Spoilers/Timeline: None/Set in the future; B&B are in an established relationship.

A/N: You might want to make sure you've fasted before reading this or you could go into sugar shock. Seriously, I'm not paying for any hospital bills ;) Lots of love to bearlee_there for concept feedback and K. Elisabeth for the look over.

Disclaimer: No, Bones does not belong to me. Title taken from Guster's Keep It Together.

"Ok, Dr. Brennan, we'll see you next month." She nodded numbly, her fingers tracing her name in the upper left corner of the paper she held. The grainy image was hard to process even to her trained eye, but — she grinned as his arm wound around her waist, tugging her close so that he could get another look — she found it beautiful nonetheless.

A perfectly healthy, beautiful little girl. Tearing her eyes away from the sonogram, she leaned forward to arrange her next appointment, only to find it had already been scheduled. Her brow creased, arms falling across her stomach. Yes, her mind was spinning in about thirty different directions, but...

She laughed lightly at herself; the human brain couldn't possibly handle so many thought processes at once. Still, she was filled with an unknown amount of happiness... excitement, wonder, disbelief, fear... Everything all at once. She thought she might be sick. And not from nausea gravidarum this time.

All that aside, she was certain she had waited to set up another appointment knowing that several trial dates were about to be added to her calendar "What... when did..."

"Pregnancy brain, Bones?"

"That is not a legitimate medical condi—"

"And yet in the past four weeks you've misplaced the car keys twice, forgotten to come to my hockey game, and left case files everywhere from the office to the diner..."

"True, I have noticed that I'm experiencing an unusually high amount of forgetfulness." She leaned against him, scowling down at the appointment card the receptionist had thrust into her hand. "Still, I don't believe I—"

"That's because I just made it while you were getting cleaned up." He gestured to her abdomen where cold gel had been smeared minutes before.

"You couldn't have just said that to begin with?"

"And miss that look on your face, Bones? Never." Grinning, he draped his arm over her shoulders, guiding her towards the parking lot.

Inhaling deeply, she shielded her eyes from the afternoon sun, a temperate May breeze drifting around them as they made their way to the SUV. Booth's hand squeezed her shoulder every couple steps, his lips brushing over her temple, cheek, jaw... She smiled; he always made her feel so cherished... loved.

And they were going to have a daughter. Someone with features and characteristics of both of them. She felt confident in the intelligence she could pass along to their off-spring, but beyond that — she gnawed at her bottom lip, running her hand across her belly and sighing as she settled in the passenger seat — beyond that, she was scared shitless. What if their daughter was exactly like her?

"A girl, Bones, a girl!" His voice echoed across the cabin of the car, jarring her from her thoughts as he pulled out into traffic. "I bet she has your eyes and hair... or maybe my eyes and your hair... Either way, she's going to be a knockout." Reaching across the console, he laced his fingers with hers, his thumb tapping out a light rhythm against her skin. "I'm gonna teach her to appreciate football and how ride a bike, tell her stories before bed... hell, I'll even play tea party if she wa— Hey, what's..." His brow furrowed as her hand tightened around his, her teeth pressing into her lip so hard he thought she might draw blood. "What's wrong?"

"I find that I'm concerned that... I wonder if..."

"Sometime before our daughter gets here, please."

"What if she's just like me, Booth?"

"What?" Laughing lightly, he raised an eyebrow at her. She just shrugged, her hands tugging at the end of her loose blouse in worry. Laughter fading, he sighed as he practically slammed on the breaks in rush hour traffic before pulling to the side of the road. His gaze drifted over her, the slight pout of her lips, the measured way she was breathing, her fingers unconsciously splaying across her belly... there was something touching — moving — about the concern etched over every inch of her. No matter how off base it was. "That's ridi—"

"No, don't. It's very plausible that she'll inherit a multitude of traits from me... what if she's too rational? Or spends all her times in books and labs?"

"Then she'll be a super genius like her mom, no harm there."

She shook her head, eyes closing for a moment before she met his gaze once more. "She's going to be intelligent no matter what; both her parents have above average IQs, but..."

"But?"

"But I was shy, ostracized from my peers and thus refrained from socializing even before my parents left. What if—"

"Ok, yeah, but that intensified when they did, baby."

"The foundation remains though. I don't want her to be scared of the world, Booth. She could end up walled in, have horrible taste in men, missing the person right in front of her..."

A wave of warmth washed over him at her last words he leaned across the console, pressing his mouth to hers. "She won't. Listen..." Cupping her face, he rested his forehead against hers, ignoring the painful chafing of the seatbelt across his chest as he leaned closer. "There were a lot of things out of your control that you had to deal with; things our daughter will never, ever even have to think about." He tipped his head to the side, smiling as he leaned back into his seat, his fingers trailing over her jaw. "Nothing wrong with her waiting to date though."

She rolled her eyes, unable to stop herself from laughing. "Oh, I can see how her adolescent years are going to—"

"Alright, way too early to be thinking about that." Resting his arm on the console he brushed his lips over hers, smirking as she tried to pull him closer. "Honestly, I can't think of anything better than her being like you, Bones. It would be amazing."

"I... thank you, I find that, coming from you, that sentiment is quite touching." Leaning forward, she groped blindly behind him, finally depressing the button on the seatbelt and freeing him. Her arms hooked under his, fingers twisting in the hair at the base of his neck as she tried to pull him into her seat.

"Baby, we're not both gonna..."

"I know, just... I... looked like it was starting to get uncomfortable."

"It was, thanks."

"Mmm, anytime." She leaned back against the seat, hands still drifting in and out of his hair... down his neck, across his broad shoulders... His eyes were dark, his gaze intense yet... concerned, loving... "I want her to be like you. To have the ability to connect to people without reservation, to laugh and—"

"Hey, you laugh. And you connect with people, the squints... me..." He arched an eyebrow, voice low as he began massaging her lower back.

"But not without a concentrated effort on your part. I hope she doesn't need someone to show her how to love. That she knows it's perfectly acceptable to just let go — trust — sometimes."

"And she will. Our little princess is going to be perfect, a little like me, a little like you..." His hands drifted to her stomach, caressing lightly. "She's part of us; I can't wait to meet her.

Her lips crashed against his, sucking gently before she pulled away, a smile spreading across her face as he turned, shifting in his seat, and started the car once more. "Me either. Now take me... us... home."