Hi all. Wow thank you so much for your reviews. So glad you like the way Temperance made her decision and of course the decision itself. Here we go, this chapter is a little longer!

Coming home…

Chapter 6:

"Dr. Brennan." Deputy Director Cullen offered his hand and I took it, shaking it briefly. "Take a seat." He addressed me and I did as I was told. "Why are you here?" Cullen asked, blunt and to the point. Well, two could play that game.

"I need to contact Booth." I simply said.

"That's not possibly. If it would be an emergency regarding his family, I could contact him… but I don't think that is the case…" Cullen hesitated and gave me a long look.

"Actually it is about his family. Yesterday I learned…. that he is going to be a father again." I forced the words out quickly, waiting for Cullen's reaction.

"Is he now?" Cullen's eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't even know he had a girlfriend." He sighed. "Who is it?"

I blinked. I knew Deputy Director Cullen and he was not a fool. Usually he was quite apt at conductive logic. Apparently, Booth and me having a relationship was not something he would consider at all.

I had known he didn't like me, but that he obviously didn't regard me as a woman stung a little.

I shook my head in disbelief and made no attempt at hiding the acid note in my voice when I told him. "Deputy Director Cullen, what makes you think that a possible girlfriend of Booth would decide to confide in me regarding something as personal as a pregnancy?"

Cullen looked at me, no, it was more a stare and I saw color leave his face the same time realisation entered his eyes. "You?" He croaked.

His eyes travelled over me, pausing on my abdomen. "I know I'm not showing yet." I said. "But I'm pregnant."

Cullen sighed and closed his eyes briefly. "I …. I wouldn't have thought Booth would be that unprofessional." He clenched his teeth.

"He wasn't and he isn't. Our relationship was strictly professional until the evening before he went on his assignment." I felt obliged to inform him. That he questioned Booth's professionalism was something I couldn't just let go.

Cullen's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh." He cleared his throat. "So, eight weeks?" Obviously he was not really comfortable discussing my pregnancy with me. Well, I was not thrilled either.

"Yes. If you do not believe me, I guess I could have my gynaecologist confirm it." I offered, but just as I had expected him to, he waved the thought off, an almost horrified expression on his face.

"No, that won't be necessary." He paused for a moment. "Why do you want to contact Booth?"

I blinked, somewhat stunned. "He has a right to know." I simply said.

"I understand that…." Cullen paused. "But, what do you expect me to do now? I don't want to risk the whole assignment because you want to tell him you're pregnant."

I held my breath for a moment, concentrating on letting it back out steadily, calming myself. Essentially only keeping myself from yelling. "He needs to know!" I said, narrowing my eyes at Cullen's boss.

"What do you think that would accomplish? Do you think he's going to rush back? He can't just leave his assignment, but I don't think he would, anyway. He had no problems leaving behind his son for an undetermined period of time, I doubt he's going to come back because you tell him you're knocked up after a one-night stand." Cullen's harsh words left me stunned, shocked, speechless for a moment.

Then anger bubbled up and I made no attempt at hiding it. Maybe anger was to mild a word…. It felt more like rage. Fury, even.

"You obviously don't know him at all. He didn't just leave Parker behind, he had no choice!" I yelled at Booth's boss, my fists clenched at my side and I knew the anger I felt on Booth's behalf had to be showing on my face. The fact that Cullen had so easily labelled what had happened between Booth and me a one-night stand only fuelled the fire.

The Deputy Director narrowed his eyes at me and answered. "I offered him this undercover assignment, but I thought he would say no, because of his son. He said yes. He had a choice."

"No, he didn't." I shook my head. "Booth is a great father, he would never just leave Parker without a good reason. He just accepted the offer because he needed the raise that came with it. He needed the money." I desperately tried to calm down, thinking that my anger would not help me nor Booth and certainly wouldn't be good for the baby.

Cullen blinked, then he leant back in his chair and regarded me with a long measuring look. "Calm down, Dr. Brennan. Then I would appreciate it, if you could explain all this to me. Why does Booth need money?"

I sighed and willed myself to calm down a little. That wasn't so hard to accomplish…. Thinking back to what had lead Booth to accept Cullen's offer made me feel sad.

"You know he has a son. His name is Parker and he's seven years old." I began and Cullen nodded, then motioned for me to continue.

"Rebecca – that is Parker's mother – and Booth's son were in a car accident about five months ago. Thankfully, Parker only fractured his right ulna." Cullen raised an eyebrow. "He broke his arm." I rephrased and Cullen nodded. "But Rebecca was not that lucky. She fractured…'" I paused and decided to avoid the medical jargon. "She broke both her legs and had a severe injury to her back. Now she's paraplegic from the waist down."

Cullen's face showed compassion. "I'm sorry… but I'm not sure what that has to do with Booth's decision of going on that assignment. I would have thought this would make him want to stay even more."

I moistened my lips and continued. "The accident was caused by a fifteen year old who had 'borrowed' his father's car. The insurance companies are still arguing."

"After five months?" Cullen muttered. "They haven't seen a single cent so far, right? Damn insurances."

I nodded. "Rebecca needs therapy, needed to move because there was not enough space for the wheelchair in her old apartment. Her mother is living with her now to help her and Parker, but Rebecca won't be able to go back to work, at least not in the near future…"

"They have next to near income." Cullen summed it up.

I nodded again. "Rebecca's insurance company won't pay, the other insurance company says that it's the teenager's parents fault that he even had opportunity to take the car so they should pay. They're poor people, Deputy Director. Even if finally a decision is made, if the boy's parents have to pay, they would have to sell everything they own and it still wouldn't be enough."

I watched Cullen close his eyes and shake his head.

"So, when you offered Booth this assignment with a fifty percent raise, he accepted." I said. I left out the part that I had offered to pay for Rebecca's care. Booth had been shocked, obviously too proud to accept this kind of help from my side. I stifled a sigh.

Cullen gave me another long measuring look. "I know you're wealthy." So he had guessed correctly that I had offered Booth support. The remark was nowhere near polite, but I didn't require politeness, so I just nodded. "He didn't want my financial help. I think he is too proud. Rebecca and I …. we get along, but I don't think she would have been too happy with me paying for her. The money would have had to go through Booth and he didn't want it."

"Hard-headed idiot." Cullen muttered.

"What?" I stared at the Deputy Director.

"You and I may not exactly be friends, Dr. Brennan. But I understand that you care about Booth. So do I. I should have seen that something was wrong. I apologise for my words earlier." I nodded my acceptance of his apology, although we both knew I would never forget what he had said, and he continued. "I don't understand why he didn't say anything. I wondered about the reason for him accepting my offer. Now I know. Stubborn fool." He shook his head again. "He should have said something. The department would have found a way to support him until the argument between the insurances was settled. And our interference would have sped up the process, I'm sure of that."

His words surprised me. "I… don't think Booth knew he would receive this kind of support."

Cullen shook his head again. "He's my best agent. I want him in this office when I retire. It's years away, but still…. Of course he gets support." The older man gave me a long and thoughtful look.

"I can't pull him off the case now."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued. "I want to, really, Dr. Brennan. But you have to understand that this can not be my decision. Booth has been working his way into that group for eight weeks now and he's doing good. His contact man accepts and trusts so far and we can't just throw all that hard work away."

I thought about a possible objection, but once again the Deputy Director was quicker than me. "It's kiddy porn, Dr. Brennan. Booth's trying to get that sick bastards in jail." My eyes widened and I understood. Children. Abused, exploited children. I remained silent.

"Booth's been acting as a costumer for these sick videos for weeks. He thinks they might approach him to attend to…." I could see Cullen's jaw clench before he continued. "… to the real thing soon."

I had to close my eyes and swallow hard to keep myself from retching. My stomach had been unsettled by the early stage of pregnancy, but the mere imagination of Booth having to act as if he was interested in pornographic videos of children, even go to such an 'event' made me want to gag even more.

"My God." I whispered, feeling both sorry for Booth and disgusted by the sick people who's trust he was trying to earn.

Cullen nodded. "We have the DVDs, Dr. Brennan. We have a lot of material, but we don't know where these bastards are hiding and doing their filming. If Booth manages to get a location, we can bust this thing. We can arrest all of them, not only Booth's contact man….and a lot of children wouldn't have to suffer anymore."

"I understand." I whispered. And I did. Booth's work was important. I could not expect him to come back and simply let these poor children suffer. Let child abusers go free because I was pregnant. In the grand scheme, my pregnancy was something small and irrelevant…. But Booth's work had impact on many lives.

"I can't pull him off the case, Dr. Brennan." Cullen said, his voice almost gentle.

"I understand." I repeated, my voice flat. "I really do." That didn't stop the tears that had started to gather in my eyes at the prospect of not having Booth back anytime soon. Angela had been right…. I had been hoping for him to come back instantly and be there for me.

"I can contact him, though. Let him know … about the situation." He gave my midsection a meaningful glance. "It's up to you." I swallowed hard and it took me only a few moments to make my decision on that.

"Don't tell him." I swallowed hard. "It would only distract him and endanger him even more. He has enough to worry about." My voice sounded odd forming the words I didn't want to say, but I knew it was better that way. "I wanted him to know, but now I understand it would be too dangerous. And I'd rather have him back alive." I closed my eyes and recalled his last words to me before he had left. He had said he would give his best to come back to me. Well, so could I.

I opened my eyes again after a moment and focussed on Booth's boss. "You could do me a favour, though." I watched him hesitate and with a sad smile I added. "It's more a favour for Booth, anyway." He nodded. "Tell me."

So, what do you think? Reviews would be awesome!

Christmas time is busy time.... so I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again... thanks for understanding ;)