CHAPTER 4
Flash back…
Booth was sitting on the bench like a good little boy when Parker and Bones approached him, "Dad, I showed Dr. Bones my floor routine!"
"He did a really great job Booth, he's quite athletic."
"Well, of course he's athletic Bones, he's a Booth isn't he?" He smiled as he shook the hair on top of Parkers head again.
"Will you come in the bouncy house with me?" Parker asked his dad as he pointed to the large inflatable directly off to the left of them.
"I can't Parks, I got benched."
"Oh, come on," he tugged at Booth's hand to make him stand up. When Booth made no attempt to stand up, Parker moved in closer to whisper secretively into his ear, "We could go over the side; no one will even see us."
Booth looked at Parker, then at the brightly colored, two-story high, inflatable that stood next to him, then back to Parker. His son's puppy dog eyes won out over the glaring disapproval that could be seen in Brennan's.
Parkers face lit up with excitement at the thought of the two of them running around in the inflatable together.
Booth looked at Parkers excited expression, "Okay, Bub, but just this once." Booth took his sons hand as they snuck over to the backside of the inflatable where no one could see them. He lifted Parker up over his shoulder so he could climb over the side. then turned to face Brennan, "You coming Bones?"
"I don't think that's a good idea Booth. Did you forget why you were sitting on the bench in the first place? You're not supposed to be on the equipment and you're definitely not supposed to enter or exit over the sides. If you had actually listened to the rules you would know that."
"I remember no such rule." He said as he jumped to launch himself over the side before she could respond.
Brennan stood there with her hands on her hips as she watched him jump over the side, "The staff here made it perfectly clear," she added a little louder before he disappeared. She stood there for a moment, listening to Booth's and Parkers laughter emanating from inside the inflatable. She stood there for another minute before caving into her own desires.
Inside the inflatable Booth and Parker where wrestling around when he heard a familiar voice, "Booth."
He turned around surprised, "Bones," he gave her a devilish smile, "Why Dr. Brennan, are you breaking the rules you were just quoting me?"
Standing with hands on hips, "Booth, you are going to get in trouble and I don't think your setting a good example for Parker." Before she knew it she felt Booth's leg sweep under both hers, resulting in her being knocked to the ground. Brennan, now flat on her back, looked up to see a large devilish smile on Booth's face before he took off running in the opposite direction.
Once the initial shock of what Booth had just done wore off, Brennan got to her feet as fast as she could to follow in pursuit. Booth was half way up the rock climbing wall headed toward the slide. At first she pretended to follow, but then doubled backed to the bottom of the slide where she remained hidden until she heard Booth finish his descent to the bottom.
As soon as Booth turned around to see if Brennan had followied him, he was slammed on the side of the head with one of the foam blocks that had been his captor not long before. He turned to see Brennan laughing. Booth quickly locked eyes with her. Knowing that look she immediately took off in the opposite direction, Booth now pursuing her. Brennan let him chase her through all the obstacles, though Booth was closing the gap quickly between them because she had slowed from laughing so hard. She was just about to head up the rock climbing wall when she heard a female's voice. Booth upon hearing the familiar voice stopped dead in his tracks, ending his pursuit, before slowly backing away out of sight.
"Excuse me Ma'am, you're not allowed in there, could you please come out."
Brennan swallowed hard; she couldn't believe she had been caught. "Sorry, I was just looking for my friend's son; I thought I saw him come in here." She tried to explain as she climbed out, clearly out of breath. Her face bright red and hair disheveled from all the activity.
Once out, the staff member was able to get a better look at her, "Are you with that gentleman I had to sit out earlier?"
Feeling dejected, she was almost afraid to answer, "Yes."
"Could you please follow me," Brennan followed the young lady over to where Booth was now sitting casually on the bench as if that was where he had been the entire time. Booth stood up to great them.
"Sir, Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to leave for today. You are more that welcome to come back again, as long as you are capable of following the rules. The rules are set to provide a safe environment for your child. You have taken up too much of my time today, time that could have been better spent with the kids." After she felt the message had gotten across, she turned around and left.
Booth and Brennan, both speechless, watched the staff members retreating body. "Wow, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Booth said breaking the silence before turning around to gather his belongings. "Can she really kick us out; I mean she's like ten?"
Brennan quickly gathered her items then stormed after him, "Booth, I can't believe you got us, or even worse, your son kicked out! All because of your refusal to act like an adult and stay where you were asked to stay."
In Sweets office...
Booth broke in thus ending the story. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. According to that story, it was you who got us kicked out, and you who told the lies."
Now it was Brennan's turn to defend herself, "The only reason I was in that inflatable was to get you out. I didn't ask you to knock me down."
"I may have knocked you down, but you're the one that decided to stay inside and chase after me. Not to mention whacking me on the head with that block."
"I whacked you in the head to try and hit some sense into you," she continued.
"Knock Bones, knock some sense into me."
"Yes, that is what I was trying to do. The moment we walked into that gym you just seemed to… just seemed to… have lost your mind." She turned toward Sweets for some insight, "I must admit I'm still a bit perplexed by his behavior."
"I was having fun Bones, you know," he poked her hand, "fun. And you were having fun too, well, at least until you got us kicked out," Booth added just to annoy her.
"Booth!" She responded, not happy with his last statement.
"C'mon Bones," he nudged her elbow with his, "Admit it, you had fun."
Bones intertwined her arms across her chest as she sat deeper in her chair refusing to admit anything.
After observing Bone's body language, Booth gave up trying to get her to admit anything. She was being stubborn. He added, "It was almost over any way. We missed like 5 minutes is all." His statement was meant for Bones, but directed at Sweets.
Sweets smiled a little, "What about you Agent Booth, did this experience teach you anything new about Dr. Brennan?
"Actually, Sweets, it did."
Brennan sat a little straighter suddenly finding interest in what Booth had to say.
"And what's that, Agent?"
"Well, first of all," he chuckled, "she was not exaggerating when she said she was flexible." He smiled.
"Of course I'm flexible, I do not exaggerate." She brought her attention to Sweets, "I demonstrated to Booth how I was able to still preform all my splits."
Sweets responded with a lopsided smile, "Impressive, Dr. Brennan, maybe you could show me sometime as well?"
Brennan started to push herself out of the chair again, "I can show you now if you'd like. Booth was really impressed too."
"Oh, I bet he was," Sweets added letting his smile grow.
Booth gently grabbed Brennan's arm, pulling her back down into the chair, "Bones, just stop, you are not going to show Sweets your splits."
"Why not Booth," she asked, "I just need to stretch a little…"
"Because Bones, just because, okay?" He glared at Sweets demanding him to fix this.
"Booth's right, Dr. Brennan, I don't need to see your splits, I can imagine what they'd look like."
Booth gave Sweets a death glare.
"Or… or… I won't… Imagine them... That is," he stuttered. He cleared his throat then continued, "Moving on then, besides Dr. Brennan's flexibility, is there anything else you learned about her?"
"Yes," his mood grew lighter.
"Aaaaand?" Sweets was growing inpatient.
"That Temperance Brennan, world renowned Forensic Anthropologist, Author…"
Brennan started to open her mouth to add something but Booth stopped her.
"Sorry, best-selling author of several books," he turned to look at her with a smile, then quickly added, "And over all smarty pants."
"Booth, I don't think that's a correct assessment of my intellect."
Booth kept going, ignoring her interruption, "Knows how to have fun."
"I know how to have fun Booth," she defended. "Just because my definition of fun may differ from yours…"
Booth cut her off again, "Not the 'I'm going to stay up all night putting a skeleton back together' fun, but real fun."
Brennan gave him a contemplative look.
"You know Bones, letting that inner child, who wants and deserves to escape every so often, out. Allowing your brain to shut off and just let go for the sheer joy of it." He turned back to Sweets. "That's what I learned about Bones."
Booth turned toward Bones, "I really enjoyed that person, and hope to see her again sometime," he ended his statement with a big smile.
Brennan though for a second, "I think I enjoyed her too." Then she added, "If I have trouble finding her again, will you help me?"
"Of course Bones, that's what I'm here for."
Sweets, after he got tired of watching them longingly look at one another, cleared his throat, hopefully bringing the focus back to him. "Well, I think that's a pretty good stopping point for the day." He picked up Booths phone off the table and threw it back to him.
Booth caught his phone placing it back in his pocket as he stood up. Brennan stood up as well.
"Do you have plans to go back?" Sweets asked before they turned to leave.
"Probably, but not for a little while, I think I wore out my welcome. I'll give it a little time so maybe they won't remember who I am the next time I show my face."
"I think they will remember you for a long time Booth. They probably have a 'Be on the lookout for" picture of you on a bulletin board somewhere," Brennan laughed at her joke.
Booth laughed as well, "Your probably right Bones, we might need to stay away for a long, long time."
They both turned and headed toward the door.
"Well, next time, maybe I can tag along. I would still love to observe your interpersonal relationship in a non-work related environment."
"Not gonna happen Sweets," Booth said before turning his back on the therapist, fading out of sight.
"But my inner child wants and deserves to be let out too! And he really wants to bounce on those trampolines!" he mumbled in disappointment as he closed up his folder officially ending the session.
The End
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