A/N: WOW. Thank you for the awesome response to chapter one! I'm so glad you liked it – like I said, bear with me. If you've read any of my other stuff, you know it's absolutely impossible for me to end a story any way other than happily!

Also, I encourage you to read my A/Ns. There's usually some pretty good information that you NEED TO KNOW.

Keep those reviews coming! I seriously don't want to have to pay to tan this summer!

XOXO,
KJ

"Please don't do this, Booth."

"Do what?"

"You know what. We made this decision as a team. We decided you'd raise the baby. You'd be his or her primary care giver. I am essentially a surrogate mother."

"Who just happens to be the actual mother," Booth responded with a slightly bitter tone.

"Yes. I am the baby's biological mother. But you are her primary caregiver," Brennan reached down and cupped her hand over his stubbled cheek. "You're going to be the daddy," she said quietly. "But nowhere in this was I secretly hoping you'd ask me to marry you and be the mommy."

He looked up at her with a watery smile. "So that's a no?"

"That's a no," she repeated. "I'm sorry. I wish I could be the person you need me to be."

"No. You are amazing. You… I appreciate everything you've done, because you could have chosen to… you know."

His comment stung slightly. "But I didn't. I know how much you love being a father. I didn't want to take that away from you."

"I wish there was a way to convince you you'd love being a mother just as much."

"I'm sorry, Booth."

Brennan looked on as her class flew through the Jeopardy questions she posed, complimenting them on their knowledge. She glanced up at the clock and noticed that their time was about up. "Alright," she announced, "final Jeopardy! The category will be… chapter seven," she growled menacingly. Her students responded with appropriate shudders of fear, remembering how mightily they'd struggled with the chapter on genetics. "Captains, place your wagers!" The students debated amongst their teams to decide how much to wager. Once the team captains made eye contact with their professor, she went on with the question. "This process is the synthesis of RNA under the direction of DNA."

She looked up into a few puzzled faces and a few faces that she could tell were absolutely certain of the answer. Those faces were the ones that had made her decide to request cutting back her Anatomy classes so she could focus on the entry-level Biology classes. She'd once heard it described as "the light bulb coming on."

"Dr. Brennan? You wanted to see me?"

"Dr. Woods. Yes, thank you. Please come in." Brennan pushed aside the tests she'd been grading and smiled at the chair of her department. "I want to make a request. I'm not very good at this," she paused to take a breath as she prepared to eat her words. "I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the section of Biology you gave me, and I was wondering if I could cut a section of A and P and teach another section of 103."

"Well," the older woman smiled again. "This is quite a different Dr. Brennan from the beginning of the semester. What changed your mind?"

"You were right," Brennan conceded. "The freshmen weren't as bad as I thought. They're really good kids. I really enjoy teaching them… and the moment they get it? When the…"

"The light bulb clicks on?" Dr. Woods asked.

Brennan smiled. "Exactly. When the light bulb clicks on. It's a great feeling."

"You had thirty-two students drop your class on the first day, Dr. Brennan."

Brennan was slightly taken aback. "Yes, but I've looked at the registration lists and there's a waiting list for my class that would easily fill another section."

"You saw that, huh?" Dr. Woods asked.

"Pardon?"

"Oh, Dr. Brennan. You're stealing my thunder! I wanted to come in here and congratulate you and tell you job well done on your first semester with the freshmen and ask you if I could interest you in another section. You weren't supposed to ask me yourself!"

Brennan looked blankly at Dr. Woods.

"I'm kidding."

"Of course!" Brennan laughed. "Of course you are. Me. Stealing your thunder. I get it!"

Dr. Woods smiled again and stood. Turning to leave, she gave the newest CSU professor a final compliment: "You've become quite popular, Dr. B."

The next semester, Brennan had taken on another section of Biology and managed to add one per semester until she was teaching only one Anatomy and Physiology class, one Biology lab, one Anatomy and Physiology lab, three Biology lectures, and an online Biology class. There was barely enough time in the day for her to hold the office hours she'd promised.

"Okay. Let's see your answers. Lexi, you're up."

The bubbly sophomore held up her square of poster board. "What is transcription?"

"Perfect. Good job, team Lexi. What did you wager?"

Lexi flipped over her team's poster board. "We wagered fifteen thousand, Dr. B."

"Nice work, team," Brennan backed to the board and added the money to the team's column. "You end the day with thirty-nine thousand, two hundred dollars. Let's see if Parker or Maggie's teams can catch that."

Brennan went through the other two teams, both having the correct answer, but ending up with slightly less money than the first team. She declared Lexi's team the winner and handed out the m&m's she'd offered as a prize. "Okay, people. Remember: labs after 3 in my office, test Monday, studying all weekend!!" she teased. "Now get outta here."

Her students rose to their feet and shuffled quietly up the stairs and out the door. She gathered her materials and stuffed them into her bag, hitting the lights on her way out of the lecture hall. She started down the short corridor, trying to hold her overflowing bag on her shoulder, her coffee in the opposite hand, all without dropping the lap top in her arms. Just as she was about to kick the "up" button, her cell phone started vibrating against her hip. She fished it carefully out and flipped it open, not bothering to check the caller ID. "Dr. Brennan," she answered.

"Hi."

Oh, shit.

"Push, Dr. Brennan! I just need one more good one and then you'll get to meet your baby!"

Brennan grunted and heaved, trying to breathe through the pain. "C'mon, Bones. Baby's almost here," Booth whispered encouragingly in her ear.

"I. Can't. DO THIS!" Brennan screamed, clutching Booth's hand in a death grip.

"Yes you can," he assured her. "You're the strongest woman I know. If anyone can do this, it's you. C'mon Bones. Squeeze my hand as hard as it hurts."

Brennan bore down one more time and pushed with every ounce of strength she thought the sixteen hour labor had drained out of her. Just as she was about to say "I quit" and wander around with a child dangling from her body for the rest of her life, the pressure was relieved.

"She's out!" Dr. Barnes announced.

"She? A daughter?" Booth beamed.

"Yep. A baby girl. What's her name?"

Booth bent over the bed and dropped a gentle kiss on Brennan's sweat-streaked forehead. "Katie. Katie Christine Booth."