My four year old cousin beat me at the first two board games mercilessly and without remorse. She seriously cheered like she'd won the Olympic games or something. I felt ashamed. And thus inspired.

"Thanks so much, Bones. I'll only be gone an hour or so." Booth said, ushering his partner of less than a year through the door. He dutifully ignored the fading bruises on her face, souvenirs of her time spent (and subsequently forgotten) in New Orleans. She shrugged off her jacket, hanging it on the rack next to the door. She followed him through the foyer into the living room, where four-year old Parker was sitting in front of the television watching a yellow animated sponge romp around the ocean floor.

"Parker, Tempe's going to watch you for a while," he said, and Brennan started. She'd never heard him call her that before; it was mostly "Bones" or, in solemn cases, "Temperance." Parker nodded and waved, smiling at her before turning back to the screen.

"He'll pretty much stay there," Booth told her. "He just ate, so he won't be hungry. You know my cell, and I wrote Rebecca's cell on the pad next to the phone just in case, along with the number to his pediatrician." She nodded, not really sure of what to do in this situation. He sensed her awkwardness and smiled softly at her. "You'll be fine; I've seen you take on a lot more than this."

"I'm just…" she struggled for the right words, "…not very good with children."

"You'll be fine," he repeated, patting her on the back. "Call me if you need anything. Feel free to raid the kitchen if you're hungry. Bye Parker." He moved over and kissed his son on the head before smiling at Brennan and walking out the door. She made sure it was locked behind her before she moved back to the living room.

Parker was sitting cross-legged on the floor, so she took up residence on the sofa, watching the antics of Spongebob with the preschooler. Many times she stopped herself from pointing out inconsistencies and accepted the fact that it was a show designed for the intelligence of young children. Looking around, she noticed Booth's bookshelf and moved over to inspect it. She was surprised to find a copy of her book on the top shelf, next to a few crime novels and books for Parker. The bottom shelf was reference books, including an encyclopedia set and a few law books. She was about to pull a John Grisham hardback from its place when she felt Parker's presence next to her.

"Tempe," he said, trying out the name. "Daddy says you work together."

"That's right," she confirmed, seeing the resemblance between father and son in his features as he thought.

"Will you play Candyland with me?" he asked, completely switching gears. When she'd caught up with his train of thought she furrowed her brow. She remembered the game from her childhood, though admittedly it had been many years since she'd even thought about it.

"I'm not sure, Parker," she said, but instantly regretted it. The boy's lower lip jutted out slightly and his eyes seemed to grow bigger.

"Please?" he begged. "I'll even let you be blue," he said as if it was a big concession. He grabbed her hand with both of his smaller ones and tugged her over behind the couch. She stood there helplessly as the boy opened a trunk, digging through it before exclaiming in triumph. He pulled out a beat up version of a board game Brennan had not seen in a long time. He sprawled on the floor and laid the board out, collecting the cards and arranging them in one face down stack.

Brennan lowered herself to the floor next to the boy, watching him set the game up. She took the stack of cards from him as he grabbed the blue and red pieces.

"Okay, you can be blue and I'll be red okay?" She smiled at the boy as she set the stack of cards between them. He drew the first one, turning it over to reveal two blue squares.

"Two blue!" he cried out, moving his red piece to the second blue square. "Your turn." Brennan drew her first card reluctantly, revealing her first move. Parker saw her blank stare and giggled. "You're s'posed to move to the orange," he said, putting his little finger on the first orange square. She picked up her blue piece and set it down next to his finger methodically.

As the game continued, memories flooded back to her from her childhood. Russ had played this game with her when she was only three, but she remembered it like it was yesterday. Watching Parker smile widely as he pulled away from her on the board made her chest constrict, longing for his child-like innocence. She knew now, as an adult, that the game was merely one of chance – what order the cards were in determined the winner. But each time she got stuck on a dotted square, or he had to go back to a character's spot by order of the card, he let out a squeal or a giggle that lightened her heart.

In the end he won by drawing a blue, and she laughed at his victory dance (no doubt inspired by a few football games watched with his dad). She held up her hand and he high-fived it, laughing in triumph. She collected the discarded cards, packing them all away under the board in the old box. Parker replaced it and pulled another out, causing Brennan to shake her head with wonder.

"Where did you get all these games?" she asked him as she pulled out the Chutes and Ladders board.

"Daddy," he said simply. "Some of them are his and Uncle Jared's from when they were kids." He grabbed the die and rolled it across the board. The game came back quickly to Brennan, and she soon found herself near the top (thanks to landing on two consecutive ladder squares) and Parker was firmly on the second row. Of course, as with Candyland, Chutes and Ladders was purely a game of chance. She landed on the 87, and found herself tumbling down the chute there to 24. Parker, on the other hand, displayed an inordinate amount of luck and landed on 28, sending him up the largest letter to 84.

"Ha!" he exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. She couldn't resist reaching out and tickling his stomach, causing his hands to drop as he laughed childishly. "I'm winning!" he boasted, bouncing from his sitting position.

"Okay, I give," she conceded. "You win." She sat back and watched him do his victory dance again, laughing at his antics.

"Wanna play another?" he asked after he'd stashed the game on top of Candyland. He pulled out another classic game, and she shook her head ruefully.

"I can't believe you have that game," she told him, taking the large box from his hands.

"It's Dad's favorite," Parker told her.

"I can't imagine why," was her sarcastic reply, but she quickly realized Parker wouldn't get it.

"Well, let's set it up," she told him, happy to have found something to occupy him that wasn't too difficult. He pulled the large plastic set from the board as Brennan collected all the white marbles.

"Okay, which hippo do you want?" he asked seriously.

"I guess I'll take Homer," she said, spinning the board around so she was behind the green hippo. Once everything was set up, Brennan released the marbles and the house was filled with the cacophony of each of them slapping down on their levers causing their hippos to surge out and grab as many marbles as possible. Brennan waited for a lot of marbles to congregate in front of her hippo before slapping down hard and collecting as many as she could. Parker, on the other hand, was just banging down repeatedly on his lever with no apparent rhythm, his laughs mixing with his hippo's noisy chomps.

By the end of five minutes all the marbles were off the board and they each counted their collection. Brennan had won by two, and Parker high-fived her and challenged her to another game.

Somewhere, in all the noise of the second game, Booth entered his home quietly and stood behind the wall out of view, watching his partner and son enjoying their game. He didn't think he'd ever seen such a care-free expression on her face before, and he silently thanked his mother for sending his old games for Parker.

The boy won the second game by quite a large margin, though Booth suspected from Brennan's over-enthusiastic congratulations that she'd let the boy win. Parker, of course, cited his many wins over his dad as the reason he was so good, and Brennan laughed as she agreed.

Parker was about to pull out yet another Milton Bradley classic when he spotted his father in the foyer. "Daddy!" he cried, leaving the trunk open and sprinting toward the man. Booth caught the boy mid-leap and ruffled his hair.

"Were you good for Tempe?" he asked seriously.

"Yes Daddy! We played Candyland, and Chutes and Ladders, and Hungry Hungry Hippos twice! I won all of them Daddy, 'cept the first one! And Tempe says she played them when she was a kid just like you. Wanna play with us?" He tugged on his father's arm so Booth was now standing behind the couch next to Brennan as his son rifled through the chest.

"I hope he wasn't too much trouble," he told her as Parker pulled out Twister. "Parker, I don't think so buddy. We have to let Bones get home. Thank her for watching you then go make sure your things are packed to take back to Mom's," he instructed his son, not at all surprised when the boy raced over and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Thanks for playing with me, Tempe," he said into her blouse. She squeezed him back briefly with one arm and smiled.

"No problem, Parker. I had fun." He smiled up at her and ran out of the room. Booth walked her to the door and opened it.

"Thanks again, Bones. I owe you lunch tomorrow." She nodded and waved to him as he shut the door. As she walked to her car, she couldn't stop the smile that split her face as she thought about her own childhood, and how much fun she'd had. With Parker's giggles and bright face in her thoughts, not even her parents' disappearance and brother's abandonment could darken her mood now.

Okay, raise your hand if you want a Twister game with the squint squad (plus Booth of course). If enough people want it, I'll write it.

Very long Christmas chapter upcoming, so lookout for that. Oh, and a completely separate B/B fluffy Christmas fic in the works that will be up before the New Year. Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you thought.

Okay, so I've got the idea for my next multi-chaptered story, it just needs a LOT of work. So now's your chance to tell me what you'd rather have. A) a story I've already completely written and post regularly at expected intervals - in which case it will take me a while to write it or B) a story in progress with absolutely random updates as I finish chapters - meaning varying times between them but it would start probably around the new year, maybe sooner. Please let me know. Oh, and if anyone's read Mooncalled or Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs, let me know. I'd love to discuss a few things with you.