Chapter 26

Saturday

11:46 PM

Brennan stared at her salad, pushing a slice of cucumber around with her fork. Her stomach was feeling nauseous, but it had nothing to do with morning sickness. She looked out the diner window and saw Booth standing on the sidewalk. He was bent over, talking to Rebecca who was sitting in her car. Parker was standing beside Booth. The little boy turned and saw Brennan through the window. He began to wave frantically. Brennan waved back. She watched Parker pull on Booth's sleeve. He must have asked permission to go inside because within seconds, Parker had bolted to the door and was throwing himself into Brennan's arms.

"Hey Bones," Parker said.

Brennan gave Parker a kiss on the top of his head and hugged him. "Hi Parker." Her nausea partially disappeared. She had been nervous about telling Parker about being pregnant, but seeing his smiling face made most of her nerves go away.

"Dad is still talking to mom."

"I noticed." Brennan looked out the window and was surprised to see Booth still talking to Rebecca. They had made the decision to tell Parker first at the diner and then to tell Rebecca after when she came to pick him up. Brennan felt it was important to be part of the conversation with Rebecca, but they both wanted to tell Parker first.

"Why are you eating a salad when this place has the best burgers?" Parker asked.

"You know that I don't eat meat, Parker."

Parker wrinkled his nose. "Right. That's weird."

"If you knew what was put inside the processed meats that make up hamburgers, you might not…"

"Alright, stop talking before you scare the kid from ever eating meat again," Booth said, sitting down across from Brennan and Parker. "So, what'll it be, bud?"

"Salad," Parker answered.

Booth rolled his eyes. "You don't like salad, Parker," Booth reminded him.

"But Bones eats salads and she's smart. I want to be smart like her."

"Yeah, well I eat burgers and I'm big and strong," Booth said with a smile on her face. He flexed his arms teasingly as if to prove his point.

"Eating burgers has nothing to do with you being big and strong just as eating salad has nothing to do with me being smart, Parker," Brennan stated. "As matter of fact, food has…"

"Bones…" Booth said, cutting her off. They did not need a lesson on the history of food. Brennan stabbed the cucumber on her salad and chomped on it. "Just…pick something, Parker."

"Chicken fingers," Parker said matter of factly.

"Chicken fingers it is."

Booth called the waitress over and ordered himself a burger and Parker some chicken fingers. He made sure to order extra fries, knowing that Brennan would spend half the time picking off his plate. As soon as the waitress went away to put in their order, Booth reached across the table and put his hand over Brennan's. He looked at her and winked. She knew that it was time they tell Parker their big news.

"Parker, we have something we'd like to tell you," Booth said. "Something important."

"Wait, you're not getting divorced are you?" Parker asked. "Because Joey's parents told him they had something important to tell him and then they got divorced. Now he has two houses and since I already have two houses, I would have three houses, which would be a lot of houses and…"

"We're not getting divorced, Parker. Bones and I love each other very much."

"And we love you very much," Brennan added. She and Booth had talked at length about the best way to tell Parker. Brennan had spent the morning reading articles about the best way to break big news to young children.

"Ok, what is going on?" Parker asked, looking at Booth.

"Bones and I are…having a baby." There was a long pause. Brennan felt the nausea returning full force. "Well, what do you think?"

"So there's like a baby growing inside Bones right now?" Parker asked, staring at Brennan's stomach.

"Well, it's not a baby yet, Parker," Brennan explained "It's just a…"

"Yes, Parker," Booth interrupted. "But it will be a little while before the baby is born."

"Am I going to have to change dirty diapers when it is born?" Parker asked.

"I think Bones and I can handle the dirty diapers," Booth answered.

"Ok, then that's cool. Where are my chicken fingers?"

Booth looked at Brennan, raising his eyebrow. They were both surprised at how well Parker was taking the news.

"Do you have anything else to say? Any questions?" Booth asked.

"I guess just one. Did you and Bones have sex?"

Booth nearly choked on the water he was drinking. Brennan, on the other hand, didn't skip a beat.

"Yes, Parker, that is how babies are created. Well, there's a lot more science to it than that, but I believe your father wouldn't want me to tell you all of that just yet."

"Eww. Sex is gross."

"Parker!" Booth exclaimed.

"Not that you're gross, Bones, because you're not, but…ewww." Parker repeated. "Dad, can I go check on my chicken fingers?"

Booth nodded, unable to do anything else. He couldn't believe that his son even knew what sex was.

"He took that rather well," Brennan said, taking a bite of her salad. Booth didn't respond. "Booth? You look pale."

"I'm…I'm fine."

Brennan squeezed Booth's hands. "Just because you have difficulty talking about sex, Booth, doesn't mean that your son has to share that same feeling."

"I do not have difficulty talking about sex," Booth said under his breath.

"Mm-hmm."

Parker returned with his chicken fingers.

"Can we name him Ralph?" Parker asked, chomping into a chicken finger.

"Who?" Booth asked.

"The baby. Timmy named his dog Ralph. I like it. I think we should name the baby Ralph."

"We'll talk about it," Booth replied. "Besides, what if it's a girl?"

"Eww! Who wants a girl? Baby sisters aren't any fun."

"Well, we don't exactly get to decide, Parker. Whether it's a boy or a girl, we are all going to love him or her."

"Booth, it is your y chromosome that decides the sex of the baby."

"The baby has to have sex?" Parker asked, his eyes wide.

"No, Parker," Booth answered quickly. "Bones is talking about whether the baby is a boy or girl."

"I thought you said you don't get to decide whether the baby is a boy or girl, dad, but Bones just said that it's up to you. So, if you get to decide, please decide to have a boy. Girls are yucky. Except for you, Bones. You're not yucky."

"Well, thank you, Parker."

"Eat your chicken fingers," Booth commanded, ruffling Parker's hair.

"So, what are we going to do today?" Parker asked with his mouth full of chicken.

"Well, Bones and I were thinking maybe a trip to the zoo."

"I love the zoo!" Parker shouted, practically spraying the chicken that was in his mouth all over Booth.

"Did I say the zoo? I meant the art museum," Booth teased.

"Dad!"

Booth smiled and winked at Brennan.

2:09 PM

Parker ran down the wooded path, his hand gripping a grey, stuffed elephant that Brennan had bought him despite Booth's protests that the boy didn't need to get everything he wanted. Brennan told him that it was ok to spoil him every once and while. Brennan and Booth were walking right behind Parker, holding hands. As they came to a clearing, Parker spotted the elephants that were just yards in front of them blocked only by a short fence. Parker ran up to the fence and stared at the animals as they walked around their exhibit. There were three elephants in the large enclosure. Booth and Brennan stood back, letting Parker and the other children have a front row seat to the magnificent animals.

"Dad, look!" Parker shouted, pointing to a zoo keeper who was walking into the exhibit. The zoo keeper held out some hay. One of the elephants walked over to him and curled his trunk around the hay. He threw the hay into his mouth and then put his trunk out once more as if he wanted more.

"Wow, that's pretty cool that he can be so close like that," Booth said.

"I wish I could do that," Parker replied.

"Well, grow up to be a zookeeper or veterinarian and maybe you will," Booth said. "You can do anything you want to do, buddy."

"Well, I did want to be a FBI agent like you, but this is pretty cool. I want to work with elephants."

"Keep in mind if you want to work with animals, you will have to clean up their poop," Booth reminded him.

Parker scrunched up his nose and then shrugged. "It's still cool," he said, looking back at the animals.

Brennan look at Parker's smiling face as he stood watching the animals and the zookeeper in amazement. She squeezed Booth's hand.

"I'll be right back," she said.

Booth nodded and Brennan walked away. He followed her with his eyes, wondering where she was going. When she disappeared down the path, he put his eyes back on Parker. He walked over to his son and put his hands on his shoulder.

"Looks like it's time for their bath," Booth said, pointing to the zookeeper. The man had picked up a hose and was beginning to wet down the elephants.

"Cool!" Parker exclaimed.

They stood and watched for nearly fifteen minutes as the zookeeper began to scrub down one of the three elephants with a long scrub brush.

"Can we go see something else?" Parker asked.

"I think this is pretty exciting," Booth replied.

"It would be more exciting if we could be in there with them," Parker said.

"Maybe someday, bud. Let's wait a few more minutes. We have to wait for Bones."

"Bones is right here," Brennan said as she walked up behind them.

"Where'd you go?" Booth asked.

"Oh, just the bathroom."

"You feeling ok?"

"Fine. There was just a long line."

Booth studied her face and knew immediately that she was lying. He let it go, but only because Parker was tugging at his hand.

"Look, dad the zookeeper's coming closer," Parker said.

The zookeeper walked up to the edge of the fence and right over to where Parker was standing.

"Hey buddy. Your name's Parker, right?" The man asked.

Parker looked back at his father, asking for permission as to whether he should talk to the stranger even though he desperately wanted to. Booth nodded.

"Yeah."

"Do you like elephants, Parker?"

"They're my favorite."

"Well, how would you like to feed an elephant?"

Parker's eyes opened wide. "Really?"

"Really. If it's ok with your dad."

Parker turned around and clasped his hands together. "Please, dad? Please!" He begged.

"Of course."

Parker jumped up. "Yes!"

He reached his hand over the fence. "My name's Jim. How about you meet me around back? I think your mom knows where it is."

Parker nodded and grabbed Booth's hand. "Come on, dad!" He began to lead them back down the path so that they could go to the back of exhibit. As they walked, Booth looked over at Brennan who was smiling.

"What did you do?" He asked.

"I told you, I went to the bathroom," she said with a smirk.

"You're a bad liar."

"I am not."

"Yes you are."

Brennan smiled. "Well, perhaps I did stop on my way to the bathroom."

"Oh?"

"I remembered that a colleague from my doctorate program worked here doing research. I simply mentioned his name and then introduced myself as Dr. Temperance Brennan, the best selling novelist and they said they'd be able to do something special for me and my family. Apparently Jim is a big fan of my books."

"You're amazing," Booth said, throwing his arm around her shoulder.

Brennan led them to the back entrance of the elephant exhibit. Jim met them there. After explaining a few safety rules to Parker, he took him by the hand and led him into the exhibit.

"We've got three elephants, Parker. They're all girls. Want to know their names?"

"Bones already told me. She read it off the sign. Ginny, Alice, and…" Parker recited, trying to remember what Bones had told him.

"Kate," Jim finished. "Nice job."

Booth and Brennan watched from the corner of the exhibit as Parker held out some hay and one of the elephants came over to eat it. The smile on Parker's face couldn't have been bigger.

"You know what else we feed the elephants?" Jim asked.

Parker shook his head in amazement that he was even in the exhibit feeding an elephant.

"Bread," Jim explained. He walked over to a plastic box that was where Booth and Brennan were standing. He pulled out a loaf of bread and then went back to where Parker was standing in the middle of the exhibit. All the parents and children standing on the other side of the fence were chattering with excitement. The man handed the bread to Parker.

"Just take a big chunk off and hold it out flat on your hand like this." Jim put his hand out flat to show Parker what he meant. "Just be warned, it might tickle."

Parker did as he was told. He ripped off a large piece of bread and placed it flat on his palm. The elephant that had eaten the hay approached him. She reached out with her trunk and took the bread right off of Parker's hand. He laughed as the hair on the end of her trunk tickled him. Parker turned around to show his hand to Booth.

"Dad, she slimed on me!" Parker squealed.

"That's pretty gross, bud," Booth said with a smile.

"Want to help me give them a bath?" Jim asked.

"Yeah!"

Booth stood behind Brennan and wrapped his arms around her waist. He rested his head on her shoulder and kissed the side of her neck.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" He asked.

"Mhmm."

"Good, because I love you."

They watched Parker as Jim handed him the hose. With laughter filling the air, he aimed the hose at the elephant and began to hose her down.

"Do you have a preference?" Brennan asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Parker obviously wants a baby brother. Do you have a preference?"

"As long as he or she is healthy, Bones, it doesn't matter."

"I read that that is a normal response."

"Do you have a preference?" He asked.

"I also read that girls can be more difficult when they enter their teenage years."

"Does that mean you want a boy?"

"Not necessarily. I think with the right parenting, it doesn't matter whether it is a boy or girl."

"I think you're right, but I change my answer."
"Oh?"

"I will be happy as long as our baby is healthy, but I do have a preference."

"Which is?"

"I want a little girl. But…she's not dating until she's thirty."

"That seems a little extreme."

"Trust me, you might feel differently when she arrives."

"If it's a she."

"Right. Do you want to find out what sex the baby is before it arrives?"

"I don't know."

"That surprises me."

"Why?"

"Because you always want to be in control of everything. You always want to know everything that's going to happen. You don't like surprises."

"Do you want to know?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Did you find out with Parker?"

"Yes, but that was a very different situation. I think this time I'd like it to be a surprise."

"Then let's keep it a surprise."

He kissed the top of her head. "Ok."

Author's Note: I couldn't resist writing this chapter. My first job was working at a zoo (and yes, the elephants really do eat bread) so I just had to add it in somewhere. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There will be some more drama to come very soon!