A/N Now it's Booth, Gordon Gordon, an old cemetery and sunglasses…


Booth made his way silently through the creepy old cemetery that had been the final resting place for generations of Booths, stopping in front of Pops and Gran's graves. He carefully knelt down and placed the flowers he'd brought in front of the joint headstone. Once that was done Booth took a seat on the bench Pops had installed after Gram had died. He'd healed from his prison beatings, but his ribs were still a little sore and long walk over from his SUV didn't help.

"Hey Pops… Don't worry, the flowers are for Grams….I would have come sooner, but Bones wouldn't let me until I was fully healed. Sometimes I go a long with what she wants…I'm sorry I wasn't able to be with you before you died, Pops, I'm glad Bones was with you though. At least you didn't die alone I'm sorry I wasn't there for your funeral, Bones had Angela tape it so I could watch it when I got out. It was nice you would have liked it. Don't worry I destroyed the DVD… I'm sorry you died thinking I had broken the law and killed innocent people… I can't imagine what thinking that was like and how much stress and worry you were under. I didn't do what they said I did, Bones and the squints proved it like always. I don't know what I'd do without Bones. Yes I do, I wouldn't have done anything. I would have gambled away everything and lost my job with the FBI. I would be sleeping in my car by now. Actually, I'd probably be lying next to you and Grams by now…. Watch out for Sweets for me, he's just a kid… he's mine and Bones' baby duck. I didn't do a good job protecting him…." Booth slipped on his sunglasses when he heard someone coming. Booth could tell that whoever it was had stopped close to him, but he didn't acknowledge them.

"Agent Booth…" Booth slowly turned his head to see Gordon, Gordon Wyatt standing a few feet from him. "Gordon Gordon what are you doing here?"

"Paying my respects and looking for you…"

"Bones send you?"

"Not exactly. I went to your house to drop off food, I know Sweets wasn't family per say, but you and Doctor Brennan were his family. You're both grieving his loss no matter what the two of you think. Anyway, Doctor Brennan mentioned that you'd left early this morning and she hadn't heard from you all day. She was getting concerned, she didn't ask that I find you, but I thought you might need someone to talk to…"

"I'm fine…"

"I can see that… lets go get some coffee…"

Booth looked at his watch and was surprised that it was hours later than he thought. "All right, there's a place down the street. You're buying…"

"Of course…"

Booth looked down at Pops grave, "see ya later Pops and Grams. I'll bring Bones and the kids next time. Parker will be here in a few months…". Booth said a prayer and followed Gordon Gordon back through the cemetery to their cars.

BONES

Twenty minutes later they were seated across from each other at a small diner.

"It's not the Royal Diner, but I suppose it will be fine."

Booth grinned a little and picked up his coffee. "They have really good burgers, fries and shakes, at least they did when I was a kid.."

"You came here as a child?"

"Yeah, Pops and Grams lived a couple blocks over. If we were good at church we came here after… Usually it was just me and Pops. Grams went home with Jarred; he could never sit still and be quiet… " Booth chuckled. Sometimes Pops stayed with him and me and Grams had lunch, those were my favorite days." The waitress sat their burgers, fries, and shakes on the table. "Enjoy."

They arranged their food and ate for a few minutes until Gordon Gordon put down his burger. "This is an excellent burger, the fries are perfectly seasoned, the shake is thick and creamy."

"Yeah, everything tastes like it did when I was a kid, only better."

"So, you want to tell me how you ended up here instead of getting Sweets personal belongings from his office."

Booth chewed on a fry. "I got up early to get Sweets' stuff before everyone got there and then come home and make Christine and Bones pancakes…. I got his stuff and got in the SUV to come home and I just kept driving until I ended up at Pops' house, the people who live there now have kids, boys by the looks of the bikes and basketballs in the yard. There is a Phillies pinnate in my old bedroom window, Pops would like that… Then I went to my old house, no one lives there, our name is still on the mailbox. A spare key was still in the fake rock by the backdoor, I went inside. It looks like dad just went out to the bar or something, there was booze on the kitchen table… most of his clothes are still there…. I really need to look into that with Bones and clear it out and sell it. It's a good house, or it will be after some work… After that I drove around town. I hadn't been back since I shipped out. After I got out of Boot Camp Pops moved inro a retirement community condo. I went to the cemetery to talk to Pops, to apologize to for not being there when he died and not being at his funeral. I can't help thinking that my being in jail and thinking I killed innocent people put him under more stress than his heart could handle and it contributed to his heart attack. Then I went and got Sweets killed…"

"It is my understanding from Doctor Brennan that your grandfather had been in decaling health for a number of years."

"He was, but when I saw him a few weeks before…. He was doing better than he'd been in a while. Six weeks ago, Bones came to see me on a non-visiting day and she told Pops had died\a few hours before… I don't know how she got in to see me…"

"Doctor Brennan has ways of accomplishing the impossible…"

"That she does, I've never been more thankful for that then I've been the last three months…"

"Yes… Why do you think you got Sweets killed?"

"Because I let him go after Sanderson alone. I should have went with him or better yet Bones and I should have went ourselves…"

"…So that Brennan would be left without her husband and young Christine and Parker would be left without their father?"

'No! What's worse is I trained Sweets I gave him the tools to be an agent. I took him to the range and taught him how to shoot for the marksmanship portion of the test then I scored him. If I hadn't done that he'd never made the cut and still be here…"

"Booth, you gave him the tools to be the best agent he could be. If you hadn't helped him someone else would have."

"I know but if someone else had trained him he might not have made the cut to be an agent and still be here getting ready to welcome his own child into the world…"

"Ah, so that's what this is about… you feal responsible for Sweets' unborn child growing up without a father?"

Yeah.. if I hadn't let him go he'd be here. He'd be sitting here across from me instead of you. No offence…"

"None taken… You know aren't responsible for Sweets' death. As horrible as it was it's a danger of the job, something he gladly accepted when he decided to become an agent."

"I know. I still feel responsible, he was too young and didn't have enough experience…"

"Agent Booth…Sweets was all those things and more. Being with you and Brennan for all those years gave him invaluable experiences. His child will have you and Brennan and all the others to tell he or she about Sweets. You and Doctor Brennan will be another parental figure in the child's life."

"I know… I need to get home to Bones…"

"Yes, I did inform her that I found you and that we were going to talk. If you need to talk again you know where to find me."

"Yeah. Thanks for all of this, it did help…"

"You're welcome, agent Booth."

BONES

Almost three hours later Booth was barely through the door before Christine was in his arms.

"DADDY!"

Booth lifted Christine up and kissed the top of her head. "Hey angel. Did you have good day?"

"Uh-huh. Why were you gone all day? You said you were gonna make pancakes the morning. I got up and you were gone. I thought you were gone forever again!" Christine started to cry. Booth sighed and rubbed her back as he made his way to the couch and sat down. "Christine, don't cry. I'm not going away for a long time like that again."

"Promise?"

"I promise. I'll make you Mickey Mouse pancakes with chocolate chips in the morning then we'll go to the park and feed the ducks."

"Okay. Can we ride the paddle boats too?"

"Yes."

"Okay." Christine grabbed a handful of Booth's t-shirt and snuggled into his chest and fell asleep In a few minutes.

"I love you so much, angel" Booth kissed her head and smiled when Brennan walked over and draped a blanket over her.

"She's been worried that you weren't coming home all day. "

"I didn't mean to worry either of you… I got Sweets' stuff and started home, but I ended up in Philly at Pops' house then I went on a drive around the neighborhood I grew up in. Gordon Gordon found me at Pops' grave…"

"I didn't send him to find you…"

"I know…"

"I'm glad he did though…"

"Me too. Bones, we'll talk later about stuff…Right now I just wanna sit here with you and hold Christine."

"Okay. I love you, Booth."

"I love you too, Bones…" Booth put his arm around Brennan and pulled her close, kissing her.