Booth was the one to pick up Alex that day at school and Alex didn't mind at all. Just like her mother, she loved Booth. "Hi mini Bones!" Booth said as he opened the passenger door for her. Alex chuckled, "Hi Booth! You haven't picked me up in a while, I'm glad you did!" she said. Booth smiled and made sure she was buckled into her seat, "Booth, I got invited to a birthday party. You bring presents to these things right?" she asked. Booth thought the girl was joking and once he caught a glimpse of Alex's quizzical face he realized she was serious. He cleared his throat, "Yeah, you bring a present for the birthday kid." he answered her. Alex opened her mouth and uttered a simple, "aaaaah, yeah makes sense….Booth, what else do you do there? Are there games?" she asked. He started to think, like mother, like daughter. How is it possible that both Alex and Bones didn't have birthday parties growing up? He understood why Bones didn't, they didn't want to attract any attention to them as a family. Alex was only 10, she came from a family, a broken one. Booth came from a broken home as well and he even got birthday parties. He looked at her, attempting to hold in his emotions, and he said, "There are games, Alex. The birthday kid gets to do whatever they want. You'll see you're going to have a great birthday party too! Your birthday is coming up. I'm sure your mom is going to throw you a party!" he said. Alex's eyes lit up, "A birthday party?! For me! My birthday is so close to Christmas. That's why I never had a birthday party. Mo-, Marisa said it was too much." she corrected herself as soon as the word 'Mom' began to slip out of her lips. That word no longer belonged to Marisa Vargas, it belonged to Dr. Temperance Brennan. Booth grabbed Alex's hand and kissed the top of it, "Because it's so close to Christmas, your party will be even bigger! I'll make sure of that Princess," he let her hand go and continued to drive towards the office. Alex held onto Booth's words especially to the word 'princess' she not only felt loved by him but she felt respected and safe.
They arrived at the office and Alex ran into her mom's office, "Mommy!" and immediately hugged her. Brennan kissed the top of her head, "Hi baby, did you have a good day?" she asked. Alex nodded and took the invitation out of her pocket and showed her mom, "I got invited to a birthday party! By my friend Marisol, I'd like to go please!" she happily stated. Brennan took the invitation, "Of course you can!" Alex took the invitation from her mothers hands and went towards her little area in her mother's office, she was smiling. Booth looked at Temperance and she knew he wished to speak with her in private. She looked at Alex, "Honey, we'll be right back. Getting some coffee upstairs." Alex acknowledged her mother and smiled. Booth and Brennan began walking towards the lounge, "Alex, she's never had a birthday party before, Bones. She said because her birthday was too close to Christmas she wasn't allowed to have one..Bones, we have to throw her a birthday party. We have to." Booth immediately spat out. Brennan was overcome with emotion. Mixed emotions. She was sad her daughter was denied a birthday party because her day of birth was "inconveniently" close to Christmas. She was also fighting the urge to kiss her lover at her place of work. She pulled Booth into a blind spot and kissed him, not caring who was around. Booth was stunned and his eyes were peeled open, "Bones?!" he loudly whispered. Brennan emerged out of the blind spot and he stuck by her side. She looked into his eyes and said "I don't care Booth, I love you." she smiled softly. "Yes, we will throw our girl the best birthday party ever." she didnt care she said 'our girl' because that's who Alex was. He smiled proudly and nodded in agreement. "We still have to get the remaining items on our list for the adoption, it'll be in 24 hours. I truly can't believe it." she said. Booth chuckled, "It'll be here before you know it." he said.
Brennan and Alex were at home preparing for their special day. Alex tried on the dress her mom had bought for her specifically for her adoption. It was a simple light pink halter top dress with sparkles and she had white strap sandals that made her look taller. Alex liked that because she was always the smallest girl in her class. Brennan was also in her room, looking at her black dress hanging on her closet while touching her mother's old dolphin ring on her finger. She couldn't help but to miss her mother at that moment, because she wished she was able to have met her granddaughter. Ruth Brennan would have definitely loved her granddaughter and would have seen the distinctive similarities between her Tempe and Alex.
Brennan sighed and walked over to her dresser, opening a drawer and taking a look at the black velvet box containing Alex's gift. A knock on the door broke Temperance's trance, she closed her drawer, "Come on in honey," she softly said. She wrapped her arms around herself and smiled when she saw Alex appear. Alex also smiled and went in to hug her mom, she was about to speak and then nodded her head, "What is it, Alex?" Brennan said as she poked her sides. Alex chuckled, "Are..you… sure..you.. won't regret adopting me? What If you don't want me after all?" She looked afraid and serious. Brennan let out a tiny gasp and held Alex at arms length, "Alexandra Brennan…I have no regrets about anything. I am ridiculously sure about this adoption. You're my daughter. Now, Alex, who am I?" Brennan said with such conviction and Alex looked into her mothers piercing blue eyes. She looked down and Brennan lifted her chin up immediately, "Please look at me, honey. Who am I?" She asked again. Alex cleared her throat, "You're Dr. Temperance Brennan…" Brennan looked sad and was not expecting that response, Alex continued though, she was not done, "You're my mother." She smiled softly, her lip slightly quivering, she was attempting to keep her tears from escaping her fragile brown eyes. Brennan smiled and took a sigh of relief. She kissed Alex's forehead, "I was going to wait to give you this," she began to say as she walked towards her dresser, she picked up the black velvet box, "This is a gift from me. I hope it fits." She says as she hands her the box. Alex sits on Brennan's bed, opens the velvet box, it was a ring, a dolphin ring. Alex looked up at Brennan who already began to quietly sob. Alex put it on the same finger her mother had hers on. She raised her hand up to her face, "it's just like yours mommy," she said smiling. Brennan sat next to her and said, "My mother, your grandmother, gave me this ring. It's my prize possession, besides you. I wanted you to have one just like it, I wanted something special to share with you. Of course, our connection is special. But, I want you to look at your hand, any time you feel sad or lonely and remember that I am always here." Alex nodded and hugged Brennan tightly. "It's my last day as Alexandra Vargas." Alex whispered and smiled and so did Temperance.