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 9: Relieving the Guilt

The drive home that night was again a very quiet one.

Booth had barely spoken three words in the last few hours.

Seth did not know what to say that would make his father any less angry with him.

He'd screwed up and he knew it.

The question was: what happened now?

They pulled up outside their building and got out.

Heading inside, they found Sweets waiting on them.

"Go home," Booth growled at him, immediately. "Now."

"Booth, c'mon," Sweets said, "I can help."

"I doubt that," Booth said, unlocking the door and heading inside.

Sweets and Seth exchanged glances.

Yep, Booth was seriously pissed.

They followed him inside.

"I know what happened today," Sweets said, "and I think I can help the two of you resolve this…issue."

"Issue?" Booth asked, scoffing. "This isn't a freakin' issue, Sweets. This is about my kid—my sixteen year old kid—getting a gun pointed at his head today!"

"Okay," Sweets said, "clearly you're upset—it's perfectly understandable."

"Your damn right its understandable!" Booth hollered, angrily.

He swallowed hard, getting rid of the large lump in his throat.

"I mean," Booth said, "he—he had my kid and I couldn't do anything about it. I had to watch while some nutcase put his gun to my son's temple. I-I was helpless."

"So, you are not only angry that Seth didn't listen to you," Sweets reasoned. "You feel guilty for not being able to protect him."

"It wasn't your fault, Dad," Seth told him, feeling extremely guilty. "I, uh, I was the one that didn't do what you told me to."

"And that's also why I'm so pissed," Booth reminded him, scowling.

"So punish him," Sweets said, evenly.

"Say what?/ Excuse me?!" Booth and Seth exclaimed at that same time.

"Sorry, man, but I gotta call 'em as I see 'em," Sweets apologized to Seth, shrugging.

He turned his attention back to Booth.

"Clearly you are angry with him for not listening and putting himself in danger," he told him, "and also clearly you're both feeling guilty. You for thinking you let him down by not being able to keep him out of danger and he for knowing he disobeyed you."

"Okay," Booth said, looking thoughtful, "keep talkin'."

Sweets nodded, seeing that he was actually listening to him.

"Think back to when you were a kid and you did something stupid," he told him. "What did your folks do?"

"Jump my case about it, of course," Booth replied, snorting.

"Precisely," Sweets said, "because they were not only showing their displeasure at what you had done, but also trying to teach you not to do whatever it was again, right?"

"Yeah," Booth said, "keep goin'…"

"Punishment—at least in these types of situations—is a form of closure," Sweets said. "Once it's over, the incident is forgiven—if not totally forgotten, correct?"

"Okay," Booth said, " so I need to punish him. How?"

"You're asking me?" Sweets asked, smirking. "You're the father, Booth. What if this was Parker?"

"It would depend on what he did," Booth said. "More than likely I'd ground him for the weekend or something…"

"Uh, not to be difficult," Seth spoke up, "but what exactly would you be grounding me from?"

He shrugged.

Sweets nodded.

"He does have a point," he told Booth. "If Seth were a 'typical' teenager grounding him would be the way to go, but seeing as he's not…"

Booth nodded.

"Okay, so what?" he asked. "I mean, I know what my old man would have done, but I can't do that…"

"Why?" Seth and Sweets asked at the same time. "What did he do?"

Booth grimaced. "He'd have tanned my backside," he told them, wincing.

Both young men winced, too.

"Uh, well," Sweets said, rubbing the back of his neck, "normally I am not an advocate of corporal punishment, but…"

"Hey, whose side are you on here?" Seth asked, sighing.

"Sorry, dude," Sweets said, "but I'm sure if Dr. Brennan were here she'd remind all of us that anthropologically speaking spanking is the oldest form of punishment there is and has been a proven deterrent for certain behaviors in children—even teenagers—for hundreds of years..."

Booth smirked. "Bones couched you, didn't she?" he asked, snickering.

"It's only in recent years," Sweets went on, ignoring that, "that many believe it to be harmful and detrimental to a child's health."

Booth snorted. "And look what's happening with kids today," he said, shaking his head.

"So, I'm guessing you are an advocate for corporal punishment," Sweets said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well," Booth said, uncomfortably, "I know it certainly made me think before I did something stupid as a kid, that's for sure. If Parker ever did something really crazy…"

He shrugged.

"Like what I did?" Seth asked him, hesitantly.

"Yeah," Booth told him, glaring. "That crazy."

"All right, fine," Sweets said. "Spank him."

"You're serious?" Booth asked, smirking.

"Ah, man," Seth moaned.

Again, Sweets looked apologetic at Seth.

"As I said, this particular situation is unique," he explained. "Clearly, you both want to alleviate your guilt. A physical punishment would do just that. You, Seth, would feel that you've paid for your mistake…"

Seth snorted. "No kidding."

"…and you, Booth, would know he'd paid for it because you doled out the punishment yourself," He finished, looking from one to the other.

"All right," Booth said. "I guess we're going with the butt whipping."

Sweets winced. "Yeah, well," he said, clearing his throat. "Since I've helped all I can I'll just give you the privacy you need."

Seth glared at him. "Thanks a lot," he muttered to him.

Sweets patted his shoulder. "At least you won't feel guilty anymore," he told him.

Seth sighed. "Yeah, your right," he said, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"That's a whole other ball game," Sweets said, grinning. "We'll talk about that some other time." Seth chuckled at that.

"Yeah, yeah," Booth said, "just go already before I decide you've done something to piss me off, too."

Sweets winced. "Right," he said, opening the door. "Good luck." He exited, rather quickly.

Seth smirked. "Well, now you know how to get rid of him," he told him, grinning.

Booth nodded. "Yeah, just threaten to spank him," he said, but then turned serious. "So…I guess we should probably get it over with."

Seth swallowed. "Yeah, I guess," he said, worriedly.

"Hey," Booth said, crossing over to him and clasping his shoulders, "don't do that. I'm not going to just whale on you, okay? I would never hurt you like that, Seth. Never."

Seth grinned. "I know," he said, "but…I mean…it's a spanking. How else am I supposed to react?"

"Well, I always tried to talk my way out of it myself," Booth told him, grinning.

"Did it ever work?" Seth asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, no," Booth told him, "actually it may have made it a tad worse. My dad was a military man, so he didn't much go for the stalling bit."

"Lovely," Seth said, sighing. "Okay, so how exactly are we gonna do this?"

"Well," Booth said, scratching his chin, "if you were Parker I'd just turn you across my knee…"

"That'd be kinda awkward, wouldn't it?" Seth asked. "For both of us?"

Booth nodded. "Yeah, it would," he said. "I guess, you'll just have to bend over the side of the couch."

Seth nodded. "Do I need to drop my pants?" he asked, curiously.

He was wearing blue jeans and Booth looked at his hand.

He was pretty tough, but…

"Yeah, but not your underwear," Booth told him.

Seth nodded. "You are just going to use your hand, right?" he asked. "I mean, not your…"

"Hell no," Booth said. "I'd never use my belt. My old man never even did that."

Seth nodded. "Okay," he said, and then hesitated. "How old were you the last time your dad…you know."

"Honestly?" Booth said, wincing. "I was seventeen."

Seth's jaw dropped open. "You're kidding?" he asked, in disbelief.

Booth shook his head. "Nope," he said. "I was an idiot and not only stayed out all night, but I also came home drunk to boot."

Seth winced. "Ouch," he said, shaking his head. "I guess he was pretty pissed, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," Booth told him, smirking. "He didn't let me keep my drawers on and he used a paddle."

"A paddle?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, but we only ever got it when we really screwed up," Booth assured him. "Most of the time he used his hand."

"Right," Seth said. "Remind me not to really piss you off."

"Oh, trust me," Booth told him. "If you somehow manage to top what happened today…"

"Say no more," Seth said. "It won't happen again."

"Good," Booth said, removing his jacket. "Let's do this."

Seth sighed, but nodded.

Going to the side of the sofa, he undid his jeans and let them fall to the floor.

Then, he bent forward so that his butt was sticking up in the air.

Booth shook his head.

He never really thought he'd be doing this with one of his kids…

But, he just couldn't let it go.

Today had scared him.

Badly.

Placing one left on Seth's back and rubbing gently for a moment, he reared back with his right.

Seth glanced over his shoulder, saw that, and winced.

He automatically tensed, clenching his butt in anticipation.

Unfortuantely, as Booth brought his hand down, this made that first smack hurt worse.

Seth yelped, automatically raising up, but Booth's hand on his back prevented him from doing so.

Booth brought his hand down again, then again, and again.

Five smacks…Ten smacks…Fifteen smacks…

By then, Seth was biting his lip and really feeling the sting.

So was Booth for that matter, as his hand had started to tingle a bit.

Sixteen…Seventeen…Eighteen…Nineteen…

"Please, Dad," Seth gasped, tears started to run down his cheeks.

"Okay, buddy," Booth said, hating himself for having to do this and yet knowing it was the right thing to do. "Just one more."

SMACK!!!

That last smack was delivered with a great deal of strength and it did cause to jump up despite his father's hand on his back.

Seth hissed, biting his lip. "Oh, God," he groaned. "That hurt!"

Booth nodded, shaking his hand.

"I know," he told him, bending down and pulling up his jeans for him.

He then pulled him into a big bear hug.

Seth hugged him back, sniffling into his chest a bit.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, and then pulled back a bit without actually letting go.

"I'm really sorry about today, Dad. It was reckless and crazy and just plain stupid, I know. It won't ever happen again."

"I'm sorry, too," Booth said, shaking his head. "I mean, if I hadn't told you to stay in the car…"

"Ralph would have gotten away, though," Seth told him.

"He wouldn't have gotten far, pal," Booth reminded him. "It did prove you're definitely my kid, though."

"How?" Seth asked, first grinning and then wincing.

"Because you did exactly what I would have done at your age," Booth told him, "and probably still would do today."

"Then I guess I'm a regular chip off the old block, huh?" Seth asked him, smirking.

"With just a few more brains," Booth reminded him, proudly.

"They didn't help me today," Seth reminded him.

Booth said. "So, you're having an off day," he said. "It happens to the best of us."

Seth winced, reaching back to rub his aching butt. "You can say that again," he said, sighing.

Booth chuckled, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "Why don't you go soak in hot tub for awhile," he suggested.

"But I thought the point was for me to feel like I've been punished," Seth said, puzzled. "Won't the hot water ease that feeling?"

"It'll ease the ache," Booth told him, "but I reckon you definitely felt it, didn't you?"

"Oh, yeah," Seth agreed, rubbing fiercely. "Definitely."

"There you go," Booth told him, smiling. "Go soak."

Seth nodded. "Isn't there another game on tonight?"

"Yeah, I think there is," Booth told him. "So, popcorn?"

"Popcorn," Seth agreed.

Father and son smiled at each other.

Neither one felt the least bit guilty anymore.

TBC...