Glad you all enjoyed the last chapter so much. I'm not Catholic, so I was hoping I got everything right for Mass. I really have enjoyed all of your reviews.

Thanks,

Gum

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When Temperance awoke, she could hear that the rest of the household was awake as well. She rolled over, hoping perhaps to see Seeley, but instead of a large man, a small girl was curled up beside her, sleeping soundly.

The door opened quietly and Seeley came in.

"Oh good," he spoke softly, though obviously relieved, "She's in here," he indicated Sadie.

"Lost track of her?" Temperance teased.

"You wouldn't believe how big this house seems when you're looking for one little girl," he told her, "Especially since somebody taught her how to go up and down the steps on her own."

"She needed to learn," she defended herself, "I certainly was not going to carry her when she's perfectly capable of doing it on her own."

"I know, Bones," he sat down on the end of the bed, "It was a good parent move- just made things a little more tricky, that's all. I'm glad you're teaching them stuff like that though."

"Why wouldn't I?" she questioned, incredulous.

"Well," Booth shrugged, "Some people wouldn't, you know, since we've only got them for a little bit. They'd just let them do whatever and leave the discipline for whoever takes them in permanently."

"Yes," she acknowledged thoughtfully, "I was in a few foster homes where that was the practiced philosophy," she looked over at Sadie, sleeping soundly through their conversation, "I found that a lack of rules leads to a host of confusion, and neither the foster parents nor the children were satisfied with the results.

"In the case of these children," she gestured to Sadie, "I feel that we're obligated to parent them as responsibly as we can until they pass from our care, especially given their young ages and the fact that we have a family of six to see to. Anarchy would inevitably erupt without set boundaries. You do the same thing every time you talk Joey through his anger, or assure Maddie that she is beautiful no matter what her peers at school tell her. We don't parent them because it is easy; we do it because it is necessary."

"And you doubt you would make a good mother," Booth smiled tenderly at her.

Sadie began to stir, bringing the discussion to an end.

"Dada!" she grinned, then turned to Temperance, "Mama!"

Sadie crawled over on the bed to where Temperance sat and stretched her arms out for a hug. They shared a long hug and Temperance kissed the baby's head as she held her, then wrinkled her nose.

"Why don't you go visit Dada?" she asked, winking at Seeley.

"Oh, no!" he shook his head, "I changed her while you were asleep so you get this one."

"Seeley," she frowned, "If the decision for whose turn it was to change diapers was based solely on turns taken, you would be responsible for changing every diaper on the weekends, as I change quite a lot while you are away at work."

"Fine," he grumbled, "But if it's as messy as I think it is I'll need your help."

She shrugged and nodded- after spending her professional career around rotting corpses, she had no problems dealing with an infant's urine and fecal matter. The only reason she'd protested was because it was fun to watch her husband squirm on the topic.

After Sadie was changed- it was only wet after all, so no backup was needed- they went downstairs.

"Seeley Ryan Booth," she exclaimed, "What in the world have you been doing down here?"

He tried a charm smile, which she returned with a glare, and he grinned sheepishly, "I told you I was moving things around today."

"And so you have," she couldn't believe the sight in front of her, "No wonder you lost track of Sa-Katie! The living room is overflowing with furniture from the office and it appears you have the bed frame dismantled as well."

"Seeley Booth doesn't mess around, Bones," he winked, "You should know that by now."

"Well Seeley Booth had better not injure himself in the process," she retorted, "Or Temperance Booth will make him sleep in the office anyway- alone- no matter what bed happens to be in there at the time."

"Are you a Booth now too, Mom?" Parker popped up from behind the maze of furniture in the living room.

She frowned for a minute, replaying her previous words in her mind.

"Of course she is, Bub," Seeley stepped in to her rescue, "She's been a Booth for almost a week now."

"Cool," Parker grinned before going back to his hiding spot.

"Thanks," Temperance whispered to Seeley.

He nodded and kissed her forehead.

"Alright troops," he addressed the children, who were scattered throughout the furniture, "Now that Mom's up it's time to get working upstairs."

"I dunno if we're big enough to move that bed," Joey said doubtfully.

"Right now," Seeley said, "You can hop on up there and take off all of the blankets and covers to start."

Three sets of feet took off pounding up the stairs, with Sadie not far behind. It took an hour and a half, but they were finally able to move the massive bed, box spring and bed frame from the master bedroom down to the office bedroom. It barely fit through the door, and took up most of the room once it was inside, but they found a way to position it so that the room was still aesthetically pleasing, and they were able to move more furniture back into the room than Temperance thought they would be able to.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent hauling the smaller bed and remaining furniture upstairs. With the king-size bed gone they had no space problems on that end, and Temperance was impressed with the speed and efficiency with which everything was accomplished. The older three children helped for a bit, though they grew bored quickly and decided they enjoyed playing with Sadie more.

This allowed the couple to move much quicker, and before long, they had finished. The master bedroom now held the smaller bed along with two of the bookshelves that had been in the office, and the office held the king-size bed. The computer, its desk, and most of the files also remained downstairs once they decided that it was a much more private location for the video conferencing than the master bedroom.

After the children had been fed and put to bed, she surveyed the master bedroom and had to admit that she would enjoy having the smaller bed here. Also, it helped for her to be able to separate their work life from their private life. She was also looking forward to being able to go right from the shower to the bed or vice versa. It had been inconvenient to wake up on a floor that did not have a shower, or any of her clothes stored there for that matter.

"Not a bad idea after all was it?" a cocky voice burst into her thoughts, "And I managed not to hurt myself, too if you didn't notice!"

"I did notice," she nodded approvingly, "Though you have acquired an odor over the past several hours."

"So help me clean up," he suggested, wiggling his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

"Only if we can use the bathtub," she stipulated, "I am in need of a long soak after aiding you in your endeavors this afternoon, and the last thing I want to do is be on my feet."

"As long as you don't have clothes on, I'm fine with whatever you want, Bones."

She drew the water while he poured in the bubble bath and stripped off his clothes.

"You don't waste any time do you?" she laughed.

"Nope," he grinned, testing the water with his foot before hopping in, "Though if you want to undress slowly you won't hear any complaints from me."

"Now why am I not surprised?" she teased, shedding her clothes as quickly as he had his and joining him in the water.

He pouted a little, but his smile returned as soon as she slid over to sit nearer to him, stretching her legs so that they rested across his thighs. For close to an hour they sat, sometimes talking, sometimes not, but more than anything just enjoying one another's company. After a long week and a busy weekend, it was good to just be together and relax.

Half-way through she moved to the other side of the tub and took his feet in her lap and began massaging them. For some reason, the mental image of his x-rays that she had seen so long ago had never faded, and she knew that his feet must been in pain after all of the work he had done today. At first he winced, as her deft hands moved strongly and surely along the pressure points she knew would relieve the pain, but one look in his eyes assured her that he trusted her, so she continued.

"That," he sighed, stepping out of the tub once she had finished, "Was amazing!"

"Your feet feel better?" she smiled, draining the water and stepping out to join him.

"I don't think they've felt this good in years," he told her, wrapping a large, soft towel around her, "Honestly, Bones, where did you learn how to do that?"

She shrugged as they moved into the bedroom, "I've seen the damage to your feet and simply applied pressure to the places that would best ease your pain."

"I feel like I could run a marathon," he was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet like a runner.

"I wouldn't recommend that," she frowned, "The treatment is only temporary and would wear off long before you finished a marathon."

He laughed softly and she realized that once again she had taken him too literally. He said nothing, though, and merely pulled on a pair of boxers and sat on the bed, motioning for her to join him.

"Mmm," he breathed contentedly when she was nestled up against him underneath the covers, "This is perfect, Temperance."

"What?" she asked, as she momentarily left the sanctuary of his arms to turn off the small light on her nightstand.

"Us," he said, "Right here, right now."

She still didn't understand his full meaning, but she got enough of it that she nodded and rested her head in the crook between his outstretched arm and his chest.

"Oh," he said suddenly, a bit louder than he probably meant to, "I forgot to tell you something."

She waited quietly, knowing that he'd tell her.

"I talked to Cullen and Watson and neither of them have a problem with me going into work a little bit later."

"I don't understand the significance," she said honestly, "Why would you want to go into work later?"

"It's only about fifteen or twenty minutes extra," he explained, "But it means I can drop the older kids off at school in the morning and have time to come back and switch cars and get to work on time. From the way you were talking I figured you could use one less trip to the school, and since there's no way I could help in the afternoon, I thought this would be better than nothing."

"You moved back your work schedule for me?" she asked, turning around to face him despite the darkness.

"Of course," he traced her jaw-line with his finger, "I'd do anything for you, Bones."

She nodded, still silently awed by his selflessness, and traced the scar just beyond his scapula that testified to the truth of his statement.

"Thank you, Seeley," she whispered, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Yawning, she turned over and settled down once again into his arms. Marriage, she decided, was not as confining as she had once thought. This afternoon she had named herself as "Temperance Booth" accidentally in front of someone other than Seeley and had felt momentarily confused, but also more comfortable with it than she would have thought possible. And she had felt extremely warmed by Seeley's comment that she was an official "Booth" now- and had been for a week.

No, she thought as she closed her eyes to sleep, marriage was not confining, in fact, it made her feel more contented- and more loved- than she had in years.