Title:Like Mother Like Daughter
Characters/Pairing: Bones/Booth
Word Count:730
Rating: PG-13 for concepts foreign and confusing to small children
Spoilers:Possible, probable for the new season
Author's Notes: So, my mom told me about one of the new episodes, and something about an interview. I got this idea from the fact that Bones is apparently aware of her internal clock. I wouldn't think she would be. Anyway, if you don't wanna read it, you don't have to. I can't get the flashback properly termed, but you'll understand. And if you do read, please review.
"Dad, how come Parker and I have different moms?" Jenna-Anne asked. For a six year old, she was asking a lot of questions and her father wasn't exactly sure how to answer them. Parker, now eleven, didn't ask for explanation, or hadn't yet, at least. For that Booth was thankful, he didn't want to try explaining this mess to both of his children.
"Well..." he began cautiously. The truth was, he was the equivalent of a sperm donor, except he knew the woman and therefore was able to spend time with his daughter. He couldn't very well explain that to a child though.
"Booth, I need a favor." Bones saying that meant trouble nine out of ten times. Last time it had been a gun, what would it be now?
"Uh huh... what?" Booth asked, suspicious of her intentions, as he rightly should be.
"You're aware we're all on the clock, everyone is dying the moment their born, right?"
He rolled his eyes but nodded, no point arguing his religious beliefs with a woman of science. "Okay?"
"Well, one of the things women loose about half way through life is the ability to bear children," Bones continued, all business. Booth felt his throat tighten, this was going to a very bad place, very quickly. Subconsciously, he had begun formulating arguments to discount whatever science she could have behind her request. He doubted the was any science that would say 'ask your best friend and work-partner to father your children" On the off chance there was, he had a million reasons why he shouldn't, couldn't, and wouldn't. Okay, he had one reason, but it was a damn good one.
"Uh huh..." he said, signaling her to continue. "And this means what to me?"
"You know the science behind conception, correct?"
He nodded, now sure that Bones had lost her mind. She could not be serious, she had to know he would never, in a million years, agree to it. "Well, I would like you to father my child." Somehow, even knowing what she was thinking didn't stop him from adopting the look of a strangulation victim.
"Jenna, the thing is. That's just how it goes sometimes. I'll explain it better when you're older. But, hey, your mom is here, so I'll see you after school tomorrow." He opened the door for her mother, a tall woman in a nice suit with her hair tied up in a bun. That confused Jenna. Her parents didn't fight. In fact, her father hugged her mother and kissed her cheek like close friends. She knew he was whispering in her mother's ear during what appeared to be a kiss. Jenna asked today, he said.
"Jenna, dear, go make sure you have all your books please," Temperance said. "And tell your brother good bye." Once Jenna had wandered down the hall Temperance turned to Booth. "She asked?"
"She asked," he confirmed.
"And you told her...?" Temperance prompted.
"I told her that's the way it goes sometimes, that we'd explain it when she was older. Like.... Rebecca's age."
Temperance laughed. "I can explain it to her now, if you'd like?" She had no qualms with telling her young daughter that she had asked her best friend to father her child because he was a good father, and a good person, although she wasn't romantically interested in him at the time. She also planned to explain that at thirty-three she feared her time for child bearing was coming to an end.
"You know, just give her a few more years. She'll be less confused then."
"Well, what's confusing?" Temperance asked.
"Oh, I dunno," Booth began, sitting down on the couch and pulling the woman down next to him. Colleague, friend, and mother of one of his children, and he had to explain to her which of those was weird, and why. Jenna came back carrying her backpack, closely followed by Parker. "Parker, go play video games with your sister, or go outside, please?"
"Mmkay, come on Jen," Parker said, pulling his sister back down the hall.
Once they were gone, Booth began his explanation of life, common beliefs held by people, and the like, for the nine hundredth time in the last six years.