Disclaimer: They are not mine but I am grateful for the opportunity to play with them.
Rating: It's a T this time folks.
A/N: I am exploring their relationship, comments and opinions are always appreciated. Thanks for reading and please review, it's the only way for me to know if you like it. To those of you that have been, thanks, your comments and suggestions are an inspiration.
His brow was furrowed and his jaw moved with the clenching she knew signaled he was fighting stress and anger.
"What's the matter?"
"I have such a head ache, this whole thing with Rebecca just has me tense. Parker is finally asleep though."
Temperance thought for a moment about what she could do for him, he had offered her space and comfort when she was upset but he wasn't like her in that respect, he liked to work things out. "Why don't you take one of those pills from the hospital, it'll help relax you. Then you can grab some lotion, come and sit in front of me on the floor and I'll rub that tension out of your neck while you tell me about it. Okay?" He stood there looking at her for a moment. "Seeley, go, I'll warm you some tea, it'll help you sleep."
He walked toward the bedroom, in search of his pills and she went into the kitchen to heat his tea, hoping that her offer was what he needed. She was steeping the tea when she felt his arms come around her and she leaned back against him. They stood quietly leaning against each other until the tea was done. She broke from his embrace, carrying the tea she smiled at him, noting that he had changed into grey sweat pants and a white t-shirt and situated herself back into her seat in the living room. She tossed a pillow on the floor in front of her, "Take off your shirt and sit, did you take your pill?"
He nodded at her, already looking tired enough for her to have known that he had. She watched him pull off his shirt, a sight that even in her tired state caused her belly to stir. She was captivated by his muscles moving beneath his tight flesh, the shadow of soft hair trailing down his torso to where his pants lay over his hips. He folded himself into a sitting position, pushing out the coffee table so he could stretch out his legs and settled comfortably between her knees. He took a drink of the steaming tea as she warmed the lotion between her hands. She began at his neck, working her hands into the tight muscles, finding a rhythm to her movements that was comforting to both of them.
She waited until she felt him start to relax, "now tell me about this situation with Rebecca." He tensed under her hands but she continued to rub the blood flow back across his shoulders.
"Parker knows I'm his father, I know he does, but Rebecca has been seeing this guy and he's spending a lot of time with Parker. He's going to take Parker camping, fishing and boating and I'm glad that Parker will get to do those things. I just feel like he should be doing those things with me. His memories of the first time he goes fishing should be with his father, not some jerk that his mother is dating whose name he won't even remember. She plays these games, she only let us take him for these two days and remained quiet about you being with me because she knew she was taking him up north on Friday. I don't even know who this guy is, or if he's okay for Parker to be around. She had no intention of letting me have him this weekend. It feels like he's slipping away from me and there isn't anything I can do about it." His words were slowing as the pill began to wear on him but the pain in his voice was strong in every word. She was working deep into the tissue of his shoulders, trying to concentrate as she pushed back the ache in her chest from hearing the raw emotion in his voice. She waited a few moments to be sure he was done and to gather her own thoughts.
She leaned down, wanting him to hear her on a personal level, to have her words taken in by him and not spun into the room in front of him.
"So, tomorrow why don't you take him to the pier, rent a boat and take him fishing for a few hours. That way you can teach him about boats, lifejackets, all the safety issues, fishing and hook baiting. It will be a short trip but he'll have spent it with you and he'll remember his first fishing lesson was with his father. Besides, you'll feel better about him going if you know there are safety issues you've gone over with him yourself. You may not be the one to do everything with him for the first time but you have to remember that to him, everything you do with him is special because it's you. You started this conversation with the most important information; Parker knows you're his father." The thought of sending them off tomorrow gave her mixed feelings, some space would probably do her good, she wasn't craving it but she knew herself well enough to know she shouldn't wait until she was. On the other hand, the thought of being by herself gave her a prickly feeling, thin shards of anxiety that moved through her.
"It's a great idea, why don't you come with us?" His voice was soft and she knew he was struggling with both fatigue and emotion.
"I would love to spend the time with you both, but we'll have the rest of the day together and this should probably be an experience for the two of you." She kept her voice soft so she didn't betray her own hesitation.
"Are you going to be okay alone for that long?" She smiled behind him, wondering why she was even bothering to try to hide how she felt.
"It's a nice short time for me to find out, besides, I have to start to deal with that, we do go back to work next week and although I'll be around other people, I won't be around you. If I start to feel shaky I'll call Angela to come over for a while, she could always take an early lunch."
"Okay, for a little while, I'll pack a small cooler in the morning and we'll stop by my place to pick up my gear." He rubbed his face, trying to concentrate.
"Seeley, like you keep telling me, we can't solve it all in one day; we'll take it one problem at a time. Let's go to bed, we're both tired and you can finish making plans in the morning. Parker will be up early." She stopped rubbing and squeezed his shoulder.
"Okay, let's go." They got up, taking tea mugs to the sink and turning off lights as they headed down the hall. Temperance was ready and climbing into bed as he went into the bathroom, she stretched out, waiting for him, taking in his scent from the pillow and smiling. She thought about how quickly she had grown used to having him in her bed, how her perception had subtly shifted to seeing it as empty without him in it. He came into the room and slipped under the covers, his eyes heavy with sleep, he hadn't bothered with his t-shirt.
He stretched out, his body releasing a sigh of appreciation as he relaxed against the mattress. He lifted his arm, smiling in the almost dark as she curled against him, her head coming to rest on his chest. Gone were the days when he had to pull her against him or tuck himself behind her and hope she wouldn't reject him. She lifted her head and kissed him, his lips parted, soft and searching, sparking the slow burn between them. She drew gently away from him and placed her head back on his chest.
"You need to sleep." He was pulled under by fatigue much like his son, resting against her and still trying to talk to her to explain that he wasn't tired.
She smoothed her hand over his chest, in wonder at how he made her feel even like this, with touches stolen in the dark; she slipped her tongue along her bottom lip to taste the last of him before closing her eyes.
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Temperance popped her eyes open and lay very still, it was dark, something had woken her. Booth lay in his drug induced slumber snoring softly beside her. Then she heard it, a whimper from the other room, Parker. She slid quietly from the bed and moved quickly down the hall, when she pushed opened the door she found him, on the floor, curled up in a ball, crying. Temperance gently picked him up, half expecting him to struggle she was surprised by how tightly he wrapped himself around her.
"I want my daddy." He spoke through short sobbing breaths.
"I know you do little man but he's sleeping." She hoped using the term of endearment that his father had used would bring him some comfort. She sat on the bed, rocking him as she spoke.
"The blue monster was chasing me and I couldn't find my daddy." Her chest was tight with empathy for the lost sound in his voice. She ran her hand through his hair, smoothing it back from his damp face.
"Did you fall out of bed? Are you hurt?" She was concerned about having found him on the floor.
"No, I was trying to find daddy. The monster was chasing me and I woke up and I couldn't find him." He was still gasping as he spoke and she realized that he woke up disoriented in this place he didn't know and in the dark couldn't find his way to his father so he curled up on the floor thinking he was alone. Nothing tore at Temperance's heart more than a child that thinks they've been left alone. Her eyes began to tear as the understanding of his fear welled within her.
"Okay, here's what we are going to do. First of all we're going to go get you a glass of milk, then we'll go down the hall and I'll show you where your dad is so you know how to find him if you need him." She stood without waiting for an answer and carried him to the kitchen. In the dim light she moved easily through the rooms she knew but felt him tighten around her. She sat him on the counter next to the refrigerator, her mind flashing to the moment it almost took his father from them, sending a chill down her arms before the cold air struck her.
He drank part of the glass and had calmed down while she stood against the counter in front of him. "Parker, I want you to listen to me very carefully." He took the glass from his lips, his hair stood out in all directions from the heat of his nightmare, his cheeks were flushed from crying and his large brown eyes stared at her expectantly. "In your dream, when the blue monster was chasing you, your dad was there. He was coming to save you, but you woke up before you saw him. That's what your dad does, he saves people and you would be first on his list. When you go back to sleep I want you to think about your dad showing up and capturing the monster and sending him to monster jail then scooping you up in his arms to take you home."
His eyes grew large with interest and she could see him thinking about this possibility. "There's a monster jail?"
"Yes there is, and all monsters go there and they can't ever get out. So this blue guy is on his way." This elicited a smile from him and she realized she had been waiting for just that. She was stretching reality with the monster jail but metaphorically speaking it was still the truth. She didn't think she should tell him that anyone that harmed him would more likely be shot to death by his father, but the jail part would work. The rest of the tale came from her own mother, who always told Temperance that if she would just go back to sleep she would see her father coming to save her, that in waking too soon she had missed her rescue and she knew as a child she believed it. "Finish your milk and we'll go to the bathroom, check on your dad and then go back to bed. Morning is still a long time away, tomorrow I'll go to the store and get some night lights so you can see to walk to the bathroom or to come wake your dad or me if you need to, okay?" He smiled at her brightly, the Booth smile, a look that would ease his way through life in ways he was too young to imagine. Her mind skipped over the fact that she had just included herself in this child's safety net, not yet ready herself to think about what that really meant.
She took him to the bathroom, suppressing a laugh as she watched him stand at the toilet, yawning and peeing, a perfect reflection of his father. They washed up and she held his hand as they went back to his room, then walked down the hall to where his father was sleeping peacefully. She held him and let him lean over and give Seeley a kiss on the cheek, a wish for sweet dreams from his son.
"Will you stay with me?" He looked scared and she knew there would be no way to refuse him.
"For a little while, until you fall asleep, is that a deal?" He nodded his agreement but she noticed as she lay next to his small form in the bed that he wrapped his little fingers around hers to make sure she was there.
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Booth opened his eyes and knew immediately that she was not in bed. The first grey lights of morning whispered through the room and he could see enough to know she was not in the room, the bathroom door was ajar, the room dark. He listened carefully, expecting to detect her movements in the office or kitchen and was surprised and unnerved by the silence echoing back at him. He eased himself from the bed and moved quietly down the hall, noting there was no light coming from any of the rooms; he thought briefly that she may be sitting in the dark in the living room, with perhaps a cup of tea, ruminating on one topic or another. He stopped when he rounded the corner, so fully expecting to see her there that he was startled by the empty room. The hair on his neck stood up as he moved back toward Parker's room to check on his son. He stood stunned in the doorway as his eyes took in the sight before him.
Parker was indeed in bed, angled in his sleep, his leg was over Temperance, his hand caught in the ends of her hair. She had her arm on his calf, either a reflex from being kicked in her sleep or a lingering touch from when Parker fell asleep he couldn't tell. He wondered what could have happened in the night to have brought her in here without him knowing or hearing. He covered his son and gently stroked Temperance's cheek until her eyes fluttered open. He quickly put a finger to his lips and waited for her to get her bearings before holding out a hand to her. She carefully moved herself from the bed and took his hand, following him like a lost child herself back to the bedroom, back into their bed. It was early, they had some time, she tucked herself against him, breathing in the scent of him and sighing contentedly from her half sleep.
His voice rumbled from beneath her, "What happened that took you to Parker's room?"
"He had a bad dream, you were sleeping, so I went." She kept it short, figuring she would tell him the details later and not wanting to disrupt this time with words. It was her favorite time with him, before the world was awake, when the promise of light bathed everything in a luminous blue grey haze and he was warmly wrapped around her.
"Thank-you."
She cooed a response, thinking she would doze until his hand found her breast and she smiled. He rolled her onto her back, pushing the t-shirt up and away from her, watching her pull it over her head as he coaxed her willing nipple to a hot peak. He leaned down and made her promise to be quiet while his body carried her to a place from which she would have promised him anything.
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Temperance could hear them in the kitchen getting ready, she smiled as she looked for her clothes, the scent and touch of him still on her, still in her. She wandered into the kitchen and found Booth closing up the cooler, both of them were dressed and Parker was just finishing his breakfast.
"Dr. Bones, we're going fishing, we're going fishing on a boat! Are you coming with us?" He could hardly contain himself, the smile shining from his face with uncontrolled excitement, drops of milk flying as his spoon flipped around in his hand.
"Fishing! Well aren't you the lucky boy. No, I'm afraid I can't go, I have some things to do here today but I promise you I'll be here when you get back." Without comment or hesitation she reached for a rag and wiped the counter as she spoke to him, stroking his hair as she passed him. "I hope you catch a big one so we can eat it for dinner, fish will make you grow big and strong like your dad."
"I found my daddy just like you showed me." Temperance suddenly blushed, looking to Booth, wondering if her sleeping naked state had been seen as Parker entered the room, but he was looking the other way so she assumed no harm had been done. She made a mental note to at least pull on a t-shirt when Parker was spending the night and even as the thought formed she recognized the slice of family life she was projecting. Her stomach lurched and she had to turn her thoughts in another direction.
"Good job Parker. Do you feel better this morning?"
He said yes through a mouthful of cereal but she had her doubts that he really recalled why she was asking.
Seeley was packing their snacks, observing the two of them together he noticed how she wiped up the milk without correcting him or crushing his enthusiasm with anger, how she stroked his hair and attended to him before even saying good morning to him. As he watched her with his son, it saddened him to think that she didn't want children, that she would deny herself this experience. He knew it was a topic they had not discussed, that she hadn't told him why she felt so strongly about it but he was aware that she strongly expressed the opinion along with great doubts about ever changing her mind.
When he turned back to them Temperance was eating a bowl of cereal along with Parker, discussing the characters on the box. He caught her eye and winked at her and she smiled in return.
"I'm done with my cereal daddy, let's go fishing."
"Okay buddy, go try to go to the bathroom one more time before we leave, it's a long drive, then wash up and brush your teeth and we'll be on our way." As Parker ran down the hall Seeley came over to her, tugging her into his embrace and holding her tightly.
"Last chance to change your mind." He nuzzled against her neck, kissing her as he swept back her hair.
"No, you two need some father and son time, I'm going to be fine. Actually I have a list of things to do to keep me busy."
He put his finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his, "Temperance, I have my cell phone, you call me if you need anything and remember that I love you, no matter where you are or what you're doing, I'm out there loving you. Okay?"
She nodded, "I love you too, just have fun, be careful and come home to me."
"Deal. By the way, I wanted to thank you for getting up with Parker last night; I must not have heard him after taking that pain pill."
"Funny, I thought you thanked me this morning."
"Speaking of which, you should brush up on your definition of quiet while I'm gone." Her eyes sparkled with the mischief of the statement and he kissed her, giving her one last squeeze as Parker came bursting into the room.
"I'm ready to go." The front of him was mostly wet.
"What happened to your shirt?" Parker looked from his shirt to his father, wiping his hand across the water in a misguided attempt to fix the problem.
"I can't reach." His explanation complete in his own mind he picked up his back pack and walked over to Temperance with his arms in the air. She bent down and hugged him, a little overwhelmed when he kissed her cheek and gave her one more squeeze. He marched to the door, turning to look for his father. Seeley put out his hand to her and she realized he was taking her car, a dilemma she hadn't thought about until now. She went to her purse and pulled out her keys seeing her disposable camera from work and thinking they should take a camera. She made them wait while she got her digital and she gave it to Seeley with a kiss and a request for plenty of pictures when they returned.
Once they were out the door Temperance began the dishes, trying to avoid the immediate silence and the cold feeling that caressed her belly with every breath. As she walked down the hall the small stabs of anxiety began in her chest. She ran a hot shower and took her time, letting the heat and steam sink into her. Her body was stiff from the accident and sore from her activities with Booth, she couldn't help but smile. She knew she loved him, but she wasn't prepared for all the complications and other emotions that would come with it. To think she had been worried about how they would work together and they hadn't even gone back to work yet. Her head was spinning and she had too much to do this morning to try to sort this out in the shower.
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She called Angela and asked her to pick her up so she could talk to her and then borrow her car. Angela was already on her way to work so Temperance only had a few minutes to get ready.
Angela watched her come from the building, in jeans, a shirt, unbuttoned twice she noticed and without a tank top underneath, flat sandals and her hair down. She had never seen Temperance Brennan look more fluid, more graceful or more beautiful, she was at that moment a woman coming into her own. She smiled out of simple joy at her friend's happiness.
Temperance had barely shut the car door when Angela's questions began.
"First of all you look fabulous, you're practically glowing. Now, that said, what's going on? Why does Booth have your car? Please tell me you two are not fighting already, I swear that would break my heart."
"No, Ange we aren't fighting, things are good, a little overwhelming, but good. Booth has my car because we got into an accident with his on the way home yesterday so we're back down to one car until the FBI reissues him another one. So Booth needed my car to take Parker fishing this morning, which brings me to why I'm here."
"Okay hold on a minute, I just saw you yesterday and since then you've crashed a car, picked up a kid and started to refer to your house as home for you and Booth. I can't believe I'm about to say this but I can't keep up with your life these days."
Temperance turned to look out the window, "that's the problem Ange, neither can I; it just feels like too much."
"Oh sweetie that's just because you haven't let yourself feel all these things before, how long do you have Parker?"
"Only for two days, but this is very different from when he used to just come see me at work, he's a child with needs, hungry, tired, scared, thirsty and although I can meet them, I just didn't think this through." Her voice faded with the last statement.
"Bren, you're not thinking this whole thing was a mistake, are you?"
"No, it's not that it's a mistake, I could never walk away from Seeley now anyway. There have just been so many changes in my life and in me that I'm not sure who I am now because I don't feel like the woman who worked at the Jeffersonian five weeks ago. Where is she?"
"Hey, slow down, first of all change doesn't mean something bad has happened and you're growing, having a life, falling in love, you're allowed. You're just so used to defining yourself by your job that all these other roles are freaking you out but you're going to do fine."
"What if I don't Angela, what if I mess this up? What if I'm not good for Parker, or Booth for that matter? What if I can't do it all? Then what?"
"You don't have to do it all, did you forget Mr. Tall Dark and Sexy, he is doing it with you, and I mean that more than literally. You aren't alone in all this, you aren't alone in the world anymore Bren, you're attached to someone, in the way that matters; in the way we would all like to be one day. You just have to learn to give your brain a rest, you're going to wear yourself out thinking about all this, just live it sweetie, live it one day at a time, that's why it comes to us that way, because that's all we can handle."
"Did Booth tell you to say that? Because now you sound just like him."
"He's a smart guy." She was smiling broadly now, hoping that Temperance had actually heard her. "So tell me about these errands you have to run today." They were just pulling into the Jeffersonian parking lot.
"Parker had a nightmare last night and couldn't find his way to our room to get to his dad, he was in unfamiliar surroundings and must have become disoriented so he just curled up on the floor and cried." She stopped abruptly and Angela knew there was more, that she had suddenly edited herself, so she waited. Temperance looked over at her, wearing that pained guarded expression that Angela knew so well. "He thought he was all alone and I understood how frightening that had to be for him. I don't want him to feel that way; he's so young and vulnerable. So, I decided to go to the store and get some night lights, a lamp for the bedside table, a bedspread and some children's books for the room so he feels a little more at home when he's there."
"I thought you didn't really like children Bren."
"Ange, why does everyone get this wrong? I never said I didn't like children, only that I didn't want any, there's a big difference. I actually understand children better than I do most adults and I don't have a problem taking care of them, I just don't want any."
"Yeah, that's what you said…" They were sitting in the parking lot now, in the car, neither of them moving to get out.
"Angela don't do that, I mean it."
"Okay, okay, lets get back to the stuff for Parker, I think it's a very nice gesture and both father and son will be very pleased. What kind of design did you have in mind?"
"Well he talks all the time about this Bob the Builder character but he also loves dinosaurs so I'll have to see. I don't really know what they have out there in the way of children's bedding. I know more about purchasing a llama."
Angela burst out laughing at the image of Bren in the desert bartering for an animal. She exited the car and when Temperance came around to the driver's side she gave her a big hug. When she released her, she looked her right in the eye, "Bren, you're doing fine, have more faith in yourself."
"Thanks Ange, for the car and the advice. I'll be back in a couple of hours." With that she headed off to the store.
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"Sweetie, what is all this? I thought you were just getting a few items."
"There's more in the trunk, I just wanted to get enough for it to look right. Did you know they don't make dinosaur sheets for a queen sized bed but they do the comforter? Does that make any sense to you? I ended up getting navy blue sheets; they go with the room and the comforter. The dinosaurs were nicer than that Bob the Builder; they're all primary colors on a blue background. They aren't anatomically correct but the sales woman pointed out that they looked friendly."
"Bren, I hate to interrupt but what's the rest of this? I've never seen you do so much shopping at once in the entire time I've known you." Angela was still in shock as they made their second trip carrying packages.
"I only picked up a couple of things beyond the original list. The lamp, nightlights, a rug, a comforter and sheets, some books and book ends, and a few toys that the woman assured me were age appropriate. Oh, and a step stool so he can reach to wash his hands and brush his teeth." She was lost in the thought of the project, it was really only a few things that when put in the room, changed the look and feel of it.
"If I had realized you bought all this, we could have come right back here instead of stopping to eat. I'd love to help you but I do have to get back to work. From what I can see, you did really well, they're both going to love it."
Once Angela left Temperance went into the room, she removed her books from the bookshelf, took the brass lamp from the nightstand and stripped the bed. It took her longer to remove the items from their packaging than it did to fix the room. She handled the books carefully as she lined them on the shelf, she loved new books, in her childhood they were her constant companions. She put the lamp in the room and night lights in the hall and the bathroom. She placed the coloring book, drawing pad and crayons on one of the shelves with the Bob the Builder truck next to it.
When she was finished she stood in the doorway and admired her work, the room looked good, she hoped he felt at home here. Even as the thought came to her she stepped back from the door. What was she doing? Trying to make a home for Parker? Why? She wondered briefly if it was because of Seeley but her thoughts came back to something between her and his son. It struck her all of a sudden, physically, like an actual blow, she backed up from the door and blindly moved down the hall to sit on the sofa.
In her head, like flipping through a deck of cards, she could see all the rooms she had tried to call home. She would place the few personal items she kept with her on the nightstand and try to make it feel right, crying herself to sleep in a strange bed, in a strange house. Her chest bloomed with pain at the memory, the ache of loss feeling as though it hollowed her out. She had always mourned the loss of her parents, her brother and even the innocence of her childhood but it had only just occurred to her that her careful avoidance of settling down with anyone came from the loss of her home. A place that was hers, filled with the people that loved her, touched by all the memories of their days together, familiar, warm, safe. That's why she wanted Parker to have a room, because when she picked him up off the floor what flickered through his eyes was that he wasn't at home. She had seen it but been unable to name it even as the reflection of her own life had stared back at her.
She couldn't stop the tears from coming and the sobs that felt as though they would break her in two. She pulled her knees to her chest, holding herself, trying desperately to contain the waves that washed over her, threatening to drown her. She wished for the comfort of Seeley's arms and slapped back the thought, feeling needy, weak and out of control. She cried out in frustration, wanting it to be over, willing it to end. She remembered coming down the stairs in the morning to the smell of pancakes, her mother already in the kitchen, the feeling in that moment one she would never have again. A flash of her father brushing polish into his good shoes, the rich oily scent filling the air, it had all been so familiar, so comforting. Every sound and scent that was woven into her daily life was ripped from her, a home, a family, you could have it all and you could lose it all. At the thought of losing it all Booth and Parker popped back into her head and she looked at the clock. They should be back soon, she needed to pull herself together, she didn't want him to find her like this, unraveling.
She forced herself to stand, she was trembling, her walk to the bathroom was hesitant. She moved Parker's new step stool and ran cold water, sliding her wrist under the freezing stream to shock her body into a calmer state, a cooler place. She glanced in the mirror and realized with horror that she looked like shit, her make up was everywhere, her eyes were red, the lids swollen. She cooled a washrag under the water and washed her face, holding the cold against her eyes like a compress. Her breathing was slowing and the hitch in her chest had stopped. A home, a family, the words bounced around inside her head and she pushed her wrist back under the water, forcing herself to concentrate on the cold. Her hair rose away from her skin as a chill skimmed over her flesh. Pushing herself to regain her composure she turned off the water and dried herself off, dropped some eye drops in her eyes to reduce the redness and applied a touch of make up in an attempt to restore herself to normal.
She went into the kitchen and made some hot tea, curling both hands around the cup even as she let it steep to warm her freezing hands. She heard the door and took a deep breath, hoping to stay on steady ground.
Parker burst through the door at a run so she bent down to greet him. She thought he wanted a hug but since she had come down to his level he just ran into her arms.
"Dr. Bones, we went fishing and we caught fish and I went on a boat and wore a life jacket cause you always wear a lifejacket on a boat and I held a worm and a grub and we have fish." As he rambled she scooped him up and set him on the stool at the counter, moving her tea over and sitting next to him. She never took her eyes off of him, not wanting to look at Seeley yet for fear of shattering.
"So you brought home some fish for lunch?" She tried to be enthusiastic, to match his mood and mask her own.
"Yes and daddy cleaned it and cut it and that was stinky. I have my own fishing pole, daddy bought it for me and I got to drive the boat! Can I have something to drink?"
She rose and took his back pack from his shoulders laying it carefully on the counter, "You got to drive? How was it? Do you want milk or juice?"
"Milk, it was fun and really loud and windy." Parker looked up and she could see him making eye contact with his father before turning back to her, "milk, please." She smiled at him, knowing he was just prompted to remember his manners and poured him his milk.
"Just a small glass because we're going to eat in a little while, okay? When you're done with your milk you can wash up and then I have something to show you."
"What Dr. Bones? What are you gonna show me? Is it a surprise?" He drank down his milk and went to get down from his chair.
"First of all, let me show you something in the bathroom." He took her hand and jumped down.
"Temperance." His voice was soft but firm.
She heard him but didn't turn, "I'll be back in just a minute."
Seeley knew the moment he entered the room that something was wrong, off, with her. As he emptied and wiped out the cooler and put the fish in the sink he watched her with Parker. She was engrossed like she had been earlier but there was another undertone to her movements, to the feel of her. She wouldn't look at him, wouldn't even turn her face in his direction, all of her body language screamed avoidance. It wasn't exactly the homecoming he had been expecting.
She came down the hall toward him, he watched her take a deep breath and put on a smile before lifting her face to him. He captured her gaze and held it, ironically squinting as he tried to read her.
"What?"
"What's up with you?"
"Nothing, why?"
"Because you're acting strange. Did something happen while we were gone?"
"No." She didn't sound convincing, not even to herself.
"What did you do all morning?" In the second that she looked up at him he realized what didn't look right to him. His voice softened, "hey, have you been crying?" His hand reached out but Parker came rushing down the hall and she slipped from his grasp.
"Daddy, daddy, Dr. Bones got me a stool in the bathroom so I can reach, come see." He had grabbed his fathers hand and was pulling him toward the bathroom. Seeley was confused, she went out and bought him a step stool? He let Parker take him, admiring the stool and watching as his son demonstrated how it worked.
"Let's put your stuff away and get those fish cooked." He came back down the hall where she was standing, leaning against the kitchen counter holding Parkers backpack.
"Come on Parker, I'll go with you." She walked back to the bedroom door with Parker while Booth watched, utterly baffled by her erratic behavior. He was still watching them when Parker opened the door and he heard his son yell wow. He quickly crossed the distance to the doorway and froze, his mouth hanging open. She was crouched down near Parker, telling him about the room, why she picked each thing, how she had thought about him in her decisions. She showed him the lamp and told him about the night lights in the hallway and the bathroom. Parker was asking an endless stream of questions, his eyes bright as she spoke to him, smiling and rocking from foot to foot with the inability to contain his excitement.
"Daddy, see my room, see the dinosaurs, look, look!"
His voice was hesitant, "I see Parker, what do you say."
"Thank you Dr. Bones," he hugged her and she squeezed him tightly against her.
"You're very welcome, I just wanted you to feel at home." Her eyes were heavy with tears, she was afraid to blink.
"Hey buddy, how about we take your crayons and drawing pad into the living room and get you set up at the coffee table. You can draw Dr. Bones a picture to say thank you while I get our fish on the stove."
"Okay, let's go." He collected his things and headed out the door, pausing to look back into the room and smile.
Temperance stood and moved to leave the room when he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. She couldn't fight him, she didn't have the energy, the feel and scent of him holding her as tightly as his arms. "I don't know what to say about this, thank you doesn't seem like enough." He kissed the top of her head, "I just wish you would talk to me about what's going on with you."
Her voice was so soft he could barely hear her, "I can't talk about it right now and besides you have fish to cook."
He tightened his arms around her, "later then." She hugged him tightly and then released him, taking his hand and heading to the kitchen.
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I had to stop somewhere but obviously this isn't over. Press the button, I can almost hear you.