Well this is it, the final chapter. I want to thank each and everyone of you who read the story and reviewed it, and even the people who did read it but just didn't review. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. This is actually my first published fanfic and it was an amazing experience (I've been writing since I was 9 years old but this is the first time a story of mine is published).

I have a tiny surprise waiting for you in Chapter 16 which is actually an alternate ending. It is less believable than this one, that's why I didn't make it the official ending. See you in Chapter 16!

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"There. That's the last box." Booth said as he dropped the pretty heavy box on the ground beside the others.

He looked up at the people standing in front of him. They all looked so disoriented, so lost. Even Parker, who was visiting Booth for the week-end, standing among the Brennan kids and Temperance herself, looked lost. He had been pretty surprised when Booth had come to pick him up to find the SUV packed with strangers, Nathan on the front seat and the twins in the back with him. But Booth wasn't worried about his son. He already got along really well with Elena.

The past three weeks had been rather difficult for all of them. Booth and Temperance had stayed in Berkeley for two weeks so the kids would be able to finish school before moving and it had also given them time to put the house for sale and to pack the children's stuff. During that time, Temperance had also planned her parents' and her brother's funerals. She had decided to bury them in Westminster.

She was also doing really well with the kids but Booth couldn't say that he was surprised. Deep down he knew that she would make a good mother and that she did in fact have that maternal instinct she said she didn't have. She seemed to love her nephews and nieces more and more and they seemed to share that feeling. At first, things had been awkward but Booth had expected it. She had found it really weird to be cooking for six and hadn't known what to do when Nathan had come home from school and needed to be grounded. She had never grounded a kid in her life and she had turned to Booth for help. He had gladly helped her.

But the thing he would remember the most about this period of adjustment was the night his girlfriend had tucked Elena in. The little girl had asked her aunt to tuck her in and to read her a story and Brennan had found it really weird as she put the child to sleep. Booth had been on his way to the bathroom when he walked by little Elena's room. He had seen Temperance sitting on the bed beside her niece, her arm wrapped around the shoulders of the child, Elena cuddling to her aunt and Temperance's low voice had been reading her a story. Booth had leaned against the doorway for a couple of minutes, simply admiring the doctor.

As the weeks passed she was slowly getting the hang of it. She had taken the whole month of July off for some much needed and well earned vacation and she had plans on spending it with the kids. Then in August, when she would go back to work, the kids would be sent to a day camp.

They had left California a week ago. Booth had taken most of the kids' stuff over at his house while Brennan packed her own apartment. She still didn't know where she was going to put all of her stuff. Booth's place was definitely bigger than her apartment but there was no way there would be enough space to store everything. They had decided to keep some her stuff at her apartment until they were ready to move to a bigger house.

The funeral had gone pretty well. Temperance had felt somewhat happy that all of her friends had come for support and surprised to see that some of her parents' friends and former co-workers had bothered to come down to the cemetery for the funeral. Now her parents and her brother laid forever in peace in the Westminster's cemetery.

This had been three days ago and now, here they were, all standing in Booth's house which now looked rather small with seven people living in it.

"Alright you kids! Who wants to go swimming?" Booth asked in a motivating tone.

Booth smiled as they saw their face light up. They all shouted "Me me me" at the same time and Booth's smile grew even wider.

"The last one in the pool is a loser!" Corey shouted.

The four kids ran to their bags and rummaged through them for their bathing suits. Booth took Parker to his now crowded with sleeping bags room and helped him change in his. He could hear the kids yelling in the living room and wondered if they had bothered to use the bathroom to strip down and climb into their bathing suits.

As soon as he had had his bathing suit and his life jacket on, Parker ran back to the living room, letting his dad know he didn't want to be the loser. Booth slowly followed his son, a huge smile on his face.

Seconds later he heard them splashing in the water. Booth locked eyes with Temperance and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Come on, let's go check on them."

They went through the kitchen and out on the deck. The sun was bright and it was really hot outside.

Brennan stood and looked at the kids who were already splashing around in the pool. She couldn't believe how happy they looked and wondered how they could act so happily knowing their parents had died and that they were miles away from where they had grown up. The more she looked at them, the more she felt herself loving them. Maybe she could do this after all.

Booth stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. As he watched the kids play in the pool he knew that this was the life he was meant to live. The woman wrapped in his embrace, the kids in the pool, they would become his family. He would legally adopt them, all of them. Maybe, some day, when Brennan would realize that bringing a child into the world wasn't such a bad thing after all, they could have children of their own.

"I don't get how they can be so happy." He heard her say. "Their father just died."

"Ya well, you know children. They surprise us when we least except it."

Temperance chuckled and looked up at her partner.

"Thank you for letting us stay with you."

"Well it's a bit crowded but it's only temporary. I saw a couple of houses on sale on our way back from the funeral. They looked big enough to fit the seven of us."

"Seven?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah. I called Rebecca while we were in California. I told her about what had happened to you, I told her that you were moving in with me, along with the four kids."

"What did she say?"

"She said she was surprised. We got to talking. It felt weird. We didn't argue, we simply talked. Then, out of nowhere, she told me she was sorry. She told me that she had been wrong to keep me away from my son. She said that she had been heartless and selfish from the beginning. Then she told me that if I wanted we could change the custody system. We wouldn't tell the court, it would be just between us. She agreed that I could have him every week-end until you and I were settled down for good."

"Booth, that's great!"

She had spoken very loudly but the kids hadn't turned around. They were too busy having fun.

"What about Parker? Do you think he'll be able to fit in?"

"Oh I'm sure Parker will be fine. Look at him. He's having fun and he's already crazy about you. He even asked me if you were my girlfriend."

"What did you tell him?"

She turned around in his arms and locked eyes.

"I told him yes."

Temperance smiled and turned back around.

"I'm glad you told me. Here I was, a couple of minutes ago, thinking that I was a single aunt."

"You'll never be alone anymore, baby, because I'm not going anywhere."

Brennan felt his kiss the side of her head. She sighed happily.

The kids were busy playing and none of them paid any attention to the new couple. Parker and Elena, at the shallow end of the pool, with their life jackets, swam around in circle, their faces in the water and made a contest of who could stay underwater the longest. Neither of them spent more than three seconds under it. Nathan and Corey, in the middle, seemed to be playing cops and rubbers or a game similar to that. Just like a lifeguard, Bridget sat on the edge of the pool, her feet soaking in the water, looking out for her brothers and her sister like she had done all of her life, ready to jump in the pool at the first sign of trouble. The sun shined on her hair and the little breeze made them sway.

Everything was going to be just fine.