Title: Life is Like That Sometimes, Chapter Two

Summary: Zack Addy and Cam Saroyan are moving apart...only to move back together. Zack/Cam

Disclaimer: I can barely keep plants alive.

This is the Ambitious Project entry for Alternate Timeline. So yeah, this is different from the show in several ways. The Gormogon incident did not happen, Zack is still at the Jeffersonian and has a daughter named Amanda with a girl named Trance taken from my unfinished story ZJ.

Zach made a point to pay attention to his surroundings and the people in them. This was how he was the first person to notice that Cam was pregnant.

He made sure that when they were she was comfortable around the lab and got her crackers when she felt nauseous. But he didn't actually tell her. That may be something she might have wanted to find out herself, and plus Zach didn't want to give her any bad news if she didn't want a baby.

Eventually, Cam did find out. She was elated, as Zach had hoped.

"Congratulations!" Angela and Jack chorused when she announced it over a cadaver she was performing an autopsy on. They hugged her and expressed well wishes. Zach gave her a hug too. As he did so, she clutched him a little tighter.

"You could have told me, you know," she muttered to him. Then she kissed his cheek and let him go.

Zach wondered how long she knew he knew.

A little while later, Cam took her maternity leave. Zach had a feeling that he was the one he missed her most. He knew that he shouldn't feel this way since Cam was married, but he couldn't help it. His crush on her was something he was fighting to control. He found himself wishing that he was there with her, rubbing her feet, helping her with anything she needed. Her husband was away a lot, and with Michelle having moved out, she was all alone.

But he knew it wasn't his place, so he would just have to suck it up.

….

1Cam flipped through the channels and found yet another episode of Maury. This time there was a wild young mother and two shocked looking guys and a paternity test. She sat wondering how she would feel if she wasn't sure if Nate was the father of her baby. Then she stopped wondering, because the recounting of the girls skanky ways was way more interesting. Cam took a bet with herself as to which one was the father. She lost.

She called Angela on the phone.

"Hey, new Mommy!" Angela sang into the phone, "How are ya?"

"Bored," Cam sighed, "I think this has been the longest I've been without working since my first job. Anything going on there?"

"Not really. The case just finished, so Brennan has her hands full right now with the interns starting experiments all over the place. How's the baby bump?"

"She's okay. I can't believe I'll get to meet her face to face in just three weeks. Michelle's looking forward to being a big sister."

"I bet," Angela chuckled, "Even Michael is excited. So much so he's been asking me for a sister. I told him Christine was the only sister he was gonna get."

Cam chuckled. She was happy that her friends had gone through this before her. They were going to provide a great support system since she was pretty sure she had no idea what she was doing.

"Hey Cam, I gotta go. I just saw Booth walk by; we may have a new case."

Cam let her go then sighed big and loud, just to break the silence. With Nathan gone out of town on business, she had the house to herself. She patted her tummy, tried to feel a kick but didn't.

Her phone rang and she jumped. Lunging for it, she was surprised to see the number that came up. She was expecting Nathan. Instead she got Zach.

"Hello?" she said into the phone.

"Hello, Dr. Saroyan. Trance told me to call. She was asking if you have a stroller, because if you don't, Amanda's is still in good condition."

"Oh, um…" Cam turned and looked at the stroller Nathan had bought. He had bought everything brand new and hired a decorator for the room, even though Cam had said she wanted to decorate it. Cam had to be honest. Sometimes she loved her husband's take charge attitude, but at times, she couldn't stand it. He did everything his way and bulldozed over her plans.

"Nah, I'm good," she told him, then because she had nothing else to say, "What are you up to?"

"I'm currently conducting tests on a mysterious yellow substance our latest victim was doused in. It is gelatinous in texture and bright yellow, and contains high amounts of sugar"

Cam smiled, "Could it possibly be Lemon Jell-O?"

Zach was silent for a while, "That is very possible. Thank you, Dr. Saroyan."

"Anytime," she smiled.

There was silence on both ends and Cam found herself just listening to his breathing. In her mind's eye, she could see him bent over a microscope, analyzing the Jell-O on his Petri dish in his determined way he had. She missed the lab.

"Dr. Saroyan?"

She started, "Huh?"

"I have to hang up. Agent Booth has a case,"

Cam smiled, flipped the channel to Wheel of Fortune, "Sure, honey. Go ahead."

"Bye, Dr. Saroyan. Please take care. And remember your pre-natal vitamins."

Cam smiled, "I will."

…..

"Megome Allison Riley," Cam announced as she showed the baby to Booth. The tiny thing gurgled and cooed, looking up at her mother and godfather with eyes filled with wonder. Cam patted her daughter on the head and gave her a big kiss.

"Pretty name," Booth declared, "Where's it from?"

"Nate's part Japanese. His mother is from there, and she still lives there. He picked it out," Cam explained. She still had her choice; she had always wanted a little Allison, and she got one, "It was gonna be Kimiko, but I like Megome more."

"Yeah, me too," Booth held the baby's hand between his thumb and forefinger, "Little Meg. She's going to be a heart breaker like her mom."

"Stop!" Cam laughed, especially since she felt totally unattractive right now, all sweaty and tired. It was worth it, though, since she got to meet her bundle of joy.

The door opened and Angela, Brennan and Jack came in in a flurry of brightly coloured streamers, balloons and stuffed toys. After the greetings went around, and everybody met Meg, Jack blurted, "So where is Nate?"

"He's in Germany for big business deal. But he's seen her. We were on Skype like an hour after she was born. He'll be here tomorrow."

Brennan was holding the baby and squinting at her.

"She seems to have your facial features more than her father. She definitely did not get his tiny eyes."

Booth sighed, "C'mon Bones, don't insult Nate. He's Meg's dad."

Angela smirked, "Meg. How cute."

Suddenly they heard the crashing of tiny six year old feet. Amanda, Christine and Michael ran in, sounding like a pint sized army. Behind them, Zach ran in, trying to catch his breath.

"I asked you not to run, Amanda!' he scolded his daughter.

Amanda flashed her blonde hair over her shoulder and smiled at him, "You said no running in the lobby, Daddy. We're not in the lobby."

While everyone laughed at that, Cam took a moment to observe Zach. He had gone through this too, hadn't he? When nobody else had yet. Amanda was older than Christine and Michael. The experience had changed him. He was more mature now than he had been before Trance and Amanda came into his life. Cam suddenly felt so proud of him, for doing something she had been so scared to for so long.

"Can I see the baby, Auntie Cam?" Christine asked. Her brown hair was caught in pigtails today, and Cam could see the necklace her mother had brought for her after an archaeological dig in Brazil. It was amazing how the little girl was an embodiment of both her parents. Cam guessed Megome was going to be like that one day, though she couldn't see it now. Cam just hoped she didn't get her father's stubbornness.

Cam helped Michael and Christine hold Meg properly. They cooed over her while Amanda shook a rattle. Before she could even wish aloud for a camera, she heard the snap of Jack's iPhone as he took a few pictures.

"Cool! She puked!" Michael declared in a way that sounded just like his dad. That prompted Cam to take back the baby.

After a while, they all cleared out, leaving her alone with Meg. She took a moment to just look at her baby, watching her make sense of the world. She kissed Meg's soft head, wishing she had someone to share it all with.

"Sorry, Dr. Saroyan."

Cam looked up to see Zach looking around her hospital room. She watched him crawl halfway under the bed before re-emerging with a pink converse sneaker.

"My daughter decided the best time to tell me her shoe was missing when she was in the car," he explained.

She smiled at him. Megome made a tiny noise.

Zach stood and walked over to the two of them, a tiny smile tugging at his mouth. Meg's little hand worked out of her blanket in a stretch. Her fingers curled around Zack's finger.

"She is very beautiful," Zach told Cam. She smiled at him.

His head went down to kiss the top of the baby's head. When he looked back up, their faces became very close.

The moment held.

Cam was busy wondering how the sweet, naïve Zach that she knew had suddenly turned into a man with a child who had to look for lost sneakers and fix ponytails and tell bedtime stories. He was not a completely different person, there were still times she and the others had to explain things that really he should already know about the social world, but he was in many ways different. Amanda changed him.

The garbled sounds on the intercom had them both snapping back to reality. They jumped back as if they received electric shocks.

"I… have to… get Amada back home," he told her.

Cam nodded, "You do that. Bye."

"Goodbye."

She watched him walk out, wondering what he was thinking about.