A/N I was going to jump to other conversations, but based on reviews I received about the last chapter, I thought I might have some fun calling Max out on the differences between his situation and Marianne's.

And still don't own Bones…

Bones walked in, carrying Christine, and stopped when she saw me and Max. She frowned. "What's going on?"

I turned my head, and smiled at Christine, who was laughing and reaching in my direction. "Max was just offering his opinion on the situation with my mom."

Bones handed Christine to me and then turned to Max. "Please tell me you that you at least were less aggravating than you are when you usually offer advice."

"Hey!" Max actually looked like he wanted to pout. "I give some good advice."

Bones rolled her eyes. "Was his advice helpful?"

"Hard to say." I looked at Max who shook his head at me. "He gave me something else to think about, anyway."

"Oh?" Bones sat down and glanced at both of us before waving at Christine.

"I just told Booth what I think his mom might have been feeling after leaving, that's all."

Bones stiffened. Her face seemed to freeze for a minute and she looked coolly at Max. "Really."

Max and I both flinched-both at her face and the tone of her voice.

"Honey, I-"Max held out his hands. "I was trying to help Booth here."

"Bones," I said gently. "It's fine. We're just talking. I seem to be talking to everyone else. And Max does have a different perspective on this."

She nodded, and relaxed slightly. She took a deep breath and said, "I apologize. It's simply that it-"

"Brings up a past you don't want to keep bringing up. I get it." I reached for her hand, and she placed hers in mine.

"I thought we were past a lot of that, Tempe." This time Max's hurt didn't sound like it was an act. "We've talked about-"

"Yes we have. It doesn't mean that it still doesn't bring up bad memories from time to time. As Booth's past does for him. There have been times that I am not entirely sure you understand that. I told Booth that I am occasionally still angry, and I am."

"You know why I had to leave. God knows if there had been any other choice-"

"Logically I do know that. But that did not help me when Russ, left, or when I had to go into foster care." She paused. "But you are right. We have discussed this at length, and I do appreciate that you have made an effort to maintain our relationship, as well as giving me the time I needed to learn to trust you again. Booth has not had the time to do either with his mother."

Both of them looked at me, which made me nervous. I started tickling Christine to distract myself. I looked up and they were both still staring at me. "OK, now you two are just creeping me out."

Max shrugged. "Deal with it. So how long has your mom been back?"

"A few months."

"So where had she been?"

"Different places. She was singing-moved around some."

"And she came back-to invite you to her wedding."

I nodded.

"She hadn't contacted you before at all?"

I clenched my jaw and shook my head.

"And when did she tell you the guy she was marrying had kids?"

"When she invited me to the wedding and wanted me to give her away."

Max waited, and when he realized I wasn't going to say any more, he sighed. "You really are pissed, aren't you?"

I shifted and place Christine between Max and me. "I appreciate your point of view on this, but the situations aren't quite the same. You left to protect your kids. My mom left my brother and me in a dangerous situation. Not the same. I'll take your advice about hearing her out, and maybe her feelings are something like you say yours were, but I tell you, she's going to need a hell of an explanation."

Bones nodded. "I concur."

I looked at her. "Which is why you asked why she didn't take us with her-or talk to Hank."

"Back up a minute," Max waved his hands. "Tempe asked what?"

"She asked why mom couldn't have taken us with her, or called Hank-instead she left us in the house with Dad."

"Well, you don't know what her situation was-" his voice trailed off as he saw my expression. I could practically feel my face go blank.

"Booth," Bones whispered. "It's all right." Then she turned to her father. "Booth and I understand that you had justifiable reasons for leaving. I think that you could have avoided by that by not becoming criminals in the first place, but that is a subject for another discussion. You did the best you could to protect me and Russ. You wanted to make sure we were kept safe from very dangerous people. Booth's mother did not. She left him in a house with a dangerous, drunk, unstable man. Even if informing the police was not an option for her, certainly there must have been other family she could have gone to. Hank was the one who took them in-could she not have told him what was going on? Or taken the children to him if she could take them with her? There had to be other options other than what she chose. I believe Booth deserves an explanation for how and why that happened."

"Did I hear my name?"

Great. Just great.

"Okay, really quick-here are the ground rules," I muttered through gritted teeth. "No one mentions that Max was a criminal. Ever. Certainly not that he killed the deputy director of the FBI."

"You know," Max said conversationally, "I never was actually convicted of-"

"You mention that and I'll get out my gun and shoot you myself."

Shorter chapter this time. I just thought it would be nice for someone to point out to Max that the situations weren't the same. For those of you who have reviewed and pointed that out-I agree. It's just that I'm working on getting some resolution for Booth, so I thought getting a different perspective would help him. And since we didn't see a lot of those conversations between Brennan and Max, I thought it would be fun to point that out-in her direct, unsubtle way of course. Ha-ha. I like Max, but occasionally he would sometimes try to act like the past didn't exist-so a little reality check for him now and then can be a good thing.