('The Change in the Game')

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While Booth was talking to Max about their murder victim Jeff Fowler and Jeff's bowling team, he realized that he might have found a way to cheer up Brennan. She had been sad ever since her intern had been murdered and as far as Booth could tell she was still mourning Vincent's death. It worried him and he wanted to get her out of her funk if possible and what better way to do that than to go undercover. He knew that his partner enjoyed the make believe lives they lived when they went undercover and he hoped that would move her past Vincent's untimely death.

"I love to go undercover, Booth." Brennan had stopped at a wig store and had bought a curly, dark brown wig. She had seen a movie once, where one of the characters had worn such a hair style and Brennan thought she could play that character while under cover. The last time she had played Wanda she had worn her hair straight and tied in a bun, this time she wanted to portray a more down to earth character, not a carnival worker. "It seems to fit in with how I want to play Wanda, Booth. An average working woman, someone a little low on the social strata, but confident in who she is . . . do you like it?"

Amused, Booth had asked her to model the wig and decided she was on to something. "Kind of retro . . . I like it. Maybe, Buck should be retro too." Fingering her wig, Booth liked the curls. "It reminds me of a girl I dated in high school. She had curly hair too. Her hair was black, but still . . . you look hot Wanda, very hot." He'd changed his speaking style to a hard Philly accent and leered at his partner. "Sizzling."

"Well, sizzling was what I was after." Laughing, Brennan slowly turned so that Booth could see the full effect. "I bought a blouse and slacks that I think will complete the image I'm looking for."

"I see I'm going to have to go the thrift store and find something to make me look hot too." Booth grinned and gave her his charm smile. "You can't be the only hot thing in the bowling alley."

Laughing, Brennan moved closer toward her partner and pulled him into a kiss. Forgetting for the moment that they were supposed to be planning what they were going to do at the bowling alley in a few hours to look for a murderer, Booth pulled Brennan down on the bed with him and decided an hour of fun time wouldn't hurt anything. "I love you, Bones."

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Max found it amusing that his daughter and Booth had come up with a new look for their undercover role and decided that they would fit in pretty well. Working class people who liked bowling. The couple reminded him of people he had met in his life unwilling to let go of their youth, no matter how old they were. "Okay, just don't embarrass me. I bowl with these people and some of them are my friends."

Unconcerned, Booth glanced around the bowling alley and knew that they would do their job and if that made Max uncomfortable then too bad. They found the team they were subbing on, introduced themselves and got ready to bowl. Booth was a good bowler and owned his own ball, but not his own shoes. He had worn out the last pair he'd had and hadn't replaced them. It never seemed like he had extra time to bowl anymore so why buy shoes when he could rent them? Brennan wasn't thrilled about renting bowling shoes, but she did it because she knew that Wanda wouldn't care. She knew how to play her part.

While Booth bowled, Brennan observed the other players surrounding them. She asked questions and tried to not to be obvious why she was asking about Jeff Fowler. The man had been a great bowler and some of the ladies on the league had had an affair with him, but after talking to several bowlers on Booth's team as well as the competition, she soon found out that Jeff was disliked by most of the people in the league. Jeff had been a cruel practical joker, a harsh critic of those that didn't bowl well and few of the people in the bowling alley cared if Jeff was dead or alive. It was apparent he would not be missed.

One of the bowlers had summed up Jeff's life and Booth sensed the man was correct. Jeff had been a big fish in a dinky little pond. In other words, Jeff was influential within the limited scope of the group he was in. A man who was probably insignificant in the bigger world around him and most of the people that knew him were aware of that fact even if Jeff wasn't.

It only took a few hours for them to discover that a bowling alley employee, the shoe guy had killed Jeff. The victim had been obnoxious and his personal hygiene habits had driven the shoe guy to hit him with his motorcycle helmet. He hadn't realized that he had hit Jeff that hard, but once he had found that he had a body on his hands, he panicked and dumped the body in one of the pinsetters. The bowling alley was down for maintenance and restoration at the time and he had hoped the body might be eaten by rats and mice before it was discovered. Of course, the body had been discovered with enough tissue and bones to make identification possible and it had gone downhill from there for the shoe guy.

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"The child that was on your bowling team . . . Amber? I meant what I said when I told you if we ever have a child, she will not turn out like her." Brennan and Booth were walking down the street to an all night diner for a cup of coffee. They needed to go to the hospital since Angela was having her baby, but Booth wanted the coffee and Brennan had agreed that they probably had time. "That child is obnoxious and one of the most self-centered children I have ever met."

His hand clasping Brennan's hand, Booth listened to his partner and wondered why she was so upset about someone they were never going to see again. "That's never ever going to happen, Bones. Never."

Brennan stopped and pulled Booth to a stop with her. "I . . . I want to tell you something, but I'm not sure how you will react. That makes me nervous Booth."

Curious, Booth turned to face Brennan. "You never have to be nervous with me, Bones. You know you can always be honest and tell me anything."

Her bottom lip captured between her teeth, Brennan knew that she needed to talk to Booth, but she didn't know if this was the right time. "Angela is having a baby."

"Yeah, I know. We need to go get that coffee and head out to the hospital if we want to be there when the baby is born." Booth stared at his partner and saw the look of uncertainty on her face. "Come on Bones. You can count on me. Just say what you want to say."

"I'm pregnant." She hadn't meant to blurt out those words that way, but she had and she couldn't take them back. "I found out this morning. My gynecologist called me with the news right after you called me and told me we had a case."

Shocked, Booth was speechless for a few moments while her words whirled around in his head. "I . . . Bones." He pulled her into his embrace and kissed her.

Their kiss was tender and Brennan knew that she should have told her lover sooner. "Are you happy?" She hoped she was reading Booth correctly. She hoped he wanted the child.

"Happy? Are you kidding me?" Booth's grin was so wide, his face was hurting. "I'm beyond happy. What's better than happy? Ecstatic? Joyful? Excited? Bones, this is great. I mean, we take precautions . . . well, most of the time. Okay, we forget sometimes and . . . wow, you're pregnant. Is it a boy or a girl?"

Amused, Brennan shook her head. "I don't know. It's too soon to tell."

"Oh yeah I guess I know that . . . it's just, Wow, this is great, Bones." Booth hugged his lover and knew that this was one of the best days of his life. He didn't have a lot of those, but he remembered them all, when Parker was born, the first time he had made love to Brennan and now she was pregnant. "Are you happy?" As far as he could tell, Brennan was happy, but also nervous. "I'll help whenever I can. You can count on me Bones. You know you can."

"I know, Booth." Relieved that this was going better than she had hoped for, she was startled when her phone rang. After she had a quick conversation with Hodgins, she placed her phone back in her jacket pocket. "We need to go to the hospital. Hodgins thinks Angela will be delivering her baby very soon."

Moving back down the sidewalk towards his SUV, Booth grabbed Brennan's hand and tried to contain his excitement. "This changes a lot of things, Bones. We're going to have to convert the guest bedroom into a baby's room. We got time . . . we can do all the work . . . I'm going to have to let Parker know . . . and Pops."

"Booth." Brennan squeezed Booth's hand but didn't stop walking. "I don't want to tell anyone until my second trimester. Maybe week fourteen. I want to make sure the fetus is viable before we tell anyone. Alright?"

"Yeah, sure." Feeling a slight shiver run down his back, Booth cleared his throat. "Our baby is fine, Bones, but yeah, we can wait." God don't take my baby from us. Please don't do that. Bones needs this. This will help her get over Vincent's death.

She had heard the hesitation in Booth's voice. "Just in case, Booth. Just in case."

"Sure, I get it." Booth spotted his truck, used his remote to unlock the doors then turned to look at Brennan. "We can paint the baby's room a neutral color like yellow. That way we don't have to wait until we find out if it's a boy or a girl. Pops is going to love being a great grandfather again." He held her hand while they crossed the street. Once they were next to the truck, Booth kissed her again. "I'm the happiest guy around, Bones. You've made me very happy."

"I'm glad, Booth." Brennan smiled. "I'm happy too."

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