"Director, there is someone here to see you."

"Who is it?"

"I don't know sir. I have only been here for a few days. I do not recognize the faces."

"Faces? Okay, send them in."

I sat at my desk for a moment, wondering who could possibly want to see me. Then I thought about all the disciplinary crap I would have to deal with now, being the Director and all.

The door swung open, and in strolled someone I never thought I would see again, the woman who not only haunted my dreams, but made me who I am, a better person, a stronger man. She had been gone in a flash, she left, due to something I couldn't quite put my finger on. And yet, her departure, really killed me.

But what surprised me more was that this woman was carrying a child on her hip. I had to do a double take just to make sure my eyes were not playing me.

"Bones?"

She looked down at the child, then back at me and frowned.

"I know you want to know why I left, and this is why. This is my daughter, her name is Cecilia, and her last name," she took a deep breath and focused her eyes on me, "is Booth."

For some reason, I wanted to run. I wanted to run to her, pick up my daughter, and run away. Because that is exactly what Bones did that morning after we had finally committed to what we thought was a meaningful relationship. I loved her, and I showed her how much I loved her, and she left.

"My daughter?"

"Yes Booth, your daughter. She is only 1 month old. I know that you have been looking for me, and frankly, I am surprised that you had not found me. I was right under your nose all this time. Cullen knew about it too."

This was more than I could handle. I needed air to breathe and time to think. I dialed Angela, and put her on speaker.

"What can I do for you Studly?"

"You wanna guess who is in my office right now?"

"No way."

"Way, Angela."

There was gasp on the end of the other line and suddenly, some distinct cursing.

"Brennan, you better get your butt over here now. Before I kill you."

Somehow, I think Angela had finally broken through her walls, the ones I had spent so long trying to tear down. She choked out an answer and retreated from my office. When I ran after her, I noticed a long line of agents standing out in the hallway, looking at me, then looking at Bones. I decided to skip all the crap and bureaucracy.

"Yes, people. Bones is back, and that is my daughter. No, I did not know. And yes, I will make sure she does not leave this time. Now go do your jobs."

I ran quickly out of the building on to see her hail a cab. I pulled her along side me until we reached my SUV. I raced to the Jeffersonian in an awkward silence that seemed to fill the cab of my truck. It was nerve wracking.

We passed through the doors of the Medico-Legal Lab to a very angry Angela.

"Temperance Joy Brennan, where the hell have you been all this time?"

Bones turned to reveal Cecilia on her hip.

"Oh my god. Is she Booth's?"

She finally broke her silence, "Yes, Cecilia is Booth's daughter."

I turned to hear the voice I never really wanted to hear, but was thankful that it was there.

"Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth. It's nice to see you two again," Bones turned to face Sweets, when his face dropped, "Oh my God."

Cam, Hodgins, all the interns, Dr. Goodman, Zack, and Sully all stood behind Sweets, in awe.

I followed Bones across the lab as she walked into her office. I took Cecilia in my arms, passed her to Angela who followed us, and slammed her office door. She looked at me in surprise and then lost her smile, quickly.

"Bones, do you have any idea what it was like to not know where you were, or what you were doing, or if something had happened to you? Do you know that that feels like?"

"Yes."

My heart dropped. I realized what she was referring to, and although my stint in undercover protection was only for two weeks, it was exactly the same. I crossed the room to stand right in front of her, my fists clenched at my sides. I wanted to shake some sense into her, to tell her that it was not cool what she had done to me. But instead, I wrapped my arms around her still think body and sighed. She leaned into me, like she used to, and buried her head in my chest.

"Do you know, Seeley? Do you know how many times I wanted to come home to you, to Parker, to everyone? But I was afraid that you would hate me. Hate me for giving you another child out of wedlock. I know how much your religion means to you, and I didn't feel like I deserved to let you down like that again. Do you know how much I missed you? How much I loved you, and still love you?"

At this point, we were sitting on the couch, facing each other, but not touching. Her chest was heaving, and sobs were wracking her small frame. She reached her hand out and intertwined her fingers with mine, tracing the lines on my palms.

"Bones, listen to me now. Because this will be the last time I tell you this, but I love you. I will always love you. I will never want anyone else in my bed other than Parker. Yes, a child out of wedlock is not good in the eyes of the Catholic Church, but I think they will understand. I do not hate you for giving me a child out of wedlock. And I want to patch things up. But I need to know that you won't run. I need to know what you ran for. And not this crap about a child out of wedlock, cause we both know that's not true."

I held her face in my hands, and looked deep into those bright blue eyes of hers and felt myself break apart slowly. She was afraid. Afraid of me leaving her, this time, actually dead. She was afraid of me rejecting her because of the baby, and her past. But there was something she did not know about me. I had my own demons. I fight them every single day and even this bullshit she put both of us through does not even compare. I have nightmares about it. But we needed to get over this hump, and fast.

"Booth, you know I cannot promise you that I won't run. It's in my blood, its part of who I am. But what I can promise you, is that I want to fix things. I want to fix them so that we can be what we never got to be, a family."

She looked at me, then back down at her hands, still clutching something close to her chest. I reached up to her and wrenched the chain out of her fingertips. Lying around her neck was my Saint Christopher's Medal, the one I had given to her when we decided to start our relationship. The tears forming in the corner of her eyes were unmistakable, and they were tears I had seen and felt before.

"Talk to me. Tell me what is going on in that big brain of yours."

She looked at me, then back down, obviously evading my questions and avoiding revealing her true feelings.

"When we finally decided to…embark on this relationship, I felt like this was a line I didn't want to cross. But when I found out I was pregnant, I knew that I had ruined our partnership, permanently. I went to Cullen, explained the situation, and he suggested I take some time to think things through. When I delivered the baby, the only person who knew was Russ's wife, Amy. She was my Lamaze coach, and she helped me through labor. You have no idea how much I wanted you to be there with me, how much I wanted you to urge me on, tell me that it was only a few more pushes, and it would all be worth it. I wanted it so bad. But I knew that the damage I had created from when I left, that I had torn your heart to shreds. Cullen called me on a biweekly basis to let me know how you were doing. When I found out that you gave up field work right after I left, my heart shattered. I knew that you gave it up, hoping that I would come back, because that is what your heart told you to do. But this isn't your fault. I created this mess, and by coming back, I feel like I am dragging up old feelings. If you are involved with someone, I will leave your life, but of course, letting you see Cecilia."

After her long winded speech, I realized how much of an influence on her. She spoke from the heart, not letting her overly analytical self take over. I pulled her face into my hands, and wiped her tears away with my thumb. Not knowing what my emotions were right at this second, I just pulled her into my chest, letting her feel my heart beat, knowing that I was very much alive. Because as much as she didn't say it, she was afraid that her daughter would grow up without a dad if I ever died, I was afraid too. She was everything to me, everything that I could have ever wanted, ever needed, ever looked forward to. After a few minutes, after both our cries had subsided, she pulled away from me, and got up. Pacing around her office, I stepped out for a second.

"Seeley Booth, this little girl is going to be exactly like you."

I turned around to see Angela walking toward me with Cecilia in her arms. I reached out, and this little girl, my daughter, climb into my arms and snuggle against my chest. I knew that I would be in this little girl's life until I died. No matter what. I turned back to Bones' office to see her sitting against the back of the couch, shoulders hunched over, obviously crying.

"Bones, I want everything with you. The marriage, if you want. The brick house with the white picket fence, the dog and cat, maybe even the two and a half children. I want everything that you want. And if that is time, I will give it to you, but you have to promise me you won't run again. My heart did break when you left, but seeing this little girl, with my brown eyes, and your bright smile, gives me hope that we can fix this. I want you to tell me what you need. I can't help you until you tell me what you need."

She looked up at me, eyes bloodshot, "You."

"Me what?"

"I need you Seeley Booth. I need everything about you. If you are ready to let me back into your heart, then I am ready for this."

I crossed the room to her, dropped Cecilia into her arms, then pulled the two of them into my lap. I rested my chin on her shoulder, letting her feel my breath on her ear, on her neck.

"I can give you everything, all of me. But I need to know that if you get scared again, that you will come to me, and tell me what to do."

She nodded her head, and rested it against mine. It was quiet for a while, then she got up. She grabbed her purse and Cecilia's diaper bag and left. Feeling flustered and scared at the same time, I ran out of her office, and followed her out to the parking garage. She opened the door to my truck, and put Cecilia inside.

"Where are you going Bones?"

"You're going to take us home. We're going home."

I had no idea where we were going, but she gave me clear directions to a house not ten blocks from my apartment. It was in a community that was full of houses that had the same characteristics I had described earlier, the white picket fence, the brick house. I drove a few more streets before she prompted me to stop at a corner house with a high white fence around the property. On the mailbox was the surname Brennan-Booth. I looked at her and she smiled, knowing exactly what I was thinking. I got out of the car, and opened her door and got Cecilia out of her car seat. Walking up the driveway, I saw a truck, exactly the same as mine, in the driveway. She opened the front door, unarmed the house, and was greeted by a puppy.

"Wow, Bones, I didn't think you get the whole idea so quickly."

She looked at me, and her face lit up for the first time in a while.

"I had gotten all this when I found out I was pregnant, because I knew that if I ever got you back, you would be so proud of me. I want everything you said, including the whole marriage thing. I'll even get married in a church if that means I can have you all to myself, Cecilia, and Parker."

I put Cecilia down in her playpen, and wrapped Bones up in my arms.

"Baby, you always had me. And can I get it in writing that you will get married in a church for me?"

She laughed. A laugh full of care freeness, happiness, and devoid of all fear. I kissed her head, and followed her upstairs. In her master bedroom were tons of pictures of her and I, laughing, working, eating Thai, you name it, and she had a picture of it. She led me into her walk in closet and pointed at a rack. It was full of suits and dress shirts, ties, and even some of my belts.

"Hey, I have been looking for this stuff. You took it from me?"

"Nope, you left it at my apartment. So I brought it here, hoping you would come back one day."

I laughed, then looked around the room. I noticed on the night stand, was the picture of us at the last Jeffersonian Ball, with her hand on my shoulder, and my hand on her lower back. We were dancing across the parquet floor, in that dress that was backless that drove me crazy. I grabbed the picture, and moved toward her, gliding across her bedroom floor. She smiled at me as she moved in close to me. I breathed in the smell of vanilla and raspberries that had become her signature scent.

"You know how much self-control I had to have in order to keep myself together after finding out that dress was backless. I just wanted to touch your skin, knowing how warm it was, how smooth it looked, how silky it must have felt. When we finally danced, I felt as if there were actual sparks emitted from your skin onto my hand. You looked beautiful. Every day that you wake up in the morning and see me at work reminds me just how beautiful you are, whether you are in a ball gown, or up to your eyeballs in human remains."

"I have to ask you, Booth, do you want to move in? I know its sudden, but I feel like in order to make sufficient progress, we need to be together often, and that is only if you are living here. Plus Cecilia is here too."

I wrapped her up in my arms again and felt her heart beat. But there were some serious issues with that.

"What about Parker?"

She laughed.

"Follow me."

She grasped my hand and led me out of her bedroom down the hallway where it split in two directions. She pushed open the door on the right and I saw an explosion of pink. It was Cecilia's room. On the dresser was a big picture of me, standing at the FBI banquet with my placard. She grabbed my hand, and pushed open the door on the left, and the room was a little boy's dream. The walls were alternating dark blue and light gray with Flyers bedsheets and comforter. On the wall was a signed Flyers jersey. Parker would love it.

I let go of her hand, and wiped my thumbs across my eyes.

"Bones, did you do all this for Parker?"

She nodded her head.

"I want to be a family Booth. I want all of this. Everything."

I took a minute to think, but made my decision quickly.

"You got it baby."