Friday, December 28th- 6:30pm
Antonia was sitting half upright mindlessly staring at the television screen as Aiden lay beside her, his head buried in her arm as he slept. His parents and Fiona had left not long after Booth had left, and once they were alone, his exhaustion finally started to catch up with him. She shifted slightly, and his head lifted, his green eyes glassy with sleepiness, the dark rings under his eyes showing how tired he really was.
"Are you sure you're not the one that gave birth?" She asked, a sweet smile on her lips as he scowled at her, though there was a bit of a twinkle in his eye that she smiled brighter at. "You're so cute when you look like crap."
He groaned and turned, burying his head in her arm again, he hit a ticklish spot and she let out a squeak. "Ow!" She laughed as she shifted too much and it pulled on her stitches. "I want to get up." She mumbled, pushing at him slightly.
"Where do you want to go?" He asked into her arm, he lifted his head again and she ran her fingers through his messy head of hair.
"I want to go to the bathroom." She said, feeling him start to pull away, she grabbed his arm, staring into his eyes sharply when he turned to look at her. "Then I want to get dressed, get my baby dressed, and get the hell out of this place." She said clearly.
"You have to stay until tomorrow." He said, glancing to the bassinet. "He has to stay until at least tomorrow."
She groaned and pushed at him. "You're not my favorite anymore." She whined. "It's so boring here. Max wants to go home too. Hey Max. If you want to go home, just keep sleeping…" She called toward the bassinet. "See? He wants to go home too." She sighed.
"Alright." Aiden said, watching her hopeful eyes clash with his. "No, I mean… Alright, let's get you to the bathroom." He shook his head as she scowled at him. "I need you to get better, Tex." He said sincerely, watching her scowl fade. "I need things to start to get better very soon." He said, watching her nod in agreement. He smiled at her and helped her get up from the bed, rolling the IV pole to her grasp, he watched her adjust her bathrobe and he let her shuffle on her own toward the bathroom in her room.
Aiden moved toward the bassinet. Watching Max for several moments as the baby slept peacefully. There was a gentle knock at the door and the nurse peeked in to check on them. "How is she doing?" She whispered.
"She's doing well. She really wants to go home." He said with a smile. "Would you mind taking him back to the nursery for a little bit? He just ate a half hour ago, and I was hoping to take Antonia for a little walk, get her out of the room for a little while." He said softly, watching the nurse nod as she came into the room. "Thank you." He said. The nurse smiled and carefully pulled the bassinet from the room.
Aiden waited by the bed, leaning on it slightly as he waited for her to come out. After a couple of minutes, the door opened, and she shuffled out, pulling her IV pole along with her. She looked up at him and glanced to the side. "Where's Max?"
"I had them take him to the nursery for a little bit. I'd like to take a little walk with you, get you out of this room." He said, watching her eyes light up slightly.
"You're coming back into favor." She said with a grin, moving toward him, he gently leaned down and dropped a kiss on her lips. His fingers danced across her cheek, and he kissed her tenderly.
"Let's get out of here before Max realizes he's hungry again." He said with a smile, taking her arm in his, he gently walked her toward the waiting wheelchair in the corner. He eased her into the chair and switched her IV bag to the wheelchair, as he grabbed a small blanket from the bed and draped it on her lap. Once she was cozy in the chair, he caught her eyes as she watched him curiously. "What?" He asked, smiling slightly at her expression.
"You're being so sweet to me." She said softly. "Not that I expected anything less." She said quickly before he responded. "I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate it."
"I just want to show you that I appreciate you." He said with a smile. "You are the calm in my storm."
"You're the cheese in my sandwich." She winked at him, and when he laughed, she grinned at him. "I love you, Aiden." She said, reaching for his hand, he crouched down and took her hand in his. "I would be alone if you hadn't come along. I don't think that you have any idea how much that means to me."
"I'd be alone too, Tex. I'm glad we're here for each other. I'm happy that we're trying. I'm happy that I'm with you. I never want you to feel alone again." He whispered. I love you." He said, bringing her hand to his lips, he kissed it gently. "Let's get out of here." He said, squeezing her hand before he moved to the back of the wheelchair, leaned down and kissed her cheek, and then rolled her slowly out of the room.
Once Melody calmed down a bit, she helped Ace pick up the chess board and pieces, and put them back in the box. Ace handed her the box, and she moved toward the game cupboard to place it back where it belonged. Ace stood up and stretched a little, glancing to his watch. "So are you going to tell us what you two talked about?" Booth asked, watching his friend shake his head and let out a slight laugh.
"She's just trying to figure a few things out." Ace said, watching as the little girl came back in his direction and tugged at his hand. He sat down and placing Bonnie and Deuce in his lap, she crawled into his lap and settled against him. "I told her why Doctor Sweets was here." He said, shrugging slightly, smiling when she looked up at him.
The front door opened, bringing everyone's attention to JV as he came in, his hand in Grace's as he whispered at her. He seemed a little surprised to see everyone sitting in the living room, but smiled. "Hey." He said, tugging Grace inside.
Grace walked in and gave what seemed like a fake smile, and it was clear to Booth that something was bothering her. "Gracie." Booth said, and his daughter's eyes caught his.
"Hey, Dad." She said, her tone was soft and it was clear that she wasn't incredibly happy to be there.
Ace looked over his shoulder, and he also noticed the somber look on her face as she entered. "Gracie." Ace said with a smile, Melody looked over toward them and signed her greeting.
"Hey guys." She said, handing her coat to Jack, she walked toward the couch. "Hi, Mr. Sweets." She said politely, reaching out her hand to him, he smiled at her.
"You can call me Lance." Sweets said with a happy smile as he also shook Jack's hand.
"Where is Mom? I need to talk to her." Grace asked, noting her father's nod toward the kitchen, she excused herself and moved toward the next room.
As soon as she disappeared into the kitchen, Booth turned to Jack. "What's going on with her?" He asked.
"Apparently…" JV said as he sat on the arm of the chair that Ace was sitting in. "She got into a pretty nasty argument with Aiden this morning."
"Aiden?" Booth said, "I just saw him a little over an hour ago, he didn't mention anything about Grace."
"I think she's either embarrassed, or seriously mad at him. She won't go into detail." He said softly. "There was a welfare call for their house this morning. I guess he left the door unlatched or something, and the door blew open. She went in to check on him, and according to her, he had been plastered or something and was lying half dead on the ground when she came in." JV shrugged.
"Is that normal behavior for Aiden?" Sweets asked, glancing to Booth.
"He wasn't drunk, he was exhausted…" Booth defended. "He was here before he went home, and it was pretty clear that he was running on fumes. Did she even ask him what happened?" Booth said, not mentioning the bandaged hand and the cut to the forehead that Aiden was brandishing.
"Uh, you know Gracie. Shoot first, ask questions later." JV replied. "Apparently his hand was messed up, and he had a cut on his head, and he was sleeping on the floor or something." JV shrugged. "Who knows what happened, maybe he got his fingers stuck in the car door or something and fell off the couch. She was talking so fast when she explained it, and was really fired up, so I didn't even catch half of what she was saying. Apparently, he kicked her out of the house though. From the sound of it, he was pretty messed up."
"Aiden doesn't drink." Ace said, looking directly at Sweets. "He may burn the candle at both ends, but he doesn't drink."
"Well, I don't know. She's been in a mood since her shift ended, and she really didn't feel like coming over. She'll calm down." JV said, looking up as the doorbell rang. "I'll get it." JV stepped toward the door and opened it to two knee height sets of arms that latched onto his legs. "Ah! I've been attacked!" JV exclaimed laughing as he tumbled backwards playfully as the two boys giggled, sending JV to the floor as Parker walked in with his mother right behind.
"Okay, okay." Parker said with an exhausted sigh, pulling at the coats of the boys, he attempted to wrangle them as Rebecca walked past him into the house. She pulled her coat off and put it on the hook by the door as Booth and Sweets stood to greet their guests.
"Rebecca." Booth said, giving her a quick hug as Ace set Melody to her feet and greeted his wife with a smile and a wave from his chair. "You know Rebecca, right Sweets?" Booth asked.
"Yes, we've met." Sweets said politely as he watched the boys continue to attack JV as he rolled around on the floor. Parker shook Sweets' hand and continued to try to calm his sons.
Rebecca moved to Ace, where she leaned down and dropped a kiss on his cheek, then looked to Booth. "I brought some preemie clothes for the baby." she said, handing over a small shopping bag to him. "Chris said how little he was, and I figured he'd need to grow into some of his newborn outfits since he came early." Rebecca smiled.
"Thanks, Bec." Booth said with a smile. "Antonia will really appreciate this."
She then handed an envelope to Ace and watched him smile. "And I picked up the photos at the drug store on the way over."
"Aw, thanks." He grinned, sitting back in the chair, he pulled the pictures out as Rebecca settled on the arm of the chair and looked over his shoulder, her hand lightly rubbing his neck as he went through the photos. "I had some of the pictures of the baby printed." He said, handing over a couple to Booth as he and Sweets sat back down. He watched Melody watching him closely, her eyes focused on Rebecca and back at him. "Melody." He signed, watching her eyes move to him curiously, her eyebrows lifted as he reached out and showed her a photo in his hands, her eyes lit up as she looked at it.
"That's my baby brother!" She signed emphatically. The photo was the one that Ace had taken the day before. Aiden was holding Max to him, as Melody excitedly met him for the first time. Her eyes were wide with happiness as she stared at the photo, tears springing to her eyes. "My family." She signed to Ace.
"That's right." He signed back. "That's your happiness right there." He said.
She took the photo from his hands very carefully, and moved toward Sweets. She set the photo on his lap as he looked at it, and then back to Melody. She signed something to him, and his eyes moved to Ace, who smiled brightly.
"She told you that is her baby brother, and that is her daddy." Ace said. "They are her family."
Melody turned and smiled at Ace, a slight giggle on her lips as she asked him if she could show Nana. "Go ahead. It's your picture." He said, watching her smile become even brighter as she took off running toward the kitchen.
"Kid whisperer…" Rebecca whispered to Ace, who grinned at her, leaning his head into her as they all looked at the photos together.