Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So how are we going to tell everyone,” Booth asked and pressed a soft kiss to Brennan’s naked shoulder. It was late at night and they have just come back from a crime scene and it was a pretty gruesome one even for Brennan’s standard.

As soon as they had gotten home, Brennan had craved a shower. The pregnancy has made her a lot more sensitive to smells lately and she always showered as soon as she got home, wether that was at Booth’s place or hers. Booth always followed her in the shower claiming that it was to save water, but by the way Brennan always looked at him when he said that, she knew it was his excuse to spend more time with her.

A lot of things have changed in their lives since she has told him about their baby on the side of the road that night. At the same time, nothing has really changed. They are partners, they eat breakfast together, they work together, they have drinks together after closing a case even if they are non-alcoholic now. They just do more together now, their lives are intertwined even more tightly than before.

“I don’t know Booth, it’s still pretty early in the gestation,” Brennan answered and stretched out, enjoying the way Booth’s warm body felt underneath her.

“You can say pregnancy Bones,” Booth murmured against her skin, his lips still pressing kisses on her shoulders while his hands roamed her bare back slowly.

“I’m using an appropriate term to describe the situation,” she retorted.

“I know you are,” Booth laughed. “I read the book you picked out for me, don’t worry.” He loved her and her specific vocabulary so much, but he also loves to tease her about it. “Do you want anything?”

“No, I am fine.”

Brennan had still felt a little nauseous when they had gotten out of the shower, but it seemed to have passed once they had been laying in bed for a while.

“Okay, so… when are we going to talk to everyone? I’m pretty sure Cam is starting to suspect something is going on with you.” Booth decided to push a bit more on the issue. “You really looked like you were going to be sick at the crime scene.”

“What is ours is ours Booth.” She stayed silent for a few seconds and Booth knows her well enough to know she’s thinking about what she wants to say next. “But… I am beginning to accept that we are going to have to tell our friends soon.”

“Okay, I can work with that.” Booth smiled to himself and hugged her just a little bit tighter.

Nobody except Angela knows that they are finally in a committed relationship, so the baby is even more of a secret. They had not initially planned to keep their relationship so secret, but after everything that had happened and how long it took them to get there, they had both agreed that they needed time to just be together and that was even before they found out about the baby.

“Do you want to tell people about us and the baby at the same time?” She asked and slid a bit sideways so she was no longer putting her full weight on Booth. “It would be more efficient to do it at once.”

“More efficient yes, but we might cause a few heart attacks,” Booth turned, laying on his side so he could look at Bones properly. “But if that’s how you want to do it, I’m okay with it.” She looked so beautiful in the low light, with her hair spread out agains the pillow.

“I would still like to wait for a while, at least until I start showing.” Brennan leaned forward so she could kiss him.

Booth knows that she’s doing it to convince him to wait a bit longer, but it’s not like he really needed to be convinced in the first place so he kissed her back. The last thing he wants to do is push her too much, so they are doing this at her pace.

***

Booth used his keys to let himself into Brennan’s apartment as it is their week at her place. They don’t have a case together currently so they had only seen each other in the morning before leaving for work by themselves. He took off his suit jacket and pulled out his gun so he could stow it away in the safe that Brennan had bought for him at her apartment.

Booth could tell that she was already home by the fact that her messenger bag is on the kitchen table and that the kettle is still steaming on the stove, meaning that she’s probably getting changed in her bedroom. He wondered if he could convince her to take a bath with him before dinner, but first he had to find her.

When Booth opened the door to her bedroom, he stopped in his track at the sight he saw.

Brennan was standing in front of her full length mirror in the corner of her room, examining her reflection. The sweater that she had pulled on this morning was now on the floor by her feet, leaving her in her unbuttoned dress pants and her bra. She turned a bit sideways and Booth’s well trained eyes immediately noticed what she was looking at.

There’s a soft swell to her stomach, the visual proof that their baby truly exists. It’s irrational for him to think the bump wasn’t there in the morning, yet Booth felt like it was the first time he could see it with his own eyes.

Booth dropped his jacket to the floor and marched forward so he could stand behind her. When she finally spotted him in the reflection, she jumped a bit, startled at his sudden appearance. She had been so concentrated on her small baby bump that she hadn’t even heard him get home. Booth hands came up on their own and lingered just above her belly until Brennan uses her own hands to press his down.

Brennan leaned back against his chest, unable to tear her eyes from the sight of both their hands cradling the life they created together. “I think this is the time I talked about,” she whispered as if any noises would break the moment.

“What?” Booth was still too amazed by the soft swell in his partners body to properly think about what she had said in the first place.

“Two months ago, I said we would tell people when I started showing. I believe that time is now,” she explained, her voice still low.

Booth finally tore his eyes from her mid-section to look at her face. Brennan looked so happy that any doubts he could potentially have had about the pregnancy and even their relationship simply evaporated.

“I can set up a meeting with Hacker in the next few days,” Booth offered. That meeting is easily the one that they are apprehending the most considering their partnership could be severed to follow the fraternization rules at the FBI. “Do you want to come to that one?”

“Obviously I need to be there Booth. I have compiled a list of evidence and statistics justifying why separating us would be a detriment to the FBI.” They were still standing in front of the mirror and Brennan looked at how Booth was softly smiling at her. “However I am prepared to give you the files I have compiled if you would rather speak to your superior on your own.”

“I want you with me Bones, don’t worry. I’m sure Hacker will need visual evidence too.”

“You are such an alpha male Booth. You simply want Andrew to understand that you have claimed me as your mate.”

“You make it sound so bad when you say it like that,” Booth chuckled. “I promise I will behave.”

“We have to tell Angela about the baby first or else she will be very angry at us.”

Booth nodded in agreement and Brennan turned in his arms so she could wrap her arms around his neck. “Then we have to tell Sweets. The kid is going to be devastated that he hasn’t figured out that something changed. That and we need him on our side if the FBI wants to argue with us about working together.”

“I feel like you are going to enjoy tormenting Sweets."

“He deserves it.” Booth responded and walked them backwards so he can sit on the bed. Brennan followed his lead without hesitation and straddled his hips. “He played with us for years, I get to have a little bit of fun for once.”

She kissed him in that moment, their first one since he had left her place in the morning, enjoying the way his hands squeezed her hips a little bit tighter. Her hands slipped into the space between them and started unbuttoning his shirt.

“I like where this conversation is going,” Booth mumbled against her lips and she smiled, still amazed at how easy it is to just be with him.

Later that evening, when they are both sated and comfortably tangled together in bed, they agree to tell Angela the next day.

Chapter Text

Angela walked out of her office, on her way to go see if Hodgins was ready to go pick up Micheal Vincent at day care, when she spotted Booth through the windows of Brennan’s office. He was sitting in one of the chairs of Brennan’s desk with his feet propped up on the other chair. They currently didn’t have a case, but since Vincent Nigel-Murray’s death, Booth had been coming to the lab at random moments just to sit with his partner. He’d usually come in with some food and a warm drink and sat for a while until he had no choice but to go back to the Hoover. It was almost like before their year apart, when it was rare to not see Booth at least once every day, even when it was just for him to drop off lunch to Brennan, but to trained eyes like Angela’s it was clear things had changed.

Angela knew that her best friend had finally gotten together with Booth, but apart from the conversation they had the day Broadsky was caught, Brennan had not told her anything else. After the hard year that her best friend had dealing with Hannah and Booth, the artists knew not to push for more information and let things happen naturally. All the team benefited from having Booth and Brennan working well together again, but having them be happy to be together was even better.

Brennan finally spotted her best friend from the other side of the lab and waved her over. Angela changed direction from her husbands office and walked into her office. She wasn’t in a hurry anyway, but she still hoped there wasn’t a new case to keep her in the lab until late at night.

“Hey Bren, what’s up?”

“Would you mind closing the door?” Brennan asked and pushed away from her desk a little bit. Angela could tell that her best friend was nervous from the way she was fiddling with the edge of her sweater.

“Sure Sweetie, is something wrong?” Angela sent a quick prayer into the universe that Brennan wasn’t about to tell her that Booth and her wasn’t working out because she could not deal with more angst between the partners.

“Everything is fine Angela, just sit down with us for a minute,” Booth said, putting his feet down. He closed the file he had been reading and threw it on the corner of Brennan’s desk.

Angela sat down and looked back and forth between the partners, trying to figure out what she had just walked into. They both looked way too happy for it to be bad news, but still she never really knew what to expect from them nowadays.

“Booth and I have some news to share, but we want you to promise to keep it a secret for now,” Brennan started, playing with the bracelet around her wrist.

“Oh okay.” Angela was surprised at the request. While she did love to gossip around the lab, she’d always kept the conversations about Booth that she had with her friend a secret. Whatever they were going to share with her wasn’t going to be the first thing she had to keep to herself and probably wouldn’t be the last considering their line of work.

“You have to promise Angela,” Booth reinforced Brennan’s statement and now Angela knew that whatever she was about to hear was the next level, best friend only, don’t speak a word about it kind of secret. “Not even to Hodgins, at least to for now.”

“I absolutely swear I’m not going to speak a word about it.” She even crossed her heart for good measure. “Well what is it?”

“As you know, Booth and I have entered into a sexual relationship these past months.”

“Bones, come on, don’t say it like that,” Booth cut her off annoyingly. His partner gave him a look that screamed don’t cut me off.

“I am aware of that, but don’t worry G-man I don’t have any details, not that I didn’t try.” Angela smirked at Booth’s reaction. The agent was about to say something else, but didn’t have the time to.

“The result of that relationship is that I am now pregnant,” Brennan bluntly said which completely stunned Angela into silence. The artist, looked back and forth between the partners again, trying to decide if this was a joke of some kind, not that Brennan was the type of person to do pranks.

“Angela, say something?” Brennan said, sounding slightly worried.

“You really are a sniper Booth,” Angela finally said, a happy smile spreading from cheek to cheek. “Congratulations you guys!” She stood up and walked around the desk so she could wrap her friend in a tight hug. The angle was a bit awkward since Brennan was still sitting down in her chair, but it was a good embrace nevertheless.

Booth watched happily from his seat, not minding at all to be left out of the hug. Angela and him were certainly not on the best of terms, but he hoped that this conversation would be a good first step in making up for the last year.

“How far along are you?” Angela asked, stepping out of the hug to look down at her friend.

“I am currently fourteen weeks along,” Brennan said and Angela did the quick math in her head. When she figured out when it had happened, she turned to look at Booth. It had to had happen during the week that Vincent had passed.

“Okay Mister sharpshooter,” she teased Booth with a knowing look.

“Why do you keep referring to Booth’s former employment as a sniper?”

“It’s just a joke Bone, I’ll explain it to you tonight,” Booth reassured her, hoping that she would let it slide for now considering he didn’t want to have to explain the metaphor with an audience.

“Who else knows about this? I better be the first to know.” She threatened jokingly.

“As my best friend, you are the first person to know about the baby,” Brennan confirmed, making Angela hug her again. “If I didn’t have to breastfeed Michael Vincent and you weren’t pregnant, I would totally take you out to party right now. We need to celebrate this!”

“No celebrations for now Angela, you promised to keep this a secret,” Booth cut her off. “We still have to inform the FBI and the Jeffersonian and deal with the fallout of that before we are ready to share the news.”

“Cam already thinks something is off with both of you, so you better hurry with that. She keeps asking me if Bren has said something to me,” Angela informed them. “I haven’t said a word like I promised you and I will keep my silence.”

“We have a meeting with Sweets tomorrow evening and then with the Assistant Director Friday morning. We will inform Cam that afternoon,” Brennan told her best friend and Booth nodded in agreement.

“I bet you are going to enjoy telling Andrew, huh Booth.” The artists teases with a knowing smile.

“How did both of you come to the same conclusion about this?” Booth whined and shook his head. “He’s my boss, I need to tell him about the change in our partnership at some point.” Angela would almost believe him if she hadn’t known Booth for so long. “That and it’s not like I can be that arrogant anyway, I’m not going to jeopardize our work just because I want to prove a point.”

“I’m just teasing you Booth, I know how important this is.” Angela couldn’t help but give Booth a quick hug even if she knew he wasn’t a hugger.“This is amazing news Bren, our kids are going to grow up together!” Angela couldn’t seem to stop hugging her friends and left Booth to hug Brennan once more.

“I am quite excited to explore motherhood with you as well Angela,” Brennan laughed and Booth looked at the sight fondly. When he came back to Washington months ago, the idea of Brennan celebrating being pregnant with his child wasn’t even in the realm of possibilities he could think about.

“Okay, I have to go and pick up Micheal Vincent with Hodgins, but we are definitely having a secret girls lunch tomorrow,” Angela told her friend. “Congrats to you too Booth.”

“Thanks Angela,” Booth said just before Angela left the office to join Hodgins who had been waiting for her at the lab’s door. He asked her what she was doing in Brennan’s office and Angela simply told her husband that she would tell him later. Hodgins knew the look on his wife’s fave and decided to let it go, he would be informed of whatever information made his wife so happy when it was his time.

Back in Brennan’s office, Brennan was finally standing up to put everything in her bag while Booth put some order in the files he had been reviewing.

“I really am happy to have told Angela. While I have been reading many researchers and books on the subject of motherhood, I am slightly nervous on applying that knowledge practically and Angela has always been good and simplifying those concept for me. I can also observe her interactions with Micheal Vincent and apply that to our child.” Brennan explained in that endearing cadence of voice that Booth adores so much.

“I’m happy you have Angela too Bones. Now what do my two favourite people want to eat today?”

“The baby cannot crave food yet Booth,” Brennan retorted and put her bag over her shoulder. “However, I am craving a chickpea salad if that is the question you are asking.”

Booth ignored her corrections and followed her out of the office. His hand settled on her lower back, the spot he had claimed for himself years ago.

Everything was going to be alright, he just knew deep in his gut that it had to be.

Chapter Text

The young psychologist sat in his office, going through his notes as he waited for his favourite patients to arrive to their appointment. Booth was the one that had scheduled it to Sweet’s surprise at the beginning of the week. Since coming back from Afghanistan, Booth had refused to talk to Sweets about anything that had happened overseas and, with his book being done, he had no reasons to force both partners into an appointment. However, he had to admit that he was pleased to have another session with them, even if he didn’t know what it was going to be about.

So when Booth as asked him if he was free for a late night meeting, Sweets had been surprised. The surprise turned into shock when Booth had told him that Dr. Brennan would also be joining them. He had no idea what he had agreed to, but he was more than curious personally and professionally to see how the meeting was going to go.

Sweets heard them coming before he saw them as the door to his office was slightly ajar and he could hear them bickering. Sweets concentrated in an attempt to hear what they were talking about. Maybe they were having a fight and needed his help to work through an issue. It shocked him when he understood that they were simply arguing about where they were going to eat later tonight. It gave the psychologist such a flashback to years ago when he would witness the bickering between partners daily, but in the last year not so much.

Sweets had observed a shift in the relationships after the day they spent stuck in the elevator during the Blizzards a few months ago, but it had never been restored to what it had been before their year apart.

“Heya Sweets,” Booth called into the office, not knocking as usual. Doctor Brennan followed him in and they both sat down on the couch, leaving a space between both of them.

“Agent Booth, Doctor Brennan, I have to say that I am surprised to see both of you here tonight. We haven’t had a session in almost two years.” Sweets grabbed his pen and tapped it expectantly on his notepad. He mentally noted that both of his friends looked slightly nervous and suddenly his heart dropped into his stomach. Something big had happened and Sweets was suddenly terrified that his friends were going to tell him they were breaking up the partnership and running away again. “Something has happened hasn’t it, something big?” Sweets couldn’t help but push them to tell him. He had to know everything so he could asses if it was something he could help them fix.

“I’m pregnant,” Brennan said bluntly, looking straight into Sweets’ eyes, her voice unwavering.

Out of all the things Sweets thought he was going to learn tonight, a pregnancy announcement was certainly not on the list. He suddenly understood why Booth had requested to have an appointment with him, there was no way the partnership could survive Doctor Brennan being pregnant. If the last year had taught their group anything, is that Seeley Booth and Temperance could not be in a relationship with another person without hurting the other one. Booth having to watch Brennan raise a child that wasn’t his would absolutely destroy the agent, Sweets was sure of it. Tonight was going to be more than damage control, it was going to be about survival.

Yet, Sweets knew he had to remove himself from the situation and be a professional. “Agent Booth, how do you feel about this news?” Sweets asked slowly, not really sure how to phrase his question.

“I’m over the moon, best news I’ve ever heard,” Booth answered enthusiastically.

“You can’t be over the moon, Booth. That is physically impossible.” Brennan turned sideways on the couch to look at her partner. “I don’t understand what that means.”

In front of them, Sweets was just completely confused. How could Agent Booth be happy about this? Then it hit the psychologist square in the chest. There was only one scenario in which Seeley Booth is over the moon that Temperance Brennan is with child.

“Wait, you don’t mean…” Sweets started speaking, dropping his notepad and pen onto his lap. As soon as Booth started smiling, Sweets knew he had figured it out. “You don’t mean… what? When? How?”

“Doctor Sweets, I didn’t think you would need us to explain how a child is conceived.” Doctor Brennan chided the younger man with a curious look.

“Agent Booth, is the baby yours?” Sweets needed to hear it out loud.

“Yeah, it’s ours,” Booth said in a tone of voice that Sweets swore he had never heard the older agent use.

“The two of you? Slept together? Now she’s pregnant.” Sweets rambled and carded his hands through his short hair. This changed literally everything and somehow he hadn’t noticed. He wrote a book, albeit an erroneous one, on the pair and he had not noticed the monumental change in any of their behaviours.

“That’s usually how it works. Unless you believe in immaculate conception like Booth does Sweets.”

By that point, Booth was holding in his laughs and not really caring that Brennan had just taken a quick jab at his faith.

“Wow… I have so many questions…” Sweets murmured.

“We are probably not going to answer most of them, don’t get too excited kid.” Booth warned and finally scooted towards Brennan on the couch, making the space between them disappear. He put his arms on the back of the couch and Brennan settled against his side without thinking twice about it.

The professional side of Sweets kicked back into gear suddenly and he picked his notepad back up. “Okay, well I’m still going to asks and you can just answer the ones you want.”

“We can work with that.” Both partners agreed and Sweets decided he should not waste any time.

“Am I correct in assuming you are in a committed relationship now?”

“That would be the correct term, I agree.” Doctor Brennan nodded and Agent Booth smiled even more beside her.

“How, huh, how far along are you in the pregnancy?” Sweets suddenly felt like a kid asking about his parents sex life.

“Fourteen weeks,” Booth replied and took Brennan’s hand comfortingly. He knew it would take Sweets about five seconds to figure out when it happened and that would open a can of worms that neither partners really wanted to get into.

As predicted Sweets eyes got wider when he did the math. “Oh, wow. Now that’s interesting, that changes a lot of things.”

“It changes nothing Sweets, don’t go there,” Booth warned with a dark look in his eyes. “We didn’t come here to let you dissect our relationship, we came here for your help.”

“Of course, but I still think we should discuss the shift in your dynamic,” Sweets pressed on.

“Have we changed that much? You couldn’t even tell that we’ve been together for more than three months.” Booth pointed out, trying to stay calm. Brennan stayed quiet beside him, preferring to let Booth deal with this one. “We have changed, but our work hasn’t.”

“That is true, but both of you can’t deny that it is going to have to change in the next months,” Sweets countered. “You are going to have a child, there’s no way nothing at work changes.”

“It is going to change, but we won’t let it affect how we work. Which is why we need to know that if Hacker asks you if we can still be a team, you will help us stay together.”

“Professionally, I do think you will be able to keep working together.” Sweets truly did believe that as Doctor Brennan is an expert at compartmentalizing and Agent Booth as been able to work with the woman he loves for about half a decade without having too many issues. “The last year has proved that even if your personal relationships weren’t doing great, you were both still able to work. You can count on me to support your partnership. However, I would personally and professionally recommend we restart our sessions.”

“I do not consent to that,” Brennan cut in. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea Booth. I do not want to be an experiment again.”

Sweets immediately realizes he’s made a mistake. “I didn’t mean mandated ones like before, I just meant that I will be there if you both need to talk.” It’s not what he really meant, but he knows he needs to back track before it’s too late.

“I don’t think we are going to need that Sweets, but okay,” Booth speaks up for both of them. “We can count on you with Hacker?”

They weren’t really leaving him any choices in the matter, but he would have agreed either way. “You can count me.”

“I do not think we will, but I will remember your offer,” Brennan told him and looked at Booth.

“Personally I do want to say that I am happy for both of you,” Sweets offered genuinely. “If anybody deserve happiness, it’s both of you.”

“Thanks Sweets. We are going to talk to Hacker on Friday, just a heads up.” With that, Booth stood up and turned around so he could help Brennan get up from the couch.

Sweets watched the interaction curiously. Booth offered her his hand, she looked at it in annoyance before letting him help her to her feet. They truly hadn’t changed, she was annoyed at how over protective he was being, he didn’t apologize for it and they went back to their initial argument about where to eat.

“We’ll see you later Sweets,” Booth said and with that the couple was gone from the psychologist’s office before he had the chance to answer.

Chapter Text

Booth looked at his watch one more time, wondering where the hell Brennan was. Their meeting with Hacker starts in about five minutes and she wasn’t even answering her phone. He knew she had left the lab about a hour ago, she had sent him a text, but the drive should have taken her fifteen minutes maximum at this time of the day. He tried not to panic too much, assuming that she was probably just in an area where the signal wasn’t coming through, but he really needed her to show up in the next thirty second or else he was going to go find her.

“Special Agent Booth?” The receptionist called out and Booth turned around to look at her. “Assistant Director Hacker is ready for your meeting.”

Booth cursed mentally and just as he was about to tell the woman that he had to leave, Brennan walked into the reception area.

“Bones, where the hell were you?” Booth whispered angrily at her. “You were supposed to meet me forty minutes ago.” She looked perfectly fine, just a little bit rushed so he figured he should calm down a little bit.

“I lost track of time examining a fracture on a set of remains that an intern showed me,” she told him as if it was nothing.

“You lost track of your phone too? You said you were leaving the lab.”

“No?” She dug it out of her bag and saw all of the missed calls from Booth. “I forgot to put the sound on. The intern stopped me just as I was walking out of the lab.”

“Agent Booth are you ready?” The receptionist broke their bickering and both partners slipped back into their professional roles.

“Yes, of course. Thank you.” Booth let Brennan lead the way to Hacker’s office down the hall. He figured it was smarter to have an argument about answering phone calls later tonight.

When they entered Hacker’s office, the Assistant Director was patiently waiting for the pair at his desk.

“Agent Booth, Temperance, sit down.” Booth tried not to feel annoy at the fact that his boss was using her first name and not her professional title as they sat down.

“Now please tell me you are not about to announce that you are both leaving again,” Hacker said and crossed his arms. He watched as his former interest looked at his agent, seemingly looking for confirmation. “You make this office look too good to leave again.”

“Sir, I did not request the meeting for that. We are both really happy with our jobs, which is why it is important we have this conversation.” Booth was much more serious than what Hacker thought he was going to be, which meant that whatever he was going to say was something big. “While we fully know and understand the consequences of our actions, Doctor Brennan and I have entered into a personal relationship in the last few months.”

Hacker looked between the partners and wondered if he should act surprised or not. He didn’t know why they were coming today for a meeting, but a man had to be blind and stupid not to know this day would come eventually. Even if they hadn’t been in an official relationship, everyone knew that Booth and Brennan were a pair. Hell, most people always assumed that they were a couple when they first met them. It was just a question of time when it came to the partners.

Brennan than handed him a file and Hacker opened it and quickly scanned the document. It was filled with statistics about solve rates, efficiencies and even news article praising the FBI for some of the cases Booth and Brennan have solved together.

“I have compiled in this file evidence supporting why you shouldn’t split us up even if we have technically infringed on the fraternization rule. I would also like to state that I will never work with any other agents, so if you do not allow us to continue working together, you will lose the Jeffersonian as well.”

The pair watched as Hacker looked through the document, pretending to read in all honesty. He wanted to make them a bit nervous and act like he was considering all options as any Assistant Director should be doing. When he looked up from the papers, two pairs of eyes were looking at him expectingly.

“You are technically breaking a pretty important rule… but I will not be ending your partnership,” Hacker finally announced and both partners let out a breath. “Obviously I’m going to have to keep an eye on you two to make sure everything goes smoothly and you are going to have to sign some forms officially declaring it, but I don’t see a world in which splitting you up would advantage the FBI.” He closed the file and put it down on his desk. “Thank you for the file, it will be useful when I have to explain all of this to the Deputy Director.”

“Thank you sir, we appreciate your support,” Booth said and if Hacker wasn’t jealous, he would have congratulated the pair for finally getting their shit together.

“Any other big news I should know about?” Hacker ask, not expecting at all what he was about to hear.

“I am also pregnant with his child.” Temperance Brennan was known for her bluntness and today was not an exception.

Every single time Booth heard her say those words out loud he just couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear. On the other hand, Andrew Hacker was no longer finding this meeting as amusing as he did a few seconds ago.

“You didn’t waste any time Agent Booth,” Hacker looked at the smug agent as his mind was trying to figure out what to say next.

“We are pretty efficient, it’s in the file,” Booth joked, trying to lighten the mood a little bit because he knew that this was the part of the conversation that could land them in hot water.

“Well, I will have to demand that Doctor Brennan refrain from going out if the field, at least until the baby is here.” Booth was genuinely happy that he didn’t have to be the one to tell Brennan that she couldn’t come out into the field anymore. “Secure crime scenes I don’t mind, but the rest will have to stop. You both understand that I’m saying this to avoid any possible incident that could lead to a lawsuit and very bad press.”

“We can work with that,” Booth accepted the terms before Brennan could argue. “Crime scenes yes, the rest no. Yeah that works.” Booth dared to look at Brennan and he could tell that she was not happy with being limited to the lab and crime scenes, but he also knew that she was more than smart enough to know that this was the best case scenario for them.

“I’m assuming that I will not have to inform Doctor Saroyan of this?” Hacker inquired.

“We will inform her this afternoon ourselves,” Brennan confirmed.

With that, Andrew Hacker really didn’t know what else to say. “I will send you the forms by email, please send them back as quickly as possible.”

Both partners agreed and hurried to exit the office as soon as it was allowed, leaving the Assistant Director to his thoughts.

“The conversation went better than I anticipated. I expected you to act more like an alpha male than you did Booth.” Brennan let Booth lead her back to the elevator so they could head back to his office.

“There was too much for us to lose for me to be cocky.”

“I appreciate you being reasonable.”

“I always aim to please Bones.”

Now they just needed to grab a quick lunch and head to the Jeffersonian to talk with Cam.

Chapter Text

Camille Saroyan was sitting at her desk in her autopsy room, reviewing financial reports and completing miscellaneous forms that were required to run the forensic lab. She didn’t want to jinx it, but as of now, it had been a pretty slow week at the lab. They didn’t have a new case since the body they identified last week so all of her employees had been working on limbo cases or on research. As much as she loved her job as a coroner and solving crimes, she also enjoyed the slower days were nothing went wrong except for a few of Hodgins’ experiments.

However, Cam was slightly concerned about Doctor Brennan and Booth. From what she could tell, their relationship was slowly going back to what it was, yet in the last few weeks, she could detect some anxiety in her long time friend.

The Booth she knew well was slowly transforming into something else and Cam couldn’t put her finger on it. The agent had always been extremely protective of his partner, but lately it had taken an extra level that might not have been obvious to people that don’t know Booth as well as she does.

Usually, when the team arrived at a crime scene, they would all split up and do their assigned task and at some point Booth would show back up next to the body, ready to get all the information available. Once that was done, the agent would usually do another round with the FBI techs or go sit in his SUV if he was the one driving Brennan to the lab.

Lately, Booth had been sticking to the team’s side even at crime scenes. The techs had started to come to him to give him information and when he wasn’t next to Doctor Brennan, he was looking at her as if he was ready at all times to intervene in some way. It’s like he expected her to vanish into thin air at any point.

What made Cam worry a bit more is that even Doctor Brennan’s usually predictable behaviour had begun to morph. Cam could swear that the scientist had almost been sick at the last crime scene they went, which in her personal opinion was not even in the top 50 of their most gross cases. Doctor Brennan was also no longer the last one to leave the lab every night. Cam couldn’t help but wonder if she was about to get the same bad news as she got before Brennan left for the Maluku Islands and Booth to Afghanistan.

“Hey Cam.”

The pathologist swivelled on her chair so she could look towards the entrance of the autopsy room. “Booth! What are you doing here? Do we have a case?” Cam picked up her phone to see if she had missed a call.

“No new case, I’m just here with Bones.” Booth said cryptically. “Do you have a few minutes for us? We’ll be in her office.”

That was it, Cam could feel it. They were leaving again because they weren’t really able to fix their relationship, the last few months had just been a performance for their friends. Still, she put a brave face on and followed her friend to the forensic anthropologist’s office.

Cam entered the office with hesitation and sat down with her friends. “Cam, I’m glad you could join us,” Brennan said after she took a sip of tea. “I have important news to share.”

“Good news,” Booth added, seeing how nervous his friend was, which made Cam look at him with even more questions that she had before.

“Now I’m confused,” Cam said bluntly and looked at her two friends. “Are you two okay? Please tell me you haven’t accepted another job on the other side of the globe again.”

“No, I have not accepted any other job, nor has Booth. However, I will be needing a few weeks off in approximately six months.”

Compared to the other people Booth and Brennan had revealed their secret to, Cam figured everything out very quickly. Booth’s extra protectiveness, Brennan looking sick at the crime scenes and the not so secret lunch meetings that the partners kept having. She quickly stood up and wrapped Booth into a tight hug. “Booth this is amazing news! Congrats!” Booth hugged her back and she then took a step back. “Congratulation to you too Doctor Brennan!”

“How do you know Booth is the father?” Brennan inquired.

“Please, it wouldn’t really have been good news if it wasn’t Booth’s baby.” Cam was at her core, a very honest person and the first one to really say what everyone was thinking. “Booth would be miserable if it wasn’t his.” Booth looked at his friends with a knowing smile, thanking her in his own way.

“Will my maternity leave be accepted?” Brennan asked and Cam wondered how such a smart person could miss entire points completely.

“Not only will I approve it, I insist on you taking as much time as you need Doctor Brennan. Although I am assuming you will be working from home even on maternity leave.” Cam confirmed knowingly.

“Don’t give her any ideas!” Booth pleaded. They had a slight fight on the subject a few nights ago. “She’s going to take some real time off, right Bones?”

“I will take the time I judge appropriate when the time comes,” Brennan said precisely. “I will also use that time to write I believe.”

“Now that’s a great idea, right Cam? Writing from home, away from all the murder.”

“I’m not involving myself in that discussion Seeley.” Cam looked at Booth like he was asking her to climb Mount Everest without any training.

“I had to try Camille.”

“We will have to set up a meeting next week to discuss who will supervise the interns while you are on leave,” Cam adds, remembering that she’s not just a friend in this situation and she has to run the lab with the internship program. “I also have to inform the FBI of this, you guys know that right?”

“We talked to the Assistant Director before lunch. As for the interns, I have already begun planning my teaching session and I would prefer the interns not work on active crimes while I am not there to supervise. I believe making them work on remains from storage will be more than appropriate for their learning progression.” Booth was surprised to hear that Brennan had already started planning her leave, but loved her all the much for it. “I will inform the university myself of this change, but I do not think it will be an issue as it was the way my classes were planned before our partnership with the FBI.”

“That works for me too, just send me the emails once they are sent so I can confirm the paperwork. If there isn’t any more world breaking news, I really need to go finish what I was doing. Oh and I assume this is still a secret for now?”

“We are going to tell people starting now, but Angela and Sweets know. We want to be the ones to tell the news to the other’s.” Booth confirmed with a nod. “We are having dinner with Hodgins and Angela tomorrow so you won’t have to keep it secret for that long.”

“Well, congrats again and I’ll make sure the paperwork is all good to go for Monday.”

Cam left the office, feeling particularly relieved that not only were her friends happy, but that she would still have a job. Everything at the Jeffersonian was going to be more than just fine.

Chapter Text

Jack Hodgins was happy, happier than he had been in years. He was currently in the kitchen, making dinner while his wife was getting their son ready for their guests to arrive. It had been a while since they had hosted at their house, with Micheal Vincent still being so young, but when Angela had told him that Booth and Brennan were coming over for dinner, Hodgins was on board with hosting without thinking twice about it. It had been a while since they’d had a casual dinner like this and Hodgins just hoped it wouldn’t be too awkward considering everything that happened in the last year.

Hodgins stirred the marinara sauce while keeping an eye on Micheal Vincent who was babbling to himself in his bassinet in the living room. Their guests should be here at any moments and everything was pretty much ready to go.

“It smells really good in here,” Angela walked into their kitchen and smiled at her husband as she walked to look at Micheal Vincent. “Bren texted me, they should be here in two minutes.”

“Everything is good to go here,” Hodgins said happily and turned off the stove. “The bread is ready is still in the oven, but it’s ready.”

“I’m so excited to see them!” Angela said enthusiastically as she picked up her son from the bassinet.

“Angie, we literally saw both of them yesterday at the lab. What’s going on with you?” Hodgins laughed, he also felt enthusiasm at spending time with their friends, but clearly not as much as Angela. His wife has been in an incredible mood for the entire week and it could not only be explained with how amazing their son is.

“Nothing is up Hodgins, I’m just happy that our friends are coming over and that our little man is amazing.” Angela told her husband. “We are finally having dinner just with Booth and Bren, no annoying plus ones.”

There was a knock at the front door and Hodgins left the kitchen to answer it. “Hey! Doctor B, Booth come on in,” he greeted the partners.

“Hello Doctor Hodgins,” Brennan said and walked into the house. “Thank you for hosting us tonight.”

“Hey, we haven’t done this in so long and with Micheal Vincent here, Angela and I are happy to entertain people over the age of one for once.” Hodgins laughed.

Booth helped Brennan shrug out of her coat before taking his own one off. He watched as Brennan immediately went to her best friends side. Angela hugged her friend, carefully cradling her newborn son against her shoulder so he wouldn’t get crushed.

“Hey Bren, how are you?” Angela asked.

“I am doing great, may I hold him?” The doctor asked, cutting straight to the chase and sat down on the plush couch.

“Of course!” Angela helped Brennan settle the baby in her arms and looked at Booth across the living room with a smile.

The agent looked at the sight of his partner holding a baby and it made his heart go all soft. She looked so content with the child in her arms and Booth just realized how much the sight felt right. He couldn’t wait to see her hold their own baby in about six months.

“You good man?” Hodgins broke him out of his reverie. “I know my kid is cute, but you look like someone who just won the lottery.”

Booth shook his head and followed Hodgins to the kitchen, leaving the women with the baby in the living room.

“Oh I did, I won something better than the lottery.” For some reason, Booth decided to tell Hodgins without Brennan. He figured it probably had something to do with the fact that he didn’t really have any male friends other than his hockey buddies and most of them are also FBI colleagues so he never talked much about his personal life with them.

Hodgins almost dropped the beer he was going to hand to Booth.

“You don’t mean? You and Doctor B? Finally?” Hodgins asked, very excited.

“Yeah, yeah we are… Keep it down for now though, Bones really wanted to be the one to tell you.” Booth smiled and took a sip of his beer.

“Wow, that’s why Angela has been so happy this week, she knew!”

“Oh that’s not why your wife is happy this week, she’s known about us for months,” Booth corrected the scientist.

“Then what is it, because there has to be something.” Hodgins turned to look at the women in the living room and saw how Brennan was looking at his son. Then everything clicked in the entomologist’s mind. “I would make jokes about using protection if I wasn’t so happy for you right now man.” Hodgins slapped his friend on the back. “This is amazing. Wow.”

“Yeah well you are going to have to pretend you don’t know when Bones tells you or else I’m sleeping on the couch tonight,” Booth warned his friend. “But, I’m telling you I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

“Good for you, you both deserve to be happy.”

“We should shut up about it before Bones’ sixth sense kicks in and she figures out what’s going on.”

“Does that mean I shouldn’t open a bottle of wine? Or do I still do it because she’ll know I know if I don’t?”

“Just act normal Bug Boy, no need to panic.” Booth said annoyingly. “Do you need help with anything?” The agent decided to change the subject before Hodgins got too excited.

“No everything is pretty much ready, we should sit down and get this show on the road.” Hodgins put the oven mittens on and clapped his hands together once before getting the bread out of the oven.

“What show?” Booth turned around to see Brennan standing at the edge of the kitchen. “I was not aware there would be a show tonight.”

“It’s an expression, it just means we are ready to eat,” Booth cut in before Hodgins could fumble the lie. “Go sit down with Angela, I’ll help.”

Brennan agreed and went to sit down at the dinning table, Angela joining her after settling Micheal Vincent back in his bassinet.

A few minutes later, all four of them were sitting at the table and digging into their plates of pasta. It was really nice to just enjoy each others company, just like they used to do before their year apart. They talked about last week’s case, laughed about one dumb experiment that Hodgins did, Booth talked about Parker a bit and Angela told them about what milestones Micheal Vincent reached that week.

Then the minutes passed, they were almost done with the main dish and it was time to move on to the important talk of the night. Booth leaned back in his chair and put an arm on the back of Brennan’s one.

“Doctor Hodgins, there is something I would like to tell you,” Brennan announced and put down her fork.

“Sure Doctor B, what’s up?” Hodgins was already smiling and compared to all the other people they had talked to, he was not nervous at all.

“Booth and I are together now and we are expecting a child.” As usual, Brennan did not beat around the bush and bluntly announced their news.

“Wow! This is such a great news!” Hodgins exclaimed way too quickly and Booth had to resist banging his head on the kitchen table. The entomologist really was an awful liar and Booth had to count on the fact that Brennan is really bad at reading people.

“You already knew,” Brennan stated the obvious and Booth had to admit that his partner had gotten exponentially better with people in the last years. “Angela did you tell him?”

“I swear I did not break my promise Bren,” Angela put both her hands up in surrender and even crossed her heart for good measure. “How did you know Hodgins?”

Both women turned to look at Booth and the agent knew there was no point in lying anymore. “I told him like an hour ago in both of our defence.”

“Booth!”

“You looked so beautiful on the couch with Micheal Vincent and I couldn’t help myself,” Booth admitted with a guilty shrug.

Brennan looked at him for a few seconds and simply smiled. “It’s okay, I am sure it was an important male bonding moment for both of you.”

“This so fun you guys, our kids are going to be so close in age!” Hodgins swooped back into the conversation happily.

“Well I’m glad Hodgins knows, I really couldn’t keep this secret for longer,” Angela admitted. “Imagine all the playdates we are going to have Bren! Oh and double dates!”

Booth took a sip of his beer and let his hand touch Brennan’s shoulder. Brennan looked a bit overwhelmed by her best friends reaction and he couldn’t have that. “How about we wait until the baby is here before scheduling play dates?” Booth said with a teasing voice, not actually wanting to make this even more stressful for his partner.

“You are not getting out of double-dates G-Man,” Angela retorted, pointing him with an accusing finger. “We don’t have to wait for the baby to be born for that.”

“As long as it’s not on a hockey night, I’m in.”

“Yes, hockey nights are not to be interrupted. I can barely distract Booth with intercourse when he is watching his games,”Brennan added the detail like it was not a very intimate subject.

“Bones, come on,” Booth pleaded, ignoring the way Hodgins almost choked on a sip of water and Angela looked like a kid in a candy store.

“At least, when his team wins, we have very satisfying intercourse afterward,” Brennan kept on going and Booth realized she was teasing him.

“Okay, that’s enough about our personal life.” He wasn’t angry at all, just not ready for Angela and Hodgins to actually know about every single detail of their sex life.

“Booth is still very shy about sexual subjects,” Brennan told Angela. “You would think that the fact that he has gotten me with child would make him realize that people know we have intercourse, but that does not seem to be the case.”

By that point, Angela and Hodgins were both holding back their laughter and Booth was as red as the marinara sauce he had just eaten.

“Date nights are going to be so much fun,” Hodgins announced out loud and everybody at the table started laughing.

Chapter Text

Brennan was sitting cross-legged on her couch, holding a steaming cup of tea in her hands while she read the book in her lap. It had been a while since she had allowed herself the time to read something that isn’t work related, so the mystery book in her lap had her captivated. One of her hands had found it’s way to her lower stomach under her shirt, her fingers rubbing tiny circles on the tight skin there. There was a candle lit, filling the apartment with the smell of citruses, which was one of the scents that she could still smell without filling nauseous. She was truly having a relaxing night in for once. The only thing missing for it to be a prefect night was Booth.

Speaking of which, Brennan looked up from her book when the door of her apartment opened. She watched as a very tired Booth walk in, holding a bag of take out in one hand and his suit jacket in his other one. “Hey, sorry I’m so late. I had a surprise meeting with some DEA agents.”

“It’s okay Booth, I’ve just been reading while waiting for you.”

“Did you have dinner yet? I stopped by Wong Fu’s.” He dropped a kiss in her hair as he passed next to the couch to get to the kitchen.

“I had dinner, but if you have miso soup I’d take some.”

Booth put the take-out bag on the counter and pulled out a soup container, making Brennan smile. Of course he had thought of getting her soup just in case she was hungry. Booth grabbed his carton of noodles and utensils before sitting down next to her, handing her a spoon and the soup.

“Hey baby,” Booth kissed her softly on the lips, finally getting her properly. “Hello to you too baby.” He then leaned down a bit and kissed her swollen belly through her pyjama shirt. Brennan carded her hand through his hair, scratching his scalp just the way she knew he likes.

“Parker sent me a message, he wants to call me tonight.” Booth said as he sat back.

“That’s nice of him, didn’t he just come back from a trip to Spain with Rebecca?”

“Yeah he did.” Booth took a bite of his noodles and watched his partner blow on her soup out of the corner of his eyes. “Do you think we could tell him tonight?”

Brennan swallowed her sip of soup while Booth stared at her. “That would be a good idea. I know you would prefer to tell him in person and I am sorry that our schedule won’t allow us to go visit him in London.”

“It’s okay, I’m hoping Rebecca will let him come over once the baby is born.” He took his phone out of his pocket and sent his son a quick message to set up a time for the call. “Parker is going to call in thirty minutes. How was your day?” Booth put his phone down on the arm rest to focus on his partner.

“I spent most of the morning reconstructing a shattered femur and went over some paperwork. I came home a bit earlier than usual.”

“Are you okay?” Brennan rolled her eyes at him, always slightly annoyed at his overprotectiveness. “What? Come on Bones, you never come home early from for work if there isn’t a reason.”

“I felt a little bit tired and my publisher sent me a new manuscript to review so I figured I could do it from home.”

“I’m glad you did then. How’s the book?” Brennan handed him the binder that she had pushed to the side earlier. Booth flipped some pages, reading diagonally the first chapter to get an idea of the story. “Huh interesting, you don’t usually read ghost stories.”

“It’s satisfying to read, the descriptions of the historical sites are accurate enough to keep my attention. I don’t care much for the supernatural elements.” She had a slightly offended look on her face. Booth laughed at her expression and put the manuscript back on the low table in front of them so he could focus on his dinner. She asked about his surprised meeting and he told her about the things he was allowed to talk about.

Sometime later, Booth turned on his laptop and waited for Parker’s call to pop up. He accepted it anxiously, excited to see his boy’s face. The image finally loaded and Parker appeared on the screen.

“Hey dad!” Parker’s skin was tanned and he looked like he had been in the sun for days, which was probably the case.

“Parks how are you? How was Madrid?”

“It was fun, we went to a bunch of museum and we saw a soccer game. Mom worked a lot so I was with her boyfriend a lot.”

Booth frowned hearing that, but decided to to push it aside. He could talk to Rebecca later about leaving Parker with what Booth considered a stranger in another country. “Bub, Bones and I have some news to share with you.” He adjusted the camera so Parker could see her properly sitting next to him.

“Bones! Hi!” Parker loved talking to Bones even more than before now that his dad and her are together.

“Hello Parker.” Brennan waved at the camera and smiled at Parker.

“So what do you have to tell me, is it a surprise?”

“It’s kind of a surprise. I want you to know that I love you okay?” Booth reached for Brennan’s hand and was pleasantly surprised when he realized she was doing the same.

“I know that dad, you tell me all the time,” Parker responded through the screen.

“I’ll keep on repeating myself forever.” Booth took a deep breath and squeezed Brennan’s hand. “What we wanted to tell you is that in a few months, you are going to be a big brother.”

Parker didn’t say anything for a few seconds, clearly assessing what he just learned, before an excited smile spread across his feature. Brennan couldn’t help but note the similar reactions of both Booth boys after learning the news.

“Bones is pregnant! That’s so cool dad!”

“Yeah it’s really cool buddy.” Booth exhaled deeply, relieved that his son seemed to be happy with the news.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Parker asked enthusiastically.

“We don’t know yet Parker, I’m not far along enough yet.”

Parker seemed disappointed for the first time, but Booth couldn’t blame his son, he was also excited to learn the gender. “I’m glad that you are happy about this.”

Brennan watched Booth and Parker talk for a few minutes, happy to watch the interaction between father and son

“Can I tell mom about the baby?” Parker asked and Booth looked at Brennan for confirmation, which he got promptly.

“Of course you can Parker. Tell your mom that I’m going to call her tomorrow to talk.” Booth wanted to start as early as possible to convince Rebecca to let Parker come over to meet his new sibling.

“I have to go, breakfast is ready and mom has to drop me off at school. I love you dad.”

“I love you too Bub, have a good day at school.”

Both boys waved goodbye at each other through their screens and then closed the call.

“I believe it went well,” Brennan declared while Booth closed down the computer. “How do you feel.”

“I’m great, I don’t know why I thought it would go badly.” Booth admitted settling back on the couch. Brennan tucked herself against his side with her head underneath his chin. “I was thinking that we could drive up this weekend to go see Pops and tell him the news.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, I’m sure Hank will be happy to see us.

Chapter Text

Booth was kneeling behind Brennan, holding her hair while she heaved the content of her stomach into the toilet. He rubbed her back, hoping that it would be comforting for her and angry that he couldn’t do anything else to help her until she was done. While a lot of women seemed to experience morning sickness in the first trimester, it seemed to have kicked in with a vengeance for Brennan in her second one.

Brennan finally sat back on her heels, both hand still on the toilet to hold herself up while she took deep breaths in an attempt to settle her stomach. Booth stayed in his position just in case another wave of sickness started, but after a few moments he figured it was safe to sit down next to her.

“I can call Pops to tell him we can’t make it and that we have a case or something. I’m sure he won’t be mad at us,” Booth offered and handed her the wet towel he had prepared so she could clean herself up a bit.

“No, we are still going. I’m going to be okay, I just need a moment.” They were already late as they should have left about an hour ago, but she was determined to make the trip to the nursing home to have lunch with Hank. She already thought that they didn’t see the older man enough in the first place, so cancelling wasn’t a possibility in her mind.

“Do you think you are done? I’ll go pack a thermos of ginger tea and crackers if you’re done.” He tucked a strand of her hair that had fallen out of her braid behind her ear and looked in her eyes to judge for himself her state.

“You can go, can you pack my dried mangos too?” Brennan moved to stand up and Booth helped her to her feet just to make sure that she was okay. “I’ll brush my teeth and we can go.”

Booth left her in the bathroom once he was confident she really was okay. Brennan washed her face and brushed her teeth, feeling relieved that her stomach was somewhat settling. When she walked into the kitchen, Booth was zipping up the lunch box with her snacks for the road.

“Are you ready to go?” Brennan asked her partner as she retrieved her purse from the couch.

“I should be asking you that, but yes we can leave. I called Pops just to give him a heads up that we were going to be a bit late.”

They got on the road quickly, Booth using every short cut he knew to avoid the DC traffic and a few hours later, they were pulling into the parking lot of Hank’s retirement community. Brennan had napped for most of the ride and felt much better than in the morning with only a slight nauseous feeling remaining.

The older Booth was sitting on a bench outside watching some of his neighbours play shuffleboard. It was sunny outside, but cold enough that coats were needed to keep warm. Brennan got out of the car first and waved at Hank with a bright smile.

“Temperance, get over here and give me a kiss!” Hank called her over as soon as he spotted the scientist across the parking lot.

Brennan quickly walked to the park bench and gave Hank kisses on both cheeks before letting him pull her down so she was seated next to him. “Good afternoon Hank, you are looking well. Are the new prescriptions working well?”

Hank waved her off, huffing in annoyance at the scientist. “I’m alright Temperance.”

“Hey Pops.” Booth finally joined them. “ I’m sorry we’re late.”

“It’s okay Shrimp, I’m just happy to see both of you here. Why don’t you sit down?”

Booth sat down next to Brennan and put his arm around her shoulders. Hank turned slightly in his seat to look at the couple beside him.

Hank had been more than happy when his grandson had called him to inform him that he was finally in a relationship with his partner. Out of all of Seeley’s girlfriend, Temperance was the only one that Hank truly liked and he hoped she would be the one for his grandson. After so many years of phone calls where Seeley would talk about Temperance, Hank still didn’t understand why it took them so long to get together, but he could see how happier the two people in front of him are now. He also had to note that they looked nervous, he knew when his little Seeley was hiding something from him.

“What’s up with the two of you, you doing okay? You haven’t visited me in a while.” In reality, it had been months since they had talked face to face.

“Well we have some news to share with you and a phone call didn’t seem like the right way to tell you.” Booth explained to his grandfather. He felt a little bit guilty that he hadn’t visited Hank in so long as they had been so busy with work.

“Well, spit it out Shrimp, I don’t have all day.” Hank was getting slightly anxious, scenarios running through his brain of what he could possibly be told.

“Bones and I are expecting a baby Pops.” Booth had a huge smile on his face and waited to see the reaction of the man who raised him.

“You got your girlfriend pregnant Seeley?”

“Girlfriend seems like a very juvenile term to describe my relationship with Booth,” Brennan cut into the conversation, her tone slightly sharper than she meant to. As much as she loved Hank, her loyalties would always be with Booth and she would defend him as he would defend her. “Booth didn’t get me pregnant on his own, we are both responsible for this baby.”

However, Booth had expected this kind of reaction from his grandfather as it mirrored the one he had years ago when he told him about Rebecca being pregnant with Parker. However, back then Rebecca had already broken up with him and he had been alone. As a father now, even if his son is still very young, he could understand his grandfather’s reaction.

“Pops, Bones and I are so happy about this baby. I know you are going to ask me to do the right thing and marry Bones, but that’s just not us. We just want you to be happy for us.”

“I’m happy Seeley, just surprised. A month ago you call me to say that you finally got together with Temperance and now you tell me she’s pregnant? You can’t blame me for assuming.”

“Your assumption are relatively accurate Hank. While we have not been in a relationship for an extended period of time and that this pregnancy is unplanned, even without this child I would still be with Booth.” Brennan explained and while Booth didn’t like to announce that the pregnancy was unplanned, he couldn’t help but be happy at her statement.

“I’m pleased to hear that Temperance. You two have to be careful with work now. Seeley you can’t let your woman be in dangerous situations, that’s not how I raised you.” Hank pointed an accusing finger and his grandson.

“Don’t worry Pops, I’m doing the best that I can,” Booth laughed.

“It seems being overprotective is a family trait,” Brennan whispered under her breath.

They spent the rest of the afternoon with Hank before they had to go back to DC. After the initial shock, Hank had been more than happy to be a great grandfather again and shared a lot of embarrassing stories of when Booth was a child with Brennan.

While their relationship had already felt solid, spending the day with Hank had truly made them feel like they were beginning to be a family.

Chapter Text

Booth really didn’t know how they were going to tell Max that they were now in a relationship. The old man clearly knew something was up between them, that was evident by the looks he gave Booth during the bowling case, but he had not voiced any opinions which was unlike Max when it came to his daughter. Brennan had told him that they could just call Max and tell him on the phone since the older man was currently travelling, but Booth had stopped that idea as soon as it came out of her mouth. There was no way he was going to tell Max Keenan that he got his baby girl pregnant on the phone. They didn’t even know when Max was going to be back in Washington, so there really wasn’t a solid plan in place either. Brennan told him to stop worrying about it, but Booth really thought they should at least be ready for that unavoidable discussion.

Booth was currently lounging on Brennan’s couch in his pyjamas, flipping through the sports channels while his partner was in the shower. Nothing was really catching his attention so he settled on a channel that was rerunning an old Phillies game while he waited for her to come out so they could decide what they wanted to eat for dinner. He was so comfortable on her very expensive couch that he couldn’t help but to close his eyes a little bit. The couch combined with the familiar sounds of the baseball game playing in the background lulled him to sleep and soon enough he was napping in her living room.

His nap was cut very short when the sounds of keys turning the lock of the apartment startled him awake. At first, his sleepy brain made him think that it was Brennan coming home and then he realized that not only was she in the shower, but he had been the one to drive both of them home. That meant that someone that owned a set of keys was about the enter the apartment, which in reality left one possibility.

Before Booth could stand up, Max Keenan let himself into his daughter’s apartment and spotted her partner on the couch. Booth sat frozen on the couch and Max noted that the agent was not only in his daughters apartment, but he was also in pyjamas.

“Booth,” Max said, leaving his suitcase at the front door and walking deeper into the apartment. “Funny seeing you here.”

“Hey Max,” Booth said awkwardly and unsure if he should get up from the couch or not. “What are you doing here?” As soon as Booth asked the question, he completely regretted it.

“I think that should be my line,” Max retorted with a smirk. “Where’s Tempie?”

“Bones is, huh, she’s in the shower.”

“And you’re in her living room.” Max looked at the TV for a quick second. “Watching baseball.”

“And I’m in her living room watching baseball,” Booth repeated the words awkwardly. “It’s an old game,” he added knowing fully that the specific detail didn’t explain at all why he was there.

“Booth, since tomorrow is Saturday we should get our grocery shopping done if you want to lay in bed all day on Sunday.” Brennan called from down the hall, stopping dead in her tracks when she spotted her father standing in her living room.

Booth turned around at the sound of her voice, his heart stopping when he realized she was only wearing a towel. This was literally the worst case scenario, well almost the worst one. Max had not walked in on them having sex which was literally one of his nightmares.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” Brennan finally asked her father as if she wasn’t almost naked and only covered by the towel she was holding tightly against her chest. “You should have called first.”

“Yeah well you gave me a key and I figured I could surprise you.” Max explained like it was absolutely normal for him to just waltz in at random times. “That and I would have missed this fun situation if I had called ahead.”

Still sitting on the couch between the two family members, Booth had no idea how to act or if he should say something.

“I am going to go get dressed after all it seems and then we can discuss this.” Booth wanted to jump out of the window, why did she have to add the after all part. Did she really have to tell her dad that her intentions were to stay naked in the apartment with him?

“You go do that. Booth and I are going to have a little chat while waiting,” Max answered like that wasn’t a threat.

Brennan left the room as quickly as she had walked it, leaving Booth alone with Max again.

“Son, if I wasn’t very happy for my daughter, we’d be having a different chat,” Max started and sat down in the recliner in next to the couch.

“What conversation are we having?” Booth asked hesitantly. He had faced some of the worst humans on this planet, been to war, yet the old crook next to him was probably one of the scariest person on Earth to him.

“It finally happened?” Booth knew Max was being deliberately vague and at the same time Booth knew he had to answer something.

“It happened,” Booth chose to stay to be as vague as the question in revenge.

“You are not going to give me more than that?” Max asked annoyed at how much of a wall the agent was being. To be fair, he was enjoying torturing the guy a little bit.

“I am not saying anything specific until Temperance is back,” Booth settled with instead since he figured there was less chance of him getting decked in the face if Bones was in the room.

“Smart man,” Max admitted.

“She rubs off on me,” Booth answered quickly

“Oh I’m sure she does.” Max looked like he had just won the lottery.

Booth could not believe how much he had walked into that one and wondered when Bones was going to make an appearance and save him from getting murdered.

Then he wished she had taken a bit more time, because her walking in wearing his sweatpants and a t-shirt that was just tight enough for her baby bump to show if you looked close enough was not the idea of a rescue to him.

It took Max approximately five seconds to notice the change in his daughter’s body and the older man’s eyes lit up.

“Bones you are going to get me murdered tonight,” Booth simply said and looked at his partner with pleading eyes.

Brennan simply sat down next to Booth on the couch, deliberately sitting in between him and Max since she felt like that could comfort her partner a bit.

“Max would not murder the father of his grandchild, Booth.”

Booth was about to start bickering about how that was really not the right way to announce the pregnancy but Max cut him off.

“Wow. Look at you two.”

“Booth wanted us to have a whole plan to tell you about the baby, but I figured visual proof would be enough for you to come to the conclusion.”

“You finally slept with my daughter Booth?.” The question was rhetorical, but Max really wanted to hear Booth say it out loud.

“Booth and I have obviously had intercourse as I am pregnant dad. Why are you asking such a trivial question?” Brennan was becoming quite confused at the discussion unfolding in front of her.

“He’s torturing me Bones, he wants me to be the one to say it.”

“Why does it matter that you say it?” God he loved this woman, but sometimes he really wished she could read rooms better. Booth decided that it was time to stop this little game since he was just digging himself a bigger hole.

“Temperance and I are in a relationship and we are expecting a baby together,” Booth settled on. “Is that what you wanted to hear Max?”

“Oh I was hoping for you to tell me you were having sex with my daughter, but I don’t think that’s going to happen now.” Max said bluntly and enjoyed the way Booth looked so uncomfortable. “Well I’m happy for both of you if that makes it better.” Max stood up and opened his arms. “Come here so I can give you a hug sweetheart.”

Brennan stood up and let her father wrap her in a tight hug. “Don’t be too hard on Booth dad,” she whispered in her father’s ear before stepping out of the embrace.

“How far along are you Tempie?”

“I am currently sixteen weeks pregnant Dad.”

“I knew it! There was something going on between you too during the bowling case!” Max exclaimed, throwing both of his hands up like he was celebrating a big win.

“Do you want to stay for dinner Max?” Booth offered, completely ignoring Max’s statement about the case. “I’m making grilled cheese and tomato soup.” It wasn’t the most complicated meal, but to be fair, they weren’t expecting a guest and they had to go grocery shopping in the next few days. Booth also felt like it was some sort of peace offering.

“I shouldn’t impose, you both clearly had other plans for tonight,” Max said, looking directly at Booth.

“Please stay dad,” Brennan asked and both men could not deny her anything.

“Okay, I’ll stay just for dinner and then let you love birds have your night in.”

“I’m just going to go grab a robe, it’s a bit cold today.” Brennan left the room, leaving Booth alone with Max again.

“I’m happy for you too Booth, I was just teasing you,” Max said once Brennan was out of the room. “Thank you for making my little girl happy.”

“Thank you Max, all I want is for her to be happy.”

Max Keenan and Seeley Booth might disagree on a lot of things, but bringing happiness to Temperance Brennan was not one of them.

Chapter Text

Booth did a couple more laps around the rink before following the rest of his guys out of the ice and into the locker room. Hockey practice was still, after so many years, a form of therapy to him and as much as he enjoyed playing against other teams and winning, he really loved the late week nights at the arena where they were just having fun with no pressure to perform.

Booth dropped down on the bench and started unlacing his skates slowly. Next to him, Wendall was looking at his phone with most of his equipment still on, looking a bit concerned.

“You good?” Booth asked his friend as he pulled one of his feet out of a skate. He rubbed his feet, willing the slight numbness in them to go away now that they weren’t constrained into his skates.

“Yeah, it’s just the group chat with the rest of the interns is getting pretty active,” Wendell said dismissively and looked at Booth. “Are your feet doing okay?” Wendell watched Booth flex his still sock covered feet. His training in forensic anthropology combined with the fact that he has had many opportunity to watch Booth remove his skates after a game, had made him aware that his friend had suffered an injury to both feet at some point in his life that had left a lasting condition.

“Yeah, just a bit more sore than usual,” Booth answered with a wave of his hand, trying to avoid wincing. Truth be told, his feet were really hurting him, but he really didn’t want to talk about that. He also knew that Bones would be waiting for him on the couch when he got home and that he would be the lucky guy getting a foot massage from an expert tonight. “What’s up with the rest of the squinterns?” Booth didn’t really care that much about what was going on with the rest of the interns, but he could tell that his friend was troubled by something and that he did care about.

“It’s fine and I don’t know if I should even talk about this with you.”

“Why not?” Booth threw his jersey over his head so he could start taking more of his protective equipment off. He tried to think of what subject couldn’t be discussed with him. It couldn’t be a case obviously as he would be in charge of it anyway and he the interns knew he had a high security clearance if they working on something else government related.

“Cuz it has to do with Doctor B.” Wendell answered, still concentrated on his phone.

“What’s wrong with Bones?” Now, Booth was actually interested in knowing what the conversation was about. “And why can’t you talk to me about it?”

“Nothing is wrong with her,” Wendell said quickly and looked up at his friend. “It’s just that she scheduled a meeting tomorrow and she didn’t ask us to have anything ready for it. We’re sorta arguing about what this is about. I mean, normally she would send us something to prepare and then we talk about that, but she didn’t this time. Fisher thinks she’s leaving again and Daisy is having a meltdown that she’s going to look stupid in front of Doctor B. Arastoo worked on the last case so he thinks it’s going to be about that. Everyone is just on edge I guess.”

“What do you think?” Booth threw his removed equipment in his gear bag, figuring that since he was washing it tonight, there was no point in putting it away neatly.

“That’s the problem.” Wendell looked conflicted and Booth just kept starring at him. “They want me to ask you because they know I’m at hockey practice.”

“Why would I know what the meeting is about? I don’t keep track of squint’s stuff.” In all honesty, he always took note of her schedule, even before they got together just so he had an idea where she was most of the time.

“I know that, but you would know if she was leaving us again and I didn’t want to ask you because you know…”

Booth considered his options and decided to let Wendell in on the secret himself. He had already asked Brennan if he could tell Wendell himself considering how close he was to the intern and she had agreed to it as long as Mr. Bray kept it to himself. Booth had just not found the time to tell him and he was sure the younger man was trustworthy enough to keep the secret. It had just been a question of opportunity, not trust.

“Wendell, I’m going to let you in on a secret, but you can’t tell the rest of the interns. You have to promise me.”

“Of course Booth, I’m not going to say a word.”

“Bones is not leaving right now, but she’s going to leave in about six months for a while. She just needs all of her interns to approve the new class plan to respect the university’s rules.”

“She’s going on another dig? Since when do you know so long in advance about those projects?”

“She’s not leaving Washington, she’s going to be at home taking some time of… and I’m also going to be taking some time off at the same time,” Booth added, hoping that Wendell would get the hint.

“Doctor B is pregnant?” Wendell said way too loudly for Booth’s comfort, having guessed fairly quickly what was going on. Compared to their other friends, Wendell spent more time alone with Booth than most which meant he had noticed a change in his behaviours in the last months. The agent rarely went out for drinks with the team after practice and when he did, he’d stay for just enough time to be polite and then leave with various vague reasons. With the information of them taking a break at the same time with a specific time period, Wendell resolved the enigma quickly.

“Jeez why don’t you scream it louder Wendell.”

“Wow Booth, that’s amazing. I knew you and Doctor Brennan would figure things out. A baby!” He gave the agent a playful shove and laughed. “You’re going to be a dad again!”

Booth smiled happily at his friend and joined in on the laughter. “Yeah I’m going to be a dad again. It’s so amazing I’m telling you Wendell. And Bones is just, well she’s Bones but it’s okay because I love her just the way that she is.”

“Man that is the best news I’ve gotten in a while Booth. So tomorrow is just to tell us about the pregnancy?”

“I actually don’t know if she’s going to tell you or make you guess what the meeting is about. She’s slightly disappointed none of you have figured it out yet. She was talking about it the other night, telling me that her gait has changed enough that you all should have noticed or something.”

Wendell suddenly looked nervous, because it was true that with their training they should have noticed, but at the same time, none of them would have jumped to pregnancy as a conclusion when it came to Doctor Brennan.

“To be fair Booth, I really don’t look at Doctor Brennan’s hips or her ass when she walks.” It sounded crude, but it was the truth.

“You better not be looking at her like that Wendell, that’s my girl you’re talking about,” Booth responded jokingly and threw on a shirt. “But really, you can’t tell the rest of the interns before she does.”

“I need to at least tell them I tried to get some information out of you. I won’t say anything about the baby I promise though.”

“Just tell them you asked me about it and I said nothing, it’s not that hard to believe.” Booth offered and shoved his aching feet into his shoes so he could get ready to leave. “Now, if you don’t mind I’m going to go back home to my pregnant girlfriend and enjoy my evening.”

The two men said goodnight to each other and left the arena with a little more pep in their steps that they had walked in with.

***

Doctor Brennan sat in the conference room, waiting for her students to arrive. She read through her notes once more, making sure that no mistakes had slipped into them when she wrote in the changes. She wasn’t really nervous about the meeting as she was simply presenting her students with a new plan for the next few months. Booth had told her that Mr.Bray was already aware of the pregnancy, but she knew that her student would not share the secret before she could.

The first of her students that arrived was Mr. Vaziri and he sat down at table after greeting her. Next, Ms. Wick arrived speaking with an obviously disinterested Mr. Fisher. The last one to arrive and still a few minutes early, was Mr. Bray who looked a lot less nervous than his colleagues. He handed Doctor Brennan a warm cup of tea and she could tell that Booth had revealed her preferred way to take her tea just by the colour of it.

“Thank you Mister Bray,” she said kindly, knowing that this was her student’s way to say thank you for trusting him with her secret. “You may all sit now.”

All of her interns were sitting straight in their seat and picked up a pen so they could take notes. She took a sip of the tea which confirmed that Booth had in fact revealed how she drank it and smiled a little bit while everyone got ready.

“I am sure you are all wondering why I scheduled a meeting today. First I would like to say that I have been reading the drafts of your dissertations and I am pleased with them. You all still have a fair amount of work to do on and I will be sending you an annotated copy in the next week.” All of her intern nodded in agreement and waited for their professor to keep on talking. “That being said, I asked you here because I find myself in a situation in which I need to modify your course’s planning. As for the content of your lectures and the schedule, there will be no changes so none of you need to worry about the program’s requirements. However, I will be changing what you will be doing in the lab.”

“Did we do anything wrong?” Daisy cut in, worrying that a mistake had been made.

“No, nothing of that sort has happened, but I would appreciate if you let me finish Miss Wick.” Doctor Brennan said pointedly. “You do not need to worry about your lab time, I am not cutting it but simply modifying it. In approximately six months, you will no longer be working on active crimes since I will not be able to supervise you. You will be reassigned to the remains that are stored at the Jeffersonian which will allow you to keep working and keep on being paid while Doctor Edison will supervise if needed.”

“Are you leaving again Doctor Brennan?” Arastoo asked curiously.

“To be completely transparent with all you, I am slightly disappointed that you haven’t figured out the cause of this modification considering that I have given you more than enough clues to come to the right conclusion,” Brennan simply said, took another sip of her tea and leaned back in her seat to look at her shocked interns.

“We are horrible interns and you wish to dismiss us all?” Fisher offered dramatically.

“I talk too much and you don’t want me in the lab anymore and you are punishing us all,” Daisy said sadly, guilt lacing her voice.

“Our work isn’t good enough and Doctor Saroyan cannot count on us at crime scenes?” Arastoo said hesitantly.

When Wendall said nothing, his three colleagues turned on his chair to stare at him. He stared back at his class colleagues and shrugged.

“Since none of you have figured it out and Booth already informed Mr. Bray yesterday after making him promise to stay quiet, I will tell you. I will be giving birth in six months which means that I will not be in the lab to supervise your work for a few weeks.”

None of the interns said anything until Daisy squealed and started clapping happily. “Congratulations Doctor Brennan!”

“Thank you Miss Wick, but there is no need to scream.”

The rest of her interns also offered their congratulations, even if they were quite stunned at the news. She never specified who was the father, but considering Wendell already knew, they made the connection pretty quickly.

“Now that we have gotten my personal news out of the way, I would like to move on to discussing our actual work.” Brennan handed them all documents, happy that she could now move on to their lesson for the day.

All her students, now relieved that everything was more than okay, agreed and the rest of the afternoon went off with any issues.

Chapter Text

Doctor Lance Sweets signed the registry and left his bag at the security check point before walking down the hall to have his weekly meeting with Doctor Zack Addy. Sweets had debated with himself what today’s session was going to be about, but his professional curiosity had won out this time.

Through his sessions with Zack, Sweets had noted that out of all the people that Zack used to be around, he had formed a very specific attachment to Doctor Brennan that intrigued the young psychologist. It wasn’t entirely clear if Zach’s interest in Doctor Brennan was purely one of awe as a student or more. The young forensic anthropologist seemed to worship his teacher and be particularly defensive of any times comments were made about her.

The professional side of Sweets was really curious to observe the reaction to the announcement of Doctor Brennan’s pregnancy even more considering that the baby also belongs to Agent Booth. Zack and Agent Booth had one of the most fascinating dynamics that Sweets wished he could have had more time to observe their interactions. The only thing that both men had in common was their need to protect Doctor Brennan. Sweets decided that depending on how Zack was doing today, he was going to tell him.

Sweets swiped his access card and entered the usual room where he interviews Zach. His patient was already waiting for him in the room, picking at a thread hanging from his gloves.

“Good afternoon Doctor Addy,” Sweets announced his presence.

“Good afternoon to you to Doctor Sweets,” Zach answered, liking the way that Sweets often referred to him using his academic title even though he had not worked in a lab since his arrest. “How are you doing today?”

“I am having an average day. Nothing out of sorts has happened today.”

“That’s good, we like average days.” Sweets sat down and opened his notepad, ready to take notes if needed. They then moved through his normal questions for Zach’s case file about his symptoms, medications and general wellbeing. Sweets’ assessment was that Zach was doing well this week considering his situation. “Has anything happened this week that you would like for us to discuss?” The psychologist offered, opening the discussion.

“I have reviewed the file you brought last week, it was an interesting injury I will admit,” Zach answered. “I am sure Hodgins appreciated the spores that were found imbedded in the wound.”

Sweets had been bringing over solved case files so that Zack could still feel connected to his former team and it seemed to help with his mood. “I thought you would have like that one and Hodgins did in fact have a lot of fun working on it. What did you think of Doctor Brennan’s note on the case?” Sweets started moving the discussion in the direction he wanted.

“As usual, Doctor Brennan’s note were expertly written and accurate as usual.”

“Speaking of Doctor Brennan, I have some news to share,” Sweets started, feeling that Zack was probably in the right headspace to receive the information.

“Has something happened to Doctor Brennan, is she alright?” Zack panicked slightly at the thought of his mentor being hurt.

“Doctor Brennan is fine Zack, nothing bad has happened to her don’t worry.” Sweets reassured him before taking a quick note about his reaction. “Actually, Doctor Brennan is pregnant.”

Zack looked at Sweets like he had just heard the most stupid sentence possible. “That is impossible, Doctor Brennan has never wanted any children. It would be very irrational for her to have a baby at the height of her career, you must be wrong.” Zach concluded rationally and folded his arms over his chest protectively.

“I’m not wrong, Doctor Brennan told me herself Zach. She is quite happy to be a mother.”

“That makes no sense, why would she be happy to have a distraction from her work. Who could she have found to accept having a child with?” Zack was starting to become a bit agitated, not enjoying how confusing the conversation was for him.

“You can’t think of a man Doctor Brennan would be happy to have a baby with?” Sweets pushed on and he could tell exactly when everything fell into place in Zack’s head.

“It is Agent Booth’s child,” Zack stated simply and Sweets couldn’t tell if Zack was angry or scared.

“Yes Zack, Doctor Brennan and Agent Booth are having a baby together. How do you feel about it?”

Zack didn’t say anything for a few minutes and Sweets waited for an answer. The young forensic anthropologist seemed profoundly conflicted with the new information he had just received, but also didn’t seem to be able to voice any of his thoughts.

“I would prefer we do not continue this conversation,” Zack said in a quiet voice, closing off completely. He looked at anything in the room except for the psychologist, clearing indicating that he was done with today’s session.

Sweets still tried to restart the conversation a few times, but quickly realized that he was not going to get more information today. He bid Zack goodbye and didn’t even get an answer to his words. Before, leaving Sweets informed the Doctor in charge at the sanitarium so they could keep a closer eye on Zack for the next few days. He didn’t actually think that Zack could be at risk, but it couldn’t hurt to be too careful.

As Sweets drove away, he wondered if he had done the right thing by telling Zack. He knew that Doctor Brennan had stopped visiting Zack a few years ago and when he had asked why, she had told him that it was none of his business. Personally, Sweets believed that it was too hard for her to see her protégé in such conditions so she decided to avoid the situation all together. Maybe he simply shouldn’t have told Zack at all to protect his feelings or ask Doctor Brennan if she was going to tell her former student herself before acting on his own.

Then he wondered what would happen if Doctor Brennan knew about his little experiment today. Technically he hadn’t experimented on Booth and her, just used them as a means to experiment on Zack, so maybe he could get away with this one if it somehow got out.

Lance Sweets didn’t really have much time to dwell on it because as soon as he arrived at the Hoover, Booth threw him a bunch of files and demanded a profile in the next hour.

Chapter Text

Booth stayed a few feet away from the body, listening to Brennan as she gave him information about their latest victim. He diligently wrote the the information on his index cards as he always did, making sure that he had as much information as possible for his initial report.

“Are we thinking murder? Natural causes?” Booth asked as they were in the middle of the woods surrounding the Liberty Reservoir in Maryland and the victim seemed to be wearing hiking equipment.

“The victim has a shattered femur that could have occurred from falling off the ridge and the injuries could be consistent with the rocks at the bottom." Booth did notice the drop when they arrived at the crime scene as he initially hadn’t wanted Brennan to climb down considering the risks. “It’s too early for me to determine that it isn’t an homicide, but considering that the Park Rangers only found him a mile off the trail, it could be an accident.”

“Well, there’s no ID on him or wallet, so it could have been a robbery gone wrong,” Booth theorized as he looked at the list of items that had been found as of now.

“Wait! I have a bag over here!” Hodgins yelled from where he was, standing in the rocks as he collected samples. “I have a wallet. Peter Roberts, thirty-four years old.” Hodgins read the ID out loud.

“That fits my assessment,” Brennan added. “The techs should finish canvassing the scene and collecting evidence. Once I’m back at the lab and all the injuries are catalogued, I will be able to confirm if this was a simple accident.”

“That works for me Bones. Let’s get out of here and go back home.” Booth said, putting his index card in the pocket of his suit jacket. He offered her his hand to help her stand up, but she didn’t take it.

“I assumed you would be dropping me off at the lab and I could keep on working.”

“Yeah well its eleven at the night and it’s at least an hour drive to the lab. You just said it’s probably not a murder and we have an ID so the body can wait until tomorrow morning,” Booth argued as he watched her pack up her crime scene kit.

“I’m used to working through the night Booth, I’ll be fine. You can go back home if you want to.”

Booth didn’t want to argue in front of everyone, but he really didn’t want her to go back to the lab to work all night. Thankfully, the only people at the bottom of the ridge with them were Hodgins and Cam as the FBI techs were focusing on the top of the area.

“Bones, please let's just go home and you can get some rest.”

“I’m fine Booth,” Brennan snapped, clearly not appreciating being forced to go home.

By that point, Cam had stopped looking at the remaining tissue on the body to stare at her two friends. Since revealing their relationship to their friends and coworkers, they hadn’t had to hide some of their new subjects of bickering. Cam watched how tense her longtime friend was, clearly attempting to find a way to convince his pregnant partner to go back home. As a rule, even if she could tell by the look Seeley was giving her that he wanted her to intervene, she was not going to step into the argument. Well at least not like Booth wanted her too.

“I’m personally going to go home, so you won’t have cleaned bones until tomorrow afternoon Doctor Brennan,” Cam announced, judging that this wasn’t her intervening since it had been her plan as soon as it became probable that it wasn’t a homicide.

“I could still do a preliminary assessment of the remains,” Brennan retorted.

“Bones, I spent most of my night and morning in the bathroom with you, I’m tired so I know for a fact that you are too. We should go home.” It had been a rough night and even rougher morning spent hunched over the toilet for Brennan and for Booth sitting on the floor next to her.

Brennan stood up which made her realize that she really was tired now that her work was mostly done. The independent part of her had no intention of admitting that to Booth as a few months ago it wouldn’t even be something they would be discussing. She looked at Booth, who was now standing with both of his hands on his hips as he waited for her to choose. He certainly looked very tired and she knew for sure that if she went back to the lab, Booth would wait for her to be done in her office without getting any sleep.

“I’ll go home on one condition,” Brennan yielded, standing her ground.

“Name your price and it’s yours.” Booth clapped his hands together once, happy to see that there was now a chance that he would have his way.

“I don’t want any of your money, you know I already have enough.”

“I know that, it’s just a figure of speech. Tell me your condition and I’ll make sure you get what you want.”

“I want a warm bath with you and ginger tea,” Brennan announced, crossing her arms over her chest. “No beer hat in sight.”

“That’s all? Then let's hit the road Bones!” Booth couldn’t believe how easy her terms were as he had fully expected her to ask to bring home some work. Hell, he even wanted a hot bath to soothe the ache in his lower back from spending hours sitting on a hard floor. He lead Brennan up the ridge, staying behind her just in case, leaving Hodgins and Cam behind.

“Wow, it’s weird to see them like that, but also it feels like it’s always been like that,” Hodgins pointed out with a laugh.

“I didn’t think I’d see the day Booth would convince Doctor Brennan to go home instead of work, especially not for a bubble bath.” Cam added, truly happy for her friends.

***

Back at Brennan’s apartment, Booth sat comfortably in the warm water with Brennan sitting between his legs. She was leaning against his chest while his arms were wrapped around her waist. The bathroom smelled like ginger, the cup of steaming tea resting on the edge of the tub beside them.

They had arrived home about twenty minutes ago and Booth had went into the bathroom to run the bath while Brennan steeped her tea. As soon as that was ready, they had stripped down and gotten into the tub together.

Booth was proud that Brennan had chosen to go home instead of keeping on working through the night. He had to admit that now that their friends knew about their relationship, it was easier for him to convince her to go home. He also liked that now that the team knew that she’s pregnant, they could keep an eye on her for him.

“How are you feeling baby?” Booth whispered, splaying one of his hand on her lower abdomen. The water was getting slightly colder considering they had been soaking for a while and the fact that it couldn’t be too warm for Brennan, but it was still comfortable.

“Much better,” her voice was slightly slurred and Booth looked down at her, noticing that her eyes were closed. The exhaustion from being sick last night combined with their work day had finally caught up with her it seemed.

“Do you want to get out and go to bed?” Booth pressed a kiss to her temple and she leaned into his touch. “Can’t have you falling asleep on me.” He sat up a bit, also pushing Brennan into an upright position.

“Thank you for convincing me to go home, you were right.” She bent forward to remove the plug so the water could start draining. “It’s a bit strange that all of our friends know about us now.”

“Yeah, but I like it.”

“I’m sure you do, there’s more people to look out for me now.”

“Not just that, I don’t have to lie about what we are doing and we can be a normal couple.” Booth helped her up from the slippery bath and held her hand as she stepped out. “That and our friends get to be happy with us now, we all deserve some happiness.”

Brennan handed him his towel and smiled happily at her partner. Everything was so domestic, from the drive home to the bath and she was still getting used to it. Change was hard for her, but when she was cuddled in bed with Booth, a soft smile on his face as he slept while cradling her on his chest, she knew it was worth it.