Ahhh! It's a thunderstorm outside! cowers under covers and posts next chap

"C'mon Booth! It's my car!" Brennan screamed as she chased the sneaky agent through the airport parking lot. His laughter traveled back to her ears and she was surprised at how fast he was able to run while parker clung to his back and he carried his duffel in his hand.

"May be your car Bones, but I've got the keys." He said breathlessly. He'd reached her car and quickly put Parker on the ground so he could hold the keys high out of her reach.

Brennan caught up to them and rolled her eyes as she punched him playfully in his stomach. It wasn't very hard but hard enough that he gasped and bent over to protect himself, bringing the keys down and within her grasp.

"Ha!" She said triumphantly, clasping her hand around the keys and taking the duffel to the trunk.

"Way to go Elmo!" Parker was jumping up and down excitedly, grinning like a kid who'd just arrived at Disneyland.

"Hey, whose side are…Elmo?" Booth gave his son a confused smile as he tried to understand the correlation between Bones and the furry red creature on TV.

"Uh-huh. That's my nickname for her 'cause I can't call her Bones 'cause that's your special name for her but she laughs like my tickle-me-Elmo and she said I could call her that 'cause she's really ticklish Daddy." Parker said all in one breath, but Booth understood every word.

"Ticklish huh?" Booth's face dissolved into an evil grin and moved toward his partner.

Brennan's eyes widened in horror and she slammed the trunk and took off for the driver's side door. Booth anticipated her and was already running when she took off. He caught her elbow before she even reached the door handle and spun her toward him, tickling her furiously in her side.

"No Booth! NO!" She tried to sound serious, but failed miserably as her body shook with uncontrollable laughter. She drew her legs up to her chest to try and hinder his efforts and was slightly surprised when Booth was able to remain standing, holding her in his strong arms several feet from the ground.

"Parker help!" She squealed, but Parker just stood a few feet away and clapped his hands, giggling at the sight of the two adults acting like kids on the playground.

Finally her muscles had turned to jelly and her grip on the keys loosened. Booth saw his opportunity and slipped his hand into hers and took the keys. When he set her carefully back on the ground however, expecting a flow of words from Bones' mouth that he would later have to try and purge from his son's vocabulary, he was surprised by what she did instead.

Brennan wasn't angry at him, though she was sure she should have been. Instead she felt the ground beneath her feet and simply leaned against Booth's chest as her strength slowly returned. Closing her eyes, she felt overwhelmed by the feelings of safety and warmth as she stood in his arms.

"Uh…Bones?" Booth asked cautiously, as he rubbed her back in slow circles.

Suddenly Brennan realized what she was doing and her eyes popped open and she pulled away quickly.

Booth tried to keep the disappointed look off his face by smiling at her. "Feel better?"

Brennan arched an eyebrow at him.

"Than what? I felt fine before."

Booth just shook his head. He wasn't sure he believed her, after all it had only been two weeks since that fateful day in the park when she'd found her father and lost him all in about twenty-four hours. He studied her for a second, finding the old familiar concern for her soothing as he slipped into it and away from his own haunting thoughts for a moment.

He watched carefully as she turned her back to him and reached for Parker's hand. "

Will you at least unlock the door so I can put your son in his car seat?"

Booth cleared his throat and shifted his feet. "Oh, I can do that if you want."

He hit the button on her keychain to unlock the door and the car's lights flashed in response.

"I can do it Booth, I'm not as clueless as you think." She lifted the front seat forward, revealing a small car seat in the back of her sports car.

"I didn't even know this car had a back seat." He said softly as he stared in amazement at his Bones who carefully placed Parker in his car seat and buckled him tight, as if she'd done it a million times before.

"There's a lot of things you don't know Booth." She pulled her head out of the car and smiled at him, then sauntered to the other side of the car and climbed in.

Apparently. Booth thought, smiling, as he opened his own door to join them.

I can't wait to find out what else I'm missing.

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The car ride to the diner was being spent mostly in amiable silence, like so many of their car rides were if they didn't have anything to bicker about.

Both the adults in the front seat were stealing glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't watching, hoping to gain some insight into what they were thinking.

Booth would let his eyes drift over her as he was "scanning the intersection for traffic". While Brennan would allow her eyes to rest on him a moment longer than necessary when she would turn around to "check on Parker".

Parker, on the other hand, felt cramped in the backseat of Brennen's car and had grown bored with the silence.

"Daddy, can we listen to the radio?" He asked innocently, trying very hard to be patient until they got to the restaurant.

"Sure Bub." Booth smiled at him in the rearview mirror as Brennan reached forward to turn on the radio.

Suddenly the sounds of coin money clinking against itself filled the silence in the small car followed by a smooth 'radio voice'.

Need a little extra cash? Looking for someplace fun to spend you're Saturday nights? Then come and join us at Big River Casino in Downtown DC next to the Woodside Mall. There are drink specials at the bar after ten and were open all night Friday and Saturday. Come and join the fun, and remember, everyone's a winner at…

The voice was cut off suddenly as Booth's panicky fingers flew to the radio controls and switched it off before another word could be said.

He took a deep breath of the silent air and tried to swallow, but his throat had gone dry. He'd heard that commercial so many times before and ignored it easily.

He'd felt nothing.

But this time, his heart rate quickened and pounded like it would leap right from his chest. He was hit with the desire to go gambling like a two-ton hammer to the forehead and it scared the life out of him.

At the next stoplight he laid his head back against the seat and closed his eyes, regulating his breathing, oblivious to the other people in the car.

Brennan stared at him openly from the passenger seat. No, she wasn't good at reading people, but she was good at reading Booth, and he'd just come as close to a panic attack as she'd ever seen him.

His fingers twitched nervously at the steering wheel and she watched as he drew one of his hands back to his jacket pocket and knew he was running his fingers over the poker chip he kept there.

Finally he opened his eyes and became aware of her stare.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly, trying not to alarm the boy in the back seat who'd become distracted by a blinking marquee sign on their right.

"Yeah, Bones, I'm fine." He pulled into the diner and turned off her car.

"Are you sure?" Brennan made no move to unbuckle herself or get out.

Booth just nodded and smiled reassuringly, hoping she would drop the subject. Brennan pursed her lips and gave a quick nod in response and got out of the car.

Brennan watched from the sidewalk as Booth unbuckled Parker and helped him from the backseat. She didn't believe for a second that he was really okay, but it wasn't a conversation, or an argument for that matter, that she wanted to have while Parker was around.

"Ready to eat Elmo?" Parker grasped Brennan's hand with one of his while the other remained in his father's. She nodded and they moved to the door.

Yeah, Parker thought as he looked up at his dad and then at Brennan, I like this.

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