Booth arrived home, Christine trailing behind him dragging her backpack behind her. She had wanted to go to her friend Hayley's to play when her father had picked her up. He had told her that her mother had left a message that she had gone home early. They were going to pick her up, and go out for a nice family dinner.

Secretly though, he was worried.

Bones never just went home from work early. If anything, he would have to track her down deep in the bowels of the Jeffersonian Institute where she would often be found elbow deep in a bath of sludge pulling out bone fragments, because her squints had gone home for the day and she just had to find that one fragment that would complete a skull, or she was engrossed in a report she was writing, sitting at her desk in the dark, her face illuminated by the glow of the screen.

She never just goes home for no reason he thought, again.

"Daddy, why can't I go play?" Christine whined behind him.

He dropped his jacket next to the coat rack, and glanced back "Christine, enough. Just stop. I told you we were going out. Just go get changed into something nice. We're going out soon, OK?" He left her standing in the doorway.

"Bones!" he called out as he walked to the kitchen.

"Bones?" he called again when she wasn't there. "BONES!" he ran through the living room to the courtyard. He knew she often liked to sit out there and read when the weather was nice. But she wasn't there.

"Bones? Honey?" he called, using a pet name usually reserved for private moments. He threw open their bedroom door.

He felt his heart rate rising, banging in his chest, perspiration trickling down the sides of his face.

"TEMPERANCE!" He yelled now, using her name. He checked in Christine's room, then turned and ran towards the bathroom.

"Bones" he slammed open the door and found her, sitting on the toilet her head held in her hands.

"Bones! What the hell? What's wrong? Why are you in here? Are you sick? Didn't you hear me calling? Bones I was worried sick!" he knelt down in front of her and pulled her hands away from her face.

She wasn't crying. What is wrong with her? He thought as he looked at her pale face.

He sat back on his heels, waiting for her to speak.

"I believe. As much as it goes against my scientific beliefs, that you have cursed me Booth" she said, looking at him, her face serious.

Booth stood up and stepped back, "What? I did what?"

"Cursed me. An old-fashioned superstitious belief where by one person declares ill fortune onto another" she said frowning at him "A hex. A spell."

Booth stood staring at her for a moment then burst out laughing "Oh God, Bones, you're killing me. So I'm a wizard now?" he laughed as he sat down on the rim of the bathtub.

"It is not funny Booth. I mean it. This morning when you told me not to tell anyone about the baby, it's like you cursed me. People can see it." she said in all seriousness.

Booth wiped at the tears rolling down his face. "OK. I'll bite" he said still giggling. "How did I curse you, or what is this curse?"

Brennan clamped her lips together and huffed "I just told you. People can tell I'm pregnant!" she said gruffly.

Booth sniffed and wiped at his face once more, then cleared his throat "I don't understand. What do you mean people can tell. Bones, I'm not following you" he said, trying to focus on her distress.

"I mean, people at work kept telling me, all day long, that I looked different!" she said holding her hands out in front of her.

"what people?" Booth asked, still not really understanding what she was talking about.

"Angela"

"Oh God, Angela. You didn't tell her did you?" Booth threw his hands in the air, rolling his eyes. Once Angela had that bit of information it would be like the internet. All over every place on earth.

Brennan screwed up her eyes "No. I did not tell her. But, Cam, she noticed. And Brian and Stephen."

Booth frowned shaking his head, his nose screwed up "Who the hell are Brian and Stephen?" he asked.

"Brian the security guard and Stephen who runs the elevator. And Doctor Wells, he noticed too. Booth, if you hadn't said anything, I would have just gone to work, just like always and nobody would have noticed anything. You cursed me!" she said standing up, throwing the crumpled up toilet paper she had in her lap at him.

Booth pressed his lips together, to stop himself from smiling at her and stood up. He reached out towards her, his fingers splayed, palms hovering either side of her shoulders.

"Bones. I did not curse you. Or put a spell on you. Or anything, I swear. I simply asked you to not tell anyone, yet. If people said you looked different, then it might have been because you were trying so hard not to say anything, you got nervous. Or something like that." he slowly took hold of her shoulders and tilted his head down so he could look into her downturned face. "does that make any sense?" he asked gently.

She slowly lifted her head, the curtain of her hair falling away from her cheeks, her blue eyes doleful. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

"I suppose that could be a plausible explanation. Perhaps the pressure of trying to keep our secret, was just playing on my mind. Perhaps it muddled my thinking, made me seem. Jittery." She said nodding her head gently left then right while she was thinking about what Booth had just said.

"See? It was just your imagination. Seriously Bones. Nobody can tell yet. You look exactly the same. You're not showing yet. You've got no symptoms. It's fine." His voice cajoling and soft as he led her towards the bathroom door.

"Do you feel like dinner? Christine is getting changed for dinner." He said as he directed her towards their bedroom.

"I'm not a child Booth. You don't have to pet me" she shrugged off his hand that was unconsciously patting at her shoulder. "And yes. I think dinner might be nice."

Booth nodded and smiled. "I'll just grab a quick shower and get changed myself, unless you want to join me for a"

Brennan pressed her hand into his chest "As much as I do actually like the sound of that, Christine is probably going to be coming in here to find us shortly, and I'm not sure I'm ready for our daughter to find us in the throes of coitus in the family shower." She said, quite serious.

Booth grabbed her hand from his chest and lifted it to his mouth, kissing the palm. "Fair enough. You go get ready, I'll be quick" he said backing towards the bathroom door.

Christine walked out of her bedroom and pushed past him into the bathroom "I need to use the bathroom! The other one smells weird" she said as she slammed the door in his face. He turned and stared at Brennan, his mouth hanging open. "What's wrong with the other bathroom?" he said.

"Oh, yes. I forgot. I sort of vomited in there earlier. It still smells a bit" she said, her eyes wide.

Booth's mouth dropped open, then he burst out laughing again. "That's fine. I'll clean it when we get home from dinner. Don't want to lose my appetite. I'm in the mood for lasagne!" he said leaning against the door frame while he waited for his daughter to vacate the bathroom.

At the very moment he said the word lasagne, Brennan's face blanched and she turned and ran to the other bathroom where he could hear her retching.

"What the hell?" he said following her. He opened the door then recoiled back. Oh boy she wasn't kidding! "Bones?" he took a deep breath and entered the bathroom. "Bones? What is it?" he asked. But he was pretty sure he knew what it was.

He'd put his money on morning sickness, even though it was five thirty in the afternoon. He remembered when Rebecca had been pregnant. She would throw up all day long, even in the middle of the night. Morning sickness? Ha! Bones hadn't been hardly sick at all with Christine as far as he could tell. And if she had, she had kept it well hidden.

Booth wet a face washer in the sink and squeezed it out. He turned and gently lay it across her neck.

"You OK?" he asked.

Her upturned blotchy face was his answer.

"Guess lasagne is off the menu. Do we have cold cuts in the fridge?" he asked stepping away from her as she turned and dry retched into the bowl.

Booth and Christine sat at the dinner table eating cold ham and cheese sandwiches.

"I thought we were going out for dinner Daddy?" she asked her father, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"So did I baby." He looked up as Brennan slouched towards them Oh boy "so did I"

Brennan sat down at the table, elbows resting on the edge, her forehead cupped in her hands "Oh God, I feel terrible" she said.

"You want some water?" Booth offered.

She shook her head. "I must have a bug. Probably food poisoning from lunch. Angela and I went out" she proffered changing her position and laying her head on her arms which were now folded on the table.

Booth rolled his eyes "Ah, yeah. Food poisoning. Sure. That must be it." he said.

Oh God if it's not food poisoning and she's going to be like this with morning sickness? The cat's gonna be out of the bag in two minutes he thought looking down at his sandwich. He picked it up and took a large bite, chewing it thoughtfully. God please let it be food poisoning he thought, raising his eyes briefly to the ceiling in a prayer.

Brennan turned her face towards him, her cheeks blotchy and wet with tears. "sorry about dinner" she said softly.

Booth tilted his head, his lips curling into a sad smile.

"It's OK" he said reaching out to massage her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked and jumped out of the chair and ran for the bathroom.

He sat with his hand hovering over her chair. Booth looked at Christine then back down at his sandwich in his hand.

Oh yeah. It's gonna be out of the bag