A/N Hey folks, this is an experimental thing so if you think its rubbish let me know. If I do post more chapters, more of the story will be explained and such, so reviews would be much appreciated. Cheers! Read with an open mind!
Temperance Brennan stared at the photograph in her hands. She had stared at it so many times in the past week that she didn't really need it anymore – the image was burned on her brain, for better or worse. She wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing yet.
'This,' she thought to herself, 'is the kind of thing, the kind of image, which you never forget – like your first kiss, or your first corpse.' She couldn't believe she had just compared a corpse to a kiss, but then work had always come first for her. This was why the whole situation was difficult for her. Her job came first and last, and this had never factored into the equation for her.
A baby…That was something she had never expected.
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She couldn't remember exactly how it had happened – she knew how it happened of course, she was a scientist, she just couldn't remember the events leading up to it. All she was sure of was that alcohol was involved. A lot of alcohol. 'So now I'm about to become a single mother, and I may be an alcoholic,' she thought. This couldn't be happening to her.
She was fairly certain she knew who it happened with. She was no slut, but she was hardly a prude. She and David had been close to having a serious relationship, but work got in the way. And with Michael, work had been the reason the relationship started and ended. But she hoped to God that the father wasn't who she knew, deep in her heart, that it was. Just her luck.
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'You're a scientist, Temperance,' she thought, 'Work it out.' The doctor had told her she was nine weeks pregnant – two months and a week. She didn't even feel pregnant, just a bit queasy, but she thought she knew her body well enough to know that there was a miniature person inside her.
She had tried when she first found out to be clinical about the whole thing, to not let herself get too attached, because she wasn't sure what she was going to do about it yet. A termination seemed like the sensible option (she wasn't willing to put the child up for adoption once it was born – she knew the system too well and wouldn't put anyone through what she went through) but she didn't think it would be right to do something that drastic without consulting the father. Which was not something she wanted to do.
But the moment she saw the fuzzy sonogram print-out, the first picture of her son or daughter, she knew she couldn't kill it, like it was some kind or vermin or insect. Never one to have maternal instincts, Temperance was surprised at the surge of love and affection she had felt, hitting her like a tidal wave.
Then her more practical side had taken over. With her books doing so well, she was in a stable financial position and could afford to have a baby. She was young and healthy, so it wouldn't be a strain on her body. She would, of course, need a bigger place to live. And what about childcare? As far as she knew (but she had never had reason to check before now) the Jeffersonian didn't have a childcare facility, and it was against every anthropological law of nature to let someone else look after your offspring. And there was no way she could give up her job. 'Would I love my child more than my job?' she thought. This thought scared her a lot. She had never loved anything more than her job, but already she was feeling a strong bond between her and 'the bump' – she had always heard pregnant women on TV referring to their ever-expanding stomachs as this, but had never quite understood what it meant until she began to imagine her own belly growing. The prospect of buying new clothes was one that she wasn't looking forward to. Shopping had never been her strong point, and she didn't want to end up looking like a fat woman in a tent. She would have to enlist Angela to help her with that.
But first she would have to tell Angela. And Zack and Hodgins. And Cam. And possibly Dr Goodman to request some kind of maternity leave. And then, of course, she would have to tell Booth.