Sorry about the gaping chasm between last update and this one, but Finals week is upon me, and I'm surprised I even had time to write this chapter… But the good news is that since they are almost over, I've got a free week before Christmas, so you guys can expect chapters about once a day! I had this idea for this word a while ago and couldn't wait to write it… enjoy!
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Brennan walked down the taupe colored hall quickly. It was a Saturday morning and after her latest case with Booth, she had 'limbo' victims to catch up on. Just one more stop before she could get to the lab.
…5A… 7A… 9A…
She glanced back down at the yellow post-it she was nervously sticking and unsticking to the side of her index finger.
"11A, this is it."
She knocked. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Sighing, she leaned against the doorframe. He had to be home. He was the one who always said that Saturdays were for relaxing, and that she should do it more often. So she knocked again, this time hearing a small screech as something was pushed up against the door. Intrigued, she listened for more. She heard someone climb onto whatever it was, pause for a moment and then jump off. The screech came again, and seconds later the door flew open.
"Hi Bones!" The little blond boy exclaimed excitedly, giving her a smile that reminded Brennan of a certain FBI agent.
She smiled widely; Parker was one cute kid. She had had dinner with him and Booth once or twice at Wong Foo's after she had first met him at Christmas. At almost five years old, he was quite the entertainer, always singing and telling stories that made no sense. He took her by the hand and pulled her inside.
"Did you come to go to the park with us? That's what me and Daddy do every Saturday. I told him to tell you that you could come too."
"Thanks Parker, but I just came over to get your Dad to sign a couple work papers. Where is your Dad by the way?"
"Daddy's in the shower. When you knocked on the door I yelled and told him that somebody was at the door and he yelled for me to look through the peephole, 'cause its my favorite, and then if I knew the person I could let them in and if it was a stranger I should come back and tell him. But it was you so I let you in."
She smiled at his lengthy explanation and earnest expression. "Ok, I guess I can just leave them on the table and get them back later. Do you think you can tell him that I dropped them off?"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to go to my lab." She considered his confused expression for a minute. "… The lab is where I work, my friends and I help your Dad catch bad guys."
"But Dr. Bones, it's a Saturday! Big people don't have to work on Saturdays! 'cept for my friend Jason, 'cause his Daddy speaks at a sin… sinygolf… he's a Rabbit, like Father James at Sunday school."
It took Brennan a second to catch up, and in that few seconds she had been taken by the hand and led into Parker's brightly colored bedroom.
"Since you don't have to go to work you can stay and play with me! We can color!"
He pointed a chubby finger at a small child's play table littered with crayons and coloring books. Brennan had the impulse to bolt. She liked kids, but playing with them? That could prove to be a problem.
She wavered, looking from the boy to the door; "I don't know if I should Parker…" his bright smile disappeared in a flash, replaced by a pout and pair of sad puppy eyes. One look at him and Brennan nearly sprinted to the pint-sized table to color. As he handed her a coloring book, she smiled softly and thought about how similar he was to his father, and how similarly successful he was at getting her to do things.
Booth had gotten dressed by this time, and stepped out of the bathroom to see where Parker had gotten to. He didn't see him in the living room, the door was shut and locked from the inside, so he was here somewhere… He heard low voices from down the hall; Parker was talking to someone, but who? He remembered the knock on the door and then heard a familiar laugh. Bones was here, in his apartment, on a Saturday, playing with his son?
He walked down the hall and peered into Parker's room. There, in a too-small chair, coloring a picture of a dolphin with Crayola crayons, was Dr. Temperance Brennan, Ph.D. and anthropologist extraordinaire. He almost laughed at the comic scene, but was struck suddenly with what exactly was happening right before his eyes. Bones, his Bones, the 'for the millionth time Booth, I don't want kids' Bones, was laughing and chatting with a five year old, her expression clearly full of care and compassion. He could have stood there forever, just watching the two people he cared most about interact, but she eventually noticed him. She looked up apologetically.
"Hey Booth, I came to bring you some paperwork I need signed and Parker invited me to color with him. Is that ok?"
He loved that no matter how confident she was; underneath it all she still had insecurities just like everyone else.
"Course it's ok. Parker lives to color. Don'cha Bud?"
A little fist shot into the air. "Yea! Coloring is flamtastic!"
"Actually…"
"Just let it go Bones."
He glanced down at her coloring page.
"All neatly in the lines I see." He teased. "But I wouldn't expect anything else from a squint."
"I guess all that precise rational scientist training makes me the perfect colorer." She kidded back with a smirk. He grinned.
They colored for a few more minutes, Booth helping Parker with his picture of a farmyard, which had become a bit more colorful than reality dictated, but a masterpiece nonetheless. Parker then announced that he was going to be a superhero today and went off in search of a proper cape and sidekick, leaving his Dad and Dr. Bones to finish coloring the barn an appropriate shade of bright purple. She finished her own page and held it up mock-proudly.
He considered his partner's perfect coloring job, tapping his chin mock-thoughtfully. "Nice Bones. I particularly enjoy your use of Cerulean."
A hint of surprise appeared in her eyes along with the normal sparkle they held when she was amused. "That's a big word for you Booth. Most people just call it blue. Except for Angela."
"Not when you're talking about Crayola. The cerulean crayon is famous. And it has sparked many an interesting conversation; most interesting of them being the two bucks I won from Jimmy Wilson in the first grade for knowing how the word was pronounced. It's also the most fun to say of any color name. Cerulean… and you know Bones, it's also the color of your eyes."
She laughed. "Cerulean eyes… I don't know how I feel about having crayon colored eyes Booth." She held up her coloring page again considering it with a look of fondness she had rarely expressed in his presence. "I guess it's a pretty color for eyes though. Very serene and beautiful."
"Definitely." He met her eyes over the flimsy page and held their gaze long enough to breathe a single word. "Beautiful."
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Review, so I can procrastinate studying and write some more!
