A/N: this chapter ends the short, slightly AU trilogy that began with chapter 6. It takes place after Blackout in the Blizzard. There will be more chapters in this fiction, but they'll be over random topics.

The words I used in this chapter were frisbee, ford, and dolphin.

Climb Ev'ry Mountain, from The Sound of Music, was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. No copyright infringement intended.

It was an unusually warm Saturday in late March. Given DC's fickle weather, Booth had decided to take advantage of the rare early Spring opportunity. He and Parker were going to enjoy a day at the park.

At Parker's request, someone else had been invited to join them. It hadn't taken much arm-twisting to get Booth to call his partner, and after some gentle coaxing on his part, she'd finally accepted the invitation.

Sitting at a picnic table, Booth watched as his Bones tried to help Parker grasp the physics involved in throwing a frisbee. Parker was doing his best to understand what she was saying, even though her lesson was sprinkled with ten dollar terms like inertia, parabola, Bernoulli's principle, angular momentum, and gyroscope, along with a short excursion into the way lift and drag affected the arc of the frisbee's flight as it flew through the air.

After trying to follow her lecture for a few minutes, Booth cleared his throat. "Um…that's all great, Bones, but instead of talking about it, why don't you just throw it? It'll be easier for Parker to understand what you're saying when he sees an actual demonstration."

"Oh…" She wore a slightly sheepish grin as she casually sent the plastic disk flying towards Parker. "There we go. Good…hold it level...now use a flick of your wrist and send it back. You don't have to use a lot of force." Catching it in her hand, she nodded. "Excellent! Let's try again..."

Watching as his son and the woman he loved played together, Booth sighed happily. Hannah was gone…he and Bones were on good terms again…and things appeared to be getting back to normal. Hopefully, it won't be long until we're together, like we should've been all along…

He was surprised to see a metallic flash in the brilliant sunshine when Brennan moved her hand to throw the frisbee. "What is that?," he murmured to himself. Suddenly, he had a jolt of recognition. She normally didn't wear rings because they got caught on her exam gloves, but there was one exception to that rule…

It looks like she's wearing her dolphin ring again!

She'd stopped wearing it while they worked on the Lauren Eames' case, and given what was happening between the two of them at the time, in Booth's mind that gesture also seemed to signify the end of their relationship as well. Groaning inwardly, he nodded, berating himself again at his failure to notice how terribly unhappy she'd been…and for his reaction to her admission about her feelings for him…and for telling Hannah only part of what had actually happened that rainy night. Yeah, that's right. I was a coward, right? I told Hannah all about what Bones said, but not about how I felt about it that night…not about my regrets…or about how I wanted to take Bones in my arms to comfort her, but I couldn't, since I was with someone else…someone who really was a consolation prize…

Exhaling slowly, he tried to chase away all of those negative thoughts. That evening seemed like it was years ago. Those things can't be changed, right? We just gotta move forward. It seems like maybe Bones has forgiven me for being such a jackass, but still…

He knew her well enough to know that she probably hadn't consciously attached any real sentiment to wearing that ring. She simply liked it, and that was all there was to it…but in his heart, he hoped it meant that she was more open to a different sort of relationship with him…one where they could have a different type of partnership…a relationship where he could finally let her know how much she meant to him…

His reverie was interrupted by Parker tugging at his elbow. "Dad! DAD!"

"Hmm? Whoa there, buddy. What's up?"

Trying to be cool, Parker blushed anyway as he pointed to a nearby table. "Look…Bethany's here with her parents!"

"Bethany?" Booth grimaced slightly as he tried to recall that name. "Oh…right. Bethany! She's the fastest kid in your class, right? She can hit the soccer goal from midfield, too…and she's really, really pretty…she's really good at math so she helps you with your homework…she laughs at your jokes…and you want her to be your girlfriend…"

"Da-aad…," Parker groaned loudly at his father's teasing. "We're just friends, okay?" The boy twisted the hem of his sweatshirt nervously. "Um…I know we came to the park so we could hang out together, but…um…do you mind if I go say 'hi'? I won't be gone very long…"

Tousling Parker's hair, Booth laughed out loud…"Sure…go say 'hi', and make sure you speak politely to her parents, too. Take your time. Me and Bones will wait here for you, okay?"

"Okay."

Booth winked at Brennan as Parker jogged away. "Ain't love grand? Over the last three weeks, whenever I've called Parker, all he's wanted to talk about is 'Bethany this' and 'Bethany that', and how pretty she is…how smart she is…and he's also been asking me how to get a girl to like him…"

"I see." Brennan nodded as she sat down next to Booth. "And I assume you've been able to give him some excellent advice, correct? After all, as far as I can tell, Booth men definitely have a way with women."

Scoffing, he rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah, right. Based on what happened with Hannah, you may be giving us Booths more credit than we deserve..."

She cringed slightly as she saw his unhappy expression. "Oh…I'm sorry, Booth. I meant that as a compliment. I didn't mean to bring up anything hurtful…"

"Nah, it's okay." He shrugged off her apology. "And to be honest, I actually feel kinda relieved about how things worked out between me and Hannah, you know? I mean, I was upset at first, but when I calmed down and thought things through, I finally realized that me and her just weren't right for each other, and it's probably a good thing we figured that out before we got married."

Brennan sighed softly. "I think you're probably correct." Elbowing Booth, she pointed to the adjacent picnic table. "Whatever you told Parker, it seems to have worked. Look…they're playing tag together…"

Booth smiled proudly. "The advice I gave him was simple, really. I told him to just be himself, you know? And that he needs to let her know that he thinks she's special, and that he's interested in spending time with her…you know, stuff like that. Of course, he's too young to really understand what he could do to impress her, and it's not like that old song…he doesn't have to say he's gonna climb every mountain or ford every stream just to be her 'boyfriend', especially since they're still in elementary school. It's just puppy love, okay? She's his first crush. Nothing serious." As he watched his son laugh when he ducked away from Bethany's attempt to tag him, Booth chuckled. "Anyway, since they seem to be getting along so well, I think he figured it out…with a little help from his dad."

Brennan gave him a quizzical look. "I thought you hated musicals, Booth…"

He made a face to express his disgust. "Can't stand them."

She giggled at his disdain. "However, that song you just quoted came from The Sound of Music, one of the best known musicals of all time…" Seeing his glare, she explained. "It was released in 1965, which was before you were born…and you've probably heard the songs from that movie all your life, so it's natural that you'd refer to them for examples, especially since many of the lyrics are applicable to a variety of life's situations. However…" She smiled at his annoyance. "...the words of the song Climb Every Mountain aren't about romantic love. It's about continuing to pursue your dreams, and never giving up on them, no matter how difficult the journey may seem. If you're constant in your pursuit, eventually you'll attain your goal…and your dreams will come true." She smiled shyly. "I've always found those words to be uplifting. If I find myself struggling to stay focused on something I want to accomplish, I often think about them."

Booth was silent for a few seconds as he considered her comment. Finally, he cleared his throat. "Well, what if my dream is to enjoy a great life with the woman I love...a woman who loves me, too? It seems like I've been searching for that for so long…" He paused, looking out over the park. "There was a time when I was so desperate to achieve that dream, and I thought I'd never get there, so when I listened to Sweets' goading me about being old…you know, being left behind without someone to love me…well, I panicked because I didn't want to miss out on my chance at happiness, so I asked Hannah to marry me, even though I knew it was a stupid thing to do…and then, when she said no, I was so mad at her…mad at women in general…and mad at myself, too, for being such an idiot…and I was still no closer to my dream! I'm such a fucking jackass…" He exhaled slowly. "Look, Bones…" He reached over to take her hand. "Now that we're sorta on the same page and all, I just wanna say…I know you don't put much stock in 'romantic' love, but...if I thought it could make you see how much I care for you, I'd climb Mt. Everest and ford the Amazon River…"

As her brow furrowed, she tilted her head to one side. "I assume that when you say you'd do those things to show that you care for me, you're engaging in hyperbole." Seeing his confusion, she clarified. "You mean those things in a figurative way rather than literally, correct Booth? Because, while you could actually climb Mt. Everest, it's quite improbable that you'd actually do so, and due to its size and the immense amount of water flowing through it, fording the Amazon is quite ill-advised…"

"Okay, maybe I wouldn't literally do those things, but…" Laughing softly, he gently ran his thumb across her knuckles. "...now that we've kinda worked things out between us, and since we've celebrated the St. Valentine's Day Massacre together and burned those little slips of paper with the dates written on them and stuff like that…I think it'd go a long way towards me achieving my dreams if we could move forward from this point…together…towards having a...romantic...relationship." He held his breath, certain that she'd shoot down his idea.

She studied him for a minute or two before nodding. "While it's true that I believe romantic love is nothing more than the production of brain chemicals, I've often noticed that being around you seems to increase my brain's production of said chemicals, and because I find that to be quite enjoyable, I'd like to continue in that method of conducting our relationship...outside of work, that is..."

"Really?" He grimaced slightly. "Um…so does that mean…yes?"

"Yes…of course, that means yes."

A grin quickly spread over his face. "Great…that's just great…" He leaned over to kiss her, only to be interrupted by a breathless Parker.

"Dad! Bethany's parents want to meet you! They've got brownies with them, and they're willing to share! Come on, Dad…hurry…and bring Dr. Bones, too…"

Making a silly face at Brennan, Booth puffed out a sigh. "Okay….you heard the man. C'mon, Bones…let's me and you go meet Bethany's folks…"

She shrank back a bit. "Oh, I don't know, Booth…I'm not really Parker's mother. Do you think it's appropriate for me to meet them?"

He took her hand in his. "I don't see why not. Parker asked you to meet them, right? After all, me and you are together now, so that makes you a part of his family. And it's not like we're meeting Parker's fiancee, okay? It's his crush, you know? Next week he might like someone new. I mean, it's important to him, but it's not likely to be a life changing event." He pulled her up from the bench. "Come on…up we go…"

As they strolled over to where Bethany's parents were waiting, Booth chuckled to himself. Things were finally going his way.

He'd climbed the mountain of self doubt and forded the stream of sorrow…and now his long, sad journey was over. His dream of a life with Bones was finally going to come true.

If you have time to review, I'd appreciate it. More soon. Laura