And here I am, over a week late. In my own feeble defense, since I posted last time I have been laid off, rehired into a new position, trained on one weird shift and then started on an even weirder shift, so my life has hardly felt like my own. But now I'm back, and here's how Max finds out about his grandchild.
Breaking the News
Chapter Three: Telling Max
Max Keenan sat across from his daughter and her partner, watching them try mightily not to squirm under his scrutiny. The afternoon crowd at the diner bustled all around them, but the old con-man's focus was not to be diverted from what sat right in front of him.
"So what's going on with you two, huh? Why so serious? And why so fidgety? What, Booth, you gonna tell me you knocked up my daughter or something?"
"Yes," Temperance blurted. Booth dropped his forehead to the tabletop with a loud plonk. Max looked from the pallid face of one to the twitching shoulders of the other, and when he spoke again it was in the soft voice one might use on the mentally ill.
"Very funny, Tempe. But what's really going on?"
Returning upright, Booth steeled himself and met his not-quite-father-in-law's gaze squarely. "Max, she's serious. Bones is - "
"I'm pregnant, Dad. Booth's the father," she added helpfully, just to clarify. Her partner's head met the table again. Max opened his mouth, but nothing managed to escape for a moment. Abruptly he stood, using the edge of the table to lever himself upright, and gave Booth a poke to get his attention.
"I'd like to talk to you alone for a moment, son. Honey, excuse us just a little bit, will you?"
Alarmed, Brennan rose to delay them. "Dad! It's not like he got me drunk and took advantage of me! I assure you it was entirely consensual."
"I'm sure it was, Tempe. I just want to speak with the father-to-be of my grandchild for a moment. You know, man-to-man." He gave her a reassuring smile that looked a little too sharklike for Booth's comfort, and nodded approvingly when she subsided back into her chair. The worried look she shot her partner did not escape her father''s notice, and Max patted his baby girl's shoulder with one hand as he steered her baby daddy toward the exit with the other. He felt her eyes on him the whole way.
"Max," Booth began once they were past the doors, but Max waved them on a few more paces, until they were completely beyond eyeshot of the diner. Only then did he stop, and look to Booth expectantly.
"I knew there was something going on with you two. You were acting awfully strange on that last case."
"Listen, Max, I - "
"So when did you finally come to your senses? Or was it Tempe? I wondered which one of you would crack first." The older man looked positively gleeful. Booth started to relax, slightly.
"You mean you're not upset about this?"
"Why would I be upset? Look, Booth, I know you're a stand-up guy, the kind of guy I always wanted for my little girl. She's had a rough time of it for most of her life - and I know a lot of that's my fault, Booth, you don't have to look at me like that - but, well, Tempe's special. I know, I know, all fathers say that about their daughters, but it's true. She's different; I knew from the very beginning.
"She didn't speak until well past the time when normal kids start chattering; Ruthie and me were afraid there was something wrong with her, but every test came back normal, and when she finally did start talking it was in complete sentences, no baby-talk babble like a regular kid. She taught herself to read by the time she was three. Smart as a whip, but she was - not shy, exactly, but just not adept at dealing with other kids. She just didn't get social interactions. Other kids were cruel to her, and she never quite knew how to handle it. Hell, she still doesn't! But the things that made her a target were the things that were the best about her: her intelligence, and her curiosity, and her sweetness. I can only hope those things haven't been completely beaten out of her over the years. She keeps an awful lot to herself, and there's things I know she'll never share with me.
"I wanted, more than anything, to be able to protect her, especially once she was old enough for men to start noticing her - but as you know, that's not how it worked out."
"Yeah, she doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to dating," Booth agreed.
"You don't either, from what I hear," said Max slyly. Booth glared.
"Where'd you hear that?"
"I get around. I know people. I'm not gonna lie to you, son; when I found out you'd come back from Afghanistan with some little blonde ball of fluff, I was disappointed. I expected better from you."
"Hey, Hannah was not - "
"Save it, kid, that's all water under the bridge now. But I could see how much it hurt Tempe, even though she refused to talk about it. Now, I don't know what went on between the two of you before she left for Machu Picchu or wherever the hell it was she ran off to - "
"Maluku," Booth corrected. "The Maluku Islands, and what went on was, I asked her to give us a chance and she shot me down."
"Huh. Well, I don't know how you asked her, but you must have done something stupid. Her, too, for that matter. You're two of a kind in more ways than you know.
"But never mind that. What I want to know is, do you love my daughter?"
"What? Max, I would kill for her. I would die for her."
"I know that, and I know she'd do the same for you. But do you love her?"
Booth drew a deep breath, then looked Max square in the eye. "Yes. I never stopped."
"Have you told her?"
"Not in so many words."
"Then I suggest you do, but just be prepared to back it up. My baby girl's a scientist, you know; she needs proof."
Booth snorted, and Max clapped him fraternally on the shoulder. "You'll be there for her, right? You're in this for the long haul?"
"The rest of our lives, if she'll have me."
"She might surprise you. You've just gotta be patient, you know, open to the possibilities. You're a good man, Booth. I'm glad she's got someone like you to watch her back. Now come on, we should get back to the diner. If we're gone much longer Tempe will come after us."
"She's probably afraid you'll kill me and set me on fire."
"Hey, would I do that? Of course not, I'm a changed man. I've got a grandchild on the way!"
Booth did not find this declaration as reassuring as he might have, but he followed the other man anyway.
