Chapter 6

Seeley and Buffy were standing in front of the Conner's classroom waiting for him to be dismissed by the teacher, they were surrounded by parents that all seemed to be interested in the woman that was standing next to the elusive FBI agent.

"Ohh, I wonder who that is?" whispered the woman standing behind Seeley and Buffy, to her friend. Neither Buffy or Seeley heard the response.

"Well, I know what the conversation is going to be about at the PTA meeting this week" Buffy whispered sarcastically. Seeley groaned just at the thought of people talking about his private life.

Before Seeley could reply, "DAD" screamed Conner as he came running out of his classroom, he went barrelling into Seeley's arms. Seeley kneeled down to catch Conner before he could knock him off his feet. Buffy smiled at the sight in front of her, before looking up to catch Conner's teacher beckoning them in.

Seeley looked up, when he felt Buffy nudged him on the arm and saw her looking at Conner's teacher, he looked to see Conner's teacher signalling them to come in. He slowly stood up and took both Buffy's and Conner's hand in his and together they walked over to the teacher.

"Mr Booth, it's good to again" greeted Conner's teacher.

"Miss Hazel, it's good to see you again. Is there something wrong?" questioned Seeley. Not noticing that Miss Hazel was sending a questioning look to Buffy. Buffy rolled her eyes lightly and huffed in amusement. She held out her hand and introduced herself, "Hi, I am Buffy, Seeley's partner". Miss Hazel blushed at being caught by the person she was staring at, "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you" shaking Buffy's proffered hand.

Seeley cleared his throat, to get the attention of the teacher, he couldn't help but wonder why they had been called in. He looked at Conner, who was silently watching the adults talk, Conner didn't look guilty or worried, this helped Seeley stay calm. The group moved to the room, Seeley stood in front of the teacher to talk to her, while Buffy distracted Conner by getting him to show her around his classroom.

"So has something has happened? Is Conner ok?" Seeley bombarded the teacher.

"Mr Booth, Conner has been ok, but the reason I called you in is because I am worried about Conner…."

"You just said he has been ok" interrupted Seeley.

Miss Hazel ignored the interruption and continued, "As I was saying Conner has been ok but he has been extremely quiet and anxious at different points in the day. When asked he says he is fine and that he just wants to go home. When we tried to press him on why he wants to go home, he seems to clam up".

Seeley anxiously rubbed the back of neck, "I thought he would be fine and ready to get back to his normal routine".

"Can I ask? Has something happened that is making Conner so anxious and worried to be in school?"

"Ummm a few weeks ago I collapsed while at work, and when we got to the hospital the doctors discovered that I had a brain tumour" Seeley ignored the gasp of surprise and "I had an immediate surgery, but I think that Conner is still scared that something is going to happen to me."

"I am so sorry to hear that, but I am glad that you are ok. In regards to Conner the best thing that you can do is continue to show him that you are ok and reassure him that you are ok. Also, if you spend as much time as possible with him. This will hopefully help him to understand that you are ok." Suggested Miss Hazel.

Seeley nodded in agreement, it seemed like a good idea to him and maybe it would good for Conner to speak to Sweets he thought personally.

"Right thank you, could you please keep me updated on how he is doing?" asked Seeley, he wanted to make sure that Conner was ok at school.

"Yes of course. If you will excuse me, I will see you soon Mr Booth. Bye Conner, Ms Summers" and Miss Hazel left to catch up with another parent.

Seeley turned around to find Conner and Buffy talking quietly, Conner was showing Buffy some of the work that he had done today. Seeley smiled at the sight in front of him, but in the back of his mind he wondered how long Buffy will be in his life.

Buffy looked back to find Seeley staring at them as Conner leaned onto her side. Seeley came up behind them, he wrapped his arms around Buffy and said, "Right I think we should have some fun so first the park and some ice cream. What do you guys think?"

"Yes" cheered Conner.

"I think its great idea" Buffy agreed.

Seeley took Buffy's hand and Conner went ahead of them. The tree of them walked out of the class and headed to the car.

/-/-/

Conner was playing on the swings; he pumped his legs harder to get higher and higher. Seeley and Buffy were sitting on the bench watching him play. Buffy and Seeley were quietly talking about the best action for Conner.

"Sweets is an outside person, who is someone that is still familiar to Conner and he can still be objective in his approach" she stated.

Seeley hummed in agreement. The two of them watched as Conner ran to the monkey bars, he climbed to the top and he hung from the bars, he stretched out to reach the second bar. Suddenly he seemed to change his mind and he carefully jumped to the side bars and climbed back down.

"DAD, DAD, DAD come and watch me" he yelled across the park, waving his hands to get Seeley's attention.

Seeley groaned lightly and stood up, he dropped a kiss on top of Buffy's head, before he headed to the monkey bars where Conner was waiting for him impatiently. Buffy laughed as she watched Conner climb back up the monkey bars and sit on the top of them, she causally looked around the park, silently noting that this park seemed to offer a lot more than the park in Sunnydale ever did.

She also noticed the looks that Seeley seemed to be getting from the women around the park, she huffed in amusement, thinking you can look all you want but he is all mine. Suddenly she became aware of the universal sound of an ice cream van approaching, she noted the way the kid's heads seemed to pop up and look for the van that carried their favourite treats. Deciding that this would a nice treat for Conner she headed to the ice cream van, before the all kids started to drag their parent towards the van. She got a cone with a vanilla swirl with chocolate flakes and she got a serving of chocolate ice cream with nuts sprinkled on top.

She walked back to the park where she had left Conner and Seeley playing at the monkey bars. Seeley stood slightly away from the monkey bars, but keeping a close eye on his son when he saw Buffy walking back, carrying the treats, so he decided to call Conner down, "Hey Con come down" he called out.

"Ok dad" Conner called as he climbed down. Conner ran to his dad, and without stopping, he looked back "Race ya" he yelled as he carried on running.

"You little cheat" called Seeley as he started to run behind his son.

Buffy stopped where she was, when she saw the Booth men running at breakneck speed towards her, she smiled, seeing that Seeley was purposely hanging back.

"Come on Conner" she cheered.

Conner came to a sliding stop in front of her, Buffy cheered and both she and Conner burst out in laughter as Seeley sidled up behind Conner panting in exertion. Buffy congratulated Conner and presented him with the ice cream and she kissed Seeley as he pouted at seeing the ice cream. Buffy took a scoop of the chocolate ice cream and held it up enticingly. Seely pecked her on the lips and took the scoop of chocolate ice cream.

"EWWW"

Buffy decided to ignore the moaning child and instead said "So I heard there are ducks around here that we can feed?"

"Yeah, they keep bags of bread around so that people can feed the ducks" Conner informed her, while licking his ice cream.

The three of them walked over to the duck pond, Seeley silently broke off to grab a bag of bread so that they could feed the ducks, before quickly joining Buffy and Conner. He held up the bag to show that he got the bread, Buffy grinned at him.

Seeley looked at Conner and thought that this would be a good time o talk to Conner, "So Conner you know that your teacher called me in today?"

Conner nodded.

"So, she said that you have been really worried, can I ask what have you been worrying about? Maybe I could help?" Seeley pressed slightly.

Conner clammed up, and refused to answer, instead he went and sat down on a bench next to the duck pond. Buffy passed Seeley the ice cream cup and took the bag of bread from him. Seeley smiled, Buffy always knew what needed to be done next, he appreciated that she was giving him the space to talk to Conner.

Seeley took a seat next to Conner and quietly ate his ice cream, allowing Conner to gather his thoughts. The two of them sat on the bench and watched as Buffy fed the ducks, scattering pieces of bread in the water. Seeley thought back to something that Buffy had said this morning, I bargained with the Powers that be for Conner. Seeley wondered what was it that the Powers that be asked for from Buffy, they must have known that she would do anything for him and Conner

Conner looked at his dad, "Dad…..". Breaking the direction Seeley's thoughts were taking.

"Yeah Buddy?"

"Are you…" Conner couldn't think of the words to ask what he wanted to ask.

Seeley seemed to understand, "I know that these past of couple of weeks have been really hard on you. I know that it must have been hard on you to hear that I was in the hospital and that you didn't know what was happening. But I want to tell you something, I felt the same way. I was scared too."

"You were scared?"

"Yeah, I was, buddy" Seeley answered, "But I want you to know that I am not going anywhere. The doctors were able to take out all the tumour and I will have to go back to the doctors so they can make sure that the tumour doesn't come back. But I am healthy and I am going to be around for a long time" He promised.

"Do you promise?"

"Yeah, I promise, Conner"

"Hey dad, is Buffy going to stay with us?"

"Do you want her to?" questioned Seeley, wondering what his son thought of having Buffy in their lives.

"Can she? I love Buffy!" exclaimed Conner with a huge grin. "She makes you really happy and she always tellS me the best stories".

Seeley smiled at Conner, "I don't know if Buffy can stay with us, Con. We haven't talked about it just yet, but we will soon. Once we have talked about it, we will tell you. I want you to tell me if there is anything that makes uncomfortable, you can talk to either me or Buffy. We won't mind".

Seeley wanted to make sure that his son was comfortable with Buffy and any changes that do happen. He didn't know if Buffy was here to stay or not, but he knew that any decision that they make would affect Conner. So he wanted to make sure that his son could come and talk to him or Buffy if he needed to.

"Yes dad" groaned Conner, hearing the familiar phrase that had been repeated since the Buffy came to the hospital to see his dad. She had continuously told him that he could talk to her about anything and once his dad came home, he had picked up the habit from Buffy.

"Come one lets go join Buffy, before she finishes all the bread" Seeley said, as he stood up from the bench, binning the empty pot of ice cream. The two of them head towards the duck pond where Buffy was feeding the ducks.

Buffy smiled at the two Booth males that were approaching her, she handed Conner the bag of bread so that he could feed the ducks. While Seeley came to her other side and took her hand to hold, Buffy leaned to his side and lay her head of his arm.