The days and weeks passed and even though Lizzie and his sisters went back to Philly, they kept in touch. Lizzie was even helping Brennan plan Drew's first birthday party. Booth's time at the FBI in their cold case unit had been successful so far, solving more cold cases in four months than the rest of the unit did in the last year. Jack and Angela had eloped, much to no one's surprise and Jared was getting ready to head off to the Naval academy, despite Booth's jokes and jabs against the Navy. Drew's first birthday was only a week off, and to everyone's surprise, though no one was complaining, Booth invited Lizzie, her husband, Sadie and Sasha to stay with them for a week to celebrate Independence Day and his son's birth. Drew was walking now and Booth and Brennan were having a hard time keeping up. Drew kept them on their toes. He spoke several words in several languages, thanks to Brennan and her genius skills. His curly blonde locks were already starting to straighten out and turn brown like his dad's.

It was the fourth of July and the small Booth house was packed. Teddy and his girlfriend had come, Jared had taken time off from packing for the academy to drive Pops down from Philly and his mother and her family had arrived early in the week. The plan was to grill some burgers, watch Drew destroy a slice of cake, open presents and then go down to the reflecting pool to watch the fireworks displays.

There was some unspoken tension between Teddy and Booth, since a year ago they both thought they were going to die in a foreign desert, but the cheerfulness surrounding them forced them to push that thought to the back of their minds and focus on the party.

Brennan stood next to Angela, who was videotaping Drew coat himself in chocolate frosting. Sasha pulled a chair up next to Brennan and stood on it to raise her closer to Bren's height. She tugged on Brennan's sleeve.

"Bren?"

"Hmm?" she mumbled, not taking her eyes off her son, who was having the time of his life.

"Where's your mommy? Didn't she want to be here?"

Angela and Brennan looked down at the little girl. She meant it as an innocent question but both older women were shocked at the question. Her parents were like an unwritten rule around them, don't bring them up and no one gets hurt.

"My mom…she…"

"Sasha," Booth swooped in and saved the day, "Wanna come help me get all of Drew's presents together? You can help him open them."

Brennan cringed at the mention of her mother. She wished her mom was here to see her grandson. Any time there was a gathering, it was always bittersweet for Bren. She had her surrogate family and she knew they would always be there for her, but deep down, she wanted her father, mother and brother around just like they used to be. She looked up at her husband and mouthed, thanks. He nodded and took his sister into the living room to find Drew's gifts. Angela looked concerned for her friend and made eye contact with Brennan, who shrugged it off and moved toward her son to begin cleaning the frosting off his face.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Booth and Sasha piled Drew's presents on the coffee table.

"Seeley?"

"Sasha?"

"Where's Bren's mommy and daddy?"

He didn't know how to explain a missing persons report to a four year old. He had to think of how they would explain it to Drew when he would inevitably ask.

"I'll…I'll tell you later, okay? Let's just get all this stuff ready for Drew."

The rest of the night went well. Drew acquired more toys than Booth and Brennan knew what to do with and the fireworks on the National Mall were beautiful. Brennan was just thankful that the thunderous explosions didn't scare her son. After the fireworks were over, it was time for the little ones to go to bed. Like the night before, Brennan had Sadie and Sasha pick out stories for Drew and after they were over, the girls went downstairs to their parents while Booth and Brennan tucked Drew into his crib. When the couple came down the stairs to bid goodnight to their guests, they were met with a flood of questions from the girls.

"Can we see your wedding pictures?"

"Was your dress pretty?"

"Did you look handsome in your tux?"

Booth and Brennan looked at each other warily. Their wedding had not been exactly what the girls pictured. The somewhat spontaneous nuptials at the Philadelphia courthouse, deterred only a day by the need for witnesses, was brought on by the fear that should something happen to Booth when he was deployed, Brennan would not be the one to be notified.

"Well…" Booth stuttered, "It…wasn't quite what you guys think of as a wedding. We didn't have a cake or anything like that. Bren didn't have a bouquet…"

"Here," Brennan said, stepping away from her bookcase with a small photo album. She sat on the couch with the girls. It was full of polaroids taken outside the Philadelphia courthouse. There was Booth in his green service uniform and Brennan in her white sundress. It had been a sunny, warm day in late September when the leaves were changing and falling.

"Your brother had just gotten home from a trip the Army sent him on and Jared got in a car accident. Jack and Angela were our witnesses. I still have that dress, though…I haven't worn it since before Drew was born. I'm not sure if I can still fit into it."

"Of course you can, babe!"

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Anyway, as soon as we knew Jared was okay, we went down to the courthouse and applied for the marriage license. We had the judge waive the waiting period but we needed witnesses and since Jared was in the hospital and Hank was staying with him, we had Jack and Angela stop by Philadelphia on their way to New York."

"I haven't seen these! Where did they come from? I mean, I remember Angela taking pictures but I kinda forgot about it," Booth said, leaning behind the couch.

"It was a Christmas gift from Angela. It was to help me while you were gone and I was pregnant."

"So you didn't have a real wedding?" Sasha cried.

"Sasha, shh, Drew's sleeping," Brennan reminded her.

"Sasha, it was a real wedding, just like what you would normally think of. They're married. That's all that matters."

"You know what," Booth said, coming around the couch and pulling Bren to her feet, "I'm pretty sure I promised you a real wedding."

He wrapped his arms around her and she did the same to him. "Actually, if I recall, I was the one that promised you. I don't need an actually ceremony. But if you still want one…"

"Well, we never did have a honeymoon."

"Don't you count that entire week we stayed in the apartment having se-ˮ

"I don't think that is a conversation we should have when there are people around," Booth cut her off, a bright pink shade rising to his cheeks.

She smiled at him. "You're probably right. I'm going to head to bed. I have four lectures in the morning."

She said her goodnights and Booth came upstairs with her. As they got into bed, she snuggled up to Booth and pressed her toes against his calves.

"Jeez, Bren! Put some socks on!"

She laughed a bit. They talked about nothing for a while before Brennan started drifting off toward dream world.

"Bren?"

"Yes?"

"Do you ever think about finding Russ? Or your mom or dad?" They had last seen Russ during their freshman year of college at Northwestern. He had seen the couple's picture in the paper after Booth had won his first national title and had come to check on his baby sister. After seeing Booth was taking care of her, he left again. The last they knew, he was heading out to Hollywood to find some work schlepping on the sets.

"Only when I look at Drew," she answered.

"Well…Did you or Russ ever file a missing persons report?"

She nodded. "They did when I went into foster care."

"Do…I mean, I'm on the cold case unit…If you want me to, I could-ˮ

"Yes! Will you?"

"Of course, babe. You know I'd do anything for you," he whispered, but she was already asleep.