Aftermath

            Dr. Temperance Brennan was sitting at her desk, trying to concentrate on the case she and Special Agent Seeley Booth were working to solve but her mind kept wandering to the events of the past five to ten minutes.  Distracted, she let her mouth rest on her fingertips as she leaned closer to the screen.  Angela walked in but it was a moment before Bones heard her.

            Sweetie, whats with the mistletoe? she asked, repeatedly, before Bones actually was pulled from her reverie.

            Oh, you mean that.  Its nothing.  Anthropologically speaking, it was payment made in an unfair deal which I was part of, Bones replied.  Angela looked at her friend, not believing for a minute that mistletoe was nothing.  Not for Dr. Temperance Brennan who doubted everything and hardly ever bought into traditions and myths.  She sat down across from Bones, the glass and steel desk between them.

            Sweetie, is this a time where you have a secret and I ferret out the truth or are you just going to tell me?  Bones looked at her and sighed.

            Caroline asked me to kiss Booth under the mistletoe in exchange for recommending my father for a conjugal trailer to celebrate Christmas with his family.

            You and Booth kissed?  Was it hot?

            Ange!

            Sorry, how are you handling it?

            It was nothing.  It was like kissing my brother.  Mistletoe kisses mean nothing.

            Sweetie, nothing is nothing.  You and Booth clearly have some things to discuss.  Let me know when youve caught up to reality and I can help you then.  Angela stood and left Bones office, looking for Hodgins.  Bones continued to sit there, the scene playing out over and over in her mind.

**

            Down the hall, Booth met with a lab technician to discuss trace results from the clothes of a suspect in the case he and Bones were working on.  His mind wandered from the techs droning voice as he too found himself replaying his kiss with Bones.  Though it started out as innocent kissing under the mistletoe, Booth knew deep inside that something more had happened.  He thought and thought about it but couldnt figure out where the moment had gone wrong.  In the back of his mind, though, was this niggling feeling that the kiss had gone from wrong to right in the moment that their twin lips met.  The look on Carolines face after had definitely been one to remember.  That same part of his brain which told him that the kiss was right also told him that it would have been better had Caroline not been there to witness it.  But he had to ask himself if the moment would have ever come if she hadnt pushed for it.  He was trying to focus on the results from the analysis of the suspects clothing when he heard her voice behind him.

            Booth, I asked Dr. Sweets if he could meet with us tonight.  I had something I needed to talk to him about.  Booth turned around, trying to be casual.  The moments immediately following their kiss had been anything but normal between the two of them.

            You want to meet with Sweets now?  What, you cant get enough of his boyish charms?  Bones looked at him reprovingly.  Clearly not in the mood for jokes this time around.

            Come on.  Were going to be late.  She turned to leave and Booth thought to himself, For what, my funeral?  He reluctantly followed his partner out of the lab and across the street to the diner.  They entered and sat at the table which Dr. Sweets had already claimed.

            Yes, I have a crisis, Bones said immediately.

            Bones, it was just mistletoe, Booth interrupted, trying to cut the rug out from under what would be a very uncomfortable position to stand in.

            Not the kiss.  That was nothing, she replied.

            You kissed?! Sweets exclaimed.  Booth looked at him with a look which said completely that the topic was off-limits.

            Mistletoe.

**

            After dinner with the therapist Bones and Booth returned to the lab.  Booth was not happy.

            What was that?  Did you drag me down there to try to get me to open up about what happened today?

            No.  I needed to ask Dr. Sweets about lying to children and I needed you there because you were the one who told me it was okay to lie to them at Christmastime.  I had an anthropological problem which couldnt be solved without the help of two other people.