Booth, Brennan and Hadley walked to the kitchen to find Parker doubled over in laughter.

"That one's still my favorite," he said between laughs. The experiment had broken the surface tension of the two liter of diet cola and made a mess. The soda was all over Brennan's ceiling, counter and floor.

"Dad! This is a mess!"

"Don't worry, Tempe, I'll clean it up." He was just as messy as the rest of the kitchen, soda drenched his clothes.

"Dad…"

"Max, you couldn't have picked a different experiment?" Booth asked, looking at his son who was covered in the soda as well.

"Why do something boring when you can do something awesome?" Parker said, giving Max a high five.

"We'll clean it up, don't worry," Max reassured, grabbing paper towels off the roll.

"Dad, this is Hadley. Hadley, this is my dad, Max."

Max walked over to Hadley and held his hand out. "I've give you a hug, but I'm sure you don't want soda all over you."

Hadley smiled. "Thanks. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Hey, how about when Parker and I get this all cleaned up, we all go get some ice cream, huh? How's that sound?"

Parker and Hadley agreed immediately and the partners couldn't say no. It took two rolls of paper towels to clean everything up and after Parker and Max put on some fresh clothes, the five of them loaded up into Booth's SUV to find the nearest ice cream shop. Max sat in the back between the two kids and Parker couldn't stop talking about all of the cool experiments he wanted to show Hadley.

"There's this one experiment with light refraction and Jell-o. It's so cool, Hadley. Max, can we do that when we get back? It's so much fun."

"You'll have to ask Tempe, it's her kitchen and we already messed it up once today."

"Please, Bones? Can we? We'll clean up our mess!" Parker begged.

"I'll make sure they don't make a mess, Bones," Hadley promised.

"Come on, Bones. Let the kids learn a little," Booth said, giving her a big smile.

Brennan smiled back and knew there was no way she could say no to an educational experience. "Alright, we'll have to stop at the store though. Jell-o is not something I keep in the kitchen at all times."

Hadley and Parker high-fived each other and then Max.

"Thanks, Bones," Hadley said softly. Brennan looked back and smiled at her.

When they arrived back at her apartment with bellies full of ice cream and several boxes of Jell-o, Hadley raced Parker to the kitchen and the two immediately set to work to prepare the experiment while the adults sat in the living room.

"So how are you handling things, Tempe?"

"I'm…handling them."

"Parenting wasn't what you thought, huh, Bones?"

She shook her head. "I'm adjusting. This situation is different. When we took care of Andy, it was only for a bit. And he was an infant. Having Hadley is a completely different situation."

"Well what about when…you know…me and you were-ˮ

"Planning on conceiving a child? Well, we discovered your brain tumor and it just didn't work out."

"Wait…am I missing something?" Max said before either of them could.

"You didn't tell him?" Booth squeaked out.

"What was there to tell? I never got pregnant and when you woke up from the coma and as soon as I knew you'd be okay, I left for a dig. Nothing ever became of it."

Max let out a short laugh. "So you two were gonna have a kid? And you were planning it? But you guys were never together?"

"No, Dad."

He laughed again. "Oh, you two are messed up. I love ya, Tempe, but that's wrong."

"I don't understand."

Max shook his head and smiled as he stood. "Of course you don't. We'll talk more later, but now I'm going to see what those kids are up to."

He left for the kitchen, leaving Booth and Brennan in silence.

"Bones…how come we never, uh, finished what we started?"

"What, having a baby?"

Booth nodded. She sighed and thought about her answer. "You told me you didn't want me to have the child if you couldn't be part of his or her life."

"Can I ask you something, Bones?"

"Of course."

"Why weren't you going to let me be part of the kid's life?"

She stayed quiet for several moments before she said anything. Checking over her shoulder to make sure her father was occupied with Hadley and Parker, Brennan looked back at Booth and gave him a straight answer.

"If you were to be part of the child's life, I had assumed, from your past experiences, that you would want more than just to be involved."

Booth looked at her like she had a third eye. "What? You mean a relationship?"

She nodded.

"Okay, Bones, that was a completely different circumstance. You and I aren't together. Rebecca and I were."

"But was it illogical for me to think like that?"

He shrugged. "Probably not."

It took Brennan a while to decide how to word her next question. "Do you wish we had continued with the insemination?"

"Do you gotta call it that? That just sounds…wrong."

"Well what would you rather have me call it?"

He shook his head as he thought about what he should say. "You could just say have a baby. It sounds a lot better and a lot less…clinical than 'insemination'."

"Okay, well do you wish we had a baby?"

"Yes. No. Hell, I…I don't know, Bones. If you had a baby, would you have taken Hadley in?"

"Of course. If we had gone through with our plan, the baby would be at least a year old by now and it would be significantly easier to care for a toddler and a teenager than an infant and a teenager."

Booth just nodded slowly. "So do you wish you had a kid?"

"Yes. Having a progeny would make me quite happy, I believe."

"You think or you know?"

Their thoughts were interrupted by Parker's yell. "Dad, come look at this! This is so cool!"

"Okay, buddy, I'm coming." Booth stood and walked toward the kitchen. As he passed her, he looked down at Brennan and said, "I'll keep my end of the deal, but only with that one condition. Think about it."

Brennan watched him walk out of the room. She began to think hard about what he had said and weighed her options.

"Bones, you okay?" Hadley asked. She had an apron on and her hands looked sticky with the jell-o.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why?"

"You had this squinty, pinched looked on your face."

They heard Booth laugh. "That's just what she looks like when she's thinking."

Brennan rolled her eyes.

"Bones, come on, come see our experiment," Hadley requested.

"Alright, let's go."

They entered the kitchen and Hadley went right back to where Max and Parker were standing. Booth was watching for a distance.

"I'm not getting any closer. For all I know, this one is gonna explode too."

"No. Apart from making the jell-o, it's a relatively clean experiment," she said, staying next to him.

"You alright, Bones?"

She smiled at him and he returned the grin. "Yes. I believe you would say that I'm better than alright."