Author's Note: Okay, this was originally a separate oneshot, but I continued it and decided to put it into this collection. :) It's kind of really long...


YOU'RE WELCOME

"You know, this isn't the daycare center," said the security guard.

"Oh, really? My mistake." The sarcasm was obvious in the girl's voice. "Look, I just need to see Seeley Booth."

"You mean Agent Booth?" The guard wasn't happy with his authority being challenged by a girl young enough to be his daughter, and he wasn't about to let her inside the Jeffersonian. She stared at him.

"No…actually, I'm pretty sure I mean Seeley," she said.

"Agent Booth works for the FBI—" the guard began.

"Yes, that's generally what the title 'Agent' implies," interrupted the girl.

"—so why aren't you at the FBI building?" asked the guard.

"Because they told me he was here!" said the girl, frustrated. "Please…" Her tone changed immediately from sarcastic to pleading. "I came a long way. Please, just let me see him." The guard looked at her, considering. He couldn't really tell how old she was, but she was very pretty, with dark brown hair and eyes. But there was something different about her, that would have set her aside from other girls her age. The guard couldn't really figure out what it was.

"How old are you?"

"Why does it matter?"

"It matters because I'm the one who decides whether you're let inside or not."

"I'm sixteen."

"No you're not," said the guard. The girl shrugged.

"You asked."

"You know, lying is really not going to get you in."

"I'm fifteen," she said. The guard stared at her eyes, trying to find any signs that she was not telling the truth. He couldn't tell anything from them, and that's when he realized what seemed so different about her. It was her eyes. They seemed to see right through him. They were a soft brown, but they were at the same time cold and hard. He shifted uncomfortably under her piercing gaze.

"Wait in the lounge, I'll find someone to bring you to him." The girl nodded and entered the Jeffersonian.

---

"Excuse me, did you want to see Seeley—Agent Booth?" A dark-haired woman wearing a blue lab coat with "C. Saroyan" written on the front approached the girl.

"Yes," the girl said.

"I'm Dr. Saroyan."

"I know." Cam stared at her.

"You know? How?"

"Yeah," said the girl, gesturing at her lab coat. "The whole name-on-the-front thing is kind of a dead giveaway."

"Oh," said Cam, embarrassed. "Well, he's in the lab with Dr. Brennan."

"Can I see him?" asked the girl.

"Would you mind me asking what your relationship is to him?" asked Cam.

"Would you mind me asking what your relationship is to him?" countered the girl. Cam stared at her.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing," said the girl, the slightest hint of a knowing smile playing on her face.

"All right," said Cam, glancing at her sideways. "Follow me."

---

They heard Booth long before they saw him. As soon as the girl heard his voice her heart lept. One half of her wanted to turn back, but the other half wanted to see him more than ever. Booth was on the platform, talking to another blue-lab-coat scientist. God, they were everywhere, she thought.

"Do you want me to stay?" whispered Cam. The girl looked at her disbelievingly.

"Of course not," she said bluntly. Cam left, and the girl stood there watching Booth argue with the scientist.

"Bones!" Booth said. "How many times do I—"

"Booth?" said Brennan, seeing who was approaching behind him. "There's someone…"

"One second," said Booth.

"Booth…" said Brennan.

"What is—" Booth stopped his sentence midway as soon as he turned around and saw the girl standing there.

"Seeley?" she asked. Booth's jaw dropped.

"…Katie?"

"I'm sorry, this is a bad time," said Katie.

"No! No, it's not. Not at all," said Booth.

"I'll come back later," she said.

"Wait. No, stay," Booth said quickly. Brennan watched this encounter from behind him, utterly confused.

"Booth, you have a daughter in addition to the son you never told us about?"

"Seeley, you have a son?"

"Stop!" shouted Booth, holding up his hand to silence them both. He paused for a few seconds and then drew a deep breath. "Bones…this is Kaitlin—Katie. She's…my sister."

There was silence. Brennan stared first at Booth, then at Katie, obviously trying to register the similarities between them. Feeling uncomfortable underneath her analyzing gaze, Katie cleared her throat.

"Um…okay. This has been…" She gestured to their situation. "…sufficiently awkward. I think I'll just leave now."

"Absolutely not," said Booth. "Katie, I haven't seen you in…"

"Seven years." Katie finished his sentence, smiling weakly.

"Katie, I'm…" Booth began. Katie put up her hand to stop him, then closed it slowly.

"Seeley, you don't have to say anything. It wasn't your fault."

"I know it wasn't my fault, Katie. It was all you," Booth said angrily. "Do you have any idea how much pain you caused us?" Katie stared at him, shocked by his words. Tears began to form behind her eyes.

"I was eight years old, Seeley! You can't blame me."

"No, I can! You have no idea how many sleepness nights I had, worrying about you. Mom was heartbroken."

"I was heartbroken."

"Right, because you had all the problems in your life."

"You left, Seeley. You left when I needed you the most." The tears were still welling up behind Katie's eyes, but she concentrated on not letting them fall. She knew that once she showed that she was upset, she would feel weak. "Look, I didn't come here to fight, but apparently that's what I'm going to get." Her tone was harsh. "I'm done here." She turned her back, walking away. Booth didn't shout after her, he didn't protest. He simply watched her go.

"Booth…" Brennan's voice was quiet. "You should go after her."

"No," said Booth, his voice devoid of emotion. "She'll be fine."

"But you won't." Booth turned to face Brennan, knowing that she was right. "If you're not going to go after her, than I will. She obviously needs to talk to someone."

"And she's going to talk to you?"

"Well, she's not going to talk to you," said Brennan. She ran down the stairs, following where Katie had gone. Booth watched her go, shaking his head.

---

Brennan caught up to Katie, who knew she was there but paid no attention to her until she started to speak.

"Katie, I'm Dr—"

"Dr. Temperance Brennan, I know," said Katie. "Booth send you after me?"

"No, actually….actually I came by myself."

"Good to know you're neutral then," said Katie, still walking briskly.

"What happened between you and Booth?" At this question Katie stopped short, whirling around to face Brennan.

"Why don't you talk to him about that? You really don't need me to tell you."

"I can't talk to him because he won't talk to anyone!" said Brennan. "He's upset."

"Look, I'm sorry for reopening that seven-year-old wound, but I just wanted to see my brother," said Katie. She stressed the words 'seven year old', pointedly emphasizing how long it had been. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

"I understand. My brother left me too, when I was younger," said Brennan, making a stab at sympathizing with her.

"No, you don't understand," said Katie. "I was the one who left." Brennan stared at her in disbelief.

"When you were eight years old? How? Why?"

"Seeley made some choices that I didn't agree with. I felt like he had abandoned me, and I didn't like that, so…"

"What sort of choices?" Brennan asked. Katie looked at her.

"What, he hasn't told you?"

"You mean him joining the Army?" asked Brennan. Katie nodded slowly.

"He came back to visit one day…I saw him from my window. He got out of that car, all dressed up in his camo clothes or whatever. I saw this look in his eye, this look like he didn't belong to us anymore, he'd found a new family. He looked so different than when he had left…I was scared of him…of what he'd become. I—I didn't want to face him. So I left."

"Why did you come back?" asked Brennan. She was thoroughly intrigued with Booth and Katie's story—Booth had never told her that he had a dysfunctional family too. Katie shrugged.

"I just wanted to see him again," Katie said quietly. "There's not a day that went by that I didn't regret my decision to leave. But now…" She paused. "Now I realize that it was better when I wasn't in his life." Brennan shook her head.

"I can't read people very well. I'm kind of known for it. But I know Booth, and if you leave now he'll never be happy. I know what it's like to have a family member leave. No matter how much you think you hate them…you still can't. He loves you." Katie looked at Brennan, not sure what to believe. I can't believe I got myself into this mess, she thought.

"Maybe you're right," she said after a few minutes. "But…I shouldn't even have come in the first place. I may have been eight years old, but I was right. He does have a new family. I was stupid not to be able to let go." She turned around, trying to hide the tears.

"Katie…" Brennan began. But she was already walking away.

This is going to kill Booth, Brennan thought.

---

When Brennan returned to the lab, Booth wasn't there. She finally found him sitting on the couch in her office, his head resting in his hands. She sat next to him, but he was the first to speak.

"I know how you feel now," he said quietly. Brennan didn't say anything but waited for him to continue. He lifted his head, but still looked down. "Now my family's walked away from me twice too."

"She still loves you, Booth. She didn't want to hurt you."

"Well, you know, she did a really good job of it."

"Booth…" Brennan's voice was soft. She hated seeing him like this—it scared her more than anything else. She wasn't used to being strong for him, usually it was the other way around. Ever since that day in that cemetery when he opened up to her about his past…She had never wanted to see him cry again. "Booth," she whispered again. "I'm sorry." She put her hand over his, squeezing it gently. He turned his head to look at her, offering his weakest 'charm smile'.

"Thanks, Bones."

---

It was the next day. Booth sat at his desk, thumbing through files—tons of paperwork that he had go through. A letter sat on his desk, a single white envelope, unopened. In rounded handwriting on the front it read "Seeley".It looked so solitary and plain. He stared at it for a few moments, considering taking it, opening it, and reading what was inside.

Instead he picked it up and dropped it into the trash can next to his desk.

He didn't need to know.

---

For the rest of the day, that single letter that still lay in Booth's trash can bothered him. It stayed at the back of his mind, nagging him reach back down and open it—to read what it said. Finally he sighed. Damn it, Katie. He reached into the trash can and pulled out the envelope. Ripping it open, he took out the neatly folded letter that was inside it. Booth took a deep breath and unfolded the letter, quickly reading its contents. It wasn't an apology, or even a letter, per se. It was simply a paragraph, written in a handwriting that Booth recognized. It was his own.

There are moments in your life that make you – that set the course of who you're gonna be.

Sometimes they're little, subtle moments. Sometimes they're not.

Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments..

No one asks for their life to change – not really. But it does. It's going to change, you can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.

You'll see what I mean.

At the bottom of the paper was scrawled a single line, in a different handwriting – it was Katie's.

I see what you mean.

Booth sighed, staring at the letter for a few more seconds. He remembered this clearly. He had written it and left it in Katie's room the day that he left for the army. She had kept it all these years? A few lines from the paragraph he had written popped out at him. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does.It's what you do afterwards that counts. Booth continued to stare at the letter until the image was blurred with tears. His phone rang, and he picked it up, hoping to hear Katie's voice on the other end.

"Booth."

"So you read the letter." It was Katie's voice. Thank God, Booth thought. Then he frowned.

"How did you know that?"

"Well, I figured if you hadn't read the letter, you wouldn't answer the phone because you'd be trying to avoid me. If you did read the letter, then you'd answer the phone, hoping that it was me. Didn't your anthropologist friend teach you about logic?"

"Oh, she's tried," said Booth. Then he paused. "Listen…about the letter."

"Seven years ago," said Katie quietly. "You were trying to tell me that I couldn't stop you from leaving, but I could make it better afterwards."

"Not by running away," Booth said.

"That's why I came back," she responded. Booth frowned, trying to figure something out.

"Let me guess. You left, you came back, you left. Then you found the letter and you figured that it would apply to me this time. I didn't ask for you to come back—I couldn't stop you from re-entering my life—but I could make it better instead of pushing you away. Because it's what you do afterwards that counts."

"What we do afterwards," Katie corrected, and Booth could almost hear her grin.

"Look, Katie…I'm sorry. I didn't think I was ready for you to come back."

"So you were gonna wait until you're 97 and in a resting home, huh?"

"Your sarcasm is as cutting as ever. Congratulations."

"Thanks," Katie said, laughing.

"Look, I need—I need to see you. Can you get over to the Jeffersonian?"

"Way ahead of you, big brother."

"All right then – I'll be there in a few minutes."

---

Booth found Katie sitting on a leather couch in the lounge at the Jeffersonian. She looked up as he came in.

"Hey, you," Booth said, sitting down next to her. She grinned—almost a perfect copy of his 'charm smile'.

"What did you want to see me for?" Katie asked. Booth glanced at her.

"What, I'm not allowed to spend some quality family time with my sister?"

"Nope. You got five seconds, bro." Booth rolled his eyes.

"You are such a brat." Katie cocked an eyebrow at him. "But of course, you always knew that." He paused. "Listen…I was wondering…if you're planning on staying?" The sentence came out as more of a plea. Katie's grin faded as her tone became more serious.

"I'm not sure…I—I don't think so." Booth's face fell, and Katie's eyes brimmed with tears as she saw this. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just came—I wanted to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I love you," she said quietly. "And I wish I could stay, but now I understand. I was right. You've got people here…another family…And I know you love them. I can feel it." She smiled weakly. "Because I had that once." Booth said nothing but wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face in his shirt, breathing in deeply.

"You still do," he said. "I love you." After a few minute they pulled apart, and he kissed her forehead gently. She leaned her head on his shoulder and Booth shut his eyes, trying to force back tears.

"What are you going to do? For…money, and shelter…?" he asked. Katie frowned.

"I guess I'll be on the streets. You know what they say. You gotta work with what you have." Booth stared at her.

"Oh my God!" he said. "You're—" Katie laughed.

"Relax, bro. I'm kidding." Booth swatted her arm lightly.

"Demon child."

"I know." They sat comfortably in the same position, for about ten minutes, until Katie broke the silence. "You call her Bones," she said.

"Yeah," said Booth, surprised at the topic of conversation.

"Why?" she asked, lifting her head from his shoulder. Booth frowned.

"Well…she works with bones. And Temperance has so many syllables," he said.

"You love her," Katie said quietly. Booth nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I guess I do. She's…I don't know. She's just Bones. It's kind of hard not to love her." Katie laughed.

"Booth?" Booth looked up, surprised. Brennan was standing in the doorway. She gestured to the file she was holding.

"We're…we're going to be late." Booth nodded, and he and Katie stood up.

"I gotta go too," said Katie. She started to move towards the doorway, but paused, thinking something over. She turned around. "Oh, what the hell. One for the road?" Booth smiled, and she stepped into his embrace again. He stroked her hair gently, dropping a kiss into her hair as he tried to hold back tears. They finally broke apart, reluctantly, and Booth stared at the ground. Katie walked into the doorway but paused in its frame. She turned around. "Oh…and you're welcome." Booth looked up, but she was gone.

"Thank you," he said quietly.


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