This is sort of a follow-up to Roots and Wings, Chapter 80: The Best Laid Plans and sort of the result of a comment Brennan made at the beginning of last week's episode The Master in the Slop. It's not necessary to have seen or read either one, but if you did, you'll recognize the connection.

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After one sharp rap, the handle turned and the front door opened.

"I heard someone was looking for a babysitter?"

"MAX!" Christine's high-pitched squeal echoed through the house along with her footsteps as she raced out of the kitchen toward her grandfather. "You're staying with us?"

Laughing, he knelt down to her level and gathered the little girl in a brisk bear hug. "Yes, I am. Is that okay with you, Slick?"

Brennan looked on the scene with a smile as she descended the stairs. Max straightened when she approached and offered his cheek for her kiss.

"Hi, honey."

"Thanks for coming on such short notice, Dad." She glanced toward Booth, who had followed Christine from the kitchen. "Are you sure we're not interrupting anything you had planned?"

"Nah." He shook his head and patted Christine's shoulder. "Nothing I couldn't put off to spend the day with my grandkids."

"Well, thank you again." Her head inclined toward the steps. "Zach just went down for his nap and Christine was eating lunch?"

Booth nodded at the question implied when Brennan caught his eye. "Just finished."

"Looks like your mom and dad didn't leave us anything to do but play." Max gave Christine's chin a playful tap. "That sound okay to you?"

The small head bobbed eagerly. "I have a new book - wanna see?" She raced back toward the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

"We won't be gone long," Brennan said, as Booth moved past her to pick up his keys from the table in the foyer. "A couple of hours, probably."

"Maybe three."

Brennan answered Booth's wink with a flirtatious grin before she turned to Max. "You can reach us on either of our cell phones if necessary. We're going to check into a hotel and have sex."

Booth's response was predictable. "Bones, you don't have to tell your dad that!"

"Why?" Brow furrowed, Brennan sent a frown at her husband. "I'm sure my father knows we have intercourse. We have two children after all, and we've certainly had sex more than twice -"

"Honey," Max barely held back his laughter. "Booth is right, it's really not necessary for me to know where you're going . . . or what you're going to do."

"Alright," she shrugged easily. "In any case, Christine has developed the idea that a monster is living in her bedroom," she explained. "I wanted to tell her there's no such thing but Booth feels it's more important that she knows she can come to us and her fears will be taken seriously . . . " Her eyes slid in his direction. " . . . even though that means we haven't slept alone for a week."

"Well," Max gave Booth a broad smile of approval. "Every little girl should have a daddy willing to slay monsters for her."

Christine returned then, book in hand, and Booth and Brennan took the opportunity to kiss her goodbye and make an embarrassingly hasty exit. Max pretended not to notice the wandering path of Booth's hand as he guided Brennan to the door with a touch at her lower back.

"So," he said instead to Christine as he led her to a seat on the sofa. "What do we have here?"

She pointed to the cover of the brightly illustrated book. "Ivy and Bean! This is Ivy, she always wears pink, and this one is Bean. She gets in a lot of trouble . . ."

Twenty minutes later, Max turned the last page of the book. Setting it aside on the coffee table, he looked down at the little girl next to him, tucked beneath his arm, and hugged her close.

"What's this I hear about a monster living in your room?"

The blue eyes so like her mother's flew to his. "It's in my closet. Daddy scares it away but it always comes back."

"Hmm." He nodded seriously. "How does it get in there?"

Christine's lower lip quivered. "I don't know."

Max patted her shoulder kindly. "Maybe I should take a look around?" he offered. "What do you think?"

She swiveled around on the sofa to face him. "Do you know about monsters?"

"Oh, yes," he said firmly. "I know all about monsters." He stood up and reached for her hand, and together they headed for the staircase. He put one finger to his lips in a shushing gesture as they crept up the steps to her room. "Let's not wake up Zach, okay?"

In her bedroom, Christine watched anxiously as Max carefully examined corners and window sills, picking up stuffed animals to look beneath them and peering into the glass bowls that held her frog, fish and turtle. Every so often, a faint "hmmmmm" would escape, and then he would move on to the next location.

Finally he knelt in front of her closet door and a few seconds later, his eyes began to twinkle. "A ha!" he announced triumphantly.

"What? What is it?" Christine danced over on the tiptoes of her bright purple sneakers and crouched down to join her grandfather. "What did you find?"

Max pointed to a small imperfection on the door frame, a tiny, perfectly round circle left by an air bubble in the white paint. "You have a monster hole."

Christine peered closely at the minute spot before she began to shake her head. "No, my monsters are big!"

"Well," her grandfather was prepared for that. "That's the thing about monsters, they're sneaky. They start small and get into these little holes, and then when they're in your closet they grow really big."

"They do?" She looked horrified.

"Mmm hmmm," Max nodded. "Remember those eggs with the little dinosaurs in them? Remember how big they got when you took them in the bathtub with you?"

"Oh." Christine's chin began to wobble again as she stared at the dot on the white wood. "I don't want a monster hole in my room!"

"Then we'll just get rid of it," Max announced. He stood up, ignoring the creaking in his knees, and reached for her hand. "Do you have any of your school glue here?"

"Uh huh." The darkening ponytail bobbed. "It's in Mommy's office downstairs. I have to ask before I use it."

"I think this qualifies as special circumstances." He led her out into the hallway and back to the stairs. "Mommy will understand."

When they returned to the pretty yellow bedroom several minutes later, Christine was clutching a small white bottle of glue in one hand and a magnifying glass Max had found in a pencil holder on Brennan's desk in the other. He put her to work studying the bottom of the door frame, chuckling at her excitement when she found two other small spots.

When Christine was reassured that no other monster holes dotted the door of her closet, Max unscrewed the bright orange cap on the glue and handed it back to her.

"Now, here's what you do . . ." He issued careful instructions on squeezing a dot of glue into each hole, effectively closing it up. Christine obeyed him to the letter and when all three circles held a drop of glue, smiled proudly at her grandfather.

"I did it! No more monsters?"

He shook his head. "No more monsters. If they don't have one of those tiny holes to squeeze through, they can't get into your closet."

Her smile dimmed as a thought crossed her mind. "So, I can't sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed anymore?"

Max chuckled and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "If you want to pretend you see a monster every once in a while, I won't tell." A handshake sealed their new conspiracy. "Now, let's put everything back and play another game while the glue dries." He switched off the light as they left her bedroom. "Have you learned to count to 21 yet?"

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Almost four hours later, the front door opened again as Booth and Brennan arrived home, wrapped in a sated air of warm lethargy. Booth held Brennan's hand in one of his as with the other, he dropped his keys in the bowl.

"We're ba-"

Brennan's announcement was interrupted by Christine's voice in the dining room. "One more time!" The two of them headed in that direction . . . and came to an abrupt halt.

Christine was on her knees in a chair pulled close to the table, seated at an angle to Max who sat at the end with Zach in his lap. Spread out on the gleaming surface between them lay cards from a standard deck.

Booth dropped Brennan's hand. "What the -"

"Daddy!" Christine threw a bright smile over her shoulder. "Max taught me a new game! Come here, I'll show you!" She picked through the cards on the table, found the ace of spades and displayed it proudly. "This card is magic! It's a one if you get another card with a number but if you get a card with a picture, then you win!"

The haze of sexual satisfaction fell away immediately; a muscle leaped in Booth's jaw as he glared at Max. "You taught my five-year-old . . ."

"I'm five and a half," Christine interrupted quickly.

"Dad!" Brennan was aghast. "You should not have done this. How much money did you win from her?"

Max bounced Zach on his knee. "Me?" He bestowed a proud smile on his granddaughter. "I'll have you know she took me for twelve bucks!"

"Thirteen," Christine corrected him. "You said I won thirteen dollars."

The silver head inclined. "Thirteen." He gave Booth a wink, heedless of the other man's simmering anger. "You sure you haven't been teaching her? Slick here is a natural card sharp!"

Booth ran both hands across his face before he looked to the ceiling as if sending up a prayer for patience. "Max, so help me God . . ."

Sensing a good time to make his exit, Max pushed back from the table and stood up with Zach in his arms. He handed the small boy over to Brennan with a kiss for both of them. "Well, you two look nice and relaxed," he teased, "so I guess it's time I was going -"

"But where's my money?" Christine hopped down from her chair and came over to tug at Max's hand. "You said I was winning money."

Max laughed. "And you did! Grandpa's just a little short today so -"

Christine's expression turned faintly mulish. "But you said I was winning money," she repeated.

Booth folded his arms over his chest and looked at Max with the same expression as his daughter. "No markers in this house. Pay up, old man."

When Max turned to Brennan for help, she shrugged. "I hope you've learned your lesson, Dad."

Max gave in with good grace and reached for his wallet. "Oh, I did," he nodded as he fished out the appropriate amount of cash. "Never gamble with a Booth."

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Thanks for reading!