Booth stares at Dr. Brooks for a long minute after she finishes speaking. He's unsure he heard her correctly. He's tempted to pinch himself to make sure he's not dreaming because although he knows Brennan can be quite persuasive when she needs to be, he didn't think Dr. Brooks would actually agree with her. He blinks and immediately reaches for his partner's hand, squeezing it and weaving their fingers together. He turns his attention from the surgeon to Brennan, a smile slowly tugging at the corners of his mouth. He separates his lips to say something, but nothing comes out. He blinks back tears and holds her hand tighter.

Brennan pats his hand and smiles back at him. She can't seem to speak either, so they just exchange glances, wordlessly.

Dr. Brooks clears her throat. "Mr. Booth, we should talk outside. There's some paperwork you need to fill out."

Booth swallows and looks at Parker, who's staring up at the ceiling, his lips pursed in a line, acting as if he hadn't been witness to the conversation between Dr. Brooks, Brennan, and his dad that had transpired minutes ago.

Brennan touches her partner's shoulder and kisses his cheek. "Go, Booth. I'll sit with Parker. You'll be right across the hall. There's a direct line of sight from here to the nurses' station, so you'll be able to see Parker from there."

Booth reluctantly stands up, heads for the door, and gives Brennan and Parker one last look before following Dr. Brooks across the hall.

Brennan takes a seat in the chair Booth just vacated and reaches for the book that's resting on the bedside table. She's about to turn to the page she dog-eared when Parker clears his throat. "Bones?"

Brennan lowers the book onto her lap and looks at the teenager. She smiles. "Is there something you need, Parker? Your father will be back any minute or I can go get him for you if it's urgent."

Parker shakes his head. "No, don't get my dad." He pauses, and after a few seconds, he adds, "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Brennan hesitates, brushing her thumb against the book cover. She swallows and finally nods. "Go ahead."

Parker shifts. "How—you said you used to get nightmares sometimes, right?"

She nods again. "Yes, I did say that."

"When did they go away?"

She sighs, absently flipping the pages of the book. "I—I still get nightmares, Parker. I cannot be certain, but I doubt they'll ever go away."

"Oh." He looks up at the ceiling, tears welling up in his eyes. His chin quivers and his heart races. "Ever?"

"For me, my nightmares have gone away and resurfaced many times over the years. At first, they happened almost every time I fell asleep. I would wake up from one and go back to sleep, only to experience the same nightmare again. They have become less frequent, but they've never truly gone away. I still get them occasionally."

"How did you make them stop?"

"They just stopped occurring on their own. I didn't do anything special to try and prevent them. I just had to wait it out."

"How long did you have to wait?"

"I had to wait a long time. Years."

He gasps. "Years?"

She nods.

"Why'd they come back?"

She shrugs. "Psychology isn't my area of expertise, but anything can trigger them, Parker." She pauses and thinks for a second before explaining. "When I identified my mother's remains, memories of my parents' disappearance and my time in the foster care system resurfaced. I found that was when a few of the nightmares I used to have following their departure and of my experience in foster homes came back with a vengeance."

"Bones?"

She nods. "Yes?"

He swallows and looks out of the room, making sure his father isn't on his way back. He turns to Brennan again and sighs. "Even if it was just for a little while, what helped the nightmares go away?"

She smiles. "Your father has helped a lot. I feel safe with him. It's irrational, but I find that my nightmares aren't as scary or frequent when he's there. Talking to him about my experiences and the nightmares has helped too. Writing them down has also proven to be effective for me." She pauses. "You just have to try a lot of different methods and see which ones work for you."

He nods and tugs on the sheet. "I wish they'd just go away and never come back. I wanna be able to sleep without being haunted."

She sighs and touches his forearm.

He glances down at her hand and sniffles.

Booth comes into the room, waving Parker's discharge papers in the air. He looks at his partner and then his son and raises an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

Brennan swallows and pulls away from Parker, standing up. "I'm just going to use the restroom before we leave."

Booth nods, walking over to the bed. "Okay."

She walks around the bed, brushing her hand against Booth's shoulder on her way into the bathroom.

"Bones, what happened?" Booth turns around and the door shuts in his face. He grunts and walks over to his son, sitting down in the chair. "What's wrong?"

Parker's gone back to not speaking. He's looking up at the ceiling, unshed tears in his eyes, his breathing more erratic.

When Brennan reappears a few minutes later, Booth's quick to get answers. "What'd you say to him?"

"You shouldn't assume this is my fault without proper evidence, Booth. How can you be sure I said something to him?"

Booth stands up and meets her halfway. "You want evidence, Bones? Fine, I'll give you evidence. I left you alone with him for five minutes and I come back and he's in tears. How's that for evidence?"

Brennan shifts. "That is substantial at best, Booth. There have been plenty of times where Parker's gotten upset because he's thinking about something pertaining to the accident or his mother." She pauses. "In this case, however, you are correct. We were conversing before you came in."

Booth blows out a breath through his nose and crosses his arms over his chest. "So, Bones, what'd you say to him?"

"He asked me a question and I gave him an honest answer."

Booth waits for her to elaborate, but when she remains silent, he asks, "What did he ask you?"

"He asked me when my nightmares went away."

Again, he waits, but she doesn't continue. "And you told him what?"

"I told him that they haven't gone away."

"Bones!"

She shrugs and studies his face. "You're angry."

"Yeah, I'm angry. You just told Parker that his nightmares would never go away!"

"Lower your voice, Booth. I did no such thing. I told him that my nightmares have never gone away."

"Same thing!"

She steps closer to him, their faces inches apart. "I beg to differ."

"You should have told him that you don't have nightmares anymore."

"So you wanted me to lie?"

"No, yes, no, I just wanted you to give him some hope."

"By lying to him?"

"Gah!"

"Why are you so upset? I thought this is what you wanted me to do. I shared something personal so he wouldn't feel like he was alone. I didn't want to lie to him, Booth. I don't understand what I did wrong. If you want me to lie to him next time, okay, fine, I will. He's your son. You make the rules."

He sighs and takes a couple minutes to calm down. "You did the right thing, Bones."

"You mean that?"

He nods. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I overreacted."

She smiles.

"And he's every bit as much yours as he is mine."

She looks at him, her smile faded somewhat. "How do you figure?"

"We're family, Bones. You've been helping me raise Parker since he was four. You're my village, remember? He's your son too." Booth lifts his hand and brushes his fingers against her cheeks, pushing her hair away from her eyes. He lowers his head and presses a kiss to her lips, closing his eyes.

She kisses him back and them pulls away, resting her forehead against his.

Booth gives her another quick peck and lets out a breath, as their faces stay touching. After a minute, he steps back and smiles. "Shall we go home?"

She nods. "We shall." She gets to work packing up, while Booth helps Parker.

Celebration time. Parker's going home! But first...