Disclaimer: I don't own Bones.

"Why did you tell him to use the siren?" Brennan asked, exasperated with her best friend.

"Um, because you're having his child? Because I don't want him missing anything? Because I really don't want to deliver your little girl? Take your pick of answers."

"What if he gets pulled over?"

"Well, unlike you, he's an actual federal agent and is licensed to drive his vehicle equipped with sirens and lights."

Brennan rolled her eyes. "This isn't an emergency."

"I love you dearly, but sometimes you are just plain crazy." Angela shook her head. "You've been having contractions for the last hour, and your water just broke, yet you're acting like it's no big deal."

"Women have babies every day."

"That they do." Angela glanced out of the laundry room. "Hey, we need to get out of here. Your mini-me is going to get suspicious."

"Good point." Brennan reached for another pair of sweatpants on top of the dryer and slipped out of Booth's faded FBI sweats, spraying them with cleaner before throwing them into the washing machine.

"I'll grab a couple towels and get you situated on the couch."

"I can do it," Brennan protested, pulling the drawstring of the comfortably too-big pants. "I'm not an invalid."

"Believe me, I know." Angela sighed as she grabbed a towel from the dryer. "I suppose I won't have any luck trying to convince you to go to a hospital."

"Absolutely not. And quite frankly, I'm a little surprised you tried."

Angela shrugged. "Figured it couldn't hurt. OK, you want the couch or your bed?"

"Couch. I'm going to pace anyway."

"Uh uh." Angela shook her head. "You're lying down on your side and waiting for Booth to get home."

"Why?"

"Because I love you, but I am not delivering your baby girl by myself!"

"It's going to be a while. My contractions are still fairly far apart."

Angela rolled her eyes. "Famous last words."

"Besides, you would totally deliver my daughter by yourself if I needed you to."

"Only if I had to. Seriously, please go lay down on the couch. It'll delay things."

"That's not necessarily true."

"Well, you walking and squatting and doing all kinds of other movement only speeds things up. That much I know. You're on the couch until Booth gets here."

"Will it make you feel better?"

"Yes!" Angela nodded vigorously.

"Fine," Brennan huffed as she and Angela stepped out of the laundry room. "I'll take the couch."

"Thank you for humoring me. Now, what do we need to do before Booth gets home?"

Christine looked up from her drawing. "Daddy's coming home?"

"Yep." Brennan walked over to the table to examine the artwork. "This is very pretty. Good job."

"Thanks." The little girl held up the piece of paper to examine it better. "Think it's done?"

"Yeah, I think so." Brennan reached for her sheet of paper and added another number.

Angela raised an eyebrow. "You didn't even flinch that time."

"Wasn't a bad one." Brennan shrugged and turned back toward Christine. "Want to come sit on the couch with me?"

"Are you taking a nap?" Christine asked, immediately suspicious, thinking that she was going to be tricked into falling asleep.

"Nope. Just resting." She almost laughed at her daughter's skeptical expression. "You can even turn on the TV. I'm not going to nap."

"OK." Christine headed into the living room, and watched as Angela and Brennan draped part of the couch with towels. She gave them a curious look. "What's that for?"

"Come sit by me." Brennan patted the cushion next to her.

"I'm going to call Hodgins." Angela pointed her phone and headed toward the front door to give Brennan a few minutes with Christine. "Be right back."

Christine hopped up next to Brennan, still curiously looking at the two towels, but somewhat distracted with the TV remote.

"Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"You're finally getting your baby sister." Brennan watched with a smile as Christine's face turned from confusion to a mixture of shock and delight.

"Now?" she asked excitedly, forgetting all about the TV remote.

"It'll be a little while, but she'll definitely be here by tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Uh huh." She leaned to kiss Christine's forehead. "What do you think? Are you excited?"

"Yeah!" She nodded eagerly.

"Will you sit with me while we wait on Daddy to get home?"

"Sure." Christine leaned against Brennan's shoulder and gently placed one hand on Brennan's stomach. "That OK?"

"Mmmhmm." Brennan stroked Christine's hair gently. "Remember our deal for when the baby comes?"

The look on Christine's face revealed that she didn't remember anything.

"You're going to Uncle Jack and Aunt Angela's for a little while to hang out with Michael," Brennan reminded.

"While you have the baby?"

Brennan nodded, noting the slightly disappointed look on her daughter's face. "We talked about this, remember? It's just for a little while. You'll get to see her right after she gets here."

"I can't stay?"

"No. Sorry, sweetheart." Brennan put one finger on Christine's lips, which were opening to protest. "No arguing. Daddy said so, too."

Christine sighed and gave her mother a slight pout, but nodded slowly. "OK, Mommy."

"Thank you for being sweet." Brennan kissed the top of Christine's head. "You can stay until your dad gets here."

Booth had enough presence of mind to check the traffic on his phone before deciding to take the interstate home. As he roared off the exit ramp, he glanced at the clock on the dashboard. "Seventeen minutes? Damn. That siren really does work," he thought, pleased with his time as he pulled up to a stoplight.

His phone buzzed, and he reached to view the photo text from Brennan, smiling as he saw his daughter's face, grinning with glee as she gave a thumbs up sign next to Brennan's stomach. He chuckled as he read the numbered text from his wife:

"1. Please read this at a red light for obvious safety reasons. 2. I had to tell Christine without you, and I'm very sorry. I hope this photo makes up for it. (If you can't tell, she's ecstatic!) 3. Baby is staying put, as am I. Angela has me banished to the couch until you arrive, so hurry. 4. We love you and can't wait for you to get home. Drive safely."

"Bones, you just made me speed a little bit more," he muttered as he checked his mirrors and raced to the next turn. Within minutes, he had pulled into their neighborhood and turned off the siren just before he pulled into the driveway and jumped out. Just as he reached for the front door, it swung open, revealing an amused Angela.

"See, Bren, what'd I tell ya? Clearly Booth didn't get arrested for the siren."

"You're hilarious." He rolled his eyes at Angela and gave her a quick hug. "Thanks for being here."

"Daddy!" Christine sprang up from her spot near the TV, bounding towards her father. "You're home!"

"I am!" Booth smiled, leaning down to pick up his daughter and give her a kiss. "Are you OK with that?"

She nodded, planted a kiss on his cheek, and then said with a serious expression on her face, "Mommy's in labor."

"So I heard." Booth smiled again. "Do you even know what that means?"

"Of course she does," came Brennan's voice from the den. "Christine, tell him what it means."

"It means Mommy's getting ready to push the baby out."

"Right." Booth gave Christine another kiss. "And that means you're going to be a big sister!"

Christine nodded, a shy smile crossing her face. "Yeah. By tomorrow."

"Yep, definitely by tomorrow." Booth strode into the living with Christine, leaning over the couch to kiss Brennan. "Hi."

"Hi yourself." Her eyes sparkled. "I'm glad you're home."

"Why, are you close?" Booth began to look panicked as he sat down on the couch by Brennan with Christine in his lap.

"No, not at all."

"You sure?"

"I promise. She's not going to be as fast as Christine."

"Well, that's obvious — she'd already be here if she was as fast as Christine!" Angela grinned and held out her arms to take Christine from Booth. "Speaking of — come upstairs with me for a minute, sweet girl. We gotta make sure you've got everything packed for tonight."

Booth handed Christine over to Angela, and the two hurried up the stairs. He put one arm around Brennan's shoulders, drawing her close to his chest, and reached for her fingers with his free hand. "You two really scared me over the phone."

"I'm sorry. When my water broke, Angela got a little dramatic."

"Shocker." He leaned forward to kiss Brennan again, this time longer than the last. "You ready to do this?"

She nodded. "Are you?"

"With you? Anything."

Brennan laughed. "You're being sappy."

"Oh well. It's not every day that we have a baby. I think I get to be sappy every now and then."

"Fair enough …" She trailed off, wincing.

"Hey. Squeeze my hand," he urged, watching as her eyebrows furrowed and her shoulders tensed under his light grip.

"I'm good." She let out a deep breath. "I really need to get up and walk."

"Let's just sit for a few more minutes, OK? Rest while we can." He pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"I asked Angela to stay — I know we talked about it earlier, but are you OK with it?" She looked up at him. "I figured it would make you feel better having someone else here to help."

"That's fine," he assured her. "And yes, I'm glad to have her here."

She fidgeted on his chest, toying with the bottom of his vest. "Think you could take this off? It's really uncomfortable."

"Oh yeah. Sorry." He sat up from the couch and yanked off the vest, dropping it on the floor.

To give Booth and Brennan precious alone time, Angela kept Christine busy for almost fifteen minutes, allowing the little girl to pack unnecessary items, and letting her help change the sheets and lay out towels in Booth and Brennan's bedroom.

"You're helping Mom?" Christine questioned, shaking out the folds from a towel.

"Yep. Your Dad and I are going to help her."

"Mom says it's messy and I might be scared."

"Yep." Angela wrinkled her nose. "Definitely messy and a little scary, which is why you're going to my house. But your mom is going to be just fine."

"Oh, I know." Christine nodded confidently.

"Good." Angela surveyed the bedroom and, thanks to the open blinds, noticed a familiar car pulling into the driveway. "I think we're ready to go back downstairs and get you packed up with Uncle Jack!"

Christine grabbed her stuffed elephant and let Angela take her duffel. As the two headed downstairs, Christine was the first to round the corner of the staircase, rushing to the couch at the sound of a low groan.

"Mommy?"

"Shit," Angela muttered under her breath, dropping the duffel bag to scoop up Christine. "Hey, she's OK."

Christine was rapidly approaching tears, staring at Brennan, who had her eyes and lips tightly shut, hand clenched around Booth's. Brennan opened her eyes to see Angela comforting Christine, and managed a halfway reassuring smile. "Christine, I'm OK."

"You're hurt."

"Hey, come here. Come sit in my lap." Booth held out his arms for Christine, and adjusted Brennan's position just slightly. "Mommy's OK."

"Why'd she made a funny noise?"

"We talked about this, remember?" Brennan reached for her daughter's hand. "It's hard to have a baby."

"It hurts?"

"Yeah," Brennan answered honestly.

"I don't want you hurt."

At his daughter's sweet statement, Booth placed a firm kiss on Christine's cheek. "That's why I'm holding her hand. Aunt Angela and I are going to help her."

Still tearful, Christine looked at Booth skeptically. "How?"

"It'll be over soon and then she won't hurt."

Still insistent on voicing her concerns, Christine replied, "I don't want Mommy hurt."

"I promise she'll be OK. She's really strong and brave, remember?"

Christine nodded.

"So she'll be fine. Soon we'll have your baby sister. Can you kiss the baby one last time?"

"Uh huh." Christine sniffled and turned to kiss Brennan's stomach, then sat back up to hug Brennan.

"I'm fine, sweetheart," Brennan assured Christine, holding her tightly. "Your dad and Aunt Angela are going to take good care of me. Can you behave for Uncle Jack?"

"Yes."

"Good. I love you." She kissed Christine's cheek. "And when you come home, you'll get to hold your sister."

With that reminder, Christine smiled. "OK."

Booth stood and held Christine, walking toward the front door, where Angela had let Hodgins inside. "OK, big girl. Be good for Uncle Jack. He'll come bring you back here first thing when we have your sister."

Holding up her pinky finger close to his face, Christine gave her father a serious look.

"Right. Pinky swear." He linked his finger with hers and kissed both of them. "I love you."

Oh my goodness, y'all are amazing! The reviews from the last chapter blew me out of the water. (It made it hard to concentrate at work seeing my phone light up with email notifications, but it was so great to come home and read all the nice things y'all wrote.) Thank you so very much! Your reviews are incentive to keep writing and to post updates quickly.

I hate it took me this long to get this chapter up. So sorry! I've rewritten it three times now, and I'm still not entirely pleased. Hope this version is somewhat adequate — would love your thoughts. (And hey, I've already started on the next chapter. Good news: I finally named the baby — woohoo!)

Work is crazy most of this weekend, and we are due for some bad weather; therefore, I can't promise another update within 24 hours like last time, but hey, it could happen, especially since y'all are so great. :) Again, thanks for reading and reviewing.