A/N As promised, continuation of previous chapter.

And as always-don't own Bones, but still dreaming about waking up one day to find that I do…..

To the readers/reviewers who are being patient about the question being answered about why Booth's mom didn't take her kids (or at least did something besides leave them there), thank you. This story has taken some turns I didn't expect because apparently my muse has decided to sometimes hijack my original writing ideas and plans-go figure. (evil little laugh goes off in my head…..and no I swear I'm not ACTUALLY hearing voices.) Anyway, it will come. I think it's going to be a few more chapters in, though, so bear with me.

"Ok, Shrimp. Let's get this thing out there. What kinds of things do you want to know?"

I sighed. "Pops, I'm not even sure where to start."

He frowned. "Well, let's start with your last statement about not knowing what was real with your mom and what wasn't. Tell me what you remember that was good about you and your mom."

"I remember her teaching me to dance. I remember her singing to me and Jared. I remember her reading to us, taking us to the park. When dad was sober, we would do stuff together like ice skating, going to fairs and ball games."

"That stuff did happen, son. It was real. No matter what is going on between the two of you, those memories are real. I know you're angry, and regardless of how your mom handled this situation, but those things aren't made up. Don't throw all that out because of what's happening now."

"I'm trying, Pops."

He patted my arm. "You're a good man, Seeley. I know you're going through a hard time with this. Just remember some of the good memories instead on dwelling with the ugly stuff." He paused. "I know that you won't be able to forget the ugly stuff-you shouldn't. It's part of what made you who you were. But people and things are rarely all good or all bad-and God knows parents make tons of mistakes which they worry will screw up their kids."

My face tightened. "Mom said kids make their parents into gods, and that she wasn't a god."

Pops rolled his eyes. "Okay that analogy was over the top. But Shrimp, you did kind of put her on a pedestal for years-it's hard for a parent to stay there-especially when the kids grow up and see how flawed the parent is."

"So I should just say, Mom , it's OK-you're flawed so that makes everything OK?"

Bones interrupted. "I do not believe that is was Hank is saying. I do not believe either he or I suggest that you let her off the crook-"

"Hook, Bones. Let her off the hook."

She nodded and continued. "I think perhaps, because of the difficult and dangerous environment with your father, you have had a tendency to idealize your mother. While it is understandable, Hank is right that it is a standard that is impossible to live up to."

"So this is my fault."

"No. " Bones' voice was sharp, which made Christine look up at her. Bones softened her voice and stroked Christine's hair. "Of course not. It is simply that you have had a view of your mother that was unrealistic. Now that you are an adult, you can see her how she is. That is the way you need to approach this. Not as a hurt child, but as an adult who has survived a terrible experience."

I leaned back and let out a long breath. "I guess so."

"Shrimp." Pops stopped. I turned my head to look at him. "I didn't mean that you did anything wrong-hell, most kids see their parents that way." He sighed. "And the fact that my own son was a lousy father didn't help."

"Pops-"

He held up a hand. "No, he was. I know that."

Bones cut in. "I told him what you told me, Hank. About you being the one make his father leave."

Pops looked at her, then me. Then he stared straight ahead.

"Pops?" He turned his head to look at me again. "I'm not mad at you. I've always been grateful that you took me and Jared in and got us away from Dad. And I think it was better for us that he left. I know, though, that it had to have been hard on you to have to go through that because of him being your own son. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I've always felt I should have known before, done something different…"

"There wasn't anything different I think you could have done. As to knowing earlier-I'm pretty sure my parents would have done their best to keep that from you." I took a deep breath. "Which brings up another question I have. I get that dad would never have told you what was going on-he didn't want you to know-for you to be disappointed in him. But you got along with Mom, right? I mean, they'd been married for a while-did she ever talk to you about anything?"

Pops frowned. "Not really too much. She mostly talked about you and Jared. We'd talk about family history, tell stories, that kind of thing. Certainly nothing about-about what was going on." He turned his whole body towards me. "I would have done something sooner if I'd known, Seeley. Maybe before your mom left-maybe we could have done something together. I don't know. Why?"

I shrugged. "Bones asked my mom why she didn't do something about us when she left. Called the cops, or called you."

"I wish I knew. I would have liked to think she trusted us enough to do that, but the fact is the only one who can answer that is her. Believe me, if I knew it was going on, let alone it was bad enough to make her leave, I'd have been over there in a shot."

"You said you discussed family history. I have noticed that Booth demonstrates a great deal of loyalty to those he cares about-particularly family. Perhaps she felt that sort of loyalty might have been extended to your grandchildren but not necessarily to her." Bones glanced at Hank. And then bent her head to Christine, who was reaching for her necklace.

"I hope not." Pops was shaking his head. "Yes, family loyalty is important, but my son betrayed that loyalty by beating his family. I certainly don't think I treated her as if she were less important than anyone else in the family. She married my son, she gave birth to my grandkids. She deserved to be treated as important for that if nothing else. And I liked her. She was fun and liked to laugh. For a while at least, she made my son laugh. I guess my son's demons took over, and the laughter stopped. But I still would have liked to think that I didn't do anything to her to make her not contact me about you and Jared before leaving. I wish I could give you an answer to that, Shrimp. But I can't."

"Figures," I muttered. "can't have anything about this be easy."

"Did she ever contact you, Hank? After she left?" Bones' voice was thoughtful, as if considering some theory she was working on.

"Not me personally. I know she kept in contact with some people from the neighborhood." He turned to me. "You remember Mrs. Wisnoski?"

I thought for a second. "The one who made the great brownies, right?"

Pops nodded. "That's the one. Apparently your mom stayed in touch with her."

Bones was frowning. "And no one mentioned that? Ever?"

Pops looked at her. "I only found out about a year ago, when she passed away. Her daughter contacted me-apparently she still had letters your mom had written. Posted from a bunch of different places, so I guess Marianne moved around a lot. Anyway, seems like Mrs. Wisnoski would give details about you kids-sports, games-hell apparently even that you joined the FBI and Jared joined the Navy, as far as I can tell. And no," Pops held up his hand as I prepared to cut in. "I didn't know they were communicating. Her daughter only read a couple of the letters to figure out who they were from. My guess, your mom asked her not to tell. Since both Mrs. Wisnoski and her daughter knew how to get a hold of me, I have to assume they didn't tell because Marianne said not to. That's something, again, that only your mom can answer. I wouldn't have cut you guys off from your mom, Shrimp."

I cleared my throat. "I know you wouldn't. I guess I don't get that if she knew where we were and what we were doing, why she didn't contact us earlier."

Pops shrugged. "I wish I knew that too. Scared maybe? Afraid of disappointing you kids? I don't know." He placed his hand on my knee. "I'm afraid I didn't have the answers you wanted. I'm sorry."

"You've had some of them. Pops. It's just every time I get some answers, more questions pop up." I let out a deep breath and stood up. "I think maybe we'll wrap this up. It has been helpful, Pops. Tough, but helpful. I just need to think about all this crap."

Pops nodded. "Yeah I get that. So when are we heading back?"

I blinked. Bones and I looked at each other. "Uh, we, Pops?"

"Yeah, you don't think I'm letting you deal with this on your own do you?"

So now Pops wants in. Could be interesting-Mom vs. Pops. Hmmmmm.

Personally I don't believe Booth's mom kept in contact with Pops. He would never have kept the kids from their mom. And when Pops made Booth's dad leave, if mom had been in the picture at all, why would that have not been an option? Pops made it sound like there wasn't a choice (besides maybe going in the system-which he was not going to let happen.) On the other hand. Mom just shows up in Booth's office-so SOMEHOW she managed to find him-this was the idea my poor brain came up with.

And Wisnoski is the last name of a friend-I borrowed it for the story.

Reviews and suggestions always welcome.