Chapter 3 –

Once again, I don't own Bones or anything except a copy of Season 1 and a copy of all of Kathy Reich's books. :)

I only got two reviews for the second chapter, so I'm really hoping to get some more on this one or I'll have to consider not continuing. Are people losing interest?

Booth loved his son. There was no doubt about it, but after spending the last two and a half hours trying to entertain an increasingly cranky six year old he had about had enough. After Brennan had pretty much forbade them from leaving the site, he had sat down with Parker and tried to engage him in some simple games. However, because they were sitting at a crime scene, they games had to be ones that didn't involve moving around. Which also meant that the energetic six year old was forced to be inactive when all he wanted to do with explore.

And Parker was hungry. Booth had plied him with granola bars and trail mix after getting off the phone, but that wasn't enough when it was actually dinner time. And as the hours past and it started to approach Parkers bed time, the boy became crankier, tired and antsy.

Parker wanted his hotdog. His dad had promised him that they would cook them on a fire and everything. And Parker loves hotdogs and didn't get to eat them nearly as often as he felt he should. So with a growling stomach and growing frustration from not being allowed to explore coupled together with exhaustion as the hike caught up with him Parker was starting to grate on Booths' nerves.

When his phone finally sprang to life, belting out a generic ring tone, Booth had never felt so relieved. Snapping the phone open he barked out "Booth."

Parker had finally stopped fidgeting and whining when the phone rang and was looking up at his dad in curiosity.

"Okay Bones, we'll head towards you guys. Sounds like you're probably only a few minutes away," Booth replied into the phone after listening for a few minutes. Without giving Brennan another chance to insist that they stay at the campsite guarding the bones, he snapped the phone shut with a quick flick of his wrist and stood up, stretching the kinks out of his back. Looking down at his son, he held out a hand to help him up. "Okay bub, lets go find Bones."

Parker allowed his dad to pull him to his feet before taking off towards the path they had entered the campsite from, Booth following quickly behind him.

They had only been walking for a few minutes when Booth could hear the tell tale sounds of another person walking towards him. Cocking his head to the side and pausing for a couple of seconds, he quickly realized that the sounds he was hearing were definitely coming from more than just a couple of people.

Turning to look down at Parker, who had stopped to watch him, Booth told him, "Sounds like Bones didn't come alone."

"Do you think Zack came as well?" Parker asked, hoping up and down. Parker really enjoyed spending time with Zack, as Zack was the one who had made him the cool robot. So usually when the two go together, Zack worked on improving the robot. The robot was starting to actually listen to a few voice commands now, although a some still caused really odd reactions.

"I'm sure Zack came along too bub," Booth replied. "It sounds like there's a lot more than just Zack though."

A few steps later as they rounded a bend in the trail they could see a large group heading towards them, Brennan leading the way with Zack only a few steps behind her.

"BONES!" Parker shouted, rushing forward to greet his step mom. Even though Brennan and Booth had married almost a year earlier, Parker still didn't call her mom. That's not to say that when he explained who she was to other people that he didn't say she was his mom. It is just that he had never moved from calling her Bones, just like his dad. And personally, Brennan didn't mind. She had realized when she made the decision to get married to Booth that she would become Parker's parent, and as much as she had made progress towards enjoying being around children, she still hadn't changed her mind about wanting one of her own. So having Parker call her Bones had seemed like an ideal solution to her, and she had encouraged it.

"Hi Parker," Brennan replied, lowering what she was carrying to the ground, before crouching down to receive a hug from the eager boy. "Have you been having a good time with your dad?"

Parker looked back at his dad briefly, who had caught up to them by this time, before leaning forward and whispering to Bones, "Daddy's not very good at I-spy and rock, paper, scissors." Of course, like many little boys, Parker had not completely grasped the concept of whispering and it came out just loud enough for Zack and Booth to hear as well. Booth just smiled and shrugged when Brennan looked at him. It's not like those games held any appeal after playing them for over two hours straight.

Booth held out his hand to Parker, tugging him gently away from Bones. "Come on bub, lets go show," he paused as he took in the large group of people standing around waiting for directions on what to do next, "let's show, everyone, where the bones are."

Parker nodded enthusiastically, letting go of Booth's hand in favor of Bones', and pulling Bones forwarded while chattering away about the femur. Smiling as she stood up and let Parker have his way, glancing back briefly to ensure that someone had picked up her belongings.

Back at the campsite, Booth had to maintain a firm grip on Parker's shoulders to prevent him from diving back into the bushes to show Bones what he had found. Instead, standing back from the bush, Booth directed Bones over to where she could see for herself.

Almost immediately, Brennan was mimicking Parkers early pose, flat on her stomach, head buried in the bush. After a few minutes of rustling around, the regular terms started being spouted off. "Well you're right, it's deffinitly…" Brennan trailed off as she pulled her self out of the bush, catching sight of Parker again. "Booth? Maybe you and Parker should head over to the nearest campsite. I'm sure a couple of these guys can help you get a fire going and the tent set up in no time. You're probably ready for your hot dog now, aren't you?" Brennan directed the last part of her statement down to Parker who nodded.

"I can set up a tent and get a fire going on my own," Booth protested.

Brennan rolled her eyes at his normal alpha-male routine before saying, "I didn't say you couldn't. But it'll be faster if you have some help and I'm sure Parker's starving. It's just a suggestion Booth."

Quickly deciding that now wasn't the time for another argument, Booth nodded tiredly, picking up Parker and directing a couple of the FBI agents who had come out on the search with Zack and Brennan to gather up his stuff. As the four of them walked out of the campsite, he could faintly hear Brennan telling Zack to look at the bones himself and see what conclusions they could draw and directing another to find a saw so they could start removing the bush that was hampering their investigation.

Once again, please read and review and let me know if you want me to continue this story. If I only get a couple of reviews again, I'll probably stop it for now.