Tapas, remember?

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She found Brennan where she expected - in bone storage. "The reconstruction is finished." Angela extended the printout of the computerized image.

"Thank you." The anthropologist briefly scanned the paper then handed it back. "Please put it on my desk. I'll give it a more thorough study after lunch." She turned back to the bones displayed anatomically on the table beside her.

"Sure." Angela watched as Brennan picked up and examined a tibia. The sheet in her hand tapped restlessly against her upper thigh. "Hey!" she announced suddenly, as if the thought had just occurred to her. "You know what we haven't done recently?" When her friend's vaguely questioning gaze met her own, she smiled brightly. "Girl's night. How about it? You and me? Tonight? Crowded bar. Loud music. Lots of wine. Hot guys. Lots of wine . . ." The grin widened. "What do you say?"

Brennan resumed her study of the bone. "Thank you, but no. I have several projects to finish so I'll be working late."

"Oh." Having expected resistance, Angela continued doggedly. "Well, this weekend then. That's probably a better idea anyway. We can really cut loose and if we get hammered, we'll just sleep it off the next day."

"I'm going to visit Russ and Amy this weekend." Her voice was distracted as Brennan replaced the tibia on the left leg and lifted the one from the right. "Besides, wouldn't looking at 'hot guys' be detrimental to your vow of celibacy?"

"There's nothing wrong with a bit of window shopping," Angela demurred. "How about -"

"Angela." Brennan replaced the right tibia and turned to face her friend. "I know that Booth told you about my pregnancy. If the invitation to join you in the consummation of alcohol is meant to coerce a confession from me so that you don't have to pretend ignorance of my condition, I give you permission to stop. I'm aware that you know."

Angela's wide-eyed expression of surprise and shock appeared just a few seconds too late. "What?" One hand slapped against her chest melodramatically. "You're what?"

When Brennan simply looked at her with knowing amusement, Angela quickly dropped the charade and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh my God, honey," she breathed into Brennan's neck. "You're going to have a baby!"

"Yes, I know." Brennan pulled away without stepping out of the embrace, a wide smile brightening her face.

"Are you happy?" Angela was a bit teary. "This is definitely what you want? Are you sure?"

'Yes." Brennan nodded and her smile, if possible, broadened. "When the positive result came back, I was . . ." The words stopped as tears filled her own eyes. "I'm going to have a baby."

They came together for another long hug; when it ended, they both brushed at wet cheeks before Angela set aside the now crumpled sheet of paper in her hand.

"What about Booth?" she asked carefully. "Is he happy about it?"

"Yes," Brennan nodded. "We conversed last night, though text messages. He said he was very happy."

Angela looked at her with raised brows. "In a text."

"Yes." She paused for a moment. As she spoke again, Angela was surprised to see her friend's hands twist together almost nervously. "When I decided to have a child," Brennan began slowly, "I saw myself building a life for us. The two of us," she added. "The child and me." Her gaze shifted away and back, without meeting Angela's eyes. "Over the last few weeks, that vision has . . . evolved and now I see -"

"Booth?" Angela guessed when Brennan's hesitation continued.

The dark ponytail bobbed. "He's a very good father."

"I know." Angela smiled gently.

"The relationship I have with him is one of the most important in my life." Chin lifted bravely, Brennan spoke as if she were making a confession.

Angela wanted to give her another hug. "You know why that is, don't you, sweetie?"

"Yes." Brennan had an answer ready. "We spend a great deal of time together, we see each other almost every day and despite our differences, we are actually very compatible and work extremely well together." Her explanation came swiftly, like points on a mental checklist she carried in her head.

Angela swallowed laughter. "Well, it's good to see you still have those keen observation skills," she murmured dryly.

"Booth said," Brennan spoke carefully, weighing every word, "that we had to change. That my pregnancy . . . a baby, that it would change us. Who we are, the two of us."

"Did he tell you that in a text, too?" Angela asked sarcastically, and when Brennan nodded, she only just managed not to roll her eyes. "Well, he's right anyway." She reached for Brennan's hand when her apprehension showed again. "You're connected now, you and Booth. You created a life, a person. You're linked together now, forever. How can that not change you?"

Brennan's free hand fluttered against the front of her lab coat, above her abdomen.

"You're used to a life of structure," Angela continued quietly, "of boundaries and limits, where everything has an explanation or a purpose. Outside the lab, though," she smiled, "life is messy - and fun and random and scary and adventurous and . . . and beautiful." She grabbed Brennan's other hand and squeezed both sets of fingers. "Having a baby is going to blow your world wide open. You could do a lot worse than having someone like Booth there with you, while you figure it all out."

The two friends looked at each other for one long minute, before Angela pouted and gently swung the hands she held to and fro.

"I can't believe you're going to have a baby," she cooed.

The sparkle in her eyes matched the happiness on her face when Brennan smiled back. "I'm going to have a baby."

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I know it's a different story but this is my first post after yesterday so for all of you who left well-wishes for my daughter after the "Christine wedding" chapter on Friday, thank you! She was beautiful, the day was beautiful, everything was beautiful! :-D (And if you don't read Roots and Wings you have no idea what I'm talking about, so never mind. *lol*

I've got a week to tell the rest of this story. Yikes.

Thanks for reading!