A/N: Hi! I have enough material figured out to post multiple chapters tonight… Just depends on if I get any reviews… (Hint, hint)
Chapter 12
Booth stared frozen at his son. "What are you talking about Parker?" He asked quietly, getting down on his knees and putting his hands on the boy's shoulders, looking directly into his son's eyes.
Parker frowned, "Are you mad at me? I didn't talk to him, Daddy! You told me not to talk to strangers so I don't talk to strangers! Even though he was Bones' friend, so I thought he was your friend, but I didn't! I promise!" He looked at his dad eagerly, tears welling up in his eyes.
Booth frowned, brushing Parker's hair back from his face. "No, buddy. Not mad. And I'm proud of you – you're right, you shouldn't talk to strangers. I'm…" He paused a moment to take a calming breath. He really didn't want to scare his son again. "I'm just surprised you saw her. She didn't tell me you saw her. When did you see Bones, Parker?"
Parker smiled after the reassurance and jumped onto the couch, grabbing a Wii controller and fiddling with the strap. "Right before we went camping!"
Nodding, Booth slid in next to his son, prompting him quietly. "Friday? At Bones' lab?"
His son paused, looking up from the controller and nodding. "Yeah. Mommy took me to play with Max because you had to work late and that's where I met Bones' boyfriend. I thought you wanted to be her boyfriend, Daddy. Hey! Max taught me how to make a volcano with the stuff we use to dye Easter eggs!"
Booth nodded again, trying to get his son to focus on the point. "That's called vinegar, Parker." He reached over and gently took the Wii controller from his son's grasp, forcing his son to look up at him. "Listen, little man, you are not in trouble, ok? I promise. I just need to know more about what Bones said when you saw her. Hey – pretend you're an FBI agent and you're talking about the bad guys. I need to know everything you remember."
Parker nodded, seeming to grasp the situation. "Ok." He smiled and sat up straighter. "I was with Max and I had to go to the bathroom. He told me he could walk me there but I said I knew where it was, so I went down the hall and… I guess I didn't remember exactly, because I went through the wrong door and I was in the parking place. And you and Mommy both say to never be in that big parking garage thing alone, so I turned around to open the door and go back in, but I saw Bones with that guy," Parker paused to gasp for a breath as he pointed at the photo his father was now holding of Oliver. "So I shouted to her and ran up to give her a hug because we were going to go on our trip and I was gonna miss her, but her boyfriend said I shouldn't hug her because she was sick."
The boy stopped the story again to pull a crumpled piece of paper covered in crayon scribbles and stickers out of his pocket. "Is she still sick, Dad? I mad her a Feel Better card in Art." He proudly tried to flatten the paper out and showed it to his dad.
Booth felt tears prick his eyes as he slowly pulled the card out of Parker's hand. It was the traditional little kid Get Well card – everyone holding hands, lots of hearts, a big yellow sun in the top corner. Booth's eyes fell to the drawing of Parker standing between both himself and Bones, holding their hands. Opening it up, Booth choked up seeing the rudimentary sketch of a skeleton with a big red heart on its chest.
"I tried to draw a skeleton, but with a heart, because you two always argue about bones and hearts," Parker explained. "And brains, but I can't draw that. When can I give it to her?"
"Soon, buddy. And I know she'll love it," Booth said, clearing his throat and carefully setting the card on the table. "But I need to know what else happened."
"Oh, right. Well, her boyfriend said she was sick so I shouldn't hug her, but he would tell her I said hello. She looked really sick – I think she was asleep or something. She was leaning on his shoulder with her eyes shut and he was helping her walk. So I asked him who he was – because maybe Bones shouldn't talk to strangers either - and he said he was her boyfriend. Then Bones woke up for a second and said something and he got mad and said he needed to take her home quickly and started walking a lot faster." Parker took a deep breath, finishing his story.
Booth nodded, anxious. "Did you see them get into a car?"
His son furrowed his brow in concentration. "I think so. It was blue, I think. It was a tiny car, though, not like the big one you have." He giggled. "It had a really funny sticker on the back with banana on it but spelled wrong!"
Booth looked a his son in confusion, then realized what he was talking about. He quickly grabbed a pen and paper off the table and wrote 'Brennanite' on it and showed it to Parker. "Was it this word?"
Parker nodded, "Yeah! What does it mean?"
The agent grimaced as he yanked out his cell phone, "It means that you, little man," he tousled Parker's hair as he quickly dialed McKnowles' number, "Are the best junior special agent I've ever met."
Parker grinned proudly as he stole the now forgotten Wii remote out of his dad's hand in victory.
"John? Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm off the case, but we gotta pull Oliver back in, NOW. We got an eyewitness who places him with Bones the day she was tak-" Booth cut off mid-word, glancing at Parker, and quickly revised his word choice, "Uh, last Friday evening. Witness says they got in his car and left together and she looked drugged."
"Well, that's great, Booth, we'll call him in," John said, happy to hear his colleague in a positive mood for a change. "But who's this eyewitness of yours? You're not technically even supposed to be involved at this point, you know…" McKnowles lowered his voice as he continued, "I could definitely get fired for even keeping you in the loop."
Booth rolled his eyes, "John, that's bureaucratic nonsense. We have a witness placing him with Bones – PROOF he's been lying to us, dammit!" The agent quickly looked at his son who was by the point too absorbed in Wii baseball to be listening. "Listen, just get me back on the case – I'll keep my head in the game, I swear. I just need 5 minutes alone with him in the interrogation room and I'll find out where she is, John, I know it. I know it! I know when people are lying, I know I can do this and I know we'll find her."
"Fine, Seeley," John said disparagingly. "Geez, enough with the begging, man. I can't get you in the room with him, especially not alone – you did put the man in the hospital overnight, you know – but I can just arrange for the two of you to happen to be in the same room at the same time."
Booth squeezed his eyes shut and nodded, trying to slow his breathing. "Ok, that's great. Thanks a lot. Now I owe you one."
McKnowles chuckled on the other end of the line, signing off with a, "Be at the lab around 5 this afternoon. And Booth, I need to you to be CHILL with the guy. Better yet, don't say anything at all. He used to be intimidated; now he's just damn terrified of you. Get that Sweets kid to tag along – I think if we give Oliver the chance to actually visit his idol's office we might just get him to reveal everything we need to hear."
* * * * * *
"Angela! Can you turn me into a polar bear this time?!" An excited Parker Booth sped straight down the lab's hall, nearly crashing into the very surprised artist who had emerged from her office at hearing her name.
Angela glanced down at Parker and up and Booth questioningly, "Hey, Parker!" She said, smiling in his direction and leaning down as she directed a quiet question toward Booth, "You back on the case?"
Booth nodded, shoving his hands in his pocket to keep himself from checking his watch for the 3rd time in 30 seconds. "Yup, well, no. Not really. Just temporarily, but not really. Listen, just coulda watch Parker for like 15 minutes and not tell anyone you saw me here? Paint him with whatever super indelible paints and inks ya got in there, just go crazy."
"POLAR BEAR!" Parker's voice echoed across the lab, loudly declaring his new facepaint desire.
The artist nodded, smiling down at the boy who had been eagerly jumping up and down in anticipation. "Well, I know I'm good, but that's gonna be hard to paint on your face… Good thing I like a challenge," she arched an eyebrow, grabbing one of Parker's hands and leading him into his office.
Hodgins approached Booth as he continued to pace. "So, what's going on, man? And thanks for bringing Parker to hang with Angela. She's needed something to make her smile lately."
Booth cut him off with a wave of his hand, "Hodgins, did Bones order any take-out Friday night before she left? Did she go out to eat anything? Did anyone bring her any food?"
Hodgins slowly shook his head no, wondering where Booth was going with this. "You know Dr. Brennan, she doesn't eat when she's in the middle of a case. Especially if it's late and especially when you're not around to remind her. I swear, if you didn't force her to go to the diner she'd live in that office for the rest of her life, her muscles slowly deteriorating from lack of fresh oxygen to the blood stream, fat cells quickly being absorbed by the body due to lack of replenishments."
Booth frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and eyeing Hodgins, critically, prompting the squint to speak normally.
"Uh, I mean, no. NO she didn't. What I'm saying is she would starve during cases if you didn't remind her to eat, you know that," Hodgins amended. "She did have interns delivering her coffee nearly every hour on the hour," he finished. "Why?"
The agent scratched the back of his head, "I think she was drugged before she even left the building."
Hodgins' eyes widened as he rubbed his beard in thought. "Gotta be the coffee then, man. Unless she snuck some food in there somewhere, but I really don't think that's likely."
Booth nodded again, glancing quickly at his watch in growing frustration. He was about to pull out his phone to call John and ask what the hold up was when he saw the agent walking towards him, a hand-cuffed Oliver in tow.
"Alright! Everybody out!" Booth shouted, whistling with his fingers to get the various interns milling about the lab to clear out. Although the door to Bones' office would be closed when they questioned Oliver, he didn't want to run the risk of anyone witnessing him interact with the guy.
Hodgins looked questioningly at Booth, who nodded reluctantly. "You too, man. Just need to protect everyone's jobs in case the FBI comes a-callin… Technically, what we're doing here – me even setting foot in the same room with him – is illegal. I can't risk you getting fired for being witness to that and not stopping me."
Jack nodded, "I understand man, I'll go teach Parker about some new bugs he can bring home and hide in your bed."
Booth shot him an aggravated look, "Yeah, thanks, but I think he still remembers his first lesson pretty well."
Hodgins started walking down the hall to Angela's office, chuckling, turning only briefly to wish Booth good luck. Zac and Vincent, who had been watching the scene unfold from the platform, took this as their cue to join Hodgins and began moving towards Angela's office.
"Whoa, whoa, Zac!" Booth jogged the few feet over to the anthropologist and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards Bones' office, where Oliver and John had just been joined by Sweets. "You, super squint, are coming with me."
"Why? I have no logical connection to this investigation. In fact, I was incarcerated at the time the actual time was committed," he stated plainly.
Booth nodded, not letting go of his arm as he pulled them through the door. "It's still being committed," he corrected quickly. "And you are coming with us because Sweets said you should. Something about you being the boy version of Bones, although I disagree."
Zac nodded, "While I admit I regrettably do not yet have the hours of sheer work experience as Dr. Brennan, we do have nearly identical skill sets. And although I do not know her I.Q., I have reason to believe mine is slightly higher because I have heard her brag about my intelligence on many occasions, which she only does for people she considers equals or even superiors."
The anthropologist stopped his lecture long enough to recognize the man sitting on Bones' couch in handcuffs. "Agent Booth… Why is it that the others may be offered the opportunity of not being witnesses to this scenario while I have been drug into the middle of it?"
Booth pat him on the shoulder with an open palm, as Bones had once instructed him to do to instill confidence in the young man. "Because if they find out you knew this was going down, what's the worst they can do?" He lowered his voice to a whisper, leaning towards Zac's ear as he glanced at Sweets. "Call you crazy?" He asked with a smile. He knew he shouldn't but he just couldn't resist.
Both Sweets and Zac gave him immediate disapproving looks, but the agent had already moved on to the target at hand and was intensively studying Oliver, who seemed to be enthralled by Brennan's office.
"Is this really where she… Does she ever sleep on this… Are these her…" Oliver asked, beginning numerous questions as he quickly got up and wandered around the office, running his hands over everything he saw. "Oh, her jacket smells just like her," he said, pausing his exploration briefly to burry his nose in the jacket hanging off the corner of a bookshelf.
Booth moved to pull him away from Bones' jacket – this was just downright creepy – but Sweets shook his head, calling him off from disturbing Oliver's journey.
The stalker slowly, almost reverently, approached Bones' desk and walked behind it, gazing carefully at the few knick knacks the scientist had accumulated over the years. As he reached out and carefully picked up the "What Happens in Vegas" coffee mug Booth had jokingly bought her during their brief stint as Tony and Roxie, a phrase that took even more meaning considering their experience, it took all Booth's self control not to yell at Oliver to quit touching everything.
Finally deciding that while it made him sick to his stomach to see the stalker touching all of Bones' personal possessions, he probably wouldn't do any real damage, Booth nonchalantly strolled over to Sweets who was critically analyzing every move Oliver made.
"Well?" Booth prompted.
"He's never been in this office before," Sweets whispered confidently, never tearing his eyes away from their target who was currently tracing his hand lovingly over loose pages from Brennan's latest book, riddled with handwritten notes in red by the author herself.
"He treats this place like a sanctuary. If he had been here before he would have paused to acknowledge it's importance, but he wouldn't be worshipping the space itself like this," the psychologist continued. "Listen, Booth, I know Parker said he saw them together, but I remain firm in my conclusion. This man could not have hurt Dr. Brennan."
Booth sighed in frustration, nodding at Agent McKnowles who had been waiting patiently on the sidelines for his cue. At Booth's signal, he slipped a photograph in the middle of Brennan's desk while Oliver's back was turned.
"Did you – did you marry Temperance, Agent Booth?" Oliver's voice rang out incredulously, his back still turned away from his audience as he intently studied a picture framed on Brennan's wall.
Three pairs of eyes snapped immediately on Booth, who was studiously examining a spot in the carpet by his feet. He knew what Oliver was looking at. He had snuck into Bones' office one April Fool's and hung it on her wall in mischievous anticipation of what was sure to be her very negative, very loud reaction. To his complete surprise – and secret thrill – she had liked the picture so much she had decided to keep it up.
Oliver turned around, holding a frame containing a photo of Booth and Brennan dressed as Tony and Roxie, huddled beneath The Little Wedding Chapel marquee in Vegas. Roxie was looking seductively into the camera with an eyebrow arched as Tony was pulling her close, both eyes shut as he pressed a kiss into her cheek. 'Happy One Year Anniversary, Babe! XOXO, Tony the Tiger' was scrawled on the bottom of the photo in Sharpie, which had been the part of the gag present Booth had been sure would push Bones off the deep end with embarrassment. Instead, she had reasonably told him that was her favorite photo of them ever taken and she wanted it showcased.
"Booth?" Sweets harsh whisper tore Booth from his happy memory, forcing him to look up and wave off the picture.
"Uh, no, no… Uh, nope." He cleared his throat, trying to figure out the best way to explain to his psychologist, his FBI buddy, and a certified lunatic, that while Bones was betting on the cards, he had been betting with her that by the end of the trip Tony would convince Roxie to finally tie the knot. After much coercing and promises of life debts and a guarantee of no more bugging her about his suspicions that he was Andy Lister, he had finally gotten a picture in front of the chapel. But that was as far as it went.
"Oh, God!" Oliver's cry saved Booth from a very awkward conversation as they all instantly crowded around Brennan's desk, where Oliver had finally seen the photo of the battered Dr. Brennan that Agent McKnowles had slipped there.
"When did you do this to her, Oliver?" Booth asked very quietly, very gently. His hands itched for a second go-round with this loser, but McKnowles shot him a warning look to be gentle. Fine, Booth thought to himself. I'll be gentle for now… But the moment he confesses…
"Me? You think I did this to her?!?" Oliver cried incredulously, standing quickly and backing away from the desk, into the wall, dropping the photo on the way.
"I would never, ever, hurt Temperance, Agent Booth. Ever! He…." Oliver started shaking, staring at the gruesome photo on the floor. "He wasn't supposed to…"
Sweets stepped forward, "Who, Oliver? Who wasn't supposed to?"
"He wasn't… supposed to hurt her," the stalker finally said, sliding down the wall and sitting huddled on the floor.
A/N 2: I really wanted to show lil' man Parker Booth getting all alpha male protective of Bones, but I couldn't figure out a way to emphasize that while still making the scene flow. So I just put in the line about "maybe shouldn't talk to strangers, either." But still… Say it with me: Awwwww!!!