I meant to have this chapter up earlier, but I could not, for the life of me, figure out how to end it. I had the first part done and I was just going to post that, but I wanted to give you guys a longer chapter, hence my dilemma. Even though it took me forever, I hope you like it :)
Brennan was in the kitchen, making pancakes for breakfast, while Booth, Parker, and Ryder were sitting around the breakfast nook table.
Booth was reading the comics out loud to the boys, all three of them laughing hysterically at the silly cartoons.
She just rolled her eyes and went back to pouring the batter onto the griddle.
After finishing the comics, Booth slid the newspaper over to his son so he could do the word search, and then backed away from the table. He maneuvered around it and made his way over to Brennan. "Y—you're not b—urning them, are ya, Bones?"
She looked down at him and shook her head. "No, Booth, I'm not burning them. I'll have you know that Parker even prefers mine to yours," she said with a smug smile.
Booth gasped. "No—o way, Bones."
"Yes way." She smirked, flipping the last four pancakes.
"I—I'll be the ju—udge of that."
"No, you won't. That's not fair. You'll just say yours are better because, well, they're yours. Parker is a much fairer judge. He has had both your pancakes and mine and he has made an objective assessment. I trust his opinion on the matter much more than I would trust yours."
"Ouch, th—at hurt, Bones. Y—you don't trust me?"
She put the finished pancakes on the plate with the others and shut off the burner. She turned around, so she was facing him, and shook her head. "That is not what I said. I trust you. If I didn't, we would not be partners. What I actually said was that I don't trust your opinion on the matter in which we are currently discussing. Parker's opinion is less biased; therefore, it is more trustworthy. He has no stake in this competition, unlike you. Since your pancakes are being judged along with mine, you will automatically choose yours, regardless of whether mine are better, because you want to win."
He smirked. "M—ine are still better."
"How can you say that? You have yet to taste mine," she challenged. She picked up the plate and carried it over to the table, sitting it down in the middle.
Parker pushed away the paper and reached for the plate with his fork. "Ow," he shrieked when Brennan slapped his hand away.
"Be patient, Parker." She paused. "Please go get the plates and utensils from the counter and set the table."
Parker sighed and jumped up. He headed over to the island counter and picked up three plates. He carefully brought them over to the table and set out the three plates, utensils, and napkins. "Now can we eat?"
She brought over the syrup and set it down before heading back into the kitchen area and heating up Ryder's oatmeal.
Parker kept his eyes on the pancakes, his mouth watering. He bounced his left leg up and down and sighed. "C'mon, Bones, I'm starving."
Finally, which seemed like forever to Parker, Brennan sat down. "Okay, now you may help yourself."
Parker was reaching for a pancake when his Dad cleared his throat. "We ha—ave to say grace."
Parker grumbled. "Fine. I'll do it." He bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Thank you God for giving my Dad back to me, to us, and thank you for this amazingly awesome breakfast. Amen," he rushed out.
"Amen," Booth echoed, while Brennan stayed silent, though she bowed her head and closed her eyes just as he and Parker did.
"Can we eat now?" Parker whined, picking up his fork again.
Booth nodded. "Yeah, g—o ahead, Buddy."
Parker smiled and stabbed three pancakes, plopping them on his plate. He bathed them in syrup and picked up his knife.
"Do you need help?" Brennan asked, mixing the oatmeal with the baby spoon.
Parker shook his head. "Nope, I've got it, Bones." He cut his pancakes sloppily, but cut them nonetheless, and added more syrup.
Brennan was feeding Ryder a spoonful of oatmeal when Dana walked in, dressed for the day's work. She gave the woman a polite smile and motioned to the empty space on the window bench adjacent to Booth. "Good morning."
"Good morning," Dana replied and looked at Booth before putting three pancakes on his plate. "We'll start with three." She cut them up nicely and poured some syrup over them. She added a pinch of brown sugar and poured him a glass orange juice.
Brennan gave Ryder his spoon so he could practice feeding himself while she filled her plate with a couple pancakes. She cut them and poured a small amount of syrup onto them. She poured herself a glass of orange juice and replenished Parker's glass. She put a few pieces of cut pancake on the highchair tray for Ryder and watched him eat, more oatmeal getting on his lips, cheeks, nose, and chin than actually in his mouth. She smiled and began eating her own breakfast.
They ate in relative silence, with Parker occasionally breaking it with some wild story about anything and everything or to ask what they were going to do later that afternoon.
After lunch, Booth retreated to his bedroom to take a nap; he was wiped out from his PT session with his therapist, Martin, a tall, middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, hazel eyes, and a slight southern accent. He had pushed himself pretty hard and was currently paying the price.
While he slept, Brennan decided to take a trip to the supermarket. Once Ryder was strapped in his car seat and Parker was buckled in, she backed out of the garage and headed to the store. She pulled into the parking lot fifteen minutes later and nabbed the first free spot she came across. It was pretty far away from the front entrance.
"If Dad's with us, we can park in the handicapped spaces, right? Then we wouldn't have to walk so far," Parker pointed out as he hopped out of the store.
"Walking is great exercise, Parker," Brennan explained, unbuckling Ryder from his car seat.
Parker just shrugged and kicked a loose piece of gravel with the toe of his sneaker.
"A closer parking spot would certainly be more convenient, though." She perched Ryder on her hip and shut the door. She popped the trunk and grabbed the eco-friendly canvas bags, handing them to Parker. "Hold onto these until we get a cart." She closed the hatch and locked up the car. "Okay, let's go."
Parker looked both ways and then crossed the parking lot, heading for the front entrance. He jumped up onto one of the parking blocks and waited for Brennan to catch up. He hopped down and ran to grab a cart.
She followed him inside and set Ryder in the front, buckling him in. She handed him his plastic links rattle and took out her list.
Parker dropped the canvas bags into the cart and looked at Brennan. "So where to first, Bones?" He asked, gripping the shopping cart handle.
"We need milk, yogurt, and bread."
"Got it." Parker pushed the cart towards the dairy section, occasionally making funny faces at his little brother.
Ryder waved his right hand, shaking the links so they clacked together, and kicked his legs, laughing.
"Sweetie!"
Brennan stopped and turned around, seeing Angela walking towards her. "Hi, Ange."
"Where's Booth?" The artist looked around, trying to find the former Special Agent.
"He's at home, sleeping. PT took a lot of him this morning. He's sore and exhausted."
"Oh. How are things going?"
"Things are going quite well. His nurse is very nice and understanding. She has been able to handle Booth's mood swings. I just met his physical therapist today, but he seems nice, as well, and from what I've heard, he's very competent and will help Booth achieve his goals."
"That's great, Bren, but I mean, how are things going between the two of you? You know, personally?"
Brennan nodded in understanding. "Oh." She paused and bit back a smile.
Angela smiled as well. "I'm glad, Sweetie. I'm happy for you."
"I slept with him last night," Brennan whispered.
Angela's eyes widened. "What?"
"No, not like that, Ange, we didn't have sex; we just shared a bed and I woke up snuggled into his side, with my arm draped over his abdomen. I don't know if he was aware of our sleeping positions, though, because he was asleep when I left the room and he hasn't mentioned it."
Angela smiled. "Anything else happen that I should be aware of?"
At that moment, Ryder let out a squeal and threw his arms up in the air.
Brennan turned her head and kissed the top of his head. "Yes," she answered, looking at Angela again. "RJ took his first steps."
Angela's eyes widened again and she gasped. She stepped closer to the cart and tickled the infant, eliciting a giggle from. "He is growing up way too fast." She paused. "I hope you recorded it."
"I did." Brennan smiled. "Booth, he saw, he was there."
"That's great, Bren."
"I—he missed so much, Ange, and he—he was there, he saw RJ walk. He was so happy."
"Oh, Sweetie." Angela hugged her best friend for a long minute before pulling back. "Tell Booth I said hello and I'll see you later."
Brennan nodded. "I will."
Angela turned to Ryder and gave him a high five. "Way to go, Little Man." She smiled and waved. "Bye, Parker."
Parker waved back. "Bye, Ange." He tugged on Brennan's shirt. "C'mon, Bones. Dad's gonna be awake soon."
Brennan nodded.
"I'm glad things are working out for you and Booth, Bren. I know it won't be easy, but just stick it out. He needs you and you, whether you want to admit it or not, need him too." With that, Angela walked towards the registers.
Brennan heaved a sigh and glanced at her list. "Okay, Bud, let's go." She walked beside the cart as Parker pushed it down each necessary aisle.
Brennan walked in the house with all the groceries she had set out to get and some unintentional items that mysteriously ended up in her cart when she wasn't paying attention. She set the bags on the island counter and went back out to get the rest.
After all the bags were unloaded, she took Ryder upstairs for his nap and came back down to put everything away. "Parker, Honey, come help me, please."
Parker grumbled and put his video game controller down on the coffee table. He walked into the kitchen and looked over at Brennan. "What do you need help with, Bones?"
She pointed to a bag on the floor. "I need you to take that bag downstairs and put all those items in the freezer."
Parker nodded. "Is this the only bag?"
"Yes, thank you."
"'Kay." He grabbed the bag and headed down into the basement. When he came back up, he went into the living room and unpaused his game as he hopped onto the couch.
Brennan was just putting the last of the groceries away when Booth came in, his eye bloodshot, his shirt wrinkled, and one pant leg pushed up halfway. She turned her head and smiled. "Hi." Taking in his appearance, she sighed. "You look…horrible."
"Gee, th—anks, Bones."
"How was your nap?"
"I—I couldn't sleep."
"Oh." She closed the cabinet to the right of the refrigerator and folded up the empty canvas bags. She walked into the pantry and put them away before returning to the kitchen. "Do you want something to drink?"
He nodded.
She grabbed a plastic glass from the cabinet and filled it with ice and water. She dropped a straw in and walked over to him. She held it for him while he drank and then placed it in the dishwasher. "Where's Dana?"
"I—in her room, I—I thi—ink."
"Do you want to watch a movie?"
"Sure." He followed her into the living room and waited by the couch.
"What do you want to watch?"
"Wh—at do you have?"
"Whatever movies you had in your collection, plus a few other child-friendly movies."
"Y—you stole my DVD c—coll—ection?"
She shrugged. "It's not like you had much use for it." She laughed grabbing a random movie. "How about Scarface?" She asked, holding up the DVD.
"Ha—ave you seen it?"
She shook her head. "No, but it is in your collection, so you obviously have a high opinion of the film." She looked at Parker, who was still on the couch, engrossed in the video game, oblivious to the two adults. "Hey, Parks, go play your game down in the basement. Your Dad and I are going to watch a movie."
"Fine, hold on, I gotta save it first." Parker fiddled around with the game and then grabbed it out of the console before disappearing downstairs.
"Ho—ow'd you ge—et him to listen like that?"
"Must be my 'mom voice'," she said with a smirk and popped the DVD in. She helped him onto the couch, which left them both out of breath, and then settled down beside him. She pressed play and pulled her legs up, tucking them under her. She subconsciously leaned on him when the movie started and halfway through it, she had curled her whole body into his side, her head on his shoulder, while his arm looped around her and his head rested on hers; the two of them were fast asleep.
