Archive of Our Own ^beta

1.

“Alright, here we go,” Booth says, unbuckling Hank’s car seat. Parker’s helping Christine get out, since her car seat isn’t the crazy space kind that’s impossible to navigate anymore.

“Why do we have to go get Mommy?” Christine asks.

“Oh, because I think she probably forgot, uh, what day it is or what time it is or, you know, that she was supposed to come to dinner,” Booth says.

“Mommy doesn’t forget things,” Christine points out. She pokes Parker in the side and he bends down so she can climb up onto his shoulders. Which means, of course, that Hank wants to copy them and get on Booth’s shoulders. It’s not great for his shoulders or his neck, but hell if he’s going to say no.

“Well, she just gets distracted by her work sometimes and doesn’t realize how long it’s been,” Booth says. “You got her?” he adds to Parker.

“Yeah, I’m probably stronger than you by now,” Parker says.

“Alright, let’s calm down,” Booth says. It makes Parker laugh.

“I know how to get to Mommy’s office,” Christine brags. “We come here all the time.”

“Guess what,” Parker says, jostling her leg where it’s resting on his chest. “I got to do experiments here when I was your age.”

“What!” Christine gasps, offended. “Why don’t I get to do experiments?”

“I did them with Max,” Parker says, voice getting a little softer.

Booth spares a hand from holding onto Hank to squeeze Parker’s shoulder. Parker spent a lot of time with Max before Booth and Brennan were together, and Max’s death hit him kind of hard. Booth still feels guilty that they didn’t work harder to figure out a way to get Parker to the funeral. Maybe the closure or whatever it is would’ve helped.

But Parker had school, and Booth had to go to Canada before the funeral, and it just ended up being a logistical nightmare. Parker was there in the summer when Russ and Amy and the girls came, though, so he got to be there when they did a little tribute to Max, at least.

“Oh, hey, Booth babies,” Angela says, coming around the corner. She’s holding her own new baby, Olivia Temperance, and Hank points.

“Baby,” he says.

“Does he know he’s still a baby?” Parker asks.

“Where’s Michael Vincent?” Christine asks.

“He’s still at daycare,” Angela tells her. “He didn’t get to leave early because his cool big brother came to visit.” Then she gives Booth kind of a grim look. “I was just going to check on Brennan.”

“Check on her?” Booth echoes, on high alert immediately. “What’s wrong?” It’s been almost a year since the bombs in the lab, but he still wakes up in a cold sweat some nights after nightmares of her lying on the dusty ground, bloodied and unconscious.

“A blast from the past decided to stop in and say hello,” Angela says. “Michael.”

“Michael who?” Booth asks, mentally running through anyone they’ve arrested named Michael.

“Her old professor Michael,” Angela says, raising her eyebrows, and Booth remembers the guy right away.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me,” Booth mutters. Michael used Bones. And he hurt her. That’s never going to be okay. “Yeah, okay, let’s go, guys.”

Angela nods at him and leaves them to it. They descend upon Brennan’s office just in time to hear her say, sounding annoyed, “I’m really not interested in that, Michael.” Booth takes stock of her; she’s tense, but she doesn’t seem upset beyond being irritated.

“Heya, Bones,” he says.

“Hi, Mommy!” Christine cries.

“Mama,” Hank says, bouncing excitedly and reaching for her. She pulls Hank off Booth’s shoulders and then smooths down Booth’s hair, laughing a little.

“Hi,” she says. “Oh, no, what time is it?” She looks at her watch and winces at Booth. “I’m sorry, Aubrey brought in some remains at the last minute.”

“I didn’t realize you had children,” Michael says, cutting into Booth’s mental reminder to give Aubrey a hard time about bringing in bodies without even telling Booth. A guy takes one afternoon off to get his kids and everybody cuts him out of the loop completely.

Brennan looks over at Michael like she forgot he was still there. “Yes,” she says briskly, smiling at Hank.

“You weren’t worried about a decline in intelligence?” Michael asks.

“Hey, watch it,” Booth warns. Michael can’t know just how touchy that question is, with everything that happened after the bombs, but he’s definitely trying to get under Brennan’s skin.

“Bones is the smartest person in the world,” Parker says, sounding so much like the little kid he was when he first met Brennan that it makes Booth’s chest warm.

“I’m not positive that’s accurate,” Brennan says. “But Parker is exaggerating out of affection because we’re family.” She smiles at Parker before turning back to Michael, not smiling anymore. “I did experience lapses in intellect while I was pregnant, and though I still experience some brain fog due to increased disruptions to sleep, I can confidently say my intelligence has not suffered at all.”

“That’s right,” Booth says. “So, you know, you can shut it, Professor Second Place.”

Hodgins rolls by just then, glaring at Michael. When he sees Booth, he nods. Booth nods back. Hodgins was obviously coming by to check on Brennan. It reminds Booth of the last time he met Michael, Hodgins and Zack glaring daggers and keeping an eye out.

“I know you,” Michael says. “We’ve met, right?”

“You have,” Brennan says. “Special Agent Seeley Booth, my husband.”

“Dada,” Hank contributes.

“Dad, he knows your name!” Christine says.

“Yeah, good job,” Booth says, shaking one of Hank’s hands.

“Oh, you were the FBI guy from that case, right?” Michael looks him over. He huffs. “Well, Tempe, I wouldn’t think he’s your usual type.”

“Yeah, because I actually respect her,” Booth shoots back.

“While true, that’s a little condescending to me,” Brennan points out, putting her free hand on Booth’s chest while Hank pats her cheeks. “But yes, he’s much better than any type I would’ve thought I wanted before.” She smiles at Booth and he can’t do anything but smile back. “He’s also different from you because he has a strong moral code, which means he’d never be swayed by money to obscure the truth.”

Booth laughs. “Ouch, Bones, don’t pull those punches.”

Cam and Arastoo walk by and glance in, and Booth can see Clark hovering off to one side with Aubrey. They’re all looking out for Brennan. It hits Booth square in the chest.

When Michael knew Brennan, she had no one. She hadn’t reconnected with her dad and Russ, she didn’t work at the lab yet or know Angela, and she hadn’t met Booth. She’d been abandoned and wrapped her heart in 20 layers of logic to keep it safe. Assholes like Michael proved her right to do so.

But now, she’s standing in her office with her family, surrounded by people who love her and want to make sure she knows it. Michael can’t get to her now. He can’t get in her head or under her skin like he did last time.

Her office is full of pictures of this life she’s built. The family picture they took last time Parker came to visit, even though Hank’s crying in the picture and Christine wouldn’t smile. Pictures from the vacation they took with Russ and Amy and the girls this summer. Their wedding pictures. Pictures of the kids with her dad, with Booth’s mom, one of Parker and Christine with Pops. An old picture of Brennan and Russ as kids with their mother.

Christine and Michael Vincent on the swings. Brennan and Angela on a spa day. An old Christmas picture of the squints from back when Zack was still here, and a newer picture of Brennan with Angela, Hodgins, Cam, and Zack before Zack’s latest surgery for skin grafts on his hands. A picture of Sweets asleep with a baby Christine from back when he lived with them. The squinterns in their weird historical clothes gathered around Brennan in her wedding dress. Booth and Brennan on a double date with Angela and Hodgins.

Brennan and Clark holding up each other’s books, though she’s giving Clark’s book a dubious look. Brennan and Dr. Goodman on her first day at the Jeffersonian. Brennan and Vincent Nigel-Murray working on that last paper together. Booth and Jared right after Jared got back from India. Angela and Brennan laughing together, probably at Booth. Brennan and Booth, way back when they first started working together, a little awkward in the picture. Booth and Michelle on her first day at Quantico. Hank and Seeley Lance playing in a sandbox. Parker playing video games with Cam and Arastoo’s three boys.

All of the squinterns Brennan’s ever had gathered into one picture at some anthropology conference. Booth and Sweets at the diner. Brennan cooking with Aubrey, next to a picture of Aubrey with four plates of food in front of him. Booth and Wendell in their hockey gear. Sweets playing the piano. Caroline giving Daisy one of those classic Caroline looks. Brennan and Booth with Arastoo and Cam at their wedding. Brennan and Fisher looking at God only knows what in the lab. Hodgins and Zack from one of their experiments. Parker’s and Christine’s skeleton drawings, next to that broken clock.

Picture after picture of the people Brennan’s surrounded herself with who love her. Her family. Booth can’t help but think of what she said to him once, just after watching her father and Russ drive off again. I’m just one of those people who doesn’t get to be in a family.

And look at her now. Her office used to be decorated only in artifacts, things she’d brought back from her trips. She didn’t have anything else to put up. Booth wraps an arm around Brennan’s waist and she leans into him. She goes easily, without hesitation, without asking him what he’s doing. She gives out love and comfort pretty freely these days, and she takes it, too.

“You’ll have to excuse us, Michael,” she says. She smiles at Booth. “I’ve got plans with my family.”

“Yes, of course,” Michael says. Booth doesn’t actually know the guy—and doesn’t want to—but he could swear Michael sounds a little wistful. Good. He should’ve treated her better when he had the chance. “It was good to see you, Temperance.”

“I’m sure it was,” she says. Booth laughs. That’s his girl. They walk out, Brennan holding Hank, Parker with Christine still up on his shoulders. Booth wraps an arm around Brennan and an arm around Parker so they’re all connected, just the way he likes it.

“All good?” Angela asks. Olivia Temperance is in Hodgins’s lap now.

“Say the word and I will run over his foot,” Hodgins adds.

“Or we could call security and get him out of here,” Arastoo says.

“We could get him out of here ourselves,” Cam says, glaring toward Brennan’s office.

“I’d help with that,” Clark agrees.

“Hell, I got my gun right here,” Aubrey says. Angela and Hodgins have obviously filled everyone in on the gossip. That’s really just the way it goes around here.

Brennan smiles at everyone. “Thank you,” she says. “None of that is necessary. He knows now that there is no reason for him to come back anymore.”

“Ooh, somebody wanted a little something—” Angela cuts herself off with a glance at Parker and Christine.

“Yeah, well, you know, he’s not getting it,” Booth says.

“He’s not,” Brennan agrees. “Is it alright with you if we go to dinner?” she asks Cam. “Until the bones are cleaned, there’s nothing—”

“Of course,” Cam says. “Pretty sure you were supposed to leave half an hour ago anyway.”

“Forty-five minutes, but who’s counting,” Booth says.

“You are,” Brennan says. “Obviously.”

“Sorry, my fault,” Aubrey says.

“Yeah, it is,” Booth agrees. “You don’t even tell me when you catch a body anymore? All grown up now?”

“I am a senior agent, you know,” Aubrey brags. Then he takes a bite of the candy bar he’s holding and gets caramel all over his chin.

“Wow, great job,” Hodgins says.

Booth just shakes his head and leaves everyone else to rib Aubrey. They head out of the lab and he resists the urge to ask Brennan about the body. He’s not going to do that in front of the kids. And besides, their family behind them has it all under control.

2.

“Are you sure renting a car is the best—”

“It’s fine!” Booth interrupts before Brennan can finish her question. Brennan decides not to argue.

They’re in England, visiting Parker, and it’s already been a stressful trip. They thought Christine was ready for the flight, ten months old now, but she’d cried and fussed for most of the flight. They took the Tube to the hotel and then to Rebecca’s new house for dinner.

When they got back to the hotel last night, Christine had fussed for most of the night, which is when Brennan discovered that Christine has a maxillary lateral incisor coming in. At least that made remedying her fussing easier, though none of them got much sleep.

Now it’s the afternoon, and Booth wants to rent a car and take both kids to the National Army Museum. It was their compromise; Brennan wanted to take the kids to educational places, and Booth hated the idea until she brought up the Army Museum. He wanted to take them to some kind of movie-themed amusement park.

But Booth’s track record for driving in London doesn’t exactly have Brennan excited for this trip. And right now, he’s struggling to get Christine’s car seat into the rental car. Parker’s already sitting inside, playing some kind of handheld video game.

“Is that Dr. Brennan?” someone says.

Brennan turns, unsure if she’s going to see a fellow scientist, a fan of her books, or possibly some kind of murderer. It’s none of the above; it’s Pritchard, the Scotland Yard constable they worked with on their trip to England years ago.

“Pritchard,” Brennan says. “Wow, hi.”

Pritchard extends a hand for a shake, but Christine’s clinging to Brennan in a way that makes a handshake difficult. “Oh, a child,” Pritchard says.

“Yes, she has a maxillary incisor erupting, so she’s not feeling well,” Brennan explains.

Booth pulls back out of the car. “Pritch!” he says, muffled because he’s holding the car keys in his mouth.

Brennan reminds herself not to point out that the car rental service isn’t likely to sanitize the keyring. He once asked her to spare him any “fun facts” that involve fecal matter, though she’s not sure any facts that involve fecal matter can be considered fun. But if he gets sick, Brennan will know why. And she’ll tell him then.

“Agent Booth!” Pritchard says. She sounds more excited to see Booth. Brennan decides that doesn’t bother her. Pritchard and Booth are much more alike than she and Pritchard are, and though Brennan knows Pritchard was attracted to Booth the last time they were here, Brennan also knows she has no reason to worry about Booth being unfaithful. “I suppose I should have known I wouldn’t see one without the other,” Pritchard adds, smiling at them both.

“What are you up to, you running Scotland Yard yet?” Booth asks. He takes the keys out of his mouth, luckily.

Pritchard laughs. “Oh, I’ve left the public service. I work for a private security team now. And please, before you say it—I know you disapprove.”

“Nah, you know what, losing your partner, that changes everything,” Booth says.

He looks at Brennan and they hold each other’s eyes for a minute. Brennan does not like to think about losing Booth. She’s had to think about that a few times—and a few different ways of losing him—but it never gets easier.

“So, you Yanks are deputizing agents rather young, aren’t you?” Pritchard says, looking at Christine and over at Parker in the car.

“Oh, no, these aren’t agents, just children,” Brennan tells her. Booth raises his eyebrows at her to tell her Pritchard was joking. “Oh, a joke,” Brennan says. She laughs. “Yes, very funny.”

“Parker, will you wave?” Booth requests. Parker does without looking up from his game, which makes Booth frown and mutter a little under his breath, but he apparently decides not to make a big deal out of Parker’s manners right now. “And this one’s Christine,” he says, rubbing Christine’s back. “She’s teething.”

“So I’ve heard,” Pritchard says. She looks back and forth between Brennan and Booth a few times. “I see things have changed quite a bit since your last visit?”

Booth blushes a little, which Brennan always finds fascinatingly endearing. “Yeah,” he says, almost bashfully.

This change in their relationship still feels new. Not fragile, necessarily, but special. And losing those months when Brennan was on the run almost felt like they were starting over, making it feel even newer.

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Pritchard says. Brennan thinks she might be teasing. She feels a rush of affection for Pritchard. Brennan really did like her when they were here last time.

“Yes, many people expected us to become sexual,” Brennan says. Pritchard laughs, but it doesn’t sound like the kind of laugh where Brennan’s not in on the joke. Brennan doesn’t like those kinds of laughs. Pritchard isn’t laughing at her.

“Jeez, Bones,” Booth mutters. He’s blushing again, because Brennan brought up sex. “I gotta figure out this car seat, somebody needs to call NASA or something.”

“Go right ahead,” Pritchard says. “I’d offer to help, but I’ve absolutely no useful experience here.”

Booth crawls back into the car to put the car seat in. Brennan shakes her head a little. “He refuses to read the instructions,” she tells Pritchard.

Pritchard snorts. “Oh, men are so stupid, aren’t they?”

“He thinks being mechanically minded should translate to every situation,” Brennan says. She doesn’t think she should agree about Booth being stupid, even if he is acting kind of stupid and very stubborn right now.

She’s still not very clear about the rules of being in love. She doesn’t have a lot of experience with it, and there are frustratingly few resources with helpful information. Booth and Angela are her two best resources, but it annoys her that there isn’t some kind of manual or peer-reviewed journal she can consult.

It’s another example of what Booth likes to tell her—love doesn’t follow the rules of logic, no matter how hard she tries. It’s logical to agree that Booth’s being stupid, but she doesn’t feel like she wants to agree. It’s so strange.

“So,” Pritchard says, raising an eyebrow and leaning closer to Brennan. “You’ve climbed Everest after all.”

Brennan remembers immediately what she’s talking about, how she’d equated sleeping with Ian to climbing Everest. Brennan understands now that Pritchard had been using her own relationship with Ian as a stand-in for Brennan and Booth.

“You mean having sex with Booth,” Brennan clarifies, just in case she got it wrong.

Pritchard snorts. “Quite.”

“Yes, many times,” Brennan tells her. “I’m sorry, do you not want to hear about that because you wanted to have sex with Booth?” It could be painful for her, since it can never happen now, and Brennan likes Pritchard.

Pritchard laughs. “Oh, Dr. Brennan, I do love how forthright you are about everything. No, no need to worry. I have climbed so many Everests I can hardly pine for one.”

Brennan has to take a second and parse through that metaphor. She wishes everyone would just say what they actually mean. But she gathers that Pritchard is saying she thinks Booth wouldn’t be any more impressive in sex than anyone else.

“Oh, no, Booth is incredibly proficient at sex,” Brennan tells her. “Excellent, really. I am certain you would find him much more impressive than any other sexual partners you’ve had. I know I do.”

Pritchard smiles at her. “You don’t think your feelings may have an impact there?”

Brennan considers that. “Hm. I guess that might be true. Though I think it’s mostly the things he does with his tongue.”

Pritchard raises her eyebrows interestedly. Booth makes a muffled noise of question and pulls himself out of the car. “What are you talking about out here?” he asks. He has the keys in his mouth again. He must’ve heard Brennan talking about him having sex again and got embarrassed, even though she’s praising him. He’s so puritanical.

But he may have a point in this case; she wouldn’t want Parker to overhear. Christine is too young to understand any real conversation, so it doesn’t matter if she hears. “Nothing,” Brennan tells him.

“Car seat’s in,” he says. “I hope.”

“You hope?” Brennan echoes.

“It’s in, it’s in,” he says.

“Well, it is lovely to see you again,” Pritchard says.

“We should get a drink!” Booth says. “We’re here for five more days.”

They exchange numbers and Brennan puts Christine in the car. She pulls at the seatbelt, just to make sure the car seat’s secure. Parker watches her do it and giggles a little.

“He swore a lot while he did it,” he reveals in a whisper.

“That is not surprising,” Brennan says. Booth thinks car seats are too advanced these days. But he never has a rebuttal when Brennan shows him the safety ratings.

“He said not to repeat any of them,” Parker adds.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Brennan says. “But if he’s gone and it’s just us, I don’t mind.”

“You’re so cool, Bones,” Parker says. Brennan likes being cool. And she really likes being cool to Parker specifically.

“Yes, she is,” Booth says. He just got in the car in time to hear that. Parker and Brennan exchange a look, silently agreeing not to tell Booth why she’s cool right now. Parker laughs again. “Oh, I get it, she’s cool because she’s saying something I wouldn’t like,” Booth realizes.

Brennan’s satisfied that the car seat’s as secure as it can be, so she buckles Christine in and goes around to the front seat. “Are you and Pritchard going to see each other again?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Booth says. “You’re not going to come, too? Rebecca said she’d watch Christine if we wanted to go out.” Booth’s relationship with Rebecca has improved exponentially since he’s in his own relationship. And now that they live on different continents.

“Oh,” Brennan says. “I thought it would be some kind of cop drink. I’m sure Pritchard wouldn’t mind spending time alone with you.” She raises her eyebrows.

Booth looks over at her to make sure she’s not actually worried, which she isn’t. She’s mostly teasing. She thinks. She’s still working on that. She’s better with Booth than anyone else, even Angela.

Booth huffs and focuses back on the road. “Well, Pritch knows what everyone else knows.”

“What’s that?” Brennan asks.

“You and me, we’re a package deal, Bones,” he says. “We’re partners. And even if you’re not there, you know, physically, you’re always there. There’s no alone time with me, not like that.”

“That was a very good answer,” Brennan praises.

He grins. “Yeah, I thought so. It’s true, though.”

“I know,” she promises. She reaches over and pats his knee. Then she gasps. “Booth, no, you can’t turn here!”

“I hate this country!”

3.

“Thanks, Hodgins,” Brennan wraps up some phone call Booth couldn’t follow a single word of. It was all science-y and squinty even when he was only hearing her end. She hangs up and looks at Booth. “The victim’s clothing had traces of Pine-Sol cleaner on it.”

“Jeez, all those words and in the end it’s just Pine-Sol,” Booth says. They’re in his office, waiting for Caroline to get them a warrant to go search a suspect’s house, and they’re both behind his desk because they were looking at the victim’s X-rays again.

Obviously, what that meant was Brennan was looking at the X-rays again and he was waiting for her to bust out the small words so he could figure out what she meant. She’s sitting in his chair and he’s standing beside her, because he’s not the kind of guy who makes the woman eight months pregnant with his child stand. Though sometimes she still insists that she wants to stand.

“Yes,” Brennan says. “Cleaning solution is often made up of many chemicals.”

“Not ours,” Booth mutters. She insists on getting the natural stuff. Or “more” natural, apparently. She gets very scornful when people say they want things “chemical-free” because bodies are made up of chemicals or whatever she says when she starts ranting.

He always just nods and goes along with her. He really doesn’t care what cleaner they buy; he just wants the countertop to not be sticky.

“Well, I assumed you’d want our child exposed to as few harmful chemicals as possible,” she says. She raises her eyebrows. “Excuse me if I was wrong.”

Booth laughs a little. “Bones! That was sassy.”

“Yes, I find myself getting quite short-tempered as my pregnancy progresses,” she says. Booth decides not to respond to that particular detail. He wasn’t born yesterday, and he is not looking to wind up in the dog house tonight.

Instead, he leans down and puts a hand on Brennan’s stomach comfortingly. “Hey, baby, be nicer to your mother. Or you’ll be grounded as soon as you get out here.”

“Well, the baby will be grounded,” Brennan says. “She’ll be unable to walk on her own, so it’s not likely she’ll go anywhere.”

Booth gives her a look. “Yeah, not likely.”

“Take a look here,” Brennan says, pointing at the screen, so Booth obediently moves his hand off her stomach to pretend he can see anything.

“What am I looking at?” he asks.

“The nick on the femoral head,” she says, like it’s obvious.

“All these years, and you still think I know what a femoral head is,” he says, shaking his head.

“All these years, and you still don’t know what a femoral head is,” she shoots back.

“Well, look at this,” someone from the doorway says. “Booth and Temperance. Of course.” It’s Hacker, Booth’s old boss. The last guy Brennan was seeing before running off to the Maluku Islands. Booth hasn’t seen him in almost two years.

While Brennan was playing with monkey bones or whatever the hell she was doing and Booth was in Afghanistan, Hacker went to work for some politician doing…Booth has no idea what. Security? Campaigning?

He heard about it right after he got back and things were still pretty crazy as he got settled in and back into the swing of things. And he didn’t really care about Hacker, so he didn’t listen very well.

“Andrew,” Brennan says. She stands up to give him a hug and her belly comes into Hacker’s view.

“Oh, wow,” he says, eyes widening. He holds up his hands. “Wasn’t me.”

Booth rolls his eyes. Brennan looks confused. “I know that,” she says. She looks at Booth. “Why would he think I think it’s him?”

“He’s joking, Bones,” Booth assures her.

“Oh, of course,” she says. She laughs. “You always tell a lot of jokes, Andrew. I remember that.”

“Some things never change,” Hacker says, shaking his head and smiling. “So. Who’s the lucky man?”

Booth raises a hand at the same time Brennan gestures over at him, so they smack hands. “Ow,” Booth whines.

“Oh,” Hacker says. He looks between them a few times. “You—okay. I see.” Booth doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say here. It feels a little awkward. They really haven’t run into any exes at this point. They’ve seen Rebecca, obviously, but never by chance. “This is because of that time Booth saved the day from Mr. White, isn’t it?” Hacker jokes.

“No,” Brennan says. “I would say it’s more because Booth and I spent years cultivating a partnership based on mutual trust, protectiveness, and genuine affection.”

Booth smiles. “Aw, Bones,” he says. She’s not even really trying to be sweet; she’s being factual. That makes it sweeter, in Booth’s opinion.

“Also, we are very sexually compatible,” she says.

“Okay, Bones, jeez,” Booth complains, putting a hand on either side of her stomach. “Don’t need this one hearing that.” He doesn’t really like Hacker hearing it, either, though part of him’s okay with it so Hacker knows not to get any ideas.

“While a fetus in utero can hear and begin to process language, she doesn’t actually know specific words yet,” Brennan points out. “She won’t understand anything we’re saying.”

“Ah, but our child is going to be a genius like us, right?” Booth teases. “So maybe she can.”

“Booth, that’s ridiculous,” Brennan says, rolling her eyes.

“You’re just saying that because you’re not sure,” Booth says.

“You’re not even actually covering her ears,” Brennan says. He’ll have to take her word for it. He doesn’t know where the baby’s ears are in there. He’s seen the diagrams, obviously, but it’s hard to reconcile the picture with an actual human.

“God, how did it take you two so long to get together?” Hacker cuts in. Booth kind of forgot he was there. “You argued like this before, too, and now it’s obvious it’s some kind of bit in your relationship.”

“Bit?” Brennan echoes under her breath.

“Like an inside joke,” Booth explains. There are a few meanings of bit, and he knows she’s a lot more familiar with other kinds than what Hacker means.

“Oh, yes, we do have many bits in our relationship,” Brennan says. “Sometimes when we’re in bed, Booth—”

“Bones!” Booth interrupts. He doesn’t know where she was going with that, and he doesn’t want to know. He really doesn’t want Hacker to know.

Hacker laughs. “Temperance, I have to say, you really are one of a kind.”

“Yes, that’s true,” she agrees.

“So what’s going on, Hacker?” Booth asks. Not because he’s worried or anything. He doesn’t mean to sound arrogant, but he really can’t see Brennan going back to Hacker now that she’s got him. She never even slept with Hacker. “You coming back to us?”

Hacker laughs. “Oh, God, no, do you know how much more money you can make in the private sector?”

“Yeah, so I hear,” Booth says.

“I was actually here because of some cyber threats. Standard stuff, you know the drill, but doing my due diligence. Just thought I’d stop in and see my favorite Supervisory Special Agent. I should’ve guessed my favorite forensic anthropologist would be here, too.” Hacker gives them both one of those big, toothy smiles and Booth resists the urge to roll his eyes again.

“We are investigating a murder,” Brennan says. “Like always.”

“I don’t know why anyone bothers to kill anyone else anymore, with you two around,” Hacker says.

“Jealousy seems to be one of the biggest reasons,” she says. “Or money.”

Hacker laughs. “Of course.”

Before anyone can say anything else, and before things get too horribly awkward, Caroline and Sweets come to the doorway. “What is this, a traffic jam?” Caroline demands. She always gets cranky when she has to get a warrant if she doesn’t think it’s a slam dunk, and this one was, Booth has to admit, a bit shaky.

“Oh, hi, Assistant Director Hacker,” Sweets says. “Or not anymore, I guess, since you don’t work here.”

“I don’t,” Hacker says. “I was just feeling a little nostalgic for the old place. But I can see you’re all busy. I’ll let you get back to fighting the good fight.” He looks at Brennan. “And congratulations, Temperance. Uh, to both of you.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Booth says. He’s getting the sense Hacker was coming to sniff around for something else. Sweets shoots him a look that says he’s thinking the same thing, so Booth feels very vindicated.

When Sweets agrees with him, it means Booth’s being perceptive and is backed by psychology. When Sweets disagrees with him, it means Sweets is just a dumbass kid. Right now, Booth’s obviously being perceptive.

“Goodbye, Andrew,” Brennan says.

Hacker leaves and Caroline raises an eyebrow. “Well, he sure didn’t come here to see me, now did he?”

“No, he came to see Booth,” Brennan says blithely.

“Mmhmm,” Caroline says.

Sweets grins. “Yeah, it wasn’t Agent Booth he came to see.”

“Warrant?” Booth asks before Brennan can ask about that. They really don’t have time to get into a whole thing right now.

“Warrant this, warrant that,” Caroline mutters. “Yes, you got your warrant, go.” She waves the warrant at him.

In the car, Brennan says, “What were Caroline and Sweets talking about?”

“With the warrant?” Booth asks, even though he obviously knows what she means.

“No, Andrew,” she clarifies. “Sweets said he wasn’t there to see you. And why did Caroline say mmhmm like that? The tone she used is very often one Caroline uses when she knows something I don’t.” She tips her head. “Of course, that doesn’t happen often.”

“Right, of course,” Booth says. “Uh, Hacker was probably coming by to see me so he could, you know, ask about you.”

“Me?” Brennan asks.

“Yeah, Bones, okay, he was hoping I’d give you his number so he could ask you out again. Until, you know, he saw the proof you’re not dating.” He gestures at her stomach.

“Being pregnant doesn’t mean I’m not dating,” she points out.

Booth whips his head around to look at her. “What does that mean?”

She looks surprised. “Well, I’m dating you.”

“Oh.” He calms down. “Yeah, well, right. I thought you meant, you know, going out looking. Dating around.”

She snorts. “Technically, that would still be possible even though I’m pregnant. But the thought of that right now when I feel this uncomfortable sounds unbearable.” He’s about to ask if she needs anything specific when she adds, “And besides, I was already starting to feel like I could never be with anyone except you before we were even together. Now there’s definitely no chance.”

“Aw, Bones, that was sweet,” he says.

“It was?”

“Yeah, it was.” He rubs her shoulder closer to him with his free hand. “When we get home, I’ll give you a foot massage and make you that chickpea thing.”

“Mm, foot massage yes, chickpeas no,” she says.

“No?” He can’t believe she’s turning that down. Two weeks ago she practically ate the entire hummus supply of the Atlantic coastline.

“No,” she decides, shaking her head. “I do not want chickpeas.” She sighs. “My tastes and cravings are so capricious. I tried to keep an organized log so I could anticipate whatever cravings were coming next, but the cravings seem to change with no pattern.”

“Wow, that didn’t work, huh?” he says sarcastically.

“No, it didn’t.” She looks disappointed that her little nerd chart failed her.

“I bet I can anticipate a craving,” he says. “I’m going to guess…” He pauses dramatically and she rolls her eyes. “French fries with pickles and chocolate syrup.” It sounds like he’s playing a particularly gross game of mad libs, but that really is a combination she’s eaten three times this week.

She looks over at him. “I don’t think anyone else could know my needs as well as you,” she says. She sounds almost choked up. “I’m feeling very emotional right now.”

“Yeah, you know, people usually voice that word for word when they’re feeling it,” he says. But he feels kind of bad for joking about it. She does get a lot more emotional with all the hormones, and it’s not like she has a ton of experience with people taking care of her. Great, now he’s feeling emotional. “Hey, no one knows my needs as well as you, either, you know?”

“I know,” she says confidently. “I keep a log on you, too.”

He checks her face to see if she’s joking. It doesn’t look like she is. “What am I, an experiment?”

“Kind of,” she says. “Just keeping track of how things change with us over time and with love.”

That doesn’t sound so bad. “Well, okay,” he says. “Long as I’m the only experiment person.”

“Test subject,” she fills him in. “And of course you’re not. I have to weigh my feelings and observations about you against my feelings and observations for other people. I test you against my feelings for previous sexual partners and other men I have platonic affection for. It would be worthless to keep track of my feelings with no control group.” Then she tips her head. “Oh, you meant the only test subject as in the only one I’m in love with.”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean,” he agrees.

“You are,” she promises, even though he already knew that. “And my feelings for you are stronger than my feelings for anyone else.”

He smiles. He knew that, too, but he always likes to hear her say it. “Hope it’s a life-long experiment,” he says.

“Please don’t say that right now,” she says, frowning.

“What? Why?” he asks. He was being sweet. He hopes she doesn’t turn this into one of those tirades against marriage.

“Because I’m feeling emotional again.” She does sound like she’s about to cry. Ah, the opposite of an anti-marriage tirade. She’s happy to think about him wanting to spend his whole life with her.

“Alright, Bones,” Booth says, holding back a laugh. She doesn’t appreciate when he laughs at her for crying. It’s just that he thinks she’s adorable when she cries over that commercial for online banking or things like this, when she gets emotional over things he says. “Anything you want.” He keeps his eyes trained on the road and adds, “My love.”

They don’t use a lot of pet names; he already calls her a nickname, anyway, and she’s just not that kind of person. But he can’t help but tease her a little right now. And this one’s relevant to what they’re talking about.

“Booth, stop!” Brennan complains, turning her face away to the window.

He does stop, because she definitely won’t want to be crying when they go execute the search warrant. But he thinks maybe he should find someone to set Hacker up with. As a thank you. Because Hacker’s little visit ended up being a pretty great thing for Booth.

4.

“Mom, I need to go to the bathroom,” Christine says. Brennan looks at her and tries not to sigh. She asked Christine three separate times to use the restroom before they left the lab. Christine repeatedly insisted she didn’t need to go. Now they’re just sitting down to dinner at the restaurant to celebrate the end of Parker’s finals and she needs to go.

One part of motherhood Brennan was not prepared for was how interrupted her meals would be. She expected to lose sleep, of course, but it didn’t really occur to her that she’d have to steal bites of food between multitasking five other things.

“I’ll take you,” Booth says. “Let’s let Mom eat, huh?”

“Dad, you can’t take me to the girls’ bathroom!” Christine says, scandalized.

“Maybe he’ll just take you to the boys’ bathroom,” Parker says.

“No!” Christine cries. Booth gives Parker a quelling look.

Parker does a lot less brotherly teasing than Brennan remembers Russ doing, most likely due to the large age difference between him and Christine and Hank, but sometimes he seems to think it’s his duty to irritate them. Brennan thinks it’s only fair, since Christine and Hank annoy him, too.

“It’s fine,” Brennan says. “Let’s go.” She squeezes Booth’s shoulder as she walks past and dips to drop a kiss to his cheek. “Please stop Hank from eating the straw wrapper.” He’s definitely old enough to know better and is doing it to make Parker laugh. Hank will do anything Parker and Christine tell him to.

“What the—how’d you even get that?”

Christine goes into her own stall, nine years old now and declaring herself too old to share. There are three stalls in the bathroom and one’s already occupied. Brennan goes too, since she’s here. She’s done pelvic floor physical therapy since having the kids, but her bladder control still isn’t the same as it used to be.

“Mom, I need help,” Christine says from outside of the stall a minute later. She must be done already and trying to wash her hands. “I can’t reach the soap.”

“Okay, I’m coming,” Brennan promises. The person in the stall next to her flushes, and then Brennan hears a woman say,

“I can help you.”

Brennan hurries out of the stall, not willing to leave a stranger alone with her daughter in the bathroom, and she stops in her tracks when she sees who it is.

“Hannah?”

Hannah’s head whips over to look at her. “Temperance,” she says, sounding as shocked as Brennan feels. They stare at each other without saying anything for a minute.

“Mom?” Christine cuts in. “Sorry, I’m not interrupting. But I need soap.”

Brennan helps her almost on autopilot. Hannah’s staring at them, looking back and forth between Brennan and Christine. “You have a daughter,” she says.

“I do,” Brennan says. “And a son. And a stepson.”

Hannah just looks at her for another moment. Then she nods. “I did hear about you and Seeley,” she says.

Brennan doesn’t know why that’s making her blush. She and Booth have been together for almost a decade now. And it isn’t as if they did anything wrong. Booth was faithful to Hannah.

Well. He was, technically. But it would be ridiculous to pretend he’d given Hannah his whole heart. That does make Brennan feel a little guilty, even though overall it makes her happy.

“You did?” Brennan asks, not sure what else to say.

“It’s not like I went looking or anything,” Hannah says. “But you two do tend to make headlines.”

Brennan can’t argue against that. Even aside from their usual work catching murderers, they had a few whirlwind years. She was on the run after being framed for murder, after all, and Booth went to prison until they could clear his name. It would be ridiculous to think someone who knows them both wouldn’t see that news.

“Does she mean Dad Seeley or Seeley Lance?” Christine asks. “Dad Seeley’s here but Seeley Lance isn’t. No one really calls Dad Seeley.”

“Your son is Seeley Jr.?” Hannah asks.

“Oh, no,” Brennan says. “Our son is Hank. Seeley Lance is—well, I’m not sure if you remember Dr. Sweets.”

“Dad says Uncle Sweets is in heaven, but Mom doesn’t believe in heaven,” Christine says. “So she says Uncle Sweets and Grandpa Max and Pops and Grandma Christine and Uncle Jared are all just dead. They’re decomposing now.”

“That’s right,” Brennan says, because it sounds pretty harsh coming out of her daughter’s mouth, but it is what she believes, and she sees no reason to hide that from her children.

If Booth gets to be open about his beliefs, so does she. He does his best not to argue with her about it in front of the kids, because they agreed the kids get to decide for themselves.

“Sweets died?” Hannah asks. “I’m so sorry.” She puts a hand on Brennan’s arm. “I know how close you both were to Dr. Sweets.”

“Yes,” Brennan says, wanting desperately to get out of this bathroom. They got closer to Sweets after Hannah was gone, when he came to live with them, but Hannah did see that they cared for him while she was part of their lives. “We miss him very much.”

“And Seeley’s brother?” Hannah asks.

“We have Uncle Jared at home,” Christine says. She’s never been shy with strangers, which worries Booth and Brennan to no end. “He didn’t get buried. He’s in a jar.”

“Urn,” Brennan corrects. “Jar is not incorrect, technically, but a jar for cremated remains is called an urn.”

“I’m so sorry, Temperance,” Hannah says.

Her eyes are full of concern, and Brennan gets a strange feeling, almost like vertigo. It’s so strange to think she was friends with Hannah, so many years ago, and Booth was in love with her. Hannah was such a large part of their lives, for a time, and now she doesn’t know them at all.

“Yes, Jared’s death was…difficult,” Brennan says. “In a few different ways.”

It’s been difficult for Booth psychologically, as much as Brennan hates to even use the term. She prefers to think of it more as Booth suffering from losing a societal role he took on at a young age and used to define himself. Roles within culture are anthropologically important; she can understand that much better than psychology.

Booth took on the role of older brother as soon as Jared was born, and from his older brother role, he took on the role of protector. He still takes on the protector role, obviously, not just with the kids but in general, in his work. But much of his identity as a protector stemmed from his role as an older brother. Losing that role was difficult for him. It was difficult for Brennan to see him having a difficult time.

And the circumstances around Jared’s death were far from ideal for anyone.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Hannah says. She seems sincere. Brennan did like her, even if sometimes spending time with her, and especially with her and Booth together, was painful.

But this is why Brennan dislikes talking about death with people. She understands Hannah is saying she’s sorry—repeatedly—because she wishes Brennan didn’t have to feel pain. But Brennan never feels comfortable finding the right response to that sentiment.

“Are you back in Washington?” Brennan asks.

“Not permanently, no,” Hannah says, and Brennan feels guilty at the little rush of relief she feels. “I’m here for the defense appropriations hearings. Then it’s back to Kabul.”

“Have any attractive soldiers arrested you again?” Brennan asks.

Hannah laughs. “No, not yet, but I’m sure it’ll happen. I never did learn to stay out of restricted areas.”

There’s a pause. Brennan looks down at Christine, who looks bored but is being very patient and polite, and then says, “Would you like to come say hi to Booth and Parker and meet our son?”

Hannah looks awkward. Brennan thinks, anyway. “Oh,” Hannah says. “Well—yeah, I guess I should.”

Christine looks at Brennan, probably wondering who Hannah is after all this. “Christine, this is Hannah,” Brennan says. “She’s, um, an old friend of mine and your father’s.”

“Hi,” Christine says.

“Christine,” Hannah says. “That’s a pretty name.”

“It was my grandma’s name,” Christine says.

Hannah follows them back to the table. Now Hank, Parker, and Booth all have straws up their noses. Brennan shakes her head. There really isn’t anything too silly for Booth when it comes to the kids. Or when it comes to Brennan, actually. He’ll do anything to make them laugh. She likes that, but Booth’s going to be embarrassed when he realizes Hannah’s seeing him like that.

“Booth,” Brennan says. He turns around, straws still up his nostrils, and freezes when he sees Hannah.

“Hi, Seeley,” Hannah says. She grins. “Nice tusks.”

Booth pulls the straws out of his nose and stands up quickly. “Hannah. Wow—uh. Hi.”

“I want to do it, too!” Christine says, rushing back to her seat. “You guys took all the straws!”

“Here,” Booth says, handing over his.

“Oh, don’t…” Brennan makes a face, but Christine obviously doesn’t care that the straws were up Booth’s nose. She immediately sticks them up her nostrils just like her brothers and laughs.

“Oh, wow,” Booth says. “Um—well, hang on a second.” He grabs his phone off the table and takes a picture of the three kids and their straws. “I just needed…” He puts his phone down and clears his throat, shooting Brennan a questioning look.

“Christine and I found Hannah in the restroom,” Brennan tells him. Then she realizes that sounds a little strange. “I mean, Hannah was also in the restroom. I don’t think she was hiding there.”

“Hannah?” Parker echoes, straws out of his nose now. He has his head tipped to the side while he looks at Hannah, and Brennan remembers, stomach swooping a little, Parker liked Hannah when she was dating Booth.

“Oh,” Booth says. “Um. Yeah, Parker, you, uh, you met Hannah. A long time ago. Hannah’s my…you know, Hannah was…”

“Oh,” Parker says, realization filling his face. He’s certainly old enough to figure out what Booth’s awkward ramblings must mean. He’s an adult now. “Got it. I think I kind of remember.”

“She took you to the zoo and you rode a camel,” Brennan says.

He’d talked about it for weeks. Brennan had been glad, for Booth’s sake, that Parker and Hannah got along, but she’d felt a little stab of jealousy when Parker talked about Hannah. She hadn’t understood it at the time, not fully, but now she knows she was jealous that Parker liked Hannah as someone sharing Booth’s life. She wanted to hold that place with Parker, because she especially wanted to hold that place with Booth.

Hannah laughs. “Temperance, you always had the best memory.”

“Yeah,” Christine says. “Because my mom’s really smart.”

“I know, the smartest, right?” Hannah asks.

“The smartest!” Hank agrees. Brennan shifts a little, feeling slightly uncomfortable for reasons she can’t name. This entire situation just feels very uncomfortable. Booth shifts, too, a little closer to her, and that helps her feel better.

“I want to ride a camel,” Christine says.

“Parker enjoyed it very much,” Brennan says, because that’s true.

Parker looks at Brennan for a second and then back at Hannah. He shrugs. “Well, I don’t really remember. Did we swim at Bones’s pool?”

“We did, once,” Hannah says.

“Yeah, I mostly just remember the pool,” Parker says. “And Bones. Sorry, I guess I was pretty young.”

Brennan realizes suddenly that Parker is…what, making sure she knows he’s taking her side? She finds herself feeling emotional about that, even though it’s unnecessary. Booth certainly wouldn’t have given Parker details to know how hurt Brennan was at the time, and she’s not feeling threatened or anything like that now.

“You definitely grew since the last time I saw you,” Hannah says.

“He’s in college now,” Booth says proudly. Last week he asked Parker for a copy of his transcript to put on the fridge. Parker declined, but he did send Booth a bumper sticker instead.

“Way to go, Parker,” Hannah says. Parker just nods. Hannah looks over at Hank. “Wow, your youngest looks just like you, Seeley.” Hank does look a lot like Booth, especially pictures of Booth as a child. He acts the most like Booth, too.

“That’s Hank,” Booth says. Hank looks up from his food and waves. He still has one straw in his nostril.

“Oh, after your grandfather,” Hannah says, another reminder that she knows Booth’s history.

There’s an awkward silence. In all honesty, Brennan usually has trouble realizing a silence is awkward, but right now it’s very clear.

“Well, so, how are you?” Booth asks.

“I’m great,” Hannah says. “Still back and forth between here and Afghanistan, though I’m branching out now, too. I’ve been over in east Asia a lot in the last year.”

“Following the intelligence chatter, huh?” Booth asks.

Hannah smiles. “Well, you know me. I’m pretty nosy like that.” She gets more serious. “I’m sorry about Sweets, Seeley, and your brother. That must’ve been really hard. And I heard about—” She breaks off with a glance at the kids. “Uh. P-R-I-S-O-N.”

“Prison,” Christine says.

“Oh,” Hannah says. “Sorry, I don’t know when kids learn to spell.”

“I’m nine,” Christine says, wrinkling her nose.

Hannah just kind of shrugs. Brennan can’t help but laugh a little. She didn’t know about kids, either, though she always went the other way and assumed they’d know more than they ever did. She still refuses to talk to children like they’re fools. Especially their children.

“And bombs in your lab?” Hannah says, looking at Brennan. “Weren’t you trapped inside for a while? I’m so glad you got out of there.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Booth says. “We’re all good now, though.” He looks at Brennan. “You know, lab’s rebuilt, no lasting injuries, bad guy caught.”

That is, of course, an oversimplification of the highest magnitude, partially because Booth isn’t going to get into complicated emotions in a public restaurant and partially because this is already an awkward situation.

Hannah rolls her eyes at Brennan and smiles. “Same old Seeley,” she says. “Never wants to talk about any of his own problems.”

He talks about his problems with Brennan, but she’s learned enough to know it wouldn’t be entirely kind to bring that up. Hannah loved Booth, even if she didn’t want to marry him, and it wasn’t Hannah who decided the rejected marriage proposal meant the end of their relationship.

Brennan had thought she didn’t want to marry Booth, too, and look at her now. Maybe if Booth and Hannah hadn’t broken up after she rejected his proposal, she would’ve changed her mind eventually, too.

That’s a strange thought. Brennan doesn’t enjoy that thought.

“Well, I should go,” Hannah says. “I’m on the Hill tomorrow.”

“I hope you stay safe, Hannah,” Brennan says. “Everywhere you go.”

She does mean that. Hannah is not a bad person by any metric Brennan can think of, and they were friends. She made Booth happy, for a time, so Brennan appreciates her even if she caused him pain in the end and was a bit of a roadblock to Brennan’s own happiness.

Hannah smiles and gives her a hug Brennan wasn’t really expecting. “Thanks, Temperance. You know, I’ll never forget you saved my life.” Hannah doesn’t hug Booth, but she does put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m happy for you both,” she says softly. “Really. I’m glad you found what you were looking for.”

Booth nods. “Thanks,” he says. “Try to stay out of trouble, huh?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be me if I did,” Hannah says. She waves at them and leaves.

Booth holds onto Brennan’s arms. “Okay?” he asks.

“Yes,” she says. She’s feeling a bit jumbled, actually. She’s not completely sure how she feels. But this restaurant isn’t the place to figure it out. Booth gives her a kiss and backs off. They eat dinner, and Brennan settles a bit in the comfort of their family.

It’s an interesting phenomenon. Even when the kids are bothering each other, she relaxes with them. Having all three of them together always helps Booth relax, too. He likes being able to keep an eye on all of his children at once.

Parker decides to stay at the house instead of going back to his apartment for the night. He gives Brennan a hug before he goes off to his room. “You were always my favorite, Bones,” he whispers. He’s a perceptive young man, and Brennan suspects he remembers more about Hannah than he let on at the restaurant.

Brennan laughs, though her eyes sting a little with tears. “Thank you, Parker,” she says. “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” he says.

She goes to help Booth get Hank and Christine to bed. When she and Booth finally settle into their own bed, Booth groans like he always does as his bones settle. Then he sighs when he finds a comfortable position.

It’s the same every night, a comforting sequence she can count on. Brennan appreciates things that stay the same, even though this one is because of the damage Booth’s body has endured.

“You okay?” Booth asks. “After seeing Hannah, I mean.”

“I am,” she says. “Are you?”

“It was weird,” he says.

“It was uncomfortable,” she agrees.

“I didn’t really know if I’d ever see her again, but I didn’t think it’d happen, you know, with straws up my nose,” he says.

Brennan laughs at him. “Well, at least the kids liked it.”

Booth laughs too. “Yeah.” He gets a little more serious. “You seemed a little off after she left.”

Brennan sighs and nestles close to him, resting her head on his shoulder. They can’t sleep like this; Booth’s shoulder can’t take that kind of pressure all night long. But they can stay like this while they talk. It’s very calming to be close to him. It always has been, even before she understood why.

“I was thinking about how I didn’t think I wanted to marry you,” she says softly. “And I thought maybe if you and Hannah had stayed together, she would’ve changed her mind, like I did. So maybe you’d be married to her now instead of me.”

“Nope,” he says right away.

“What do you mean, no?” she asks. “You can’t just say no.”

“Yeah, I can,” he says. “I know, Bones. You and me, we were going to end up together. No matter what. If I’d married Hannah, I’d be divorced. And you and me would still be together.”

“You can’t possibly know that,” she argues. Especially because she doesn’t believe Booth would get divorced. Not by his choice, for sure.

“I can,” he says. He’s not even getting heated about it. He says it as easily as if he’s telling her the weather. “Because even though I loved her…” He shakes his head, and then turns so he can kiss her temple. “It was always you, Bones. Even when I was with her. And proposing to her…I don’t know. It wasn’t really about her. I did it, you know, for the wrong reasons, and I think she knew that. She wouldn’t have changed her mind.”

“Why?” Brennan asks. “What’s your evidence?”

“She’s still not married now, is she?”

“I don’t know,” Brennan says.

“She isn’t,” he says. “She would’ve said. She never changed her mind.”

“She might’ve for you,” she says. “You’re a very compelling reason.”

He laughs. “Thanks, Bones. But she wouldn’t have. Because I think she knew I wasn’t it for her, just like, you know, deep down, I knew she wasn’t it for me. I wasn’t a very compelling reason for her.”

Brennan thinks that over. “Okay,” she says. “I have to accept your logic, because you know more than I do about your relationship with her. You know how it felt.”

“And listen to me, Bones,” Booth says. He puts his lips close to her ear so he can talk softly, directly to her. “There has not been one day of our life together that I’ve even wondered what it would’ve been like with anyone else. There hasn’t been a second when I’ve thought about it.”

“Really?” she asks. “Never?”

“Never,” he promises. From anyone else, she wouldn’t be sure she could believe it. But she knows she can believe him. “I’ve got everything I could ever dream about.”

That gets her eyes stinging again. She rolls closer so she can kiss him. “I love you,” she says.

“I love you,” he says. He brushes a hand through her hair. “Always.”

She lies back down, off his shoulder now in case they fall asleep. But he takes her hand under the blanket and holds it. He really is quite romantic. He wouldn’t care if she slept on his arm all night and he woke up with pins and needles. She has to protect him from his own romantic impulses.

“Oh,” she says aloud, something occurring to her.

“Oh what?” he asks drowsily.

“You lied,” she says.

She can feel him wake up a bit more at that. “I didn’t lie,” he says, offended. “What are you talking about, Bones? I meant every word.”

“There are things you’ve dreamed about that you don’t have,” she points out. “And I don’t care how romantic you are, you’re still not getting a motorcycle or a jet ski.”

He doesn’t say anything for a second. Then he huffs. “Why did you go and ruin my big romantic speech? Jeez, Bones, come on, I wasn’t even thinking about that.”

“I don’t want you telling me in a week that it’ll make your dream come true and thinking this conversation will be what changes my mind,” she says, reaching over and switching off her bedside lamp. “You know what isn’t a dream come true, Booth? Your remains spread across a freeway because of a motorcycle accident. There would probably be pieces of you we’d never recover.” She can’t believe, with how dangerous their jobs are, he’d want to risk his life even more.

“Wow, now there’s some great pillow talk,” he complains.

“Good night,” she says.

She’s absolutely not budging on this issue. She’s not going to be a single mother. And even more than that, the idea of Booth getting injured like that, dying, is completely unacceptable. Again—she has to protect him from his own impulses. Some less romantic than others.

“I’m going to have nightmares now,” he says.

“Well, don’t worry, I’ll be right here,” she promises.

He laughs and presses his face into her neck. “Alright, fine,” he says. “Good answer.”

“Thank you.”

They settle in and Brennan closes her eyes. Booth takes her hand again. He has such complete faith that they would still find their way to each other. He believes in God and fate and destiny. She doesn’t believe in any of those things. But she believes in him. And that’s more than enough.

5.

“What do you think, a milkshake?” Booth asks. He elbows Parker lightly. “You miss these milkshakes?”

“Yeah, it’s impossible to get a good milkshake in England,” Parker says. “They don’t have them!”

Booth laughs. “Well, we’ll have to have a bunch while you’re here.”

“And then I can have some whenever I want when I come back for college,” Parker reminds him.

Booth gets his arm around Parker’s shoulders and gives him a squeeze. “If you’re really sure,” he says. “I mean, I’d be the happiest guy in the world. But I’d be totally happy with you blowing those English nerds out of the water across the pond, too.” He puts on a snooty voice when he says across the pond and Parker laughs.

“No, Dad, I want to come home,” he says. “I miss America.”

Booth snaps off a salute. “Of course you do.”

Parker laughs again. “Besides, then I get to hang out with Christine and Hank way more. And you and Bones.”

Booth squeezes him again. “Oh, God, we all want that, okay? No question.”

“Agent Booth?”

Booth and Parker both turn to look. “Whoa, Dr. Goodman,” Booth says, shocked. “Hi, wow.”

Goodman never actually came back from his sabbatical after he hired Cam; he took some job in Denver or somewhere like that, where his wife’s family was from. He and Brennan have talked once or twice since then, as far as Booth knows, but he doesn’t think it’s been for a long time. Brennan’s not the best at keeping in touch, honestly.

“Oh, so good to see you,” Goodman says, shaking Booth’s hand. He looks at Parker. “No, this can’t be your boy!”

“Yep, Parker’s all grown up and applying to colleges,” Booth says proudly. “Parker, this is Dr. Goodman, he used to work in the lab with Bones way back when we first started working together. Your twins must be in college now, too, right?” he asks Goodman. He remembers them being close to Parker’s age.

“Yes, they both graduated early and are sophomores at Stanford,” Goodman says proudly. “Do you have any top schools you’re considering?” he asks Parker.

“I was thinking I might go to American and take a class from Bones,” Parker says.

Booth snorts. “Oh, you couldn’t pay me to take one of her classes.”

The squinterns all love Brennan, or at least want more than anything to impress her, but Booth has seen her teach and he knows he would not have done well with her as a professor. At least partially because he’d never be able to focus with a professor that hot.

He files that away to tell her later. That’ll earn him some brownie points.

Goodman laughs. “Temperance is well-regarded as a very tough professor,” he says. “Does that mean you plan to go into anthropology?”

“No, actually,” Parker says. He couldn’t really take a class from Brennan, not unless she started teaching some lower-level classes. And honestly, Booth does not think that would be a good idea.

“He wants to be an English major,” Booth says, hoping he sounds supportive. He doesn’t know what the hell English majors do. Read books? It seems so boring. And pointless, honestly.

Goodman gives Booth a shrewd look. Then he says, “I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.”

Booth’s a bit taken aback. Not just that Goodman knew what he was thinking—Booth’s used to that from squints, and Goodman was always really good at that—but at what Goodman just said. It almost feels like it knocked the wind out of him. He never thought of it like that.

He’s never wanted Parker or Christine or Hank to join the military. He saw too much, lost too much, did too much. He doesn’t want that for his kids, doesn’t want them with anything weighing on their conscience like he has.

And he’d support any of them if they became cops of some kind, but it wouldn’t be his first choice, either. He doesn’t think he’d ever sleep again if he had to worry about the kids out on the job like that.

Maybe he wants them all to major in English. Read books in a library all day. Be safe.

“Wow,” Booth says. “That’s—yeah, wow. I like that.”

“John Adams,” Goodman says.

“Wow,” Booth says again. “Damn.”

None of them get a chance to say anything else before the bell over the door chimes and Hank yells, “Dad! I was swinging!”

Booth turns in time to catch Hank jumping toward him. “Whoa, hey, buddy, you gotta give me some warning,” Booth says. “I’m getting old.”

“He almost broke his patella on the swing,” Christine says. “He jumped off before his height and velocity were right.”

Hank looks at Booth and does a gesture Booth knows he picked up from him, rolling his eyes and winding his finger around his ear in a cuckoo gesture. Brennan really hates when he does that.

Hank’s by far their goofiest kid, barely three and always ready with some kind of slapstick routine to make everybody laugh. Booth knows Brennan doesn’t believe in this kind of stuff, but he firmly believes at least some of it is because Hank has Pops as his namesake.

“Dr. Goodman!” Brennan says.

“Temperance,” Goodman says, delighted. “Oh, my goodness, what luck.”

“It’s not luck,” Brennan starts.

Goodman laughs. “Oh, Temperance. Exactly the same, I see.” He looks at the gaggle of kids and tips his head. “Or not.” He’s smiling widely.

“Dr. Goodman is here in Washington to come with us tomorrow to pick up Zack,” Brennan tells Booth. Zack’s finally getting released tomorrow, and Brennan’s been making preparations at the lab for weeks, getting some kind of adaptive equipment so he can still work with his damaged hands.

“Yes, I thought Zack might benefit from having as many supportive faces as possible,” Goodman says.

“That’s really good of you,” Booth says.

It gives him a little pang, thinking of the whole crowd they’re going to have for Zack, and thinking of how they all quit visiting him. Booth never went to visit him in the first place. He should’ve; he’d always had doubts about Zack’s confession. He just didn’t want to deal with dredging it all back up for Brennan.

“Well, perhaps if I’d done more before,” Goodman says.

“Can’t go down that road,” Booth admonishes.

“You’re right,” Goodman says, inclining his head. “Well. When everyone said Booth and Brennan, I didn’t realize things had changed quite so much. I was already used to hearing the two of you as a pair and didn’t think anything of it.” He’s smiling again. “And to think, Temperance used to get so mad at me for sending her on cases with you.”

Booth laughs. “Oh, God, she hated it!”

“I still believe it was wrong to loan me out like a piece of equipment,” she says, a little grumpily. “But I can admit…Booth was a good choice.”

“Yeah, best choice you ever made, huh?” Booth crows.

Hank climbs from Booth’s lap over to Parker’s. “Parker, I wanna sit by you,” he says.

“You’re sitting on me,” Parker says, but he lets Hank do it and wraps an arm around Hank’s waist. Booth can’t help but smile at that. He loves watching his kids get along.

Hank loves Christine, will follow her around and do anything she says, but he worships Parker. His big brother. It always gets Booth a little choked up, thinking about Jared toddling after him saying See, See because he couldn’t say Seeley yet.

And it reminds Booth of when Parker was that age, too. He loved trucks and soccer and thought Booth was Superman. As amazing as it is to get to see Parker become a man, sometimes Booth misses that little boy and his wild blond curls.

“This is Christine,” Brennan says, putting her hand on top of Christine’s head. “And Hank. And you already know Parker.”

“They’re beautiful children, Temperance,” Goodman says.

He looks proud and Booth realizes Goodman was kind of the first father figure Brennan had since she was a kid. He took her under his wing at the Jeffersonian. He was certainly the first academic guy to look out for her and not try to sleep with her.

“I’m very glad you’re here,” Brennan says. “I find I missed you very much.”

Goodman looks a little surprised. It’s not like Brennan never got sentimental before, but she’s come a long way in the past few years, and the bombs in the Jeffersonian really spurred her even further. Goodman looks even more surprised when Brennan hugs him.

“Well,” he says after she pulls back. “I was not expecting that, but it was very welcome.”

“I hug a lot now,” she informs him. “But only people who matter to me. Not strangers.”

“I consider myself lucky to be in that number,” Goodman says. The waitress hands him a to-go order and he nods his thanks. “Now, I should be going. My wife and I have tickets to the opera tonight.”

Parker shoots Booth a look that makes Booth laugh a little. They’re definitely not opera guys. Booth shakes Goodman’s hand. “See you tomorrow.”

“And I’ll see you tomorrow and at the lab,” Brennan says.

“I can’t wait,” Goodman says. “Good luck with those applications, Parker,” he adds. “They can be quite overwhelming.”

He heads out and they go find a table big enough for all of them so they don’t take up half the counter. After cutting up Hank’s pancakes and splitting a milkshake into smaller cups for Christine and Hank, Booth looks at Brennan.

“You excited to hang out with Goodman tomorrow?”

“I am,” she says. “I knew he was coming to get Zack, but I didn’t know he was coming today. It was nice to see him.”

“He figured you might’ve forgiven him by now for Cam,” Booth jokes.

Brennan laughs. “He’s lucky Cam and I became friends, or he’d have to wait another ten years.”

Booth laughs, too. “Bones with the jokes.”

“I’m very funny,” she says.

“You really are,” he agrees. Parker just raises his eyebrows and goes back to his burger. Booth huffs and gives him a nudge under the table.

“Everyone we see who didn’t know we’re together is always so happy to find that out,” Brennan remarks.

“That’s because everyone was sick of watching you two flirt forever,” Parker says.

Booth and Brennan both look at him. “You don’t remember any of that,” Booth says. “You didn’t even know what flirting was back then.”

“You didn’t even get together until I was almost 11,” Parker points out. “I totally knew.”

Booth and Brennan look at each other. “I don’t think we flirted very much,” Brennan says.

“You did,” Parker says.

“I did,” Booth admits. “You just didn’t always know I was.”

“Maybe I was, too, sometimes, and you didn’t know,” Brennan says.

Booth grins at her. He knows how she flirts. He noticed the few times she did try it. “Yeah? When?”

She blinks a few times. “Well. I can’t think of a specific time.”

He snorts. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. I was a lovesick puppy and you just kept me hanging on.”

“That is not true,” she protests.

“It’s true,” he says. “My poor little puppy heart.”

“Puppy?” Hank says, looking around. “Where?”

That makes everybody laugh. Hank doesn’t get it, and Christine doesn’t really, either, but Hank doesn’t mind as long as he’s getting attention. He starts barking like a dog to make them all laugh some more and spills milkshake all over himself.

“Okay, clean up on our little puppy,” Booth says, grabbing some napkins. They mostly go back to eating, interrupted by cleaning up one or both of the younger kids at regular intervals.

When they’re leaving, Brennan slips her arm into Booth’s. “I’m glad Dr. Goodman sent me out with you even when I complained,” she tells him.

“And even though you were the one who wanted to go in the field with me in the first place,” he reminds her. Wanted is a soft word for it. Demanded and even blackmailed are both more accurate.

“Well, sometimes I didn’t understand my own feelings back then,” she says. “I’m glad he made the choice for me.” They watch as Parker lets Christine and Hank each take one of his hands. “And I’m glad you flirted with me,” Brennan adds. “Even if I didn’t know you were doing it. As you know, I definitely didn’t understand my feelings for you yet. So I’m very lucky you were so patient.”

Booth smiles at her. “I would’ve waited a million years, Bones.”

“Well, not really,” she points out. “You did try to marry someone else.”

“Okay, don’t bring that up,” he complains. They were having a nice little moment.

“It’s the truth,” she points out. “You can’t really say you would have waited when you—”

He cuts her off with a kiss, mostly because he doesn’t really have an argument. This is the only way he can win any arguments with her. She doesn’t seem to mind; she makes a muffled noise of surprise but then kisses him back.

“Quit kissing and let’s go!” Christine yells.

Booth pulls back and looks at Brennan. They both grin. “Never!” he yells.

“Never!” Brennan agrees, and they go back to kissing.

“Ew, kissing!” Parker teases while Christine shrieks.

“Ew!” Hank mimics. They’re all laughing. It’s pretty crazy to think that they got here when Booth thinks of how this all started. There were so many points when it all could’ve fallen apart, so many reasons the two of them shouldn’t work.

But here they are, laughing on the sidewalk with their kids. Booth tosses up a silent little prayer of thanks to God, and he makes a mental note to give Goodman a real thanks, too. Goodman had to risk Brennan’s wrath over and over to send her out with Booth, and it ended up laying the groundwork for the best possible life Booth could’ve ever lived.

+1

Booth comes into the bedroom and looks at Brennan. “You ready?”

“Are they here?” she asks. She didn’t hear the doorbell, but she’s distracted right now.

“No, but, you know, Evelyn said 3:00,” Booth says.

“I know.” Brennan takes a deep breath, suddenly overwhelmed with anxiety. “What if this is a bad idea?” she blurts out. “What if…what if Parker feels resentful that we’re giving away his bedroom?”

It’s a very silly thing to be worried about. Parker doesn’t need a bedroom at their house anymore. He has his own bedroom at his own house 12 miles away. Besides, they’ve already talked about this with him, and he gave no indication he was upset.

“Well, you could go out there right now and ask him,” Booth points out, because Parker’s in the living room. “Bones, he’s almost 30. I think it’s okay.”

“He should always know our home is his home,” she says.

Booth smiles at her and pulls her into his arms. “Yeah, I’m glad you’re worried about that,” he says. “But he does know that. And, you know, that’s not what you’re actually worried about.”

She sighs. “I know.”

“This is a good idea,” Booth says firmly. “We’ve talked about it forever. This is a good thing. You just don’t like when you can’t brain your way into controlling the outcome.”

“Brain isn’t a verb,” she says. “Not like that, anyway. To brain someone—”

“I know what it means,” he interrupts. “I’ve done it to people.” He pushes back so he can kiss her. “Remember, for Sweets and for you. Cam and Arastoo’s boys.”

“And for you,” she adds, because Booth had his grandfather, but he still needed someone other than his biological parents to raise him. They talked about all of this. They even talked about baby Andy while they considered this, from that case over 20 years ago.

“Sure,” he says, because he’ll always consider himself less important than anyone else. That’s why she has to remind him it isn’t true and always make sure to consider him.

They’re both retired now, for real this time, though they both still consult sometimes. Aubrey’s the head of major crimes, but he calls Booth whenever anything’s particularly difficult or even just interesting.

The Jeffersonian has two full criminal forensics teams; Aubrey works with Cam and Arastoo and Hodgins, and the overeager Agent Shaw heads up a new team with Jessica Warren and a new entomologist Hodgins hand-picked. Angela does the computer side of things for both teams while training her own interns, and Zack consults with both teams, too.

Brennan still goes in when they ask her to. Recently, she and Zack have been working with Clark on a recovered set of remains from the Qing dynasty, because there were six different bodies. She only wandered over to the forensic platform three times to look in on what they were doing, and she only criticized Arastoo’s work two of those times.

Retirement has been nice, albeit a bit boring. Boring is its own kind of nice after the life they’ve led. But neither Brennan nor Booth are very good at boring. Booth started talking about them becoming grandparents, which made her laugh at first because she thought he was joking. Parker’s not even dating anyone, as far as she’s aware, and Christine just barely started college.

Brennan told Booth to heed his superstitions and wait to say anything like that at least until Hank finished high school, and he took that to heart. But his talk of grandchildren reminded her of, well, children, and Sweets’s adoptive parents being on the older side, and after over a year of discussion and debate and then the process of home visits and background checks, they’re here now.

“We have the free time and resources,” Brennan reminds them both. “It would be selfish of us not to do this.”

“And love, Bones,” Booth adds. “We got so much love we can share.”

Brennan thinks of the foster homes she went through, the ones that didn’t have any love. “That is important,” she agrees. “And we’re excellent parents. Look at our kids.”

“We’re batting a thousand there,” he says proudly.

“I don’t know what that means.” It’s a sports analogy about success; she knows that much. She assumes baseball, since he said bat. That’s as far as logic can take her in this area.

The doorbell rings.

“Oh, God,” Booth breathes, and Brennan remembers he’s nervous about this, too. She squeezes his arms and kisses him.

It used to surprise her, sometimes, how easily a kiss could calm him and seem to give him strength. She knew that it worked for her, but she knew the biological and neurological factors at play. For Booth it’s more about superstition and feeling.

Well, it is for her, too, if she’s being completely honest with herself. She’d love to pretend she’s above superstition and feeling—she used to be convinced she was—but she can’t help it, especially when it comes to Booth.

“We’re ready,” she says.

“We’re ready,” he echoes. He takes her hand and they walk down the hall.

“Is that them?” Hank asks.

“Who else would it be?” Christine says.

“Anyone coming to our door,” Hank says with a shrug.

“Why would you assume—” Christine starts.

“Guys,” Parker cuts them both off. “Be cool.”

“Yeah, be cool,” Booth agrees. “No fighting or making fun of each other.”

“This is going to be very stressful and scary for her,” Brennan reminds them. It’s been nearly 40 years since she was in this position herself, but she remembers how shaky her knees would get, standing on a new doorstep with her trash bag of belongings beside her.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Christine says. “We’re ready.”

“Hold onto Gretzky,” Booth reminds them. “At first.”

They did end up getting a dog, when Hank started kindergarten, and Brennan had even let Booth name him Gretzky. Gretzky’s a golden retriever mix and right now his tail twitches at the sound of his name, but he doesn’t get up. He’s nine and definitely feeling his age. Holding onto him may not even be necessary, but they don’t want him to be overwhelming.

They’d debated Parker and Christine being here for this introduction, since they won’t be living at the house full-time and they wanted the first meeting to be as unintimidating as possible. But they wanted her to know the whole family.

Booth squeezes Brennan’s hand and they go together to open the door. Evelyn, the social worker, is standing there with a little girl. She’s seven years old and her name is Sadie. She doesn’t have her belongings in trash bags; she has a backpack and a suitcase.

Booth had been adamant that she was not coming to their house with trash bags. He’s never forgotten Brennan talking to that boy about it during one of their early cases together. Booth knows practically every feeling Brennan’s ever had, so he knows how humiliating it felt to her.

He’d told Evelyn they’d send as many suitcases as necessary if that’s what Sadie needed. Brennan had cried over it, and then she’d been a little embarrassed to cry over it, and then she’d been embarrassed about being embarrassed. It’s all so illogical.

In the end, it seems Sadie only needed one suitcase, and somehow that hurts Brennan’s chest, too.

“Hi,” Evelyn says. She puts her hand on Sadie’s little shoulder. “Sadie, this is Temperance and Seeley. Do you want to say hi?”

Sadie looks up at them with big brown eyes. Booth inhales sharply and Brennan squeezes his hand. “Hi,” Sadie says softly.

“Hi, Sadie,” Booth says gently. “You want to come inside?”

Sadie just kind of shrugs. It’s a silly question; she doesn’t have much choice. But they’ll make sure she gets other choices. It might take some time for her to get used to the idea. It did for Brennan.

They all go inside. Sadie looks at Parker, Christine, and Hank. “Hi,” Christine says. “I’m Christine.”

“I’m Hank,” he says. “I’m the only one who lives here with you.”

“Besides Mom and Dad,” Christine says.

“Yeah, duh,” Hank says.

Parker widens his eyes at both of them. “I’m Parker,” he says.

“Remember, Sadie, Temperance and Seeley have three other kids,” Evelyn says.

“And a dog,” Sadie whispers.

“She was excited to hear about the dog,” Evelyn tells them with a smile.

“His name’s Gretzky,” Booth says. “You like hockey?”

Sadie looks at Brennan. She looks a bit shellshocked. “I don’t know.”

“You can pet him,” Hank says. “He’s really nice.”

Gretsky’s obediently not moving toward Sadie, heeding Hank’s hand on his collar. His tail is thumping against the ground, though. Brennan thinks he looks very adorable and inviting, but she knows she’s not unbiased.

Sadie moves cautiously toward Hank and Gretzky. She gives Booth and Brennan a bit of a wide berth, but Brennan doesn’t take it personally. Foster kids learn early there’s no such thing as too careful.

Evelyn doesn’t stay long, and then they’re diving into this new life. Gretzky sticks close to Sadie, and Sadie seems very happy with that. He follows them down the hall to show Sadie her room and Brennan suspects he’ll be sleeping in here with her.

If the circumstances were different, Booth would probably make a joke about feeling rejected, since Gretzky is very much his dog. But in this case, Brennan’s sure his feelings will survive.

“You can put your stuff away in here,” Booth says, opening the closet. “And we got a nightlight right here, and, you know, if you need anything else, or you want anything else, you can tell us.”

Brennan doubts Sadie will do that. At least not at first. But they’ll be patient. Sadie will learn that she’s safe here. She’ll learn that she can trust them. She’ll learn that no one’s going to hurt her ever again.

When Christine got old enough to ask about an allowance, Booth had suggested they give her chores, and Brennan had been shocked to find herself panicking at the idea. It had been Booth, of course, who’d realized she was worried about the kinds of punishment she’d endured at some of the foster homes she’d been in.

“Bones, listen to me,” he’d said, holding her close. “If anyone in the world ever tries to lock one of our kids in the trunk of a car, I’ll get out my gun and shoot them, okay? And then I’ll give you my gun and you can shoot them, too. As many times as you want, and, you know, I won’t even fill out the accident report paperwork.”

He’d do that for any child. He’d do that for adults, too. It wasn’t as if she’d forgotten, or thought he would ever do that to Christine. It had just been some kind of strange fear because of what happened to her.

Brennan is always surprised when these kinds of things still pop up, so many years later. But no matter how illogical her reactions are, Booth always treats them like they’re logical, and he gives her reassurances and comfort and promises.

He’ll do that for Sadie, too, the way he does it for Brennan and Parker and Christine and Hank. Brennan finds herself getting emotional for the rest of the night, thinking about how Sadie has no idea how protected she’s going to be from now on.

Gretzky sits beside Sadie’s chair during dinner. He’s very good at not begging for table scraps; he just likes to be nearby. Parker and Christine have to leave soon after. Parker’s an English professor now, with classes to prepare for, and Christine is a freshman who needs to study.

She’s taking her intro English class from Parker next semester, and Brennan’s actually dreading it a bit. What if Parker’s completely objective and Christine gets her feelings hurt? Or what if he’s not and gives Christine special treatment? Brennan can’t decide which she’d think is worse.

But she has plenty of things to worry about right now without adding something hypothetical. Parker and Christine both hug her and then Booth. Parker’s going to drop Christine off at her dorm before he heads home. It’s proven very convenient to have them close together.

“Bye, Sadie,” Christine says. “We’ll see you again this weekend, okay?”

“Okay,” Sadie says. She did seem to warm up to Christine fairly quickly.

“Don’t worry,” Parker tells her. “Dad and Bones are some of the best parents in the world.” Brennan doesn’t begrudge him the qualifier. He does have Rebecca, too.

“Bones?” Sadie says.

“Oh, that’s me,” Brennan says.

“She’s a forensic anthropologist,” Booth says. “She works with skeletons. You know. Bones.”

“I never saw a skeleton,” Sadie says. She sounds a little interested and Brennan tries not to react too eagerly.

“Would you like me to show you one?”

“Bones, maybe not tonight,” Booth cuts in.

Brennan tips her head in acquiescence. Sadie’s probably had enough to adjust to today. Seeing her first set of human remains may not be a good thing to add. But Brennan files it away for later. They can always start with animal skeletons and see how she reacts.

“You can call Temperance Bones,” Parker says. “That’s what me and Dad call her.”

“They’re the only ones allowed,” Hank says, even though when he was a toddler he went through a phase where he used Bones and Mom interchangeably. Brennan never minded.

“But you can, too,” Christine says. “Right, Mom?”

“Of course,” Brennan assures them all. She hesitates for a second and looks at Booth. He raises his eyebrows questioningly. Brennan doesn’t know why she feels nervous to say this, but she thinks it’s a good thing to say. It’s the kind of thing Booth will like, certainly. “It’s a nickname for family to use.”

As she suspected, Booth’s smile goes gentle and he gives her a look full of love. Sadie doesn’t really react, but that’s okay. It’ll take time to adjust to the idea of being in a family. Brennan didn’t master that until her 30s, really. She hopes they can help Sadie adjust much quicker.

Parker and Christine leave, and the house settles down. When it’s time for Sadie to go to bed, Booth pulls out the stuffed rabbit they bought for her. “You know, just in case you don’t already have a stuffed animal,” he says. “You can have this one. And Gretzky can stay here with you, if you want.”

“He can?” she asks.

“Yeah, sure,” Booth says. “He’s really good at scaring away nightmares.”

Sadie looks down at Gretzky thoughtfully. He bumps his nose into her hand and she giggles. She really is an adorable child. Brennan has no idea if that’s objective or if she’s already being influenced by her own feelings.

“There’s a nightlight in the bathroom, too, in case you need to get up in the night,” Brennan says.

Sadie looks up from Gretzky, surprise all over her face. “I’m allowed?”

Booth makes a little noise in the back of his throat. Brennan knows he’s trying to keep his emotions in check. “Yeah, you’re allowed,” he says, his voice even. “This is your home now. You can get up and go to the bathroom, or you can get a drink of water, too.”

“You can have a snack,” Brennan adds. That was something so many foster homes she’d been in controlled tightly. It felt like she’d been hungry for years. She’ll leave out some snacks on the table, just in case.

“You can wake me up and I’ll make you pancakes, if you want,” Booth says. Brennan snorts. She can’t imagine Sadie will take him up on that offer, though he does love to make pancakes for people.

“But really, if you get scared, and you feel comfortable, you can come wake us up,” Brennan says, even though she’s sure Sadie won’t do it. She just wants Sadie to know it’s an option. “Or you can hug Gretzky. Like Booth said, he’s very good with nightmares.”

“Okay,” Sadie says noncommittally.

They leave her to settle in and go look in on Hank. “You were very welcoming and comforting,” Brennan praises him.

He shrugs, a little embarrassed at the acknowledgment. “Well, I know you said it’s really scary,” he says. “You were really scared when you were a kid and you had to go to foster care, right?”

“I was,” she says, trying not to get too emotional at the reminder.

“So I want to make sure I’m nice so Sadie knows it’s okay,” he says. “She shouldn’t be scared here. It’s safe. None of us are going to hurt her.”

Booth gives him a hug, because that’s how Booth is. “Thanks,” he says. “You’re a good kid.”

“Okay.” Now Hank’s definitely embarrassed. He’s 14 and all emotions seem to embarrass him.

“Good night,” Brennan says, giving him a hug of her own. He’s getting so tall, almost as tall as her now. “Please don’t stay up longer than another hour.”

“You and me are going shopping tomorrow for new school clothes,” Booth reminds him. Hank grumbles a little, but not seriously.

Booth and Brennan go back out to the living room for some wine and TV. Brennan knows a lot of TV shows now, thanks to Booth and the kids. She understands some modern cultural references sometimes.

Booth wraps his arm around her on the couch and she leans her head on his shoulder. “What do you think, Bones, did we do okay?”

“I think so,” she says. “We can’t expect much on the first day. She’ll have to learn she can trust us.”

“Yeah,” he says, stroking her arm. “She’ll get there.”

They peek into Sadie’s room one last time when they’re going to bed. Gretzky’s on the bed with her, which makes Brennan cringe a bit. They never let him sleep in any of the kids’ beds before, but she’s certainly not going to make him get down. She’s a little surprised he managed to get up there in the first place. They might have to help him down in the morning.

Sadie’s asleep with the stuffed rabbit clutched to her chest, one hand on Gretzky’s side. It makes something in Brennan’s chest settle. She has no real way of knowing, but she thinks Booth’s right. She thinks they’re all going to be okay.

They go into their bathroom to brush their teeth and Brennan’s struck, suddenly, by how different her life is now than she ever thought it would be. She remembers, back when Booth was with Hannah, having a discussion with Angela about living the life she expected.

Her life was solitary, overall, even with the connections she had with her friends. She was focused on work and still holding herself back from her feelings for Booth as a way to protect herself. And him, in her mind.

It was logical. It was expected. And it was incredibly lonely.

She has tears stinging her eyes suddenly. She puts down her toothbrush and holds onto Booth. “Wha—Bones, wha?” He spits out his mouthful of toothpaste.

“You were right, Booth,” she says. She’s surprised by how emotional she feels right now. But she’s surprised by her own feelings more often than not. “We have so much love.”

He huffs and spits again before turning around so he can return her hug. “Yeah, we do,” he agrees.

“You are so patient and kind and wonderful,” she tells him. “You’re going to teach her how it feels to be safe. Like you taught me.”

Now he’s emotional, too. She can see that all over his face. “You’re going to teach her, too, you know,” he says. “You fight for your people so hard, Bones. And now she’s one of your people.”

“I was just thinking…I’m so glad you’re not logical.” She laughs a little. “Well, sometimes I wish you were a little more logical.”

“Oh, I know,” he promises.

“But love has to be a bit irrational,” she says. “I wouldn’t have learned that without you.” She’d hardly call herself an irrational person, generally speaking. But she no longer cares if she does irrational things.

Well. Mostly. She no longer cares if she does irrational things with or for Booth and the kids.

But still. The point is that she understands the value of irrationality better now. It’s not purely logical for her and Booth to raise another child at this point in their lives, money and time and parenting skill aside. They made an emotional decision.

And like most of the emotional decisions Booth’s helped her make, it was the right one. She kisses him, not caring that they both still have toothpaste in their mouths and it’s a little disgusting.

“I love you,” he says. “I love your big heart, Bones. You spent so long hiding it away. But you don’t anymore. And I love that everyone else gets to see it now, too.”

“I love you, too,” she says. “I love every minute of our life.”

That’s not at all rational. They have plenty of bad days and hard days and sadness and pain. They’ve been through an almost ludicrous number of ups and downs in the time they’ve known each other.

But it fits her point. Love is irrational. She’s loved having him beside her through all of those ups and downs. Standing side by side through it all has made her feel more able to meet every challenge they’ve faced.

They go back to brushing their teeth. Tomorrow night, Angela and Hodgins are coming over with Olivia Temperance and Zack. Michael Vincent is going to come visit when he has a break from school in a month. Cam and Arastoo are coming next weekend with Michelle and her family, and their boys will come meet Sadie whenever they come visit next. Aubrey’s going to come next week, and Caroline might come with him. Russ and Amy want to plan a big family Christmas this year. Daisy and Seeley Lance are going to come over for dinner next Wednesday.

Brennan runs down her mental checklist of everyone who wants to meet Sadie. All of the old interns at their various jobs are emailing her when they’re available for dinner or playdates with their kids, if they have them. Wendell will meet Sadie on Saturday if they go to the ice rink; he’s a researcher in Ewing’s sarcoma now, and he doesn’t play much hockey himself anymore, but he has a daughter a few years older than Sadie who plays. Maybe they can be friends.

Brennan would never have imagined herself with this big of a social circle, with so much family. So many people who love her and, by extension, Sadie, without even meeting her. Sadie probably can’t imagine that, either. Not yet. But she’ll see.

Brennan climbs into bed beside Booth, the way she does every night. She presses close to him and he wraps his arms around her. He gives her a drowsy kiss, already on his way to sleep, and she sighs contentedly.

When she thinks of safety, this is what she thinks of. Lying here with him, feeling his steady heartbeat. She’s rarely enjoyed sharing a bed with a partner before, but she’s always enjoyed sharing a bed with Booth. Not even in a sexual way, though she’s certainly enjoyed that. But just being close to him lowers her heart rate and helps her sleep.

Except when he snores, like he starts now. Brennan sighs and waits to see if he’ll stop on his own before elbowing him until he rolls over onto his other side. She’s told him multiple times that there are measures he can take to stop snoring, but he resists them all. Even still, she loves him. With all his irrationalities and annoyances. As he does her.

She puts a pillow behind him so he’ll stay on his side and then kisses his shoulder as a slight apology for the elbowing. He won’t remember any of this in the morning, but she doesn’t care.

She hopes Sadie sleeps well and doesn’t get scared. She hopes Hank doesn’t complain too much about shopping for school clothes. She hopes Christine isn’t getting into trouble, even though Booth says college kids are supposed to. She hopes Parker isn’t put in an awkward position as Christine’s brother and professor at the same time.

But for now, she can curl up close to Booth and let his comforting presence lull her to sleep. However tonight goes, however tomorrow goes, and onward, they can handle it. There’s nothing they can’t handle. They’ve proven that again and again.

She lets her mind settle and enjoys the safety of their bed. They’ll take care of everything tomorrow, but for now, she lets herself take comfort from Booth and sleep.