Booth heard the squeaking of the bathroom door as it opened and his attention was immediately drawn to the sound. He watched carefully as Brennan slowly stepped across the room and moved to stand beside him at the bar.

"You alright Bones?"

Peering over at him meekly she fixed him with the faintest of smiles. "Yeah, I'm okay…I think."

"Look I apologize for what Parker said before. I know it made you uncomfortable. I just hope you know that he didn't mean anything by it…I mean he didn't realize that…"

"I know Booth." Shifting her attention away from him for a moment she spied the floor beside their table where Parker still sat occupied by his toy robot. Booth followed her line of sight and watched her as she smiled fondly at his son sitting amused and carefree.

"He really likes you you know?" Booth was stating the obvious he knew…but he also thought that maybe she needed to hear it anyway.

"And…," he started as she turned her attention back toward him. As he continued she noticed with amazement that the fear she read in his eyes betrayed the calm in his voice.

"And, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved," Booth finished.

Letting out a nervous breath she looked deeply into his eyes, "Really?"

Nodding he told her, "Maybe it's important to me…that Parker feels like he can trust you."

Smiling coyly she paused thoughtfully. Wow.

Then shaking her head in amazement she couldn't help but pose the question, "How do you do it Booth?"

Tilting his head questioningly he asked, "Do what?"

"Do what you do, everyday? You see the worst that humans are capable of…how do you keep it out…keep it from changing you?"

Keep it from frightening you into stillness?

As he lifted his brow expressively Booth answered simply, "You want to know how?" Turning more completely around he gestured with a nod toward his son, who it seemed was still innocently playing.

"I remember that I have him. I keep the darkness away because I know that he needs me…to be strong…to be his dad."

Amazed though she was at the profundity of his statement, Temperance knew that to expect anything less from Booth would be a misjudgment of the integrity of his character.

"And that's enough?" she queried.

With a slow nod he turned back around to face her, "Yeah. It's enough." Then raising his hand up to gently cup the side of her cheek he drew her a little closer, "You're the best at what you do, Bones. But you can't let what you do define who you are…you can't let yourself fall into the trap of thinking that you belong to the work. Because believe me I know…in the end you'll only wind up cheating yourself…and the people who love you."

Nodding her new understanding of those words she looked down and away from him, suddenly unable to meet his gaze, "But what if by letting the work be most important, I'm safe in the solitude? What if what I fear is needing someone else…and letting myself be needed in return?"

"Well," he pulled her even closer still and lifted her gaze with a finger under her chin, "then I'd say that's something we'll have to work on."

Booth's commitment touched her so deeply that her voice had begun to break, "What if I don't know how?"

She knew that he was one of the few people who could appreciate her difficultly in making such an admission.

"Then you'll have to trust me when I say that we'll figure it out together…like partners," he vowed sincerely.

Letting out a sigh of relief Temperance couldn't help but wonder how this afternoon had taken such a dramatic turn. And that's when the weight of it all hit her…and she did something that even she knew was completely out of character…

Lifting up she wrapped her partner in the fiercest embrace she could remember sharing since she was a little girl. She couldn't explain the reason for it…she just needed to be held…and she knew that only he could hold her tight enough.

And he did.

He held her without any question, without explanation, and without any pretense…he just pressed her close to his chest. So close she could feel his heart beat in time with her own.

When finally she was sated, she gently pulled away from the shelter of his arms. Immediately missing the loss of his warmth she took comfort in knowing that it wouldn't be their last embrace. Dropping his head down, Booth purposely met his forehead with hers; before long though they separated again as Temperance once again settled her gaze on Parker.

Gesturing over in the boy's direction with a perceptible nod she asked Booth quietly, "May I?"

"Sure," he answered before releasing her from his grasp. Pulling away more completely she stepped slowly and uneasily toward Parker.

"Temperance…," she heard Booth softly call from behind her; she stopped at his use of her given name. Turning to face him more fully she waited.

"Don't worry so much…Parker's already figured out all he needs to know about you…"

Smiling thankfully back at him she considered the weight of those words momentarily before lightening the moment with a teasing look, "Oh so now it's Temperance?"

Smirking back at her, he answered by quickly flicking his head to the side and squinting humorously, "Ehh…"

A laugh bubbled out of them both before she turned back around and shook her head in amusement. Drawing in a deep breath, Brennan peered over at Parker all the while telling herself that she had one last hurdle to overcome before her Christmas catharsis was complete.

Oh boy. This wasn't going to be easy.

Moving to sit beside Parker, Brennan didn't know what she'd say. She only knew that she couldn't let him keep thinking that he'd upset her with his earlier outburst.

"Hey there…," she started politely, suddenly and infinitely aware of her inexperience when it came to conversing with children.

"Tempe…," it broke her heart that he sounded so sad. "How come you ran away? Was it because I said something bad?"

"Oh Parker, of course not," she knew she needed to be adamant in her reassurance. But as his big brown eyes bore into hers, Brennan could feel her resolve crumbling away, "I'm sorry I ran away. It wasn't a very nice thing for me to do."

Was that her voice?

"I promise you…it had nothing to do with you…or anything that you did," she nearly whispered.

His brown eyes stayed fixed on hers.

"Okay?"

His answer was an imperceptible nod followed by his standing up and stepping into her for a hug. As best he could, Parker enveloped her in his tiny little arms and tried his hardest to comfort her.

As his voice broke through in a tiny whisper, "Don't be sad. I'm not mad at you Tempe," she knew that she'd endured all she could handle emotionally for one day. The tears quietly flowed out of her, and she clung to the boy in her arms like a lifeline.

When finally she felt like she'd suffocated Parker long enough, she untangled herself from his little arms and wiped at the tears on her cheeks. For his part, Parker tried to help by pushing the hair away from her face. She was so incredibly struck by the tenderness in his movement, as well as the oddity of a four-year-old having to help her pull herself together, that she let out a laugh.

"Thanks," she told him. And if he'd been any older he might have been able to understand just in how many ways she was grateful.

"It'll be okay," his little voice calmed.

"So…friend's again?" she could only imagine how pleading her voice must have sounded.

"Uh huh!"

And that's when Brennan saw Booth suddenly appear beside her.

"Everything okay here?" her partner posed the question, though she suspected that he already knew the answer.

"Yes," she said looking up at him. As she looked back over at the boy standing in front of her she added, "We're good here."

Smiling proudly down at his son, Booth extended a hand down to help pull Brennan to her feet. She took his hand easily and let him help her up. Once she was back at his eye level he prodded playfully, "See, that wasn't so bad was it?"

"Yeah," she let out an incredulous breath and wiped again at her cheeks, "piece of cake."

Reaching over he brushed the hair from her face until it settled behind her shoulder. He was really beginning to love this new freedom he felt when it came to being able to touch her.

Smiling at the familiarity of the gesture she couldn't help but ask the question, "I'm beginning to think it's a family trait…tell me are all the Booth men so attentive?"'

The palm of his hand sent shivers up her spine as it trailed down the line of her arm and landed at her waist.

Biting back a grin, her partner's voice dropped a whole octave lower as he huskily whispered, "Well you know we try."