(The Gamer in the Grease)

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I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

He shuffled into the bedroom and groaned as he toed his shoes off. Feeling years older than he was, he removed a pair of boxers from the dresser and slowly made his way into the bathroom. Pain rippling down his lower back to his hips, he leaned over and turned the water on in the tub. He set the temperature to as hot as he could stand it making sure it wouldn't actually burn him. Struggling to get his clothes off, Booth panted as the pain was unrelenting. Once he was ready, he carefully stepped into the tub and sat down, his back spasming the last few inches as he settled into the tub. Once the water was deep as he could allow, he leaned over turned the tap off and leaned back against the tub.

Brennan has finished unloading the last of the boxes she had in the laundry room on the shelves and felt a great sense of accomplishment. After she collapsed the boxes, she carried them out to the garage where she piled them on a growing stack of boxes that would eventually be taken to a recycling center. Once that was accomplished she walked through the house, turning off lights and making sure the back and front doors were locked. She knew that Booth normally did that, but he was currently working on building a wall in the basement to separate the man cave from the guest bedroom.

As she entered their bedroom, she noticed the bathroom door was open and the lights were on. Curious she entered the bathroom and found Booth laying in the tub, his eyes closed and his nose barely about the water. "Are you asleep? You are likely to drown if you slide any lower into the water."

Booth opened his eyes and raised back up so that his head was leaning on the back of the tub. "No, almost, but not really."

Moving closer to the tub, she smiled at her boyfriend. "Would you like me to join you?"

Exhaling deeply, Booth shook his head. "Not really. My back hurts and I'm trying to soak in hot water . . . I don't think it's helping much."

"Oh, what did you do?" Brennan knelt next to the tub and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Is it your lower back?"

"Yeah, I was standing on a ladder securing the drywall to the wood panel with some screws and I think I twisted when I shouldn't have. My lower back feels like a fist is pressed against my spine. I was almost done too, damn it."

Rubbing her hand up and down his upper arm, Brennan worried about her boyfriend's weak bones. "Get out of the tub. I think I can fix your problem."

Wary, Booth leaned forward to release the water from the tub. "Fix me how? What are you going to do?"

"I've studied kinesiology and I believe I can fix your problem." She watched her boyfriend stand up and step out of the tub. Handing him a towel, he dried off while she waited.

"Um, you know what? My back doesn't hurt anymore." Booth tried to dry off without bending, but since that is impossible, he knew that Brennan could see he was lying. "How do I know you won't paralyze me?" He wanted to trust her, but his bones hurt enough as it was.

"Don't you trust me?" She was a little hurt that he would think she might be careless enough to hurt him. "I can assure you that you will be safe."

He hated that she was making it a trust issue. "No, of course I trust you." Dropping the towel on the tub ledge, he turned to face his partner and sighed. "Okay, what do I have to do."

Pleased that he was going to cooperate, Brennan smiled and walked around him, so that she was facing his back. Placing her arms through the loops of his arms, she placed her hands on the back of his neck. "When I move, you move with me. Slowly. Don't fight me."

Not sure he wanted to let her 'fix' him, Booth felt her move and when she did, he did. In a matter of seconds, he felt the pain in his lower back stop and he was filled with relief. Stepping away from her, he placed his hands on his lower back and pressed. "Oh wow, you did it." The pain gone, Booth turned and looked at Brennan and grinned. "Hey the pain's gone. How'd you do that?"

Glad he was feeling better, Brennan leaned over and picked up the damp towel Booth had stood on while he had dried off. "I told you, I studied kinesiology. You should have trusted me to know what I was doing."

Booth placed his hand on her arm and pulled her towards his body. "I do trust you." Kissing her, he placed his other hand on her hip. "I trust you every day." He kissed her once more and felt her respond. "I think you're overdressed."

Brennan laughed. "I just fixed your back. I think it would be better for you, if you went to bed and rested. Having sex may undo what I've just done."

Disappointed, Booth kissed her once more. "Well, if you're going to be all logical and stuff."

"I am logical and stuff." Brennan stepped away and pointed towards the bedroom. "Go to bed and sleep. I've made sure the doors are locked and the alarm has been set."

'Thanks Bones," As he moved into the bedroom, he appreciated that his back wasn't killing him. It was bad enough that his feet hurt, but he hated it when his back had a problem. It just seemed to him that he was falling apart too fast for a guy his age. Of course, it didn't help that he'd been tortured as a prisoner of war when he'd been young. Oh well. It's not like I can do anything about it.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

"So Parker this is your room." Booth led his son into his bedroom and waited to see how the boy would react. Angela had volunteered to paint the walls and she had settled on two solid light blue walls and on two walls she had painted a western railroad station and an oncoming steam locomotive. Parker was interested in trains at the moment, so Booth had thought it would be cool to decorate his son's room with a train on the wall.

"Dad, this is so cool." Parker walked closer to the railroad scenes and grinned. "I wish Mom would let me paint my wall like this. I really like this a lot."

Pleased, Booth smiled at his son. "Angela painted it for you. She told me to tell you that when you get tired of trains let her know and she'll paint something else."

"Gosh, she's great, Dad." Parker loved Angela. He thought she was pretty and very smart. "What's in the boxes." The boy pointed at the boxes stacked near the closet.

Moving over to where the boxes were, Booth opened one and carried it over to the empty bookshelf near the boy's bed. "I put up this bookcase and those shelves. Those clear boxes under the shelves are for your toys. The bookcase and shelves are for your books and whatever you want on them. I thought we could go through the boxes together and you can decide what you want where."

Excited, the boy rushed over to the stack of boxes and carried one over to the bookshelves. "Thanks Dad."

"You're welcome, Sport." The box he had opened contained books. Booth pointed at the bookcase and the boy nodded his head. "Once we're done here we can go outside and throw around a football. It isn't too cold."

In love with his room. Parker placed some Star Wars figures on one of the lower shelves. "I like it here, Dad. My room is a lot bigger than the one in your apartment."

Booth snorted. "Ha, the bathroom in the hallway is bigger than your old bedroom . . . It's a nice place. Bones did good job finding this house." He had been worried that the house was too big and too expensive, but as they settled into the house and made a few changes, Booth had grown to like it. He hadn't lived in a house since he had left his grandfather's house to go to college and this was the first house he had ever owned. It still amazed him that Brennan had placed his name as co-owner on the deed. She was constantly amazing him.

"I sure wish I could spend Christmas this year with you." Parker placed a box of Legos in one of the clear boxes under the shelves. "Mom first said we were going to Connecticut to ski, but now she says we're going to Switzerland. Where's Switzerland Dad?"

"Switzerland?" Booth was stunned. This was the first he was hearing of Rebecca's Christmas plans." What are you going to do in Switzerland?"

Parker carried the empty box to the other side of the room and dragged a full one over to the shelves. "We're going skiing with Grandfather and Grandmother. We're having a family Christmas there. Can you and Bones come?"

Trying to keep his anger in check, Booth shook his head. "I'm not part of that family, Parker . . . When are you leaving?" He was furious and if Rebecca had been standing in front of him he was sure he would have lost it.

"The week before Christmas. Mom says we'll be back four days after Christmas." After he opened the box, he found some toys that he thought he was too old to play with. "These are baby toys, Dad. I don't want them anymore."

His mind on Rebecca's betrayal, Booth nodded his head, picked up the box and carried it out of the room. His mind raging, he walked the box out to the garage and placed it on a shelf. Alone, he punched the dry wall next to the shelf and realized that had been a stupid thing to do. His knuckles bleeding, he grabbed a clean rag from his rag box and dabbed at the blood. "Christmas! . . . I get Christmas with Parker . . . Fuck!"

He was so angry, Booth was afraid to go back into the house. He didn't want his son to see how angry he was. He had always tried to be civil around Parker's mother even when she was using him or was cancelling his time with Parker, but now he wasn't sure he could keep letting it happen. As he paced in the garage, he thought about his options and what it might mean if he took Rebecca to court to formalize his rights.

After a while, the garage door opened and Brennan entered the building. "Parker asked me where you were." She stopped and noticed the bloody rag looped around Booth's left hand and pointed at it. "What happened to your hand? Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright." Booth was embarrassed that he had punched the wall, but he had other things to worry about at the moment. "Rebecca is taking Parker to Europe to ski for Christmas. She didn't even tell me. Parker told me . . . She knows that I get Parker for Christmas, I always get Parker for Christmas . . . God I'm so angry right now." He knew he sounded a little crazy and that he needed to get himself under control. "It's okay, Bones. I just came out here to work it out of my system. I couldn't let Parker see me this angry . . . I didn't want you to see me angry either . . . Okay." He closed his eyes and used his sniper training to control his breathing and his emotions. He wasn't about to scare his family because he couldn't control his anger. That wasn't who he was.

She watched him shut down, slow his breathing and regain control. She had seen him do that before and she knew he would be calmer in a few minutes. While she waited, she thought about their options. She was tired of Rebecca misusing her boyfriend. It was time that Booth fought for his rights as a co-parent. As soon as she saw Booth relax and had his emotions back under control, Brennan stepped forward and placed her hand on his arm. "You have rights Booth. It's time we had them formalized."

Surprised, Booth opened his eyes and frowned. "I think so too . . . would you be alright with Parker visiting more often? Right now, it's just two weekends a month."

"Of course, Booth." Brennan loved Parker. "Perhaps we could ask for half of the holidays and the summer vacation months . . . or you could ask full parental rights and ask for custody."

He loved her so much. "I won't take Parker from his mother, Bones. I lost my mother when I was a kid and I can't do that to Parker, but yeah, I'd like to go for more visits and Summer vacation months would be perfect . . . Thanks Bones."

"You're welcome." Brennan kissed him and then placed his wounded hand in her hand. "Let's go back inside and let me clean this up. You don't want it to get infected. Also, we don't want Parker to see this. It might upset him."

"Yeah, it was dumb to hit the wall. I shouldn't have done that." His hand was throbbing. He hoped he hadn't broken it.

She nodded her head and walked towards the door. "Yes, it was and no you shouldn't have."

Ooooooooooooooooooo

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