No Bones About It
Summary: While working on a mob case, Booth and Brennan find themselves caring for two naïve, yet highly intelligent, adolescents.
Author's Note: This story was started as a challenge from Jlbrew27 to me about two years ago, but due to real life issues I gave it to him to work on for awhile. After making wonderful progress with it, he has generously offered it back to me to finish so it's really a joint effort. I know I still have two unfinished stories out there but my muse just isn't cooperating with those so I thought I'd try something different.
Warning: This story will contain spanking of teenagers if you don't like or approve, PLEASE DO NOT READ. I understand that some people think CP to be completely unrealistic given the backgrounds of certain cannon characters, and if so I completely understand but then this particular bit of AU fiction might not be for you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bones or any of the characters. I am making no money from this...it's just for fun.
Chapter One: The New Assistant
"Booth, you're back earlier than expected," Dr. Brennan noted, "That's good."
"Miss me?" Booth answered with a grin. He had just returned from testifying on a case in Boston.
"You weren't really gone all that long," Brennan said her brow furrowing.
"Yes, but you said it's 'good' that I'm back which means you missed me," Booth said with great satisfaction.
Brennan rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the person to whom she had been speaking.
Booth frowned. "Ah, who's the kid?" he asked, looking askance at the teenager standing just behind Brennan and to her right.
"This," Brennan said with a big smile, "Is my new graduate assistant. Or at least I am hoping he will be my new graduate assistant. That's why I'm glad that you are back early. Meet Zack Addy. Zack, this is my partner and the Jeffersonian's liaison with the FBI, Special Agent Seeley Booth."
"What? He can't be a graduate assistant. He doesn't look old enough to be out of high school. No offense kid."
Brennan frowned. "What does his age have to do with anything?" she asked, puzzled.
"Actually, Agent Booth," Zack replied seriously. "There is no requisite age for graduating from high school. I am fifteen but I have also just started my graduate work."
"Zack is a prodigy. He has a brilliant mind."
"But he's a kid, Bones. He can't…see the stuff we have to…what I mean is…look our work is R-rated due to its violent nature. He's too young."
Zack looked ready to comment, but Brennan held up her hand to forestall the teen. "Booth, he has been evaluated by both Dr. Wyatt and Dr. Goodman, as well as Dr. Saroyan. Despite his youth, they all deem him cable of adequately coping with the nature of our work."
"You consulted a psychiatrist?"
"Not by choice," Brennan admitted sourly, "I was confident in Zack's intellectual ability. He has proven himself as an adept scientist, so discriminating against him due to his age is unfair and illogical. However, since not everyone was able to consider the situation as rationally or without bias as myself, we were required to fulfill certain criteria before I could accept Zack as my assistant."
"Yeah, no kidding," Booth snorted, "He's fifteen, Bones. He needs to be out playing arcade games with his friends and chasing cheerleaders in short skirts. There's so much he'll miss out on."
Like I did, you mean. Brennan couldn't help but think to herself, though she did not voice her thought aloud.
"I sincerely doubt that I will miss having my head shoved into a toilet bowl, or being trapped in a locker, or being unwilling dressed as the hockey team's mascot. I assure you if I attempted to chase any of the cheerleaders, her boyfriend would pummel me into oblivion. Working with doctor Brennan is a dream come true, Agent Booth."
"He belongs here with his intellectual peers," Brennan stated stubbornly.
Booth held up his hands in surrender, "Okay, fine. It's not like you need my permission."
"But I do need your help," Brennan admitted, biting her lip.
"What do you mean?" Booth asked, suspiciously.
"Zack's mother lives in Michigan and since he is only fifteen someone needs to be responsible for him while he is here. Originally he was going to stay with a family friend, but he had to leave town unexpectedly. I've spoken with his mother and she is comfortable with him staying with me, but has a few concerns."
"Just a few?" Booth scoffed, rolling his eyes.
Brennan glared at the FBI agent but ignored the sarcasm for the moment and continued, "She appreciates that Zack and I are intellectually compatible and that I can understand his interests and act on his behalf concerning his academic pursuits. But…"
"She's worried about me being around what she terms as 'normal' people," Zack blurted out. "Mom continues to worry about my social integration."
"What about your dad?" Booth asked curiously.
"He, uh, died," Zack said quietly. "Last year."
"Oh," Both said, feeling like he could kick himself. "I'm sorry."
"We weren't close," Zack told him, shrugging. "He never understood me."
I can relate, Booth thought to himself.
"I assured Mrs. Addy that different members of our team form a balance of personality types, including an adequate male role-model with interests outside of the realm of science," Brennan continued with a self-satisfied smirk. "She would like to meet you."
Booth was shaking his head immediately, "Oh, no, I really don't-"
"Please, Booth," Brennan pleaded, her blue eyes boring into his brown ones. "We're partners. We are supposed to do things for one another. Having a capable and reliable assistant will not only improve efficiency in the lab but put me in a better state of mind as well. You like it when I'm in a good mood."
Booth sighed, knowing he couldn't refuse her. "When?" he asked, resigned to his fate.
"How about lunch today?" She suggested, smiling brightly.
Booth nodded. "You owe me for this, Bones," he told her dourly.
Brennan just offered a satisfied smile.
***BONES***BONES***BONES
Booth met Brennan, Zack, and Zack's mom at noon at Sid's.
Mrs. Addy was an older woman, well into her late fifties, which surprised him.
"I've had seven children, Agent Booth," she told him, cheerfully. "Zack is my baby." She smiled at her son, who blushed and rolled his eyes.
"Mom…"
Booth grinned. He liked her. "So, Dr. Brennan said you wished to meet me," he said, hesitantly.
"Yes, I did," Mrs. Addy told him, "Though from what I've heard from Dr. Brennan I think you'll do nicely."
"For what exactly?" Booth asked her, curiously.
Mrs. Addy sighed. "Zachary is a brilliant boy," she told him, again smiling at her son, "but he is still terribly naïve and innocent when it comes to the real world."
"Mom," Zack complained, frowning, "I'm not that naïve…"
"Of course not, dear," Mrs. Addy said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes heavenward.
Booth smirked. He definitely liked her now.
"And while I am certain Dr. Brennan and her team are more than capable of helping him achieve his long-term scholastic and career goals," she went on, smiling at Bones, "It is his long-term life skills I worry about. I would very much like him to know what he'll be facing once he gets out onto his own permanently—especially when I am no longer there to guide him."
"That's perfectly understandable, Ma'am," Booth told her, simply. "How can I help?"
"Dr. Brennan says that your interests are not in the world of science," Mrs. Addy said. "That you are a people person, I believe is how she described you. I would appreciate it if you could find time to perhaps take Zack on an outing every once in a while—something that doesn't involve bones and the like."
"I'm not sure if what I find entertaining is something your son would," Booth told her, glancing at Zack—who nodded.
"Oh, I'm sure the two of you can compromise," Mrs. Addy said. "Dr. Brennan tells me you're a father."
"Yes, Ma'am," Booth nodded. "My son Parker is four."
"Ah, I remember Zachary at that age," she said wistfully. "Even then, he was such a serious child."
Again, Zack blushed and tried not to sigh too loudly. Brennan smiled at him in support, which Booth didn't fail to notice.
"Basically, all I'm asking," Mrs. Addy said, "Is that you be the strong male influence in Zack's life. His father passed away last year and the two were never very close. All of his brothers are a great deal older than he—a couple of them even have sons his age—and so it is awkward for him to go to them for any advice or problems he might be having. Will you do this for me, Agent Booth? It would put my mind at ease, being so far away from my baby boy."
Booth swallowed. There was no way he could say no to this sweet, obviously caring lady. "Of course," he told her, with a slightly forced smile. "I'd be happy to."
"Excellent!" Mrs. Addy smiled widely at all of them. Brennan and Zack both smiled as well.
Booth just sighed inwardly. Somehow, someway, he couldn't help thinking, this is going to come back to bite me on the butt…
TBC…