(After 'The Mastodon in the Room')

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I don't own Bones.

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His mother said he was getting older and maybe he was. Before his father had gone to Afghanistan, he'd had a conversation with his father and sometimes he felt like that conversation had made his father go away and everything was his fault.

Parker had overheard a conversation by his mother with what turned out to be an army recruiter and when she ended the call, he'd had a lot of questions. His mother had told him that the army wanted his father to go to Afghanistan to train young men to fight. He had thought it sounded cool and when he had talked to his father about it, he had become confused. They were in his father's truck going somewhere and his father had told him that he wasn't leaving, but that didn't make sense to him. "Dad, here you catch people that kill other people. There, you would make it so people wouldn't die. Isn't that better?" He wanted his father to help the army help the people in Afghanistan, but he hadn't understood what he was asking his father to do. Not really. He was ten years old and what do ten year old kids know anyway?

Now that he was eleven years old, he realized that his father was in a place where people were shooting at him. His father was being shot at and it might be his fault. He'd had this epiphany when one of his classmate's father was killed in Afghanistan. His friend Mark had been sitting in the lunchroom eating a tuna sandwich when his mother had entered the room and took Mark away. Mark's mother had been crying while she escorted Mark from the room and this had upset everyone there. That afternoon, Parker's teacher had announced that Mark's father had died and Mark would miss a few days of school. She had wanted everyone to pray for Mark's father, but Parker had prayed for his own father instead.

He hadn't thought about what it would mean for his father to be in a war zone, but now it was all he could think about. "Mom, I want Dad to come home. Please Mom, call Dad and ask him to come home."

Rebecca knew about Mark's father and it made her sad that her son was now afraid that his own father might be hurt or killed. Even though she didn't love Seeley Booth anymore, she still liked him and he was the father of her son. When Booth had left for Afghanistan, she had started to pray for him every Sunday. She hadn't really understood why he was leaving his job at the FBI for a job she knew he hated in the army, but she had never really understood what made her former lover tick. He had always been secretive and he didn't share his feelings with her and to just leave the FBI and his son behind was a puzzle she couldn't solve. "I'm sorry Parker but that isn't how it works. He signed a contract . . . he made a promise to the Army that he would stay in Afghanistan for a year. I don't know if your father can come home before then or not."

Afraid something bad would happen to his father, Parker had prayed every day for him to come home and now his father had come home early and his father had said it was because of him. He had been so happy to see his father and he was even happier that he wasn't going back to Afghanistan. He wouldn't have to worry about his father being shot at and killed like Mark's father.

Oooooooooooooooo

Although Caroline's call to him had been the reason he had used to come back home, Booth knew the real reason he had come back was because he'd had an epiphany. He'd realized that he had deserted his son when the boy needed a father in his life. He had left the District when Brennan had informed him that she was going to Maluku and the fact that the Army wanted him at the time and he couldn't find a reason to stay had been all it took for him to leave too.

Now that he was back, he knew that he had been selfish and hadn't thought about anyone but himself. Brennan had hurt him when she turned him down in front of the Hoover, but he had hoped their partnership and friendship would remain intact. When she had told him that she was leaving for a year, he had felt sorry for himself and he'd jumped at the chance to leave the District for a while. His own son had encouraged him to leave, but now he realized that his boy was too young to understand what war really was and his son's encouraging him to go should have made him pause and think about what he was planning to do.

Because he had been looking for an excuse to leave, he had taken his son's encouragement as a sign that he could go, but he hadn't acted like the responsible adult he was supposed to be. Sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to but running away is not the answer. As far as he was concerned, that is the cowards way of handling things and for once in his life he felt he had acted in a cowardly fashion. When he had realized what he had done, he had found a way to return home and he knew he would never make such a grievous mistake like that again.

He had seen Parker as soon as he got back and they had spent the day playing in the park and eating lunch and sundaes at the Royal Diner. After he returned Parker to his mother that evening, Booth felt he needed to talk to Rebecca. He thought he owed her an explanation. Once the boy was inside the house, Booth had placed his hand on his ex-lover's arm and asked to talk to her. "Rebecca . . . I'm not going back. I made a mistake going in the first place and I want you to know that I realize that now . . . I was having some personal issues when Colonel Pelant tried to recruit me and instead of dealing with those issues head on, I chose to leave instead . . . I know I worried Parker while I was gone and I want you to understand that I will never do that again. It's important that I be here for him and not off someplace else."

Surprised that Booth was being so open with her Rebecca smiled and leaned against the doorway. "Would those personal issues be about Temperance?" When she had heard that Temperance was leaving to work on some island in the Pacific and then Booth had announced he was going to Afghanistan she had known that something had happened between those two.

"Yes . . . I asked her to take a chance on me a year ago and she turned me down." Booth wasn't sure why he was talking to Rebecca about this, but the only person he had talked to about that situation had been his grandfather and perhaps he needed another perspective. "It was my fault. I pushed her when she wasn't ready and you can't do that. I just . . . I was just tired of waiting for a good time to talk to her about us and I blew it. I love her . . . I wanted to be part of her life, but she got scared and she ran. She does that when she doesn't know how to handle an emotional situation. I give her marks for waiting for a few months, but she didn't know how to handle our situation and I guess I didn't either. She used the trip to Maluku as an excuse to get away from me and I don't really blame her. I did the same. I used Afghanistan as an excuse to run away too."

"Oh Seeley." Rebecca felt so sorry for him and for his partner. "Now that you're back what are you going to do? Are you still going to work with her?"

A faint smile on his lips, Booth nodded his head. "Sure. We're still friends . . . at least I think we're still friends. I met her yesterday when I got back and we're going to work on a case that Caroline is worried about. We can do that . . . I'm not sure what's going to happen after that. I'm back at the FBI and if Bones stays, I think we'll work together like we used to, but that's all it can be. She doesn't want to be more than friends and I've accepted that. I have to if I don't want to lose her. It's fine. Really Rebecca, it'll be fine. We'll work together and we'll do what we always do."

"I see." She didn't know what to say. She felt so sad for Booth, but she knew she had to stay out of this situation. She was his former lover and she had no right to give him advice about his love life especially since she had told him no when he had asked her to marry him when they found out she was pregnant. They had missed their moment and she was afraid that he had missed his moment with Temperance. "I hope everything works out for you. I really do."

"Thanks, I'm sure it will." Booth glanced at a car passing in front of the house and knew it was time for him to go. "If it's okay with you, I'd like Parker to stay the weekend with me next weekend. I need to clean my apartment and buy food and stuff. I paid rent on my apartment while I was gone, so I'm in the same place. Nothing has changed."

She knew that everything had changed, but it wasn't her place to say that. Booth had to find his own way and she hoped whatever path he chose would make him happy. "I'm glad you're back, Seeley. We both missed you."

"Thanks . . . I missed both of you too." Turning, Booth walked over to his SUV and once he was there, he turned back and saw Rebecca hadn't moved. "I'm here to stay Rebecca. Whatever happens, it will happen here."

"I understand." She hoped that was a promise Booth could keep for the sake of her son and for Booth's sake too.

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