Booth dialled the number on the phone fitted into his armrest and waited for someone to answer.
"Hello?"
"Hey Rebecca, I was wondering if I could speak to Parker if he's still up."
"You're in luck, the little monster didn't want a bath so he's still awake."
Booth could hear the little boys laughter in the background and he felt his heart go heavy in his chest. It was the worst time of year for missing Parker. He'd only had him one year out of four and he couldn't seem to let Rebecca have him. A judge would rule against him because of his career and then he could lose all access to Parker.
"Daddy?" Booth smiled against the mouthpiece at the sound of his son's voice.
"Hey little man I just wanted to say goodnight."
"We just saw each other today."
"I know but I'm not going to see you again until after Christmas so I want to phone you all the time."
"Where are you going?"
"New York"
"All by yourself?!" Parker's little voice gasped on the other end of the line, before Booth had a chance to correct him, Parker was already calling out to him mother.
"Mummy, Daddy's going to New York by himself for Christmas, he can come and stay with me, right?"
"Parker" Booth called from his end, "Parker!"
"Yes?"
"I'm not going to New York alone. Nana Mary and Grandpa Arthur are going to be there, and Uncle Jared and Aunt Taylor." His gaze dropped to the sleeping form of his partner sitting next to him, "And you remember the Bones lady? Dr Brennan. She's coming too."
"Dr. Bones is going?"
"Yes Parker."
"Daddy, is she going to be my new second mummy, like how Drew is my second daddy?"
Booth had to stifle a laugh at this; he wondered how Bones would have responded to his son's question. Probably with shock. She swore that she was no good with kids, yet he had seen her interact with them and she had a very natural maternal instinct that she did not know about.
"No Parker, Dr. Brennan is not going to be your new mummy." Even as the words left the mouth he felt another sharp tug at his heart and felt it drop in his chest.
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"Bones." He tried gently shaking her but she would not rouse, just turned her head and let it drop onto his shoulder. Pausing in surprise he tried to slip out from underneath her before she woke and realized what she was doing.
"Sir?" The call from the male flight attendant stopped his movements and he turned to listen to him.
"Chicken or the pasta sir?"
"Chicken please." The man took a container out of the trolley and placed it on the fold down tray in front of him.
"And for your wife?"
Booth looked up in surprise to see the man looking right at him, he quickly checked behind him to see if he was talking to somebody else but nobody behind him was paying any attention. He turned to look at Bones to see her reaction to the man's comment. She of course was still asleep and buried even further into the material of his t-shirt. He could see how the man would be confused; she certainly did look like she could be in a relationship with him. Unsure as to whether to say anything to the man, he knew Bones would say something.
"Um, Pasta please." He decided not to, taking in the feeling of what it felt like for somebody to think that they were married. He knew that many people thought that they were together when they first met them but they had all had the record set straight, mostly from Bones. He took the tray of Pasta from him and set it on the tray in front of her careful not to wake her as he did it. Once he had managed to fix it so it wouldn't slide off by it's own accord he turned back to his own meal, smiled down at Bones still asleep at his side and focused on the Christmas movie playing.
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"I still can't believe you let me sleep through the landing!" Bones cried as she charged ahead towards the baggage claim carousel.
"You don't like flying, I thought you'd be grateful for the distraction." Booth tried to reason with her unsure of why she was so mad with him. At his comment she spun around checking that nobody had heard him.
"That is not true, I'm perfectly okay with flying!"
"Of course you are," he replied sarcastically.
"Shhh!"
"Oh so today you admit that you are scared of flying?"
"Not afraid, just have a particular dislike towards it."
"Sure, that's what it's called." He told her moving ahead of her as he saw pieces of their luggage approaching.
Once all their bags had been collected Booth had stood in line at the rental car desk waiting to pick up their vehicle as Bones kept a watchful eye over their luggage as well as buying sodas from the nearby vending machine.
"Here we are, parking space 42B." Booth said as they stopped in front of a black SUV.
"Thank goodness, now we can go, that airport was stuffy and smelt funny." Bones complained as she strapped herself in around their hand luggage while Booth loaded the suitcases into the trunk.
As they drove out of the city and towards the mainland, a soft thud could be heard. Booth turned to Bones in alarm but relaxed when he saw that she had just fallen asleep and was now using the window as a headrest. He was surprised that the impact hadn't caused her to wake up. Smiling as he switched the radio to a station that played music that he liked he wound down the window taking in the chill smell of New York, happy to be with Bones this Christmas.
A/N – Okay so that is Chapter 4, I know it is short again but I should be able to load the next chapter later on today to compensate. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, they make me smile. I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas Eve.
To the anonymous reviewer who asked if I could write 'Mom' instead of 'Mum', as the chapters have already been mostly written I won't change them as it does not make the story difficult to read and is still understandable. Could I just ask how many of the reviewers are American, also what do you say in NZ?
LJ
X x x