A/N Ok-this story has officially taken on a life of its own. Not sure where it's going exactly, but I'm looking forward to finding out. Hopefully you guys are too. Couple of things-I will be including conversations with other characters as well (in part because of a prompt from KlingonGal8489 who wanted Jared included). Also, I am not including any cases-not sure I'm confident enough yet to write one, plus my focus is on Booth relationship with his mom.

To those of you who have reviewed, marked as favorite, or followed this story-I'm very grateful that this story strikes a chord with you. You have all been great to a newbie fanfiction writer.

As always, I don't own Bones or any characters in the show (still wished I owned Booth though….)

After the talk with my mom, I ended up walking around for a while to clear my head. I wasn't sure I knew what to think about what she had told me. I still had a lot of questions, but before leaving the diner we agreed to have more talks. Right now I'm just a whole mess of emotions. I know Mom was upset by the way I talked to her, but I needed to tell her that stuff. At least today she seemed more accepting about the way I feel. It felt less like a justification from her today. Which is good. But I still felt angry, disappointed, frustrated-you name it.

My cell phone rang, startling me a little. I read the caller ID-Bones.

"Hey, Bones."

"Booth, is everything all right? You have been gone for quite some time."

I looked at my watch and realized I had been walking around for 2 hours after leaving the diner.

"I'm fine Bones. I just—I needed to think for a while."

"I understand. How was the conversation with your mother? Was it productive?"

Leave it to Bones to ask if an emotionally draining talk was 'productive'.

""I don't know if I would say 'productive' exactly. We both agreed we need to talk some more-I still have a lot of questions-and anger still. Bones, I don't know- I just feel…"

"Unsettled," Bones said softly.

"Good word choice there, Bones."

"I am brilliant after all, Booth." And there's my squint, I think to myself, smiling a little.

"Yeah, Bones, you are."

"However, I feel that I seem to be incapable of helping you deal with this Booth. I wish…"

I stopped her midpoint. "Hey, hey, Bones. You do help me. Every day. You're here, you listen to me vent, you'll distract me if I need it. We've talked about this. Your heart is larger than people, including you, give you credit for. I've seen it-I know. What's going on between me and my Mom-that's just going to take a lot more talk and a lot of time." I hesitated before adding the next sentence. "Like you and Max."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a second. "You're correct, Booth. In many ways the situations are similar. Both parents abandoned us and came back to insert themselves back in our lives."

"I wasn't trying to bring up bad memories for you, Bones. I just meant that you are maybe the only person who really can help me right now, because you've been through something similar."

"I will help as much as I can, Booth. You know that."

"I know Bones. Look, I'm heading home right now. I didn't mean to make you worry. I love you."

"I love you too, Booth."

I disconnected the call and headed for home.

Opening the door, I called out, "Bones?" I went looking for her and found standing at the kitchen island-in front of a pie.

"Bones-you made PIE?" I just stared at her.

"You love pie, Booth. And I know today was difficult, and I just thought-Max had this recipe which was my mother's-I-this was ill-advised, wasn't it?"

Bones looked completely flustered-which was so not like her I had to walk over and give her a hug.

"This is one of the nicest things anybody's done for me Bones. And," I said, grinning at her, "you know exactly how much I love pie. What kind is it?"

"Apple," Bones said, relief etched on her face. "Your favorite."

"And you're not going to help me eat it are you?" I laughed at the expression on her face.

"I don't like my fruit cooked, Booth, you know that."

"Well I remember when you were pregnant, you dug into my pie pretty quickly…"

"Obviously your progeny was influencing my appetite. Which seemed completely unreasonable…"

I cut her off by kissing her.

And then the damn phone rang again.

"Booth," I barked into the phone.

"Chill, Seeley. That's how a Federal agent answers the phone? Do your bosses know that?"

Jared.

Okay-a shorter chapter this time-and a cliffhanger to boot. I already have some ideas on Booth dealing with Jared-but I thought that would be best in a chapter by itself-I suspect it will be a longer chapter. This chapter was a little fluffier (but a break from angst occasionally is OK, right?) Hopefully I wrote Brennan OK-I don't quite have her vocabulary! Lol.

I know-a coincidence that Booth will talk to Jared and his mom on the same day-or is it?

As to FaithinBones and guest who commented about Booth's mom and Pops-yes I plan to eventually cover that. Because that is one thing that has always bothered me once HH and Co announced that Booth's mom would appear on the show. That raised all kinds of questions for me-if she was still alive, why did Booth and his brother end up living with Pops?

Again, reviews and suggestions are welcome.