Inspired by an episode of NY Med. Enjoy!

The Daddy and the Daughter

Booth swore he wouldn't cry. When his daughter was born in that barn, he swore he would never cry in front of her, because that would mean that something really terrible had happened and he just could not let him imagine anything bad happening to his family.

But this was different. This was his daughter's wedding, for God's sakes. His wife had been in a nostalgic mood for the past week and it was finally starting to affect him. Their daughter was an adult now, and she was getting married despite Booth's best efforts to prevent it from ever happening.

He was not going to cry, damn it!

But his daughter was pulling him onto the dance floor for their first dance as officially separate households and there were people watching and some of those people knew perfectly well how hard this was for him to smother the tears.

He gulped as she turned to face him and reached for his outstretched hand. She had that tight smile on her face that meant she was fighting her own tears, which only made his battle exponentially more impossible. The song changed to whatever one she had picked out weeks ago and he pulled her as close to him as he could. She turned her face into his neck and he tried to relax his grip on her hand. Booth squeezed her gently and dropped his head closer to her ear.

"Christine?" he whispered.

"Hm?"

"I know I've said this a lot lately, but I'm still here if you need me. Ever. No matter what time it is or what the reason is."

"I know," she murmured.

"I'm serious."

"I know."

"And I really, really love you," Booth concluded. He blinked away the betraying wetness in his eyes. Christine's only response, and only after a good number of song verses had passed, was a strangled sob-like noise followed by deep breaths which he felt on his damp neck. He never could remember who had said it, but someone had once told him that it was always heartbreaking when your grown child cried, because they were truly sad or hurting in a way a young child could not fathom.

This was going to be his undoing. He was going to start bawling like a baby and begging the last three years to have never happened and for his only daughter to please not have really married that man.

But before he could get worked up to that point, the song ended and he had to let her go to her new husband, whom Booth may or may not have threatened with the perfect murder, before he was ready. They heard the applause in the background, and Booth felt Christine discreetly wipe her face on his shoulder before she picked her head up and looked right at him.

"I love you, Daddy," she whispered, and hugged him tightly one last time with a kiss on the cheek before she stepped slightly away. And even though Booth could feel his heart breaking, he summoned the courage to let go of her hand and return to his wife's side.

"Do you need to go to the men's room to cry in private?" Brennan whispered in his ear. Booth just nodded and watched their daughter be swept away by her new husband before he silently turned and followed Brennan out of the ballroom, happy that at least he would manage to cry in a different room.