Taking Care of Business

"You never did answer Sadie's question," Bones teased him as they turned onto the access road that connected all of the Jeffersonian buildings.

"I think Becca would kill me if I got Parker a cocky belt buckle of his own," he smirked.

"So what did you give him?" she wanted to know.

Just as they'd pulled in to drop Maddie off at the high school, Booth had spotted Parker standing along the front walkway, scanning the parking lot. Maddie was the last of the Booths to be dropped off so Booth parked at his wife's insistence and walked over with Maddie while Bones stayed in the car. The three of them had talked for a moment, then Maddie stepped back, giving Parker time alone with his dad.

"I gave him my poker chip," Booth smiled at the memory of Parker's excitement over the small token as he related it to his wife, "for good luck." He laughed when she made a face and joked, "Well it was either that or the Zippo, or the hula pen."

"Or the belt buckle," she teased back.

"Yup," he nodded, pulling into their space.

They exchanged a smile as they gathered their stuff and began walking toward the building, his hand automatically seeking hers out. As they walked and talked about high school and how neither one of them could believe that Maddie and Parker were now officially high-schoolers, their fingers laced together and their shoulders brushed, and by the time they reached the front doors there was no room between them at all. Just before they went in he tucked a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail and she straightened his tie and they separated as he ushered her forward with his hand at the small of her back.

The two-story building that the Jeffersonian had offered the FBI when the new agent-scientist training program had been established three years ago, technically had no name and in the past it had housed the offices of the lower members of the Jeffersonian hierarchy. A little nosing around on Angela's part through the original blueprints had revealed that it was the twenty-eighth building erected on the sprawling museum ground and had been originally designated "Building BB" on old campus maps.

Taking that concept and running with it, the artist had spent every spare minute that first summer designing the look and feel of the place. On the exterior of the building, Angela had placed two, three-foot high "B's" made of polished stainless steel, one right after the other; etching "Booth" on the bottom of one and "Brennan" on the other in such tiny lettering that they were barely discernible. On the interior, however, she held nothing back.

No one was quite sure how, but she managed to meld the styles of both the Hoover Building and the Jeffersonian Lab seamlessly in each of the five classrooms on the lower level, as well as in the break room upstairs. In the hallways she had interspersed pieces of local Americana art with black and white photographs documenting Booth and Brennan's partnership from its infancy through the seven years they'd been crime-solving partners, including pictures of the Squint Squad as well.

Upstairs, the artist had taken two adjoining offices in the far corner of the building and merged them into one. Two of the walls she'd lined with floor-to-ceiling bookcases, labeled "His" and "Hers" and along the back wall she'd painted in flowing script, "The Center Must Hold." Commendations, medals, and framed newspaper articles featuring their individual and joint accomplishments had been hung all around the words; though the focal point was a picture of the couple standing toe-to-toe, obviously bickering, but with an electricity crackling between them that not even the still image could mute.

For the office itself, she'd found old partners' desks from a downtown precinct and had set them in the middle of the room with a comfortable chair for Booth and a functional one for Brennan. On Booth's side of the office, she'd arranged two Lazy Boy recliners and two couches around a low coffee table that was perfect for housing takeout. The artist had also restored an old wooden toy-box and put it on Booth's side, giving the kids a place to stow their things when they came after school.

Brennan's side of the office, on the other hand, housed a long, oval table made of solid oak for formal business meetings, and a tall glass case for her to display her artifacts. There was a single leather chair with a lamp beside it that Angela joked could be used either for heavy reading, or as a time-out chair for "Booths behaving badly."

"So what's on the agenda for today, Bones?" asked Booth, slipping off his jacket and hanging it carelessly over the back of his chair before sitting down.

She already had her laptop booted up and was sifting through her email as she started listing off all of the things that needed to be done. He listened with half an ear, nodding in all the right places but mostly just taking in the view. Despite the years that had passed, he still found himself marveling not only at the fact that they were still partners, but that they were married and had an amazing family on top of it all.

"Are you even listening to me, Seeley?" she was saying now, dragging him away from his musings.

"Meet with Sweets about the student profiles, check with the Squint Squad to go over the fake case, and schedule my physical," he rattled off her three main points, hoping he hadn't missed anything else important.

"Sweets says it's very important not to put your physical off any longer if you want to maintain your field agent status," she lectured.

"All I've got left to do is the physical and I've been passing those since Sweets was in diapers," he scoffed, and then narrowed his eyes when she gave him a look. "Hey, you wait and see how eager you are when they start jamming a camera up you-" he stopped short when her scowl became a glare. "Fine, I'll make it. But not for next week- that's going to be hectic enough already."

"Agreed," she nodded curtly, then her brow furrowed. "What were you thinking about so deeply over there while I was talking? I know you weren't paying very much attention."

He didn't bother to deny it, but leaned back in his chair and shrugged, "You. I like your hair like that."

"Like what?" she tilted her head, eyes crinkling, "In a ponytail?"

Her curiosity amused him and he laughed, "Yeah, that. Makes you look young and cute."

"Implying I look old and unattractive most of the time?" she challenged him.

"Maybe," he smirked.

She huffed and pretended to become deeply engrossed in her computer work again.

"You know, Bones," he egged her on, "for all your squinty rationalism, you're such a girl."

They were still going at it when Angela walked in, and she paused to appreciate the irony of them bickering under the picture of them bickering before she cleared her throat and quipped, "Good to know you guys used your vacation to blow off some steam."

They both looked at her, then at each other, then gave twin shrugs and looked back at the artist expectantly.

"Right, so these are for you, Bren," Angela handed over her drawing from the latest Limbo remains.

During the summer months when there were no classes to teach and when they weren't traveling as a family to dig sites, Brennan had opted to work in Limbo, as well as handle authentications for the museum when Clark and Wendell were busy helping Agent Perotta with FBI cases.

"They look accurate," said Brennan, scrutinizing each one carefully and signing off on them. "I'm waiting on odontology for dental results. That should give us a geographic location to begin our search. Has Cam set a time for our meeting yet?"

"Despite the fact that I'm not your personal secretary," the artist shared a grin with Booth at Brennan's ever-present lack of tact, "yes. Tomorrow at ten and we'll do the full walk-through. Jack wants to play the murderer this year."

"Fine with me if the bug man doesn't mind getting roughed up a little," Booth's lip curled upward at the prospect.

"No," his wife disagreed, "we need him to perform his duties as the entomologist. One of Clark's interns can be the murderer."

"Aw, he can handle both, Sweetie," Angela assured her, "and they'll never suspect he's their man."

"I'll consider it," the anthropologist relented.

"Good," she grinned. "We still on for girl's night?"

Brennan nodded, "Sadie has soccer practice from six until seven, though."

"That's fine. We'll just leave from here when school's over," Angela said. "Then we'll snag dinner and Gemma and Maddie can watch Sadie's practice and we'll go from there."

"Gemma nervous about first grade at all?" Booth asked of the Hodgins' daughter.

"Nah," Angela waved a hand. "She's six and an old pro by now to hear her talk, plus she gets to play on the big kid playground at recess now so it's all good. Caden on the other hand," she shook her head at the thought of her four-year old, "clung to me like a barnacle when we walked him to his pre-k class; though my tears weren't helping anything probably."

"Bones bawled like a baby when Sadie was that age," Booth claimed.

"That was you," the accused party slapped him lightly as she crossed the room in search of a specific book.

"You used just as many tissues as I did," he defended himself.

"Jack's eyes were teary too," Angela consoled Booth. "I told him it's time for a new one."

"I thought you didn't want any more?" Brennan asked as she hunted in her bag, thinking perhaps she'd brought the book home.

"I didn't back when I was trying to figure out how to stay sane with two little kids only eleven months apart," she chuckled. "But now that they're both in school I don't know."

"Babies are great," put in Booth.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Angela spoke up as her fried started to launch into a debate. "With this being Caden's first week and all we gave Micah the week off so we can pick the kids up ourselves. I mean, I know we'd talked about him not driving today, but I figured I'd give you a heads up."

When Gemma Hodgins, the next heir to the Canteliever Group, had started pre-k at Park Hollow, Jack had hired retired special forces Sargent Micah Birch as both her drive and personal bodyguard. Since Maddie and Sadie were at the same school and also went to the Jeffersonian in the afternoons, Jack insisted that the three girls ride together. Booth had been resistant at first, but the bug man had sweetened the pot, offering to have Micah pick up Joey- and Parker on his weekends- from their school as well. In the end, Booth had agreed, but the couple decided that Micah only needed to pick them up after school as both Booths enjoyed dropping the kids off personally.

"That's not a problem," Bones was telling Ange. "Parker and Joey both have football practice right after school so they'll need to be transported home separately for the duration of the season anyway."

"Parker?" questioned the artist. "I mean, I know he and Joey are at Park Hollow now too but..." she trailed off with a shrug.

"Becca's filing the papers so we'll have joint custody from now on," explained Booth. "We, um, we let him choose how he wanted to do things from now on as far as where he wants to live."

"And he chose you guys?" Angela guessed correctly.

Booth nodded and the next thing he knew Angela was launching herself at him and grinning from ear to ear, exclaiming how happy she was for all of them. Her phone went off a second later, calling her back to the lab, so she gather the forms Bones had signed off on and headed back.

The partners worked in their office for the rest of the morning, then grabbed lunch at the diner, and met with Sweets afterward. As he had for the last three years, the psychologist reviewed the list of thirty students- fifteen scientists and fifteen FBI agents- to talk about possible parings they should consider and ones they should avoid. Of course the final pairing wouldn't be made until the end of the fall semester, then the newly minted partners would spend the spring semester learning how to work together as a team.

By the time they'd finished, it was almost time for school to let out so Booth left to pick the girls up while Bones walked back to the lab to put in a few hours in Limbo. When he reached the front of the pickup line and got out, he smiled widely as Sadie went from bouncing up and down restlessly by the building, to a dead run to the car and into his waiting arms.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, Sadie-girl," he kissed the top of her head. "How was school?"

That was all the invitation the eight year old needed to fill him in on every last detail about her day from the boys who tugged at her pigtails on the playground to her teacher, Mrs. Mackall, who was, "the best ever."

Maddie was much more subdued, but she smiled when Booth ushered her into the front seat and once the doors were closed she gave him a quick hug across the center console. Sadie peppered her sister with questions as they drove and the older girl patiently answered each one.

"Why are we parking?" Sadie asked her dad as he pulled into a space near the elementary school playground and turned the engine off.

"The boys have practice and I don't really feel like coming back to pick them up," he admitted. "Besides, it's a nice day so I figured we can hang out here and then go get your mom once practice is over."

"Is Parker coming home with us tonight?" Maddie waited to ask the question until Sadie had scampered off to the playground.

"For a while," he nodded in reply. "Rebecca's bringing some of his stuff over." The two of them sat down on a nearby bench and he turned to her, "Are you guys okay with this whole Parker thing? I know it's all happening so fast and the last thing I want is for you three to feel like you're getting lost in the shuffle."

"Are you kidding?" she let out a short laugh. "Joey's been dreaming about this since we all were undercover in Maryland and so has Sadie. He's been their big brother for years now."

"What about you?" he probed gently.

"Me?"

"Yeah," he met her eyes, "you guys are just about the same age so what's your take?"

"It's okay," she shrugged. "Not like we don't get along or anything and I'd see him at school everyday now anyway."

Booth watched his oldest girl's gaze drift over to her sister and linger there. Maddie had been like a mother to Sadie for the first year and a half of the younger girl's life and she'd looked out for Joey when he was little too.

"They'll always need you," he assured her, causing her head to snap back around and focus on him. "You're their big sister and they'll always look up to you in one way or another."

He wanted to tell her too that it didn't matter one iota to him whether his kids were biological or adopted- he loved them all the same- but the timing wasn't right so he switched gears instead.

"I've got something I need your help on to pull off," he said, keeping his voice low. "But you've got to promise not to tell anyone, okay?"

Maddie nodded, interest piqued, and listened closely as he outlined the plan he'd been working on for the past month. Her smile spread from one corner of her mouth to the other as he went on explaining what he needed her to do. By the time he finished, it was time to get the boys so they tracked down Sadie and headed back to the car.