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Coming home…

Chapter 19:

"No baby shower." I frowned at my best friend. "I should have made a note of every time I told you that. I'm sure it's been more than twenty times by now."

"But, Bren…. Baby showers are cute and wonderful and… traditional. Come on, you as anthropologist have to be interested in the tradition." Angela whined. I seldom attribute words like that to somebody else, but Angela WHINED.

"Please, Ange, just give it a rest. I don't want a baby shower." I sighed and absently rubbed my belly. I was now nearly eight months pregnant and the baby was pretty agile. Especially at night. Needless to say I was not exactly thrilled about that, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it.

Well, I HAD found out that reading scientific research papers and things like that seemed to have a calming effect on the baby. Booth had commented that with a smirk and a sly: "Definitely my kid. Science bores the baby to sleep."

I had glared at him and informed him that the logic of science calmed me and that me being calm extended to the baby. Clearly my slowed down heart rate calmed the unborn child. Booth had busted that theory by asking: "And why doesn't the baby sleep when you're asleep, huh? Your heart rate can't get any calmer than while you're sleeping."

Oddly enough, we had discovered that his hand on my belly seemed to calm the baby, too. Maybe because it made me feel good.

"What are you thinking about?" Angela asked, studying my face. Obviously I had… zoned out again.

"The baby. Why it doesn't let me sleep at night." I informed her and she shrugged. "Well, duh. It's a baby. Keeping up the parents at unreasonable hours is in the manual."

"Manual, sure" I shook my head at her reasoning. "Besides, it only keeps up me."

"So far." Angela grinned at me. "As soon as it's born you can pass on half the work to Daddy."

"Not really." I sighed. "He won't be able to nurse the baby." I arched my aching back a little and got rewarded by an affronted kick from the baby. "Sorry." I mumbled. "But I have to move from time to time."

"What? I never said you shouldn't move." Angela gave me one of her most bewildered looks. I rolled my eyes at her. "The last part was not addressed to you, but to that little devil in there."

Angela stared at me for a while, then she burst out laughing. "You're not only talking to the baby – which is awfully cute, sweetie – no you suddenly believe in devils. That's too good to be true." She giggled.

"Very funny." I glared at her, giving her my best 'I'm not amused'-stare. The thing is, the stare didn't work on her. Never had, never will. It still worked on Booth, though, which amused me…. secretly of course.

"Cut out that evil eye." Angela grinned at me. "Doesn't suit you. What did the little devil do?"

"Kicked me. I just needed to move a little." I sighed and tried to stuff a pillow behind ma back. Wordlessly Angela rose to help me.

"So, about that baby shower…." Angela said and I silently shook my head. "Look, Ange. We're thankful for everything you've done for us. Painting the nursery and being there for me… but we don't want a baby shower."

"You don't want it." Angela said. "Maybe Booth wants it?"

I gave her an incredulous look. "You think Seeley wants a baby shower? You can't be serious?"

"Why? Maybe he WANTS it, is that so hard to believe? I bet there was a baby shower for Parker and he wasn't allowed to attend." Angela said and I frowned a little at that. "I doubt it." I said after a moment.

"That there was a shower?" Angela asked and I shook my head. "Not that." I had no doubt that Rebecca had had such a kind of social gathering. She struck me as exactly the type for that kind of thing.

"I doubt he wants that … party thing." I said after a moment.

"You doubt who wants what?" A male voice from behind me startled me for an instant, but since I was very familiar with the timbre, the shock only lasted for a split-second. It was still long enough for the baby to scold me for my reaction with another strategically well-placed kick. "Yeah, yeah." I mumbled and rubbed my abdomen soothingly. "Don't blame me, you father is the one who scared me."

"How have you two been today?" Seeley sat down beside me on the couch in my office. "The little one training martial arts again?" He asked and I snorted. "Something like that, yeah." Gently he laid a hand on my belly. The baby calmed instantly. Traitor.

From the corner of my eye I caught Angela watching us with a soft smile on her face.

"You're so sweet together." She suddenly blurted and I arched an eyebrow at her. "You just want to soften me towards your idea."

"What idea?" Booth asked, his hand still resting on my very pregnant mid-section, rubbing soothing circles.

"Baby shower." Angela said dreamily. "I'm still trying to convince her."

"You've been trying to convince her for months, Ange. Maybe you should just give it up. If she doesn't want it, we won't have it." Booth said and I sighed. "At last, somebody is supporting me." I pointed out.

"I'm always supporting you." He said with a smile and dropped a quick kiss against my temple.

"I just pointed out that maybe YOU want a baby shower." Angela interrupted us and I felt Booth stiffen beside me a little. "You do?" I asked incredulously.

He shrugged lightly. "If you don't want a baby shower, we won't have it."

"Why would YOU want it?" I asked, intrigued.

"Why not? Celebrating your pregnancy, getting a lot of free stuff for the baby. I see no harm in it." He stared at me and I stared back, surprised by his words. "You WANT a baby shower?" I asked again. He shrugged lightly. "I can do without, Bones. I just don't see why it would be so awful to have it."

"We don't need all those presents. We're perfectly able to provide anything the baby needs." I said with a slight frown.

"Only because of the money you're making, Bones. We both know it. If we had to rely on my income, we'd be more than glad to get free stuff. Especially since all those baby things are pretty expensive." Booth said roughly. That he wanted to discuss this in front of Angela surprised me. I exchanged a quick glance with her and saw that she seemed to be a little uncomfortable now. Clearly she didn't want to be in the way of a financial discussion. Well, tough luck, SHE initiated the whole debate.

"That doesn't matter. We're doing this together, right?" I insisted and I saw the expression on his face soften. "Yeah. We're in this together." He nodded.

"Do you want a baby shower? Do you… I don't know… do you like this tradition?" I asked carefully.

"I think it's nice. But I don't need it, Bones. It's your decision." He said seriously and I melted.

Damn all these hormones. Angela had been trying to talk me into a baby shower for at least three months. And now I was sitting in front of Seeley and he told me seriously that he didn't need a baby shower. That it was my decision. That it was only because of my money we were able to provide all the things we needed for the child.

Which was not true….People earning less than him can make do, too. I had learned as a foster child how long you can wear the same pair of shoes until it fell apart. A long time.

But of course it was nice to have enough money not to have to worry about things like that.

Maybe it didn't exactly appeal to his – stupid alpha male – pride that I was able to buy everything we wanted to have for the baby. Maybe having a few things around that had come as presents would be easier for him to accept. And maybe the pregnancy hormones made me mellow and soft. At least of the last part I was perfectly sure. I gave in.

"Okay. Baby shower." I sighed. "But I'm not going to organize this. I don't know anything about this kind of thing and I …" My words died in Angela's squeal. "I'll do it. Everything. You don't have to lift a finger. Oh, this is great. Oookay… then let's see… next Saturday, okay, Sweetie? We gotta hurry before you pop."

"Pop." I glared at her. She had used that term before and I didn't like it. I had expressed my dislike, too, and she I was sure she remembered.

"Before you give birth to a beautiful little girl." She smiled sweetly at me.

"We don't know that." I scowled at her again. "Or a handsome little boy." She added. "By the way how's it going with the naming?"

Booth and I exchanged a long look. "We have names." He said and Angela smiled happily. "Finally."

She looked at us expectantly.

"For a boy…" Booth smiled at me. "Jason Bryan…. Bryan's my grandfather."

"And for a girl." I continued, smiling back at Booth. "Angelina Christine."

Angela just sat there and stared at us. "Christine after my mother. Well, her real name would have been Ruth, but that's not how I knew her, so it's Christine. And well…Angelina is a beautiful name… and it very similar to the first name of the godmother we have in mind. Seeley told me that would be traditional… you know."

"Oh my God." Angela looked from me to Booth and back.

"If you want to be godmother, that is." Booth added. Angela's eyes went huge and tears gathered in them. "Of course." She said, almost choking on the words.

After a moment of stunned silence, she moved towards me, hugging me gently. "Thank you, Sweetie. I'll do my best to be a good god mother."

"I know." I said…. And meant it. Then Angela pulled back and smiled at my belly for a moment before turning towards Booth and hugging him, too. "Thank you for your trust."

"Thank you for being there for her when I couldn't." I heard Booth say and Angela gave back a barely audible. "Always."

Then they broke apart and she smiled at me. "I would have never thought you'd agree to getting your child baptised."

Booth chuckled. "She didn't. Of course she didn't." He shook his head. "The baby's not getting baptised for now. But we wanted to name you godmother all the same."

"I think it's good to name a guardian for the child. It provides somebody to take care of the child… in case something happens to the parents." I added. "Seeley is catholic… but I'm not comfortable with… you know, religion. We agreed that we can postpone that decision."

"Yep. You can always get baptised… even as adult." Booth said. He had been very understanding, in my opinion. I had feared he would be adamant on that point, had feared we would argue about religion, but he had accepted that I didn't want the child to be baptised. Not yet, anyway. Maybe, one day, I'll get more comfortable with the idea. He had told me that having me in his life and having a healthy child was more important than baptising it. But he had also told me to consider looking at it more as a naming ceremony than as a religious act. I was not an idiot… of course he harboured hopes that I might change my mind.

"I don't want to say yes to this now and it might just be the hormones. I'm so emotional these days." I said, wrinkling my nose and Angela laughed. "Sure thing. I bet that after the child is born you'll just go from pregnant mode to mother hen mode and you'll maybe be even more emotional than now."

"I will not" I said, shocked by her words. "Right?" I gave Booth an uncertain look. I had developed emotions I had not known were hiding in me these past months. That I might feel something even more profound than the love for him and the unborn child seemed flat out impossible. And I had never been overly emotional. Wouldn't I be losing myself… somehow? "No" He said and kissed me on the nose. But I sensed that there was more behind his words.

Angela thanked us for wanting her as godmother again and soon left my office, muttering to herself about the baby shower.

After she had closed the door behind her, Seeley regarded me with a serious look on his face. "Things will change, Bones. You'll worry more. That's what parents do. Worry about their children." Booth said. "I mean right now you always know where the baby is and what's it doing, right?"

"Kicking me and not letting me sleep." I muttered, but we both knew I didn't really mean it.

"Safe." He said. "Right now, it's safe. As soon as it's born, you'll start to worry even more. About all kinds of things."

"Countless couples through history faced that problem and managed it. We will, too." I answered, then sighed. "But I admit I'm a little scared."

"Me too, Bones. I guess it's normal." He covered my pregnant belly with his hands, then smiled at me. "We'll just give our best to keep this child safe and be good parents. That ought to do the trick."

"Mhm." I nodded. "And we'll have Angela as godmother, too. People think she's harmless, but she can be scary if she wants to."

"I know." Booth winked at me. "She's been nagging about that baby shower for weeks."

I frowned at him suspiciously. "You DON'T want that thing."

"Not really." Booth grinned. "But now Angela is busy and we're getting presents out of it. A real win-win situation." We exchanged a look, then started to laugh until the baby kicked me in the bladder – again – and I had to use the bathroom.

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