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Snapshot: August 21, 2012

"Booth! Hurry up!" Brennan urged, pulling on his arm as he struggled to carry all four bags of luggage by himself, while Brennan had all the carry on bags strapped to her like weapons.

Booth grunted as he felt his arm being pulled. "Bones, relax! She's not going to disappear if we don't get to her in the next couple of minutes!" he groaned, stopping for air once again.

They'd spent the last week in a tropical paradise in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, getting tan and making love on the beach, and staying at the most beautiful resort Brennan's publishers could afford. And every single night, just before bed, Brennan made the call home to check on Cristina, who was staying with Hodgins and Angela, who promised to spoil her rotten while they were gone. And though the small child's only English word was Mama, Brennan would sometimes spend an hour on the phone, listening to her baby babble on and on about God knows what, smiling the entire time and laughing when her voice got all excited, much like her father's, and then listening intently when it seemed she had something important to say, even though Brennan didn't understand a single word.

Brennan didn't want to be one of those mothers who bragged uncontrollably about her baby, but she had to admit that Cristina was incredibly intelligent for her age. At only six months, she could understand almost everything anybody said to her and seemed to have created a language all her own. The only person that seemed to share this language was her best friend, Michael Hodgins, who'd learned to speak at around a year old, and who still babbled with her whenever they were together.

But even with the hour-long calls every night (and a few afternoons) during the one week Honeymoon in Barbados, Brennan missed her baby terribly, not acclimating well to the separation. Booth told her that this was normal since she was Brennan's first child and that he'd felt the same way about Parker when he was a baby, that he still sometimes felt that way when he went long periods of time without seeing him.

She hoped it wouldn't last forever, even after, MAYBE, they had another child. She didn't want to be a mother that smothered her child either.

But as they came to the front lobby of the airport and saw all of their friends waiting, and Cristina settled comfortably on Angela's waist, Brennan wanted to just drop everything right then and there, not caring if anybody stole all their carry on stuff, and run straight to the child, take her in her arms, and never let her go.

She almost did so, right then and there, but she waited until Cristina saw her and made the first move, not wanting to act all emotional (and irrational) if her baby didn't miss her as much.

Brennan walked as calmly as she could towards their friends, matching welcoming smiles as she approached, and then she locked eyes with her daughter and the whole world seemed to melt away.

Cristina began to squirm and fuss in Angela's arms, reaching out for her mother and the luggage with legs that seemed to be following her.

Brennan picked up the pace, unclipping herself from the carryon and handing it to Cam and Wendell, who'd both stepped up to greet her, and taking the squirming baby into her arms, breathing in her comfortingly familiar baby scent.

"Mama." Cristina mumbled, burying her face into her neck. Brennan buried her own face into the baby's hair, holding her close and rocking her from side to side, feeling her heart swell with love as she felt Cristina squeeze back just as tight.

Everybody just watched in awe as this usually cold and serious scientist turned into a pile of mush in her daughter's arms. Angela expressed her feelings outloud in a very loud, "Awww!" while Cam, Wendell, and Hodgins just smiled. Michael, resting in his father's arms, was asleep and made no noise whatsoever.

"Hey!" A voice behind them said, snapping them all out of their little daze. "What about me?"

Booth dropped all of their bags, a irritated expression on his face, along with a pout that Brennan usually found adorable.

As soon as she saw her father, Cristina gave him her version of the Booth patented 1000-watt smiled. "Dada!" she exclaimed, shocking everybody as she reached out for him.

Booth's pout disappeared and he matched her smile, taking her into his arms and kissing her forehead. He looked over at Angela. "When did she start saying that?" he asked.

"About two seconds ago…" Angela said, wide-eyed.

Booth's grin widened. "Seriously?" Angela nodded. He looked down into his baby girl's big blue eyes. "I guess she was just waiting for Daddy to come home then, huh?"

Cristina smiled and reached out to touch her father's cheek. "Dada!" she exclaimed.

Booth grinned. "That's right, Little Bones." he said, using the nickname that Brennan loathed. "I'm Dada." He kissed her nose, and was about to hug her again when she was pulled out of his arms by Brennan who pulled the baby to her chest. Booth pouted, but Cristina didn't seem to mind, snuggling into her mother's chest, and playing with her necklace. Brennan smiled at Booth and invited him with her hand to join in on the hug.

Booth did so immediately, hugging the two women who meant the most to him. Angela aww'ed at them and wrapped her own arms around them. "I miss you guys so much!" she exclaimed, making Brennan chuckle. Hodgins got in, too, hugging his wife, then Cam, hugging Booth's back, and finally Wendell stepped in, wrapping his arms around them all.

They all stay like that for about two minutes, not caring who saw them. They were a family, after all, and they were definitely not embarrassed to love each other. Angela even had a picture taken by a Homeland Security officer, and promised to send copies to everybody once it was developed and framed.

When they all pulled back, Hodgins and Wendell each grabbed a suitcase, while Angela took Michael and a carryon, Cam took the other carryon, and Brennan refused to let go of her daughter for the next two hours, when she had to put her down for her nap.

But, even then she sat there and watched her baby sleep on her bed, stroking her hair gently, like she was the most precious thing in the universe.

And, in so many ways, she was.

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