"No offense, Cam, but why would she call you and not me?"
Angela seemed upset. Brennan was her best friend. But Angela wasn't who she had gone to this time when she needed advice the most.
"Angela, I'm sorry. I have a bit more expertise in this area than you do."
"What, is it another body?"
"Teenage girls. I think Dr. Brennan wants to know how to talk to Hadley. She was kind of thrown into this situation like I was with Michelle. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I would've loved some help. If I can help her, I'm going to try."
Angela nodded in understanding.
"But," Cam continued, "I'm sure Hadley's going to want more a friend than a mom. Maybe you can be that to her. Come on."
The two women grabbed their bags and left the Jeffersonian for Brennan's apartment.
Brennan was thankful to hear the light knocking at the front door. She knew it had to be Cam. Booth would've just pounded loudly or used his key. She opened the door to find her two friends standing there.
Surprised, she only said, "Hi."
"Hi, Sweetie," Angela said first, "how are things going?"
Brennan shrugged and stepped aside to let them in. "Hadley has not come out of her room since we arrived. I know it is a big adjustment for her but she must be getting hungry," she worried.
"Or at least have to pee," Angela added.
"What do you exactly need advice on?"
"How did you raise Michelle?"
Cam laughed a bit. "I hardly raised her. I was with her when she was a little girl. And then when she was a teenager. Raising a little girl and caring for a teenager are two completely different things."
Brennan looked interested and fought the urge to whip out a pen and paper to take notes.
"Sweetie, can I go…" Angela pointed back toward Hadley's room.
Brennan nodded and Angela left the two to talk. She knocked on the door and opened it only when she heard the girl say, "It's open."
Hadley was laying on her back on the bed, flipping through a large anthropology textbook she had found on one of the closet shelves.
"Hey, Hadley," Angela said, not moving from the door way.
Hadley set the book down and looked Angela over.
"You're not a social worker," she finally concluded.
"No, I'm not. How did you know?"
"I saw a picture of you and Bones in the living room."
Angela laughed. "She lets you call her Bones too. I thought Booth only got away with that."
Hadley went back to the book and Angela took a seat on the bed. "You hungry?"
She shook her head and avoided looking at Angela.
"You have to eat sometime, you know," Angela told her.
"I know. I will. Did she tell you I wasn't eating?"
"Brennan's worried about you."
Hadley looked guilty. "I'm fine."
"You sound like Brennan."
"You two are pretty good friends, aren't you?"
Angela nodded. "She's my best friend. This is hard for her. She wants to make sure you're okay…"
"Why did she become a foster parent?" Hadley wanted to know.
"Her brother. He has two step-daughters and he wanted to make sure they'd be taken care of if something happened. But I think there's another reason."
Hadley waited for Angela to tell.
"I think she wants to prove to you, to other foster kids, to the ones that had it as bad as she did, that not all foster parents are cruel. Bren had it rough. I don't want to scare you, Hadley, but Bren didn't have nice foster parents. None of them were especially kind to her. I think this is her way of showing foster kids now that not all foster parents are mean. She wants to be a good parental figure for you, Hadley. Bren doesn't want to replace your mom or dad but she wants to help you. She's never done anything like this before and it's kinda freaking her out."
"Who else is here?"
They could hear the soft murmurs of Cam and Brennan talking in the living room.
"Cam. She's our boss. We all work together. Bren works with bones, I'm the artist and Dr. Saroyan is the ringmaster of the others who need leashes," Angela said, avoiding the fact that Cam was the pathologist. Angela didn't need to mention that the woman who had just done her father's autopsy was sitting in the next room.
Hadley nodded and the room became quiet again.
"I'm just going to warn you: Brennan means well, but sometimes, she can be awkward and the things she says come out wrong. It can be really funny sometimes but don't take it the wrong way if it sounds offensive. She normally doesn't mean it," Angela advised, knowing how her friend can be.
Hadley just nodded again and got off the bed.
"I'm hungry. And I want to meet Cam."
Angela followed Hadley out to the living room. Brennan looked surprised to see the two but was thankful Angela had gotten Hadley out of her room. She was afraid Hadley was never going to come out.
They all talked for a while and it wasn't long after Hadley and Angela emerged from her room that Booth arrived back at Brennan's apartment.
"Hey! Wow, it's a party in here! Hi, Hadley!"
"Hi, Agent Booth," she said.
"Eh, drop the agent," he told her.
"Bones, I'm hungry," Hadley and Booth said simultaneously. Cam and Angela laughed and Booth smiled widely at the young girl.
"Ah ha! I knew I liked her! Ha! She called you Bones! That's awesome!" Booth couldn't stop laughing.
Hadley smiled for the first time that evening and Booth ushered them all out the door to head for the diner.
"You kinda remind me of my dad," Hadley told Booth as they sat at the diner. It was just three of them. Cam and Angela had opted out of dinner with them, instead letting the pseudo-family enjoy their time together.
He looked up at her, his burger stopping half way to his mouth. Brennan took a few fries from his plate while he was preoccupied.
"Sorry if that was weird," she mumbled.
"Nah, it's cool. Can I ask why?"
She shrugged. "He's always pretty chill about things, or was, I guess. I don't know."
Booth just nodded and looked at Bones. She was watching his reaction. His phone rang and he answered. It was Parker. They talked for a while and Parker even said a few words to Bones.
"Who was that?" Hadley asked Brennan when she handed the phone back to Booth.
"Parker, Booth's son," she explained.
"He's got a kid?"
"Yes, he's almost eleven now. Parker is quite adorable."
Hadley nodded. Booth hung up the phone and took a large bite of his burger.
"Parker's staying with me this weekend. His mom and Captain Fantastic are going to some concert in New York and he gets to stay a few school nights with me. This never happens!" Booth sounded excited for some reason.
It reminded Hadley that she'd be missing school. She was too far away from her own high school. She'd have to start all over at a new one.
"Bones, when am I going to go back to school?" Hadley asked. It was a Wednesday night. She didn't want to get too far behind.
"You want to go back to school?" Brennan asked.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I? I'm fine."
"She sounds like you, Bones," Booth mumbled with a mouth full of burger, "We'll get it worked out. Don't worry. We'll get things situated. You'll be back to school in no time."
Hadley smiled her thanks to the agent and finished her meal.
A/N: Sorry updates are taking me so long. Classes have started and they're kicking my ass right now. I know where I want to go with this and I have it planned for the most part so it shouldn't be much work, but its actually finding the time to write is my problem. I'd love your feedback if you have some spare time. Thanks for sticking with me and reading! :)