Later that day, Brennan's lying on the couch, her head on Booth's lap. She's coming out a deep sleep as he strokes her hair, the pads of his fingers tenderly caressing her cheek and neck. She lets out a pleased moan and shifts.

Booth looks down at her and smiles. "You awake, Bones?"

She nods. "Mmhmm," she mumbles. "Are the kids alright?"

"The kids are fine. Go back to sleep." He shifts, his back cracking. He winces slightly and groans.

"Do you need a readjustment?"

He shakes his head. "Maybe you can give me a massage tonight, huh?"

She smirks, tracing the seam on his jeans with her finger nail. "Okay." She pushes herself up and gets off the couch.

He reaches for her arm and tugs her back, surprising her, causing her to fall onto the couch. He leans over and brushes his lips against her jaw, smiling.

Her shoulders drop, her hand falling to his thigh. She mumbles, moaning while he leaves a trail of kisses down her neck, breathing hot air against her skin. She shivers, curling her fingers, as he kisses along her collarbone. She swallows and reluctantly pushes him away and stands up again.

He pouts.

"I'm coming back; however you should stop kissing me like that."

"Why? Did you not like it?"

She pulls her bottom lip into her mouth and nibbles on it for a couple seconds, her eyes looking away from him and then back to him. "No, I very much enjoyed the kissing."

"Then why do you want me to stop?"

"I never said I wanted you to stop, Booth. I simply said that you should stop. There's a difference." She pauses and looks at the recliner where Parker's asleep, and then at the floor where Christine is sitting with her baby doll, completely taken in by the TV. Her eyes drift back to Booth and she tugs on her shirt. "We've been caught more than once by both children and I'd rather not add to that total. Do you understand?"

He nods. "I understand, but I don't like it."

"I didn't ask if you liked it," she says with a smile and walks away towards the hallway, disappearing behind the wall.

He sighs. He jumps when the doorbell rings and stands up. He heads through the foyer and checks the peephole. Then he unlocks the door and opens it. "Hey."

Angela smiles, letting go of her husband's hand. "Hey, Booth."

"Christine, Michael Vincent is here."

Christine jumps up and runs towards the door. She squeals and pulls the little boy's hand towards the stairs. "Let's go to my room, Mikey."

Michael Vincent pulls back his arm. "You're so bossy, C." He follows his best friend, the two kids disappearing upstairs.

Brennan appears around the corner and blinks. "This is unexpected," she says, joining Booth at his side.

Angela and Hodgins step into the house and hang their coats up on the hook.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Brennan offers. She brushes her hair away from her face and smiles sweetly at her guests.

Angela's eyes widen. "Sweetie, kitchen—now."

Brennan raises an eyebrow. "Okay?"

Angela drags her best friend into the kitchen.

Hodgins stares after his wife. "What was that all about, man?"

Booth shrugs. "Women. Who knows?" He laughs. "Beer?"

"Sure." Hodgins sits on the couch while Booth heads into the kitchen. He grabs two beers and quickly leaving, Angela practically pushing him out.

Booth hands Hodgins a beer and sits down. "Thanks for the cricket, bug boy," he says, taking a swing of his drink.

"How's Parker doing?" Hodgins asks, his eyes darting towards the teenage boy asleep in the corner of the room.

"He's doing better today, I think. He sleeps most of the day, though, which I know isn't normal for him. At least he's not his bedroom."

"Yeah, that's always good. I heard there was an incident in the hospital parking lot yesterday."

Booth nods. "It took us more than a half hour to actually make it out of the parking lot. The only reason were able to leave was because he fell asleep. We're supposed to take him by Rebecca's place later today or tomorrow to let him pick and choose what he wants, but I don't see that actually happening."

"I'm sure you and Dr. B will think of something."

Their conversation lulls for a moment, as they turn their focus to the TV and drink their beers.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Angela is just standing near the center island, grinning and staring open-mouthed and wide eyed at her best friend.

Brennan looks up from stirring her tea and raises an eyebrow. "You dragged me in here rather suddenly, so I would appreciate an explanation, Ange. Is something wrong?"

Angela clears her throat and tries to speak, but only a soft squeal and a breath escapes. She tries again, this time managing an, "Oh my God!"

"I'm lost. What's going on?" Brennan lifts her mug and takes a sip, looking at her best friend from over the ceramic rim, her eyebrow still raised. "Use your words, Angela."

When Brennan sets the mug down, Angela grabs her hand, twisting the makeshift engagement ring. "Is that what I think it is?"

Brennan just looks at Angela. "How would I know? I don't know what you think it is."

"You're getting married!" Angela finally spits out.

Brennan pulls her hand back, almost defensively, and looks down at her finger, biting back the giddy smile that's gracing her lips.

"Wha—whoa, I—I have to sit down." Angela lets out a breath and pulls out a stool from the island. She sits down and swallows.

"Do you need some water?" Brennan grabs a water bottle from the refrigerator and hands it to her best friend. "You're crying."

Angela touches her cheek and swallows. "It's just the hormones."

"Hormones?" Brennan smiles. "Are you pregnant?"

Angela takes a long sip of water and nods. "Shhh. I just found out yesterday. Jack doesn't know yet. I was going to surprise him tonight."

"Congratulations."

"Congratulations to you too, Sweetie. I can't believe you actually listened to me. That's gotta be a first."

Brennan leans against the counter and shakes her head. "I didn't listen to you, Angela. I—Booth proposed to me."

Angela's jaw drops lower—if that's even humanly possible. She takes another long sip from her water bottle and fans herself with a napkin.

"Are you alright?"

Angela nods. "Yeah, Bren, yeah, I'm okay. I—I can't believe this. You're getting married and I'm having another baby!"

"Thank you for the summary of our conversation."

Angela shifts. "I hope you know I'm planning your wedding. You're going to look stunning, Bren. Booth's not gonna know what to do with himself. I'm thinking late August, early September? Or maybe late September, early October? Or late May, early June? I'm totally taking you wedding dress shopping too."

"Slow down, Angela. Booth and I are getting married sometime next week, but the ceremony won't be for a while. We haven't even begun to think about that yet."

"That doesn't make any sense. You're getting married twice?"

"It makes perfect sense."

Angela shakes her head. "Oh, no, Sweetie. My best friend is not getting married at the courthouse."

"Of course not. We're getting married in the living room."

"Have you been drinking?"

"Just tea. Why do you ask?"

Angela catches her breath. "So you're telling me that Booth agreed to marry you in your living room?"

"He agreed to do this for me since I agreed to participate in his antiquated ceremony. We compromised."

"Whoa, okay, Sweetie. I'm sure you misunderstood the man."

"We discussed this quite extensively, Angela, and I assure you that there has been no misunderstanding on either of our parts."

After half a minute of silence, Angela asks, "Are you happy?"

"Though I feel saddened by both Parker's and Booth's emotional states, for the most part, I would have to conclude that yes, I'm very happy, Ange."

"I mean about the engagement, Bren. This is huge! The woman, who more than once declared that she would never get married, is engaged. This is a big deal."

"For most people, perhaps this would be a big deal, but Booth and I are not most people. Nothing is going to change. I still regard marriage as an antiquated ritual and still wholeheartedly do not need a piece of paper to prove a damn thing to anyone. I am getting married for practical reasons, not personal ones."

"Booth's reasons are very, very personal."

"But those are Booth's reasons. My reasons are completely different. At least on my end of this relationship, nothing is changing. I still love him just as much as I did yesterday and I will love him just as much once we legalize our partnership. Of course I have no way of knowing that for sure, but I'm pretty confident that I will love him just as much next week as I do in this moment right now."

Angela reaches across the table and rests her hand on top of her best friend's. "Everything is going to change, Sweetie."

"Your conclusion is erroneous. Things may have changed for you and Hodgins, but your relationship is completely different than mine, therefore, we cannot compare the two."

"You might not know it, but you made Booth very happy, Sweetie."

"No, I'm well aware of that."

"Uh, do you need Jack and I to take Christine off your hands for a while, so you and Booth can, you know?"

"So Booth and I can what?"

Angela waggles her eyebrows. "You know."

"If I knew I would not have asked for clarification."

Angela sighs. "I'm sure you and Booth are dying to make out, get naked together, and you know, have sex. Jack and I can take Christine or we can stay here and keep an eye on Parker and Christine so you and Booth can lock yourselves in your bedroom and go at each other like horny teenagers."

Brennan nods. "Oh, I understand now, but that won't be necessary. While that sounds tempting, it is not practical, not when Parker is so fragile, physically and emotionally. Right now, Booth feels this archaic need to protect his son at all times, which includes babysitting him."

"And how do you feel about that?"

"I think he's smothering Parker, metaphorically speaking, but he's worried about him. I don't know if there's anything I can do to convince him that Parker will be fine alone for five minutes, that he doesn't need to be within three feet of him at all times. What Parker needs is to feel like things are normal around here, but I could be wrong. I'm not that good with psychology."

"Why don't you tell Booth how you feel?"

"He's emotional, Angela. He'll get upset and blow it way out of proportion. He has a temper. He tends to get very angry when he's stressed."

"You need to talk to him, Sweetie. You're not helping Parker by keeping this to yourself. Whether Booth is doing this out of love and for the right reasons, he needs you to tell him he's actually hurting Parker more."

Brennan sighs. "You're right."

"I know I am."

Brennan smiles, finishing her tea and zoning out.

Angela snaps her fingers. "Earth to Brennan."

Brennan blinks, turning her head towards her best friend. "Oh, sorry. Did you want to talk about something else?"

"Are you okay?"

Brennan nods, biting her lip. "Yes, I'm okay. I'm just thinking through my argument again."

"Keep it simple, Bren. Forget anthropology and science, and just talk from your heart."

"Your heart is a mus—."

"That's exactly what I'm telling you to avoid, Sweetie. Booth doesn't care about anthropological crap or scientific explanations, he cares about Parker and what's best for him."

Brennan nods. "Thanks, Ange." She pauses. "How far along are you?"

"Seven weeks, two days."

"I'm so happy for you."

"When are you and Booth gonna have another baby?"

"Angela."

"Come on, Bren."

"I—there's too much going on at the moment."

"Do you want another baby?"

"I love Christine very much and Booth and I do make brilliant, beautiful offspring, but I don't feel pressured to have another baby, nor do I feel the need or desire to, especially not right now."

"Maybe you're already pregnant."

"I have no symptoms."

"When was your last period?"

Brennan calculates in her head and blinks. "While my menstrual cycle is usually extremely regular, I have been under quite a lot of stress lately."

Angela, clearly not convinced by her best friend's explanation, presses on. "Feeling more tired than normal? Are you nauseous? Going to the bathroom frequently? Moody?"

Brennan rolls her eyes. "That's enough." She sets her mug down in the sink. She walks out of the kitchen and heads into the living room.

Angela laughs and stands up, following her.

I got a little carried away with this chapter too, but I hope you liked it. It was kind of fun to write. :)