Title: A Time to Grow

Author: Megan Faye

Rated: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones.

Note: Star Trek is referenced in this chapter. A lot. Sry. I'm a geek! Also, I am an 11-week pregnant geek, (married and 27, so none of my younger readers get any ideas!) so chapters may come sporatically. It has been a very rough 11 weeks so far. (i will never be doing this again, holy crap.) Now that Arby's has been properly consumed (inhaled in one or two bites) I'm feeling much happier! On with the Fanfic!

Brennan sipped her water while she waited for the social worker. Max and Hodgins were with Parker to get his X-rays done. Cam and Angela sat on either side of her, certain that it would be all right.

"Excuse me, Dr. Brennan," the social worker said. Brennan stood up and shook her hand. "I'm Kristi Sage, your new social worker."

"I'm sorry to have to meet you here. I'd rather have it be under better circumstances."

"I understand. Can you explain how Porter was injured?"

"Parker. We were at my lab, with roughly 35 people playing laser tag, testing out one of my assistant's new experiments, and he jumped to take a hit for my father. He landed on the tile floors knee first."

"There were 35 witnesses."

"Yes," Brennan said, as calmly as she could.

"So he was well-supervised," she said, writing down the information as it was given. "Accidents happen, Dr. Brennan. But I'm more interested in him testing lab experiments."

"Dr. Hodgins is working on a new laser sensor to help lab security. It will be able to be put in lab coats, so a computer grid within the Jeffersonian will be able to detect where anyone is at any given time. He put them in sweat shirts, and linked them to laser pointers, which were turned into little toy guns for laser tag for an afternoon. It was just a fun little experiment that we all took part in. The results will be fascinating."

"Sounds like a fun afternoon, that just went wrong." Brennan nodded slowly. "I've read your file, Dr. Brennan. I know that you went through hell in your foster homes. I can see that Parker is well cared for, loved, and in capable hands. I have to document this. His Uncle Jared is considering filing for custody-"

"What! He can't-"

"I was expressed in Agent Booth's paperwork that Jared get visitation, at your discretion. He made it clear that Jared was not to have custody of Parker. But if he files, and there is valid reason, it could be explored." Brennan sat down, tears filling her eyes.

"You can't take away my son."

"No one is saying that they want to, Sweetie," Angela soothed.

"I want to file for adoption. When will that be possible?"

"Its possible as of Monday morning." Brennan nodded. She would keep her family together.

"I'll never get used to seeing a Booth in a hospital bed," Brennan said as she entered the hospital room. The doctor had shown her the x-rays. It was a bad break to his fibula, right below the knee-cap Sports, military, and police officer would not be in his career choices. He was lucky; he missed his knee-cap completely.

"He's a little high," Max informed his daughter with a little smile. She rolled her eyes. "He did great. They're going to put a brace on for now, and then a cast in a couple of days."

"Can I talk to you two about something?"

"Sure Tempe," Parker said, staring at the wall off to the side of Brennan, with a goofy smile.

"Since I am just your foster mother, they can take you away if they think you are in danger."

"They can try," Max said. Brennan put her hand up to stop him from going further.

"Parker," she said sitting on his bed. "I'd like to adopt you. Make it official, that you are my son, and that you are my family."

"Will I change my name, or will you change yours?" he asked, still staring randomly.

"Why would I change mine?"

"Baby Booth. I'm Booth. You should be a Booth, too."

"I was going to give the baby the middle name Booth." Parker nodded and yawned.

"Parker Booth Brennan," he mumbled and closed his eyes.

"Well, Grandpa," she said to her dad, who just grinned. "I'm starving, and Angela said she would hang out with Parker while you and I grab something from the cafeteria."

"Okay." Max stood up. "First, what happened? In foster care, what happened?"

"Dad-"

"Temperance, I'm not even going to begin to joke around, young lady-"

"I broke a dish. The water was hot, and it was slippery, from the soap. I was locked in the trunk of a car for two days. No food. No water. No bathroom. It was so...hot in there. It was an accident and I was so scared. I hated you so much for that. I almost died in that trunk. Another few hours, and I would have been dead."

"Tempe-"

"No." She looked so angry at him. "They would hit me for tripping and scraping my knees, because I was too old for such nonsense." She rolled up her sleeve. "Cigarette burn, for talking back. I would rather have died with you and mom than to live through that hell. Now I have to deal with people thinking that I did that to Parker," she said. her voice catching. "Why didn't you come back for us? You could have come back one night and...and kidnapped me. Russ took off, Max. He left me just like you did. I may have had a "family," take me in, but each one was worse than the previous. The day I turned 18, I was completely alone, in high school, and homeless. Parker will never know how that feels, and I will make damn sure of that."

The cast was on by Halloween, and Parker was able to maneuver well enough to go to the party. Brennan had his costume altered to fit over is cast without causing pain.

The party had been fantastic. It looked like a Star Trek convention. There were at least 6 fully dressed Borg, and they stayed in a group. Hodgins was a Captain, and Angela went as an Orian Slave Girl. Sweets even dressed up, as Wesley Crusher. Several people, who were dresed as crew of the Enterprise D took great joy in saying "Shut up, Wesley."

The real fun came when Brennan showed off her costume. She was a Trill. Angela had painted all of the spots on, and they played the baby bump off as the Trill symbiont.

However all parties must come to an end. Monday was going to be Parker's first day back at school since he broke his leg almost a week ago. He was worried he'd be so far behind, but Chase had brought all of his class and homework. The teachers were going a little easy on him, excusing the homework as long as the classwork was done well.

As soon as Max picked him up for school, Brennan began to fill out the many pages of paper work. As she was a foster parent, and had been approved for adoption with Russ's kids, it wouldn't be as hard as it could be. The home checks were done, as were the paper work leading up to filing to adopt.

"Why did you wait this long to adopt?" Kristi asked as she handed Brennan another paper to fill out.

"He wasn't ready to consider it. I wanted him to have proper time to mourn his father and mother. I didn't want to swoop in and replace them."

"It can still take up to three months. Jared Booth signed the family consent as soon as it was handed to him. He said that if you were doing this, then you loved him, and would be the best Parker could ever have." Brennan nodded and continued to fill out the paper work.

"Parker is flourishing in his new school. He's dealing with everything so well. Dr. Sweets said that the sadness will be with him forever, but it isn't going to consume him. He's not shutting people out, and is excited about the baby." Kristi nodded and continued to switch papers out as they were filled out.

"You find out the gender soon, correct?" Brennan nodded.

"Wednesday. I'll be exactly 18 weeks. I think Parker wants the baby to be a girl. He wants a little sister to be over-protective to."

"He's such a sweet kid."

"He really is his father's son. He's had his bratty moments, but they are normal for 11. He frequently forgets to lower the toilet seat, and he rarely gets his dirty socks into the hamper in his bedroom. They are almost always next to the basket." Brennan was complaining, but she had a smile. "Also, when he eats, he almost always spills on the couch. I've taken to having him put a towel down. He is the only human who can spill pizza."

"Sounds frustrating," Kristi said.

"More amusing than frustrating. When he spills, he looks up at me, and he looks just like his dad when Booth accidentally let a secret slip out. I can't seem to bring myself to be angry at him, even for the more troublesome moments. He went to a friend's house after soccer camp was rained out, and forgot to call me. I was so worried, and was so angry until I saw him, and was just glad he was all right."

"Why all the summer camps?"

"The idea of placing him in daycare was revolting, and he is too old and too active for a nanny that would have the credentials that I require. Camps that kept him active, mentally stimulated, and allowed him to spend time with kids his age seemed to be the logical choice. Parker certainly enjoyed it." Kristi regarded the woman signing the papers in front of her.

"He's really your son, Temperance, isn't he?"

"He is as much my child as the one I'm carrying, in my mind."

"What would you do if he were taken away?"

"By whom?" she asked calmly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you were to take him from me, I'd use every last cent to my name to fight to get him back, and I am, as his father said, loaded. If he were kidnapped, I'd kill the person responsible. Since I'm one of the world's leading anthropologists, I can make it look like an accident so easily and so well that even my own team wouldn't be able to figure out." Kristi nodded. She'd heard a lot of interesting responses to that question. This, however, was the most sincere, and the most rationalized answer she'd heard.

"I'll call you when I get a court date."

"Do you have any idea how long it will take?" Kristi shook her head.

"Right now, it is backed up with people fighting over who pays whom, foster parents who don't cut it, and child criminals." Brennan nodded and pulled out her phone. She dialed a number.

"Hello, Ms. Julian. Its Dr. Brennan." Kristi focused on things around the house. There were pictures of Parker with his parents on the shelves in the living room, pictures of Parker with his dad and Brennan, and some of just him and Brennan. It was so incredibly rare to find a foster parent so devoted to the child. It happened, but not as often as Kristi would like. "Thanks. I look forward to hearing from you."

"Who was that?"

"Federal Prosecutor Caroline Julian, who worked with us for the last 6 years, is calling in a few favors. She said it might be a week or two before we can get in, but she'll get us in quickly."

"I wish I had more foster parents like you." Brennan signed the last paper in front of her and Kristi gathered them up. "Now its the waiting game. Good luck, Dr. Brennan."

The day before Thanksgiving, just as Brennan and Parker were getting ready to leave for last-minute shopping, Brennan's phone range. They had 2 hours to get to the judge's chambers, to finalize the adoption. Jared was Parker's only capable family, and he'd signed the boy away. It had taken Caroline a little while to find a federal judge familier with Booth, Brennan, and family court laws. As soon as she did, he gave them 2 hours, before he had to leave to make his flight.

Brennan wished she'd had time to gather everyone, but they'd celebrate that tomorrow at Hodgin's house at Thanksgiving dinner. Brennan helped Parker out of the car, and they hurried in. She couldn't be too hurried, at 20 weeks pregnant, but Parker was still in a cast, and on crutches.

They entered the chambers, and were surprised to find everyone there, including Zach. Caroline talked the judge into letting him attend, as long as Sweets was with him at all times.

"Well, there's the new little family," the judge said, grinning. "Now, I have grand-kids and a turkey waiting for me in North Dakota. Shall we get this show on the road?"

"Yes, your honor."

"Temperance Brennan, you are the guardian who petitioned to adopt Parker Joseph Booth?"

"Yes, your honor," she answered, hands shaking slightly.

"Why?"

"Why did I petition, or why do I want to adopt him?" she asked. "I petitioned because that is the legal requirement. I wanted to, because I love this child, with all of my heart," she said, her voice catching. Hormones or not, she'd have cried either way. "Parker is loud at 6:00 in the morning, messy, disorganized, smells like sweaty socks by the end of the day, and I've fallen into the toilet more than once, thanks to him. And yet, I can't do anything more than roll my eyes and smile at the kid. I was in-love with his father, and was a part of his life from the time he was 4. He's grown up knowing that he was loved by everyone around him. No foster home is good enough, not even mine. I want him to have family, not foster family. No one deserves foster care. Not Parker. He's too good for that."

"You speak from experience?"

"The worst kind of experience."

"Parker," the judge said. "How do you feel about this?"

"Well, Temperance my mom. She sits up with me when I can't sleep, no matter how tired she is, and she never yells when I spill stuff on the couch. She's too quiet in the mornings, and doesn't like the smell of cherry pop tarts, and hates my favorite show, but she watches it with me while I eat cherry pop tarts anyway. She always leaves the seat down, and that means I have to clean it before I go to school if I miss. Everything is always in a proper place, and that's just weird. Messes are great. But since she likes the house clean, I try to help her out." The judge smiled as the boy spoke. "I spent one night in foster care, before Cam got me out. I don't want to goback. Temperance promised me that as long as she was alive, she would make sure I was safe. She's wakes me up when I'm having a bad dream and let me sleep in her room once, but on the couch because I kick. My dad always told me how much Temperance meant to him, and that it would never go away. They were partners, in every sense of the word."

"But do you want to call her mom?" Parker nodded. "Dr. Sweets?"

"My professional opinion is that separating these two would be extremely detrimental to not only the two of them, but everyone here, including the unborn baby. Dr. Brennan honors his parents in such a way that is respectful without invading his relationship with them, and without the constant reminder that they are gone. She treats him as any mother does their own wounded young."

"And the leg?"

"Temperance let us play laser tag in the lab with Hodgins' new sensor program, and I took a laser bullet in the chest sensor for Grandpa Max, and landed on my knee really hard. It made this cool crack sound." The judge shuddered, Hodgins gave the kid a fist-bump. "King of the Lab that day, man."

"Kristina Sage, as the social worker, do you have anything to add?"

"Only that I wish every foster parent was as caring as Dr. Brennan. Parker couldn't be in better hands."

"All of you are the extended family?" A series of nods answered. "As a single parent, you may want to consider a guardian for the children should anything happen to you."

"Already have that taken care of. Jack and Angela Hodgins, and back up is Camille Saroyan." The judge nodded and began signing the stack of papers.

"Parker Joseph Booth, as of today you are now Parker Joseph-"

"I picked a different name."

"Oh?" the judge asked, amused.

"Parker Booth Brennan, so I still have my dad's last name." The judge nodded and continued signing.

"From this day on, Temperance Brennan is you mother, legally, and you, Parker Booth Brennan are her son. Congratulations." He handed the papers to the social worker. "Now, go have your first Thanksgiving as a family." There were deafening cheers, hugs, tears, and laughs that echoed as the group left the room and moved into the hall. Caroline smiled over at the judge.

"Best case I ever had, your honor."

"Best one I've ever seen," he responded.

Okay, its mostly fluff so far. But remember that Bones hates Christmas, and Parker loves it. And it is coming up here shortly in the story...