Daddy's Little Girl

By Hazelmist

A/N: Okay despite another LONG hiatus, this chapter picks up immediately following the previous one.

Chapter Two: A Day to Remember

2017

Forty-two seconds. That's how long it takes Temperance Brennan to release Christine's hand, pay for the ice cream and accept it from the elderly vendor, before she reaches again for the small set of familiar fingers that are always there. Instead for the first time she's left holding a dripping chocolate ice cream cone and staring at an unfamiliar child greedily grabbing something off the vendor's cart.

"Aden, no!" Another woman roughly jerks the boy back and then attempts to force the child to apologize through his tears for running into Temperance and the vendor's cart. Temperance looks around, but in the confusion, she can't find Christine anywhere.

"Christine! Christine!" Temperance searches and calls in vain for her daughter. It doesn't make any sense, she let go of her for less than a minute! Logically a child of that age and size shouldn't have been able to travel outside of her range of sight in that short amount of time. She must be missing something. Desperately Temperance rushes back to the cart, accosting the vendor, the woman and the pouting child, demanding to know if any of them saw which way she'd gone. In her panic she lapses into English. The shocked vendor doesn't understand a word of it and has never heard Temperance or Christine speak anything other than his own native language. It doesn't matter though, which of the many languages Temperance spoke fluently she uses, because no one saw anything.

Christine had vanished.

Losing a child is every parent's worst nightmare. But for Temperance Brennan it wasn't just a possibility, it was a very, very real probability. For months she tried to push those thoughts aside, tried to convince herself that it was over, but now standing alone in the middle of a park in a foreign country she wonders if she had been lying to herself.

Paralyzed with fear and panic, Temperance pulls out her phone, and for the second time that day, irrationally tries to call Seeley Booth.

The sight of her shaking fingers forces her to stop halfway through dialing. Booth can't help her. Besides, even if she could talk to him like she so desperately wants to, he would probably tell her to calm down and that overreacting isn't going to help with anything. She needs to think. Children are easily distracted, curious, and wander off all the time, like that time that Parker disappeared in the Jeffersonian and was found twenty minutes later with an enthusiastic intern that couldn't resist giving Parker a more extensive tour of the museum. She doesn't always have to think of the worst case scenario, no matter how probable it might be. Taking a deep breath, Temperance starts walking in the direction she thinks is most likely Christine would have gone, ignoring the fact that this is more of what Booth called a "gut" feeling.

A little girl runs out in front of her, only to be swept up by a man that is just tall enough to resemble Booth slightly. He pretends to stagger under the little girl's weight and they both laugh. Temperance looks away and increases her pace. She doesn't want to think about Booth and the great father she deprived her daughter of almost five years ago to the day. Instead she ignores the sounds of distant laughter and focuses on each step that brings her closer to where she hopes her daughter went.

She needs to see and hold her daughter now more than ever.

He had spent years clinging to that last photograph he had of his baby daughter just so he wouldn't forget the color of her eyes and the shape of her nose and mouth. Not a day went by when he didn't attempt to picture the child she had grown into. As more time passed, Angela had helpfully provided him with digital sketches that aged his daughter with the aid of the latest technology. Angela's a skilled artist and obviously the best in her field, but Booth never had the heart to tell her that looking at the sketches (no matter how much extra time and effort Angela put into them for the sake of her friend) always left him feeling detached and empty. He kept an updated sketch with him at all times, just in case, but he couldn't look at these pictures for long. Instead he pored over the few photographs he had of Christine as an infant and let his imagination fill in the blanks.

Now he's finally looking at the real thing and despite the remarkable accuracy of Angela's sketches, they couldn't possibly do this beautiful girl an ounce of justice. She is incredible. So incredible that it's almost too much for Booth.

A part of Booth had always foolishly hoped that his daughter would still be the baby from the photograph. The girl that stands between him and Parker can't possibly be that tiny baby that had slept so comfortably in the circle of her mother's arms. She'd grown so much that Booth never would have recognized her if Parker hadn't forewarned him, and he hadn't come face to face with her and those pretty eyes she'd inherited from her mother. In fact as Christine lets go of his hand to get a closer look at Parker's remote control and demands something in a language that he doesn't understand, Booth wonders if maybe she isn't his daughter after all. What if Parker was wrong and this was just a strange coincidence? Maybe the little girl only looked a lot like Temperance had as a little kid, or perhaps Temperance had another child with a different man, or Temperance and Christine were already dead and this was a cruel trick of fate and another heartbreaking defeat?

"Dad?"

Booth blinks and finds both children staring at him. The sun is behind them and it's so bright that it stings his eyes. The little girl tugs at Parker's sleeve and whispers something to him when he bends to her level. Parker frowns at her and then fixates on his father.

"What did she say?" Booth asks anxiously as the little girl skips closer to the water's edge and squats down to look at something in the grass.

"She wanted to know why you were sad," Parker answers, puzzled. Shaking his head, the boy kicks off his sneakers, rolls up his jeans and wades into the pond to retrieve the overturned boat.

Booth returns his attention to his daughter and finds her holding something out to him. It's a smooth black rock that fits perfectly inside the palm of her small hand.

"What's this?" Booth asks her, crouching down so that they're on the same level again.

"It's a rock," Christine replies cheerfully. "You can have it," she offers generously as if she hadn't just picked it up off the ground. Booth thanks her and accepts the gift. He'll treasure it forever.

"It kind of looks like hockey puck," he observes as he cleans it with the bottom of his shirt.

"What's that?" Christine asks. Her eyes brighten with curiosity as he gives her a considerably abbreviated definition of hockey and the significance of the puck. She nods when he finishes though he's not quite sure she understood any of it. None of that matters because her face breaks into the biggest smile and she hugs him when he thanks her again.

And as Booth holds his little girl for the first time in five years he falls in love with her all over again. He's convinced that it's her. No one else would be able to fill that Christine shaped hole in his heart so quickly and so completely. Parker splashes out of the water preparing to launch the boat for a second time. It takes every ounce of strength Booth has in him to release his daughter and allow her to run back to her half-brother. He wants to hold her face between his hands and examine every inch of her but he'll have time for that later.

First, he has to find her mother.

Booth pushes himself to his feet and with one last longing glance, he turns his back on his two children.

She finds them first. It's her daughter's laughter that catches her attention and leads her to the surprising scene that stops her in her tracks and leaves her speechless. They're in the park with their heads bent together over what looks like some kind of complex remote controller for a toy car. But a splash from the water causes them both to look up at the same time and her breath catches. She no longer cares about what they're looking at because she would've recognized that bone structure anywhere. Years may have passed but time couldn't erase everything. If she has any doubts, they are squashed when she sees both heads reflexively lift again in sync and turn to follow the remote controlled boat across the water. In that moment they look so much like him that her eyes sting and something inside her clenches.

"He built it himself," a soft voice says behind her. She freezes, her heart skipping a beat. "I would say he gets that from me, but we both know that it was your influence."

She closes her eyes afraid that when she opens them she'll be awake in her bedroom and alone. Still she can't stop herself from entertaining the fantasy just a little bit longer.

"Booth?" The name slips past her lips for the first time in years.

He answers by stepping closer, whispering her name, his name for her. He's scared to touch her, afraid she'll run, and she's terrified that if she opens her eyes he'll disappear. For a while they stand there in the shadows, safely hidden from their children and the rest of the world by the trees.

"I thought I'd lost her," she says finally. "I turned my back on her for one second and she was gone, and I thought I'd never see her again and then I find her here with… with…" She trails off, the tremor in her voice cutting into them both because she's so afraid that this isn't real. "I'm dreaming, I must be dreaming," she babbles.

He whispers her name again, his voice thick with all the things that he wants to tell her but he can't. There aren't enough words to describe it and there isn't nearly enough time. She sways, feeling it all wash over her with the overwhelming impact of her own raging emotions.

And then she's turning and falling, and he's catching her against his chest just as he's done so many times before. She still feels safe. Even after all these years this is the place that she still calls home. It shocks her how easily she fits back in there, how her body immediately relaxes, how quickly the dam breaks and everything comes pouring out. Her fingers slowly release their death grip on her face and curl into the fabric of his shirt.

"I wanted to call."

"It's okay, I'm here."

The words break her in to pieces. The tears come and she clings to him. She finally lets go of that burden of the world on her shoulders and just lets someone else carry her for a little while.

After his daughter literally walked back into his life, finding Temperance is so easy it's almost absurd. If it wasn't for the fact that it was so ironic it was funny it probably would've pissed him off. For the past five years he has devoted almost every minute of his life to searching for this elusive woman and she practically runs into him in the middle of a park in broad daylight, screaming their daughter's name loud enough for everyone within a mile of them to turn around and look at her. Well, at least that's how it seems to Booth as the distracted woman races by him gazing around wildly. She's so focused on her search that she looks right past Booth. To be fair, Booth wouldn't have recognized her either if it hadn't been for the sound of her voice desperately clinging to that name she chose and kept for their daughter. He's only heard her scream his name in that tone on rare occasions, usually when she visits him in his nightmares, reminding him constantly of what he cannot save. Until now.

Booth opens his mouth to say her name but no sound comes out. His mind hasn't quite caught up to the fact that this stranger in front of him, pounding down the path is actually Temperance. Like his daughter, she's made herself almost unrecognizable. But unlike his daughter, Booth had years to get to know and memorize every inch of this woman, or so he thought. Now, he's not sure he knows anything about her.

She stops short a few feet ahead of him and his heart catches in his throat because he knows there's only one reason for her silence. He steps to the left just to be sure and he can see a clear view of Parker and Christine together by the edge of the pond. She can't drag her eyes away from them and he can't decide who he wants to watch more, them or her watching them.

He doesn't care if she'd say it's scientifically impossible, he can feel the shock and the pain radiating off her at the recognition of Parker; but he knows just by her reaction that despite her lightning quick mind she hasn't connected everything yet. Perhaps it's too much or maybe she just doesn't want to think that he could possibly be there as well. He clears his throat but she either doesn't hear him or doesn't care. So Booth starts toward her, slowly closing the miles between them. He thought that it would be easy the first time he saw her, he was wrong. He doesn't know what to say. He wants to yell at her, and hug her, and kiss her, and get as close and as far away from her as he possibly can. It feels wrong being here with her like this and yet so very right. This is what he's always wanted but there's a little voice in his head that warns him that this isn't the same woman. She hurt him. She took his daughter. But he still loves her, even after all this time. Rebecca's words ring out in his head as he searches desperately in the jumble of his thoughts for something to say.

So the first thing he talks about is Parker, the one real thing he's one hundred percent certain of in this crazy sunlit day in the park.

And then she says his name.

He's moving toward her and whispering her name before he can stop himself. And when she lets herself fall into his arms, all he knows is that he won't be letting go.

She's not sure how long they stood like that together, but when she finally does open her eyes they're sitting on a park bench. His arms are around her, keeping her close but his eyes are on their children as they play together.

"They look so much like you," she marvels again.

"She looks exactly like you," he says, allowing their eyes to meet for the first time. "She's so beautiful, just like her mother." His eyes drink her in giving himself a pleasure he's long been denied. She studies him with the same hunger, wondering how she's gone so long without it.

And because he's so close, and it's been so long, she leans forward and kisses him without thinking. His lips stay pressed close but his arms tighten reflexively around her. She pulls away quickly when the sound of her daughter's gleeful shout reaches her and reality comes crashing down on her. He lets go of her.

"I'm sorry," she says, wiping her mouth and glancing back at their oblivious children.

"Don't be," he says, swallowing hard and clearing his throat. "You caught me by surprise."

Her head snaps up at this choice of words and she finds herself examining the man beside her. She was never good with people. That was always his job. And though he had taught her a lot and she was a quick learner, she feels his loss now more than ever. Physically, she's pleased to note he hasn't changed much at all, but she knows there is so much more to this man than his physique. She used to know this man like the back of her hand, but now did she really know him at all? She has no idea what he's feeling and she doesn't know if she asks if he would tell her. Does she even want to know? How does he see her now? Now that she'd left him and taken his daughter with her?

Booth can read people, and even if the years have gone by he takes the chance of guessing the thoughts of one who had been such an enigma for him and yet he had known and understood so well.

He sighs and reaches across the space to take her hand between both his own. He turns so that he's closer to her and she's forced to give him her full attention.

"I miss you and our daughter every day. I think about you both all the time. I love her, and I know that you love her too, and you're doing everything in your power that you can to protect her and keep her safe," he says, caressing the soft hand between his own. He lowers his eyes, focusing intently on their clasped hands.

"Nothing means more to me than the safety and well being of her daughter. I'm trying to protect her too, but I miss her, and I'm scared that what you're doing might not be the best thing -" he hesitates when he feels her pulling away. But he needn't fear. She's only readjusting his grip so that she's holding both of his hands in her own.

"You're angry," she observes, surprising him again. "You hate me."

"Hate you?" he frowns, perplexed as to how she could ever come to that conclusion. "I could never hate you. I love you."

The words bring such profound relief that she fears that if she speaks she might burst into tears again. She sways forward, her forehead finding that familiar spot in the crook of his neck. He lets go of one of her hands so that he can pull her back into his side. He strokes her hair and soothingly runs his hand up and down her arm. The words repeat in her head over and over again. And though she has always been the type of person to put more faith in facts than opinions, these words mean more to her than any scientific truth she's ever believed before. They mean even more to her now than they did the first few times they were spoken years ago.

"I love you too," she whispers, turning to press a kiss into his neck. He's electrified by these words and this touch of her lips right at that sensitive spot. He closes his eyes trying to suppress the wave of memories that she must know she's inducing. He told himself, swore to himself, that he wouldn't but he can't resist her any longer, not when she's here beside him, clinging to him and kissing him like that.

His hand slides into her hair again as she pulls back to see his reaction. Their eyes meet and her lips part and that's all the encouragement he needs. He kisses her like he's been wanting to for the past five years and he doesn't give a damn as to who sees.

"Mommy!"

Except for his daughter of course. She tears herself free from him to answer the call. He licks his lips and tries not to reveal how upset he is by his daughter's untimely interruption as her mother untangles herself from him and stands.

"Mommy, come look!"

He follows her, but keeps a few paces back to observe them. She greets her daughter, their daughter, crouching down on the ground in front of her as Christine shows her the remote control his son made for his half sister. He's always known she'd be a great mother, but seeing her now in this practiced role is almost too much to take in.

Christine has some trouble with the controller and Parker comes over to help her. He's so patient with his little sister that she can't help but steal a look over her shoulder at the father who has so much to be proud of. He will be exactly like his father, except, she thinks as he excitedly explains to her how he developed the controller for the toy boat which can turn into a plane if only he can get it to work correctly, he'll probably become a scientist or an engineer instead of following in his father's footsteps. She wonders if one day he'll work at the Jeffersonian and a pang hits her so strongly that she's content to let her daughter and her half brother continue on without her. When he comes up behind her she leans into him and doesn't object to the arm that snakes around her waist.

"Parker wanted to see her."

She nods, because she doesn't know what else to say. He's reminding her once again that it's not just him that she's affecting with her decision to run but Parker and everyone else she left behind. He must know that she wants to go back, that she misses all of them: Angela, Hodgins, Michael, Cam, Sweets, her interns, and everyone else at the Jeffersonian, and all of the other loved ones that she was forced to break contact with when she picked up her daughter and left everything behind.

Temperance sighs and tilts her head to look up at him. There is so much that needs to be said.

But they don't talk about that. Instead Booth shushes her and steals another kiss. He pulls back with a smile that says everything. All of that can wait, today is all about their family.

"Come on, Mommy!"

Temperance smiles and takes him by the hand. And then together they walk down to meet Parker and their daughter.

A/N: Again, sorry for the long wait! I ended up breaking the chapter up into two parts. Look out for the next part soon!