November 2011

Booth and Brennan woke up before dawn the morning after the party. He jumped out of bed and pulled on a pair of sweats and a sweater. "What are you doing Booth? Come back to bed for a little while." He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. "I'm running out to the store to buy food to make breakfast for everyone. You can get the coffee maker going while I'm gone." She reached out and pulled him back for another, longer kiss. "You're a good man Booth." He smiled at her and was out the door. She lay back down and smiled thinking about the life they were beginning.

Booth came back with bags of groceries, along with fresh croissants and bagels from a nearby bakery. He got to work making scrambled cheesy eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes. Brennan made toast and cleaned and sliced all of the fresh fruit that he had picked out. Max was the first to wander in and Booth turned from his place at the stove. "Max, I have scrambled eggs with cheese, or I can make you regular eggs however you like them. Or an omelette if you prefer." Max opted for the omelette and Booth made it to order.

When Russ, his family, and Parker made it downstairs, they all got their preferred style of eggs and filled their plates from the spread on the kitchen island. Booth quickly prepared his and Brennan's eggs and they joined the rest of the family at the big dining table. The adults all talked about what a success the party had been, and laughed as they relayed stories about some of the conversations.

The three young ones had placed themselves at the end of the table and had no interest in the adult conversations. Brennan noticed with amusement that they became chatterboxes when they were together, and there was a lot of laughing and teasing between them. Even though they were not cousins by blood, over the last year they had truly become cousins to each other. In fact, they were the only cousins that any of them had, so the bond was beginning to grow.

Everyone was on the road home by noon, and Brennan, Booth, and Parker prepared to head out on the hour long drive to visit Pops at the care home. They had briefly considered bringing him there for the party the previous day, but Booth was worried that he would insist on helping with the unpacking. Plus, the chaos of meeting moving vans at two locations and then directing operations at the new house didn't leave much time for the two hour round trip to go pick him up and bring him to the house. The fact that he had been confined to bed the previous week with a severe cold was the deciding factor.

The previous evening, when Booth cut his piece of cake containing the Flyers logo, Brennan slipped over with a glass container and Booth cut a large piece containing the Eagles logo for Pops. Brennan covered the container and put it in the fridge before coming back and giving Booth a sly smile as she took the piece with the handcuffs.

So they headed off on the drive, with Parker in the back seat protecting the container with the precious piece of cake from any sudden stops. He was very animated, talking about the new house and the party. He couldn't wait to tell Pops all about his new bedroom, and how he still hadn't figured out which room in the house was his favorite.

When they arrived, Pops told them he had been salivating all morning thinking about the piece of cake they had promised. As he sat there enjoying his cake, all three of them told him about the house and told stories about the party. Brennan had an idea. "Hank, I'll take some photos of the house today or tomorrow and take them to the pharmacy to be printed. We'll bring them to you on Thursday when we're here for Thanksgiving dinner."

Everyone thought that was a great idea because Pops always complained about having to look at photos on a phone. He was used to being able to hold the photos in his hand and sort through them.

Thanksgiving was four days away, and Parker was headed with Rebecca and Brent to her parents' home for the weekend. Booth and Brennan had decided to drive up to have dinner with Pops. The facility had a catering company come in to serve turkey with all the trimmings every Thanksgiving. This gave their commissary staff the day off and provided the residents with an upgrade from their everyday meals. For a fee, family members were able to join their loved ones for dinner, and Booth had attended several times in the past.

Since they had returned from overseas, they had made a habit of driving up once a month to spend some time with Pops - always on a weekend when Parker was staying with them. Parker always brought a game for the four of them to play, and always had his UNO cards. A game of UNO was a staple on their visits, and all four of them played a very spirited game every time.

This time, Brennan brought a new deck of playing cards for Pops. They had been in a shop and Booth noticed the cards with drawings of dachshunds. "Oh, I had forgotten this. Pops always loved dachshunds." She picked them up and smiled at the whimsical drawings. "Let's buy them for him."

Pops loved them. "What card game would be a good one for all of us to play? I think Parker's too young to start playing poker!" Brennan asked if he'd ever played Blitz? "It was a game my dad and I used to play together when I was a young girl. It's easy to learn and can be a lot of fun." So they spent the next hour playing a raucous game of Blitz, and they all agreed that it had quickly become their favorite.

An hour later, it was time to pack up and head home. Booth told him they were looking forward to Thanksgiving with him on Thursday, and Parker wished him a Happy Thanksgiving since he couldn't be there. "Don't forget the pictures of the new house!" Brennan reached out and kissed him on the cheek. "It's the first thing on my to do list tomorrow morning."

Pops' care home was just outside of Baltimore, and as they left that afternoon, they decided to take Parker to the Hard Rock Cafe in the Inner Harbor. Of course, he had to order one of their premium burgers that was so big that he took half of it home.

As a reward for being such a good host to Russ' daughters at the party the night before, they let him pick out one thing in the gift shop. After much debate, he settled on a Spider-Man comic book - and spent most of the drive home pouring over it.

It was a quiet drive home. They had music playing at a low level, and Booth and Brennan held hands across the top of the console for most of the drive. It wasn't a static hand hold - Brennan kept up a steady, slow and gentle movement of her thumb on the top of his hand. Every once in awhile he would look over at her, smile, and pull their joined hands up to kiss the back of hers. And every time he did it, a mild shiver went through both of them. It was slowly working them both up, and they were glad that Parker was so occupied in the back seat with Spider-Man.

After dropping Parker off at Rebecca's, Booth drove a few blocks and then pulled over so that he could pull her into his arms and kiss her soundly. "This damn console. Why did the FBI have to give me an SUV with such a giant console?" She laughed. "You know that it's very practical when you're working. And don't forget - we have a nice, warm bed in our new home just a few miles away."

He chuckled. "My always practical Bones. Let's get home." He put the vehicle in gear and they headed home. But at every red light, he leaned over and gave her a kiss lasting as long as the light was red. She began to figure out that he was timing his driving to hit as many red lights as possible, and she was secretly charmed.

By the time they parked in front of the townhome, her body was humming. As he leaned over to give her one last kiss before leaving the SUV, she reached over to confirm his matching state of arousal.

"Oh Bones. Don't start that. There's not enough room in the front seat and we don't want our new neighbors to have the first impression of us crawling into the back seat." That made her laugh. "Well, then. Let's get inside Mister."

After following him through the front door, she turned and clicked the deadbolt, only to have him turn her back around to face him and immediately felt her back pressed against the heavy wooden door. He buried his lips into her neck. "We're not going to make it upstairs this time." He couldn't see the big smile on her face. "Mmmm. I feel like we're in Paris again."

He started opening buttons down the front of her shirt, and his lips followed as each new area of skin was revealed. "Sometimes I feel like every day with you is a re-creation of our days in Paris."

It ended up being a very vigorous bout of lovemaking against the door. Every time with them - no matter how slow, fast, gentle, wild - was always lovemaking. It was never just sex. Every time fulfilled the promise that Booth made to her that night in the diner. Two people becoming one. Breaking the laws of physics. And ever since their first night together, she was a believer. She couldn't resolve it with logic, but she couldn't deny that it happened. Every time. Booth called it "magic", and she had yet to come up with a more descriptive term. So she had just succumbed to the magic.

They both slid down the door, Booth still buried inside her. He was lying on the flagstone floor with his arms up over his head trying to recover his breath. Brennan was lying atop him with her ear against his chest listening to his rapid heartbeat slowly returning to normal. When Booth recovered enough to look around, he was impressed. "That is one SOLID door! Good to know." She laughed. "That was very nice. And I'm glad our expensive house has such a good quality door. Other places I've lived in might have given me splinters."

Booth loved how much she had learned to have fun and play in their lovemaking. And her jokes were getting better too. He whispered. "What do you say we go upstairs for round two?"

As they helped each other up from the floor, he just had to pull his pants up. She had to look around the foyer for her pants and underwear. He grabbed them for her. "Come on. There are no lights on in the house, so we can scamper upstairs without anyone seeing us through our giant windows."

So, they had checked the first room off of their "christening" list. Brennan suggested that she could set up a spreadsheet. "I don't need no stinkin' spreadsheet, Bones. I'll remember every single one. In great detail." The last three words were spoken with an exaggerated leer that sent a flush through her body. She had a fleeting thought about how she almost missed her chance to have this amazing man in her life and in her bed. For the first time in her life, she had the feeling that she was the luckiest woman in the world.

When they reached their gorgeous bedroom, they spent their first real night alone in their first real home together. They were really and truly starting their lives together.

Although they missed seeing Parker on Thanksgiving Day, they both understood that he was often going to spend different holidays with either them or Rebecca. The hope was that they could spend most holidays with both families together, but it wasn't always practical. Rebecca's parents had a tradition of hosting the family every year on Thanksgiving, and Booth and Brennan didn't want Pops to feel alone on the holiday.

Partway through the drive north, they received a call from Parker. Booth put it on speaker. "Are you excited for your turkey dinner, Parks?" Parker sounded excited. "Oh yeah. I can't wait to fill my plate with stuffing!" Booth chuckled, knowing how much his son loved that part of Thanksgiving.

"I have a question for you. Mom and Brent keep singing the same song over and over while we're driving. I think they just made it up, but they said it's a real song." Booth was puzzled. "What song is that son?"

"It's something about going over rivers and woods to grandmother's house." Booth and Brennan both broke out laughing. Booth looked over at her. "You know that one too Bones?" She chuckled. "Of course I do Booth. Even though we didn't have grandparents to visit, my dad loved singing it."

Booth explained the origins of the song to their son. "But Dad! We're not driving through the woods. And I haven't seen any rivers. Plus, there's a part about a horse pulling a sleigh."

Brennan explained to him that the song was written before cars were invented. That the only way to get to Grandmother's house in the winter was a sleigh pulled by a horse. "Are you driving on the interstate right now?"

Parker acknowledged that they were. "Well, I am sure that you have driven over several bridges that took you over rivers or streams. And are there wooded areas on your right and on your left?" Parker confirmed that there were. "So, before they built the highways, those were woods. So, see. You are driving over the river and through the woods. Plus, cars have what they call 'horsepower'. It's the modern equivalent of a horse and buggy – or a horse and sleigh."

Parker seemed impressed. "That's pretty cool. Okay, I'll let them teach me the song. Thanks Bones! Thanks Dad! Happy Thanksgiving!" As he finished the call, Booth looked across to her and smiled, shaking his head.

The catered turkey dinner at the care home was a real hit, and all of the residents and their guests had a wonderful day. After the meal was finished, Pops took Booth over to a table full of his friends who had served in the military, and they spent the next hour swapping stories of their time in the service.

Brennan stayed at the table and chatted with the residents. Margaret, Hank's special "crochet" partner decided it was her job to introduce Brennan to all of the other residents. The couple found themselves moving all around the large room for the next few hours having conversations with residents and their guests. Every so often, they would spot each other across the room, smile, and give a little wave, and then back to the conversation.

A few hours later, the guests were beginning to leave, and the residents were slowly making their way back to their apartments, carrying containers of leftovers to enjoy the following day.

The couple spotted each other across the room. Brennan was still talking to Margaret and a couple of her friends, so Booth walked over to her and draped his arm over her shoulders. She smiled up at him and, as her arm went around his waist, she looked up to accept a quick kiss from him.

Margaret clapped her hands together. "Look how sweet they are together!" The other women in the circle all ohhed and ahhed over the couple. Brennan smiled shyly and cupped her hand to the side of her mouth as she leaned toward the women. "He's very handsome, isn't he?"

Booth tried to hold back his chuckle, and Margaret looked around to make sure there were no other people close by. She leaned toward the other three women and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "He's an FBI Agent, you know." There was a chorus of "Ohhhhhh" from all three of the friends. Brennan and Booth both laughed. Brennan winked at the friends. "I actually work with him. That's how we met."

One of the friends put her hand on Brennan's shoulder. "Honey, you need to nail him down. He's a keeper!" One of the other friends looked up at Booth. "But you also need to do right by her. Not only is she beautiful, but she's very smart." Booth's arm around her shoulders pulled her even closer as he kissed her temple. "Oh, don't I know it. She's one in a million."

They said their goodbyes and started walking toward Pops to walk him back to his apartment. Margaret pipped up from behind them in a suggestive tone. "I'll see you a little later, Hank!" Booth groaned. "Oh Lord." Brennan laughed. "You should be happy for him Booth." He gave her a wry smile and whispered. "Oh, I am. But it's like thinking of your parents having sex, you know?" She chuckled and leaned her head against his shoulder as they approached Pops.

"Did you two have a nice time today?" Booth stepped away from Brennan and put his arm around his grandfather's shoulders. "We really did Pops. The dinner was very nice, and we enjoyed meeting all your friends." He took Brennan's hand with his free hand and the three of them walked down the hallway to the apartment.

When they walked in, Pops went right to the table with the stack of photos that Brennan had printed out for him. "I'm so happy you brought these pictures for me, Shrimp. Now when I stay with you at Christmas, I'll know where everything is in advance." Brennan went over and gave him a hug. "We can't wait to have you there Hank. It should be a very festive Christmas with all of our family and friends." Booth was next with his hug. "We'll be here to pick you up on the 22nd, Pops. I love you."

They had lots to talk about on the drive home. They were happy that they had split up after dinner to mix with the residents and had quite a few stories to tell each other. Some were funny and others touching. In all the times that Booth had visited Pops, this was the first time he had really had the chance to get to know his friends.

"You know, Bones. Today really made me feel better about Pops' living situation. He really has a lot of friends there and he seems to have a lot in common with most of the men. A lot of them are veterans, and it seems like they continually swap stories about their time in service." Brennan chimed in. "And he also seems to have a way with the ladies there. But I think he only has eyes for Margaret."

Booth groaned again at the mention and reached for her hand. "But the most important thing is that I am a 'keeper'." Brennan laughed and brought his hand up to kiss it. "That you are, Booth. That you are."