As always, you guys rock! I can't believe you all love this story so much. I hope this chapter doesn't dissapoint. I have so many ideas for this fic that it's hard to decide what to use in each chapter! This update is extra sad and fluffy, just so you know.

Side note: THAT FINALE! OMG! I DIED! Booth in the army uniform, I seriously almost passed out. Brennan broke my heart so much. The entire episode just made me ridiculously sad. I can't believe we have to wait all summer for season 6, but I can't wait!

Anyway, Enjoy!

Outside of Marshall Elementary, Brennan leaned against the driver side door of her expensive car. Breathing in the cool spring air calmed her. She loved the time of day when she could take a break from the lab and collect Parker from school. In the beginning, she worried that the almost daily interruption to her work schedule would be detrimental to her career. To her surprise, she realized that the forty five minutes of relaxation did her mind well. Her mood was always elevated when Parker was with her. The correlation became apparent: better mood, better work.

A few minutes after she had arrived, a sea of children flooded through the doors. For a second, all Brennan saw was a blur of colorful clothes and cartoon book bags. The crowd evened out when some of them darted into awaiting buses and cars. Her eyes scanned for Parker. His kindergarten class was normally one of the first ones let out. He'd run to her side and start babbling about his day seconds after he exited the school.

She eventually spotted him, slowly making his way towards their normal meeting place. His head hung low, keeping his eyes focused on the ground. His arms were wrapped tightly around his torso. The doctor stiffened and moved away from the car. Something was wrong.

When he finally reached Brennan, Parker made no moves to even greet her. The boy attempted to get directly in the car, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Hey, I don't even get a hello?"

Without looking at her, he apologized in a small voice. "Sorry."

Brennan bent down so she'd be level with him. Her hands ran lightly up and down his arms. "What's wrong, buddy?"

"Nothin'." He automatically replied, still refusing to make eye contact.

Although she wasn't an expert when it came to other people's emotions, she could recognize a lie from Parker Booth's mouth in a second. She hooked one finger under his chin and tiled his head upward, forcing their eyes to meet. When brown met blue, Brennan let out a barely audible gasp. Remnants of tears streaks were visible down his cheeks, still chubby with baby fat. An angry red scratch about an inch long ran parallel with his hairline across his forehead. "Parker, what happened?" She questioned in a more stern voice than she had used before.

"Nothin'!" He yelled his lie, pulling away from her. Brennan was taken aback by his outburst. He took a few breaths, glanced at the car, and then brought his eyes back to her. "Can we go home?"

"You don't want to go to the lab?" She asked incredulously. He always wanted to go to work with her. He answered with a shake of his head. "Okay, let's go."

Brennan stood back up and opened the car door for him. Parker climbed into his child seat in the back. She reached to buckle him while having a silent debate with herself on which 'home' he was referring to, her residence or Booth's. In the past, Parker had called both places by the title. The two adults had a good system for taking care of him; it was almost perfect. Almost. Not knowing where he wanted to go was just one example of the problems that still existed after months of mastering the routine.

After sending a quick text message to Cam, excusing herself from the lab for the day, she decided that the sooner she got him home the better. Her apartment was the closest, so it was there they went.

The second the door to Brennan's apartment opened, Parker ran towards the guest room. He considered it his second bedroom. His toys littered the floor. His clothes were folded in the dresser. Everyone considered it his.

Brennan was still worried about what had happened and almost followed him. She wouldn't have been demanding an answer if he didn't have that scratch on his face. She had learned that he needed time before talking about his emotions. Like his father, he was very stubborn. But when his physical well-being came into question, a paralyzing sense of protectiveness crashed over her. She needed to know what had hurt him.

The anthropologist decided to give him about half an hour to come out before she went in. She started to busy herself with mindless tasks to kill time. She checked the mail, watered her plants, and then cleaned the coffee pot. Only 7 minutes passed. All her thoughts focused on the hurt child in the next room. She couldn't understand how parents could function in their daily lives. In some way, Parker was always on her mind and the boy wasn't even hers.

Giving up on the time constraint, she walked towards the back of the apartment. The door wasn't closed all the way. She still knocked lightly before pushing it open. Like she expected, Parker wasn't sitting out in the open. She looked to the fort made from a couple blankets stretched between the bookshelf, end table, and bed frame. Angela had helped him construct it weeks ago and he refused to take it down. Unbeknownst to Parker, it had fallen on its own several times but Brennan had fixed it every time.

"Parker." Brennan called. There was no response. No surprise there. She knelt down on her knees so she could see under the structure.

The five year old lay with his head one of the dozen pillows strewn under the structure. He was on his back, playing with one of his action figures. His expression made it clear that he wasn't actually interested in the toy and simply keeping his hands busy. It was a habit they had in common.

"Can I come in?" She asked. He nodded. Like before, he still refused to look at her. The world renowned scientist got on all fours and crawled under the blankets. Oh, if her co-workers could see her now. She was careful not to hit one of the supports and send everything crashing down onto them. When she reached the child, she stretched to lie next to him. The roof of the fort wasn't high enough for her to sit without having to severely slouch. She used the support from her elbow to prop her head.

Parker's hands stopped moving but he held onto the toy. Brennan took that as her cue. Gently, she pulled the plaything away from him and took one of his small hands in her free one. "Talk to me, buddy."

"Today when we went to the art room, Ms. Brooks told us we're gunnna make cards." He quietly spoke.

Brennan's eyebrows furrowed. "Cards?"

"For Mother's Day." His voice hitched when he told her.

Her heart felt like it clenched; she knew it couldn't literally do that. As more time passed, mentions of Rebecca became rare. In Booth's opinion, Parker had mostly returned to his normal self. But there were times, when they would see a mother and son in the park or a family moment in a movie, and he'd get a look on his face that made it obvious that he still missed her. The way Booth acted made it seem like he wished Parker would forget her. Brennan had told him that he could never do that. Not a day passed since she was fifteen that she didn't think of the mother that had abandoned her. "Come here." She insisted.

His defenses fell and he scooted so his back was against her chest. Brennan dropped his hand and wrapped her arm around his waist. She dropped a couple of kisses on his temple before asking him to continue.

"I asked if I could make somethin' else instead and then Katie asked me why and I told her I just didn't wanna do it. Trevor was sittin' at our table. He said I was lyin' and I didn't want to make one cuz I didn't have a mommy anymore." He paused before continuing. "I started to cry. Ms. Brooks got another teacher to walk me back to my class and Ms. Daniels let me sit in there with her til art was over. She gave me some left over cookies from snack time. The other kids came back and we learned more about numbers. Before it was time to go home, we went outside to play. Trevor came up and started callin' me a cry baby." Brennan felt his body tremble. He was trying to hold back tears. "He said my mommy didn't want me anymore because I cried too much."

Brennan held him tighter. She remembered how cruel kids could be growing up. She felt a surge of fury fly threw her. She finally understood why her father got so angry when she told him about being teased in school. "What happened to your head?"

"Trevor threw a rock at me when I was hiding under the slide."

This Trevor kid was done for. His mother was definitely getting a phone call or a visit from a pissed off FBI agent.

"Parker, everything that boy said was a lie. Do you remember what daddy told you when you came to live him?"

"He said mommy couldn't be a good mommy right now so she went away and left me with him." He recalled.

"Exactly. The only reason your mommy left was because she was feeling confused and upset with herself. Her decision didn't have anything to do with how you behaved."

"But why was she confused?"

She sighed. "I'm not sure, Parker, but I do know that she loves you very much. That's why she left you with daddy because she knew she couldn't be the best mommy she could be right now and you always deserve the best."

"Daddy's the best."

"That's right."

They were both silent for a minute. Brennan felt Parker's breath's even out as the moments passed. He broke it when he added, "You're the best too, Bones."

SIX MONTHS EARLIER

After a full day with Brennan, Parker still had an incredible amount of energy. He had slept in the car on the way from the Jeffersonian, the place he insisted on going, to the zoo, where Brennan suggested they go after an unsuccessful explanation of what cavemen were really like. A few minutes at 6 pm, the child ran through the doorway of Brennan's apartment. He immediately jumped into the arms of his awaiting father. Brennan looked at the two while she locked the door. Booth had called and informed her that he'd be waiting for them. She could see the fear in Booth's eyes. He was about to break his son's heart.

"Daddy, I had the funnest day ever with Bones!" Parker enthusiastically told him. "We went to the park and the Jeff'sonian and then the zoo! She even let me have a milkshake when we had lunch!"

Booth smiled at his little boy. "That's great, bub. Did you tell her thank you?"

"Several times actually." Brennan answered, discarding her jacket and purse. "He told me you make him always use his manners. He's very polite."

"I try." Booth shrugged.

"Are we gunna go back to your partment?" Parker asked. "I got some cool glow in the dark stickers from the zoo and I wanna put 'em in my room."

The father ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, we'll go home soon, pal. I just have something I have to talk to you about first."

Brennan felt awkward knowing what was about to happen. She predicted that the feeling would only intensify when Booth started to explain the situation to Parker. "If you two would excuse me, I'm going to go to my room."

Booth looked at her and gave a small nod. He knew she felt like she didn't need to be here. It may have been a little selfish to do this here, but he was comforted knowing that she was nearby. Plus, he didn't want Parker to walk into his home and see all of his belongings. He had to do this slowly.

She walked towards them and stood behind Parker. Her hands landed on his shoulders. The boy looked up at her. "Thanks for spending the day with me." She kissed his forehead.

"You're welcome. Can we do it again one day?" He questioned, still looking at her upside down.

Brennan forced a smile. "I'm sure we will." She locked eyes with Booth. His sad, brown orbs gave her a very uncomfortable feeling in her chest. Without another word, she left them and made her way to the master bedroom. Instead of changing clothes or doing anything to start her nightly routine, she stood on the inside of the doorway, out of sight. She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but she'd been curious all day as to how Booth would explain this.

It started with him asking Parker if he liked spending time with him. Booth asked him if he'd want to spend more time with him. Both questions went over smoothly, until the father asked son how he felt about living with him. The five year old immediately asked what his mother would think.

Brennan flinched.

Booth told him that it was what Rebecca wanted. He told him that she didn't feel that she could be a good mother so she went away for a while to figure things out. Parker was quiet for a several moments, until asking "How long will she be gone, daddy?"

"I don't know, bub."

Brennan heard Parker start to cry. Booth lost all sense of logic and started repeating an endless stream of reassuring words. He told him that as long as he had a choice he'd never leave him. He told him that she'd come back one day. He told him that he was strong and brave.

The conversation ended when Brennan heard the sound of quick footsteps coming in her direction. They were light, so they had to belong of the junior Booth. She froze, panicking that he was coming to find her. Instead, the footsteps stopped short of her room. There was a quick pause before a loud slam of the guest bedroom door echoed through the apartment. It was the last sound Parker made all night.

Too much fluff? I can never tell when it comes to Parker. Tell me what you think!