A/N: The only thing that I can say about the responses and reviews is to thank you guys. It made me smile and tear up a little when I saw those amazing review alerts in my inbox.

Chapter 7

After the scare with the doctor's office, Brennan wanted nothing more than to crawl into her mother's lap and have her play with her hair. The problem with this is that her mother has been dead for years.

Her age and independence was irrelevant to the fact that Temperance Brennan wanted her mom. If anyone but Booth were to accuse her of this, she would deny it just to avoid the pity, but she couldn't help how she felt.

For that reason, Brennan found herself sitting in front of her mother's tomb stone talking to her.

"I'm so scared about all of this mom. I wish you were here to help me address my unfounded fears but I know that wishes are logically useless. I could wish and pray to all of the Gods that exist in peoples' minds and you still wouldn't be here to talk to me about this momentous occasion in my life." Brennan sighed at the lack of contradiction to her words. If any time would be best for her to be wrong, she would want it to be that one moment.

"Angela tells me that it is normal for me to feel this way. She says that as I develop my love and affection for my own child, I will wonder about our lost relationship."

Brennan took a deep yet frustrated breathe before she continued with something she had been thinking about for a while.

"Mom, I can't help but feel both mad and understanding towards you and dad about what you did. I'm mad because I can't imagine leaving my child by themselves. I know you and dad probably thought that Russ would take care of me but you should have thought it through and made plans for alternative outcomes."

"I often wondered if you knew about my abuse at the hands of my foster parents. I use to think that only someone who hated me would ever allow me to be in those extremely damaging situations. It felt as though I was all alone while the three of you had just wished to be without the burden of me."

"But then I think about how I would feel if there were dangerous people after my child, and I'm not sure if I could leave my child the way you did me. I'm not sure if that makes me stronger or weaker than you and dad were. It seems to be a waste of time to talk to you about all of the feelings and thoughts I've had because it's not as though you can hear me," Brennan finished with a frown.

"No sweetie, but I can," she heard from behind here. She had a slight moment of panic before she realized that it was her father that stepped behind the tree.

"Dad, what are- …how much did you hear?" she questioned.

"Enough. I got here as you were telling your mom how mad you were at us for…leaving you."

"Oh." For one of the few times in history, Brennan had no idea what to say.

"So I hear I'm going to be a grandfather. And I got a son-in-law out of the deal. How did that happen sweetie?" he asked not upset but genuinely curious.

"It's a long story but we're happy," she said with a smile.

"Tempe, I am so sorry for what your mom and I did to you. You were right about so many things that you said while sitting here and I know that your mom is just as sad as me about how your life was during that time. But you have to know that if we had any thoughts that Russ wouldn't keep you or that you would end up with any of those bastards that we would have figured out a way to get back to you. Please say that you at least believe me on that," her dad said close to tears.

It was literally heartbreaking to hear any reminder about how horrible his little girl was treated when all he ever wanted was for his family to be safe and happy. She was neither and it made him want to go back and prevent his past self from ever leaving her to begin with, but he knew that sadly, the past couldn't be changed.

"I honestly can't dad. Those years, I went through things that people should never have to go through, let alone young girls. I've already forgiven you for leaving but please don't ask me to excuse what your actions led to. I know you did it to protect us and with the evidence that you had at that time, it was the most logical conclusion to leave. That's what the scientist in me says. But the woman in me, who missed her family, can't get over that abandonment."

"Tempe, I-" her dad tried to respond but she cut him off.

"No dad, I didn't intentionally bring this up to go around in rings. I just wanted you to know how I felt. I don't want to dwell on the past anymore. It's time to move on to better things in life," she said with a smile as she put her hand on her stomach.

"Circles sweetie, not rings," her dad corrected with a watery smile of affection.

And with that, Max sat down on the grass and for the first time in years, was involved in a conversation with his wife and his daughter.

XXX

After visiting her mother, for lack of a better term, Brennan was ready for battle in the courtroom. When their case was called, both parties got up from their seats and moved to their designated areas.

"Case?" Judge Williams asked.

"Booth v. Stinson, in the legal and physical custody of Parker Booth," a clerk said to the judge as he handed her the file.

"Counselors, proceed."

"Your honor, my client, Ms. Stinson, wishes to receive sole custody of her son Parker because she feels that his father isn't doing what he should," Rebecca's lawyer stated.

Rebecca sat behind her table with thoughts of finally having won, while Booth and Brennan tried to remain calm after hearing what her lawyer was saying.

"Your honor, Mr. Booth has done everything for his son and coincidentally, Ms. Stinson that he thought he had to do. The only thing Mr. Booth is guilty of is being too trusting of Ms. Stinson's integrity," their lawyer Melissa stated.

"That's just not true your honor. I have been completely honest and open with Booth from the beginning," Rebecca once again interrupted.

"Counselor, I would advise you to let your client know that I do not tolerate outbursts in my court room and unless she wishes to be deemed out of order, she would do well to remember that I have little patience with rude people," Judge Williams commented without even looking at Rebecca.

Her lawyer did look at her and it can only be assumed that he told her to listen as well as he could in this situation.

"I'm sorry your honor. My client is just extremely passionate when it comes to the well-being of her son," her lawyer tried to smooth over.

"You would also do well to know that I don't like fast talkers," the judge said while raising one of her eyebrows.

"Yes, your honor. Ms. Stinson feels that Mr. and Mrs. Booth would be damaging to Parker as he is at a stage in his life where he needs stability and structure. And those are things that the Booths cannot give him sir. We move to request the sole legal and physical custody of Parker be with his mother."

With little to no hesitation, the judge had her answer ready.

"Denied. As I'm reading this file, many things jump out at me and the majority of them are not good. I move to dismiss this hearing and meet at a later date so that I can research a little more. I would advise you all to get your information in order and be ready to call witnesses. I would prefer not to draw this out any more than it needs to be. But both sides be prepared because when we next meet, there will be hell to pay for one or maybe both of you," and with that, Judge Williams banged her gavel on her counter and called for the next case.

And with that sound, trumpets might as well have been blown because war was underway and both sides had thoughts of not giving up without a fight.

A/N: I once again can't even begin to tell you guys how much it warmed my heart to see all those reviews. And to those that choose not to review, I will still continue to write, I would just prefer it if you could spare me a few words.

Hope you liked the chapter. The next one, the trial starts and the gloves are coming off. And I have absolutely no idea if I got any of the legal/court stuff right. I'm just going off of tv shows mostly, so I hope I don't upset any people who actually know what they're talking about.

Also, let me know what you would like to see in the upcoming chapters.

Trisha Whitlock