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Booth rubbed at his aching lower back as he shuffled into the living room. Brennan watched him from her corner of the couch.
“My back might not survive this whole ‘daddy don’t put me down until I’m asleep’ thing that Hank is doing,” he said, collapsing beside her with a sigh.
She sipped her wine, eyebrow raised. “He’s not going to learn to stop if you keep doing it every night.”
“Yeah, but he gets his little arm around my neck and then I just can’t help it.” He took the glass as she passed it to him. “What can I say, I’m a softie.”
“You’re a good father, Booth.”
He lifted her hand and kissed it. “Thanks, Bones.”
They sat side-by-side with their fingers linked together in comfortable quiet, the night sounds of the house around them - the swish of the dishwasher, the hum of the air conditioner, the fainter thump of the dryer going upstairs.
He felt that she was going to speak before she actually did, some shift in the air around her that would go unnoticed by anyone but him.
A moment later, she sucked in a breath, and spoke in that cool, informative way that drove him crazy, in both the best and worst way. “Did you know that I carry fetal DNA from both our children in my blood? Even years and potentially decades later, pieces of them remain in me.”
“Really? That’s kind of cool, isn’t it?”
She hummed opaquely. “My ilium, ischium, pubis, my ribs, are all permanently changed from the process of pregnancy and childbirth.”
He waited, unsure of where she was headed with this.
“The skeletal effects are somewhat unseen, but it is also obvious from my soft tissues that my body is different than it was before I had children. I carry more fat in my hips and abdomen, and of course in my breasts as well. Their shape and elasticity has changed considerably from nursing and pumping.”
His heart softened; the clinical terminology was obviously a front for some insecurities. “Hey, Bones, I love your body just the way it is. You know that, right?” He kissed her hand again, and then her wrist. “Watching you grow our kids inside you, seeing you give birth and feed them and all of that - it was very special to me. That was a sacrifice you made for our family that I’ll never be able to repay.”
He smiled gently at her, pleased with himself for the thoughtful way he had expressed his gratitude and admiration.
She turned her head toward him and fixed him with a piercing look, and he instantly realized he had miscalculated, and badly.
“I agree. I have, for the sake of our family, sacrificed my body in marked, permanent ways that you could not participate in. So maybe–” and here she smoothly took the wine glass back from him and drained the remainder “--maybe it is your turn.”
Her chin was lifted in a haughty, triumphant sort of way that took him back to years of late nights in the diner, arguing and teasing one another, and here she was once again outsmarting him and here he was once again a sucker lost in her big blue eyes.
He shook his head and dropped it onto the back of the couch with a thunk, a smile spreading across his face. “Oh Bones. If only Sweets could see you now.”
She frowned, puzzled. “Sweets? Why?”
“‘Cause I think he would be pretty damn impressed with how you just played me.” He turned his face to her, keeping his gaze soft so she would understand that he wasn’t angry. “Alright. You’re right. I’m sorry, I was being a macho dick. I’ll do it.”
“Just to be clear, you are agreeing to the vasectomy?”
“Yeah, yeah, snip snip.” He watched the satisfaction of victory bloom across her face.
“I appreciate you reconsidering. And I’m sorry I didn’t ask the first time and just assumed by making the appointment.” She drew her legs under her and sat up on her knees so she could kiss his cheek, then his mouth. “I love you, Booth.”
He curved his arm around her ribs and pulled her into his lap, tucking her head under his chin.
From upstairs, the dryer began to beep its little song of completion. When she moved like she was going to get up, he tightened his arms around her. “Leave it.”
“You know what it means if you get a vasectomy, don’t you?”
He tried not to wince at the word, muffled into his neck. “What?”
She shifted so her mouth was close to his ear. “No more condoms.” Her nails scratched over his chest. “No more pulling out.”
Her lips ghosted over his jaw, and he slid one warm hand up her back, under her shirt. “Keep talking.”
“You can come inside me, every time. I know you like that.”
“I do.” His fingers brushed the silky-soft side of her breast, and he shifted his hips underneath her.
“I like it too,” she whispered, her tongue flicking out against his earlobe. “The feel of you filling me up. The feel of you dripping down my thighs. Getting me all messy.”
“Ooohkay, you are getting a little too good at the manipulation, missy.” He dumped her off his lap so he could stand and haul her up next to him. “Let’s go, bedtime for Bones and Booth. Chop chop.” He pushed her ahead of him, pinching her ass as she squealed and twisted away from him.
“We can’t do that now, Booth; you have to have the procedure first.” She was giggling as he crowded her down the hall.
“Sure, but we can do a bunch of other stuff.” He caught her around the waist in the doorway to their room and kissed her soundly, pressing his hips into her and letting her feel how she’d gotten him all hot and bothered.
“I thought your back was hurting,” she said, nipping at his jaw.
“Yeah, well, I’ll just lay there and let you do all the work.” He laughed at the insulted expression on her face and kissed her again. “Kidding, baby, kidding.”
His favorite smile of hers curved across her mouth - self-satisfied and a little superior - and he felt like his heart might beat right out of his chest. “Actually,” she said, drawing him into their room, “I’m sure I can think of something you can do in that position.”
This was the woman he loved, adored, worshipped - he had killed for her, he had almost died for her.
He caught her chin and lifted her face. Her eyes were shining with love and anticipation, and he hoped to God she could see the same in his. “For you Bones, anything.”
fin