Pictionary

Booth stepped up to the little table set up in the preschool for picture pick up. He held his son's hand in his and smiled politely to the bleached blonde older woman sitting behind the table. She gave him a flirting smile back, and he glanced to Ben just to avoid eye contact for a moment. "What's the last name?" She asked.

"Booth." He replied, nodding slowly.

"Benjamin Booth." Benji said, leaning on the table, he smiled at the woman as she looked through the folders of school pictures. She pulled the folder out and smiled at Booth, handing over the envelope of pictures.

"Alright, bud." Booth said, rubbing his son's head, the boy smiled up at his father and walked alongside him down the hallway. Booth took a few steps, unable to contain his enthusiasm for the new school pictures, he slowly unfolded the envelope, and pulled out the large folder of pictures. "I bet you're looking pretty handsome in these…" Booth said, his eyes widening at the first picture. He stopped.

"What?" Ben asked, looking up at his dad, he could see that he looked slightly distressed. "Come on, Daddy… mommy is waiting…"

"Benjamin." Booth said, shaking his head as he flipped through the pictures. "Ben, Ben… Your mom is going to …"

"What?" Ben asked, scrunching his eyebrows, he hopped to look at the pictures. "Let me see…"

"Benji… Benji, what were you thinking?" He asked, showing the picture to his son, the boy had stuck his two front teeth out in a funny face.

"What?" Ben asked. "That's me."

"Yeah, that's you… that's you alright." Booth said, looking at the other funny faces Ben had made in the other pictures. "Your mother is going to kill you." He said as he grabbed his son's hand and rushed him through the hallway.

"What? What? Why? Why, daddy?" Ben asked, getting upset by his father's refusal to talk about it, he skipped alongside him as he tried to keep up. "Daddy? Mommy is going to be mad?" He asked.

"I don't think we should show them to her." Booth said, pushing open the door to the school, he moved down the sidewalk and started to pocket the pictures.

"What? Why?" Ben asked, pulling at his father's hand.

"Why? Because in this picture, you're picking your nose…" He said, pulling the envelope open, he showed him another picture.

"No, Daddy… I'm pretending to pick my nose… "

"Oh, oh, you're pretending…" Booth nodded, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Then that's okay… " He said, flipping to the next picture. "Ben!" He exclaimed. He looked down, and Ben had been startled, looking up at his father with a frightened expression. "Nevermind." He said, realizing he had scared the poor kid. He pocketed the pictures and continued walking toward the SUV. He walked toward the car, and got Ben in his seat, not saying another word about the pictures. He got into the car, and drove them toward the lab. Pulling up to the rear of the building, he could already see Brennan waiting for him, her bag on her shoulder as she put her phone in her pocket and smiled. Ben waved from the back seat, and she waved back.

She walked to the SUV, and opened the back door to put her bag inside, leaning over to give her son a kiss. "Hey there my favorite little person."

"Hi, Mommy." Ben smiled sweetly.

"Did you have a good day at school?" She asked, leaning back, the little boy nodded his head and grinned.

"Good." She said, closing the back door. She climbed into the front seat and leaned over to kiss Booth. "I managed to get the remains for the Leone case cleaned and analyzed. We should have some answers tomorrow with the evidence from the scene. I was going to have Angela do a reconstruction of the skull and get a positive ID, since it just seemed to be a little weird that there was a broken bone that had obviously been treated, but wasn't on any of the records. There are a couple other inconsistencies that don't sit well with me." She said, looking out the window as Booth drove. "Are you listening?"

"Yep… Leone construction is putting out a record…" Booth muttered, knowing exactly what she had said, he smiled at her irritated glare. "I heard what you said, Bones." He chuckled.

"Good, because sometimes I think that all you hear is static when I speak." She said with a bit of humor in her voice. There was a slight pause in the conversation, and Booth drove in silence, and just as he thought that the topic wouldn't come up, it did. "Wasn't today the day that you were supposed to pick up Ben's pictures?"

"No." Booth lied through his teeth, and the cocked eyebrow in his direction was a clear indication that it wasn't going to get very far.

"Daddy, you're lying." Ben said from the back seat.

"Thank you, Ben. Thanks for having my back." Booth nodded.

"Where are the pictures?" She asked.

"They didn't come out very well…" Booth nodded. "Very blurry… I told them we didn't want them." He said.

"They're in his pocket, Mommy." Ben said.

"Thank you, Benjamin." Brennan said, holding her hand out. "Hand them over."

"You don't want to see them, Bones."

"How bad can they be? Our son is a beautiful child." She said, winking back at the grinning boy.

"Bones, I'm serious… You don't want to see them. We can have his pictures done professionally… with us present, would probably be best…"

Her fingers wiggled as she held her palm out.

Booth sighed, reached into his jacket and pulled out the pictures. He slapped them down in Brennan's hand. "Thank you." She replied.

He continued driving and tried not to pay attention to her reaction, but the longer she was quiet as she flipped through the pictures, the more he wondered what her reaction would be. On her third time through the pile of pictures, she turned her head away, placing them in her lap.

"What?" Booth asked. She turned her head to face him, and he could see the laugh beneath the surface. "What?" Booth asked, a grin now on his face.

"Benji, what is this?" She asked, holding up a picture from the pile in her hands.

The little boy laughed, wiggling his fingers. "Dancing Phalanges!" He laughed.

His answer sent both of his parents into a cascade of laughter. "I think this one is going right on my desk." Brennan laughed, shaking her head at the two boys as they made their way home.