Seeing Red

Dr. Temperance Brennan was hard at work when her office door was flung open abruptly. Frowning, she looked up to give her partner a piece of her mind for once again intruding on her space, then softened her gaze as she realized that her intruder was not, in fact, Seeley Booth.

"Hey, Dr. Bones!" Parker Booth smiled, entering the office and plopping down on her couch, "My dad called and said he was gonna be late picking me up from science club so your dad said I could come up here and hang out."

She opened her mouth, trying to find a polite way to tell the boy that bursting in on another person was rude, when once again, her office was intruded upon.

"Hi, Baby Girl," Max Keenan's own version of a charm smile was in full force, "Have you seen Parker? I was going to bring him up and see if you could watch him while he waited for Booth, but he took off."

She said nothing, but gave him a reproving look and pointed over to her couch. Parker, on hearing his name, peeked around the couch and waved, oblivious to the irritation that was mounting in the room. Max waved back and Brennan sighed, accepting that she now had no choice in the matter and once again questioning why she had allowed her father to retain his position at the Jeffersonian.

"Alright," Max said, "Well, I told Russ and Amy I'd go over and watch the kids so they can get out tonight, so I'm going to hit the road."

The three of them exchanged goodbyes. Max left and Parker settled back on her couch with a graphic novel that he had retrieved from his backpack. Curious about her father's reference to the time she glanced at her clock for the first time in hours.

"Parker," she called, after realizing it was nearly seven o'clock at night, "Why was your class held so late tonight?"

Parker popped his head up from his book and looked over at her, an excited gleam coming to his eyes, "We were looking at the moon tonight up on the roof. Did you know that sometimes, when the moon looks huge, it's just an optimal illusion?"

"An optical illusion, you mean?" she corrected gently.

"Yeah, an optimal illusion, like I said," he nodded, then continued, "And tonight's optimal illusion was really cool 'cause the moon was red!"

"Indeed?" she tried to hide a smile, deciding against correcting the boy a second time.

"Uh huh," Parker's head reminded her of the bobble-head bobby that Booth had received during their time in London, "Your daddy told us that it's red 'cause of all the pollution in the air. We're studying light waves and he said that when there's lots of pollution then all the other waves get blocked and only the red ones come through, so the moon looks red."

Brennan smiled at Parker's scientific account. Though simplistic, it was accurate, and an odd feeling of pride swept over her, knowing that her father had been the one who had taught Parker so well.

"Dr. Bones," Parker asked, abandoning his graphic novel on the couch and moving to sit in the seat directly across from her, "How come pollution is so bad if it makes the moon look so cool?"

She was just about to answer him when a third person burst through her office door unannounced. This time, it was the elder Booth, and for the third time she found herself on the receiving end of a charm smile. She rolled her eyes in response and he shot back with a look of mock hurt, his eyes teasing her all the while.

"Dinner time!" Booth announced, "Grab your stuff, Bub, while I help Bones get hers."

"Who said I was going to dinner with you?" she asked, once again feeling affronted.

"Have you eaten yet?" he countered, coming around to her side of the desk, "And by that I mean dinner; lunch doesn't count and neither do those crappy protien bars you snack on."

She frowned at him as he began loading her paperwork into her bag. When he was done, he shouldered the bag and held out her coat to her. The only thing that kept her from launching a verbal tirade at his presumptive behavior was Parker's presence, though she communicated as much as she could to Booth with her eyes. He dipped his head in acknowledgement, but let her know that he could be just as obstinate as she.

They ended up eating at the diner, where their table allowed them a perfect prospect of the moon, which no longer appeared large, though it retained its reddish hue. Parker spent the meal regaling Booth with all of the facts he had obtained during his science club. This had led to a healthy discussion on pollution and its effects on the atmosphere. She was quite surprised to find that she and Booth agreed for the most part on their outlook on the environment, though when she suggested that he should switch to a hybrid vehicle such as the Highlander that she now drove, they bickered.

It was nine o'clock when Booth pulled into the parking lot at her apartment to drop her off. Parker was sleeping soundly in the backseat, preventing Booth from escorting her to her door as she knew he preferred. He did, however, step out of the car and retrieved her bag from the trunk.

"Thanks again for letting Max stay on," he said, handing her the bag.

She shrugged, unsure of the appropriate response, "Parker seems to have gleaned a good bit of information from it."

"Yeah, I've never seen him so excited about science," his pride was evident and he grinned suddenly, "Though I'm blaming you if he turns into a squint."

She could tell from his expression that he wasn't serious, so she grinned in return. For a long moment they stood adjacent to one another, gazing up at the reddish moon.

"Good night," she said finally.

"Good night, Bones," he replied quietly, "See you tomorrow."

She nodded and began making her way up to her apartment. As she settled into bed she recalled Parker's excitement and Booth's pride in his son's accomplishments and decided that she had indeed made the right decision as far as her father was concerned. Her last thought as she drifted off to sleep was that the frustration she had felt earlier had fully dissipated as the night progressed. It had been a good night after all.