Chapter 6

"What is it?" Brennan asked him. He seemed suddenly jittery.

"It's Parker. They're at the emergency room." He tried to make his voice calm, because it wasn't a life or death situation, but still made his heart race. "Parker, he uh, was riding his bike and fell and broke his arm."

Brennan gave him a reassuring look. "I'm sure you must be worried, but it is a common injury from bike falls. I'm sure the doctors have given Parker medication to help with the pain."

"Yeah . . . yeah. I know, you're right. I was just hoping I wouldn't break him already."

"Booth? He fell while riding his bike. It's not your fault."

"What? I know that."

"You just said you were hoping that you wouldn't break him already. But you didn't. It was just an accident."

"Right. I meant . . .I was hoping he wouldn't break already. That's all. I know. Kids break bones. It happens." He looked at her for more reassurance. "Right?"

Her eyes softened soothingly. "Right."

"Look, I, uh, know you should probably get back to the lab so that you can keep working the case, but, do you think you could come with me to the hospital, just for a little bit? You know, take a look at his X-rays and make sure it's not too bad of a break?"

"Dr. Edison is more than capable of continuing without me right now. Of course I will come with you."

Some of the tension rolled off of his shoulders as he realized how much it meant to him to have her come with him to the hospital, and not just for the X-rays. Sure, having her expert eye would certainly set his mind at ease, but more importantly, her presence simply calmed and encouraged him. He knew that his son was probably okay. Heck, he imagined Parker was already thinking to how cool it would be to show off his cast, but it still rattled him to get the "hospital" call. With Bones by his side, he felt more confident about the whole situation. He'd probably start babbling once he got there and even though he still couldn't predict when she would say something off the wall, more often than not, what she told people turned out to be exactly right. Plus, Parker thought she was cool. And with that thought, the tense frown curved unexpectedly into a small smile.

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They checked in at the desk, put on their guest stickers, and made their way to Trauma Room 2. Parker's face lit up when they opened the door. "Dad! Bones!"

"Hey buddy. How are you doing, pal?" Booth ruffled Parker's hair and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

Parker gave a small shrug. "It still kind of hurts, even after they gave me some medicine, and we've been here forever, but mom says I'll probably get to choose the color I want for the cast so I was thinking orange and black for the Flyers, but then she said they probably can't do two colors and now I don't know which one to choose. What do you think?"

"Orange, definitely orange. You wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"Because then you can still have all of your friends sign it and we can put the Flyers' logo on it with black marker, right?"

Parker grinned and nodded. "Yeah, cool." They exchanged a fist bump.

Booth looked up at Rebecca, who answered his unasked questions. "He was practicing some fancy jump on his bike and broke most of his fall with his wrist. The doctor said it was a pretty clean break and shouldn't need to wear the cast more than six weeks, maybe as little as four."

Brennan was already examining Parker's arm through the splint and agreed. "Booth asked me if I would look at the X-rays, but just by looking at it now, it seems that it is the distal radius that has been fractured, though I cannot determine how severe the fracture is."

"Seeley, can I talk to you a second?" She gestured to the hall.

"Yeah, of course." He turned to Parker and assured him that Brennan would hang out with him while he talked to his mom.

Rebecca launched into a babble as soon as they closed the door. "I swear he was wearing all of the protective gear, but he's just so into trying out the stunts and he went off of a ramp he and his friends made and I know I should have been better about telling him that he shouldn't have been trying that stuff out –"

"Hey, hey, hey. Rebecca." Booth held her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "Calm down. It's okay. It's not your fault. Nobody's blaming you, alright?"

She let him pull her into his embrace. "I was so scared. I mean, he's just our little boy, right?"

"Yeah, I know." He released her and she took a deep breath to calm herself further.

"Okay, so here's the other thing. The doctors are saying Parker should stay home from school tomorrow, just to make sure he's taking things easy and avoiding possible complications, but I have to be in court and I'd ask for a continuance, but the case has already been delayed and—"

"I got it. You need me to take Parker. Of course, I will. I'll take him home with me after he's all set here."

"You're not in the middle of a case or anything? I assumed that's why Dr. Brennan was with you."

"Yeah, we are, but it's okay. We'll figure it out. Actually," he paused, not really feeling like this was the best time to bring it up, but not seeing a good alternative, "I wanted to talk to you about our case. It's about Marcus Martin."

Rebecca's face fell as Booth gave the bare facts of the case and asked if she and Parker had ever gotten to know them better recently. "No. God, we had only barely met them before Christopher got sick and then . . . well, they all just sort of folded in on themselves. We'd run into them from time to time and they all just seemed so tightly wound. So sad, really. And you still haven't found Karen?" Booth shook his head and she asked, "So, do we tell him now or later, do you suppose?"

Booth opted for later, figuring the hospital was stressful enough. He said he'd figure out a way to have a conversation with him later that night at his place. However, upon re-entering his room, Parker asked, "Is it true, Dad? That Marcus is dead?"

Booth looked with wide eyes at Brennan who merely replied, "He asked what we were working on together today. I didn't see the harm in breaking the news to him for you. You have enough to worry about right now."

"Dad, don't be mad. You and mom never tell me anything. I can handle it. And if anyone can figure out what happened to him, you guys can."

Booth sighed and gave Bones a little nod of a appreciation and assured Parker that they were going to figure out exactly what happened to him. Before they could continue the conversation, a nurse came in and told them that they were ready to fit up Parker for his cast. Brennan asked if she could look at Parker's X-ray and with Booth and Rebecca's approval, the nurse called up the images on the computer. Brennan pointed out the bone compression and called it a "torus" or "buckle" fracture. She assured the worried parents that it was an extremely common fracture and should heal up quite satisfactorily.

The nurse helped Parker settle into a wheelchair and Brennan suggested she stay behind so it wouldn't be too crowded. She wanted to check in with the team at the lab, anyhow. Rebecca, Parker, and the nurse exited the room, but before Booth followed them he took a hold of his partner's hand and kissed the backs of her fingers. "Different sort of kiss that I was thinking of earlier, but same kind of feeling. Thanks for being here, Bones."