Booth

Shopping sucks. Angela was dragging us from store to store piling dresses and suits on our arms. I didn't know if we were going to have a wedding or a fashion show…though with her it could easily be the same thing. Five hours and over twenty stores later all of us guys have a new pair of pants and shirts. The girls had found their dresses but wouldn't let us see what they looked like.

"Daddy I'm tired." Parker told me as we were walking down the street back to the bus. It seemed odd we didn't just get a car for the time we were there but we had the bus and a driver at our disposal so what was the point.

"We are going to go have dinner on the beach. You can sleep on our drive there okay Bub?" I asked him picking him up. He immediately wrapped his arms around me and laid his head on my shoulder. He was asleep before we even made it to the bus.

"We should lay him down in the bed." Bones said walking up to us and putting her arm around my back. I loved how she said we instead of you.

"Bones once we are down on the beach I want to talk to you." I told her as she followed me to the back of the bus to lay Parker down on the bunk.

"We can shut the door back here and talk now. Why do you want to wait?" She asked me. Logical as ever, that was my Bones, why wait when we can do now.

"Okay Bones. We can talk now." I said quietly shutting, and locking, the door to the rest of the bus. Let them wonder, let them talk…I knew they would be.

"What did you want to talk about Booth?" She asked me sitting down on the edge of the lower bunk.

I sat down next to her, "Bones we need to talk about our relationship." I told her sitting down next to her.

"What about it?" She said smiling at me already knowing my answer…she was not going to make this easy.

"We are going to get a house together."

"Yes?"

"We sleep in the same bed every night."

"Yes?"

"You are the only person I have been able to trust enough to open up to."

"Booth what is your point?" She asked me, maybe this would be easier than I thought.

"Bones we obviously care about each other…" I started.

She interrupted, "I love you Booth. You and Parker." She said quietly.

"Okay, let me start again. We love each other, we are getting a house together and we sleep together every night."

"You have already covered all of that. What did you want to talk about?" She asked me looking directly into my eyes.

"Bones are we a couple?" I spit out.

"We are partners." She answered.

"Bones we aren't just partners and we haven't been just partners for a very long time." I said and she immediately looked hurt.

"Not just partners Booth, we are Partners. Best friends, confidants, we are the center of our family. How can you say we aren't partners?" She asked quietly, obviously hurt by what I had said.

"I thought you meant like colleagues Bones. Work Partners." I tried to explain.

"And you want to know if we are a couple?" She asked. "A couple what?"

"A couple Bones, like in a relationship."

"Oh. Like Ange and Jack." She said finally getting my meaning… then her eyes got wide and she asked, "Like a romantic sexual relationship couple?"

"Yeah Bones…that…if we are going to be living together I want to know what we are."

"Well, I suppose anthropologically speaking the two of us do exhibit signs of the typical courtship mating rituals of a couple."

"What the hell Bones." I said smiling at her.

"Sorry." She said looking down, "It is just kind of scary. I haven't had a family since my parents left…"

I cut her off, "Bones we have been a family."

"I mean a typical nuclear family Booth. I haven't had that since I was a teenager and now I…"

"Now we are talking about moving in together and you stepping into the typical wife and mother role with Parker and I and it scares you." I said finishing what she was thinking.

"I do not believe in…"

"Marriages…yeah I got it Bones…archaic ritual that is blah blah blah." I said reciting what she had told me about a million times.

"You want to know about sex." She said bringing me back to why I initially started the conversation.

"It is just that…" I started to explain.

"No. I understand Booth. You are a religious man and father and our beliefs are undoubtedly very different and I am not sure how it will work but somehow we always manage to make things work so I am not worried." She told me taking my hand.

"Does that mean you want to be in a romantic relationship?" I asked her.

"I want to be in our relationship Booth. I don't want to have rules or expectations. I want to have trust and love." She told me.

"That is why I love you Bones." I told her. We sat there in silence for a few minutes both watching the rise and fall of Parker's breathing as he slept.

"Are you scared for Parker's future?" She asked me.

"Yes and no." I answered.

"How can you be both?"

"Because I am scared shitless to be a full time father but I know that he is a great kid and I have you and all of our family to help when I get lost." I explained.

"Parker doesn't have a mother." She said quietly.

"You don't either, and either does Sweets." I reminded her.

"I was a teenager when my mom left, an adult when I found out she was murdered. Sweets had a mother until last week. It is very different."

"Bones it sucks no matter when you lose a parent and only people who have lost a parent truly knows what it feels like and I don't know what it is like but you do. Parker has you to talk to and you know what to say because you know what it is like."

I heard rattling on the door and knew it was someone's way of letting us know we were almost there. I smiled at Bones and stood up and unlocked it. "What do you want from KFC? Jack is going in to order right now…the bus it too big to fit through the drive through." Angela said sticking her head in.

"A few drumsticks, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, biscuits, and a diet coke." I answered looked at Bones who nodded.

"You guys are easy. The rest of them are making this difficult. The beach spot you said you wanted to go to is about two miles from here so when we start going again you may want to wake up Parker." She said smiling and shutting the door behind her.

"Is it weird that we are moving in together and we haven't really kissed and have never had sex?" Bones asked me.

"Bones it is us. Everything we do is different why should this be normal?" I asked her.

"What will your family think when we move in together and we are not married?" She asked worried.

"Jared is the only family that I care what he thinks and you already know how he feels about us." I told her.

"What about your parents?"

"What about them?"

"Don't you care what they think?"

"No. Not really. Do you care what your Dad and Russ think?"

"Actually I have spent the last few years trying to convince them that we were just partners. I think they will be fine with it."

"Bones does it scare you?"

"Does what scare me Booth?" She asked me smiling.

"Being in a romantic relationship, moving in with me and stepping in as the motherly role model for Parker."

"Booth, why would I be scared if I was with you?" She answered standing up and gently running her fingers through Parker's golden locks. "Time to wake up Buddy we are almost to the beach."

"I'm hungry Momma Bones." He told her sitting up on the bunk. His name for her had changed, I was not sure if we was awake and listening to what Bones and I had talked about but whatever the reason the way it came out of his mouth and the glint in her eye when she was talking with him made my heart melt.

"Well there is yummy food from KFC waiting for us when we get off the bus and down to the beach." She said and he attached himself to her.

"You are a little monkey." She said laughing as the two of them walked towards the front of the bus to join the others.

She turned around and looked at me when she noticed I was not following, "I just need time Bones." I told her. She smiled and nodded.

"Daddy you better hurry or I will eat all the mashey taters." Parker said as they walked off the bus.

I leaned my head back against the wall and sighed. I was more overwhelmed than I had ever been and yet at the same time I felt more loved than I ever had. I wished that I could just put the world on slow-mo so that I could process everything that had happened.

Two weeks ago my life was normal. I was a stellar FBI Agent with Bones as my partner and we solved crimes. I was a part-time father. I had friends but didn't allow myself to become close with any of them. Then my world came crashing down. Bones, Parker, the squints, all of my family we were in danger and had to leave. I thought we were okay until I heard about Sweet's parents…then Rebecca, Brent and her parents… Bones… she held me together. I don't know what I would have done without her. I don't know what I would do without her. I am just grateful that she loves me as I love her.

I looked up when I heard a rustling on the bus, "Your family is waiting for you Booth." It was Angela. She sat down next to me and put her hand on mine.

"You are going to be okay Booth. We all are."

"Thanks Ange."

"Now come eat. Parker has eaten almost all of the mashed potatoes already." She said smiling at me. I smiled back and allowed her to pull me up and I followed her down the path to the beach where Parker was running around laughing with everyone sitting on beach blankets chowing down.

"Daaaadddddeeeeee!" Parker squealed running to me and jumping into my arms. "I saved you some mashey taters but if you don't hurry I cant save um for much longer cuz I love them so much."

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