A/N: Sorry for the delay! Crazy week at work! Here is the next chap, and thanks to all my readers and reviewers! Hopefully the next chapters will go quicker.

After two days of questioning everyone and coming up short, they finally returned to D.C. a week ago. Brennan had already done her cursory exam and dentals came back that confirmed that it was indeed Willie Franklin.

For his part, Booth was worried about the increasingly grim situation. He pulled the fake id he found eventually and came up with nothing. Not to mention having to deal with all of his custody matters, which included numerous phone calls from his lawyer, Orville.

This was why he was sitting in Orville's office right now, waiting for the short, bespectacled lawyer to come in.

It had been over two weeks since he had seen Parker and his heart ached. This was supposed to be their weekend and he was going to teach Parker how to fish. Worst of all, his two week vacation was coming up. Usually spent camping with Parker, it was now most likely going to be spent in a courtroom.

"Sorry about that." Orville said, hustling into the room "I had things to take care of." He settled himself into his chair and began opening files, while simultaneously drinking out of a large Styrofoam cup.

"Your custody case is set for July 1st." Orville said, grimacing at the coffee in his hand. "I've spoken with both Ms Stinson's lawyer and the judge and it was agreed that you are allowed to have four visits with your son, the first one being this afternoon."

"Wait, I get to see Parker this afternoon?" Booth said incredulously.

Orville's mouth stretched into an impossibly large grin. "Your ex is bringing him here in half an hour." He replied.

Booth grinned and controlled himself from pumping his fist in the air.

"Now about your case." Orville said. "The judge we have, Judge Martin is excellent for us, very sympathetic towards single fathers. That and your impressive military service will help us. Coupled with the numerous character witnesses, I think we might have a shot."

"But you said…"

"I know what I said, Seeley." Orville interrupted. "But having met with Ms. Stinson and her lawyer this morning, I have a sense that she is wavering."

"Orville, I can't thank you enough. I mean…" he sputtered, blinking back the tears in his eyes.

"That's what you are paying me the big bucks for." Orville replied. "Now about this case you are working on, because of the sensitive nature of it, I am going to stress once again that it would be in your best favour to have it closed before your court date."

Booth sighed. "I am trying, I promise."

"All right then." Orville said. "I need written statements from all of your character witnesses. They are going to be put on the stand of course, but the written documentation is backup."

Booth nodded.

"Well then," Orville said, looking at his watch. "It's almost time."

Booth felt his heart begin to pound harder and harder. He was going to see Parker again. The minutes ticked by, feeling like hours. Orville said nothing, just pretended to work while observing the stoic FBI agent.

Orville had done a lot of custody cases over the years and most of them he won, purely based on the fact that he made sure his clients were in the right. And Seeley Booth was one of them. He knew he would have no trouble spinning a story about a young man who asked his pregnant girlfriend to marry him and then after being refused, got shut out of his son's life.

He also knew that Seeley Booth was an honourable man and more importantly a good one. Although having never seen him with his son, he suspected he was a good father too. And all of these qualities were what was going to win them the case. He was brought out of his thoughts by a buzzing on his phone.

"Yes?" he said, pressing the speakerphone button.

"A Ms. Stinson is here to see you." the receptionist said.

Booth's head snapped up and he leapt out of the chair.

"Thanks Janie." Orville replied. "Now Seeley, no disparaging comments to your ex okay?"

Booth nodded and then opened the door, the tears already beginning to fall.

"DADDY!!!" Parker said, running across the room and leaping into his arms.

Booth sunk to the ground and wrapped his arms around his son, hugging him tightly.

"Hi Parker." He choked out. He was unabashedly crying now, as he finally held his son, who he thought he might never see again.

Through his haze of tears, he saw Rebecca standing at the other end of the room, her hand clasped over her mouth. She looked upset.

Finally Booth pulled back, and brushing the thick, blonde curls off of Parker's face, kissed him on the forehead.

"I missed you Daddy." Parker whispered, looking sad.

Booth wiped the tears away from his face and pulled Parker into another hug. "I missed you too."

Finally they stood up and Booth made his way over to Rebecca, Parker's hand firmly grasped within his own.

"Seeley, I.." Rebecca started.

"What time?" he said abruptly. He wouldn't yell at her, but he wasn't going to play nice either.

"8'clock." She replied.

"At the house?"

She nodded.

"Okay then." He stated. He turned and saw Orville leaning against his doorframe.

"Thanks Orv" he said wholeheartedly.

"Anytime Seeley." Orville replied, grinning.

Booth turned back and without a second glance at Rebecca, walked out of the office, his son in hand.

"So.." he said to Parker, once they were outside. "What do you want to do?"

"Let's go see Dr. Bones!" Parker said excitedly. "I missed her lots and lots, Daddy!"

"Well, ah…" Booth hesitated.

"Please Daddy?" Parker asked.

He nodded and after realizing that he didn't have Parker's car seat in his new car, he decided to walk. They walked along, Parker chatting about everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks. Booth was relieved. So far, this custody issue hadn't affected Parker too much. Himself on the other hand, was a different story. His heart was still pounding wildly and he had to keep blinking to see if this was real.

Soon they were at the Jeffersonian and Parker began to bounce in anticipation of seeing the squints. They entered the double doors and saw a rush of activity up on the platform. All of the squints were there, minus Bones.

Cam and Zach were in deep discussion over one of the bodies and Angela and Hodgins were huddled together looking at something on the monitor.

"Hi!" Parker shouted, running up the steps.

Everyone's head snapped around as they saw Parker head towards them. The alarms began blaring as Parker ran straight for Angela, hugging her legs fiercely. Booth waved at the security guards as they came rushing around the corner and he swiped his card, stopping the alarm.

"Parker, what are you doing here?" Angela said, looking up at Booth, with questioning eyes.

"I'm visiting my Daddy!" Parker replied. "And we are going to play with you and then we are going to see Mr. Sid, wanna come?"

"Sure." Angela said, looking at Booth for confirmation.

He just grinned in return and watched as Parker went around and said hi to the rest of them.

"What have you been up to?" Zach asked.

"In school, we saw a….Dr. Bones!" Parker yelled, spotting the forensic anthropologist emerging from her office. His sneakers squeaked as he ran across the platform and launched himself at her. She just had time to lean down before he was in her arms, hugging her tightly.

She looked up at Booth with tears in her eyes and he felt his heart constrict. This was all he wanted.

Parker pulled away from her and started describing in great detail everything that he had done since he saw her last.

"Hey Buddy, save some of it for dinner, k?" he said.

"Okay, daddy." Parker replied. He turned to Jack. "Do you have new bugs Dr. Jack?"

"Do I ever!" Hodgins replied. "It's just about feeding time too."

"Can I go feed the bugs?" Parker asked.

"Absolutely." He replied.

Parker ran after Hodgins, clearly excited to see some new specimens.

"What happened?"

He turned to see Bones wiping her eyes.

"My custody case is in two weeks. Orville arranged it so that I get to have four visits with Parker between now and then." He said.

"Congratulations." Cam said.

"Thanks." He replied. "We are going to Wong Foo's for dinner, is everyone in?"

"Absolutely." Angela replied, also wiping her eyes furiously.

"Oh, and Orville asked me to have each of you write out your statements for the court as a backup."

Angela, Zach and Cam all nodded.

"Anything new about the case?" he asked, hoping for a breakthrough.

He was disappointed however.

"We have nothing." Zach said glumly.

Brennan moved towards the bodies again. "We will just have to check again." She said firmly.

"With all due respect, Dr. Brennan…" Cam started.

"The answer's here." She replied. "It's always here. We just aren't looking hard enough."

"Maybe you should take a break, sweetie." Angela said. "You have been at this since this morning."

"Good idea." Booth commented, noticing how her hands were gripping the edge of the exam table. "Come to Wong Foo's with us, please?"

"Booth, I.."

"I won't take no for an answer." He stated. "Actually its Parker who won't take no. I asked him what he wanted to do today, and all he wanted to do was to come see you."

"Really?" she asked.

"Really." He repeated. "Come on."

She let go of the table and moved towards him. Like himself, he saw the dark circles around her eyes and figured that she must not be sleeping much.

"Daddy is it Wong Foos time?" Parker asked, running towards them. Everyone began to laugh.

"Yes it is." Booth replied. "Let's go see Sid okay?"

"Okay." Parker said. "Come on Dr. Bones!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs and out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They spent over an hour at Sid's, laughing and joking and telling stories. He looked over at Parker who was currently making fun of Zach and smiled. Looking down at his watch, he realized that he would have to leave soon in order to make it back to Rebecca's on time. Bones was sitting in the corner of the booth and had barely said a word all night, instead choosing to watch Parker constantly as if she was trying to remember him exactly the way he was.

"Hey buddy." He said, scooting out of the booth. "We need to get going."

Parker's face immediately fell and he moved out of his seat and away from Booth's grasp.

"No!" he said, stomping his foot. "No, Daddy!"

"I'm sorry, bub but we need to go, okay?" Booth said, trying to quell his own tears. It wouldn't help to be upset in front of Parker.

"No please, Daddy." Parker's tone turned from angry to pleading, and two fat tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Listen, Parker." Booth said, kneeling down. "I promise we are going to see each other again okay?"

Parker shook his head. "I don't want to go." He said sadly.

"I don't want you to go either." Booth admitted. "But we have to follow the rules, okay?"

"No!" Parker repeated, moving into his arms. Booth pulled him close, well aware of the stares from everyone in the restaurant.

"Please daddy, you can marry Dr. Bones and then we can live in a house with a swing and be a family. Please." Parker implored.

Booth didn't know how to respond. He looked over at the table to see Temperance with her head in her hands.

"Parker, it doesn't work like that." He said.

Parker pulled away, looking at him with his tear stained face.

"Why Daddy?" Parker replied.

"It just doesn't, okay bub?" Booth said softly.

"I wanna stay with you." Parker said, as he began to cry harder, his sobs wracking his tiny body.

Booth picked him up and turned to the others.

"We…we should go." He managed to choke out.

Angela was crying openly, the others looked extremely sad. And Temperance's head was still in her hands, her body trembling softly.

At this point Parker was wailing loudly. He nodded and made his way out of the restaurant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was late, but he knew she would still be there. After dropping off Parker with Rebecca, he had driven around for hours. He even attempted to get himself drunk at a bar, but had barely made it through his first beer. And so, subconsciously he had shown up here, his body telling his brain that he needed her.

He walked into the lab and flashed his id at the night guard and made his way towards the platform. She was standing over the bodies with a frown on her face.

"Hey Bones." He said softly.

She looked up and he saw faint tear tracks on her face.

"Hey." She replied, standing up straight.

He swiped his card and had barely made it two steps towards her, when the tears came. She immediately moved towards him and wrapped her arms around him. He began to cry then, his tears soaking her lab jacket and she continued to hold on to him tightly.

"It's going to be okay." She whispered into his ear. "We can do this."

He nodded into her shoulder and she continued to hold him until his tears subsided.

"Thanks Temperance." He said, moving away and wiping his eyes.

"Anytime." She replied. "And I'm sorry. For all of it."

He looked into her eyes and saw such an expression of love, that he was taken aback.

"It's okay." He said. And it was. She was right, they could do this. Both the personal and professional aspects of their lives.

He moved towards her with his hand outstretched, and as his palm touched her cheek, she closed her eyes and sighed. He lifted his other hand to cup her other cheek as she shifted herself closer to him. She tilted her head and parted her lips, anticipating what they had denied each other for the last few weeks.

Suddenly, his cellphone went off, causing both of them to jump back. He checked the id and answered.

She watched, her cheeks flushed as he answered the person on the phone in short, non descript sentences.

"Right, I've got it. I will see you there."

Booth snapped the phone shut and turned to look at her.

"Cullen's got something for us."