Prompt 2 (day 26): Hot Chocolate

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I don't own Bones.

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The morning had been rather a cold one, but Christine had wanted to build a snow man and have a snow ball fight. After the child used the next two hours to cajole and beg, Brennan had finally relented and persuaded Booth that it wasn't going to be the cold ordeal he thought it would.

While Brennan made hot chocolate and placed it in to two thermoses, Booth had helped the children get ready for their afternoon in the snow. He'd wanted to make sure that their small bodies would be protected from the frigid elements, so he made sure the kids were bundled up.

Once they were ready, Booth sent them into living room while he changed to warmer clothes. After waddling into the living room, the children stared miserably at their mother. Brennan, upon seeing them burst out laughing at the sight of her children. "My goodness, Christine. What has your father done to you and Hank? You both look like you're ready for an Arctic expedition. We're just going into the back yard."

Unable to fold her arms across her chest because of the shirt, sweater and jacket she was wearing, Christine huffed. "I'm very hot Mommy. We need to go outside before I melt."

His thumb in his mouth, four year old Hank nodded his head vigorously. His thumb making a small pop when he removed it from his mouth, the boy agreed with his sister. "I'm hot Mommy."

Feeling sorry for her children, Brennan threw on her coat and hat, pulled on her mittens and grabbed the thermoses and four cups. "Alright, let's go outside and wait for Daddy out there. I must say you should be quite warm while we play in the snow."

Christine hurriedly helped her brother put on his mittens and after placing her own mittens on, followed their mother to the back door. Stepping out into the back yard, Christine felt the cold hit her cheeks and realized that she might have been hot in the house, but she was now nice and warm in the frigid temperatures outside.

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After placing the thermoses and cups on the table in the back yard, Brennan started rolling a snow ball. Moving it around the yard, she was able to start rolling it into a bigger ball. "Do you see what I'm doing? This is how you make snow balls big enough to make a snow man. Christine . . . Hank start making balls. We'll each make our own snowman. That way we can make it as big as we want and we can decorate them however we like."

Their eyes taking in the art of snow ball making, Christine and Hank soon leaned over and started to roll their own balls.

Booth, finally ready to join his family, stepped out into the back yard and found all three of them making their own snowman. "I thought we were going to make one snowman."

A little breathless from rolling snow around the yard, Christine stopped and placed her hands on her hips. Well, she tried to, but her arms couldn't quite bend like she wanted them to and she ended up placing her hands on the outside of her thighs instead. "No Daddy, you always make our snowman. This time we're each making out own snow man."

Saluting his daughter, Booth walked over to the garage and soon returned with a shovel and a bucket. Piling snow into the bucket, he'd pressed down on the snow until the snow was compact and then dumped the compacted snow on the ground. One bucket at a time, he slowly built a snowy wall. Once he had a line about eight feet long, he started to make the next layer, slowly building his wall upward.

Fascinated, Hank abandoned his partially built snowman and wandered over to where his father was. "What you doing, Daddy?"

Patting his wall, trying to build it to at least three feet high, Booth pressed the snow to help it keep its shape. "I'm building a snow fort. You need a snow fort if you want to have a snowball fight."

Poking a mittened hand into the fort, Hank shook his head. "It's too soft."

Amused, Booth stood up, surveyed his fort and took Hank's hand in his. Walking over to the patio, Booth motioned for the boy to stand where he was. "You'll see a trick I can use to make it hard." Carrying the bucket into the house, he filled it with cold water in the kitchen sink and returned outside. Carrying the bucket over to the fort, he slowly poured water over it. Some of the snow melted, but most of the wall stayed in place and slowly a hard glaze started to form making the wall harder and denser.

Once Booth had emptied his bucket he made two more trips into the house for water. Once he had glazed the entire wall, he carried the bucket over to the patio and joined his wife and kids who had finished their snow men and had stopped to watch Booth finish his fort.

Opening one of the thermoses, Brennan poured hot chocolate for everyone. Once everyone was sipping the hot beverage, Brennan walked over to inspect the fort. "Are you only going to build one fort? There needs to be two if both sides of the fight can have an even chance."

Finishing his hot chocolate, Booth placed the cup down and laughed. "If you want a fort, build it yourself. I've done my part and I made one of them. We are a partnership you know . . . fifty fifty and all that."

Brennan studied the completed fort, walked around it and judged the size and effort involved in making it and with a nod of her head, walked over to where Booth was standing. Whispering into his ear, Brennan breathily informed him. "If you build the other fort, you might find a librarian in your bedroom tonight. You know what the penalty for late books are and well . . . you know."

His mind leaping to the last time they'd role played, Booth swallowed. "One more fort coming up, Bones . . . um . . . you won't forget the glasses this time will you?"

Amused, Brennan chuckled, "No, I promise I will not forget the glasses."

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