A/N: Another fluffy-as-cotton-candy one! AU Futurefic! There's a song that was inspiration for my first EVER fanfic, a Law and Order SVU fic called "I'll Always Come Back." It's very obviously my first fic, so please don't rush right over and read it. :) Anyway, my songfics tend to spiral out of control sometimes and turn into a long story (as you're about to see) but I think I like this song for B/B even better than EO (OMG, bandbi, you've converted me.). If you want to check out the song, it's by LeeAnn Womack and it's called "Stronger than I Am." Anyway, some more straight fluff to tempt you before I get into the smut. Haha! R&R! XO, Kinsey
Disclaimer: Only my overactive imagination belongs to me, but if DB is looking to be owned… I think we could work something out.
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"Who wants to be a movie star?" Temperance asked her seven-year-old step-son and her ten month old daughter. She held up the video camera in her left hand, the light from the huge picture window making her diamond wedding band throw sparkles off the walls.
"ME!" Parker cheered, climbing up on the couch beside his step-mom. Brenna looked much more enthralled with Parker's milk glass that she was currently trying to pull off the coffee table.
"Brenna Christine Booth," Tempe warned. Brenna looked at her mother with a toothy grin. "Don't try that charm smile with me, young lady. Leave your brother's glass alone."
Brenna looked guiltily at Parker. "Pahkah?"
"Yes, honey. Parker's. Don't touch," Tempe explained, nodding. Brenna took an un-easy step toward her brother and grinned. "Pahkah!" she demanded, clutching the edge of the table in a death grip to keep from falling back on her diapered butt.
Parker held out his arms to his baby sister and she reached for him tentatively. "C'mere, Bren," he smiled. She took a look at her mother and Tempe nodded encouragingly, smiling at how quickly her baby was growing up. Brenna teetered toward her brother, lunging into his arms a second before she would have face-planted into the carpet.
"Good JOB, Brenna!" Tempe cheered, standing by in case Parker needed assistance hefting the stocky baby off the ground. He managed to successfully haul her into his lap and settled back in the corner of the couch with her.
"Aw, man!"
"What is it, Park?" Tempe smiled at his outburst.
"We shoulda videoed her walking! Dad woulda loved to see that! Mom says that when I was learnin' to walk he used to hold a football out to me and make me come get it."
"Like fetch," Tempe teased her step-son. "We should probably teach Daddy not to play fetch with Bren," she grinned, ruffling Parker's blonde curls, eliciting a giggle from the little boy. "Ready to be a movie star, Park?"
"I'm ready for my close up," he grinned cheesily at her.
Tempe grinned back (even though she wasn't a hundred percent sure what Parker was referencing. She'd found in the 3 years she'd known the kid that when he made pop culture references he rarely truly understood what he was referring to either) and scooted back on the couch so she could get both kids in the viewfinder. "'Kay guys, what do you want to say to Daddy? Ready? Go!"
"Hi Daddy!" Parker screeched, holding up Brenna's tiny hand to waive. As her little boy chattered in excited run-on sentences as only little kids can, Tempe smiled and thought about her husband. Seeley getting called back to the Middle East wasn't something they'd even considered might happen, but happen it had, and being the honorable man he was, Booth went without question. Unfortunately, he'd had to go a short eight days after their daughter was born. He hadn't seen Brenna in person since. On the upside, he was scheduled to come home just in time for Parker to start little league for the summer. It had been a struggle to get him to go to his last year of t-ball the previous summer when his dad hadn't been able to coach him. Drew had done a good job, but it hadn't been the same as havin' Daddy do it, Park had commented at the time. The little voice in question shattered her out of her thoughts momentarily.
"Brenna walks sometimes, Dad! She walked to me a minute ago! But we weren't ready with the video camera. But guess what! You get to come home soon! So you can see it! But Tempe says you're not 'lowed to make her fetch like you did with me!" Tempe laughed loudly at that and Parker grinned up at her. She swung the camera on herself and grinned at where her husband would soon be on the other side of the computer. "By the way, Booth, I'm inundated with charm smiles on a daily basis. It's a wonder I say no to these children."
"Tempe and Mommy say I look just like you! And Mommy says Brenna looks just like Tempe! But Tempe thinks she looks like me an' you! But Mommy says she has Tempe's beautiful blue eyes. Oh!" Parker interrupted himself. "Daddy! Mommy an' Drew and Tempe took me to Chuck E. Cheese for my birthday!" Parker's excited rambling prompted Tempe to turn the camera back on the seven-year-old. His tiny sister sat on his lap, quietly chewing on her fist, looking around for something more to eat.
"Brenna, can you tell Daddy you love him?" Tempe asked. Brenna gave her a blank stare and a drooly grin. "Brenna! Brenna-boo! Say 'I love you, Daddy!'" Tempe encouraged.
"DA!" Brenna screeched.
"Love you!" Tempe coached.
"I'll say it with you, Bren," Parker suggested. Brenna looked at her hero offering him another drooly grin. "Ready?" Parker asked. A long string of spit trailed from Brenna's chin to her bib.
"I think that's a yes," Tempe laughed.
"We love you, Daddy!" Parker grinned.
"DA!" Brenna squealed again.
"Anything else you want to tell your dad, Park?" Tempe asked. "We need to get this finished up so we can email it to Daddy before your mom and Drew come pick you up."
"I miss you, Daddy! I can't wait to see you! I love you!" Parker smiled.
Tempe held the camera out in front of her and scooted over on the couch, wrapping her arm around the kids. "We love you, Daddy," she smiled, waving her daughter's tiny hand at the camera.
"DA!" Brenna grinned. "Love!" she sputtered.
"Try it again, Brenna!" Parker prodded his sister. "Love you Daddy," he coached.
"LOVE! DA-EE!"
"Yay, Brenna!" Tempe smiled, pressing a kiss to her daughter's curly brown mop. She turned back to the kids. "Blow Daddy kisses guys," she requested. "Blow kisses, Brenna," she said, putting Brenna's pudgy little palm up to her mouth. Parker blew his dad a kiss and waved again. Brenna blew him a kiss and grinned. Tempe turned her attention back to the camera and grinned at her husband. "I love you, Seeley. Hurry home, honey," she asked, blowing a kiss in the direction of the camera right before she pushed the stop button.
"Good job, guys," Tempe said, hopping off the couch at the ringing doorbell, Brenna on her hip.
"Mommy!" Parker screeched, bouncing off the couch. Tempe raced him noisily to the door, peeking out the sidelight to make sure it was indeed Rebecca before letting Parker open the door.
"Hey guys!" Rebecca grinned, her long blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail, sunglasses perched on her head.
"Mom!" Parker cried, launching himself into her arms.
"Hey Park!" Rebecca greeted her son, lifting him off the ground. "Ugh! I think you grew two inches this weekend! What is Tempe feeding you?!" she teased, tickling his stomach. Parker giggled and squirmed to be let down.
"Hey," Tempe greeted her husband's ex-girlfriend with a quick hug.
"Hey, Tempe," Rebecca smiled. "Was he good?" she asked.
"Angel as always," Tempe winked.
"Just like his father," they both deadpanned, Rebecca rolling her eyes and looking at Parker.
"I don't know what that means," Parker said innocently, a charm smile spread across his face, an indication he knew exactly what Tempe and his mom were talking about.
"Riiiiiiiight," Rebecca remarked. "How many days till Daddy comes home?" she asked Brenna, chucking her under the chin gently. Brenna buried her head in Tempe's neck bashfully, blinking at Rebecca with her big blue eyes.
"Are we bein' bashful?" Rebecca asked, holding her arms out for the baby. "Becca have a hug?" she asked.
Brenna looked at her mom for clarification. "Flirt," Tempe said, kissing Brenna's cheek. "You know Becca," she said holding the baby upright.
"Hug?" Rebecca asked, biting her bottom lip.
Brenna grinned another drool grin and reached for her big brother's mom.
"That'sa girl," Rebecca said, bouncing Brenna gently. Tempe stepped back and let Rebecca in.
"Where's Drew?" she asked.
"He had to go into work for a little bit," Rebecca explained, following Tempe into the kitchen. "Go get your stuff, please, Park, so Mommy and Tempe can talk for a minute."
Parker sprinted off to his bedroom to gather up the stuff that had to make the transition between his two houses.
"Three more weeks?" Rebecca asked, referring to the amount of time before Seeley would be home.
Tempe nodded. "I can't believe he's been gone almost a year," she said, shaking her head.
"Well, the first week back is always the best, if you know what I mean," Rebecca said conspiratorially, grinning at Tempe. Both women blushed and Rebecca shook her head. "And if I wasn't his ex-girlfriend, that comment might have been a little more appropriate," she admonished herself guiltily.
Tempe laughed. "It's okay, Rebecca. Hey, I've been meaning to tell you thank you. For, you know, all the help with Brenna and everything. And still letting me have Parker on the weekends," she smiled softly. "I don't think it would run as smoothly without your help. I know NOTHING about babies."
Rebecca covered Tempe's hand with her own. "Don't worry about it, Tempe. I told you you'd get the hang of it. You're a great mom! And besides, even if Seeley isn't here, you're still Parker's step-mom. He'd miss you and Brenna!" she grinned easily.
"I know, but you know, the whole you and Booth not ever being married thing…" Tempe began, referring to the fact that Rebecca really didn't have to let her and Booth have Parker.
"Hey. No worries. You know that's all good now, right?" Rebecca asked.
"Sure," Tempe replied, just as Parker skidded back into the kitchen in his sock feet, giggling as he almost knocked himself unconscious on the edge of the counter.
"Parker!" Tempe and Rebecca both chastised the little boy, the earlier awkwardness forgotten.
"That wasn't very smart of me to do it in front of both of you, huh?" Parker asked with a toothy grin.
"Probably not, Park," Rebecca said, trying to hold back a grin at his self-deprecation.
"Let's go, Park. Drew's going to stop and get some pizza for dinner on his way home," Rebecca said, standing and ruffling her son's curls.
"'Kay," he agreed, wrapping his arms around Tempe's waist. "Love you, Tempe," he mumbled into her side.
"Love you, too, Parker. Should we go to the carousel sometime this week?" Tempe asked, glancing up at Rebecca for approval. She nodded as Parker bounced on the balls of his feet.
"Yeah! On Wednesday? After school?" he asked excitedly.
"Yeah, that works for me, I think. I'll have to double check with Cam."
"Can you bring Angie and Jack?"
"I'll try, buddy," Tempe promised, smoothing her hand over his curls.
"Jack said he was going to find me a really cool bug for my collection!" Parker bopped around excitedly.
"Cool!" Tempe said as Rebecca nodded with fake enthusiasm.
"Mommy doesn't like bugs," Parker whispered. "She says that can be me and you's thing," he grinned. "Bugs and bones," he giggled.
"Hmm. Maybe I'll have to start calling you 'bugs' since Daddy already calls me Bones," Tempe teased.
"An' it'll be my special nickname that only you call me?" Parker asked.
Tempe nodded and kissed the top of his head. "Love you, Bugs," she said, testing out the new nickname.
"So cool," Parker grinned, then remembered his manners. "Love you, Tempe," he squeezed her around the middle and turned to where his mom was holding Brenna. Parker jiggled his baby sister's foot, making her giggle and Rebecca bent down to his level. "Love you, Sissy," he said, kissing Brenna's cheek. She turned and pressed a sloppy kiss to Parker's cheek with a loud smack.
"Ready to go see Momma?" Rebecca asked, handing the baby back to Tempe. She helped her son put his backpack on and slapped his baseball cap on his head, tugging it down over his eyes. "Moooooo-ooooom," Parker whined good-naturedly.
"Paaaaaaaar-kerrrrrrrrrrrr," Rebecca whined back, pushing his hat out of his eyes. "Ready?" she asked.
"Yep. Wednesday, right Tempe?"
"You got it, Bugs," she grinned.
"Love you guys," Parker said with a grin.
"We love you, buddy."
"Call me when Daddy emails back, okay? I wanna know what he thought of our video!" the little boy requested.
"Of course," Tempe agreed, already planning to remind her husband to call his son. It would be such a great surprise for Parker to get his dad when he was expecting Tempe.
Tempe and Brenna followed the two others out to the porch and waived Brenna's little hand at them as they backed down the driveway before turning to go back in the house.
"Whaddya think Brenna-boo?" Tempe asked softly. She inwardly rolled her eyes at herself. Booth was in for one hell of a surprise when he came home to his crazy wife talking baby-talk to their daughter and dancing along to The Wiggles. Until recently, if someone had even mentioned the obnoxiously-colored Australian singing and dancing troupe, she would have responded with her patent-pending "I don't know what that means." But now… now she knew all too well. "Should we go email Daddy?"
"DA!" Brenna screeched again.
"We need to learn to enunciate that a little better in the next three weeks. Or Mommy's going to go deaf," she teased her daughter.
Tempe snuggled Brenna into the pillow nest on Seeley's side of the bed where she could keep an eye on the baby while she worked on the laptop. She logged into her email and smiled at the first name in her received messages: Booth, Seeley. She clicked on the message and scrolled down to the few lines of text.
Hi you three,
I hope you get this before Parker has to go back to his mom's. I miss you guys! Three weeks seems like such a long time! Bub, you takin' good care of Tempe and your sister for me? Hope so. Daddy loves you guys so much! Three more weeks!! I can hardly wait! Did you get me signed up to coach little league, Park? I can't wait to see you hit a homer, Bub! Now, go do your homework. :)
He gone, Bones? I didn't want him to see this next part. Might scar the kid for life. Cover Brenna's eyes if she's with you. Any child with you for a mother can probably already read. :) And like I said, I don't want to scar them with the mush. I love you so much, Bones. I cannot WAIT to be home. I cannot WAIT to sleep next to my hot wife every night. :) And, you know, solve crimes and murders and stuff. But mostly the first part. And to be honest, Bones, don't plan on getting a WHOLE lot of sleep. ;-)
I can't wait to see our daughter. I feel like she changes so much every day. I'm so glad you guys make those videos for me. It really makes me feel like I'm there. And all the other guys are jealous of me. You know. Brilliant, sexy wife on the New York Times Best Seller List. Two most beautiful damn kids on Earth. I'm pretty popular over here. :) I… can't put into words how much I love you, Temperance. How much crap we've gone through, how many times I thought I was going to lose you – you know, to a stalker. Or a serial killer. Or Sully. :) Kidding.
Seriously, though. I love you, Bren. More than life. You rock my world, babe.
Love,
Seeley
PS Did I mention I love you?
PPS And, oh yeah. 3 weeks!
Tempe wiped the few tears from her cheeks and glanced over to where Brenna was sucking her thumb, fast asleep. She smiled at her baby girl, stroking her cheek softly. She turned back to the laptop and hit the reply button on her email and began typing.
Hey Honey,
Sorry, I didn't see the email until after Rebecca came to pick Parker up. But, we did get a video made today, so I hope you enjoy that:) Oh, and don't worry, your daughter is snoring and drooling on your pillow as I type, so she wasn't traumatized by her father's mushiness. I however, nearly vomited. Kidding. :) By the way, you are certainly not the only person in this conversation who is having fantasies about ravaging their spouse. It just so happens that I'm married to the sexiest man in the FBI. Maybe you've heard of him – Seeley Booth? Loud ties, noisy socks, a belt buckle that says "cocky?" He's one of a kind, that husband of mine. :) Kind of like his children. Careful of your eardrums when Brenna's trying to say 'Daddy.' It sounds more like a howler monkey. Well. Howler monkey is really a misnomer… you know what, never mind. :) She screeches. Like she's on fire. But I swear to her mommy's ears and her big brother's ears, it sounds like Daddy. I'm sure you'll hear it too. :)
Honey, you know you're also not the only one who's envied. I work with Cam, remember:)
The kids have grown up a ton in the past ten months, but don't worry, honey. You're going to slide right back into the routine. In fact, Ange says you're on daddy duty as soon as you get back so she and I can hit the spa for a day. :)
I better go, Brenna's waking up, and she's hungry. Your daughter eats like you do. I think we go through eighty jars of "cherry dessert" a week. :)
By the way, Booth, there was never a chance you'd lose me to the stalker. Or the serial killer. Or, you know. Sully. I love you, Seeley Booth. More than life. You rock my socks, See (get it? Socks?).
Always and Forever,
Bones
PS I love you too.
PPS I can't wait.
"Shhh," Tempe soothed Brenna, rubbing her back gently. "Let's get this sent to Daddy and then we can eat, okay?" She loaded the video quickly, attached it to the email, and hit send. Blowing another kiss at the computer screen, she scooped her daughter off the bed and heading for the kitchen where she knew a jar of Gerber cherry dessert waited to be snarfed down by a baby Booth. "Three more weeks, Brenna. Three more weeks and then Daddy's home."
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A/N: This ended up TOTALLY different than I had planned. That song doesn't even really apply anymore, this has pretty much just warped into a fluffy one shot. I love it, I hope you do too! XO, Kinsey