Booth and Brennan are sitting on chairs in the graveyard, leaning against each other, with their knees touching and their hands clasped together. They're the only ones left in the cemetery. Jared, having shown up surprisingly sober, left twenty minutes ago most likely to rectify that, some of Booth's distant relatives came and went, Angela and Hodgins took Christine and Henry for the afternoon, Parker and Dakota are having lunch together at the diner, and the rest of their colleagues went back to work.
Booth runs his free hand over the folded American Flag and slumps his shoulder.
Brennan squeezes his hand and rests her head on his shoulder. Her eyes fill with tears again, finding herself thinking about Hank and her partner when he was a little kid.
He turns and presses a kiss in her hair, brushing his thumb against hers. His eyes fall to the flag in his lap and he sighs, leaning forward and dropping his head.
She looks at him and scoots as close as she can get to him. She shivers in the mid-December, mid-morning chill and places her free hand on his shoulder, the place her head had been moments before.
"It doesn't seem real," he whispers into the wind.
"No one wants to believe it is."
He sniffles. "Thanks for being here, Bones."
She nods. "I wouldn't be anywhere else, Booth."
He lets go of her hand and sits up. He frames her face and leans forward, dipping his head just slightly and catching her lips with his. He breaks the kiss, but keeps his forehead pressed against hers, breathing her air. He pulls back finally and touches her cheek with his thumb, wiping away a couple of stray tears. "Pops really liked you, ya know? Even before he met you face-to-face."
She nods. "I really liked him too."
"He's never liked any of my girlfriends, but you, God, he loved you."
"Booth," she touches his shoulder, "I know. I've known the man for nearly ten years."
He sighs. "C'mon, let's go home." He gets up and holds out his hand for her.
She takes it graciously and stands up. She hooks her arm around his waist and leans into him, tipping her head back and smiling up at him. "Are you going to be okay?"
He nods, kissing her softly on the lips. "Eventually." He pauses. "The first few weeks are always the hardest." His arm loops around her waist and he draws her in closer. "But I know exactly how I can honor him."
"How?" She asks as they head towards the parking lot.
"By taking you on a proper honeymoon, just like Pops told me to." He pauses. "I've always wanted to go to Hawaii. I never did get to go." He flashes her a smile and squeezes her hip.
She glances up at him quickly, bumping him with her shoulder.
"I love you."
"I love you too." She lets out a breath and climbs into the passenger seat of the SUV.
He hops into the driver's side and looks at her after clicking his seatbelt in. "Diner?"
"You just want to spy on Parker and Cody, don't you?"
He shrugs. "Maybe."
She shakes her head and laughs, a genuine, throaty laugh. "You're ridiculous." She shoves him and buckles her own seatbelt. "Let's just go home. Perhaps you can cook us up some grilled cheese sandwiches, and we can watch a movie before we relieve Angela and Hodgins of their babysitting duties."
He nods. "Grilled cheese sandwiches," he says as he expels a breath. "They'll never taste the same."
"But they're still delicious."
He smiles at her and backs out of the parking spot.
Later that night, Booth's sitting on the couch with his eyes closed, clutching his St. Christopher medal in his hand. He feels the couch dip a little as someone sits beside him and he assumes it's Brennan until the mystery person announces her presence.
"Hi, Daddy."
He lowers his hand to his lap and turns his head. "You're supposed to be in bed, Princess."
Christine shrugs and snuggles into his side, wrapping her arms around him. "So are you."
He laughs halfheartedly and nods, knowing his daughter's right. It's after midnight. "I couldn't sleep," he whispers. "Something wrong, Baby?"
She tugs on his shirt to bring herself even closer to him. "Is Popsicle in Heaven with Ms. Rebecca?"
He nods. "Yeah," he chokes out.
"Do you miss him, daddy?"
He nods again, clearing his throat in attempt to hide the emotion. "He was like my dad. He saved me. I owe him everything. I miss him tons."
"Popsicle was your grandpa, right, so do I have a grandpa?"
"You have Max."
She shakes her head. "Max is mommy's daddy. Do you have a daddy?"
"Everyone has a father, Baby."
"So I have another grandpa?"
He shakes his head. "My father died when your mom was pregnant with you, Princess."
Her face falls. "Oh."
"But he, even if he was still alive, you wouldn't meet him."
She furrows her brow. "Why not? He's my grandpa."
"He, he was a," he sighs, "he wasn't a good person, Princess."
"Was he mean to you? Did he hurt you?"
He nods. "Yeah, he hurt me, but Pops, he, he saved me."
"Will you hurt me, daddy?"
He coughs. "No!" His arm instinctually hooks around her and he drops a kiss on the top of her head. "Never."
She brings her legs up and hugs him tighter.
"I could never hurt you, or your mom, or your brothers. I, I might get angry, I have a temper, I got that from my old man, but I could never, no, I would never hurt you, Baby." He cringes, his stomach twisting. Thinking about hurting one of his kids or Brennan just makes him sick.
She nods. "I hope not. I love you, daddy."
He kisses her again. "I love you too, Princess."
After a few minutes of silence, she shifts and sniffles. "Parky said God was lonely, so Popsicle had to go, but I want him back. Why did he have to go now? I gave him my magicky dust. It was supposed to work, daddy." She sniffles again, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
His chest tightens and he wraps both arms around his daughter, nodding. "I know, Baby, I know."
"I miss him, daddy."
He sighs. "I miss him too."
She clings to him, her breathing heavy, tears flowing harder. "I'm his Cheese Puff, daddy. He can't be gone!"
He feels as if something is squeezing his heart, trying to yank it from its rightful place in his chest. He swallows and holds her trembling body against him. "Shhh, Baby, it's okay." He lifts her into his lap and tightens his arms around her.
She wraps her arms around his neck and buries her face into his shoulder.
Eventually her body stills against him and quiet once again surrounds him. He kisses the top of her head and sits back against the couch. "Goodnight, Princess. Sweet dreams."
"Booth?" Brennan pads quietly into the living room and raises an eyebrow at the scene in front of her. "Wha—what's going on?"
He raises his hand, pressing a finger to his lips. "Shhh. She's sleeping."
Brennan nods. "I can see that." She sits down, rubbing her daughter's back and looking at Booth. "Is she okay?"
He shakes his head.
"Are you okay?"
Again, he shakes his head. "I will be." He pauses. "Go back to bed, Bones. I'll be up soon."
She touches his knee and nods. She stands up slowly, kissing her daughter's head as she does. "Don't stay downstairs too long."
"I won't." He flashes her a small, genuine smile. "Goodnight, Bones."
"Goodnight, Booth." She walks around the couch and stops right behind him. She lowers her head and presses a kiss to the top of his head, while running her fingers through his messy hair. "I love you," she whispers.
He tilts his head back and smiles, a bigger smile this time. "I love you too."
She turns around and heads up the stairs again. "Everything will be okay, Booth," she calls. "Hank was a good man. We're all better people for having known him. He'll be missed, but he'll never be forgotten," she says, quoting Hank's eulogy, and then disappears upstairs and down the hall..
He squeezes his hand around his medal and closes his eyes, leaning back against the couch again, letting the words he spoke hours before sink in.
I can't believe I wrote 91 chapters for this story (whoa). It was only supposed to be twenty or thirty chapters long. Well, it's not over yet. I'm thinking about stopping at 100. That sounds like a good stopping point.
Thanks for reading/reviewing. You guys are truly awesome.