I promise I'm workin' hard on the next chapter of Different This Time, but I've been wanting to make a one-shot featuring Booth and his little girl. So after trying to come up with an idea for weeks and coming up empty, I finally thought of this.

I suppose you could say this is a song fic of Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman, but the lyrics won't be intercut into the dialogue or anything. (Well okay just a little at the end :P) It's just inspired by it. Anyway, enjoy!

Booth opened the front door with a sigh and threw his keys on the table that sat against the wall in the entryway. It had been a long, exhausting day of interrogating suspects and filling out paperwork. Brennan was still at the lab, promising to be home early tomorrow. He had no doubt that she would keep the promise; she always did when it came to their daughter. It was a tough case, though, and both he and Brennan were struggling to balance work time with family time. It wasn't anything they weren't used to, however, and Abby could adjust easily to her parents' busy schedules. But he still found himself wishing, not for the first time, that she didn't have to.

Booth's ears perked up as he tossed his jacket over the back of the couch. He could hear the soft melody of a song he was sure he should recognize coming from the back of the house. His curiosity piqued, he walked into the living room. What he saw made a smile break out on his tired features. His little girl was dressed in her full-on princess garb (a gift he had fought with Brennan about for weeks before she allowed him to buy it for her fourth birthday the year before) and she was twirling with her arms in a "ballerina pose" above her head. Her eyes lit up when she saw him standing there and he crouched to accept her hug.

"Daddy! Me and Sarah were playing princesses!" she announced excitedly. Booth scooped up his daughter easily and planted a loud kiss on her cheek.

"I see that," he told Abby with a grin. "You look beautiful, Pumpkin." He put her down and approached their nanny Sarah. "Thanks for staying late tonight."

"No problem, Mr. Booth. We had fun. Will you and Dr. Brennan be late again tomorrow night?" Booth looked at his little girl who was once again spinning around to the music with guilt etched on his face.

"I probably will, but Dr. Brennan will be here early," he answered, returning his focus to Sarah. "Thanks again. Say goodnight to Sarah, Abby," he instructed. Abby obliged happily and gave her nanny a tight hug. "Okay, Abster, it's bedtime," Booth announced when Sarah was gone.

"Not yet, Daddy!" Booth had expected the protest; Abby had been reciting the line every night since she learned to speak.

"Abby, it's late." His little girl pouted a perfect Brennan pout, one of the few features she had inherited from her mother.

"Daddy, I want you to dance with me! Cuz I'm the princess and I need you to be the prince!" Booth rubbed a hand over his face.

"Not tonight, Baby Girl. We can play tomorrow. It's past your bedtime and Daddy has work to do right now." Abby crossed her arms indignantly.

"I didn't see you today! I miss you!" Booth was about to argue that he had seen her just that morning, but then realized that he hadn't. He had left for work before Abby was awake. His heart twisted in his chest.

"I miss you too, Sweetheart," he promised emphatically. He looked down at his baby who was looking up at him with pleading brown eyes. He half-smiled and held out his hand. "May I have this dance, Princess Abby?" Abby beamed and grabbed his hand.

"It would be an honor, Prince Daddy," she replied, making Booth chuckle.

"Put your feet on mine," he told her. She did and he began moving them to the music.

"Daddy!" Abby exclaimed suddenly, making Booth look down at her in alarm. "You don't have a crown! Princes have crowns!" She released his hands and bounded up the stairs to her room, returning a minute later with her spare tiara. Booth put it on his head dutifully.

"Better, Princess Abby?" Abby nodded, satisfied, and lifted her arms to be carried.

"Pick me up?" she asked in her sweetest voice. Booth lifted her and she rested her head on his shoulder as he began to sway back and forth.

"I love you, Daddy," her suddenly tired voice said so quietly he had barely heard her. Inexplicably, the four words he had heard a million times before caused tears to prick at his eyes. He kissed the top of her head and held her just a little bit tighter.

"I love you too, Abby-Girl," he whispered back. Before he knew it, one song had turned to two and then to three and to four, and he was still walking his little girl around the living room. She had long ago stopped asking for 'just one more, Daddy' but still he danced, suddenly unable to put her down.

Booth knew she was falling asleep without looking at her. Her grip around his neck went slack and she started making those little mumbling noises she made just before she fell asleep. Silently, he carried her up to her room and removed her princess dress, relieved to find that Sarah had the forethought to dress her in her pajamas before he got home. He carefully laid her down on her bed and tucked the comforter up to her neck. He placed a feather-light kiss on her forehead and whispered his love for her once more, even though she was already fast asleep and couldn't hear him.

Booth turned on her nightlight and walked to her door, where he turned around to steal one last look at his sleeping princess. He was suddenly acutely aware of how big she was, and how fast it was all going. Next month she would start kindergarten, and after that came middle school and hormones and dances and boys, none of which were things he was looking forward to in the slightest. He knew, looking at her peaceful little face as she dreamed, that he was running out of time and soon she wouldn't be asking for 'just one more dance, Prince Daddy?', so he had better take the chance whenever he got it.

-BONES-

Booth looked up from the hockey game currently raging across the TV screen when he heard the front door open. He smiled when saw his girls walk through the door, giggling and with big smiles plastered on their faces. He loved watching Brennan with their daughter; they had the closeness he knew she missed so dearly with her own mother. Her fears that Abby wouldn't understand her, or she wouldn't understand Abby, disappeared years ago. Now their relationship was easy and loving and absolutely cherished by his wife above all else. "I see that the shopping trip was a success," Booth quipped as he spotted the hanger that held a plastic-covered dress.

"Daddy, wait until you see it!" Abby exclaimed excitedly. Brennan nodded in agreement.

"It is quite stunning, Booth," she concurred. Her usage of the word 'stunning' scared Booth a little, but he tried his best not to let it show.

"Can I see it?" he asked, perhaps a little more anxiously than he had intended. Of course, Abby picked up on his tone and rolled her eyes.

"Daddy, I'm eighteen years old," she reminded him, crossing her arms.

"What?" Booth asked defensively. "I didn't say anything!" Abby huffed but smiled anyway before taking the dress into the bathroom.

"Don't say a word," Brennan warned in a low voice once Abby was gone. "The dress is perfectly acceptable and in no way merits you calling it 'inappropriate' or 'revealing.' It is well within the school's dress code and there is no reason for you to be an overprotective father right now." Booth feigned innocence but Brennan just continued to give him a stern look.

"Fine," he finally conceded. "But that doesn't mean I won't be on the lookout for things Ben might get distracted by."

"What's the point of spending so much money on a prom dress if it isn't going to distract your date?" Brennan quipped, making Booth's eyes widen in shock. She laughed and kissed him on the cheek.

Abby emerged from the bathroom, the light blue strapless dress just barely grazing the floor. "Dad?" she called nervously. Booth turned to look at her, and was, true to Brennan's word, stunned. He wanted to tell her the back was too low, but it wasn't. He wanted to tell her the front didn't come up high enough, but it did. It was simply beautiful, and his baby girl looked all grown up.

"Abby… you… you look beautiful," he told her honestly, fighting back the tears. Abby grinned, visibly relieved at his approval.

"You like it?" she asked tentatively, needing confirmation. Booth nodded.

"Ben won't know what hit him." Abby pulled him into a grateful hug. "When did you get so grown up?" he asked when she let go.

"When you weren't looking, I guess," Abby replied with a sly smile.

"Must have." Abby saw the tears welling in her father's eyes and her expression softened.

"Dad, I… I don't really know how to dance and I don't want to embarrass myself in front of Ben. I was… wondering if you could show me." She walked briskly over to the stereo and selected a CD.

"Now?" Booth questioned, following her into the living room.

"Unless you don't want to?" Booth could hear the disappointment in her voice and was absolutely powerless to say no to her. He offered his hand to her in a gesture that seemed strangely familiar and smiled when she put her hand in his.

"Okay, this is how you waltz," he explained before starting to dance. Abby did her best to follow him and he nodded as she started to get the hang of it. "Right, there you go. You've got it. You're a natural, Princess." Abby smiled at the nickname her father hadn't used for her in several years.

"Who taught you how to dance, Daddy?" she asked, their identical eyes locking.

"Pops," was his simple answer. When Abby pulled him close and rested her head on his shoulder, he frowned. "Hey, just how close are you planning on dancing with this guy, anyway?" Abby laughed and squeezed him tighter.

"I thought you liked Ben, Dad."

"I do," Booth promised. "I just… didn't know you were gonna be dancing this close."

"Daddy…" Abby said in her warning voice.

"Not everyone leaves room for the holy spirit, Booth," Brennan's voice said from behind him. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Why do you have to have a memory like a steel trap, Bones?" His wife's response was to laugh at him once more.

Booth danced the waltz with his little girl who was not so little anymore. He thought about the last ten years or so, and they seemed to be a blur. When did she get to be old enough to go to her senior prom? Wasn't it just yesterday that he had to lift her up so she could rest her head on his shoulder? Why was it so easy for her to do it now, just standing in front of him? He closed his eyes as he swayed, and for a moment, the young woman in his arms was that little girl again. The little girl who refused to go to sleep and lived for 'shoulder rides' and sloppy kisses from him. Lost in his memories, his heart skipped a beat when the song faded and his very much grown up daughter said in her distinctly not-five-years-old-anymore voice, "Just one more dance, Daddy?"

-BONES-

"Mom? Dad?" Abby's voice carried through the house. She frowned when she didn't get an answer.

"Abby!" a voice from behind her exclaimed. She turned around to see her father walking through the front door. He pulled her into an exuberant hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Wedding stuff," she answered, following him into the kitchen. "Where's Mom?"

"At the lab," there was only the slightest hint of irritation in his voice and Abby laughed.

"The campaign to get Temperance Brennan to retire isn't going so well, huh?" she guessed. Booth sighed and poured himself a glass of juice.

"If I hear 'Booth, I'm only sixty years old. The average retiring age in the United States is sixty-five. I don't know why you're pushing this' one more time…" Abby chuckled again. From an early age it had fascinated and endeared her to see how her parents could bicker almost constantly but still be so obviously in love with each other.

"The 'we can see the world' argument isn't working?" Booth shook his head and put his glass on the counter.

"How do you entice Miss I-Climbed-Mount-Everest-With-Nothing-But-My-Bare-Hands with a promise of a trip around the world?" Abby got that ever-familiar sneaky look in her eye.

"Maybe you're just mad because you can't be a field agent anymore and you hated your desk job so you want Mom to join you in your purposelessness and despair."

"Oh no, no way. You're not taking your mother's side on this. We have an unspoken pact, Kiddo." Abby smiled and Booth stared her down for a moment before changing the subject. "So, wedding stuff? Mom and I already told you that you can do anything you want. We'll cover half of it, no questions asked."

"Well this… sort of involves you."

"Me?" Abby nodded.

"I was wondering if you might want to make a speech at the wedding." Booth eyed his daughter suspiciously.

"A speech? You just want to see your old man cry." Abby shrugged.

"That might be true, but actually it was Ben's idea. He wants his mom to make a speech and he thought it would be nice if you did too."

"Okay, deal. But understand you're giving me free reign on this thing. Be prepared for a lot of embarrassing stories."

"Okay, okay, understood," Abby agreed, enjoying the playful banter with her father. She had missed this after she moved away to attend college overseas. She and Ben had only recently moved back to the states and it was moments like these when she realized just how attached to her parents she was. "There's more," she added tentatively.

"Uh oh."

"I was wondering if you had picked out a song for our father/daughter dance?" Booth nodded and went to get his laptop.

"You're trying to kill me," he said when he returned. "That's all. You're just trying to kill me." He took a moment to find what he was looking for and turned the computer toward Abby when he did. "It's kind of an older song, but I thought it would be pretty good for you and me."

Abby couldn't stop the tears from flowing when she heard the familiar lyrics pour out of the laptop speakers. She had picked the exact same song for them years ago, before she even knew Ben. "I love you, Daddy," she told him, wiping the tears away with her sleeve.

"I love you more, Princess," he replied, earning him a nostalgic smile from his daughter. He held out his hand to her over the counter and said with a twinkle in his eye, "May I have this dance, Princess Abby?"

"It would be an honor, Prince Daddy." She hadn't spoken the words in almost twenty years, but they came just as naturally as ever and she sighed contentedly when Booth gathered her in his arms and started to sway as the chorus of their song began.

"So I will dance with Cinderella

While she is here in my arms

'Cause I know

Something the prince never knew

Oh I will dance with Cinderella

I don't wanna miss even one song

'Cause all too soon,

The clock will strike midnight

And she'll be gone…"

So there we go! Just so you know, this one-shot is in no way related to Different This Time, and I will be naming the baby something different than Abby in that one.