The Progeny in the Parting

Chapter 10 - Shy Boy

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Disclaimer: I do not own BONES. This speculative work of fiction is purely for hiatus diversional purposes – consume as required until angst reduces.

A/N: This chapter has been planned for a while – frustratingly, it could not be completed until a number of real-life commitments had been fulfilled. Thank you for your patience and the PM / Twitter requests for updates.

Wednesday, September 1st 2010 – Ambon, Maluku Province, Indonesia

Temperance Brennan gave a start as the rapid Doppler pulse of baby Brennan jumped out from the speakers of the relatively modern ultrasound unit. The frantic tympany was punctuated by a couple of loud tinny clanks.

"Heart rate 135, and this baby with attitude is aiming to kick the ultrasound probe away" commented the sonographer, an American officer from the USNS Mercy, which was a Navy Hospital ship currently stationed in Ambon on a humanitarian mission.

Brennan gave a chuckle at the implied statement that the 18 week fetus was somehow giving the sonographer attitude, she found herself feeling at ease with the young female officer, who was trying hard not to be star struck by the VIP author on the exam table.

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The eighteen week anatomical scan was fascinating to Brennan. Detailed measurements of the head and femur were taken and compared to growth charts and her own gestational dates in order to confirm her due date, and that the fetus was developing within normal limits. The process was both methodically and scientifically validated, putting the expectant genius further at ease. The resolution and depth of the ultrasound waves were adjusted to show an amazing amount of detail, including the hemispheres of the developing brain, the chest cavity, the diaphragm, heart chambers and even a tiny bladder. The fetal bones shown in the images were of particular interest to Brennan of course. Normally fetal bones in her work were a sad chapter in a tragic case, but not today.

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"The feet have a similar tarsal and phalangeal profile to that of my partner" commented Brennan, as if it were the most natural observation in the world. The sonographer raised an eyebrow and covered her surprise by adding more transmission gel to Brennans' lower abdomen.

"You can tell that from these images?"

"Yes" replied Brennan. "I have examined x-ray images of his feet and the tarsal coalition is identical."

"I see," lied the sonographer politely. "Shall we see if we can establish the sex of your baby Dr. Brennan."

"That would be ideal, as I have no objection to discovering the sex. My partner would also like to tell his son whether he will have a brother or sister" replied Brennan with a smile.

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The sonographer spent the next two or three minutes strategically placing globs of transmission gel and the ultrasound probe at three different points on Brennans' abdomen. Each time the image was being fine tuned to take a peek at the telltale genitalia; the precocious fetus would move and present a photo opportunity of something cute, like sucking on a thumb, or extending a hand in a wave. On the third failed attempt, baby Brennan ended up doing a comical face-palm on the screen. The sonographer made a frustrated noise under her breath.

"Is there a problem? Asked Brennan with a note of concern in her voice.

"No cause for concern Dr. Brennan. Your baby appears to avoiding my attempts to ascertain its sex by evasion of the ultrasound probe. Almost as if he or she is shy."

"Is that unusual?"

"Not at all Dr. Brennan" replied the sonographer. "But sometimes it is the other way around. When my sister had her anatomical scan, I went along to support her because her husband was deployed in Iraq at the time. My niece was hell-bent on doing an in-utero centrefold pose for the entire scan; getting the required measurements was quite challenging. We laughed a lot that day, every time she moved to point her butt at us for the camera, we were like 'Yes, you're a GIRL, we know that already' – the polar opposite of your prim and proper baby."

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Brennan chuckled. "Even though it is nonsensical to attach behavioural traits to a fetus, I find this story quite amusing." The amusement that Brennan was experiencing was on multiple levels, as she considered Booths' prudish tendencies and her own history of deflecting her feelings. Not for the first time in recent weeks, she wondered who this child would favour in personality.

"Ah! That chuckle did the trick Dr. Brennan. Gotcha little man! You have a boy, a shy boy" said the sonographer as she tapped on the sequence of keys to save the images.

Brennan had returned to her accommodation and taken a shower to remove the gel residue from her skin. She rubbed lotion into her soon to be stretching skin and realised that she was exhausted. Having booked a call to The Jeffersonian with the hotel operator for just over an hours time, Brennan decided to nibble on a square of chocolate and take a nap.

The antiquated phone next to her rattled, rather than rang approximately 80 minutes later, waking her from a deep sleep. She answered in English, then spoke a few Indonesian phrases to the switchboard operator.

"Dr. Brennan?" echoed Cams' voice down the line.

"Yes. This is Dr. Brennan. How are you Dr. Saroyan?" replied Brennan.

"I think I speak for all of us at the Jeffersonian when I say that you are greatly missed. Please tell me that you are calling to advise me of your early return, because our replacement anthropologist is keen to return to Montreal."

"That is not the case Dr. Saroyan. I am actually calling to advise you that I will require an additional six weeks of leave upon my return to D.C." said Brennan.

"Oh, I see" said Cam in a dejected tone. "While I appreciate the advance notice Dr. Brennan, you have only been granted a twelve month leave of absence. May I ask the reason why this extra time is being requested."

"Yes. You may request my reason. In fact, I believe that my contract with the Jeffersonian stipulates that I must provide a reason Dr. Saroyan."

"…and the reason is, Dr Brennan?" prompted Cam in a voice that was laden with her familiar sarcasm, which completely bypassed Brennan in equally familiar terms.

"I would like to spend an additional six weeks at home with my son upon my return to the U.S."

"You've adopted an Indonesian boy Dr. Brennan? How very Angelina of you" blurted Cam in shock. She had not seen that one coming.

"No, Dr. Saroyan you have taken my comment out of context. I am due to give birth to my own child in February."

"You're pregnant?" squeaked Cam incredulously.

"Yes, Dr. Saroyan. Being pregnant is a pre-requisite state for giving birth" replied Brennan evenly.

"Wow!...I mean, congratulations!"

"Thank you" said Brennan.

Cam, as a medical doctor was doing the calculations around the blessed event in her head. "May I ask…"

Brennan interrupted Cam mid-query. "Booth is the father…and employing Angelas' colourful metaphor around the conception, we did 'the nasty' rather than our previous IVF plan."

"Excellent…urm, I mean, a little too much information there Dr. Brennan, but good to know…or not" Cam spiralled off into confusion and bootstrapped herself back into the conversation. "I will submit the paperwork with my supporting signature and forward it to you via e-mail."

"Thank you Dr. Saroyan. I will see you next year" said Brennan, who promptly hung up the call.

"You are welcome" said Cam to the dial tone. She had seriously not seen that one coming. At least she now knew why Max Keenan had been walking around with that shit-eating grin on his face for the past couple of weeks. Camille Saroyan needed a stiff drink. But first she would put in the paperwork for Dr. Brennan and compose a flame-mail to Seeley.

Sergeant Major Booth was conducting a sniper training session on target triangulation when the radio operator signalled a message had arrived from the Commanding Officer. Booth handed the session to his second in command and jogged over to the Comms tent where he was handed a message slip.

'It's a boy.'

Booth glanced at the radio operator, a guy who wouldn't look out of place on the pro-wrestling circuit, a guy who was grinning like a loon at him.

"Hey Parker!"

- "Hi Dad! Are you training lots of soldiers?"

"Yes buddy, I am."

- "Cool. Have you found any more scorpions in your bed?"

"No I have not, thank goodness."

- "Pity. I won a Hershey Bar for best class news item for that story."

"Wow, really?"

- "Yup."

"But I've got some other news for you that you can take to class if you want to."

- "Really? Is it about catching terrorists, or saving people from being blown up?"

"No Parker. The news is about Dr. Bones."

- "Is she okay on Muckypoopy Island?"

"Yeah. She is fine, and she is going to be bringing a baby back home with her."

- "Wow! Like a Brangelina baby?"

"No! Where do you get stuff like that from?"

- "Geez Dad, we've got cable and I watch EW with Mom sometimes."

"Uh huh. Bones is having her own baby Parker, and I'm gonna be a Daddy to him too. So you'll have a brother to play with, just like I have your Uncle Jar-head for a brother."

- "Well, he's going to be too small to play football with us for a while Dad. But at least Dr. Bones finally got to sex you up."

"Parker!"

- "Geez Dad, I do health class at school. What did you want me to say? Coitus?"

"You've got a point there buddy…"