The Girl From North Carolina

Angela

"You're not a horrible person," he whispers, holding you close to him. "Stop saying that."

"I should have told you."

He shrugs, kissing your hair. "Baby, it's fine. Tell me now."

You nod and squirm out of his embrace, reaching for the box you stashed behind your shoes when you moved in. You begin to spread things out on the bed, trying to find a chronological order for everything. "I was 17," you say, handing him a picture your father took of you at your high school graduation. "You can't tell because of the gown, but I was six months along."

He smiles as he looks at the picture. "Even then, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

You sigh softly. "Jack…"

He laughs, "Sorry." You roll your eyes and continue going through the photographs, showing him the family you gave the baby to, your daughter's first professional photograph; her first birthday. You hand him a photo of her on her third birthday and he lets out a soft gasp, causing you to turn.

"What is it?" You ask, noticing the tears forming in his eyes. "Hodgins?"

"She looks just like you," You smile and he glances over the top of the picture at you. "I hope our children look just like you." You let out a soft giggle and kiss him. He hugs you close and asks you to continue. You tell him how you've watched her grow up through pictures and heard about her through letters and emails. She's an artist like you, and a singer like your father. She's confident, and beautiful, and she has lots of friends, but her whole world is about to change.

"Tell me what happened again." He says softly as you put the pictures and letters away.

"Her parents were killed in a car accident two weeks ago. Their will said they would prefer she live with me, but if I'm not ready there's family she can live with."

He nods, "How old is she?"

"14." You sigh, shaking your head. "I can't believe she's that old."

He smiles, "Do you think she would want to live with us?"

"I-I don't know."

"Why don't we find out?" He says, running his fingers through your hair. "There's more than enough room here, and I'm ready if you're ready."

"Are you sure, Jack?" You lace your fingers through his. "Teenage girls are tough."

"I can handle it, Ange." He smiles. "If she wants to live with us, she should."

You smile and kiss him and he hugs you tight. "You had no idea I came with this much baggage, did you? A husband, a child…"

He smirks. "It just makes me love you even more."

∞

You call the lawyer the next morning and she asks you to fly to Charlotte, where the family lived. Jack thinks that ambushing her with both of you would be too much, so he takes you to the airport but you fly to Charlotte by yourself. You're scared, but you spend the whole flight trying not to be. You can't really imagine what she's going through.

The lawyer meets you at baggage claim. She's tall and blonde and reminds you of the lawyer Booth dated for a while. She addresses you as "Ms. Montenegro" and even though you insist that she call you Angela, it takes her the whole car ride to get used to it.

"Juliette is excited to meet you," She says softly as you pull up in front of a white house with blue shutters; the kind of home you always wanted your little girl to grow up in. "She's a little nervous though."

"Well, so am I." The lawyer nods and you get out of the car, heading in the front door. The house is relatively quiet, but you can hear the chatter of family members coming from somewhere in the house. The lawyer leads you out back and you immediately see her and stop in your tracks. Juliette has long dark hair and facial features that remind you of your mother, and she's sitting on a swing, staring at the bark underneath her. You cross the backyard and stop in front of her. "Juliette?" The girl looks up, her chocolate brown eyes filled with tears. "Hi. I'm Angela." You say softly. "Is it okay if I sit down?"

"Sure." She brushes her hair out of her face and takes a breath. "So you're my mom?"

You nod. "Yeah, I'm your birth mom." The two of you sit in silence for a few minutes before you think of something else to say. "Do you like to swing?"

"Yeah," She manages a small smile. "I feel like I'm flying."

You nod. "Me too. My fiancée took me to a park on our first date."

Her eyes widen a little and she giggles. "Really?"

"Yeah. He remembered how much I like swinging, so he thought it would be a good first date."

"Was it?"

"Well I'm engaged to him, aren't I?"

She laughs softly and starts to pump her legs. "Will I get to meet him?"

"Of course." You smile and start to pump your own legs, swinging with her. "Jack wants you to come live with us…if you want to."

Juliette's face screws up in thought as she continues to go higher. "I-I don't know…"

"It's alright, you don't have to know." You watch as her hair flies in the wind and it reminds you of your own childhood. "We could do a trial, if you want. How much more of your Christmas break do you have?"

"I'm supposed to go back on January 2nd."

"Well that gives us…" You frown. "That doesn't give us very long."

"I don't like my school anyway."

"You don't? I thought you had a lot of friends."

"We've only been in Charlotte since August. All of my friends are back in Raleigh."

"Oh." You frown. "Things have changed a lot for you recently, haven't they?" She nods slowly and tears start to stream down her face. "Oh, sweetie…" Her face wrinkles up and she stops swinging. "What if you come live with us until the end of the school year? If you don't like it, maybe you can go back to Raleigh."

"My Aunt Nora lives in Raleigh." She wipes at her tears and takes a shaky breath. "She said I could live with her."

You nod. "Alright. Well you do you want to go right to Raleigh then?"

Juliette looks over at you and shakes her head. "I like the idea of trying."

You smile. "Me too, sweetie." You stand up and open your arms and she steps into them, wrapping her arms around you. You haven't held her since she was a day old and when you wrap your arms around her small body you find yourself not wanting to let go.

∞

When you arrive at Dulles International two days later, Jack is waiting at baggage claim. He hugs you and presses a kiss to your hair before stepping back and smiling at Juliette. "Hey."

"Hi." She smiles softly. "Are you the one that took her swinging?"

He laughs. "I am. I think that's the only reason she agreed to marry me."

"You mean asked you to marry me." You say, smirking. He shakes his head and laughs and you squeeze his hand. "Have you got everything?" You ask and Juliette nods, pointing to the black suitcase next to her.

"Is that it?" Jack asks, turning to look at you.

"The rest of it is being sent." He nods and picks up both your suitcase and Juliette's, leading you out to the car.

"So, I was thinking we could get you settled, and then Brennan, Zack and Cam wanted to have dinner." He looks straight at Juliette, his blue eyes twinkling. "As long as you're up for it. We don't have to go to dinner if you don't want to."

Juliette grins. "I want to meet Zack. Angela said he's King of the Lab."

Jack's face falls. "What?"

Juliette giggles and you lean over and kiss his cheek. "I was just kidding." She says, opening the back door of the car. "But I like the idea of dinner."

He nods and opens the passenger door for you. "Did you tell her to say that?"

You shake your head. "Nope. All I did was tell her that you guys play that game…" He rolls his eyes and you kiss him softly. "She's pretty bright."

He smirks. "Just like her mom."

∞

Jack takes Juliette up to her room, which you've promised her she'll get to decorate soon, and then comes back down to the kitchen.

"She's a sweet kid, Ange."

"She's great." You sit on the barstool, swinging your legs and take a breath. "She didn't really get a Christmas, so I was thinking, maybe we could have one for her."

He nods and sits down next to you. "I like that idea. The tree is still up, so we can get her some gifts…" You smile and kiss him, and his fingers lace through your hair. Your barstool scoots closer to his and by the time Juliette comes down into the kitchen half an hour later, you're in his lap, lips still fused together.

"I got…oh. Sorry." You pull away from him and turn red as you slide off of his lap. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"We're not used to having a third person in the main house." You say, turning to look at her. She's nearly as red as you are. "Zack lives above the garage, but he doesn't come in here much."

"Oh." She shifts back and forth on her feet. "I got lost."

Jack laughs and turns around. "That will happen for a while. Ange used to get lost a lot too."

You nod. "I did. You'll get used to the size of the house."

"Okay." She smiles. "I like my room."

"Oh good, I'm glad." Jack smiles. "The furniture was my mothers when she was your age. You can paint the room and rearrange the furniture. It's all yours now."

"Thanks." She walks further into the kitchen and sits down at the counter. "What time is dinner?"

"Not for a few hours." You say, watching her frown. "Are you hungry?" She nods and you grin. "Help yourself. You live here now, you don't have to ask for food."

She smiles and heads for the fridge, starting to dig through it. Jack squeezes your hand and you smile. She's going to fit right in.