BETA READ by The Imperfectionist

Chapter 1

Bones was sitting nervously in the waiting room of the gynecologist. Booth was right beside her, reading an interesting article about sex during pregnancy in one of the several typical female magazines lying about on the waiting room table.

Temperance tapped her foot impatiently; she had been doing so ever since she'd sat down in the chair to wait for the gynecologist to call the two of them in. Seeley Booth had never seen his wife that nervous before, and it was working on his system as well. His hand went to her knee and squeezed it gently. "Honey, will you please stop that? It's making me nervous as well."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Temperance sighed, crossing her legs neatly and lying her head down on his shoulder, looking down at her protruding tummy, gently stroking it with both hands, even though it was only a small bump still. Booth gave her one of her favorite crooked smiles and looked down at her tummy as well – their tummy.

"When do you think we could see if it's a boy or a girl?"

"I want to wait until the baby's born."

"Are you being serious here? I can't wait another six months! I mean, I would like to be informed on how I should address your tummy. I can't say 'he/she' all the time until he – or she – is born. See, I–" "No, we are waiting until he or she's born, because knowing you… from the moment you hear it's going to be a boy or a girl, the rest of the world will know it as well."

"No! I- I can keep a secret. Trust me; I can keep a secret… But, I don't think the gender of our love baby should be considered a secret. It's something I want to scream in the streets."

Temperance gave him a faint smile. "Yeah, like the fact that I'm pregnant. You should be happy Angela didn't suffocate in her chewing gum. You simply walked in the bar, yelling, 'Guys, we're having a baby!' That was much less than subtle."

"Maybe, but I was just happy about it. Still am, by the way…" he whispered, leaning in to kiss his wife's lips as the door to the gynecologist's office opened, revealing a dark haired and bearded man in his forties with glasses and a long white coat, leading a woman in advanced state of pregnancy out.

He invited them in with a gesture of his arm, and the young couple got up from their chairs in the waiting room and made their way inside the office.

"Tempe?"

"Yeah."

"You weren't serious when you said that... were you?"

"I was."

"But, I still want to know," Booth whispered, as she was spooning into him while they lay in bed together that night. "I will go insane if I have to wait another six months. Don't I have special privileges of knowing since I'm the father?"

"Stop nagging, you know what I said," she chuckled.

"Yeah, but–" "No buts, Seeley Booth. You're going to have to wait just like everyone else. Raise a bet or something," she yawned before dozing off with a smile on her lips.

A bet, huh…

"Guys!" Booth yelled the next morning as he stepped into the bar, trying to gather all of his employees. Most of them immediately dropped what they were doing, and walked over towards the bar, where Sweets kept on drying glasses, but looked at Mr. B intently, giving him all his attention. Having been a bartender for so long, he could literally wash and dry glasses with his eyes closed if necessary.

Booth took a couple of beer cards from the bar and handed one to each of his employees, causing Sweets to have to put down his glass and towel now.

Booth got several confused glances and opened his mouth to explain. "As you all know, the lady and I are having a baby in about six months. Since we don't want to know the gender before he – or she – is born…"

He stopped when he saw Ange raise one eyebrow. "I would have expected of her to not want to know, but I'm almost sure that you do want to know, Mr. B."

"Well, yeah," Booth replied a bit nervously. The last thing he wanted was for his employees to think that Tempe was wearing the pants at home, even though he knew and didn't mind that they were aware he'd do everything for her – anything, to make her happy or happier than she already was.

"Doesn't matter," he said, noticing Ange's triumphant smile. "Since we prefer not to know the baby's gender before he or she's born, I think a bet would be in place here. I'd like for you all to write down your name on the beer card, together with your best guess on gender, weight, length, and birth date."

Booth swiftly took a few pens from behind the bar and laid them down upon it, waiting for everyone to take one and did as they were being asked. He himself picked up a beer card and pen as well.