Walking up the stairs Booth heard what only could be described as off key screaming. Even though his daughter had inherited her mother's love for music, she had also inherited his off-key singing ability. It only took a few steps into his apartment before he could hear the singing cease and the sound of small footsteps coming barreling toward him.
"Daddy!" Joy beamed, charging into her father's legs, "Pizza, pizza, pizza! Pizza!"
"Joy…" Booth growled, dropping his coat on the hock, "What did I say about manners?"
"Oh. Oh yeah." The girl slowly took a step back, "Did ya catch the bad guy today?" She giggled, probing her father's ego.
"What do you think?" He turned toward the child, cradling her in his arms as he walked toward the kitchen.
"My daddy always catches the bad guy." Joy turned toward her nanny and smiled, "You're not a bad guy, are you?"
"Juliet is not a bad guy, Joy." Booth shook his head at his daughter.
"Good." She squirmed from his grasp and running down the hall toward her bedroom. "He won't have to use his shiny gun."
Her obsession with weapons… another clear indication she was mostly Brennan and just slightly his. Since she was five, every time he went to the range she was in tow. It originally was out of necessity but soon he found himself unable to say no to those delicate blues.
"Wash up the pizza should be here soon!" He yelled, causing the footprints to stop and slowly walk into the bathroom.
"She was very good this evening." The twenty-something nanny flashed a smile at Booth, trying to catch the attention of the clearly distracted man.
"So no explosions I need to know about?" He spoke, pushing mail around on the counter and unaffected by her sudden close proximity and tight fitting clothing.
"Nope." Juliet lightly whispered, "Is there anything else you need, Mr. Booth?"
Booth's eyes flicked up at the woman then focused intently on the calendar behind her. How could he not know what today was?
"Mr. Booth?" She placed her hand on his shoulder, sending him out of his revere.
"No. Have a good evening, Juliet." He politely nodded; gaze still locked on the date.
"Oh… okay. Goodnight Seeley." The young woman smiled one last time, standing in the doorway. "Same time tomorrow?"
Her eyes followed the man pace across the kitchen then jerk his tie off and throw it haphazardly on the counter. He was usually a calm and collected man but today he clearly had something else on his mind. Tonight would not be the night she won over his heart. And with the way he had been ignoring her passes lately, never had become a strong possibility.
Moments later a small knock came from the other side of the door followed by a thump.
"Pizza!" Joy ran down the hall toward the door.
Running up to the door Joy pushed the door open and sighed. Still no pizza. Just a woman standing before her, forehead outstretched where the door once was and puddle forming at her feet.
"Daddy! A lady is here to see you…" Her eyes ran up and down the woman, "A very sad woman."
"Juliet I told you for the fifth time…" Booth threw down an envelope.
"Juliet?" The woman standing in the doorway voice shook.
Booth's eyes shot up and he gasped. Sure her hair was darker and she was much skinnier then he remembered but that voice was not one he could ever forget. And those crystalline eyes, his daughter a clear reminder of how pretty her eyes were… or once were, the eyes boring into him now seemed so hollow, almost ghostly as they pleaded for redemption.
"Bren…" His eyes were drawn to the child standing in the doorway; did she even remember who this woman was? "Munchkin can you go set the table, please?"
"She's pretty" Joy smiled at the woman standing her doorway before turning toward the kitchen, "but not as much fun as the pizza."
"Thank you, Joy." The woman smiled slightly for the first time in months. It had been a long six years but a lifetime could not deny the Brennan features the child held, "Your structure is forming quite nicely."
"Uh… thank you…" She looked back at the woman, "Daddy she's weird." She whispered passing her father.
"You have no idea, honey." He chuckled to himself. He had often wondered about his daughter's quarks but the proof was standing in front of him. Or at least she once was. The woman standing before him was a shell of what he remembered, a figment of a past life.
Walking slowly toward the door, his heart tensed watching the tears slowly flow down her flushed checks. All the hate he had held for the last six years quickly dissipated. The woman he had hated was gone. The one standing before him was completely shattered, hallow and empty.
"She… she's beautiful." She sniffled, "I… she's perfect."
"Just like her mother." He softly whispered, unable to help himself. All he needed was a smile, a singular smile to show that her life wasn't as horrible as her body indicated. She had to have some fight in her, some drive… something to prove she was more than just a breathing ghost.
"I'll leave you two alone…" She shyly turned, trying to run from the man who once said she was his world but now she knew she was much less than an afterthought. Maybe if she left he would forget she ever existed, it was like he needed her anymore… well not as much as she needed him.
This was a bad idea. Who was she to have the nerve to randomly drop by her ex-lovers house six years later? It was not like she really had a claim on him anymore. She thought she needed closure, proof that his life was much better without her in it. Six years was enough time to get over the wreck he had turned her into, she told herself over and over. But standing in his doorway, familiar sights and smells beating her senses… the truth was a lifetime was not enough.
This was a horrible idea.
"I… I just." She choked on the bile rising up, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come."
Her mind screamed to run but her body refused to even flinch. Mesmerized in all things Booth, he was like a drug she couldn't get enough of. She gasped and dry heaved, knowing another wave of panic attacks had reared its ugly head. Her doctors had told her if she didn't get to the root of her attacks they would kill her but standing before what she originally was the cause, she found herself incorrect. This attack would be much stronger than ever before, this might be it… this might be the end.
"Bones!" His voice jerked, startling her and causing her to drop her bag. "Dinner should be here soon. Why don't you come in and have a slice?" He winched as the woman before him flinched and gasped, unable to catch her breath. She looked so weak and feeble, barely able to even stand.
"I couldn't impose." Her teeth rattled as she backed up, stumbling on her bag and falling onto a heap on the floor.
"You wouldn't be." He smiled, out stretching his hand and pulling her up. Brennan was hesitant but the warmth his body oozed was one her body was begging for. She had been cold for far too long, even the dead envied her.
"I can see you…" Her meek voice whispered, suddenly caught by the way his arms cradled her body so perfectly.
"Shh, shh." He soothed, unable to stop the shivering as her ice cold flesh flash froze his own.
"But you…" She adamantly protested, clinging to the heartbreak that had practically destroyed her all those years ago, "you're her parent now…"
"You can deny it all you want but we both know the truth, Bones. You're her mother. You carried her for seven months and was the one who never left her side while she was in the hospital. If that does not prove your ability to care for your young, I don't know what does."
"But Booth…" She whispered, eyes rolling back in her head.
"Mommy?" Joy gasped, as the familiar tone soothed her aching heart. Running toward her father with her arms wide open, Joy stopped short and cringed. After all the stories her father had told her of her mother, this was not the woman she was expecting. "Why does mommy look dead?"