Chapter 38 Grin
Booth swiped his card and bounded up the few stairs to the lab platform where Brennan normally held court over pristine skeletons laid out in exactly prescribed patterns upon gleaming steel tables. Today, however, she was notably absent, occupied elsewhere with matters equally as important as gleaning clues from her silent subjects. Angela and Hodgins greeted him with yawns. They already knew why Booth's face wore the widest grin in history, the same reason why they were sleepily facing their work day at the lab.
Wendell and Clark Edison were bent over the tables, scrutinizing the bones of a new crime victim. They looked up as Booth handed them each a cigar and a large peppermint stick. Jessica Warren, entering data at a nearby terminal, received a peppermint stick and a carnation. The three interns stared at Booth quizzically.
"What gives, man?" asked Clark.
Booth grinned even more broadly. "Bones had her baby last night!"
"Hey, congratulations, man!" Wendell exclaimed, pulling off his glove to shake Booth's hand.
"I thought she had two and a half weeks to go," Jessica remarked.
"Well, the little guy just decided he'd waited long enough. He was ready to join the world, and he wasn't letting anybody hold him up, I guess," Booth told them happily. "Bones felt a few twinges on our way home last evening, the contractions got more intense really fast, and bingo, baby—a baby!"
"I didn't hardly have time to fuss at her for not going to the hospital. Good thing we had extra tarps from that Habitat for Humanity remodeling job last weekend. I grabbed one from the SUV, spread it on the bed, pulled a bunch of sheets and stuff from the linen closet, and barely spread them before Bones was wanting to push. Hank wasn't slowing down for anybody, not even his mother!"
"So you named him after your grandfather?"
"Henry Joseph Maxwell Booth; long name but we didn't want to leave out Bones' dad," Booth explained exuberantly. "Not sure if there'll be any more after this. Parker is gonna be thrilled."