(Untitled)

[dr_temperance]

“I probably shouldn’t be bringing you here,” Brennan is saying as she comes through the door. “Family Services would frown on me removing you so far from their jurisdiction-if they were to acknowledge the existence of Milliways, of course. But the time differential here will help me to expedite the resolution of your case

Comments

[argyle_princess]

Hannah has her hands held up in a gesture that either means I surrender or my nails are wet.

She also has a very curious look on her face.

"You have a baby. In a bar."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan glances up with just a hint of exasperation.

Her sleep had been interrupted multiple times last night.

"Yes. Obviously."

She jiggles the colorful interlocking rings, hoping that the faint noise will distract the baby.

[argyle_princess]

"Okay," says Hannah. "Point.

"I guess I sort of meant why do you have a baby in a bar?"

[dr_temperance]

"Because I didn't think it was likely that the baby monitor would be able to transmit from my office to Milliways."

Brennan is not concerned with leaving the baby in her office with the monitor while she is out on the platform or in one of the Medico-Legal lab's other offices.

But if her cell phone (with its number of bells and whistles) can't get reception in Milliways, she seriously doubts that a Babies-R-Us monitor that runs on C batteries will reach her at the End of the Universe.

[argyle_princess]

Facepalming would mess up Hannah's nails, so she doesn't. But she wants to.

"Right. Let me back up and . . . um . . . truncate. Brennan, why do you have a baby?"

[dr_temperance]

"He's temporarily in my custody."

The rings have clearly lost their appeal. Not surprising--babies this age have very short attention spans. Time to try something new.

Brennan reaches back into the diaper bag and pulls out a small grey stuffed elephant.

"He's evidence. Well, to be technical, he ingested evidence."

[argyle_princess]

"He what?

"How?

"What?"

[dr_temperance]

"A key. A small one. He swallowed it."

Brennan glances up from making the elephant dance for the baby.

"It was not my fault."

She only looked away for a second.

[argyle_princess]

Hannah raises an eyebrow.

"Right. I'm gonna guess it totally was."

Or Brennan would not have promptly denied it.

[dr_temperance]

Brennan give Hannah a Look.

"Strictly from an evolutionary standpoint, it makes no sense for preverbal children to attempt--and in cases like this succeed--to eat metal objects."

The elephant is not proving to be quite satisfactory either.

Brennan sighs and lifts the baby out of the infant carrier and settles him on her lap.

"At any rate, he needs to remain with me until we can get it back."

She'll let Hannah extrapolate how said retrieval is going to be achieved herself.

[argyle_princess]

"It's about . . . exploring your surroundings. Or something."

Hannah wiggles ten brightly painted (if still damp) nails just out of the baby's reach.

Perhaps this will prove more interesting than the elephant.

[dr_temperance]

Very interesting, apparently. Given the enthusiastic grab the baby makes for her fingers.

Brennan smiles wryly down at her charge.

"They are extremely tactile at this age. Which perhaps explains why he prefers to be held when he gets upset."

Brennan is a very conscientious person in general, and that carries over into foster-parenthood. She has studied up on the behavior of infants.

But instinct-wise, she is still feeling a lot of things out.

[argyle_princess]

Hannah grins. "Finger wiggling aside, I'm not much of a knowing that to do with babies person.

"I mean, I had Dr. Hodgins reprogram mine. That's probably frowned upon."

[dr_temperance]

"Nor am I, I'm afraid. Booth is much better at it; practical experience. So is Angela."

Despite Brennan's lack of expertise, the baby does seem happier now. She gives him a smile that's not entirely a purely clinical delivery of positive attention.

"Wait. Dr. Hodgins did what?" she asks, looking up.

[argyle_princess]

"Oh, I hadn't mentioned that, had I?"

Given that it involved letting one of Brennan's employees help her, you know, massively cheat on a school assignment.

"Stepford. My animatronic parental lifestyle simulator. Dr. Hodgins reprogrammed him. He was, um, set to colicly crack baby or something."

Hannah shrugs and goes back to finger wiggling.

[dr_temperance]

"No. No, you hadn't."

Brennan thinks for a moment, then shrugs. She should probably be disturbed by the technical cheating.

But she finds that she's not.

Brennan shrugs.

"As problem solving goes, that was a fairly inventive approach."

The baby is staring again at Hannah's fingers. And after a moment emits a full-body wiggling laugh.

Brennan holds him just a little tighter. If she lets him fall in the floor, Booth will really never let her hear the end of it.