A/N. This will probably be split into a couple of chapters (at least) -lot of ground to cover here. It will not touch on everything I want his mom to explain-it will emotional stuff and I think Booth can or wants to handle only so much at a time. Yes he's a strong, tough guy, but we all have a breaking point, and I don't want to push him past that. That might do more harm than good. (NOT where I want go with this story.)

Once again-don't own Bones, etc.

Bones was in the kitchen preparing dinner while I was pacing.

"Booth," Bones said. "Calm down. Everything will be fine. We are handling this together."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, try to stop pacing. I find that it is making me nervous as well."

I stopped. "Sorry. I just-"

"I know, Booth." She turned to look at me. "I know how much this means to you, and how difficult it will be. I have been in this situation. I understand how distressing it can be to confront a parent about unpleasant topics."

I walked over to her and hugged her. "You are one of the best things to ever happen to me Bones. Have I told you that lately?"

She blinked at looked up at my face. "I do not believe so. However it is a sentiment I feel about you as well."

I grinned at her. "Good to know. How's dinner coming along? It smells great."

Bones smiled at me. "It is my mac 'n' cheese."

"Nice. First pie, now mac 'n' cheese. You're spoiling me here."

She shakes her head. "You and your stomach, Booth. Why don't you get Christine ready-your mom should be here soon, and I'm going to finish this."

I picked up Christine from the high chair. "Come on, kiddo. Let's go get you all pretty for Grandma."

I was headed for the stairs when the doorbell rang. Bones and I looked at each other and I said, "I'll get it."

I opened the door.

"Hey, Mom, come on in."

Dinner itself was fine. Mom was focused on Christine, and conversation was about minor stuff-work, plans, etc. Trivial stuff. After dinner, while Bones and I did the dishes Mom played with Christine. When it was Christine's bedtime, she asked if she could put her to bed. I looked at Bones and she agreed Mom could help. They both went upstairs and I got out a bottle of wine and some glasses. This conversation, I suspected, needed some alcohol.

Both women came back downstairs and sat down. I offered them a drink, which they both accepted. I poured myself a Scotch and sat next to Bones on the couch. We all looked at each other, and there was suddenly an awkward silence.

My mom cleared her throat. "Thank you for inviting me Seeley."

I nodded. I was trying to decide how to approach the subjects we needed to talk about. I knew what I wanted answers about, but now that we sitting here face to face, I couldn't seem to find the words to ask the questions.

"Booth?" I looked up to see both Bones and my mom staring at me-with fairly identical concerned expressions on their faces.

"I'm fine, I just-I'm trying to figure out where to start this."

"Well, let me start." My mom leaned forward slightly. "I know that I've hurt you a lot Seeley. I would do anything to take back what I've said and done to you. I know you're angry and you probably don't believe that, but it's true. Obviously I didn't handle my coming back into your life very well. You told me at lunch that I expected a fairy tale ending, and you could be right about that. It wasn't realistic for me to throw everything at you at once and for you to simply accept it."

"That wasn't entirely your fault. When you showed up, I should have talked to you more and asked more questions. I get that."

Mom gave a slight smile. "It was nice to see each other, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"I hear a 'but' in there."

I shook my head. "I get that we wouldn't necessarily go into our past right away-neither of us likes thinking or talking about it. But the wedding and a potential brother and sister-that's the future Mom. You couldn't have mentioned that? You were staying here. Sharing meals, playing with Christine. You mentioned Reggie, but nothing about marriage and his kids. Don't you think that's something you should have shared with me? I didn't need every detail of your life after you left, but that's not some minor detail, like your favorite food or your favorite brand of soap."

"No, no it's not. I suppose I was enjoying being a family, I didn't want to ruin it."

"Except you did Mom. When you threw it in my face about a family I knew nothing about, you did."

"I was hoping you would be happy for me-"

"Happy, right." I shook my head. "I should be happy that my mom seemed to toss her kids aside without a backward glance after leaving them with an abusive drunk, while she went out and found other kids to raise. Do you know how much like garbage that makes me feel? Like Jared and I weren't worth anything. How could we be-our own parents didn't want us?"

"I never felt like that about either of you, Seeley. Never."

"The thing is you told Reggie and his kids about us, but Jared and I don't find out about them until right before you get married. You do see how this looks to me, right? You wanted me to give you away, but I have to tell you, that felt like you wanted absolution, Mom. Not what a son wants to feel like when his mom says she's getting remarried. It may have been a happy occasion for you, but it just felt like you wanted to completely move on from your old life and you wanted my permission to do that. And where would that have left the people in your old life? Just curious."

"I wanted to be involved in your lives-yours and Jared's."

"Now you do." The blunt words came out without thinking.

Mom sucked in her breath sharply. "I always wanted that Seeley. But I couldn't come back. First because of your father-and quite frankly. It took me a long time to get myself together enough to be able to face you."

I rolled my eyes. "God, Mom, you know how many years I wasn't together? How much crap I've dealt with as a result of both you and Dad?"

"You seem to have a great life now, Seeley. We've both survived."

Bones suddenly spoke up. "I think you are underestimating the issues Booth has had to deal with to get to this point in his life. To simply dismiss that by saying everything is fine now does not help Booth deal with this situation between the two of you."

Mom's head jerked around to Bones. I think for a minute she had forgotten Bones was there. "Temperance, I appreciate that you love Seeley and want to help him, but I'm not sure you're in a position to understand-"

Bones cut her off. "I am actually in an ideal position to understand. I was abandoned by my parents and my brother when I was 15 and was placed in foster care. There were some very-unpleasant-experiences that occurred. My father and brother reappeared in my life a few years ago. I assure you, I understand every bit of what Booth is going through."

I had to hand it to Bones-that little speech made my mom completely speechless. She was staring at Bones like she had sprouted another head.

Bones, however seemed oblivious as she continued. "He has had to deal with his gambling addiction, his past as a sniper in the army-"

"Wait." This time it was my mom who cut Bones off. "Gambling, Seeley?"

Bones looked at me. "Should I not have mentioned that?"

I patted her arm. "No, it's fine, Bones. We agreed to be honest here, right?" I stared at my mom. "Yeah, Mom, gambling I've been through the program, but let's face it. The two kids you walked away from are addicts. I had gambling, Jared had drinking. We've got it under control now, but it's been a serious battle. But you wouldn't know that because you didn't contact us."

"Oh, God," Mom whispered.

My tone softened a little. "You said you weren't together so you couldn't come back. Jared and I were kids, Mom. You can't expect that you just leave us with dad and we'd end up these perfectly happy kids. You can't. We only survived because of Pops."

"No, I suppose not. So when I mentioned Reggie's kids, you saw that as further proof of my not caring about you or Jared."

"That's something you could have handled better-telling me about this whole other family."

Mom leaned back in her chair. "You're right. I could have-I should have."

"Why didn't you?" Bones' voice this time. "I am-emotions are not my strength, but I would have thought a mother would appreciate how hurtful a second family might be if the first family had no idea. I cannot imagine my introducing another family to Christine at what was essentially the last minute. And in fact you didn't introduce Reggie's family, you simply announced their existence. You referred to them as Booth's brother and sister, but in fact he had never met them-had no idea of what they looked like or what kinds of people they were-other than you saying he would love them. You had no way to know that. You hoped he would love them, but you could not know that for sure."

Mom had gone pale. "I knew my kids as well as Reggie's."

"But you didn't-not really. You hadn't seen Booth in years-you yourself have acknowledged you don't know all of Booth's past that has made him the man he is today. I suspect there is a great deal about Booth that you don't really know-and perhaps it is true if you had both talked more when you first arrived, you could have better anticipated how your news would affect him. Booth should have asked for explanations, but when he said he didn't need them, perhaps you should have insisted, instead of maintaining a pretense that everything was fine."

I muttered ."That's letting her have it with both barrels, Bones."

She whispered back, "I don't know what that means."

Yes there's more conversation/angst to come. Like I said-hard to get everything in one chapter-these aren't easy, simple conversations to have.

I meant to have Brennan ask more questions, as opposed to jumping in and taking on Booth's mom, but I think at this point, his mom might still be in denial of the effect her words and actions have, and Brennan would have something to say about that. We've seen how protective B&B are of each other.