Spoilers/Timeline: Set post 5x01 Harbingers in the Fountain
A/N: Thanks to beatricks for beta-ing.
Disclaimer: Twenty-two chapters and Bones still doesn't belong to me. Title taken from Dan Fogelberg's Same Old Lang Syne, which was the song that triggered this idea in my head.
"Seeley."
"Becca?" It comes out sounding startled, but I can't help it. It's not every day I find my ex hovering in the door of my office.
"Can you take Parker a little early?"
"Yeah." I stand and walk to the door even as Parker rushes into the office to talk with my partner. I feel the corner of my mouth tip up: she's already closed the file in front of her, ready to hear about school or the latest experiment he's completed at the Jeffersonian. I turn back to Rebecca, ushering her to just outside my office. "Is everything all right?"
"I think so... my mom... they said it was a mild heart attack but..."
"Oh Bec, I'm sorry. Take however long you need." I squeeze her shoulder, a wave of emotion - a comfortable, familial love - washing over me. "You know I love any time I get to spend with him."
I turn back towards my office and am almost knocked off my feet as Bones' eyes meet mine over Parker's head. The rush of warmth - love - is overpowering. Familiar. One I've felt hundreds of times before: watching her spin in a circle dressed as Wonder Woman, holding her close after burying Ripley, charming her into fixing my back...
I reassure Rebecca that everything will be fine and grin as I push against the door, certain Sweets is wrong, determined to take it slow to show her.
She's busy explaining the difference between a fracture and a break to Parker, but she raises an eyebrow at me as I sit back down. I just nod and grab the closed file in front of her, opening it to add my signatures by hers. She lets out a small laugh before beginning to explain fractures in more detail and I look down, initialing the forms, my smile growing.
Slow. For me. For her.
For us.
