Brennan lifted her arms and stretched them upwards. She yawned widely and wriggled her fingers and toes. She let her arms drop heavily to her sides. Yawning again she turned her head and cracked her eyes slightly. Peering through her lashes she saw that his side of the bed was empty. Her hand reached across and lay on the spot where he normally would be. The sheet was cold. She turned her head and her bleary eyes found her phone sitting on the bedside table. She picked it up and ran her finger across the screen. Booth and Christine's wide grins greeted her. She smiled, her heart filling up with love for her family.
Booth had taken their picture on her phone and set it as her wallpaper early this morning while she was still sleeping. He had replaced the phone without disturbing her and taken Christine down to the beach to search for fancy shells to add to her growing collection of Aussie things.
Brennan dropped her hand to her chest, pressing the phone against her heart and smiled. I suppose I should get up she thought, then remembered her work last night, her eyes flying open, blinking several times as they adjusted to the brightness of the room. She looked at her phone again, this time focussing on the time. 10:45am
She sat up suddenly, her head whirled for a moment. Ooh! Sat up a bit quick! she thought, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, dropping her feet to the floor. She sat for a moment, the whirling stopped. She swallowed, then stood up and walked over to the armoire and grabbed a pair of khaki shorts and a white t-shirt, clean underwear and headed to the bathroom.
Booth and Christine burst through the door of the apartment laughing. Their faces were red and they had sand stuck to their feet and lower legs. Brennan came out of the bathroom, her hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Her face was devoid of makeup apart from some mascara and a pale pink lip gloss. Booth's breath caught in his chest at the sight of her.
"Daddy! You're squeezing my hand!" Christine piped up. Booth looked down and saw that he was gripping his daughters hand firmly. He let go and bent down and kissed the top of her head and whispered "sorry baby, Mommy kind of took my breath away. She looks pretty today, don't she?" he said. Brennan tilted her head and pursed her lips, "doesn't she. Please Booth, grammar?" she said, then blushed. Booth stepped over to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. They overlapped by a good half forearm. He looked at Christine and grinned "Mommy looks pretty doesn't she Christine?" he repeated.
"Oh Booth" Brennan wriggled trying to get out of his grip, which simply tightened. "Kiss me first and say please" he teased. Brennan stopped struggling and stared at him for a moment, trying to decide if she would play or defy him. Defying would definitely be more fun. But. Their daughter was present, so she simply kissed his cheek and purred in his ear "please". Booth felt a shiver run down his spine. She could reduce him to the consistency of pudding when she did that. He let go of her and watched as she went into the garden to hang up the wet towels.
As Brennan walked back into the apartment she looked down and stopped short, throwing her arms up "Booth! Look at your feet!" she cried. Booth looked down and realised he had sand all over his feet and legs. He looked at Christine who was wriggling her toes to dislodge the sand onto the tiled floor. "Uh oh. Guess we are in trouble Christine" he said. He picked her up and carried her to the garden where he proceeded to use a hose and wash the sand off their legs and feet. He then grabbed the towel Brennan had just hung up to wipe their feet.
"Booth!" Brennan started to tell him off, then simply rolled her eyes, bit her lip and decided it wasn't worth the argument. It was better than them traipsing wet footprints through the apartment.
"OK. Are we allowed back inside?" Booth asked from the doorway, one foot suspended mid air over the threshold, his smirk causing her mouth to twitch. She had trouble staying mad at him at the best of times. "Yes. Of course." she said as she approached him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her mouth. "sorry" he whispered into her lips. She smiled as she kissed him. He smelled of the sea. That warm salty smell that made you think of tropical islands and swimming in the ocean.
"This is so embarrassing" Christine broke their kiss as she pushed between them and headed towards the bathroom.
"Where does she come up with this stuff!" Booth said watching his not quite six year old shaking her head as she disappeared into the other room. "Well. She is quite advanced and very mature for her age. Her IQ is probably close to MENSA scores. Perhaps I should arrange for her to be tested?" Brennan's head tilted as she started making plans for the scholarly awards her daughter would no doubt win in the coming years.
"Bones. Bones!" Booth's voice interrupted her daydream. "She's six Bones. And yes, she's smart, but let's not push her OK? She says these things to get our attention." he said.
"She watches too much television with you!" Brennan responded. She was going to continue but then remembered the previous night. "Forget that, I have to talk to you about last night Booth".
Christine came back into the room "Sweetie, you can turn on the TV and watch something for a while. Daddy and I are going to sit on the deck for a little bit OK?" Brennan said. Booth's mouth dropped open.
"Wait. Didn't you just say she watched too much TV?" he asked, his eyes wide and questioning.
Brennan simply stared at him. He raised his hands in a defensive position "OK. OK. Forget I asked" he said, taking a step backwards and feigning fear. She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door.
"I need to talk to you about last night" she nodded her head towards the doorway "Away from little ears" she added, making a lip locking motion and throwing away an invisible key. Booth frowned, his mouth hanging open, "What? What are you doing?" he asked shaking his head.
She rolled her eyes, "I want to talk to you in private!" she replied. Booth stared for a moment, thought about correcting her mime, then decided to just let it go. "O-K then. After you" he said, bowing slightly as she passed him. He followed her out, stifling the laugh bubbling up in his throat. Her ability to completely cock up basic idioms still made him laugh and just want to hug her.
Booth followed her outside and sat in one of the chairs on the deck. Brennan slid the door closed behind her so that Christine couldn't hear them.
She pulled a chair close to Booth's and sat down, leaning towards him, her eyes sparkling.
"So. What happened?" Booth asked, curious now.
"Well. Can I just say that Monty fellow is very strange." She said.
Booth rolled his eyes "Shocker" he quipped.
"Well. Most importantly. Your FBI Agent isn't a man. He. Err She, is a woman." Brennan said, barely containing the excitement in her voice.
Booth stared at her for a moment. "What? That's impossible." he said.
"No. It's completely possible. Because your FBI Agent had a sex change operation at some point in the last five years, but of course without the soft tissue to confirm it, I'm only surmising." She sat back in her chair and waited for Booth's reaction.
He stared at her. Leaned back into his chair, folded his arms across his chest and stared out at the garden. "Sex change operation" he murmured. "Sex change operation?" he repeated. Brennan raised an eyebrow and smiled, nodding "Sex change operation" she echoed.
"How the hell?" Booth said, shaking his head.
"Well it is called a metoidioplasty. The patient is treated with hormones for a period of time, then a surgeon separates the enlarged clitoris from the labia minora, and then severs its suspensory"
"Stop. Please stop" Booth said, his face screwed up, eyes closed and his hand shielding him from Brennan's words. "I actually don't want to hear about someone else's genitals at this time of the day, thanks" he said.
Brennan tilted her head and smiled "But it's really a fascinating procedure Booth! To actually use hormones to enlarge a womans clitoris to the point where it can resemble a penis!"
Booth cringed.
"Granted a very small penis. But still for someone who wants gender reassignment, it's far less gruesome than having a phalloplasty" she continued.
Booth reached over and placed his hand over her mouth. "Shhhhh. I get it Bones. She turned herself into a man. That's all I need to know. Not about severing, or cutting." Booth said, shuddering. He removed his hand and smiled at her. "And what did Monty Python have to say? I'm assuming from your tone, he hadn't worked that out?" he asked.
Brennan shook her head. "Brython" she corrected Booth, ignoring his attempted joke. "That's the thing Booth. He's a trained medical practitioner. He's been studying for years, yet he hadn't picked up on the basic female skeleton!" she said. "I'm just not sure about him" she added staring at Booth who shrugged.
"Perhaps we should pay old Monty a visit?" he mused.
"I thought you said we weren't going to get involved? That we were going to be leaving for Brisbane tomorrow?" Brennan said. Booth grinned at her "You want to stay too, don't you?" he said. Brennan nodded, sucking on her bottom lip, trying not to grin too much. "But what about Christine? It's not fair on her Booth."
Booth stared at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Max" he said. "What?" Brennan asked, confused. Booth smiled, "We fly Max out her for a week. He can spend time with Christine, see the sights. He'll love it! And we can spend one week, on the case. After that, we're gone." he said grinning widely.
"But what if he can't, or won't come?" Brennan asked. Booth grinned even wider "He'll come. Don't you worry about that." he said. What Brennan didn't know is that Max owed Booth a huge favour. He had been caught up in something, shady a few months ago. And Booth had helped him. Tidy up. He'll come alright Booth nodded to himself, standing up and heading to the door. "I'm going to call him right now." he said sliding open the glass door. "Guess what Christine? Grandpa is coming to stay with us for a week!" he announced!
Christine jumped up from the couch and cheered "Hurray! I love Grandpa! When is he coming?" she asked jumping up and down on the spot. "Booth was on the phone, waiting for Max to answer. "Probably on. Max! Hey! How's it going?" he listened to Max "Yep. It's fantastic here. So look, remember that agreement we had? You know the one." Booth said grinning to himself. "So I'll book the flight from here. I'll message you the time and flight number. We'll see you in a day or two." He turned and nodded to Brennan, grinning. "Yeah, she's excited to see you too Max. And it's hot, so bring shorts and shirts." he added.
He hung up the phone. Stretched his arms out wide and laughed "He's packing right now. Now, where's the laptop. I need to book his flight" he said grabbing the computer and sitting down at the table. Brennan stared at him, her mouth slightly open "How did you get him to agree?" she asked. Booth shrugged "Let's just say it was a gentleman's agreement" he said as he typed. "There we go! He's booked on a flight tonight. He should be here tomorrow evening. Now where's my credit card?" He sat back in his chair and patted his chest once he had completed the transaction.
"One week, OK?" Booth said to Brennan holding out a hand to her. She hesitated, then reached out and grabbed his hand. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist, looking up into her face. She smiled down at him, cupping his handsome face in her hand "One week" she agreed.
"I suppose you're gonna start kissing again" a voice interrupted their gaze. They smiled as they continued staring into each others' eyes. Theirs was a bond like no other. Not even the undisguised embarrassment of their daughter could break their stare. Well, not until she bounded over to them and wrapped her arms around their heads and pushed her face between theirs. "kissy kissy kissy" she said, making smooching noises. Brennan and Booth both reacted and started kissing her cheeks from either side making her squeal with laughter.
Booth lifted his head and winked at Brennan above Christine's tousled head.
"one week" she whispered.