Disclaimer: Don't own Bones.

A/n: More fluffy fun. Shout-out to NatesMama for her suggestion. Enjoy!

Xbox and Toothpaste

It was amazing what could be learned through careful observation.

Human beings were incredibly complex and yet their behavior so often provided a minefield of clues. It was part of the reason why he found his job so satisfying. There was so much that could be learned through simple body language, even when someone was reluctant to reveal anything.

His two favorite patients took body language communication to a whole new level. It was quite fascinating, really. They were secretive and private about so much and yet they often revealed more through their body language than through mere words.

"Dr. Brennan, would you like to talk about whatever is bothering you?"

"There's nothing bothering me."

Sweets' eyebrows lifted. "You're obviously irritated with Agent Booth."

Her back went ramrod straight. "How could you possibly know that?"

He didn't bother to sigh. Sweets had long ago accepted that she would always sound surprised by psychological insight. "The way you're sitting, Dr. Brennan. It's very telling."

"That's preposterous. I'm sitting the same way I always sit."

"Ah, see, that's where you're wrong." He prepared to wow them with his mad skills. "Did you know that before you became romantically involved you would almost always sit on opposite sides?"

Booth scoffed. "What?"

"That's right. There was always a very precise distance. Very understandable because to sit closer together would have indicated a willingness to invade each other's personal space. Something you were both very careful not to do …"

"That's incorrect," Brennan interrupted gleefully. "Booth has never had a problem invading my personal space."

"… when in the presence of third parties," he finished as if she hadn't interrupted. "I'll bet that when you were alone, you both tended to be more relaxed with the limitations you self-imposed on your relationship for many years. But you adhered to those limits very precisely when—"

"All right, Sweets, stop shrinking and make your point."

"Look at the way you are sitting now," he gestured to the small space between them. "Much closer together. Agent Booth, last week, your arm was resting along the back of the couch and at least twice, you were playing with Dr. Brennan's hair."

Booth had to fight his blush. "Was not," he mumbled.

"But today, Dr. Brennan, despite the close proximity, your body is angled away from Agent Booth," he pointed out. "Your posture is stiff and you keep frowning in his direction. You're clearly irritated and I believe it would be helpful if you talked about it."

Her eyes flickered and then she said carefully, "We've merely had a disagreement about some unfortunate habits Booth has."

"Oh, here we go." Booth turned to his partner and Sweets watched in expectation. "You picked a fight over the toothpaste, but I know this is really about Parker's Xbox."

Sweets blinked. "Um, what?"

"No, it's really about the toothpaste," Brennan denied.

"Nope. Don't believe you." Booth turned to Sweets. "See, she says I squeeze the toothpaste wrong. I mean, is there some science to it or something? The middle, the bottom, what's the difference?"

"Well, Agent Booth, squeezing from the middle—"

"Rhetorical, Sweets," he dismissed, ignoring their audience and turning to Brennan. "Bones, I know you. C'mon, do you think there's any way I'm going to believe this is about toothpaste?"

"Fine, but it does annoy me that you don't squeeze from the bottom of the tube."

"Okay, I'm gonna work on it, I promise, but you gotta stop being mad about the Xbox."

"Why won't you let him keep it?"

"Because it's not his birthday or Christmas, or any other type of special occasion," Booth explained once again. "And you can't just give a kid a very expensive toy simply because he asks for it."

Her jaw clenched stubbornly. "I promised him, he could have it, Booth. Don't make me go back on my word."

"Bones …" She'd been arguing with him on this for the last two days so he knew she wasn't backing down, but he didn't want Parker to start thinking that all he had to do was ask for something and it'd be handed to him. Except that it seemed that when his son was with Brennan that was pretty much all he had to do.

"Guys…" Sweets tried to reclaim their attention. "What's going on?"

"Booth had Parker this past weekend, but he got called in to the office, so I watched him for a little bit."

"They went to the mall and Bones apparently said yes to everything Parker wanted." Mostly, it had been small stuff, but the four hundred dollar Xbox had nearly given Booth a heart attack.

"I didn't know there was some kind of rule about gift-buying, Booth," she protested, her gaze so earnest and brilliant, Booth could feel himself weakening. "It didn't seem like a big deal to me and I was just trying to make him happy." Her voice went small and unsure. "I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds."

"No, Bones, c'mon, that's not …" he sighed, acutely aware of Sweets' avid presence. "You know you're great with Parker. And he thinks you're the coolest person there is and that's not going to change just because you say no to him once in a while."

"Children need boundaries, Dr. Brennan," Sweets piped in. "It is inherent in the parental role to impose those boundaries, even when unpleasant."

"I don't have any experience with the parental role," she whispered, turning stricken eyes to Booth. "I don't know anything about it. My experience with children has been minimal. I am completely unprepared to—"

"Hey, hey," he interrupted, able to hear the rising anxiety in her voice. Reaching out, he clasped her hand. "Look at me, Bones." Her eyes were wide and panicky and Booth wanted to reassure her without alerting Sweets as to the trigger behind the sudden panic. "Parker loves you and you're great with him. Being a parent is trial and error, you kinda learn by doing, all right. You're never going to have all the answers; but that doesn't mean you're unprepared. You're not unprepared for anything, Bones."

His eyes bored into her, willing her to understand. We are not unprepared for anything, least of all our baby. Booth hoped to god that Sweets' shrinky antenna didn't start quivering in suspicion. Brennan must have been thinking the same thing because he saw her swallow and compose herself.

"I promise I will consult with you in the future before buying entertainment items for Parker with significant price tags," she conceded. "But it was my decision to buy him that toy and to force him to return it seems like a penalty when he's done nothing wrong."

"You're right," he acknowledged, unconsciously rubbing his thumb over her hand. "And I don't want you to feel like you have to run it by me whenever you feel like buying something for Parker. That's not what I'm talking about. But, you know, big stuff, that's probably the kind of thing we should talk about."

"I understand." Her lips quirked. "But you should know that I'm not going to forget about your unfortunate toothpaste habits."

Booth gave her a charm smile. "Never thought you would."

"That was very impressive conflict resolution."

Booth blinked, remembering they had a captive audience. "Yeah, well, we've been partners for a long time, Sweets. We've gotten pretty good at conflict resolution."

"You know, it's really fascinating how you two can adopt the dynamics of your partnership and apply them to your personal relationship."

"Oh, I recognize that tone." Booth jumped up from the couch, making a pretense of looking at his watch. "Look at that, our time's up. And no, you can't write another book about us."

"I wasn't—"

"No."

Brennan quickly got up too. "I concur with Booth."

"Wait, no, I—"

"See you next week." Booth opened the door for Brennan and turned one more time to a pouting Sweets. "And, by the way, next week the answer will still be no."