A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update, things have just been incredibly busy with school, but I hope people are still interested in this story. I hope that you all like this chapter, I tried to make it a lot longer to compensate for the time in between updates  This chapter has a lot of B/B interaction and a lot of Parker/Booth interaction. I hope you all will review it and ENJOY!

Chapter 10:

The next morning Brennan awoke and saw Booth was already awake. She didn't want to scare him so she kissed him gently along his jaw-line. She felt him smile and his grip on her tightened.

"Good morning," he said and she sighed.

"Good morning," she replied and proceeded to lie back against him again. "What are you doing awake?"

"I couldn't sleep," Booth said and hoped that answer would pacify her. It didn't.

"Why?" she asked.

"I don't know Bones. I just couldn't."

"Well Booth, there has to be a logical explanation for the insomnia," Brennan said.

"Well, I guess I have a lot on my mind."

"You mean you were thinking?" Brennan asked.

"You're getting good with the figures of speech, Bones," he said, surprised.

"Well, I have been trying to not take things so literally. So, what were you thinking about?"

"A lot of things. My job, how I'm going to walk, manage stairs. Not just that kind of thing, but what I'm going to tell Parker and Rebecca. I mean God Bones, what if Rebecca won't let me take Parker anymore because I can't see?" Booth rambled, and Brennan felt truly sorry for him. She didn't really know what to say. She had never met anyone who was visually impaired so she didn't even really know how to begin to help him.

"You're jumping to conclusions, Booth. You shouldn't think that way until you've figured some things out and talked to Rebecca."

Booth let out a breath, and she could see how much he had changed already given his newfound disability.

"Maybe you should talk to Sweets. I'm sure he could really help you cope with this," Brennan told him. "And I'm here for you. I'm always here for you. We're partners."

"Bones, will you," he hesitated a moment before continuing, "Will you be there with me when I tell Rebecca and Parker?"

"Of course," she answered. "And I'm sure Rebecca won't keep you from Parker. You're a great father and a terrific influence of him. Anthropologically, she never should have kept Parker away from you in the first place. You have been more than capable of taking care of Parker."

"Thanks Bones," he said smiling, "but when Parker was born I wasn't capable of taking care of him."

"You weren't?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah, I had just gotten my job at the FBI and we never expected she would get pregnant. She wanted to have an abortion," Booth admitted.

"She did? You never told me that," Brennan paused. "Why?"

"Well, we weren't married, and Rebecca never wanted children. She was very focused on her career. I talked her out of the abortion. I guess she was more scared than anything that she wouldn't be able to take care of him. So I proposed to her, and she said no. She said she would have the baby and then I could take care of him," Booth said. "I didn't know the first thing about babies, I didn't know how to hold a baby or change a diaper, but I decided I would just have to do it because it was my responsibility. I bought everything for him. I set up a whole room in my apartment for him. I bought a car seat, crib, clothes. I spent all of my extra time painting his room. And then when he was born, she let me name him and then she said she changed her mind; that when he was born she changed and said she loved him so much she couldn't let him go."

"Oh Booth," Brennan said, and she could hear the hurt in his voice and see the tears forming in his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah. I tried fighting for him, but we were never married and given my job, I never would've gotten custody of Parker."

"I can't imagine what that must have been like for you Booth, having to give up your son."

"Yeah, that's part of the reason why I started gambling. I figured that at least it wasn't drugs or alcohol, but it has the same overpowering effect."

"I thought you started gambling because of what happened when you were a sniper?"

"Well, I guess that was a part of it, but Parker put it over the top. The gambling really put Rebecca off. I could barely afford to keep my apartment let alone provide for Parker. Whatever money I made working just seemed to disappear," Booth revealed.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Brennan asked.

"I figured that you deserved to know my past. I know yours, you should know mine."

"I don't care about being equal, Booth. I told you those things because I wanted you to know, not because I felt I had an obligation to tell you."

"The thing is Bones, that I felt so helpless back then. I never told anyone about any of it. I never told anyone about Parker and the gambling. I couldn't help myself and no one could help me. And now, I feel exactly the same way. I feel completely helpless. I can't even help myself," Booth said.

"I'm not very good with comforting, but you're not alone in this. We're all here to help you Booth, and I will do everything I can to make sure you keep your job," she said strongly.

"Thanks Bones, but I'm not sure anyone can help me keep my job. Not much a blind man can do."

"Well, if you're not my partner, I won't be working on cases anymore," she said defiantly.

"Bones, you can't quit your job. You're the best anthropologist out there. And there are people out there who are in need of being identified. They need their story told, Bones. They die in vain if their killers aren't brought to justice, and you're the only hope they have."

"I don't want to work with anyone else, Booth. No killer can be brought to justice unless I'm working with you. Without you, I can't do my job properly."

"Bones, you can't give it up," Booth told her.

"I'm not going to. I'm going to find a way for you to keep your job as I said."

"Bones, I'm blind. If you don't have 20/20 vision you can't work at the FBI."

"But the fact that you've worked there for so long and you have a superb record has to count for something."

"Not in the FBI. I'm a liability now. I'm lucky if I get a job ever again."

"That's not going to happen," she said.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm sure I can find something for you at the Jeffersonian. You can help us with solving cases. You can help us out around there."

Booth took a deep breath and she noticed that he didn't really want to carry the conversation much further.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm pushing too hard."

"No, it's not you. I just…I'm so frustrated that I have nothing. I don't know what to do with my life now."

"There are things that you could do. Like, you could teach at an institution."

"What would I teach?"

"Whatever you feel passionate about I suppose," she said.

"I don't know. I just don't feel like doing anything anymore. I feel like all the life has been drained from me, and I don't know how to get that back," he said with tears rolling down his face.

She wanted to say the right thing, and every time she's tried doing that in the past it always came out as the wrong thing, but she figured Booth would understand even if it didn't turn out the way she had hoped.

"I don't know how either, but I think that the first step would be to just start living again. It's going to take awhile for you to learn your way around again. To learn how to get around your apartment, but you're going to learn. And once you do that you'll be able to start doing the things that you like to do again."

"Bones, the only thing I know how to do is protect people, and I can't do that anymore."

"Well, what else do you like to do?" she asked.

"I don't know. I like to play music," he admitted.

"Really?" she asked surprised. "What instrument do you play?"

"Do you promise not to laugh?"

"I promise," she said honestly.

"I played the flute," he admitted and she began to snicker.

"You're laughing," he said and turned away from her.

"I'm sorry it's just that most females are prone to playing the flute, not males. Did you play anything else?"

"The piano," he answered, "I played for a long time. I still try to, I just…I can't afford a piano."

"I'm learning a whole new side to you," she said lightly.

"Yeah. Well, I painted too," he said.

"I never took you as a fine arts aficionado," she said joking. "I like this side of you."

"Yeah, well I guess painting is out. How can you paint if you can't see?"

"I'm sure people have done it before, and you can too. Booth you are capable of whatever you set your mind to," she tried to encourage him.

"When did you become philosophical?" he laughed. "Thanks Bones. What you said really made me feel a lot better."

"I guess this would be a good time to tell you that I called Rebecca after you fell asleep last night. She's on her way with Parker now."

"Thanks for the warning Bones," Booth said jokingly and then he kissed the top of her head and said, "Thanks for calling her. I was going to do that this morning anyway. Did you tell her?"

"I told Rebecca, yes, but Parker doesn't know. We both agreed maybe it would be better if you tried explaining it to him."

"Good idea," he said and as soon as he was finished there was a knock on the door.

Brennan got off the bed and walked over and opened the door, revealing Rebecca standing there with Parker.

"Hey Bones," Parker said excitedly as he hugged her around her legs.

"Hi Parker. It's nice to see you," she said as she hugged him back.

Booth smiled from where he sat on the bed at hearing the exchange between his girlfriend and his son. Parker had quite the effect on Brennan that Booth never expected, and they loved each other. Booth was happy to know that his son loved the woman he was in love with.

Parker then switched his attention to Booth and ran over to him.

"Daddy!" he called out.

"Hey buddy," Booth said looking in the general direction of where Parker's voice came from.

"Dad, I have something for you. I made it when I got up early this morning."

Brennan turned to Rebecca when they saw Parker take out a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. Brennan had a look of shock on her face that matched Rebecca's. She had no idea that Parker had done that.

"What is it Buddy?" Booth asked.

"I drew you a picture. Look, this is you and this is me and we're playing football. Dad, when I come to spend the weekend with you can we play football again?" Parker asked, his big eyes looking at Booth.

When he noticed that Booth wouldn't look at him, he seemed to get worried.

"Bones, Rebecca, could I have a minute alone with Parker, please?" Booth asked and the two women replied before leaving the room.

"Parker, did mommy tell you that I was in an accident?" Booth asked his son who was looking at the picture that he had drawn for his father.

"Yeah. She said that you got hit in the head, but that you'd be okay," Parker said.

"That's right. I'm going to be okay. But Parker, when I was hit in the head, something happened to my brain. Do you know when you fall down and then a black and blue mark forms?"

"Yeah," Parker answered.

"Well, when I was hit in the head a part of my brain got really black and blue and it got hurt pretty badly."

"Which part of your brain was it?"

"Right in the back here" Booth said pointing to the back of his head. "And these different parts of your brain control parts of your body. Like this part up here," Booth said pointing to the front side of his brain, "This part helps you remember things. And this part helps with your hearing. And the part where I was hit is for seeing," Booth said, hoping that his son would understand what he was trying to explain to him.

"Did it hurt your eyes?" Parker asked.

"Kind of. When that part of the brain got hurt it also hurt my eyesight, so now I can't see anything."

"So, you can't see me right now?" Parker asked sadly.

"No I can't, Buddy. And I'm sorry that I can't see your picture either, I really wish I could."

"Me too, but it's okay Dad, I understand," Parker said. "Does that mean we can't play football anymore?"

"We can still play football. I just won't be able to throw or catch the ball, but you can still tackle me," Booth said and the little boy laughed.

"That's my favorite part," Parker admitted and grinned.

"That's my favorite part too. We can still hang out together, I just won't be able to see, that's all. But we can still talk and eat mac and cheese, and do all the fun things we did before," Booth said as the boy snuggled into his arms.

"Good. Can Bones come too, Dad? I really like it when she hangs out with us," Parker asked.

"Of course she'll be there. She likes hanging out with you too."

They sat there in silence for a few minutes and Booth thought that maybe Parker had fallen asleep, but Parker was just sitting there thinking.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah bud?" Booth asked.

"I love you even if you can't see anything," Parker said and Booth grinned as tears threatened to spill.

"I love you too buddy," he said as he hugged his little boy tight to his chest.