Brennan walks in the front door later that day, and Christine runs out from behind her mother and into the house. The little girl goes into the living room and hops up onto the couch, where her father is currently laying down, asleep. She tugs on his shirt and shakes him. "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey, daddy."
Booth shifts, groaning as his back cracks. He opens his eyes and jerks, startled, finding himself staring right into his daughter's big, clear, blue eyes. He blinks. "Hi there, princess."
Christine smiles. "Hi, daddy. We're home."
"We're?"
Christine nods. "Mommy and me."
Booth smiles. "How was school, baby?"
"Fantabulicious, daddy."
Booth laughs, sitting up and pulling his daughter onto his lap. He wiggles his fingers and then starts to tickle her.
Christine kicks, trying to breathe between her giggles. "Daddy, no, no, stop, daddy, ah, daddy, please, no, no." She laughs harder and squirms.
Booth pulls his hands away and kisses the side of her head. "Why was your day fantabulicious, princess?" He cringes. That felt incredibly weird coming out of his mouth.
Christine shrugs. "It just was, daddy." She unzips her backpack and pulls out a picture. "I drawled this for Parky. That's me and that's Parky playing football, and that's you and mommy watching."
Booth smiles, taking the picture to get a better look at it. "Your brother will love it."
Christine looks around. "Where is he, daddy? I wanna show him my picture."
"He's upstairs in his room. You can show him before dinner, okay?"
Christine nods. "Okay, daddy." She pauses and smiles wider. "Look, daddy."
"What am I looking at?"
"My tooth, daddy. It's loose." Christine wiggles it with her finger. "See?"
Booth nods and pulls her hand away. "Leave it alone, baby. I see. It's gonna fall out any day now." He pauses. "Do you have homework?"
"I gotta practice writing my name."
"Why don't you sit down and start practicing? I have to talk to your mom about something."
"Okey-dokey, smokey." Christine slips off the couch and sits on the rug, pulling out the worksheet and setting it down on the coffee table. She grabs her pencil from its sparkly, rainbow case and gets up on her knees, leaning over the table and tracing the dotted lines.
Booth smiles at her and stands up. He walks around the couch and meets up with Brennan in the opening between the foyer and the living room.
Brennan swallows.
"I trust you, Bones, but that just doesn't sit well with me. You say the blood test was just a routine thing, but I didn't even know you had a doctor's appointment recently. It wasn't on the calendar, I checked, so this had to be a spur of the moment thing, which is the opposite of routine."
"I just said that because I didn't want to tell you over the phone." She glances at her daughter. "Can we not talk about this here?"
He blinks, even more worried than he was earlier. "You're scaring me, Bones."
She smiles at him and pats his chest, curling her fingers, bunching the fabric of his t-shirt. "It's inconvenient, but you shouldn't be scared. I'm fine."
He looks back at his daughter. "We'll be right back, princess."
"Okay, daddy." Christine sings some made up tune as she continues to practice writing her name.
"She has a beautiful voice," Brennan observes.
"Don't change the subject, Bones." He nudges her and they head down the hallway towards the laundry room.
Once in the laundry room, Booth doesn't waste any time. "Okay, so what's going on?"
Brennan fiddles with the buttons on her blouse, leaning back against the washing machine. She lets out a breath and nods. "I—I'm," she shrugs, "I'm pregnant."
He blinks, staring at her. It takes a while for his brain to register what he just heard, but eventually, the corners of his lips twist up into a grin as he looks at her, his eyes full of love and surprise. "You're pregnant?"
She nods. "Yes."
He can tell she's getting ready to say something else, but he doesn't give her that chance. He steps closer to her, pressing her back into the washer, and lowers his head, crashing his lips against hers. He moans into her mouth as he kisses her.
She hooks her arm around his neck and kisses him back, gripping his T-shirt.
"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Christine calls as she skips down the hallway towards the laundry room.
He jumps back and swallows. He walks to the door and pokes his head out into the hallway. "What's up, princess? Do you need help?"
Christine shakes her head. "No, daddy. I wanna show you what I did." She holds up the piece of paper and smiles.
He takes the paper and bends his knees, looping his arm around her and lifting her up into the air, setting her down on his hip.
"Booth, your back," Brennan warns.
"My back is fine, Bones." He adjusts his daughter and looks at her hard work. "Whoa, look at you." He brushes his lips against her cheek and smiles. "My baby girl is brilliant."
"Duh, daddy, I know I'm brilliant." Christine giggles.
"We'll work on your modesty, princess." He sets her down and hands her back the worksheet. "Keep practicing."
Christine nods and leaves the room, heading back to the living room.
Booth turns around to face Brennan and tweaks an eyebrow, smirking at her. "So where were we?"
Brennan presses her hand against his chest when he goes to lean in for a kiss. "We need to talk about this, Booth."
He steps back, but can't resist giving her a quick peck on the lips. "We're having another baby," he says with an even wider grin. It's not a question. He just needs to say it out loud, so he knows it's real and that he's not dreaming.
She nods. "Yes." She pauses. "The timing is not ideal; however, what's done is done."
He rests his hand on her stomach and lifts his eyes to meet hers, smiling still. He blinks, clearing his throat.
"Are you crying?"
He shakes his head. "Uh, no, no, I'm not crying. It's just—we're gonna have another baby."
"Are you going to say anything besides that?" She pauses, placing her hand on top of his. "I have to admit that I was hesitant to tell you."
"Why?"
She shrugs. "You and I having a baby in the midst of what's going on with Parker isn't exactly something we planned."
He touches her lips with his finger and shakes his head. "Hey, no, stop. I know this pregnancy wasn't planned and the timing really sucks, but I'm happy. I'm so happy, Bones. This is a good thing, okay? It's good. This baby," he pauses, moving his hand over her stomach, "is exactly what we need."
She reaches up, resting her hand on his cheek and smiling at him.
He lowers his head and closes the gap between their lips. He pulls back and kisses her fingertips. He wraps his arms around her and draws her into his chest, tangling his hand in her hair.
Her arms automatically embrace him and she lets her head fall against his shoulder as she clings to him.
"We're having another baby," he says again. He can't help it.
She nods, letting out a breath. "I'm worried about how this will affect Parker, Booth," she mumbles, her voice muffled by his shirt.
He steps back and lifts her chin. He skims his thumb across her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear. "He'll be thrilled."
"I wasn't referring to his reaction to the news, Booth. I'm worried about how this will affect his recovery," she explains.
"He'll be fine, Bones. I promise. This baby will bring us all closer as a family. It's not going to negatively affect his recovery."
"You don't know that."
"Well, you don't know that it will affect his recovery in any way, so stop worrying. We can't fix a problem if it doesn't exist." He smiles at her, tracing her jaw line with his pinky finger. "Let's just take all of this minute-by-minute, day-by-day and if a problem should pop up, we'll deal with it then, okay?"
She nods. "I suppose you're correct."
He grins. He loves when she admits he's right. He kisses her on the lips and takes her hand in his, weaving their fingers together. "I love you."
She squeezes his hand, her eyes focused on his. "I love you too, Booth." She lets out a breath, relieved that he's happy about this. She's still trying to figure out how she feels, but she's leaning strongly towards happy.
He drops a kiss on the top of her head and lets go of her hand. He places his on the small of her back and nudges her towards the door.
"Angela knows, but no one else does, so please don't say anything to anyone yet."
He nods. "I won't say a word." He pauses. "When are we going to tell Christine and Parker?"
"When the baby's born."
He chuckles. "Good one, Bones, but I'm serious."
"If my calculations are correct, we should wait another two weeks before we tell anyone the news. Statistically, the risk of miscarriage decreases after twelve weeks."
He nods. "Just let me know when I can shout it from the roof tops."
"You're not actually going to shout it from the roof tops, are you?"
He shakes his head as they head down the hallway. "No, but I want to." He pauses and changes the course of the conversation. "So I called in some favors and they can squeeze us in tomorrow."
"Squeeze us in where? That doesn't sound very pleasant."
"Bones."
"Too literal?"
He nods. "I meant the judge agreed to marry us tomorrow."
"You're serious?"
He smiles. "Yep. Normally it takes more than a couple days because we have to get a marriage license and then make an appointment, but like I said, I called in some favors."
"What did you have to do to accomplish this on such short notice?"
He twists his mouth. "You don't really need to hear the specifics, Bones." He laughs.
"I'll have to take the morning off then." She pauses. "I guess this whole marriage thing came at a good time."
He stops walking and looks at her, his mouth twisted in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm pregnant. We'll be married by the time this baby is born, saving you the guilt of having three kids out of wedlock."
He blinks, scowling. "Really, Bones? Unbelievable."
She notices the change in his expression and sighs. "I—sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
He shakes his head and walks ahead of her.
"Booth, I'm sorry."
He sighs.
"Please, don't be angry with me." She catches up to him, grabbing his arm. "Booth."
He stops and looks at her.
"It's a sensitive issue. I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm sorry."
He brushes his thumb against her cheek and presses a kiss to her forehead.
"I'm sorry."
He nods. "I know."
"Now you'll be able to go to confession. I know how important that is for you and I—I know what you've had to sacrifice to be with me."
"It wasn't much of a sacrifice, Bones. I love you, you're it for me."
She smiles. "Still, I know how important your religion is to you and it means a lot to me that you sacrificed your faith to be with me."
"I'd live the rest of my life in sin, Bones, if that meant being with you. You're worth it. You've always been worth it." He kisses her and drapes his arm across her shoulders.
She leans against him and they walk the rest of the way back to the living room.
This might be my favorite chapter so far, so I hope you liked it.
:)