A/N I want to apologize to everyone for the delay in posting new chapters. I've had some writers' block for this story, and got stuck deciding where to go. Thank you to everyone for being patient-I swear I WILL finish it. I've always hated coming across a story that I get into-to find out someone abandoned it. So updates may be slower in coming, but they will come, I promise.

And as always, don't own Bones (but could I rent Booth in a tux like he was at the wedding? Pretty please?)

I walked into the house, tired and frustrated after a day of meetings that had run long. The first thing that hit me was the smell of lasagna.

"Max?" I called out. I knew Bones was at some dinner meeting with her publisher. She'd invited me, but the higher ups at the FBI had me dealing with meetings and interviews for some possible candidates for Major Crimes all day-and I told Bones those things always went longer than everyone expected.

"Booth!" Max was coming down the stairs with Christine in his arms. He gave me a long look. "Rough day?"

"You have no idea, Max. It smells good in here, though."

"Tempe wasn't sure how late you'd be-or if you'd have a chance to have dinner. Figured I'd make lasagna. Even if you've already eaten, it's a dish that does pretty well as leftovers."

I grinned. "Forget leftovers. I'm starving. We just got the usual vending machine crap to snack on."

Max grinned back. He handed Christine to me and said, "Here. I'd bet your daughter will cheer you right up. I'll go fix you a plate."

He headed towards the kitchen, and came back in a few minutes with a plate and a glass of wine. He took Christine from me again and said, "Have a seat and dig in."

As I sat at the table and ate, Max sat next to me with Christine on his lap, making faces at her and laughing when she grabbed his hands, nose, hair-whatever she could reach. I was chuckling myself watching them.

"So, Tempe tells me the last talk you had with your mom pretty much went south."

I put down my fork and turned towards Max. "Yeah, I'm sure that's how she put it."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course not. You know she doesn't use words of one syllable when one with three syllables is available. And she didn't go into detail, but I got the gist of it-and that it wasn't good."

I sighed. "It was pretty rough, yeah."

Max tilted his head to the side slightly. "That's it? Did you get any perspective on why she did what she did-and how she felt about it?"

I rolled my shoulders, feeling the tension from the long day and this topic of conversation. "Oh I got her perspective, all right. It just wasn't a very pleasant one. And I know you said that I had no idea what she might have been feeling when she left and stayed gone. I found out-and it wish I hadn't."

"Did she explain everything? Why she left, what happened, why she handled coming back the way she did?"

"I snorted. "She explained it, Max. And that's the ugly part of this. Because the takeaway I got from that is she placed more importance on her new family than her old one."

Max frowned. "I can't believe that's true, Booth. You're a good guy-I can imagine you were a good kid, too. I don't believe that she just forgot you. God knows my wife thought about Tempe and Russ every day. Hell, we argued I don't know how many times about risking going back to see them. We both wanted to-"

I interrupted. "But it wasn't safe. I get that. And maybe it wasn't safe for my mom at first either. Fine. But she knew at some point we weren't with my dad. That it was safe for her to contact us, to see us. And-" I stopped.

"And?" Max prompted.

"And I think the only reason she came back was because of her wedding and to introduce this whole other family to her old one. She used it as an excuse-she said she thought it would be easier."

"Maybe it was easier for her Booth. God knows how many sleepless nights I had when I decided to come back into Tempe's life."

"Not the point, Max. You came back because you wanted to protect your kids. It was dangerous for them and for you. As far as I can tell, my mom just wanted everything in her life to be easier. She figured she'd get both her families and everything would be fine. No real explanations-hell, Max that's not even realistic. She was fine staying in touch with strangers about her family, but not with her actual family. Then she expects me to be fine with how she dealt with this. You were willing to deal with the hard stuff with Bones. Her possible rejection, her tough questions-all of it. Mom wasn't until I confronted her about it." I gave him a sideways glance. "Here's a scary thought-you actually were the better parent in this situation."

"Really?" Max grinned until he looked at my face. "Sorry, it's just-"

"You tell Bones that I'll shoot you."

Max waved his hands. "Fine, fine." He hesitated. "I really am sorry that talking to your mom has made you feel like this. I know how excited you were when she came back-Tempe told me. And to have that stood on its head has to be rough. I wish there was some magic words I could say to help, but there aren't. And I hope I didn't screw things up even more by trying to bring up what her perspective might have been. It's just I've been on the other side, so I thought it might help."

I sighed. "I know, Max. I appreciate it. I know you were trying to help. It's not your fault that my mom apparently didn't give a lot of thought into dealing with this. I guess that's part of the problem. Once she got away from Dad, I think she had it easier-and the problem is she wanted to keep it that way. Sort of 'out of sight, out of mind.' Which might be OK if she didn't have two kids. And she didn't think through how her coming back, and her news about this other family, might affect those kids. I'm not even sure any of that crossed her mind-and I think it should have. She told me she was worried we would hate her-how did she think we would feel when she said she'd spent some of that time raising someone else's kids while ignoring her own? I don't get that, Max. I really don't."

"That's because you're a guy who's spent his life looking out for everyone else, Booth. That's who you are-it's who you've always been. Not everyone is like that. I'd guess that your mom is one who isn't like that. It doesn't mean you can't have any kind of relationship with her-you just have one while recognizing the kind of person she is. And maybe your relationship-whatever one you decide to have with her-won't be like a fifties sitcom, but life isn't like that anyway. So now that you've figured out who she is and what she's like, you can figure out how to deal with her. Handle it the way you see fit, Booth."

I studied him for a minute. "I was sure you'd want to push me to forgive her and act like everything is OK."

Max shook his head. "Trust me, I learned from Tempe not to push that particular button. Would I like to know you have a terrific relationship with your mom? Sure. You're a good guy who's wonderful to and for my daughter, so I hate seeing you hurt because it hurts her. But after all the talks Tempe and I had to get to this point, I've learned to be more realistic. I'll try not to butt in, but I am willing to listen if you need a sounding board."

I laughed. "You're going to stop butting in? Seriously?"

"What?" Max had a mock hurt look on his face. "You don't think I can stay out of it?"

I shook my head. "It will be interesting to see you try."

Max has gotten better at staying out of B&B's business, but I think he's genetically incapable of completely staying away. It's who he is-and the whole "protective dad" thing is something he has A LOT of. Doesn't matter that Brennan is more than capable of dealing with stuff on her own. Or that after all these years he knows the kind of guy Booth is-and how much he cares about Brennan. That meddling instinct of Max's kicks in, and all bets are off.

As always, reviews and suggestions are very much appreciated.