A/N: Thanks to everyone who has left a review! Two chapters in one day, woo hoo! This is another sort-of filler chapter, but it deals with some issues a lot of you have expressed interest in. All characters you recognize belong to Hart Hanson and Kathy Reichs, all others belong to me :)
Chapter 11: Family in the City
Booth entered the lab on Monday as early as he could get away from the Hoover building. They didn't have a case, but he needed to see his daughter. On his way to Bones's office, he literally ran in to Cam, sending the file she was reading flying. He hadn't said more than two words to Cam outside the context of work since finding out about Lily.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"No, no. It was my fault," she said, crouching down in her pencil skirt to pick up the scattered papers. He leaned down to help her, his inbred chivalry beating out the grudge he was still nursing against her.
"How have you been, Seeley?" Cam asked, obviously trying to start up a friendly conversation.
"Fine," Booth bit out.
Cam stopped and frowned at him. "When are you going to forgive me?"
Before he could respond, he heard an unwelcome voice call out, "Seeley! There you are. I've been looking every where for you!"
The annoyance he had been feeling at Cam's feeble attempts to get back on his good side festered into full-fledged anger at his brother's arrival. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"You've been ignoring me for over a week now. I figured I would find you here, and if not, I would at least get to see my niece." Jared looked as non-challant as usual. He didn't seem to be phased by the fact that his older brother's eyes sizzled with rage. "Look, Seels, can't we just talk about this whole thing? You can't ignore me forever."
"Don't," Booth bit out. "Just don't."
"What's your problem, Seeley? Why are you so pissed at me?"
"It's not just you, Jarhead. He's pretty pissed at me too," Cam put in, crossing her arms and giving Booth a cold stare that would have normally scared him into submission. Not this time.
"Damn right I'm pissed. Both of you neglected to mention the rather pertinent fact that I had a daughter for almost two years. One of my oldest friends and my own brother didn't tell me that I had a child. And you know what? I get to be pissed for a while."
Jared's easy gaze hardened. "You were the one who ran away, Seeley. You went off to pout because Tempe was scared and you never looked back. One phone call, Seel, that's all it would have taken. But you broke her."
"I love you like a brother, Seeley, but Jared's right. You left and you never called her or even asked me about her. I wasn't going to be the one to tell you about Lily and have you come back and hurt Brennan all over again." Cam was fierce now, protecting one of her own. "I'm glad that you're back and trying to be a good dad to Lily, but the only one you have to blame for this situation is yourself."
Jared shook his head. "I hate to say this, brother, but even I couldn't have gotten into a mess like this one and looked like such a jackass. You screwed the pooch on this one. I just hope, for Lily's sake, you can fix this like you always did."
Booth was furious and flabbergasted. He was the one who was supposed to be pissed, not them. He glared at the two of them. He didn't know what to stay. Rather than causing a huge scene in the middle of the lab, he stormed past them. Still seething, he didn't bother to knock on the door to Bones's office; he just barged right in.
"Booth? What's wrong?" Bones asked, starting to push away from her desk. Booth just shook his head. Lily was already on her way over to him, running at full speed.
"Hi-hi! Hi-hi!" she squealed. "Pay? Pay doll?"
Rather than scooping her up like he normally would, Booth knelt down and met her at her height, squeezing her in a tight hug. He held on for several long minutes, not letting go. He pressed his face in the soft crook of her little neck, breathing in the fresh baby scent of her. After a little while, Lily began to squirm in the confining hold. "Pay?"
"Sure, princess. Daddy will play dolls with you for a bit." Booth kissed her temple before letting her go. Lily grabbed hold of two of his fingers in her tiny hand and led him over to her play corner. Proudly, she handed him her favorite doll, then started to jabber in mostly baby nonsense with her other doll.
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"Booth? What's wrong? Was that Jared I saw with Cam?" Brennan frowned at him, annoyed with abrupt behavior and his unexpected arrival.
Lily's little ears perked up. "Unk Jay? Unk Jay pay, Mama?"
Booth scowled. "No, princess. Uncle Jared had to leave."
Brennan got up from her desk. "Why was Jared here in the first place? What is going on?"
"Leave it alone, Brennan," Booth warned.
Brennan sat down on the couch and shook her head. "Booth, something is obviously bothering you. You always used to make me talk about my personal problems rather than internalizing them. You said it was bad for the digestion or something, which is obviously not true."
Brennan could see Booth trying to hold on to his righteous anger. But she knew that the sweet sound of Lily's chatter was more than a match for any anger he might be feeling. By degrees, Booth's shoulders lost the tension they had been holding until they sagged in defeat. Giving Lily a small smile, he gave her doll back and went to collapse on the couch next to Bones. "Have I been a jackass?"
Brennan raised her eyebrows. "Is that a trick question?" she asked suspiciously. She knew that Booth was self-deprecating at times, but she'd never heard him sound like this.
"No, I meant it. Have I been a jackass since I got back? About the whole Lily situation, but before that too."
Brennan didn't quite know how to answer that, so she evaded for a moment. "What brought this on? Did something happen with Jared?"
Booth let out a sardonic laugh. "Can't get anything past you, can I, Dr. Brennan?" He ran his hands over his face. "Yeah. Jared showed up because I've been ignoring his phone calls. I started to confront him and Cam about not calling me about Lily, but then they turned it around on me." He sent her a look filled with hurt and confusion. "Is this whole situation my fault? Was I a jackass? Should I have stayed?"
Brennan's heart hurt for him. She'd never seen him doubt himself like this. "Oh, Booth." She sighed. "Since I know you value honesty, I'm going to tell you the truth. Yes, you have been a jackass. The Booth I knew wouldn't have disappeared like you did and never called. Even when we were in a fight, I still heard from you at least once every day or so. When you left like you did and didn't call, I will admit, I was deeply hurt. Until I realized you'd left behind the best part of you." She smiled over at their daughter, who was quietly playing in the corner, seemingly oblivious to the tenor of her parents' discussion.
"Is this situation your fault?" She shook her head. "No, not entirely. I'm the one who was a coward to begin with. You opened your heart to me and I was too terrified to open mine. But I do think you should have stayed. I'm supposed to be the coward in this relationship, not you. Then again, maybe it was your turn to run. Either way, we can't change any of that. We are where we are and we both just have to accept that."
Booth sat there in broody silence for several minutes, mulling over all of her little speech. Finally picking up that something wasn't right in her little world, Lily toddled over and climbed up onto the couch between her parents. With a sweet little smile, she leaned her head against Booth's slumped shoulder and patted her mother's hand where it lay on the cushion. Booth smiled at the little girl they had made together, all of his anger paling in comparison to his love for this charming little person.
"What do you say we both agree to forgive and forget? Start off with a clean slate?" he murmured, never taking his eyes off Lily. "Lily doesn't need her parents to always have this baggage between them. She doesn't deserve that."
Smiling at the sweet picture the other two occupants of the couch made, she nodded. "I think that sounds like a very logical plan. For Lily and for us."
Booth gave her the puppy dog eyes. "I want us to be friends again, Bones. I miss that."
Cuddling close to their daughter, she nodded. "Me too, Booth. Me too."
A/N: Love it? Hate it? Let me know! Leave a review. Next chapter: Lily gets sick. But with what? Chicken pox? Flu? Pneumonia? Scarlet Fever? A stomach virus? I'm also thinking of having Bones get sick from her. What do you think?