Quick disclaimer: Again, they are NOT mine except for Lily; any characters you recognize, are not mine!

A/N: Chapter 10! Double-digit chapters now! Wow. Wow. Wow. I am so so happy that we're now in the double digits and to everyone who reads this little story, this was possible because of you and the motivation you give me! I love each and every one of you! Happy reading!

"Okay so, you just need to sign here and here." The social worker said, presenting Booth and Brennan with the files. "And then, given that we're still in the middle of the pandemic, I won't be able to do the routine home check. Instead, I've had Ms. Julian and Agent Aubrey vouch for the two of you, deeming you and your home fit for taking care of Lily."

Booth nodded and looked up at Caroline. "Don't thank me, Cherie, it was nothing really." He signed where it indicated and passed the pen to Brennan who passed Lily to him. He held the little baby in his arms and immediately felt protective over her.

He couldn't imagine letting anything else happen to her and made a promise to himself to make sure she found a good home with them. He knew all too well of his wife's less than favorable experiences in the system and there was no way he'd let Lily fall through the cracks like that.

So far, within the fifteen minutes, they'd known her, Lily was a sweet baby and had captured their hearts. She had a full head of hair that was soft to the touch and chunky cheeks. Her eyes were a light shade of brown and she had the same tan skin tone as Booth. She babbled and cooed a lot, which Brennan had pointed out meant she was on her way to her first word.

Booth held her close to him and Lily babbled and began slapping his upper arm. "What is it, angel? What do you see?"

Booth looked at where she was watching and the shiny clocks on the back wall had caught her eye. He walked over there with her and began pointing them out along with other things to her. Brennan smiled as she looked up at Booth with Lily in his arms. She loved that he had already taken on such a paternal role to her.

"Here you go," she handed back the papers to the social worker, "Was there anything else with her at the house?" Brennan asked Jessica.

"No, Dr. Brennan. Other than the blanket and towel she was wrapped in and the little elephant plushie, we didn't find anything else." Jessica motioned towards the side of the car seat where a stuffed grey elephant sat. Brennan smiled sadly and nodded. She had figured, given the circumstances, Lily wouldn't have much to claim but it still made her upset. She started compiling a mental list of things she and Booth would need to get, figuring it'd be easier to get the simple things more immediate things first and then go about getting the rest.

"As both of you know, emergency care is typically temporary but as Ms. Julian mentioned, given the sensitivity of the case involved, it would be best to keep everything under the table for now. Once the investigation is over, we'll reconvene and go from there."

Wanting to know if their options were open, Brennan spoke up, "Once the investigation is over, given that no family members are found, can we file for a longer foster care term?"

"Yes, of course. I think even if the family is found, depending on their relationship with the case, it would probably be best for Lily to stay with you and Agent Booth."

"Cherie, if I were you, I wouldn't worry about her being taken away. Believe me, if I have to vouch for you and your husband again, I will." Caroline could already see Brennan and Booth getting attached to Lily and in the couple of minutes she had been interacting with them, Lily was comfortable with them. To her, that was most important right now.

"Thank you, Caroline, Booth and I appreciate you trusting us enough to entrust Lily's care to us."

Caroline nodded, "Like I told Booth, no thanks needed. Just take care of that little sweet thing."

Brennan walked over to Booth and Lily who were currently heavily engrossed in a game of peek-a-boo. She placed her palm in between Booth's scapulae and ran her fingers down his spine. He shivered and looked at her with a shy smile. Lily placed her little palm on his cheek and tapped, she wanted him to turn around and look at her.

Brennan laughed, "She likes you."

"What's not to like?" Brennan shook her head and playfully slapped his arm. They both gathered the paperwork they needed to keep a record of, and Lily's stuffed elephant, and said goodbye to everyone. Jessica got a little teary-eyed when she said goodbye, she herself had gotten a little attached to Lily when she had found her but overall, she was glad that Lily would be going to a good home with good people.

Heading back down the hall, they could hear Christine and Hank laughing. Brennan went ahead of Booth since he was still holding Lily. She walked in and both kids beamed at her.

"Mommy, is the baby here?"

"Can we see her?"

"Yes, she is. Daddy has her." Brennan looked back out and motioned for Booth to come in.

He walked in and both kids stood in awe looking up. Lily, who had also spotted the other two tiny humans, looked at them in curiosity.

"Christine, Hank, this is Lily." Brennan introduced them. Booth walked into the office and sat in one of the plush office couch chairs he had and situated Lily on his lap so he was still supporting her.

He leaned her back into his torso, shifting her slightly so that she was also leaning on his left arm, and wrapped the rest of his arm around her. Christine and Hank walked over and Brennan cautioned them not to touch Lily's face or hands before they got home and had a chance to properly wash up.

"She's small," Hank pointed out.

"Yeah, bub, she is. You know you and your sister were small like this at one point too."

"Really?" Hank wondered. He knew he was small in comparison to his mom, dad, and sister but hearing that at one point he was even smaller, blew his little mind. Booth nodded. He looked up and ruffled Hank's hair. His son giggled and scooted a little closer.

Christine was talking to Lily about Shepsky and how he was a good and funny puppy and that Lily would like him and about the dolls she had and the princess movies they would watch. Lily stared up at her the whole time, her eyes bright.

"So, I'm assuming everything with the social worker went well?" Aubrey asked, he could already tell from the way Booth was holding Lily that the man had already become attached to her as well as Brennan from the way she kept glancing over, the smile not leaving her face. Aubrey knew that their family had just gotten a little bigger and would remain so if Brennan and Booth had a say.

"Yes, it did. Thank you for trusting us, Aubrey. I can't imagine what would have happened to her if you didn't find her in time." Brennan had taken a spot, sitting on the handle of the chair next to Booth.

"Ah, don't thank me. It was Jessica who heard her and then took me upstairs to find her."

"Speaking of you and Ms. Warren?" Brennan gave him a knowing look. In the time that he and Jessica had been going through their rough patch, Aubrey had come over for drinks and to seek advice from the two. Jessica had done the same with Brennan.

She was on rotation one week when they didn't have an active case and we're focusing on some Limbo cases. During one of their breaks, she had knocked on Brennan's door and sat down to talk to her about her and Aubrey.

While normally, she refrained from giving personal advice, Jessica's quirky and outspoken personality had grown on Brennan and like all of her squinterns, she really wanted the best for them. She and Booth had advised both of them to give it time and to take time to find their way back to each other as friends and go from there.

"I uhh… we're getting there. We're not there yet but umm… we're trying."

"I hear you, Aubrey but just… don't take too long okay? You never know what can happen and I don't want you to have any regrets." Booth chimed in looking at his friend. Brennan looked at him and knew exactly what he meant.

"I gotcha. Thanks, guys. But I shouldn't hold you up any longer. Go, get Lily home, get settled and we'll talk later."

"Of course. Keep us updated on the case okay? And if you need anything or even Ms. Warren, if any of you need anything don't hesitate to call us." Brenna stood up.

"You got it, Dr. B."

They said their goodbyes and after Booth confirmed he had put Hank's old car seat in the trunk before they left home, the family walked out of the Hoover and into the parking garage. Booth passed Lily to Brennan as he fixed the car seat into the back.

She was already starting to doze off again, the excitement of meeting everyone tiring her out. Brennan figured that a quick trip to the supermarket to grab her formula, diapers, and everything else was needed before Lily woke up.

With everyone strapped in and settled, they headed out. Booth reached over and held Brennan's hand again, a silent show of support and acknowledgment that for now, their lives would be changing but they were in it together.

The trip to the store was quick and easy. Brennan had written a list of things she needed Booth to get on a notepad she found in the glove compartment. While she stayed in the SUV with the kids, Booth ducked into the store to grab what they needed.

They both decided that they would set up Hank's old playpen in their room since it conveniently was one of the ones that had an attached bassinet and changing station. They still had most of the things from when Hank was Lily's age and we're both glad they kept them.

Things like formula, diapers, organic baby wipes, and some onesies, pacifiers, baby bottles, bottle sterilizers… Booth had looked at the list and gaped. But as he walked through the store, he remembered that this was how many things they needed for Christine and Hank once upon a time ago.

He stocked up on diapers and the organic baby wipes but knew that he'd be heading out again for some more. When he got to the baby clothing aisle, he went ham a little.

Seeley Booth was your typical tough FBI guy, but when it came to children, especially his children, there was a new side of him that came to light. He threw in rompers, onesies, dresses, booties, headband bows, little tiny bucket hats with socks galore to match.

With winter and the cold brought in by Thanksgiving right around the corner, he also picked up fleece-lined onesies, fleece booties, cotton mittens, baby-sized bomber jackets, and warm beanies.

Booth remembered the time he and Brennan had spent the afternoon with Christine in their backyard on the winter holiday. It was the same year she was born and she was a little older than Lily but Brennan had insisted on layering her until she looked like a waddling snowman. So, he doubled back around and picked up extra onesies for layering purposes.

He went ahead and picked up a few more warm blankets for her and when he found a few elephant-themed toys for babies three to six months, Booth put a couple of them in the cart. He also doubled back around and stocked up on bottles of baby shampoos and washes. Satisfied with everything he got, he headed to self-checkout and bagged what he could with the reusable shopping bags Brennan had given him, well, rather the ones she had stored in his SUV.

He left the big packs of diapers and baby wipes in the cart to push over and unpack them when he got to the SUV.

Brennan saw him coming and her eyes went wide, seeing the number of things he was bringing back. When he got into the car and was wiping his hand she turned to him.

"Booth, did you buy the whole store?"

"Heyyyy nice use of colloquialism there Bones," he smiled cheekily at her.

"Booth, I told you we could start small and then go from there." Brennan ignored his comment.

"I did start small. I only got a couple of things for her."

"Couple?"

"Yeah, you'll see. C'mon let's go home, looks like all the kiddos are falling asleep." He turned around and sure enough, Lily was still sleeping, Hank was sleeping and Christine's head was resting on the side of Hank's booster seat, she was also dozing off.

"Besides, Lily is going to need a bottle by the time we get home so we should probably get going."

"Okay…" she trailed off. She knew that financially they were okay and it didn't matter if Booth had indeed bought the whole store, she was just really confused at what all could be in the bags given that he had loaded the trunk with a bunch of diapers and organic baby wipes.

They got home just as Lily was starting to wake up which made it a race to get her inside, changed and unpack the formula so they could feed her. Just as Brennan started to unbuckle her, Lily started whimpering.

"Shhh, sweetie it's okay," Brennan tried to coo her to stay asleep for a little longer but Lily took that moment to show just how powerful her lungs really were and wailed.

Both Hank and Christine woke up with a start. Brennan reassured them that Lily was fine and was just hungry meanwhile Booth had opened the trunk and packed a change of diapers, wipes, the bottle, and the formula mix into one bag. He ushered the kids along while Brennan had already walked into the house trying to soothe Lily.

"Okay Bones, diapers, and wipes are here… Hank, Christine, go wash up please and change your clothes. Stapes can you help your brother, I'll be there right now! Right, here's that," he set the bag down beside Brennan, "And I'm gonna go wash the bottle and heat the water for the formula and prepare that."

Brennan had walked over to the couch, draped the throw blanket over the seats, and placed Lily on it all while still cooing to her. "Thanks, Booth."

The two quickly got to work, Brennan took off the onesie that Lily had and instead wrapped her in one of the smaller blankets they had after changing her diaper. She wanted to give her a quick bath after this bottle to wash her up. After the day she had, Brennan wanted her as clean and as comfortable as possible.

"Shhhh, it's okay sweetie see, daddy is bringing your bottle right now." The name had slipped without Brennan even thinking about it and Booth did a quick double-take while walking over with the bottle.

"See, here he is. You feed her while I dispose of the diaper and wash my hands and go check on the other two." Brennan passed Lily into his hands. Booth settled into the recliner and began rocking her as he fed her. She latched on to the bottle immediately. Her little suckling noises sounded like a piglet snorting softly. Booth chuckled as he rocked her.

Brennan came back in, some of the shopping bags in her arms.

"Bones, I could have gone back for them."

"I know but you're busy and the kids changed off well and I told them to each go take a nap before lunch. I'll be back." She put the bags in the middle of the living room and went out for the rest of the things. When she came back with the last load, Booth was standing up with Lily, burping her.

"Did she finish it?"

"Yeah, she must have been hungry, I don't know if the social worker fed her before we got there."

"She must have gotten something at the hospital when they took her in." Booth nodded. After hearing a little burp, Booth settled back down on the recliner.

"So, why did you take off her onesie Bones?"

"She's been in it all day and probably since she was put in that stupid closet. I just wanted to get her out of it and besides, I want to give her a bath. But we're gonna have to do a quick load of laundry to wash the couple of onesies you got."

"Yeah, about that…" Booth trailed off and watched as Brennan's eyes grew wide when she looked inside the bags.

"Booth, I… oh my god… how many?" She sat down on the couch and pulled onesie out after onesie. Rompers, socks, booties, dresses, headbands, beanie hats, fleece versions of some of the other onesies, a winter jacket, cotton mittens, blankets, and some footie onesies. All in varying shades of pinks, oranges, greens, and yellows. She smiled softly at one of the footie onesies that had the words "little sister" embroidered on the front.

"Oh Booth…" She held it up and looked at him.

"I know. I know. I just, I saw it and I thought well… I know this is temporary right now... if we can take care of her for a little longer then… I mean you don't have to let her wear it. We can keep it but…" He trailed off, wanting to try again to get the full sentence out when Brennan got up and walked over to him. She cupped his face and gave him a tender kiss.

"I know Booth. You don't have to say it." They both shared a smile and laughed when Lily reached up to tap Brennan's arm.

"Hey sweetie, do you see how many new clothes daddy got you?" Lily babbled in response and smiled.

Brennan booped Lily's nose and sat back down unpacking the rest of the things. Booth had gotten the bottle sterilizer along with a bunch of bottles and pacifiers. He had even gotten one of the baby bath support chairs. She laughed at the little elephant-themed toys he picked up.

"You do know that elephants are not shades of purple or blue right?" she joked.

"Hahaha, didn't cross my mind at all babe." he quipped with a smile.

She chuckled and looked around. There were piles of baby things and she didn't at all feel weird about it. In fact, sitting with Booth and Lily felt right. Brennan couldn't put her finger on it but she felt like right here, right now, this is what they were meant to be doing. Booth would definitely call it faith.

"Okay, so I'm going to go start a load of laundry and get her some clean clothes so we can give her a bath."

"Let me know if you need any help, Bones."

"I'll be okay." She smiled and picked up some of the casual onesies, blankets, and footie pajamas and took them to the laundry room. She had also taken Lily's stuffed elephant and decided to wash it for her. The cleaner the better.

Booth stayed in the recliner with Lily rocking her and talking to her. The two of them had been bonding pretty well and Booth was happy for that. He wanted Lily to be comfortable with them and he wanted to be able to care for her as best as he could. Kissing her temple, Booth closed his eyes, inhaling her sweet baby smell.

"Hey, do you want to set up the playpen in our room now? We can also go get the baby play station mat and put it out here for her." Brennan had come back out and she was changed into lounge shorts and one of Booth's oversized long sleeve FBI shirts.

"Yeah of course. Do you want to hold her while I go change real quick and grab the things?"

Brennan reached out for Lily who went to her without complaint, still wrapped up in the blanket. "Oh sweetie, don't worry, we'll get you changed and into some warm clothes soon." She kissed her temple and headed to her and Booth's room to wait for him. She sat down in the overstuffed armchair they kept in the room and cradled Lily to her. When Hank and Christine were born, she was fascinated and in awe of how tiny they were. Small, tiny, innocent humans and looking at the little one in her arms, she felt the same protective instinct wash up in her.

She wanted nothing more than to give Lily a good home, a good life if she had any say.

"You know, it's irrational but I find myself already so attached to you," she said softly, running a finger across Lily's little face. She babbled in response and looked up at Brennan with bright, curious eyes.

"When Booth told me about you, I just knew that we had to take you. It didn't matter what was going on with us, but we had to meet you. He's going to call it fate which I still don't believe in but there are times, which I'm loath to admit, that he's right about it."

She began rocking back and forth unaware of Booth standing in the doorway. Lily's eyes began closing and Brennan started singing softly to her to help her fall asleep. Her little face nestled into Brennan's chest and Brennan held her tightly, embracing her with love and comfort.

Booth slipped inside the room quietly and set the box with the playpen stuff on the floor right next to where Brennan was with the chair. They shared a quick smile before Booth went to change off and freshen up a bit. By the time he came back into the room, Lily was fast asleep in Brennan's arms. She moved up to the bed where she adjusted the pillows and blankets in a tiny sleeping pod.

For the next couple of minutes, Brennan and Booth worked to set up the playpen as quietly as they could so they didn't wake Lily. All the while whispering to each other about the day and things at random. Once the playpen was set up, Brennan went to switch the wash over to the dryer and took the play mat outside to set that up. Once that was done, she walked back into the room and found that Booth had shifted Lily into the bassinet portion of the playpen and had begun to stack up the diaper changing things in the compartments.

He turned to look at her, "Playmat all set?"

"Yes. I forgot how easy it was to assemble. I wiped it all down as well as the toys and put them all there for her."

"Okay," Booth turned back to look at Lily who was still fast asleep. He smiled. "C'mon Bones, the kids are all asleep, we should get some rest too." He reached out a hand which she gladly took and both settled down in bed.

Brennan took up her normal position, her head on his chest and legs intertwined with his. Booth held her close to him and drew comfort from her.

"Well, it looks like things are going to be okay," he whispered.

"Yes, Hank and Christine will be excited to play with her later and Lily seems to have settled in nicely. When she wakes up, we can give her a bath and then figure out lunch for us and the kids." She yawned and looked over at the alarm clock.

"It's already two in the afternoon so it'll have to be a late lunch." She yawned again and snuggled into him further. He kissed her crown and encouraged her to close her eyes and get some sleep.

Booth nodded and though he wasn't tired, he was content to just rest with his wife in his arms.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!