Parker sits in his fathers SUV and thinks about everything his father has told him since he walked into his office earlier that afternoon. 'Wow I never knew any of that. I knew he was a sniper, and that he was a POW, but I never knew how he felt about killing the people that he did, or that he was tortured, or that he blames himself for the death of two of the guys in his unit. Why didn't he tell me earlier?'
Parker finally gets up the courage to ask, "Dad, uh, why didn't you tell me any of this earlier?"
Booth sighs deeply, 'Do I tell him the real reason I never wanted to talk to him about it?' "There are a few reasons," Booth says after a few minutes. "I didn't want to relive it is the small one."
Parker thinks about that for a few minutes, 'Makes since, that was hell for me and I was just hearing about it, wait, the small reason?'
"What was the 'big' reason?"
Booth sighs again 'Wow I think I have sighed more tonight than I ever have before.'
"Well, I…I uh, didn't want you to uh, hate me or, uh, think any less of me." He says slowly.
Parker looks back out the window "I could never hate you, being an Army Ranger in your past made you who you are today," He gives a small laugh, "the over protective alpha male, the father that drops anything for his kids, or his friends." They sit in silence for the rest of the ride, both of them lost in their own thoughts.
As Parker gets out he stops, "I'll uh, call you tomorrow or something."
"Okay talk to you later then…"
Parker shuts the car door and walks into his mom's house. Drew and Rebecca are sitting on the couch; Rebecca looks up "How did it go with your father?"
"I'm not completely sure, I just know a lot more now that for sure."
"Like what?" Drew asks.
"Just… a lot of stuff," Parker puts his bag down by the door and starts to head toward his room.
"Hold on Parker! We want to know what you guys talked about!" Rebecca says as she gets up off the couch.
Parker snorts, "Funny, you never cared before."
"We need to talk about this, about your decision!" Drew says raising his voice just a little.
Parker stops and turns to face his stepfather "No WE don't. I am now 18, and adult, able to make my own decisions. You have no place to tell me that I am or am not allowed to do something, and not just because I am 18." Parker turns and starts to make his way to him room again.
"Parker, you cannot talk to him like that! He cares about you and you are making the wrong decision!"
"No mom, I'm not. You are thinking that by telling at me that you will get me to change my mind, Dad didn't yell at me, he talked to me like an adult, and right now I have a lot that I need to think about so if you'll please just leave me alone for a while I would greatly appreciate it." Parker yells over his shoulder then shuts his door.
Parker sits on his bed and runs his hands over his face and through his hair. 'What do I do now? I thought I really wanted to be in the Army like my dad but now, after hearing the stories that he has, I don't think I could handle it like he did. And I almost want to go just to piss mom and Drew off. Maybe I should move in with dad, get a break from all this stuff. He didn't pressure me to change me decision, I know he wants me to, but he didn't say that I had to. What do I want to do now?'
Parker is pulled from his thoughts when he hears his mom yelling. "…Seeley what the hell did you tell him?... No he came home and didn't want to talk about it… No this is YOUR fault… "
Parker picks up the phone, "Dad can I come stay with you?'
"WHAT?" Rebecca Screams it but Booth only says it.
"I don't want to be here for a while can I come stay with you?" Parker says ignoring his mother.
"Yeah of course, do you want me to come get you?"
"I don't want to wait that long… If I take a cab will you pay for it?"
"Yeah come on over."
"NO! Parker you are not going anywhere!"
"Mom, I am old enough to say where I want to stay, and this is not dad's fault, what he told me is making me think about not joining!" He yells into the phone then hangs up and goes back to his room and grabs a bag and starts shoving stuff into it. He then walks out of his room and sees Drew standing there.
"You're not going any where." He says
"Well I think you forget that a: my dad knows that I'm coming over, and he knows how long it takes for me to get there and b: that he is an FBI agent with a gun that he is not afraid to use." Parker says as he pushes past Drew.
"Stay where you are!"
"Don't make me tell my dad about you hitting me that one time, and that mom knows about it, you think that will fly? Now get out of my way."
"That one time! It happened once!"
"Do you really think my dad will care about that? So what if it only happened once, it happened!"
Parker walks out the door without looking back. He walks to his friends house down the street so he can call a cab and get out of the madness while he wait for the cab. He knocks on the door and Trey's mom answers.
"Hey Parker, what are you doing here so late?"
" Mrs. Gal, umm, I was wondering if I could call a cab and stay here until it gets here to take me to my dads?"
"Of course, is everything okay?"
"Not really, I got into a big fight with my mom, and she is blaming my dad, and it is her fault, but is too stubborn to realize it."
"Oh Parker, I'm so sorry, here's the phone, you can go wait in Trey's room if you like."
"Thanks," he takes the phone and dials the number. After he calls he walks up to Trey's room and walks in. "Hey man."
"My mom came in and told me what happened, you okay?"
"Yeah, just a little pissed."
"This about you wanting to join the Army?"
"Yeah, I'm gunna go stay with my dad for a while."
Trey and Parker sit and talk for a while, then they here the cab pull up and Parker says thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Gal and goes to get into the cab. Then he sees Drew standing next to the back door.