Monday morning Brennan was in the kitchen making the same lunch for Michael that she'd made him every school day for thirteen years, peanut butter and with strawberry jelly, cut up fruit, carrot sticks and dip, and a cookie with ice water. Booth walked in and stood beside Brennan "You'd think he'd get tired of the same thing every day."

"Yes, but you know how much he needs routine. Sometimes I can get him to eat lunchmeat, if I talk him into it first, today isn't that day. I'd be making him the same thing if he was in the adult program through his school. I added a cookie just because." Brennan shrugged.

"I'm making him extra cheesy eggs and chocolate milk."

Brennan smiled a little, "I made him extra cheesy eggs on his first day of preschool when you got called out for a case and missed taking him to school. He was sad that you weren't going to take him to school like we'd been talking about for days and I didn't want him to meltdown before we got out the door so I made him is favorite non pancake breakfast."

"And they became a first day of school tradition…. Bones, relax Mikey will be fine. You're taking his extra medication?"

"Yes, and the pill splitter in case I have to increase the dose by a fourth. I hope I don't and I also hope I don't have to call Dr. Jacobs and ask for an emergency appointment or just take him to the ER."

"Me either, he'll be fine. We've been lucky, none of the kids have been frequent visitors in the ER. Christine has only been once when she and Michael got in a fight and she needed stitches in her chin and Mikey needed them in the back of his head. Remember when the bees built the hive in the corner of swing we had with the canopy and he got stung 14 times."

"Yes, the medications they gave him to stop the reaction from the stings made him so hyper and made his anxiety worse. They had to call Dr. Jacobs and he gave him so much medication to calm him down that combined with all the other medications they gave him he was moderately sedated for most of the night. When he started waking up he was so scared I had to lay in bed with him and you had to hold his hand. It was the only way he stayed calm enough for the nurse not to sedate him again. That was the second scariest night of my life with the kids. The first being the six-week N.I.C.U. stay when Michael was born."

"Yeah. It was a night I don't ever want to go through again. It took weeks to get him to swing again, even after I got a new swing without the canopy."

"Michael didn't understand what had happened and that it wasn't going to happen again. All he understood was he was swinging and got hurt then he had to spend the night in a scary place with lots of people he didn't know around when he didn't feel good."

"Yeah, I think that was the worst part… that's still the worst part of the last twenty years with him, all the things he doesn't understand fully."

"It makes me sad sometimes, but I'm thankful for what he does understand and his imperfect communication skills."

"Me too." Booth started making Michael's extra cheesy scrambled eggs -

B&B

Michael walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. "Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"

"uh-huh. I hungry ."

"Sit down, your eggs are ready."

Michael climbed on a stool, Booth sat a plate with cheese eggs, sliced strawberries and a piece of buttered crustless toast in front of him and then poured him a glass of milk and added chocolate syrup.

"Christwne?"

"Christine gets to stay home and sleep in for the summer…" Michael looked a little sad.

"Yeah, your summer vacations are over, but you'll get time off for holidays and there are a few days that you won't have to work but she'll have to go to school."

As Michael finished eating, Brennan turned to him, "When you're done eating go brush your teeth and get your shoes on. Them make sure both of your i.d's are in your wallet and put your wallet and your phone in your pants pocket. Also make sure your drawing stuff and audiobooks are in your bag so you have things to do when you don't have to scan tickets."

"K." Michael finished his eggs and went to the bathroom. A few minutes later Brennan heard sounds of frustration coming from Michael's bedroom, she took a deep breath to steady herself before going to his room. "What's wrong, Michael?"

"Shoes…". Brennan looked at his shoes and saw that the elastic laces on the right one had pulled out of the last two holes.

"Take it off so I can fix it…" Michael took his shoe off and handed it to Brennan, she quickly re-laced the shoe and watched as Michael slipped it back on.

"Do you have everything you need in your bag?"

"Uh-huh."

"Is your phone and wallet in your pocket?"

"Uh-huh." Michael pulled both items out of his pocket and showed them to Brennan.

"Good job."

"I go swing now…"

"Sweetheart you can't swing right now, you have to go to work…"

"NO!" Michael started walking away.

Brennan picked up his wrist, "Michael, we have to leave when Mickey's hand is on the 6, it's already on the. 5. By the time you get outside it'll be time to leave. You can swing when you get home tonight."

"NO!"

"Hey Mikey are you ready to go to…". Booth stood in Michael's doorway; Michael tried to leave the room. Booth pulled him into a tight hug and held on until he felt Michael start to relax. "Feel better, buddy?" Michael nodded a little. 'Good. get your bag so we can go." Michael grabbed his bag off the bed and walked out of the room. Brennan walked past Booth, he grabbed her hand, "Mikey will be fine, this was a little bump.. he was calming down."

"Thank you for hugging him, I can't hug him as tight as he needs when he's trying to keep in control anymore. He's too tall."

Booth chuckled and kissed Brennan. "You're welcome. It was easier when we weren't the same height. Let's go, he will be fine once we get there."

"I know…" Brennan peaked in Christine's room as she went down the hall, the teen wad still out cold.

A half hour later Booth parked in his space at the lab and looked at Michael in the rear-view mirror. "Are you ready, buddy?"

"Uh-huh."

"Let's go then…" Booth got out of the SUV relived that Michael got out without any coaxing from him or Brennan. Booth silently took Brennan's hand as she crossed the parking lot. "He'll be fine. Relax…" Brennan nodded and watched Michael walk to the door and pull out his employee I.D. and scan it, the light turned red. He turned to Brennan, "Mom help…". Brennan smiled a little and put her hand over his and helped him rescan the card. This time the light turned green, Michael opened the door and they all walked through it. Once they were inside the lobby, Booth turned to Michael, "do you know how to get to the theater by yourself?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good. mom and I will meet you here at 5…"

"Okay." Michael turned and headed down the hall, after a few seconds Brennan started to follow, Booth grabbed her arm. "Mikey knows where to go, Bones, let him go…"

'But you or I walk him to his class the first week until he has where to go down…"

"That was school, work is different. You've been walking him for weeks when he practiced the scanner."

"But…"

"No but. Let's go to your office. I'm sure Janet will let you know he got there safe." Booth started leading Brennan to her office. They had just crossed the threshold when Brennan got a text, she looked at her phone. "it's from Janet, Michael is fine."

Booth smiled, "see, I told you he'd be fine. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm nervous for him, but I'll be okay."

"Good. I'll see you at the diner for lunch…"

"Yes…"

Booth kissed Brennan, "I love you, Bones."

"I love you too, Booth." Brennan kissed Booth and held on a little bit longer. Booth gave Brennan another kiss before turning and leaving her office. Brennan sat down at her desk and checked her email then moved on to the paperwork that had stacked up in her inbox during their week in Virginia Beach. She was surprised that over an hour had passed when she got another text from Janet, this one was a video of Michael scanning tickets. "He's doing fantastic, don't worry. Brennan smiled a little and replied, "I'm glad he's doing so well." Then she forwarded the video to Booth.

They had just gotten their food when Booth got a text, he read the message and shook his head. "Angela says to tell you Michael is fine, he's eating lunch with the other two ticket scanners. He looks happy and calm."

"Tell her thank you for checking on him and I'm glad he's happy and calm…." Booth replied.

"She says you're welcome…"

"I didn't ask Angela to check on Michael, Booth."

"I know. Everybody, including me is slightly worried about him"

"I won't be worried about him forever; it's just this is the first time he's been on his own with no one to help him and keep him calm."

"I know. It's okay, going by Janet's video this morning and Angela's text he's having a really good day."

"Yes, I'm glad he's having a good day. I should have practiced opening the doors with the keycards more. He knows how, he just can't do it fast enough."

"He'll get it, we'll work on it…" Brennan nodded and went back to her lunch.

Later that afternoon Brennan and Booth were waiting for Michael to meet them in the employee entrance lobby." I'm going to go find him…"

"You're not going to go find him, Bones, Michael will be here."

"But he's late and the keycard…."

"It's 5:02, how many times pre-kids did you walk out that door at 5 on the dot?"

"Virtually never, but…. He'll need help with the keycard to get back through the inner door."

"He got through it fine this morning, Bones. Relax, we'll give him another 10 minutes and then we'll go get him."

Brennan didn't get a chance to reply because Michael followed by Janet came through the door at that moment.

"MOM, DAD!'

Booth smiled as Michael quickly walked to them, "Hey buddy. Did you have a good day?"

"Uh-huh."

"That's great."

"Michael did very well today. The keycards are a sticking point, but he'll get it. One of the other ticket scanners helped him this morning."

"That's great. I'm glad he had a good day."

"See you tomorrow, Michael."

"Bye."

Brennan put her arm around Michael's shoulders and pulled him to her. "I'm glad you had a good day, sweetheart. I'm so proud of you."

"Home now?"

'We're going home now." They walked to the SUV and got in. Brennan expected Michael to be a little chatty, but he was quiet. As Booth headed toward Arlington, Brennan looked back and found Michael asleep

"Michael is asleep. I knew working would be too much for him…"

"Bones, he'll get used to it. My first day at the FBI, I went to Becca's place after work. We lived together mostly at her place then, but she insisted I go to my place the night before because Parker was sick and really fussy and she wanted me to get some good sleep. Anyway, I went to Becca's changed out of my suit and got Parks from her and went to bed. Neither of us wok up until midnight, Becca was in bed next to me. I got up and changed and fed Parker then ate leftovers and went back to bed until 6. I didn't do anything but sit in the bullpen that day, but I was so keyed up that when my adrenaline crashed I passed out. That's what happened to Mikey. By the end of the week if not before he'll be back to normal. If he had gone to the adult program he'd probably be asleep now too."

"I know, it makes me sad that he has to work so hard to keep in control that the only thing he can do once he relaxes is fall asleep. It's hard to explain…"

"I get it. It's hard but I'm thankful he can relax and calm down without meds now usually."

"Me too. I was prepared to go down to the theater with his extra meds all day today…"

"…I was halfway waiting on you to call and say you needed me to come take you two home…"

"I'm glad nothing happened and Michael had a good first day of work."

"Me too."

B&B

When they got home Brennan opened Michael's door and kissed his cheek, he stirred, "mom?"

"Yes, we're home. Why don't you go to Kelly's and tell Christine we're home so she can come home for dinner? I'll take your backpack inside."

"Okay." Michael got out of the SUV and headed down the street.'

"Where's Mikey going?"

"I sent him to Diane's to tell Christine it's time to come home for dinner."

"You could have just called her, Bones."

"I know, but I am hoping that the walk there and back will wake him up enough so that he'll stay awake until his normal bedtime…"

"Ah.."

Brennan smiled a few minutes later when she heard Michael telling Christine about his day. Thirty minutes later Booth, Brennan, Christine, Parker, and Adi were sitting down for taco night and listening to Michael tell them about his day. Two weeks later Michael didn't need Brennan or anyone else to help him with the keycards. Most days he didn't even wait for her to get in the building before he headed to the theater. Friday afternoon Michael handed Brennan an envelope

"your first paycheck?" Michael nodded. "Put it in your bag and dad or I will take you to the bank in the morning so you can cash it."

"Okay."

B&B

The next morning after breakfast was cleaned up Booth pulled out a photocopied sheet deposit slips and a pen and waked around the counter and stood in front of Michael. "Alright buddy we're going to go to the bank and cash your paycheck but first we're going to practice filling out a deposit slip so the bank can put the money in your account. I will help you…"

"K." Michael picked up the pen. For the next half hour Booth walked Michael through filling out fake deposit slips a half dozen times. "Are you ready to fill out the one we'll take to the bank?"

"Uh-huh.."

"Good. It's just like we just did…"

"Okay."

Booth opened Michael's checkbook to the back and put it in front of him. He smiled a little as Michael bent over and began slowly filling out the deposit slip. When he was done he looked up at Booth.

"Good job, buddy." Booth carefully tore the slip from Michael's checkbook. "Get your shoes on, not the ones you wear to work and then go show mom. She's in her office."

"Okay." Michael went to his room. A few minutes later Michael walked into Brennan's office and handed her the deposit slip. "Good job, Michael. I'm proud of you."

"Dad help…"

"That's okay. After a little more practice with dad and me you'll be able to do it yourself."

"Mikey, are you ready to go?"

Michael hugged Brennan and quickly left her office.

Booth drove towards the bank, "Mikey, when we get to the bank we'll probably have to wait in line for your turn. Then when it's your turn you'll have to tell the teller that you need to deposit your check. You'll have to give it to her with your I.D. and the slip we filled out. She'll' give you back an envelope with some money in it."

"Okay."

Thankfully the bank wasn't too busy and they didn't have to wait that long. Michael walked up to the teller "Hello what can I help you with today?"

"I need….Dad help…" Booth put his hand on Michael's shoulder.

"Hi Connie, Michael needs to deposit his first paycheck into his account."

"Congratulations. I can do that. I need a filled-out deposit slip, your I.D. and the check…" Michael handed over everything and a few minutes later he and Booth walked out of the bank.. Once they were in the SUV Booth turned to Michael, "You did good. the bank will get easier…I'm going to go to the grocery store and farmer's market, do you want to come with or do you want to go home to mom?"

"I come."

"Okay. Take the money you got from the bank and take it out of the envelope and put it in your wallet."

"Okay."

They got to the store and Booth sent Brennan a text 'Mikey wanted to come to the store and farmer's market with me. The store is crowed we might have to abandon the cart…'

"You ready to go inside, Mikey?"

"Uh-huh." They went inside, Michael hung on to the cart Booth hurried as much as he could. "Michael, you're doing so well. Do you want to get the bread?" Michael nodded. "Okay, get the one in the green bag." Michael got the bread and put it in cart.

"Good job. What's next on the list?"

"Milk…"

"Go get it. The one with the blue lid…" Michael went and got the milk and put it in the cart.

"Good job, Mikey!' Thirty minutes later they were on their way to the farmer's market. '"You did

a really good job at the store. I'm proud of you." Michael grinned. Booth parked and waited for Michael to get out of the SUV and Booth put his hand on Michael's shoulder. "We're almost done. You're doing so well."

"Swing?"

"When we get home you can swing as long as you want…"

"Okay."

Booth was bagging up tomatoes when he noticed the booth next to them had fresh flowers. "Mikey, why don't you go over there and pick out flowers to take home to mom?" Booth grabbed a twenty from his wallet and handed to to Michael. "When you're done picking them out, pay the lady in the pink shirt. She'll give you money back as change. " Michael nodded and headed for the flower booth. Booth finished getting the tomatoes along with other fruits and vegetables then he stood off to the side and watched Michael pick out and pay for Brennan's flowers. He walked over to Booth and held them out. "Good job, buddy, mom will love them. Hold on to them gently."

Michael nodded and handed Booth the change. "Keep it, buddy. Put it in your wallet." Michael handed Booth the flowers and put the twelve dollars in his wallet, then he took the flowers back.

"Home now?"

"Yes, we're going home now. You did well with our errands today. I'm proud of you."

"Mom?"

"Mom will be proud of you too."

They got home while later, Michael headed inside and found Brennan in the kitchen.

"MOM! Got you flowers! Michael handed Brennan a bouquet of mixed flowers.

"Thank you, sweetheart. I love them." Brennan kissed the top of Michael's head.

"I go swing now…"

"Okay sweetheart. Have fun…" Brennan got a vase from the cabinet and put the flowers in it and started unpacking the groceries Booth carried in.

"How was Michael?"

"He did okay at the bank. He walked up to Connie and started to tell her what he needed then it was like his brain forgot the words."

"I hate when that happens to him…"

"Me too. he didn't panic, he just asked me to help him…."

"At least he did that, last year he wouldn't have …."

"True… He did better at the grocery store. I had him get things and put them in the cart. I had him get you flowers by himself just so he has practice buying things by himself."

"That's good. I'll work on what he needs to say to cash his checks. We haven't had to work on task-oriented speech in a while."

"He'll be fine once he gets used to going to the bank. He did really good considering we didn't really prep him. I just helped him fill out the practice deposit slips then I told him what he nedded to do on the way there."'

"He's doing so well working. I'm so proud of him, I don't think he'll ever realize how proud of him I am."

"I'm very proud of him too. He knows how proud of him we both are."

"I know."

B&B

It was the fourth of July weekend and Booth and Brennan were taking Michael and Christine to spend the four-day weekend at their beach house. They were going to leave from the Jeffersonian, Booth was waiting for Michael in the lobby.

"Dad, home now?"

"No, we're going to meet mom and Christine in her office then we're going to the diner for dinner. When we finish eating we're going to drive to our beach house for the weekend."

"Okay." Booth took Michael's backpack and they headed to Brennan's office.

"MOM!"

Brennan looked up and smiled, "Hi sweetheart. Did you have a good day at work?"

"Uh-huh. Cwristine?"

"She's in uncle Hodgins office. You can go get her so we can go have dinner."

"Okay…" Michael left Brennan's office.

"I can't wait to get to the beach, Bones."

"Me either, Booth. I'm thankful that Parker and Adison have been able to help us put the beach house together so we can enjoy it this weekend."

"Me too. I can't wait to see what everything looks like in the house."

"I can't either "

Christine and Michael walked into Brennan's office then." Are you two ready to go have dinner so we can go on vacation?"

"Yeah…"

An hour and a half later the family was on their way to Virginia beach. Michael fell asleep a half hour into the drive. "Michael's asleep…"

"I kind of figured he would be, they were down a ticket scanner today. Janet said he did really well though."

"That's good. the job is changing him, in a good way."

"Yes, it was the best thing for him. He's becoming a little more independent and he's trying and mostly succeeding doing new things."

"Yes, I'm so proud of him ."

Three and a half hours later Booth pulled into the driveway of their beach house.
"it's hard to believe we actually own a house on the beach now…"

"Yes, but I think we'll enjoy it immensely "

"We will." Brennan got out of the SUV and carefully opened Michael's door. "Sweetheart, wake up. We're here." Brennan kissed his cheek.

"Mom?"

"Yeah.. get your backpack and go inside. We'll get the rest of the stuff later."

"K." Michael grabbed his backpack and got out of the SUV, then he grabbed Brennan's hand and they headed inside. Christine trailed behind them.. Brennan was about to open the door when it was thew open "PARKER! What are you doing here?"

"Adi wanted to come and finish Michael's room…"

"But your car is not here…."

I parked in the lot after we unloaded to surprise you.."

"We'll we're surprised."

"Good. now, go check out Mikey's room. He's gonna love it!" The six of them headed up to the second floor and Brennan walked Michael into his room. "MICKEY!' the entire room was decorated in Mickey Mouse accessories.

"How'd you two do all this?"

"My cousin did her son's room in Mickey Mouse when he was three. He turned twelve a few weeks ago and asked for a baseball themed room. She was just going to throw out this stuff. I took the pieces that were in good shape and she had a few rolls of border she gave me. Mom made the curtains and throw pillows from top sheets that Jakob never used. I took the book storage thing, it's for toddlers, but I thought maybe Michael could put his art supplies in it or something.."

"It's wonderful. Do you like it Michael?"

"Uh-huh." Michael walked over to Adison and hugged her.

"While Adi was working her magic in here, Angela and I added more tie-dye to Christine's room….." Everyone but Michael headed to check out Christine's room. "It's SO cool, thanks, Parker. I love it!"

"You're welcome."

The adults left Christine in her new room. On her way down stairs Brennan stuck her head in Michael's room. "Michael, it's late why don't you get ready for bed then listen to one of your new books?"

"Okay."

Brennan found Booth, Parker, and Adi in the kitchen

"Thank you both for finishing Michael and Christine's rooms. You went beyond for Michael's."

"You're welcome. Like I said my cousin was just going to toss the room décor stuff out so I figured we could put it in Mikey's room…"

"And I had to get more towels for the apartment and saw all the tie-dye stuff and I figured Christine would like it."

"She does. Thank you both for setting the house up over the last month."

"We enjoyed coming down after work on Fridays and setting stuff up. The only thing we didn't do is put up the swing, I wasn't sure where you wanted it."

"That's okay, we'll do it this weekend. We don't have anything planned this weekend but hanging out on the beach and the fireworks."

"Sounds good. I'm gonna go put Teddy in Mikey's room, then go to bed."

"He'll enjoy that…"

Adison headed upstairs and quietly opened the door to Michael's room and walked in and set the dog on the bed and watched as he curled up next to Michael and fell asleep before she gently removed Michael's remaining ear bud and put his digital player and recorder on his nightstand and left the room.

B&B

"Dad, do you and Bones mind if Adi and I come out here next weekend?"

"No, of course not."

"Good. I'm gonna prepose and I thought I'd do it here… All of our favorite places are booked. Plus, I think this is Adi's new favorite place, it's hard to get her to leave on Sundays."

"Congratulations, Parker." Brennan was the first to hug him followed by Booth.

"Thanks, Bones."

Congratulations, bub. "

"Thanks dad."

B&B

The next morning Booth and Brennan were drinking coffee and watching the sun come up on the deck off their bedroom. "I could get used to this, Bones."

"Me too."

"In a couple years when we retire we can come here as often as we want and stay as long as we want. We can make that little room off the kitchen into an office so you can write still."

"That does sound nice, but we can't do it. We need to stay home to take Michael to work…"

"Okay. As soon as Christine can legally drive with Mikey in the car, we're having a lot of weekends away to here."

"Sounds good to me. I love you, Booth."

"I love you too, Bones." They kissed.

B&B

The weekend was spent on the beach and using the fire pit and watching the fireworks.

Monday afternoon Michael put his backpack by the door and looked at Brennan. "I not want to go home…"

Brennan smiled and kissed the top of Michael's head, "I don't either, buddy, but you me and dad have to go to work tomorrow. We'll come back for the weekend in s few weeks, Okay?"

"Okay?"

"Mikey, I'm gonna take Teddy for a walk before Adi and I leave. Do you want to come with me?"

"Uh-huh." Parker handed Michael Teddy's leash and they headed outside.

A/N: for those reading my summer 2021 Bonesology challenge: Mix and Match, I'm going to finish it. Muse just needed to escape to Michael's world for a while..