A/N: So, I still have more time than usual thanks to the fact that we are now officially a federal disaster area. Don't get too attached to the frequent updates, as soon life will get back to normal, and I will have to return to posting once or twice a week.

Chapter 3: The More Things Change...

Brennan twisted around in her hard plastic chair, trying in vain to find a comfortable position. One would think that manufacturers would find a way to make these things a little more pleasant. These chairs are made for waiting, one of life's most dreaded activities, so shouldn't they be engineered with a bit more compassion for the poor souls who would someday have to sit in them? Also, she was cold. Freezing, in fact. It's as though these places were designed with the goal of making people as miserable as possible.

I spend way too much time here. I should probably reevaluate my lifestyle choices. Although, wasn't it reevaluating her lifestyle choices that had brought her here in the first place? Hadn't her decision been made? She sighed in resignation. This would almost certainly not be her last time in one of these chairs.

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The mental and physical exhaustion of the last week must have finally caught up with her, because the next thing Brennan knew, she was being startled awake by the sound of someone approaching. Turning quickly in her chair, she wondered if maybe she was actually still dozing. She shouldn't be seeing what she was seeing.

"Shouldn't you be on a plane?"

"Shouldn't you be on the other side of the world?," responded an equally surprised Booth. "Bones?," Booth prompted when she didn't answer.

Right, she was staring again. She was really going to have to get that under control. It's just that his presence here was so unexpected. They had just said goodbye. She had believed it would be twelve months before she saw him again, not twelve hours.

"Bones? Have you gone mute?"

Still staring...and smiling like a fool, if her reflection in the small mirror on the opposite wall was to be believed. This must be what it feels like to be an average thirteen-year-old. She pulled herself together, wanting to give him an answer before he was forced to ask her for a third time. She glanced at the sleeping little girl in the bed beside her before turning back to Booth. "No one had reported her missing. She had been lost for over twenty-four hours, and no one was wondering where she was. They found her parents. They were too busy running a meth lab to notice that their child never made it home. She isn't talking, but police believe she got lost trying to get herself to school Thursday morning. Her teacher said that she missed a lot of days. When she asked Angie about it, she said that she couldn't always wake her dad up to take her to school. She promised the teacher that she wouldn't miss any more. Teachers are mandatory reporters, you know. No one had made any reports, though...even though there are cigarette burns all down her legs, even though she's nearly seven-years-old, but is the size of a four-year-old. No one saw her. Although I try to avoid conjecture, I would imagine that's why she doesn't want to talk. She's already learned that no one listens."

Booth could see that he wasn't the only one who had been harassing metro police for an update. "So you decided to delay your trip?"

"I just...I know it's irrational...," she turned back to Angie, "I just couldn't let her come back to an empty hospital room. I just couldn't leave her alone."

Now it was Booth's turn to stare, to watch his supposedly closed-hearted best friend as she stood guard over a little girl she barely knew. He felt his stomach clench, and he was so absorbed in the sight that he almost missed her next words.

"And I didn't delay the trip. I cancelled."

She was gazing up at him, and now he was the one with an involuntary smile on his face. "Bones, what about Indonesia? That dig, it's huge- you said so yourself. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"I find the phrase 'once-in-a-lifetime' to be woefully overused; not to mention largely hyperbolic."

Booth chuckled. "You're losing me with the big words, Bones."

Brennan rolled her eyes. "I just mean that it is impossible to know whether or not an opportunity will be 'once-in-a-lifetime,' and even if you could, does that necessarily mean that you should take it? I can think of several supposedly 'once-in-a-lifetime' opportunities that I would have no interest in acting upon. As a graduate student, I spent a summer in Papua New Guinea. At the end of my stay, some of the villagers offered to give me a traditional tattoo- it was likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I had no qualms about passing."

"Yeah, but Bones, we're talking really ancient remains here, not painful island tattoos."

"There's no need to add 'really' to 'ancient' Booth. Ancient is ancient, there's no need for a qualifier."

"Seriously, Bones?"

She gave him a wry smile, before telling him a truth she had been startled to discover. "I'm not sure...I'm not sure that ancient remains are still my passion. I think that...maybe...what we do is important...and I think, it's...I don't know. I suppose it's become who I am."

He could feel his involuntary grin getting even wider. "So, basically what you're saying is, I've ruined you for all other careers."

She laughed and shook her head, enjoying the familiar banter. "No, what I'm saying is, Ms. Wick deserves this opportunity to prove herself. I've had my opportunity. If I were there with her, she would be perpetually in my shadow. She has a great deal of potential, and I believe this will help her grow....also, I may be tempted to cause her physical harm, and you were right about Indonesian prisons. I have no desire to spend time in one."

Booth laughed and asked, "So where does that leave Angie?"

Brennan looked back at him tentatively. "With me...I talked to the Social Worker...I'm a registered foster parent, and she seems attached to me for whatever reason...so, with me. She's with me."

Booth's smile became less involuntary, as he offered the only words he could, words she'd heard before. "That's a lotta heart, Bones."

She allowed herself to get lost in his gaze for a few moments before asking, "What about you? You really are supposed to be on a plane."

"Me? Well, I came to bring this," He held up a small stuffed puppy dog she hadn't noticed when he first came into the room.

Brennan smiled at the toy, but gave him a pointed look that let him know she was waiting for the real answer.

"Parker," he said. "I went to pick him up yesterday afternoon, and he had this look on his face. He was devastated, you know? Little kids, man, they should never have to look like that. I had just left the hospital and Angie, and there was this little girl who was all alone, and I looked at my son, and I could tell that he felt like I was leaving him all alone too. I know it's not the same, but...suddenly, going away, it just didn't make sense."

It was true. He had never seen Parker looking so sad, and he had never felt like more of an ass. Sure, sometimes parents had to make decisions that their children didn't like, but this was different. This was selfish. He was running away, trying to make a middle out of an end. Angie and Bones, they knew what it was like to be left behind by the people who were supposed to stick with you. Isn't that what he had been trying to show Bones? That family sticks? Suddenly, it felt like he was betraying her too, and that's when he made up his mind. Parker wouldn't learn how it felt to be left behind, not from him. So the army had been pissed? They'd get over it. His son had been overjoyed, and that's what mattered.

There were questions. This was one of those moments when they had chosen to change everything. They had chosen to stay when it would have been so easy to go. They both had their reasons, but the result was all that mattered. It was as pivotal as that night in Sweets' office, and there would be consequences, of course there would be...but they weren't willing to face them now. There would be time for 'what does this mean?' tomorrow. For now, they could just be who they had been.

It was Brennan who spoke first. "So, I suppose it's fortunate that neither of our bosses have gotten around to replacing us yet."

Booth flashed her his best smile, "Aw Bones, as if they could." They shared a laugh, then Booth sat the stuffed puppy on Angie's bed. "I have to go. I promised Parker I would be at his soccer game this morning. I'll be back at 6:30 though, okay?" At Brennan's confused look, he clarified, "Dinner time, Bones. SInce it doesn't look like you're leaving anytime soon, I'm going to bring you dinner. Plus, it'll give me a chance to check on Angie when she's awake. If she's going to be living with you, I'll be seeing her all the time, so I'll need to make sure she's on my side. Maybe I'll sneak her in a sundae. What do you say, Bones, you think she likes hot fudge?"

She could make things awkward. She could ask him to explain if, by virtue of staying, she had somehow changed her place in his life. She could ask if this meant that things were going back to normal. She would ask...but not now. Instead, she matched his smile and answered simply, "What kind of kid doesn't like hot fudge?"

He gave her an 'atta-girl' wink as he turned to leave.

"Booth, wait!" Her voice was soft, but her tone was urgent, as she grabbed his arm to keep him from leaving. "Parker's lucky to have a dad like you- a dad who stays. He won't forget it."

He leaned down to give her a brief hug before he left. "Thanks, Bones."

TBC