Here's chapter 2! I hope you enjoy it! Reviews are lovely!
Brennan woke up to the sound of crying. For a moment she was confused before she remembered Lucy. She immediately rushed towards the guest room where the two year old was curled into a small ball on top of the bed. Brennan sat down next to her and rubbed circles on her back, "What's wrong, sweetheart?" She asked quietly.
Lucy didn't answer, but she sat up and crawled into Brennan's arms, hugging her tightly.
"Did you have a bad dream?" Brennan asked, Lucy nodded against her chest, "It's okay, it's not real. Whatever it was isn't real. You're okay." As Lucy stopped crying and fell asleep Brennan moved to leave, but as soon as she did so Lucy's eyes flew open and her grip tightened. "Do you want me to stay with you?"
Lucy nodded, so Brennan crawled under the covers with the girl still clinging to her and they both fell asleep quickly.
The next time Brennan awoke, it was daylight and someone was poking her arm.
"Good morning, Lucy," she said as she opened her eyes, taking in the small figure hovering over her.
"Goo'morning!" Lucy seemed more cheerful than she had the night before. "I sorry, I don'member your name."
"My name is Temperance, but you can call me Tempe if that's too hard to say." Brennan answered as she brushed Lucy's tangled hair back from her face.
"Tempe, I'm hungry, when's breffest?" Brennan smiled at Lucy's pronunciation.
"We'll eat soon, but we have to get dressed first, okay?" Lucy nodded, her blue eyes bright. "And you're going to come to work with me today, okay? And probably tomorrow too, but I'm going to sign you up for a preschool after that, would you like to spend some time with kids your age?" Lucy nodded again, "Okay, let's get dressed."
Brennan found her phone and sent Booth a quick message, Breakfast at the diner in half an hour? And he quickly replied, Sure thing. She smiled before putting her phone away and picking out an outfit for Lucy to wear. She found a yellow t-shirt with daisies on the front along with jeans and matching barrettes. She helped Lucy brush her teeth before dressing her and fixing her hair.
"Pigtails?" Lucy asked as her hair was being brushed. Brennan smiled she knew what pigtails were thanks to her nieces, so she ran the comb down Lucy's part before putting it into two ponytails with the barrettes for decoration. "Tanks!" Lucy said, looking at herself in the mirror. Brennan turned the TV on to Sesame Street before quickly getting dressed herself.
Once she was ready they packed a bag with a couple toys and books for Lucy and they left for the diner, only getting halfway down the hallway before Lucy realized she had forgotten Mimi the cat. A few minutes later, with Mimi in hand, they made it to the diner where they found Booth already waiting at their usual table.
"Morning, Booth," Brennan said, sliding into the chair across from him.
"Morning, Boot!" Lucy mimicked as Brennan helped her onto her seat.
"Someone's opening up today, huh?" Booth said with a smile.
"Yes, Lucy's been much more talkative this morning." Brennan said, "What do you want for breakfast, Lucy?"
"Ummm…. Muffin?" Lucy asked with a bright smile.
"You can have a muffin as long as you get some fruit with it, okay?" Booth smiled at the way Brennan was already sounding like a mother. "What kind of muffin do you want?"
"Booberry," Lucy answered decisively, "And chocolate milk?" She added hopefully.
"I suppose you could get some chocolate milk." Brennan smiled and gently tweaked her pale blonde pigtail. Then the waitress came and offered a booster seat and some crayons and a booklet for Lucy, which Brennan took gratefully before they ordered.
"So Bones, what do you plan on doing with Lucy today?" Booth asked once the waitress had left and Lucy was busy coloring.
Brennan answered thoughtfully, "I'm going to bring her to the lab with me. We have three interns today, so I'm going to let them see how much progress they can make on the body themselves. It'll be a good learning experience for them, and I'll be available if they have questions of course. I'll have to do the same tomorrow, but I'm going to work on finding a daycare for her, I'm hoping that the child center at the Jeffersonian has an open space." As she finished their food was brought out and Lucy smiled happily at her muffin before beginning to pick at it.
Booth laughed, "I'm sure for you they'd find a space. So you're going to actually take a weekend off then?"
Brennan smiled back at him, "Yes I am. I think on Saturday afternoon we're going to go shopping to find some things for Lucy's room and some new clothes and toys for her. I'm going to ask Ange to come, since she loves shopping. Maybe you could help me on Saturday morning, I'm going to move my office things into the guest room. I'm going to turn the office into Lucy's room, I never repainted that room so the walls are still light pink from the family who lived there before me." She paused for a second as the waitress brought the bill, "Lucy, would you like to have the room with the pink walls?"
Lucy smiled up at her, "Pink's my favorite!" She said emphatically. Brennan reached for the bill, but Booth waived her hand away.
She rolled her eyes but didn't argue. "We'll get you a new bedroom set this weekend, any one you want, okay?"
"Okay," Lucy agreed as they stood up to leave. She lifted her arms towards Brennan who picked her up easily.
"I'll meet you at the lab?" Booth said as he held the door open for them.
"Yes, actually if you get there first, which you will since Lucy takes awhile to get in her car seat, could you find Ange, Cam, and Hodgins? Have them wait in my office with you so that I can explain the situation with Lucy once instead of three separate times."
"Sure, I'll see you in a bit," Booth said, "Bye Lucy goosey!"
"Lucy goosey?" The little girl giggled, "Bye Boot," she said with a wave.
They arrived at the lab not too long after, and Lucy refused to let Brennan put her down, seeming intimidated by the starkness of the lab that was teeming with people in lab coats. Brennan walked quickly to her office, ignoring the curious looks she was getting.
She opened her office door and found Booth lounging on her couch. Angela, Hodgins, and Cam were there as well, though looking much less relaxed than Booth did.
"Hi everyone," Brennan said as she sat down at her desk with Lucy in her lap. She received three flabbergasted looks and a cheery wave from Booth, who then began to make faces at Lucy, who laughed. "So, I had Booth bring you here because-"
She was interrupted by Angela, who seemed to have recovered from her immediate shock, "Bren, there's a child in your lap."
"Yes, Booth and I found her at our victim's apartment yesterday-" Brennan huffed as she was interrupted again.
"What?" Angela said, more confused than ever.
"If you would stop interrupting, I could explain," she looked at Angela, making sure she'd stay silent. "Yesterday Booth and I found Lucy alone in her father's apartment. Both of her parents are gone and we found her father's will, stating that he released her custody to the foster system. As you know, I am a registered foster parent so I took her, and I'd like to eventually adopt her." She found herself staring three sets of raised eyebrows and one fish face, as Booth continued to distract Lucy. "I realize that this may seem sudden, and it is, but I have thought this through. I will keep her with me today and tomorrow while I work on securing a spot for her at a daycare. I figure that it will be a good opportunity for the interns to work independently. We do have three this week, right?" She directed her question towards Cam.
"Yes, we have Daisy, Wendell, and Nigel," she answered quickly, still looking slightly overwhelmed
"Good. Now, I should probably introduce all of you. Lucy," the small girl in her lap looked up from her game with Booth, "These are my friends. This is Angela," she gestured to Ange who waved.
"Annala," Lucy repeated with a wave.
"Hodgins…" Hodgins waved too.
"Hossins," Lucy said and gave him a small smile
"And Cam," Brennan finished.
"Cam," Lucy smiled, "Annala, Hossins, Cam, and Boot!" She beamed, proud of her memory.
"Good job," Brennan said, dropping a kiss on her head, "Why don't you go play with your crayons at the coffee table." Lucy nodded and slid off Brennan's lap and grabbed her art supplies.
"She is just adorable," Angela said, her hand resting on her pregnant stomach, "How old is she?"
"Two," Brennan answered. "Ange I was wondering if you want to come shopping with us on Saturday because we need things for her room and she could use some new clothes."
"I'd love to come with you, have I ever said no to shopping?" She flashed Brennan a bright smile.
"Well, everyone can get back to work now, but could one of you send the interns in here please?" Everyone dutifully left the office, still looking confused, and Booth set up lunch plans before leaving.
The three interns entered the office and they had similar reactions as the others had to Lucy.
"There's a child in here," Vincent observed redundantly.
"Wow, you're starting them young these days, huh Dr. B?" Wendell commented, not looking too upset that she didn't get the joke.
"Aw, she's so cute!" Daisy gushed.
"That is Lucy, I'm planning on adopting her." She said bluntly, "She's going to be here for a couple days, so I'm going to have the three of you continue working the case alone, though I expect periodic updates and you can come to me with any questions. Okay?" The three interns nodded, "Good. Lucy," Lucy looked over at the sound of her name, "These are my interns, you'll see them here often. Their names are Nigel, Wendell, and Daisy." She gestured to each intern as she named them.
"Nile, Wennell, Daisy," Lucy repeated, pointing.
"Good. Now the three of you should get to work, let me know when you find something." As soon as they left the office Brennan leaned back in her chair, watching Lucy color for a moment before she turned to her computer and began working on some old files.