Title: A Time to Grow
Author: Megan Faye
Rated: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Bones.
"Hey, kid. Wake up," Hodgins whispered into the dark. Parker groaned and turned over in the guest bed at Hodgin's house. "Come on, don't spoil Christmas morning. I need your help, Mini-squint." Parker sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"It had better be good," Parker mumbled and put on his slippers.
"It is better than good. You aren't allowed in the living room, by the way. Its locked until 7:15 am. Hurry up!" Parker followed Hodgins down stairs and into one of the sitting rooms. It was full of funny-looking robots.
"I had one of those a long time ago."
"I know. Zach made it, and I have been working on fixing the voice recognition since. These are from Zach to everyone."
"What do you need me for?"
"I have a plan with breakfast. I've trained my minions well. Robots! Follow!" he called. The robots walked toward him, one on its hands.
"This is going to be a mess," Parker said, grinning. The house was cold, and his leg was throbbing, as it had only been out of the cast a day and a half.
"What's with the limp, kid?"
"Cold." Hodgins turned the heat in the dining room higher as the robots marched in.
"Let's get them in formation on the table. One at each spot." Parker helped, noting each one was labelled. Brennan was on the receiving end of a purple glitter-covered robot.
"What is for breakfast?"
"Before the staff left on Thursday, they prepped a bunch of meals. Today, I have 3 dozen cinnamon rolls. Some with raisins, some with nuts, some plain, and some with caramel. I just pull the trays out of the fridge, uncover, and bake. We're on our own for Christmas Dinner, though. Angela has a surprise planned."
As soon as the robots were in place, Hodgins and Parkers went to work in the kitchen to get everything cooked. About 3 minutes before the rolls were done, Parker went to wake everyone up, starting with Brennan.
"Hello," he said softly to Brennan. "Hello, parental unit? Wakey Wakey."
"Way too early, Parker," she moaned, pulling the blanket back over her head.
"Christmas morning, cinnamon rolls of the delicious variety, and Hodgins and I were up setting up Zach's gifts to everyone. Its going to be a mess, but cool."
"Not winning any points for your cause."
"Look, Bones, it is Christmas. You dad and brother will be here for dinner. Wake up, throw a robe on, and pretend to have Christmas Spirit today." Brennan turned over to face him, she smiled sadly.
"You are your father's child. I'll be down soon. Go bug Cam and Michelle." Parker nodded and set off.
Within ten minutes, everyone was gathered at the dining room doors, waiting for Hodgins to let them in
"May I present," Hodgins started, opening the door. "Breakfast." The robots each held a plate with two rolls, and little cups of toppings. "Robots! Serve!" The robots took two steps forward and set the plates down, and took two steps back. It was a perfect execution.
And then everyone clapped.
Chaos ensued. Robots went nuts. They began flipping into the breakfast, knocking over juice and milk, falling off the table, and sitting down in the center piece. One particularly depressed robot jumped off the table.
"Told ya.
Brennan sat at her living room window, staring out at the street below. At Christmas, no matter what went on, Booth would find a way to be there with her for at least some small part of it. She expected to see him pull up in his black SUV. Days like this reminded her that she hated Christmas.
"Hi," Parker said. He flopped onto the couch. "You okay?"
"Your dad usually comes by around now on Christmas."
"Today was hard for me, too." Brennan wiped a few tears away. Parker cleared his throat. "Can we go someplace? Its too sad here right now."
"I don't feel like leaving the window."
"Watching for Dad won't make him come home."
"I know, but sometimes watching makes it hurt less."
"Will you tell me something about Dad that I didn't know?" Parker asked. Brennan nodded.
"When he left, he made me promise to meet him, one year from that day, at the reflecting pool. We were going to meet there on May 10th, 2011. He wanted to kiss me, and I wanted him to kiss me, but we held hands for a minute and he left. My biggest regret is not letting myself be in-love with him." Parker sighed and wiped his eyes.
"Can we go? On May 10th, you, me, the baby. Can we go?"
"It would feel like another small connection to your dad, so yes. We will go." Parker nodded. "We need to finish the nursery soon. Perhaps we can go shopping next week, when everything is opened."
"I got the baby a Christmas gift. I didn't want you to open it with everyone watching." Parker hurried into the other room and came back with a wrapped gift. "Angela helped me while you were ordering the furniture."
"Thank you, Parker," Brennan said, smiling. She carefully unwrapped it and felt her breath catch. It was a picture frame with two baby pictures in two small ovals over one large blank oval. One said "Mommy," and the other said "Daddy."
"Max gave me this one of you, and I had this one of dad." Brennan set the fram down on the table and left the room. Parker waited a moment before he followed her. She was lying on her bed, back facing the door. Parker bit his lip when he heard her sniffle. Christmas was once his favorite holiday.
Now he hated it.
When Brennan woke up the next morning, the house was unusually quiet. Usually, Parker would be up playing a video game, or his keyboard. Nothing. Brennan pulled a robe on over her pajamas. He wasn't in the living room, so she checked his room.
Fear rose up in her throat. Parker's bed was made, his room was clean, and the picture of him and his dad was not in the frame. He was gone. She checked the nursery, and saw the frame with the two picture in it. It was smashed.
"Parker?" Brennan called, hoping he was just in another room. There was no answer. Brennan dashed to her phone and dialed. As soon as someone picked up, she managed to speak. "Angela, he's gone. Parker is gone."
"Christmas was kind of hard for him, he lost both of his parents this year, and I didn't help matters. I hurt his feelings," Brennan said softly to the officer. "He can't be too far; he doesn't have any place else to go. His father's apartment was rented out, and his mother's house was sold."
"Sweetie, it isn't your fault. You miss Booth as much as he does."
"He's the child, and I'm the parent I should have tried harder to make Christmas okay for him," Brennan hissed. "I'm not good at this." The phone rang, and Brennan dove for it. "Parker!"
"Lose something, Bones?" Jared's voice said into the phone. He sounded slightly angry. "My nephew is here, asleep, and really pissed."
"I know. I made a mistake."
"You aren't the only one who lost him, you know. You never liked Christmas, but you could have tried to make it a good one for the kid." Brennan sighed. "Its not easy, being a kid without a dad. All I had was Seeley, and all Parker has is you."
"Are you drunk, Jared?"
"Yeah. Trashed. My wife walked out, my brother died, my nephew shows up saying he is sorry for killing his father, and I needed a Goddamn drink. So I put the kid to bed. Get your pregnant ass over here, and fix this. He needs you more than you need him." Brennan hung up the phone angrily.
"Why is it that the Booth men always know exactly how to make me so mad? He's at his uncle's house, officer. Thank you for getting here so quickly. Angela, can you drive?" Angela nodded and took her keys. As soon as the officer was shown out, Brennan sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"You okay?"
"A little dizzy is all. Stress. I love that kid, and at the same time, I'm so angry at him for leaving. Christmas is the wrong time to leave."
"I know, Sweetie. Just calm down and keep Little Booth in there safe, and we'll go get Parker."
"I've never grounded someone before. How does one do it, and what sort of restrictions should be in place?" Angela bit her lip.
"I don't know. Parker is such a good kid. I can't imagine having to ground him." They got into Brennan's SUV and Angela started the drive across town. "How serious do you think this is?"
"He ran away!"
"You hurt his feelings."
"Not on purpose," Brennan defended.
"As smart and mature as he pretends to be, he's still an 11-year-old kid, dealing with a huge year of changes; both parents dead, new school, new mom, new home, new sibling, no church anymore, no sports due to the broken leg, and no meat unless you go out to eat. Everything he loved has changed. He was bound to crack and find someone who would give him a hot dog and boxed mac and cheese for dinner sooner or later." Brennan sighed and closed her eyes. He was a tough kid, but not untouchable.
"Perhaps a compromise will be sufficient, rather than punishment. He can go to church with Jared, and watch sports with Max as he sees fit, and I'll buy and cook meat for him as requested, and he won't hold all of these feelings in until he feels the need to run away to find what I lack in parenting." Angela laughed.
"Its a good idea. But ground him for a week. No video games. He still needs the boundaries defined, or at 16, you'll have real problems."
More to come, quite soon :) I have actually finished the story. I should have the whole thing up rather quickly. The story seems to have written itself.