Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them.

Author's Note: This is for the Bones Tweeps on Twitter. :) I had hoped to have this up earlier, but at least it's technically still Halloween in my time zone.


Seeley Booth had been having a really, really nice unpartnerly dream about his partner when all of a sudden the air was whooshed out of his lungs by a flying tackle landed by his son.

"Dad! Dad! Wake up! It's Halloween!" To Parker Booth Halloween might as well be Christmas with all of the edible loot he was bound to get. They had things to do and he wanted his dad to get up so they could get cracking. He had to get his costume perfect, he had to double check that his Trick-or-Treat bag was big enough, and he had to make sure that his dad had convinced Bones to come with them. At least Hannah wasn't coming, she had broken up with his Dad a couple of weeks before and went to some place called Noncommitastan or something.

"Bub, the sun isn't even up yet." He squinted at his son as if that was going to tone down the excitement of Halloween at least temporarily. He was met with one of those looks that he knew was pointless to even try and argue with and so he let out a groan.

"But, Dad, I don't have my costume together yet and Mom said you would help me." It was Halloween after all and any kid that didn't have a costume together at this late date was going to be in serious trouble. Well any kid that didn't have a super hero kind of dad like his dad. He had full confidence that he'd end up with the best costume ever.

"She what?" It would have been very nice if Rebecca had bothered to mention that little fact when he'd picked Parker up the night before.

"She said that you could help me since she forgot to look for one." Parker's tone clearly implied that the grownups had better get their act together or he was going to have the worst Halloween ever.

"She forgot, huh?" Well as much as he wanted to have a few words with Rebecca about her oversight, she was currently out of the country and it would just have to wait until later. Right now he realized that he needed to get his ass out of bed and find his boy a costume.

"That's what I said, Dad." The no-duh tone stopped as soon as he saw his dad moving to actually get up. "Because you're the best costume thinker upper ever."

"I am, huh?" Booth couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. "Well then we'll make sure you have the best costume ever, but first I think we need to start with breakfast."

"Can we have pumpkin pancakes? Robby says his mom makes pumpkin pancakes and since it's Halloween I think we should have some too." It seemed perfectly logical to Parker that it was the most obvious choice given the holiday.

"Uh, I'll see what I can do, Bub." This was going to be a very long day.


"But Bones has to come with us. She's the bone lady and Halloween has skeletons." Parker really didn't understand why his dad was so resistant to asking Bones to join them.

"She may have other plans, Bub." And even though he was sure that the biggest plan she had was to work since the Jeffersonian had already had its party on Friday, they were already on their way there to see if she'd be willing to help Parker be a living skeleton.

"But if she's working she needs to take a break and what's a better way to take a break than to go trick or treating?" He flashed his dad that irresistible smile that usually got him whatever he wanted as long as it wasn't against the rules.

"We can ask her, but don't count on it." The truth was, since Hannah had broken up with him, all he could think about was how much he wanted to be with Bones. However, the idea of her in that Wonder Woman costume she wore every Halloween left him dreaming very unpartnerly dreams about her and he wasn't sure he could survive trick or treating with her if she wore it.


"I would be happy to, Parker." Brennan was genuinely honored that Parker wanted her to join them for trick or treating and really she was glad to have another opportunity to wear her Wonder Woman costume and spend a little more time with Booth like the way they used to.

"See, Dad, I told you she'd wanna come." Parker smiled triumphantly.

"Okay, Parker, I got it." Booth raised a single eyebrow at his son and then turned to his partner. "Thanks, Bones." He couldn't believe that not only was she going to ensure that Parker was the best glow in the dark skeleton, she was going to join them while they raked in the sugary loot.

"Now let's get your anatomically correct skeleton painted on these sweats." Brennan was also thrilled that that younger Booth had wanted her help in making sure that he was the most accurate Halloween skeleton in the trick or treating field for the evening.


"Look!" Parker pointed off in the distance at the edge of a yard in the neighborhood they were trick or treating through. "That is so gross it's cool!" These were the best Halloween decorations ever.

"Where are you looking, Bub?" Booth wasn't exactly sure where Parker was pointing, there had been a multitude of Halloween decorations that he'd dubbed cool, gross, or amazing so far.

"There!" Parker pointed again. "Do you see it, Bones? It looks like some gross, gooey bones. Isn't that cool?"

"Booth?" The all business tone in Brennan's voice and the look she gave her partner let him know that she didn't think that these were Halloween decorations at all, but something decidedly more morbid and definitely within the realm of needing their professional expertise.

"What, Bones?" Booth looked at her quizzically.

"There, Dad!" Parker was beginning to think that his dad was in serious need of real glasses, not just the ones he was using for his squint costume.

"No, I was talking to Bones, Bub." He glanced down at his son and then over at his partner as if to indicate that this was most definitely not the best time to be discovering real dead bodies.

"Booth it appears that we have a possible crime scene." Brennan moved towards where Parker had pointed to get a better look and confirm that what she thought she was seeing was in fact true.

"This is the coolest Halloween ever!" Parker was beyond excited at the prospect of seeing an actual dead body on Halloween even.

Booth groaned as he considered that if this really was a crime scene that he had nowhere to leave his son. "Bones, are you sure those are real bones?"

She was already crouched over them with a flashlight in hand. "Yes, these are human remains." She glanced up at Booth. "We should call for assistance."

"Can I help, Bones?" Parker forgot all about the candy he had hoped to collect, stories about real bodies would be far better tomorrow at school.

"Parker, you need to stay here with me. Bones doesn't like her bones contaminated." He pulled out his phone so he could call dispatch.

"But, Dad." His whine could be heard all the way over to where Bones was crouched over the bones.

"Parker, your dad is right, besides you will need to provide a witness account." She pulled out her phone and called Cam to get the squints on the job. Given the level of decomposition she was going to need everyone.

"An official witness. Wow. Robby and Mike won't believe it!" Parker figured that being a witness was okay if he couldn't actually touch the bones.


It was hours later and Parker was asleep on the couch in Brennan's office while Booth paced impatiently at the foot of the forensic platform, having been banished there by Cam.

"We're almost done for now, Booth." Brennan glanced over at him. There wasn't anything else she was going to be able to do until Hodgins completed his insect analysis and Angela did her facial reconstruction. Besides, it occurred to her since they were still in costume, that one small Booth boy was probably asleep in her office. She snapped off her gloves and made her way down the stairs of the platform.

"Good. I should probably get Parker home." He'd let another agent take Parker's statement and he was somewhat worried that the discovery of remains had ruined the whole trick or treating experience for his son.

"Do you think that he had a good time?" Brennan shrugged off her lab coat as they entered her office.

"He'll have one hell of a story to tell, but I have a feeling that he's going to be mad he didn't get more candy in the morning." He let out a soft laugh at the soft snores coming from the little boy on the couch. He glanced over at his partner and smiled. "Thanks for coming with us, Bones."

She smiled back, leaning against her desk as she regarded her partner all dressed up as a squint. The last time they had been like this, they'd been working a case too, but at least this time neither one of them had been shot or looked like they had been blown up. "I had a good time."

"I'm glad." Booth wasn't sure what possessed him. Maybe it was that sexy Wonder Woman costume, or maybe it was his gut telling him that things between them had shifted and not in a bad way. He was standing in front of her now smiling. "Parker is glad too."

"We should do this more often." She had really missed being able to spend time with Booth and his son, now that Hannah was gone, she hoped that they could do it more frequently. In fact, she hoped for quite a bit more than just spending time with them.

"But Halloween is only once a year." He leaned in and smirked in that teasing way that had often garnered a soft laugh from her.

"I suppose that is true." She smirked back and in an instant of impulse that was very unlike the Temperance Brennan she'd been before she'd left for Maluku, she gripped the lapels of his costume lab coat and gave him the kiss of a lifetime.

Booth was sure that he had just died and gone to Heaven and found himself bracing his hands on the desk on either side of his sexy partner, his lips fused to hers as if this might be the last kiss he'd ever get.

The noise of someone in the room made Parker blink his eyes open momentarily, just long enough to see his dad and Bones kissing. He squeezed them shut again and couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth.

This really was the best Halloween ever.

The End