Bones

"Paternal Instincts"

Summary: Bones' young new assistant has a secret…he is Booth's son.

Author's Note(s): Takes place after the whole "Widow's Son" storyline, so Zack is gone.

Warning: This story will contain spanking of a teenager.

Disclaimer: The only character I own is Seth. Booth, Bones, and the Squints I don't own.

Chapter 6: A Shocking Secret

Once again, the ride back to Booth's apartment was a quiet one.

He had a feeling he knew why Seth was so quiet tonight, but he just didn't know how to broach the subject.

"Agent Booth," Seth spoke up suddenly, "do you know anything about women?"

Booth grinned. "Depends on what you mean by 'know', buddy," he told him, hesitantly.

The boy sighed.

"I guess what I'm trying to ask is, was I so obvious with Dr. Brennan?" he asked, his face pained. "You know, about 'liking' her."

"As one guy to another guy," Booth told him, "I'd have to say it was pretty obvious, pal, but—you do realize that nothing could ever happen there, right?"

"I'm not a complete moron, Agent Booth," Seth told him, grinning, "but it would have been nice to dream for a bit more. Know what I mean?"

"Oh, yeah," Booth said, smirking. "I know exactly what you mean, budding. So, did she let you down gently?"

"If by gently you mean 'Seth, as my assistant and my junior by about twenty years, it would be completely inappropriate for you to develop romantic notions regarding me' then I guess she did," he told him.

"I got the message, that's for sure."

Booth winced. Ooh. Ouch.

He was really going to have to talk to Bones about what 'gently' meant.

Reaching over, he gave the boy's shoulder a squeeze. "Women, huh?" he chuckled.

The boy nodded, smiling a bit. "You said it," he said, shaking his head. "Will I ever understand them?"

"Nope," Booth told him, definitely. "Women are the one mystery we men will never figure out."

"Great," Seth said, sighing.

Booth laughed. "You just need to get out more," he told him. "Go hang out with kids your own age."

"But I don't have anything in common with kids my own age," Seth said.

"Why not?" Booth asked him. "You like movies, don't you?"

"Yeah," Seth said, "who doesn't?"

"What about music?" Booth asked him. "Video games?"

"But other kids go to, you know, school and deal with parents," Seth reminded him. "I go to the Jeffersonian and deal with dead bodies—not even, I work with skeletons!"

"You'd be surprised how many kids would find that totally awesome," Booth told him, pulling him into the parking lot of his building.

"You think so?" Seth asked, as they got out and made their way inside.

"I know so," Booth told him, slapping him on the back. "How about we break open some Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Ice Cream?"

"Isn't that for your son?" Seth asked him, curiously.

Booth shrugged, opening the door.

"He's got too many cavities, anyway," he told him, as they went inside. "Besides, I can always get some more before I pick him up this weekend."

Seth smiled. "Wasn't there a basketball game supposed to be on tonight, too?"

Booth smiled back.

"Seth, my man," he told him, "I think this I the beginning of a beautiful friendship. You find the game and I'll get the ice cream."

Twenty minutes later, they were both stretched out on the sofa in just their underwear with their socked feet propped up on the coffee table munching on ice cream and chocolate chip cookies watching a really great basketball game on TV.

After they'd polished off the ice cream and cookies, Booth glanced over at the boy and asked, "How about some popcorn?"

Seth belched loudly in response.

"Excuse me," he said, blushing slightly, "and yeah—popcorn sounds great."

"Comin' right up," Booth said, and hopped up to head for the kitchen.

He was half-way there when a knock sounded on the door.

Sighing, he veered off course to answer it.

"Who is it?" he called out, his hand on the doorknob.

"It me, Booth," Bones voice called out from the other side. "Cam and Angela are with me, too."

Frowning, he opened the door to reveal all three women standing there.

"Uh, what are you all doin' here?" he asked, puzzled.

"Nice shorts," Angela said, pointing at his 'skull and cross bones' boxers.

"Those are new," Cam said, grinning, "aren't they?"

"Do you usually walk around in just your underwear?" Bones asked him, curiously.

"Do you mind?" Booth asked them, covering himself. "What are you all doing here? Is this about the case or something because it could really wait 'til tomorrow, you know?"

"Actually, it can't," Bones told him, pushing him out of the way so that the three of them could enter.

"D-Dr. Brennan? Dr. Saroyan? Angela?" Seth squeaked, his face flaming red. "Uh, hi."

He quickly tried to hide the fact he was in just his shorts too by throwing a pillow in his lap.

It didn't work. All three women grinned at his embarrassment.

"Are we interrupting something?" Cam asked Booth, curiously.

"Yeah, a guy's night in," Booth told her, rolling his eyes, "and those don't usually involve females."

"Unless you count strippers," Angela said, earning a weird look from everyone present. "What? I'm just saying…"

"I repeat," Booth said, through gritted teeth, "what the hell are you three doing here?"

"We have something to share with you both," Bones said. "Or rather, Angela does."

"Uh, yeah," Angela said. "Maybe you should sit down, Booth."

"Uh oh," Booth said, groaning. "This can't be good." He went and sat back down on the sofa.

"Can we lose the TV?" Cam asked, nodding at the game.

Sighing, Booth shut it off. "Make this quick," he told them.

Angela sighed, opening up the laptop she had brought along.

"What I'm about to tell you both is going to come as a huge shock," she warned them in advanced, "okay?"

"Don't you think that's being a bit overdramatic?" Booth asked her. "I'm sure it can't be that bad."

She hit a couple of buttons and three pictures popped up.

One was of Booth, the next was of Seth, and the third was of their murder victim taken from her student I.D.

"The other day," she said, "when the two of you were standing close together I noticed that you looked a lot alike."

Booth and Seth glanced at each other. "We do?" they asked at the same time.

"Yes, you do," Angela said, "and it got my instincts tingling for some reason. Then, when we got this case and found out you dated the victim sixteen years ago…"

She hit some more buttons.

On the screen, Booth's eyes, ears, and chin became highlighted and Sarah Jane's nose, lips, and cheekbones were highlighted.

"Watch," she told them, and hit the enter key.

Booth's and Sarah Jane's highlighted features shifted, imposing themselves over Seth's picture.

The word 'match' popped up.

"So, this proves what…?" Booth asked, not getting it.

Seth's eyes widened and he paled considerably. "Oh God," he breathed, sitting up straighter.

"What?" Booth asked him, frowning.

He was obvious he understood something, but what the hell was it?

"There was a reason I snatched your coffee cups this morning," Angela admitted. "I gave them to Cam."

Cam handed both of them a piece of paper with a read out.

They each took one and stared at it.

Booth may not have been a Squint, but he knew a DNA test when he saw one.

And he also knew exactly what the word "Match" meant on one.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Seth said, quietly. He did look a bit green.

"I know this comes as a shock," Bones spoke up.

"A shock, Dr. Brennan?" Seth asked, snorting. "That's one hell of an understatement, don't you think?"

"Hey now," Booth said, gently. "Take it easy, buddy."

Seth jumped up, his face contorted in anger.

"Take it easy!" he shouted. "The murder victim we're investigating is the mother that abandoned me and you're telling me to take it easy!"

"And I'm your father," Booth said, standing up also.

He looked at the three women.

"That's what this means, right?" he asked, holding up the DNA results.

All three women nodded.

"Yes, Booth," Bones said, in her usual quiet yet assertive voice. "Seth is your son."

"This is just freaking unbelievable!" Seth shouted, grabbing the remote off the coffee table and flinging it at the wall.

It smashed a picture of Parker hanging there and both crashed to the floor.

"Hey! That's enough, pal, just calm down!" Booth yelled, before he could destroy anything else.

Seth swirled back around to face them, and there were tears running down his face.

"I-I've held my mother's skull in my hands," he said, heartbreakingly. "S-She abandoned m-me and n-now I'll never know why."

He buried his head in his hands and started sobbing.

As shocked as he was by this bit of news, Booth's paternal side kicked in automatically and he went to him.

Wrapping his arms around the boy, he pulled him against him.

Seth didn't struggled or fight him, he just merely accepted the embrace and sobbed.

Booth glanced at the three women.

Tears were rolling down Angela's face and were shining in Cam's eyes.

Bones alone seemed unaffected by this, but looking into her eyes Booth knew that wasn't true.

The look of absolute confidence and assurance she was sending his way gave him the strength to deal with this situation.

"I'm so sorry, Seth," he whispered to the boy. "I-I had absolutely no idea. I swear, if I had…"

The boy looked up at him, his glasses wet from his tears and snot running liberally from his nose, and he resembled a much younger child then.

"I-I know," he said. "I-I don't blame you."

Booth wished he could say the same, but he did blame himself.

He had had a son for sixteen years and that son had no one to love and care for him in all that time.

"At least we know where you get your brains from," he told him, "and it sure as hell ain't from me."

Seth snorted at that, actually cracking a smile.

"Yeah, I guess not," he said, rubbing at his running nose. "I'm sorry. I'll clean up the mess."

"Don't worry about it," Booth told him."Kds make messes. I'm used to it. Why don't you go clean up, huh?"

The boy nodded and headed for the bathroom.

Booth swallowed and then sat back down on the sofa.

"Are you okay?" Bones asked him, setting down beside him.

"Would you be if you just found out you had a kid all these years and didn't even know it?" he asked her, curiously.

"I guess not," she admitted. "I'm sorry."

"For what, Bones?" he asked, grinning. "It's not your fault."

"It's nobodies fault," Angela said. "Except maybe Sarah Jane's for not telling you."

"Why didn't she tell you, I wonder?" Cam asked, curiously.

"She was eighteen, Cam," Booth said. "What would you have done had you found out you were pregnant at that age?"

"Panicked," Cam nodded, understanding what he meant.

"Then why didn't she just have an abortion?" Bones asked, puzzled.

Booth looked pained at that.

"Bones, please," he said, shaking his head. "Sarah Jane's parents were devout Catholics and so was she—that's how we met. Our parents' attended the same church and we met while I was home on leave."

"So, what do you think happened?" Cam asked him. "She broke up with you, found out she was pregnant, had the baby, and then dumped him somewhere?"

"And then somebody killed her," Angela reminded them all.

"Oh, man," Booth said, moaning. "This changes everything. We're going to have to hand this case over to somebody else."

"Why?" Bones asked him, curiously.

"Because she gave birth to my son, Bones," he told her. "I'd say that is a definite conflict of interest."

"It doesn't have to be," Seth said, coming back in the room. "I want to know who killed my mother, don't you?"

"Of course, I do," Booth told him, "but the fact is…"

"The fact is, you can still be unbiased about this, Booth," Bones told him. "She was somebody you knew sixteen years ago, after all. Any residual emotional feelings you had for her are now in the past."

"She gave gave birth to my kid, Bones" Booth reminded her. "I doubt seriously the Bureau will let me continue with this case."

"Then don't tell them," Seth told him, shrugging.

"What?" Booth asked him, snorting. "Yeah, right?"

"I'm serious," the boy told him. "No one needs to know that I'm your son or she was my mother but us."

"There is a certain logic to what he says," Bones told him.

"I can be objective about this," Seth assured him, "and I know you can, too. Please, Booth? Do this for me, okay? You're the only one I trust to find her murderer."

Booth sighed. "Fine," he said, "no one but us will know you're my son until this is over with."

Seth nodded.

"I guess we'd better go then," Angela said, glancing at Bones and Cam.

They both nodded in agreement and Booth walked them to the door.

"Are you two going to be all right?" Bones asked him, curiously.

Booth glanced back over his shoulder at the boy he now knew was his son.

"Yeah, I think so," he said. "I, uh, I just gotta wrap my head around the fact that I'm not only Parker's father, but I am the father to a sixteen year old genius, too."

"It'll be okay, you'll see," she told him.

He smirked. "Optimism? From you, Bones," he said, chuckling.

"I have my moments," she told him, grinning. "See you both tomorrow."

He nodded. "Night," he told all three of them and then closed the door.

He sighed, leaning against it.

"So?" Seth spoke up and he turned around to look at him. "How about that popcorn now?"

Booth smiled.

"You got it, buddy."

He wasn't quite sure at the moment, but he thought they were going to be all right.

Tomorrow would tell for sure and as for tonight...

There was still a game on, after all.

TBC…