Chapter Twenty-One:

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...Bones stood clutching her stomach while everyone in the room stared at her. She was serious. This baby's arrival was early and imminent. Booth stood next to her with his hand on her back.

"Are you sure about this?" He was so far beyond panic that he had almost returned to the point of reason.

"Well, I admit, I've never experienced this before, but something is happening...and fast." She cried out with another quick contraction.

Booth looked around the room for help, but no one else there had children but him. No one else knew what to expect. He looked to the men still trying to open the door,

"You guys... we have to get out of here, fast..." He was cut off by Bones' cries.

"Booth something is happening here..."

He looked around the room again, this time looking for anything that could help them deliver this baby. Cam finally gained her wits from the shock of the situation they were in, and covered one of the autopsy tables with a sheet from the cupboard. She covered what was left of the body that lay on the other table. Out of sight, out of mind.

Booth lifted Bones onto the table and she cried out again.

"Are you sure this is happening? Can't you cross your legs for a few more minutes or something?"

She rolled her eyes at him.

She knew he was trying to be funny, trying to defuse the situation, but she was more concerned by the incredible pressure that was occurring in her abdomen.

Booth looked to Cam, wondering what to do next;

"You have medical training right Camille? Can you do this?"

The coroner looked ever-so slightly panicked.

"It's been a long time since I had to deal with a live person on that table. I think I could pull it off. Let's see what we have going on..."

Camille examined Doctor Brennan quickly. She looked back to Booth, her eyes wide.

"She's right Seeley, this baby is coming now."

"It's too early, what do we do? This can't be happening; this isn't what we planned for..." Booth stood beside his partner and closed his eyes for a few seconds trying to compose himself. It only took a few moments.

Cam took control of the situation.

"Perotta... can you stand there and hold her leg?" The blonde woman, who had stayed out of the way so far, quietly went over to the writhing woman on the table, and held her the way Cam pointed out. Booth took the other side, and the two met eyes over the woman they had both solved cases with.

Perotta smiled at him, trying to assure him without words that everything would be just fine. She was secretly jealous of the woman on the table. As happy as she was with Sully, he was a good man, a piece of her heart would always long for Booth.

Booth's eyes went back to his partner and he took her hand firmly.

"It's going to be okay Bones. We're going to get out of this one just fine..." Their eyes met, they both knew the baby was too early. Even born in a hospital room, there was a chance of complications. Their personal Doctor, who had helped them out so much in the last few months, had told them that most babies born at the gestational stage she was in had a good chance of survival; though the complication risk was there.

Brennan cried out again and Cam went back to the business end of things. She made sure that she had the attention of Brennan and said,

"Try not to push yet...just try to wait a few more minutes..."

"I can't..."

Booth held her hand tighter and was temporarily distracted by the men at the door. They had managed to pry the door open just a little bit and now the room was filling with smoke from the fires burning throughout the lab. They worked harder to get it open further. They knew there wasn't much time before the smoke overwhelmed them...

Cam looked back to the door for a second and then back to the woman on the table.

"Okay, Doctor Brennan...push! Let's get out of here..."

The woman bore down in an instinctual response to what was happening with her body. It only took a few minutes, and Booth was proud of her. She barely made a sound as the baby came forth in a burst of fluid and blood. Cam caught the baby and instantly cleared the mouth and they all waited while she worked...

After a brief slap to the baby's feet and despite all the sounds of alarms going off and fires raging, everyone in the room heard the quiet cry of the baby.

Booth was so relieved and he leaned close to Brennan.

"Are you okay?"

Through the smoke and the tears she smiled at him.

"Well, I think that if I had to choose between that and getting shot again, I would happily do that...How is the baby?" She strained to see where her child was.

Booth dropped her hand only to go to where Cam was wrapping their child in a piece of one of the sheets. She had clamped and cut the cord, using the tools from the autopsy kit, and the baby was still crying quietly. The coroner met hovering Booth as she turned around, she handed him the baby as she said,

"It's a little girl! I think she's okay so far, but we should get her to a hospital right away. She's very, very small, but the lungs seem to be well enough developed. She's breathing on her own... but this smoke can't be good for her..."

Booth took the small bundle in his arms and couldn't help but stare in awe at his newborn daughter. She was tiny. He went back to Bones, but they only took a minute to admire their daughter before Sully yelled from the door.

"It's open! Let's go!"

Murphy went back to the table where Brennan still lay as the other two men held the doors open. He picked her up with ease, sheet and all, and ran for the door. Cam went with them, and Perotta waited for Booth and the baby as he took a second to cover the baby with his jacket.

Everyone made a run for the outer door. The whole lab was filled with smoke and flames, but the structural integrity of the building seemed to be holding. Sully and Jeff held the doors only long enough for everyone to make their escape from the room and then followed them towards the door that would lead to the outside and fresh air.

In the smoke and murk the three groups of people became separated. Murphy, Brennan and Cam made it outside and were greeted by emergency response personal who took Brennan from the tall man's arms and had her on the way to the hospital before anyone could protest. Particularly her.

Angela and Hodgins found Cam very soon after the ambulance had taken off and they hugged each other in relief. The couple had not yet made it back to the lab before the explosions went off, and Angela was freaking out about the missing people who she cared about. Just about everyone was accounted for now. Cam filled them in quickly on what had happened in the autopsy room and Angela looked both thrilled and scared at the same time.

"Brennan had the baby? What the hell..."

The artist patted the shoulder of Doctor Saroyan when she looked a little too close to breaking down as realization dawned on her what had just happened. A fireman approached her and handed her a blanket. She accepted it with thanks.

A large group of people were gathering in the gardens of the Jeffersonian. The people who had escaped the building; as well as a number of people who were gathering to watch the drama unfold.

The squints turned their heads back to the doorway to where a fireman was leading Sully and Jeff into the fresh air. The two men gasped and coughed, but stayed close to the door, speaking to the fireman, and pointing back towards the building.

Cam wondered where Booth, Perotta and the baby had gotten too. They couldn't be far behind.

Her question was answered shortly thereafter when the man they all knew so well staggered out of the smoke filled doorway with the small blonde woman right behind him. Booth held a tightly wrapped bundle to his chest, and bent over slightly to cough some of the smoke out of his lungs.

In the chaos that was occurring, nobody saw a lone woman remove herself from the crowd and approach the front doors until it was too late...

Cam, Angela and Hodgins watched the events unfold from where they were. There was nothing they could do as the woman drew a pistol and pointed it towards Booth.

Booth saw the arm extend from the woman and saw the metal piece in her hand. He looked into her eyes and recognized the evilness that was Heather Taffet. the very face that they had been avoiding for months now. He stood up to reach for his gun, but he knew there was no time. Her gun was already pointed at him and he watched her thumb cock the weapon. All he had time to do was turn his back towards the woman, and hope that he could shield his daughter's tiny body away from the bullets. He would happily give his life to save hers.

He closed his eyes and held the baby tighter to his chest and prepared to feel the final painful moments of his life.

He heard the gun fire six times successively, and then the clicking of empty chambers being spun. He felt no pain and opened his eyes. There was shouting coming from all directions and he turned slowly.

He looked directly into the eyes of Agent Perotta. Her eyes were wide open and she looked at him for only a second before he noticed the blood stains start to form on her clothes. She dropped to her knees, and her eyes lost their focus. She fell to the ground, dead.

Booth realized at that moment that she had stepped into the line of fire. He knew that she couldn't have had time to reach for her gun, and had stepped in-between him and Taffet. She had taken all the bullets to save him and his daughter. He was in shock, and before he could do anything to react, Sully ran past him from behind, and unloaded a few shots towards the woman who stood there.

She was pissed. Booth had been her only intended target and she had missed her chance to end his life.

She and her Crew had set those explosions to draw the man and his partner out of the building. Their plan had worked perfectly until now. Until that small woman had decided to be the hero. Heather Taffet recognized her as being one of the FBI Agents involved in her capture, and thought that at least one person had paid for that mistake. Now, her last sight on Earth was the cold look in Booth's eyes, and the cold smile on his face as she felt the bullets pierce her chest and she started to fall. She was dead before she hit the ground; Sully's second shot had exploded her heart.

Sully, after taking out Taffet, went to Perotta's side and held her in his arms. He gently closed her eyes, knowing she was gone. He looked up at Booth, and Booth recognized the look on Sully's face. He remembered suddenly that this was not the first partner that Sully had lost.

Jeff was instantly at Booth's side and attempted to guide him out of the open area where danger might still lurk. Booth looked back at Sully; his heart broke for the man.

"She saved my life Sully. She saved our lives. We will never forget that..."

And with that, Jeff guided Booth and the baby into a waiting ambulance which followed the baby's mother to the hospital.

On the way, Booth handed the precious bundle over to the paramedics and they examined her. He refused to be treated for smoke inhalation, despite the medic's request.

He noticed again how tiny she was. She was only about half the size of Parker when he was born. She was still breathing on her own though. Booth already knew she was a fighter, and her quick, though traumatic, birth would soon be a passing memory. As long as everything turned out alright.

He wondered how Bones was doing. Probably panicking about where her child was. Worrying about both of them. He asked the driver to step on it.

His partner was just inside the emergency room doors waiting for him and their daughter. She was still on the gurney, but she looked ready to jump up. She tried to when she saw her partner walk in carrying the small bundle. Murphy held her back and Booth quickened his pace to meet her.

He handed the baby over to her, and his heart melted at the sight of the initial mother-daughter bonding. The Doctors had been waiting for them to arrive and they wheeled the family up to the maternity ward to do a more thorough examination of mother and child.

The two loyal guards set up a new perimeter outside the door of the room where their charges had been led. Heather Taffet was gone, but there was still no sign of the rest of those who wanted the couple dead.

Brennan was settled in no time. She seemed to be suffering from no adverse effects from the quick birth, but she admitted that she was still likely riding the adrenaline rush from the drama of the last hours' events. Her daughter was just a little worse off. They had taken her down the hall to the Pediatric ICU just to do some tests and get her cleaned up. The Doctors told them that she looked like she was going to be just fine, but they wanted her in an incubator with some extra oxygen, just to observe her for a while and to make sure nothing would happen. They could go see her shortly.

The Doctor left Booth and Brennan in the room alone while he went down the hall to take care of their daughter. Booth didn't even hesitate to crawl into the bed beside her. He just held her closely. He knew that he was able to do this only because of the sacrifice of Perotta. It should have been him lying there on the ground outside of the Jeffersonian. He realized that there was no way they could ever re-pay her for her sacrifice. They owed her everything. Booth held Bones tighter.

She leaned into him as he explained to her what had happened at the Jeffersonian after they became separated. Brennan was shocked by the actions of Agent Perotta. The woman had given her life to save the baby and Booth.

They lay together in silence for awhile. Eventually she spoke.

"Booth? What was Agent Perotta's first name?"

Booth smiled a little bit. He had been thinking exactly the same thing. He wasn't really surprised that Bones didn't know her first name; it wasn't something she would have felt was relevant to know. He kissed her on the temple,

"Her name was Payton."

Brennan was silent for a minute.

"That's a good name don't you think?"

He kissed her again.

"I think that's a perfect name."

"And it's also the name of an all-star quarterback for the NFL right? You should like that."

Booth laughed, now he was surprised at her.

"How do you even know that?"

"Because I have just spent four and a half months on a boat with three sports-loving men. I may have picked up a magazine and perused it on occasion. I know things Booth." She gave him a smile that she knew made him happy.

They kissed passionately; right there on the hospital bed.

They held each other close, while waiting for the Doctor to come back and let them see their daughter.

It wasn't long, and the new parents went to see the wonder they had created.

Both of them stared in awe at the little girl as they entered the room. She was perfect and perfectly healthy, just a little small. Her birth weight was recorded at just less than four pounds, but her heartbeat was strong and her breathing was normal.

Booth was the first to approach the incubator and reach his hand inside. The nurses standing nearby all had tears in their eyes at the sight of the look on the man's face. He stroked his daughter's tiny head and he was not even going to try to stop the tears that flowed from his eyes. He felt Bones approach his side and wrap her arms around his waist.

"She's beautiful... don't you think?"

Booth looked at Bones when he replied, he was never more grateful to be there to see the look on her face just then, as she stared at the little girl.

"Yeah. She sure is."

They were both distracted by the sound of a man's voice asking if they could come out to the hallway for just a second.

They met Cullen in the hallway. He looked nervous.

"The Gravedigger's crew just made contact with the FBI; they're pissed about Heather and have just declared war on the two of you. We need to get you out of here now..."

The partners both sighed. Would they ever be safe again?

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Later that evening, Max walked down the hallway towards the room where his daughter and her new family were thought to be. He carried a huge pink teddy bear to give to his brand-new granddaughter. Wow, he thought to himself, I'm a grandfather. He knew the major responsibilities of that role, and he was ready for the challenge. He would be there for that little girl no matter what. He would make amends for abandoning his own daughter for all those years.

He couldn't wait to meet her.

As he approached the room where he knew they were, he grew nervous that there was no guard outside the door. He had been warned that there would be. He gently opened the door the room, completely unsure of what to expect.

The only person in the room was a member of the cleaning staff, who was making the bed, readying the room for the next patient. She looked up at him in surprise.

"Do you know where the woman who was in this room went, she's my daughter, and she just had a baby?"

The woman just shook her head.

"I don't know. They're gone I guess."

Max backed up out of the room. He didn't know what was happening. They were gone? Again? What did that mean?

A nurse approached him as he walked back down the hallway.

"Are you Max Keenan?"

He nodded.

"Doctor Brennan was expecting you, but they had to go. She asked me to give you this..." The woman fished a Polaroid picture out of her pocket and handed it to the man.

He smiled as he looked at the picture. It was of the new parents and their new daughter, his daughter and Booth looked so happy. As happy as he and his wife had looked when they held their own baby daughter. He flipped the picture over and written on the back was;

Max, (Grandpa)

We had to go. You, if anybody, will understand why. Please, don't try to find us...

Hopefully we won't be gone fifteen years before we can resolve this issue.

Love, Temperance, Booth and Payton.

(We named her for Agent Payton Perotta, who gave her life for ours, Please make sure her family is well-taken care of)

Even though Max had tears in his eyes as he continued down the hall, he laughed at the irony of how much his daughter had ended up like him. His leaving all those years ago had been intended to prevent her from following in his footsteps. To protect her from danger. She had done everything right, and she was still in the same situation. Genetics were undeniable. Fate was indisputable.

He wished them luck under his breath, and tucked the picture into his wallet with a symbolic kiss to the faces on the front of it.

"See you soon baby. Take care."

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A/N:

Well, that's that I guess...

Thanks for reading this. There will be a short epilogue posted very soon ...in case anyone is interested, there's totally a set up for a futurefic sequel.

Thanks again. It's been swell.

Gaia.