A/N This is based on a guest prompt, who wanted to see Max's POV on this situation.

And again I don't own Bones-but all of you know that.

I pulled into the driveway of our house and noticed the car in front of the house

"Bones," I said quietly.

"Hmmmm?" She opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times. "Oh, we're home. Good."

"Isn't that Max's car?"

She glanced at the car. "I believe so. We did ask him to make sure everything was in order while we were gone-I assume that is why he is here."

"I guess so-and we didn't expect to be back this early." I sighed. I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with Max Keenan after a road trip with a child and an elderly man. I was tired, and hungry, and just wanted to stretch out and nap. "You want to get Christine? I'll get the bags."

"I can help with that Shrimp, "came Pops' voice from the back.

"I got it Pops. Why don't you help Bones with Christine?"

"You sure?" I looked back at him and noticed he seemed kind of tired. I felt slightly guilty about that-but told myself that he had wanted to come.

"I'm sure. Maybe we can all get in a nap and have some grilled cheese sandwiches later."

Pops grinned at me. "Sounds good."

I grinned back. No matter how difficult this was going to be, it was always good to see Pops.

We walked into the house to the sounds of a ball game on TV.

"Max?" I called out.

Max's head popped up from the couch. "Booth, Tempe! I thought you weren't going to be back until later."

I muttered, "Which you thought meant you could drink my beer, I bet."

Max rolled his eyes at me. "Hey, no one said that was off limits." He turned to Bones. "How was the vacation Tempe?"

Bines looked briefly to me and then answered. "It was fine." She gestured to Pops. "I don't believe you've met Booth's grandfather. This is Hank Booth. Hank, this is my father Max Keenan."

The two men shook hands. "By the way, Booth, I've been doing what just what Tempe asked me to. Bringing in newspapers, mail-all that stuff. And I wrote down some messages." He shuffled thorough some slips of paper. "Angela and the bug guy-Hodgins. That's right. That kid shrink of yours, Sweets." He paused. "Your mom called, by the way. Hell, no offense, but I didn't even know you had a mom."

I closed my eyes and counted to ten-so I wouldn't have to kill Max.

"Max," Bones' voice was crisp, stern. "That really isn't any of your business."

I felt Pops put his hand on my shoulder. "You Ok there, Shrimp?"

I nodded and let out the breath I hadn't even realized I was holding. "Yeah, Pops. I'm fine. I just didn't expect-"

"I know, Booth." Bones had moved next to me and was looking up at me with concern.

Max's head was moving between all of us. "Ok, what the hells's going on?"

"Max-" A warning tone in Bones' voice now.

"No, Bones, it's fine." I stared hard at Max for a minute. "My mom, who abandoned me, came back into my life and announced she was getting married and I would have a new brother and sister. That's what going on."

Max let out a low whistle. "Woah." He hesitated for a minute. "So that has to be weird."

Suddenly I was tired of all of it. I was tired of pretending it was OK. I was tired of all the curiosity about my mom and me. I was tired of trying to get answers and find more questions.

"Booth," Bones said hesitantly. "perhaps you should get some rest. You're tired, you have been through a great deal of turmoil and I believe it would be beneficial for you to have a respite. If you like I can explain things to Max, or I can tell him to stay out of it."

I looked at her for a minute then reached out to hug her-Christine between the both of us. "You can tell him. I trust you not to go into more than is really necessary." I glared at Max. "We're family of sorts, which is the only reason you get that much. So take it or leave it Max."

Max nodded slowly. "I get it."

I turned around. "Come on Pops, I think it's nap time for all of us."

After we'd all had a chance to rest, eat-we spent the day just hanging out. Pops and Bones were playing with Christine, and Max and I were watching another game on TV.

During a commercial, Max leaned forward and muted the TV. "So Tempe told me what's going on with your mom. You doing OK?"

I shrugged.

Max frowned. "That doesn't tell me anything, Booth." He looked at me for a minute. "Maybe I can help, you know. I know we got off to a rocky start-"

"Like my arresting you," I murmured.

"Yeah, that." Max snorted "Of course you only managed that because I let you-"

"Is there a point to this Max?"

He rubbed his chin. "Look I don't know about your mom. But I know what it's like to have to leave your kids-maybe that perspective might help you in dealing with her. That's all I'm saying."

"How, Max? Look I get why had to leave your kids. I get why you ran. And Bones gets that-even when she was angry with you, she got that. And you didn't come back with a new ready-made family. Complete with kids. You didn't have that to throw in ones' face. So the situation isn't really the same."

"Not when it comes to that, no. But I bet have a good feeling what your mom might have been feeling. You find you hate yourself, you find yourself wondering what your kids are doing and what's happening to them-"

I cut him off. "My dad was a drunk who beat his wife and kids. My mom had to have a pretty good idea what was happening to us. And she never contacted either of us until she came back to invite me to the wedding. According to Pops, she was keeping in touch with a neighbor, but she didn't contact him-and she sure as hell didn't maintain any contact with me or Jared."

Max ran his head through his hair. "And I understand why you'd be angry about that. Here's the thing, Booth. When you leave your kids, you worry all the time. And the more time that passes, the worse it gets. It's bad enough just leaving, but coming back becomes harder each day you're away. You figure your kids start to hate you-and they hate you more the longer you're gone. And maybe it's cowardly, but facing that anger becomes the most difficult thing you feel you will ever have to face. Why do you think I came back as a priest instead of myself? It gave me a chance to see Tempe-to know she was OK-without having to answer questions I wasn't ready to deal with. Plus," he shrugged. "I could protect my kids better that way."

"By killing the deputy director of the FBI. Yeah, Bones was proud of her father doing that."

Shaking his head, Max said, "Now who's off -topic here? The point is, your mom was probably scared to death about your reaction to her coming back after so many years. And the fact that she kept track of you at all shows some concern. If there weren't, she wouldn't have bothered. She wouldn't have cared if you were at her wedding or not. She wouldn't have cared if you got along with her stepkids."

My jaw tightened. "Did Bones mention how I actually met my new family at the wedding? We weren't even introduced until then." I took a swig of beer and continued. "I have to tell you, that didn't feel much like caring to me."

"No, no I can see how it wouldn't." There was a moment of silence between us. "I can't speak for all of your mom's actions, Booth. All I'm saying is that I can at least understand some of the emotions she'd probably been feeling about seeing you again. Just hear her out-just like you convinced Tempe she should do with me." I look startled for a second. Max smiled. "Don't think I don't know that you were the one who convinced her she should at least listen to me-let alone give me a second chance. And I'm grateful for that, believe me. And Tempe and I had to work through and talk about a lot, trust me. She doesn't trust easily, and I have to live with the fact that that's in large part my fault. Her mom and I did that by leaving. That's pretty heavy guilt to carry around. I suspect your mom has her own guilt to carry around-and no doubt that's affected the way she handled this."

I let my head fall onto the back of the couch. "I could probably have handled it if were just her coming back, or even her getting her married. But she said his kids wert the age they needed a mom, and the only thing I could think was 'so were me and Jared.' So they got a mom and we didn't. Hell they got our mom and we didn't. And this wedding was obviously a done deal, so it's not like I even had the option of having an opinion on anything. No 'What do you think about my getting remarried', or 'would you like to meet the guy I want to marry', or hey-'there's a guy I'm serious about he has kids-would you like to meet them?' It's just-the whole thing just sucked. I felt like I was just a hanger-on in her life, and now this whole family was center stage. That's not a good feeling, Max."

"I wish I could give you some magic answer, Booth. But the truth is there isn't one. The good news is that it seems like you have a lot of people who want to help you. I assume that's why all the messages earlier?"

I nodded and realized Max was right. My 'people' were ready and willing to help, and I think it was time to use them.

I think Max would have a different perspective, being the one who did the abandoning as opposed to being the one abandoned. And as many issues as Booth and Max have, I do think Max would have recognized part of the reason that Brennan was willing to talk about her mom and the issues between the two of them was because Booth encouraged her to be willing to deal with her family stuff. (Compare how she talked to Max versus how she reacted to Russ coming back in her life, where she was pretty rigid and inflexible about recognizing Russ's own problems/feelings about their parents' leaving) That's my take anyway.

And I had people leaving messages because I think B&B would have mentioned visiting Pops, and why. The people who knew what was going on would have wanted to help, if only to call and see if Booth was OK. Love how strong the friendships have become on the show since the beginning.

As always reviews, comments and suggestions are welcome.

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