Chapter 33—First Aid
Brennan reached the edge of the circle of people who were crowding around Booth. Pushing her way into the middle, she saw Booth on the ground, holding his ankle, with a grimace of pain on his face.
"What happened?" Brennan asked, kneeling next to him. As gently as she could, she pried his hands off of his leg and felt for broken bones.
"I fell… or tripped… I guess," Booth tried to tell her as he tried to slow down and control his breathing. Leaning back on his hands, Booth closed his eyes tightly while Brennan examined his ankle.
"Did you hear a pop or snap?" Brennan continued asking, pulling his shoe and sock off so she could check his foot.
"No, I don't think so," Booth told her, still keeping his eyes closed. "It isn't broken, right?"
"No, I think it's probably just a sprained ankle," Brennan told him, after checking all the bones. "We should take you in to get it checked out, just in case, though."
"Fine," Booth agreed, opening his eyes to look at the group of people gathered around him. "Who's going to help me to the car?"
Jared and the man Jess had pointed out as her husband stepped forward, each grabbing an arm and hauling Booth on to his good foot. While they started the slow walk to the parking lot, Brennan stood to gather Parker and her purse.
"Dr. Bones!" Parker yelled, running toward her as fast as his five year-old legs could carry him.
Brennan had just reached the table where she had left her purse, when Parker stumbled over his own feet, tumbling down onto the soft grass about ten feet from her. Even though she had been spending more time with Parker, she was still taken by surprise at the wail of pain he let out.
Grabbing her bag, she rushed to his side, kneeling in the grass and mud. "Are you okay, Parker? Did you get hurt?" she asked frantically, trying to check the little boy for any injuries.
"My," he gasped, still wailing as if the world was coming to an end. "My kneeeee!"
Looking at the knee he was holding onto, Brennan could see he had managed to get a good scrape during his fall. "How about we go to the car and get you cleaned up?" Brennan asked him, "and then we can get you a Spongebob band aid."
"Can I have Patrick?" he asked, his sobs subsiding as he looked up at Brennan with tears still shining in his big brown eyes.
"Of course you can have Patrick," she told him, wondering who on earth Patrick was. Scooping him up, she carried him towards the SUV, where Booth and the others had stopped to look when they heard Parker's cries.
"What happened?" Booth asked, as soon as they were close enough to hear him, his voice laced with worry.
"He just fell down and scraped his knee," Brennan replied, holding Parker with one arm while opening the back of the SUV with her free hand. "I'm going to clean off his cut while you try to get into the front seat," she told him, setting Parker down in the cargo space so she could pull out the first aid kit.
"Whoa, whoa, Bones. My car. I drive," Booth argued, half in shock from watching Brennan take care of Parker.
"Booth, your right foot is the one that is hurt, and that's the one you use to drive. You don't have a choice this time," Brennan explained to him, while gently wiping the mud and blood from Parker's knee. "Now get in the car, I'm almost done."
"Fine, fine," Booth grumbled, letting Jared pull open the door and help him into the car without jarring his ankle.
"Now, Parker, you get to pick out your band aid," Brennan said, handing over the container while she dabbed antibiotic ointment on the scrape.
"Thanks Dr. Bones," Parker grinned happily, pulling out a blue bandage with a pink starfish wearing yellow and green shorts on it.
Putting the bandage over his knee, Brennan put the first aid kit back and closed the back of the vehicle. Walking around to the driver side, she helped Parker into his booster seat in the back, and then climbed into the front seat.
"I'm just going to catch a ride back with Joe and Jess," Jared told them, giving Booth one last shove to get him inside the vehicle. "I'll see you back at the house."
"Yeah, we'll see you in a while," Booth said off-handedly, glaring at Brennan's expectant hand that was currently waiting for the keys.
No less than four hours later, the exhausted trio pulled into the driveway at Booth's parents' house. Brennan emerged first, climbing out of the driver seat to get the sleeping Parker out of the back seat. Booth exited at a much slower pace, climbing gingerly from the car and being sure to keep all his weight off his wrapped and swollen ankle.
Pulling his crutches out of the back, Booth began the slow trek to the front door, with Brennan following along behind him.
After what seemed like a million years, the three entered the warmth of the house, only to hear Jared's rendition of what had happened earlier that afternoon. "And then he just fell, Pop, tripped over his own two big feet!"
"That's not how it went down and you know it," Booth grumbled from the entryway. Making his way into the living room, he set about telling the story as it really happened.
"I'm going to go put Parker down," Brennan said to his retreating form, carrying the boy upstairs to the bedroom he was staying in. Setting him down carefully, she pulled his shoes and jacket off, then covered him with the soft quilt. Closing the door behind her, she headed back down the stairs to get a cup of tea and sit in the living room.
Once again, Brennan found herself surprisingly comfortable with Booth and his family that weekend, letting herself into the kitchen and boiling some water. It was never something she had imagined she would do again, being like part of the family. Even with Parker, she knew it had taken a lot of work to get to the point she was at, but she was comfortable with it.
With her tea just the way she liked it, she made her way back into the living room, just in time to hear the end of Booth's story.
"…and then all four of them came running at me, and there was a loud crunch, right as I hit the mud!"
