Disclaimer - If I owned them do you really think I'd spend my time writing here? ;]

A/N - Here I am once again with a lovely chapter for you! I'm sorry if it is taking longer than usual :[ School is kicking my bottom area at the moment if you know what I mean! I'm not sure how long it will be taking me to get these out. But no fear, hopefully no longer than a few days and for sure no longer than a week. Anyways, thank you's to my readers, especially my reviewers, and also especially my beta Lindsay (aka NerdyGurl). Seriously, you all rock! Happy reading!

Chapter 21

The next day, by midafternoon, Brennan was exhausted. The movie from the night before had kept everyone up later than what was usual and despite how tired she'd been, finding sleep had proven to be difficult. Too many thoughts had been running rampant in the anthropologist's head causing her to feel like she needed a moment or even just a breath to find... inner peace again, some sort of stability to settle the continual shifting of her equilibrium.

Lack of sleep, coupled with the fact that there was an extra child in the house made for a sluggish morning and the boys had only arrived to school seconds before the bell rang. The rushing from the morning made Brennan late in getting to the lab with Elsie who just did not want to seem to cooperate today. Since morning she had been fussy and especially clingy, stressing Brennan out and causing her to feel a dull ache running from her temporal bones to her frontal bones. A headache in the works did nothing to help Brennan's frayed nerves.

Sitting at her desk she slid open the drawer grabbing a bottle of Tylenol and downed two of them with a gulp from an old water bottle. Putting the painkillers away, Brennan sat forward resting her elbows on her desk and cradling her head, rubbing her temples to help relieve the pain. Elsie had finally allowed her mom to put her in the playpen after what seemed like hours of attempts. At the moment the baby was begrudgingly playing with a light up piano toy that, unfortunately for Brennan, wasn't exactly quiet.

Resting her eyes for just one second, Brennan exhaled one long breath. Finally, a semi-relaxing moment. It didn't last long though. Hearing a soft knock on her door, Brennan looked up to see her best friend standing in the doorway, a sympathetic smile on her face. "Hey Sweetie."

Brennan reciprocated the small smile to her friend, "Hey Ange... do you need something?"

Angela shook her head. "No. No, you came in a little late. I was just... checking on you, making sure you're okay."

The anthropologist was immeasurably grateful for her friend's caring nature and a few disobedient tears came to her eyes from just thinking about it. Angela always seemed to be there when Brennan just needed a friend to vent to. Just like Booth. "I'm just extremely overwhelmed at the moment. Hormones and..." she hesitated.

Angela didn't even know the half of everything. Brennan hadn't been to work since all the speculation and events concerning Sidney had permeated their lives. But Brennan needed to talk to someone about this besides Booth. He'd been fantastic through this situation but at the moment, this feeling of her life being engulfed by irrational emotions, was about more than just that.

So Brennan told Angela about her weekend. She told her friend about the boy who somehow had in such a considerably short amount of time, become such an enormous part of her life. She also told her friend about the house that she and Booth had found online and about the fact that it had five bedrooms, not four, which apparently, was how many they needed. Was that last one implied for Sidney? Booth would be calling Child Protective Services today.

As all of the emotions poured out of Brennan, Angela sat in a chair across from the desk and listened patiently. When the words of the story stopped flowing Angela spoke through the silence. "Just answer one question for me, Bren. Are you happy?"

Without hesitation Brennan answered, "Yes." Her bright blue eyes stared into her friend's brown ones. "I don't want to give you the wrong impression that I'm not. I just needed to... talk I guess. But I promise you, I'm extremely happy."

Angela smiled. "I get it Brennan. I mean, not only do you have a new baby and now this whole Sidney ordeal, you're pregnant too. And believe me," she flared her eyes, "It ain't no picnic."

For the first time in their conversation, Brennan laughed. It was a tired laugh, but all the same, it was still a laugh, and an honest one at that. "I agree. It's very taxing, more so than I had anticipated. Like right now, if I had the time, I believe I could fall asleep right here at my desk."

"Well then, you're in luck," Angela said, standing up. She walked over to the playpen and scooped Elsie up, grabbing the toy she was playing with as well as Ben. "I am going to take this little girl off your hands for the day; I've already got Mike with me. You and I could use a little bonding time anyway, huh Elsie?" She said, addressing the baby.

In return Elsie offered a wet smile, putting her sopping mouth to the artist's shoulder shyly, eliciting a grimace. Angela then returned the conversation to Brennan.

"Now, I want you to go lie down and take a nap on the couch. And don't even think about setting an alarm, Sweetie. I don't care how important work is, sleep trumps it all." With that she turned on her heel and exited the office leaving a taken aback anthropologist behind, who despite wishing for one, had no arguments.

At around two o'clock, Booth strode through the sliding glass doors of the lab, heading for the forensics platform, paper bag in hand. Reaching his destination, he was surprised to see that Hodgins was the only squint present,concentratingon his microscope. Booth approached the man and said, "Hey Bug Man, you know if Bones is in her office?"

Hodgins, not having heard the agent or anyone for that matter approach, was surprised when the voice came booming throughout the lab. In his shock he jumped, thumping his eye on the eyepiece of the microscope. "You mind giving me a little warning, man?" he said, a hand covering his eye and pain obvious in his voice.

Booth grimaced, he honestly hadn't meant for that to happen. "Sorry, Hodgins, I thought you heard me come up. Anyway, is Bones in her office or what?"

"Yeah, as far as I know. Last I heard she was sleeping in there and Ange was watching Elsie." Seeing the concerned look on the agent's face Hodgins continued. "I doubt it's anything to worry about. When Ange was pregnant she pretty much took a nap every day and she didn't have another baby to take care of already. I'm sure she's fine."

Booth nodded absently but he still wasn't so sure. This was Brennan they were talking about. He didn't think he'd ever seen her willingly take a break from work for something that was non-work related. Mumbling his thanks to Hodgins, Booth jogged the short distance to his partner's office and slipped quietly through the closed glass door.

Inside he found exactly what the bug man had told him. Brennan was fast asleep on the small couch, lying on her back, with one hand resting on her belly and the other flung up near her head. The anthropologist's shoes were haphazardly thrown on the floor near her feet as if she had been too tired to take them off properly. Booth noticed for the first time since they had been thrown into the middle of the situation concerning Sidney, she looked relaxed, even peaceful.

In sleep, Brennan looked as if she didn't have any demons, very unlike someone who worked with death and misery every day. That constantly alert wrinkle in her brow was smoothed, the same way it looked when she just let go and allowed herself to have fun, or when she was playing indulgently with Elsie. She looked free and Booth thought that was just plain beautiful, and he couldn't stop watching her.

Though Brennan needed to eat, Booth knew that her sleep was just as important. So, instead of waking her, he snatched the blanket from the back of the couch and covered his sleeping girlfriend, the food could wait. Booth took another moment to admire Brennan in her sleep then took his exit. Deciding he would check on his daughter before leaving the lab, he headed over to Angela's office. Walking in, he was surprised at how quiet and dark it was and raised his brows, looking for the artist. He found her off to the side in front of the Angelatron, obviously working on something diligently, a focused look on her face.

"Hey Ange," he said nonchalantly.

Angela gasped, one hand going to her chest and closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before whispering, "What the hell, Booth? Stop using those sniper senses and give a girl some warning will ya?"

Booth laughed. "You know your husband basically just said the same thing to me? Anyway, why are we whispering?"

"You think I do all my work in the dark?" Booth shrugged, feeling as if he'd been scolded. "The kids are asleep G-man. I'm trying to get some work done without waking them up. I take it Bren is still asleep too?"

Booth sat down on the couch, setting the food bag on the table. Angela followed him. "Yeah... She's okay right? Nothing is wrong?" he asked after some hesitation. Opening the brown paper bag he got out some containers and silently offered one to his companion who took it willingly, along with a fork.

After a moment of thought and several forkfuls of rice, Angela answered, "She's fine. Bren's tough, she's just tired. I mean, pregnancy is hard enough. I can't imagine going through it along with everything you guys have going on." Seeing the agent's confused look she elaborated. "I'm talking about Sidney, and even Elsie. Not to mention your relationship is brand new."

Booth nodded, though he wasn't sure why his head had bobbed. "I called CPS today. You know, to file a report on the aunt and uncle."

"What did they say?" Angela asked.

"They thanked me and said they would look into it, try to get in touch with his legal guardians. It was actually more than I was hoping for. I mean, I wasn't even positive if it was a crime to leave a ten year-old home alone overnight. I guess it's more than that though, right? Diane, Sidney's aunt, told me on the phone last night that they weren't coming home until sometime Wednesday. Wednesday for god's sake! Without any warning for the kid either."

Angela was appalled. Brennan had not gone into that much detail with her about the situation, only the basics. What kind of people could do that? This boy was a human being and although Angela had never met him, he sounded like a pretty fantastic one according to Brennan. And being liked by her? That was a pretty big feat in itself. A whimpering sound cut her thoughts short. Moving to get up she was intercepted by Booth.

"I'll get her." He said, walking over to the playpen being used as a crib for the babies. Michael was still fast asleep but Elsie was standing with a hold on to the rail, one arm reaching for her father when he came into her view. "Hey, Sweet Pea," he whispered, as he lifted her up, indulging himself in the feeling he got every time he held his baby girl in his arms. "Didja miss Daddy?"

After rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with her tiny fists, she puckered her lips and laid a wet one on Booth's neck. He supposed that was as good of answer as any really. He walked back over to the couch and returned to his seat next to Angela once again. Then instead of leaning forward to eat some more, he reclined against the back of the couch with Elsie lounging on his chest, lavishing in the simplicity of the fleeting moment. These were the moments he lived for.

Returning his focus back to Angela, he noticed she had a dreamy look on her face.

"That is so hot. If Bren hadn't had dibs on that body since the moment you two met," Angela whistled and fanned herself with her hand.

"Angela! Have you forgotten that you're happily married? Your son is you know, right over there?" Booth exclaimed, cheeks reddening.

The artist smirked, satisfied with herself. "You know I'm just teasing with you, Booth. So... what's this I hear about you two looking at a house later today?"

"Yeah. It looks like a neat one too, old but in a cool way, you know? Did she happen to tell you if she made an appointment to see it yet?" he asked.

"I think she said it was at five thirty. She looked very excited, by the way. Despite the clear exhaustion on her face, she had that glint in her eye when she talked about it." Angela tilted her head smiling at Booth. "I'm really happy for you guys."

Returning the smile, Booth said, "Thank you. You want me to take Elsie off your hands for the rest of the day? I'm pretty much through with my duties at the office and," he looked and his watch and stood up, "I've got to pick the boys up from school in a bit anyways."

"Yeah, sure. When Bren wakes up you want me to tell her you stopped by?" Angela asked.

The agent debated the question for a minute. "Nah, I think I'll stop by her office on my way out and leave her the rest of this food with a note. I better get going though. See you later Ange, say hi to Mikey for me when he wakes up."

"Later G-man," she called after his leaving form. She got up to go check on Michael when she saw Ben sitting in the playpen. Grabbing him she ran back to the door. "Booth!"

The man in question was halfway to his destination when he heard Angela's call. He turned around and seeing what was in her hand he jogged back over to her. Reaching for the stuffed dog and handing it to Elsie who automatically put its ear in her mouth, Booth thanked her profusely and headed back towards his partner's office. "What do you say? Should we see you mama and say goodbye? Huh, Sweet Pea?" he said, eliciting a gorgeous smile from the baby. The nickname always seemed to do that.

Thank you for reading, please review, and peace out girl scout! :DD