"Bones, are you all right?"
Dr. Brennan looked up from puzzling pieces back together to bones. Her partner stood there with a concerned expression in his eyes, reaching out to take a small piece. She, however, noticed this movement and slapped his right hand even before he ever had the chance to pick up the little piece. She looked at him with her crystal blue eyes, clearly at least just a little bit annoyed by his unprofessionalism. She didn't speak, though. And actually, she'd already forgotten about it by the time she looked back down at the pieces of skeleton spread out on the table. A skeleton that had once been a human being. She didn't answer on his question, either.
He kept on moving his head from the one side to the other to try and catch her gaze. She didn't really notice, but when she did, she simply couldn't help but smile lightly. "I'm fine, Booth," she whispered, apparently more to herself than to him.
"Nu-huh. No lies, Bones. We are partners, remember? I recognize that behavior, and I haven't seen you act like this ever since..." And then suddenly Special Agent Seeley Booth became quiet. He didn't want to finish; didn't want her to be forced in remembering the times when she was still looking for her father, trying to find out the truth about it all, about her past and future. Booth had been there, just like he still was now. He quietly turned around and went to his partner's office. Bones looked up momentarily with a frown, then went back to her skeleton without much more thinking.
Out of the corners of her eyes, Tempe noticed him returning to the platform within mere instants, a coat and bag she recognized as hers in his one hand, his car keys into the other. "Come on, Bones. I'm taking you for a ride. You decide where we go to."
"Booth, I'm still working," the always rational tone of the anthropologist sounded. This time, Booth's hands reached out to stop hers from picking up a piece of bone. Tempe looked up at him surprised; this didn't really seem like something he would normally do. "Hey..." she started, but stopped when her partner took her gloved hands into his larger ones and looked down. She felt like Booth always saw right through her. The intensity of concern in his eyes was too much for her to muster. "I'm fine," she managed to let out before trying to pull her hands away to get back to work, but Booth held them tight.
"What's wrong, Bones? Eh, don't look away again," he whispered, letting go of one hand, reaching out to lift his partner's chin lightly when she started averting her gaze like before.
She sighed, and even before she could grasp it, she had blurted out exactly what was wrong. She felt so much like herself with him around; herself, and calm. Maybe it was too easy to be herself with him. Too easy... "It's just... I mean, Angela and Hodgins got back together, and now she's four months pregnant; something I would have never expected of Ange so soon. Clark's got himself a great girlfriend, according to her descriptions. Even Sweets found himself a great girlfriend."
Booth nodded. "Are you getting just a little bit more emotional with Christmas nearing?" He said, a smile now back into place on his lips. He was trying to keep their conversation light, but somehow knew it would be reaching a break point for his partner soon. Literally, maybe.
"What? No!" Tempe said, indignantly, but at the same time somewhat taken aback. She didn't speak for a few moments, then whispered, "Maybe I am. No idea, honestly. It's just, Cam's going to ski with Michelle, and you are having Parker with Christmas, and I'm... alone."
"You are not alone, Bones. You never will be, either."
"I think I would like to have a child, Booth."
"You? A child?" Booth exclaimed. "Bones, that's... I mean... Do you even have the faintest idea what that would mean? You cannot simply put your..." he stuttered, completely aghast for the first time in ten or more years. He honestly didn't have the faintest idea how to react.
"Don't you think I would be a good mom?" Bones asked with concern. She suddenly seemed to have forgotten completely about her work. He could see the uncertainty, which usually rarely showed, visible within her eyes now. Of course he thought that she'd be a great mom, but just the thought of her with a pregnant tummy... Then he realized something at once.
"And who is going to be the child's father? Or are you thinking about adoption or something? Or don't you have something concrete yet?"
Bones slightly shook her head, leaving Booth with an awkward expression on his face. He simply turned around and walked out of the building, pondering. He'd keep on pondering about their conversation all the way home and a good part of the night. She'd be nothing less but a wonderful mom, he could absolutely imagine, yet... Bones? A child? Ah, well maybe he'd be promoted to Uncle Seeley soon, then.