AN: Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter, i'm glad there's still people keeping track of this. And new people finding it wow... i don't have time to thank everyone individually right now, but i'm rewarding you all with a new chapter. Actually it's going to be the last one... just the epilogue to come... i know it's kind of a random spot to end it and not really how i planned... but the epilogue will answer everything i swear...

Chapter 21

"Bones? How are you doing?" Booth took a moment to glance over at his wife in the passenger seat. Her face held a stony look of practised nonchalance, but he'd known her far too long to believe that what was happening didn't bother her.

"I'm fine. The contractions really aren't that bad and I haven't really had that many they're still so far apart." As usual she attempted to cover any emotional fragility with facts and physical ailments. She knew perfectly well he wanted to know what was happening emotionally.

"Bones" he warned.

"Fine... I'm scared okay?" she admitted dryly finally turning to face him as they pulled up at a red light "Really scared" she added her voice barely above a whisper. She couldn't stop the tears that began to slide down her cheeks or the sobs that wracked her body but Booth's hand resting atop hers and squeezing managed to calm her a little.

"We'll get through this" he promised, and as always she believed him "Whatever happens" Suddenly an image flashed through her mind of a tiny little baby boy still covered in blood and placenta. An image of panicked doctors frantically searching for a pulse that wasn't there, of a child she would never get to see grow up and the tears began to fall harder and faster, she could hardly breathe.

If it had been any other day, Booth would have pulled off the road and comforted her until he was sure she was okay, but he knew getting her to the hospital was far more important. Instead he kept his hand pressed in hers, squeezing gently with each sob that escaped her lips until finally in between sobs she began to explain.

"So much" sob "could go wrong" sob "neuro" sob "neurological" sob "defects" sob "respiratory" sob "problems"

"Bones" Booth interrupted "You can't think about that right now. You stressing is just going to make things worse. Baby's can sense that kind of stuff and he'll get scared and stressed and I'm pretty sure that's a bad thing." Brennan nodded trying to force her breathing under control, despite his almost childlike explanation he was right. Her stress would likely transfer to the foetus and could cause complications to the birth and complications were something that she'd like to avoid.

Finally after what seemed like forever to Brennan they made it to the hospital and explained their situation to the woman at the front desk who immediately steered Brennan to a wheelchair despite her protests that she was capable of walking.

"I'm going to have to insist" the nurse explained "It's hospital policy. We'll just have your husband here steer you up to the maternity ward on the third floor. I'll make sure they know you're coming." At her explanation Brennan sank into the chair once again accepting that what she might want was perhaps not what was best given the situation.

"Fine" she muttered, making sure that the nurse knew she wasn't happy about being pushed around like a child. The nurse threw Booth a look of amusement and pity as he steered her towards the elevators. Had there been time he would have explained to the nurse that whilst difficult Temperance Brennan was the love of his life and proof that the heart wants what the heart wants and that is all there is to the matter. Instead he smiled happily at the woman as she returned to the desk to call up to the maternity ward before turning back to the woman he was proud to be married to.

"Okay Ms. Brennan, we'll get you settled in and into a hospital gown the Doctor will be –"

"It's Doctor Brennan" the anthropologist interrupted.

"Of course Doctor Brennan" the maternity nurse agreed putting particular emphasis on the Doctor "As I was saying once you're settled in the doctor will be around to check on your condition. In the mean time it would be of great help if you or your husband could time the distance between your contractions" The nurse added before directing them to a single hospital room. Booth nodded in agreement with the nurse's wishes, Brennan just glared as the woman retreated to the nurse's station.

"Who does she think she is?" Brennan began muttering as Booth searched for the hospital gown the nurse had assured would be in the room "I have a Doctorate, you know"

"Yes Bones, I know you have a Doctorate and an abnormally high IQ, but right now we have to trust that she knows what she's talking about. Your Doctorate is in forensic anthropology not medicine. Now we need to get you in your gown" Booth gestured to the horrible blue monstrosity he found in the draw and back to his wife, who just squinted at the garment in disgust.

"Fine" she agreed and with her back turned to Booth began unbuttoning her shirt and then pants. Finally she unclasped her bra and slid her ruined panties to the floor before finally taking the robe from Booth.

It was only a minute after Booth ushered her onto the bed that the doctor appeared and began firing questions at the pair. How far apart were her contractions? 11 minutes. Approximately how long ago had her water broken? Perhaps 40 minutes. How many weeks was she? 30 weeks. It seemed to go on forever before he finally concluded after a cursory glance beneath her gown that she was definitely in labour.

"Now I know this is early but there is still a good chance that the foetus will be born healthy. We'll run some tests and see what we can find out but in the mean time you just try and relax. We're going to do the best we can to have you a healthy baby. Remember there have been babies born as early as twenty one weeks who have gone on to lead relatively healthy lives." Brennan nodded as the Doctor disappeared, she was well aware of the statistics on preterm births along with the risks and it was definitely the relatively that was worrying to her. Healthy relative to what?

Despite Brennan's protests about hygiene and the ridiculousness of it, when it was time Booth accompanied her to the theatre. By that time Angela had made it to the hospital with an overnight bag stuffed with the things she thought Brennan might need including her laptop and a couple of the most recent anthropological journals she'd seen on the table having remembered Brennan had told her how much she was looking forward to catching up on them.

"Bones, baby, you're gonna have to push" Booth hated to see his wife in pain, he could handle getting shot at, being abused by scum, sniping men he'd never met from hundreds of metres away, but seeing Bones in pain had him wanting to curl into a little ball and cry like a little kid.

Despite all the books Brennan had read about labour none of them could quite accurately describe the feeling of giving birth. None of it had quite prepared her for the intense pain she felt. Rationally she knew that it was not half as bad as being captured and held hostage by men who were probably the government in a country she barely knew. Yet, at the time it felt far worse. It was almost like the was being ripped apart from the inside out. For a moment she wondered why anyone would ever willingly go through the process more than once, knowing how much pain there would be. But then, just as she was promising herself to never have anymore children she heard her baby's first cry and caught sight of the tiny, screaming, blood covered thing for the first time.

Her pain seemed to dull slightly at the sight of the little bundle and she realised that what she was feeling was far outweighed by the joy that her son would bring her and that she'd be a fool not to try again. She'd have to be crazy to not want a child with Booth, to not want to see what genetical marvel would come of their coupling. He was after all a very attractive man.

It was as Brennan was laying imagining her future children happy that her baby seemed for the most part healthy, and content to let the medical personnel do what they needed to without interrupting that she realised her baby wasn't at all what she'd expected. She finally heard Booth muttering into her ear random words of comfort.

"Bones, look. Isn't she gorgeous, that's our little girl"

Girl. She took a quick peak. Yep, those were definitely girl parts. She smiled a little, Angela had been right. What a strange and yet wonderful day, when all of modern medicine was wrong, yet a flighty artist had things right.

Brennan frowned when having cleaned the baby girl she was placed immediately in an incubator without even letting her mother hold her. It suddenly seemed like the most important thing in the world that she get to hold her baby.

"Why's she in an incubator?" Booth asked frowning, every part the worried father.

"It's just a precaution. Considering everything we need to be extra careful, she seems to be quite healthy but there could still be complications" Brennan nodded sadly, Booth seemed shocked. How could they take away their little girl, she needed to be held and nurtured. She was their baby.

Booth and Brennan watched as their little girl was wheeled away from them comforted only by a stark white blanket and far too many tubes.

"She's going to be okay" Brennan whispered, more to herself than Booth. She was their baby, and she wouldn't just be okay, she would be perfect.