A/N: I'm so excited to see how many of you have put this story (and me! Woo!) on alert! Yay! Here's another chapter – I know these seem consecutive but that's not how I mean them – just random. I pretty much write them as the quotes hit me! By the way, flashbacks are in italics.

"She gathers me, man, the pieces that I am – she gathers them and gives them back to me, in the right order."

Toni Morrison

"What do you think?"

"Isn't it kind of… small?"

Seeley sighed. "Haven't you ever heard that size doesn't matter?"

"That's a myth perpetuated by guys bearing small stuff."

"Hodgins, work with me, here. I have a very good explanation for the size."

"Really?" Jack asked, clearly amused. "I'd love to hear it."

"Rubber gloves," Seeley replied with a shrug, as if it were the most obvious explanation he'd ever offered anyone.

"Rubber gloves? That's your explanation?" Jack asked.

Seeley scrubbed a hand over his jaw. Out of all the squints, Jack was easily his favorite after Bones. In fact, since Jack and Angela had finally managed to get married (and Seeley had conned Bones into going on a date with him, and then kissing him, and then sleeping with him, and then moving in with him) they'd spent quite a bit of time together – but sometimes Booth still wanted to punch him out.

"Rubber gloves. She's putting them on and taking them off all day long. So I figured," Seeley paused dramatically, "a big honkin' diamond would just get in the way. Besides. It's an eternity band, Hodgins. Symbolism, man."

"This is all assuming she doesn't punch your lights out for buying into the antiquated custom blah blah blah," Jack said with a grin.

"All assuming, yes," Seeley answered his friend tersely. "But I've got a great speech planned," he finished with a grin.

"I hope it's better than your great explanation. Because, Dude, that sucked."

"Shut up," Seeley punched Jack in the bicep and laughed. "So seriously. Think she'll uh…"

"Like it?"

"Punch me."

Hodgins laughed. "Depends on how convincing this great speech of yours is."

"I think it's pretty great. Max… Max loved it. I ran it by him."

"As in her old man in federal lock-up?"

Seeley nodded. "Asked his blessing."

"Dude. I told you what happened with Angie's dad."

"Dude," Seeley exaggerated, "Unlike you, I didn't ask for his permission, I asked for his blessing."

Jack nodded. "Good thinking."

"Yeah well, no one ever said I didn't learn from the mistakes of others," Seeley teased.

"So how'd the conversation with Max go?"

"Really well…"

"Agent Booth," the older man greeted him with a firm handshake.

"Max," Booth said warily. Even with all of the glass and alarms and orange jumpsuits in the world, Seeley still wasn't a hundred percent trusting of Max. The man had a bad habit of killing FBI agents. Granted, they were dirty cops, but Seeley was sleeping with Max's daughter.

"So. What brings you here without Tempe?"

"Well, uh, Max, you know, uh… this all came out a lot easier in the parking lot," Booth let out a strangled laugh.

"What is it, Seeley?" Max asked. Since he'd met the man, Booth could count on one hand the number of times Max Keenan had called him by his given name. Yet, somehow, it put him at ease.

"Iwanttomarryyourdaughter," the statement came out in a rush.

"Tempe?" Max asked, trying to get his bearings. Over the years he'd thought about the day a man would come to ask for his permission to marry his baby girl. He'd just never thought it'd be in a federal prison. Or that he'd be a guest in the prison. Or that said man would be an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But even considering all of that, Max Keenan couldn't ask for a better man to be Tempe's husband.

"You got another I don't know about?" Seeley asked with a raised eyebrow.

Max smiled. "Nope.Just the one. So, uh, are you asking my permission?"

"No, sir. With all due respect, sir, I love your daughter. But if she ever found out I asked your permission to marry her, like she was some sort of property to be had, the only thing being had would be my head."

"And probably not the one on your shoulders," Max nodded, agreeing with Booth's assessment.

Booth laughed. "Truer words have never been spoken."

"So you love her."

"I do. She's an amazing woman."

"What makes you think she's going to say yes?"

Seeley laughed again. "In all honesty, I really don't expect her to. I just keep telling myself she's going to tell me to shove it. That way, if she does, I won't be let down, but if she accepts… well I'll be pleasantly surprised."

Max nodded, encouraging Seeley to keep talking.

"All I know, Max, is that she means more to me than anything in this world. She's so many things to me," Seeley could feel the smile creeping across his face as he explained to Bones's dad exactly what the man's daughter meant to him. "She's brilliant. Talented.Funny. Beautiful, of course, and she's got a bigger heart than anyone I know. She gets me better than anyone ever has. Even me, sometimes," he chuckled lightly. "She doesn't just make me want to be better. When I'm with Temperance, I am better. She just… she means the world to me, Max. And your blessing would mean almost as much."

Max nodded, taking into consideration everything the young man had said. He knew Booth loved his daughter. Had known since the first time he'd met the kid. The way he protected Tempe, cared about her, and spared nothing to keep her safe. "Well, Booth, I obviously won't be giving you my permission – T would kill us both. But since you came for my blessing, consider it yours," Max shook the young agent's hand again. "You're a good man, Seeley. I asked you to take care of my daughter, and from the conversations I've had with her, I know you do. But I also know that she takes care of you. You two have an equal partnership, which is a very rare find. Don't you ever forget what a treasure it is. Nor should you ever forget what a treasure my daughter is. If you do…" Max's voice trailed off.

"I know you'd find a way, Max," Seeley said with a soft smile even though he knew that Max was far from kidding.

"Did you get her a ring?" Max asked with a grin.

"As much as I think she might relieve me of my nuts for it, yes, I did. I have a nice little speech prepared that I'm hoping keeps her from saying no if she's so inclined."

"Oh?" Max asked, pausing as an indication that he'd like to hear this speech.

"Well, I mean, it really isn't much. And to be honest, I'm sure I'll forget it once I'm on my knee looking at her. But I do love her, and she knows that. And she knows I have more respect for her than anyone I've ever met. And she knows I'd give my life to protect hers. But sometimes I don't think she understands how much I need her. That sometimes… sometimes I just fall apart trying to hold it all together. And when that happens, and she's right there, just, right there with me? And she puts me back together? I fall in love with her again. Every damn time," he shook his head with a chuckle. He pulled the ring he'd been packing around for two weeks out of his pocket and showed it to Max. "It's an eternity band. I don't mean for it to mark her as mine, I mean it as a symbol of how long I will love her. And how long I will respect her, and protect her. And how long I will need her."

"It's a nice speech, Seeley," Max smiled gently. "I hope she says yes."

"Me too, Max, me too."

"So then he told me to let him know how it turned out."

Jack swiped at his eye quickly with the back of his hand, nodding.

"Are you crying, Hodgins?" Seeley asked with a wide grin. "I never knew you were so sentimental."

"Nah, man. Particulates. In the air. Been bothering me," he said.

"Sure, Hodgins, okay," Seeley laughed at his friend as he drained the rest of his beer, setting the empty bottle back on the bar. "I gotta go. Date with an angel," he smiled.

"Get outta here," Jack said with a smile. "Good luck, Man."

"Thanks, Hodgins. I'd tell you I'll let you know how it goes, but I imagine you'll hear your wife shriek when Bones calls her. Or I'll be calling you to come help me remove her fist from my brain."

"Deal, Man," Jack slugged back the rest of his beer as he and Seeley headed for the door. "Good luck," he said as they parted ways. "Oh, hey, See," he began as he opened the door of the cab that had stopped for him.

"Yeah, Man," Seeley responded.

"Tell anyone about that crying thing and it'll be my fist you need help removing from your brain."

Seeley laughed heartily. "What crying thing?"

"Exactly."

An hour later, in a dark corner booth at Wong Foo's, Seeley checked the bulge from the ring box in his pocket for the millionth time, making sure the band of diamonds was still there.

"Seeley, you've been acting weird all night. What's going on?" Temperance asked.

Seeley took a deep breath and pulled the box from his pocket and flipped it open. Sliding out of the booth and dropping to his knee, he looked up at her and smiled. The eyes he'd half-expected to be filled with sheer terror at this moment shined with unshed tears. Please let those be happy tears, he prayed as he began.

"Temperance Brennan, I love you..."

--

A/N: I started this today but finished it at nearly three in the morning to the soundtrack of infomercials. Let me know what you think!