"The Object of My Affection" - Chapter 10
Title: Object of my Affection
Author: Shannon - shannyfish
Disclaimer: I do not own “Bones” or its characters, Fox does. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Booth and Brennan must struggle with not only the Grad Students trying to take Zack’s old position, but also help get through a tragic end.
Warning: Post Season Three - “Pain in the Heart”. Would take place during Season Four, probably mid to late. Warning! Do not start reading this unless you plan on reading all…like…one hundred chapters (it might be that many…might not…). This will be an epic/saga-type fic and shall include all kinds of fun plot twists. The rating of this story will most likely fluctuate, FYI.
Chapter 10 - “Best Ever”
Author’s Note: Please remember that you help power the epic story with reviews!!! The more reviews, the more chapters you get! Perhaps I should even put a number on it before I post a new chapter… Okay, so I know the number, so when I reach that number of reviews for this chapter, then chapter 11 goes up…hmmm I think this is an excellent and devious plan! MUWAHAHAHAHHA… I do have chapters 11-13 already written…so more incentive for reviewing!!! Also! A movie (on DVD) to recommend: “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”. It’s uber cute!
*~*~*
Jeffersonian
Max was late, though Brennan was not surprised by that fact, but it didn’t keep her from being irritated with him just the same. He’d made a big deal out of going to dinner and now he wasn’t there. They’d discussed him picking her up at her office at the Jeffersonian. She’d even made sure that she brought a change of clothes in case she’d ended up going out into the field with Booth. She had ended up changing just because the clothes were nicer and they were supposed to be going to a fairly nice restaurant. She had been waiting anxiously and when she heard footfalls, she immediately got to her feet. Brennan was disappointed that it wasn’t her father, but rather Rebecca and Parker.
“Bones!” Parker exclaimed excitedly.
“I told you to be nice,” Rebecca quietly scolded him. “I told you to call her Doctor Brennan.”
“That’s not what Dad calls her,” Parker argued.
“It’s okay,” Brennan spoke up. “Bones is fine.” She didn’t see any reason for Parker to call her any different. Children learned from observation and he’d observed his father many times call her ‘Bones’. It was logical.
“Is Seeley around?” Rebecca finally asked looking hopefully around.
Brennan shook her head, “He left about twenty minutes ago. He should be home now. You should call his cell phone,” she quickly suggested. She could tell that Rebecca wasn’t too thrilled with her answer.
“We just came from his place,” Rebecca said. “He wasn’t there and he hasn’t been picking up his cell phone.” She put her hand on her son’s shoulder and sighed. She was frustrated with the situation at hand.
“What’s wrong?” Brennan asked.
Rebecca thought about lying, but then decided that she felt the need to vent. “I’m supposed to go away tonight with my boyfriend for the weekend and Seeley’s supposed to have Parker for the weekend.”
“I’m sure he’s at his place by now,” Brennan said.
“Probably, it’s just…we were supposed to fly out in like an hour and -”
“So, why don’t I take him?” Brennan offered, surprising herself slightly.
“I couldn’t-”
“Yeah, Mom!” Parker spoke up and looked up at his mother. “Bones can take me to Dad’s.”
“It’s not a problem, really,” Brennan insisted.
“Are you sure? You look like you’re on your way someplace. I wouldn’t normally do this, but we’ve had this weekend planned for two months,” Rebecca explained.
“I’m just waiting for my father, we’re going to dinner. Booth’s place is on the way, though. I promise it’s no imposition.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you!” Rebecca exclaimed happily. She pushed Parker forward towards Brennan gently. “He has his backpack; it has everything in it that he needs. He also has other things at Seeley’s.”
Brennan nodded, “Of course.”
“Mom,” Parker complained. “What about my car seat? Bones doesn’t have one.”
Rebecca nodded, “Right. I’ll get you the one from my car. It’s a law. Six years and sixty pounds or else the child rides in a car seat of some kind. Parker’s is more of a booster seat.”
*~*~*
Jeffersonian Parking Garage
Brennan pulled her car keys from her purse. She figured that Parker’s car seat was bound to strap in differently than the car seat Andy had had when she and Booth had him. And she didn’t have Booth there; he was the one who knew these things. She followed Rebecca and Parker and was sad for a moment as she thought about Andy. She knew he had a good home with people who loved him, but she had loved taking care of him. She and Booth had loved him and it was the first time in her life when she’d told herself she could do it; she could have a child and be a mom. She snapped out of it when she heard the quick beep beep of Rebecca’s car alarm de-activating. She unlocked her car, which wasn’t too far from Rebecca’s and made sure there was space in the back seat for Parker. She hadn’t let any bag or miscellaneous anthropological items in the back.
Rebecca and Parker were behind her when she turned. She moved to the side, and Brennan watched curiously as Parker put his booster car seat and his backpack into the back seat of her car.
“Temperance!”
Brennan recognized her father’s voice and looked to Rebecca, “Don’t worry; I’ll get him to Booth’s.”
“Thank you, Doctor Brennan,” Rebecca said before hugging Parker and saying their goodbyes.
Brennan walked towards her father to explain. “I need to drop Booth’s son off at his house. He wasn’t there when they went by and his cell phone is off.”
“I was mainly worried that you were leaving without me,” Max told her.
“You are late,” she reminded with a small teasing smile. “You don’t mind us stopping by Booth’s? It’s on the way,” Brennan said.
“No problem,” Max agreed.
Brennan noticed Rebecca’s acknowledgement in her direction and she smiled in return. “Who’s vehicle should we take?” she asked.
“I’ll just follow you,” Max told her.
She nodded and then proceeded back to her car to find that Parker was all set to go. He was all strapped in and he’d even already shut his car door. Brennan got into the driver’s seat and started up her personal vehicle.
“Who was that?” Parker asked.
“My father,” she told him as she backed out her of her space and then headed out of the structure towards the exit.
“Why isn’t he driving in your car?”
“Because it would take longer if he had to drive me back to the Jeffersonian to get my car and then for me to drive to my apartment. This way is faster.”
“Oh.”
She peeked into her rearview mirror back at him when there was an extended silence.
“Where are you going to go tonight?” Parker asked and then quickly added, “After you drop ,e off at my Dad’s house?”
“We’re having dinner together,” she explained as she kept her eyes on the road.
“To a restaurant?”
“Yes.”
“Is it a fancy restaurant?”
Before she could respond to his query, she realized that children were a lot like anthropologists. Children observed, mimicked, and asked questions. This was how they understood the world and people in it. “Not too fancy,” she finally responded with a smile. “You know you might make a very good anthropologist some day.”
“Like you? Like putting together bones?”
“That’s not quite what I do, but…close,” she told him.
“I think it’s rather be a doctor of dinosaurs,” Parker told her. “Dinosaurs are cool.”
“You mean a paleontologist,” Brennan informed him. “You could travel a lot digging up dinosaur bones and writing research papers.”
“Are research paper like stories?”
“Research papers tell you facts. The truth. They aren’t fictionalized.”
“I don’t know what fic-tion-nal-ized means.”
Brennan turned down Booth’s street and hoped he was home. Where else would he be? It really wasn’t like Booth to forget it was his weekend with Parker. “No, fictionalized. It’s one word. It means made up, like a story.”
“Oh.”
“Here we are,” Brennan announced for Parker. She parked her vehicle and watched as her father parked his vehicle close by. She turned off the vehicle and pulled her keys out. There were lights on, that was a good sign. She got out and saw that Parker was already out putting on his backpack. “I’ll get your seat,” Brennan offered.
“I’ve got it,” Parker said pulling his booster from Brennan’s car and then headed for the door.
*~*~*
Booth Residence
Max stopped and waited for Parker to lead the way. “You’ve just got everything, don’t you?” He followed Parker with a smile. He remembered when his children were that small, they tried to be so independent even though they were so small. He smiled brighter at the memory. His daughter joined them at the front door and he waited as she rang the door bell. He hadn’t seen Temperance with many children, but he had a good feeling that deep down she had a mothering sense. He was sure that if he asked her the anthropology of motherhood that she could site all kinds of references.
They waited patiently and when the door was finally opened they stared at a very surprised Booth. “Hey Booth!” Max greeted happily. He had no hard feelings against the man and was rather happy that he was there, even if it was just to keep his daughter safe. He knew he could depend on Booth, not only to physically protect his daughter, but to keep her heart safe as well when he couldn’t look out for her.
“How do you have Parker?” Booth asked seriously confused.
“You weren’t’ here before,” Parker said speaking up and pushing his way inside, so that he could set down his things.
“Rebecca tried here and then went to the Jeffersonian. Your phone’s off,” Brennan told him.
“The battery’s dead,” Booth informed her.
“I offered to bring Parker by, since it was on the way,” Brennan told him. “She seemed like she was in a hurry.”
“So, she just dumped Parker with you?”
“I offered,” Brennan corrected.
“But you don’t know how to take care of a kid Parker’s age,” Booth argued.
“It can’t be that hard.”
“Well, it is.”
Max rolled his eyes at the bickering, “Do you two think you can stop fighting, so that we can go to dinner?”
“We were just having a discussion,” Brennan told her father.
“You two sound like an old married couple,” Max commented.
Parker had been waiting for his dad’s attention, but when that wasn’t working out; he tried the more vocal approach. “Dad! Dad!” He pulled on his dad’s pant leg to emphasis his want to talk to him.
“Yes Parker?” Booth asked looking down at his son.
Parker smiled, “Doctor Brennan said that I could be a pale-ee-tologist.”
Booth looked to Brennan for clarification.
“Paleontologist.”
“A doctor of dinosaur bones,” Parker explained.
“Bones really aren’t that exciting, Buddy,” Booth told him.
“Hey!” Brennan complained.
“But bones are cool,” Parker insisted. “They’re like puzzle pieces.”
“It’s like what you do, but without people to question,” Brennan tried to justify.
“Your job is a lot messier,” Booth pointed out.
“You know what,” Max spoke up silencing everyone else. “Why don’t we all go to dinner together?”
“What?”
“Temperance and I had planned on going to dinner together tonight,” Max explained. “Why don’t you and Parker join us?”
“Yay!” Parker cheered. “I like macaroni and cheese.”
“Wait, we can’t just invade your dinner plans,” Booth spoke up. “Thank you for bringing Parker to me. I appreciate it-”
“But Dad!”
Brennan frowned, “It really would be nice if you’d join us Booth.”
“You sure?” he asked staring at his partner.
“Yes,” she told him as a small smile formed on her lips.
*~*~*
Booth Residence
Brennan walked with Booth and Parker to their front door. Her father had gone his own way home from the restaurant. She found herself laughing as Booth joked. Their laughter filled the dark night for a moment as Booth tried to find the house key on his key ring.
Once the door was open, Booth ushered Parker inside. “Put your pajamas on and brush your teeth,” Booth reminded his son as he hurried in.
Parker stopped and shouted with a bright smile, “Night Bones!”
“Night Parker!” Brennan shouted back and gave him a small wave and then watched him hurry off. “He’s really a good kid, Booth,” Brennan commented as she turned her attention back to him.
Booth smiled, “He is and I think you might have made his weekend.”
“What?”
“Macaroni and cheese. Soda. Banana split. That’s like the best dinner ever.”
Brennan laughed, “It’s not exactly completely nutritious.”
“Exactly my point,” Booth told her. “Best dinner ever.”
Brennan smiled, “I’m glad he enjoyed it.”
“You know what I bet he’d enjoy even more?”
His smile was beautiful as he leaned closer to her. “What?” she asked.
“Your mac and cheese.”
“Would you make the sundaes?” she asked thinking about the idea.
“I definitely would.”
“Next time, then,” Brennan agreed.
Booth smiled brighter, “Then it’s a date.”
She gave him a sideways look and knew that it was a figure of speech, but it still struck her. “I should be going. I’ll see you Monday?”
“Alright,” Booth told her. He was looking forward to an uneventful weekend with Parker. No bones, no bodies, and no serial killers. “Night Bones.”
“Night Booth.”
*~*~*
TBC…