On Sunday morning, Booth groaned as he rolled onto his back. He wriggled and stretched on the mattress, slowly waking up. Running a hand down his face, he turned towards Brennan's side of the bed and frowned when he found it empty. He reached out a hand and felt the sheets–cold. "Bones?" he called out, sitting up. "Bones?" He got out of bed and slipped on his robe.
He sighed. She had been acting strange since he and the kids returned from the park yesterday, but when he asked her what was wrong, she shrugged and told him she was fine. It was a lie, but he let it go. He noticed the polite, but obviously fake, smile she displayed when their daughter animatedly told her how she made it all the way across the monkey bars by herself. He didn't want to bring it up in front of the kids, so he confronted her after dinner. Again, all she said was that she was fine. She barely said two words to him as they readied for bed and though they kissed goodnight, he could tell she wasn't 100% into it.
Now that he thought about it, she had been acting strange long before they left for the park. She seemed distracted during the movie. Not only that, but she basically kicked him out of the house. He knew she was upset; the pictures had stirred up memories of her father. But was she mad at him?
"Bones?" He walked down the hallway, whispering. It didn't appear that anyone else in the house was awake – it was too quiet. He didn't want to risk waking them up. Though she didn't answer his calls, he found her in the doorway of their son's room leaning against the doorframe. When he got closer, he realized she wasn't watching Hank; her eyes were focused on Eli. He came up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.
Brennan jumped, inhaling sharply. Exhaling, she turned her head and blinked. "Booth?"
"C'mere." He put his hand on her back and pulled her away from the room.
"But the boys—." She waved in the direction of the sleeping children.
"Are asleep. C'mon." He dropped his hand when he was sure she would come with him.
She followed him into the living room and sat down on the couch beside him.
He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. "What's going on?" he asked after a moment.
She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Don't give me that." He sighed. "You didn't make any of your usual comments during the movie, you kicked me out of the house after we agreed on 'no park', we didn't speak through dinner or when we were getting ready for bed, and you acted like you didn't want to kiss me last night. Plus, you weren't in bed when I woke up." He paused. "Are you mad at me? Or—." He thought for a second and blinked. "Are you—do you want to adopt Eli? Is that why you were staring at him this morning?" They had talked about expanding their family a while ago, but it was merely a thought, a possibility; the option was there, it was open, but they weren't making any definite plans.
She swallowed. "Booth—."
"No, don't." He exhaled, trying not to raise his voice. "Tell me what's going on."
She nodded, but pulled away. She stood up and started walking down the hallway.
He jumped up. "Hey! Bones, we have to talk." He followed her as she pushed open the door to their bedroom. He watched as she went into the closet and returned with the 'Family Photos' box. Maybe she was mad at him for looking at the pictures after all.
"I—it's not—I'm not mad at you, Booth." She finally spoke, sifting through the pictures. "And I don't want to adopt Eli. I mean, I hadn't thought about it."
He blinked, waiting for her to keep talking. When she didn't say anything right away, he nodded. "Okay."
She walked over to him and handed him a picture.
He looked down and then back up at her. "You had a stuffed dog too. Ha."
"Wait here." She disappeared again and when she came back, she was holding Eli's stuffed animal.
He took the dog from her and raised an eyebrow, silently prompting her to explain.
She nodded. "My dad gave me that stuffed animal when I was two years-old. I do not remember the exact moment, but I always remembered having it. I asked him about it when I was five and he told me he saw it in a toy store window when he was coming home from work one day and had to get it for me. I always wanted a dog, but my mother was allergic, so this was the best he could do. I took that dog everywhere I went for years–to the grocery store, to school, to the park. I would not leave the house without it."
He nodded, but stayed silent; he knew there was more to the story.
"I—I looked for it when my parents disappeared, but I couldn't find it. I wanted to bring it with me, but it wasn't there." Her breath hitched and she swallowed, blinking back tears. "I didn't think I'd ever see it again. Until—."
"Until what, Bones?"
"Until now." She took the dog back from him. "My mother kept a sewing kit in the hall closet. I was six and was watching her sew up a tear in one of Russ' t-shirts. He got it caught on a fence, I think, but he was always ripping his clothing, so it could have happened anywhere. She asked me if I wanted to help her. The outcome was not a clean stitch, but it held."
He smiled.
"I practiced for months after that, perfecting my technique. I got bored and wanted to try something different, something more difficult. My mother suggested I try stitching my name. She would give me swatches of fabric and I would practice. She went to the store one day and while she was gone, I took the sewing kit from the closet and locked myself in my room. I didn't know where my mother kept the swatches of fabric—they weren't with the sewing supplies—so I decided to try stitching my name into my stuffed animal." She turned 'Patch' upside down and ran a finger over the years-old stitching.
"Bones?"
She continued as if she hadn't heard him. "I only managed 'Tempe' before my mother came home. I wasn't supposed to be using a needle without her supervision. I didn't want to get in trouble, so I put the sewing kit back in the closet and returned to my room." She righted the dog and stared at it for a minute before going on. "Two years later, I was still sleeping with the stuffed animal at night, though I didn't carry it around anymore. Russ used to tease me about that. He thought I was too 'old'. I was in the living room reading a book when he took it off my bed and cut off its ear right in front of me. He thought it was funny, I did not, so when he was in the shower later, I cut up some of his baseball cards to teach him a lesson."
He stared at her and then looked at the dog in her arms. It, too, was missing an ear.
She paused briefly, but kept talking. "I am not sure how it lost one of its marble eyes. Russ might have taken it out as another joke or it could have fallen out. I just know I noticed it was gone one day. My mother sewed a swatch of orange fabric over the hole." She brushed her thumb across the pink square. "It must have faded."
"Bones, what are you saying?"
"There are too many coincidences for me not to conclude that this is—was—mine. I do not know how Eli got it or—."
"Maybe the reason you couldn't find it in the house is because your parents gave it away?"
She shook her head. "Not likely. No one would have taken it, not even the local children's hospital. My mother washed it several times and it still didn't come clean." She paused. "The only explanation I have is that my parents took it with them when they left, but I don't know why they would have. They would have had no use for it. And even if they did, why wasn't it found with my mother's body like Russ' marble? Or why wouldn't my father have mentioned it when he came back into my life years ago?"
"Bones."
She stopped, looking at him. "What?"
"They took it with them so they would have a piece of you with them. You loved that thing. You said it yourself, you carried it around everywhere you went."
"But why—."
He shrugged. "The only two people who know that answer are—."
"Dead," she finished.
"Mommy? Daddy?"
At the small voice, they both turned their heads and blinked. Booth walked over to the door and picked up Hank, smiling at him. He tickled the toddler's stomach and kissed his cheek. "Good morning, little man."
Hank rubbed his eyes and beamed.
Booth looked back over at Brennan. "You okay?"
She nodded. "Just confused and I do not like being confused."
He smiled. "We'll figure it out." He paused. "How about French Toast for breakfast?"
She shrugged. "I'm not that hungry."
"You gotta eat and so do our three monkeys." He bounced Hank up and down, causing the little boy to laugh. "Let's go see if your sister's awake while mom gets Eli."
Brennan closed the gap between them and tugged on his arm.
Booth looked down at her. "Yes?"
She stood on her tippy-toes and pressed her lips against his, wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you, Booth." She paused. "And I am sorry for my behavior. It was not my intention to make you think I was angry at you."
He kissed her again and then stepped back. "You're forgiven, but you can always talk to me. I'm all ears."
She smirked. "Your ears are quite large."
"Hey!"
She laughed, suddenly feeling a lot better. "I'm only joking. Your ears are proportionate to your skull."
"Are you saying my head's big? Because we have the same head circumference, you know."
"Me hungwy!" Hank interrupted.
Booth nodded. "You heard the man. He's hungry. Let's eat." He left, disappearing into Christine's bedroom.
Brennan picked up 'Patch' from where she set him down on the bed and exhaled. Closing her eyes for a second, she opened them and headed down the hall.