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"Morning," Booth greeted Brennan cheerfully a few weeks later, making his way into her kitchen. She looked up at him with a smile and gave him a quick kiss, appreciating the fact that he was clad only in his boxers.
"Good morning." Booth opened the door to the fridge.
"You want some juice?" he called without turning around.
"Not right now," Brennan replied. Booth frowned and walked over to the kitchen table where she was diligently writing in a notebook.
"Bones, have you eaten breakfast?" Brennan looked up from her task and rolled her eyes at her boyfriend.
"I will." She sighed in exasperation when Booth's serious expression didn't change. "Stop it, Booth. I can and will take care of myself. I just want to finish this first." Booth's eyes left hers and traveled to the notebook on the table.
"What is it?"
"A list of things we have to do before the baby comes. I'm trying to put them in chronological order so we know what needs to be done first." Booth picked up the notebook and began thumbing through the several pages Brennan had already filled.
"You've planned out the whole pregnancy!" he exclaimed, although if he were being honest with himself, he wasn't all that surprised.
"It's important to have a plan, Booth," Brennan defended. "As you can see, I have left plenty of room for the schedule to change." Booth shook his head and smiled. His smile quickly faded, however, when he read the last thing she had added to the list.
"Hire a nanny?" he questioned incredulously. Brennan's brow wrinkled in confusion.
"Yes, I'll be far too preoccupied with new motherhood after the baby is born to make an informed decision about a proper caretaker. I will begin interviewing potential nannies a few weeks before my due date."
"Bones! Don't you think you should've talked to me about this first?" Brennan could tell Booth was getting upset, but couldn't fathom why.
"Talked about what, Booth? Surely you don't expect me to become a stay-at-home mother after this baby comes? I'm willing to give up many things for this child, but my career is most definitely not one of them!" Booth shook his head vehemently.
"No, it's not that Bones! I know you're gonna go back to work after your maternity leave. I just… didn't think we'd need a nanny."
"What do you propose we do? Take the child with us into the field? We need someone to watch him or her while we're at work."
"Yeah, I know. I just don't want a nanny, okay? I thought we'd just have someone we know and trust watch the baby during the day." Brennan shrugged and chuckled humorlessly.
"Who?" Booth mirrored her shrug.
"I don't know! What about Max?"
"Booth, I don't even know where my father is the majority of the time. I doubt I could get him to move to DC to become a full-time babysitter." Brennan's eyes widened as realization dawned on her. "This is about wealth, isn't it?"
"What? No!" Booth insisted. "I just don't want some stranger watching our baby!"
"There are extremely reputable nanny agencies that do thorough background checks and I'm certain that even you and I could eventually find someone we both agree upon. And we can install cameras in order to feel secure. That isn't the issue here. You've always had an irrational dislike for wealthy people, Booth. Having a nanny is something 'rich' people do, and you can't stand the fact that your child is going to have one!" Booth knew that Brennan was ten weeks along and in the throes of fluctuating hormones and he should probably just keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't help it and the words just came out.
"Okay, maybe I do hate it! Maybe I hate the fact that my girlfriend and the mother of my child makes more money than I do! Maybe I hate that I'm not going to be supporting my family! I can't stand it!" Brennan opened her mouth to speak, but Booth just kept going. "And don't go into some squinty tirade about alpha male tendencies! That's how I feel, and I can't change it!"
"Well that's the way it is, Booth! I make a seven figure yearly income and I'm certainly not going to take a lower level position or stop writing just so you can feel good about yourself!"
"I never asked you to do that!" Booth retorted, now in a full-on screaming match.
"Then what, Booth?" Brennan was standing now, just inches from his face. "Obviously this is a problem in our relationship that we can't solve. I'm not going to make less money and you're unlikely to ever earn as much as I do…" Booth growled at the insult that he knew was mostly unintentional. Sometimes he hated how she could make him feel like crap without even realizing it. "So how do we deal with it?"
"I… I don't know, Bones," Booth answered honestly before walking to her bedroom to gather his clothes. He slipped on his pants and shoes then walked deliberately to the door, his shirt in hand.
"Where are you going?" Brennan asked fearfully.
"To my place," he answered curtly before slamming the apartment door behind him. It took everything Brennan had not to collapse on the couch in a hormone-induced cry fest. She wiped away any tears that managed to escape angrily and returned to her task of making her list.
-BONES-
Booth sat on his couch in front of the game, fuming. Was it so bad for a guy to want to take care of his family? He always knew that Brennan made way more than he did, but he never realized how much it would bother him once they got together. He sighed when he heard his ringtone for her for the third time since he got home. He knew he was being petty, but she could just sit and wait a while for him to cool off. He practically growled when he heard the chime that indicated he had a text message. He reluctantly grabbed his phone off the coffee table and opened the text. What he saw made his mouth go dry and his heart pound wildly in his chest.
Need to go to the hospital. Will call an ambulance if you don't respond.
Booth was out the door in less than a second, dialing her frantically. "Bones!" he exclaimed when she picked up. "What's wrong? What happened?"
"I… I'm bleeding," was her soft, terrified reply.
"Did you cut yourself?" He was already at his SUV and he flung the door open.
"No… No, not that kind of bleeding. I went to the bathroom and…" Booth's throat constricted as he registered what she meant.
"Okay… Okay…" he tried to calm himself down. "Are you in pain?"
"Yes," Brennan whimpered and Booth heard her sniffle. He started the engine and tore out of the parking lot, siren blaring. "I'm experiencing severe abdominal cramps. Booth…"
"Don't worry, Baby," he attempted to reassure her. "Everything's gonna be okay. I'm already on my way and I have the siren on. Just keep talking to me."
"Booth, I'm… I'm sorry." Booth shook his head.
"For what, Baby?" he asked gently before nearly running another car off the road in his blind terror.
"For the fight."
"No, I'm sorry," he insisted. "It doesn't matter now anyway. We can talk about it later, okay?"
"You're angry with me," she said with tears in her voice. Whether she was crying out of pain or because she believed he was mad at her, Booth wasn't sure.
"No, I'm not. I swear, Bones. Let's just focus on getting you to the emergency room right now, okay? We can talk about this later."
"I'm still sorry, Booth." Booth nearly smiled at the sincerity in her voice.
"I am too. I'm almost there, okay? I'll be there in less than a minute."
"If you're being accurate, that's extremely unsafe, Booth. You would have to be going at least ten miles over the speed limit." This time Booth did smile.
"I'm almost there," he repeated and continued to speed through the streets of DC, praying all the way.
Our first cliffhanger! Let me know what you thought, good or bad!