Two and a half years later

Brennan walks through the back door leading into the kitchen from the garage and sets the grocery bags on the counter. "I'm home," she calls out and then sighs when no one answers. She knows Booth's home. She saw his car parked in the driveway.

The only people she knows aren't home are Christine, who's at a friend's house, and Parker, who's still in New York at school for another two weeks.

"Booth? Henry?" She furrows her brows and shuts the back door before making her way into the living room. When she finds the space empty, she decides to check upstairs.

She disappears up the steps, first checking Henry's room, and then continuing down the hall to the master bedroom. She pushes the door open enough so she can slip through and smiles at what she sees.

Booth is lying on his back in his Captain America boxers, a t-shirt, and striped socks, and Henry is curled up into his dad's side in Superman boxers, a similar shirt, and matching striped socks. Both of them are sound asleep and snoring.

She stifles a laugh and pulls out her phone, quickly snapping a picture. She backs out of the room and shuts the door, returning to the kitchen to put away the rest of the groceries.

Brennan's putting away the last of the groceries when she hears two pairs of shuffling feet. She hears Booth's faint 'shhh' directed at their three year-old son, so she walks over to the sink and looks out into the backyard, pretending not to have heard the two of them enter the kitchen.

"Boo!" Henry shouts, throwing his arms up into the air.

Even though she was anticipating it, she still jumps. She turns around and grins widely at the toddler. She glances between the little boy and her partner and says, "Well, hello, there, sleepyheads."

"I was scawy, huh, mommy?"

She nods, bending her knees and hoisting the boy up into the air. She settles him on her hip and ruffles his brown hair. "You sure were, buddy." She presses a kiss to his cheek and looks at Booth. "I just finished putting the groceries away. They had everything except the Fruit Punch Christine asked for. I got her Berry Punch instead."

Booth nods. "I'm sure that's fine, Bones. She'll probably like that juice better, anyway." He meets her halfway and gives her a quick kiss on the lips. "Little Guy, how about a snack?"

Henry nods and snuggles into his mom, his head resting on her shoulder. "I hungwy, daddy."

Booth runs his hands through his son's hair and smiles. "What's your tummy want today?"

"Hmmm." Henry taps his chin. "Hmmm." Again. "Pwetzels!"

"Pretzels it is, then." Booth walks into the pantry and grabs two bags of mini pretzels. He walks back into the kitchen and hands one of the bags to the little boy in Brennan's arms. "There ya go, bub."

"Tank you, daddy." Henry pulls the bag apart a little too forcefully, causing most of the pretzels to burst out in all directions. His bottom lip and chin start to quiver and his brown eyes well up with tears, some of which spill over and leave trails of moisture down his cheeks.

Brennan rubs his back and kisses the side of his head. "It's all right, Henry." She sets him down and smiles at him. "Help momma clean them up, please, okay?"

Henry sniffles and crouches down.

She bends over and helps the little boy pick up the rest of the pretzels. She walks over to the trashcan, Henry following her, and they both empty their hands into the bin. "Thank you. You were very helpful."

Henry beams up at her. "I help lots, mommy."

She nods. "You're my little helper." She ushers him into the pantry and picks him. "Reach in and grab yourself another bag of pretzels."

Henry nods and pulls out a bag.

"Now, do you need some help opening the package?"

Henry nods again. "Please."

"Since you asked so politely." She flashes him a proud smile and carefully opens the bag for him. She hands it back to him and wipes away the remaining tears. She heads into the kitchen again, the little boy practically glued to her left leg. "Hey, Booth?"

Booth, who's now sitting at the counter, turns his head and nods. "Yeah?"

"It's been a while since we updated that family picture in the hall, so I was thinking that maybe when Parker comes home next month, we could go to the park and take a family portrait."

Booth shrugs. "I guess we probably should update it. Henry was only a month old when we took that."

"Exactly. We should have an accurate representation of our family at this moment in our lives hanging on the wall." She smiles. "I think it would be better to hire a photographer to take it at the park, in the natural environment, rather than do it in a studio with an artificial backdrop."

"Yeah, I think so too."

Brennan helps Henry up into his booster seat at the counter beside his dad and walks over to the sink, leaning her back against it. "You too look cute, by the way. With your matching outfits, I mean."

"Grown men should never be described as cute, Bones."

"I don't mean you, Booth. I just mean, your outfits…the shirts, boxers, stripy socks…it's cute." She smiles at him. "How were your guys' naps?"

Booth looks at Henry, who's studying a pretzel pretty hard, and then at Brennan. "I put him down for his nap and then I went into the bedroom to lie down because I had a little bit of a headache. I ended up falling asleep and I woke up about a half hour later with a guest napper in our bed." He pauses. "But to answer your question, our naps were good…definitely needed for both of us. Right, buddy?"

Henry nods. "Wight, daddy." He rubs his eyes and pops another pretzel in his mouth.

"I'm glad." She heads over to refrigerator and looks over her shoulder. "Do you two want something to drink?"

Henry nods. "Owange juice, mommy."

She nods.

"Please," Henry adds quickly.

She smiles at the boy and turns to her partner. "Booth?"

Booth shakes his head. "I'm good, Bones, but thanks."

"Suit yourself." She grabs the carton of orange juice and pours some into a Superman sippy cup. She pops the lid on and sets it down in front of Henry.

"Tank you."

"You're welcome, Honey." She puts away the juice and glances at Booth. "I'm going to go switch the clothes."

"Suit yourself," Booth teases with a smirk.

She rolls her eyes and walks to the laundry room.

"All done," Henry exclaims, crumpling up the empty pretzel bag. He giggles at the crinkling noise it makes and keeps on finding ways to make the noise.

Booth slips from the stool and tosses both bags in the trash. "We should go put on some pants before you sister comes home."

"No. I fwee, daddy. I like it."

Booth laughs. "Yeah, me too, bub, but nap time's over and that means, no more pajamas."

Henry pouts, but relents after a stern look from his dad. "Okay."

Booth helps his son off the stool and the two of them head upstairs to change.

Two weeks later, Booth pulls the SUV into a spot at the park and turns the key. He looks over at Brennan as he unbuckles his seatbelt. "Where are we meeting this guy again, Bones?"

Brennan smiles. "At the gazebo." She undoes her seatbelt and gets out of the car. She opens the back passenger side door and leans inside to unbuckle Henry from his car seat. She lifts him out and sets him on the pavement. She shuts the door and puts him in the stroller, not bothering to buckle him in, seeing as she'll just have to unbuckle him once they reach the gazebo a few feet away.

Christine and Parker jump out on the driver's side and walk around the front of the car. "Why are we here again?" Parker grumbles, knowing the answer already. There are ton of other things he'd rather be doing right now.

Brennan looks at her watch and sighs. "We're already late, so let's go." She pushes the stroller towards the sidewalk path, while Booth, Parker, and Christine take a shortcut through the grass.

Henry looks up at Brennan, tears springing to his eyes. "Mommy, I gotta go potty."

She sighs. "All right, Honey. Just hold on one minute."

Henry wiggles around. "I can't, mommy, I can't." He grabs his crotch and bites his bottom lip.

"Booth!"

Booth turns his head.

"I'm going to take him to the restroom quickly."

Booth nods and turns forwards again, continuing towards the gazebo.

"Huwy, mommy, huwy!"

"Okay, buddy." She sighs and walks as fast as she can towards the restrooms, which of course are the farthest thing from where she is at the moment. She can hear her son whimpering and see him squirming as they get closer. "We're almost there."

"It's comin', mommy."

"Please," she mutters and lets out a breath when she reaches the restroom. She yanks open the door to the handicapped bathroom and ushers Henry inside.

Booth and the two older children are sitting at the picnic tables under the gazebo when Brennan and Henry return. He glances up at his partner and raises an eyebrow. "Everything okay, Bones?" He asks, gesturing towards the toddler in the stroller.

Brennan nods. "Yes. We made it just in time."

"Good." Booth looks at Henry and holds up his hand at his level. "High five, Little Guy."

Henry slaps his dad's hand and laughs when Booth mouths 'ow' and shakes out his hand.

"It's nice to see you again, Temperance," the man, their photographer for the afternoon, says, shaking her hand. "You have a lovely family."

"Thank you, Mr. Williams."

"Let's get started, shall we?"

Brennan nods and takes Henry out of his stroller, holding his hand as they walk out from under the gazebo and onto the grass.

Mr. Williams lays out a blanket near a tree and works on setting up his equipment, while his clients sit down and get into a configuration they're comfortable with. He'll tweak it once he's finished.

Brennan sits down, and Henry, who's in a white t-shirt and jeans, immediately crawls into her lap. She tugs on the hem of her floral dress, a dress Angela insisted she buy, and fixes her son's hair.

Booth, who's wearing a similar outfit to both his sons, sits to her right and somewhat behind her.

Parker sits beside but in front of Brennan.

Christine, who's in a purple floral sundress and a white jean jacket, much like her mother, though Brennan isn't wearing a jacket, sits beside her big brother, closer to her father.

Henry starts to squirm on his mom's lap. "Play now, mommy. I wanna go on da swings." He begins to stand up, but she holds him down.

"We can go play on the swings soon, Honey. Right now, that nice man over there, Mr. Williams, is going to take our picture."

"I wanna play," Henry pouts.

"The sooner we take this picture, the sooner you get to go play, but you have to stay still." She kisses the top of his head and wraps her arms around him. She looks up at the sky and smiles. "Hey, Henry, look up."

Henry tilts his head up.

"Do you know what that is?"

Henry nods and points at the moving object. "A plane."

She smiles. "Yes, that's correct."

Christine looks up at the sky too and smiles. She nudges her little brother and points at a cloud. "Little Alien, that looks like a monkey eating an ice cream cone."

Henry follows her finger and furrows his brows. "No." He shakes his head. "Dat's no monkey. Dat's a doggy."

Christine squints. "Ah, it does kinda look like a dog." She points to another cloud. "That's a hot-air balloon."

Henry shrugs. "What's dat?"

"It's a giant balloon with a basket. People can ride in it. A lot of them look like dad's socks."

Booth shakes his head. "Don't knock the socks, Princess."

Christine laughs.

Parker, glances up at the sky. "So what would you think if I asked Cody to marry me?"

Brennan and Booth turn their heads instantly. "What?"

Parker shrugs. "I've been thinking of asking Cody to marry me. It just feels…right, you know? I know I'm only twenty and blah, blah, blah, but I don't know, it just feels right," he repeats.

Booth blinks, unsure what to say.

Brennan stares at her stepson and clears her throat. "This is hardly the time or place to have this discussion, so we will talk about this tonight, when we're at home," she says, her voice neutral.

Parker nods. "Technically, I don't need your guys' permission, I was just, you know, hoping for your blessings." He pauses. "But yeah, okay, we can talk about this tonight. Cody doesn't come home from school until next week, anyway." He looks between his dad and stepmom. "Right, we'll talk about this later."

Mr. Williams finishes setting up and looks at his clients. "All right. Almost perfect. Temperance, can you scoot forward just a tad." He nods. "Yeah, that's good." He smiles. "Now act like you all love each other."

"But we do," Brennan says. "Well, I suppose I can't speak for everyone, but I love all of them," she amends.

Mr. Williams just laughs and looks through the viewfinder on his camera.

Brennan looks at the camera, leaning slightly into Booth as he drapes an arm around her shoulders. "Henry, Sweetheart, please sit still."

"Play now, mommy?"

Brennan sighs. "Not yet…soon."

"When's soon? Is it now?"

"Henry, please, can you smile for momma?"

Henry beams and snuggles into her.

Just as the toddler gives his mother a slobbery kiss on the cheek, Booth leans over and kisses Brennan's temple, while Christine scoots closer to Parker and gives him a surprise hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Mr. Williams quickly presses the button on his camera, glancing at his computer as the picture appears. He smiles at it and looks back at the family in front of him. Beautiful family, indeed.

The End

I hope you all enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thanks for the reviews and favorites and for going on this crazy little journey with me. You guys are awesome.