Two Booths in a Room Chapter 3

That night, Booth walked into the Jeffersonian. It was pushing 7:00 P.M. He had finally gotten to talk to Bones. He had finally gotten her to see that it wasn't that he was trying to keep it from her on purpose. He really had felt that there was no reason to alarm her because in his eyes Sarah would never have been an issue. Bones had finally given into him and agreed that he was right in choosing to not tell her about Sarah.

Booth noticed that Sarah and Bones were up on the platform finishing up the bones that Sarah had been working through earlier. They were laughing about something but Booth couldn't make out what it could be. He finally got close enough and pulled out his Jeffersonian Badge and swiped it quickly through the sensor. He then slowly walked up the stairs to the platform as both Sarah and Bones looked up at him. He knew that Bones was looking at him with a mixture of wondering why he was here so early (she obviously didn't know how late it was) and one of love. Sarah's face, on the other hand, he couldn't read. This puzzled him. Usually he could read people well.

"Hi Booth… why are you here so early?" Booth had been right. Bones was oblivious to the time.

"Bones… it's 7:00 P.M. Have you even eaten anything today?" Booth knew Bones all too well. She could go for a whole day and not even realize she was hungry if she was working on her "Bones stuff". He needed to keep a closer eye on her so she would eat. She wasn't just feeding herself anymore.

"Booth, of course… you and I ate lunch at 1:00. You should work on your memory skills Booth. It seems that with age your memory had deteriorated." Bones said looking at him puzzled then back at the bones that she and Sarah were hunched over.

"Bones, come on, you can come back to old Jack here tomorrow."

"Booth this is not Dr. Hodgins, obviously, it is a skeleton-" She stopped herself… she knew the look he was giving her. "You didn't actually mean Hodgins did you?"

"No, I meant Jack, you know… from the movie Nightmare Before Christmas? He's a skeleton?" Booth knew he was getting nowhere. Sarah smiled at the pair. "Now can we go eat? I am starving to death!"

"Ok ok… we will go eat. Just let Dr. Booth and I put these bones away for the night then we will head out. Sarah, where would you like to eat?" Bones said putting a few bones into the container where they came from.

"Actually, Dr. Brennan… you can go on with Seeley and I'll just meet you at your place… I'm not very hungry and I figured I can finish up here tonight." Sarah said glancing over at Booth as she spoke.

"But Sarah, you haven't eaten all day. You must be hungry at this hour." Bones said oblivious to the hint that Sarah wasn't ready to be around her brother any more than she had to. She had already eaten supper with them the night before and she did not plan on doing it a second night in a row.

"I'm really fine. I'm not hungry and if I get hungry I'll order a pizza or something… no big deal. You guys go and eat. And I will go to Brennan's place after I finish up here and go to bed."

Booth could tell that his sister was lying but let it go because he too did not feel like spending too much time with her at one time. He could tell that she and Bones were getting along very well and that did make him happy.

"Well, ok Sarah I will see you later." Brennan said. She then walked down off of the platform with Booth.

As they walked outside Booth took Bones' hand.

"Booth?" Bones looked at Booth with some suspicion.

"Bones?"

"I like your sister. She is extremely smart and quite funny. And I must say, Hodgins was right… she does smell extremely similar to the beach. She is also very pragmatic. I like that about her." Bones smiled at Booth.

"I don't know where she gets that from… I've told you about my dad and the best I can remember is her mom was wishy washy. I can tell Sarah's not like either of them."

"Neither are you Booth… you are not like your father." Booth knew that Bones was right. She knew he was debating with himself. An internal debate that only he could know.

"Did you tell her?"

"Tell her what?" Bones was genuinely confused.

"You know… about the baby."

"No, Booth, I did not because I figured since she is your sister you would like to tell her besides… she is very smart she probably already knows. I'm three months along which means that I am beginning to show therefore it is not as hidden as it once was."

Booth took his free hand to rub it over his face. "How long is she staying with you?"

"Oh, Sarah said she only needed maybe two weeks tops then she would be out of my hair… whatever that means." Bones said. Booth smiled at her.

They walked into the diner and sat in their normal spot by the window. They ate having small talk about work and their usual banter. Booth was happy that Bones and Sarah got along so well and he knew that sooner or later he had to talk to Sarah. He would when he was ready…

"Booth? Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did Bones." Booth smiled at her.

"Well another question I guess… did you ever find out why Sarah's mom left her with your father and mom?" Bones asked with a concern look on her face.

"We never found that out… but I think that Sarah assumes she is dead." Booth said. "I personally think that that is the best assumption. Sarah's always been extremely bright."

"How did your mom feel having to raise a child that was not her own biological child? It must have been very difficult at first."

"When ever Sarah first came to our house my mom couldn't look at her… she wouldn't talk to her or even acknowledge the fact that she was there. After my father left it got worse for a while… but on Sarah's 5th birthday she walked into the kitchen where my mom was going on about her everyday business… laundry, cooking, ya know… and Sarah walked into the kitchen and pulled a chair right over next to Mom and watched her. She never said a word, she never bothered Mom. About an hour into this she looks at my Mom and says 'you know what Mrs. Booth, it's my birthday today.' My mom felt terrible because she had never even thought to know when Sarah's birthday was and at 5 years old Sarah goes 'it's ok if you forgot. I know you don't really like me so you don't have to get me anything but if you could maybe make me a birthday cake I would greatly appreciate it. I've never had birthday cake.' Her own mother never celebrated her own daughter's birthday. From then on you would have thought that birthdays in our house was like Christmas or Thanksgiving… they were made into such big deals… after that my mom let Sarah start calling her Mom and they were so close. I mean they did everything together. While Jared and I spent our time with Pops, Sarah was glued to my mom." Booth felt like that had been a million years ago but sitting there, telling Bones the story of Sarah, made him feel as though it had just happened yesterday.

"That was a good story Booth. I liked it." Bones said. She smiled shyly at Booth.

"Yeah, I just wish that I had gotten to know her better when she was little, ya know? But I was so mad at her… I blamed her for everything. She never deserved that…"

"Booth? Why don't we head home… and on top of that we won't bring up anymore on the past. And besides… these pregnancy hormones are making me very, very aroused." Bones said. She smiled at him and he laughed at her. They stood and walked out of the diner. Booth drove them to Bones' apartment.

When they walked into Bones' apartment, they found Sarah asleep on the couch. She had fallen asleep going through many unidentified bodies that were stored in the "Bone Room" at the Jeffersonian. Booth couldn't help but smile at his younger sister. Her glasses had slid down her nose during her sleep and the file she had been reading had slowly begun sliding down her lap.

"Don't wake her Booth… come on let's just go to bed… Cam was right. She is going to be a great assistant."