I went back and forth with this chapter. I wasn't going to include it, but I changed my mind (what a surprise). Hope you like it.
Brennan rolls over in bed and blinks, squinting at the neon green numbers of her alarm clock. She rubs her eyes with the heels her hands and sits up slowly. She turns her head and furrows her brows at the undisturbed side of the bed where normally her partner would lay sleeping. She touches the sheets and is even more confused when she feels the coolness of the fabric. She gets out of bed, tucking her feet into her slippers. She pads over to the door and treads quietly down the hallway, stopping in front of the nursery. She pushes the door open cautiously and peers inside.
Booth, who's sitting in the rocking chair, turns his head towards the soft, almost inaudible creek of the door. He spins his poker chip in between his fingertips and shifts on the cushion, a faint smile appearing on his tired, crestfallen face when he sees her. "Hi," he whispers.
She steps into the room and quietly shuts the door a little more. She makes her way over to her partner and places one hand on his shoulder.
"I gave him a bottle and changed him. He won't be up again until the sun rises."
"I didn't even hear him cry." She looks away from the crib and stares at Booth. "You've been sitting in that chair all night, haven't you?"
He nods. "Yeah," he whispers, continuing to spin the chip.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he answers quickly.
"You're lying. You're playing with your poker chip. You only do that when you're upset about something and/or you're deep in thought. I'm leaning towards both in this instance." She moves her hand a fraction of an inch, her fingers now playing with the hair on the back of his neck. She dips her head, tilting it slightly and pressing her lips against his temple. She kisses him delicately while she lowers herself onto his lap, her arms wrapping around him. She traces his hairline with the pads of her fingers and smiles at him sadly. "What's on your mind, Booth?"
He just shrugs and loops his arms around her, tugging her closer.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
He shakes his head, burying his face in the crook of her neck and showering her with soft, tender kisses.
She lifts her hand and runs her fingers through his hair. "I want to say the right thing here, but I'm not sure what that is."
He stops kissing her and looks up into her eyes. "There's no right thing to say, Bones. Pops is dying. For all intents and purposes, he was my dad."
"I know that. He rescued you, he raised you."
"It's more than that, Bones. It's so much more than that."
She presses her lips softly against his and pulls back, collapsing against him and wrapping her arms around him tighter. She nuzzles her head into his neck and closes her eyes. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Just this, Baby, just this." His arm coil around her possessively and he sighs. "Just this," he whispers into her hair.
"I love you." She pauses. "And if you want space, you know, to deal with all this, just tell me."
He shakes his head. "I don't need space. I need youand Parker and Christine and Henry."
She smiles against his goose-bumped skin and sighs softly into his shirt. It's silent for a while, and by her soft, even breaths against his neck, he assumes she's fallen asleep again, until he hears her whisper his name. He then realizes she's just been thinking. "Yeah, Bones?"
"We agreed on Henry's name before, before we learned the seriousness of your grandfather's condition, so do you, would you—." She lifts her head and is met with his warm, chocolate gaze.
He shakes his head and closes the gap between their lips. The kiss is short and sweet, but it makes both of them shiver with the contact. He pulls back and brushes her hair away from her cheeks, giving her another kiss on the forehead. "I love his name, Bones. I want our son to have Pops' name. I never knew him by Hank or Henry, I knew, I know him by Pops. He's always been Pops to me."
"But I imagine it could be painful for you to—."
He cuts her off by crashing his lips against hers again. "Shhh." He smiles at her. "When I look at our little guy's face, the last thing I'm thinking about is pain, Bones. I see his pudgy cheeks and the way he looks around the room likes he's trying to take everything in at once, and I see the way his brows wrinkle when he stares at something too long and the way his lips curve into this half smile whenever you hold him. Pain and loss are the furthest things from my mind when I see him, Bones."
She smiles and lets her head fall back to his shoulder.
"When you look at Christine, do you think about pain, loss, and abandonment?"
She shakes her head. "Of course not."
"So why would you think it'd be that way for me?"
She shrugs. "Your brain works differently than mine. We process emotions differently."
He runs his fingers through her messy waves and holds her as she starts to drift off. He glances at the crib and shakes his head. "Your mom is insane."
"I'm not asleep yet, Booth."
He glances down at his partner and laughs. "C'mon. Let's go back to bed."
"Actually, I would be going back to bed and you would just be going to bed, seeing as you never made it into our bedroom last night."
"Did ya miss me?"
"I could feel your absence."
"So you missed me?"
She lifts her head and gets off of his lap. "I've grown accustomed to you sleeping beside me, so when you fail to occupy your space in our bed, I can sense the loss."
"So you missed me?"
"Yes, I did," she mutters, walking towards the door.
"Huh? I didn't catch that." He stands up and follows her, tiptoeing into the hallway and shutting the door to the nursery behind him. "Did you say you miss—?" He literally runs into her in the doorway of the bedroom. "Jeez, Bones, what are you—?"
She turns around and shushing him, pressing a finger to his lips. She glances back into the room and then at him again.
He nods, noticing the small child curled up in a ball on his side of the bed. "I'll bring her back to bed." He walks into the room and scoops their daughter up into his arms.
"Daddy," Christine whines into his shoulder.
"Shhh, Princess. Go back to sleep."
"Are you still sad?" Christine whimpers against his shirt as her arms and legs hook around him.
He carries her past Brennan, who's still standing near the doorway, and heads down the hallway towards her bedroom. He nods. "A little bit." He lowers her back into her bed and tucks her in again, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'll see you in the morning, Baby."
"Is mommy making you unsad?"
He nods. "Yeah. She is and you too. And Parker and Henry."
Christine smiles, sleepily, rolling onto her back and hugging her stuffed dog. "I love you, daddy."
He sits on the edge of the bed and brushes her hair out of her eyes, kissing the tip of her nose, smiling when she wrinkles her face up at him. "I love you too, Princess. Don't worry about me. You'll get wrinkles." He pulls the covers up higher and stands up. "Sweet dreams."
"Hug mommy. Mommy's hugs always help, daddy."
He nods. "Yeah, they do, don't they?" He pauses. "Go to sleep. I'll see you in the morning," he whispers, though he soon realizes the little girl has already fallen asleep. He leaves the room, shutting the door and heading back down the hall.
Next up: Michael Vincent gets a baby brother :)
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