A/N: Okay, a third chapter is clearly not gonna happen this weekend, but I did work some on the ending, and this one got a bit out of hand anyway, so I'm hoping it suffices.

Things about which I know nothing: Angela's imaging thingy, insects, conspiracy theories. When I'm getting paid to write this stuff, I'll do research. Until then, enjoy the fluff! -tc

-

"What are you doing?"

Angela smiled at the young boy clutching a juice box and a gaming device. "Hiya, Parker. I'm calibrating a holographic imaging chamber."

"What does it do?"

"Well, it takes information and images – pictures, from my computer – and shows it on kind of a big screen in dots of light. Only it's not flat; you can see all of the sides."

"Is it for watching movies?"

"Not exactly. It helps us figure out what happened when someone is killed or injured. I can make a sort of make-believe movie of what we think happened, using information that your daddy or Dr. Brennan gives me, and the computer lets us know whether it's a plausible scenario."

"What does calberating mean?"

"Calibrating. I'm checking the settings to make sure that it's working properly."

"Can I help?"

"How about you hang out at my desk and be my observer for a while." Parker followed her suggestion and pulled himself into the chair, legs swinging free off the edge as he slurped through his straw.

And now, some questions of my own. "Hey Parker?"

Slurp. "Uh huh?"

"Does your dad have a girlfriend?"

"Nope." Slurp. "He had a girlfriend before, but then she left 'cause they got sick."

"Sick?"

"Yeah, Daddy said they had irreconcilable differences. What's irreconcilable differences, Angela?"

"It's something that lawyers like to say."

"What's a lawyer?"

"That's what Tessa was. Is."

"Does it mean you smell funny?"

"Not necessarily. What did she smell like?"

"I dunno." Slurp. "Flowers and stuff. Dr. Bones smells better. And she looks at dead people AND she has a ring in her bellybutton!"

Angela suppressed a chuckle. "Does Daddy talk about, ah, Dr. Bones a lot?"

"Yeah, he told me about when he went to the desert with her and it was real hot."

"Yes, it was." She let her mind wander a bit before refocussing on the investigation at hand. "What else does he say? Does he think she's pretty?"

"I think she's pretty."

"I think she's pretty, too, sweetie. But I want to know what your daddy thinks."

Parker chewed thoughtfully on his straw. "He thinks she's really brave. And one time he told me" - the boy gulped and looked up at Angela with guilty eyes - "I'm not s'posed to tell."

Jackpot! "It's okay, honey, you can tell me. I won't tell Dr. Bones." Maybe.

Parker was skeptical. "Daddy said it on accident. I wasn't s'posed to hear."

"How about you whisper it to me?"

Parker hesitated, then leaned forward until Angela could feel his warm, apple juice-sweet breath on her cheek. "He said sometimes she's a" - his voice dropped so it was barely audible - "pain in the ass."

Only the disappointment that Booth had not let slip a declaration of love kept Angela from laughing out loud. "I take it Daddy doesn't usually say bad words like that?"

"Uh-uh, not ever, except one time when he dropped the toaster on his foot."

"Well, even the best daddies make mistakes sometimes." She ruffled his hair and went back to entering data while she planned her next move. "Parker, what would you think if your dad got married?"

-

"Can you really eat bugs?"

Jack Hodgins looked up from his microscope. "Ah, some of them. Well, most, actually, if they're properly prepared. Shouldn't you be in school or something, Parker?"

"Nope, it's vacation so I came to stay with Daddy but then he had to go to work so I get to stay with Dr. Bones but she has a con-sul-ta-tion and then I got to watch Angela with the holographic machine only she has to go to a meeting now. Can I feed the bugs?"

"There you are!" Angela said, arriving breathlessly at the door. "Listen, Hodgins, I've gotta take off for an hour or so; can you keep an eye on the kid?"

"Isn't that Brennan's job?"

"That guy from the Smithsonian is still talking her ear off; something about the language of burial tablets. I don't even know why he needed to see a forensic anthropologist. Anyway, just keep Parker out of trouble for a bit until she's done, okay? Oh, and see if you can get any more dirt on you-know-who and you-know-who-else. Thanks, Jack!"

She was out of the door before he could mount any kind of serious resistance. "Women," Hodgins said, shaking his head. "I'm telling you, Parker, sometimes I don't even know why I bother... well, okay, I know why I bother, but that's probably not an appropriate topic for someone of your tender years." Besides, if Angela thinks I'm going to waste a valuable opportunity for inquiry on her little Mulder-Scully fetish, she is seriously mistaken.

"Can we feed the bugs now?"

"It won't be time for their regular feeding for another two hours, actually."

"Can they have a snack?"

Hodgins tried not to look appalled. "No! These aren't just any old bugs. These specimens have been carefully raised from their pupal stage and ingest only a highly nutritious and carefully monitored diet."

"Do they eat chocolate? Ants eat chocolate if you leave it on the counter."

Jack gave up. "How about I get you some paper and a pencil and you can work on some, ah, diagrams of the insects in their habitat until it's time for a snack."

Parker accepted the distraction and settled cross-legged on the floor in front of the glass enclosure. Jack went back to his samples, waiting until the boy seemed suitably engrossed in his drawing before he began his questioning.

"Hey Parker?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know what a conspiracy theory is?"

"No."

"Excellent, excellent." Less suspicion that way. "Does your dad have any, ah, secret cases he works on? You know, ones that he doesn't tell Dr. Brennan about?"

"Sometimes he has other cases with the FBI, but he likes the ones with Dr. Bones the best."

"Interesting... what kinds of cases are we talking about?"

"I dunno. He's not s'posed to tell me 'cause Mommy says I'll have bad dreams, but I'm not scared!"

"What kind of friends does your father have? Any senators, lobbyists, that sort of thing?"

"I dunno." Parker replied again, clearly beginning to tire of the conversation. "What's a senator?"

"When you're lucky, a willing participant in a covert international espionage plot."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Do the names Roger Armada or the Robertson Corporation mean anything to you?"

"Dr. Jack, I have to go to the bathroom."

Hodgins sighed. Either the five-year-old knew nothing, or had been extremely well trained. "Come on, I'll show you where it is."

-

"I don't know if this is a good idea," Zack said nervously. "Dr. Goodman specifically said that I wasn't to do anything today except work on my thesis. If he finds out I was chaperoning Agent Booth's son instead, he might-"

"Geez, Zack, I'm not asking you to compromise national security or something. Just let the kid sit next to you and play his video game. Goodman's not even in the lab today."

"I thought Agent Booth left his son with Dr. Brennan. Why isn't she-"

"Brennan's tied up in a consult, Angela had a meeting, and I" - he grinned - "have a last minute lunch date with an incredibly attractive junior senatorial aide."

"I'm not sure I'm qualified to supplant Dr. Brennan's level of-"

"Zack, you have, what, 47 cousins? And Brennan's idea of a bedtime story is probably 'Ontogeny and functional histology of the first ethmoturbinal in strepsirrhines'. I'm pretty sure you're at least as qualified as she is to entertain a five-year-old."

The young assistant sighed reluctantly. "Fine, but if Dr. Goodman says anything-"

"Relax, I've got your back. I'll go send in the kid."

Zack was still silently bemoaning his lack of conviction when Parker arrived. "Hi, Parker," he said awkwardly. "Do you, um, want to sit at my desk? Or I could bring you a chair? Or maybe one of the lab stools? No, that would probably be too high."

"I wanna sit at your desk," said Parker, oblivious to the young scientist's anxiety.

"Okay." Zack mentally cursed himself for being awkward. He's just a kid. You're an adult. And you're good with kids. "So, um, are you having fun with Dr. Brennan?"

"Uh-huh. She told me your name is Mr. Zack but soon you're gonna be Dr. Zack and you're the best helper she ever had."

Zack felt his ears redden at the praise. "She, um, that's, wow, that's really nice of her. Does Agent, uh, your father talk about me?"

"Uh-huh. You made the robot for Christmas. I brought it to school for show and tell!"

"Oh, yeah, the robot. I'm glad you liked it. Does he say anything else? Your dad, I mean?"

"Mmm, no. Mostly he talks about Dr. Bones and sometimes Angela."

Zack breathed a sigh of relief. The status quo had been maintained; he was one of the guys.

-

"Parker! There you are!" Brennan tried not to appear too relieved when she discovered the small child sitting happily at Zack's desk, DS in hand.

"Hi Dr. Bones! Angela showed me movies and then I got to feed the bugs with Dr. Jack and draw pictures and Mr. Zack let me sit at his desk and can we have lunch now?"

Zack looked panicked. "Dr. Brennan, I hope it's okay that he's in here, I mean Hodgins said I should-"

"It's fine, Zack," she replied. "I appreciate this. And it sounds like he had a great morning. Would you like to join us for lunch? Angela suggested some sort of fondue restaurant, I forget the name... she seemed to think it would appeal to Parker, though I'm not sure why."

"Not fondue," Angela interrupted, appearing at the doorway in her jacket. "Cheese. Chuck E. Cheese's. It's a pizza place. Geez, Bren, didn't you ever go to a birthday party when you were a kid?"

"Yes." Tempe couldn't come up with any further response. "Anyway, Zack, you're welcome to come along."

"No!" The formerly anxious research assistant now looked positively terrified. "I can't... bad, bad memories... mouse costume... skeeball... y-you just go on without me."

Brennan frowned. "Ange, I'm not sure about this. I mean, if Zack is concerned, then maybe Parker is a little young, and I don't want to do anything that Booth wouldn't approve of-"

Her best friend just rolled her eyes. "Relax, sweetie. I'm sure it's perfectly safe for droids."

"What?"

"Just get your coat."

-

A/N: Hodgins's 'bedtime story' title is the name of an actual lecture at a forensic anthropology conference I found on the internet. I don't know what it means (wink, wink). Also, I'm with Zack; Chuck E. Cheese's is the scariest place ever, so I will probably be skipping that part.