In the Blink of An Eye
By LizD
Winter 2011
Chapter 5
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Booth was still asleep on the sofa when Sherry burst in. "What the hell are you doing there?" she barked.
"Good Morning to you, Sherry." He sat up and trying to stretch out the kinks in his back. He noticed that her hair, make-up and attire were absolutely perfect and appropriate for the occasion. She was dragging a suitcase that was probably also full of other appropriate outfits and two bags of groceries.
Sherry was the last of the Stinton family, though technically she was a Stinton-Lewis now. Her brother John died three years ago and now Rebecca was gone. Their parents had died within months of each other shortly after John. It had to be a lot for anyone to take. "I'm sorry we have to meet again under these circumstances."
"Humph," she gruffed. "Where's Parker?"
"Parker didn't sleep much last night, so if you could keep it down." Booth finally made it to standing. His back was killing him. He hadn't wanted to sleep in Rebecca's bed, but he couldn't sleep on the couch many more nights.
"You haven't made any of the arrangements, I suppose."
"Was waiting for you." That was the truth. "And I think you need to include Brent in the planning."
"Who?"
"Rebecca's … man-friend," Booth reminded her. "They were together for years. He wanted to marry her. He's pretty upset."
"You don't seem too broken up about it," she snapped.
"Sherry you never did and never will understand my relationship with Rebecca. I loved her and Parker couldn't have asked for a better mother. I will miss her ever day, but Parker is my concern right now."
"He won't be for long."
"Excuse me?" Booth had planned on treating Sherry with as much disinterest as possible. He wasn't going to fight with her. He knew she was a control freak so he thought it best to let her make the arrangements for the cremation, memorial service and cleaning out Rebecca's things. He of course would help her and be an advocate for Parker in all of that. Sherry had her own way of doing things and Booth thought it best to stay as far out of her way as possible. She would be gone in a few days, a week at the most. But that was where it ended. He knew he would have to contend with her until Parker turned twenty-five, but that would be just about the money. It would be handled over the phone and via email. There would be no reason they would have to be in each other's company after this. He believed that right up until her last comment. "What did you just say?"
"I said Parker won't be your concern for much longer." She glared at him. "He will - of course - be moving back to Connecticut with me."
Booth's eyes flashed in anger.
"You have to see that I can provide him a stable home, you can't."
Booth anger was reaching a full boil. It had never occurred to him that Sherry might take her co-executor position to that extreme. She of course didn't have a leg to stand on, Rebecca had given him full custody, but that wouldn't mean that Sherry couldn't make it difficult, more difficult than it already was. He was about to put her in her place in no uncertain terms, when Parker came out of his bedroom.
"Aunt Sherry?" he called in a sleepy voice. Parker liked his Aunt Sherry and Uncle Lou. He even liked his cousins well enough. But he didn't spend much time with them. Each year they would go up for Memorial Day, Fourth of July, or Labor Day and spend the weekend. He was always ready to go home when the time came. Everything was just too neat, orderly and organized up there.
"Hey, honey." Sherry moved toward him her voice now soft and sticky sweet. She gathered him up in a hug but released him quickly. He was hot and sweaty from his bed and he needed to brush his teeth and wash his face, in fact he needed to shower and wash his hair. "How are you?"
"OK," he said but his voice betrayed him.
Parker had a very difficult night. He woke around two calling his mother's name. Booth was right there for him. They stayed up talking most of the night. Parker had a lot of questions and a lot of concerns. Booth did his best to be straight and honest with him. Of course Parker's biggest concern was where he was going to live and who would take care of him. Booth said pretty matter-of-factly that Parker would be with him full time but then Booth asked if that would be OK. Parker assured him that it would be, but wanted to know about his stuff, and school, and his friends, and his soccer, baseball and football teams. If he went to live with Booth he would be out of zone for all of that. Booth told him that nothing would change right away. That he wouldn't have to move and so his school, friends, and after school events didn't have to change.
Parker seemed to accept that answer but didn't really think it was a good long term solution. His father lived with Hannah in the apartment, so did that mean Booth would be going back and forth between the house and the apartment like Parker used to? Parker didn't question it any further. Booth didn't want to get into the legalese of what would happen next, he wasn't sure himself, but whatever it was Parker would be affected the least - other than the fact that he had lost his mother.
They talked some about Rebecca too. They were even able to laugh through the tears about some of the good times and some fond memories of her. It was a truly bonding experience and Booth was glad there was no one there to interfere, so was Parker.
"I tell you what?" Sherry said pushing the boy away from her but holding on to his shoulders. "Why don't you go shower and get dressed and I will make you my famous waffles with strawberries."
"We don't have any strawberries," Parker told her.
"I stopped and got some," she stated. "Now run along."
Parker looked toward Booth who nodded once. "Go on, Bud." When Parker was safely out of the room Booth turned back to Sherry. "I will say this once, and once only: you are not taking my son anywhere. Do. You. Understand?" He fixed her with a glare that would have sunk gang leaders to their knees. Sherry was unphased. "Parker is my son. Rebecca gave me full custody. I will provide a stable home for him."
"How?" She glared back. "Between shoot outs with felons and your steady stream of women, do you honestly think that is a stable environment for a ten year old boy?"
"He's eleven," Booth corrected.
"Didn't you already have one of your criminals threaten Parker's life? Not only can you not provide a stable home, you can't even guarantee his safety, much less your own."
"This is not your concern, Sherry."
"HE IS ALL I HAVE LEFT OF MY FAMILY!" she shouted seconds away from breaking down. "Of my sister. I will not let someone like you take that away from me."
"Excuse me?" came a small voice from the kitchen door.
Both Booth and Sherry turned toward the sound. It was Maria, the babysitter/housekeeper. She looked worse now than she did the night before. "I'm sorry to interrupt."
"Is this one of your women?" Sherry snarled at Booth. She blotted at her eyes to make sure her make-up hadn't run.
Booth bit his tongue. "Hi Maria, this is Sherry Lewis, Rebecca's sister."
"Hello, Ms. Lewis. I came to help. I am the housekeeper and I sometimes watch Parker when Rebecca is at work."
With Sherry engaged in ordering Maria around and chastising her for the cleanliness of the house, Booth thought it would be a good time for him to change. He went to his car and found only his work out gear. Sherry would hate it, but it would have to do.
He was just about to head into the house when he saw a Mercedes turn the corner at the end of the street. It looked like Bones' car. In fact it was Bones. She pulled up to the curb and got out. She didn't come around; she spoke to him from her side of the car.
"Bones?"
"I brought you some clothes and some other things from the apartment," she explained. "Hannah packed them for you last night, but was unable to bring them this morning before her flight."
Booth was touched that Hannah would think of that, and was a little uneasy that she would call Brennan to have her deliver it.
The truth was Brennan had talked to Angela the night before as she was driving home in the cab. She had expressed to Angela how helpless she felt. Angela suggested a few things that Brennan could do, and one of them was to bring Booth a change of clothes as he would probably not want to take the time to get back to his apartment to change. Brennan called Hannah, woke her up; asked if she could pack a bag for Booth and that she would bring it over. Hannah was asleep through most of the conversation until Brennan got to the part about having a key to Booth's apartment. With that Hannah came to full consciousness and asked why. Brennan deflected. She had one for years. She didn't remember when or why he gave it to her but he did. Booth had a key to her apartment too. It was a partner thing. Hannah didn't press it further, but said that the bag would be ready before she left at four AM.
"How was your night?" she asked noticing that he looked exhausted and that he was moving very stiffly. "You appear to be moving as if your back is out again."
"Couch back ... I'll be fine," he smiled though one of the Bones Adjustments would probably have gone a long way to improve his day. "The night was rough. The morning was rougher. Rebecca's sister is here."
Brennan nodded. Was she supposed to inquire about what transpired between the sister and Booth? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure where the line was between friendship, partnership and intimacy. A year ago she of course would have asked, and expected answers. A year ago he would have offered more information without waiting for her to ask. In the end she decided that she shouldn't press. She wasn't planning on staying, but again if Booth had asked she would have granted whatever his request was.
There was an awkward pause between them. Brennan went to retrieve the items from the trunk and Booth met her around the back of the car. She handed him the bag but couldn't look him in the eye. "I need to get to the lab; we have two bodies to process." She realized that Booth might feel like he was neglecting his job and she didn't want him to feel that way. "Perotta has taken over the cases. The FBI shouldn't be bothering you. You're needed here."
"Thanks, Bones." He smiled. "Seems I'm thanking you a lot."
"Partners," she reminded him as if there needed no other sign of gratitude or explanation.
Brent drove up and parked in the driveway. It was Brennan's opening to leave. Booth thanked her again for the change of clothes and again instructed her to be careful. "Lab work only," he warned.
As Brennan drove away she wondered why he was all of a sudden so concerned for her safety. Could the unexpected loss of someone heighten the fear factor for all other friends and associates in a person's life? It was unreasonable to think that she would be in any more danger than she was before Rebecca's death. She made a mental note to ask Sweets about that. She had a whole list of questions for Sweets.
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A/N: Truly appreciate the alerts, favorites and comments. Comments are great. I will try to respond to you all particularly if you ask a question or voice a concern, but RL keeps me from doing all that quickly. Sadly the hit count went down yesterday so I am not sure how many of you there are, but there are enough to cause me to want to update quickly and resolve this … well, very well.