All the usual disclaimers apply. This is my first crack at writing. This story should be about six chapters long, but unfortunately, I'm looking for a beta reader to help fine tune the story to bring it to its end. If any of you know, a beta, or you yourselves are beta readers. Maybe you can help. I have reached out to many BETA readers, and none of them have been able to be of assistance yet. Although reviews are very welcome, constructive criticisms are extremely welcome. A little assistance in this first endeavor would be of the utmost help. Once again thank you very much.

?o?oooooooooooooo

This day was the same as every other: a day like so many others.

Booth was cleaning up, tidying up his garage in the most Ranger-like way he knew – just the way the Pops -his grandfather - would have always wanted it.

The kids were all at home this weekend: Parker – – a writer like his stepmother also a Clinical psychologist like his Uncle Lance Sweets. Christine – – Although she had the dream job to be working side-by-side with her mother, she decided to take the leap and went to Quantico, graduated top of her class - Smarts and Braun-. Along with an expert shot, she could oversee a crime scene like the best of the "squint," which was strictly unparalleled. And there was the baby of the family, Hank Junior - Second to none - the family's Polymath, simply unequalled. Still, if you must, the most exact equivalent would be his mother, but with empathy like his father, he was the total package. But unfortunately, small in stature. Unlike the moniker his father had given him as an infant as the bruiser. His mother would later comment that the nickname for him as the bruiser was one of those cop nicknames, which meant the opposite...

Then we have Dr. Temperance Brennan, the foremost forensic anthropologist in the world. She was known throughout the crime-solving community as part of the most successful tandem in the FBI history. But did the world know Dr. Brennan? The "What" was a question that Temperance would try to sketch out in her series of trendy novels. Who was the real Temperance "Tempe" Brennan? The awkward, extremely skilled intellectual? Or the intelligent anthropologist that she wrote about in her books. She tries to say that her novels' characters had nothing to do with her real-life adventures - except for the fact that everyone claimed that her real-life was always reflected in her books.

Seeing her husband coming towards the end of his career filled her with a bit of dread; she would remember those days, weeks of worry and pain solving cases that no one else could nor cared for. Seeing her children working the lab platform, her brilliant son Hank or her dashing daughter Christine or her stepchild Parker. She was leaving the world a better place than what had been presented to her as a 15-year-old orphan. A 15-year-old dreading the world, scared of what it offers to her. She looked at her children and saw all the striking similarities between herself and then the unique differences.

Hank, although young, was at least as intelligent as she was and was going to be at least as successful and accomplished as she is; But had none of the social awkwardness that she has, none of the pain that she suffered. Her question was, "will he be as successful?" Without the struggle, without the fight, could he reach the heights that she reached without the embarrassments? She acknowledged that Hank was the smartest in the room. But he had something she never did, and he had a Booth factor, a Booth element. The boy could be humble and not be dismissed; Hank could step back without the fear of anxiety. He was self-assured. But she was scared, frightened that his humility, humanity, and Faith would be an obstacle, a hindrance to his future successes. Hank had an element about him that he would praise any and everyone else to get the praise off himself. Most notably, he would centre his honour on his sister. On the other hand, his sister would well accept the glory, not a Booth-like quality; to the lament of Dr. Brennan, this was one of Christine's most significant defects.

When people began to look at her little brother too closely, she would become angry. In one instance at a crime scene, she called her mother and asked that they never be put together again, - Hank and herself - as she was afraid that some idiot would think, would fail to see, who she was and give him all her acclaims. To this, Dr. Brennan lamented, why couldn't she have inherited Booth's humility? Although brilliant in different ways, the three siblings would bicker, fight and laugh – – very much like their parents. Notorious for their constant bickering, challenging each other's presuppositions. Challenging the core doctrines in which they rotated around their respective universes. In case studies in psychology, everyone was confident that these two could never work out. There was just too much in which they were different. It took a young psychologist, just out of grad school, to understand how they indeed were more similar than others. Of course, he couldn't have done it on his own, with the assistance of a very unheralded retiring psychologist who helped push them in the right direction.

To be a Booth meant you had to be stubborn. Christine was stubborn. Being the firstborn to both Booth and Brennan. She grew up adored, the centre of the universe to her parents and, unfortunately, the centre of many malicious individuals and their galaxies. There was always something creeping in the shadows, and she knew that. But between the fantastic push she had and her evident intellectual acumen. She desired after her degrees to go into the family business, crime-solving. But in this, she was different from her parents. It may have been her youth, it may have been stupidity, but she thought she would be better by herself. She would be better without the legacy of her Father. In a sense, she resented the tent, which seems to have followed her around her whole life. When she was in academia, which seems easy to her, she finished her two doctorates simultaneously: forensic anthropology and criminology. With her degrees, she would for sure pass her Luddite father and become something in the FBI. When she joined Quantico, she tried to change her last name from Booth to Brennan, thinking that she could pass under the radar and get through training without the Booth legacy. Her first day in basic training. One of her instructors called her out and sat her down for a quick talk.

"Are you Booth's kid? "

"Do you know he saved my life twice, twice that I know of? I owe him my life, and so does so many men here." Then the instructor pointed over to the drill sergeant, "Do you see her? He saved her family too and was shot when saving her life. Booth almost died that day, again." "If you think using your mother's name will help you, I should think twice about that. Just don't do it to get back at your dad. Amongst us, he's a real hero. Your parents made the FBI proud; I hope you make them proud too."

Christine's words stumbled out of her mouth as she explained that it had nothing to do with that but that she wanted to be an agent on her own terms. The instructor smirked and, under his breath with disdain, "not very Booth." The next day, badges and all the paperwork were reissued by the higher-ups with BOOTH inscribed on them.

Their parents were getting older. Booth would retire in a couple of weeks. Brennan will begin to slow down, too, as she would not go out into the field without her partner Seeley Booth. She had always said the Booth would die; first, he had a hard life, a tough childhood. Between his training and his military exploits, it was a lifetime of events. His bones riddled with extreme damage. But he was a soldier first and foremost, a true man always and who thought about his neighbours and family first. However, she had had issues with his Faith. In the many years with which they had been together, Booth had taught her many things. Faith and family first. The heart is essential; use the gut when necessary but never discount it. Loyalty and trust continuously. Bones was thinking, two of the three of her children went to weekly Mass. That was Booth; that was the Booth she loved. The part that made her husband most happy was that they went on their own without his nagging.

Shortly after their marriage, something had been in her head, and it caused her much anxiety. Preparing for the wedding, she had done her research as per the norm, realizing there was a problem. Although not entirely their fault, rules had been broken. Therefore, their wedding had not been done according to the Catholic ritual. The Catholic form had been disrespected; an ex-Catholic priest performed the marriage; she realizes there was a severe problem.

As she was doing work at that moment for the Archdiocese of Washington and the Archdiocese of New York, identifying bodies in cemeteries and properties owned by the two dioceses. She was in close contact with both archbishops. Learning from Booth the acceptable social queue, she made good friends with both archbishops and the members of their respective Curias—having lunch with both men and their staffs. Dr. Brennan had covered the political implications of bodies being misidentified on sacred land and had cleared up many a complicated mess. One beautiful fall day, the archbishop, along with his Chancellor for Spiritual Affairs, talked about the Catholic Church's spheres of influence on peoples and traditions. Although this wasn't Dr. Brennan's circle of knowledge, she gave many an informed perspective, which greatly delighted those who are table. Growing quiet and ruminating, so the archbishop asked if there was an issue. She began, "I do have a question; my wedding was held at the Jeffersonian some weeks ago because some mindless arsonist burned the Church which we had arranged to have the said wedding. Because of these extreme circumstances, I, who am not a Catholic, insisted that the wedding take place on schedule. Although he willingly accompanied me in my desire, my husband, a Catholic, did have reservations. Now how can we have our wedding convalidated? How long will it take?"

The archbishop was shocked by the directness and the knowledge of this non-Catholic. She pulled from her briefcase the documents submitted when they first applied for their marriage license and their marriage in the Catholic Church, the baptismal record of Booth, Christine's baptismal, other accompanying paperwork. The archbishop that addressed her, "Dr. Brennan, it would be my pleasure. We can do this quietly, just the two of you, two witnesses, and we could do it in my Cathedral's Sacristy. Please contact the chancellor, and he will finalize the paperwork.

Temperance remembered this warmly; Angela and Hodgkin were the witnesses and were present at a Catholic marriage convalidation.

As Booth was finishing up his last items in the garage, putting away the mower in its proper place. Sweeping up what needed to be swept up. He heard a shrill cry, the emotion of panic in the voice of his daughter, "DAD – – help! "