It was late on a Friday night and Brennan was wrapping up her report on a case from bone storage. It was relatively quiet in the Jeffersonian. Cam had come in a few moments ago to tell her to have a good weekend and that she'd see her Monday; Angela and Hodgins had left mid-day, since there was no current investigation, to spend the afternoon with Michael Vincent. And Wendell was still in bone storage finishing up on a set of remains she had assigned to him.

She looked at the clock on her computer screen, 7:00 PM. She absently rubbed her hand over her expanding abdomen as her stomach let out a low grumble. She was hungry.

She made her way to bone storage to check in on Wendell. He had been down here most of the day, coming upstairs only for the Journal Club that all the Jeffersonian interns were expected to attend. He was looking down at the table, hands behind his back examining the bones. He brought his hands forward, revealing a small notepad and pencil and scribbled something down. He replaced his hands behind his back and continued his observation. He looked up briefly, hearing footsteps and noticed Dr. Brennan walking toward him.

'Hey there Dr. Brennan. Are you headed out?'

'Yes, I'm going to meet Booth, but wanted to check on you before I left.'

Wendell smirked a little and relaxed his stance, bringing his hands to rest, clasped, in front of him. 'Thanks, I'm just wrapping up. I'll be gone soon.'

'Don't stay too late,' she said turning to go. 'Have a good weekend.'

'Thanks, you too,' He replied, looking down again at the skeleton on the table.

After leaving Wendell, she made her way back to her office to collect her things and leave for the weekend. But as she approached her office, she noticed someone sitting on her couch. She paused and took in the features, her eyes widening in surprise.

She had once called her friend, even though she had envied her. Regardless of her feelings, she had put them aside, for Booth, and shared information with her, intimate information with her. About Booth, about their partnership, about their friendship. She had told this woman to be sure, to not break Booth's heart, like she, Brennan, had done. This woman had gone and done it anyways. That was almost nine months ago. As Brennan looked on at this woman now, who was sitting there, sitting in her office, on her couch, she felt her anger rising. Who did woman think she was? Coming in here, unannounced, to what? To sit in her office, to talk with her. After she had left and never kept in contact. Brennan's limited information on friends told her that that wasn't how friends treated each other. Yes, she had done the same thing, however, she had limited resources to keep in contact at that time. And as far as she had known, Hannah had still possessed all the necessary equipment to keep in contact by phone, email, whatever. Brennan debated turning around and going back to bone storage, but at that precise moment, Hannah looked up, smiled, and waved at her.

Brennan smiled and continued walking, cautiously, toward her office, toward Hannah. She faltered again, for a moment. She was pregnant. Not just pregnant, but pregnant with Booth's child. She was five months pregnant to be exact, and the shirt she was wearing didn't really allow her to hide that fact. Brennan wasn't usually intimidated or made uncomfortable by these situations, but in this case, she felt like Booth should be there, that he should be the one to tell Hannah.

As she continued walking, feigning confidence, she pulled out her phone and sent him a quick text, 'Get to the lab ASAP.' She knew he'd probably think the worst, but in this scenario, she needed him here sooner rather than later.

Deep down, however irrational, she wanted to gloat, she wanted to show off Booth's virility, she wanted to stake her claim and show Hannah what she had missed. But part of her reasoned, if Hannah hadn't left Booth, they wouldn't be together, happily, forming their family.

When she finally entered her office, she looked at Hannah, glancing over the other woman's features and smiled slightly.

'Hello, Hannah,' she said as she took her seat behind her desk, not wanting to get too close to the other woman, 'Booth is on his way over.' After a brief pause, she added, 'I'm not sure why you came to see me.'

'Hello, Temperance,' Hannah replied smiling back at her. 'I was back in D.C. and needed some information about Seeley. I thought, who better than his partner to tell me what I want to know.' She laughed a little. 'You guys were always so close, so I just figured that you would know how he is, and if he's seeing anyone.'

Brennan's smile faltered a little, she hated that this woman, who claimed to be her friend, used names that both she and Booth hated.

'I'm not sure I can help you,' Brennan replied. 'You left him, you broke his heart. You did exactly what I asked you not to do. Before I was your friend, I was his. And quite honestly, what is going on in his life is his private information and told to me in confidence. It's his information to share with you, not mine. If you want to talk with him, he'll be here soon, as I said. I'm not sure you'll find what you expected.'

'What do you mean,' she questioned, brow furrowing. 'He's seeing someone?'

'That's not my information to give out,' Brennan replied, leaning back in her chair, folding her arms across her chest, brow furrowing. She wasn't about to tell her anything without Booth present.

'Come on,' Hannah whined, 'I'm desperate for some information here. The way I left things were open ended.' Hannah continued when she saw Brennan arch an eyebrow, 'I mean, yes, we agreed to part ways, but I told him, I don't think this is the end of us.'

"Booth asked you to marry him. You said no. That sounds open and closed to me.'

Hannah leaned forward placing her elbows on her knees and lowering her head. 'When I left, I told Seeley that I didn't think we were done, that we'd be able to pick up where we left off. What we had was so good, and every day since I've left, I've only thought of him. I miss him, and I feel like I messed up something that could've been wonderful. Do you think he'd be willing to try again? Does he talk about me at all? Does he miss me like I miss him?' She trailed off, looking up slowly and gave Brennan a half smile. Brennan had relaxed her stance as she listened to this woman talk. She knew that feeling, she had been living that feeling since she'd gotten back from her sabbatical and Booth had told her about Hannah. But now, the tables were turned, Brennan was living the life Hannah could've had. Her hands were relaxed in her lap, her thumb lightly rubbing her expanding abdomen, and she smiled back, before looking down.

'BONES,' Booth yelled running into the lab, looking frantic, startling both the woman, making them look in his direction.

Brennan stood up then. She walked toward him as he came running toward her. He grabbed her shoulders when they were close enough and held her at armlength, eyes looking her over worried. She could see his panic and felt guilty for making him this way, but she also smirked at his protective side.

'Bones, are you alright, the baby?' He whispered looking down between them, taking one hand from her shoulder to place it on her stomach.

'I'm fine, Booth, I-' she was cut off by him enveloping her in a tight hug, breathing a sigh of relief.

He was ready to ask why she'd sent the text when he noticed another figure walking toward them.

'Hannah,' he said, a frown appearing. He slowly released Bones and grabbed her hand in his and gave it a squeeze, while his other hand went to his pocket to fiddle with his poker chip. He released her hand after another squeeze and stepped forward one step.

'Seeley,' she responded, a big smile appearing on her face, stopping a few feet from where he and Bones stood. 'I've missed you.' She made a move to move closer to give him a hug, but he shook his head.

'Don't.' It was firm and cold, his features hard as he stared at her. 'What do you want?'

'I- I, I wanted to see you again. But I wanted to make sure you weren't seeing anyone, so I came to see my old girlfriend first, since she knows you best.' Her smile faltered when his features hadn't changed.

He knew then why Bones had texted him. He turned back to look at her, a smile on his face. She responded with a quick smile of her own as she took one more step to be close to him.

He turned back to Hannah then. 'I've moved on, Hannah, I found my person, and I was stupid and selfish to not wait for her in the first place. I hurt her while I was with you, but' he looked back at Bones, who was standing at his side, before turning back to Hannah, 'I'm going to spend all of my days telling her I love her, and that it's always been her.' He paused and took a calming breath before continuing. 'I'm with Bones. We are happy. We are family, and I have you to thank for turning me down and waking me up to the happiness that was right in front of me.'

At his words, Bones wiped a stray tear from her cheek before resting her hand on her stomach.

It was then that Hannah realized. 'You're pregnant?' Her attitude changed then, turning her eyes to look at Brennan. She was angry. She crossed her arms across her chest. 'I can't believe this. I've been gone just over eight months and you two just dove right in. Was my spot in our bed even cold before you invited her to get in,' she asked her eyes turning back to Booth.

Booth's expression flashed fury, but Brennan reached out her hand and placed it on his shoulder, and he relaxed. She answered instead, 'One thing you should never question is Booth being a good man, an honorable man. He waited, we waited. May I remind you that you left. You chose to say no. You weren't and still aren't together, he is not yours to claim or hold onto until you feel like you may want him back. If you knew you would change your mind or if you truly felt like it wasn't over between you two, you shouldn't have left. However, this,' she said pointing to her stomach, 'was not planned, was not expected. We hadn't even discussed the possibility of 'us' further, but grief, immense grief causes a rush of chemicals within the brain that lead to actions that can't be taken back. These actions propelled us into a life together quicker than expected. You may feel hurt, but you walked away, and left me, his partner, his friend, his best friend here with him, to pick up the pieces.' She sighed, taking a breath. Booth's hand went to the small of her back as he stepped beside her.

Hannah had tears falling from her eyes, her face flush, eyes swollen. She reached one of her hands up to wipe furiously at her cheeks. 'You're right,' she said simply. She had no argument, there was no way to defend her actions. She had left then, and she was leaving now. She turned then, back toward Brennan's office to collect her things from the couch.

As she walked back out to leave the lab, she saw them. They had moved to stand near the forensic platform, Brennan sandwiched between it and Booth. He stood in front of her smiling, both his hands resting on her stomach as he spoke something quietly to her and she smirked back at him with a small laugh. Hannah couldn't bring herself to look away just yet, and so she watched as he took one of his hands and cupped her cheek, leaning in close until their lips were inches away from each other, both beaming at each other, the only two people in this world. She turned then and walked out of the lab and out of his life for good.

After Hannah had turned away from them to go back to Brennan's office to grab her things, Booth moved his hand from Bones' back and took her hand. As he led her over to the forensic platform, he looked at her and said, 'Thanks, Bones. Thank you for everything.' She turned and smiled at him, and he took that opportunity to sandwich her between himself and the platform. His hands came to rest on either side of her abdomen, his eyes gazing at her with love. She smiled back at him, placing her hands on his arms. 'I'm the luckiest guy alive,' he finally said, leaning in closer, inches from her lips.

She cocked her head sideways and smirked, 'Although I don't believe in luck, this all does feel great. I'm glad we're partners.'

'Me too, Bones, me too.' He closed the gap between them and kissed her. He was about to deepen the kiss when her stomach let out a loud grumble and they both pulled apart and laughed.

'I suppose we should go eat,' Booth said stepping away from her.

She pushed herself away from the platform, 'I agree.'

They walked to her office, and she grabbed her things. Arm in arm they walked out of the lab and into the warm night.