Title: Serendipity

Author: Lifeguard

Rating: T for language and sexual content.

Spoilers: "Stargazer in a Puddle," any other episode with good B&B moments in it.

Summary: Post-finale, What do we do now(?) story. Booth and Brennan figure out what to do, problem is, it brings about unexpected consequences.

Author's Note: So my last two stories with a pregnant Brennan were angst ridden and slightly fluffy. I wanted to look at the lighter side of things with this fic and also write my own take on the "what do we do now" scenario, which ended up being something The Powers That Be would probably never write for season three. So enjoy. Don't forget, Bones comes back on September 19th!

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The double doors to the Jeffersonian slid open and Temperance Brennan walked in, making her way to the platform, a determined look on her face. As she climbed the stairs, Angela looked up from the skeleton her and the squints were discussing.

"Sweetie!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

Zack looked up in confusion then added, "Shouldn't you be at home resting?"

Brennan glared at them all, "No, I am sick of resting. I am here to work."

Angela's eyes dropped down to the anthropologist's abdomen as she thought up the best thing to say, "Sweetie, I don't think you're in any condition to be on your feet all day."

"You look like you're about to pop, and by the way, wasn't that supposed to happen a week ago?" Cam said, less eloquently, while raising an eyebrow at her.

Brennan rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath, "I am well aware that I am nine months pregnant, and that I am more than a week over due. But I am absolutely sick and tired of sitting at home waiting for this baby to come. I've done all my work I brought home, worked to the point of writer's block on my novel and watched enough television to realize why I didn't have one to begin with. So, no. I am not going home to rest. I am going to work!"

Hodgins gulped before asking the question that was on everyone's minds, "Does Booth know you're here?"

She glowered back at him, "No he doesn't. And if any of you," she jabbed a swollen finger at the squints, "so much as call him, it will be your bones on this table."

Cam glanced around at her staff and catching Angela's eye, she mouthed, "Hormones."

Brennan kept on ranting, "I just want to work, do something productive. If this baby is going to take it's time, I am done playing by it's game. I am not going to sit around and wait for it to be ready, I am going to go on with my life. It's going to have to learn to work around my schedule! Now would someone please tell me about this-"

Suddenly there was the distinct noise of liquid hitting the floor, and the anthropologist was cut off mid-sentence and left with her mouth hanging open. Everyone stared as she looked down and realized her water had broken.

"Finally!" she yelled as Angela rushed over to her side.

"Now can we call Booth?" Cam asked.

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To say the least, Brennan's pregnancy had not been an easy one. In fact, she would claim it had been a mistake from the start, even though she wouldn't admit to Booth (who had tried to convince her otherwise) that she secretly liked the idea of having his baby.

Both would agree on one fact though, the whole miraculous event (a term coined by Angela) was not planned.

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Nine Months and One Week Earlier…

"What do we do now?" Brennan asked Booth, her eyes full of confusion.

Booth stood dumbfounded at the alter, looking at the doors the bride and groom just exited, and then back at the maid of honour, "Um…" he stalled, trying to come up with a plan.

The crowd and minister stared back at them, while Zack pulled nervously at the collar of his suit, feeling suddenly very uncomfortable. Cam came up behind Brennan, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Do you have any idea what just happened?" she asked the anthropologist.

"Well there obviously isn't going to be any wedding today, but really, what do we do now?" she repeated, again, staring at Booth.

He threw up his hands in defence, "What? Suddenly I'm the one who has to fix this problem? I believe you are the maid of honour, doesn't that duty belong to you?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "You're the best man, we get to share it."

The look of cockiness from his previous comment dropped from his face, "Oh, right."

"Excuse me," the minister cut in, her eyes shifting from Booth's to Brennan's, "Unless you two want my services, then I suggest you all head to the reception and have fun. It's paid for either way, so I think you should take full advantage of it."

"Right, that sounds like a plan," Booth agreed, "But we won't be needing your services thanks."
Brennan shook her head, "No, we're not a couple."

The minister gave her a look, "Whatever you say dear."

Booth took her arm, "Alright Bones, lets get out of here."

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The reception turned out to be a better party than either had expected. The guests seemed happy to enjoy the meal and dance with or without a bride and groom.

Booth and Brennan sat at the head table watching the couples on the dance floor. She swirled the dwindling contents of her wine glass and he caught her eye, wiggling his eyebrows, "More wine Bones?"

She nodded and he filled her glass. Suddenly, Brennan's cell phone rang from within her purse and she picked it up, "Hello?"

"Hey Sweetie! How's the party?"

"Angela! Where are you? What happened today?"

Booth's ears perked up at the mention of the bride's name, "Ask her what happened," he hissed at Bones.

She waved him off as she listened to Angela, "We couldn't get married due to some legal issues, so we took our honeymoon early. We're in Bermuda right now."

"What legal issues?"

Booth shot a question mark look at Brennan, who narrowed her eyes back at him.

"Remember that guy I told you about, the whole jumping over the broomstick thing. Well turns out it was kind of legally binding. But anyways, Jack and I will get through this. I just wanted to call and tell you that our bridal suite is still paid for and that I think you and that hunky piece of FBI candy should take advantage of it tonight."

"What?!"

"What? What did she say?" Booth pestered Bones.

"Angela, no, we can't do that."

"Can't do what Bones?" She shot him a look.

"Oh come on Brenn, live a little. Go have some fun tonight with Booth, you know you want to."

Brennan caught Booth's questioning gaze and seemed to consider the offer before shaking her head no again, "Ange, you know that isn't going to happen."

"Fine, but it's there if you change your mind. How's the reception going?"
"Pretty well actually."
"Have you danced with Booth yet?"
"Pardon?"
"Oh come on! At least go dance with the man. Don't tell me you're just sitting there drinking, starring at each other."
Brennan didn't dignify that with a response.

"Just do it Brenn. I promise you won't regret it. Listen, I've got to go, but I'll see you in ten days, with presents!"

Before Brennan could get another word in the artist had hung up, leaving the anthropologist with a curious FBI agent starring at her.

"What did she say?" he questioned her.

"That they're on their honeymoon and to have fun tonight."

"That's all? Why'd they run out today?"

"Legal issues, they can't get married yet."

"Oh."

Brennan sipped at her wine and Booth followed suit. She starred out at the couples on the dance floor and then back at her partner.

"You want to dance Bones?" he said, surprising her.

She looked perplexed, "You know, move your feet to the music with another person," he jokingly explained to her.

She smiled a little and thought that one dance couldn't hurt, "Okay," she nodded.

He took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor, where he wrapped one arm around her waist while still holding her other hand. They swayed gently to the music for a few minutes before she looked up into his eyes.

"Booth, thanks again for what you told me today," she whispered, remembering their hug at the alter after his revelation about her father.

"I just thought you should know Bones. You know, your father is not a bad guy. He did the right thing."

"I know."

She laid her head on his chest listening to the beat of his heart. Booth gazed down at her, basking in the feeling of having her in his arms. As the song ended, she reluctantly pulled herself away from him.

"That was nice," she smiled.

He nodded and gestured back towards their table and their waiting drinks.

The reception slowly died down and people gradually filtered out.

"…anthropologically speaking-" Brennan was trying to explain.

"Oh would you stop analyzing stuff," Booth replied.

"I was saying…um, great! Now you've made me loose my place Booth."

He chuckled, "Probably not a bad thing."

She swiped at his arm. He faked a hurt look before letting his eyes sweep across the nearly empty hall.

"Guess we should be heading out too. Come on Bones, I'll get us a cab."

She let him help her up, and lead her by the small of the back to the front doors, where he called for a taxi.

As they waited he gazed at his partner, unbeknownst to her because of her tipsiness. Hodgins' voice entered his head, repeating the duties of the best man, something that had been running through his mind as he had spent the evening with her. Maybe it was the alcohol he had consumed, but he was actually thinking of attempting said duty. He went through his odds again in his mind. They were stacked fifty-fifty against each other: half said she would kick his ass, the other said she'd kiss back. Figuring that she was slightly intoxicated, he thought that maybe the odds would be skewed in the kiss back favour. But that also brought about thoughts of whether or not he would be taking advantage of her in this state. He shook his head thinking no, she wasn't that drunk, neither was he. They'd had enough to loosen up, but not enough to block out memories. His head reeled again with possibilities. He wanted to kiss her, and if he rationalized his best man duties, then it was the perfect time to try it out. If she rejected him (and he hoped not), then he could just chalk it up to the alcohol and what Hodgins had asked him to do. He took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to speak.

"Bones," she looked up at him and smiled, "Um, I had a great time tonight," he said, then mentally smacked himself, that wasn't clichéd at all, he thought.

"Me too Booth," she answered, not noticing the cliché.

He breathed a sigh of relief over her lack of colloquial knowledge, "You know, we may not have gotten to fulfill our best man and maid of honour duties, but there is one thing you could help me get done."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "And what would that be?"

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Well Hodgins told me that there's this tradition where the best man has to do something to the maid of honour…"

"Get her drunk?" she giggled a little.

"No," he said, catching her gaze, "This."

Booth tilted her chin up, then cupped her face as he captured her lips with his. When she didn't push or pull away he deepened the kiss, doing exactly what he was told to do by the groom.

When they broke apart she starred at him and he wondered if he had over-stepped his boundaries. Just when he was about to apologize, her lips were on his again, with even more urgency than before.

This time, it was the beeping of the cab's horn that brought them up for air. Booth opened the door and she crawled into the taxi, followed by him.

"Where to?" the driver asked.

Booth was about to give Brennan's address when she gave a hotel address instead.

"Bones, what was that?"

"Maybe I should ask you the same thing."

"That, what we did, was…amazing," he gave her his charm smile.

She blushed, "Yeah, it was."

"So what's with the hotel?"

"If you don't want to come, that's fine, I'll stay there. But there's a bridal suite that's been paid for, and Angela said to have some fun tonight."

His jaw dropped at her suggestion.

"I guess you're coming then."

In her mind alarms were going off that this whole bridal suite with Booth thing was not a good idea. But for once she ignored them. Maybe it was the alcohol, but more than likely it was his kiss, but she felt the overwhelming urge to give into desire and be spontaneous for once in her life.

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As she slowly woke up her head began to pound. She groaned slightly and tried to roll over, but something was preventing her from doing so. Something that felt like an arm around her waist. She forced herself to open her eyes into slits, and then promptly closed them again as the light hurt. She counted to ten, and then attempted to see again. When she did open her eyes, she was not in her own bed, nor in her own room. It took some effort, but she rolled her throbbing head to the side to try and see what was holding her waist in place, and when she did, she gasped.

Booth lay spooning her, his strong arm enclosing her body. Her very naked body, against his equally naked one.

She counted to ten again, taking deep breaths.

Brennan took in her surroundings: a hotel room, a big one. She could see her dress lying on the floor, and Booth's pants. There was also an empty bottle of wine on the table, with two equally empty glasses.

It hit her why her head hurt. She was hung over. And the series of events from the night before flooded her mind.

She remembered that in the elevator he had kissed her again, and again in the doorway to the room. They had popped the bottle of wine, prompting them to start tearing at each other's clothes. She remembered him pinning her up against the wall as he explored her body, and she saw how the items in the hotel room were scattered from the various places they had…

She threw her head back into the pillow, squeezing her eyes shut. Then he moved behind her.

It took Booth all of about three seconds before he pulled away from her, and she starred at him.

"Bones?" he asked, his voice horse, rubbing his eyes.

"Did we do what I think we did last night, right?" she said.

He took in the state of the room and her naked form wrapped in the bed sheet, "I think it's pretty obvious."

"What do you remember?"

He thought for a moment and then a huge smile spread across his face. She smacked his arm.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Because you're enjoying this."

"Are you saying you didn't enjoy last night? Cause if I remember correctly, you did."

"Well you started it, you kissed me."

"Very mature Bones, but I believe you're the one who brought us here."

"And you opened the bottle of wine."
"You didn't have to drink it."

She sighed in frustration.

"Admit it Bones. We had fun last night," he gave her his charm smile.

She closed her eyes letting the memories of the previous night in, and she smiled too, "Maybe we did, but what do we do now?"

"I guess we'll have to figure that out. What do you want to do?"
"I asked you first," she snapped back.

"Someone's a little hung over."

"Booth, I'm being serious. We slept together, so now what? What if this makes things between us weird?"

He reached out and stroked the side of her cheek, and to his surprise, she didn't pull away, "Temperance," he said, using her first name for emphasis, "It will only be weird if we let it get weird. Why don't we just take this one day at a time. We'll figure out where we're going."

She nodded, "Okay, one day at a time."

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The partners didn't let what happened make things weird between them, in fact, Booth was surprised that Brennan seemed to be letting him closer to her heart now. They began to share more intimate moments, and every so often, they would steal away to steal a kiss.

They were true to their word and took it one day at a time.

Three weeks later, Brennan came into work and approached the platform, where Zack was already examining a skeleton. The grad student looked up, took in his teacher's haggard appearance and checked his watch. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I know I am late Zack, just tell me what you've found so far."

"Are you okay Dr. Brennan? You look pale."

"I'm not feeling very well today."

"Shouldn't you be at home resting then?"
"I'm not feeling bad enough to sit at home. I'd rather be working."

"Alright then. Our victim is male, in his mid-thirties and he was found in a swamp by some ecologists."

Hodgins wandered up to the two holding a jar, "I've got bug samples, and these babies," he displayed some leeches proudly.

Brennan took one look at the leeches and threw her hand over her mouth. She then ran from the platform.

"What?" Hodgins asked out loud, looking mildly offended.

Exhausted, Brennan let herself rest against the side of the bathroom stall, wiping her face with toilet paper. She had never felt so sick, so fast before in her life. She closed her eyes, trying to think if she had eaten anything to upset her stomach. Surely the sight of leeches shouldn't have set her off.

"Sweetie? Are you in here?" Angela called out as she walked into the ladies room.

"I'm in here," Brennan answered, sticking her hand under the door of the stall.

"Are you alright? Hodgins said you looked like you were going to throw up."
"I did."

"Are you alright?"

Brennan stood up and opened the door, "I'm feeling better now."

Angela went over to her friend to feel her forehead, "You don't feel feverish. Maybe you should go home and rest anyways."

"I feel fine now Angela."
"What if you have the stomach flu? Or did you eat something that was bad?"

"If I had the flu I would be feeling much worse, and no, I haven't eaten anything bad lately."

"You're not pregnant, are you?" the artist smiled coyly.

Brennan stopped in her tracks, and the colour drained from her face. She mentally went through her last cycle.

"Brenn, I was joking, really."

"Pregnant?" the anthropologist repeated. She thought back to the night she had slept with Booth. It had been exactly three weeks ago.

"Sweetie?"
"I think I'm going to be sick again-" Brennan rushed back into the stall, realization dawning on her.

When she was done, Angela rubbed her shoulders as she braced herself against a sink.

"Do you really think you are?"

"I don't know, but it's a possibility."

"Maybe you should check to be sure."

"Yes, I should. Ange, can you do me a huge favour and go buy a pregnancy test for me? Please?"

"Why don't you just go after work? Or we could go on our lunch."
"I can't, I'm supposed to have lunch with Booth. And besides, I can't let anyone here know that I'm taking a pregnancy test. It would look more natural for you to be buying one."

"Sweetie, we'd be thrilled for you if you were pregnant. Who don't you want knowing?"

Brennan didn't answer her.

"Oh my-"
"Don't say it! Don't you even squeal!" Brennan warned her friend.

"Details! Now!"

"No. I'll call you later tonight, but right now, I need one of those test kits. Please Angela, go now, and hurry!"

"Okay, okay, I'll go. But promise me you'll tell me everything later."
"Yes, I promise."

Angela hurried out of the bathroom with a massive grin on her face.

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An hour later, both women were back in the bathroom intently watching and waiting for a stick to change colour.

"Ange, what if this comes out positive? I don't want children, you know that."

"It's Booth's baby too."

"I know that, but it's my body, my life."

"We don't even know for sure yet. Let's just wait."

"How much longer?"

"Any second now."

Slowly, the stick changed colours. Brennan looked from the stick to Angela.

"What does it mean?"

The artist checked the box and then glanced back at the stick, then up at Brennan.

"I'm pregnant, aren't I?"
Angela nodded.

Brennan slumped against the wall letting her head drop into her hands, "What am I going to do? What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

"I hate to point out the obvious, but you only have three real options."

"Two of which Booth would hate me for."

"So what does that leave you with?"

"A choice I don't know if I'm ready for."

"Well ready or not, here it comes."

"Well I'm not. I need some time to think this over. Promise me you won't tell him Ange, or anyone at all. Just give me a few days to think this through. Please?"
"Of course. But you do know that Booth will pick up on any small changes pretty quickly."

"That's what I'm worried about."

Angela pulled her friend into a hug, "You'll get through this and do what's right, I know you will."

To be continued…

You know Brennan keeps the baby, but how does she tell Booth and how does she deal with the pregnancy? More to come soon!

Like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know!