Disclaimer: I don't own Bones or any of the characters.

Prompt #50: Partners - It took some doing - and good couple years of denial - before they took that first step. But they knew it'd been destined to happen the first moment he'd walked into her lecture.

Words: 886

The first time Joy ever asked how her parents got together, she was six years old. She was over her cousin Michael's house for a sleepover, and for a bedtime story she asked Aunt Angela how her parents met.

Angela told her that when they met, Daddy was asking Mommy for help, and he swept her off her feet into a life of solving crime. Together they became great superheros that defended D.C. from bad guys. It was romantic and touching and filled with moments that passed for them both, other people who got in the way of the couple's happily ever after. But at last, they finally had Joy and, as Aunt Angela said, "got their heads screwed on right and got married, finally."

That was a pretty good story, Joy thought. But she knew it hadn't been as flowery as Aunt Angela made it out to be. Michael's mom had a bad habit of adding unnecessary romance to a simple enough tale.

A week later, she asked Uncle Sweets about it. He went on and on about psychology stuff that bored her to tears, talking about shared traumas and experiences that both strengthened and weakened their relationship, and the trials they had faced together. But hidden in the jargon, he kept the tale pretty short. They met, they bonded, and once that bond was formed, nothing could break it.

Another good story, Joy thought. But again, it wasn't enough. She wanted the full story.

Two days after that, she asked Aunt Cam for the whole tale. She gave the most concise story yet - Joy's parents did a complicated song-and-dance routine that spanned almost eight years, various flames in-between a powerful attraction that began from their very first case together. They'd risked life and limb for each other more than once. In the end, Joy's birth had been the crux to finally bring them together.

A satisfactory tale, Joy had thought with a big smile. Explained everything she wanted to know.

Except how they had met. Nobody seemed to know that, except Uncle Sweets, and his only words on the matter was "Go ask them."

One night at the dinner table, Joy looked at both of her parents and asked point-blank, "When did Mommy and Daddy first met?"

Her parents exchanged looks that said everything without uttering a word. Mommy smiled and looked down at her plate, as if remembering something funny. Daddy took a sip of his drink and set down his fork.

"Well," he said with a big smile, "you know that Auntie Cam sent me to meet your mother."

"Yeah. But how did you meet?" Joy asked again. "Where?"

"At one of my classes," Mommy said. "I was teaching students about the practical ways of removing flesh from dead bodies without damaging the bones - "

"Bones, we're eating! Geez," Daddy said, putting his fork down.

" - and he walked through the door," Mommy finished, still smiling. "He didn't think he'd find a pretty female forensic anthropologist."

Daddy nodded. "And that's when everything changed, kiddo," he told Joy. "I knew she was special the moment I laid eyes on her. I knew there'd be no way I could ever ask anyone else to be my partner."

"I didn't know that," Mommy said. "You never told me that."

"It's the truth, Bones," was his reply.

Joy beamed at both parents, then her six-year old wisdom prodded her to ask, "So why did it take so long for Mommy and Daddy to get married?"

"Because Mommy and Daddy didn't know any better," Daddy admitted with a sheepish grin. "We had to learn how to be friends, then good friends, before we fell in love."

"And Mommy...didn't know how to love," added Mommy. "Grandpa and Uncle Russ knew how to love me, but I - I didn't trust easily, Joy. Didn't love people easily. Daddy had to deal with a lot of Mommy's issues before I realized that I cared about him like that." She looked at Daddy. "But you knew that, didn't you?"

"Yeah Bones," he replied quietly. "I knew."

Unable to contain herself, Joy hopped off her chair and hugged her Mommy tightly. "I love you, Mommy!" she said. "And I know you love me too!"

Mommy hugged her back. "I really do, sweetheart."

"And I love Daddy too!" Joy added, letting go to hug her Daddy as well. "Just as much as I love Mommy!"

Daddy picked her up and hugged her tightly. "And I love you too, squirt." Setting her down again, he patted her back. "Now get back to your seat and finish your dinner. Remember the hockey game's on tonight?"

"The Stanley Cup finals!" Joy gasped. "We can't miss that!" But she knew she wouldn't watch the game without being snuggled between her parents, a blanket over their legs, and her parents' arms around each other. Joy wouldn't have it any other way.

They belonged together, after all.

FIN!

Another completed series! Thanks for staying with it for so long! Leave a review on your way out, and read my other works please and thank you!