Disclaimer: I don't own BONES except for the ones in my body.

A/N: This story was written as a wedding anniversary present for my friend MrsM. I didn't quite get it finished for the anniversary, but I figure the present can last over a couple of weeks this way. She graciously agreed to share.

P.S. This fic will be contemplative but fluffy, so no worrying about angst in this one. It's guaranteed to have a happy ending.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Part 1

"So, everything's set from your end?" Booth pointed his piece of bacon dubiously at his brother before taking a bite.

The Booth men were discussing last-minute details for Jared and Padme's upcoming nuptials. They were getting married in Virginia where Padme's family lives, with a church ceremony and an outdoor reception at a nearby park. It promised to be a wonderful day.

Booth had invited Jared out for a breakfast at the Royal Diner to finalize plans, but as always with his little brother, he was checking in to make sure all bases were covered.

Jared tilted his head and gave his older brother an exasperated look.

"Yes, Seeley! Everything is fine. All you need to do is show up with Parker on Saturday in your tuxes. Believe it or not, Padme runs a tight ship too. She's almost as controlling as you," Jared grinned as he forked some eggs into his mouth.

"Hey, watch what you say there. You're not allowed to complain about stuff like that until she's your wife," Booth winked and briefly smiled before swallowing the sour taste of the "w" word down with his coffee.

It had been four months since him and Hannah had broken up, and in general he was over it, but the subject of weddings and wives was still a sore spot for him. Women too. Pretty much anything that started with a "w" had been taboo to this point, but he was going to be a good sport this weekend for the sake of his brother. Besides, it was time to move on and move forward.

"So…I just wanted to double-check…you're still not bringing anyone? I mean, I know you and Hannah broke up but I thought maybe…"

"No," Booth said rather forcefully. "No, I'm not bringing anyone. I've got too much going on being your best man and all, and I haven't really being seeing anyone since Hannah."

Booth grimaced at the admission. While it was true that he had sworn off of all women in the romantic sense, there was one woman who he still spent a lot of time with, but Bones was off limits too for the time being, even if it would have been fun for her to come along.

The men sat in silence, chewing on their food for a few minutes when a thought occurred to Booth.

"Wait a minute…we've talked about me and Parker, but what about Pops? We haven't made any contingency plans for him, and he's definitely coming. Crap, how could we have forgotten about him?"

He shook his head in frustration with himself. His distraction over his personal life over the last year had taken him away from spending more time with his grandfather, and given Pop's slow but steady memory loss, he was losing precious time with him. That it hadn't occurred to him that someone needed to take care of Pops just bothered him even more with his behaviour as of late. He really needed to get his head on straight.

It was at this point that Jared developed what could only be described as a mischievous smirk on his face as he looked up at his brother.

"Relax…I've got that covered too…"

Two weeks earlier…

"Brennan," Brennan answered distractedly as she sat working through paperwork at her desk.

"Hi, Tempe? It's Jared Booth."

Brennan stopped what she was doing in surprise. It had been over a year since she had seen or spoken to Jared. She had a nanosecond flash of worry that something was wrong with Booth, but quickly squelched the irrational fear and focused on the conversation at hand.

"Jared! It's been a long time. How have you been?" She twisted her fingers nervously as she resisted the compelling urge to ask if something was wrong.

"I'm great! How are you? Busy as always I'd assume?"

"Yes, my days are generally very occupied with many tasks. I-is everything alright?"

She cursed herself for her weakness in needing to ask but the idea of anything happening to Booth or his family caused her instant concern.

"What? Oh! Yes, everything is fine! I'm actually calling about my upcoming wedding."

Her shoulders sagged in relief. Booth is okay. Instantly her spirits lifted.

"I was wondering if you got our invitation? We're just going through the list and we haven't received an RSVP from you, then it occurred to me that since you'd recently been travelling we might not have gotten the right address."

Brennan sat back in her chair in surprise.

"Oh. Umm, no I never received an invitation. When did you send it?"

"We sent them out a few months ago. It should have arrived a couple of weeks after you got back from your trip, so I guess it never made it to you."

"No, actually I was having some problems with reinstating my mailing address, so it's not surprising that it got lost. When is the wedding?"

Jared paused for a moment, surprised that his brother hadn't mentioned the wedding to his "partner". He presumed that things might have been a little rocky between them after he got back from Afghanistan with a blonde girlfriend in tow. It was obvious to him that before that they were well on their way to…something, but then they split ways for 7 months and then Hannah came into the picture. Jared had just assumed that he had misread the situation, but then his brother was always a bit testy when talking about Brennan, which made him all the more suspicious of that "something" still being there between them.

"Uh, Saturday June 28th, in two weeks. It's in Virginia..."

As Jared provided some more details, Brennan contemplated whether she wanted to attend. Booth had actually only mentioned the wedding once in passing. She wondered if her attending would be awkward for him.

"Tempe? You still there?"

"Hmm? Oh yes! My apologies. What was the last thing you said?"

"I was wondering if you attend, if you could do myself and my family a huge favour. I know it's a lot to ask, but when considering other options, you came to mind as the perfect solution."

Brennan sat back perplexed at what Jared was getting at.

"I'm sorry, I must not understand. What would you like from me?"

Jared sighed, demonstrating his slight discomfort.

"Well, it's about Pops…you see, his memory hasn't been the greatest lately, so he needs someone to be with him over the course of the day to make sure he's on task. Unfortunately my family is small, and I'm obviously preoccupied and Seeley's the best man, so…I was wondering if you would consider attending as Pops' escort?"

Hank. His favour was for Hank. Brennan instantaneously knew her answer.

"I would love to attend as Hank's attendant!"

Jared smiled on the other end of the phone at the excitement he heard in Tempe's voice. Seeley had mentioned that she had taken to his grandfather, and it was clear that this would be the perfect solution.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"So just like that, Bones said yes?" Booth asked, slightly shocked at Jared's story. Why hadn't Bones said anything? He wondered.

"Yeah, she seemed really excited about it. I'm surprised she never mentioned it to you. Actually, I'm surprised that neither of you have talked about my wedding at all. I guess it's not that important to you…" Jared taunted.

Booth shoved his brother playfully as they walked out of the diner.

"Don't be stupid. Of course it's not that important to me," he said with a smirk as they parted ways.

"I'll see you on Friday night at the rehearsal," he added as Jared mounted his motorcycle and drove away.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Later that day, Booth was driving Brennan from the Hoover back to the Jeffersonian. His conversation with Jared at breakfast had been running through his mind all day, and he couldn't resist asking Bones about the wedding.

Trying to sound casual, he glanced over at her then said, "So, I had breakfast with Jared this morning."

Brennan glanced up from the paperwork she was looking at. For some reason she felt like the statement was more of a question than a comment.

"Oh?" she asked before reverting her eyes back to the papers.

Booth cleared his throat and attempted to continue. He should have known Bones wouldn't pick up on the statement and elaborate on her own interactions with him recently.

"Yeah, we were talking about his wedding this Saturday, you know, finalizing plans and all that."

At that, Brennan put her papers down and looked over at him fully. She now understood where he was going with this conversation. Unperturbed, she responded with what he was clearly fishing for.

"Oh, yes. I recently spoke to him about that myself. It seems that I will be Hank's escort for the day. I'm really looking forward to it," she smiled, genuinely happy about the circumstances.

They were stopped at a red light, so Booth took the opportunity to turn fully towards her.

"Bones, how come you never said anything about going to my brother's wedding?"

Staring right back at him she responded in surprise, "Well, I never really had a reason to mention it, as it never came up in conversation until now. You never mentioned it yourself."

At this, she glanced back down at her lap at the paperwork, this time to avoid Booth's scrutiny.

"The light is green," she gently reminded him as she continued to pretend to look at her papers. It was true that the topic of Jared's wedding hadn't come up, but Brennan had half-expected Booth to mention it. She had taken his lack of mention as a sign that he didn't want to talk about it, so despite her attendance, she had left the subject alone. She knew that Booth had been wary of relationships given his experience with Hannah, and so she didn't want to upset him further by mentioning his brother's wedding.

"I guess I just figured you would have mentioned it."

He let the statement hang in the air for a moment, trying to mask the discomfort over their disconnect on the matter. He then pulled himself out of his melancholy to address the real reason he was bringing the topic up.

"Listen, Bones, I just want to say that I'm really glad you're coming, and I'm really thankful you're doing this for my family. It's really important to us that Pops is there, since, well, there aren't too many Booths around, and given his forgetfulness lately, it's just good that there's someone who cares about him who's with him, so…thanks. It really means a lot to us."

He looked at her sincerely until she looked up.

Brennan smiled, almost wistfully, as she looked directly into his eyes.

"I'd do anything for you and your family, Booth. Really it's my pleasure."

This statement was definitely true – she would do anything for him. Anything and everything.

If only he was open enough to see it.

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