"Time to go to bed, pumpkin." He said, looking over to his daughter who seemed eagerly busy coloring in the animals in her painting book. Gently he petted over her hair. She was so beautiful. His little girl.
"But Mrs. Anderson says we need to color in all the bunnies and count the bunnies." Christine said, not looking up from her homework.
The bunnies. He laughed. Who could ever resist the bunnies... He remembered that conversation he had had with Bones about the stuffed bunny when they had rescued the deaf girl from her abductors. Ever since - to every friend, to every family member who had had a baby they'd given a stuffed bunny. Because every child should have one. Christine had more than one. They would give her all the bunnies in the world. "All right." He said to Christine. "How many more to go?"
"This one. And the baby bunny." Christine informed him picking up a brown pen from her collection of pens spread out on the living room table.
"The baby bunny can be blue." He suggested.
"No, Daddy!" She protested. "Mommy says there are no blue bunnies."
"Right." He replied unconvinced. How should he explain that in their 4-year-old daughter's coloring book the animals should be blue and red and pink - should be whatever color she liked them to be. It was not an encyclopedia, for God's sake! "Bones...?" He got up from the couch. Where was Bones? She had come home only ten minutes ago. She had hardly said a word, had disappeared into their bedroom.
"Alright, pumpkin. Finish your bunny and then go and brush your teeth." He waited until his daughter nodded, bent down to leave a kiss on her hair. Then he went to the bedroom. "Bones?" He asked again. She hadn't felt well last night, had said that she had upset her stomach. She even had skipped lunch today. He had hoped she felt better tonight.
She wasn't in their bed. But the light was on in their bathroom, a little crack in the door left open. He went over to the bathroom, gently tapped on the door. Slowly opened it just wide enough to put his head through. He didn't want to startle her. "Bones, are you alright...?"
She looked up. Pale, agitated. "I'm pregnant." She stated, disbelief in her voice. "I took two tests. From different companies." She explained. "They're both positive." She still sounded shocked.
"Whoa... wow." He replied. This was a surprise. They definitely had not planned for this to happen.
She collected the packings and the instruction leaflets from the sink and threw them into the bin. "I need to schedule an appointment with my gynecologist to talk about the options I have t..."
He stopped her. "Whoa! Let's sit down, okay. Talk about this." He reached for her hand, guided her out of the bathroom and onto the bed where they sat down side by side.
"You don't appear to be upset about the pregnancy..." She said. "You said, you don't want another child. Well, we both agreed that we don't want another one."
"Bones." His hand went up, caressed her face. He loved her so much. "I'm not upset." He told her. "We're gonna be fine." He kissed her.
"I'm ready!" Christine interrupted them. "Daddy, will you read that book with the green princess to me...?"
He looked over to Bones. She still looked pale, exhausted. She nodded. "Give me a kiss, honey!"
Christine went over to her, hugged her. Bones wrapped her arms around their daughter, for an awkward long moment she held her tight. "I love you, honey." She then said.
"Mommy, why are you crying...? Christine asked watching Bones wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.
"It's late. Your mom is just tired." He quickly said. "Come on. One chapter of the green princess." He said to his daughter.
"Good night, mommy!"
"Good night." Bones replied watching them leave for Christine's room.
"One chapter... and another one." His daughter declared.
"ONE chapter." He replied. Tonight his daughter would not talk him into reading to her more than what they had agreed on. To many thoughts were on his mind. Too many questions.
Bones was still sitting in the same position on the bed when he came back. "Hey." He said, sitting down next to her. He took her hands into his. Her hands were freezing cold. "It'll take some time - getting used to it." He teased. His hand went down, gently he touched her belly.
"Getting used to what?" She asked.
"The baby." He replied. "Having a new baby in our family."
"I haven't decided yet if I will have this baby." Bones said.
"YOU... haven't decided..." He repeated reluctantly. He got up. "Bones, you can't..." Words failed him. "We can't..." He started again, his voice hoarse, thick with emotion. Oh God.
"It's one logical option to consider." She said. "I'm still early on in my pregnancy. A termination is a simple procedure. I wouldn't even need to remain at the hospital after it."
He felt like it was him that was going to die. "Bones, I couldn't..." Oh God. Oh God! He had to stay calm. He had to talk her out of it! His phone in his pocket rung. "Not now!" He angrily reached for it to turn it off. The caller ID said it was Aubrey.
"It could be important for the case." Bones said.
Yes. It could be important. But - NOT NOW! Then he remembered that he had sent out Aubrey to retrieve some very important urgent papers. "Booth." He answered the phone. He didn't bother to hide his irritation.
"Agent Booth. I have compiled all the papers as requested. Shall I come over now - to go through them with you?"
"No!" He barely realized that he had shouted it. He really couldn't deal with Aubrey now. Not now. And Aubrey coming over to their house certainly was the last thing he could handle right now.
"Is everything alright, Agent Booth?" Aubrey asked sounding suspicious.
"Yes. Everything's fine." He knew he didn't sound like it. "Look, Aubrey, let's go over the papers tomorrow, in my office. Okay?"
"Okay. Tomorrow, in your office then. Good night!"
"Good night." He switched off his phone, dropped it on the nightstand. Then he turned to Bones again. "Bones, I couldn't... ever... go through with kill..., with killing our child!" There. He had said it out loud. Hastily he crossed himself.
"But you agreed that we didn't want another child." She reminded him, confusion now on her face.
"Yeah, back then. Because we were fine. We were happy to have Christine. And Parker." He added. "There was no need for us to try for another baby - this is what I meant."
"I do not see how this is different now." She replied. "Except - that we did not try for this fetus."
"Everything is different now!" He said. "God had us make this baby. Now we're going to keep it!"
"I don't believe in God."
"Fine! The universe then. Some greater power that wants us to have another child..."
"I don't believe any greater power was involved in this." Bones declared. "We had sexual intercourse. This is how the child growing inside me was conceived."
He said down on the bed again. Took her hand. "Bones, it doesn't matter how we made this baby. Intentional or unintentional - it's there now. A part of our love. A part of you and me." He lifted her hands up to his lips, kissed them. "Sometimes you get more than what you want..." He explained. "Then you accept it."
"Are you saying, you want us to have another baby?" She asked, still not sounding one hundred percent convinced.
He pulled her close. "I want this baby." He kissed her, his hand on her belly again.
For a moment she returned his kiss. "...But we gave all the things for the baby away to Daisy's baby!" She reminded him.
He laughed. Relief swept through his entire body. Bones thinking about the practical side of having this baby surely meant that not having the baby was off the table. "I'm pretty sure we'll have absolutely no difficulty to buy all of that stuff again..." He mumbled kissing her neck. "Christine can help to pick it out."
"Mmm, Booth..." She mildly protested. "I'm too exhausted to have sexual intercourse with you tonight."
"That's fine with me." He brushed a strand of hair from her face. "Let's just go to bed, hold each other... Talk about the baby." He smiled. They would have another baby. This was incredible.
"I'm not going to ask how we did do this..." He said while he pulled his T-shirt over his head.
"I don't understand." She replied looking over to him.
"If I do - you'll just give me a scientific explanation how babies are conceived." He continued while
undressing his jeans. "I think I know by now how that works..." He grinned. With two children and a third one on the way he definitely knew how to make a baby.
"Okay..." Bones said, apparently confused about what he was getting at.
"I mean, I was released from jail - what - eight weeks ago...?"
"Seven weeks, three days." She informed him.
"So - we made a baby in the last seven weeks... Wow."
"I have to have this confirmed, but I am confident I am at least eight weeks along. Which means the baby was conceived at least six weeks ago." Bones said while she lifted the bedspread.
"You mean, we made the baby when I got out of jail...?"
"Um..." She hesitated. He watched her thinking. "I believe it is my fault. I stopped taking my contraceptive pills when you were detained. I knew I would not have intercourse with any man while you were in jail."
"Bones..." He tried to cut in.
"And then when you were out - and we made love - I just wanted to hold you and to have sex with you... I'd missed you so much - I'm afraid, taking my contraceptive pills was not a priority for me during that time." She explained.
"Come here." He said waiting for her to lie down right next to him. "I missed you, too. So much! Making love to you - with you again - was the most incredible thing." He kissed her temple, wrapped his arm around her. "It wasn't a fault we made that sweet baby." His free hand gently petted over her belly. "It was meant to happen, ok?"
Her hands came down to meet his hand placed on her belly. "Okay." She acknowledged.
"I love you." He said. "You know, this happens when they keep us apart... We just come back stronger."