10CHAPTERTEN
"Hwah!" Parker cried out as he gave a mock punch in Doctor Sweets' direction who proceeded to react accordingly. His large hands moving to cover his stomach as he jumped backwards as though having received a mighty blow, though given the height and age difference, it was highly unlikely. Parker then pretended to kick Lance with his little Nike clad foot, shoelaces untied of course, his zip up sweater hood, over his head purposely, as if concealing an identity. On the little boy's cheeks were black lines smudged over his skin, much like a football player or fighter would wear, probably created by a marker which was at his disposal.
Lance moved to slump into Krys' rolling chair which had been moved to the center of her makeshift office, shoulders falling backwards, his chin falling forwards pressed against his chest. Parker held in a giggle, he was just a little boy after all, as Sweets made a big deal of trying to get up from the chair, allowing his feet to slide every which way, feigning a struggle. Having reached his feet, and steadily at that he lifted his head to reveal that he had black streaks over his cheeks matching Parker's.
"You haven't heard the last of me Agent Parker." Lance declared in a desperately trying to sound macho and intimidating voice. Perhaps he was gathering his inspiration from the mighty Shredder from the old Ninja Turtle shows on the television.
Parker gave Sweets' stomach one last fake punch but as the Psychiatrist moved to stumble backwards, the little boy's hand wrapped around his wrist, holding him upright. "Okay." Parker announced, a bit breathless from his excitement. "Now you're my sidekick, like dad has Bones."
"Alright." Lance pulled at the hem of his button up shirt which had, in all of their activities, become untucked. His suit coat discarded on the desk he attempted to catch his breath as he moved to loosen his tie which was ill fitting as is. "I haven't played two roles since I played The Nurse and Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet." He admitted, his tie now at a comfortable position.
"You played the nurse?!" Came a voice from underneath the desk which was so obviously Krys who was trying very hard not to laugh... And failing.
"Yeah. So what?" Lance shrugged his shoulders, though it was hard to hide the redness forming in his cheeks. Why did he always say the dumbest things without thinking on how they would sound once the words left his lips.
"Krys!" Parker shouted, looking toward the desk with narrowed, yet shocked eyes at the mere fact that the young woman had broken character (even if she was technically off stage and under a desk). "You're supposed to stay under there until we come to save you!" The little boy frowned, breaking character himself as his hands went onto his hips.
Krys poked her head out now, hands on the wooden desktop, frowning. Now it was evident that all three had matching black lines over their round cheeks. "Why is it always the girl that needs to get saved?" Lance deliberately looked at the ground, he had long since learned that it was best to avoid debacles with women. Daisy and April had taught him that much. Parker was about to learn that lesson. "Girls can fight too. I took Taekwondo until I was twelve!" Neither male said a word and Krys sighed, disappearing back under the desk. "This is so sexist."
Parker raised his lightly colored brow and looked to Doctor Sweets. "What's seexeest?"
"It means 'just agree or else'." Lance commented, unable to hide his little smile at his own wit even though Parker didn't understand what he was saying. And then, he got an idea. Payback time, even though it would be in a passive aggressive manner. "So, lets save the princess!" A thud was heard from the desk, clearly the sound of the top of Krys' head suddenly meeting with the underside of the desk in outrage.
"Yeah!" Parker cried out, pumping his left fist into the air and he bent his knees ready to jump when the office door opened. The two males turned around to see who it was.
There was Vincent the British intern looking very confused by the Americans with lines painted as war paint on their faces (at least the two that he could see). "Fact. Perhaps ironically so, the lack of facts creates a state of mind called confusion." The intern announced, his lab coat draped over his arm, apparently he was about to leave for the day when he heard the commotion coming from the office. "Doctor Saroyan wanted me to check... On... You.." His voice trailed off as he found himself wishing that Doctor Saroyan hadn't spotted him turning in.
"Who's he?" Parker asked outright, just as blunt as his father. He was never one to beat around the bush, most children weren't.
"I study the four fields of anthropology: biological, socio-cultural, linguistic, and archaeology." Vincent rattled off, in a field he was quite comfortable in (for now) in explaining facts. "If you go deeper into those four studies you'll find over a thousand more fields. I also have a retentive memory." The intern smiled cheekily, quite pleased with himself and awaiting a response from the boy. There wasn't one.
"That's Mister Murray." Sweets corrected looking to Parker whom was staring at Vincent as though he was a giant bug, an expression that made Mister Murray look as though he might be sick. "He's in Doctor Brennan's rotation this week."
"Correction!" Came a voice behind the desk and Krys emerged at a hurried pace. In reaching Vincent's side the intern would look down at her with a curious expression. Had he really gotten who he was incorrect? "This, is the princess you'll be saving."
"I'm... What?" Vincent's eyes widened the same amount as Parker's grin. Lance's eyes provided a contrast as he watched the intern and analyst move with intrigue. Krys' fingers wrapped around his wrist and dragged him right over to the desk. He attempted to dig his dress shoe clad heels into the carpet to provide some friction and resistance but unfortunately the data analyst was beating him out. "Did... Did...Did you know that panic is a state also created by lack of facts much like confu-SION!" He was roughly sat on the edge of the desk. He felt his legs squish together, his insides tighten out of nervousness. Krys bent down and picked up Sweets' suit coat, tying the sleeves around Vincent's wrists.
"Don't worry. We're just playing a game." Krys explained, leaning forward her hands on either side of the intern's legs which caused him to blush though there was no sexual context about it. "You just have to sit here and look afraid." Krys took a step back to admire her handy work performance only to see Vincent's widened eyes, the same ones that she had seen in the doorway. "Perfect." And with that she turned away even though Vincent attempted to point a finger and open his mouth to interject. "Okay. Go!"
Lance chuckled as he shook his head but once Parker let out another battle cry he had no choice but to get back into character. All three fighting invisible bad guys as Vincent looked on absolutely terrified. If it wasn't for the little bit of British dignity he still held onto, the poor man would have wet himself.
After all of the evil guys were 'defeated', Krys rushed up to Vincent on the desk, pretending to be out of breath as she pulled at the sleeves and thus freeing the panicked intern. Standing between his legs she laughed, and Vincent, though very uncomfortable, couldn't help but do so either. Lance caught this exchange from the far corner of the room as he defeated an 'orc' of some sort (it was his imagination and he could fight who he wanted and with whatever weapon) and frowned. He wasn't sure he liked this game anymore...
"Kiss her!" Parker cried out with a laugh, clapping his hands together in excitement in the center of the room which caused both Vincent and Krys to turn around with looks of equal confusion and nerves on their faces.
Krys was the only one able to speak however. "Huh?"
"You saved him. Now you have to kiss him." Parker said more seriously as though it was something that everyone knew and for some reason Vincent and Krys hadn't been informed. The two looked back at one another unsurely, both with similar fearful expressions.
"Parker, I don't think that's appropriate." Lance spoke up, stepping toward the young boy before approaching the other two, breaking them up by simple reaching down and taking his suit coat from them, slipping it back on.
"Please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE!" Parker said over and over again, each word growing louder and louder until he was practically shrieking which resulted in Doctor Cam Saroyan entering the room causing all to fall quiet. After all, she was the boss.
"Good to see that everyone is acting very professional given the seriousness of our case." She sighed, her red lips showing no sign of emotion other than disdain which had the ability to make everyone uncomfortable. Boss wasn't pleased, that was never good. "Miss Robin, you're excused for the evening, back here bright and early."
"Right." Krys gave a quick nod, actually glad to be going especially with the awkwardness of the moment. Moving to the side of her office she grabbed her coat and messenger bag plus two files. Lance caught this and eyed her as she made her way out, only after giving Parker a light noogie on the top of his head which tussled his hair before she left.
"Bye Krys!" Parker called out, attempting to follow the fun young lady until Cam stopped him. Cam had dated his father a while back, Parker was made aware of this and for that reason, he actually listened to her. Last thing he wanted was his dad mad at him, especially when they'd be spending the weekend together.
"You will be heading back to the Hoover building escorted by Mister Nigel Murray." Cam informed the young boy who hung his head. Vincent was clearly not aware of this for he soon blinked and looked up, looking quite surprised at the idea of playing sitter.
Vincent made himself stand and both him and Parker exited the room as the little boy called over his shoulder: "Bye Doctor Sweets!".
Now it was just Sweets and Cam. Lance forced a weak little smile and an even weaker chuckle, if only to make himself feel better. Of course playing nice wasn't in the cards for Cam especially as she eyed the black streaks on Lance's cheeks which she just picked up on.
"Good look for you." She nodded curtly. "Very adult."
Lance found his eyes moving to the door where Parker had left with Vince. He knew better than to argue with Cam about how adult he was. Everyone here just always saw him as a kid, even when there was an actual kid in the area, somehow Sweets was always the baby. "Don't you want kids Doctor Saroyan?"
Cam crossed her arms over her chest at the Psychologist, eying him suspiciously. Was she picking up on something about him? Something that the all mighty Sweets couldn't even see? "And ruin this figure?" A wry little smile crossed her full lips as the office door opened once more.
"Hey. I'm swiping out." Hodgins announced quickly, not even bothering to enter the room fully. He was apparently trying to do a 'drive by goodbye'. An action that made Cam sigh.
"Fine." She had long learned arguing with Hodgins, especially lately, was useless. Though she knew he didn't hate her, if he did he could just buy the lab and have her fired. He had that sort of cash flow and everyone knew it, though they all pretended not to.
"Where are you going?" Sweets spoke up. He was always intrigued by Jack Hodgins, and could usually be found at his side pestering him with questions about his life.
"Not that it's any of your business but it's Friday. I'm going to visit Zack." Jack countered with his dark eyes focused on Sweets before he moved to leave.
"I'm coming." Lance announced, pushing his arm through his other sleeve and began to move toward the door.
"No you're not." Jack turned back around to block Sweets off from leaving.
"I'm his therapist. I'm still obligated to watch out for Zack, especially in how he reacts with others. It'd be interesting to observe how he acts around someone who he calls a friend." The psychologist explained and out of the corner of Jack's eye, he could see Cam smile. With the two of them in the room there was no way he'd get out of this.
"I'm not your rat to observe Sweets." Hodgins countered with narrowed eyes. "I watch rats. You stay in your office and watch Disney movies." Hodgins traded a quip much to Cam's delight as a laugh escaped her lips. The local 'bug guy' then turned and walked away.
Lance's jaw dropped in utter surprise and disgust. "Why does everyone act like I'm twelve?! I'm twenty three years old!" He exclaimed causing Cam to roll her eyes, and he jogged off after Hodgins. Looks like he would finally be part of a little field trip.