After Ruth learned to walk, all bets were off, she was everywhere.

"Oh god, this is like when she learned to crawl but worse." Zack mumbled as he walked past the laughing toddler.

"What do you mean?" Booth asked. He found himself more and more curious about the little girl, whose mother filled his dreams and fantasies.

"Well Dr. Brennan was on a two week long dig and Angela and Hodgins thought it would be smart to teach Ruth to crawl. The thing about infant development is that you cannot have complete control of when they learn to do certain functions, but I digress. She learned to crawl about a week into Dr. Brennan's dig and the best place for her to crawl was the bone storage facility because it has long hallways. But then somehow she climbed into one of the boxes and took a nap and we lost her for about 3 hours. Dr. Brennan flew home early from the dig and threatened to quit. Dr. Goodman was very upset with us, I don't know how I got involved in the blame. I was just identifying the remains."

"That's because you were supposed to be helping us watch Ruth, but instead opened the box she crawled into and instead of checking whether there was a baby in the box before closing it, you just closed it and went along your merry way." Hodgins mumbled, before smacking Zack on the back of the head and smirking at the young student.

"Can I ask you something?" Booth quickly picked up Ruth and placed her on his hip. Hodgins nodded and looked at the agent. He watched as the toddler and FBI agent tilted their heads similarly and how their eyes squinted in the same manner when they smiled at one another.

"When did Bones find out she was pregnant?" Booth seemed uncomfortable asking the question and this only caused Hodgins to put his conspiracy hat on. Could he really be Ruth's father? Did he and Dr. B hook up?

"Uhm around the time of the Arrington case, well a little after that case, but like that time frame, why?" Hodgins asked and watched. He was a scientist first, but he felt like he worked enough with law enforcement to be a little bit of a detective. He saw the way Booth's eyebrows shot up, the way Booth glanced quickly at Ruth, and then at Hodgins, before clearing his throat and shrugging his shoulders.

"No reason, just curious. Maybe that's why she slapped me, ha ha" Booth's forced laugh gave Hodgins all he needed to know before he walked away.

-BB-

Booth sat in his apartment sipping his beer in his sweats and barely watching the game. Brennan had left in a hurry because Ruth hadn't been feeling well and it made Booth uneasy. His relationship with Tessa had fizzled, he blamed it on their work schedules, but he knew that she could see his constant desire to want to be around Brennan and how that played in their foundation faltering. His phone buzzed and without looking he answered.

"Booth."

"Seeley."

"Camille?" He looked down at his phone and saw her contact on the screen. He smiled and threw the phone up to his ear once more. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, I'm in DC for a job interview at the Jeffersonian, I heard you're doing a lot of work with their Medico-Legal Lab and Dr. Goodman wanted to speak with both of us. They needed an administrator and pathologist, so I put my name into the mix." He could hear her smiling into the phone and he couldn't help the grin into return.

"God, yea. It'll be so good to see you, how long has it been? Don't answer that." He could hear her laugh and then he thought of something. "Wait, Cam, uhm, pathologist, you guys do like blood tests, right?"

"Uhm, yea?" She spoke slowly, not really understanding where the conversation was headed. "So I know you are close with the forensic anthropologist, she handles more of the skeletonized remains, I work with the flesh, organs, and bloodwork."

"What about a paternity test?" He asked and he heard her breathing catch.

"Seeley, what did you do?"

"I just want to be sure of something, it's just. Okay, so … ugh, how do I put this."

"Well, there was baby making involved." Cam laughed and Booth groaned.

"So a couple years ago, Dr. Brennan and I -"

"Dr. Temperance Brennan, the forensic anthropologist?" Cam asked in an exasperated voice.

"Camille, tequila was involved and we were both incredibly horny."

"Touche."

"But a couple years ago, we go to a bar after a case, we get a little drunk, we go home together and then -"

"Okay, I think I know what happens next." Cam interrupted.

"Well, recently we started working together again and I found out she has a daughter, and daughter is about fourteen months old."

"That would add up."

"Yea, and I asked Rebecca for some of Parker's baby pictures and she's got the same dimples and nose and cheeks and Cam, I swear, the moment I laid eyes on that little girl, I just felt it."

"But, Seeley, what are you going to do, sneak her away and prick her finger? I can't just jab the poor little thing with a syringe and run tests, that's unethical."

"So is hiding that I have a kid!"

"Well, Seeley, you've never been afraid of confronting anyone beforehand, why aren't you confronting Dr. Brennan now?"

"Well it's just that … She's something different, too."

"You like her." Cam said simply. There was no malice, no confusion, nothing.

"I want to believe that if she and I have a kid, well, maybe we can make it work."

"Maybe you can do what you and Rebecca couldn't."

"Yes and no, I already know that if Bones and I were to do this, like actually give it a go, it would be different than what Rebecca and I had, but I don't know, it's a baby. I can't come out and ask her because if it's not my kid, then I just accused her of hiding a kid from me that's not mine, but if it is mine, then I just missed over a year of her life."

"Yea. You are in quite the pickle." Cam sighed. "Well don't be late tomorrow. I'll be at the Jeffersonian tomorrow morning at 10 a.m."

"I'll be there. See tomorrow, Camille." He ended the call and looked down at his phone. Hovering, he waited before hitting call.

A baby's cry could be heard. "Brennan"

"Hey, Bones, how's the patient?" Booth asked, as he heard Brennan try to shush Ruth.

"Not great. Her fever is still pretty high and she can't get comfortable. It hasn't been this bad since she was an infant. These are some of the only times I wish I wasn't alone." She mumbled and he knew it was to herself, but he felt the pang in his heart.

"Can I ask where the father is?" He felt like they were close enough and wanted to play it off as being a friend. He heard her sigh.

"Uhm, well it was a one night stand situation, when I found out I was pregnant, I tried to reach out, but his work had sent him away for a few months, they told me that the stuff he was doing, he could die at any time, and by the time he got back, I guess, I had come to the decision I was better off on my own. Maybe it was foolish, maybe it was completely irrational, but I almost was scared that if I gave him the option to, he would leave, so I just never allowed him to leave in the first place." She sighed. Booth's breathing hitched. It was like she was confirming he was the father. Around the time of the Arrington case being settled, he was sent away for 6 months on a series of undercover missions. Had he bumped into her around that time, would things have been different? If he hadn't been assigned those missions, would he have been happy to hear about the pregnancy? They didn't end on the best of terms.

"So he doesn't know about Ruth?" Booth asked.

"No, I never told him. I know he should, she deserves two parents that love her. You know, but what if, what if he doesn't? What if he rejects her?" He could hear Bones begin to quietly sob and felt his heart break. Did she really believe I would reject my own child? That I wouldn't love her? "What if he hates her because of what I've done? Because I hid her from him? Oh my god, what if I've ruined her only chance at having a father?" Booth began to realize that Brennan wasn't speaking to him anymore and was caught in a soliloquy.

"Bones, no one could hate that little girl. You've raised an amazing baby. She's smart, and happy, and healthy, she would make anyone proud." Booth murmured, but Brennan was quietly crying.

"Booth, I - I have to go." Before he could respond, he heard the dial tone.

-BB-

"Dr. Goodman, it's so very nice to meet you." Camille Saroyan shook Daniel Goodman's hand with vigor as he smiled at her. Her sky high heels and slicked back hair drew the eyes of many of the technicians, but Dr. Temperance Brennan was too tired to focus as she meandered into the lab that morning. Ruth waddled in front of her, babbling as she made her way to her mother's office.

"Ah, perfect timing for you to meet our world renowned forensic anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan." Goodman's deep voice broke the reverie of Brennan's thoughts as she snatched Ruth, before her daughter could climb the platform.

Camille saw the telltale signs of a sleep deprived mother, bags under her eyes with a happy baby in her arms. She smiled brightly at the anthropologist, but looked inquisitively at the baby that Seeley had mentioned. Sticking out her hand, she shook Brennan's outstretched palm.

"It's very good to meet you as well, I read your recent article in Forensic Science International, it was very interesting."

"Oh, thank you, it was one of my hastier articles. I haven't had much time for research since giving birth. Ruth deleted a quarter of the calculations as I wished." Brennan murmured, but rather than show anger, she giggled and bounced the toddler on her hip. In that moment, Camille saw a smile that she could only describe as a signature Booth grin. It took her a moment to shake the feeling.

Brennan excused herself from the conversation and a moment later, Booth walked into the lab. "Sorry, I know I'm a little late." He whispered to Cam, who shook her head.

"I saw Dr. Brennan and Ruth. Oh my god!" She whispered and looked at Booth. "If she's not your kid, you have a twin somewhere in this city." She nudged him before they both walked into Dr. Goodman's office.

-BB-

Brennan dropped Ruth off at daycare and walked into Angela's office. Sitting down on the couch she sighed.

"I kind of told Booth last night that he's Ruth's father." She mumbled and Angela stopped everything before locking the door and drawing the blinds.

"What do you mean kind of?"

"Well he asked me about Ruth's father and I said it was a one night stand and when I found out I was pregnant I tried to contact the father, only his work sent him away for months. By the time he was back, I had decided to raise her on my own. But then I broke down." She turned to Angela and Angela saw the anguish in her eyes. "I feel like he's going to hate me. He's going to hate Ruth."

"Honey, have you seen how he looks at that little girl? He loves her!"

"Yea, but that's a child he doesn't have to be responsible for, what happens when I tell him that not only is that his child, but his child that I've known is his since the beginning?"

"Sweetie, he will learn to forgive. You had your reasons, you tried to tell him and now you're telling him." She held Brennan's hand while Brennan wiped away her tears. "And like I said before, if he ends up not loving her, which he would be an idiot not to, then we will love her just the same, she has a family, Bren, she's not alone. You're not alone."

"Thank you, Angela." Brennan murmured before hugging her friend and getting up from the couch.

Walking into her office, she found Booth sitting there alone on her couch. "Hey, Bones. Uhm, hope you don't mind, Dr. Goodman wanted to talk to Cam and I just thought I would get out of their way."

Booth watched as Brennan wrung her hands a few times and then closed her office door and locked it. "Booth, I have to tell you something important." He nodded and waited for her to continue speaking. "Uhm last night, when I was speaking about Ruth's father. It's just, well, she, I, he, what I'm trying to tell you is that-"

"Bones?" Booth reached out and touched her hand. He looked into her eyes. As if communicating what they both already knew.

"You're the father." She murmured.

Booth didn't know if he was ready for those words. It felt like a wave of relief and like he was kicked in the stomach at the same time. His hopes of having a beautiful baby girl being met and his fears of missing out on a chunk of her life being met. He didn't know what to say or how to come back from it, so he just sat there for a moment.

"I wondered." He finally responded.

"You did?" Brennan asked and Booth laughed.

"Bones, I felt this need to be near Ruth from the moment I met her. This need to protect her." He felt the tears prick his eyes. "I want to be angry, angry at so many things, but she's perfect."

"I'm so sorry, Booth. I don't want any money. I'll let you spend time with her, just please don't take her away from me." Brennan stated and Booth whipped his head to look at her. He saw the desperation in her eyes and wondered if he ever made her think he was that kind of guy.

"Bones, you're an amazing mother, I, no, I just want to get to know Ruth, be her dad, I don't want to take her from you." He watched as Brennan relaxed. He knew that they needed to work on things and their partnership with the FBI would need clearance changes, but the paperwork could wait another day. "Uhm, do you think you could take her out of daycare though? Maybe we could take her to the park or something?" He asked, his eyes full of hope. He watched as the tears that were once an indicator of sadness were replaced by happiness and laughter. Nodding her head, she made a call to the daycare facility in the building.

"I'd also like to put her father, Seeley Booth, on the pick up list. Yes, let me grab his contact information." Brennan said into the receiver. Booth's heart thumped. This was his new normal.