Parker Booth furrowed his brow, looking at his dad in disappointment. "Dad, you said we were going to the diner."
Seeley Booth, who gave a quick glance toward his son and then focused back on the road responded "We are, bub. Why do you ask?"
"You missed the turn-off for Bones' apartment and the lab is in the other direction. We always pick her up on Saturday mornings for breakfast. "
"No, uh Bones isn't going to have breakfast with us today. "
"Is she sick? We should take her food then! We always take care of Bones when she gets sick."
"No buddy, she isn't sick. I just didn't invite her."
Parker snorted at that. "You never invite her. We just go kidnap every weekend. She complains the whole way down the stairs but she loves it."
"Parker…"
"What? Dad, is Bones okay? Did she leave again?" His son asked, his eyes wide and full of tears.
"No no, she didn't. It's just…look I wanted to wait to tell you but we are meeting someone special at the diner today."
"Bones IS special, Dad."
"Yeah she is but I mean…I met someone in Afghanistan. A woman, she's my girlfriend and I want you to meet her."
Parker's face twisted in disgust. "No."
Booth looked at his son, appalled. "No?"
"No. I want to see Bones. She's our best friend and I don't care about your girlfriend. Just take me to hang out with Bones and you can go be with your stupid new girlfriend."
"Parker Matthew Booth, that's enough. You are going to meet Hannah and you will be nice to her, understand?"
"I hate Hannah. Bones is supposed to be your girlfriend! I love her and so do you! So why do you need Hannah?"
"Parks, Bones is just my work partner, okay? I promise you'll see her soon."
Parker folded his arms across his chest, pouting out the window.
Booth sighed in frustration. It wasn't like Parker to be so defiant but his father had also never denied him access to one of his favorite people. Bones has been around since Parker was just out of the toddler stage, and had quickly become a staple in the Booth Boys' life. So when they both had left for their sabbaticals, Parker had lost both his father and his partner. That had to be hard on the kid.
"I'll make you a deal. You meet Hannah, and you really try with her…I'll call Bones to see if she wants to have lunch with us."
Parker perked up at that. "Can we have a picnic at the park near her apartment? The one with the really cool swing?"
"Sure, if she's up to it."
"Awesome!"
—-
Booth ran a hand over his face as he watched Parker run ahead of him towards his partner. She had agreed to meet them at the park for lunch.
Parker meeting Hannah had not gone very well. Yes. his son had been polite, exceedingly so. Yet all the boy would talk about was ' ' and how much fun they were going to have that afternoon. Hannah had clearly been uncomfortable and had excused herself from the diner very early on. He knew his son hadn't done it to be malicious but he could tell Hannah's feelings were hurt. He'd have to talk to her later.
"Bones!" Parker shouted, throwing himself towards Brennan, who had squatted and opened her arms. She whirled Parker around until they were both giggling and slightly dizzy on their feet.
"Parker, I'm so happy to see you."
"I'm happy too, Bones! It's been soooooo long since I saw you. How was Maluku? Did you find any cool bones? What about bugs? Uncle Jack told me there were all kinds of cool bugs there!"
"Maluku was fine. We didn't find what we were looking for but yes there were plenty of bugs!"
"Do you have any pictures?" Parker asked eagerly.
"Yes but first I want to hear about you! Tell me everything!" She insisted.
Parker beamed at her, taking her hand in his as he pulled her towards one of the picnic tables, telling her about his baseball team and all the games they had won over the summer.
Booth, who had hung back and only greeted Brennan with a slight wave when they first arrived, joined them at the table. He sat opposite his son and partner, watching as they spoke enthusiastically to each other.
Their relationship had always been like this, from the very beginning. Parker liked to learn, and Brennan loved to teach him. She never spoke to him like he was a child, which Parker liked, and was exceedingly patient with all the questions he had. In turn, Parker taught Brennan about his interests. She always listened to him very intently, absorbing every word.
The two basically ignored Booth as they caught up, aside from Brennan looking up at him a few times to smile and Parker mentioning his Dad in a story he was telling.
Suddenly, mid-sentence Parker stopped and threw his arms around Brennan's torso. His partner, shocked by the sudden contact, looked at his son in alarm but settled on pulling him to her in a tight hug.
"I missed you, Bones. Please don't ever go away again." Parker said into her shoulder.
"I won't, Parker. I promise." She said, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. She turned, looking at her partner, eyes welling with tears. Booth could feel his own eyes watering but tried to blink them away.
A little later, after they had finished eating the sandwiches Brennan had brought from their favorite deli down the street, Booth walked away from the table to make a phone call, leaving Brennan with his son.
"Can I ask you something?" Parker said, looking up at his dad's partner with a furrowed brow.
"Always," Brennan replied.
"Why did you break up with my dad?"
Brennan's face reddened at the question. "Parker, your father and I were never dating."
The little blonde boy rolled his eyes. "You both keep saying that, but it's not true. You were always with Dad when I would call him and you would hang out with us on the weekends like Brett does with me and Mom. You have a key to our apartment, and Dad has one to yours. You guys were always making googly eyes at each other. I even know you both hold hands sometimes, I've seen it! The evidence is all there." He stated, somehow managing to sound just like her.
She had to smile a little at how much Parker had grown. "That is very compelling evidence, Parker. However, I'd say it's circumstantial at best. Your father is my best friend, and while a lot of the things you listed are what couples do, it can sometimes apply to best friends as well."
Parker seemed to think for a minute. "Okay, I guess that makes sense. Are you still best friends?"
"Yes, Booth will always be my best friend." She answered.
"Okay, then how come you don't hang out with us anymore since you got back?"
Brennan hesitated. "Sometimes things have to change, Parker. Before, neither your father nor I were in serious relationships. Now he is, he needs to limit his time with me to make room for Hannah. Also so you can get to know her as well. What happens when people start dating."
"But Bones, I don't even like Hannah! I want you to be Dad's girlfriend so we can go back to how things were."
The anthropologist considered his words and best how to approach this in a way that would convince the boy otherwise. She wasn't usually good with people, especially not kids, but she and Parker had always had a special connection. He seemed to understand her as few people did, and in turn, she was often able to reason with him when Booth could not.
"Parker, I need you to do me a really big favor."
His eyes lit up. "Okay! What is it?"
"Hannah has become a really good friend of mine. I want you to try to get to know her, really try and be nice to her. It would mean a great deal to me if you would do that. Will you do that for me? Will you become her friend?"
Parker's dark brown eyes widened. "But Bones-"
"She is very important to your father, Parker. Please, promise me you will try to accept her into your family."
"Our family, Bones. You are part of it, too. "
"That's a different kind of family, Parker, but yes. Will you try?"
The boy nodded, solemnly.
"Thank you," Brennan said, leaning to press a kiss to the top of his head. "Now, let me tell you all about Maluku!"
She launched into an in-depth and detailed story about snakes, armed guerillas, and the island.
Booth, who had ended his call and had gotten close enough to hear their conversation, was frozen in place. He would never fail to be in awe of her heart and the love she had for his son. She claimed not to have an open heart but hearing her talk to his son and convince him to befriend Hannah contradicted that.
"That's a lot of heart, Bones," he murmured under his breath before walking to join his two favorite people at the picnic table.
—-
After a few hours of rough housing in the park, Brennan had left. She stated that her father was coming over for dinner that night, and she still needed to stop by the store. She had hugged Parker goodbye, while nodding her acknowledgment to Booth, and walked away from them.
"Bones wait!" Parker called out, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn towards him. "I love you!"
A wide smile had broken across her face. "I love you too, Parker," she called back to him. She gave one final wave before continuing to her car.
Booth, still not fully recovered from the overheard conversation, was shocked again.
"Bub, that was new."
"Well, Bones is family, right? And we never leave each other without saying I love you so we shouldn't let her leave without saying it too."
The agent had to chuckle at his son's logic. "You are right, Parks. Did you have fun today?"
"Yeah! Bones is so cool, Dad, and I loved her stories about the islands! I really missed being with both of you while you were gone and-" he paused, frowning slightly.
"What is it?"
"I'm sorry about this morning and breakfast. Bones told me that I need to be nice to Hannah because you love her and she's her friend, too. Just like you said about Brett when he and mom started dating."
"Oh she did?" he asked, feigning ignorance to the conversation.
"Yeah, and I promised her I'd accept Hannah into our family. I'm going to try, Dad, I promise. It's just kind of hard."
"Why, because Hannah's new?"
"No, because I just love Bones so much and she's kind of been like another mom to me since I was little but like way cooler." He explained, then looked kind of embarrassed. "Don't tell mom that though, it would hurt her feelings."
Booth was startled at this revelation. "You see Bones as a mom?"
"Well yeah. She helps me with my homework, makes us dinner and talks to me when I am upset. She also helps take care of me, like that time I got sick at school while mom was out of town, and you got stuck in meetings. Also, I've known her a long time, since that one Christmas you got me the robot!"
"You've got a good memory," Booth said, unsure of what to make of his son's opinion of his partner.
"But I did promise her I'd try to love Hannah, too, so I am going to try really hard! Is she coming over for dinner tonight?"
"Uh…yeah, bub. She is."
"Okay! I'm going to ask her a bunch of questions about her and try to see what we have in common! And if she wants I'll teach her how to play Mario Kart!"
Booth chuckled. "Sounds like a plan. Come on, let's get home."
—-
AN: Are Author's Notes still a thing? I feel old. Anyway, that's chapter one. The next chapter will fast forward a little bit after The Doctor in the Photo. I'm a little rusty on the whole writing thing and I haven't published on since I was 17 years old. Let me know what you think!
Also, I am beta-less so the only person who has reviewed this is me. I try but I'm very bad at punctuation as you can probably tell! I used Grammarly so maybe that helped!