Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I certainly don't profit from them.
Author's Note: This is set during Baby In The Bough – just how did Brennan deal with diaper changes? This is dedicated to Ashley because it's her birthday – and I stayed up way too late the night before I had to get up at 3am to catch a flight out just to help make it a little happier – so happy birthday, Ash, I hope you enjoy this little moment.
"It's not that hard, Bones," Booth had a smirk on his face as he watched the concentration on his partner's face as she seemed to contemplate the physics of diaper changing.
"It's not that I think it's difficult," Clearly there was a method to this that had been borne out of centuries of child rearing. She pursed her lips together as she considered how the diaper was held together so that she could replicate it once she replaced it. Andy simply pinched his face together and gurgled at her.
"Well if it's not that hard, what seems to be the problem?" Booth looked amused. So far she hadn't changed a single diaper and so he'd offered to coach her through the first one; there was no way that she could come up with a legitimate reason to keep avoiding diaper duty.
"I've never changed a diaper and so I'm approaching it the same way I approach any initial examination," Brennan thought that it made perfect sense to tackle this the way she would anything else. She had observed Booth a number of times now and she wanted to make sure that she did it perfectly.
Booth let out a laugh, "He's a baby, Bones, and he just wants a pair of clean pants." Clearly she was making this far more complicated than it needed to be. He could have changed five or six diapers in the span of time that she'd been studying Andy's diaper.
"That's fairly obvious given the look on his face; experientially that would indicate that he's soiled his diaper," Brennan decided that perhaps the best way to complete the task was to just dive right in. She quickly removed the wet diaper and then realized that she hadn't lined up a new one, nor the baby powder that Booth said was so important.
"There you go, Bones," Booth had a hint of chuckle in his voice as he clapped his hands together and began rubbing them back and forth with a gleeful expression on his face.
Brennan merely looked at Andy, "Isn't your Uncle Booth acting like a baby; just like you, Andy?" She continued talk to the baby, smiling at him and making silly faces, although she would deny it if Booth pointed it out to her. Her hand finally found the diaper at the same moment that Andy let out a particularly delightful squeal.
"Hey, watch out there, Bones," Too late Booth surmised as a stream that would make a fountain proud sprung out from little Andy and hitting Bones squarely down the front of her blouse.
"Booth!" Brennan wished that he had warned her about the unpredictable nature of a child's bladder. She dabbed at the wet spot with a baby wipe as a frown spread across her face.
"Ok, Bones, let me finish up here," Booth swung into daddy mode and quickly had Andy changed and ready for a snuggle. He glanced over at Bones who seemed to be rather put out by the fact that she hadn't been able to even change one diaper without disaster.
"Why do you make it look so easy?" Brennan admired the way that Booth just took to children like second nature and while she had certainly taken to Andy, she was definitely not as skilled as he was when it came to knowing how to care for children in general.
"Practice, Bones," He offered her a soft smile and then tilted his head just a bit, "When Parker was first born, I can't tell you the number of ties and shirts and shoes that he hit." He let out a chuckle, "You would have thought I had a target hung around my neck or something."
"Really?" Brennan had that quality to her voice that showed that she felt vulnerable and wanted to believe what Booth was telling her so that she would feel ok about failing. Why his opinion mattered so much to her was a mystery, but it did.
"Yeah, really," He grinned at her. "Now why doesn't Auntie Bones go get cleaned up and Andy and Uncle Booth will be right here waiting for her? Huh, Andy?" He was grinning like a fool at the baby and as he glanced over at Bones he noticed that she was grinning too.
"You will let me try that again, right?" Brennan hadn't ever wanted to be a mother, but somehow she was determined to master changing Andy's diaper.
"You better believe it," Booth continued to grin at her, "Now go get changed because Andy and I are going to take you out to the diner for pie." He jostled the baby and got a tiny giggle out of the deal.
"Pie is too sweet," Brennan observed, not quite ready to leave this moment regardless of her wet blouse; watching him like that made her feel something that she could only identify as happiness.
"So order coffee or whatever you want, but me and Andy want to take our best girl out for a little something," Booth hoped that she didn't think he was overstepping his bounds, but this surrogate domesticity had given him a boldness that he didn't normally exhibit when it came to hinting around about how he might truly feel for his partner.
"Ok," Brennan smiled and then impulsively stepped forward and pressed a kiss to Booth's cheek, "I'll only be a minute." She glanced back feeling a smile tug at the corners of her mouth at the slightly bewildered expression on Booth's face before she turned and headed off to change.
Booth just stood there with Andy in his arms with a big fat grin plastered to his face.
The End