Thank you all so much for your reviews and alerts, and for being so patient. You'll all be pleased to know that school goes back next week here so there is light at the end of the tunnel lol. I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 9

Earlier in the week

Parker had gone back to his Mom's house and it was just the three of them again.

Lance was up early...and he was starving. Dinner had been like a science experiment the night before and he had picked around it finishing with a smuggled peanut butter and jelly sandwich from Booth when Bones wasn't looking.

He wandered over to hang over the back of the couch to entice Booth to get started on breakfast. It was much better than Bones healthy version of breakfast. Fruit was an in between snack, not exactly a whole meal, even if it was chopped up in a bowl and laced with yogurt. He shuddered when he remembered the crunchy stuff she'd hidden in there last time.

"Booth..." he whispered. Hey wait. Where was he, he thought? There was an empty wine bottle on the coffee table with two glasses. He shrugged. What difference did that make? An excuse to eat the bag of potato chips that lay beside it. Dinner had been pretty awful.

Booth must have got a case, but then if he had a case...so did Bones. Maybe Angela or Hodgins or someone was here. He padded over to Bones' room to take a look.

Lance's eyes widened and then a giant grin crept across his face...finally. The floor was strewn with stray clothes, not at all like it usually looked and there asleep in Bones bed was his...well...Bones and Booth. Both of them...in the same bed...Not really sure of what to say, he crept out and back into the kitchen to fix himself some breakfast.

"Bones..." Booth hissed. Bones turned over and snuggled into Booth's arms.

"Hmm?" she mumbled contentedly.

"You hear that?" Bones blinked her eyes but didn't answer, she was still half asleep. "The kitchen...Lance is up..."

"Oh." Bones said. "What's wrong?"

"Whadda you mean what's wrong Bones?...LANCE is UP."

"Oh! You're embarrassed because you think he'll realise we had sexual intercourse."

"Yes I'm embarrassed...and...just a little bit horrified ok." he said.

"That we..." Booth held his hand up to stop her. "PLEASE.." he begged in hushed tones. "You may have had..." he waved his hand back and forth between them. "What you said... but I... made love."

"Uhhuh." she said with a smirk. "Love is..." Bones had really wanted to torment him just a little longer but his look told her a hear attack could possibly be imminent so she stopped squeezing him instead and making herself comfortable. "I don't know what the problem is Booth...Lance is twelve...and smart, I'm sure he knows about reproduction...

"It isn't THAT Bones. We're not married...you haven't even committed definitely to being a couple..."

"I don't see Booth, how a piece of paper would help Lance to understand what happens between a man and a woman or two men or two.." Booth winced.

"So off topic here Bones."

"Ok. " she said. "We may not be married...but we have entered into an agreement to raise a child...together...that is as big a commitment as marriage." Booth looked into her eyes. She was sincere.

"That's for Lance...which is important...really important...but what about us. Do you love me?" Bones for once ,weighed her words, she knew how important her next statement was to their future.

"If love means that you trust someone, and you want to be with them as much as possible, that you want to share everything from meals, to a bed...or a shower and yes a child, then I guess I do." Booth's breath caught in his throat and he couldn't form words. As hot emotional tears stung his eyes he gathered into his arms and squeezed her tight.

The door burst open and Lance pushed his way in carrying a tray.

"Breakfast!" he said.

"Um...Lance.." Booth said as he tried to gather up a shirt off the floor.

"That ship's already sailed." Lance said with a roll of his eyes to Booth. "I'm gonna write a book about you two one day."

"See, I told you he'd understand what happened." Bones said happily. Booth for once was lost for words. Lance wasn't and he was getting to know Bones' very fast.

"ABSOLULETLY NO NEED to discuss it any further." he said as he passed Bones a bowl. "Way too much information already."

"It has all that healthy crap you like to eat in the morning."he said.

"Hey! Watch your mouth."

"Sorry...waffles." he said and passed Booth a plate. "Frozen but better than that." He pointed at Bones breakfast.

"It's delicious." she said. "You both should really try to start the day with a healthy breakfast."

"Maple syrup comes from trees." Lance said. "That's natural."

"See Bones...as close to nature as you can get." Booth said as he filled his mouth. Bones smiled at the impromptu family breakfast in bed and she was happier than she'd felt for as long as she could remember.

Later that same week

"We need a bigger place Booth." Bones argued.

"Yes but not THAT big." he said. "We can't afford a house that big."

"I CAN."

"I am NOT going to live off your money Bones." Bones rolled her eyes. What difference did it make where the money came from.

"It's a nice neighbourhood Booth..."

"It has a pool." Lance said helpfully.

"And it's out of your school area so you'd have to start school all over again."

"Hmm." Lance said.

"This one's older...but nice..." Booth said. "AND in the same school district."

"No pool." Bones said.

"It has a big backyard." Lance said hopefully. "We could get a pool couldn't we?"

"Maybe." Booth said.

"It had a really neat entertainment room."

"Don't you have some homework to do?"

"Done."

"I think we should compromise Booth." Booth nodded in a agreement. That was only fair.

"Make me an offer."

"We buy this house, in this area...and split the mortgage..." she said. Booth smiled smugly. "There's more."

"Uhhuh." he said. "I knew there would be a catch."

"Not a catch... just...I want to pay for a pool...it'll be good for the boys and for us."

"Ok."

"And..."

"There's more?"

"I want to get BOTH the boys new furniture for their rooms...and..decorate a little."

"A little..."

"A few things."

"Such as..."

"A new kitchen and bathrooms and laundry room..a coat of paint."

"Ok my counter offer." he said.

"We see if we can get the new improvements included in the mortgage loan... you can pay for the pool."

"What about the paint?"

"I think we should do it ourselves. We can ask our friends..a good old fashioned painting party."

"That sounds like fun!"

"It is Bones and it'll give us the chance to put our mark on our own home."

"I like that idea." she said. "That way, we get the home we want and Lance gets to stay in the same school."

"Uhhuh."

"Can I help?" Lance asked.

" Of course you can. Parker too."

Six weeks later

"Knock it OFF!" Lance grouched asParker dabbed his once more with his paint brush. He punctuated the statement with a slap of his own paint filled brush across Parkers back.

"Hey!"

"Both of you knock it off." Booth said. The boys attempted to paint neatly until Booth went outside to get more paint. They looked at each other and then at Zac.

"Hey Zac?"

"Yes?" he asked with out turning around. He had brothers and sisters. He knew how this went.

"Zac?" Lance called. Still nothing.

"Zac?" Parker called with a giggle. Booth came back in with a new bucket of paint just as Zac swung around and flicked his his brush.

"Your kids got a time out again?" Carolyn asked blandly as she headed through for coffee. She shook her head at the sight of three, not two imps all standing in corners.

"Zac Addy!" she said. "Figures."

"They started it." he grumbled, looking all of sixteen.

TBC