A/N: So I was working on an iTunes Fic Challenge and got a big kick from my muse. It's another angsty drabble, and contains character deaths, but hopefully its still good.
When I see your smile, Tears run down my face, I can't replace
And now that I'm strong I've figured out,
How this world turns cold, and breaks my soul
Seasons are changing and waves are crashing
And stars are falling for us
She's at the Jeffersonian, one hand splayed against her lower back for support as Brennan climbs the stairs onto the platform. Her stomach is heavy and swollen with his child, and though she glows with motherhood and health, Angela can see the strain around her eyes. Booth has been undercover for months now, and in his absence Angela and the team have stepped in to support Brennan as best as they can. It has not been nearly enough.
When she see's the black suited agents striding towards their position, Angela feels her heart plummet. And then Brennan has her arm in a vice grip, she's seen them too, and they both just know in their gut.
Hours later, Brennan still has not emerged from her office, but everyone can hear the raw wailing through the doors, Angela's voice attempting to instill at least some calm but there is nothing that can be said. Hodgins is pale, and the team is still in shock, but the worry about Brennan and the baby right now is overwhelming. No one gets any work done, and most of the interns have been sent home by the time Cam emerges with Angela, Brennan is red eyed and leaning on both heavily. She's trembling and keeps muttering that he's left her as he drives them all to his house, its understood that there is only so much that Brennan can handle before a trip to the ER is needed.
Brennan hangs on for only a few weeks, all she sees when she sleeps are nightmares of him being shot down, tortured. It makes her sick and she's lost too much weight, Sweets is a constant visitor and her friends try to keep her going. No one gets much rest, and one day when she wakes up screaming from an exhausted sleep, its not only from the images in her mind but the pain roaring through her gut like fire.
She holds her baby only once, weakly manages through the suffocating pain to name his daughter and express her desire that Angela and Hodgins raise her if she doesn't make it. Brennan slips away shortly thereafter, from blood loss and what everyone that knew her agrees was heartbreak.
Christine Booth is both a joy and a painful reminder of what they have all lost. She grows quickly, curly dark hair, her mother's eyes and her father's toothy smile. Her parents instill in her Brennan's voracious appetite for knowledge and Booth's lion heart. She sees the world in bright colors and infinite processes, and Angela knows that if her best friends were alive they would feel nothing but love. Her daughter is a mix of all that is good from all four of her parents, her aunts and her uncles, her grandfathers.
Her smile speaks to Angela of how blessings come wrapped up in hurt and loss, and it reminds her of how finite life is. Someday, she knows, she will have to give her up to them. In the meantime, Angela is grateful for the life she has been gifted with in their stead.
Angela looks across the room at her husband rocking their second daughter to sleep, and they share a smile as Christine murmurs in her dreams from her place against her chest. Later in the afternoon, their untraditional family will gather to celebrate their oldest's 5th birthday. Uncle Sweets and Aunt Daisy will bring the cake, and Auntie Cam the balloons.
For now Angela closes her eyes in quiet contentment, and is thankful for the gift that Brennan and Booth have given them all.
After all, the center must hold, and it has, despite everything.