Chapter 21

She was deep in paperwork from the latest case when Angela came into her office. "Ang I can't talk right now, I have to get this sent over to Booth." She stated, without looking up from her computer. After days of going over evidence and interrogation they were finally able to close the double homicide and one of the victim's brothers was now behind bars. There was a small second where she boasted that Booth had been wrong and she was right that it wasn't the wife, but in the end they were too exhausted by the long case to truly celebrate the victory.

"I don't care." Angela said as she shut her laptop screen right in the middle of her typing. Brennan gasped at the action and looked up to see her best friend standing in front of her with her arms crossed. "Oh you're shocked by me forcing you to talk to me? Imagine my shock when I checked my email this morning and saw that you were leaving the Jeffersonian for an entire year. In an email! Are we really not close anymore that you don't think to tell me things first?" Wincing at the words she started to speak before being cut off. "What's worse is that I went to Cam and asked if she had seen the email to only be told that she's known for two days!"

She had known since she and Booth had decided to take sabbaticals from their current positions that it meant they had to tell their friends their decisions as well. The first thing she had done was sit down with Cam and go over the pros and cons before she had even made her final decision, she admittedly hadn't thought to tell Angela in person. "When did Cam become your best friend and not me?" Angela said and she sighed before standing up and shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, Ang. Truly, I am. I just, it's been a busy week with this case and finally getting an arrest, on top of that Booth and I have been discussing what we wanted to do and I just haven't had the chance to talk to you just yet." She said softly as she walked to the other side of her desk. "I didn't not tell you on purpose and when I sent out the email I just wanted to get it out of the way. I have a lot to do before I leave for Indonesia and Booth deploys to Afghanistan." It was then that she knew she had messed up once again when Angela went pale.

"Booth is doing what!?" She screeched and she once again winced. This really wasn't going well and she had a lot of regret on how she had handled things, even if it wasn't intentional. She however knew that Angela was not going to see it that way no matter how many times she tried to tell her otherwise.

"Booth has accepted a short job offer with the Army as a trainer. He'll be gone for up to a year as well. I have had this offer for the Maluku Islands for months now but had turned them down, but when Booth got his offer we talked about it and decided that it's best for both of us and our careers to accept." When she said that they had talked she wasn't using the word lightly either. They had stayed up at night and way into the next morning for days discussing all the possibilities before finally feeling stable with the decision to take the jobs.

"Angela, I promise I'll give you all the details about it but right now I have to finish up this work before I go meet Booth for lunch with Parker." She pleaded needing to get back to work. They were planning on telling Parker about leaving. She had initially thought Booth would want to tell him himself but he had pointed out how Parker would be upset that they were both leaving and as family it was best if they talked to him together. The thought that they were a family had settled well with her, despite her past feelings towards it, and she had accepted the invitation to join them.

"Okay, whatever, I'll fall even further on the list of those you care about." Angela said before leaving the room and Temperance hung her head in defeat before moving back to her desk and sitting down to get her work done as quickly as possible if she was going to make it in time.

He and Parker had been sitting at the diner for ten minutes waiting on Bones who had called him and said she was running behind and to go ahead and order for her. "Dad you're doing that bouncing leg thing when you have something to tell me but don't know how." Parker said over his milkshake and he chuckled.

"Just wait for Bones to get here, Parks, okay?" He said softly watching as she rushed across the stress. "Here she comes now." He smiled turned as she walked in and he stood to greet her. "Bones, hey right in time food should be here any minute." He greeted her.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, but I finally have all my paperwork completed so I'm free for the afternoon." She smiled and he laughed knowing that she would be the one to bury herself in work so that they could spend time together with Parker.

"Dad Bones is here now, will you please tell me what's going on?" Parker said impatiently and he sighed and sat down with his girlfriend and put a hand on her thigh.

"Parker, why don't we eat first and also you didn't even say hello to Bones. You know better than that." He chastised and the boy just pouted behind his milkshake before offering a hello. "I promise we're going to talk but it's not urgent that we need to dive right into it." Booth didn't know how Parker was going to take the news, the thought of leaving him for a year was hard enough without him knowing. He wasn't ready to see him upset over it.

Bones put her hand over his in comfort and he hummed in contentment grateful that she was there with him. They had spent a lot of time talking about their life together the last few days. They started with their partnership and how their trust and love for each other had grown from the very beginning. There was no one on earth that he respected and trusted more than Temperance Brennan and their romantic relationship shown that as well.

The one thing that had agreed on was the most important thing of their life together was that they had to continue to communicate. No more hiding things because they didn't want to face the consequences. They had agreed that no matter what while they were gone they would be honest about what was going on and never stop communicating.

T"Booth." Bones whispered to her as they walked through The Mall, Parker eating the ice cream Booth had insisted he have. "We can't put it off anymore, we have to allow him to process it." She insisted and he sighed and nodded. Motioning for Parker to sit at a bench with him, he pulled him close.

"So you're not going to be working together?" Parker asked after they each explained what they were going to be doing. "You two always work together, that seems weird to me." He said and Booth shook his head surprised that his only question was regarding his partnership.

"Buddy, do you have any questions about me going to the Army? If you don't want me to go…" He began but Parker quickly shook his head.

"Dad, you'll be saving lives. I think you should go. I mean a year is a long time but I can tell all my friends my dad is in the Army and the FBI and that totally makes me look cool." The little boy smiled and his heart melted at how well he was taking. "And Bones, you get to go look at dead people all the time! You love that, that's cool too. I'm going to miss you though, I've seen you all the time for like my entire life."

Before he could let Bones correct him that they hadn't known each other his entire life he pulled him into a hug. "Thanks, buddy. Remember though, no matter what I'm always there for you. I'm an email away and we can even video chat sometimes. Bones and I both will be available to you all the time." Looking over at Bones she was smiling as she rubbed Parker's back.

"Your dad is right, though I am not sure of what my connection will be in the Maluku Islands I'm going to do my best to keep in touch with you." She assured him. Reaching over with his free hand she took a hold of hers and squeezed it, mouthing a thank you to her.

"I am sure Bones will also send you pictures of the Mumu islands as well." He grinned as Parker stood up from his place on the bench. Bones laughed and shook her head at his teasing. "I bet the jungle is really pretty." A part of him wished he was going with her, to protect her from the dangers that are out there but he knew they both had to do this. For themselves and also for each other.

"Dad she just said they were the Maluku Islands. Not Mumu." Parker giggled and he laughed as Bones stood up and moved next to his son. "Yes Booth, it's the Maluku islands." She teased along with Parker, and Booth stood up laughing with them.

"Okay, you two smarty pants let's head home and you two can correct me on all my grammatical errors. Deal?" He asked hoping that the next few days with his son and girlfriend didn't fly by, but knowing he was going to soak in every second he could.