Rating: PG

Pairing: BB

Author's Note: This chapter came on me quite suddenly and it begged to be written. I had many issues with it but I think I like how it turned out in the end. A huge thanks to Ems and Starr for their help with one of the hardest parts of the fic. They ultimately came up with Cookie, Cuffs, and Sprinkles. Fear them.

Dedication: To Starr for her insanity and Ems for her genius-ness. I love you both dearly.


Parker woke at his usual time, well, the usual time for when he stays at his daddy's house anyway. He crawled out of bed and looked out the window, making a face at the rain drops falling outside. He didn't like the rain. It meant that he had to stay inside and couldn't run around at the park. He made another face at the window before heading out into the hall and looking around.

The apartment was silent. He yawned widely and looked around the kitchen and the living room but no one was around and it didn't look like Daddy was up yet. He smiled at this and crept quietly back down the hallway, to where his daddy's room was and opened the door as silently as he could. His smile widened when he saw Booth and Brennan still asleep and he let out a scream as he ran and jumped on the both of them.

Booth jerked, groaning as Parker bounced enthusiastically on him and Brennan mumbled something before opening her eyes and smiling at the child who was very much enjoying his torture of his father. She sat up as Booth did, watching as Booth grabbed Parker, tickling him into a fit of giggles and squeals, before letting the boy hang upside down off the bed.

"Daddy!" he yelled. Booth laughed, bringing him back up and Parker curled up against his father, looking at Brennan thoughtfully. "Daddy? Did Doctor Bones spend the night?"

"Yeah Parker, Doctor Bones spent the night."

"With you?"

Booth glanced at Brennan for help but she only gave him an innocent smile. "Well...yes. We both agreed that couches aren't comfortable," he said finally.

Parker seemed to accept the answer, or at least didn't pose anymore questions to his father and Brennan smiled at him. "Would you like me to make breakfast?" she asked. The boy looked up, grinning widely at her and she smiled back in return.

"Yeah!"

She took him from Booth, carrying him into the kitchen and asking what he wanted. He screwed up his face, thinking hard, and she smiled, watching him as Booth joined them, heading straight for the coffee maker. She couldn't help the passing comment about apples, or the laugh that accompanied his glare.

Parker watches the exchange silently, still pretending to think about what he wants to eat when in fact he had known he wanted waffles since he had woken up. He notices the way Daddy seems to smile more with Doctor Bones around and the way Doctor Bones seems to be able to tease Daddy and tale care of him and he wonders why. Then he wonders if she'll be like some of Daddy's past friends who happen to be girls and leave too. He decides he doesn't want that to happen because he likes Doctor Bones and the way she makes Daddy smile.

"Doctor Bones?"

"Yes Parker?"

"I want waffles." She smiles at him and agrees, says waffles sound great, but it's Booth that gets the waffles ready and she gets the fruit ready. Strawberries and cantaloupe, his favorite.

"Colonel Mustard, in the library with the..." Brennan pauses, checking her card again, "candlestick."

They had been playing board games and watching movies for most of the day, waiting until Rosa or Rebecca came to pick Parker up or until the rain stopped. The first seemed more likely though as the clouds grew darker the later it got. Booth shook his head as Brennan won once again, wondering how that was possible when he was the criminal investigator and she was a scientist who studied bones.

The doorbell rang and he stood from the table, making his way to the front door. He paused when it opened and he saw the woman standing there. She smiled brightly at him, not noticing his surprise. "Hi Seeley," she said with a wide smile. "Is Parker ready?" she asked.

"Uh, almost. Come on in." He stepped aside, letting her in and she flashed him another smile as she made her way into the apartment. He closed the door behind her, following her into the kitchen where Brennan and Parker were just finishing up putting the game away.

"Hi Mommy!" Parker called, giving her a wave.

"Hi honey," she called back before turning to Booth with another smile. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure. We'll be right back," he told Brennan. They walked back to the front door and he leaned against the wall, waiting for whatever it was she was going to say and she sighed, eyes narrowed at him. Finally he gave up and shrugged. "What?"

"She spent the night." It wasn't a question, more of a statement and he wasn't sure what she wanted him to do. Agree? Deny it? He settled on remaining silent and waiting for whatever else was to come. "Seeley, she spent the night when our five-year-old was with you?"

"Nothing happened. We're partners Rebecca, not lovers."

Rebecca stared at him, testing his words. "I thought you said you were dating a doctor."

"Was. Camille Saroyan, not Temperance Brennan."

He wondered vaguely if Tessa would be the next to show up and question him about Brennan's presence in his apartment. He wouldn't deny it that he enjoyed having her here, or that he had particularly enjoyed having her in his bed last night though nothing had happened between them. He simply knew the boundaries and that he was supposed to be her friend and partner and he wasn't going to push the small amount of trust in him she had by going to fast to soon.

"Seeley..."

"I'm all ready Mommy," Parker exclaimed as he came around the corner, pulling on his jacket. Brennan was with him, gazing at Booth curiously and he gave her a small shrug before turning to Parker.

"I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay Daddy."

"Be good for Mommy?"

"Yep!"

He pulled the boy to him, hugging him tightly and Parker returned it before turning to his mother. Rebecca looked at Brennan and gave her a nod. "Nice seeing you again Doctor Brennan."

"Yeah, nice to see you too."

The apartment felt decidedly more quiet without an active five-year-old rushing through it and Brennan glanced at Booth who seemed somewhat deflated without his son there. She gave him a tired smile and he returned it before sighing and glancing around, trying to find something to latch on to but not having any luck.

"Did you put the board game away?"

"Parker did, I didn't know where it went." He nodded and she opened her mouth to say something when she heard her cell ringing from the back of the apartment. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"Yeah, sure thing."

She turned to go but stopped, hesitating, turning back to him. "Can you do me a favor?" He raised an eyebrow and she smiled. "I would love a sundae right now."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Brennan."

"Sweetie you have got to figure out a better way to answer your phone than by stating your last name. The whole idea is that the person calling you already knows who you are," Angela said, laughing quietly over the phone.

"Hey Ange."

"Hey Bren. How's your weekend? I heard about Mara, it was on the news last night, did you see it?"

"It was?"

"I take it that you didn't then. Yes, it was. It showed the paramedics bringing her out of that building and it had a very cute segment of you and Booth trudging through mud to the SUV." Brennan felt the heat rise to her face as she sat down on the bed, suppressing a groan. "You two looked quite comfy with his arm around you like that. Sweetie, have you been neglecting to tell me details about your whereabouts outside of the lab?"

"Angela..."

"Because I've left at least thirty messages at your apartment this weekend and you haven't responded to one which leads me to believe that you aren't home." Brennan sighed and Angela squealed loudly, forcing her to hold the phone away from her ear for a good thirty to forty seconds. "Brennan, you are not getting away this time. I want details. A weekend sleep over? You better have some damn juicy details and not just that you forgot to put your clothes in the dryer like last time or that it was to late to go home."

"Angela, really, it isn't..." she trailed off as Booth made his way in with two bowls of ice cream sundaes and she smiled at him. "Ange, I have to go. I swear I'll call you later."

"What? Temperance Brennan, do not hang up this phone!"

"Ange..." Booth handed her a bowl and took the phone from her, smiling when she glared at him. "Booth, no," she whispered. He made a shushing motion before putting the phone to his ear.

"Goodbye Angela," he said. Her squeal was cut off when he snapped the phone shut. "See, it's easy to get rid of her when you want to."

"You are not nice," she told him. He just grinned and she leaned back against the headboard and focused her attention on the sundae in her hands.

"Oh, did you want any sprinkles?" he asked, producing a bottle of brightly colored sprinkles from somewhere and offering it to her. "Parker loves them and I found them in a cabinet by accident."

She grinned then, laughing as she took the bottle from his hand and staring at it. "Sprinkles," she laughed. "That's it. Sprinkles."

"Er...Bones, you okay? It's just a bottle of rainbow sprinkles you know. If you don't want any, I'll take some." He reached for the bottle but she swatted his hand away, pouring some on her ice cream. "Bones?"

"Sprinkles. That's it," she repeated.

"I think I'm missing something, what are you talking about?"

"Your nickname. You love ice cream so much, so sprinkles."

"Bones, are you drunk? Or high?" He stared at her, not really liking what he was gathering from the words she managed to say between her laughter. One thing was for sure, he was not going to be called "sprinkles." Even if it was by Brennan.

"No, I'm perfectly sober. You know that. If you keep calling me Bones, I'll call you Sprinkles. It's a fair trade, don't you think?"

"No, I don't think it is," he shot back, glaring at her and taking the bottle, pouring some on his own ice cream. "Sprinkles is far worse than Bones."

"Aw, just think of it as a term of endearment...Sprinkles."

"You are going to regret that Bones." He grabbed her ice cream, moving both of the bowls onto and end table before tackling her, tickling her like he had tickled Parker earlier.

"Booth!" she screamed, hitting him.

He only laughed in response and she reached around, grabbing a pillow and hitting him in the head with it as she tried to contain her laughter. She couldn't remember the last time anyone had tickled her and it irritated her that she let him get away with it now. Her hand latched onto the bottle of sprinkles and she grinned, grabbing it and managing to open it so that the rainbow candy fell over his head.

"Brennan!"

"Now you really are Sprinkles," she said with a smile. He glared at her and she only grinned, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair, dislodging a shower of sprinkles and laughing again. He smiled at her, shaking his head and dislodging the rest of the candy so that it fell onto her and the bedspread beneath her.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" he asked, hands poised on her waist and fingers rubbing slowly along her sides. She nodded slowly, smile still in place and he let his eyes wander over her face. She looked content and at ease, something he rarely saw on her.

"Very much so," she replied, voice breathless. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck and she knew in that moment that she had made a decision. A choice to stop the intricate song-and-dance they had been enjoying since they had first met. She gave him another slow smile, fingers playing with his hair. "Are you?"

"Yes." They were too close. He knew that. He also knew that if she didn't move in the next five seconds he was going to kiss her. The prediction followed that she would either kiss him back or punch him after but he wasn't really worried about that at the moment because she still hadn't moved and she was still smiling at him, playing with his hair and looking too damn enticing for her own good.

Her eyes closed as his lips met hers and she couldn't suppress the sigh that escaped her lips, couldn't resist tightening her grip on him and pulling him closer to her. He relaxed against her, enjoying the feeling of her beneath him and the taste of her mouth until the need to breathe overwhelmed them both and they broke away, maintaining eye contact.

"You okay Bones?"

"Just perfect Sprinkles, you?"

He smiled, letting his fingers run over her cheek and through her hair before bringing his mouth to hers, kissing her deeply and thoroughly. She responded and it was more than he could have hoped for though at the same time he wondered how this would affect their work relationship. He found he didn't really care though as they broke apart and she smiled at him once more. He also found that he didn't really mind her calling him "sprinkles" as long as it was in private.

"I'm in heaven Bones," he whispered.