A/N - A huge apology to everyone for taking so long with this, especially when I said it would be quick. Life had other ideas.

So, JAG'ed Bones in the Casckett asked for it, and here it is. The story of how Booth and Brennan told Parker he was going to be a big brother. I hope it was worth the wait.

This story is dedicated to my family - by blood, marriage, and choice - and especially to my father who let me put his words in Booth's mouth without charging royalties.

A belated Happy Independence Day to all my American readers. Freedom is something to celebrate every day of the year.

The Definition of Family

By: Tamara A. Ryder

He looked at the clock yet again. Only two minutes had passed. Still fifteen minutes to go. He forced his attention back to the case file he was reviewing, but he wasn't absorbing any of it. Giving up at last, he flopped back in his chair and took his lucky dice from his pocket. The familiar rolling motion and clicking sound calmed him a little but not much. The problem was he didn't know if he was nervous or excited. He was both and neither, and the contradiction was tying him in knots.

With his eyes turned up to the ceiling, he didn't notice her until she tapped lightly on his office door. Sitting up with a start, a broad smile lit up his face. "Bones. Hey. I thought I was gonna pick you up on the way to the diner." He wasn't objecting to the change of plans. Every moment with her was the best moment of his life. But spontaneity really wasn't her thing, especially lately. With so much changing so fast, sticking to her schedule whenever possible gave her at least the illusion of control.

When her answering smile faded before it had really formed, he knew something was wrong. He was instantly up out of his chair and at her side. Drawing her out of the doorway, he closed the door to give them some privacy. He knew the entire bullpen would be surreptitiously watching through those damned floor to ceiling windows – really, whose brilliant design had that been? – but at least they couldn't listen too. "What is it?" he asked, leading her to the armchair in the corner. "Are you not feeling well? Is it the baby?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine, Booth. We're fine."

He breathed a sigh of relief and had to clench his hands to keep from reaching out to caress the barely discernible bump between her hips. He was getting really tired of all this secrecy. He would keep it up as long as she wanted, but he would be so glad when he could touch her and hold her without worrying about who was watching. "So what made you decide to leave work early?" he probed.

She sighed and leaned back in the chair. "I'm very apprehensive about this, Booth."

She didn't have to explain what 'this' was. He pulled over another chair for himself and rested a hand lightly on her arm just below the elbow. Outwardly it was a safe, neutral touch. No one but them could sense the power of it, the electric tingle that passed from his skin to hers. "Tell me what you're thinking," he said.

She closed her eyes for a moment. Then she spoke slowly, pulling the words up from her innermost being. "I don't want to drive a wedge between you. Now that I have a child of my own, even if it's still just a fetus… I'm finally beginning to understand how much he means to you. I don't want…" She trailed off, her hand falling automatically to her stomach and then jerking away as she remembered where they were. Instead her fingers drummed restlessly on her leg.

She never ceased to amaze him. With everything she had to worry about, that this was her deepest fear meant more to him than she would ever know. "I really wish we were somewhere more private right now," he said, "so I could show you how much I love you for that. Parker is going to be fine, Bones. He's always liked you, and he'll be thrilled to be a big brother."

"You don't know that for certain," she protested. "Sibling rivalry is an anthropological constant. It's a natural extension of the survival instinct. Children are completely dependent on their parents, and they feel threatened by anything that takes their parents' focus away from them. Parker has only recently adapted to sharing his mother with her new husband. Another big change in his parental relationship dynamic so soon, plus the competition of a sibling, may be more than he can cope with at his emotional maturity level."

"So we'll have to demonstrate that there's no competition. This baby isn't taking me away from him. I have more than enough love for both of them. We'll make sure he understands that. Okay?"

She wasn't totally convinced, but she nodded tentatively, willing to trust him.

He steered the conversation on to lighter topics as they waited for Rebecca and Parker to arrive. She was giving him an animated description of a Limbo case she was working on, (he wasn't really following, but he was enjoying her excitement), when there was another knock at his office door and Parker came barreling in.

"Hey, buddy!" Booth caught his son up in a bear hug. "How are ya?"

The ten year old immediately started in on a detailed account of his day. This summer Rebecca had enrolled him in a day camp for kids with an interest in science. They did lots of experiments, most of which involved blowing something up. It was the best summer of his life.

Deftly inserting "Wow!" and "Really?" in all the right places, Booth exchanged a speaking look with Rebecca over their child's head. Her eyes flickered from him to Temperance and back to him. Then she smiled and nodded. Of course she'd already assured him that she was happy for them when he called to explain the situation and plan the best way to tell Parker, but hearing her say it and seeing it in her face were very different. He returned the nod and mouthed, 'Thank you.'

When Parker finally paused for breath, his mother seized the opportunity to kiss him goodbye and remind him to behave.

"I'll have him home by bedtime," Booth assured her. "You and Thomas enjoy your evening alone."

"Oh, I'm sure we will," she said.

On the way to the car, Parker told Bones about a bird's nest he'd found the other day. "It had three eggs in it, and the mother bird didn't fly away when I climbed up. I touched her and everything. I was very careful not to scare her."

Bones explained to him that while a bird was hatching eggs, she never left the nest. Her mate would bring her everything she needed. Booth found himself wishing it was the same way for humans. It was a job and half making sure Bones didn't overdo it these days.

He hung back a little, enjoying the sight of his two favorite people in one place. Three favorite people counting their tiny secret. We're going to be fine, he thought. Better than fine. We're going to be a family.

Once they were settled at their usual table at the diner, and Parker had been persuaded to eat his vegetables with the promise of ice cream for dessert, Booth touched Bones's hand and looked to her for permission to begin. She still looked nervous, but she nodded.

Just as Booth had predicted, after the initial shock, Parker was thrilled at the prospect of being a big brother. He immediately wanted to know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. They told him it had to get a bit bigger before they could tell.

They made sure he understood that this was being kept a secret for a little while. A family secret.

"Bones is family now?" he asked, looking pleased at the idea.

"Yes," Booth said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Bones is part of our family."

She ducked her head for a minute, and he suspected she was blinking away tears. Throwing caution to the wind for a moment, he leaned over and kissed her on the temple. He still remembered that awful day when her first tentative reunion with her father had ended in yet another abandonment, and the heart wrenching words she had said to him just a few feet from this very spot. "Maybe I'm just one of those people who doesn't get a family." She hadn't sounded sad or angry, just quietly resigned. He had been angry though. He had been furious at everyone who'd ever dared to hurt her, to make her think she was unlovable. He'd wanted more than anything to take her in his arms and kiss away the pain, but he knew she wasn't ready for that. So he offered his friendship instead. "There's more than one kind of family," he told her, and he set the rest of his feelings aside for a day when she had healed enough to accept them. He'd waited years for that day, and he'd made mistakes along the way. He'd gotten impatient, scared her away, and then gave up too fast. But now he could finally give her the family she deserved. The real thing.

When dinner was over and the promised ice cream had been delivered and consumed to the last drop, Bones said she'd take a cab home while Booth took Parker back to Rebecca's. That way he could stay to tuck Parker in.

Parker got quiet as they drove. "You okay, bud?" Booth asked. "You're sure you're not upset about this baby?"

"No. I'm happy. Really," Parker insisted, but he continued to look pensively out the window at the darkening city. Finally, he said, "Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you and Bones and the new baby all gonna live together?"

"Yes," Booth said with a sinking feeling. He knew where this was going.

"Could I come live with you?"

Booth sighed. "No, Parker. I'm afraid you can't."

Parker's eyes, the part of his face that most clearly attested to Booth's role in his creation, welled with tears. He quickly turned his face away.

"I wish you could," Booth hastened to assure him. "I really do, Parker. I wish that more than anything. But your mom needs you. She loves you so much, Parker. I can't take you away from her like that. You'd miss her too. You know you would."

"Yeah," Parker conceded. "I know, but…but you'll be a family. You and Bones and the baby."

"And you. You're part of my family too, Parker. You always will be."

"But I won't get to live with you. How can I be part of your family if I only get to visit?"

Booth felt a lump rising in his own throat, but he swallowed it down. Oh, God, help me find the words to explain this, he prayed. And God must have heard him because the words came. "Family isn't about living in the same house, Parker. Your Uncle Jarred and I haven't lived under the same roof in years. Decades even. Which is probably why we haven't killed each other yet."

That got a small smile out of Parker.

They were pulling up in front of Rebecca's house now. Booth put the car in park and turned to face his son. He reached out and smoothed his thumb gently over the boy's cheek, wiping away his tears, and wishing he could wipe away all the complications of his young life as easily. "One day, Parker," he said, "you'll head out in to the world on your own. You might end up anywhere. Australia, or Outer Mongolia, or anywhere. But even if we're on different planets, you and me, we'll still be family. Family is about loving each other no matter what, and helping each other, and always telling each other the truth. It doesn't matter where you live. We will always be family. Always. Do you understand?"

Parker nodded. Booth knew he didn't really understand completely, but he understood enough for now.

"You're gonna be the best big brother there ever was," he told him. "Wait and see."

Bones was already in bed when he got home. He undressed and slid in next to her. She immediately rolled in to his arms. He'd been surprised to discover what a snuggly sleeper she was. He loved it. By now he was pretty sure he'd never be able to sleep without her again. He hoped and prayed that he never had to test the theory.

"Is he really okay?" she asked, laying her head on his chest.

"Yeah," he said. "Everything's fine, just like I said it would be."

"I love you, Booth," she murmured, turning her head to press a kiss over his heart.

He smiled in the darkness. There was a time when he thought he'd never hear her say those words. "I love you too, Bones," he said. "You're going to be the best mother there ever was. Wait and see."