Okay, this started out as a scene in a fic I was writing that spawned into its own. So I decided to start a series because Parker is just too cute to pass by. All of these will be one-shots and will contain at least Parker, and any/all/none of the others.

This one has all the squints plus Booth, and I don't know if this place is real or not, but there are places like it around here. We just call them Chuck E. Cheese.

October 2007…

Fridays at the Jeffersonian were usually fairly uneventful, but Dr. Temperance Brennan still protested when Special Agent Seeley Booth showed up at four-thirty to pull his partner away from the lab.

"It's way too early to leave, Booth, and it would be unethical," she tried appealing to his work ethic, but it seemed to have taken a vacation as weekend fever set in.

"Oh come on, Bones! It's only half an hour and I'm sure Cam won't mind," he answered. "I have to go pick Parker up from Rebecca's, then we're all going out for dinner." He raised his voice a little to include Angela and the others. When she shot a surprised look his way, Booth winked at the artist.

"Oh yeah, everyone's invited. I let Parker pick the restaurant so we're headed to Comet's at six." Booth was grinning from ear to ear, and Brennan couldn't tell if it was residual from the aforementioned fever or the anticipation of seeing his son.

"So you're kidnapping all of us?" Angela said coyly.

"Oh no, you'll have to kidnap yourselves. But I expect all of my squints out of this lab no later than five." He pointed his finger seriously at them and even Hodgins had to smile. "Come on, Bones." She sighed, doling out quick instructions for Zach to finish up for the night before Booth pulled her out of the lab. Brennan tried to confront Cam, but she merely waved goodbye as she strode past them to the platform to inform the team they were done for the evening. As they neared her car, Booth laid a hand on her shoulder and stepped a little closer.

"Parker and I will be at your place in an hour, Bones, so be ready." She nodded and waved as he drove off to pick up his son. She quickly showered and changed into casual attire and, exactly one hour later, there a light knocking on her door and the sound of a little boy giggling. She opened the door smiling as Parker barreled through and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Tempe! Daddy says we're going to Comet's! And Dr. Hodgins and Zach and Angela are gonna be there!" She laughed at the boy's enthusiasm as Booth stood in the doorway dressed in jeans and a faded Strokes t-shirt under his leather jacket.

"Hello, Parker, Booth," she greeted. She grabbed her jacket from the rack and her keys from the table and followed them out. The entire drive there found Brennan trying to keep up with the latest escapades of Parker and his kindergarten class.

"And then Kevin said I was stupid and I thought about shoving him but Daddy always says I shouldn't solve problems with violins." Booth laughed from the seat next to her and looked at his son in the rearview mirror.

"Violence, Parker. And that was very good of you. So what did you do?"

"I told Mrs. Roster that he was being mean and he had time-out for half of recess. But he's still being a meanie," Parker said finally, his face screwed up in a pout. Brennan twisted around in her seat and looked at the near-six-year old.

"You know, Parker, kids picked on me too when I was young because I was so smart." Parker's eyes widened bigger than saucers at her admission.

"Nuh uh!" he protested. "No one can pick on you, Daddy says so. You beat up the bad guys. Daddy how come it's okay for Tempe to use violins?" Brennan's eyes shifted to Booth as if to say "Yeah, how come?" Booth chuckled a little nervously, but adopted a fatherly tone that wouldn't be questioned.

"Because, Parker, Bones and I deal with people who are worse than mean. They could hurt others if they're not stopped and we do that however we have to. Sometimes Bones uses violence as a way to protect people." Before Parker could continue his line of inquiry, they pulled up to the flashy building. The three other squints were already waiting outside, and as soon as they were close enough and Booth let go of his hand Parker ran over to hug them. Zach was eyeing the building with trepidation, but Angela and Hodgins had far-away looks in their eyes.

"It's just like the old arcades we used to go to," Angela said. "I haven't been to one of these places since I was a kid." Hodgins looked like he agreed with her, but Zach was still shifting nervously from side to side. Angela slipped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed gently.

"Come on, Zach-o," she encouraged, "You're older brothers aren't here to mess with you. Just have fun. First round of skee ball is on me." He relaxed a little and followed the group through the door.

As soon as they stepped in they were assaulted with rings, whistles, shouts, and screaming as they took in the atmosphere. Parker looked like he was using every ounce of his five year old self-control to maintain a squeal as the greeter came up to them. Booth took over for the small group and soon they were seated at a round table near the back and given one hundred twenty tokens and six cups for the soda machine. Booth gave everybody twenty-four coins (dividing his twenty up between the other five) and took his son off to start the games. Brennan trailed along with her handful of coins, not really sure what she should be doing. She followed Booth as he led Parker to a section that seemed to be geared more for the younger crowd.

She watched as he helped his son deposit two coins into the slot and the small basketball game started. Booth cheered Parker on as the boy shot ball after ball, making a little less than half of them. She smiled and approached them, narrowly avoiding being bowled over by a pack of exuberant children. When Parker's time was up she watched as he collected the spew of tickets that issued from the machine and he counted them all on his own. Booth turned and smiled at Brennan, letting her know he'd known she was there. He beckoned her over and she shoved her hands in her pockets, complete with coins.

"I'm not really sure what to do here," she admitted, looking around at all the flashing lights and whirring machines. Booth shrugged and grinned as Parker tried to pull him in another direction. Brennan followed as he answered.

"Well, Bones, this place really is for kids, but adults can have fun too," he said, motioning over her shoulder. She turned around and saw her three colleagues laughing and playing skee ball. She smiled as she remembered times as a young kid when she would tag along with Russ and his friends to the local arcade. Russ always protested about it but he'd always be sure to give her a fair share of the tokens so she could play games too.

"Bones?" Booth voice broke her from her reverie and she turned her attention away from where Angela was jumping up and down in victory.

"Hmm?" she said, meeting his concerned eyes. "Oh, I'm alright, Booth," she said, waving him away. Her other arm was immediately grasped and she laughed as Parker pulled her over to where the others were.

"Skee ball!" he yelled, pulling out a couple of coins. "Come on, Tempe, I bet you the tickets that I can beat you!"

"No betting, Parker," Booth's voice warned and Parker nodded sheepishly.

"Yes, Daddy," he responded, putting his coins into one of the machines. Brennan pulled two coins and put them into the slot next to Parker's. The balls released and slid down as the machine came to life. Parker grabbed the first one and nearly threw it up the ramp, earning 100 points.

"You're supposed to roll them, buddy," Booth laughed, miming the move so Parker could see, then looked at Brennan for help. She grabbed her first ball and demonstrated, succeeding in getting 50 points. She and Parker continued, and she eventually fell into a rhythm. She saw that she was pulling ahead of the boy and aimed for one of the low ones, making a disappointed sound as it went exactly where she wanted it to go.

"I won!" Parker said, pointing at their scores. Both machines spit out tickets, but Brennan readily handed hers over to the boy. At his questioning look, she shrugged.

"You won," was all she told him, and he folded them up and put them in his pocket with the others. Her eyes sought out a familiar face and she had to laugh as she saw Angela and Zach on the Whack-a-Mole game, each with a large colored mallet bopping away at the miniature rodents popping up and down. Hodgins was nowhere in sight, but she was sure he was on some sort of shooting or racing game.

Twenty minutes later, their pizza was delivered and they all reunited at the table to consolidate their tickets and coins. Brennan had almost all her coins left, which she promised to Parker if he finished at least two slices of pizza. Angela and Zach had collected enough tickets between them to get a toy version of a Tesla coil for the lab. Hodgins had, unsurprisingly, played all his coins on machines that didn't give out tickets. Parker had enough already for a yo-yo, but he hoped that with the extra coins he'd gotten from Tempe he'd be able to get something bigger.

"You finished, bub?" Booth asked as Parker stuffed the last of his second slice into his mouth. He nodded and smiled, his face covered in sauce and cheese. Chuckling, Booth wetted a napkin and wiped the mess from his son's face.

"Tempe!" the boy shouted after he'd swallowed, "I'm done! Come on, let's go!" He pulled her from the table to the skee ball machines. "You take half and I'll take half and we'll get enough tickets!"

Ten minutes later they returned with their arms laden in tickets and, after counting, they realized that Parker had enough to get a large stuffed animal. But the boy shook his head firmly.

"No, I want the lion," he said, pointing above the man's head to the smaller animal. The prize wasn't even half his tickets and the man shook his head but grabbed the lion anyway, handing it over the counter to the boy. The toy was about half the size of him, and he hugged it to his small body fiercely. He then turned and held it out to Brennan.

"Here you go, Tempe," he said matter-of-factly, "Now he can protect you from the bad guys!" Angela couldn't contain her sigh and even Hodgins and Zach had to smile at the boy's generosity. Booth laid a hand on his son's head and smiled proudly.

"That's very nice of you Parker," he praised. "You still have a lot of tickets left too," he said, turning the attention away from his partner, who was now clutching the lion a little awkwardly.

"I want a yo-yo, and a Tootsie Roll, and a decoder ring, and a sticky spider that I can throw at the wall, and one of those light-up tops!" Parker rambled and the man behind the counter had to scramble to keep up with the order. When all was said and done the man had to discreetly add four tickets to Parker's total, but waved it off when Booth mouthed "thank you" over his son's head. As the motley crew departed the arcade/pizza joint, Booth noticed that Brennan was unusually quiet. He was pleased to see that the normally reserved Zach Addy had come out of his shell a little and was still excited from playing games with his co-workers. Parker was munching away on his Tootsie Roll holding Angela's hand while they walked through the parking lot, so Booth sidled over to his partner.

"You okay, Bones?" he asked, nudging her a little. She nodded, her hands still clutching the stuffed animal Parker had given her. He walked in silence with her, letting her mull over her thoughts.

Parker was asleep five minutes into the ride home, and Booth kept his voice low to keep the boy under. "You sure you're okay, Bones?" he asked again, his concern for her evident in his voice. She was quiet for a few moments before she took a deep breath. Having gotten good at reading her over the years, he knew she was about to delve into her past and she suddenly had his undivided attention.

"When we were kids, Russ and I used to go to this arcade near our house. He was fifteen and I was only eleven, but he let me tag along anyway. He'd always make sure I had a fair share of the coins and he looked out for me. At the end of every trip I put my tickets in this little plastic zipper purse. His friends would always make fun of me. But I told them I was saving them for a really cool prize – this really big stuffed purple dog that was worth an absurdly large amount of tickets." Booth smiled at her apparently happy memory, but it faltered when her tone dropped and she tried to keep her voice from catching in her throat.

"One day we were walking home and some kids from his school cornered us. Russ pushed me away from them toward the house, told me to run home. He didn't mean to, but that zipper purse with all my hard-earned tickets skittered out of my hands when he pushed me and dropped down a sewer. I ran home crying and my dad –" her voice hitched, but she cleared it quickly and continued. "He ran out and saved Russ from the boys. But my tickets were gone. I knew it wasn't Russ' fault – he was just trying to protect me – but I was so mad at him anyway. The next day when I got home from school that stupid purple dog was on my bed. Apparently Russ' had taken all of his allowance money that he'd been saving and spent it at the arcade to get enough tickets for the dog." She was quiet for a moment, and Booth wondered if he should say anything in response. He was saved when she continued in a softer tone.

"I don't know what happened to that dog. It was lost after my parents disappeared and Russ took off," she said sadly. "I hope Parker doesn't think I'm upset at him or anything," she added quickly, realizing she hadn't actually thanked him.

"Don't worry about it," Booth said, his tone equally as soft. "I'm sure he knows you're grateful." She turned in her seat to watch the slumbering boy.

"He really is a great kid, Booth," she said, her hands clutching the lion tightly. Booth couldn't turn, but his eyes sought his son's form in the rearview mirror, and Brennan saw a smile grace his features that she didn't get to see very often - the proud father.

"Yeah, he really is."

Okay, I already have an idea for the next one. What do you think...keep going? Let me know what you thought of this one too while you're at it ;)