(The Lost Love in the Foreign Land)

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I don't own Bones.

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He was trying not to let his sadness affect his family, but Booth found it hard to be happy now that he had lost his grandfather. Hank's funeral had been the grandest funeral he had ever attended and he had been grateful for the attention his grandfather had deserved, but he still couldn't seem to accept the fact that his grandfather was gone. Everyone around him could see that he was struggling and they tried to cheer him up, but Booth resisted their efforts and most weren't sure what to do about it.

Most but not all.

A little wary about what was going to happen next, Sweets stood in the doorway of Booth's office and cleared his throat. "Booth."

Tired, Booth turned away from his PC and slumped against his chair. "Yeah?"

Moving slowly into the room, Sweets paused to close the door behind him. Turning to face his friend, Sweets smiled. "I'd like to talk to you."

"I don't need any psychological help, Sweets." Booth stared at his friend and felt a headache trying to start up. "My grandfather is dead and I'm sad he's dead. That's normal and I'm not going to let you tell me it isn't."

"Of course, it's normal Booth." Sweets sat on the chair near the door giving Booth as much personal space as he could. "You're supposed to grieve for someone who raised you like a son. He was your father . . . we all get that Booth. You have to move on at your own pace . . . That isn't why I came to see you."

Curious, Booth leaned forward on his desk. "Why did you come then?"

With a grin on his face, Sweets placed his hands on his knees and leaned forward, eager to share his news. "I don't know if Dr. Brennan told you, but Daisy and I started seeing each other a few months ago. We had a few dates where we talked about things . . . just talked nothing else. We talked about why we'd be good together and why we wouldn't be. After a while it seemed to both of us like it didn't matter if the 'why we wouldn't be good for each other' list was longer. We love each other and sometimes you just have to ignore things like that."

Since Booth felt the same way, he didn't see anything wrong with what his young friend had said. "Bones and I shouldn't work, but we do . . . We argue and sometimes we butt heads over things we shouldn't but in the end, we come to some kind of an agreement or at least a truce."

"Yes, exactly." Sweets knew that Booth would understand. "Anyway, we started dating more seriously after that, we chose to be in a monogamous relationship and . . . and things got very serious three months ago . . . Daisy was feeling . . . strange and she . . . well, she's pregnant . . . with my child so don't go there, Booth."

"I won't." Amused, Booth tried to keep his face solemn. "So, you're going to be a Dad? Congratulations. You and Daisy getting married?" He had to ask.

A little disappointed that Booth didn't offer to hug him, Sweets decided that Booth was going to be Booth. "I don't know. Daisy asked me not to ask her. I don't know what that means. Does she want to stay single? Am I supposed to wait until I think she or I are ready for marriage? Is she going to ask me to marry her like Dr. Brennan did to you?"

"Well, considering how much Daisy wants to be like Bones, you might end up following our path whether you like it or not. We dated, she got pregnant then after a few years she asked me to marry her. I don't know what Daisy wants, that's your problem not mine." Booth didn't really care if they got married or not. He didn't think Sweets and Daisy were soul mates, but he wouldn't tell his friend that. It wasn't his personal journey to take. He had his own journey to deal with.

"Yeah . . . yeah, I'm going to have to figure it out I guess." Sweets knew that he needed to talk to Daisy, have a serious discussion about their future. "I'm going to be a father, Booth. No matter what happens. I won't walk away from my responsibilities. My father got my mother pregnant and I guess he ran away from her as fast as she could. She had boyfriends and they were . . ." He stopped. He didn't want to talk about the beatings and the torture he had been subjected to by his mother's boyfriends. That was in the past. His adopted parents were his real parents and they had shown him the path he had to take to live a normal, happy life. "Anyway, Daisy is carrying my child and I will be the father of that baby."

Satisfied to see that Sweets understood his responsibilities, Booth stood up and offered his hand. Once Sweets had shaken it, he quickly sat back down just in case the young man wanted a hug. "I'm a father twice and I've got to tell you, it's the greatest thing to ever happen to me besides being with Bones . . . Parker and Christine love me no matter how much I screw things up and they don't care. They're fun to be with and they both have their own ways. Parker loves to read and he likes to write little stories. I've read them and they're not too bad for a kid. I don't know if he wants to be a writer like Bones or it's just a phase, but it's something he's interested in and I think it makes him happy. Christine loves music, but she's too young to show me what she really likes right now. She'll find her way and no matter what that path is I will support her and be happy for her."

Sweets had observed Booth with both his son and his daughter and he knew that Booth tried to be the best father he could be. More than once, he had heard Brennan say that Booth was an excellent father and Brennan rarely lied. "I don't know if I'm ready, but it doesn't matter. The baby will be here in 6 months and ready or not I'm going to be a parent . . . It's scary, but in a nice kind of way . . . if that makes sense."

"It does, Sweets." Booth remembered how happy he had been when he had found out Rebecca was pregnant and how scared he was as the due date approached. He had vowed to never do the horrific things his own father had done to him and he had kept his promise. He wasn't Edwin Booth and he would make sure that never happened. "It's a lot of responsibility, man, but it's worth it . . . Bones and I have talked about having another baby, but we're not sure if we're ready for the chaos yet. Still, if it happens, we'll be happy."

Hesitating for just a moment, Sweets felt he could move on to the next part of the conversation. He could see that Booth seemed to be more relaxed, the cloud he'd had over him wasn't as heavy as when he'd first started the conversation. He needed to see that life continues even when we feel the pain of losing someone. Good things are happening in this world and he will be part of those good things. "I know it's early, but Daisy and I would like you to be our child's godfather."

Honored, Booth stood up, walked around the desk and shook his friend's hand again. "I'm honored, Sweets. I really am."

"I don't have any family, Booth and Daisy doesn't really get along with her family." Sweets wanted to hug his friend, but he knew that Booth wouldn't like it. "You're the only family I have and . . . well, my child will think of you as family too . . . an uncle if that is okay."

Proud that Sweets thought of him as family, Booth grinned and pushed the man's shoulder with his closed fist, not hitting him, but connecting to him. "Uncle Booth, Sweets not Uncle Seeley."

"You got it, Booth." Sweets knew that Booth was still mourning the loss of his grandfather, but for just this moment, the agent was happy and that was all that mattered. "I've got a session with an agent in fifteen minutes."

Once the psychologist was gone, Booth sat down, leaned back against his chair and stared at the baseball on his desk. He was still sad that his grandfather was gone, but he knew that life was moving forward and he had to move with it. He would always feel the loss of someone who had saved his life and raised him as his own child. Hank had been given a bad hand late in life and he had played that hand the best way he could, with grace and dignity. His Pops had been someone to emulate and he would try to do that until the day he died.

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