Brennan-Booth Rockin' New Year's Eve

AN: A few days late and a lot of dollars short, but here are nine snippets and forty years worth of New Year's Eves of Brennan and Booth for the wonderful some1tookmyname. T - I want to either be you or your kids when I grow up, still deciding which. Thanks for everything :)

PS - I guessed on all the years and ages. So many things on the show have been said that the timeline is all a little fuzzy for me. Twitter helped some, but there are bound to be mistakes. So, if anything is wrong, deal with it.

1985: Brennan

Temperance Brennan crept down the hallway of her new house. Her family had been moving a lot over past few years and she never quite knew where she would be when she woke up.

Tonight was New Year's Eve, and even though she presented a compelling argument to her parents to allow her to stay up until midnight, eight year old Tempe was sent to bed only an hour later than usual.

She knew how to play the game though, Tempe pretended she was asleep and listened. At 11:58, little Tempe crept down the stairs. She made it to the doorway of the living room and saw her parents dancing as the New Year 1985 came over the midwest. The girl giggled as her father planted a loud smacking kiss on her mother's cheek. Before Temperance knew it, her father scooped her up as well and planted wet raspberries on her neck until her giggles turned into laughter.

"It is going to be a great year, Sweetheart, just you wait and see."

1990: Booth

18 year old Private Booth was sitting in a hide site. When he had joined the army, he never imagined that he would be spending a New Year's Even like this.

Booth was not the lead sniper of the duo yet, he was the young spotter, absorbing everything that his mentor was teaching him. But there were times like this, after countless hours of surveillance that nothing more could be learned. He would day dream about being back in Philly with Pops and Jared, maybe have a date or two for the night and go out on the town. He would day dream about being anywhere else.

As Booth welcomed what he estimated to be the New Year dawning, he looked up to the sky.

"Someday I'll be home."

1995:

Temperance Brennan sat alone in her little dorm room. She had gotten special permission to stay on campus through the holidays and would be working on a couple classes during the break.

While sitting in the silence with her books did not make sense to her classmates, it gave the young woman time to reflect on all that had happened in the past year. She had endured her last foster home and was now on her own. She had enrolled at college and was throwing her whole self into her studies. She estimated that she would be done with her undergraduate degree in two and a half years and then would quickly move on to post-graduate degrees and research.

So while her classmates were out with their fake ids, Ms. Brennan was planning out her year ahead.

Even through the silence, breaking free from all of the horrors of her past, she kept hearing her father's words in her head.

"It is going to be a great year, Sweetheart, just you wait and see."

2000:

Agent Seeley Booth spun around in his desk chair. It wasn't really his desk, but he figured none of the higher-ups were spending New Year's Eve at work anyway.

Not that it mattered to him. After the yelling earlier today, he and Rebecca were officially off again. He had plenty of numbers her could call for some fun and there were enough pool halls in DC to keep him busy, but not tonight.

A new millennium was about to begin, the computers might shutdown the world, and he was looking at the end of his 20's, maybe it was time to think about the future. Maybe it was time to forget about the past.

But as he spun around in the chair again and looked out the window one thought played like a broken record.

"Someday I'll be home."

2005:

Pushing her way through the airport Dr. Brennan cursed the fact that the dig organizers put her on a return flight for New Year's Eve. She had spent the holiday season in French Polynesia working as always.

As soon as travel and exotic locations became a part of her life, she made it a point to leave DC when the lab closed down for the holidays. Her interns and co-workers either vacationed or spent time with her family; since she did not see the point in mindlessly wasting away one's life on a beach and did not have a family to visit, travel was the best alternative.

But after 5 years, life at the Jeffersonian was changing. Zach, although just another intern, had become someone very important to her. She had convinced Angela, one of her few female friends to join their team. And although Hodgins was frustrating at times, she respected Jack and his work more and more. And then there was Booth.

She solved centuries old murders, but solving a murder with Booth, not just consulting, actually working the case, was different. And this was one of the times that different was good. It had taken her a while to come to that conclusion. She had made Zach run interference with Booth for a while, but maybe, just maybe she should let Booth in.

Either way, work, and everything else, was changing.

"It is going to be a great year, Sweetheart, just you wait and see."

2010:

It had been a great year. Ok, maybe the brain tumor wasn't great. And the coma. And the confusion that followed. But it was a great year.

While toasting their family and friends at Christmas, a moment of contentment had washed over him. This was exactly where he wanted to be, sharing joy with those closest to him with her by his side. It was simple: he loved her.

And there were times he swore she felt the same way. Their banter, spending time together outside of work, even when she asked for his sperm, their relationship was changing.

As he drove to her apartment with a bottle of her favorite wine in the passenger seat, he made wishes for the new year. He hoped for health and fortune for Parker and Pops and Jared. He prayed for peace and contentment in himself. He dreamt of a life with Brennan and having the courage to say the things that he could not say.

At Christmas he had gotten a glimmer of a future with her. But it wasn't enough.

"Someday I'll be home."

2015:

It had been a long day and it was far from over. Booth had answered the murder line a few hours ago, and although he promised he would be home before midnight, Brennan wasn't holding out hope.

She could not get Christine to calm down and go to bed. The little girl seemed to sense the excitement of New Year's and no matter how many books she read, there was no sleeping. With a sigh, the tired mother gave up and curled up with Christine in front of the TV hoping the child would fall asleep before she did.

Looking down at her little girl, she began thinking about all of the things that would happen for her in the next year, which milestones she would surpass. Brennan was excited to interact more and more with her as she became her own person. And thinking of the life yet to come, she smiled even brighter.

"It is going to be a great year, Sweetheart, just you wait and see."

2020:

Booth stood at the edge of the crowd nursing his drink. With promotions came events, galas, parties, and spending the night in uncomfortable monkey suits.

He had been happy to take the promotion, it was time to hand over the running around to the younger guys, and his new position still allowed him to be involved in a high profile case when he wanted to be. But there are times, like tonight, when he wanted to tell Hacker to shove it and go home.

Brennan usually came with him to all of these events, just as he had to go with her to the Jeffersonian fundraisers, but one of the kids was sick and she didn't trust anyone else to watch them.

He looked around the room and saw people laughing and having fun. Enjoying being out at a party, being seen, and networking. But he had never played that type of game well and he was too tired to start now.

Seeing someone approaching he knew he would not get out of here before midnight.

"Someday I'll be home."

2025:

Sitting together on the couch, in their mighty hut, Booth leaned in for a kiss as the New Year hit the East Coast.

"It's been a great year, Sweetheart, and we'll have many more."

"I love you, Booth. You're my home."