(After 'The Next in the Last')

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The baby asleep in his basket, Max leaned over and smiled at the sight of his grandson. "He looks a little like you and a little like Tempe." Glancing at Booth, Max shook his head. "I didn't think the baby was due for another two weeks."

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth smiled down at his son. "Hank had other ideas. Bones had a tougher time with this one, but he's bigger and weighed more . . . she was awesome though. I'm really proud of her."

"Yeah." Max didn't approve of his grandchildren being born at home because he worried about all the bad things that could go wrong and thought a hospital birth was safer. Still nothing happened and it wasn't his decision. "8 lbs is a healthy sized baby and 21 inches . . . yeah, he's going to be a bruiser I guess."

"Hank the Tank." Proud of his son's size, Booth grinned at the boy while he slept. "I wish Pops was here to see him . . . I know he's looking down from heaven and I'm sure he's proud as he can be."

Max wasn't sure he believed in God or not, but it was nice to think that your loved ones knew what you were up to, well most of the time. "Yeah, he was so proud of you, Booth. He talked about you and Jared all the time when we were together. I think he thought you guys were the best thing since sliced bread."

A faint blush on his cheeks, Booth shook his head. "He was a great man and I wanted to honor him by naming my son after him . . . besides, Maximillian is a mouth full so you can see why we didn't name him after you. No offense."

"Oh, none taken. Why do you think I go by Max?" He had always hated his given name and he'd started using Max as soon as he'd had a say in what he wanted to be called. "I remember my mother calling me Maximillian. She named me after her father. It is a mouthful. I didn't name my son after me, so you can see that I'm not really attached to the name that much."

"Yeah, well my son isn't named after me either." Booth wasn't a fan of his name either and wanted his son to have a name that wasn't the butt of jokes when he as growing up. "Henry was my grandfather's name and his father before him. It's a good name." Murmuring in his sleep, the child seemed to be on verge of waking, but returned to a deep sleep and Booth relaxed. "We'd better leave before we wake him up. Bones will skin us alive if we wake him up now."

With one last glance at his grandson, Max patted the basket and left the room with Booth following closely behind him.

Oooooooooooooooo

It was a quite evening and Brennan and Booth were enjoying it for the moment. Christine and Hank were sleeping and the couple was sitting in the living room, Booth's arm around Brennan's shoulders while she leaned against him. Booth felt a sense of peace and knew he had Brennan to thank for that. "I like times like this. We don't get enough of this."

Brennan knew what Booth meant. "I love my job and I know you love your job too, but it's nice to be at home with our children and not have to worry about anything at the moment. It gives us a chance to relax."

"Yeah . . . Christine was in Hank's room a little while ago taping a picture she drew for him on the wall near his bed. She drew him a puppy eating a flower." Booth chuckled. "She wanted to play with him, but I had to explain that he's too young to play with anyone right now. I think she loves her baby brother, Bones. I was worried she might be jealous since she's not an only child anymore, but I don't think she is at all."

"No, I don't think that will be a problem, at least not right now." Brennan was proud of Christine for accepting that she had a brother now. "I explained to her that Hank will require quite a bit of attention from us for now since he's so young, but we love her and not to worry that we have a favorite child. We love them both equally and we don't have a favorite child."

Amused, Booth chose not to comment. He was the oldest child in his family and Brennan was the youngest, so they both had their own personal perspectives about what it was like to grow up in a family with more than one child.

"Do you still want your promotion?" Brennan had been thinking about her husband's possible promotion a lot lately. She worried that it might affect their relationship. She worried that Booth might grow bored sitting behind a desk and resent her still working in the field on cases.

"Sure, I do." Booth wanted the increase in wages that came with the job and he thought he could handle not going in the field anymore. He was in great shape, but his bones were damaged and his feet were hurting him more and more as he got older. Standing around at crime scenes for long hours made his body ache and though he worked out and ran when he could, he knew that he couldn't fix the injuries he'd suffered over the years. Sooner or later he knew he might have to give up running and some of his more strenuous work outs. The torture he had received as a prisoner of war had started the destruction of his bones and being beat and shot multiple times hadn't helped the situation. The FBI had a mandatory retirement age and he wouldn't be able to get around that, so he wanted to move up further in the chain of command, increase his earnings and improve his retirement. "I love working with you out in the field, Bones, but this promotion might allow me to influence what happens at the Hoover. I can think of a few changes that would improve how we do things, but right now, I'm not high enough in the hierarchy to matter."

He had told her that before, so she was happy that he was still seeing the plus side of the promotion and he didn't want to change his mind. "I was worried that you might find sitting behind a desk boring. You are a man of action."

"I am a man of action, but I'm also realistic." Booth wanted to make sure Brennan knew his reasoning behind his wanting the promotion. "Special Agents have a mandatory retirement age of 57. They won't bend that rule for anyone. If I can break through to something like Deputy Assistant Director I can work until I'm 60 and if I'm invaluable I can work until I'm 65, but not past that. This promotion will move me out of the Special Agent bracket and into management . . . I love working at the FBI, but I have to play the game if I want to stay. If that means being in management then that's what I'll do and I won't begrudge you working in the field. It's part of your job and I'd never be jealous of that Bones. Never."

Patting his knee, Brennan smiled. "I do hope that you do get this promotion, Booth. I think you've done a lot for this country and you deserve it."

"Thanks, Bones. You've been right there with me and I've been able to rise up in the ranks because of you and the squints. Don't think I don't know that because I do." Never one to take credit for something someone else had done, Booth wanted his wife to understand that he knew he'd had help to get where he was. He had known the first time he'd worked with Brennan that she could help him solve cases that were cold and abandoned and he could find justice for those victims that other law enforcement agencies had given up on. Her brilliance and the brilliant people at the Lab had helped him do that and they had been the reason he had found the spotlight shining on him at the Hoover. If he hadn't been inspired by Brennan to excel at what he did, he might still be sitting in the bullpen taking orders and not giving any. "We've found justice for a lot of people and you can still do that without me. With agents like Aubrey and the younger agents coming up behind him, you've got a chance to keep working as long as you want to. You don't need to worry about me because I'm doing exactly what I want to do . . . Okay?"

"Yes, alright." Proud of Booth's accomplishments, Brennan shifted on the couch, faced Booth and kissed him. "The benefits of our partnership haven't been one sided. Working with you allowed me to leave the Lab and meet a variety of people I'd never met before. It allowed me to expand my knowledge in my chosen field by helping you investigate many cold cases. I have been able to pass that knowledge on to my students and interns and that will make them better forensic anthropologists when they graduate. Our partnership has benefited both of us and them."

Returning her kiss, Booth smiled. "Yes, and we're still going to be partners, Bones. Always, no matter what happens when it comes to my job and yours, we're partners."

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