Chapter 22 Kiss
Once Brennan finished nursing Christine, she stood up from the rocker and walked carefully from the nursery into their bedroom where Booth sat leaning against the headboard of their bed, reading a magazine amid large fluffy pillows cushioning his back "Come rock her so she can burp, Booth," she said softly.
Booth spent the next half hour rocking back and forth, patting his daughter's back, her downy head tucked under his chin. His heart rate slowed with the relaxing motion of the glider. The baby had fallen asleep, and he was about to doze off as well. Placing Christine on her tummy in her white crib, Booth leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. The feel of her velvety soft baby skin against his lips was something he had missed very much over the last three months. Holding his children in his arms calmed him like nothing else could. He thought it had to be the most peaceful experience of human existence. He covered her with a green and white cotton frog print blanket, and left the door ajar.
Stepping across the hall, he knocked on Parker's closed door. Hearing no sound from within, he opened it silently and looked in on his son. Parker had fallen asleep reading a Goosebumps book. Another paperback, Captain Underpants, had fallen to the floor beside his bed. Booth retrieved it and chuckled to himself. Parker might excel in the Jeffersonian's kids' after-school science program, but his reading tastes were still decidedly immature. Bones had tried to interest him in reading Shelley's Frankenstein with her, but it was still beyond him. They had done Robinson Crusoe together. He guessed that was a start. He straightened Parker's covers and kissed his tousled blond hair. "Geez, the kid's hair has gotten long. He looks like Chewbacca. Rebecca's current caseload must be taking all her time. I 've gotta take him with me to the barber in the morning," he decided. Booth turned off the bedside lamp and stepped quietly out of the boy's room, closing the door. He leaned against it, closed his eyes, and breathed a silent prayer of thanks that his interactions with Rebecca was so much smoother than they once had been. He deeply appreciated her letting Parker spend more weekends with them. "I'll remember to thank her again when I drop him off Sunday night."
Booth went downstairs and made his nightly circuit of their home, checking doors and window locks, and scanning the backyard through the curtains. He checked the front yard through the partially open plantation shutters, and made sure the porch and yard lights were on. Even though his family was back home, he'd never stop his vigilance on their behalf.
He walked back upstairs, avoiding the squeaky one that could someday alert him to a broken curfew and grinned to himself. Back in their bedroom, he changed his clothes and brushed his teeth. Brennan closed her "Developments in Forensic Techniques" journal and smiled at him as he slid under the covers toward her. He touched her face and kissed her. Her lips parted and she answered his gentle invitation to ardor…..
Much later, as his Bones lay sleeping beside him, Booth stared at the ceiling in complete contentment. His girls were safely back home, and he could kiss them both as often as he liked. He rolled on his side carefully, so as not to wake her up, and kissed her again.
In the morning, he would tease Christine with raspberry tummy kisses, hug Parker tightly with a kiss on his forehead, and kiss Brennan all over again…..all over.
A/N: I'm interjecting a bit of my own feelings into Booth's brain in this drabble. I've nursed, burped, rocked, and nuzzled my four children and the sensation of a tiny head nestled beneath my chin is one of the sweetest a mother can know. My husband has said he feels the same (well except for the nursing part. He is, however, an expert at burping.)