A.N. I do not own Bones

The next morning would be hard. She would have to pick up Rachel and Nick's ashes up from the funeral home. She had picked out the urns which looked like something you would find on a dig. Booth was there in the morning with a cup of coffee ready for Brennan. "Bones, are you ready?"Brennan just nodded and Booth just pulled her into one of his infamous Boothy hugs or as what he would say "a guy hug".

They went over to the funeral home where Brennan signed off on everything and pulled out her i.d. and the urns were handed over. It was starting to hit Brennan when Booth saw the river of tears. There was nothing to say to make it better for her. The trip back to her apartment was in pure silence. Brennan had put the urns on top of a book shelf. Booth observed the urns and from what he knew of Rachel and Nick, the urns looked like something an anthropologist would pick but that is what bound the three of them as friends. It was a love of anthropology that brought them together.

Brennan went for the morning report on Tara but this time she put it on speaker. "Temperance, this morning when one of the nurse's aids was washing up Tara when Tara began to complain about her side hurting where the chest tube was put in. She does have a fever and I have cultures at the lab.

There is a concern though. She woke up at three screaming. She remembers the entire accident and she has said she heard her parents scream and one of her rescuers say that they are dead. Dr. Andrews does want to meet with you to discuss having a psychiatric evaluation for Tara when you come in for visiting hours."

Booth knew where his partner stood on everything psychological and there was another three hours until visiting hours begin.

"Bones, I think Tara should be seen by one of their psychologists. You know it is bound to have an impact on her."

Now the argument would come out "Booth, you know how I feel about psychology. Of course she is going to have nightmares and I know she will most likely be acting out. I do not want her on medication. She is two."

Booth knew he would have to pull out the big guns on this one because Dr. Temperance Brennan may be a genius but she also should have another doctorate in being stubborn.

"Bones, I think you need to have a meeting with Sweets and you and I both know he would see you on an emergency basis. He is also in at obscene hours of the morning so you can not pull a fast one. I am not taking no for an answer and I think it is time to see Caroline as well. There is more that needs to be done in regards to the legal matters with Rachel and Nick as well as the case with Marks. I know she is dying to sink her teeth into him."

Brennan knew Booth is probably one of the only people in the world who could win an argument with her. The other person who has had some success is Angela. The only reason why Cam wins is because she is her boss but in any other topic she does not win

.

"Fine Booth, let's go."

They headed out to his Sequoia and when they got to the Hoover, everyone knew Brennan by heart and issuing her the visitors badge was not a problem. Sweets would be the first person they would see.

Booth knocked on the door and Sweets and Sweets said through the door "Come in".

When Sweets saw Brennan, he knew he might be expecting her and most likely Booth had to drag her in. This had nothing to do with their partnership or Brennan being in the field. It would have to deal with a two year old who survived a horrible car accident.

Brennan broke the silence "I talked with Tara's nurse this morning and she told me that Tara woke up screaming in the middle of the night. She heard her parents final moments and she remembered hearing one of her rescuers that her parents are gone. The hospital wants to have Tara evaluated by their psychologist. She is two and I am against putting her on any medications. I know she is bound d to have nightmares and I am expecting her to act out. I also know her memories of the accident are going to fade significantly to the point that she may not even remember the accident."

Sweets heard it all and the best interest was for Tara. "First Dr. Brennan is Tara would not be treated with any medication. It is not part of treatment protocol with small children. I think a psychological evaluation should be done but by someone who does small children. She may not be able to verbalize it fully but I would expect problems to come being first and foremost being nightmares. The other problems that could arise is her clinging on when someone she cares for getting into a car and fearing that they too will be hurt. Also, Tara may be terrified to even get into a car just leaving the hospital. Yes, the memories of the accident will eventually fade but for Tara's mental health there would be more to come as she gets older.

I know that you had your friends cremated but what are your plans with the remains and what is Tara going to be told? The other concern is how are you going to explain that another person was involved in causing the accident?"

Brennan sighed because she rarely admitted to defeat with Sweets. She knew she was thrown into the metaphorical deep end and while she could hold herself up there are people that are trying to help her.

"Tara did get a taste of death two months ago. Her cat had to be euthanized and he was cremated. She does understand to an extent but I feel more is to be explained as she gets older because I do not think she will be able to accurately process the information. The remains are going to be scattered in Martha's Vineyard but I am going to wait until Tara is fully recovered. How I plan on explaining the accident is due to bad driving and I am going to leave the alcohol out of it. I do not want her to know what drunk driving is at two."

Booth nodded because it was the best solution that he could think of. His first taste of death came when he was six and he remembered it quite well. Rocky, the boxer had to be put to sleep. He remembered a massive lump on him and being in constant pain but his parents explained "He is just having his tonsils out". It was Pops who told him the truth and ringing out his father for the bad explanation. Now when he had to have his tonsils he remembered screaming "NO, I DON'T WANT TO HAVE MY TONSILS OUT. ROCKY NEVER CAME BACK!" His grandmother who had been a nurse explained it all and decked his father on the back of the head.

"Thank you Sweets, Bones and I need to go see Caroline."

When Caroline saw Brennan, she knew it all. "How are you holding up Cherie and your goddaughter?"

"As well as can be expected."

Caroline knew it was not good but there again it would not be good for a long time. She had paid a visit to Trevor Marks in prison with pictures of the Malloys in the morgue and showing him what he did to a two year old. That picture came from the scene of the accident. "Well Cher, you are going to be in prison for a very long time, there will be no parole and I will make sure you serve every second. When you do get out you will never be able to own a motor vehicle or drive again."

Marks did not show any remorse which would give Caroline fuel to go after him more. There will be no plea deals. She had spoken to the state attorney for each of those nine states and they are handing evidence over to her to combine it into one large case. His alcoholism caused him to nearly kill his seven year old son when he got into a drunken rage and threw the kid down a flight of stairs. He should have done some serious jail time then but again,it was a plea deal. His friends and family had agreed to give testimony against him. His son is being kept off the stand. He does not need to retell what happened nor does she want to make the kid relive it.

Caroline did not want to get into much more today because that would be another time. It has barely been a week but Brennan had produced her copies of the Malloys wills. Tara was priority one and she expedited all things to make sure Temperance Brennan had complete and full legal guardianship of Tara Malloy.

They arrived at the hospital to see Tara with Nana, the St. Bernard who was kissing her again. Booth watched in the doorway "Bones, is that a dog or a horse?"

"Booth, it's a St. Bernard. It's a dog, not a horse."Booth knew better. Just come out and say it and not use sarcasm. Brennan saw she was hooked back up to the i.v. and Brennan felt her forehead. Tara felt hot and she was flushed.

"Aunt Tempe my side hurts."Tara pointed to the side and Brennan lifted up the gown. The spot where the chest tube had been was hot and bright red. She may not be a MD but she knew it's infection. The doctor is correct and her hypothesis is it is one of the many hospital born infections. Only the lab can identify which infection. Her suspicion is it is Staph and needs Penicillin.

Someone cut Tara a break. She loses her parents and is injured severely and now she is sick. He hated to say this but she makes Parker look like a wimp when he was two. When Parker was two, he met Rebecca at the emergency room because Parker had a massive ear infection that hit him within hours. It was not just his ears. He had strep throat too. They had to flush out his ear and he was fighting them every step of the way and screaming. He ended holding Parker down because he did calm down enough but he was a little much for Rebecca.

Dr. Andrews came in. "Temperance, it is a mild staph infection but she will be on a fourteen day course of antibiotics. Her white blood cell count is slightly elevated but I expect it to come down in the next 24 hours. With the psychological evaluation, let's wait and hold off until Tara is discharged. I am thinking now it might be too soon but the nightmares will be present for a while. The nurse should be in shortly to hang the antibiotics."

Tara was not a happy little girl and it was more movies. Tara fell asleep in her godmother ' s arms. Booth was tempted to take a picture but the sound of his camera going off was loud. When the movie was over, Booth went and got lunch. He was going to go down to the cafeteria when today, it was goops of various colors that made him nauseated just by looking at them. There was a sandwich shop right next to the hospital and grabbed some sandwiches. Two of them were vegetarian while he had a sandwich which would repulse Bones, meat lovers. While his Bones may be tofu munching vegan, he is all American carnivore. Tara not wanting to eat meat he felt originated from her parents and Bones. He may not agree with the meat thing but he did not have a problem with no soda. Perhaps she can help Parker cut down on soda because he drinks too much of it even for his liking and the two cavities were bad enough.

When Booth came back to the room with the sandwiches, he saw the nurse changing the dressing on Tara's head and it was the first time he got a look with how massive the surgery was. She is missing a quarter of the hair on her head. Again, there were no tears from Tara.

Brennan saw Booth come in. "Tara's fever is down to 101 from 103.8 this morning. Better but I will not be happy until she is back to having a normal body temperature."

That is some fever. Tara ate lunch when Booth saw the Bruins sticker on the cast. "Tara, how did you end up with the sticker? We are in Capitals country.

"The physical therapist had a whole bunch of hockey stickers. He thought I would be cheering for Washington."

Booth flipped through the tv and by tv, it's a large flat screen. He found something of interest. She has the NHL network and low and behold, it's a Bruins game again but this time they were facing the New York Rangers and he could not stand them.

The Bruins were doing great when Sean Avery crossed check Tim Thomas. Tara shook her head. "Don't poke the bear Avery. You need to be locked up in the penalty box for good."

Booth was so going to enjoy watching hockey with her. She is two, maybe he can show her the light and become a Flyers fan. After all she is young and impressionable. Booth knew that if Bones and himself ever had to go undercover, there would be plenty who would want to watch her.

Now what would help Philadelphia is getting someone like Patrice Bergeron in their line up. He could be a game changer for them but he knew if Philadelphia did try to trade for him the price would be very expensive.

He knew there was still time left in the season to know Bones would most likely try to plan an outing with Tara that involves hockey but not right now with the cast on.

Then Bones found absolute torture for him. There was a new documentary on some freshly discovered mummies and tombs. Bones looked like a kid in a candy store and she was having fun explaining everything to Tara. That was it, he would make it his personal mission to make sure Tara did stuff with kids that do not involve squinty pursuits. He guessed her parents took her with them on digs but he would make a case of why Tara should not. He heard some of the dangers and horror stories of them. Plus he did not want to see her watching her godmother dig up bodies from mass graves. Holding a passport would be no big deal in his book.

A little while into the evening, a lab tech came to draw more blood. "No needle, I don't want one. I am already their pin cushion."Booth snickered at that one but Bones dealt with it very well. "Tara, we need to find out if the antibiotics are working and the only way for that is for them to take your blood. Hold your arm out and stay still. You don't have to watch but if you stay still, it will be over with quicker.

Tara held her arm out but put her face in Bones' chest. The draw only took a few minutes. "All done, not that bad."

Another doctor was making rounds and noted the infection on her chest. The topical antibiotics have started to work. It looks less inflamed and her fever is almost gone. I would also like to take the bandage off of Tara's head because she will be more comfortable with getting air on it and I feel she will be a little less itchy. I want her starting back up with physical therapy and I do want OT to see her to make sure she can navigate the spaces so she can do her activities of daily living that you would expect a two year old to do by themselves. Any questions?"

"Thank you Dr. Jackson but you seemed to have answered mine."

He did take off the bandage on her head and Tara went to scratch again. "Tara, no."

She did pout and Brennan was not having any of it. Tara eventually fell asleep in Brennan's arms. Booth watched the little girl and he would be there to help Bones navigate parenthood. When one becomes a god parent, you never expect that you will have to take custody of your godchild. Fate had been cruel to Bones and Fate has been cruel to Tara.

Later that afternoon, Tara woke up and Brennan decided to do some physical therapy on Tara herself. She got Tara up and took her to the play room. In the play room; there was something new, a Wii unit. Booth went through the games and saw hockey. This may be a little challenging to a two year old but it would be worth the try. Brennan did not seem interested in playing saying "Studded have proven that video games will diminish the intelligence of children."

Booth rolled his eyes. He would make sure to teach Tara how to be a regular kid because Bones just sometimes did not get it. Even though she was two, she did quite well. Booth saw the video library and saw Miracle. That would be perfect. Parker loves that movie and he does too. He was at that infamous hockey game where the United States beat the Soviet Union. That was the second best memory he had with his father. When they came back from the game that night; his father, Jarred, and himself had screamed themselves hoarse and his mother had no sympathy. Sports in the Booth house was always a loud affair.

The nurse came in from time to time for medication and the movie did have to stop for twenty minutes for the doctor to examine her but all Tara wanted to do was watch the movie. When it came time for the hockey game of all hockey games, Tara was making herself hoarse.

"Careful, he is behind you"

.

"Soviet Union, you are going to lose."

"That's not good, you don't want to have to change goalies during a game."

Booth had made up his mind. He would show Tara the light and make her into a Flyers fan.

They did have to leave for the night and the two of them went to the dinner. "Booth, I am going to start looking into the possibility of having a private nurse assist in the care of Tara at home. She has gotten one infection and I do not want her to get another one. It will only impede in her recovery."

He did not blame her at all. If he had Bones' bank account and this had happened to Parker with getting a hospital infection, he would too.

"Do what you think is best but the infection is the realm of Dr. Jackson. You focus on her bones."

Booth could see the exhaustion in her eyes. He would not let Bonds put the walls back up because there is a little two year old that needs her.

The rest of the squint squad had been staying away from the hospital room because it would be too much on Tara. There would be plenty of time for that latter.

"Thank you Booth, thank you for all that you have done."

He pulled his Bones in for a hug. "Bones, you need to get some sleep because you are going to run yourself ragged. I will see you tomorrow with coffee. Do not even argue with me on any of this. You will not win Bones. I know you too well."

Typical Booth "Good night Alpha Male". Brennan left it at that and heard a chorus of Booth's laughter. When someone says she does not have a sense of humor, she does. It just comes out differently than what the average person displays.