(Season 10)

This story is part of the Bonesology 2023 Christmas challenge.

I reallu don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooo

As an FBI agent, James Aubrey had thought he'd seen everything you could see at a crime scene, but he realized that he hadn't begun to chip away at the bizarreness in the world. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he stared at the victim and tried to make sense of what Hodgins had just told him. "What do you mean she was run over by a reindeer? How do you know she was run over by a reindeer? I mean . . . Are you yanking my chain or something? Because it's Christmas you've decided to just . . . a reindeer?"

Standing, Hodgins moved over a few feet from the victim and pointed at the ground. "Okay Aubrey, I know what I'm talking about. See these prints? The soil is fairly soft since it rained yesterday so even a novice can see them. They're the hoofprints of reindeer. They're distinctive." Squatting down, he picked up some fuzz and held it in the palm of his hand so the agent could see it. "This is reindeer hair. You can find their hair on the bottom of their feet, so that's why I'm finding some in the mud." He waved his hand towards the victim. "The reindeer ran towards the victim, knocked her down and ran over her. There are hoof prints on both sides of the body and well, if you look closer at the body, you can see a muddy hoof print on her jacket in the middle of her chest. I'm not yanking your chain. I'm not making a joke. This woman was run over by a reindeer and it probably killed her."

"I'll have to do an autopsy to determine that, Hodgins." Cam didn't want to jump the gun on this one. "She may have died that way or she might have died from a drug overdose or a heart attack and the reindeer ran over her dead body. Let's make sure of the facts before we tell Booth."

"Yeah, okay, but this is Washington D.C. What the hell would a reindeer be doing out here?" Aubrey hated this case already and he resented Booth passing it off on to him. "Did Booth give me this case because a reindeer is involved?"

Not really sure, but suspecting that was the case, Cam shrugged her shoulders. "He said he had a meeting this afternoon and he couldn't get out of it."

"Uh huh." Aubrey glared at the hoof prints and felt he'd been set up. "So where did the reindeer come from?"

Hodgins pointed to his left and smiled. "We're in part of the Woodland Normanstone Terrace Park next to the Embassy of the Republic of Finland. Finland . . . reindeer . . . I bet that's your connection. I'm going to trace these reindeer tracks and I'll let you know where they started from. After that, I'll check and see where the reindeer went too. That reindeer has to be somewhere . . . unless he flew away with his friends."

"Ha, ha, very funny." A headache was starting to build up between his eyes and Aubrey rubbed the bridge of his nose again. "Great . . . Okay. I talked to the kid who found the victim's body and he says he doesn't know her. He was just out birdwatching when he found her . . . I'm going to let you finish collecting your particulates and Cam, I'm going to wait for your autopsy before I do anything else. There is no way I'm going to do anything else until I know what we're dealing with . . . Reindeer. What's next, Santa Claus?"

Collecting more reindeer hair, Hodgins laughed. "Santa Claus supposedly lives in Finland. At least, that's what my father told me when I was a kid."

"Well, my Mom told me he lived at the North Pole not Finland." Done for now, Aubrey left the scene and walked back towards his car. It was Christmas Eve and he hadn't finished Christmas shopping yet. If he didn't hustle, he was going to have to go empty handed to Booth's house for Christmas and there was no way that was happening. "Well, not empty handed. I just need to find that Lego set Christine told me about. Why The Ocean Exploration Submarine? Those sets are so hard to find right now. Oh well, I can always buy her something else."

Oooooooooooooo

It was Christmas day and Aubrey showed up at the Booth/Brennan household on time. Glancing at his watch, he smiled, removed his bag of presents from the car and strode over to the house. The temperatures had dropped overnight and it was a very chilly day. No snow, but he could live with that.

After he knocked on the door, Booth opened it wearing jeans and a red and black plaid shirt with a Santa Claus stocking cap on his head. "Get in here, it's cold out there and I don't want the heater blasting away all day."

Moving into the house, Aubrey glanced towards the living room and noticed Christine playing with modeling clay at her little table. "Hey Christine, I ran into Santa Claus at the gas station and he said he forgot to leave these gifts here so he told me to bring them over here."

Excited, Christine ran over to where Aubrey was standing and jumped up and down.

"You're so cute, I swear it." The agent knelt on the floor, opened the bag and handed a present to the eager child. "There you go."

The girl now in the living room, opening her present, Aubrey reached in the bag and handed a present to Booth. "The old dude said not to forget you."

Amused, Booth took the present and shook it.

Standing in the kitchen doorway, Brennan shook her head. "Someday you're going to break something doing that."

Used to Brennan's unsolicited advice, Booth smiled at his wife. "If I do then it will be my fault and no one else's."

Moving over towards Brennan, Aubrey handed her a wrapped present. "Don't worry, Dr. B. If he breaks it, we'll be entertained for a least a few minutes."

Curious, Booth tore off the wrapping paper and found a bottle of Crown Royal Whiskey. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have shook this."

Amused, Brennan shook her head and unwrapped her present. Opening the box, she found an unusual Barbie doll.

Before Brennan could say anything, Aubrey pointed at the doll. "It's a Dia De Muertos collectable. Agent Park's wife collects those and she told me about them. I didn't think you had one and I thought you might like one." He hoped she didn't think it was silly. He hadn't really known what to buy her and he thought a Barbie doll dressed up for the Day of the Dead was cool.

Staring at the purple, yellow and blue dress and the Day of the Dead makeup on the doll, Brennan decided she liked the present. "Thank you. I don't have one of these and it really is a nice present." Leaning over she kissed his cheek. "I have some pecan rolls in the kitchen if you'd like a snack before lunch. I baked them an hour ago. We should be eating lunch in an hour. We're just waiting for the turkey to reach the required internal temperature of 175 degrees. I am of course, talking about the thigh."

"Of course." Pleased that she liked his present, Aubrey moved into the kitchen. "A snack will do nicely. Thanks."

Rolling his eyes, Booth stared at the doll and shook his head. "A Day of the Dead doll . . . very Christmasy."

Since she liked the present, Brennan didn't see anything wrong with it. "It is an excellent present and if I shake it, I won't break it."

Rolling his eyes again, Booth turned and walked into the living room. After he placed his bottle of whiskey on the bar top, he walked over to where Christine was to see what Aubrey had bought for his little girl.

Ooooooooooooo

Dinner eaten, dishes in the dishwasher, Booth and Aubrey were watching a football game while Brennan played with her child. They were working on the Lego set Aubrey had bought Christine and Brennan was checking the instructions to make sure they put it together correctly.

"By the way, thanks for sending me to that weird ass crime scene yesterday." Aubrey sipped some of his beer. "Hodgins swore a reindeer killed the victim. Cam called me yesterday afternoon and said that Hodgins confirmed it was a reindeer. She thinks the reindeer hit the victim in the chest with its hooves and the lady had a heart attack . . . Anyway, I checked with the Finish Embassy since it was next door to the crime scene and they sent someone over to the Lab to look at the body. He was able to identify the victim. Her name is Sofia Koskinen . . . I think I pronounced that right . . . anyway, she works in security at the embassy. She went missing the day before Christmas Eve. I asked him if they had any missing reindeer and the guy I talked to thought I was joking. I had a hard time making him take me seriously . . . anyway, they don't have any reindeer at the embassy."

"So, she was out in the woods and found a reindeer and it killed her." Booth sipped some of his beer. "That is totally messed up and I'm glad it's your case . . . Did Hodgins figure out where the reindeer is now or where it came from?"

The game was a dud so far with neither team scoring yet. "He followed the tracks to the embassy and out to the street in front of the embassy. I talked to someone at the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See since their building is next door and no one saw a reindeer or any deer for that matter in the neighborhood . . . No one at the embassy saw it . . . well, except for Sophia. Well, I assume she saw it and that was why she was in the park . . . I don't know where it came from and I'm not sure where it went. Hodgins tracked the reindeer tracks to the middle of the park then he lost the tracks. I'm not sure what to do next. I have a dead Finnish citizen killed by a reindeer before Christmas Eve and they're not happy about it let me tell you. The head of embassy security is a guy named Edvin Hamalainen . . . I think I pronounced that right . . . and he said Sophia was supposed to retire next year. She's married and has three grandkids."

"Oh my God . . . grandma got run over by a reindeer." Booth shook his head. "No way."

"Well, yes way." Aubrey really hated this case. "Anyway, I'm going to continue to work on this case tomorrow. I need to find out where the reindeer came from and where it went. Edvin is angry and he's blaming the Russians . . . He's kind of touchy about the Russians."

Booth sighed. "Yeah . . . well, good luck and keep me informed." His team finally scoring, Booth stood up and shouted. "For God's sake, it's about time."

Rolling his eyes, Aubrey sipped some of his beer. He was pulling for the other team and it didn't seem like they wanted to score at all. "I'll let you know what I find out."

Ooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. I appreciate it.

A/N: 'Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer' was written by Randy Brooks

Note: I know some of you are having issues reading fanfiction right now. I have found if I just use Chrome or Sari and search for Bones Fanfiction, it will take me to the site listing the current stories first.