Booth's Pov
As I walked into Angela's office with Bones I saw her standing in front of the new and improved Angelatron, the control screen in her hands.
"Angela, you said you got an I.D on the victim" I stated as I went over to her and she nodded, hitting the screen in her hands. A picture of a blonde woman came up on the screen.
"Her name is Maria Hudson, age twenty three. Her boyfriend, Kellan James reported her missing four days ago" Angela explained and I nodded.
"Okay, then I better find the victims parents and tell them their daughter has been murdered" I said, but Bones stopped me from leaving.
"Actually Booth, Angela wants to talk to you about Christine" Bones said and I stared at Angela, who had her hands on her hips.
"You know I get it already. I'm too overprotective of her and I need to cut it out" I said. Whenever they weren't talking to me about the case, they were talking to me about how I was too overprotective of my daughter.
"Booth, I want to show you something" Angela said and she tapped her pad again. Instantly a recoding came on of Christine and I running around the back yard together. She was only seven and she had a football in her arms.
"Catch daddy" She cried and she threw it at me. I caught it easily and smiled at her.
"Good throw sweetheart, who taught you that?" I said and she smiled.
"You did daddy" She replied and I smiled at the screen. She was such a sweet and innocent kid back then. Angela stopped it there and turned to look at me.
"Booth, Christine isn't this little girl anymore." Angela said and I turned to look at her. Her face was kind, but she also had that look that meant I needed to shut up and listen to her. She hadn't changed a bit. "Look, I know she means the world to you, but she's a teenager now. She's going to sneak out, go to parties and get drunk. She is going to continue to skip school when she wants to and she is going to end up getting a boyfriend" Angela said.
"Don't you think I know all that?" I said and she smiled.
"I know you do, but Booth the problem about being a parent is that we're afraid our kids are going to do the things we did in high school. I have to admit I'm afraid of what Michael will do, but the point is they aren't us. They won't make our mistakes, they'll make their own and that's how'll they'll learn" Angela explained and I knew she was right. Still, I never wanted to think of Christine doing the things I had in high school. That thought made me want to be sick. It was then Bones took my hand and I looked down at her.
"Booth, what Angela says is correct. Christine needs to make her own mistakes so she can evolve and grow. As a mother I don't want her to make mistakes because they may hurt her, but as an anthropologist I know making mistakes is an essential part of evolution" Bones said and I knew I was fighting a losing battle. I couldn't win against these two, especially when they double teamed me.
"So what your basically saying is that I need to just let her be free" I said and Angela smiled.
"Booth, she has your strength and free heart, while she also has Brennan's logic and sense of reality. It's the same for Michael. He has my free spirit and Hodgins logic. But despite all that they are still their own people and they are still teenagers. That will not change for a few years to come" Angela explained.
"I get it Angela" I said and I did. I was being stupid. I had protected Parker, but I hadn't over done it like I had been with Christine. I realized now that I had to let her just be a teenager, while still being her father.
"Good, now you better go inform this poor girls parents that their daughter is dead" She said and I nodded, then I looked down at Bones.
"Let's go Bones" I said and she nodded.
Christine's Pov
As Michael and I drove toward the Jeffersonian, I was immensely grateful he had ended up getting a very old Ute, which he spent a lot of time fixing up with his dad. My bike was strapped up in the back of the Ute and we were singing along to one of the songs on the radio. Funnily enough both Michael and I had really good singing voices, though we hadn't told our parents because we planned on surprising them one day soon. Also we had only realized about two months ago.
When the song ended Michael turned down the radio and turned to smile at me.
"So how's the butt?" He asked and I punched him in the arm, hard. He just had to be an arse about the fact that I had been knocked down when the girls had been playing volleyball, while he had been playing basketball like a pro. I had only fallen because the girl who had fallen into me wasn't very balanced.
"Fine smartass" I said and he smirked.
"I'm incredibly smart, but it has nothing to do with my ass" He said and I rolled my eyes at him.
"So, how pissed are you that the guys still think we should be dating?" Michael asked and I froze in my seat.
"I'm more annoyed then pissed. I'm not exactly annoyed that they think we should be dating, but I am annoyed that they went behind our backs and made a bet about how long it would take us to kiss" I explained.
"Still, it's kinda creepy. I mean they've all got bets on us, but I guess it serves them right. They've all basically lost it" Michael said and I shook my head.
"Technically no. Ford bet that we'd kiss by the end of the school year. I wonder what they actually bet though" I said and I really was trying to think.
"Who cares?! If we happened to end up kissing, we wouldn't be doing it in front of them" He said and I turned to stare at him, my expression amused. He looked sideways at me and his expression instantly became embarrassed. "I'm not saying we're going to, I just meant…"
"I know what you meant Michael, I just wanted to see you blush" I smirked and he frowned. Still, I can't admit kissing him sounded bad. Damn it, the girls were getting to me. I mean I actually did like Michael, but they were forcing me to think about it.
"You're a cruel friend sometimes, you know that right?!" He said and I nodded.
"Of course I know that. So, what are you planning on doing for your art assignment" I asked and Michael smiled. Our assignment was to do a piece of artwork that was about our favorite animal.
"I'm going to do a…" He started, but since I knew him so well I was able to finish for him.
"Tiger" I said and he smiled at me.
"So what are you going to do? A dolphin or your dog Gretzky" Michael asked and I shrugged.
"I think it will be Gretzky, since he is my dog" I said and he nodded as he pulled into the Jeffersonian parking area. He stopped at the gate and the unwound his window as the guard came over.
"Oh hi kids, go right in" Barry the guard said and I smiled.
"Thanks Barry" I smiled as he opened the gate and he nodded as we drove in. None of the guards asked for our entry passes anymore, though that's because they knew both of us by heart. I mean we had basically grown up around here.
We drove through the car park and parked. We both grabbed our bags and made our way toward the front door. Normally Michael would have to pick up Katherine, but she was going to a friend's house tonight so he didn't have to. We showed our I.D cards to the guards as we entered the lab and after we passed the bone room we saw Angela, Cam and Hodgins standing the Autopsy room.
"Hey mom, hey dad" Michael called as we went over to them and they smiled at us, as well as Cam. I turned to look up at the forensic platform and saw Arastoo working over the new victim.
"Hey Arastoo" I called and he looked up at me, then he smiled and waved.
"How was school today?" Angela asked and Michael and I shared a look.
"It was interesting, that's for sure" I said and she smiled.
"Ah, what exactly happened?" She asked and Michael rubbed his neck.
"It seems our friends are just as bad as dad with the bets. Apparently they think Christine and I like each other and have bet how long it will take us to kiss" He said and all their faces became shocked, while I just blushed a deep red. He was evil for telling him that.
"I see" Angela said and she was looking between Michael and I.
"Um I'm going to my mom's office to study" I said and I quickly took off. I still had plans to kick Michael's ass for telling her that tomorrow, but for now I needed to get away from Angela's gaze. Angela had a thing for seeing things other people didn't.
I reached my mom's office and sat down on her couch, then I placed my backpack down. I opened it up and placed it on the table. I opened it up and then I just waited for it to load.
Michael's Pov
As Christine went to her mother's office I knew she was going to kill me in a few minutes, but oh well. I headed to the forensic platform with my parents and just watched.
Truth is I hadn't been so shocked that my friends had actually made the bet. Christine didn't know that I actually did have feelings for her, but Darius and Ford did. I had threatened to kill them though if they ever told her, so they hadn't told her. They knew I knew a lot about forensics, so they weren't willing to take the chance. I wasn't really going to hurt them, but I had known Christine for forever and I didn't want them telling.
It was because I knew Christine so well that I knew she was pissed as she stormed out of her mother's office, her eyes pinned on my face.
"What's wrong with Christine?" Cam asked as she noticed her face and I chuckled, causing them all to look at me.
"I think I know" I said with a smile.
Christine's Pov
As I typed in my password on my computer and hit enter I was confused when it said it was wrong. I typed my password again, which was Sunset since it was my favorite time of day, but still it said it was wrong. What the hell was going on with this thing. That's when it clicked. That little basted!
"Oh he is dead" I said and I slammed the screen shut, then I stormed out of my mom's office and glared at Michael. I saw Cam asked something and he smiled as he said something.
"MICHAEL VINCENT STACCOT HODGINS, I AM GOING TO BLOODY MURDER YOU" I yelled at him, which caused everyone to stare at me as I started toward the back of the platform. He started to back towards the stairs, a smile still in place.
"What, something wrong with your computer?" He asked causally and I saw Hodgins smile and I was sure he said 'that's my boy'."You know bloody well what's wrong with your computer" I shouted at him.
"Next time put down a password I won't figure out" He smirked, but he kept moving backwards.
"How about I make it 'I kicked Michael's ass because he won't stop changing my password'" I snapped and he smiled.
"Oh come on, it's funny" He said and I shook my head.
"No, it was funny the first two times, now it's just stupid. Now get your butt here and fix my computer, because I am sick of having to hack into my own computer because of you" I shouted and that's when he shot off.
"You have to catch me first" He shouted.
"Wait, no…" Cam started, but I sort of ignored her. I know it's her lab, but he would not stop this shit and I was sick and tired of it. So now I was going to beat some realization into him.
"Get back here!" I yelled as I chased after him.
Angela's Pov
As Christine chased Michael around I couldn't help but smile. For years we had all watched those two grow up, yet no one seemed to notice that they were starting to fall in love with each other. I mean I knew I was the one with the eye for detail, but truthfully I hadn't even known until today. I mean I had known Michael was falling in love with Christine months ago, but it hadn't been until I saw Christine's face today that I had realized Christine shared his feelings. Only problem was that they were both too blind to see the truth. Really, it was like they were Booth and Brennan all over again.
"They really shouldn't be running around the lab" Cam stated and Hodgins smiled.
"Oh come on Dr. Saroyan, they're being careful." Hodgins said and I shook my head. I looked back to see Christine still chasing after Michael, though she wasn't close to him yet.
"She seems really frustrated. I don't think I've ever seen her get this angry about him changing her password, I mean he has done it a lot" Arastoo said and I smiled knowingly.
"She's just doing it because she was forced to realize something today" I said and they all looked at me in confusion.
"What?" Hodgins asked and I sighed. They were all so blind.
"Am I seriously the only one who has noticed?" I asked and they still seemed confused. "They are falling for each other!"
"Are you sure babe? I mean I knew Michael was falling for her, but I didn't think Christine was falling for him" Hodgins said.
"I didn't either, until I saw how red Christine's face got when Michael told us about the bet." I stated and Cam gave me a worried look.
"Do you think Booth and Brennan know?" She asked and I shook my head.
"I think Booth suspects Michael has feelings for Christine, but I don't think they know about hers. She's just like Brennan, she can hide her emotions to an extent" I said.
"Well we better not tell Booth or Dr. Brennan what we know" Arastoo said and Hodgins looked up at him.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because if I remember correctly Booth threatened to shoot the last guy that tried to take Christine out on a date" Arastoo said and I knew he had a point.
Please Review
