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Chapter Thirty-Seven

Parker's mind was still foggy from sleep when she awoke to the sound of her grandfather's alarm clock. Peeking out from beneath the sheets, she practically hissed at the light invading the room and reached out a clumsy hand to slap the alarm clock off.

Before she could, though, a giant mass jumped on the bed next to her, causing her to squeal and nearly roll off the bed, before a pair of arms caught her and brought her back, cradling her against a hard chest.

Parker was confused for a few seconds before she looked up and saw her father smiling sleepily down at her. Parker instantly perked up and beamed at her father. "Daddy!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You really are back! I was so scared! I thought it was a dream!"

Seeley smiled down at his baby girl. "Nope. Not a dream. I'm here, baby, and I'm never going to leave you again. But, I do have to get you ready for school, so..."

Parker frowned. "No!" she grumbled. "I'm not going today. I'm too tired!" As if to prove her point, she snuggled up to her father's chest and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly, even with the blaring of the alarm clock.

Seeley chuckled and reached over to turn the alarm off, before poking Parker's nose. "Aw, come on, Parks! I'm supposed to have you there in less than an hour."

Parker mumbled something against his chest that he didn't quite catch.

"What was that?" He asked.

Parker turned her face to the side. "I said, then you shouldn't have woken me up in the middle of the night and made me too excited to sleep!"

Seeley chuckled. "You're just like your mom, do you know that?"

Parker smiled sleepily and closed her eyes once more, snuggling back into her father's chest. Seeley just kissed her forehead and settled back into the pillows, closing his own eyes as he began to relax.

He woke up at around one in the afternoon to the sound of his grandfather bellowing his name.

"Seeley! Wake up, already, ya bum! You've got a phone call!" Hank called from the doorway, throwing the house phone at him. Seeley barely caught it before it fell to the floor, but when he reached out for it, he lost his balance and fell to the floor with Parker still attached to him.

Both Booths let out loud 'oofs' when they hit the ground, Parker on Seeley's back, and both groaned at the rude awakening.

Making sure Parker was okay first, Seeley grabbed the phone and spoke into it. "Hello?" he mumbled.

"Cherie, what happened?" Caroline demanded.

Seeley chuckled. "Oh, Parker and I were just sleeping off the excitement from last night and we pretty much just fell off the bed, because-"

"That's not what I mean." Caroline interrupted. "I mean what happened with that Brennan girl? She refused to talk to me this morning when I went to talk bail with her. The judge posted half a million dollars, by the way, but she doesn't know that and she still won't talk to me. Did you do something to upset her?" Seeley groaned. Caroline was adopting that motherly tone she got with all her clients, and always with him.

"No, I don't know what could have upset Bo-Temperance so much that she's refusing bail. She seemed perfectly fine a few hours ago when I left the jail."

"Well, you must have done something, Cherie, because I was just informed that she wants you off her case."

"What?" Seeley exclaimed, sitting up. "Why-why would she say something like that?"

"I don't know, Cherie, but I'm having second thoughts about representing this girl altogether."

Seeley groaned. "Don't say that. Please, Caroline."

"Cherie, she's got two murder charges against her, and now two kidnappings? And not to mention all the evidence they've piled against her. Cherie, this could be suicidal for the firm. I just don't know if she's worth the trouble."

"She's worth it." Seeley said, firmly. "Trust me. She is. She's more than worth it. Let me-let me just talk to her and I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay, Cherie. But don't expect any big miracle. From what I've heard, that girl is a stubborn one. She's even been refusing to eat."

Seeley groaned. "I'll get her to talk, okay. Just...don't give up on her. Not yet. Please, Caroline."

"Okay, Cherie. We'll see. Just go talk to the girl. And Seeley?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell that girl how you really feel about her before I slap you upside your damn head!"

Seeley groaned. "Goodbye, Caroline." he grumbled, before hanging up the phone. "Come on, Parker." he said, turning to his daughter. "Time to get dressed."

Parker groaned, curling up further in the blanket that had followed them down when they fell. "No..."

Seeley chuckled and quickly swiped the blanket from her, causing her to shiver and moan. "Come on, we'll go get something for lunch and then we're gonna go visit Temperance."

Parker's left eye popped open. "We are?" she asked.

She didn't like to admit it, but she liked the woman her father had brought home last night, despite the fact that she had kidnapped her uncle and her father, kept the latter for three and a half weeks, and was disfigured with the scars all over her body and her weird haircut. But, she was nice, and her father really seemed to like her, and she wasn't at all like the monster Parker had imagined her to be. Even if she was, she was still much better than Hannah in Parker's book, so she was okay with her.

"Fine." Parker grumbled. "I'm hungry anyway."

Seeley chuckled and stood up, pulling Parker with him. "Let's go get dressed then." he said, hobbling a little on his bad leg, but smiling as he remembered how much the pain was worth the three weeks of healing, especially under the care of Temperance Brennan.

Seeley's smile widened as he made a decision, one that, unbeknownst to him, might make the biggest difference in the world.

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