Do I have to say it again? You guys are rockstars. Seriously. I'm sending you all ties to wer around your heads. Thanks so much for the reviews and alerts! I'm glad you all have no limit on Parker fluff :) I'll take it into account.

This is the longest chapter so far. Enjoy!

"Simon says, spin in a circle!" Russ Brennan called out. Three little bodies began started to turn in place. "Simon says, stand still!" They slowed to a wobbly stop. Laughing, he shouted, "Simon says put one foot in the air!" He laughed as they put their hands out at their sides to steady themselves. "Ok, now put it back down."

The six year old fell for the trick. "Hayley, you're out honey." Russ told her.

She gasped when she realized what she did. "That's not fair! You fooled me."

"He's supposed to do that. You're not supposed to fall for it. You're out." Emma told her younger sister, while she focused on not falling over.

"Fine!" She stomped over to the porch and plopped down on the step. Her arms crossed over her chest. She practically stared daggers at Emma. Lately, the two had been contending at everything and stayed at each other's throats, so say Russ.

Booth and Brennan smiled at her dramatics. For the past hour, the two of them had sat on the swing on the back porch of Russ and Amy's house, watching Brennan's brother entertain his step-daughters and Parker.

Yesterday evening, Booth had voiced to Brennan about how he wished he could take his son away from the city this weekend so he wouldn't have any reminders of Mother's day. To his surprise, she arranged a spontaneous visit to her brother's home in Moorehead City.

She informed him that Russ was watching the girls while Amy visited her elderly mother for the holiday. It was unfortunate that Hayley and Emma would miss out on being with their mom that Sunday, but Brennan saw it as an opportunity for Parker to spend time with two children his age who were smart enough not to ask family based questions. The last time Russ visited, he and Brennan facilitated a meeting between the three children. They all got along very well. By the end of the day, the two sisters were arguing over which one of them would get to marry Parker when they grew up. His father got a kick out of that. She remembered him whispering to Parker something like, "Brennan girls can't resist Booth men."

She didn't comment on the remark.

"I never understood the point of this game. It's all about establishing who is better at following directions and children usually enjoy themselves more when they break rules." Brennan whispered to Booth to make sure her niece wouldn't hear.

"Kids don't realize that the point is about following rules, Bones. They just see it as a game they want to win." He quietly spoke back.

"While I understand the importance of instilling a drive to compete in children, I think their energy could be better served playing a game where the hardest thing to do isn't balance on one foot. They should be learning something."

Booth just grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "They are learning, Bones. They're learning that they love playing with each other."

Brennan returned his smile. Her head slowly fell onto his shoulder. Booth hid his smirk when he felt the sensation. He knew if he asked she would blame her clinginess on being tired from the drive. He knew better. They watched silently for a few more minutes until Parker accidently followed one of Russ's commands he wasn't supposed to. "I won! I won!" Emma chanted, doing a victory dance.

"Don't rub it in. Just be happy." Russ lectured "You did good, big guy." He told Parker and gave him a high five.

"Thanks Russ. Can we play again after dinner?" The boy requested.

"We'll see."

Russ and the two kids walked from the yard onto the porch. Hayley had finally stopped pouting. She immediately asked Parker to come play Candyland with her. He agreed and she took off into the house to set it up. Her sister followed, intent on not letting Hayley spend any time alone with her boyfriend.

Parker jumped onto the porch swing, wiggling himself in between his father and Brennan. "Didn't I do good?"

"You did great, bub." Booth congratulated, before leaning closer to him to whisper, "But I saw what you did."

Brennan saw the mischievous look on the faces of both father and son. Her curiosity instantly peaked. "What did he do?"

"He let Emma win." Booth told her in a hushed voice.

Brennan's jaw slightly dropped. "Parker Booth, how many times have I told you that you don't have to let girls win anything?" She dug her fingers into his sides eliciting several hearty laughs from him.

"I…don't…know!" He barely got the words out in between fits of giggles.

"You don't know?" She probed without relinquishing her hold on him. Her eyes caught Booth's. The brown irises shined with his happiness as he watched the two of them interact.

"I'm sorry, Bones! But Hayley…she looked so sad…all by herself." Once he spoke, Brennan stopped.

She gazed down at him, amazed that such selflessness existed in such a young child. "That's why you let Emma win?"

"Uh-huh, why else would I?" He inquired, looking up at her.

"Because you're just a big flirt like your old man." Booth proudly spoke for him.

"Daddy! Yuck!" Parker made a face in disgust. "I don't like them. They like me."

"That'll happen a lot, pal."

"Booth!" Brennan scolded. He gave her that 'What do you want from me; I'm only speaking the truth' look. She shook her head. "Parker, go find Hayley." She insisted.

"Yeah, you never keep the ladies waiting."

Parker just laughed and bolted through the open, sliding glass door that led to the dining room.

"Booth, if you keep making jokes like that he's not going to grow up with a proper opinion of women." Brennan sincerely voiced her concerns.

"A few jokes won't do any long term damage. He's only five. He knows he's supposed to respect everyone, women included." She didn't look convinced. "Come on, Bones, you know he's a good boy. He's not going to grow up thinking that the ladies should fall at his feet."

Brennan couldn't deny that. Everyone who had spent any reasonable time around Parker couldn't help but tell her how sweet-tempered he was. The squints at the lab, his teacher, and even random people in the public he'd hold doors open for just gushed over him. "Fine, but in ten years when he's a hormonal teenager with a loyal following of girls, you're going to deal with it, not me."

Booth gaped at her. There was no way she'd just realized what she said. 10 years? She planned on still being a part of Parker's life for 10 years? That was the first she'd ever mentioned about making their arrangement permanent. Sure, in a few heart to heart conversations Brennan had told him that she'd help him out as long as he needed, but never had she put a definite time interval on it. Plus, 10 years was a damn long time.

"What?" She finally asked noticing his strange expression.

The corner of his lips turned upwards. "Nothing, Bones." Before she could rebut his statement, he stood up from the swing. "Let's go help Russ tame the wild ones." He grabbed her hands and pulled her up. She laughed and followed him inside without letting go.

Russ watched as his sister came inside with her FBI partner. Both of their hands were clasped, making it awkward to walk, so she practically stumbled in behind him. He undetectably shook his head. He hadn't seen that look on her face in decades, not since she found out some boy she had a crush on was her Secret Santa. Russ knew this was far more serious though, whatever 'this' was. He didn't know. He didn't think they knew, but it was definitely there.

Russ looked over at Parker who had just given the blue playing piece to Hayley, even though he called it a few seconds ago. He wished for the boy's sake that what was going on between Tempe and Booth would last. He couldn't believe how hesitant he was so support her decision of stepping in to help Booth raise him.

FIVE MONTHS EARLIER

Russ knocked on the door of his sister's expensive apartment. Sometimes, he'd bet that it had cost more than he and Amy's entire house. Although some people might think a small part of him was jealous out of instinctual sibling rivalry, he couldn't be more proud of Tempe. She had done what very few in the world could. She deserved every dollar and bit of recognition she received. When there was no response, he looked down at the watch on his wrist. The girls had given it to him for his birthday. He wasn't early for their scheduled lunch and his sister wasn't one of those women to take hours to primp for anything. He knocked again. "Marco!" He called.

"Polo!" The muffled reply came from behind the door. He took it as his cue and used the emergency key he had to enter her home.

Once the door shut behind him, he locked it and yelled, "Tempe, you here?"

"I'll be right out, Russ. Help yourself to something to drink." Her voice sounded from the back of the apartment.

He figured that she had just left work and needed time to wash away the smell of decomposed corpses and sterile lab equipment. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and walked leisurely around the living room while sipping it. Five minutes later, he finally heard footsteps.

His dark eyes widened as he watched his sister approach him with a little boy perched on her hip. On top of his head was a green children's towel with an attached hood that was made to resemble a frog. The curly hair that peaked out from underneath it was damp. He was only wearing a pair of boy's pajama pants decked out with police cars and fire trucks. Tempe's hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. She was dressed casually in jeans and a fitted, dark purple tee shirt.

The boy had his arms wrapped around her neck. Tempe's hand was running soothingly up and down his calf that hung in front of her abdomen. The two looked very comfortable with each other. Russ was beyond confused.

"I'm sorry I'm running late, Russ. We were on our way out, but he got a hold of the chocolate syrup and I had to give him a bath before I brought him anywhere." She apologized. "Just give me ten more minutes and we can go to lunch."

The older Brennan was dumbstruck. For as long as she'd been able to voice her opinion, Tempe had never wanted kids and here she was standing in front of him, talking about chocolate and baths. "No problem, but whose is he because unless you've been keeping a pretty big secret, I'm pretty sure he's not yours."

Brennan looked at him strangely. "Russ, this is Parker. Booth's son." Why would he think Parker was hers? He knew she'd never given birth. Parker didn't even resemble her.

He nodded his head in understanding. That explained a lot. "Oh, okay. Nice to meet you big guy." He smiled kindly at Parker who was currently hiding as much of himself as he could from the strange man in front of him.

"He's shy." Brennan told Russ. In the past month, she had observed on several occasions that Parker acted extremely introverted around people he didn't know. "Parker, this is my brother, Russ. Can you say hello?" She asked while using a tone of voice he found comfort in.

The five year old looked up and pushed the towel away from his eyes. He smiled a small smile and waved his little hand. "Hi."

Brennan gave Russ a look asking for him to forgive his bashfulness. "I have to get him dressed. Is it okay if we swing by Angela's to drop him off before we go to the restaurant?"

"Yeah there's no need to rush. Are you sure you don't want to bring him along though?" He didn't know why his sister was taking care of Parker, but he could sympathize with any adult in charge of a five year old. He understood the stress of getting a child to a babysitter.

"He'd just be bored. Besides, she promised him a cooking lesson on homemade pizza and he can't wait to get dirty all over again." Brennan smiled as she spoke. Her words elicited a giggle from Parker. "We'll be right back." They both disappeared in the back of the apartment once again.

The siblings sat at a corner table in the best restaurant Russ could afford. Brennan had argued about her paying at least her share but she eventually relented when he played his 'what kind of world are we living in when a brother can't buy his little sister lunch?' card. They had just finished ordering and the normal topics of discussion, work, their father, Amy and the girls, had already been touched on since they'd left Parker with Angela. Russ couldn't control his curiosity about the boy any longer. "So, Tempe, explain this whole taking care of Booth's kid situation to me."

She took a sip from her sugarless iced tea before saying, "Booth had to go to a work retreat this weekend to help train new FBI agents, so I'm looking after Parker."

"Why isn't he with his mom? I thought he lived with her." Russ inquired.

Brenna grimaced. "He lives with Booth now."

"Did something happen?"

"It's not my place to tell anyone, but I assume it's alright since we're blood related. Parker's mother abandoned him."

The four words were like acid from her lips. Anytime the 'A' word came up in conversation between the two the atmosphere became increasingly tense. "She just left him on her own free will?" Russ wasn't sure if there were circumstances similar to their parents in this case. He assumed a criminal as a mother and an FBI agent as a father wouldn't do any kid good.

"She left Parker with his nanny approximately one month ago along with a letter explaining to Booth that she had given up enough of her life to take care of him and that it was time she took care of herself." Brennan felt her jaw stiffen. Russ leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. The poor kid didn't deserve that. During the ten minutes car ride to Angela's he had opened up and had about a million questions when Brennan let it slip that her brother sometimes worked at carnivals. "Booth was very angry. He still hasn't told most people."

"I can understand that." He wasn't very forthcoming about how he wasn't Hayley and Emma's real father and how the low life had run off on Amy when Hayley was still in the womb. "So, you babysit when Booth's arresting people?" He still wanted to know how Tempe was involved.

"The term babysit implies that I'm paid for watching Parker which I am not."

Russ thought back to the scene in her apartment. "How often do you watch him?"

"Daily or weekly?"

"You see him every day?" He asked incredulously.

"No. I'd say on average 3-5 times a week depending on mine and Booth's work schedule. Most of our time is shared when I pick him up from school and bring him to the lab until Booth gets off. Sometimes if a case runs late, he'll come home with me and Booth will pick him up there, or he'll stay the night if it gets too late."

Russ was stunned. "Look, Tempe, I'm really proud that you're doing this for them, but I don't think you know what you're getting into."

Brennan sat back in the restaurant chair. She crossed her arms across her chest. She didn't like anyone implying that she didn't know something. "I know perfectly well what I'm doing Russ."

"Parker's going to get attached and so will you. Take it from someone with experience. It's really hard to step in to be someone's parent."

"I'm not trying to parent him." She argued.

"Looking after a kid doesn't include giving baths and tucking in at night."

Brennan couldn't believe that he ws saying this. Who was he to tell her not to care for someone else's child? "What are you saying Russ that I shouldn't help Booth? He's my partner. It's what we do."

"You should help him. I told you it's a good thing what you're doing." He paused. "Just don't be surprised when you realize how quickly you become one of the most important people in Parker's life."

I've never written Brennan/Russ scenes. It was fun. Was it good for you?