Summary: this fic is based on Ole Sammie's Family saga and Unicorn series. I am using her OCs and their back stories with her permission. For those of you who haven't read them, I strongly suggest you do, they are long but awesome. This story is combining two different story-lines that she created so it will not exactly follow both her series to a T...in fact there will be a fair few changes along the way.
Ole Sammie's characters are:
Jakob Seeley Booth "Jake" (15) he is Booth's son with his ex- Alison, who he thought died during his time in the army. Booth met Jake when he was 12. Jake is a bit on the wild side, he often puts himself in danger while trying to help other, he is blond and he has his Dad's eyes. His first appearance is in "His Daddy's Eyes" (Family saga).
Elliot Connor Mack (14 almost 15) he is the son of an old Army buddy of Booth's. He goes missing and Booth finds him. His Dad is killed by a mob boss and Booth takes him in, he's known the boy since he was born and loves him like his own. His personality is very much like Jake's, he's also kind of wild but is very protective of Gracie as they lived together on the streets. His first appearance is in "Bones Believes in Unicorns" (Unicorn Series).
Grace Brennan Booth "Gracie" (8) she is Bones's daughter with Michael, her former professor. She gave her up at birth, believing she would get adopted. Gracie ended up in foster care and then on the streets where she meets Elliot and is later reunited with her mother. Gracie is very sweet when she wants to be, she is very attached to Elliot. She doesn't always like sharing her Mom and thinks of Booth as her Dad. Her first appearance is in "Bones Believes in Unicorns" (Unicorn Series).
Nathaniel Booth "Nate" or "Buster" (4) he is the first child Booth and Bones have together. He is very cute and like his big brother's he has his Dad's eyes. He loves dinosaurs and chocolate milkshakes. He is full of energy and adores his big brothers. His first appearance is in "His Daddy's Eyes the Sequel" (Family Saga).
Sarah Christine Booth "Sausage" or "Princess" (2/3) she is Booth and Bones second child together. She is very cute and sweet. She has her Daddy's wrapped around her little finger. She is dainty and has auburn hair. She is a fussy eater and loves Jake to pieces. Her first appearance is in "An Awfully Big Adventure" (Family Saga).
Jay Booth (1) he is the third child of Booth and Bones together, he was born prematurely. He is mainly mentioned in "The Return of Doctor Wyatt" (Family Saga).
Henry Elliot Booth "Harry" (new baby) he is Bones's and Booth's son together. He had an eventful birth, he was delivered at home by his surrogate big brother Elliot, who he is named after as well as Pops. His first appearance is in "The Unicorn Marches On" (Unicorn Series).
Angela and Jack have two sets of twin girls... Summer and Skye (3) and Willow and Breeze (1 ½ ) who are also Ole Sammie's characters oh and there only son River (mentioned in "An Awfully Big Adventure") will make his appearance too.
Isobel, Shaun, Abi and little Temperance belong to her too, as do Janie and her kids who will be in later chapters. Matthew Kyle is my OC as is Joel, although his character is based on Sammie's version of Jared from the family saga.
And now my friends, on with the story...
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The house was still quiet as six am drew near; most of the occupants were still fast asleep. But two were the first to wake, mother and baby. She sat in the comfortable rocking arm chair as she nursed her newest son. Little Harry was six weeks old now and today was the day she would have been returning to work after a six week maternity leave but her family was not running as smoothly as she would have liked, so at the suggestion of their beloved friend, Doctor Gordon Wyatt they were about to embark on a mammoth family vacation down under.
They were about to take a three month trip to Australia and New Zealand. The decision has meant pulling the older four children out of school for that time, but Bones figured she would be able to home school them well enough during their trip. Angela, Hodgins and their kids would be joining them, along with Max and of course Gordon, Russ, Amy and their kids, Amy's sister Abi and her little girl Temperance or Teeny as she was more often called. As well as Isobel and Shaun, Booth's brother Jared and his wife Padme would be joining them for a week or two at Christmas as would Booth's cousin Joel, his wife Janie and their three daughters, with so many kids between them they would need all the help they could get.
She had confidence that Clark and the interns would be able to handle any cases that might come through while they were away and these days her family came first. Little Harry was the youngest of their now considerable brood, which consisted of her two step-sons that she loved as if they were her own, Jake and Parker. Jake was the eldest at fifteen, he had lived with them since he was twelve and thought of Bones as his Mom.
They now had primary custody of ten year old Parker as his Mother; Rebecca lived and worked over seas. She always visits her son at Christmas and has him come to her for a few weeks over the summer. He too loved Bones and considered her his other mother and often calls her Mom when Rebecca is not around.
Then there was Elliot, he had become as much their child as any of the others, although he hadn't been born to them. He was just a few months younger than Jake but the pair of them had been nicknamed "Double Trouble" or "The Trouble Twins". The pair had very similar personalities and ran in the same crowd. Separately they could cause trouble and drive Booth mad but together they were hell on wheels when they put their heads together and came up with some scheme or another.
And there was Brennan's first born; her daughter Gracie. At the time she'd had the baby girl she hadn't believed she could provide for her the love and support she needed, especially as a career orientated single mother so she had arranged for her daughter to be adopted by a nice couple who could be there for her. But that hadn't worked out and her little girl had ended up in foster care and then later on the streets where she had met Elliot and eventually found her way home to her Mom.
She and Booth had expanded their family after Jake had come into their lives with the arrivals of their children, Nathaniel who was now a four year old ball of energy and like his older siblings, a trouble magnet. About a year and a half after Nate they had been joined by a precious baby girl, Sarah Christine who was now a very smart and well spoken two and a half year old who knew just how cute she was and how to use that cuteness to get her own way.
A little over a year after Sarah joined their family they grew by another precious addition, a tiny baby boy. Jay had been a few months early when he came into the world. His lungs had been under developed and he'd weighed very little but he was half Brennan and half Booth which meant he was a fighter. He had done so well and was growing bigger and stronger every day. Although he was a little delayed and at fifteen months he was yet to take his first steps. But Jay was a smart baby boy who was already talking quite a bit.
Elliot and Gracie had joined their family just a few months ago and although they were very much loved and wanted part of the family, it was far from smooth sailing. They had gone from five to eight kids in a very short space of time and the increase had brought on a lot of stress for both the parents and the kids. They were trying to blend a lot of very strong personalities into one working family unit and it was proving to be a bit of a challenge, so today they would set off for their first vacation as a whole family and hope that some bonding time away from the stresses of home would help cement them as a solid family.
"Mama" a quiet voice spoke from the cot on her right. Temperance turned and smiled at the baby boy who was now sitting up and staring at her. "Good morning Jay, I'll get you up in a moment okay?" she asked the boy as his brother unlatched. She moved Harry to rest against her left shoulder as she patted him firmly on the back until he let out a little burp.
"Let me just change Harry, then I'll get you up" she made quick work of changing her youngest diaper and quickly dressing him for the day before she placed him back in his crib, causing him to start fussing. She scooped Jay up and repeated the changing and dressing process with her older baby. Usually she wouldn't bother to dress her son before feeding him breakfast but today they were in a hurry, they needed to be at the airport in two hours and with eight kids that could be a bit of a mission.
The sounds of the day beginning could be heard from downstairs, she could hear the sounds of early morning children's television which meant that Nate was awake and had planted himself in his usual morning spot in front of the brightly coloured screen. She could already hear the arguing that usually indicated that Gracie and Parker were awake and not agreeing about something. She had no doubt that Sarah would have followed her big sister downstairs. The littlest girl was very interested in the new girl in the house who looked rather a lot like her although both girls were very jealous of one another.
She doubted that Jake or Elliot would be up just yet, getting the two teenagers out of bed this early was not an easy feat. Bones moved Jay onto one hip, holding him securely in place she leant down to pickup Harry before heading down to start getting the other children ready to head to the airport. She was met by her husband at the top of the stairs. Booth kissed her good morning as he took Jay from her to make it easy.
"Morning Bones" he said and then turned his attention to the baby boy now cuddled in his arms "and good morning to you Buddy" he cooed to his second youngest child. Seeley Booth loved having a big family, being a father of eight suited him just fine. He loved he chaotic bliss that often surrounded their home, although things were not always easy when it came to trying to blend this family, he was looking forward to spending a few months away with his wife and kids, without the stress of work or school, just a whole lot of family time.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs they were greeted by some of that chaotic bliss, Booth raised his voice a little and called the kids to attention "right, we've got lot's to do so TV off" he ordered and went on to say "Gracie go and get dressed and bring your sister down some clothes too please" he said before turning to Parker "Bub you need to get dressed too and wake up Elliot and Jake while you're up there" he turned to Nate "Buster you're with me, I'll get you dressed" he placed Jay in his highchair and Bones passed the baby a little blue bottle with handles.
Booth clapped his hands together loudly and said "chop chop, let's go!"
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Angela smiled blissfully as she watched her husband try and wrangle their two sets of twins. She loved her little family so much, they had four beautiful daughters; Summer and Skye were now three and Willow and Breeze were nineteen months old. She loves her little girls and she knows Jack does too but they both still grieved for their miscarriage, the baby that she instinctively knew would have been their first son would have been born recently.
The miscarriage had been hard but they had found themselves with a little boy on the way now none the less. Angela rubbed her now swollen belly, she had just reached twenty-six weeks and the whole family were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first baby boy.
She was looking forward to this trip, looking forward to her children being able to see new places and experience other cultures; it was something that she personally loved. Although the younger set of twins would be too young to understand or even remember the vacation she knew that Summer and Skye would at least remember some of it and learn from the experiences.
She picked up a couple of suitcases and took them out to the cab waiting outside. She had had to pack enough stuff to last them three months. There was her large suitcase and her smaller one, Jack's suitcase, the older twins each had a princess themed child's suitcase of their own that they could pull behind them which had come with matching carry-on backpacks. Then there was the younger twins' suitcase, their diaper bag and the two double stollers.
She had packed a few outfits and a sling for the baby boy she was carrying just in case he decided to make his entrance into their lives a little early while they were away. He was due two weeks after they were to arrive home again, which meant there was a reasonable chance of him coming while they were away.
"Come on you lot, it's time to go" Angela called to her family as she loaded the last of the luggage into the minivan.
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Amy Hollister-Brennan smiled as her family gathered their bags by the door, ready to load into the cab when it arrived. They were off to enjoy a three month vacation to Australia and New Zealand with her husband's sister, her husband and their children as well as some close friends and some of the extended family too. Temperance was going to home-school all the older children, along with Max, Jack and anyone else who felt they had something to offer education wise.
Her branch of the family included her two daughters from a previous relationship, ten year old Emma and nine year old Hailey. Her eighteen year old sister Abi who had lived with them for the past couple of years would be coming too, along with her almost two year old daughter Temperance "Teeny" Hollister. And of course her husband Russ and their first child together, six month old Matthew Kyle Brennan.
Russ's Dad Max was holding little Mattie in his arms as he dropped his own bags at the door. The grandfather was very much looking forward to getting away and spending some quality time with his children and grandchildren. This vacation was something everyone was really looking forward to.
A petit blonde toddler came zooming passed, quickly followed by her young mother "Teeny come here so Mommy can change your diaper" Abi called after her daughter, she was a young mom but she viewed her little girl as a true miracle after she had been born so early and had had to fight so hard to get to where she was now, a mischievous little girl who was filled with energy and almost always laughing.
Russ caught his niece as she ran passed him "hey now Teeny, I think your Mommy wants you" he smiled at her before passing the tot over to her exhausted looking mother "thanks Russ" Abi said as she took her daughter from him and went off to change her.
"Okay everyone, the cab should be here in ten minutes so everyone needs to be ready and waiting by the door in exactly nine minutes" Russ spoke loudly so they could all hear him. This trip required a lot of organisation on every ones part or it could all end in chaos.
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Isobel smiled as she ushered her teenaged grandson out the door and towards the cab, she was excited that they'd been invited on this latest vacation as she and her niece had had a bit of a falling out about her blatant favouritism towards Sarah over the boys and her rather mean attitude towards Jake.
She was looking forward to getting to know her other great-niece, Temperance's older daughter Gracie who had just come back into her mother's life. If the older girl was anything like her mother or sister then Isobel knew she'd be just another precious addition to her heart.
Although going away with Jake again worried her especially now that he had a partner in crime who was almost his double, she just hoped that Jake and Elliot didn't get her darling Shaun caught up in any of their schemes. The last thing she wanted was for her Grandson to get hurt or to find himself into any kind of trouble.
Plus getting to experience the different cultures would be a good thing for Shaun, being a part of her sister's children's lives had opened her and Shaun up to many opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise had and she was truly grateful for that. Shaun was a good boy and he deserved to have these experiences.
"Are you excited Shaun?" she asked the boy as the cab drove off toward the airport. The somewhat shy fifteen year old smiled at her and said "Of course Gran, it's going to be great".
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A/N: well I know it's not nearly as good as Ole Sammie's fics but I have a feeling her characters are going to be so much fun to write. I'm sure if you've read her stories you can see quite a few differences and changes I've made to make it work for me, especially with joining the two story-lines together.
The next chapter will feature everyone at the airport as they wait for their flight and try to keep all those kids under control. Jake and Elliot will be a much bigger part of the next chapter, as will Gracie, I've just got to get a better grip on them first before I try to write them and end up ruining them.
Let me know if there is anything you really want to happen or anyone you really want to see interact with one another. I'm happy to oblige if I think it fits the characters and the story.
Also a very special Thank You to Ole Sammie for allowing me to play with her OCs and the worlds she created. I hope very much that you enjoyed the first chapter =)