This chapter is super random and it's pretty short. It takes place about a month after the previous chapter (that's not really important, but I thought you'd like to know). I hope you like it.
Booth walks in the front door after work and walks past the opening to the living room as he makes his way to the staircase, stopping short. He turns his head at the sound of soft laughter and fiddles with his tie as he watches his son and some girl play Sorry on the coffee table. As he stands there, staring, he can't help but overhear them.
"I win," Parker says with an evil smile.
"You cheated," the girl accuses, putting her pieces back into the starting spot.
"How did I cheat, Cody?"
"You musta counted the places on the board and shuffled the deck accordingly."
"That seems like a pretty complicated way to win." Parker pauses. "You saw me take the game out of the closet and set it up, so when did I count the tiles and shuffle the deck with the exact cards I needed to beat you?"
"You could have done it before I got here," she counters. "You did fight really hard for the green pieces."
"I like green. It's my favorite color." He pauses. "If you're so sure I cheated, let's rematch. If you win, I'll pay for pizza—garlic bread and drinks too."
"And if you win?"
"I'll still pay for pizza, garlic bread, and the drinks." He smiles and reaches over, "accidentally" brushing his hand against hers as he grabs the blue pieces from the box. He sets up his new pieces and pushes the deck of cards over to her. "You can shuffle this time."
"Booth, what are you doing?"
Booth jumps, letting out a frightened scream. He turns his head and lets out a breath. "Geez, Bones, you can't just go sneaking up on people like that."
Brennan shrugs. "Sorry. Why are you spying on Parker and Dakota?"
"Dakota? Who's Dakota?"
"Parker's new friend from school."
He stares at his son and the young brunette girl sitting across from him. "He, he never mentioned any Dakota."
"She's new to the school district. Personally, I think it's great that Parker has befriended the new girl. I wish someone like Parker would have been around back when I was in high school."
He just shrugs, not really paying attention. He's too focused on Parker and Dakota.
"She's a nice girl. She's very polite. Parker seems to enjoy her company." She pauses. "They were up in his room playing videogames, but then they came down for a snack and have been playing Sorry in there for the last half hour."
He breaks out of his intense watching and turns his head towards his wife. "What? They were up in his room—together?"
She nods. "Yes, 'they' implies Parker and Dakota were together, Booth."
"My son was upstairs in his room with a girl—unsupervised?"
She nods again. "Yes," she says with a little edginess in her voice, evidence of her increased annoyance.
"How could you allow that?"
"Allow what?"
"Allow my son to go upstairs to his room with a girl," he whispers through gritted teeth.
Her eyes widen slightly at the realization and she laughs. "Oh, you're worried that Parker was having sex with Dakota upstairs in his room while I was in the kitchen?" She pauses. "They were not engaging in sexual intercourse."
"You sound sure about that, Bones."
"I am." She smiles at him, devilishly. "I'm sure because before I allowed them to go upstairs together, I told them that I would be sending Christine up at random times to check on them. After five minutes, I sent her upstairs, just so they would know I wasn't bluffing."
"Oh, you're not just a genius. You're an evil genius." He presses a quick kiss on her lips.
"Parker's a responsible kid and I trust him, but he is your son."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She just winks and walks back into the kitchen without answering him.
"What's that supposed to mean, Bones?" He pauses. "Bones?" He grunts and looks back at his son and his "friend". He sighs and heads upstairs to get ready for dinner.