The door of the apartment opened and Parker walked in. He'd lived in his dad's apartment full time for the last few years, ever since his mom had moved up to New York. He had taken the smaller bedroom at the back, which gave him just enough privacy, even though he had to share a bathroom with his dad.
Agent Seeley Booth worked for the FBI, so he kept strange hours when he was working a case. Today was one of those days, and at 4 in the afternoon, he was sitting on the couch watching hockey, instead of in his usual suit and tie outfit that is standard for government offices.
"Park?" he shouted from the living room, confirming that his son had come home.
"Hi, dad." He threw his backpack on the kitchen table and walked into the living room. He sat down on the sofa and watched the hockey game until it cut to commercial.
Booth sighed. "How was school today?"
"Fine. Can I borrow the car Friday night?"
"Uh, yeah. Why?"
Parker hesitated, knowing his father's protective nature, he was a federal agent of course. "I have a date."
"Oh. Oh." Booth, paused, regretting saying yes before knowing the use of the vehicle. "Who are you going out with?"
"Just some girl from school. Dinner, movie. Nothing special."
"Okay," Booth paused. Oh God, it's time for the 'responsibilities of a man' talk. "You know, that, well, you have to be responsible. A woman is like a car, you have to treat her right, if you want to be- uh. Just-. Never mind. No car. I'll drive you."
"What?" Parker looked horrified. "But, dad. It's a date, it's not a father thing. And you said I could have the car."
"I changed my mind."
"Why? Do you think I'm not responsible?"
"Yes, yes, that's exactly the reason."
"Why? What have I done that shows that I'm irresponsible?"
"Well, you got a B+ in Math last semester. You're clearly not dedicated enough. No car."
Parker silently got up and left the room, taking his backpack with him into his bedroom.
The young, dark haired psychologist sat in his office, bending over stacks of his handwritten notes. His eyebrows were furrowed, lips parted, in concentration.
The door opened behind him, with no knocking to announce the loud and blundering entrance of Agent Booth.
Best to put on a good face, Sweets thought. "How can I help you, Agent Booth?"
"Sweets, I-. Parker asked me to borrow the car."
Sweets nodded processing the information as well as Booth's pained facial expression. "And?"
"For a date."
"And you said?"
"I said 'no'," Booth answered, as if it was common sense.
"And why did you do that?" Sweets fingers itched to get his notepad and a pen.
"Because it's a date. And he's a teenage boy. And things happen on date with teenage boys."
"Could this have anything to do with the fact that you're a single father, Agent Booth?"
"Well I- uh." Booth's phone rang and he looked relieved, pulling the phone out of his suit pocket. "You know, case. Have to go." He backed out of the room quickly, smiling at the prospect of work.
"Bones." The doctor, with her hair pulled up, was wearing rain boots and blue overalls to protect her clothes. The call had come saying that a couple of road crew workers had found the body in a swamp by the side of the road.
"Yes?" she responded.
"Do you think Parker's too young to have a girlfriend?"
"Well, he's sixteen, and most teenagers in modern societies have already been through several 'meaningful relationships', though the purpose of them is illogical."
"But he asked to borrow the car. That has to mean something," Booth responded.
Dr. Brennan stepped into the marsh without hesitation, carefully scanning for bones. The majority of the body had been moved out of the water, so she and Dr. Hodgins were only scanning for parts of the legs.
"I'd assume the car is for transportation," Brennan shouted from the water.
"I found it," Hodgins shouted holding up a broken tibia.
Brennan crawled out of the swamp. "Bring this all back to the Jeffersonian. We'll get Angela to do a facial reconstruction."
"Okay, boys. Pack it up," Booth shouted, and followed Brennan away from the crime scene.
"Caucasian. Female. Fifteen to early twenties."
"Anything else, Wendell?" Dr. Brennan asked.
"I'm not entirely sure of the cause of death, but Hodgins is going through the swamp water that we collected, and Cam is doing a toxicology test on the soft tissue of the lungs. There appears to be some bruising that occurred post-mortem, possibly when she was tossed into the swamp."
"No. There is much more bruising then could've occurred purely from the disposal of the body And the break on the tibia clearly occurred peri-mortem.
Angela Montenegro swiped her card and walked up the steps to the forensics platform. She stood in her blue lab coat, away from the body. "Do you have a skull for me?"
"Yes, it's ready for a reconstruction," Wendell said carefully handing the skull to Angela with his gloved hands.
"Jack?" Dr. Hodgins was sitting in Angela's office while he waited for his machine to finish running through the contents of the swamp.
"Yes?" Hodgins said. Angela continued working on the facial reconstruction.
"There's an art show in a gallery downtown tonight."
"Do you want to go?" Hodgins asked, walking behind Angela and putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Sort of. Will you come with me?"
"Yeah, of course. We'll go right after work. Maybe grab a bite to eat first. You know." Hodgins began rubbing Angela's shoulders.
"Do you want to take a lunch break?" Angela asked turning around.
"Oh yeah." Hodgins smiled widely. "Storage room?"
"We've got time."
Angela and Hodgins stood in front of a black and white photograph, smiling and glancing around the gallery at everyone there. It was easy to identify the students, uncomfortable in their formal clothes, waiting eagerly for someone to admire their works, some students had piercings or oversized glasses that expressed their individuality.
"Angela! Thank you for coming." A small dark-skinned woman bounced up to Angela, giving her a quick hug. "The kids are all so excited."
Angela smiled and moved to introduce Hodgins. "Bonnie, this is Jack. My husband."
Bonnie squealed, "Oh, good for you! Nice to meet you Jack." She shook his hand.
"So, what do you think?" Bonnie asked gesturing to the entire gallery.
"Oh, god. It's beautiful. These kids are so talented."
"I am so proud of them. Well, enjoy the show. I have to go talk to some parents. The joys of teaching." She walked off to mingle with the crowd.
Jack turned, "Hey, is that Parker?"
Parker was standing at the other side of the gallery next to some colorful oil paintings. He was wearing black dress pants and a black dress shirt with a thing silver tie. His hair was messily hanging around his face. He was standing uncomfortably, staring at one painting so he looked like he knew what he was doing.
A girl wearing a simple black and white dress walked up to him and started chatting. He immediately looked more comfortable. He brushed a bit of hair off her face. She had dark brown bangs and a tight bun on the top of her head. She had sad, blue eyes and small lips. She was about a half foot shorter than Parker, who was just over six feet.
Angel and Hodgins came up to them, just in time for Parker to drop his arm from her waist.
"Hey, Parker," Hodgins said, looking at him and the girl. " I didn't know you were in to art."
"Oh, I'm just here for a friend." Parker said.
"Hi, I'm Anna." She held out her hand for Jack and Angela to shake.
"Where's your work?" Angela asked, guessing that she was an artist.
"Oh, I'm over there. The Pears. Fruit bowls. Very...art, you know."
"They're beautiful," Angela said, looking at a particularly colorful painting.
"Thank you. So, how do you know Parker?"
"We work with his dad," Angela responded.
"So, you work with the FBI, too?" Anna looked skeptical.
"No. No, we work at the Jeffersonian. We're Forensic consultants.:
"So you're scientists. Cool."
"Jack's a scientist. I do facial reconstruction and tech stuff. But, we both work with Booth on cases."
"So are you two together?" Hodgins asked, looking mostly at Parker, who looked down at his shoes and blushed. Anna was quiet too.
Angela spoke up. "We're going to go look at the sculptures over there. Come on, Jack." She grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
"Well, uh, that was...weird," Parker said, still blushing and staring at his shoes.
"While it's awkward, I'm just going to bring it up: Are we a thing? Can we classify ourselves as dating?"
"Uh, like, if you want. But if not, I'm totally good with that, I don't want it to be like awkward or anything because I...like...being with you. Like, as a friend. Unless you want to be more than friends, you know?" Parker still stared at his shoes, even more red this time.
"Hey, Park. I'm good with it." She took his hand and held it in between them. "We're officially dating."
Parker and Anna were sitting on a chair near Anna's painting, when Angela and Hodgins came back to them. Anna was pretty much on his lap.
"Do you need a ride home?" Angela asked, she and Jack were prepared to leave.
"No, I think we're going to stay out for a little longer," Parker said, and waved Angela and Hodgins off.
"So, what do you want to do?" Anna asked, standing up and pulling Parker along with her, out the door of the gallery and into the street. There were several college students walking around, but otherwise the street was fairly empty.
"Let's get some ice cream to celebrate."