A.N: So basically I can't get over last night episode so I wrote this. Not exactly how I planned but good enough. =) Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters or places are not mine.
Booth pushed the door open gently, trying not to disturb the very hot liquid in the mug he was carrying. He sighed when he looked up and saw her sitting at the end of her bed gingerly applying lotion to her legs. Well the bits she could easily reach.
"Do you need some help?" He asked cautiously.
"No, thank you." She said primly squeezing more lotion in her hand, moving to stubbornly prove her point. It had been like this since the car ride earlier. She had gotten into the car smoothly, fastened her seatbelt sedately, and stared calmly out of the windsheild. Only speaking and making eye contact when necessary.
"Let me help you." He said firmly, moving towards her. He stopped when she looked up at him with a look he very rarely sees.
"If I wanted help, I'd ask." And that was the first sign that something was about to give, other than the deathly calmness she had be exuding all day.
He held up his hands in surrender and stepped back. He watched as she continued to put lotion on around her belly, struggling in some places.
Sighing again "Why won't you let me help you, Temperance?"
She didn't look up from her task as she answered, petulantly "You don't need mine." And there it was. Throughout the last few months he found it endearing, the pettiness, he found her putting out sometimes but... this was different. It wasn't petty. To either of them.
"Bones..." he said warningly and with weariness. "This shouldn't even be a discussion."
"Well, it's not. A discussion is between two people, generally to reach a consensus or compromise... or an exchange of ideas. I was granted none of these." She said looking him dead in the eye, the blue of hers darkening, the hazel in the middle exploding out. She was well and truly pissed.
"That's because there is nothing to discuss! You are pregnant. With my child. Ok?" He said his voice raising slightly.
"Two facts that I am well aware of, Booth! I would never put our child in harm's way needlessly." Booth looked at her as her countenance began to fall, the facade she was putting up crumbling. He knew how important their partnership was to her, but sometimes... things changed, whether we want them to or not.
"Every time we go out there and we look at someone's bones, we are putting ourselves in harm's way. Every time we give someone their identity back we give someone out there a reason to try and hurt us, Bones, and I know you wouldn't put our kid in harm's way on purpose, someone else might." Her eyes started misting over and he had to swallow hard to keep from his eyes doing the same. "And I wouldn't just be losing one person anymore if something were to happen. And I just can't risk that." The risk was too high before.
She sighed, conceding his point silently. "Who's going to watch your back?" She asked, the tears threatening to fall over.
He pretended to think for a while. "Sweets?"
Her mouth dropped open, disbelief taking over her features. "Wha- Booth?" She sputtered "He's not even an agent..." She trailed off as she saw the smile tugging at his lips. She smacked his arm and smiled at him.
"I'll get Sweets to do a preliminary look at all the cases that come by me and I'll take the ones he thinks are low risk... like not a psycho, serial killer type. Ok?" Her head tilted to the side an incredulous look on her face. "I know, I know. You hate psychology, but he's a bright kid."
"He is a very smart kid." She agreed.
"But from now on you're staying in the lab. At least until my little guy is born." He said bending over a placing a gentle kiss on her belly.
"We have no reason to assume it's a boy, Booth. It could just as easily be a girl." She corrected looking down at him talking softly to their baby.
He dropped one last kiss before looking up at her with a smile. "Same diff." Standing and kissing the correction he knew was coming off of her lips.
"Ok," She said after they parted. "Can you get my calves and feet." She said handing over the bottle of lotion then leaned back on her elbows.
"What, are you afraid you're going to squish the baby?" He asked teasingly and chuckled a little at the blush that crept over her cheeks.
"No, the baby is perfectly safe. It's surrounded by amn-" She stopped when he held up his hand, effectively ending her squinty explanation. In all actuality, she just found the feeling to be a bit odd. But he didn't need to know that. "I'm just looking forward to the massage you're going to give me for having to endure the discomfort I'm feeling in my patellae, tibia tarsus, and metatarsals.
"Knees, ankles, and feet." He said for clarification, even though he was pretty sure he was right. No sense in doing it wrong, if he could avoid it.
"Precisely." She nodded slightly.
"Ok, Well you just lie back and let my magic fingers do their job." He grinned at the hum of approval.
"Next time it will be a discussion." She said suddenly her eyes closed. He couldn't help but smile.
"Nope, you're too stubborn. You might actually get your way." He said before shushing her, working her legs until her breathing evened out.
Thanks for reading.