"
"para-plegic" Brennan corrected her.
"Oh for God's sake Bones. Don't encourage her!" Booth said, flopping his head back onto the floor.
"Paro pegic" Christine said carefully. "And he brings her to school. He's got a motor on it and everything and he lets her steer" Christine finished.
"Christine. Seriously, Daddy is fine. I'm just resting for a minute and then I'm going to get up" Booth said, assuring his daughter that he was alright.
"Booth"
"No Bones. Honestly. I'll just take the painkillers" he nodded at Max, holding out a hand for the tablets and a glass of water "And in fifteen minutes, you and Max can help me up."
"You know Booth, my pal Archie took a tumble and he was sure he was alright. Turns out he had fractured his hip and ended up in hospital two days later. Poor bastard." Max said, shaking his head.
"Why poor bastard?" Booth asked.
"Well he died, didn't he? Got an infection in his hip and poof!" Max snapped his fingers "That was it!"
"Is Daddy going to die?" Christine wailed.
"See what you've done?" Booth said. "No. No baby. I'm not going to die. My hip isn't broken. I just banged my back." he said confidently.
"Dad! Why would you tell a story like that?" Brennan said, holding Christine's face against her stomach. "why?" she added, mouthing the word.
Max pulled a face and shrugged. "Sorry. It just reminded me of Archie"
"No more talk about Archie!" Booth yelled. "In fact. No more talking. Just come over here and help me roll over."
Brennan let go of Christine, indicating for her to go sit on a chair and she and Max kneeled down next to Booth.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked.
"Of course." Booth said.
They slowly rolled him onto his side, then onto his stomach.
"This reminds me of the time we helped some beached whales" Max started to say.
"Dad. No more stories. Please" Brennan stopped him before he told the story about the pod of whales that beached themselves and died.
Booth pulled his arms in tight to his body, placing his hands by his chest "OK. I'm going to push myself back into a kneeling position" he said.
Brennan kneeled to the side of him. She grabbed him just above his hips to help support him as he moved.
"OK. One. Two. Three!" Booth counted off and slowly pushed himself up.
He got into the kneeling position with little help from Brennan, and turned to smile at her. He noticed her eyes were bright with unfallen tears "Bones. I'm really OK. I'm just going to be sore for a few days. Right, I'm going to crawl over to that chair and pull myself up into it."
Brennan nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat.
Slowly Booth crawled towards the chair. He grabbed at the arms and managed to use the chair to get himself up onto his feet. "There. OK. So. Now I'm going to sit down for a bit" he cringed as he sunk into the leather chair. "Oh Boy. Yeah. That's not too bad" he muttered as he settled himself.
"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Brennan asked, worried.
"Bones. Look. If I wake up in the morning and cannot get out of bed. Well, then you have my permission to call an ambulance." He said.
Brennan pursed her lips. "when you wake up, you are going to the doctors to have your back checked out. I'm not having you take any chances this close to Christmas."
"Bones" Booth argued.
"Tempe's right Booth. It's two days until Christmas. You need to just have a check up. That was a pretty heavy fall. And thank you. I probably would have broken something had you not saved me." Max held out a hand.
Booth stared at his father in law for a moment, then grasped Max's hand and shook it.
"No problem Max. Accidents happen. Let's just not have any more while you're here." he said.
"Poppy if you break a hip can you take me for rides in your wheelchair?" Christine asked.
Booth and Max looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Sure baby. If I ever end up in a wheelchair, I'll definitely take you for a ride" Max said, tears falling from his eyes as he laughed.
"And you will live here so you could take me to school every day?" Christine asked.
Booth's mouth dropped open "No wheelchairs! Nobody is ending up in wheelchairs Christine." he said.
"Are you saying you don't want me to live here?" Max asked, feigning shock.
"No" Booth said, watching Christine's face "No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying. Uh"
"He's saying that you won't ever need a wheel chair because you're a very fit man. And. If the day ever came when you. Needed. To. Come." Brennan's voice faultered as she watched Booth's head shaking from side to side "I'm sure you'll be happier living in where you are for now" she finished, as Booth's head began nodding.
Christine's mouth down turned "Well that's sad. I'd like you to live here Poppy" she said.
Max smiled and held out his arms for a hug "Thank you sweetie" he said, grinning at Booth "I'll just have to come for more visits instead". He stood up and picked up the boxes he had carried in.
"Now, how about you open these up?" he handed one to Christine "Be very very gentle" he added.
Christine carefully opened the white box and pulled out a delicate pink ornament with silver beading and a pretty pink ribbon. "Look Mommy! It says Christine!" she said showing her mother.
"Oh Dad! It's beautiful!" Brennan said, taking the ornament from Christine to look at it more closely.
"And there's one here for Hank and you, and even for grumpy over there" Max said, handing the other boxes to Brennan, who opened them up and hung the four ornaments on the tree with care.
"They're perfect" she said, tears welling up in her eyes "So perfect Dad" she hugged her father and then looked at Booth. "Aren't they beautiful?" she asked.
"I can't really see them. But I'm sure they are. Thanks Max" Booth said.
"Well, I just wanted something on the tree from me" Max said nodding.
"So how about some eggnog?" he asked, rubbing his hands together.
Brennan smiled and nodded walking over to sit on the arm of the armchair Booth was sitting in.
"Can I get you a glass of something? Water? Soda?" she asked.
Booth frowned "What? No I want some eggnog!" he said.
"You just took pain killers. You can't have alcohol" Brennan said firmly. "I'll get you a soda" she added grinning at him.
"Great. Thanks." Booth said, sulking.
He watched them all walk to the kitchen and leaned his head back on the leather. "Just great."