A/N: I hope a quick update and a longer chapter makes up for the cliffhanger on the last one. The next update should be Tuesday as long as all goes according to plan. A lot of this update is very Brennan heavy, though I've sprinkled in a fair amount of Booth and Christine moments. I hope you enjoy this chapter, please continue reviewing!
"It's nothing, I'm fine," Brennan says, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Don't try that, Bren. You're standing in my door crying, you're not fine," Angela replies, looking at her friend wearily before crossing the room and taking her hand. "Tell me what it is, sweetie."
Brennan sighs as she sits down next to Angela. "Really, Ange, I'm not upset. I'm just emotional. I love watching the way you and Christine interact," she says with a smile.
"Okay, seriously, what is up with you this week, Bren? I dropped it yesterday because I figured it was just an off day, but now it's two days in a row. Yesterday you're voluntarily feeding your kid and yourself sugar before dinner and leaving work to do so and now you're getting weepy seeing me with Christine. You see us together all the time. I pick her up from school twice a week, just like you do with Michael, and we're all together at least every other weekend if we aren't working a case and you aren't visiting Parker."
Brennan's eyes widen as Angela finishes her rant. She thinks she knows the cause of her behavioral changes, but she is not ready to share that with anyone yet, not even Ange. "I, uh," she stumbles, trying to figure out what to say. "I think yesterday was a fluke. Booth would say that it was mother's intuition, that I knew something had gone wrong at school for Christine through the magical powers of my intestines," she says, finding her footing. "Personally, I think that the state of my brain chemistry yesterday just created a sugar craving and I thought that taking the kids out for frozen yogurt would be a good way to satisfy it." She pauses to look at Angela, who now looks wide-eyed herself. "Today, however, I think I am emotionally on edge because of Christine's incident at school yesterday. It upset me greatly and I am still feeling those emotions. Therefore, seeing her so happy with you and talking about her surprise for Booth overwhelmed me and caused those emotions to spill over." As Angela opens her mouth to speak, Brennan adds, "Additionally, I find that the sight of her hands on your pregnant belly was objectively adorable."
Angela didn't know what she expected, but it wasn't this. Brennan's genius was clearly showing because she went from stuttering to a perfectly reasoned and perfectly Brennan argument in a matter of seconds. Knowing there's no arguing with her when she's like this, Angela gives up once again. "Alright," she says, "but let me know whenever you want to tell me the truth about what's got you acting all funny."
Taking this as her chance to escape, Brennan stands and crosses Angela's office. When she gets to the door, however, she turns back to Angela and says, "Thank you. I will, I promise," before walking away.
When Brennan and the kids arrive home, Booth is already there. "Dada!" Hank yells as he walks through the door and sees his father sitting on the couch.
"Hey, buddy!" Booth says, standing to lift Hank into his arms. He presses a kiss to his son's cheek as he moves to hug Brennan. "How was school today?" he asks Christine.
"It was good! Me and Michael got the play on the playground after school," she smiles.
"It's 'Michael and I,' Christine," Brennan interjects.
"Whatever it is," Booth replies, "I'm glad you had a good day today, peanut. I have some good news for you."
"What is it?" Christine asks excitedly.
"Come sit down next to me and I'll tell you," Booth replies, moving to sit back on the couch. As he sits down, Hank slides off of his lap and walks towards Brennan, taking her hand and leading her down the hallway towards his room.
"I talked to my friend Dean who's still in the Army yesterday," Booth says.
"And?!"
"And he gave me a list of ten names of people you can make cards for." Booth stops speaking as Christine crashes into his chest to hug him.
"Thank you, Daddy!" she squeals. She crawls into his lap and gives him a kiss.
"You're welcome, sweetie. So on Friday, I'm going to pick you up from school and we're going to bring the cards over to Dean at his office and he'll send them out for us, okay?"
"Okay," she says. She looks up at him and says, "Can we cuddle for a few minutes?"
"Of course we can, Christine," Booth says, feeling his heart melt. He squeezes her a little tighter as she settles against his chest.
After dinner, Christine sends Hank to his room as she turns to look at her parents. She's bouncing up and down slightly as she says, "Mommy, Daddy? Will one of you play with Hank until it's bedtime tonight? I really want to start my cards for the soldiers' families."
Booth and Brennan smile at their daughter as Booth says, "Of course, Christine. You go get started on your cards and we'll keep your brother entertained."
"Thanks!" she says, hugging both of them before running off to her room.
"She must be very excited about this project," Booth says. "She never gives up her time playing with Hank."
"She is, Booth. Memorial Day means a lot to her because of all you've taught her. I'm glad the boy in her class didn't ruin this project for her," Brennan muses.
"I am too, Bones, I am too." Booth pauses to smile at his wife. "You go play with Hank, I'll clean up here."
"I can clean up Boo-"
"Go, Bones. She's doing this project because of me, so I should be the one cleaning the kitchen. Plus, I think you deserve to get some fun time in with Hank after he peed on you this morning."
Brennan groans. "Why does everyone need to keep reminding me about that?"
Booth walks down the hall and peers into Christine's room. She's lying on her floor with her tongue sticking out in concentration working on her cards. "Hey, Christine," he says, "how're the cards going?"
"Good! I finished four so far," she says, handing Booth four folded pieces of construction paper. Booth looks at the front of each card and smiles. While each one has an American flag on the front, none of them are the same. When he opens the cards, however, he has to hold back his tears. In the unique handwriting of a six-year-old, Christine had written a note inside each card. All the messages were the same: "I'm sory for yor loss. Love, Christine Booth" Sensing the change in her father's mood, Christine asks, "What's wrong, Daddy? Did I do something wrong?"
Booth forces his tears back and picks Christine up. "No, sweetie, you didn't do anything wrong. They're perfect."
She looks at him for a moment, brow wrinkled in confusion, before asking, "Then why do you look like you're gonna cry?"
Astounded by her ability to read him, Booth stumbles for a minute before explaining, "It's because I'm very proud of you, sweetie. Where did you learn to say 'I'm sorry for your loss?'"
"That's what everyone kept saying to Mommy at Grandpa Max's funeral," she says, looking down.
"Hey," Booth says, knuckling her chin the same way he does with Brennan, "look at me. Is making the cards making you sad?"
"A little, but it's okay. I just miss Grandpa Max a lot."
Booth hugs her tighter. "Me too, sweetie, me too. Maybe tonight instead of reading stories, your mom and I can tell you some stories about him. How's that sound?" Christine just nods as she hugs her dad. "Okay. You get your PJs on and brush your teeth while I go check on your mom and Hank."
"Okay, Daddy," she says as Booth places her on the floor and leaves the room, shutting the door behind him.
Booth walks quietly to Hank's room. He stops at the door to watch Brennan and their son from the doorway before interrupting to start their bedtime routine. Hank is on top of his bed running in circles. His clothes are in a pile at the foot of the bed and Brennan is standing next to the bed holding his pajamas. She reaches an arm out and grabs him, sending him into a fit of giggles. She lays him down on the bed and tickles him as he kicks his legs wildly. When she stops, she blows a raspberry on his tummy and pulls his top on over his head. "Stand up, Hank," she says, and he jumps up and tries to resume his running. She grabs him again and carries him over to the changing table.
As she changes his diaper, Hank yells, "Chri-tine!" and fights to get off the table. He was enjoying his playtime with Mommy until he realized that his sister was missing from his bedtime routine.
Booth chooses that moment to step into the room, saying, "She'll be in soon, buddy, she's just putting on her PJs."
Appeased by his father's appearance, Hank stills so Brennan can fasten the tabs on his diaper. "Dada," he says softly, reaching out to Booth. Booth takes the pajama bottoms from Brennan and slides into her place at the changing table. As he slips the pants onto his son's body, Christine comes into the room. Booth picks Hank up, and Hank immediately notices his sister. "Chri-tine, Chri-tine!" he yells as he reaches out for his sister. Booth puts the boy down and he barrels into Christine's legs, knocking her over. He climbs on top of her chest and plants a wet kiss on her lips.
Booth slips his arm around Brennan's shoulder as they laugh at their son's enthusiasm over his big sister. Christine laughs and gives Hank a kiss of his own from their pile on the floor. "Now climb off of me," she says, "so I can read you a story." Hank complies and runs to his bookshelf to pick out a book for his sister to read to him. The whole family sits on Hank's bed as they read him stories before going to do story time with Christine.
As Brennan gets ready to go to lunch the next day, she's grateful that her morning was largely uneventful. Hank kept his clothes on after she dressed him, Christine got to school on time, and Hank didn't throw a fit when she dropped him off at daycare. Despite Hank's willingness to play with his friends today, Brennan feels compelled to take him home early. As Angela picks the children up from school today and brings them to soccer, she sees no reason she needs to stay at work. There are no active cases and she's been making excellent progress on identifying the remains in limbo. She stands up and walks to Hodgins's office. She resents the fact that she needs to clear it with him before she leaves, but Cam did leave him in charge until she gets back.
"Dr. Hodgins?" she says as she enters.
"What's up Dr. B?" he says cheerfully, turning away from his microscope to look at her.
"I am going to leave early today and take Hank home if that's alright."
"Sure. Is something wrong with him?"
"No. He seemed fine when I dropped him off at daycare this morning. However, we have no open FBI cases and I've already identified several sets of remains in limbo this week. I feel that having some alone time with me could be beneficial for Hank," she says shortly, trying to sound as sure of herself as possible. Truthfully, she has no idea why she's leaving work early and taking Hank home. She just wants to, and since she rarely wants to leave work early, she's decided to follow the impulse.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then, Dr. B. Will Angela still see you at soccer?"
"Yes, I'd like to surprise Christine by being there for the entire practice instead of just to pick her up," she says with a smile.
When Booth gets out of the car to surprise Christine at soccer, he gets a surprise of his own. He looks over to the sideline where the parents wait, and sees Brennan chasing Hank in circles around a tree. As he walks towards his wife, he can't help but worry that something is wrong. She should still be at work, which means something must have happened with one of the kids to make her leave work early.
"Daddy!" Christine shouts, running towards her dad. "What are you doing here?" she asks as she jumps into his arms.
"I finished all my work early, peanut," he says as he kisses the top of her head, "so I thought I'd surprise you. Go finish your practice, we can talk after." As soon as her feet are on the ground again, she's running back onto the field. Now Hank is running at his dad because he heard his sister yell. Booth grunts as something crashes into the back of his legs and latches on. He twists his back to see what it is, and smiles when he realizes it's his son. "Hey, Hank. Let go of my legs and come up here," Booth says.
Brennan walks over, not too far behind Booth, and says, "Hi, Booth. I didn't expect to see you here."
"I didn't expect to see you here this early either, Bones. What's up, why'd you leave work early?" As his parents talk, Hanks pulls at his dad's tie.
"Yea, Bren," Angela says, sliding next to her friend, "why'd you leave work early?"
"I wanted to spend some one-on-one time with Hank this week. Since we're doing a girls' day with Christine on Saturday, this was the best day for me to do it. Besides, I don't have much work to do without any active FBI cases and I've identified several sets of remains in limbo this week," Brennan replies.
Booth and Angela look at each other, both knowing that something is up with Brennan but understanding that they can't push her on it right now.
When they get home from soccer, Christine immediately goes to her room to finish her cards. She comes out right before dinner with her stack of cards and three markers. She hands one marker to each of her parents and keeps the other one. "I'm all done with my cards!" she says. "I just need you guys to sign them."
"Why do you want us to sign them?" Brennan asks. "You made them on their own, they're from you."
"Because we all care about those soldiers and I want their families to know that."
Brennan and Booth look at each other, pride shining in their eyes, as Booth reaches forward to take the cards. They create an assembly line of sorts; Booth signs one, then Brennan signs it, and then Christine helps Hank sign it. This continues until all ten cards have been signed.
"Go put these on your dresser, Christine. It's time for dinner and I don't want anything to get on them," Booth says.
The next morning, Christine adds another element to the family's already hectic morning routine. Having woken up early, she walks into her parents' room and shakes her mother awake. "Mommy? Wake up, Mommy," she says quietly.
"What is it, Christine? Did you have a bad dream?" Brennan says, voice rough with sleep.
"No, it's morning time already."
Sitting up, Brennan looks at the alarm clock and notes that Christine is correct. "You don't have to be up for another hour, Christine. Go back to sleep, sweetie."
"No, Mommy. I want you to curl my hair. Please?"
"Why do you need your hair curled, Christine? Is something special happening at school today?" Brennan says as she stands and walks towards the bathroom attached to her bedroom. Even if she has to be awake now, Booth still has another forty-five minutes of sleep.
"I get to meet Daddy's Army friend today!" Christine squeals as Brennan shuts the bathroom door behind them.
"Ahh, Dean. So you want to look special because you're meeting one of your father's friends?"
"Yes. I never get to meet Daddy's Army friends," she explains. Brennan plugs in the curling wand and lifts Christine up to sit on the counter.
When Booth wakes up forty minutes later, Brennan isn't in bed next to him. And the bed beside him is cold, so she's been up for a while. Concern flashes through him as he remembers her odd behavior until he hears a giggle coming from their master bathroom. The lights are on and the door is shut, so Brennan must be in there with Christine. Booth's heart rate slows as he stands up and heads to the closet to select an outfit for the day.
A few minutes later, the bathroom door opens and Christine runs out and starts jumping on their bed. "Hi, Daddy!" she yells.
"Hi, Christine. How long have you been up?" he asks.
"About fifty minutes," Brennan replies as she grabs Christine and puts her on the floor. "Go get dressed, Christine." Christine gives Booth a hug before she exits the room to follow her mother's instructions.
"Why you up so early, Bones?" Booth asks, crossing the room and pulling her into a hug.
"She woke me up and asked me to curl her hair. She's excited to meet Dean today. She thinks it's special because she's never met any of your friends from your time in the Army before," Brennan replies, leaning into his hug.
"You lie down and rest for a few minutes, then," he says. "I'll make breakfast and get Hank up after I get dressed."
Brennan smiles and pulls herself from his arms. "Thank you, Booth. I don't know how I used to manage those hours at the lab. I got seven hours of sleep last night and I'm still exhausted because I missed the last thirty minutes."
As Booth pulls up in front of Dean's office, he says, "I've got a surprise for you from your mom, Christine."
"Really?" she says, getting out of her booster seat. "What is it?"
"Well, she told me that you wanted her to put makeup on you this morning."
"And she said no," Christine interjects, still annoyed at her mother's decision. "She said I was beautiful without it."
"Which is true, you are. But," Booth pauses, "she gave me this to put on you before you met Dean." He holds up a light pink lip gloss and watches as Christine's whole face lights up. "She said that she didn't think it was appropriate for you to wear makeup to school, but she knew that today was special to you. Hop up in the front seat for a second and I'll put it on you."
"Okay!" Christine squeals as she bounces over the center console and into the front seat. "Mom is the coolest!"
"I think you're right, your mom is pretty cool," Booth says as he carefully puts the lip gloss on his little girl. "Okay, rub your lips together now." As she does, Booth pulls down the passenger side visor and opens up the mirror so Christine can see herself. He slides out of the car and around the other side and opens her door. As she slides out of the car, he flips the visor up and grabs her cards from his center console. He hands her the cards and takes her hand as they walk towards the door.
"Booth?" Brennan says as she's pulling down the covers getting ready for bed that night.
Hearing the caution in her voice, Booth puts his hand over hers, both to calm her and to stop her movement. "What's up, baby?" he asks.
"Well," she pauses, looking down at the bed. He reaches over and knuckles her chin, forcing him to look at her. Seeing the love in his eyes, she feels reassured. "I was supposed to start my period today."
"'Supposed to,'" Booth muses, his face brightening as the wheels turn in his mind. "That implies that you didn't. Baby, do you think you're pregnant?"
"I can't know yet, Booth. It's quite plausible that my period may just be late," she says, and he visibly deflates. "However, I have been craving sweets this week. Frozen yogurt this time."
"So that's why you went out with Christine, Angela, and Michael Vincent the other day. I figured that was one of Angela's pregnancy cravings."
"Yes, it was my desire for frozen yogurt, not Angela's. I don't even understand why I went to pick up the children from school. It was Angela's turn and she is fully capable of doing so on her own, but I just wanted to see Christine," she rambles, looking confused.
"It's like you're nesting, baby," Booth says as he pulls her forward onto the bed. He touches his index finger to her lips to stop her retort. "Let me explain myself before you jump in with your anthropology, okay?" She nods her assent and he continues, "I know we have already established our home and our family. We have our dynamic and our routines. But all of a sudden you want to spend more time with the kids, and that's natural. You picked Christine up from school on Tuesday, you're taking her out for a girls' day tomorrow, you snuck Hank out of daycare yesterday. I think," he says as he pulls her to his chest, kissing the top of her head lightly, "that you're subconsciously preparing to adjust the family dynamic to having another one running around someday soon." When he finishes, he can't help the smile that overtakes his face.
Although she can't see it, she feels it as his mouth is still touching the top of her head. She prepares her reply, but it's empty, for the sake of arguing a point. The notion of having another child makes her metaphorical heart swell, and she can't help but hope that she is pregnant. "While you have made valid points, Booth, none of them fit the true anthropological definition of the term 'nesting.' What you are describing is simply preparing for a transition." She leaves out the fact that her girls' day with Christine has an ulterior motive: a Memorial Day surprise for Booth. "And while I still believe that my period may start tomorrow and this whole talk is for nothing, I did pick up a pregnancy test on the way home."
Booth pulls away from his Bones so he can see her properly. "You have a pregnancy test?" he exclaims. "Then what are we doing sitting on the bed cuddling? You should be peeing on a stick!"
"Firstly, you are the reason we are sitting on the bed, Booth," Brennan quips. "I was simply completing my nightly ritual until you pulled me into this position. And secondly, I don't want to take it yet."
"Why not? You bought it, that means you think there's a chance you think you're pregnant!"
"Because, Booth, while I admit that there is a chance that we may have conceived, my period may still be regulating itself. I haven't been off my hormonal contraception for that long, which means my cycle can still be more irregular than usual."
Brennan doesn't notice that she's slipped into more clinical, detached language as she offers this reasoning, but Booth does. And he understands why. His wife may have learned to trust and to love again, but she still struggles with the idea of hope. She's still afraid of getting her hopes up because she can't always accept that sometimes life does work out how she wants it to. So, despite how eager he is to know for sure, he relents as he pulls her back into a hug. "Okay, baby," he mumbles into her hair. "But how many days are you going to make me wait before you take the test? We're having the cookout on Monday, so you should probably do it before then."
Brennan is grateful that Booth lets her go another night without seeing how lucky she truly is. Although she thought she wanted their family to stay at its current size, she realizes now that the idea of having a third child with Booth appeals to her. She relaxes into his embrace as she answers him. "You're right, I don't want to consume any alcoholic beverages at the cookout if I am pregnant, so we need to know before then. If I haven't started my period by Sunday night, I will take the test then, Booth."
"Sounds good to me, Bones," he says, kissing the top of her head yet again.
They remain in each other's arms for a few minutes before pulling away to finish getting ready for bed. As he goes through the motions on autopilot, Booth cannot pull his brain away from the fact that he might be a father again. More than anything, he wishes for Sunday night, so he can know for sure and so Brennan can process the hope she's trying to suppress. As they climb into bed, his hand automatically finds its way to her stomach, just like it does every time she's pregnant. He might not have a positive test result to prove it, but Booth is fairly certain that he is going to be a father again. Falling asleep with his wife in his arms, Seeley Booth cannot help but think that he is the luckiest man on Earth.
A/N: Just a fun fact: my full name is actually Christine, although my niece and nephews call me Tino when they're little. The pronunciation of Christine's name that I've given Hank is how every little kid I know first says my name when they're learning. For some reason none of them can combine the s and the t sound correctly and the s always gets dropped. The rest of my pronunciation/spelling/linguistics for the kids is based mostly on a combination of child development research and winging it, but that one is based on personal experience. Also, if you want to see Christine meeting Dean, let me know and I'll include it in the next chapter as Christine telling the story to Cam, Ange, and Brennan during their girls' day. I was going to write it, but ended up cutting it out to keep this chapter a somewhat reasonable length.