A/N: Just a quick one-shot. If you haven't been reading my stories, Brennan will seem a little OOC, but in my AU, she's been spending a lot of time with Parker for a couple of months now, so she's getting better with kids. I just wrote this, and normally i'd keep it and dither and go over it a zillion times, but I wanted to get it posted. If there are spelling/grammer problems, please let me know and I'll edit and repost. Thanks.
"Tempe! Tempe, Tempe!" she heard Parker shout when she knocked on the door. She knelt to be closer to his level as he opened the door. She knew immediately that something was wrong, for although Parker usually shouted her name and hugged her, his voice was now tinged with panic and he clung to her like life depended on their contact. She wrapped her arms around him and stood up.
"Booth?" her voice had, like a disease, caught the panic.
"Everything's okay, Bones." He assured her, coming out of the kitchen.
"What is it, Parker?" she asked, rubbing his back and moving to the sofa to sit.
"I don't think Santa will find me." he sniffed. "How could he? Drew's stinky parents aren't even real grandparents. At least if I was going with you, there would be Kyle an' Jeremy an' Susanna an' Margaret and he could find all of us together, 'cause that's where Daddy an' them grew up, but I don't think he'll find me!"
"Well – didn't your dad," she met Booth's eyes over the child's head, begging him to do something. She didn't know how to reassure him! She'd open her mouth and some horrible disillusioning thing would come out!
"He's just trying to make me feel better." Parker shook his curly head. "He says you're the smartest person he knows. Is it true? Will Santa find me no matter what?"
"Well," she began without any solid idea. What did she remember of Santa Claus? She couldn't disillusion him, he was Booth's kid. Booth might eventually forgive her, but Rebecca would probably see to it that she never saw Parker again. Furthermore, she didn't think she could bear to give him that heartbreaking news. She still remembered the day she had figured it out and gone to her parents for confirmation. She had more-than-half-hoped that they would prove her wrong. They didn't.
"Well, your dad's pretty smart, too, and he knows a lot more about Santa than me, but, just to make sure, we could write a letter to Santa telling him where you're going to be, and I could send it to a friend of mine who is in Nunavut studying the evolution of the Inuit culture. I bet he could deliver it to Santa. How's that?"
"See, Bub? I knew she'd have an idea."
"Where's Nunavut, Daddy?" he jumped down off Tempe's lap and bounced in excitement.
"Uh – near the North Pole, Bub."