Note: I started this the week before Christmas, but it turns out the week before Christmas is really, really busy..
This might just be the first of a series of one-shots (we all know I'm not a multi-chapter story kind of person) dealing with possibilities of Booth & Brennan as a couple/parents. They will presumably all become AU as their actual relationship unfolds on the show.
Title: Independence Day
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She'd thought she was ready – ready to open up, to build a life with a man she'd come to trust even when she couldn't trust herself.
After Vincent's death, she wasn't going to miss another chance. She made the first move, and she – the one who prided herself on her rationality – hadn't given a moment's thought to birth control.
She wasn't ready for the changes that came with being pregnant. Her body changed, of course, and she didn't know from one day to the next if she'd be nauseous, or if her clothes would no longer fit, or if she'd have to fight back tears as she examined the remains of someone's child, or if her center of gravity would shift and make it difficult to balance.
Those changes she could have dealt with. After all, she knew that they were a necessary part of nurturing the growing fetus within her.
The changes in Booth were harder to deal with. He'd always seen himself as a protector, but knowing she was carrying his progeny made him even more protective than usual.
It had been a long time since anyone had made her dinner, or worried about what time she got home, or thrown her laundry in the machine for her. It made her feel loved in a way she hadn't felt since she was a child, and at first she was content to let him hover. She knew he worried, and it was easier to humor him. After all, letting him install non-stick decals on the shower didn't hurt anything, and it wasn't like she enjoyed vacuuming.
It all blew up a week before her due date. One of the interns had been examining a set of remains from modular bone storage and had reached the conclusion that one of the bones didn't belong with the rest. She hadn't wanted to believe it – the last time something like that had happened remained one of the hardest times of her life – so she'd blocked out the sound of Hodgins humming some annoying children's song and examined the remains herself.
When she realized that the remains had in fact been mixed up, there was nothing to do but go down to bone storage to determine how widespread the problem was. It wasn't until she returned to her office five hours later to find Booth barking orders into his cell phone that she realized that her cell phone was on her desk and the rest of the Jeffersonian team had been gone for at least two hours.
He was angry, she was resentful, and soon they were screaming at each other. Before she even knew what she was going to say, she heard herself demand that he leave. The shock and hurt on his face almost changed her mind, but before she could speak he whirled and stomped away. It wasn't until the sliding doors closed behind him that she collapsed into tears on her couch.
That night she went into labor.
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Angela had always been Bones's friend, and he appreciated the non-judgmental way she picked up the pieces. She was the one Bones called when she felt the contractions were close enough together to warrant a trip to the hospital. She was the one who held Bones's hand and made jokes to defuse the tension in the room, and when he held his daughter for the first time, she was the one who took the cell phone picture that he'd later pin up at his desk.
Bones had insisted she wanted to spend as little time in the hospital as possible, so he wasn't surprised when she was discharged the next day. He was surprised, though, that she let him drive her home. He carried her bag to her door and made sure they were settled. Somehow, she'd managed to get a crib delivered and set up while she was in the hospital and her spare room had been transformed into a room she described as "suitably stimulating". Leaving her and the baby to return to his lonely apartment was the hardest thing he'd ever done.
His apartment seemed too big without her – them – there. Before long, he found himself closing the door to the baby's room, tossing her towels in the washing machine, and filling a box with the shoes she had left stacked neatly in the closet, the contents of the drawer he'd cleared out for her, and the organic tea she insisted on drinking before bed.
When his apartment was free of the visible signs of his latest romantic disaster, he flung himself onto the couch and turned on the TV.
An infomercial was playing when he woke to the ringing of the phone. For a second, he didn't know where he was, and he almost dropped the phone before he managed to find the right button.
When he answered, there was a moment of silence, then the wail of an angry newborn. Instantly, he was off the couch and searching for his keys. "Bones?", he asked.
Her answering "Booth" was said through a voice choked with tears, but it still reassured him in some way he couldn't fully explain. Even after everything that had happened, she'd called him.
"I'm on my way", he replied as he locked the door to his apartment and dashed down the stairs.
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She'd done her research – read the most up-to-date studies, listened intently to Angela's stories (even though they were anecdotal at best), attended the birthing classes – but nothing had prepared her for her complete and utter failure to comfort her own child.
There was nothing wrong. The baby didn't want to eat, her diaper was dry, and she was clearly uninterested in sleep, yet she screamed and screamed.
Brennan swaddled her, but that just made her more angry. She walked the floor, the baby cradled in her arms, until she bumped into the couch for the second time.
It only took five minutes of her sitting on the couch, crying as hard as her daughter, to give in and call Booth.
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It took him two tries to get his key into the lock, but soon he was rushing through the doors of the apartment building and taking the stairs two at a time.
He burst through the door of her apartment to see the two of them cuddled together on the couch, the baby's legs kicking stiffly as she screamed. At the sound of the door hitting the wall, Brennan looked up, complete misery on her face.
His heart was racing, but he forced himself to calmly shut and lock the door behind him. He kicked off his shoes and tossed his coat on a chair, then walked over to Brennan. "Hey, Bones", he said, his tone even. "Bad night?"
She took a shuddering breath before she answered. "I don't know what's wrong, Booth. She just keeps screaming."
He reached down and took the baby. "Come here, kiddo. You like giving your mom a hard time, don't you?" The baby snugly cradled in his arms, he rocked back and forth, his free hand rubbing soothing circles on her back.
Brennan uncurled herself from the couch and walked to the kitchen. She returned a minute later, a glass of water in her hand. Setting the water on the coffee table, she collapsed back onto the couch. "She's been crying for ages", she said.
Booth kept his voice quiet as he answered. "She doesn't have a fever. I think she's just mad, Bones." He grinned at her. "Who would have thought that the two of us would have a stubborn, temperamental child?"
Almost against her will, Brennan laughed. In Booth's arms, the baby drew a shuddering breath and quieted, staring intently at the man who now held her.
"I think she's tired herself out", Booth said. "Want to try feeding her again?"
Moments later, the baby was happily suckling at Brennan's breast, the temper tantrum long forgotten.
Booth gazed longingly at the tender scene in front of him, then reached in his pocket for his keys. "Looks like you've got it under control, Bones. I should get going."
Brennan tore her eyes away from her daughter and looked up at him. "Thanks, Booth. I couldn't have done it without you."
Booth grinned. "Of course you could, Bones, but call me anytime."
"You could stay?" Somehow, it was a question.
There was nothing Booth wanted more, but he knew she needed to know he trusted her to care for their child alone. "Not tonight, Bones. You can handle it. But I'd love to bring breakfast over in the morning?"
Brennan nodded, her attention turning back to her daughter. Booth leaned down and kissed his daughter's cheek. "Be good, munchkin." Before he could think the better of it, he pressed a quick kiss on Brennan's lips. "Love you, Bones"
With that, he walked out the door, his steps lighter than they'd been in days.
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Note: There seems to be a bit of confusion, so let me clarify. In my mind, they have a fight - possibly their first big fight, since they seem to be letting things go that can't continue in the long run - and before they can begin to make up, she goes into labour. Booth is there when she gives birth, but as an observer - Angela has been brought in to support Brennan. Their relationship is not definitely over, but they're not really together at this point because with the chaos and exhaustion of childbirth, they haven't had time to get over being mad and work things out. Make sense?