Yeah, Christmas is over. You can all hate me for being a slow updater. But pretend it's still the holiday season for a while longer, and I hope that you will all enjoy this.

When her eyes fluttered open, she at first registered that she was cold, and then immediately recalled what day it was. For a split second, she flashed upon a memory of years ago, staring out into a dark morning from her bedroom window and wondering why her parents car wasn't in the driveway, why they hadn't come home. It had been the last thing her teenage mind had been holding on to... that they'd be home for Christmas. That they had to be, just because of that reason. But they weren't, and she hadn't been able to handle that.

A warm body stirring next to her pulled her mind back to the present, and the realization that it was Christmas morning took on a different meaning. She'd be spending it with someone, with two people, actually, for the first time since that year. She'd celebrated Christmas with her father in prison two years ago, yes, but that hadn't been quite the same as this. That wasn't waking up to go and sit in front of a sparkling tree surrounded in presents. That had been simply getting together later in the day. This... this was what Christmas had been to her all that time ago, and with that single thought she pushed herself upright and glanced down at Booth, who was only partially awake.

Excitement coursed through her irrationally, and she realized she was actually eager to get up, even though it was no doubt early. It didn't make sense, but suddenly she didn't care.

"Merry Christmas," she whispered to him, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her lips. His eyes focused slowly on her, and he frowned in a half-awake-confusion way before he groaned and rolled over to push himself into a sitting position beside her.

"Merry Christmas to you, too," he said, his voice giving away traces of surprise. Then his frown deepened again as he turned towards the bedside table. "...What time is it, anyways?"

She turned to look as well, and saw that it was nearly six-thirty. That was when the both noticed the other person in the room. Parker stood at the base of the bed watching them, and it suddenly was very obvious to her why she'd been so cold upon waking up. The small boy had been attempting to wake them up and the comforter had slid off and was no longer covering either of them, just the sheets. She shivered and pulled it towards her.

"Good morning, Parker," she said through a yawn.

"I've been waiting ages," he said, his eyes lighting up hopefully, "Can we please open presents now?"

She turned to look at Booth, who chuckled and stretched. "I don't see why not."

Parker punched the air and bolted from the room; clearly he intended for them to follow.

"Let's go, Bones," Booth said, sounding much more awake now, and with a trace of excitement in his voice as well. He climbed from the bed and pulled on a t-shirt. She slid a bathrobe over her pajamas and followed him out into the living room, which admittedly looked actually magical with the lights twinkling all around and the tall tree standing out and glowing especially bright.

"So how do we get started?" she asked, glancing at him for help as she slowly sank onto the couch and glanced from the tree to the small child that was digging through presents and shaking ones with his name on them. She recognized one of the boxes she'd wrapped herself sitting just to his right, and felt the corner of her lips tilt upwards.

"I'll hand out the gifts, if that's fine with you?" he asked, kneeling down to sit next to the tree. Parker scampered over to jump on the couch next to her, his eyes bright with excitement.

"Go ahead," she said, motioning for him to get started, smiling as he dug through and found one of her gifts to him. He shook it slightly, and she made a sound of disapproval. He just chuckled and then pulled out a small box and passed it to her.

"Me first?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Bones," he answered with a lopsided grin. "Open it up."

She eyed the gift, weighing it in her hands. It was light, and she frowned curiously as she tore away the paper and lifted the box free. She laughed when she pulled out what was inside. "A gift card, Booth?"

"Check out where its to."

She looked back down, and then raised her eyebrows and chuckled. "Wong Fu's." It was clearly some sort of attempt to let her pay while still being the one to pay himself, but she accepted it. "Thanks, Booth."

"Don't mention it. Here, bud," he said, passing him one of the gifts that she didn't recognize. She'd seen quite a few of them and helped with the wrapping, but there were still some that he'd picked up on his own while shopping for her that she didn't know about.

The child wasted no time in shredding the paper. "Awesome!" he shouted. It was a remote control helicopter, she saw as she read the side of the package.

"Who was that from?" Booth asked, sounding curious.

Parker dug through the wrapping paper and identified a scrap that had the tag attached. "Santa," he proclaimed, eyes shining. "And I didn't even ask for one of these!"

"Hey, I guess sometimes he just knows, bub. So I guess that means it's my turn now..." his eyes gained a mischievous glint as he looked at her and then began searching. She bit her lip, suddenly feeling self-conscious as she remembered the previous night and how surprised everyone had been about the very personal gift she'd given Angela. She hoped that everything she'd gotten for Booth was acceptable.

He'd selected an average-sized package, and she couldn't remember what was in it. She settled for watching nervously as he ripped away the wrappings and pulled out the white box inside. When he opened it a smile spread across his face, and she immediately felt relief before she leaned forward to see exactly which of her gifts it was that he was holding.

"Thanks, Bones!" he said, pulling out and holding up the jacket. It was a practical gift, but at least he seemed pleased by it. "I needed a new one," he said, still grinning.

Once it was set aside, he turned his attention back to finding another gift for her.

"This one looks good..." he passed her a larger box this time, and she wasted no time in unwrapping it.

Inside she found a new pair of pajama pants, decorated with images of mistletoe and Christmas ornaments. She laughed as she held them up. Angela would love them, she was sure.

"You needed something festive," Booth said by way of explanation, and she grinned back, nodding as she refolded them and placed them back in the box. She set it aside and leaned forward, pointing out a rectangular box wrapped in blue paper.

"That one's for Parker," she said simply. Booth raised an eyebrow, clearly not having expected that she would have bought gifts for his son, but he picked up the box and passed it to Parker, eyes sparkling with interest. His gaze locked on her as Parker eagerly tore at the paper, and he nodded towards the tree while the boy was distracted, mouthing, 'how many more?' at her.

She gave a mysterious smile and mimed zipping her lips and tossing the key over her shoulder, something she'd learned from him. He chuckled, but they didn't get a chance to continue their silent conversation, because Parker was apparently exploding with excitement. The whole couch bounced up and down, and she laughed out loud as she grabbed the boxes sitting in between her and the child in order to keep them from tumbling to the floor like they appeared to be close to doing at the moment.

"Dad, dad! I got a chemistry set!" he practically shouted.

"That's great, bub. What do you say now?"

He immediately spun around to face her, face lit up and eyes sparkling with excitement. He didn't appear to want to let go off the gift he'd just opened.

"Thanks so much, Bones!"

She smiled good-naturedly at him, "Merry Christmas, Parker," she responded easily. It had never occurred to her how easy things like this might be. Just relaxing with Booth and his son. It had gotten easier each time, but it still amazed her at the ease of conversing with the child, and the joy she got from turning to see Booth's eyes glowing with pride after every instance. At first she'd thought it was for his son, who was clearly bright and who Booth had every right to be proud of, but after a time she'd come to realize that it was meant for the both of them.

Right now, though, watching Booth pick through presents, making over-exaggerated comments about how many gifts she'd gotten him... she couldn't help but remember the years of her life before her parents had gone missing. The way that her dad used to hand out the gifts, and tease them, and how her mother used to make them hot chocolate and let them eat candy for breakfast. She had to wonder, now that she was an adult and spending a Christmas with a small child, if this was what it had felt like to be them on those early mornings. Had they felt this sense of overwhelming excitement, which seemed to just spill from the young and contagiously make its way into everyone else? Had they been as eager to watch their children's faces as they opened the gifts they'd bought as she was to see Parker's reaction to the presents she had gotten him?

Her thoughts were cut off as Booth called her name and shook a sparkly green box with an eyebrow raised before he turned his full attention to it and undid the bow. This was one she recognized, and she bit her lip as she watched, not sure how he would react. She hadn't spent any money on it, and gifts like this always concerned her, the same way she'd been worried about what Angela would think about what she'd gotten for the Secret Santa exchange. Sentimental gifts were always that way, it seemed.

But her worries, even though they hadn't been too extreme, were immediately demolished as his face lit up brighter than it had been all morning.

"Are you serious?" he managed to get out after opening and closing his mouth several times with nothing coming out. He held up the stack of papers, bound together carefully, and read the title out loud. "Bloody Bones..." he shook his head, then looked at her suspiciously. "Are you really going to let me read this before it gets published, Bones?"

She tilted her head to the side slightly, confused, "I gave it to you as a gift... so, yes, I would say that it makes sense that you should read it. If you want to, of course. You could always wait until it's released, if you'd prefer to do that..."

He laughed and raised a hand to stop her before she could go on. "I'm just... thank you, Temperance. I mean it."

She could tell, then, that she'd done the right thing. Trusting him to read the manuscript... it wasn't something she did lightly. She'd always refused to let him before, and she herself wasn't even sure why that was. Maybe it was because it would have felt too intimate, handing him the book herself.

He'd been her partner, then, after all. Giving it to him would have meant expecting comments in response. By letting him get himself a copy, if he so desired, it took him off the hook, and she didn't have to worry about him not liking the way she'd written Andy or something like that. Because, if she was being honest with herself, she'd always been concerned that by getting too much of her inspiration for Kathy's partner from her own, he would be rubbed the wrong way. They hadn't always agreed, after all. They still didn't. And that had rubbed off sometimes in Kathy's interpretations of Andy's actions and his viewpoints on the case.

Booth had never commented on those particular scenes, or on any scenes, really, but he had read the books. And he'd told her he really enjoyed them. Hell, he'd memorized her reviews. That certainly said something, if not about his dedication to the books, then about his interest in pleasing her. That meant more, too, than she'd ever voiced out loud.

There was actually quite a bit that she'd never voiced out loud over the years. Having to buy gifts this year, even though she admitted that she had wanted to, hadn't been the easiest thing. She needed him to know that she cared about him as much as, if not more than, he cared about her. And despite how much she hated the dominance by gift concept she'd explained to him years ago, she'd wanted to go along with it for once. Because this time, it didn't feel like an anthropology thing. It felt like one of his heart things.

And Christmas hadn't felt like that... since her parents had vanished.

Parker, having more gifts than either of them, was opening another when she finally zoned back into what was happening in the living room. She didn't miss the concerned look that Booth shot her, and she knew that he'd clearly seen her go out of focus. He'd probably ask about it later, but for now she decided not to worry. The boy was eagerly reading the features of the action figure he'd just unwrapped off the box, repeating at least three times about the 'action-blaster' it was equipped with. Booth passed her another present as the boy continued.

They progressed through the rest of the morning with little incident; Parker received various sports equipment and toys, along with a dinosaur model and a microscope from her; Booth opened new ties and socks decked with skeletons, kitchen equipment, and a digital camera that he'd immediately claimed she'd spent too much on; and she received new Christmas jewelry (she assumed Angela probably had a hand in that one), several DVDs she didn't recognize the names of but Booth had assured her she would like, and an iPod that he'd promised to teach her how to use.

There were only three gifts left under the tree, the largest of which was her final present to Parker, and had been held until last at her insistence. Now, though, Booth picked it up and glanced at her for approval before he slid it over to the child.

"Jeez, Bones, it's heavy. What on earth did you get?"

She didn't respond, instead watching Parker as he flipped the gift around and yanked at the overlapping paper, tearing it completely free as he gave a scream of excitement. "It's a Wii! Bones, thank you, thank you, thank you!" he jumped at her, almost knocking her off the couch, and she laughed as he gave her a quick hug before he launched himself back at the present and removed the remainder of the wrapping, his eyes wide as he started fighting with the tape that held the box closed.

"Hey, Park, let's get that all set up later; sound good? We've still got two more gifts here, and you could probably use some breakfast at this point. I know Bones could; her stomach's been growling for the past ten minutes."

Parker giggled at the comment, while she attempted to look indignant.

"Okay, I've still got one left..." he said, holding up her final gift to him. Unlike some of the others, this wasn't a practical gift. It was something she'd picked out specifically for him, and something she was certain he would like.

She wasn't disappointed.

"God," he gasped as he pulled out the framed photograph and realized what it was and who's autograph was on it. "Bones... you got me a signed Luc Robitaille photo?"

She nodded, smiling somewhat shyly as she took in just how excited he was. "That's not it, either, Booth."

He looked at her in confusion for a moment, and the looked inside the torn paper before flipping the frame over and staring in shock at the back. "We're going to a Flyers game?" he didn't seem to be able to belief it, and she laughed slightly before answering.

"Yeah, we are. If you want to, I mean. I got two tickets, so you could go with one of your guy buddies, or your son, if he didn't have to be in school the next day..."

He stared at her for a moment, and she couldn't get a read on his expression. She felt the faintest twinge of worry begin to creep over her before he shook his head and then dispelled it entirely with his next words.

"No way, Bones. You're coming with me, whether you want to or not. You think I could possibly go without you?"

"So, you like it?"

"I'd like anything you wanted me to have, Bones, but, yeah, I love it."

She could read his expression suddenly, and she smiled wider, knowing that if Parker wasn't present, even though he was occupied with the Wii box at the moment, he would already have her in his arms and they'd be engaged in some very welcome kissing. As it was, though, she knew that would have to wait until later, when they were alone.

Giving her a look filled with meaning similar to her last line of thought, Booth passed her last gift over to her, and she smiled as she immediately realized it wasn't from him. The writing was scrawled untidily, but she recognized it as Parker's. He was suddenly bouncing up and down slightly, eyeing her with a nervous look of anticipation on his face, his attention no longer on his own gifts. She quickly tore away the wrapping.

The fact that he'd gotten her a gift at all was enough to make her choke up slightly, even though she would deny it if Booth asked. What it was, though, almost had tears springing to her eyes.

"It's us," Parker said matter-of-factly, leaning over against her as he touched a finger to the glass on the snow-globe. "See?" he added, pointing to each figure. The scene inside was of a small house surrounded by trees, and out front there were three people building a snow man. "That's dad, and me, and you, Bones."

She just nodded, not really trusting her voice. The boy probably wouldn't understand exactly what this gift meant, but she knew that Booth certainly would. Her eyes sought his out the second the thought registered, and she found him staring back with eyes soft and gentle, glowing with emotion.

"Thank you, Parker," she whispered, and found herself giving the boy a one-armed hug as she kept a careful hold on the globe with the other.

"Make it snow," he responded eagerly.

A soft smile once again tilted up the corners of her lips, and she tilted the globe upside-down and then up-righted it, watching the flakes tumble down on the clearly happy family.

"It's beautiful," she murmured softly.

"Can we build a snowman later?" Parker asked her.

"I'm not sure if the snow outside is quite adequate," she said apologetically, "It's not... it's not the sticky stuff," she phrased it differently than she'd been about to, memories of her own childhood flashing to the forefront of her memory once more.

The boy's lip pouted out slightly, and she quickly consoled him.

"But the forecast said we should expect some good snow tonight... with some Christmas luck, we can build one tomorrow."

When she looked up at Booth again, he had that look of pride in his eyes again. And suddenly she wanted to just stay like this forever, lost in this single moment, even though she knew it was totally irrational, not to mention impossible according to the basic laws of the universe. But that didn't mean she didn't want it any less. Why wouldn't she, when everything seemed so simple, when this was all she needed to be happy? How many years had she spent wondering if anyone even cared about her at all, would even be bothered if she simply ceased to exist? Now, though, she didn't even have to pause to let the thought set in that people did care about her. Loved her, even. Booth, Parker... she was spending Christmas with them. Her family.

Nothing meant more than that simple fact.

The tree barren of gifts, Booth carefully fit himself next to her on the couch, told Parker to go and get himself some juice and coffee cake from the kitchen, and then pressed his lips to hers, whispering warmly against her skin, "Merry Christmas, Bones."

I will now shamelessly ask for reviews when I clearly don't deserve them. Seriously, though, I need the motivation. The really slow updates should be a clear sign of that. And I'm not just asking for the positive feedback; I'd enjoy a bit of criticism too. I've been doing a lot of reading of other people's fanfics recently, and I really want to improve my own writing. And so if anyone could offer suggestions on where I might make some changes and what I need to work on, I'd love it.

For anyone who wants actual plot and not just more fluff, I'll be working on that as well. They are in desperate need of a case, I think.

And Booth will need to work on figuring out how to ask his question, too. :)

Thanks, everyone, for sticking through this far with me. I hope you'll keep reading.