THE DINER

Booth and Parker walk into the diner and find a booth in the back. They both order cheeseburgers and fires.

"So how are the last few weeks of your senior year going?' Booth asks.

Slightly taken aback at the change from what they were talking about before. "Yeah it's good. I can't wait to get out of the petty crap that goes on everyday."

Booth smiles "Son that will never go away, you will deal with it for the rest of your life."

"Yeah but once prom is over it should get a lot better at school. Girls are crazy; I can't go anywhere by myself. I'll get attacked by a heard of them."

Booth laughs at this. "Yeah well that's what you get for being born a Booth. So who are you going with?"

"I don't really want to go… I mean I do, but I can't go with who I want to, ya know?"

"No not really. You can go with whoever you want. Who's stopping you?"

Parker thinks for a second before he deiced that he should have asked his dad for help a LONG time ago. "Well the girl that I want to go with isn't exactly… well she's not the same type of girl that I normally go out with."

"Meaning?" Booth asked, very confused about why his son is being so hesitant to ask someone out, it has never been a problem before.

"She is my chem lab partner." Parker looks at his father expecting him to make it all better, when he says nothing Parker continues. "She is really smart and I like hanging out with her, but she probably has no interest in me what so ever. I mean we have a lot in common, I think but there is the whole I'm a jock thing, and well most of my friends would… I don't know… look down on it?"

With a sudden realization Booth smiles at his son, knowing EXACTLY what he is going through. "Okay," Just then Bones and Angela walk up next to the booth.

"So you left work early to give your son dating advice?" Bones looks at Parker and smiles, "Hey Parker, are you staying with us this weekend? I thought your mom had you?" She sits next to Booth while Angela slides in next to Parker.

"Yeah Booth, I mean how could a kid this cute," Angela stops and points at Parker and he flashes a smile. "Have problems getting a date?"

"Ange has a point Parker. Do you know how long it took your father to ask me out?"

Parker laughs, "Yeah it was what five years dad?"

Booth laughs, "Hey if you want what info I can give you, don't make fun of me!"

"Yeah, yeah, hey Ange can you let me up I have to go to the bathroom." Angela gets up and lets him out them sits down and slides to the inside and starts too much on Parkers fries.

"So, is dating advice the real reason that you left early?" Bones asks.

Booth looks at her and his eye are dark, "No, I wish it was." He pauses and takes a drink of his water. "Parker wants to join the army." Bones has sudden realization of what her husband is reliving.

"Oh Seeley, are you okay?" She asks very concerned.

"Yeah well there is a lot that he doesn't know about me, and to be honest I am afraid to tell him some things. I mean he is going to hate me." He drops his head into his hands.

Bones started to say something but Angela got there first. "Never. Booth your son loves you and he know who you are, these stories will only bring you closer, there is no way he could think any less of you. He will understand once you do tell him why you never have before, and he can tell that it is hurting you to tell him, but I think he really wants to know. You are a great father and nothing will change how Parker sees you. Nothing." She pats his arm and then gets up.

"Seeley?" Bones asks all she gets is a little grunt "Ange is right. Parker loves you and you telling him all of this won't change that. I know him and I know you. You also thought that once you told me I would hate you to, but once you told me I had more respect for you, the same will happen with Parker, I know it. I love you and I will see you at home later, okay? Do you want me to wait up for you?"

"I don't know how late I'll be, but…. Would you mind waiting?" He asks lifting his head out of his hangs.

"Not at all. See you at home." Bones says getting up out of the booth.

"Thanks. Oh and Temperance, I love you." He gives her a small smile and she returns it then walks out to the car with Angela.

Booth sits in silence for a while and takes in what the two women told him, he had no clue how much Angela knew but what she said makes since. And Temperance has a really good point, she knows it all and she is still here. Parker returns and looks at his plate, "Ange at my fires didn't she? Where did they go anyway?"

Booth laughs, "Yeah she ate your fries and they had some work to do at the lab, they were picking up food for all the squints." They were right, this will be hard, but it will bring them closer in the end.

"Oh okay. So now what can I do to make things easier with Aderyn?" He looks hopeful as he stares into his fathers' eyes.

"Well look at me and Tempe. You would have never guessed that things would have turned out this way, but they did, and it was one of the best things that happened to me. Not many of my friends were supportive of me at first, but then they saw how happy I was when I was with her, they started to see what she meant to me. And if you really like her, well what they think won't matter anyway."

"Yeah but,"

"No buts' Parker. You're a science geek too, and yes, I blame Tempe for that, but hey, your one of the popular kids, what makes you that much different than her?"

"Good point dad… but there is something more than that," Parker stops trying to decide if he should tell his dad this. " well, you see, she is a foster kid, and they won't let her buy a dress or anything, and I don't want to ask her because I don't want to upset her by asking her when she can't go."

"That is easily solved." Booth pulls out his phone. "Tempe…," he tells her all about the problem and then once he is finished he smiles and nods, "yes, you are a life saver!"

"Okay ask her. When you ask her tell her that there are two women, Tempe and Angela, who want to take her dress shopping. Tell her that Tempe was a foster child to and that she wasn't able to go to prom either for the same reason."

Parker smiles, "I don't know if she will accept that, I mean she is really… I don't know the word for it. She doesn't like to be a charity case."

"What's the harm in asking? And if she says no we'll just send Tempe to go get her and take her shopping anyway. With Angela there along with her, there will be no saying no to the both of them."