"Come on, Seel, let's get you home."
"I don't think so."
"Bren is probably worried about you. You took off in the middle of your first anniversary. I hope you got her a good present to make up for this or she's never going to forgive you."
"Once I win all this money, I'll buy her something nice," Booth swore.
Teddy shook his head. "I think it's time to go, Sarge," he addressed Booth with the title in hopes of getting his undivided attention.
"No way, Staff Sergeant Parker. Master Sergeant ranks higher. Nice try, though."
"Seel, I'm not kidding. I'm exhausted. You're gonna feel guilty in the morning about this. I know Bren is bringing in the big bucks as a professor and all but she's going to be pissed when Drew doesn't have a college fund."
"She works at Georgetown. He can go to college for free there."
Teddy was starting to get desperate. He needed to get his buddy home before something bad happened.
"That's not the point, Booth. Didn't you say you were going to start helping Bren more with the baby?"
"She has to feed him anyway."
Teddy watched as a waitress set another drink down next to Booth, while he placed another bet on the game he was playing.
"Make you a deal, you lose this hand, we go home. If you win, we stay for another hour. Deal?"
Booth drunkenly smiled up at Teddy and stuck out his hand to seal the deal. Like Teddy had predicted, Booth lost most of his previous winnings in his latest hand and he dejectedly stood from the blackjack table. Grabbing his fresh glass of whiskey, he leaned on Parker as he staggered toward the door.
Knowing Booth wasn't about to give up the car keys without a fight, Teddy slid his hand slowly into Booth's pack pocket, wrapping a finger around the key ring and quickly pulling his set of keys out. Surprised the sniper didn't notice what had just transpired, he held his friend up, unwilling to let him fall.
"You're lucky I know better than to drive. You're a horrible pickpocket," Booth slurred.
Teddy ignored him and climbed into the driver's seat as soon as Booth was safely in the car. They arrived back to Booth and Brennan's Georgetown neighborhood late into the night but almost all the lights were on in their house.
"Okay, Seel, you're so drunk right now you're probably not going to remember this in the morning but I'm going to tell you anyway. The next time you decide to go gamble away your life savings, don't expect me to help. I'll come get you and bring you home, but you just lost yourself a drinking buddy. And I'm saying this for your own good. Don't you dare push your wife away. You better fix this. Here she comes. I can't tell if she's pissed or just glad to see you," Teddy told him as Brennan flipped on the front porch lights and ran outside. He expected her to be furious, frantic even. But her calm demeanor threw him for a loop.
"Hi, Teddy. He's been with you all night?"
He nodded. "I tried to get him to come home earlier. I'm sorry, Bren."
She shook her head and smiled slightly. "I have to get back inside. Drew's upstairs, waiting for me to feed him. Would you help him in?"
"Sure."
"I'm fine," Booth added slowly, "I can get inside by myself."
Brennan ignored him and kept her eyes on Teddy. "Thanks for looking out for him, Park. I'm just going to have him sleep on the couch tonight. There's no way either of us could help him up the stairs successfully."
Teddy silently agreed and watched her run back inside and up the stairs to her son, leaving the door wide open for Booth and Teddy.
"She's mad at me," Booth sighed.
"Way to state the obvious, bud," Teddy mumbled as he moved to help Booth out of the car.
"I really fucked up, didn't I?"
"Yeah, Seel, you fucked up. But you're a romantic. You'll find some way to make it up to her."
Brennan woke up the next morning wishing the day before had been completely a dream. Their first anniversary had been ruined by a night of gambling and drinking all because her husband refused to reconnect with his mother.
Through the monitor, she could hear her son fussing, stating to anyone who would listen that he was ready to get up. She quickly made her way to his room and picked up Drew out of the crib. After nursing him and changing his diaper, mother and son made their way down the stairs. When she was only half way down, she could hear the retching in the first floor bathroom, signaling to her that her husband was wake and probably regretting the night before.
She stood where she was on the stairs and watched him cringe at the change of light from the bathroom to the living room where he laid back down on the couch and caught her eye.
"Hi, babe," he said.
Brennan didn't say anything, just continued down the stairs and set Drew in his high chair. As she set to work fixing herself a fruit salad for breakfast, she began to talk to Drew. Booth winced as he heard his wife speak a language that was completely foreign but still familiar. She was speaking to their son in French, much like his mother used to do when he was a child. The thought of Lizzie made him furious at Angela again but he now saw there was no reason for him to become so angry. He had messed up, fought with Bren on their first anniversary and went back on his promise to help with the baby and not be a grouch. She was rattling off something about fruit, picking up on a few words he had learned in his childhood. He knew Bren was fluent in several languages and if Drew picked up even one, his son could have an advantage in school and Booth had to fight the throbbing urge to ask Brennan to speak English. He attempted to go over the events of the day and night before, the farther he went in the timeline, the blurrier things became. But he remembered Teddy's advice and began to think of a way to apologize to Bren, who was still chattering with Drew in French. He watched her sit down at the table next to Drew's high chair with a large bowl of fruit. He stood from the couch and, after regaining his balance, walked to an empty chair at the kitchen table. She glanced at him as she speared a blueberry with her fork and continued talking to Drew, who was watching her every move.
"Bren…"
Drew looked over at his father and gave him a wide grin.
"Bren! Did you see that? He smiled! That was his first smile!"
"He smiled yesterday, after he woke up from his afternoon nap. You were gone," she told him bitterly.
"Oh. Bren, I…I don't know what to say or how to apologize. But…will you just look at me please? I'm trying to tell you that I fucked up and I'm sorry."
She raised her eyebrows at his choice of words and her eyes flickered over to Drew who was happily watching the exchange and pounding his open palms on the tray in front of him.
"Sorry, I know, I gotta start watching what I say. But I know I really, really messed up. I shouldn't have screamed at you like that. It's not your fault Angela didn't listen to you. Look, once I get this through my head that my mom wants to be part of our lives, maybe we can take a weekend trip to Philly. I'm sure Sadie and Sasha would want to play with their nephew," he forced out the last word like it was hard for him to grasp.
"Are you saying this because I want Drew to know his family or are you saying this because you want Drew to know his family?"
"Both," he told her, though he wasn't sure how true it was.
"She's not going to abandon him. The situation is different now, Booth. Your father is out of the picture, Lizzie has moved on and is trying to be happy. I know she regrets leaving you and Jared, but your father almost killed her. And she tried to get you out of there too. She did the best she could and you're punishing her for giving up. People make mistakes, Booth."
"You want me to forgive and forget? It's not that easy, Bren."
"I'm not asking you to forget. Just work on the forgiving part."
"I'll try," he compromised.
"That's all I'm asking."
"Are you still mad at me?"
"I never was."
He was confused. "You didn't talk to me. I left and I didn't come home last night. And I'm pretty sure you were up when Teddy brought me home, not that I really remember that…"
"I was just worried about you. Like you said, you left and you didn't come home. I've never seen you like that. It was...frightening," she admitted.
"I'm sorry. I really am. I'm going to plan something to make up for yesterday."
"What is it?"
"Even if I knew, babe, I wouldn't tell you," he said with a wink.
