"Look at my picture, Daddy!" the excited five year old waved a piece of paper in front of his father's face. Grinning, Booth took the colorfully crayola-crayoned drawing from his son and looked at it. Through the messy toddler proportions, he could tell it was supposed to be a person, with colorful shaped swirls around what he presumed to be the feet.

"That's awesome, Parker," Booth said handing the drawing back to his son. He and parker sat at the kitchen table with a stack of white paper, and a box of crayons that, once full, now held one cracked-in-half red, while all the others were strewn about over the table and some on the floor.

"Daddy, guess who it is," Parker insisted, again waving the paper around in the air.

"Is it you?" Booth guessed.

"Nope," Parker shook his head. "It's you, Daddy!"

"Oh! I see now!" Booth picked up his son and sat him on his lap. "Just once question, bud; what are those?" He pointed to the colorful swirls around the end of what he was still assuming the legs.

"Those are your socks," Parker said.

Booth grinned at his son and shook his head. "They're great, Parker," he said as Parker slid off his lap and back over to his seat where he started on a new drawing. Booth looked at his own paper which consisted mostly of multi-colored spirals. Booth hadn't used crayons since he was about seven, which was probably because last time he had used them, he swallowed an orange one. He didn't remember exactly how he managed to swallow a crayon; he just remembered being rushed into the doctor's office after nearly choking to death on it. Booth noticed there was no orange on his paper.

His cell phone ringing broke his train of thought. He took it out of his pocked and looked at who was calling him. He groaned inwardly to see that it was his boss. Booth was supposed to have two weeks off, what could Cullen possibly want?

"Booth," he answered automatically.

"Hello Booth? It's Cullen," the voice on the other end said.

'No kidding,' Booth was tempted to say, but instead said, "Hello sir, how are you?"

"I would be better if I didn't need to make this call."

"I'm sure I would be too," Booth muttered.

"Sorry?

"Nothing."

"Right, well anyway, I know these two weeks you're supposed to have off, Booth," Cullen continued, "but we're currently short an agent that we really need to help with a certain case."

"You're short an agent?" Booth asked in disbelief. "There's no one else there?"

"No one else with the proper requirements," Cullen said. "We really need you to come in just for two days to go with Jackson over to New Jersey."

"Sir," Booth protested. "Sir, my son is with me for two weeks. Rebecca is out of town-"

"Look, Booth," Cullen said, and Booth could hear the annoyance in his voice. "I understand this is last minute and inconvenient, but we really need you for this, and unless you can find someone to look after your son, someone will be provided for you. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," Booth said bitterly into his phone.

"You'll get a little extra pay for coming during your time off," Cullen added and it took a lot of resistance not to say, "You bet your ass you're paying me," and hung up after Cullen did.

If it weren't for Parker in the room, Booth would have loved nothing more than to direct a few carefully chosen swear words at the phone. However upon a closer look at Parker, Booth noticed that he had fallen asleep in his chair with his head in his arms folded over the table.

Walking over to his son and lifting him gently, Booth carried Parker out of the kitchen and down the hall to Parker's bedroom, where he laid him carefully on his bed. Quietly closing the door, Booth made his way back to his phone and got out a book of baby sitters names. Rebecca was on vacation with her boyfriend, Drew, and there was no way she was coming back from Aruba or wherever the hell she was in a few hours. Booth picked up the phone again and began dialing.

--------------------

One hour and seventeen phone calls later, Booth sat on his couch, completely frustrated and tired. He couldn't believe that out of seventeen baby sitters, not one was available. It was getting close to Thanksgiving, but it was still a good week and a half away. This was ridiculous, and there was no way that he was going to let the FBI provide him with a baby sitter.

Booth snorted, "Please," he muttered, rubbing his eyes. "I'd rather leave Parker with Bones for a week than some guy Cullen picks out."

A minute later, Booth's head snapped up, an eye brow rose. Now that is something he never though he'd ever consider. Then again he never thought he would ever become as good friends as they were. He trusted her, and she was his last hope… but would she agree?

Picking up the phone again, Booth pressed speed-dial 2 and waited as the phone rang.

"Hi," Brennan's voice answered.

"Hey, Bones," Booth said, then added lamely, "it's me."

"I know," she said. "The phone shows your name, which is why I answered casually."

"Right," Booth rolled his eyes. "Listen, Bones, could I ask you a huge favor?"

"I suppose so," she said, and Booth could hear some noise in the background.

"Are you at the lab on a Sunday?"

"No, I'm home," said Brennan. "And that's not a favor you just asked."

"I know, but what's the noise I hear?"

"That's a TV, Booth."

"You have a TV?" asked Booth, surprised. "Since when?"

"Since…." Brennan trailed off, and Booth waited for her to continue. "Well I used to have one, but then it broke. Then you have been telling me how I need to watch all these movies, so I suppose I-" she was rambling and cut off by Booth laughing.

"No need to get defensive," he laughed. "And since when do you take my advice? On those kinds of things, anyway..."

"Didn't you want to ask me a favor?" Brennan ignored his previous question.

"Oh yeah," Booth remembered why he called in the first place. "Um… as I told you Parker is spending time over here because Rebecca and Drew went to... somewhere for a vacation, and Cullen just called me needing me for something urgent, I guess. And I can't take Parker with me, and I can't find any baby sitter, and I don't trust Cullen to chose someone," Booth realized he was starting to ramble now, "So I was just wondering if maybe you would watch him for a day or two?"

There was silence on the other end. Booth gave her a minute. She still didn't respond. "Bones, you still there?"

"I'm here," she said. "You want me to look after your five year old son?"

"Yes."

"For two days?"

"Yes."

"By myself?"

"Yes."

"A child? Your child?"

"Yes."

"Are you drunk?"

"Yes-what? No!" Booth quickly corrected his answer. "C'mon, Bones."

"You trust me more than you'd trust someone Cullen picks for you?" she sounded skeptical.

"Yes, I do," Booth insisted. "Please?" He added a little desperately, and hearing her sigh, he knew he had won. He waited patiently for her response.

"Fine, I'll watch him," Brennan said a little reluctantly, "but only as a favor to you and because I know you'd do it for me."

"Thank you so much, Bones!" Booth said gratefully. "I was getting desperate."

"I could tell," Brennan smiled at the relief in her partner's voice. "So, when do you need me to start watching him?"

"Um… do you think I could drop him off in the morning?"

"That's fine. What time?"

"I dunno, maybe nine?"

"Sure."

"Thank you so much," Booth repeated. "I really owe you one, Bones."

"Yes you do," she agreed. "You better be extra nice to me."

"I could kiss you!"

"Not that nice."