A/N Howdy everyone! Here is the sequel I promised you...for some reason, when I was reading it before it didn't sound like something I had written, if that makes sense. Also, am I meant to refer to Booth as 'Booth' or as 'Seeley'? If anyone could clear that up I would be grateful. There was something else I wanted to say but I can't remember what it was. Um...I don't know if I made this known before but this is like one chapter per year (that doesn't mean I'm only going to write one chapter per year don't worry). As I'm writing it doesn't currently have a title so the title it has as you are reading this probably sucks a bit. I think that's it. Enjoy! [A/N This chapter was reuploaded on May 23rd 2010 due to page break errors]
Temperance turned the page, and scanned the images until her eyes settled on one in particular. Suddenly, she broke out in a smile as her mind transported her back to that day.
From her comfortable spot in an armchair by the window of the living room, she looked around the room and remembered all of the times she had sat here before, worn out after a long day looking after the children. It was definitely easier now they were older, and she had more time for herself, but they still depended on her for a lot. They knew she needed time alone sometimes, and now was one of those times. As she took a sip of coffee from the mug she was given for Mother's Day five years ago, her hand brushed over the photo.
Sometimes, Temperance Brennan wondered how she coped with the lack of sleep. She hadn't had a peaceful night, where she could just go to bed and not worry about waking up five times, in almost a year. It was always something. For the first six months one of the twins would wake up almost every single hour for a feed. It happened less often now, perhaps once every three or four hours, but occasionally one of them would wake up and start crying, eventually waking the other one. And then there was the challenge of getting them back to sleep again, and on a bad night that could take anywhere up to an hour. Sometimes she would be so tired she would give in and let whomever was making the noise sleep in the empty space in the bed beside her, which offered great comfort to the baby, but terrified Temperance no end – what if she fell asleep and rolled over?. If it wasn't the twins waking her up an ungodly hour, it was Booth – he had started working longer hours, on tougher and more stressful high-profile cases (perhaps to escape the madness at home, she often wondered) and wasn't getting home until two o'clock most mornings. When he did eventually get home, he would understandably be so tired, that he would flop down on the bed, causing her to wake up and wonder what on earth was going on. Then she would be wide awake for the hours, eventually falling asleep shortly before the alarm clock rang and the whole thing would start all over again.
Tonight, however, she was already awake, sitting cross-legged on the living room floor. Rolls of wrapping paper, tape, and numerous pairs of scissors were strewn everywhere, and a pile of already wrapped parcels were stacked beside her. At the moment she was wrapping up a picture book in pink flowery paper (for Bea), but about half an hour ago she had been hanging streamers on the walls. Brandon had already woken up twice, so the decorating had been abandoned for now. She had begun to think that she was going a bit far, but as Angela kept telling her, the twins would only turn one once. Even though they wouldn't actually remember the event, at least they were making the effort. And Hodgins would be filming the whole party, so they could watch it when they were older.
She sighed and leaned back against the sofa, subconsciously brushing flour from the front of her brown slacks. She had never made a cake in her life, but in the past year she had done a lot of things she had never done before. The smell of it baking in the oven wafted down the hall from the kitchen and danced in the air around her, making her stomach rumble. In all the chaos today, she had forgotten to eat anything, except breakfast which she always ate with the rest of her family, before Booth went to work and she and the twins went out to run errands.
'When would I have found the time,' she thought, 'between decorating the house, baking, preparing snacks, and picking up the dry-cleaning?'
But then that was how everything in her life seemed to be now – barely any time to do what needed to be done (if you had seen her house last week, you would know that being a mother of twins left little time for cleaning and general tidying), barely any time to spend time with Brandon and Bea as individuals like the parenting guides were always telling her, and no time whatsoever for her and Seeley to just be a couple. Their friends were less than willing to step up and offer to look after both children, so the last time the two of them had a romantic night to themselves was when they had finally convinced (or tricked depending on who was asked) Angela to take the twins, who were by then seven months old and a lot better behaved, albeit somewhat mischievous. They were forever getting into the low cabinets in the kitchen, much to the dismay of Temperance who was constantly trying to keep the place organised and tidy, and was terrified of them hurting themselves or each other. She rarely invited people over any more, for fear of them thinking she was a total slob who didn't care about the state of her home, even with two young babies. People were drawn to the twins, though. In the supermarket they attracted stares, and sometimes both awkward and stupid questions (Are they both yours? Did you conceive them naturally? Are they identical? Even if one was wearing blue and the other was wearing pink, nearly every person asked if they were identical). They were never short of visitors like Angela and some of Booth's friends, who thought they were adorable and perfect angels all of the time. The truth was, they were adorable when they were with their parents, just not angels. Every time she saw Bea and Brandon curled up on her lap before they went down for a nap, or gurgling beside each other in their playpen, or crawling around in the grass outside, her heart melted all over again like the first time she saw them after they were born. They were a handful, but she wouldn't trade them for all the sleep-filled nights in the world – they were so much fun to be around, and they made her so happy just knowing they were hers.
"Happy birthday, Twinkies! Are you ready to party?" Angela was obviously very excited about celebrating with her god-children (especially now that they were her official god-children – after many arguments, Booth finally got his way and Bea and Brandon were christened at the local church). They appeared to be less thrilled about the idea, and both just stared at her blankly, gurgling softly, while they played together on the floor. They used to play alongside each other – parallel play, as the experts called it – but not actually play together – this was something that they had only just begun to do and it was very cute to watch.
"I told you a party was ridiculous, they don't even know what's going on. It's like any other day to them."
"Sweetie, I think they do, look at their little faces, they can tell something exciting is going on. You haven't started opening presents without me, have you?"
"No, we knew you'd want to be here. Did you bring a camera?"
"Of course!"
With one twin each on their laps, the two women helped them to unwrap the presents from their parents, grandparents and their parents' friends. The whole process only took about five minutes and, as usual with small children, they were far more taken with the wrapping paper than what the paper contained, much to the annoyance of Temperance. If she had known this would happen, she would have just got them a roll of paper each. She didn't really mind – as long as they were enjoying themselves, that was all that mattered – but she would have liked for them to at least show some interest.
"Where's your daddy, Bea?" Angela asked the squirming baby on her knee, before setting her down on the floor with her brother, and helping to gather up all the mess and packaging.
"Picking up grandma and grandpa from the train station. They should be back soon." Temperance called from the kitchen while retrieving some more trash bags.
"And then we can party...This is so exciting!"
Three hours later, the party was almost over. Both babies were looking very tired as it was past their normal nap time, and Bea was doing her usual 'thumb in mouth, cuddling daddy' routine, which meant she was about to start crying if she wasn't in her crib soon. Brandon was sitting on the lawn with his grandma, playing with one of his new toys, but Temperance could tell he was getting sleepy. The three women from her antenatal group had been invited – Marie with her son Kyle, Jade with her daughter Elle, and Needra with her son Tim – and they were getting ready to leave, gathering changing bags and pushchairs before heading for the door.
"We had a great time, Temperance. Thanks for inviting us."
"You're welcome. Did you want to take a piece of cake home with you? I think I made one that was a bit too big."
The cake had gone down surprisingly well, even though there was still about a quarter of it left. She wasn't sure that the babies would like it, and she was worried about the safety aspect of blowing out the candles (even though it was their first birthday, there were two candles – one for each baby), but everything worked out without any problems, and for someone who had never made a cake before it tasted really good. Angela had managed to keep the adults entertained, and the babies pretty much entertained themselves, experimenting with the gifts the twins had just received – they hadn't really grasped the concept of sharing, yet, so there was some 'fighting' occasionally, but they were all very good. Even Parker, who was allowed to invite a friend so he wasn't the only 'big kid' at the party, had a great time, and was loving his new job as an older brother. At first it was hard for him not to be his dad's only child any more, but he soon forgot about that and seemed to have adjusted well to the change.
"I think we should put the twins down for a nap now, Bea looks like she's about to fall asleep." Booth said, sweeping his daughter's hair from her eyes, which looked like they were going to drop closed at any moment. "They had a really good time. You did a great job putting this all together."
After Bea and Brandon had been taken upstairs, their parents had put them in their pyjamas and then tucked them up in their cribs (at first, they had shared a crib which both of them found very comforting, but now they were too big so they had separate ones). Then Temperance and Booth had come downstairs and collapsed on the sofa. It had been a long day for everyone, and they hoped that meant that the twins wouldn't wake up tonight, not just for the sake of their parents, but also because their grandparents were staying in the room next door.
"I'm so tired." Temperance said, leaning her head on her boyfriend's shoulder. "Do you want to trade? I'll go out and do FBI stuff, and you can stay here and try to keep your sanity."
"No thanks. I think chasing criminals is easier than looking after twins all day. I don't know how you do it."