(After season 12)
I really don't own Bones.
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She was ill. Brennan hated to admit it, but she was very ill and there was no way she could go to work or fulfill her familial obligations. "Booth, I hate to admit it, but I'm too sick to chaperone Christine's Woodchuck meeting this evening. I . . ." Her conversation was interrupted by a rough bout of coughing.
"No, I see you're sick." I hope to God I don't get this. "I'll call Cam and let her know you're not coming in. What do you want me to do about the Woodchucks?" Booth glanced at his watch. He had a meeting in 96 minutes he needed to get to.
"Tonight, they were supposed to study the anatomy of a beaver." Brennan coughed, wiped her lips with a tissue then blew her nose. "The beaver is in the fridge in the garage."
Appalled, Booth glared at his wife. "What do you mean it's in the fridge? A dead beaver is in my fridge? The place where I keep my beer and fruit and snacks?"
"Well, it wouldn't fit in the fridge in the kitchen." Brennan was amused. She had known he was going to be upset with the dead animal in his garage fridge, but she had to store it somewhere. "Hodgins found it last Saturday while he was searching for truffles. I had told him in the past that if he found a dead mammal then I would like him to bring it to me so the Woodchucks could see it as long as it wasn't badly decomposed, of course. It was very fortuitous that he found the beaver. Christine and her Woodchuck friends haven't dissected an animal that large yet."
"Fortuitous?" Booth would have rather his daughter be in the Girl Scouts, but Christine had insisted she wanted to belong to the Woodchucks. Her best friend Emma was a Woodchuck and Christine had wanted to belong too. "Well, um . . . You're sick and I don't know how to dissect a beaver, so I guess we'll have to cancel the meeting this evening." It seemed like the best idea for everyone.
Not willing to disappoint the group of girls, Brennan placed her hand on his arm. "Booth, you can get Hodgins to come over and show the girls how to dissect the beaver. He won't mind. He loves children and he loves to teach. All you have to do is just provide snacks and juice boxes and Dr. Patton will help Hodgins as much as she can. She's a zoologist. I think I've told you about her. She works at Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Normally she would be the one doing the dissecting but she's eight months pregnant and can't lean over too much. It makes her feel faint."
He didn't like the sound of that, but at the moment he was more concerned about the beaver. "So, I wouldn't have to cut anything open?" Booth wanted to make sure he wouldn't have to carve up the beaver because that wasn't going to happen.
"No, you don't know how to do it properly." Gripping her partner's arm, Brennan coughed again. "Please Booth. I'll do you a favor in the future if you do this for me tonight." She saw him hesitate. "Christine will be disappointed if the meeting is cancelled. The reason why were having the meeting here was because Dr. Patton's husband's parents are visiting them and he didn't want his mother to see the intended necropsy. I didn't know I was going to be too sick to host the meeting."
Since it appeared he didn't have a choice, Booth patted her hand. "Yeah, I'll call Hodgins as soon as I get to work. Bug Boy can do his thing and you can owe him the favor. I'm Christine's Dad, so I'm obligated to fill in when you can't do the Woodchuck thing . . . um, about that Beaver . . . I hope it's in a leak proof bag."
Amused, Brennan laughed. "It's in a large specimen bag so yes, it's in a leak proof bag. Your beer and snacks are safe."
Relieved, Booth stood up, leaned over and kissed Brennan's cheek. "I have to go. If I'm late for my meeting, Caroline will have something to say about it and it won't be nice. The kids got on the bus on time, so at least I don't have to take them to school."
"Alright." Once Booth was out of the room, Brennan leaned back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She had refused breakfast, but now she wished she had accepted Booth's offer when he had offered her some pancakes. "Oh well, I'll go get some hot tea in a little while."
She heard Booth slam the front door shut. Coughing, Brennan knew that the cold she had wasn't going to go away in 24 hours. "I hate being sick. It's so inconvenient and very annoying."
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Hodgins had been thrilled to be asked to teach the Woodchucks how to dissect a beaver. He appreciated that he would have help from a zoologist if he needed it, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't need the help. Booth had made it clear that he wasn't going to help him and he was just there to provide snacks and drinks.
Entering the house, he found the Woodchucks were already there as well as Dr. Patton. Booth was laying plastic on the floor around the kitchen table to keep any blood or goo from splatting on the floor. The table was already covered. Straightening, Booth looked over to where Hodgins was waiting. He hadn't missed the sound of the wheelchair coming through the front door. "Okay, I'm going to go get the beaver from my garage fridge. You can do your thing then."
Once Booth was out of the room, Dr. Patton approached Hodgins and shook his hand. "I'm Lisa Patton, Dr. Hodgins. Thank you for doing this." Her hand on her stomach, she laughed. "I'm at that awkward stage in my pregnancy. I'm due in two weeks and bending over too long makes me feel faint. My obstetrician says it's nothing to worry about even though I think it's odd . . . I can help you if you need the help. I brought some scapples and other equipment if you need it."
"I should be good. I brought what I need." Hodgins smiled at the sight of Booth coming through the back door with the bag in his right hand, his right arm extended from his body with a look of worry on his face. "Booth, just put it on the table."
Once the bag was in the center of the table, Hodgins rolled closer, pulled an apron from his bag that was hanging from his left wheelchair arm and donned it. "Okay girls . . . young ladies. Who wants to open the bag and get the beaver ready for us to study?"
All nine girls raised their hand making both Hodgins and Lisa laugh. "Okay." Hodgins pointed at a tall girl that looked eager to start things. "Go ahead. Open it carefully so any fluids in the bag don't spill out."
While she was removing the beaver from the specimen bag, Hodgins removed the equipment he would need from his bag. Placing them on the table, he checked to see how the girls were taking the sight of the dead mammal. So far, they looked interested which was a good sign. Once the beaver was clear of the bag, he picked up a scalpel and cleared his throat. "Okay, I'm going to make an incision which will open up the beaver so we can look inside." The girls circling the table stepped closer to the table while Booth stepped back, moving over to the counter and out of the way of any fluid that might escape the dead beaver.
Before Hodgins could make his incision, Lisa gasped and looked down at the floor. Booth standing behind her had noticed what happened. "Oh shit."
"What . . . what's happening." Hodgins didn't know what was going on, but the Woodchucks had moved closer to Dr. Patton. "Booth?"
Sighing, Booth pulled his phone from his pants pocket. "Lisa's water just broke."
Her cheeks a flaming red color, Lisa moved her gaze towards Booth. "I am so sorry. This is early. I have two more weeks."
"Well, the baby has other ideas." Once Booth called for an ambulance, he put the phone back on the counter. "The Fire House is just five minutes from here . . . Christine, bag up the beaver and take it out to the fridge. Emma, you and Paula go outside and wait for the ambulance. Turn the outside light on before you do that . . . Lisa, lets get you in the living room and on the couch. I think we have time for the ambulance. Bones always took a few hours before she had her babies. Cary, pick up the plastic, fold it the best way you can and take it to the trash cans outside next to the garage, Heather, you go with her and come back when you're finished. Everyone that deals with the plastic and the beaver wash your hands when you get back."
Hodgins followed Booth and Lisa into the living room. "You're lucky, Lisa. Booth and I have some experience with childbirth. Booth delivered Christine before the ambulance arrived for Brennan."
Astonished, Shalanda stared at Christine as she came back into the house. "Wow, your Dad delivered you?"
"Sure, in a horse barn." Christine had heard the story more than once and she found it a boring topic. "The beaver is in the fridge Dad."
"Thanks, Sweetheart. Go wash your hands." Booth turned and smiled at Lisa. "Really, I don't think you need to worry about having the baby too soon. Christine was on time, but my boy Hank was a week early and so was my son, Parker and they were fine."
Grateful for someone with experience helping her, Lisa nodded her head. "Good, that's good to know . . . Christine, can you call my husband? My phone is in my bag. Just tell him the ambulance is on the way and he can meet me in at the hospital. Look at my contacts on the phone . . . he's listed as Pooky . . . it's a joke."
"Pooky?" All of the girls laughed.
"Yeah, well don't call my husband that, okay?" Lisa felt pain and gasped. Breathing in short breaths, the pain passed. "Nothing to worry about."
Wary, Hodgins glanced at the door. "Where the hell is the ambulance?"
At that moment, the front door opened and two paramedics walked in the door with a gurney. "Someone is having a baby?"
Glad to see help arrive, Booth pointed at Lisa. "It's probably obvious, but here she is." Turning towards Lisa, Booth helped her stand up. "Don't worry about the girls. I'll call their parents to come pick them up . . . Jack, call Angela and tell her she can bring Hank back. I'll let Bones know what happened in a few minutes."
"Got it." This was more excitement than Hodgins had counted on, but he and Booth had handled things well and everyone was fine. "Too bad about the beaver. I guess it will be too rotten to be used at the next Woodchuck meeting."
"Yeah, too bad." Booth knew he'd have to throw the dead animal away before trash pick-up happened. The last thing he wanted was a rotten carcass in his fridge or in the trash can for a week.
Ooooooooooooooooo
Suddenly awake, Brennan heard an ambulance come down the street and it seemed to stop in their driveway. She debated going to see if there was a problem, but she didn't want to expose Lisa or the children to her cold. On the other hand, what if something had gone terribly wrong during the Woodchuck meeting? Determined to see what was going on, she got out of bed, slipped on a robe and walked over to the bedroom door. Cautiously, she opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Listening, she heard the paramedics enter the house and ask if someone was having a baby. Now that she knew what was happening, she felt a little calmer. Shaking her head, Brennan heard her husband giving orders and advice to the Woodchucks and Hodgins and she knew that everything was being taken care of.
Feeling weak, she walked back into the bedroom, closed the door and got back into bed. In a few minutes, the door reopened, and Christine ran into the room. "Mom, Dr. Patton is going to the hospital to have her baby. She broke her water before Uncle Jack could cut open the beaver. I wish we could have seen the insides of the beaver, but Dr. Patton needed to go to the hospital."
"Her water broke, not she broke her water." Brennan patted the mattress beside her. "I'm sorry that you didn't get to see the beaver, but perhaps someday you'll get another chance."
While Christine sat on the bed and chatted about the paramedics and Dr. Patton, Booth entered the room. "I'm just checking on you. The girls are waiting for their ride home. I gave them a snack and a drink and they're watching television. Jack is watching it with them. He's waiting for Angela to come back with Hank and then he'll leave too."
"It sounds like a very eventful Woodchuck meeting." Brennan coughed, rubbed her nose with a tissue and sighed. "Thank you for letting me know what happened. I'll wait a few days and call Lisa to see how she is."
"This meeting was a little too exciting. I thought I was going to have to deliver a baby in front of a bunch of little girls." Booth smiled. "That would have been unforgettable."
A little sad, Christine stood up and walked towards the doorway and out into the hallway. "It would have been the greatest Woodchuck meeting ever."
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Let me know what you think of my story. Thanks.
