A/N And here we are with the new season coming! Yeah! Just a few more hours.

Also, over 10,000 views of this story (OK-I admit I amuse easily, but this is my first story, so I'm going to just enjoy this.) Thank you, everyone, for being willing to follow along on this journey.

Mom flinched at Bones' question. She stared straight ahead.

"Mom?" I leaned forward. "It's a legitimate question. And it's one I wondered about. You wanted to tell me about your getting married-I understand that. You could have handled it better but at least I get that. But to wait over two decades to get in touch? And if you've been together with Reggie for years, why did he know about us but we didn't know about him-or his kids? Even if you didn't trust Pops, it's not as if we lived in his house until a few months ago or something. We grew up, Mom. Left home, joined the military, found jobs. I had a son, Mom. I wasn't some teenager living in his parents' basement, for God's sake. I told myself you'd get in touch when you were ready, but the fact is it hurts to think your mom wants nothing to do with you. God, Mom. I had a drunk dad who hit me and a mom who left and seemed to never look back. You have any idea how much that screwed with my head? And God knows I've managed to mess up relationships for the longest time."

Bones slid her arm through mine. "But not now, Booth."

I turned my head to look at her "Yeah, but I've screwed up with you, too."

Bones shrugged. "We have both made mistakes, Booth. Not all of our difficulties stem from you. I have contributed my own."

I smiled at her. "We are a pair, aren't we?"

I turned back to catch Mom looking at us, smiling a little. She caught me staring and shrugged. "I like watching the two of you. I like seeing you happy, Seeley. You deserve that more than anyone I know."

I shrugged. "I appreciate the thought, Mom, but that doesn't help me with the regrets about the mistakes I've made. And if you were that invested in seeing me happy, then you would have at least contacted me before the time you actually did." Her eyes narrowed at me. "What? You didn't think I would just let the question slide did you? That should tell you exactly how little you know me, Mom."

"True. Booth is really quite good at questioning people. He is very persistent and very focused. It makes him an excellent investigator." Bones patted my arm.

Mom said, "So now we're back to my being given the third degree by my FBI agent son."

"Marianne," Pops broke in. "This is stuff Seeley has a right to know. You didn't see those kids when they came to live with me. I'd never seen two kids so scared in my life-it broke my heart. Hell, the first time I yelled at Jared for something he'd done wrong, Seeley planted himself between the two of us. I could tell he expected me to hit him, or Jared, or both. I had to stop yelling at Jared-I thought I was going to cry. I sat them down and told them I'd never hit them-it took a while for them to believe me. There are consequences for what both you and my son did. This conversation is one of yours."

She stared at Pops. "And your son's?"

He sighed. "He died alone in a VA hospital after years of drinking. No family, no friends. I only knew because they called me after he died. Those were his consequences. You ask me, giving explanations to your son is getting off easy. At least he's willing to let you in his life right now. You have a new husband, stepkids-doesn't mean your old life ceased to exist. The least you owe your son is honesty. So give him that."

She rubbed her forehead. "I suppose I've been putting that off. I'm not proud of a lot of things, Seeley, but I'm most ashamed about leaving you and Jared. And maybe you don't believe that now, but it's true. I know both your father and myself made your lives miserable, each in our own way. No mother wants to face up to that-no parent wants to face that. To realize how much of a failure you were to your kids."

Pops snorted. 'You don't think every parent worries about how much they might be screwing up their kids, Marianne? Hell, I was scared to death to take in Seeley and Jared. I kept worrying about what I did or didn't do to make my son the way he was. I just kept praying that I would do better, that the kids deserve the best-and what if I wasn't the best? But I didn't have a choice. They needed me, so I had to try to be the best parent I could be to them. They needed that. My son was gone, you were gone-so it fell to me."

Mom turned to face him. "I'm not proud of that either, Hank. And I'm not-I know that I should have tried to come back in everyone's life before. It's just-it's hard to talk about this. It took a long time to get my head together in any way. I was a complete mess when I left-I blamed myself for everything for a long time." She switched her gaze back to me. "I hated myself-for being in the position I was in with your father, for not being the mom you deserved, for leaving you-everything."

"But Jared and I didn't hate you, mom. Do have any idea how happy we would have been to hear from you? Hell, even if it was indirectly-to let us know you were OK. Anything-Christmas cards, phone calls. Anything at all. I don't understand how you could have left it until you wanted something from me. How was I supposed to feel?"

"It wasn't that I wanted anything from you exactly-"

"That is not strictly true. You wanted Booth to give you away and you wanted his approval of this new life you had created for yourself. Why would you wait until you wanted something for yourself? Booth would have been thrilled had you come back earlier than you did. And certainly the issue of your new family would not have been nearly as hurtful. So I ask again-why wait to reenter Booth's life?"

"I was afraid, all right? I felt afraid, and guilty and I couldn't ever figure out what I could have said to make anything right. Nothing could have made up for what I did-do you think I don't know that? Because I do, Seeley. I know we didn't talk about your father when I came back, and I should have more of an effort to do that. I just thought that since we were both OK, and both happy, there was no reason to let your father's shadow interfere with that."

'But we shared that past, Mom. I know I don't like talking or thinking about Dad, but we went through the same hell. I would think that you would have contacted us after you heard Dad left. I don't get that. I can't imagine not seeing Christine or Parker for years. That would kill me-and I'd damn well do anything to find a way to let her know that if I couldn't be with her, she'd know I loved her. Jared and I didn't even get that-but obviously Reggie's kids did. I'm still not sure you understand that-how it felt to hear that. It was a slap in the face, Mom. It was like you were saying that the kids you gave birth to were an afterthought. I assume Reggie's kids had more advance notice about the wedding than I did. Me-you wait until tight before you get married. You announced it because it was a done deal. It seemed like the only reason you wanted to come back was for my approval. You've missed a lot in my life, Mom. My military history, when I joined the FBI, my becoming a dad-both times. You weren't there for any of it-you weren't even in touch with anyone at that point. Then you just waltz in with news of your new, perfect life. Why, Mom? Why do it that way?"

Mom threw up her hands. "I thought the news about my getting married would make it easier to come back-to give me a reason to come back."

"Easier." I stood up and started pacing. "Easier, Mom? It was easier to not have to deal with your kids? You think it was easy for me, the way you handled this? Jesus Christ-easier. And you thought you needed a reason to come back. Why? Because seeing your kids wasn't a good enough reason? We weren't a good enough reason? Seriously-you thought it would be easier? What the hell kind of explanation is that? What exactly were you worried about that made it impossible for you to contact us before?"

"Shrimp, maybe-"

"No Pops." I leveled a look at him. "I love you, and I'm grateful you're here, but Mom can't just say it was easier to have an excuse to come back in my life and leave it at that. So I'd like to know Mom. Because that little comment reinforces the fact that Reggie and his kids were more important than your own. You could devote time to them, but me you only dealt with when it was convenient-in this case giving you away at your wedding. What kind of relationship were you looking for, anyway? I have to tell you, one based on the fact you want everything to always go smoothly is not going to happen. I've been in those relationships-they never work out. And you may want everything to be easy for you, but it doesn't work that way. So tell me exactly why it was important that it be easier for you to come back." I folded my arms across my chest and glared at her.

Mom recoiled at the look on my face. "I just meant-I don't know. I was sure you and Jared would hate me. All of you are right. I should have made an effort to come back before. It just seemed the more time went by, the harder it became to even think about it. I-I have never handled confrontation well, Seeley. I spent so much time apologizing to your father for every little thing, I got used to doing that. It took me a long time before I learned to stop. But I couldn't face my own sons being angry and hating me. There's nothing worse than that feeling. I kept seeing scenarios in my head about contacting you-none of them ended well. I'd have nightmares about it and wake up crying. I couldn't handle that happening in real life. And I was sure it would, particularly after such a long time. And maybe I should have talked about this when I came back, but you seemed to be so happy to see me, and the only thing I thought was 'he doesn't hate me'. I was grateful for that."

"You have no idea how it would have gone down if you did contact us, Mom. Because you never even tried. I told myself you would when you're ready, but sitting here with you saying you waited until you had an excuse to make it easier for you is really hard to take. If you hadn't gotten married, I don't know if you would ever have come back. And you want me to just sit and accept everything you've done. Maybe you're right-maybe I wanted to look on the bright side of things, but right now I don't see a bright side. I see a woman who threw her kids away and only picked them back up when it was convenient for her. Who was willing to come back into her kids' lives because the timing was easier for her."

Mom closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. "So you do hate me now."

"I don't know, Mom." Her eyes popped open at that. "I'd like to think I couldn't hate my mom, but the truth is I'm incredibly angry with you. I-I think maybe I need some time away from this to process all of it."

"You're cutting me out of your life?" Mom's voice rose, and was starting to shake.

"I don't know yet. I know that I need to think about everything you've told me, and at least for a while, I need to do that without you. After that," I shrugged, "I don't know."

Mom's face turned white, but she nodded and got up. "I think I should go. But let me say, Seeley, that I know that everything I've done has hurt you, including this conversation tonight. I can't begin to tell you how much I wish everything had been different. That I had been different for you. You're not the only one with regrets. I caused a lot of damage to you and Jared, and I have to live with that for the rest of my life. Hank mentioned consequences, and if that means I'm not in your life, then I have to accept that I did that to myself-I can't blame anyone else but myself." She stopped and swallowed. "And I suppose that's all I can say about that. I hope you forgive me for what I put you through, but I understand if you can't."

As she left and we heard the door closed, I pivoted to look at Pops and Bones, both with concerned looks on their faces.

I took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't know about anyone else, but I could do with a good stiff drink right now."

And that's the end of the smackdown, folks. It's not the end of the story-because Booth needs to think about and deal with all this. Since the goal is to have some kind of workable relationship with his mom (at least that's my goal-and more for Booth's sake than his mom's), then he now needs to consider where to go from here-and how to deal with everything he's just heard. Hopefully these chapters at least answered some questions from the episode for everyone-at least my interpretation of it. There may be more later-probably now that I've written and posted it. Some random question or explanation will pop into my head. That's usually the way it works-like thinking of a question you wanted to ask a teacher or boss after you've already gone home.