Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm back, finally. Sorry for the delay on this one...last week was crazy getting Christmas stuff ready, plus finishing my Christmas fic in time (thanks so much to everyone who checked it out, I was thrilled with the response). This week's been kind of all about catching up with people at home, but now that's done and the last week and a half of break should be much more calm. Hence, faster updates. We've got about two more chapters to go after this one, and they should be a return to the days of Fast Updates...with the right motivation of course (don't we all get tired of me doing that? heehee). Anyway, read away!

Oh, actually...a quick note about getting in touch with me. If you've asked questions in reviews, I do INTEND to answer them, but I tend to check a bunch of reviews at once in my email, since they all come in quick sweeps, so if I haven't gotten back to you I do apologize. If you want to talk send me a private message...I'm not the best at remembering to check those either, and if you're waiting for a response, I'm really sorry for the delay, I usually forget to go to that section and end up answering a bunch at once.

NOW read away. Song is Brand New Day by Joshua Radin. I adore his music, and this song is so perfect for this chapter. Check it out!

Chapter Thirteen: Brand New Day

Most kind of stories
Save the best part for last
And most stories have a hero who finds
You make your past your past
Yeah you make your past your past

It's a brand new day
The sun is shining
It's a brand new day
For the first time in such a long long time
I know, I'll be ok

Booth felt like a child, caught in some act of disobedience by his parents, nervously awaiting his sentencing.

There was something intimidating about Angela's smile, the glint in her dark eyes. She made distant but polite small talk in the car, asking about Jared and Parker or throwing out suggestions for the restaurant. Booth was honestly terrified to say the wrong thing, and he kept his answers as brief as possible.

When they got to the restaurant, however, all pretense was dropped. From the second they sat down, Angela ceased the small talk. She merely studied him in silence, her expression maddeningly patient even amid the thinly veiled resentment.

Booth, though, was the opposite of calm. He was fidgeting in his seat, continually rearranging his arms and hands. The table between them felt vaguely like a principal's desk, and Booth was just waiting for the lecture to begin.

After their drinks came and they'd ordered food (the only time either of them spoke since entering the restaurant), Angela drew a deep breath, met Booth's eyes, and smiled that strange half-smile. "I think I probably owe you an apology."

Booth blinked at he, his mouth hanging open cartoonishly. That was the last thing he'd expected.

Angela continued, "I've been pretty awful about you for a pretty long time now. Said a lot of things I probably shouldn't have."

"Oh, uh…." Booth was so taken aback by this direction that he felt like being generous. "You didn't say anything that wasn't true…"

"Maybe not to your face." Angela's lips curled, but then she dropped the smile and stared at him intently. "I'm not saying you didn't deserve it, or that I didn't have a good reason, but…you were my friend, too, and I know you've been going through a rough time and…I didn't always consider your feelings."

"You were looking out for her," Booth said softly. "I'm glad you were. You were right, Ange, about everything. I…I've done nothing but hurt her for so long now, and I don't want to do that anymore."

"Good." At that, she leaned forward, her eyes flashing, and suddenly Booth's stomach clenched. Angela's expression suggested he'd walked right into a trap, and she was about to go in for the kill. "So why the hell are you actually considering this transfer?"

Booth winced, staring fixedly into his glass of water. "It's complicated."

"Try me," Angela shot back instantly, smiling sweetly at him. "Let's see if I can keep up."

For a long moment, the only sound was the ruffling of straw paper Booth twisted nervously between his fingers.

"I…I know what you're going to say." Booth spoke in a low, deliberate voice. "It's what Jared said, and I know…I know when I say that I hurt her, you're just going to say that….that me transferring is just going to hurt her more."

Angela blinked at him, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, the artist gave him a sardonic smile. "Well, you're definitely making this easy for me."

"Um…" Nervously, Booth rubbed the nape of his neck, his eyes darting around the restaurant like a hostage looking for an escape route. "There's more to it than that."

Honestly, at this point, there was a part of Booth that wanted Angela to launch into the big speech, the yelling and the lecture and everything else he'd expected. Instead, she widened her eyes and gave him a mock-impressed look. "Wow. Okay, I didn't know there was more to it. Makes complete sense now."

Booth groaned, frustrated. "I don't know what you want me to say, Angela."

At that, Angela laughed softly, though all traces of humor were suddenly absent from her expression. "I want you to explain yourself, Booth. If there is so much more to this decision, explain it to me. I'd love to know." She leaned forward, eyes blazing. "Honestly, I'm sincerely hoping you're just an idiot, and really have no clue what you transferring would do to her."

"I-"

"Because the alternative," Angela continued, scowling at him. "-is that you're just this selfish jerk who doesn't care about her."

He bristled instantly; Angela was the second person now to suggest that he didn't care about Bones. Tersely, he replied, "You know that's not true, Angela. You know that."

"Do I?" All traces of that maddening calm Angela had possessed had faded away, her emotions suddenly brimming over. "What I know is that she showed up at our doorstep in tears, after leaving Jared's. Because she drove all that way to find you, ya know, after you blew her off for dinner and left without a word? She went to find you anyway, and then you tell her you're maybe changing jobs and moving away? Oh, sorry, Jared told her."

There was silence for several long moments, as Booth stared at her, and finally, he weakly repeated, "In tears?"

"Yes, Booth. And that's not, I mean, you know that isn't typical. At all."

Booth fell silent, once again avoiding Angela's gaze. The waiter came by and set their food in front of them, but neither made a move to eat.

It was Angela who broke the silence, her voice quiet and fierce, "You know, Booth…for five years, I never once doubted how much you cared about Brennan, and now…you are making me doubt it. I hate that, Booth, and if I'm doubting it now…she's been doubting it for months."

"I know," Booth gritted out, his voice catching. "I know that, I know how I've treated her, and that's exactly why-"

"Oh, don't do that! Don't say that's why?" Her face twisted into a look of disgust. "You've hurt her for months, but you know that, and I know you two have talked about it, and I know how guilty you feel. But why the hell would you want to hurt her more?"

"Listen…" There was the slightest tremor in Booth's voice, and he glared down at his untouched plate until he thought it was under control. "I…I know it'll hurt Bones if I transfer. If I move away. But at least then it will be over."

Angela narrowed her eyes at him, obviously unimpressed. "What does that mean?"

"I….I scare myself, Angela!" His voice was louder than he intended, causing a few people to glance over at him. Dropping to a fierce whisper, Booth continued, "I lost it. The past few months, it's like…I had no control of myself, all I did was screw up. And even before that, how I was treating Bones…I never would have thought I would do that to her, but I did. And for the longest time I didn't even notice. She had to almost die for me to figure that out." He paused, his chest heaving, the truth of this hanging between them. Booth glanced away from Angela, that familiar self revulsion coiling tightly in his gut. "You're disappointed in me, fine. That's not even close to how I feel about myself."

Booth kept his eyes on his plate, focusing on taking deep breaths. Angela didn't say anything instantly, and when he chanced a glance up at her, her eyes seemed unusually bright, though her expression was impassive.

The silence went on for longer than normal, and Booth took his first bite of food just to have something to do.

Finally, he sighed quietly. "You don't…it doesn't make any sense to you, does it?"

"No, it's, um…it isn't that." Angela's eyes softened for the first time all evening. "Booth, I've been your worst critic. For months now. I mean, ever since you got back."

"I know-"

"But even I don't think….that after everything that's happened, you would let things get that bad again. I mean, it sucks, that it took what almost happened to Bren to make you realize what you were doing to her. But you did realize it." He looked away, shaking his head slightly, and Angela reached across the table and touched his arm briefly. "Hey. I'm serious. I was there, Booth, the whole time she was missing. I saw your face, I saw how you were beating yourself up…." She smiled, just a little. "That scared the hell out of you. Enough that you're never going to do that to her again."

"Yeah, well…." Booth's voice trailed off, thinking about this. Right now, he knew it was true. But if someone had asked him a year and a half ago if he'd ever neglect Bones the way he had…he'd have told them they were insane.

That's what he meant about scaring himself. He'd turned into a guy he hadn't recognized for months before Greg Thomas…a callous, selfish bastard. And then he'd changed, yet again, in the time after, to a self-destructive, alcoholic wreck.

Who knows what might come next?

As though reading his mind, Angela sighed. "You're a good man, Booth. You went through a rough time, but you never stopped being a good guy. When she needed you, you were there. You saved her, Booth."

"And then proceeded to…ignore her."

"You were feeling guilty," Angela said quietly. "You know I think you handled things badly but…no one's perfect, Booth. You messed up, but….you can fix it, you can make up for that-"

"But what if I can't?" The words sounded tight, wrenched out of him.

Slowly, understanding dawned on Angela's face. "Booth…"

"Bones, she…she wants us to be…the way we were. And so do I, you know, when we were so close, and always together, but…what if that's not possible? I mean, after everything that's happened, how can we get that back?"

To his surprise, the corner of Angela's lips quirked into a half-smile. "You're wrong." She leaned forward again, locking her gaze with his. "She doesn't want what you guys used to have. I mean, I'm sure she probably does, but really…she wants more."

The implications were slow sinking in, and for a moment Booth could only blink stupidly across the table. "You mean…"

"She loves you," Angela said quietly. "Even after all this."

Booth's instinct had always been to dismiss this, but instead he was quiet. He was thinking about what Hannah had said when she left him, or what Brennan had said last week on Jared's porch.

You know, I knew she loved you the minute she explained what she'd done down there. I even… I even thought she might love you more than I did.

I thought I would lose you. It doesn't mean I didn't…feel the same way about you.

"You think?" he asked quietly.

Angela sighed, shaking her head in a way that suggested he was idiotic for asking. "Booth. Of course she does. Why do you think she gave herself up to Greg Thomas for you? Why do you think she has missed you so much for the past seven months? Why do you think she's been so worried about you?"

While Booth blinked dumbly at Angela, she arched an eyebrow. "And why do you think it would kill her if you moved away and changed jobs?"

"But she…." Booth paused, words tangling. He was feeling oddly dizzy and lightheaded at Angela's assertion. "She doesn't want that. It's not like I blame her, but-"

"Look, Bren told me about what happened between you two last year."

At that, Booth froze, surprised. "She did?"

"It was about two months after we all came back, and I was pissed at you, and ranting about it." Angela's tone was unapologetic. "And Bren, even though she was clearly hurt, she defended you. Basically said she deserved it and I shouldn't blame you for staying away….it took some work, but I got the whole story out of her."

Flushing, Booth's eyes flicked away from hers. "I know it's not an excuse."

"You're right, it isn't, but that's not what I was going to say." Angela waited until he looked at her again. "She was so close, Booth. I know she was. And of course I don't blame you, for telling her what you did, but…God, Booth, you know what's Bren's like. She got scared, she thought she was gonna lose you…"

Booth nodded vaguely, thinking about Brennan saying the exact thing to him last week.

"But it was one moment, you know? And from what she told me about it, she never said she didn't feel that way about you." She paused briefly, as though waiting for him to correct her, but of course he didn't. "She panicked. And you just…gave up on her."

Raising his head, Booth opened his mouth to speak, but Angela didn't give him a chance, continuing in a soft voice. "I know that's not fair. I know how hard that was for you, and how much it must have hurt you….so I know it's not fair. But you and I both know why Brennan is so terrified of being hurt and being abandoned and….what happened to her, to make her like that….that isn't fair either."

Booth's chest felt tight, any words he'd been about to say sticking in his throat.

"It was one moment, Booth. One moment for her to put all that aside, and….and then you told her you were moving on. And you did." Angela shook her head slightly, her expression equal parts defiant and apologetic. "I can't…I can't be mad at you for that, I know. You have every right to…except, seeing you, that day, when she was missing…I don't think you stopped loving her. Not really. So I don't get why you didn't fight for her. Why…when she basically stood there and said she didn't deserve you, why didn't you tell her she was wrong?"

The silence returned for a moment, and finally Booth said quietly, "You're right. I…I should've. But now…now I'm the one who doesn't deserve her."

"I don't believe that," Angela said quietly. "She needs you, Booth. Bren doesn't really need anyone, but she needs you. And she's missed you for so long, and she's felt it was her fault for so long. And if you leave…move away from her, and break your partnership…she will never forgive herself for that one moment."

"I've told her it wasn't her fault-"

"Yeah, but she won't believe you. And, you know what, it's not even just that. She will miss you so much, and she'll never open herself to someone else, ever, and….and you two will never get your chance."

Booth looked at her, speechless, while Angela gazed knowingly back at him for a good minute and a half.

And then Angela gasped quietly, her face twisting in pain.

"What? What is it, what's wrong?" Booth demanded, startled out of the moment.

Slowly, Angela's face relaxed, and she gave a soft, incredulous laugh. "That was a contraction."

~(B*B)~

Within minutes they were hurrying outside, Booth inexplicably holding Angela's arm as though she needed guiding.

"We can turn the sirens on, we'll be at the hospital so fast, it'll be fine…."

Angela cut her eyes at him, amused. "My God, Booth, was Parker born in a car or something? We've got time….oh." Angela gripped his arm suddenly, groaning quietly.

Booth stared down at his watch. "We should be timing these, how long do you think that was?"

She rolled her eyes. "Long enough for you to stop freaking out. And for us to not to need sirens."

Ignoring this, Booth opened the door for Angela and helped her climb in. Before he shut the door, though, he assured her hurriedly, "I'll call Hodgins right now."

Angela waited patiently until Booth had run around the car and jumped in the driver's side before reminding him, "I can still use a phone Booth. Barely in labor over here."

Booth pulled quickly out of the parking as Angela got out her cell phone, her amusement over Booth calming her own nerves.

"Oh, hey…." Angela said slyly just before she called Hodgins. "Can you call Bren, though?"

At that, Booth gave her a look that made his face the last few minutes look meditative, and Angela laughed, lifting the phone to her ear. "Fine. But you're going to have to see her at the hospital, so….you better think really hard about what you're going to tell her."

Then her face broke into a smile as Hodgins answered. "Hey, babe. Listen, I need you to meet me at the hospital." There was a pause, and her smile widened. "Yes, I'm serious…."

Booth focused on the road, the realization that he was going to see Bones for the first time since he'd been back sinking in, as everything Angela had said swirled in his mind.

~(B*B)~

Hodgins arrived at the hospital about fifteen minutes after they did, wild eyed and excited, and Booth was glad to relinquish his role as the most freaked out person in the room.

As he was relegated to the job of getting Angela ice chips, Booth let his mind return to Bones' impending arrival at the hospital.

Last time he'd seen her, she'd been driving away from him at Jared's house, angry and betrayed. Booth had no idea how she'd approach him today, especially knowing he'd been back for over a week without calling her.

Everything Angela had said was weighing on him, and after a delivery of ice chips Booth let himself disappear for awhile, wandering the hospital gift shop and thinking.

Angela had been right, about everything. She usually was, and there was no question about it this time.

It didn't mean Booth wasn't still scared.

He spent an hour on his own before returning to Angela's private labor room (with still more ice chips), and as soon as he stepped through the doorway, he froze.

Bones was standing beside Angela's bed.

Their eyes met, and for a long moment they could only stare silently at each other.

Angela's voice broke the moment, finally. "Those for me?"

"Huh?" Booth blinked at her, reluctantly dragging his gaze from Bones'. "Oh, yeah." Dumbly, he thrust the cup of ice chips in Angela's direction, as if she could reach them from the bed. Trying not to laugh, Hodgins came forward and plucked the cup from his hands.

Something about this snapped Booth out of his panic, and he moved his eyes back to Bones, managing a quiet, "Hey."

"Hi," she replied, her tone cautious but not unfriendly.

Feeling almost shy, Booth smiled slightly at her. He could see the question in her eyes, and was grateful that she didn't ask it out loud, not yet.

Before he could think of anything else to say, a doctor pushed his way into the room. "How we doin', Angela?" She shot him a thumbs up as the doctor slid a stool close to the foot of the bed. "Let's see how much you're dilated."

"Oh…" Booth screwed up his face in distaste, and Brennan raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"It's natural, Booth, the only way to monitor the labor is to keep an eye on the rate of cervical dilation-"

"Okay, okay, okay." Angela bit back a smile as she cut off her best friend. "Thanks for the explanation, Sweetie. Why don't you guys wait outside?"

Booth and Brennan looked at each other, their eyes mirrors of panic.

"Oh…"

"Um…"

Angela waved them outside. "Out there. Go. Thank you…"

Booth was pretty sure he wasn't imagining the warning look she gave him as they moved through the door.

~(B*B)~

Together, they moved quietly to the closest waiting room. Instead of sitting, though, they turned to each other.

Everything Angela had said was still fresh in his mind, and Booth wanted to hug Brennan, suddenly. But she was standing away from him, her arms crossed tightly in front of her.

"So…" Booth winced instantly, hating himself for the cliché awkward beginning.

"So you're back," Brennan said flatly.

"Yeah, I….yeah." He shifted uncomfortably, unsure how to explain why he'd been avoiding without breaching the untouchable subject of the transfer, the decision he hadn't made.

"Are you…." Brennan stopped talking abruptly. She'd been about to ask, but the fact that he hadn't called to tell her himself logically meant she didn't want to know the answer. Instead, she said, "Angela said you drove her here..?"

"Yeah, we were, um…do you want to sit?" She nodded, and the two of them sat on the couch, keeping distance between them. "We were just out to dinner, so….just catching up."

Brennan's eyebrows lifted, surprise evident in her features. But after a moment, she smiled slightly. "That's good. That she did that."

He smiled wryly. "Yeah, I mean…I know I'm not her favorite person."

She smiled back, almost apologetic, but didn't contradict him.

Silence pulsed thickly between them for a minute, and then they both spoke at the same time.

"How's Parker?"

"Look Bones, I'm-"

They fell silent instantly, and after a beat Booth started again, "Parker's good…Rebecca and I, we talked so…I've been getting time with him and that's been really great." He paused, hesitating briefly before adding, "He keeps asking when we can come see you. To swim."

Brennan smiled instantly. "He asked me, too, after his science club meeting."

"Yeah," Booth stared down at his lap. He could feel the tension return, just like that, in the invitation that wasn't coming. Finally, he sighed quietly, "Look, Bones, I'm sorry about what happened at Jared's. I mean, I wish….it was going really well, and it was so good to see you, I wish it hadn't ended like that-"

"Me, too," Brennan said softly, her eyes on the couch

"I should've…I should have been the one to tell you, not Jared. I just…I didn't want to ruin it, you know? I was…I was scared, Bones."

At that, Brennan look up at him, studying the soft, bruised brown of his eyes. "It's okay," she told him finally.

Now was the time for her to ask, or for him to jump in and tell her. Brennan waited, but nothing happened.

There were two possible conclusions: that he hadn't decided yet, or that he'd decided to take the job and, once again, didn't want to tell her.

And Brennan was afraid to ask because she didn't want to hear it was the latter.

~(B*B)~

For the next several hours, they were careful with each other. They moved between Angela's room and, more often, the waiting room. Cam and Sweets stopped by for awhile, which was a decent distraction.

Still, Booth stayed near Brennan at all times. When they spoke, he watched her closely, nervously scrutinizing her face when she looked at him. He felt like a kid who'd been yelled, searching his parents' face for the familiar, unchanged affection.

Hours passed, and night fell. Hodgins came in and out of the delivery room, reporting the slow progress.

It was after midnight, and Cam and Sweets had let after for awhile. Booth stayed, knowing Bones would. She went in to see Angela for a few minutes, and when she returned to the waiting room, Booth followed her to the couch and sat down beside her, closer than he'd dared all night.

"Hey…" He nudged his shoulder against hers. "Nice being here for a good reason, huh?"

She smiled tightly at him, but her eyes darkened suddenly, the memory of Booth's hospitalization all too fresh. "It's a change in recent patterns, definitely."

"I know," he said quietly, misreading the memory she was considering. "That's never going to happen to you again, Bones." Booth thought, then, of Greg Thomas, a point Angela hadn't addressed at their dinner.

"I was thinking about you, actually," she told him.

"Oh…" Booth flushed slightly. "That's, um….that's not going to happen again either. I thought maybe, being back from Jared's, it would get tough again. Not drinking, I mean, but…it's been fine."

"That's really good," she said, relief evident in her voice.

Silence fell again between them, but somehow more comfortable than any that had existed so far. Several minutes passed before Brennan turned deliberately to look at him. "Booth?"

"Yeah, Bones?"

Brennan waited until his eyes locked with hers. She swallowed hard, determined to keep her voice steady. "Don't take that job." Booth's heart caught, and for a long pause neither of them said anything. "I know I should…provide logical reasons and…supporting evidence, but I can't." Brennan drew a breath. "At Jared's I never said I didn't want you to take it. But I don't."

Sighing, Booth leaned against his arm, stretched across the back of the couch, gazing up at Brennan and smiling tiredly. "Bones…." He reached out, and ran his knuckles slowly down her arm, a poor substitute to what he still couldn't say.

He knew what he wanted to tell her. Everything Angela had said had made his decision clear, and now Bones was making it even clearer.

But there was unnamed fear lodged in his throat, stopping him from saying what he had to say.

Instead, after a long pause, what Booth said to her was, "You look tired." Disappointment flickered across her face for the briefest second. "You tired, Bones?"

~(B*B)~

Brennan had drifted to sleep on his shoulder when, after six hours of labor, Angela was wheeled off to a delivery room and, minutes later, Cam and Sweets turned up again.

They stayed like that for the next hour or so, Brennan nestled against him and Booth terrified to breathe for fear of breaking the moment. They stayed like that until Hodgins, bright eyed and nearly bursting with giddy, manic bride, came running out of the delivery room.

Reluctantly, Booth shook Brennan awake just in time to hear him declare, "It's a girl!"

Blinking blearily at him, Brennan stated flatly, "That was prior knowledge."

Hodgins just grinned wider. "I know, but it's just what you say."

Then they were all surrounding him, hugging him and slapping him on the back as he assured them that the baby was absolutely perfect and that Angela had done great.

"What's her name?" Sweets asked after a moment.

His smile actually stretching, Hodgins' glanced at Brennan and then his eyes swept the others. "You guys come meet her."

~(B*B)~

They all streamed into the hospital room, instantly falling into the hushed, cooing voices that happened around babies.

Brennan smiled instantly, moving close to her best friend and staring down at the tiny bundle in her arms. "How you feeling?"

"I'm great," Angela smiled at her, and then at the others. "Fantastic." She lowered her eyes to her daughter. "You guys…this is Brooke." She raised her eyes to meet Brennan's. "Brooklyn Temperance Hodgins, if you want to be formal."

Immediately, Brennan's heart caught. Angela had told her, months ago, that this would happen, but she'd never been sure if it was serious.

And it didn't prepare her for this.

"Really?" She breathed out.

"Really," Angela told her quietly. "You want to hold your goddaughter?"

~(B*B)~

Booth's eyes stayed on Bones. He stared, entranced, as Angela gently passed the baby to Brennan, who took her like she was made of glass.

Brennan stared down at Brooke in awe. Her eyes were shining, and her lips slowly stretched into a smile that lit her whole face.

"She's beautiful, Ange," Brennan murmured, and the others all murmured agreements, but Booth could only stare, his heart swelling in his chest at the sight in front of him.

He couldn't remember the last time he saw Brennan that happy. But it was more than that, more than the sudden need to make that smile more frequent if it was the last thing he did.

It was the sight of Brennan holding that baby, and the way it had Booth suddenly thinking about what Angela said Bones wanted.

She wants more.

Booth used to want that, too, more than anything he'd wanted in his whole life. But for months, he trained himself not to want it, to forget he ever had. And for the last two months, he'd convinced himself he didn't deserve it, that it was out of reach forever.

But suddenly, looking at her, he wanted something again. He wanted it so much.

He wanted everything with her.

Some pressure in his chest seemed to unfurl, and he felt unexpected tears stabbing his eyes, but he smiling, transfixed at the image in front of him.

When Brennan finally tore her eyes away from the baby, she looked up at him. "Booth, look."

"Yeah, I see," he whispered thickly. "I finally do."

The others were talking to Angela and Hodgins, and he barely heard any of it until Cam said laughingly, "You're never going to want to come back to work…"

"Oh, I know," Angela said. "You're going to have to drag me back…"

Then, without even thinking about it, Booth blurted out, "I guess we can make do for awhile, can't we Bones?"

Slowly, she lifted her head to look at him, her eyes clouded with hope and doubt and disbelief. "We?"

"Yeah," he answered softly. "Me and you."

To her embarrassment, Brennan felt tears welling in her eyes, and she laughed breathlessly. She was glad, suddenly, to have the baby in her arms, so she didn't run and throw herself at Booth in front of everyone.

~(B*B)~

Angela met her husband's eyes and he winked at her. She rolled her eyes, smiling all the while. Leave it to Booth and Brennan to make her feel like she was intruding on a private moment in her own delivery room.

The two of them were just standing there, on opposite ends of the bed, smiling goofily at each other, completely oblivious to the other occupants of the room.

Finally, looking infinitely amused, Cam asked Angela, "So when do I get a turn?"

"Oh…." Angela touched Brennan's arm gently. "Bren?"

Startled out of the moment, Brennan glanced down at her in confusion for a second before realizing what her best friend wanted. "Oh, right…." She gently passed Brooke back to her mother, who held her for a moment before letting Cam have a turn.

Brennan gently touched Angela's shoulder, her attention on her for the moment. "She's perfect, Ange. I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks, Sweetie." Angela cut her eyes at Booth. "I'm happy for you, too."

They stayed there for the next hour or so, cooing over the baby and passing her around. Brennan and Booth kept making eye contact, and instantly started smiling at each other again.

Finally, though, they started to clear out, giving them all time to sleep. As they went through the hospital door, Booth laid his hand on his usual place at the small of Brennan's back and smiled down at her. "Hey, Bones…it'll be breakfast time in a few hours. How's the diner sound?"

A/N: Wow. I know you're all shocked that we're ending in a fairly hopeful place. Of course, they've still got a lot of work to do to work through things, and hopefully that will be interesting in the next two chapters. I'm pretty excited about next one, in particular, and it should be up soon. Please let me know what you thought, about the Angela/Booth scene, the Booth/Brennan stuff after...any and everything.

Also, brief recomendation. My fantastic, amazing and shockingly patient beta, biba79, has another story going (I rec'd her other one, Show Me What I'm Looking For, recently, which you should also check out). It's much more angsty, and if you're reading this I can only assume you aren't opposed to that. It's also completely finished, so that means faster updates...a change from this, right? Anyway, check it out, it's called Stuck in A Moment (so like this fic, it has a U2 title)

http:/ .net /s/6579347/1/ Stuck_In_A_Moment ELIMINATE SPACES OBVIOUSLY!