Chapter Four:
Booth made some calls to Angela to make sure that she would be able and willing to take care of Parker on their way to the crime scene. When that was taken care of, he turned his full attention his partner. "Are you okay Bones?"
"Yeah." She answered him. Brennan was pulling back her hair into a ponytail. Booth watched as she put on her game face, knowing that the conversation that they needed to have was going to be lost in the abyss of all the other unspoken conversations that were needed between them.
Sighing, he held up the yellow police tape for her as they entered the crimes scene. The park was littered with police officers and FBI agents just like it was before. An ominous feeling came over him.
Booth looked around and saw many children Parker's age lining up to see what was going on. They had just gotten finished with their soccer practice. Recognizing the coach he walked over to him.
"Bob I need you to keep these children back." He said addressing the younger man. He whispered the reason and the look of shock danced across his face. He lined up the boys and moved them away from the crime scene.
Booth breathed a sigh of relief and went back to find his partner. She was crouched over. "Female, aged five to ten." Booth watched her. Sadness filled her eyes. "She was a ballet dancer." She said pointing to the dirty ballet shoes found next to the body. "She probably will show some stress on the ankle joint. Bag everything and send it to the Jeffersonian."
Brennan listened to Booth play with Parker in the bathtub as she stirred the elbow macaroni into the pot. She soon as she as satisfied that the noodles wouldn't be too overdone she walked to where the voices could be heard to watch the exchange between father and son.
Booth was right . . . after a case like this, a little Parker loving would go a long way. Brennan thought about skipping out, preferring to be alone, but then she remembered the promise she made him that morning.
"Daddy are we going to have to find a new park to play in?" Parker asked as he was playing with his submarine. Brennan turned and walked away taking in as much as she needed.
"No Bub. Tempe and I are going to catch the bad guy and put him away." Booth answered confidently. "Five more minutes. I don't want my little boy turning into a little raisin."
Parker smiled and continued playing quietly. Booth looked around for his partner finding her in his kitchen. It was a site that he wished he would have more often.
"You could have stayed longer, you know that Bones. Parker adores you." He said pulling out the colander so she could drain the macaroni.
"I know. I just felt like I would be violating something between you in Parker." She commented. "I know how important it is for a parent and child to bond."
Booth nodded hoping she wouldn't go into a long drawn out explanation about the anthropological reasons why adults care for the young of society. It wasn't that he minded the monologs, he just wanted her to take a break and sit down. They still needed to have that talk.
"Bones . . ." He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She tensed for a second and then relaxed. She turned around to face him, her eyes searched his, Booth leaned in . . . .
"Daddy, I'm getting wrinkly." Parker screeched from the bathroom. In that instant Booth had wished he had invested in a roll of duct tape.
"You better go and check on him. You don't want him turning into an old man." She said, turning her attention back on the macaroni. She was placing it in a casserole dish and adding the six cheeses.
"Daddy!" He screeched from the bathroom again. Booth sighed and went to go check on his now wrinkly, but now squeaky clean son.
A couple minutes later the sound of Parker running through the apartment filled Brennan's ears. She braced herself for the collision that would be known now as Spiderboy.
"Who are you and what have you done with Parker Booth?" She asked him.
Parker giggled, pulling off the mask that came with pajamas. "It's me Tempe!" He thrusts his arms up and she hoisted him into her arms. "Can I have a taste?"
Booth was getting ready to interject when he saw his partner go maternal on him. She picked up the fork and blew on it. "Parker, it may be a little hot." She warned him.
Parker took the forkful of gooeyness and smiled. "It is so much better than Mom's!" He proclaimed. She set him down on the ground. "Is Spiderboy up to helping me set the table?"
Parker nodded and got to the task of getting his special plastic utensils and plate out of the dishwasher. Booth smiled. "You know you are a natural with children. I still don't understand why you don't want children." Booth turned around quickly missing the pained expression that passed his partners face.
The rest of the night went by uneventful, that is if Brennan didn't count Parker spilling his drink all down Brennan's shirt, prompting her to borrow one of Booths oversized shirts while waiting for hers to get out of the wash. She walked past the bedroom listening to Booth read a familiar bedtime story to him.
His deep voice penetrated the room, "Once there was a miller who was poor . . ." He continued on with the story of Rumplestiltskin.
She listened for a couple of minutes. Booth was aware of her presence and wished that she would come join them, and when she didn't he masked his disappointment and continued on. He looked down and saw that his son was fast asleep. He dropped a kiss on his forehead and tucked him in. He clicked on the Spiderman nightlight and left the room.
He looked for his partner and saw her looking out the window. She almost looked at peace when he realized that she was trying to hold in her sobs. Her shoulders started shaking and he was over to her in seconds wrapping his arms around her. "What has you so upset Bones? You can tell me anything."
He held her, trying to calm her. But there was a memory that had his Bones and wasn't letting go.
"Temperance, wake up!" Ethan shook her.
"It's your turn . . ." She muttered sleepily, vaguely aware of Elizabeth crying out to be held. It had been a long day and all she wanted was two more minutes of sleep.
Ethan grumbled something and begrudgingly got out of bed. Over the baby monitor she could hear him crooning to the baby speaking nonsense to her. Temperance smiled getting up to join him
She walked into the room and listened to him finish up Rumplestiltskin to Elizabeth. Ethan handed their daughter to Temperance. "Thank you for giving her to me." He whispered as she put her back to bed.
"Thank you for the seventeen hours of labor." She whispered back. As they were leaving she heard her daughter sigh in her sleep and give out a little whimper.
Brennan looked at him, crossed the room to her purse on the couch. Sitting down, she dug around in her purse and handed him a picture. Booth saw the smudges on the picture. She must have taken the picture out at least a thousand times. "Elizabeth was my little girl." She whispered. Looking closely at the picture Booth saw a beautiful little girl nestled next to a man in a bed. The man almost looked exactly like Booth, save only the blue eyes. "Ethan could have been your twin except with blue eyes."
"Bones who are these people?" Booth said gently probing.
"They were my family." She commented. She wanted to look at him, to get comfort from him, but she couldn't, not yet. The pain was still real, the uncanny resemblance that her partner had to her ex-fiancé was too much to think about right now. But yet, there he was . . . standing in front of her . . . arms wide open . . . and she sunk into his arms for comfort.
AN: Hope you guys enjoy this one. Hopefully I will get another chapter out tomorrow before I go on vacation, but I would like to know what you think . . . give me ideas . . . it helps me write better. Anyway have a great night. Read and review. Thanks for reading.
