Message from I Love Kol Miakelson: I want to tell you all that your reviews made my days bearable as I'm struggling with my medical treatment and have several family members who also need medical help right now. Your reviews made me feel better at a time when I felt numb, and that I cannot thank you all enough, and I'm sorry for being absent, but we are trying to keep this story posted faster for you, our readers.

Message from Fictionwriter91: I want to thank everyone too for sticking with us even after we have taken a while to get this story rolling again. Happy reading!

Two days after being buried alive, Brennan put the call in to Tiffany. She set the adoption process in motion. She had to go through some things, but she knew she'd pass. She was a foster parent after all, and Parker had no relatives to try to claim him, which made him free and clear to adopt. Then, that twinge inside again would happen when she thought that.

"Hey," Angela said, coming into her apartment. They hugged. Parker bounced into view.

"Angela!" he cried. "Come see what I drew!"

"Okay," she smiled as he took her hand and led her to his "art studio." Brennan grinned. It was really a table set up in the corner of his room, but he loved it. Brennan busied herself with making his lunch until they came back.

"You're really getting good," Angela was saying, and Parker was beaming.

"Here," Brennan said, setting his sandwich on the plate and putting it on the table. He hopped up onto the chair and started to eat it hungrily.

"I'm good," Angela said when Brennan offered her something. They stood leaning against the counter.

"So, you and Hodgins," Brennan said. Angela blushed.

"Yes," she nodded.

"You told him you like him finally?!" Parker asked, overhearing.

"How did you know it was him?" Angela countered.

"He was very interested in the drawing I did of you on the swing that day. You also seemed different around him. I guessed," Parker shrugged.

Holy crap, Angela mouthed to Brennan, who chuckled.

"Well, yes," she said to Parker. "I did finally tell him I liked him."

"Good," Parker nodded. "I think he will make you happy."

"So," Angela said, turning to Brennan. "Have you...?"

"Yes," Brennan answered, knowing what she was asking. She didn't want Parker to know until it was final. She didn't want to risk upsetting him if it wasn't going to go through.

"I'm so happy for you," Angela said, hugging her again.

"Me too," Brennan laughed. "They said it ranges from six to 18 months since he's not a newborn and I'm a foster parent."

"I hope it's six months," Angela said.

"I hope it's faster, but yes, six months is the shortest time frame they gave."

"He makes you happy," Angela noted. "And that's a good thing."

Brennan didn't respond. She knew Angela was right. She feared losing Parker and losing that happiness. She feared it a lot.

...

Booth came over a bit more to see Parker after the whole Gravedigger incident. Brennan loved watching them play and laugh together, but it was also bittersweet for her. She kept telling herself they weren't related and forced herself to stop looking for similarities. Parker was Parker Wallace, not Parker Stinson. His parents died in a car accident. It wasn't possible he was Booth's son. But when they both had their heads turned towards her...

"Hey, Bones," Booth called. "Help me out here."

She snapped out of her thoughts and went to assist him as Parker kept beating him at Connect Four. Listening to Parker's giggles was the best part. Booth would exclaim every time Parker beat him, making the boy giggle even more.

"You okay, Bones?" Booth asked, seeing her face then. She forced a smile on her face.

"I'm fine," she answered. His eyes lingered on hers briefly before going back to the game. She knew he was concerned about her well-being after being buried alive. Everyone seemed to worry about that. She had herself convinced she was fine, but she wished the nightmares would stop. She wished she could also stop feeling so conflicted inside about this adoption process. When Booth was leaving, he made it even more complicated as he leaned into her and said:

"I'm so glad you're adopting him, Bones. He deserves a good home, a good family, and so do you."

"I know he does," she nodded. He smiled and then was gone. She kept thinking more and more about doing a DNA test to be sure, but she didn't want to be obvious about it. She thought about her letter to him she'd written while trapped in her car, and she was puzzled as to where it had gone. She guessed it had fallen out of her pocket somewhere. She felt kind of annoyed at that, but she had to let it go.

"Come play!" Parker called. Brennan smiled. Of course, he managed to beat her too.

Two Weeks Later

"Hey, Russ," Brennan said when he walked into her office. They were working a new case, one where the victim had literally spilled his guts out. Booth had explained to her that it meant the victim was a rat. Not an actual rat, of course, but one who gave information like a spy.

"Hey," Russ replied. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she answered. Why her brother was convinced she was unable to handle what had happened to her was beyond her reasoning.

"I'd be falling apart," Russ admitted. "If that happened to me."

"Well, it didn't," she said. "It happened to me. Why are you here? What's wrong?"

"Straight to the point," Russ laughed nervously. "Okay. Um...Dad called me."

"Dad called you," Brennan repeated. "It was him for sure?"

"Yea. He said you and I were in danger and then hung up on me."

"Well, lucky for me, I spend the majority of my time with a very well trained FBI agent who is also a sniper. I'm safe."

"Someone is watching me," Russ said quietly.

"And your evidence is?"

"I can feel it on the back of my neck. My sixth sense."

"That doesn't exist," Brennan dismissed. "But if you feel that strongly about it, stay with me for a few days."

"I can't leave work or Amy and the girls," Russ said. "But thank you."

"But what about your sixth sense?"

"Hold on," Russ said, holding out his hand. "You can't claim the sixth sense doesn't exist and then use it against me a second later."

"Looks like I can," she grinned, teasing. He gave her a look in return, but he was smiling a little.

"Thanks for the offer," he started.

"Take my keys. Stay the night and go home in the morning refreshed," she insisted. He sighed but took her keys.

"Hey, Bones, we gotta go," Booth said, coming in then. He exchanged pleasantries with Russ, who seemed to grow a nervous tic whenever Booth was in the room.

"I'll see you at your place," Russ said, heading out.

"I still put him on edge, don't I?" Booth asked Brennan as he propelled her out the door in front of him.

"Why are you abducting me again?" she demanded as her shoes skidded on the floor.

"I'm not abducting you. I'm taking you to work," he said. "Our vic is Garrett Delaney, ex FBI agent." Brennan decided not to argue because some arguments with Booth just didn't go anywhere and weren't worth the energy.

...

They arrived at Garrett Delaney's apartment to find the door locked and no one home. Brennan decided to try to open the door herself while Booth watched, amused.

"So, you're in danger according to your dad," Booth commented as she struggled.

"That's what Russ says. Dad is wanted by a lot of people and is a wanted criminal. Just because he says we are in danger doesn't mean we actually are."

"Here," Booth said, unable to watch her struggle anymore. He took the card off of her. "Let me show you how to do this."

"All right," she agreed, straightening and watching. He kicked the door in, giving her that boyish, impish look afterwards because he knew she'd be annoyed. She was a little. They went inside, and Brennan felt her stomach drop.

"Whoa," Booth said. "These are all of..."

"Russ," she finished for him. "He's been surveilling Russ."

"No, Bones," Booth corrected. "He's been hunting Russ."

They both stood and stared at all the photos.

...

"Great. Thank you," Brennan said into her phone before hanging up. She had Parker staying with his new babysitter, Ashley, for a while longer. She couldn't always have Angela do it, especially when they needed Angela at work. Parker seemed to like Ashley, who was in her early twenties and earning money for her college tuition. She had a small dog, which Parker was enraptured with.

"Parker okay?" Booth asked her, knowing she was talking to the babysitter.

"He's good. She's teaching him the piano."

"Cool."

Russ came into the conference room then out of breath.

"What's going on?" he asked. Then he halted in his tracks when he saw all the photos of himself and Amy spread out on the table.

"We found these in our dead victim's apartment," Brennan explained.

"So Dad was right. I am being watched."

"Hunted," Brennan corrected, using Booth's term from earlier.

"Hunted?" Russ echoed.

"He was working on getting a good vantage point in order to kill you," Booth said, clarifying.

"So...what now?" Russ asked.

"This hunter is dead," Booth answered.

"But stay with me for now," Brennan interrupted. "Just until it's safe for sure."

"Call Amy and tell her if anyone asks for you to tell them she doesn't know where you are," Booth finished. Russ looked as though his head was going to explode from everything.

"Okay," he said weakly. The photos were getting to him.

"We'll find out why Delaney was trying to kill you," Brennan promised. "Go back to my place and hang tight."

Russ just nodded and did as he was told.

...

The case got deeper and more involved. Booth learned of a dirty FBI agent and the whole case with Martin Beckett, that Brennan's parents were involved in the robbery of the bank where Martin had stored his evidence. Brennan went to check on Parker to let him know all was well and that he would be staying overnight with Ashley that night. She didn't want him around in case someone was still after Russ, who was at her apartment.

"You're safe with Booth, right?" Parker asked after hugging her. She had set down his bag of things for overnight.

"Yes," she answered. "I am always safe with Booth."

"I really like Booth," Parker said then. "If I could pick anyone to be my Dad, I'd pick him."

"Why's that?" Brennan asked, feeling it hit hard. She'd almost forgot about that whole dilemma.

"Because he's kind and funny and keeps his promises," Parker answered seriously. "If you married him, that would make him my Dad, right?"

"Oh," Brennan said, realizing where he was going with that. "Booth and I are just friends."

"Oh," Parker replied, looking a little sad. "Okay."

"Be good for Ashley," Brennan said, changing the subject. She hugged him again and left to get back to work. Parker's words echoed in her mind for the rest of the night.

...

Brennan was already on edge after Russ had almost been shot. Then they learned that Booth's boss's boss's boss, Director Kirby, was involved after Booth got suspended, and they learned that Kirby used to be a marine sniper. They had exhumed Gus Harper's body right before Booth had been suspended and learned he had been shot twice by a sniper. Brennan didn't think things could get any worse until she came to her apartment and found the enormous pool of blood on the floor.

"Russ. Oh my God, Russ," she whimpered. Her first instinct was to grab onto Booth and bury her face into his shoulder, and he held onto her tightly.

"It's all right," he said.

"No, it's not. That's a lot of blood Booth," Brennan said. Her heart clenched as she realized what could have happened if she had let Parker stay here with Russ.

"We don't even know if it's his. We'll get a sample," Booth explained. Hanging onto her was stirring up some interesting feelings inside of him. He didn't have time to interpret them, though, before they hurried after Brennan got a blood sample to take to Cam.

...

The blood wasn't Russ's, thankfully, but Brennan found herself in a different predicament as she sat talking to Father Coulter. She put it together that he was her father, Max Keenan, and she found herself feeling an entire range of emotions as she sat there looking at him while he told her about how they didn't turn in the evidence because her mother said it would get them killed, which it got her killed in the end anyway. He gave her the evidence.

"Dad!" Russ called, pulling up in a truck. Brennan stared at him. How could he have been in contact with their father all this time and not have told her the truth about Coulter? She was suddenly angry at him again.

"I gotta go," Max said.

"No, I can't let you," she insisted. She got the drop on him, but he recovered quickly and handcuffed her to the bench.

"I'm very sorry," he said. "If you can find a person that's trustworthy, then hang onto them, okay? Always remember that."

"Dad, come on!" Russ urged.

"I love you and am so proud of you," Max said to Brennan, kissing the top of her head. Brennan watched as her family abandoned her once again. Then, Booth showed up.

"Get in!" Russ yelled to Max.

"Take good care of her," Max said to Booth.

"You stop right now, or I'm shooting you," Booth ordered. Brennan wondered how he managed to get Caroline to lend him her car. She shouted his name repeatedly then. Max ignored Booth and got into the truck. Booth watched as they backed into Caroline's car and drove away.

"Aw come on," he whined. "I wasn't gonna chase them. That was very uncalled for."

"Booth!" Brennan shouted, feeling frustrated and annoyed and furious. He went over to uncuff her. "You let him get away!"

"I didn't actually want to shoot him," Booth admitted. "We'll get him another day, Bones."

She didn't respond as she fought the turmoil inside of her. All she wanted to do in that moment was get back to Parker. By putting her focus on not abandoning him, she could bury her feelings and hurt from being abandoned by her own family.

"There's more than one kind of family, Bones," Booth said then, making her look at him by putting his fingers under her chin. "You got that?"

She didn't know what to say. She knew what he was trying to explain, and she appreciated it.

"Thanks, Booth."

She just wanted to get home.

...

Brennan knew Booth felt bad for what happened. They hadn't talked much since. Thankfully, he was reinstated with the FBI after turning in the evidence her father had given her. Brennan put all her focus on Parker, and she tried not to think about her father or the fact he'd left her once again, taking Russ with him.

"You seem sad," Parker said one evening, not too long afterwards.

"I'm just tired," she replied. She didn't want to burden him with all of this.

"Try talking to your mom or dad," he suggested. "Talking to them might help you feel better. My friend Hunter said his parents always make him feel better after talking to them."

Brennan ached inside at this. It was so much to explain to a young boy. She tried to make it as simple as possible.

"My mother is dead," she said. "And my father ran away."

"Oh," Parker said, wrinkling his nose. "So you're kind of like me?"

"Yea," she agreed. "I'm kind of like you." In more ways than one. Tiffany had left her a message, and she was going to go and conduct an interview with the social worker. It was left up to the agency after that.

"But you'll never run away from me," Parker reasoned. "Right?"

"Right," Brennan nodded. "I will never abandon you, Parker."

He responded by hugging her tightly. It seemed they had this conversation often, but she wanted him to have that reassurance always. She didn't care if she had to say it a thousand times. She was not abandoning Parker. Ever.

Stay tuned! I think you guys will enjoy the next chapter :)