This one is short and sweet. Hope you enjoy it!
December 2015
When Temperance Brennan was a child, her favorite time of the day was coming home from school. Her mother would always have a snack ready for her and they would sit for an hour discussing her day at school.
During her stint in foster care, Brennan's favorite time of the day was the hours she would spend reading by flashlight when her foster 'families' had gone to bed. It was the only time she could escape into her rational world of science and the only time she felt truly safe in some of those houses.
Had you asked Brennan what her favorite time of the day was fifteen years ago, she easily would have answered early in the morning. She loved getting up early while the campus was still asleep, it was so peaceful and quiet and she could get all of her work done without interruption.
Ten years ago she would have answered that her favorite part of the day was late at night, after the lab had emptied and she could be alone with her work and could concentrate freely.
Seven years ago, her answer might have been the late evenings spent over paperwork and takeout with Booth. Or, maybe the long lunch hours she spent talking with Booth while stealing his fries, it might have even been the long car rides she spent, arguing with Booth. Or… well, you get the theme here, right?
Five years ago, she didn't have a favorite time of the day, because when Booth came home with Hannah, the solitude Brennan used to revel in suddenly felt empty. Staying late at the lab was no longer comforting, but lonely. Fortunately that didn't last very long, because four years ago her favorite time of the day was waking up with Booth's warm arms wrapped around her, and realizing that the feel of him wasn't simply a dream.
Now, Brennan's favorite time of the day isn't quiet, or calm, or solitary. Her favorite time of the day is coming home from work (on the only two days a week she currently spends at the lab) and opening the door to a warm house (not a dark apartment) and being ambushed by three small sets of arms wrapping around her waist, accompanied by the shrill cries of "Mommy!" She loved the way Booth would greet her with a kiss and Parker with a fist-bump (being 'too old' to hug anyone) and then she would sit down to eat dinner in her home with her family, feeling like the luckiest woman in the world.
