Wyatt squealed loudly as Brennan buried her face in his tummy and blew raspberries into his belly button. She then leaned across to Max and did the same, making him giggle and wave his chubby arms and legs. His little hands reaching up and grabbing at her hair, tangling in her chin length auburn curls. "Ooh Maxy, you'll pull out Mommy's hair if you tug that hard. And it's taken me too long to grow it to this length!" she laughed as she untangled her son's fingers from her hair. She straightened up and stood staring at her two miracles, one hand on each of her chubby babies' tummies as they lay on the thick sheepskin rug they had in the middle of the living room floor.
I missed so much with them she thought, remembering the two months she was in a coma and the month she was in hospital recovering after waking up. She had been worried that her babies wouldn't bond with her properly. Booth of course had assured her that she was worrying about nothing. She knew he had brought the boys to the hospital every day and lay them on her chest, wrapping her arms around them so that they got used to her. Booth knew that she would worry about not being there for them at the beginning, and he wanted to do as much as he could to make sure that their sons knew their mother.
Booth had really baby & Bones proofed the house over the last couple of weeks, to keep the twins safe, and to help Brennan move around the house more easily. They had quickly realised that rugs were her enemy. She was walking much better now and her only problem today, was right at this moment, right now. How to get back up onto her feet? Booth kept telling her not to get down on the floor with the twins, but she never listened. She was in her element, down on the floor, lying with them, playing with them, watching them on their bellies, trying to crawl. Wyatt was definitely the more confident and outgoing one. He was the loudest too. He was already commando crawling around the floor on his belly, using his strong little legs to propel himself forwards. Max was quieter, more thoughtful, and more content to just lie on his rug and snuggle with his Mama. He had showed no real interest in getting mobile, unlike his active brother.
Six months since I came home she thought to herself as she kneeled in front of the couch. She hauled herself onto it and turned around, so she was sitting, facing the boys. Max had hold of a teething ring and was chewing contentedly on it, while Wyatt was trying to crawl across the top of him to get to a soft ball that he had spied. Nothing ever stopped Wyatt getting to what he wanted. Just like his Dad she thought to herself smiling as he crawled right over the top of Max's tummy to reach his hearts desire. Max didn't even react, just kept on chewing his teething ring, while reaching out with one hand to stroke his brothers back as he climbed over him.
"I guess we now know who was doing all the kicking while you were inside me" she said, smiling as Wyatt reached his goal, flipping over onto his back, ball in hand while his feet rested on Max's tummy. They were never more than a few feet apart, most of the time they were close enough to be touching, just like now. It was like their time in the womb together made them feel content while they were in contact with each other. Sometimes when they were in their own cribs, crying, all Booth had to do was put one in the crib with the other and they would immediately settle.
Booth said that they would have to buy them a double bed and just let them sleep together as they were soon going to be too big for their cribs. Brennan just rolled her eyes. She assured him they would grow out of this and there was no way that they would be sleeping in the same bed when they were older. Booth of course was joking, but she always took the bait.
More than seven months since I woke up her mind wandered. Time was flying by. The twins were nine months old now. Nine months! I wonder if they remember anything? I wonder if they even knew that I wasn't even awake for the first two months of their lives? She pondered, then screwed up her face Don't be ridiculous Temperance. Of course they don't remember. She stood up and walked to the kitchen with just the faintest hint of a limp. She hated that limp. The doctors told her that she may have it for the rest of her life. She refused to be that remembered as that once brilliant anthropologist with the limp. She gritted her teeth and challenged herself to take ten steps without limping. She took five. Better than yesterday! She smiled. She was nothing if not stubbornly determined to prove them all wrong.
The doorbell rang. Brennan put down the jug of juice she was pouring and made her way to the door. The doorbell rang again. Then again. "Oh for goodness sake! I'm coming!" she growled loudly. It rang again just as she pulled the door open. She was met with the grinning face of her father. "Dad! I thought you weren't coming until next week?" she said as he wrapped her up in a hug. She smiled as he rocked her from side to side "Hiya Tempe. I thought, what did it matter if I came a week earlier? I mean, I didn't have anything else to do. You got other plans?" he asked releasing her from his hug. He stood staring at her. She looked much better than last time he had come to visit.
It was about three weeks after she had come home from hospital. Booth had rung him and asked if he could spare a week to help him settle her into being home. With Christine, and the twins, Booth was feeling a little overwhelmed. Max had suggested he hire a nurse or a nanny, but Booth declined. He told Max that Brennan would not do that if their positions had been reversed. She would have managed just fine. And he wanted to do the same. It was his family, his responsibility. Plus he wanted to do it himself. Max had thought he was taking on too much, but he also knew Booth was stubborn, and he didn't want to get him offside. Together they made sure that she was settled into her home.
Max did the school run and helped out with the babies. Bathing them, feeding them when things were busy. He had enjoyed it immensely. Being able to be part of Tempy's life. His grandchildren's lives. There was a time when he never thought he'd even see her again. But, that had changed and although their initial reunion was not exactly comfortable, things had worked out. He got to know his daughter again. Got to watch her blossom under Booth's care. Got to hold his first grandchild. Got to walk her down the aisle and now he was able to repay her for all that joy he had received.
"Of course I don't have any other plans Dad! I'm just surprised. Come in!" she stood aside as he picked up his ratty old leather carryall and stepped past her. "How are the kids? And Booth?" he asked as he dropped his bag onto the couch and looked down at the twins lying on a thick sheepskin rug. He noted that their plush Persian rugs were missing and that some of the small end tables were gone. "How are you doing?" he asked turning and looking at her. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear and smiled "Christine is at school. The twins are fine as you can see. And Booth is great. He's gone back to work finally. He really needed to. He's working half days right now, but he thinks that he might start doing full days in a couple of weeks. He actually seems more relaxed since he went back to work." She said smiling as her father got down onto the floor and tickled his grandson's tummies.
"That's great honey" he said. "Now how are my boys? Look at how big you got!" He frowned and looked from one to the other, then up at Brennan "uh, honey? How do you know which one is which?" he asked, picking up one of the twins and holding him up at eye level.
Brennan laughed out loud "Well, it is difficult. But Wyatt is slightly bigger and his hair is curlier". Max frowned and stared at the baby in front of him, then looked down at his brother on the rug, happily playing with a ball. He couldn't see any difference in their hair. "And Wyatt also has darker brown eyes than Max does. Max's are more grey brown I suppose you'd say. Wyatt's eyes are exactly like Booths." she finished off her explanation "You're holding Max". She could see her father looking backwards and forwards between the boys, frowning. "Can you dress them in certain colours or something while I'm here? I'm not sure if I'm gonna remember all that." he said putting his grandson back onto the rug.
Brennan watched her dad cringe as he used the couch to help himself stand up. "Boy, that's a long way down there" he said, pushing his hands into the small of his back and grimacing.
"Are you OK Dad?" she asked, concerned. Max waved away her question "Honey, I'm fine. I'm just old. And getting down onto the ground isn't as easy as it used to be. You haven't answered my question yet. How are you?" he asked sitting down on the couch and patting the seat next to him. Brennan sat down next to her father, she linked her arm through his and sighed "I'm actually good Dad. I'm better now you're here." She leaned into his shoulder. Max smiled to himself and patted his daughters hand. "How good is good. Exactly?" he asked. He knew what his girl was like. She was very good at dancing around details.
Brennan closed her eyes "I'm doing exceptionally well according to my physical therapist. I have no brain function issues. I do have a black spot in my memory, obviously from when I was in the coma, but that's normal and I have been talking to a therapist about that. I have a limp which I am determined to get rid of, and other than that I'm pretty much back to my old self! Of course you'll no doubt ask Booth all about me when he gets home." She grinned and squeezed Max's arm.
Wyatt began to fuss and shuffled across the floor to Brennan's feet. She bent down and lifted him up onto her lap, grunting a little. "You're getting too big Wyatt!" she buried her face in his hair and kissed him. Max saw that his brother was getting attention from Mommy and started to wail. His arms and legs waving around. "He just lays there and cries?" Max asked her. Brennan smiled "Our Max isn't the most active of babies. He knows that if he cries enough, one of us will just pick him up. Booth has been trying to encourage him to crawl, but he's just not interested." she said.
Max shrugged and stood up, he bent down and picked up baby Max and stared into his eyes. "You know exactly what you're doing, don't you little man?" he asked his grandson who gurgled and blew bubbles as he reached out and grabbed hold of Max's ears. "So young Max. What do you want?" he asked the baby who snuggled into his neck.
"He just wants attention. Like most men" Brennan chuckled. "Just stay there Dad, just like that" she said suddenly. She walked over to the bureau and opened the top drawer, pulling out a camera. She hitched Wyatt higher up on her hip and using one hand, held up the camera and took a photo of her father with the baby named for him. "There. Two generations of Max's." she said holding the camera out for Max to see the picture.
"Don't you think we'll get confused about which Max you mean when you call out Max?" he asked. Brennan frowned "Not at all. I call you Dad. Booth calls you" she frowned "Booth calls you Max. I see what you mean." She shook her head "It doesn't matter. We call him Maxie most of the time. And it's not like you're here all the time. I'm pretty sure you'll know when we are talking to you, and when we are talking to him." she said. Max grinned and kissed his grandsons head "So Maxie, looking forward to spending time with your Grandpa Max?"
Max gurgled and smiled widely at his grandfather. "Yeah, we're gonna have a good couple of weeks aren't we buddy?" Max kissed his grandsons cheek and grinned at his daughter.
"It's good to be here Tempe" he said. Brennan walked over and hugged her father with one arm, "It's good to have you here Dad"
Wyatt reached out and grabbed hold of his brother as if to hug him, making both Brennan and Max laugh out loud.
"Yeah, it's good to be here" Max said again hugging his family tightly.