(Season 11)

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I don't own Bones.

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Once Aubrey was set up in Brennan's office at the B&B home, he realized that the situation wasn't going to be as awkward as he had first feared. The home office was on the other side of the living room and far from the other bedrooms and that was fine by him. He was close to the kitchen and that was sweet. He'd stopped at the store before arriving at his temporary home and bought some groceries since he didn't intend for Booth or Brennan to feed him for free. They'd objected like most good hosts do, but Aubrey had some snack requirements that he knew Brennan wouldn't provide being vegan and obsessed with healthy eating. He'd put them in a box and they were sitting under the day bed ready when needed. The situation was not perfect, but it was definitely better than sleeping in his car or his office.

It was Saturday morning and Aubrey had risen earlier than the rest of the household which surprised him. As quietly as he could, he'd prepared a bowl of cereal and carried it over to the counter to eat. After he was done, he'd washed the left over dishes from the previous evening, straightened the living room up a little bit and sat down on the couch to watch a little TV. He kept the sound down low and channel surfed until he'd found an old movie, 'Forbidden Planet' an old Sci-fi movie, but definitely a classic.

About halfway through the movie, Booth had walked down the hallway wearing an open robe barely covering his boxers and a t-shirt. The man moved like an octogenarian which Aubrey found disturbing.

Cracking knuckles as he went, Booth entered the kitchen, fixed the coffee pot and got that going. Once that was accomplished, he left the kitchen and walked back down the hallway to his bedroom moving stiffly and in obvious pain.

Next to appear, Brennan breezed down the hallway, dressed for the day in slacks, a big shirt and running shoes. With a small wave at Aubrey, Brennan walked over to the sink, noticed the dishes were washed and called out to her guest. "Thank you, but you didn't have to do this. You're our guest."

Aubrey left the living room and sat down at the counter. "While I'm living here I want to be treated like family, so I'll do my part . . . um, is Booth alright?"

"Yes of course." Brennan knew that Aubrey had witnessed Booth's painful morning ritual, but there was nothing anyone could do about it and she was concerned that Aubrey would think less of her husband. "Booth has some health issues, but they don't interfere with his job or his life. He just has an adjustment period every morning that he has to go through. He'll be alright after he's had a hot shower and dressed for the day."

Since Brennan obviously didn't want to talk about it, Aubrey assumed Booth was suffering from a history of torture, jumping out of planes and helicopters and the numerous times he'd been shot. All in all, a very rough life and Booth was living with the results. "Sure . . . what do you guys do on Saturdays?"

Removing the ingredients for pancakes from the cabinet, she lined them up on the counter and set up a griddle next to them. "Booth usually makes us pancakes for breakfast. Once we've eaten, we usually spend some time cleaning the house. Between the two of us, we're usually done in an hour or two. After that we run errands. Once those are accomplished our afternoon is free to spend with our children. We usually ask Christine if there is anything she'd like to do and if it's possible we do that. If she doesn't have a preference, Booth will come up with an idea or two. He's very inventive. Last weekend we had a picnic in the backyard and dressed up as cowboys. Christine was the Sheriff and she arrested Booth and I for littering. It was very amusing."

The idea of his hosts dressed as cowboys and playing with their children was adorable to Aubrey and made him want a family even more than he normally did. "That sounds like a lot of fun. I was an only child, so I never had a lot of kids to play with especially after what my father did . . . still someday I'd like to have a family and maybe three or four kids."

"Three or four." Brennan nodded her head. "Booth has three children and he is an excellent father. I hope you find someone that will share a life with you."

"Thanks." Audrey noticed Booth leave his bedroom and he looked better put together this time around, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and a pair out outrageously wild socks.

"Bones, you can get the kids up and I'll start making breakfast." Booth moved into the kitchen and poured a much needed cup of coffee.

While Booth gulped some of the needed caffeine, Aubrey moved around the counter. "Can I help?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth pointed at the fridge. "You can get out the bacon and start frying it. Since I assume you're hungry, cook the whole pound."

"Right." Aubrey decided not to mention the cereal he'd eaten earlier. He was still hungry and pancakes with a side of bacon sounded good to him.

After Booth had the pancake batter ready, he poured out some of the mixture on to the hot griddle, moved over to the fridge and removed some blackberries from the crisper. "Do you like blackberries? This weekend is berry pancakes. Last week was chocolate chip pancakes. Next week is banana pancakes."

"You have a pancake schedule?" Aubrey was slightly astonished that such a thing actually was possible.

A smirk on his face, Booth pointed at the cork board on the wall near the fridge. "We have lists."

Fascinated, Aubrey moved over to where the lists were and found a schedule for weekend breakfast, mostly pancakes by type and one weekend of waffles. Another schedule contained plans for meals to be served during the week and next to that a shopping list in progress. "I noticed that you guys eat vegetarian on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"Yeah, two nights a week won't kill us." They weren't Booth's favorite meals, but he tried to make Brennan happy by eating healthy at least two nights a week. "Marriage is all about compromise. Those are the nights Bones cooks. On Friday we trade off, one week she cooks the next week I cook. That isn't a vegetarian night by the way no matter who cooks. I usually cook on Monday and Wednesday and we both cook on the weekends although Saturday is usually takeout night. Christine gets to choose and she usually chooses pizza."

"Sounds efficient." Aubrey was impressed, but he assumed you had to keep a schedule when both spouses work and they have two small children. "I'll keep this in mind when I get married."

"Watch the bacon." Booth was busy pouring more batter on the griddle, two cooked pancakes now on a platter.

Racing back to the stove, Aubrey turned the bacon over and realized he'd come close to burning it. "I hope you like crispy bacon."

"Well I sure as hell don't like raw bacon." Booth rolled his eyes.

"You're not a morning person are you?" Aubrey stared at Booth's back.

Not taking it personally because he really wasn't a morning person, Booth sprinkled some berries on the bubbling pancakes. "Hell no and don't you forget that. I'm not fully awake until I've had my second cup of coffee and I've eaten."

"Daddy." Christine raced into the room and ran over to where her father was standing. "Daddy, hi Daddy."

Careful to step away from the hot griddle, Booth leaned over, swung his daughter up into his arms and kissed her. "Hi yourself pumpkin. You hungry?"

"I am Daddy." Christine stared at the pancakes and frowned. "You're burning them."

Hastily, Booth placed her on the floor and turned to look at his pancakes. "No they aren't you little troublemaker." Booth turned the pancakes over and found they were a nice golden brown.

Her laughter tinkling in the room, Christine walked over to where Aubrey was standing, hugged him and then raced around the counter to sit down and wait for breakfast. "Hank doesn't want to get up."

Brennan walked down the hallway with her cranky son sitting on her hip. Moving over to the counter, she checked to see what Booth and Aubrey were doing. "Like son like father. He is not a morning person."

Booth rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm the one that has to be pulled out of bed in the morning to get going."

"I like to sleep until the last possible minute." Brennan placed Hank in a high chair then entered the kitchen to prepare glasses of juice and to gather plates and forks. "You're the one that has to have caffeinated beverages before you can function properly."

Obviously an old argument, Aubrey listened shamelessly while both of his friends bickered and fussed at each other. He didn't know how they did it, but somehow all that fussing they did seemed to make them happy. They appeared to love the repartee and smiled a lot as they fussed at each other. These people are amazing. Certainly Christine took it all in stride and didn't seem to be upset with her parents. Mostly she just watched them and smiled.

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