It had been three days since Brennan had been cleared of Ethan Sawyer’s murder and Booth given Brennan the public all clear to return home. Brennan wanted to pack an overnight bag and Christine’s diaper bag and hop on the first flight she could get and do just that. Max insisted that she drive home, under the cover of darkness just in case. Brennan agreed once she realized she didn’t have enough money or her real ID o get the tickets.
Brennan smiled when she saw the exit for Washington D.C., it would be another hour and a half before they were home. Brennan didn’t stop until she came to the empty grocery store parking lot three streets from the mighty hut. Pulling to a stop in the first parking space she saw, Brennan pulled off the rust colored wig she had wore every day for the last three months next she took out the grey contacts then she took out the makeup remover and took off enough makeup for two clowns. She’d gone ahead and did herself up these last three days in case Max had people watching her, but now she didn’t care about that.
After she looked more like herself Brennan checked the car, making sure nothing she wanted to keep was left behind and all of Christine’s things were in the diaper bag. She stuffed the wig, contacts and her and Christine’s fake passports into a plastic grocery bag and tossed them onto the floor in the back and took off towards home. not even five minutes later Brennan stopped the car three doors from hers and Booth’s house and walked around to the back, opening the door and removing the car seat from the seat and sat it on the floor before unbuckling the baby lifting her out and depositing the keys in her place, satisfied that Max’s instructions were carried out she gabbed the bags and headed to the house.
Brennan walked up the driveway around to the back door where the magnetic box was with the spare key. Brennan unlocked the door and entered the house quickly putting in what she hoped was the correct code to keep the alarm silent, seeing the green light that told her the alarm was reset she slipped her shoes off and dropped the bags before heading up stairs to her and Booth’s bedroom. Booth smelt Brennan before he felt her, he tried to ignore it he’d been having really vivid dreams about Brennan returning, and he chalked it up to a dream until he felt the bed dip. Booth’s eyes snapped open, “Bones, you’re home…” Booth pushed himself up against the headboard.
“Yeah…”
“Christine?”
“She’s here, she just woke up.” Brennan handed her over and Booth turned on the light smiling at the baby. “Hi baby girl, I missed you. I love you. I love you too, Boones. And I missed you/”
“I love and missed you too, Booth. We both did.”
Booth looked up, “what took you so long to get back?”
“Dad…I wanted to get on a plane as soon as I saw your press conference, but he insisted I drive back and that we only travel at night….”
“Where were you?”
“I’ll tell you, but not right now; it’s long and complicated.”
“Okay, are you okay, Bones?”
“Yes, I’m just tired and could use a shower and food. Roadside cuisine leaves a lot to be desired.”
“I’ve got some leftover spaghetti if you want that or I can make you something or we can order takeout; the Chinese place is still open…” Brennan chuckled and leaned forward kissing Booth.”Shh spaghetti sounds good.”
“Great.”
“Would you mind giving Christine a bath while I shower? I didn’t give her one last night; our hotel was kind of crappy and I wasn’t too sure of the bathroom’s cleanliness.”
“Sure.”
“There are bigger size diapers in the diaper bag in the kitchen. We’ll have to get some more tomorrow, they are prone to leaking.”
“Don’t worry about it; I got a package of diapers in the next size after the press conference. I also washed a few outfits in 6 month size and pajamas too.”
“Thanks Booth. When you change her make sure you use the diaper rash cream, I noticed when I changed her the last time she’s starting to get a rash. Oh and throw away the clothes she’s got on, I don’t want to see any of this stuff…”
“Will do. Come on baby girl, let’s get you cleaned up and in some clean pj’s huh?” Brennan watched Booth go next-door with Christine before heading to the bathroom. Booth headed to Christine’s dresser and grabbed a pair of footy pajamas and the baby bath from the top; he tossed a diaper, wipes, and the rash cream in it and headed for the hall bathroom. Booth glanced at the small digital clock Brennan put on the dresser, it was 1:43 AM and he had his baby girl in his arms and his Bones was next door, he could breathe again. Booth put the baby bath down on the vanity and turned, grabbing a few towels and the baby wash. He then proceeded to let the water get warm and filled the bath, next he spread a towel out and laid Christine on it to undress her. Christine laid there and let Booth do whatever he wanted; she tensed a little when Booth eased her in the water, but soon relaxed and splashed an arm in the tub. Booth smiled at Christine and gently began to wash her and watched as a little more of tension released from the baby as the warm water ran over her. “Does that feel good Christine? I bet it dies, there’s nothing like a bath at home.” Ten minutes later Christine smelled like lavender scented baby wash and was in her footy pajamas snuggled in Booth’s arms, “I bet if you have something to eat you’d go to sleep, you’re almost out now. Let’s go see if mommy is out of the shower yet.” Booth kissed the top of Christine’s head and went to his and Brennan’s room, leaning on the bathroom doorjamb. “Christine has been washed, dried, fluffed and folded. Now all she needs is something to eat and I bet she’ll be out for the rest of the night…” Brennan smiled, “She looks better.”
“Yeah I think she feels better too.”
“I’ll be out in a few minutes. Booth theirs a bottle in the soft sided cooler in the diaper bag if you want to feed her.”
“Christine is on bottles now?”
“Just for the long trip there and back, it’s a little more convenient. Finding a clean private place is hard, this way all I needed was a shady parking space and I could feed her in parking lots if I had to and sometimes I did. Besides bottles weren’t awkward around dad.”
“Sorry Bones…”
“It wasn’t the best, but it was fine. Christine was safe and reasonably happy, that’s all that mattered.”
“Yeah.” Booth turned to leave the room and go downstairs, he turned and leaned against the doorjamb. “Ah, Bones how long do you heat the bottle for?” It’s been a while since I’ve had to do that…”
Brennan smiled, “I bought a bottle warmer, just put it in, plug it in and turn it on. You’ll be waiting about 5 minutes. The warmer is in the diaper bag. Christine will take the bottle, but she might not from you, she wouldn’t from dad. “
“Okay.” Booth headed downstairs. Five minutes later Brennan came down with her clothes in her hand, she picked up the overnight bag ad took out a camera and memory cards, then stuffed the clothes in it. Next she picked up the diaper bag and took out a few toys and books and a box of baby wipes. “The only things I’m keeping from this whole mess are the camera and the toys and books, because Christine has gotten attached to them. I got the wipes at our last stop and only used three. I’m also keeping the Bottles and stuff.”
Booth nodded, “Keep what you want and I’ll bag the rest of it and take it out in the morning.”
Brennan finished her task and went to the refrigerator and got out the bowl of leftover spaghetti and put half of it on a plate and put it in the microwave. Christine’s bottle got done a few minutes after Brennan’s spaghetti. Booth sat down in a chair and held the bottle to Christine’s lips, she took to it instantly.”Christine’s not having a problem taking the bottle from me, maybe Max was stressed and she could feel it.”
Brennan chewed her pasta before saying “Probably. He was edgy and moody the whole time. There were a few times I wanted to call you and ask you to get me home somehow, even though you would have had to arrest me.”
“Aw Bones it wasn’t that bad was it?”
“No, I just wanted to come home.”
“How did you get here?”
“I drove under the cover of darkness in the clunker of a car dad bought for a grand.”
“Where’s the car?”
“I parked it three houses down in from of the Williams’ house and left the car seat and keys in the floor as per dad’s request. It’s probably gone now I ‘m party sure he had someone follow me. There’s more to tell, but I’m too tired to get in to it now.”
“Okay, Christine fell asleep after ¾ of a bottle so let’s go to bed.”They headed upstairs and Booth put Christine in her crib before joining Brennan next door and falling into the deepest sleep he’d had in three months.
A/N: this took a while to get out muse kept adding things.
The next morning Booth woke up to the sun shining, birds chirping and Brennan lying as close to him as she could get with one arm tossed over his waist, life was good again. He noticed Brennan was a little thinner than before she left, but he was too, it wasn’t a big loss and nothing a few good meals together couldn’t fix. Booth x laid there enjoying the moment when a cry came over the baby monitor, Brennan shifted and mumbled, “I’ll get her, she’s hungry.” Booth kissed the top of her head.”I’m so glad you’re home, both of you.”
“We’re glad to be home.” Christine’s cries grew more incessant, “I better go get her.” Booth nodded as Brennan left the bedroom. Soon he heard Brennan’s voice over the monitor, “good morning baby girl, let’s get you changed and go spend a lazy morning in bed with daddy.”Booth smiled and relaxed into the sheets. A few minutes later Brennan cane in carrying Christine and sat back on the bed and began to feed her. “It’s almost 9; Christine has never slept that late. She slept through the night the first week then after that she was up at least twice a night. Most of the time she didn’t need a diaper or to be fed. I just had to hold her for a while and she’d fall back asleep. Sometimes I’d put her in bed with me, I know the books say not to but…”
“It’s okay Bones. I think Christine needed to be close to you.”Booth leaned over and kissed Christine’s head.” I’ve missed this. What’s the plan for today?”
“I thought we could just hand out here and talk for a while and relax; I haven’t done that in a while.”
“Can we talk about…?”
“Yes, when Christine is finished.” Booth nodded and put his arm around Brennan, she leaned into him a little. A few minutes later Brennan handed Christine to Booth, “burp her, “I’ll be right back.” Brennan put the burp cloth on Booth’s shoulder and left the room. Brennan came back ten minutes later with a tray holding two mugs, last Sundays paper’s crossword, the camera and memory cards plus the toys from the diaper bag. Booth smiled at Christine’s excited squeal at seeing her mom. Brennan sat on the bed keeping the tray from Christine’s reach.
“You’re back on coffee Bones?”
“No, it’s decaffeinated tea. Although yesterday when I started out I stopped to get gas and I got a small coffee, it tasted so good! “
Booth chuckled and sat Christine between his knees and reached for his coffee. Brennan wound up Christine’s musical cow and handed it to her, “Christine loves this thing, we were at a store waiting on dad’s antibiotics for his abscessed tooth and she was getting fussy so dad showed it to her and she fell in love.” Brennan took a few sips of her tea and gave Christine the rest of the toys. “We ended up in Canada, when I left you at the church dad gave me instructions to drive to Culpeper Virginia, we stayed there for their night with dad’s friends. Then we both drove all day and night to Minnesota and stayed with Margaret for a week, she has a lake house in the middle of nowhere. While we were there we got our fake papers and stuff. I became Sophia Renee Johnston with red hair and grey eyes from deadwood Colorado. I wouldn’t let dad change Christine’s name he didn’t like it, but I was adamant that her name not be changed. We compromised, and changed her last name to Johnston.” Booth took Brennan’s hand sensing she needed a little comfort and a momentary distraction after disobeying Max like she had.
“How’s Margaret these days?”
“Good, still quoting Benjamin Franklin. She fell in love with Christine and probably would have kept her if I’d let her…I thought about doing it for a minute….does ‘that make me a bad mother?”
“No, you didn’t know what your dad was dragging you into and you wanted Christine to be safe and you knew Margaret would keep her safe.” Booth put his coffee down and picked up Christine and sat her in Brennan’s lap. Brennan kissed the top of her head; Booth put his arm around her.
“After we were there a few days dad said that we were going to leave as soon as it got dark that was better anyway; Christine would sleep during most of the travel.”
“Uh-oh someone’s starting to smell, I’ll be back Bones.” Booth took Christine from Brennan
“Be sure she’s done before you change her; dad never did and was back doing it in five minutes.”
“Got it, come on smelly.” Brennan smiled and got up going to the bathroom while Booth changed Christine. “Hey Bones I think Christine is getting hungry; she’s sucking on her fingers.”
“She probably is; I usually give her baby food after she’s been up a while. We’ll need to get some though; I used all I had yesterday.”
“I got half dozen jars after the press conference; I got all fruit though I wasn’t sure what veggies you’d tried.”
“That’s fine pears are her favorite.”
“I got pears. I’ll go get her something and us too. I got some of those bagels from that bakery you love yesterday.”
“Did you know I was on my way home?”
“No, but I figured you’d get here as soon as you could.” Brennan came out of the bathroom and Booth handed her Christine.
Ten minutes later Booth came back with a restocked tray, Christine squealed.”She’s either happy to see you or she’s hoping you have food foe her on the tray.”
“I’m gonna go with happy to see me, but I do have food for her.” Booth sat the tray down on the bed and picked up the jar opening it, and pouring half of it in a little plastic bowl.”How are we going to do this?”
“I can hold her and you can feed her or vice versa.”
“I’ll feed her.” Booth put a bite of the pears on the spoon and Christine opened her mouth. Booth chuckled.
“She likes to eat; she’ll probably down the whole jar. We got to Canada hours before sun up and couldn’t check into our cabin until 7 am. We drove around and got food and supplies.”
“Where did you guys stay?”
“In very remote fishing and hunting cabins, every week and a half or so dad would move us to a more remote location in the wilderness. I don’t even know where we ended up; I didn’t care all I cared about was keeping Christine happy… some of the cabins were nice but most were crap. If it were just me and dad I wouldn’t have cared so much, but I have a baby to be responsible for!” Brennan’s voice got louder causing Christine to turn her head and look up at her.”Sorry sweetheart, finish your pears.” Brennan kissed the top of Christine’s head and waited for her to start eating again before speaking again.
“Our cover was I was divorced and visiting the Canadian bush with my father to get my head clear. It worked well for the most part, there was an owner of as used bookstore that said I looked a little like Temperance Brennan, I laughed it off and got my books.”
“So that’s what you did the whole time? Read books?”
“No, while dad was fishing Christine and I took a lot of walks. I got one of those baby carriers that you strap to yourself, and I packed water and snacks and we’d go for a little over an hour, Christine liked it. The rest of the time we sat on a blanket on the shore and played, she likes butterflies. That part was nice; I wish you’d been there though.”
“I know me too.” Booth gave Christine her last bite and washed the little bit of food of her face. Once Christine was done Booth pushed him back against the headboard and picked up his bagel. Christine wiggled herself from Brennan’s lap and crawled over to Booth and pulled herself up on him. He put down his bagel and gave her a boost, holding her close.” hi baby girl.” Booth gave her a kiss and looked up to see tears streaming down Brennan’s face. Boot scooted closer to her. “Hey Bones what’s the matter?”
“You missed so much. You must be so mad at me. I’m sorry I left and took Christine with me, but I had too. You missed when she learned to crawl and got her first tooth… you even missed her first cold…” Christine looked at Brennan puzzled as to why her mom was crying.
“Christine got sick?”
“We both did about two weeks after we left, it wasn’t that bad. We both were stuffed up and had a cough. Christine had a slight fever I didn’t. We went to the clinic in town and got cough syrup that knocked us out so we just slept it off and felt better in about a week.”
“How was she?”
“Okay, just a little crankier than normal, because she couldn’t breathe through her nose very well. The hard part was getting her to take the cough syrup, but that stuff was nasty and bitter tasting. I didn’t even want to take it, but I wanted to sleep without waking up hacking up a lung every five minutes.” Booth chuckled and handed Brennan some tissues for her tears.
“Bones, I am mad, but not at you. I’m mad at the situation, I’m mad at Pelant for doing this to us. I’m mad at you a little for taking Christine, but she needed to be with you. I just wish you’d told me you were going.”
“Why, so that you could stop me?” And lie to the FBI when they asked you if you knew where we were. Because you’ couldn’t have stopped me. Besides if I told you I couldn’t have left. More than once I wanted to call you and come home. I thought I could do it, but every time I looked at Christine I realized I had made a big mistake. I couldn’t take it Booth, it was too hard!” Brennan started crying again.
Booth shifted Christine and pulled Brennan half onto his lap. “I know it was hard, but your leaving wasn’t a mistake; Bones you and I both know if you’d go to jail Pelant would have done something to you there. He was in our house! Nowhere was safe except were Max took you two.” He picked up Christine, “Mommy needs a hug, baby girl.”Booth passed Christine over and Brennan gently hugged her. And even though Christine couldn’t hug back she held still and let Brennan hug her. Booth smiled, “Now what’s on the camera?”
Brennan smiled, “I had dad buy an inexpensive, but good camera and every day I took at least one picture of Christine so that when we got to come home you’d get to see the things you missed. I know it isn’t the same, but it’s the best I could do.” Brennan settled Christine between them and picked up her bagel.
“It’s fine Bones.”
“In some of them I have the wig and contacts.”
“It’s okay.” Booth turned on the camera and looked through the pictures, eating his bagel and listening to Brennan yell a little about the pictures.
A while later Brennan put the cap on the pen she used to complete the crossword puzzle that she and Booth had done together. “That was fun, I haven’t done one since you’ve been gone.”
“Me either, newspapers were a luxury dad wouldn’t go for.” Christine wiggled. “I think someone is getting bored staying in bed.”
“We should get up I guess, it’s almost noon.”
“Okay, but I’m staying in my pajamas, the whole time we were gone I had to stay in my clothes just in case we had to leave in the middle of the night. I had to have at least 2 bottles in the cooler just in case. I had to have all of our stuffed packed by the door so we could grab it and go. Christine couldn’t really play, dad thought we wouldn’t have time to pack the toys up and we couldn’t leave them behind… sometimes after dad went to bed I’d get her up and get her toys out and let her play… until she fell asleep… I think dad knew, but if he did he didn’t say anything.”
Booth squeezed Brennan’s hand, “it’s fine Bones you can stay in your pajamas as long as you want. We both have time off until we want to come back.”
Brennan nodded and picked up Christine and headed to the living room, while Booth got the breakfast dishes and things.
Booth put the tray and dishes in the kitchen, picking up the toys he headed into the living room and smiled at Brennan kneeling on the floor playing with Christine. He squatted down and wound up the cow, laughing when Christine threw down the foam ball Brennan had given her and snatched up the cow. “We should try to find another one of these because if it breaks I think we’ll be in trouble.”
“I know I’m looking on line tomorrow.”
“Good. Go sit down I have something for you.”
Brennan went to the couch and sat down while Booth went back to the bedroom and came back with a paper bag he handed to her a few minutes later. Brennan opened the bag to find her bag and cell phone. “I hid them from Flynn in my gun safe. They searched the house for clues to where you went to and took a bunch of stuff for evidence after it was determined that Pelant was here. I found your bag and phone before they got here and put them in their safe, I couldn’t let Flynn take them.”
“Thanks Booth.”
“You’re welcome Bones.”
“Did you get our stuff back?”
“Everything but the stuff Pelant planted.”
Brennan nodded and turned on her phone. “Booth why are there a 120 missed calls from an unknown number on my phone?”
“I got a disposable cell phone and called yours whenever I couldn’t take you being gone just to hear your voicemail message.”
Brennan wiped away a tear that that ran down her cheek.” I’m so sorry Booth. I love you.”
“It’s okay Bones, I love you too.”