I was blown away by all those review last chapter! You guys have no idea how much work went into getting this one too you tonight. I really hope you like it!
Kimmy: My twin, My love, My AMAZING CO-AUTHOR, this is your story just as much as it is mine :D
Brennan flicked her pen across on the second draft of her manuscript, scoring the paper with several red marks. She sat Indian style on her couch, revising her novel on the first Saturday morning she'd voluntarily taken off from the lab in a very long time. Truthfully, the free time wasn't her wish. Booth told her that Parker had grown like a weed in the past few months and was in dire need of new clothes and shoes. The father insisted that she accompany them to the mall because, in his words, "You're a woman, Bones. You know how to shop." She argued that unlike most females, she detested spending hours walking around aimlessly in clothing stores, but he was relentless. So there she sat, passing time until Booth and Parker arrived at her apartment for what she assumed was going to be a very long day.
Minutes later, she heard the locking mechanism in her doorknob click. Parker sprinted inside ahead of his father. The boy ran directly over to Brennan, planting a hello kiss on her cheek before taking off towards her desk. Booth ambled into the living room after him, greeting her with a smile. Both adults turned their attention to the child who was focused on the large calendar displayed on Brennan's desk.
Under his breath Parker quietly counted, "Six…seven…eight…only eight days til my birthday!" He excitedly informed, spinning in a circle in the desk chair.
"Really? Are you sure it's not nine days?" Booth teased his son, stepping over to him. His brown eyes glanced down at the calendar and saw that the 28th had Parker Turns 6 written in big block letters, in three different colors that spilled onto the surrounding blocks.
"Nope. It's eight daddy! See…" He counted once more. "Eight!"
"Daddy's only joking, Parker." Brennan told him, approaching father and son.
"Yeah, bub. You wouldn't ever let us forget the big countdown." Booth ruffled his hair. "Or that scooter you want."
He scrunched up his nose. "I don't want that anymore. I want a bike! A green BMX one like the cool guys who ride on those dirt hills."
"That doesn't sound very safe." Brennan said, placing her book in its designated drawer. She noticed her partner's eyebrows shift upward, trying to sneak a peek at the papers. "You're not reading it until it's published, Booth."
"Come on, why not? I'm one of the main characters. I should get a little preview." He made a quick move to snatch the small key from her hand that matched the drawer's lock.
Brennan jerked her hand back, keeping it out of his grasp. "No, you can wait just like everyone else." She placed her hands on her hips. "And Andy is not based on you."
"Oh, really?" Booth dropped a hand on the desk, leaning towards her.
Parker looked upward, trapped between their bodies in the seat, grinning at his bickering parents. They were always fun when they did this.
"Yes." She boldly stated.
"So it's just a coincidence that Kathy and Andy's main conflict in your new book is whether or not they're ever going to have kids?"
"My publisher suggested that I move their relationship forward and I didn't want…" Her blue eyes suddenly widened. "You read it?"
Booth held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, I can't help that you left it on the coffee table the other night."
Before Brennan could warn him against ever sneaking into her books again, Parker stood up in the chair, popping up between them. "I changed my mind. I want rollerblades!"
The adults laughed at his outburst. "Nice change of subject, buddy." Booth praised.
"I want the kind with the wheels in the line, like those guys who fly on those ramps."
Brennan slid her hands under his arms. She picked him up off the spinning chair and planted him safely on the ground. "Scooters, bikes, and now rollerblades? I think the only present you need young man is a helmet."
(*)
The high pitched chime of the toy bell attached to the windowed front door of Party City clattered loudly as Booth pushed his partner through it. He was excited. This was the first time that he was in full control of Parker's birthday festivities. This, of course, meant that it had to be the "best party of all of forever". Booth could definitely pull that off. He scowled playfully though, Brennan was still moving far too slowly.
"You're acting very childlike!" Brennan laughed as she gave into the increasing pressure on the spot on her back that had become recognizable to her as his.
Her acquiescence to his pushing simply enabled Booth to slip deftly around her and grab her hand, pulling her in the direction of an aisle full of multi-colored party decorations. Yet, to Brennan's puzzlement, he did not stop there to browse. He instead guided her straight into an aisle that was labeled as "Boys Themes" by a notice hung above it.
"What was wrong with those products, Booth? They certainly seemed satisf…" Brennan's eyes widened. Her head buzzed with all of the anthropological impossibilities that she saw; cars adorned with overly expressive facial structures, toy cowboys and pig shaped banks engaging in conversation and a grossly unattractive ogre with the cockney accent that Brennan vaguely remembered disliking in an earlier film viewing with Parker.
"This is ridiculous, Booth" She stood sullenly watching her partner ungracefully dump an armful of paper napkins emblazoned with cartoon renderings of underwater creatures into their cart.
"SpongeBob Squarepants is one Parker's favorite TV shows, Bones." Booth stated emphatically as he ignored her and reached for the plates that matched the napkins.
"Yes, I am well aware of that, but the entire basis of this television series is completely inaccurate! Both sea sponges and starfish are barely capable of significant movement, let alone speaking or acting as humans do. And a squirrel would never be able to replicate its natural habitat…"
Booth dropped the package of plates into the basin of the cart and turned around, curling his fingers around the edge and leaning his face in towards Brennan's.
"Bones, it's a kid's show. Kids like when things talk when they're not supposed to, especially if they use that ability to sing catchy songs and make fart jokes." Booth paused and moved even closer so their foreheads almost touched. "He's going to be six years old in seven days. We can't expect him to be asking us to throw him a Meet the Press themed birthday party."
Brennan tried to envision Parker enjoying himself at the kind of party she had initially imagined and she found herself unable. Booth took her thoughtful silence as her accepting defeat on the matter even though the glint in her eye told him she was still trying to work it out in her mind.
"Hey, Bones, could you go out there and get a pack of balloons from that shelf?" Booth asked sweetly while pointing towards the entrance of the aisle. Brennan sighed heavily and shuffled her feet towards the selection of balloons that Booth had indicated. She saw the SpongeBob ones that she knew Booth had been talking about and wondered the probability of him noticing if she brought back plain blue ones instead.
"Mommy, Mommy! Look at me!" Brennan's head snapped up. The word 'Mommy' instantly grabbed her attention even though it was not spoken by Parker.
A little girl, seemingly around the same age as Parker, spun out of the aisle that was diagonal to Brennan. She had long brown hair topped with a fake silver tiara and a purple polka-dotted dress and she was twirling around with her arms spread out to her sides. Her hair and the skirt of her dress fanned out simultaneously and Brennan smiled at the joyful giggles that emanated from her little lungs. The little girl looked up and cried to her mother once again.
"I look like a princess! Just like the ones that are gonna be on my cake!"
Brennan raised her eyebrows. Well, that's not that bad. At least princesses are real, she thought. Brennan knew she should bring the balloons back to Booth, but she couldn't stop watching the little pretend princess in front of her.
There was something mesmerizing about her. Something she couldn't place. That was until she looked closer. The little girl hair was a deep brown, almost chocolate like, and her eyes were such a light shade of blue she would have considered them gray if she didn't have the exact same color.
Then it hit her. The little girl looked just like she could have belonged to her and Booth. Just like if they had a baby together.
First her editor's suggestion, then Booth's reaction to the idea of Kathy and Andy having a baby, and now this little girl, Brennan didn't believe in 'signs,' but she had to admit that the concept of having her own child had proved to be a theme in her mind the past few days.
To be honest, Brennan wasn't as opposed to the idea as she thought she would have been when confronted with it. For so long she was convinced that her life was complete as it was. She had her work and she had her friends, even if there were only a few. She had never viewed the stereotypical and anthropologically irrational life of a marriage and children as something that would fulfill her.
Yet again, ever since she took on the role of mother in Parker's life her opinions on a lot of things had changed.
Brennan closed her eyes and shook her head, forcing herself to stop looking at, and thinking about, the little girl in front of her. She had to stop dwelling on this. She could already feel an oncoming headache. So she turned around and walked back to Booth, who was still filling the cart with SpongeBob favors and decorations.
As she walked up to him, Brennan looked up with a look that Booth could only describe as puppy-dog eyes. He smiled, knowing that she had no idea what they were, let alone that she was able to give them. He was curious though. He knew she had been observing something, as her eyes had narrowed in the way that they did when she studied a skeleton, but he honestly couldn't place what it could've been that she was looking at. Booth never got the chance to ask though, for Brennan continued her earlier argument.
"I just don't think we should knowingly allow the television industry to convince Parker that a crab can possess the inherit traits that make us human beings…or manage a fast food eating establishment." She said in a small, pleading voice.
Booth laughed at her literal description of Mr. Krabs as he closed the remaining floor space between them. He lifted his hands and placed them on her arms, rubbing soothingly. He loved the fact that she wanted to be a good mother.
"Now, I didn't hear you saying that to Parker when you let him convince you to watch an entire hour of it the one Saturday and then continuing to explain all of the things that SpongeBob could make by blowing bubbles throughout dinner."
Brennan sighed and stared up at Booth's amused face from beneath her eyelashes. "I couldn't help it. You should have seen how bright his eyes were when he begged me to watch with him. I've come to the conclusion that it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to deny him of something he wants when he is excited." She paused, a tiny grin appearing in the corner of her lips. "Or when he smiles."
Booth felt like he had the wind knocked out of him. No matter how many times he saw Brennan's affection for Parker, no matter how many times he saw her hold him, or kiss him goodnight, or call him Baby, Booth could not get used to the incredibly joyful feeling that crashed over him because of it. It made him feel like he was floating on air.
It wasn't the only thing that made him feel that way though.
"Bones, you amaze me."
Brennan's eyes fluttered shut for a millisecond as she took in what he said. She knew it wasn't physically possible, but she felt as if his words had warmed her. As her eyes flickered back open, their grayish blue stared into his brown closer then she remembered him being before. He was leaning in towards her and for once instead of panicking at that prospect in general, she merely worried about their being in a store.
"Booth, stop." She muttered, smirking at him. "Not in Party City."
Booth moved his face away and reached for the handle of the cart, seemingly heading in the direction of a row of party hats behind her. Brennan giggled imagining Parker's face half covered by a hat with a humanized sea-creature on it. Suddenly, she felt a tapping on her shoulder and when she turned to face it, Booth's warm lips pressed firmly against her own.
The contact ended as quickly as it began and Booth was carefully slipping the elastic string of one of the SpongeBob hats underneath Brennan's chin before she could even react. Instead of feeling irritated that Booth had kissed against her will or thinking about what it would be like to have a child of her own, she simply looked at the matching hat upon his head and listened to him ask, How cute are these? and started to laugh.
(*)
No matter how many times that Booth has been to what he often facetiously called 'Hodgins Manor', he could never get accustomed to its magnitude. It was just too big. No one needed a house that big. His garage alone was about the size of Booth's apartment.
"I still think that a moat and a drawbridge would be better protection for a castle than a password-protected gate…" He muttered as he impatiently tapped his fingers on the keypad attached the gate at the entranceway of Hodgins' property. It made a loud clicking noise and slowly opened away from the black SUV.
"Hodgins doesn't live in a castle, Booth. Castles are by definition fortified structures, predominantly built in the Middle Ages in Europe that usually served as the residence of a lord or a nobleman of which Hodgins is neither. They also typically had Gothically styled towers and…"
"It's huge, Bones. Castles are huge."
Rolling her blue eyes, she replied, "Believe whatever you want, Booth, but don't mention that castle reference to Hodgins. He's very temperamental when it comes to other's feelings about him being-"
"Richer than the king of England?"
"Wealthy." She corrected, smirking at the self-satisfied smile on his face. "And Elizabeth II has been the reigning queen of England for 58 years. There is no king."
It took almost a full two minutes for the SUV to zip up the half mile long driveway leading to the front door of the monstrous home. Booth turned off the car and jogged to the passenger side quickly making it in just enough time to open the door for Brennan before she could do it herself.
"I'm capable of letting myself out of a car, Booth." She indignantly told him, refusing to take his outstretched hand. Although their relationship had grown to include more physical gestures lately, she wasn't a damsel in distress.
"I know that, but can't you humor me just this once?" He begged, crooking two fingers of his outstretched palm towards himself, beckoning her. Brennan relented and laced their fingers. "Thatta girl." He applauded.
The two climbed the stone stairs leading up to Hodgins's front door hand in hand. Booth used his other to press the doorbell. A deep ringing echoed throughout the house. "Sounds a damn cathedral bell." He muttered under his breath. Brennan gave his hand a forceful tug. "Alright, alright. I'll behave."
Moments later one of the towering double doors opened, revealing a smiling Angela. "Hey you two." She greeted before her deep brown eyes darted downward to their hands. Her smile turned impish. "Good night?" The artist stepped aside, allowing them to step into the grand foyer.
"It was very successful. We bought an abundance of supplies, but Booth said it was all necessary." Brennan informed, admiring the large oil painting hanging on the wall besides the right side of the double staircase. "Ange, did you paint this?"
The brunette nodded proudly. "Finished it last week."
"It's beautiful." She complimented.
"Thanks, sweetie. I started another one this morning. I've just been very…inspired lately." She said with a breathy sigh.
Brennan smiled at her friend, remembering a conversation they when she first moved in with Hodgins about how there was nothing like being in love to boost her creativity. "I know what you mean." She had finished editing her novel just yesterday.
The artist's eyebrows rose. She crossed her arms, leaning back slightly. "Really?"
"Okay, enough of that girly talking in code thing. Where's my boy?" Booth interjected.
"They're in the lounge. Come on." Angela tilted her head, silently telling them to follow her.
The three adults walked through the lower level of the mansion. Brennan carefully watched Booth out of the corner of her eyes. She could sense every quip that was desperate to come through his lips, so she kept her phalanges tight around his.
As they approached the back of the house, noises of grunting, crushing, and chimes flooded their ears.
They pushed the door open to find Hodgins and Parker standing a few feet from the largest television Booth had ever seen outside of an electronics store, holding video game controllers. The father gulped at the monstrosity.
"Watch out or else the evil troll is gunna get you! We gotta get the magic coin! Get it! Get it!" Parker yelled out over the surround sound speakers.
Hodgins thumbs flew over the colorful buttons on the controller. Second later trumpets blared from the game and the screen flashed that they had moved up a level. "Awesome job, little dude!"
"Kings of the Xbox!" Parker cheered, high fiving the man.
"Well I'd hate to interrupt your highness, but if we don't get moving soon, we're going to get stuck in traffic." Booth spoke, announcing his and Brennan's presence to the child.
Parker spun around and launched himself at his father. Booth grunted when his little body slammed into his, but it didn't stop him from picking him up and hanging him upside down over his shoulder. The boy bent his elbows on his father's back, propping himself up to see Brennan standing behind them. "Hi!" He greeted, laughing at his current position.
Brennan beamed at him. "Hi." She said back, taking his little face between both of her hands and planting a kiss on his nose. She stepped back when he started to push himself up more to talk right in Booth's ear.
"Daddy, you gotta go see Dr. Jack's new car. It looks just like the batmobile!"
Booth raised his eyebrows at Hodgins. "Batmobile?" He asked, chuckling.
"You have your fantasies. I have mine." Hodgins brushed off with a straight-faced expression. "Want to check it out?"
Booth weighed his options: Being stuck in rush hour traffic or batmobile. "Can I sit in it?" He posed, narrowing his eyes.
Hodgins met his glare. "We'll talk."
Booth turned around, with his five year old still hanging over his shoulder. "We'll be over the river and through the woods."
"On the other side of the tennis courts across from the pond." Hodgins corrected from the doorway. "Now come on before I change my mind."
Brennan gave him a look, making it obvious she didn't appreciate the humor. Booth just flashed her his charm smile before walking off after the homeowner. Before they exited the TV room, Parker started to squirm.
"Hold on daddy." He wiggled down from Booth's shoulder and ran back over to Brennan. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Next time don't let work take so long. I missed you, mommy." He whispered against her shirt. Before she could reply, he took off after his father to check out the new vehicle.
Brennan kept her eye on her son until he was out of sight. She glanced at her best friend to find her jaw hanging open. "Ange, what's wrong?"
The artist laughed once. "You tell me mommy."
Brennan bit her lip. She hadn't discussed Parker's new term for her with anyone but Booth. Parker wasn't ready for anyone else to know and she became extremely uncomfortable knowing that his wishes weren't going to be carried out. "You heard him?"
"Yes, I heard him." Angela grabbed her forearm and dragged her to sit on the long, leather couch. The two relaxed into the cushions, facing each other. "When did he start calling you that?"
"When we went on that trip to Illinois a few weeks ago." She replied, liking the directness of Angela's questions.
"And you're okay with it?"
Brennan straightened her spine, slightly moving away from her friend. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"He's calling you mommy." Angela declared in a very clear tone. When Brennan didn't show any sign of responding, she pushed onward. "Brennan, he considers you his mother now."
"I know, Angela. We've discussed it. I know exactly how he feels."
"And how do you feel?"
Brennan's face pinched in confusion. "In general or…"
Angela sighed. She had truly mastered patience being Temperance Brennan's best friend. "About him calling you mommy."
The anthropologist was quiet for a moment, gathering her thoughts about the past weeks. At some points she had felt overwhelmed. At others she felt scared beyond belief. There was only one word to summarize her emotions about the way her relationship with Parker made her feel however. "Good, Ange. It makes me feel better than I ever have. It's like there was a piece of me missing that I didn't even know about, but when I'm with Parker I feel whole."
Angela smiled warmly at Brennan. "That's great, sweetie."
"Your tone isn't very convincing."
"Since when do you pick up on tone?" The small joke was lost on the scientist, so Angela decided be completely candid. "I'm just worried."
Brennan stiffened. "You don't think I'll be a good mother?"
"No, you'll be an amazing mother. I'm worried about you, sweetie. Being his mother isn't a temporary thing."
Brennan scowled. Why do all these people keep telling her these things like she didn't know? Like she hadn't considered them? Like she didn't lie awake at night thinking about how everything she'd do for the rest of her life would affect him? "I know that!"
"Bren, please don't get mad at me. I'm just looking out for you. What are you going to do if Rebecca comes back?"
"She won't!" Brennan stood up from the couch. "She's been gone for over half a year, Angela. She doesn't get to just come back and pretend like everything is the same! He's is my son now. That won't change."
"Alright, sweetie. I get it." Angela stood up and walked over to her friend. She offered her a half smile. "Does it help if I say I'm happy for you?"
Brennan took a calming breath and nodded. "Yes. It does." She told her as they moved in to embrace each other.
"On a happier note, how's the birthday planning coming?" Angela asked as they pulled apart.
"I've learned that it's not extremely difficult to plan a child's party. Booth says that all they need is ice cream and cake to have a good time, although there is still the issue of where it will be held. Neither of our apartments is big enough to entertain 15 children." Brennan informed her about the argument she and Booth had been having for days now.
"Have it here." Angela offered without second thought. "Hodgins can even show the kids the batmoible." She laughed.
"Are you sure, Ange?" Brennan was weary, knowing how secret Hodgins liked to keep his residence. He didn't seem like the type of man to host any kind of party, let alone one with 6 year olds.
"Of course. We love the little guy too. It'll be one of our birthday presents to him." The two women heard footsteps coming from the hallway signaling the boy's return. "This is a great thing, sweetie, you being his mother."
The corners of Brennan's mouth turned upward. "It is."
Angela gave her friend one more comforting hug. She knew it was going to come to this all along.
THREE MONTHS EARLIER
The clicking sound of high heels on the Jeffersonian floor matched the pace of the second hand on the small gold watch that Hodgins had bought for Angela. It was almost time to leave. She just finished a facial reconstruction for the latest skeleton that Brennan and Booth came back with; a twentysomething woman that had been found curled up inside of cabinet beneath a cash register at a confinement store.
Thank god it was the weekend. She needed some good R&R…or at least a nice Cosmo and a couple of good workouts in the bedroom. All that was left was checking in with Cam, grabbing her bag and getting the hell out of there.
Angela spun the long string of blue sea glass stones that hung upon her neck around her long fingers as she walked past her best friend's office on her way to find Cam. Yet something stopped her in her tracks. She sniffed and as soon as she figured out what it was that she had smelled she grinned and turned into Brennan's office.
"I smell childhood." Angela laughed as she crossed the threshold of the room, seeing a familiar little blonde boy sitting in her best friend's lap making shapes out of Play-Doh. "Hey, kiddo, what are you guys making?"
"Hi, Angela! It's a –"
"Actually, play-doh's aroma derives directly from the reaction of the combination of wheat flour, salt and the petroleum and borax additive that give the toy its feel and shaping abilities." Brennan interjected.
"Sweetie, just stop analyzing everything. Enjoy the feel of creation in your fingers and let the boy tell me what he's making." Angela strode over to the desk that was serving as Parker's molding table and began to look at what he had created.
"It's a leg bone! A fenur…a femil…" Parker's eyes beamed with excitement as he watched the artist study his formation.
"A femur, Parker, and it is very good." Brennan praised him, gently brushing her nose in his hair. "Except that it's blue, of course." Both Parker and Brennan began to laugh simultaneously and Angela smirked, pleased that she could witness this moment of happiness.
Parker turned to look at Brennan but instead of focusin on her, his face became very serious and he pointed towards the clock behind her.
"What time is it?" He yelped, unable to read what the hands of the clock were trying to tell him. Brennan spun her head around and squinted her eyes a little.
"It's quarter after five, is everything okay?" She replied to Parker's inquiry, slightly worried at his panic.
"It's time to feed the bugs!" Parker gleefully cried as he jumped from Brennan's lap, leaving his play-doh femur discarded, and ran straight to Hodgins' station in the inner ring of the lab.
As soon as Parker had fled the office, Angela made her way to Brennan's couch and leaned against the plush, black arm. She watched her best friend's eyes as they followed the giggling boy through the lab.
"You are so, totally wrapped around his finger."
Brennan avoided Angela's eyes and continued to scribble on the paperwork in front of her. "I don't know what you mean. It is physically impossible for a human…"
Angela wasn't going to put up with this. Brennan was falling in love with this boy already, whether she knew it or not, and like always the clueing in of Temperance Brennan was left to her.
"Oh, don't give me your anthropological mumbo-jumbo. You know what I'm saying. I see the way you look at him. That tiny little ball of Booth mesmerizes you almost as much as the not so tiny one does. And that's saying something."
"Angela. I admit that I find Parker to be quite endearing and that I enjoy the time that I have begun to spend with him over the past months but I certainly would not use the word 'mesmerized' to describe my feelings towards him." Brennan chose to ignore Angela's comment about the bigger Booth and focus on the dispute at hand.
"You are becoming his mother, Bren. That is a huge deal. Finding him endearing and enjoying your time together isn't even the beginning. He's learning how to build his world with you in it. You know how much milk to put in his Mac and Cheese to make it taste good and you know the super-hero name he goes by when he plays pretend. You tuck him in and read him bed-time stories when his Daddy isn't there. You pick him up from school and ask him what he learned that day. But he isn't the only one who is rearranging their world. I can tell. You are opening your heart to him; a little more every day. With every smile and every mispronounced word and every little thing he accomplishes that boy is going to turn your world upside down. You just have to be ready for it or else both of you are going to hurt."
"You're wrong, Angela. I am completely in control of my emotions. I am not his mother. Rebecca is. All I am doing is assisting Booth in a time of need." She stated decidedly.
Angela knew by the tone in her voice that it was virtually pointless for her to argue. Brennan was going to think what she wanted to no matter how hard Angela tried to show her otherwise. All she could do was hope that when it finally did hit her, that Brennan would accept it and not run.
"Whatever, Sweetie." Angela stood up and walked towards the door. "I was just on my way out for the weekend and I'm not in the mood to argue with you about this. Call me tomorrow? Maybe we can grab lunch on Sunday."
Brennan replied immediately, as if she were running on auto-pilot. "I can't. I'm accompanying Parker and Booth to the park on Sunday."
"Oh, okay. Well I'll see you Monday then!" Angela waved her hand through the air as she exited Brennan's office. Just helping Booth, my ass, she thought finally before focusing her attentions on the fantastic weekend ahead of her.
Back in the office, Brennan turned to watch Hodgins lifting Parker by the waist so that he was high enough in the air to drop something into the large tank of insects that was kept in the Jeffersonian for research. She could see the excitement on his small face from he desk and it made her stomach feel fluttery. Brennan sighed, placing her elbow on top of her desk and leaning her soft cheek against her fist. It was in that moment that she whispered the words that she had desperately wanted to say when her best friend was there.
"You're right, Angela."
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