AN: Here's the next chapter. This took me way longer than anticipated to get up so I hope you guys enjoy it!

On with the show!


"Shrimp! When am I going to see you next? I've got a new pack of dominoes I want to whip your ass with and bring Tempe with ya, I feel like I haven't seen her in forever. I like that one shrimp, ovaries of steel like your grams."

Booth couldn't help but chuckle at his grandfather's description of Brennan. "Well pops we'll try to get up there as soon as we can but, it might be a while."

"Why? Did you do something stupid and the pretty scientist stopped speaking to you?"

"Bones is still speaking to me but at this point, I'm not sure why." Booth trailed off hoping that his grandfather would get that there was more to the story without him having to come out and say it.

"But you did do something stupid."

"Yes, sir." Brennan was surprised to hear Booth address his grandfather that way. The ex-army ranger and FBI Agent sounded like a child about to be reprimanded for making a mess.

"Ok, Seeley." Hank had picked up on his grandsons' tone as well and knew that now was no time for teasing. "What did you do?"

Booth prepared himself as best he could and explained to his grandfather what had happened. He told Hank about the fight with Brennan and how he had stormed off and ended up at a bar where he used to play pool. He quickly shut down Hanks panic and told him that he didn't gamble but he did something else. He told him all about how he had taken a girl home and had gotten her pregnant and how he never knew, until the day before. He gave a complete account of how he and Brennan were finishing up paperwork when he got the phone call about Lizzie and how Brennan hadn't left him and all but refused to leave Lizzie alone for an extended period of time unless forced by the doctors. Booth went on about her condition and how she looked.

Once Booth finished the retelling of how Lizzie came to be there was silence until Hanks' voice boomed through the phone. "SEELEY JOSEPH BOOTH! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? YOU WEREN'T THINKING AT ALL THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE THINKING! I didn't raise you to have sex whenever you feel like it, and I DEFINITELY did not raise you to knock up a random girl and leave her alone!"

"Hey! Yes, knocking up a random girl in a bar was not one of my finer moments but I didn't know about my daughter's existence until sometime yesterday." Brennan looked over from where she was standing by the kitchen counter when Booth's voice rose.

"Yesterday?"

"Yes, I told you all of this already Pops."

"Sorry, after hearing about my newest grandchild and that the mother was some person you met at the pool hall while you were drunk off your ass, the rest I didn't really register."

"Well, the mother dropped off my daughter at the ER yesterday and told the nurse that if they ran her blood through the FBI database they'd find her father. After doing just that they found me and called me. I was at Bones' place when I got the call so she came with me to the hospital and we only got back half an hour ago."

"Whoa, she stayed with you through all of that?"

"Yeah. At one point, we had to leave because they wouldn't do the consult bedside and Bones wouldn't leave. It reminded me of that time when Jared crashed his car and-"

"And when your grams wouldn't leave his side. That's called a mother's love shrimp. I really had hoped that you kids would've figured your shit out by now and that she was the mother of that little girl."

"You and me both," Booth whispered not realizing he had said it out loud until Hank brought him back to attention.

"Oh! I knew it!"

"Pops." Booth groaned into the phone. "Now is not the time for this."

"You're right. You said that you met the girl seven months ago. Now I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure that babies need to cook for closer to nine months."

Booth snorted before he responded, "Yeah that's right. She's a preemie. She's so little and has some health issues. She has low oxygen and sometimes quits breathing while asleep so she's on a CPAP, a machine that blows air in her nose so she doesn't have to work so hard. Her brain is bleeding a little and they're just monitoring that and unless it gets worse they think it'll get better on its own. They're worried about infection because she was outside without much on and it is January so they've got her on some antibiotics as a precaution." Brennan grinned overhearing Booth's retelling of Lizzie's condition. He had picked it up very fast even though he was in quite a bit of shock when he first found out. She always knew that he was smart, smarter then he let on but sometimes his learning curve could rival hers.

Once Booth told Hank everything that he thought was necessary he realized he didn't know something very important

"What's her name?"

Booth looked over at Brennan who had been filling the coffee pot when she felt Booth's eyes on her and looked up. Without breaking eye contact Booth answered Hanks question.

"Elizabeth Temperance Booth." Booth grinned when a small blush started to spread across Brennan's face.

"Wow. How did the good doctor react to that?"

"We never actually talked about it." Booth was about to launch into what happened after he told Brennan Lizzie's name but when he looked at Brennan he stopped. Brennan was watching him carefully, observing if he was going to tell his grandfather what happened after she found out about Lizzie's name and how she proceeded to sob in his arms when she realized just how highly he felt about her. While looking at Brennan, Booth suddenly remembered a conversation they had not long earlier. About how he was upset with her when she went on a date with Hacker and when he asked her what was good to eat at the restaurant they were at she responded by telling Hacker that he likes the meatloaf at Founding Fathers but has them take out the hardboiled egg because his mom once told him that it was a human eyeball. When he later confronted her about it and when she was confused by his anger he responded simply with 'What goes on between us is ours.'

Right then he knew that he couldn't tell Hank what had happened after he told her what Lizzie's full name would be.

"Well, why not shrimp? I might not know Temperance as well as you but I think she would've had something to say about that."
Without taking his eyes off Brennan he said; "The doctor had come in before we had a chance and then we just forgot." Brennan visibly relaxed after concluding that Booth wouldn't tell his grandfather about her moment of weakness.

Booth was brought out of his trance by the snort that came through the phone. "Shrimp, I don't believe that for a second." Booth laughed at how well his grandfather seemed to know him and Brennan though they had only met a few times. "Seeley, what now?"

"What do you mean 'what now?' I'm going to look after my daughter and love her enough that hopefully she doesn't feel abandoned by her mother." It took all of Booth's energy to not add 'like Bones' to the end of the sentence. "I've done a lot of stupid and shitty things in my life pops, and how Lizzie came into this world is most definitely on that list, but I would never abandon my kids. I'm not dad." Booth looked up hearing a clatter come from the counter. The noise had come from Brennan who had dropped a spoon.

"Pops, after mom died, even though I knew why she was gone, I still felt abandoned by her. Suddenly I was left alone to deal with dad and protect Jared. Then when he left I was so glad, I thought that I had a chance of having a normal childhood and you gave me that. You never let me and Jared feel that we were missing anything. You showed me what real love, a real relationship should look like. Even though I rarely felt anything but glad that son of a bitch was gone I always promised myself that I would never do what he did."

"Booth," Booth looked up when Brennan spoke for the first time since his first phone rang. Brennan came over to him and sat on the chair next to him. "You are nothing like your father. You would never leave Parker or Lizzie and you would never treat them the way your father treated you! You are a good father Booth and never forget that."

Booth smiled at Brennan and they slipped into one of their 'moments' where the rest of the world completely fell away.

Hank laughed as he realized his grandson had completely forgotten about him because Brennan made an appearance. "Shrimp I'll call you back later ok. I want to know everything that is going on with the newest member of the Booth family."

Hank had hung up the phone but Booth only registered the dial tone a moment after Hank hung up. Once he put the phone back in his pocket he looked at Brennan. "Thanks, Bones. After everything that went down with Rebecca I've never known if I was good enough."

"Booth, Parker loves you and I've seen you fight for him so that he never thinks that you don't love him. You are a good father Booth."

Booth reached over and grabbed her and squeezing it. "Thank you, Bones." Booth couldn't believe that Brennan had this unyielding faith in him, even in times when she really shouldn't.

"You're welcome, Booth."

A moment passed and neither partner said anything until Booth worked up the question to ask Brennan since Hank brought it up. "Bones, how do you feel about me naming Lizzie after you?"

"You didn't Booth. You named her after your grandmother. Her middle name is mine."

"How do you feel about her having your first name as her middle name?"

Brennan hesitated to answer. She was a scientist and relied on imperial evidence, she didn't trust her emotions. Booth saw the conflict on her face and told her what he told her when she was having writer's block. "Bones, just put your head in neutral and your heart in overdrive. You can do it." He smiled at her letting her know that she could take as long as she needed to say what she needed to.

After a few minutes, Brennan had figured out what she wanted to say. She bit her lip out of nervousness and told Booth what she had discovered. "I was shocked at first but after I thought about it, I was honoured. People respect me in a professional capacity and I am very confident in my scientific skills, but that was different. It was personal."

"You're right Bones. Don't get me wrong, I respect you in a professional capacity and I know for certain that you are smarter than me but that's not why I used your first name as Lizzie's middle name. I used it because you are the most important person in my life, next to Parker and Lizzie." Booth saw that Brennan was about to contradict him so cut her off before she could. "I mean it Bones. You're family."

"Thank you, Booth. You're family to me as well." Booth couldn't help but grin like an idiot at Brennan's admission. She rarely lets anyone see the sensitive side of her, and was glad that she was opening up to him.

Brennan got up to retrieve the cups of coffee and bowls of cereal from the counter, Lucky Charms for him and a bowl of oatmeal for her. "Oh, thanks Bones," Booth muttered around the food in his mouth, making Brennan snicker at his childlike behaviour. "I didn't realize how hungry I was until now."

"You're always claiming that you are going to starve to death if you don't eat every five hours. Are you alright?" When Booth looked at her with equal parts amusement and confusion she added, "I am quiet amusing don't you think?"

"Yes, you are Bones," Booth responded with absolutely no irony in his statement.

Once their breakfast was consumed Bones brought over her laptop and put it in front of Booth. "I started looking at a few houses that were for sale since you mentioned that you would need to move. They all have at least four bedrooms and a backyard." Booth shot out of his chair and gave her a hug.

"Thank you, Bones. I don't think I've said that enough in the past 24 hours but thank you."

Brennan smiled at Booth's ramblings and responded with a simple "You're welcome." She jumped right back into the house listings she found. "All I found was stuff online but if you want to see more you might want to call a real estate agent."

Booth backed away from Brennan and sat down to look at the laptop. "Ok, let's see what you found."

With that, the partners started shifting through the house listings until they thought that they had been gone long enough from the hospital and packed up to head back.


I'm sorry that the story is going slow so I'm going to find a way to speed it up a bit.

Reviews make me write faster!