Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from the. I do, however, enjoy bringing them out from time to time to play with them.

Author's Note: I had an idea that wouldn't leave me alone. And as often happens, now I'm compelled to pen a new story. The premise is the scene in "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" where Booth asks Brennan to be his village, to be an influence on Parker. It occurred to me that Booth and the Squints are Brennan's village and in a sense, they've helped raise her by helping her to relate and learn to acknowledge that she can love and be loved. So I'm starting here with the exchange that inspired the idea in the first place and future installments will hopefully be dropped like little breadcrumbs that you'll want to gobble up and follow until we reach our conclusion. So I hope you enjoy.

He needed caffeine. All of this drama in the suburbs was wearing him out, that and the fact that Parker was taking it upon himself to ask every woman he worked if they would be his dad's girlfriend was too much. He was nine, way too young to be concerned about his dad's sex life. Actually, Booth considered, Parker was never going to be old enough as far as he was concerned to question him about his sex life. He glanced over at his partner, who walked with him out of the elevator. "It takes a village, Bones."

Brennan seemed confused. "Uh, I-beg your pardon?"

Of course he had to start speaking in the middle of his thought. He started over to clarify what in the world he was talking about as they wove through the bullpen. "A village, to raise a kid properly, you know, it takes a village."

This was a rather anthropological observation and she was pleased that her influence had brushed off onto him, even if it wasn't exactly precise. "Metaphorically, it doesn't mean we all must grow up in hamlets of eight hundred people or less."

They walked into the small kitchenette around the corner from Booth's office to get some coffee.

He was probably putting way too much sugar in his coffee, but he thought he might just need the sugar as much as the caffeine. He looked at Bones with a pleading expression. "Will you be my village?"

She was skeptical as to his reasoning. He worked too much, he didn't seem to have a social life, and he'd mentioned that Parker was way too preoccupied with why he didn't have a girlfriend. Clearly he didn't feel like he could do this on his own and she was his friend. She should offer her help. "You want to know if I'll help you fool your son into thinking your life is gratifying?"

He looked at her expectantly as if a negative answer would deflate him. "Yeah, will you do it?"

She was willing to help, but had no idea how one person could be an entire village to someone else's child. Her eyes widened. "Well, h-How?"

Booth's relief was palpable and he smiled at her, his worry about his son lifting a little for the first time in days. "Come to dinner with us, have fun, laugh at my jokes." He didn't even want to begin think about the implications of what all of that looked like, what that sounded like.

Brennan smiled brightly and stirred her coffee. "That might actually turn out to be fun, thus becoming a self-fulfilling desire." She could do all of those things, but she still might have to have Booth explain his jokes now and then.

He just wanted to clarify that she was agreeing to what he thought she was agreeing to. "Right. So, you'll do it?"

She smiled conspiratorially as they walked towards his office. "Yes, I will be your hamlet of eight hundred people or less."

He inwardly rolled his eyes at her anthropological mumbo jumbo "My village."

She smiled bumped her arm against his. "I was being amusing. You should laugh at my jokes too."

He could tell that she thought she was being funny when she clearly wasn't. "I'm laughing on the inside." He was definitely going to need more coffee before the day was over.

Booth was enjoying a nice big chocolate shake and wondering how in the world he was going to get the face paint that Angela had put on Parkers face all the way off before he dropped him off at Rebecca's in a few hours. Despite the face paint, he couldn't have asked for better company - Bones next to him and his son across the table from him - he couldn't help but smile as he whispered to his partner. "This is fun, isn't it fun?"

Brennan seemed very relaxed as she enjoyed a healthy meal in contrast to the shakes the Booth boys were eating. "Yes, I'm having fun, is he?"

He let out a soft chuckle and whispered back. "Bones, you can ask him yourself."

She leaned over the table a little and addressed Parker. "Hey, are you having fun?"

Parker wondered why grownups were so worried about whether everyone was having fun. Didn't they know that you just did stuff you liked and that was fun? "Milkshakes are fun and I'm having a milkshake, so yeah I'm having fun."

She was pleased that this being Booth's village was working out so well. "That's an excellent syllogism."

The younger Booth looked a little confused. "She thinks I'm silly?"

Brennan glanced over at her partner in her own confusion. "What's wrong?"

Parker interjected. "He needs a girlfriend."

Brennan was curious why Parker thought so. "Well, why doesn't he have one?"

Parker scrunched down in his seat and took a long sip from his milkshake. "I don't know, that's another thing we can't talk about until I have hair under my arms."

Booth was starting to squirm in his own seat. He certainly did not want to be having this conversation with Bones in the room. "Hey, I got a good idea, what do you say we all go bowling and get outta here?"

Parker ignored his dad and looked right at Bones. She sure was pretty. "Couldn't you be his girlfriend?"

Booth felt his insides take a nosedive. He definitely did not need this right now. "Buddy, you really gotta quit that."

Brennan shook her head in answer to Parker. "That would be inappropriate."

Parker wasn't sure what inappropriate was, but it sounded like a 'no'. "Why?"

She had to consider just how to say this without hurting Booth's feelings or insulting his alpha male tendencies. "Because…we work together." It was true, he had drawn that line and she respected it.

Parker sort of snorted out a pint-sized laugh, his honesty coming through loud and clear. "That's a stupid reason."

Booth whispered trying to hide the panic welling up. "You know what, Bones, I'm really not comfortable with the questions that you're asking."

She had sincerity in her eyes as she whispered back. "Booth, could you maybe trust me for a second? Trust that I can say the right thing? In the time that I've been with you, I've learned a lot about how to deal with people." She thought he seemed to accept her reasoning and she turned to Parker. "Your father is very, very good with people."

Parker's didn't think that he was as good as she thought he was with people if he couldn't do this one thing. "Then why doesn't he have a girlfriend?"

Booth really wished that he had insisted that they leave and go bowling and maybe if he intervened right now he'd have a chance to salvage the rest of the day without any more inquiries into his sex life. "And we're off, and..." One look from Bones and his rant stopped in its tracks. "Okay, alright, alright." She had asked him to trust her and he'd barely given her a chance. He really felt like an ass.

Brennan turned back to Parker. "Can I ask you a question?" She continued after Parker nodded. "Why do you think your father needs a girlfriend so much?"

He should have gone with his gut. Damn he should have gone with his gut, but no, one look from those soft blue eyes of hers and he couldn't say no. He really should have just listened to his gut and closed his eyes. "Okay Bones, there's the whole gender parent dealibob thing going on here, your just gonna confuse him..."

Parker didn't see why his dad and Bones were making such a big deal out of this. "So I can have a pool."

Brennan turned to Booth. "He doesn't sound confused."

Was he hearing this correctly? How did his son come to equate him getting a girlfriend with a swimming pool? He just had to ask. "A pool?"

Parker nodded. "Lasky's dad got a pool with his girlfriend."

Booth was trying to remember who Parker was talking about. "What you mean Lasky with the uh, third nostril?"

Parker sounded excited. "Lasky's dad got a girlfriend, then they got married and moved to a house with a pool. Maybe if you got married, you'd move to a house with a pool that I could swim in!" Now that his dad seemed to be getting it, maybe he would start looking for a girlfriend already.

Brennan smirked. "Well he seems extremely clear on why he wants you to get a girlfriend. I don't know why you didn't just ask him."

Booth was a little bewildered that it wasn't as complicated as he'd made it and he was relieved that they weren't going to have to have that talk about the birds and the bees anytime soon. "So the whole reason you wanted me to get a girlfriend was so that you could have a pool?"

Parker's voice had that 'no duh' tone in his voice. "Mmmhmm, why else would I care?"

Brennan realized that she had the perfect solution and worked a key off of her key ring and placed it on the table. "There is a pool in my building the two of you can use as my guests any time."

This day was turning out far better than he thought it would. He was glad that his dad had asked Bones along. Finally, a grownup that could understand what he wanted. "Awesome! That's awesome right Dad?"

Brennan really didn't see what the fuss was all about. "No, not awesome, simple Socratic method of solving a problem."

Booth had a mega-watt grin on his face. He completely agreed with his son as they shared a fist bump. "No, mmm-mmm, Parker's right, you're awesome Bones."

Brennan hadn't thought this village thing would be so easy, but clearly she was a natural. She lifted her glass to toast Parker. "Yeah, I'm awesome. Cheers."