Sabbaticals - 30 weeks

Sunday morning, Booth and Parker scrambled out of bed to get their showers so they could make it to 9:00 mass. As he dressed, he leaned down and kissed Brennan on the cheek and told her to sleep in for a bit and they would pick her up at around 10:30 to go out for a late breakfast.

The boys felt good attending mass again after so long, and Booth felt a little more at peace about leaving his son again the next day. Walking out through the arched doorway, he suggested they go sit on a bench in the plaza that stretched out in front of the historic church. It was an unusually mild day for the beginning of January, and he wanted to soak in the warmth of the sun.

"I'm sorry that I'm going to have to leave you again tomorrow, but we'll get through it. When we're back in May, we'll have all sorts of things to do together and we'll settle into our lives. Bones and I will still have you every other weekend, and we'll find times during the week to see you too. You'll be starting baseball around then, and you know we'll be at every game we can." Parker looked up at his dad. "What about work? Sometimes you have to go to crime scenes." He hugged him. "Yeah. Sometimes there's nothing I can do if I get called away. But it doesn't happen often - you know that. Nothing will change from before I left for Afghanistan. Well, except that Bones will be at all your games now too."

Parker smiled broadly. "Dad. Do you think I should start calling Bones, 'mom'?" Booth was a little startled by the question. "Why do ask that Parker?" He bit his lip. "Well, she feels like a mom to me. I know mom is really my mom. But Bones feels like a second mom to me. Can you have two moms?" Booth smiled and put his arm around his son again. "You can, Parker. But it might be a little too soon to start calling her that. And it's something we would want to discuss with your mom first. We don't want to hurt her feelings."

Parker nodded. "I guess. I like calling her 'Bones'. She told me once that me and you are the only people she lets call her that." Booth chuckled. Parker continued. "I guess I wanna know because last week she told me it felt like I was her son. It made me really happy and I kind of cried a little." Booth looked down at him and his eyes immediately started to water. "She said that bud? When was this?" Parker saw that it was making his dad emotional. "It was on Christmas, when we were making hot chocolate for everyone. Was it okay that she said it?"

Booth pulled him into a hug. "Oh, Parker. It's more than okay. We both know that she loves you. She had told me that she was starting to think of you as her son. But for her to tell you is a really special thing. You're a lucky boy to have so many people who love you. You know, sometimes I feel bad that your mom and I didn't stay together and raise you in one house. But it just wasn't going to work out. So now you have even more parents who love you." He reached around and started to tickle him. "Sometimes I think we might be spoiling you!"

Parker was laughing. "Stop dad, that tickles!" Booth let him go. "But seriously, son. I think it's great that Bones told you that. I think you should just call her 'Bones' for now. After we're back and settled in, we can talk about it again. Does that work for you?"

Parker nodded his head. "So dad. Where are you guys going to live? In her apartment or yours?" Booth chuckled. "Well, both actually. We've talked about it and decided that we're going to wait and settle into our lives back home before starting to look for a new place. We'll stay at my place for a week, and then at hers for a week. We need a new place because it will have to have at least three bedrooms. We want you to have your own room, and not have her dad or brother staying in it when they visit. So it has to have a room for you and a guest room. And we don't know what kind of place we want. Maybe a larger apartment, like the one Bones has now. Or maybe a townhouse. Or maybe a real house in the suburbs with a yard."

He could tell that Parker was considering the options. "I think It would be fun to live in any of them." Booth laughed and gave him a quick hug. "Yeah, well, it's not going to be easy to find a place because it's so expensive living in DC. Our jobs are both right in the middle of the city, so it might take some time to find the right place. We made a pinky swear that we will for sure be in a new place by next Christmas." Parker was surprised. "Christmas? That's a long way away!" Booth chuckled. "It will go by fast, you'll see." He looked down at his watch. "Oh! We better get a move on and go get Bones. She's going to think we forgot her!" Parker laughed. "Oh dad! That's silly. We would never forget her." He smiled and hugged his son as they walked to the car. "No son. We would never forget her."

After their late breakfast, they returned home so the boys could watch the rest of the football games that were being played that afternoon. When they entered the apartment, Brennan turned to them. "Hey guys. Why don't you hang up the coats and come over to the dining room table. I have something to show you." Booth and Parker looked at each other quizzically, but went over to put away the coats and scarves.

They came and sat down at the table with her and there was a wall calendar and a black Sharpie pen lying on the tabletop. "Parker. I was thinking about something that we could do to help you while we are finishing up our time overseas. When we were at the Hard Rock Cafe the other day, I spotted this calendar in the gift shop and bought it for you. It has pretty pictures on every month's page showing the seasons. See how the January page is a forest covered in snow?"

Parker nodded his head and waited to hear more. "So, I used one of your colored markers to circle where it says January at the top." She turned it to the next page. "And I did the same thing with February, March, and April." She flipped it to May. "And see. Here on the May page, I drew a bunch of different colored stars all around where it says May at the top. When you flip it to May, you will know that we will be home soon. We don't know what day we'll be home, but it will probably be sometime in the middle of the month. As soon as we know, we will tell you the date and you can circle it in whatever color you wish."

"You can decorate these pages more if you want - this calendar is all yours. But the way to help you see how time is passing is to take this black marker, and every day, cross out the day before. Today is January 2nd, so you can cross out January 1st." She handed him the Sharpie. "So, I just draw a cross in the box that says '1'?" She nodded. "Yep. That's exactly what you do." He took the marker and drew an emphatic X over the January 1st box. "Is that right?" Brennan nodded. "Perfect!"

He looked back over to her. "So, do I do this every morning? Or when I get home from school? Or what?" She put her hand over his. "Parker. This is your calendar. You do it however you want. You might decide to do it every morning after you wake up. If you forget, you can do it later in the day. You don't have to do it the same time every day. It's just something that you can look at to watch the days passing until we are home. Think about how exciting it will be when you're ready to turn the page to February and see the whole month of January crossed out."

Parker jumped up from his seat and threw his arms around her. "Thank you Bones!" He hugged her tightly, and she hugged him back. She looked over his head at Booth, who hadn't said a word the whole time. She saw that he couldn't stop the tears from falling. Seeing him so emotional brought tears to her eyes. When Parker let her go, she could see that he was crying too. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much!" Booth picked him up from his chair and put him in his lap. "We're gonna miss you too. Maybe I need Bones to make me one of those calendars, because I'm gonna miss her so much too."

Parker looked back and forth at them and had a realization. "Oh. I forgot. You will be in different places too. So I will miss you - and you. And you will miss her - and me. And you will miss him - and me. Maybe we all should have calendars to make Xs." Booth gave him a serious nod. "Great idea bud. We will find calendars for us when we're in London, and then we can all be making Xs every day."

Booth looked at Parker, then over at Brennan. "You know. These four months are going to be just a blip." Parker looked up at him. "What's a 'blip' dad?" Brennan answered him. "Well, a blip can mean a very short period of time. Is that what you mean Booth?" He nodded. "Yes. That's exactly what I mean. When all three of us think about the rest of our lives, four months is nothing. It's just a blip."

"Parker - here's a way to think of it. When school finishes for the summer, you have about three full months off, right?" Parker nodded. "Say you wake up the first morning of summer vacation and your mom tells you that you have to clean your room before going out to play with your friends. You might argue and whine and say that it's summer vacation and it's not fair that you have to stay inside. Of course, you would never argue with your mom about cleaning your room, would you?"

Parker rolled his eyes and the two adults laughed. "Okay, so say it takes you two hours to get your room in shape. And then you head out to find your friends. So what are those two hours compared to the three whole months you have off?" Parker looked up with a twinkle in his eye. "A blip?" Booth laughed and tickled him. "Yes! A blip! These four months are going to be a blip. And then we'll have a lifetime to do things together."

Brennan looked across at him and mouthed. 'A blip?' He nodded his head and mouthed back. 'A blip.'

Booth got up from the chair and deposited Parker on his feet. "The game's about to begin. Why don't you go and get it up on the tv and I'll get what's left of the snacks from yesterday." Brennan walked into the kitchen and he followed. He pulled her into a tight hug and kissed her. "Bones, that was a genius idea to set up the calendar like that for him." She smiled at him. "Well, that's because I am a genius." He laughed. "Yes, you are. But really Bones. I can see already what an amazing mother you are to our son."

Her face instantly showed her emotions. "Our son?" He looked at her tenderly. "Yes, our son. Parker told me about you telling him you thought of him as your son. That meant so much to him. He even asked if he could start calling you 'mom'." Brennan looked concerned. "Oh Booth. That might be too much. I would never want to hurt Rebecca - she's been too good to us." Booth pulled her back into a hug. "I told him that. I said we might look into it after we're back, but only if we talk to Rebecca first. I told him that he can think of you as a second mom, but still call you Bones. He said he likes that because we're the only ones you allow to use that name."

He put his hands on either side of her face and pulled her in for a kiss, one that pretty quickly turned passionate. And ended abruptly with a voice yelling from the other room. "Dad! What's taking you so long? The game's already started!" They pulled apart and laughed. He leaned his forehead against hers and she smiled. "I think you need to get those snacks in to our boy. I'm going to clean out the fridge and see what I can make us for lunch and dinner to use up everything before we go." He gave her a quick kiss. "Do you want some help?" She shook her head. "No. Go watch football. I'm just going to sort out what we have and I'll join you in a few minutes." He turned to leave and she squeezed his butt cheeks as he started to walk away. He turned back with an astonished look on his face. "Bones!" She laughed and headed toward the fridge.

She listened to her two boys cheering for their team in the other room, as she pulled everything from the fridge and set it on the counter. There were plenty of salad greens, so she decided to make a large salad and add in the remaining fruit and some of the vegetables. There was also leftover pizza, and all three of them preferred eating their leftover pizza cold, so that made things easy. She put all of those items back in the fridge on the left side and looked at what was left. Eggs, cheese, milk, and spinach. That would make a nice frittata - one of her specialties - she would grab one of the tomatoes from the salad fixings to add to it. Those all went back in on the right side of the fridge. With that settled, she joined the boys in front of the tv.

Between games, they all went into the kitchen and worked together to make the salad. They divided it up into three individual bowls and brought the salad bowls, the two boxes with the leftover pizza, and their drinks into the living room. They sat on the floor around the coffee table and ate their lunch as the next game began.

At halftime, they took the bowls and boxes back to the kitchen and washed the dishes. Brennan excused herself and went into the bedroom to finish packing her suitcase to have it ready for their departure the next morning. When the game was over, Booth took the time to finish getting everything into his large duffel bag. He came back to join them just as game three was beginning.

Partway into the last game, Brennen went into the kitchen and made the frittata for their late supper. She brought it out on a plate with small plates for each of them, and Parker's first bite brought a big smile to his face. "I didn't know I liked frittatas Bones. Can you make this every time instead of scrambled eggs?" She smiled at him. "Of course I can Parker. It's not a difficult dish." She looked over at Booth and raised an eyebrow. "How about you? Do you prefer your eggs this way?" He bobbed his head up and down. "Yeah, Bones. This is great! You'll have to teach me how you make it."

By halftime of the last game, Parker was getting sleepy, so Booth sent him into his room to put on his pjs. By the time the game ended, he was sound asleep with his head in Brennan's lap. Booth got up, picked him up, and carried him into their bedroom. He placed him in the middle of the king sized bed and went out to rejoin Brennan. They cozied up on the sofa for awhile talking quietly, and took advantage of Parker in the next room to have a little make out session.

Eventually, they moved into the bedroom. Brennan went into the bathroom and changed into her t-shirt and sleep shorts, while Booth stripped down to his boxers. They climbed into the bed on either side of the sleeping boy, Booth pulled him into his arms, and soon they were all asleep.