So I decided to write a chapter following each day that happens in the house. As I warned, it is insanely long chapter, but if you bear with me, I think that you'll really like it.
Chapter Two: Christmas Eve Eve
Brennan was shocked at how well she got moving at such an early hour. It was only five-thirty and she'd already managed to get showered, dried, and dressed for the day. She chugged down her coffee as she was making the final preparations. She made sure nothing in the fridge was going to go bad while she was gone, her locks were secure, and pleasantly asked her neighbor to scare off the creepy guy that came to her door trying to get her to convert to a cult. Everything was almost in place as her doorbell rang.
They're early. she thought as she picked up pace to meet her visitors. She opened the door to find an apologetic looking Booth and the feeling of two small arms wrap around her legs.
"Dr. Bones!" Parker buried his face in her black, knitted sweater.
"Sorry we're here early, Bones, but he really wanted to see you and he woke me up and started bouncing up and down and…" Booth trailed off trying to explain their unexpected appearance.
"It's no trouble, Booth. I was just getting the last of my things together and then we can go." she said rationally as she patted Parker on the head as he continued to hold onto her.
"Parker, you can let go of her now." Booth bent down and detached his son from his partner's side.
Parker looked up at the woman he so admired with wide eyes. "Is it true, Dr. Bones? Are you really coming with us?" he asked as she shut the door behind them.
"Yeah, Parker, I am." Brennan said with a sigh. A warm feeling flooded her as she saw the boy's ecstatic face. She couldn't explain it, more or less didn't want to, and just enjoy the fact that somebody wanted her to be a part of something.
She drained the rest of her coffee and brushed her teeth while the men explored her apartment. Parker carefully touched many obvious breakables while his father continued to swat his hand away from especially fragile-looking objects. Brennan merely rolled her eyes and went over her mental checklist one more time.
Parker walked into her bedroom and flopped down on the bed in a melodramatic collapse. "Why do you have so many things that can't be touched?" he asked.
Brennan chuckled as she folded up a sweater. "Those things that can't be touched, they're pretty neat looking, aren't they?"
"Yeah."
"That's why." she poked him. Parker giggled as he sat up straight. Booth came in just in time to watch the adorable scene play out between his friend and his son.
Booth was surprised. For some reason, she was acting…well…normal. She was talking and acting like she wasn't a woman with an IQ of probably 200, but almost motherly. It set Booth's mind a little more at ease to know that Bones could be around Parker without feeling completely out of place. She acted like his friend.
Being engulfed by his thoughts, Booth didn't notice anything after that until she was zipping up her overcoat and announcing she was ready. They turned everything off and locked up. As they walked down the hall towards the elevators, Parker looked back and said, "Bye, Dr. Bones apartment!" and waved.
Brennan and Booth, arms loaded down with her luggage, looked him and laughed. They made it out to the SUV and amazingly made everything fit in the trunk without obstructing the back window. Parker got himself strapped into the back seat while the adults took their respective sides of the vehicle.
It took about twenty minutes until Parker said, "I'm bored."
"How about we play Twenty Questions?" Booth asked excitedly.
"Yeah!" he replied.
"You want in, Bones?" Booth didn't get a response from his partner. "Bones?" he tried again. He adjusted himself and realized she'd fallen asleep. He smiled and motioned Parker to speak quietly by using the rearview mirror. The boy gave his father a thumb's up and they started the game.
About an hour had passed, and Booth and Parker had went from Twenty Questions to the license plate game. It wasn't until Booth accidentally hit a pothole on Brennan's side and cursed that she bolted upward, alert and awake. She rubbed at her eyes and checked her watch. "How long was I out?"
"About an hour, we've still got an hour to go." he said. Brennan cleared her eyes of gunk that might've accumulated during her impromptu nap. She looked out the window to find only white for about half a football field, then some pine trees on the horizon, then the skyline where the sun was just making its appearance for the day.
Her hand automatically went for the radio at the immediate silence following her wake. She looked up at Booth, "Do you mind if I…?"
"Not at all." he replied. Brennan smiled her thanks and skimmed through the channels, keeping an ear out for a decent song. Her finger left the seek button when she came across a country song that was obviously familiar to her. She began humming the lyrics.
Parker's head snapped to attention, "I know this song, Mommy sings it in the car a lot." He began singing the words in a high pitched, off key voice.
Brennan grinned at the boy's enthusiasm. She looked over at Booth, who looked like he was subconsciously saying Thanks ever so much for that headache, Bones. She smiled apologetically while the song ended. Brennan quickly changed the channel to an instrumental station.
"Claire de Lune." they both said simultaneously and chuckled at each other. Parker looked at them like the pair grew two more arms and were playing patty-cake. He shook his head, dismissing his thoughts, and sat quietly throughout the rest of the ride.
Booth pulled off the interstate about twenty minutes later. Brennan and Parker's eyes shot around, taking in the sights of the unfamiliar town. Booth explained that it would be another ten before they actually got to his parents house because they lived in the countryside. Brennan considered the fact that this would be a good thing for her. To be able to get away from the smoggy air of the city and to the clean, refreshing air of the country.
It wasn't until Booth pulled into a rocky driveway that the bumping movement of the car snapped Brennan out of her thoughts. The house was an idyllic "Country Living" magazine worthy home even in the bleakness of winter. It was a large, two-story stone house with beautifully laid brick-work in different tones of brown. A small front porch protected the intricate glass on the door from rain and debris.
Oh, yes. Brennan thought as she climbed out of the car, stretching her stiff muscles, I could see Booth growing up here.
The partners opened the back hatch to start unloading luggage while Parker ran to the snow bank. Just when Booth had managed to load four suitcases, his and Parker's, in his arms, he felt the cold wet slush of a snowball connecting squarely with his face. He said nothing as he looked at his guilty son and continued on to his intended destination. Brennan laughed as he walked away, then turned to high-five Parker. She got her own bags and followed Booth's path with a snow-free face and Parker on her heels.
The foyer was just as, if not more, beautiful as the outside. Thick hardwood floors that were now littered with wet footprints. The room was open, blending from the living room on the left to the dining room on the right and the stairs that lay between them.
She'd removed her shoes as to avoid more watermarks on the floor and walked straight ahead towards what she assumed be the kitchen. There he was, her partner, the army-ranger sniper, getting his face wiped and being reprimanded by someone she guessed was his mother. She was a short, lean woman with her graying hair pulled into a bun and warm brown eyes that Brennan recognized as similar to those of Booth.
"Honestly, Seeley, you haven't changed a bit. You still can't go five minutes without getting something splayed across your face!" she said as she dabbed away the excess water.
"Grandma!" Parker confirmed Brennan's assumptions with this outburst as he bolted for her. She looked down to see the little boy bounding towards her and bent down to greet him with a hug. She looked up to see a pair of neon blue eyes watching the family moment.
"You must be Seeley's partner, Dr. Brennan." she smiled warmly and hugged Brennan.
"Please, call me Temperance." Brennan said, surprising herself when she didn't falter from the woman's embrace.
"Or you could do what I do and call her Dr. Bones." Parker suggested.
She laughed, "I think that Temperance is fine as long as you call me Amelia. So, you've been watching over my Seeley?" she asked.
Brennan sighed, "I guess you could say that. Have you ever seen him eat pie? It's like feeding time at the zoo." she whispered, watching Booth's worried eyes as his mother laughed.
"Dear, I could tell you stories without end about my little boy." she whispered back.
Booth obviously caught on to the word 'stories' by lightly pushing the two women apart. "There will be no exchange of stories of the past. I will not be the subject to the girlish ways of telling stories. Why wouldn't you tell some of your own, Bones?"
Brennan shrugged, "Because you say all of my stories are morbid and depressing." she stated.
"Yeah, and they're not about me." Booth cried animatedly.
Brennan rolled her eyes, "Make up your mind already."
Amelia and Parker laughed silently as only the latest observers to Brennan and Booth's reasonless bickering. She looked down at her grandson and mouthed, "Do they always do this?"
Parker shrugged innocently and mouthed, "It doesn't matter. They don't really mean it."
Booth took Brennan's coat and hung it in the closet by the front door. "Where's everybody else?" he asked as he stumbled out of his shoes.
"Jared and Christine got stuck in traffic and your father's out getting firewood. You're the first ones here." his mother called back from the kitchen.
"I like being here first." Parker hugged Brennan for the third time that day (the second time they were in the elevator at her apartment)
Brennan finally caved and picked the small boy up in her arms. He giggled as he was placed on her hip. "It's a good habit to have." she smiled.
Booth looked at his partner like she'd dyed her hair green. For the second time that day, and it wasn't even ten o'clock, Parker had a smile on his face because of his partner. He shook his head and followed them into the kitchen.
"So Temperance, why does Seeley say all of your stories are morbid and depressing." Amelia asked as she washed the breakfast dishes from earlier.
Brennan put Parker down and grabbed a dishtowel from the counter. "Oh, it's because most of them have to do with cadavers." she took a glass and began drying.
Ah, there's Bones. I was wondering where she went. Booth thought as he sat down at the kitchen table, watching the two women's backs quite literally.
"That's your job though, isn't it? Giving the dead who can't speak an identity so they can be respected and give the families peace of mind?" Amelia said over the course of washing three plates.
Brennan looked up, "Yes, that's correct. Booth just doesn't like some of the finer details."
"Yeah, because those 'finer details' usually involve murder, genocide, and violence." Booth chimed in while giving Parker a cookie from the jar next to him. He might've snuck one for himself too.
"Well that I could see." Amelia replied.
"I think it's cool!" Parker said with a mouthful of cookie, spewing half of it on the floor. The three adults laughed as the front door opened again.
"Hey Ma? Are you here?" a male voice asked.
"Yeah Jared, I'm coming." she dried her hands on the dishtowel Brennan held out for her. She smiled appreciatively and ran to see her other son. The other three followed to meet (for Brennan) and greet (for Booth and Parker) the new visitors.
"Hey, small fry, what happened to your hair?" Booth greeted his brother. Jared Booth was attractive in a sense with an apparently new buzz cut.
"Got rid of it Seeley, you've let yourself go." Jared walked up to his brother and punched his gut. The pair laughed and embraced in a guy hug. Brennan watched the encounter between relatives from a safe distance. Her anthropology instincts had kicked in; observing a culture or a scenario without making your presence known. Until, of course, Booth dragged her out from the entryway of the kitchen.
"Temperance Brennan, this is my brother Jared, his wife Christine, and their son Michael." Booth introduced them excitedly as she shook each of their hands. Michael, Brennan noticed, looked a lot like Parker as he poked the little boy in the shoulder.
"Michael, I know what you're thinking. Just do what me and Daddy do and call her Dr. Bones." Parker said.
"That's good, I can remember that." the little boy replied to his cousin.
Brennan internally laughed and thought for the first time about how weird her name really was. Now she had three people calling her 'Bones'. Booth apparently caught her wind of the gears turning inside her head and gave her a half-hearted encouraging hug.
"Well, why don't we get you all settled?" Amelia suggested as she eyed the mound of luggage that had accumulated in a pile near the front door.
It seemed like a good idea. It was even a better idea when Booth and Jared decided to show each other up at who could handle carrying the most bags up the stairs at one time. Brennan watched as Booth hauled up her three suitcases along with two of his and Parker's.
"Is this normal?" Christine asked as she watched her own husband try to body-slam Booth out of the way.
"Anthropology teaches us that two males will fight for dominance in various ways to prove that they are alpha-male or, in this case, who's better than the other," Brennan chuckled her explanation as the two stumbled up the staircase.
"Sounds like Jared." Christine nodded her head along with Brennan's assessment of the impromptu contest.
"Sounds like Booth, also." Brennan noted as the two of the tripped at the top of the stairs, falling at the top simultaneously.
"I'm sorry, what did you say you did for a living?" Christine looked at the other woman with inquisitive eyes.
"I didn't. I'm a forensic anthropologist. I study the bones of death victims to find out their life stories, basically." she grinned as Booth rose to his feet and announced that he was okay.
"That's interesting. I'm the Philly County pathologist." she replied.
"Ah, so you're a rational human being." she thought out-loud.
She smiled, "I like to think so."
After the Booth brothers' little competition was over, Brennan trotted up the stairs so Booth could show her where things were so she wouldn't be lost later. He pointed out that there were some rooms that didn't needed to be bothered, namely his father's office.
"What does he do for a living that requires an office?" Brennan asked.
"He owns a few family run businesses around here. Nothing huge, but it keeps them in fish and chips." Booth replied as he showed her the bathroom.
"I don't know what that means." she said.
"It's not important." he stated while he came to the last door on the left on the left half of the house. "This one's your room."
Brennan couldn't help but be a little surprised at how nice the guest room was. It had beige walls that glowed in the sunlight. The large bed matched the same tone as the walls that gave the room a warm feeling. She noticed that her bags were plopped right in the middle of the bed in a stack. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to properly organize her luggage.
Booth left her alone, telling her his room was the one directly across the hall in case she needed him for something. She shook her head as his back retreated into the other room. Brennan looked out the window that gave a nice view of the front lawn. She saw two little figures that were rolling around in the snow. She knew that Parker loved the snow just from the snowball he'd nailed his father with less than an hour ago. She laughed and thought back to her own childhood and her and Russ burying each other in the white, wet fluff for hours without end. She made a mental note to find a moment where she could call her estranged brother and wish him a merry Christmas. With two girls who were practically his step-daughters now, he probably had his hands full.
"Penny for your thoughts, Temperance?" Amelia lightly knocked on the door, arms full of clean linens and new blankets.
"I suppose. I was just watching Parker and Michael play out there. They're really nice kids." she said absent-mindedly.
"Parker is really fond of you, I can tell. When Seeley writes letters for him to me, they're always filled with things that 'Dr. Bones' taught him." she said truthfully. She had kept every single letter to prove it.
"Really? I-I'm not around Parker that much, I might see him once a week." Brennan said as she joined the elderly woman in dressing the bed.
"Sometimes, it only takes one encounter in a whole lifetime to change the course of someone's future." she stated. She tossed half the blanket Brennan's way, which she caught expertly.
"I don't think I want Parker to be like me. I'm emotionally distant and socially awkward." Brennan stated matter-of-factly.
Amelia looked up with obvious concern, "I don't think that you're that bad off."
"That's because we haven't talked about anything emotional or a confliction of views, so I haven't gone off on an anthropological tirade, which hasn't made you uncomfortable being around me." Brennan fluffed the pillows into place. "That's why last night I made a promise to myself to leave the doctor locked up in the back of my mind as often as possible."
Amelia smiled, "You're a woman with a big heart, Temperance. Just what Seeley needs in his life."
Brennan shot her a confused look, "Amelia, Booth and I aren't dating, if that's what you mean."
"No, I just meant that you're someone who plays a key role in his life. What made you think that I implied that you two were dating?" she asked.
Brennan laughed slightly, "It's become a theme that people make the snap-decision that we're in a romantic relationship."
"I could see why, the two of you are cute together. Bicker and fight like a real couple too."
Brennan groaned, "I hate psychology. I don't understand why people automatically assume that Booth and I have something more than a partnership and a friendship."
Amelia grinned. "I don't know, hon. I don't know."
Brennan felt tension rise up into her shoulders at being called hon, but also felt some bizarre feeling spread over her. Parker came bounding into the room, his snow clothes sopping wet, leaving puddles in his wake.
"Dr. Bones, you wanna come outside and help us build a snowman?! Daddy already said he'd help, but he needs another person to help." he asked in that innocent tone that made Brennan's heart melt.
She looked down at the half-made bed. Amelia must've followed her gaze. "Don't worry about this, I'll finish it, just get that wet little boy off my hardwood floors." she said in a sweet and unsettling voice.
Brennan nodded and skipped out with Parker following closely. She pulled on her coat, boots, hat, gloves. and scarf while the boy begged her to hurry. She allowed herself the thought that today's people, especially children, thought way too much about instant gratification and that they could hardly wait for anything. That was the first anthropological thought that she'd had that day besides the Great Stair Race that had happened earlier that day.
The next four hours were spent trying to build up the snowman from the white fluff that laid two and a half feet thick on the ground. Once they'd laid the second rounded lump on top of the first, Booth ran into the house to find some charcoal and a carrot, leaving Brennan, Parker, and Michael to complete the last orb. When they rolled a decent-sized ball for the head, they rolled it in front of the other two.
"Now," Brennan sighed and brushed off her gloved hands on her insulated jacket, "how do we get it up onto that?" she asked to the two small boys.
"I don't know, what do you think Parker?" Michael turned to his blond-haired playmate.
Parker stuck out his bottom lip in consideration for a moment, then ran around to the other side of the house. She thought about running after him when Parker came back with a very long piece of lumber.
"We can push it up to the top using this, slide it on up there." he leaned the wood against the sturdy two circles that were already stacked. Brennan gave him an encouraging rub on the head. They rolled the white ball to the base of the board and pushed it up to the top right when two men appeared on the other side, scaring Brennan to almost drop the lump of snow they'd been calling a head.
Booth laughed at his partner's startled expression. "Temperance Brennan, this is my father, James Booth." he made his last introduction for the day. They shook hands and pleasant hi's while the miniature Booths held up the snowman head. They finished it up together and continued on into what Booth called "the snowball fight of the century". It was Booth and Parker versus Brennan and Michael. Because it had such a melodramatic title, each time Brennan got hit, she fell down in the snow face first.
She regretted it a couple hours later when she was wrapped in two blankets and still not warming up much. Everyone had gathered into the living room and started a fire after dinner. Jared and Christine were now toasting marshmallows for s'mores. Booth had returned to her side with a cup of hot chocolate and an amused grin.
"Y-you can s-s-st-stop laughing an-an-anytime now." she said through chattering teeth.
He sobered, "You're right, I'm sorry Bones. Come here." he opened his arms, waiting for her to lean into his offered hug.
Brennan weighed the pros and cons, but the overwhelming need for warmth took over her mind. She sipped quietly on her hot drink and rested her head against Booth's shoulder. They didn't realize that knowing looks were passed around the room between the other adults. The kids didn't notice the interactions, too excited about they're s'mores.
"Y-you know, I-I think I'm just gonna t-t-turn in for the night." Brennan stood up and headed for the stairs.
"Wait!" Parker forgot all about the s'more and ran to catch up with Brennan. She kneeled down by the time he'd gotten there and he hugged her neck tight. "Sweet dreams, Dr. Bones." he whispered.
Brennan almost felt tears stinging her eyes as she repeated the innocent phrase back to him before ascending the stairs.
Booth couldn't help but be amazed at Brennan's sudden adaptation into a 'normal' personality. His son was rivaling that shock with his own personal attachment to Brennan. Parker never trusted anyone in such short a time frame as he did Bones. Truly unexpected.
What was even more unexpected is what came out of his mother's mouth, "She's perfect. Seeley. I completely approve of her."
He gave her a confused expression, "What do you mean, Mom? You make it sound like we were dating."
Amelia gave a slight shrug of her shoulders and stared into her teacup. "I was thinking that earlier she was just uncomfortable talking to me about your relationship. She was really defensive, saying that you were just friends and partners."
"We are just friends and partners. What made you think that we were anything more?"
Her eyes grew wide, "Well, I just thought because that you brought her home to meet your parents that she meant something a little more to you. I'm sorry if I was being nosy, sweetheart."
Booth nodded, then smiled at his mother to let her know he was fine with her assumptions. More often than not lately, he himself was wondering about the assumption that everybody seemed to make about them had any credence. He knew that his partner was a strong, independent woman who didn't seem to need a man to make her feel good about herself. He didn't understand if that was good or bad. Hell, he didn't know what anything that concerned her meant anymore.
He stayed up for a little while longer before hauling his son off to the bed they were sharing. He peeked into her room to find that Brennan was snuggled in and sleeping peacefully. He helped Parker into his side of the bed before rounding it and crawling in his own side.
"Daddy, do you like Dr. Bones?" his son whispered in the darkness of the room.
"Of course I like Dr. Bones, she's one of my best friends, bud." the elder Booth whispered back.
"No, I mean do you like like her?" Parker enunciated.
Booth took a minute to think about how he should respond to his child. He really didn't want to ignore the question, nor did he want to give a long, hushed speech about the dynamics of friendship and what he felt for Brennan. In the end, a simple answer sufficed.
"Yeah, buddy, I think I do." he said.
Booth rolled over when Parker didn't reply to find that he'd drifted off to sleep.
Was that cute or what?! I honestly don't like half of what I write, but that last part, in my opinion, was pretty cute. Planning even more fluff for next chapter, but if you wanna see it, you gotta click that button and review!!! :)