Okay, with both of the adopted Booth boys properly introduced, it's back to regular B and B fluffiness squared to the power of ten times four. :D Since we've spent some time with the boys, let's spend some time with Booth and Brennan's daughter.
Tough
Chrissy Booth was just like her mother in many ways. She was intelligent, sensitive, and stubborn. But most of all, she was fearless and passionately curious. That was a dangerous combination. From the time she could walk she would get into anything and everything, wondering what it was and how it worked. As she got older, she continually took huge risks just to prove that she could do them.
On this particular Saturday afternoon, six-year-old Chrissy was at the park with her father and little brother, Travis. "So do you guys want to go on the swings?" Booth asked when they arrived. Chrissy dropped his hand and shook her head.
"No, Daddy! Watch me climb the jungle gym! I'm gonna go all the way to the top!" Chrissy exclaimed and charged toward the jungle gym.
"Be careful, Chrissy!" Booth called after her. He looked down at his four-year-old boy and saw that he was gazing up at him. "Do you want to go on the swings, Trav?" Travis only nodded slightly and gripped Booth's hand tighter. Although he had been living with the Booths for a year, Travis still barely spoke a word.
"Daddy, are you watching me?" Chrissy shouted across the playground as Booth walked to the swings with Travis. He looked up at her and his heart skipped a beat. That jungle gym seemed a lot taller when his little girl was standing at the top of it.
"Don't go any higher!" he warned her with his anxiety evident in his voice. Chrissy rolled her eyes and continued to climb. "Christine Elizabeth Booth! Do not climb any higher!" Anger mixed with his anxiety as he walked toward the jungle gym. Chrissy continued to ignore her father. She put her foot on the bar that attached the outside of the jungle gym to the center pole.
"Daddy, I'll bet I can walk across the bar to the middle! Watch me!" Booth silently cursed Brennan's genes for creating such a little terror. She cautiously let go of the bar and stood up straight. Booth was practically sprinting toward her now.
"Chrissy, you are in so much trouble! Come down right this second! You are not going to Bailey's birthday party next week!" Travis just sat on the swing his father had left him in and watched the scene unfold.
What happened next took only a matter of seconds, but to Booth they seemed like slow motion. He reached the jungle gym and was trying to decide how to best get his daughter down, when he saw her lose her footing. He quickly assessed which way she was going to fall and rushed to catch her. He failed and she plummeted to the ground only feet from him. The scream she let out after she hit the ground was enough to tear his heart in two. He rushed to her side and tried to coax her to say where she was injured. He soon realized he didn't need to be told. Her arm was bent in a way he was entirely certain it wasn't supposed to.
"Okay, Chrissy. It's okay. Daddy's got you." He soothed quietly. "I'm going to pick you up now, okay? We're gonna go to the hospital." Chrissy nodded and Booth scooped her up in his arms. He called for Travis to follow them and rushed as quickly as he dared toward the car. Once he knew Travis and Chrissy were safely buckled, he got in the driver's seat and sped toward the hospital, siren blaring. "Hang on, Sweetheart. We're almost there," he assured himself as much as his daughter. Chrissy was still crying, but not as loudly as she had been earlier.
It was a simple break of the arm and the bone was quickly set and put in a cast. Brennan entered the hospital room, concern etched on her face. She accepted the hug Travis was offering her then moved to Chrissy. "Are you okay?" she asked. Chrissy nodded.
"Yeah, Mommy. Look at my cast! Isn't it cool? Daddy and Travis already signed it. Will you sign it too?" Brennan smiled as she realized her daughter was her same old self.
"Of course I will," she promised and planted a kiss in her daughter's hair. "What kind of fracture is it?" she asked Booth.
"Don't worry, Bones. She's fine. It wasn't poking out of the skin or anything," he replied with a confident smile.
"From the way they casted it I would hypothesize that she fractured her radius." Chrissy nodded enthusiastically.
"That's right, Mommy! I knew you would guess the bone." Brennan grinned. Chrissy was flashing her a smile that was absolutely identical to her father's.
"How did this happen?" she asked the room in general. Booth let out a small laugh.
"It's all your fault, Bones," he teased.
"My fault?" Brennan repeated, not quite getting that Booth was joking. "How could it possibly be my fault? You're the one who was with her at the time."
"Whoa, Bones, I was just joking," Booth said, putting his hands up defensively. "She was walking around on the top of the jungle gym after I told her to come down. She got that from you, you know. That way she can't resist risky behavior."
"From me?" Brennan said with humor. "Booth, I believe she inherited that particular trait from you." Booth laughed and put an arm around Brennan.
"I guess she was doomed, huh?" he said and kissed her on the temple. Brennan sighed and leaned into her husband.
"Are you in pain, Christine?" Brennan asked. Chrissy looked up from the conversation she was having with Travis.
"A little bit," she admitted. "But I'm tough. Right, Daddy?" Booth smiled and walked toward his little girl.
"Yeah, Baby Girl. You're tough." He gave her a hug being careful not to touch her arm. "But even tough girls need some 'get well soon' ice cream, right?" Chrissy considered this for a moment.
"Yeah, I think even tough girls like ice cream," she decided.
"Me too!" Travis finally spoke up. "I can be tough too!" Booth and Brennan laughed and Booth ruffled his hair.
"Yeah, Little Man. You can be tough too." He turned back toward Chrissy. "But don't think this gets you off the hook. You're still not going to Bailey's birthday party."
"Mom!" Chrissy cried, desperate for some backup.
"Your father's punishment is satisfactory," Brennan said sternly. "You put yourself at great personal risk and you have to understand that those kind of actions carry heavy consequences." Chrissy pouted and stared at the floor. Booth laughed. Yes, his little girl was very tough. He had some interesting years ahead of him.
Tell me what ya think!
