A/N: Now's the time to start paying attention to the date and time stamps I'll be putting at the top of the page. This will start the snippets of the three or so years I'll be skipping. I'm not sure how many there'll be yet (I have 7 planned so far) but I'm sort of lacking on ideas so if you have any, suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks guys! Hope you enjoy it!
December 24th
"Shit. Damn it!" Booth shouted. He hung up the phone and started to pace. Brennan came out of the bedroom and looked at him with concern.
"What's wrong? Is everything okay?"
Booth shook his head. "Pops and Jared's flight got delayed. They said the storm is worse than they expected. They might not be able to come in until a few days after Christmas. Shit. This sucks!" He flopped down on the couch and put his head in his hands.
Brennan walked to the couch and sat down next to him. "Things will work out. We can have Christmas a few days late if we need to. I don't mind waiting to open presents."
He looked up at her with a childish grin. "But I don't wanna wait!" he fake whined. She smiled at him and kissed him.
"Mmm, are you done wrapping my present yet? I wanna carry you off to bed," he mumbled into their kiss. She shook her head slightly.
"I'm not done yet. I have several presents for you. But why do we even need the bed? Won't the couch suffice?" she asked, brushing her lips across his neck. The feeling of her breath and her skin made him almost lose it right there but he only guided her to lie down on the couch and he climbed on top of her, simultaneously pulling off her shirt.
She nibbled on his lower lip and pulled it into her mouth at the same time.
"Oh, I love it when you do that," he told her, his voice lower than usual, "You drive me crazy, Bren."
December 25th
"Bren! Wake up! Wake up!"
She groaned, rolled over and pulled the blankets over her head. "Booth, it's," she peeks her head out and looks at the alarm clock, "only ten thirty. Lemme sleep."
"Bren! You've slept for…about six hours now! We gotta get up!" He yelped and bounced on the bed, trying to annoy her.
"Booth, if you hadn't kept me up all night I'd be up already." Her voice was thick, groggy and sleepy.
"You weren't complaining last night," he said in her ear, his voice again low and suggestive.
"I'm not getting up yet!" she stated and pulled the blankets farther over her head. She could feel him jumping on the bed and she was getting annoyed, which she knew meant he would win if she showed it. So she tried ignoring the movement but there was no way she could go back to sleep now. But when it stopped, she was surprised but she didn't complain.
Brennan moved the blankets back down to her shoulders and slowly opened her eyes.
There was a Booth lying next to her on the bed, but it wasn't her Booth.
"Jared!" she screamed, "What are you doing here? Booth said your flight got delayed!"
Jared laughed so hard he rolled off the other side of the bed. "Sorry, I scared ya, Bren. It was pretty funny, though," he said, still laughing.
She smiled and thanked whatever god Booth believed in that she had decided to put clothes on before she fell asleep. She ran her fingers through her hair and walked out into the living room. Booth was there, laughing with Hank.
"You should've told me they were here," Brennan gently scolded Booth. He only smiled at her and Hank stood up to hug her.
"How did you get here?" she asked him.
Hank shrugged. "The airlines were making that storm a bigger deal than it was. We decided to drive. It wasn't that bad anyway. Plus, the hotel down the road was going to give up my reservation if we didn't show up. It was a pretty sweet deal; I couldn't pass it up."
She smiled at him and sat next to Booth on the couch. Jared was staring at their little tree.
"Who picked this out? Charlie Brown?" he joked.
It was a small artificial tree, no bigger than three feet high. The ornaments were few and far between and the angel on top was made from popsicle sticks and a few cotton balls.
"Don't make fun of our tree, J! I love it! I made the angel myself," Booth boasted.
Brennan was confused. "I don't understand. Do you know someone named Charlie Brown?"
Later, after Hank and Jared went back to their hotel room, Booth pulled Brennan into their bedroom.
"I have one more present for you," he told her, digging through the closet, "I'm not sure if you'll like it and I'm not sure if it'll mean anything to you but every little thing helps."
He pulled out a small box. Brennan sat down on the bed as he handed the gift to her.
"What is it?" she asked quietly. She was looking the box over. Brennan knew it was a jewelry box but she still didn't understand.
Booth chuckled. "Just open it."
She flipped open the lid. It was a medal, not unlike the one she had given Booth last Christmas.
Brennan looked up at him, confused. "You know I do not believe in saints."
Booth shrugged and said, "Well, yeah, but maybe you should believe in this one."
"Why should I?" she countered.
He smiled at her. "That's Saint Anthony. The patron saint of missing persons and lost things."
"Okay…" she understood why he had given it to her: her parents.
"Bren, every time I say a little prayer or even the entire prayer to Saint Anthony, whatever I lost shows up. Like the other day, when I thought I lost my Saint Sebastian medal, I said 'Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come down. Something's lost and can't be found'. Fifteen minutes later, I found it on the kitchen counter. I'm not saying he'll help you find your mom and dad, but he'll keep them safe."
She smiled sadly at him. "If you believe in him, than I guess I can try to believe in him as well."
Brennan put the medal on and silently said Booth's prayer.
"Thank you," she whispered. Her eyes watered and Booth pulled her into a hug.
He began rocking her back and forth. "Do you ever think about looking for them?" he asked.
She sighed and looked up for him. He wiped the tears away for her before she said, "I've never thought about it until now. But I guess we'll just let Saint Anthony figure things out for now."
