Title: An ear
Series: What is love? 9/11
Author: Chymom
Spoilers: Any episode of Bones maybe talked about in this story.
Rating: PG
Word count: 1,701 words
Characters and parings: Booth, Parker, Bones, Sweets, Angela/Hodgins, Cam.
Disclaimer: I don't own any thing you know. Anything else thought is mine.
Summary: Why is Parker calling Bones so late? What does Booth do with his time away?
Beta: MMWillow13 (Thanks for the read over.)
What is love?
End of chapter eight: I'm sorry
"Brennan." Was the sound he heard when she answer his call.
"Bon…. Brennan, I wanted to let you know that I will be out of town this week. Charlie will talk to you if we have a case."
"You and Hannah be safe." She was about to hang up when she heard his words.
"She's gone." That stopped her in her tracks. No matter what she felt for this man he was hurting and lost.
"Booth, I'm sorry if there's anything."
"Can you spend sometimes with Parker for me? He loves you and misses you. I got to head out. I'll call you when I get home." With that he hung up the phone. He was half way to where he was going to be staying before he even knew it. Climbing out of the SUV he stretched and unloaded his things. One week he had one week to get things right.
Chapter nine: An ear
Sunday morning Brennan found herself once again working with Charlie. However, after her talk with Booth on last night she wasn't sure what was going to happen when he came back. Her mind quickly ran back over the call with Parker later last night.
"Brennan" She answered quickly not expecting her phone to ring.
"Bones. She's gone." His small voice came over her line.
"Who's gone Parker? Are you alright?" He could hear the worry in her voice.
"I'm fine. Hannah's gone. Dad told me that they both called it quits but, he's hurt Bones. I tried to be there for him last night best I could. He needs you Bones." Parker had no idea what he was asking of her or his dad.
"Buddy, do you know where he went?" The call with her old partner was now making much more since.
"No, he told me he would be back at the end of next week. I'm scared he's really upset." How did she tell the young man that this is what happened when you open yourself to others? That when you let others in your life and they rip your heart out this is how it feels?
"Your dad needs some time. When he's ready, he will come home. Things will be different and hard for a few weeks maybe even a month. He loved her so it's going to take some time but don't worry. Soon he will be the man you know and love again." That was the best way she could dumb down her thoughts, not that she had to go that low with Parker, but she thought the simplest was the best.
"I guess you're right. We will be there for him when he comes home right? You're not going to leave him alone now right?" It amazed her that a boy of his age could understand what had been going on.
"I will be here, if he needs me Parker that will never change." Her words left the boy with questions but at least she would be there to help his dad. They agreed to meet a few days later and look over some homework and things. Then got off the phone. She had turned in early that night.
It was now noon and the body was making its way into the lab. She spent the rest of the day plus most of the next two days working on identifying the lifeless body on her table.
Parker had come by on Wednesday for his help. They spent most of the afternoon and early night talking about anything that came to the young mans mind. Each time he would ask Bones about his dad she changed the subject. After the first ten times he stopped asking seeing that his dad hadn't called her anymore then he had called him.
"Bones, I miss him. I didn't like her, but if he's this hurt I wish she had stayed." Parker's eyes were filled with tears and Bones knew that she had to tell him something.
"Parker the other day when I had to leave our phone call to work what did you feel?" He took a moment to answer.
"Buddy?"
"I felt hurt a little. I hadn't talk to you since Saturday night and you didn't get to talk to me at all." He had been honest she knew that he was.
"Now think of it if you got to see me for a whole year and then I told you I couldn't talk to you any more cause I was too busy with work. What do you think you would feel then?" She hoped she was doing this right.
"I would be hurt and mad."
"That's kind of what your dad's going though. Hannah had been with him for a long time and now that she's left for whatever reason he has to find his own answers as to why she left."
"Is that how you felt when he started sleeping with her?" Bones didn't know what to say. She had always been honest with the young man, but what would his dad say if he found out later on?
"Yes, buddy. I felt hurt and it took me months to put that hurt behind me."
"Dad took off so he doesn't have to see me didn't he?"
"No, honey every one handles loss and hurt different. Your dad is a private man. He went away to get things right in his mind. He loves you, don't ever think anything else! He is more than ready to do anything to keep you safe." She felt better at seeing the smile cross his face.
"He loves you too Bones." She knew he did at one time but that was so long ago now. If he asked her again she knows she would say yes to his future, yes to a life with him for as long as they had. However she didn't see that coming. He had moved on and as far as she could see he wouldn't be coming back to her that way. Maybe as her partner/friend, but not as the man she woke up with in her arms.
"Thanks Bones." As they hugged the person in the room made her presence known.
"Parker, why don't you get your things in the car?" His mom said as she approached the pair.
"Rebecca, how much did you hear?"
"Most of the stuff about Seeley. He does still love you." Bones went to say something and Rebecca held her hand up.
"You did the right thing with our son there. He needed to hear it from you that his dad still loved him and that things would be alright. Now, I'm telling you. Don't let what you and Seeley have go! It's something special that one in a million shot of working out. He will see in time that it's you that he needs." She quickly turned from the woman she now called a friend and walked out the door.
Booth had spent most of Sunday laying in bed. He was a strong man. Heck he had been to war twice now but he was human and humans sometimes had to let things out. He would let his mind wonder to what had happened over the last year. How the guys at the office had thought that Charlie was working with Bones now? How the lab that was his friends too thought things would be better if he would leave and let Bones on with her life? Then how Hannah the woman he had moved on with after Bones had let him down left him. Things weren't going well for him.
He's mind kept painting pictures of a life with Hannah, but it had never gone too far in the future. His future was with Bones, deep down he had known that but he had to hit the bottom to know for sure. His bottom had come when Hannah left. Now he was left with trying to find a way to put the pieces of his life back together. He had to make things right. But first he had to make himself right.
The thought of what Sweets would tell him right now brought a small smile to his face. The man acted like a child at times, but over the years Booth had to admit if only to himself that the young doctor was a part of the greatest team the FBI has ever had. Now he had to find a way to get the team back together. Right now he needed to talk to someone. He could have asked Bones to come out with him or call and talk to her but it wouldn't be fair for her to have to hear about things he did with Hannah. He couldn't call Cam or the Squirts cause of the way things had happened over the last year. His family was upset at him. No, he needed someone who wouldn't judge him for trying to move on. That would listen to his hurt and pain. Someone who wouldn't change their mind about him after he was done talking.
He found the perfect person to talk to and in half an hour he was standing there talking to them. For a few hours each day he would go talk to this person. They never judged him and he let his feelings of hurt and rejection out. The walks after his talks helped his mind clear. On Sunday before he went home he stopped one last time to talk.
"Thank you." He spoke before walking away.
He didn't know that someone else had been there part of the times over the last week with him. The man hadn't wanted to upset him and stayed hidden right out of sight. The man hadn't heard the words that were said but, he did see the weight of the world come off Booth's shoulders. It was right after Booth walked away that Max made his way to the spot that he had only moments ago walked away from.
"You always were the easier one to talk to. Thanks for being there for him. I know Brennan will thank you if he ever tells her. I miss you my love." Then he turned and left heading back to his place to get ready for the next week.
A/N: Who was Booth talking to? Will he every tell Bones about it? What happens when Booth gets home? Only two more chapters to go. Thanks for reading.
