Disclaimer: Not mine :(
"Dad, can I ask you a question?"
Booth and Parker were sitting at a table in the diner enjoying their burgers, fries and milkshakes. They spent their day in the skating rink playing hockey. When they were done, they decided to have dinner at the diner before going home.
"Sure, Bub. You know that you can ask me anything," Booth answered, wondering what his son had on his mind.
"Do you think that Bones will get tired of waiting too?"
To say that Booth was surprised at Parker's question was an understatement. "What do mean, son?" Booth asked as he was confused to what Parker was getting at.
"Well, when my friends and I were eating at the mall last week, there were 2 high school students talking loudly near our table. One of them told her friend that she was tired of waiting for some guy to make a move so she decided to look for another guy to be her boyfriend."
"What does something you overheard in the mall do with Bones, Parks?"
"Well, you and Bones always tell other people that you're just partners, right?" Parker waited for his father's nod before continuing, "When we were at the lab before you and Bones went away, I heard Angela tell Hodgins that you are both waiting for the other to make a move."
"It's not polite to listen to other people's conversion, Parker," Booth told his son while thinking of telling Angela to be careful of what she's saying when Parker's around.
"I wasn't listening, Dad. I promise. Angela and Hodgins just passed by while I was waiting for you and Bones to return."
Booth remembered that day. He and Parker went to the lab to invite Bones to dinner and since Bones was in Limbo that day, he made Parker wait in Bones' office while he went to get Bones. He also remembered what Parker asked him when they got home that night. At least now, he knows the reason behind that question.
FLASHBACK
"Dad, do you like Bones?" Parker asked his father.
Booth and Parker were driving back to their apartment after dropping Bones off.
"Of course I do, Parks," Booth answered honestly.
"Do you want the two of you to get together?"
"Get together? We spend a lot of time already." Booth was hoping that was what his son meant.
"No. I mean, like boyfriend-girlfriend."
"Oh." Before Booth could think of a suitable answer for his son, Parker explained further.
"If you both like each other –"
"Wait, Bub, 'both like each other'? Where did you get that?"
"I asked Bones if she liked you when you went to the bathroom earlier."
"Oh. What did she say?" Booth couldn't help but ask.
"She said she did. Anyway, if you both like each other and want to get together –"
Booth interrupted his son again, "She said that too?"
"Well, not exactly. So why aren't you two still together?" Parker asked in a rush in case his father interrupts him again.
"What does 'not exactly' mean?"
"Well, she said, 'everything happens eventually'," Parker answered.
"She's right. Everything happens eventually."
"I guess that means eventually isn't here yet."
"You guess right."
END OF FLASHBACK
"Dad?"
"Sorry, Parks, I guess I just remember something. You were saying?"
"Well, both you and Bones said that everything happens eventually. But you both went away and when you returned, you brought Hannah with you. That means you got tired of waiting for eventually right?"
Booth doesn't know how to answer his son. He's not even sure he knew the answer to that.
Since Parker didn't receive an answer from his father, he continued, "And since you got tired of waiting, wouldn't Bones get tired and find someone else too? Or what if someone else will realize what a great person she is and she'll realize that she's tired of waiting?"
"…wouldn't Bones get tired and find someone else too? Or what if someone else will realize what a great person she is and she'll realize that she's tired of waiting?"
That was what stayed on Booth's mind long after he dropped off Parker at Rebecca's house that Sunday night. It was also the thought that kept him up that night. When Parker mentioned that Bones might find someone else or that another person will realize how valuable and precious she is, he couldn't explain how scared he was. The fear of losing her to someone else temporarily immobilized him.
Accepting that sleep would not come tonight, Booth got up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. "…wouldn't Bones get tired and find someone else too? Or what if someone else will realize what a great person she is and she'll realize that she's tired of waiting?" Like a broken record, that part of Parker's statement played in his head as he sat down on the couch with his glass of water. Accompanying that thought was the paralyzing fear that it will come true.
Knowing that he would have to do something so that the imaginary pain that he was feeling at the thought of it happening would be prevented from becoming reality, he made his decision and got up from the couch.
In record time, he was standing outside his partner's apartment prepared to tell her that he was no longer angry and hopes that she's strong enough not to be impervious anymore.
*KNOCK*KNOCK*
A/N: Hope you liked it. Thanks for reading.