Spoilers/Timeline: None/Set in future

Disclaimer: Nope, they still don't belong to me. Title found in Martina McBride's How I Feel


Of all the mornings it had to be this one? The one where Booth was tied up in court and she was scheduled to be giving a lecture to the incoming grad assistants - she glanced at the clock - five minutes ago. She threw her car into park, grabbed the folder off the passenger seat, and sprinted up the sidewalk.

"Hey, watch it!" A small voice pulled her from her thoughts and she glanced down, realizing she must have bumped right into the girl.

"Sorry, I'm in a hur--" She realized no explanation was going to placate the child she'd almost knocked to the sidewalk and started towards the front doors again, calling 'sorry' over her shoulder one more time.

She crossed the threshold and paused, trying to remember which way it was to the office. She'd only been in the building twice before and that had been at the beginning of the year. The panther statue sparked her memory and she turned left, sailing through the doors, narrowly avoiding bumping into what had to be a small herd of children.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The receptionist - her nametag read 'Aimeeee', but that couldn't be correct, could it? - grabbed a pen from the desk and signed the papers in front of her absentmindedly.

"Um, I'm dropping something off for-"

"Most parents are." She smiled warmly.

"I'm not his parent. Well, that's not entirely true. I do fulfill a caregiver role in his life, but-"

"Ma'am-"

"Dr. Brennan." She stole a glance at her watch; Cam was going to kill her.

"Dr. Brennan, who are you dropping homework off for?"

"It's not homework, it's a report on the nervous system-"

"Bones!" Parker's voice cut off the rest of her sentence and she turned, smiling at him hovering in the door of the office. Sometimes he was just like his father.

"Hey, Park, I brought your report. Try not to leave it on the kitchen counter again." She ruffled his hair and was rewarded with the eye-roll of a disgusted ten-year-old.

"I'll try. Thanks, Mom."

She stared, gaping for a moment, as he turned and started down the hall. Smiling, she typed Booth a short text message and rushed off to work, knowing no amount of irritation from Cam could ruin the day.