Special Agent Booth had faced many terrifying situations in his career, both as a sniper with the Army and later as an FBI agent, but nothing could've prepared him for the words that were about to come out of his nine-year-old son's mouth.
"Daddy, where do babies come from?"
Normally, he would've told him to ask his mother. But that was the coward's way out of this particular situation, and besides, his mother explicitly told him that she did not want to be disturbed. Something about a romantic weekend in upstate New York with Captain Fantastic.
"What made you ask a question like that, Bub?"
"I saw something by accident...mommy and Capt...I mean Bob...were wrestling in her bedroom and kissing and looking at each other...it was soooo grooooss."
"Wooooah, TMI, there, buddy. And don't spy on your mother."
"I wasn't spying! I just saw. And TMI? What's that?"
"It stands for too much information."
"But you watch wrestling on TV all the time!" Parker replied. "What's the big deal?"
"Because when a man and a woman wrestle..."
"So they were fighting?"
"Not exactly...what makes you think they were fighting?"
"Wrestlers fight on TV. I wrestled with Billy Walstein when he said something bad about my friend Sophie."
"It's not the same thing. And you shouldn't wrestle with people unless they throw the first punch."
"But you always stand up for Bones!"
"I do…but I don't feel the need to wrestle with people. There are consequences when you do that kind of thing."
"Then why are they wrestling?"
"Because...it's complicated."
Parker gave him a confused look. "Hey, Dad, can I have your cell phone?"
"Sure," he said, handing it to his son. "Who are you gonna call?"
"Bones!" he said, turning it on and scrolling down the list of contacts. "She's really really smart. She can tell me."
Booth snatched the cell phone out of his tiny hand. "I don't think you wanna bother Bones to ask her THAT question."
"Why not? She's not going to give me the wrong answer."
"No, no she's not. But sometimes, the way that people say things is more important than the thing they say, understand?"
"So why was Mommy wrestling with Bob?"
"When two adults have special feelings for each other…"
"Special feelings?"
"Yeah…you know…when you can't stop thinkin' about somebody. When your stomach ties up all in knots every time you look at them. When your heart beats fast every time they're close…"
"Like the way you feel about Bones?"
At that moment, he was grateful that he'd left his coffee in the kitchen, otherwise his son would be currently wearing it all over his face. "How did you know about THAT?"
"I've got EYES, dad. I've seen the way you look at her when she thinks you're not looking. You've got it bad."
He had to chuckle at that.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, buddy, just go to sleep, okay? I'm going to be in trouble with your mother if she found out I let you stay up this late."
"So do you want to wrestle with Bones?"
"Ooookaay, say your prayers," he said nervously.
"I'll take that as a yes."
