Thanks for the reviews. I was going to update my new fic but I haven't had a lot of time the last few days and I had more of this one written. It is coming, though.
Chapter 29.
"I enrolled us in a birthing class," Brennan announced as soon as her breathing returned to normal.
It wasn't exactly the kind of statement a guy wanted to hear right after sex. "You weren't thinking about that the whole time, were you?" Booth asked her, turning his head to look at her. If she was then he really hadn't been doing his job very well.
"I'm sorry, I guess I'm just a little preoccupied," she told him and he could tell that she had; if not the whole time, then at least for a good portion of it. "We only have three months until the baby's due." She eyed him sidelong with a guilty expression. "You're not upset, are you?"
He sighed, wondering where the sex-crazed Bones of a few days ago went. While he knew that it had to happen eventually, he hadn't expected her to lose her libido quite so soon. "No, of course not," he assured her, pulling her into his arms. "You're pregnant. I get that." It wasn't just about him. Besides, as much as it thrilled him to finally be able to make love to her whenever he wanted, cuddling with her like this was pretty nice too.
"Good, because the first class is on Friday night," she told him, less certain as she added, "Since we are now in a committed relationship, and you've already expressed your desire to witness the birth, I assume that you would like to be my partner?"
"Always," he agreed, craning his neck to place a feather-light kiss on her lips. "Let's not talk about birthing classes any more now, though, okay? I just wanna enjoy this moment." While he couldn't wait to meet their daughter, he was determined to take her advice and make the most of what little time alone they had left before she arrived.
"Okay," she said, tucking her head under his chin and after that they didn't talk about much at all.
On Friday, Booth picked Brennan up from the Jeffersonian as usual and they stopped by the Founding Fathers for dinner before heading across town to the clinic where the class would be held.
"I've been researching my options and I would like to begin interviewing midwives," Brennan told him on the drive over.
"What's wrong with Dr. Edwards?" he asked her. She couldn't still be jealous of her obstetrician; not when she was the one sharing his bed every night.
"I'm sure she's very capable," she allowed, "but I doubt that she would be willing to oversee the birth at my apartment."
If there were two words that should not be in the same sentence, they were 'birth' and 'apartment'. "Back up just a second there, Bones. You're not seriously considering…?"
"Delivering our child at home?" she supplied.
"Yeah," he agreed. Then, realising that she might interpret this as him giving her his blessing, he added, "No! You are not having the baby at home. Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? What if something went wrong? You or the baby could die."
"It's not like I'm planning to squat alone in the woods, Booth," she protested. "The birth will be attended by a board-certified midwife. Besides, more foetal deaths occur as a result of hospital births than home births."
"This isn't a debate, Bones," he told her as gently as he could. As much as he would have liked to support her decision when she was the one who actually had to go through it, he couldn't take that chance with her life, or their daughter's. If they lost the baby over something as trivial as not having the right equipment, he knew that she would never forgive herself, and neither would he. "I don't care what kind of voodoo birth you have as long as it's in a hospital where there are plenty of doctors around."
Her expression darkened with annoyance but she seemed to understand that he wasn't going to budge on this matter. "Fine, but I want a natural birth," she insisted. "That means no drugs, no epidural, no episiotomy, no forceps… I want to do the whole thing myself."
"You know, Bones, you say that now." She had no idea how she was going to feel when that day finally came.
"You don't think I can?" she complained, seeming to take this as a personal challenge. "I happen to have a very high threshold for pain."
He almost smiled at her stubborn refusal to admit that she had limitations just like anyone else. "I didn't say you couldn't do it, Bones. I just think you might change your mind once you're in labour, that's all." He wanted the experience to be as easy on her as possible but as usual she was determined to do it the hard way.
"Women have been giving birth for thousands of years without the use of drugs or medical intervention, Booth," she assured him with the same unerring confidence. "There are plenty of other methods of pain relief that I can use – breathing exercises, visualisation, self-hypnosis…"
Self-hypnosis? Like that was going to work. "What if I need drugs?" he insisted. Surely she didn't want him to suffer?
"Then you take them."
"'Holistic Childbirth'?" Booth read the sign on the door sceptically. He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that.
"It's a form of natural childbirth," Brennan explained. "It combines complementary and alternative medicine with meditation to create a positive physical, mental and spiritual birthing experience. Practitioners believe that the way that we enter the world shapes us, ergo, the calmer the environment a child is born into, the calmer the child."
He wondered idly if she'd committed the entire brochure to memory in preparation for this conversation. It all sounded like a load of hooey to him. "Alternative medicine? Bones, I thought we discussed this?"
"We did," she agreed. "You said that I could have whatever kind of birth I want as long as it was in a hospital. This is how I would like to give birth."
Even as he said it, he knew that he would come to regret making that deal with her eventually. "You realise you might not even get a choice?" Despite her careful planning, the baby would come at whatever time and in whatever way she felt like.
"Dr. Edwards said that since the baby and I are both in good health, as long as she isn't breached and she doesn't go into distress I shouldn't need a caesarean," she reminded him, a hint of smugness in her tone.
He had run out of arguments by then, so he decided that he should probably just go with it. They had a deal, after all. He sighed. "So what do I have to do?"
Ten minutes into the class, Booth was even less convinced that this was the right place for them. He wasn't exactly sure what the instructor – whose name he discovered was 'Carly' – meant when she talked about the "sexuality of labour", but there was nothing about the process of watching his partner struggle through what would probably be the worst pain of her life that sounded even remotely sexy to him. If anything, he would be glad when it was over.
When Carly finished giving her opening spiel, she directed them to form a circle on the floor, "mommies in front and daddies behind".
"I don't have a child yet, therefore I am not a 'mommy'," Brennan complained under her breath as they wandered around the room with their mat, looking for a suitable spot. "You, however, are already a 'daddy', I suppose, although that word sounds ludicrous coming from the mouth of a forty-year-old woman."
"You have a kid growing inside you, Bones," he reminded her. "That makes you a mom. Now would you sit down?"
Once everyone was seated, Carly suggested that they go around the circle introducing themselves and their babies to the rest of the group.
"All of the other foetuses have names, Booth," Brennan whispered as their turn drew nearer. "Perhaps we should give ours one now?"
Trust her to freak out about not bringing her homework to class. "This isn't a pop quiz, Bones," he explained, suppressing a smirk. "She's not gonna give us an F because we haven't decided on a name for our baby yet."
"We haven't even discussed it," she insisted.
If she was this competitive now… He made a mental note never to let her sign their child up for a play group. "The baby's not due for three more months, Bones. We've got plenty of time to figure it out," he assured her, giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze.
He stopped talking when he realised that all eyes were on them. "Um, hi, I'm Seeley, and this here is, Bo—" He had to force himself to remember that her name wasn't actually 'Bones' "—Temperance."
"Our baby doesn't have a name," Brennan blurted out before anyone could ask them about it.
Scattered laughter erupted from the group. "That's okay," Carly told her. "Choosing a name takes time. So, would one of you like to tell us about yourselves? How long have you been married?"
"We aren't married," Brennan told her. She turned her head to mutter to Booth, "Why does everyone think that we have to be married to have a child? This is the twenty-first century."
"I'm sorry. Together, then?" Carly amended.
Booth was on the verge of answering with the same white lie that Brennan had the last time they were asked that question when she beat him to it.
"Tomorrow it will be two weeks."
He cringed inwardly. How was it that she could fib almost fluently at her reunion but not here in front of a bunch of people that they would probably never see again?
"That's a joke, right?" one of the other mothers – whose name Booth couldn't remember – asked.
Brennan shook her head, looking slightly bewildered.
"But you must be at least six months pregnant!" another mother said.
"Seven," Brennan corrected her. "Although I fail to see how that's relevant. Conceiving a child isn't contingent upon the parents being in a relationship."
"So, like, you guys had sex and you got pregnant and now you're dating?" a girl who looked like she couldn't be much older than twenty-one asked. "I mean, he is the father, right?"
"Of course I'm the father!" Booth snapped back, indignant on behalf of both himself and Brennan. "What kind of question is that?"
"It's true. I specifically requested the use of his sperm," Brennan supplied helpfully.
"Bones!" he hissed, mortified that she would bring that up here of all places. "Could we please not discuss my sperm in public?" It was bad enough when she said things like that in front of their family and friends but everyone here was a complete stranger.
"They asked!" she insisted, growing defensive. "Besides, they already know that your sperm had to be involved for you to be the father."
"Yeah, but you didn't have to tell them about the… you know." He didn't want them all thinking that he was sterile, and anyway, as far as he was concerned, the details of their child's conception were private. "Look, how the baby got here isn't important, all right? All that matters is that we're doing this together now."
He was sure that she would have continued arguing with him if Carly hadn't interrupted. "Clearly the two of you still have some issues that you need to resolve before you can create a harmonious birthing environment for your child. That's why I'm going to recommend that you see a therapist before returning to class."
"We're already seeing a therapist," Brennan told her.
"Then I suggest you stick with it."
Brennan turned back to Booth. "Did she just ask us to leave?"she whispered.
"I think she did," he agreed. Once he managed to get himself up off the floor, he slid his hands under her arms and hoisted her to her feet. "C'mon, Bones, let's get out of here. I'll take you out for ice cream instead."
