Waiting is the hardest part

Temperance Brennan sat in a specialist's office with her husband of for years, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth and their almost three year old son, Michael sat on her lap, playing with her old ID that he got a hold of last year and wouldn't give back. Michael was the reason they were there, he was 3 weeks from his third birthday and he had yet to say anything. Brennan wasn't that concerned at first, she knew some children were slower than others to speak. But now she was concerned Michael seemed to be having difficulty concentrating Michael also had a temper, but Brennan was confident that that was caused by his inability to communicate with them. Brennan always knew they could be facing Michael having some type of disability; he was born ten weeks early and spent the first six weeks of his life in the NICU. Dr. Stevenson walked in to the office,"Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth, I have Michael's results. Michael has a severe speech delay and he also has very mild ADD." Doctor Stevenson waited a moment for the information to sink in. Brennan kissed the top of Michael's head and Booth took her hand. "Doctor Brennan, Agent Booth this doesn't mean that Michael is incapable of learning to speak or learning in general, it just means that he'll do it differently. Michael is not Deaf, he has perfect hearing, and his brain doesn't quite know what to make of the sounds its hearing."

"So, that means he'll use sign language and be in special classes in school?"

"Not necessarily, Mr. Booth Michael could overcome his speech delay in time and speak normally. He could use sign in combination with speech, or yes he could communicate using only sign. Right now it's too early to tell, I would suggest starting speech therapy as soon as possible. There are also many special programs for toddlers that act as a preschool for children with developmental delays. The ADD might require academic accommodations, but I have no doubt Michael will reach his full potential he is a very bright and inquisitive child once you engage him." Brennan smiled slightly. They talked to Doctor Stevenson some more and he assured them that like Brennan thought Michael's temper was because of his inability to communicate and would more than likely dissipate as he became more verbal. Armed with names of schools and numbers of speech therapists Booth and Brennan made their way to the SUV where Brennan strapped Michael into his car seat. Climbing into her seat Brennan looked at Booth and said, "What are we going to do?"

Booth squeezed her hand," right now we are going to go to Rebecca's and get Parker and then we're going to get some pizza and go home to watch movies or do whatever the boys want to do this weekend. Monday we'll deal with Michael's needs. Everything will be okay Bones, you heard Doctor Stevenson Michael is smart kid; we just have to figure out ways to help him. I bet by this time next year we won't be able to shut him up."

"You shouldn't do that."

"What?"

"Make bets, you're a degenerate gambler."

"Reformed besides this is a safe bet, just dinner for two with you."

Brennan couldn't help but smile, Booth had away to make her feel better no matter what was going on. "I'm scared, Booth. This is the first time in my life that I would prefer conjecture over the facts." Booth reached across the seats and pulled Brennan into a hug."Bones all we got is conjecture. The only things we know are that Michael has a severe speech delay and he also has very mild ADD. What happens after that is a crapshoot."Booth handed Brennan a tissue from the console and sat up, smiling at Michael in the rearview mirror,"Bud, are you ready to go get Parker?"

Michael smiled at his dad and went back to playing with Brennan's ID. Thirty minutes later Booth was waiting on Rebecca's porch with Michael in his arms when Rebecca opened the door."Hi Seeley. Hi Michael, Parker is in his room."

"Thanks Becca." Booth mounted the stairs and eased open the door to Parker's room noting that the teen was laying on his bed listening to his IPod, oblivious to everything smiling Booth put Michael down and watched him run headlong onto the bed. Five minutes later Parker came downstairs with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a giggling Michael in his arms.

"Seeley if you need to ever switch weekends or whatever it's fine."

"Thanks Becca."

Forty five minutes later Brennan was getting the plates when Michael reached for her, Brennan sat the plates on the counter and picked him up. Booth picked up the plates and nudged Parker, "Park, grab the pizza and go into the living room, Bones and Michael need a minute or two."

A few minutes later Brennan settled Michael at the coffee table with a piece of pizza and sat down next to Booth on the couch with her own plate. "Thank you." Booth kissed Brennan's forehead in reply.

Later that night when Michael had gone to bed, Booth, Brennan and Parker were watching a more teen friendly movie when it was over Parker looked at Booth, "Dad, can we go to the park in the morning? I need to work on my fielding."

"Sure."

Parker looked at the floor, "Park is there something else?"

Still looking at the floor, Parker replied,"Mikey will want to go with us and that's okay, but he can't play with us then he'll get bored and cranky and we'll have to come home in twenty minutes."

Brennan raised Parker's chin so he was looking at her, "Parker, there is nothing wrong with what you said, it's all true except for one thing; you don't have to come home when Michael has had enough. We'll take two cars , that way I can take Michael home and you can still spend time with your dad."

"Thanks Bones."

"You're welcome." Brennan glanced at Booth, he nodded."Parker we need to tell you something about Michael, remember when we took him for those tests three weeks ago?"

"Yeah."

"We got them back today, before we pickled you up. Your brother has a severe speech delay and he also has very mild ADD."

"Will he ever talk?"

"We don't know Park, we're going to start speech therapy soon and theirs special schools he can go to that will help. The doctor said Michael could overcome his speech delay in time and speak normally. He could use sign in combination with speech, or he could communicate using only sign. "

"Oh okay, I don't know what else to say."

"It's okay Parker, your dad and I don't know what to say about it either."

Parker hugged both of his parents and went to bed.

The next morning Brennan made pancakes while Booth, Michael, and Parker watched cartoons, after everybody got ready Booth and Parker headed to the park in his SUV while Brennan followed with Michael in her car. At the park Booth pushed Michael on the swings for a few minutes while Parker got ready and then Brennan took over and twenty minutes later Brennan and Michael left, but not before Brennan suggested that Booth and Parker make a day of it and go to the movies and to the diner after. Brennan left the park happier than she had been in the last twenty four hours. Booth and Parker were happy to spend the day together and Michael was content with his twenty minutes on the swings and going home to scribble on the large piece of newsprint that Brennan was going to tape to the kitchen floor and let him go at it