This is the third in a series of fics, the following are the prequels to this fic, and it is recommended, though not necessary, that they are read before proceeding with this one. Their titles are:
Saint in the Shadows
The Spaces in Between
The saga began near Antonia's birthday in mid June, and the second was in the weeks and into the months following it. The following fic takes place in late November of the same year.
Please enjoy, and comment when the mood strikes.
SHADES OF GRACE
This Monday morning started like any other morning, though the frantic knocking at the door was more frantic than it had ever been before.
"Mommy, open up!" Antonia's voice rang through the apartment, and her knocking became ever more insistent. "Mama, open up, Mama!"
Temperance felt a hand tap her hip, and she ignored it, and ignored the banging on the door. "Go get her ready." She mumbled.
"You go get her ready." He mumbled back.
"Mama! Is daddy in there with you?"
"She knows I'm in here." Booth mumbled.
"That's because you keep sneaking in here at night. This is my bedroom." She whined.
"It was my bedroom first." He replied, hearing the pounding on the door.
"I would love to give you credit for knowing the importance of chronological order, but your daughter is very close to using your technique for knocking the door down." Temperance mumbled into the pillow.
"Fine." He grumbled playfully as he rolled over her body and gripped the blankets. "But you're getting up too." He said, pulling the blankets off of her, she couldn't help but let out a dissatisfied squeak of protest as the blanket was ripped from the bed and he approached the door, dropping the blankets beside the door.
"Booth!"
"You have work too, young lady…" He said as he got to the door, glancing to see her scowl, his smile brightened. He then swung the door open and jumped into the hallway when Antonia jumped back in surprise. "Who is banging on my door?" He asked with a playful growl, lifting her up in the air, she giggled sweetly.
"That's not your door! That's mommy's door!" She exclaimed as Booth tickled her a little more, and pulled her into his arms.
"That's right, Baby… you tell him." Temperance said as she passed the two of them, leaning forward for a kiss from the little girl, she saw Booth leaning to give her a kiss and she stepped backwards to his dismay. "No kiss for you." She said as she turned to walk away, only to feel his arm around her waist as he pulled her backwards with a loud, resonating squeal, that sent Antonia into a wave of giggles. "No… no kiss…"
"Aw, Mama… give daddy a kiss, just a little one on his nose." Antonia said, leaning her head on his shoulder as she gave Temperance a pouty look.
"Nope… not even one on the nose… he stole my blankets, and is making me get up and go to work."
The little girl gasped and shook her head. "You shouldn'ta done that, Daddy… Mama likes to sleep in the morning."
"Says the girl who was banging on the door twenty minutes before Mama's alarm goes off."
She pressed her finger to Booth's lips and scowled. "It's school time, Daddy. Hush." She said, wiggling from Booth's arms, she ran for the kitchen and dining room for breakfast, leaving Booth and Brennan embracing in the hallway.
"Are you going to let me go, now?" She whispered, feeling a tender kiss on her head through her hair.
"Never."
"It's someone else's big first day too." She said, a smile slipping on her lips as she felt him rock her back and forth slightly.
"Mmhmm…" He said softly, continuing to kiss her head.
"Are you excited?" She asked, looking up at him, she noticed that he had a thoughtful look in his eye. "What's wrong?"
"Maybe we should officially move in together, Temperance." He whispered.
"I'm not ready yet." She said, turning toward the bedroom, she attempted to pull from his arms, but he didn't let go, and she struggled loosely in his arms. "Let me go, Booth." She whined.
"I can tell from the way you're fighting back that you are just being stubborn, Bones. We practically already live together… just because I have a mattress in the study, doesn't mean that I live there. You know that being apart isn't going to work. You remember the day that we discussed that." He whispered in her ear, feeling her nod against his lips, he kissed her temple as the memory came back.
It was Booth's second night after being released from prison, Antonia came home with Temperance, and since they hadn't had a chance to talk, Booth came along as well. They spent the evening together at the apartment, and Antonia entertained him with dances around the living room, and hugs and kisses every chance she got.
They sat down for dinner, and Antonia insisted on sitting right beside Booth as Temperance served them both, something that Booth had insisted that he could help with, but was hand smacked and sent from the kitchen in genuine 'mom' form, insisting that she could handle dinner, and he could wash the dishes with Antonia after dinner, to which he agreed, but with still a bit of resistance, until she literally pushed him out of the kitchen and told him to go play with his daughter.
Dinner was over quite quickly, and for the first time ever, he felt like he was in a real family. They talked and laughed over their meal, and Antonia told many long winded stories that would generally end halfway through, and become new stories, where she would eventually end up finishing the first story on a strange route of conversation. After dinner, the dishes were cleared, and Temperance listened from the dining area as she busied herself with other tasks as the two in the kitchen worked together to wash the dishes.
She peeked into the room, and Antonia was standing atop her pink princess stepstool beside Booth, towel in hand as he handed her a small salad plate.
"I am a very good dish dryer, Daddy."
"I can see that, you're doing a very good job there." He said, washing the next plate.
"Mommy lets me help all the time, and never gets mad when I drop a plate."
"Wait…" Booth said, giving her a faux scrutinizing glance. "You drop things?"
She looked up at him and tilted her head and smiled sweetly. "Sometimes, but it's okay… mommy says that we have too many plates anyway… and when it falls and breaks that its one less to clean."
Booth laughed and handed her the next plate. "Your Mommy is a very smart woman." He said, catching a glance of the subject of their conversation standing in the doorway. He turned his attention on her and smiled.
Antonia noticed that Booth's attention was captured by something, and turned around. She waved at her mother. "Hi, Mommy."
"Hey, baby… are you guys doing a good job?"
"Yes." Antonia nodded. "No spots." She said, holding up the plate so her mother could see, she grinned and turned around, looking up at Booth, she surprised him with her next question. "Daddy? Where do you live?"
Booth wasn't sure how to answer the little girl's question, and referred back to Temperance, who approached the two of them, lifting the little girl from the stepstool, she took the next plate from Booth and handed it to the little girl. "That's something that he and I have to talk about, sweetie."
"You don't gotta talk. Daddy is staying in my room. He can sleep under the bed." She said sincerely. "That's where he used to sleep." She shrugged, handing the dry plate to Temperance, who put it in the cupboard and looked to Booth.
He busied himself with cleaning the next dish. "I didn't sleep there every night." Booth replied quietly, handing Antonia the next plate, he looked Temperance in the eyes. "Sometimes I didn't sleep at all." He said, giving her a sad smile, he touched her hand with his damp hand, and she gripped it tighter as they shared a silent moment.
"Here, mommy, dish is done!" She exclaimed loudly, breaking them out of their reverie, she slammed the dish into Temperance's arm hard; causing her to pull her hand from Booth's and grab the plate.
"Hey, watch it… you're going to hurt your Mama…" Booth said as he watched the scowl on the little girl's face.
"Dish is done." She said with an angry pout.
"What has gotten into you all of a sudden?" Temperance asked as she put the plate up in the cupboard, the little girl was still scowling.
"Daddy is staying in my room tonight." She said, knowing that she hadn't gotten her answer.
"Daddy is not staying in your room tonight. Daddy is going to talk to Mommy about what we're going to do, but he's not staying in your room tonight, little one." Temperance replied as the towel in Antonia's hand swung hard and hit Temperance in the face.
"Yes he is!" She exclaimed loudly as Temperance covered her eye with her hand.
"Toni!" Booth exclaimed, reaching for the little girl, Temperance turned out of his reach.
"No, she's going to bed right now." Temperance said as she stalked toward the little girl's room, her hand over her eye as Antonia began to wail.
"Bones, are you okay?" Booth said as he followed them out of the kitchen, Antonia reached for him over her mother's shoulder, screaming for him. She swung open Antonia's bedroom door and turned sharply to face Booth. She put her hand on his chest. "Bones?"
"I'm okay. I'm fine…"
"Daddy! Save me! Daddy!" Antonia screamed, holding her arms out to Booth, it was absolutely breaking his heart, he just wanted to take her into his arms and hold her.
"I am going to take care of this… just… give me a minute." She said, taking a step back, she closed the door in his face. As soon as Booth was out of sight, the little girl's screams became louder.
Temperance stepped toward the bed and almost literally tossed her daughter onto the mattress, watching as the little girl clawed over the sheets to the edge. "No… you were very naughty!" Temperance explained. "You will stay on that bed until you apologize!"
"I don't want to apologize! I want Daddy! Daddy! Please save me! Please save me, Daddy!" She screamed. "I don't want you no more, Mommy! I want Daddy!" She sobbed as she gripped the sheets on her belly, tempted to run, though she knew that her mother was much quicker than she seemed.
Temperance knew that there was no reasoning with her, she was absolutely hysterical, screaming on top of her lungs, so she just stood above her daughter with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting. Antonia screamed and screamed, looking up at her mother desperately as she screamed, waving her hand toward the door as Temperance shook her head slowly, and waited patiently for her to become bored with her fit.
"You hurt Mommy, Antonia." She said, pointing to her eye, now slightly bloodshot with a red mark across her cheek. "You hurt Mommy physically, and now you're hurting her heart." She said, watching Antonia start to hiccup from screaming so loudly.
"I want Daddy!" She screamed, gritting her teeth, forcing her face to turn redder than it already was.
"And I want a well behaved little girl!" Temperance said, raising her eyebrows to the little girl as her tantrum caused her to cough, slowing her anger, making her hiccup, the volume of her voice was lowered and now she was just sobbing. "Are you through causing auditory impairments to the neighbors?"
"I…" She hiccupped. "I don't know what that means…" She hiccupped again. "I want daddy… If he goes, he won't come back." She sobbed.
"You think daddy isn't going to be outside this door when I open it?" Temperance asked, reasoning with the little girl. She shook her head. "Well, I can assure you that he hasn't taken a step away from this door since we walked in here. I am sure that his heart is breaking hearing you scream like this."
"My heart is breaking, Mommy." She sobbed, taking her mother's words and twisting them, as any child would do in this situation, though Temperance refused to crack. "How… how do you know… How do you know he's still there?" She whimpered.
"It could be many reasons… but I think the number one reason, is that he loves you…" Temperance said as she sat on the edge of the bed, gathering the hiccupping girl in her arms. "He's probably quite upset at the way that you've been treating your mommy for the past few minutes… and he's still there because he doesn't like it when you're sad." Temperance said as she lifted the girl into her arms, kissing her forehead and wiping the tears from her face as she walked toward the door with her. "Do you want me to show you?"
"Yes." She said, wiping the tears from her face, and looked into her mother's eyes as Temperance opened the door. The light from the hallway was blocked by Booth as he stood standing right where she had promised he'd be. Antonia looked to her mother, and then to Booth, her mother's eyebrows raised in expectation. "Hi." She whispered to Booth, who couldn't help but allow a slight smile on his lips.
"Hi." Booth said, his heart breaking for his little girl. His eyes met with Temperance's and then back to the little girl.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, seemingly to both of them at the same time.
Booth looked to Temperance, who nodded her head, and he smiled slightly. "I still need someone to help me with the dishes." He said, holding his arms out to Antonia, who looked to her mother and waited. Temperance nodded slightly, and Antonia leaned forward to kiss her mother's cheek where she had struck her.
"I'm sorry, Mama." She whispered, wrapping her arms around her neck, she gave a sniffle, before turning and letting Booth lift her from her mother's arms, he glanced to her, feeling the little girl's arms hug him tightly as he leaned forward.
"You're the best, Mama." He whispered, capturing her lips softly and smiled a tender smile at her, before turning with Antonia, to return to their task in the kitchen.
"We do not want a repeat of that." Temperance whispered, rubbing her cheek as she looked up at him as he rocked her in his arms. "I need to take a shower." She said, turning around, she put her hands on his chest and looked up at him, tilting her head to the side. "Listen…" She said, staring at his chest for a moment, she brought her eyes to meet his. "We will… take this next step…"
"It's barely a step."
"Hush." She said, scowling at him, he raised his eyebrows and snapped his mouth closed.
"We'll take this next step… on one condition."
"What is that?" He said, watching her smile a sly smile.
"You let me pick out your tie for today…. And…"
"Nope… you said one condition." He said as he released her and started to turn.
"No, no… wait… and you have to let me drive us to work every morning!" She said, following him into the bedroom as he covered his ears.
"I can't hear you, Bones… Shower time… go pick out my tie… See you later, Bones…"
"Booth!" She exclaimed, as the door closed in her face, and all she heard on the other side was his sly giggle.
"I love you." He said, opening the door quickly to capture her lips, she stood there stunned, as the door closed once again, and a second later, the water running, as she sighed, rolled her eyes and made her way to find his tie.