The Conversation with the Coffee

Agent Seeley Booth sat at his desk and sorted through the files that had stacked up while he was out of the office for two weeks after Christine was born.

With Brennan still on maternity leave, Booth was glad they were between cases right now for two reasons. First, it gave him a chance to catch up on all the paperwork he had, and secondly, he wasn't out in the field right now. That meant that for the time being, he was working 8am to 4pm and was able to be at home with Bones and Christine as much as possible.

Booth looked up from his paperwork and grinned at the picture on his desk. Angela took the picture the night they brought Christine home and had multiple copies framed for them as a gift. It was a candid shot, and Booth thought that was what he liked the most about it. Bones was holding Christine, smiling down at her, and he had a silly grin on his face with one arm wrapped around her shoulder, while his other hand was resting gently, yet protectively, over Christine's tummy.

Life was good.

The buzz of his cellphone startled him for a second, but he glanced at the clock and realized it was almost noon. That was usually the time Brennan would call to check in or send pictures of Christine. Only this time when he turned his phone over, the name and number on the screen didn't belong to Bones. It was actually a number he wasn't expecting to see.

"Booth," he answered professionally.

"Hi, Seeley," came a familiar voice. "I had a sudden change of plans in my travel itinerary and found myself with six hours to spend in DC. If you're free, I wondering if you'd like to buy me coffee," the woman propositioned.

Booth leaned back in his chair. "If I recall correctly, you owe me a coffee. I bought last time."

"Did you really?" the woman asked, and Booth could just picture the way she would pinch her face together as she tried to come up with a way to get a coffee out of him.

"Mmhm, but you're lucky you caught me in a good mood. I may be persuaded into buying your coffee." He relaxed and placed his feet up on his desk.

The woman laughed. "So, does that mean you'll meet me for coffee?"

"For you, of course."

"If you can't get away, I can come to your office."

"No, I can get away. There's no need to come here."

She chuckled. "You're just afraid that if I come to you we'll end up groping each other in FBI closet."

Booth rolled his eyes. "Those days are long over."

"I know, I was just teasing. Lighten up."

"How about the coffee cart by the Jefferson Memorial? In about twenty minutes?" He suggested, effectively changing the subject.

"I'll meet you there."

"Hey, is everything okay?" He asked cautiously.

"Yes, Seeley. You worry too much. I just thought it would be nice to catch up...unless you'd rather not..." she trailed off.

"No, no," he exclaimed quickly. "I'll be there."

"In twenty minutes."

"In twenty minutes," he confirmed.

"I'll see you then," she said before ending the call with a click.

Nearly twenty minutes later, Booth was walking towards the steps of the Jefferson Memorial as he looked for his coffee companion.

"Seeley!" The voice called out.

He turned to figure out where she was. It didn't take long to spot her, as she usually always stood out in a crowd. He noticed her standing near the coffee cart, her long blondish-brown hair was blowing in the breeze. When they made eye contact, she lifted her hands to show him that she had two cups of coffee.

He smiled and walked towards her.

"One cream, two sugars. I hope that's okay. I couldn't remember."

"Rebecca," he greeted as she handed him his cup of coffee. He took a sip of coffee and declared, "It's perfect."

"Good," she smiled warmly.

"What made you decide to buy our coffee?" He asked as they began to walk towards the steps of the memorial to find a seat.

"Well, you have a new baby at home. I figured it was the least I could do...and I thought about it. You were right, you bought last time."

He chuckled as they sat down on the steps. "Is everything really okay? Is Parker okay?"

"Parker is fine. He likes London, and he's made some friends, but I think he's homesick. He misses you a lot. He can't wait to come visit you, Temperance and the baby. Actually, when he found out I had a business trip to the States, he begged me to let him come too, but I told him he couldn't. Looking back, maybe I should have let him skip school for a few days, especially since my business trip almost coincided with the arrival of his baby sister. Hindsight is twenty-twenty," she sighed.

Booth nodded sadly. He missed Parker so much, and wished Rebecca would have brought him with her. "I can't wait for him to meet Christine."

"He can't wait either. He made a countdown."

Booth smiled. "I used to make countdowns for everything when I was kid."

"He's a lot like you."

"Bec, do you really think he's excited about Christine? Adding a new sibling is tough for a kid, but our situation is unique...I just don't want him to think he's being replaced or anything."

"He's a bright kid, Seeley. He knows you love him. He has some questions, but I think I answered them appropriately, and I'm sure he'll ask you about them, too."

"What kind of questions?"

"Oh, you know. The kind of questions ten-year-old kids have. He wanted to know if Christine is really his sister even though they have different moms, and I told him in very simple terms, yes – that they have the same dad and that makes them siblings no matter what." Rebecca chuckled. "As I was talking to him, I was thinking that Temperance would have been much better at explaining genetics and family trees."

Booth smiled, knowing full well that Bones would have divulged into a whole scientific conversation with Parker to answer the question. "Yeah," he agreed. "She would have had a whole lecture planned, but sometimes a simple answer is all a kid need to be reassured. You told him the right thing."

Rebecca shrugged. "I hope so. The tough one was when he asked me why the new baby got to live with her mom and dad he never got to live with the both of us at the same time. He's never asked anything like that before. It threw me for a loop."

Booth tapped his fingers against the lid of his coffee cup and sighed heavily. "It was only a matter of time before he asked something like that."

"I know. I took it for granted that he never did before. Us not being together was normal for him."

"What did you say?"

"I tried not to panic, and to keep everything simple. I told him that all families are unique, different and special in their own way. I told him that you and I loved each other, but there are different kinds of love. I told him that we had the type of love to be his parents, but we didn't have the right kind of love to live together, but that didn't mean that we loved him any less. I told him that you and Temperance had the right kind of love for living together." She took a long sip of coffee before she continued. "They weren't the best answers, but I didn't know what else to do. He seemed content with the answers for now at least." Rebecca turned to look at Booth and smiled. "It was sweet, actually, he said he didn't want Christine to be jealous that he had two houses to live in and he asked if she could live with us part of the time so she wouldn't feel bad. I told him that maybe when she was older she could come for a sleepover, but that would have to be up to you and Temperance."

"He's a good, caring kid." Booth knew that the initial adjustment period might be a little tough for Parker, but he was certain Parker was going to be the best big brother ever.

"Yeah, he is," she agreed. "We got lucky."

"We sure did." They tapped their coffee cups together as if they were toasting. "We had no idea what we were doing when he was born."

"Not a clue." Rebecca paused before she spoke again. "So, tell me about Christine," she requested has she tapped her shoulder to his.

Booth pulled his phone out of his pocket and began scrolling through pictures to show Rebecca. "She's a pretty content baby. I'm pretty sure she smiles at me, but you know, Bones is the scientist, she says it's just gas, but I don't believe her. She's smiling at me. I know it," he said adamantly.

"She's adorable. She looks like both of you."

"I think so, too," he agreed.

"I can't believe you delivered her yourself. At first, I thought Parker misunderstood whatever you told him. It wasn't until I read your email that I realized he didn't misunderstand anything."

"Bones had this crazy idea about wanting a homebirth, but I was adamant that the baby be born in a hospital. As it turns out, neither one of us got what we wanted, but I must admit, being the first person to hold her – to touch her – that was pretty amazing...miraculous, actually."

"How do you like the middle of the night diaper changes and all of that?"

"No one seems to be getting enough sleep in our house, but I love all the middle of the night wake ups in a weird way. You know? Even her cries are the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard."

Rebecca nodded sadly. She understood. "I'm sorry you didn't get to experience all of that with Parker. I'm sorry I kept you away."

Booth shrugged. "That past is in the past, Rebecca."

"I know it must have hurt you and it was hard for you. I'm sorry it took me nearly ten years to apologize. We weren't on good terms, and I wasn't mature enough to let you be more involved for your sake and for Parker's sake."

"We were young and stupid, Becca. Neither one of us knew how to handle the situation we were in."

"I'm glad you get to be the full-time dad that you always wanted to be. I know it's different than what you had with Parker, and I am glad to get to experience it. I really am. You deserve this."

"It is different," he agreed. "I don't want it to sound like I love Christine more than Parker or anything like that, but it's just a different dynamic being with her all the time. I get to see her every day. When Parker was baby, I mostly just had him for all his "good moments" and you had to deal with all the rest on your own. You're a good mom, Rebecca. You did all the hard stuff on your own."

"You're a good dad, too. You were never far away if I needed something. I always knew that."

He smiled at her, thinking about what a long way they came in the last ten years.

"I'm also glad you have Temperance to share all of this with, and I am glad she is a part of Parker's life."

"That means a lot, Rebecca. It really does."

"You know, I hear my friends complain about how their ex-husbands are remarried and their kids have a step-mom now and how upset they get over it, and sometimes I think about how I would feel if Parker had Temperance as a step-mom, and you know what... I can't think of one thing I would be upset about. Not one."

"Rebecca..." Booth was at a loss for words. He really didn't know what to say to Rebecca's revelation.

"I'm not sure if I see things differently than my friends because we were never married or what, but I can honestly tell you there isn't one thing about Temperance that would cause me anxiety over her being in Parker's life that way. Not one."

"I don't know what to say to that, Rebecca. That's huge."

"I can see how much she cares for Parker, and Parker loves her, Seeley. He really does. Sometimes he'll come home from school and he'll tell me some bizarre science fact. He'll be like – hey, Mom, did you know a Stegosaurus dinosaur was over 9 meters long, but its brain was only the size of a walnut. And I say – no, Parker, I didn't know that. Then he'll say – I wonder if Dad knows that. And I'll say - I'm not sure, Parker, you'll have to ask him. Then he says - I bet Bones knows that; she knows all kinds of random things." Rebecca's mouth curved upwards into a smile. "He gets so excited when he talks about her, and he wants to do well in school and learn new things so he'll have something to talk to her about. I never once felt jealous or threatened or anything like that. If anything, I felt grateful that he has such a strong, intelligent, kind, caring, and remarkable woman to look up to.

Booth reached out to squeeze her hand. "You don't know how much it means to me that you feel that way."

"I knew it the first time I saw you and Temperance together that you two had something special – something that we never had. You two are good for each other. I can tell. One time, I alluded to Temperance that turning down your proposal might have been a mistake, and we missed our moment. What we had, Seeley...what we had was good, but it wasn't right. If that makes any sense..."

He nodded. "It makes sense." He smiled. "This is why you wanted to get coffee, huh? To tell me this?"

She nodded. "I've wanted to tell you for a while, but it never seemed appropriate when you two weren't dating, but now that you are and you two have a baby together, I felt like it was the right time. I was going to call you, but when my travel plans changed, I figured it was fate telling me I should tell you in person." She sniffled, but tried her best to disguise it as a chuckle. "And I'm a woman, I won't ever pass up the chance to see some baby pictures."

"Oh, that reminds me," he began as he pulled an envelope out of his pocket. "Can you give this to Parker for me?" he asked as he handed it to her.

Curious, she peaked inside a bit. "May I open it?"

"Of course."

Rebecca opened the envelope and pulled out a picture. It was the picture Booth was admiring at his desk when she had called him. "This is a beautiful picture, Seeley. It will mean a lot to Parker."

"Tell him that Bones and I miss him and we think about him every day."

"I will."

"I'll try to call him more often – maybe during all those late-night feedings and diaper changes since it will be morning for you guys. I don't want him to feel left out."

"I think that would be very nice."

"I really have to get back to the office soon," he began as he stood up. "Do you need me to drive you back to the airport or anything? Carry your luggage for you? Hail a cab?"

She shook her head as she stood up. "No, I'm fine. I'm going to sit here for a few minutes while I finish my coffee. Maybe I'll grab a soft pretzel before I leave."

"You and those pretzels," he teased. "I wish you had a little bit more time and could swing by the house and see Bones and the baby. She'd be happy to see you."

"I only have about five hours left now, and most of that time will be spent at the TSA checkpoint. And besides, I can't meet Christine before Parker. He'd never forgive me."

"Yeah, you're right."

"I usually am," she smiled.

He leaned over and gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for everything today."

"Congratulations again. Send Temperance my love."

"I will," he said softly, before he began to descend the stairs of the memorial. Once he reached the bottom, he turned around to look up at her and they waved their final goodbye to one another.

Rebecca sat back down on the steps and began to put the picture back in the envelope for safekeeping. As she was replacing the picture, she noticed Booth's handwriting on the back of the picture- something she didn't catch before. She blinked back tears as she read Booth's message to Parker scrawled out on the back of the picture.

Parks -

Can't wait for you to come stay with us in a few months. Christine is excited to meet her big brother. I can tell. I know this might be a confusing time for you with a new baby and all, but just remember I love you so much. You'll always be my Little Man, even though you aren't so little anymore. Bones and I miss you and can't wait for you to be here so we can take a proper family photo –one with all four of us.

Love you, kid.

Dad