A look back at a story we all know...

After enjoying a wonderful meal in celebration of her birthday, Christine was smiling happily as she listened to her family's pleasant chatter while they gathered in the living room. To her way of thinking, this had always been the best part of her birthday parties...her family was together, and it was time to share pleasant memories and to tell tall tales. Her elderly parents slowly eased themselves into their favorite chairs, and her in laws had soon found their favorite spots as well...Hodgins had moved his wheelchair next to Angela's normal spot on the end of the sofa. Finally settled and content, they all looked at their hostess expectantly.

"Well?", Booth asked impatiently, his voice raspy with age. "Where's that damn photo album you keep talking about, Christine?" He pretended to glare at his wife. "I can't believe Bones went off and left it at the old house…I knew I should've checked the upper shelf in that closet again..."

"Given how unsteady you can be on your feet from time to time, I'm not sure it would've been advisable for you to stand on a step stool to inspect that shelf, Booth.", Brennan said primly. "Anyway, things turned out well, so it's not a problem, is it?"

Christine couldn't help but smile as she listened to another round of her parents' playful bickering. "I'm glad we found it.", she said cheerfully. "The kids have enjoyed looking at all the pictures in it."

"I bet." Hodgins grinned as he saw Max lug a large book into room. "What'cha got there, Buddy?"

Smiling proudly, the boy handed the book to his father. "It's the album. Look...I marked the page with Mom's first baby picture on it."

"Well, so you did!" Michael-Vincent arched an eyebrow at his wife. "There's my little 'Stapes'...what a cutie...look at that pudgy little baby belly..."

Cringing at his comment, Christine tried to take the book from her husband, who held it just out of her reach. "Mikey...stop it!", she cried. "Nobody needs to see that…"

"What's wrong?", he teased. "Are you afraid everyone will still think you have a pudgy belly?" Grinning as he showed off the picture, he shook his head. "Nope...she's slim and trim…even in her 'old age'..."

"You were a cute baby, Mom. Hey, Pops…" Teen-aged Seeley turned to his grandfather. "Tell us about what happened on the day Mom was born. It was quite an adventure, wasn't it?"

"Aww...you kids don't wanna hear that old story again, do ya?" Booth chuckled at his daughter's embarrassment. "Seems like I tell it every year about this time…"

"Please, Pops?", Joy wheedled. "I love that story…"

"Yeah, we do, too!", the boys exclaimed together. "C'mon, Pops…"

That was all it took to convince Booth that the story should be related again. "Oh, okay...I guess it couldn't hurt." Glancing at his wife as he got comfortable in his chair, he cleared his throat. "Once upon a time there was a very stubborn woman…"

Brennan regarded him with astonishment. "I am not stubborn…"

Booth acted as if he was shocked. "Like Hell you aren't! Anyway, how do you know I'm talking about you, Bones? There are a lot of stubborn women in the world."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You are recounting Christine's birth, and I do play a rather prominent part in the story…"

"Okay...okay. I'll start over, alright?" Enjoying the laughter from his audience, Booth continued. "Once upon a time there was a very intelligent, very determined woman. Better?" Seeing Brennan nod, he rolled his eyes. "She was also very pregnant...like this pregnant…" He held his arms far away from his abdomen. "...and her husband wanted to her to deliver the baby in a nice, clean, safe hospital…"

"Hospitals are full of disease causing organisms, Booth! That's no place for a child to be born!" Brennan crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't believe we're having this discussion again, after all these years…"

The grandchildren smirked at each other on the sly, all of them knowing that their grandmother's interjections were just part of the show.

"...but you said germs were everywhere, even at our house, so why would it have been better for the baby to be born at home? That made no sense..." Booth exhaled softly. "Anyway, your Grammy was due to have our baby any day, but that didn't keep her from wanting to go out to investigate a case with me, even though I wanted her to stay back at the lab...but, of course, she wasn't be stubborn, you know..."

"Yes, I remember!", Angela cackled softly. "I thought she was crazy to go so far from the city...but what did I know? And she was not about to listen to anyone's opinion, was she, Booth?"

"You got that right…I was in the same boat, okay?" Booth nodded in agreement. "So Grammy insisted on going with me...to a prison! Imagine that, why don't ya? I mean, that place was crawling with germs and a load of bad guys, right? And there was Grammy, walking around like she owned the place...like she wasn't the least little bit scared…"

"I knew the inmates would respect the fact that I was pregnant, and that they wouldn't harm me.", Brennan said smugly. "I was correct, wasn't I?"

"I guess so." Pausing briefly, Booth reached over to pat her hand. "You usually are right...but I remember being so scared that day…some of those guys were really awful, you know?"

"Well, to be honest, I was somewhat frightened myself, but I knew we had a job to do." She smiled as she caressed his shoulder. "Besides...I knew I would worry about you if you were there without me, and I felt safer being with you. I didn't want to be away from you if I experienced the onset of labor…"

Christine couldn't help but sniffle a little bit. "That's so sweet, Mom…"

Her mother nodded. "And practical, too. I knew I'd need Booth to call the midwife I'd engaged to assist with your birth…"

"Yeah...I was gonna call her while we were on the way to the hospital and tell her to forget about coming to our house…" Winking at his grandchildren, Booth leaned forward in his chair. "I wanted to take Grammy home after we did our work at the prison, so she could rest and have some tomato soup, right? Doesn't that sound like a good thing to do on a chilly day? But when we got to the car, your Grandma A called to give Grammy some more information about the crime, and we had to turn around and go back inside. Your Grammy had an idea about where to look for evidence in the prison, and you know what? She was right again! As it turned out, Grammy used some cocoa powder to dust for some fingerprints in a cookbook she'd found in the prison's kitchen, and those fingerprints solved the case. It was great! I was so excited! We could finally go home! So then…we tried to take down the bad guy, but he incited a fight in the prison's dining hall, so we had to stay and get that calmed down." He paused, laughing out loud. "...and then Grammy yells at me to get the guy's shoes for evidence, and then she tells me that we need to leave right then because she's in labor, and the baby is on the way!"

Seeley chuckled before asking the obvious question, even though he already knew the answer. "Why didn't you just go to the prison infirmary and let Mom be born there? They have doctors, and it would've been like a hospital. Wasn't that what you wanted, Pops?"

"What? No kid of mine was gonna be born in a prison ward!" Booth pretended to be exasperated. "No way! There was a hospital about thirty minutes down the road, and I thought we could make it there in time, but as it turned out, Grammy had been in labor all day, and so it was almost time for your Mom to make her appearance. We needed to find a place to stop…"

"But there was no room at the inn, just like in the Christmas story about Baby Jesus, right?", Max asked innocently. "So you had to go to the stable?"

Not wanting to hear his wife ramble on about the Nativity story being a wild fantasy, Booth quickly answered his grandson's question. "Well, there probably was room in the inn, but they were having a big, fancy party there and the manager said he didn't have time to help us…"

"Although somehow he found time when I threatened to give birth on the inn's front lawn.", Brennan chuckled. "He was almost panicked at that thought…"

"Yeah, me, too! So he let us drive around back to an outbuilding, and then he called an ambulance for us. It wasn't really a stable...more like a glorified shed...big enough for a horse's stall and a riding lawnmower, but not much else." Shrugging at his grandchildren, Booth smiled. "The manager wasn't really a bad guy…he brought out some blankets and water for us, after all...and he tried to help Grammy get comfortable..."

"He didn't really need to call the paramedics, though. Your Pops had everything under control." Brennan smiled gently at her husband. "I trusted him completely."

"Yeah, well, I was scared to death, and I was hoping my backup would get there in time, but your mommy was impatient, kiddos. She couldn't wait to get here to see Grammy and me." He sighed as he remembered that afternoon. "So there we were, with the horse and the lawnmower in a tiny shed, while Grammy was in labor. I'd been trained in first aid classes on how to deliver babies, but still...when it's your own kid…I was really worried, but I knew that the ambulance would get there sooner or later…"

"...but Christine arrived before they did. She has always been ahead of the curve…" Grinning at her daughter, Brennan laughed softly. "She was so beautiful...perfect in every way…"

"Yeah, she really was." Booth nodded in agreement. "Anyway, a few minutes later, the ambulance came roaring up the driveway, and everyone at the fancy party came out of the inn to see what was happening in the back of the building. The paramedics hopped out and came running into the shed and checked out Grammy and your mommy...and me, too, because I was sweating like a horse…"

His audience laughed at his comment. "We were both exhausted...and relieved...and deliriously happy that Christine had arrived. It was decided that Grammy and the baby should be checked out at the hospital, so the paramedics loaded both of them up in the ambulance as the onlookers applauded. It was pretty exciting…"

"Sounds like it." Hodgins grinned at Angela. "You were pretty excited, too, weren't you, Babe?"

"Actually, I was terrified! They'd been gone all day, and neither one of them would answer their phone!" Angela shook her finger at Brennan. "You were kind of a difficult best friend, Brennan…"

"Hey, it's not our fault there was no cell tower near by." Booth smirked at his wife. "The best part about the whole thing was that it was kind of late in the afternoon by the time we got to the hospital, and the hospital's OB/GYN was already gone for the day, so the ER doctor wanted to admit Grammy and the baby for the night. Grammy was too tired to put up much of a fight, so we stayed overnight at the hospital until she and Christine could be given the official okey-dokey the next day and then we came home."

"So you both got what you wanted, right?" Joy had heard the story enough times to know what had happened next. "Mommy wasn't born in a hospital, but she got to spend the night in one. That makes sense…"

"Yeah, I guess. Grammy said it was a good thing your mommy was born in a shed so that she'd be exposed to all sorts of germs and bugs and grass and a whole bunch of other things, like farm kids are, but somehow germy hospitals are still kind of bad, according to her. " Booth winked at his granddaughter. "I think it's because the nurses at the hospital try to order Grammy around, and she doesn't like that very much."

"Booth! That has nothing to do with it! I just think birth is a natural process that doesn't need to be confined to a health facility…", Brennan protested. "Christine was perfectly healthy…'

"Well, I'm glad we had her checked out by the hospital's pediatrician anyway." He leaned back in his chair as he continued to reminisce. "I'd spent most of the evening on the phone, trying to let everyone know what had happened, and then I had tried to sleep in an armchair in Grammy's room, so we were both pretty tired when we left the hospital. With everything that had happened, it was early the next evening before we got home...and guess what? There was a surprise waiting for us! Aunt Cam and Grandma A and PaJack were waiting with us, along with a couple of our friends…"

"It was such a pleasant surprise! We didn't have to cook for several days because of all the food they'd brought. Your Grandma A had made that sign that you see in the picture...Welcome, Stapes…"

"Because the stapes is the smallest bone of the body!", the grandchildren said in unison.

"That's a great story, Pops. Thanks for telling it again." Joy gave her grandfather a kiss on the cheek. "I love happy endings."

"Yeah, it is good, isn't it?" Booth glanced at his daughter with a twinkle in his eye. "Hard to believe it was so many years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday…"

"So many years ago?!", Christine gasped. "I'm not that old…"

"I don't know...you're over forty, right?" Brennan chuckled as she took her daughter's hand. "We're just teasing you, Sweetheart. You have a long, happy life in front of you…"

"I know, Mom...and if I'm as blessed with friends as you and Dad have been, I'll be a very lucky woman."

"Happy birthday, Christine.", her parents said in unison as they held out their arms to embrace her.

"Thanks, Mom...Dad...thanks for everything." She hugged both of them tenderly. "My life has been so happy because of you. You're the best parents a girl could have." Looking around at her family, Christine grinned. "Okay...who wants cake?"

Her children were off like a shot, racing each other to the table. Chuckling as he watched them jostle for position, Booth put his arm around his wife. "Christine's right, you know...we've been very lucky."

Brennan's eyes sparkled with mischief. "You know I don't believe in luck…"

"Well, how else would you explain it? All the good things that have happened to us?", Booth teased. "Random chance? No way…"

"We've been careful to do things the right way, Booth...we've lived the right way...we've planned ahead…we've done research...we've invested our money wisely..."

"Yeah, but all the planning in the world can't replace sheer dumb luck, Bones…"

The couple continued to bicker as they ate their cake and ice cream, much to Christine's delight. Just like they always have...some things never change...

Christine smiled to herself as she ate a bite of cake. It had been a wonderful birthday...made better by being able to share it with her parents once again, and, hopefully, she'd be able to do so for many more years to come.

Thanks for reading. If you have time to review, I'd appreciate it.