"The Object of My Affection" - Chapter 14
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 14 - “Dinosaurs and Destiny”
Author’s Note: A movie (on DVD) to recommend: “Martian Child”. Remember…the more reviews, the faster the next chapter goes up…and I just finished chapter 17 last night. Chapter 16 is the big chapter with 12 pages! So keep up with the reviewing!
*~*~*
Jeffersonian
It had been a day since Parker’s mother had died. Booth and Parker had stayed the night at Brennan’s again. She had been careful not to wake Booth as she’d showered and gotten dressed, but when she’d gone to leave, Parker had been standing there fully clothed. She didn’t know what else to do, but take him to work with her and leave Booth a note letting him know where they were along with a reminder that there was still a dinosaur pancake breakfast waiting for him.
“Hey Buddy!” Hodgins greeted as Brennan and Parker arrived at the Jeffersonian’s Medico-Legal lab.
“Hi,” Parker responded quietly with his head down.
Hodgins frowned, “I gotcha something,” he told him and reached under his work table to retrieve a bright green bag.
“It’s not my birthday,” Parker said, his head still down.
“It’s just a friendly Angela and I were thinking of you gift,” Hodgins tried.
Parker lifted his head and spied the bag. It had bright blue tissue inside, so he couldn’t see the contents. But he still felt sad. It didn’t feel like a time to have presents. “My mom died,” Parker said sadly.
“I know, Buddy. We’re all really sorry to hear that,” Hodgins said. “We were hoping this would help you feel better when you got sad.”
“It’s okay?” Parker asked and then looked up at Brennan.
The gesture was truly beautiful. She crouched down, she remembered how alone she felt even with Russ there when her parents disappeared. She put an arm around the boy, “You know, I don’t think your mom would want you to be sad. Do you think she’d want that?”
“I guess not…”
Brennan hugged him and kissed the side of his head. “Your mom’s an angel, isn’t she?” Sure, she didn’t believe in religion, but she knew enough about Booth’s to try to bring a small comfort to Parker.
“Yeah,” Parker agreed. “With wings.”
“I bet she’s keeping an eye on you and your dad right now,” Angela said. She’d walked in on the conversation after immediately spotting Parker in the lab.
“So, it’s okay?” he asked again, a bit unsure.
“Yes,” Brennan told him. “Go ahead.”
Parker’s face lit up just a bit as he took the bag from Hodgins and removed the blue paper from the bright green bag. He stopped when he finally found what was in the bottom of the bag. “It’s a T-Rex!” Parker exclaimed and pulled out the eighteen inch brown and green colored stuffed dinosaur from its bag. He looked to Brennan as he hugged it, “I mean…tyrannosaurus rex.” The stuff dino roared. “Wow!”
“It roars when you hug him,” Hodgins told him.
“He’ll scare any bad dreams away,” Angela added.
“That’s a really cool T-Rex,” Brennan told Parker with a smile.
“But it’s really a tyrannosaurus rex,” Parker argued.
“T-Rex is more like a shortened name…sort of like how my is Temperance, but my brother calls me Tempe.”
“That’s a weird name,” Parker told her as he eyed her suspiciously for a moment.
“What about Parker?” Angela asked.
Parker just shrugged and hugged his T-Rex. He roared in response.
“I think he needs a name,” Hodgins told Parker. “Something fierce.”
“When did the lab become daycare?” Cam’s voice reigned in.
“Parker’s just going to hang out in my office,” Brennan told her.
“What does fierce mean?” Parker asked Cam as she joined the group.
“It’s sort of like scary,” Cam told him. “Like trying to scare someone.”
“How about Rex?” Hodgins suggested.
“Oh yeah, that’s original,” Angela commented.
“What are we naming?” Cam asked wanting into the loop.
“My T-Rex,” Parker said as he held up his new stuffed dino.
“Ah,” Cam said. “How about Seeley?”
“Nah!” Parker said as he laughed, “That’s my dad’s name!”
“Okay, you guys keep trying. I’m going to borrow Doctor Brennan for a moment.” Cam smiled at Parker before walking with Brennan to her office.
“I’m sorry, Cam-” Brennan started as soon as they were inside the office.
“You know you have sick days and vacation you could take,” Cam reminded. “Why not take some time off?”
“I…I just don’t know what to do,” Brennan admitted. “How to help. Parker-well, he was ready when I was sneaking out, I figured that he’d be better off here-”
“You know he goes to school,” Cam interrupted.
“I know, but he said he’s not ready,” Brennan said.
Cam nodded, “Plus, you’re probably not on their list of people to release him to.”
“No.”
“He has to stay in your office or Angela’s,” Cam said. “We can’t have him on the platform and possibly contaminate evidence.”
Brennan nodded, “Angela’s volunteered to have him in her office as well in case he gets lonely.”
“That’s acceptable.”
She held up the new backpack, “I made sure he’ll be occupied. I bought a portable DVD player and he picked out DVDs. He also has music that will play in the DVD player and coloring books. There’s also an odd assortment of dinosaurs, knights, dragons, and soldiers in the bottom…somewhere,” she said as she shook the bag around. “He also has snacks and some juice boxes.”
Cam smiled brightly and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well done, Doctor Brennan.”
“Thanks.”
“What do you think about Booth?” Cam asked.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Cam clarified, “Is he going to be okay? I know he took the news hard.”
“I think the hardest part was telling Parker,” Brennan said. “I think he’ll be okay. It’s just going to take some time is all.”
Cam nodded in agreement. “Just let me know if you need time off, okay? It’s not a crime to miss work if you need to be somewhere else.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Booth will be taking bereavement time. He’ll probably take longer…take some of his sick days or vacation days in order to get Parker settled.”
Brennan finally nodded in understanding, “I’ll let you know.”
“Good.”
“Thanks, Cam.”
Cam just smiled, “You’re welcome,” before leaving. She had no major problems with Parker being there, they’d done it for a couple days before and nothing disastrous had happened. Now, Brennan had had time to think over Parker’s previous time at the Jeffersonian and had improved her plans.
*~*~*
Jeffersonian
The whole team took a break for lunch at the same time. It had been Angela’s idea, so that they could make sure that everyone ate, including Parker. Hodgins had gone out and bought Chinese, which he figured could be educational in a cultural and culinary sense. They were all camped out in Brennan’s office around her coffee table. Brennan, Parker, and Cam on the couch while Hodgins sat in one of the chairs with Angela perched on the arm rest of the chair.
“I hope you brought enough for everyone.”
The group turned to see Booth standing in the doorway in blue jeans, black t-shirt, and an olive green army style jacket.
“Daddy!” Parker shouted happily. He dropped his chop sticks and hurried over as quickly as he could. He hugged his dad, happy to see that he was out and about and there to have lunch with them. “We’re having Chinese…and Angela is teaching me how to use chop sticks.” He pulled his dad towards the couch where Brennan and Cam were sitting. Parker waited until his dad was seated before handing him a set of chop sticks. “We’re sharing.”
Booth smiled as he watched his son sit down between him and Brennan. He looked over to his partner, “You know technically you kidnapped my son,” he teased.
“Didn’t you see that today is: take your child to work day?” Cam teased.
“I do think that the Jeffersonian is a much better atmosphere than the F.B.I.,” Angela told Booth.
“He wanted to come,” Brennan defended in the end.
Parker pushed a container into his father’s hands when he noticed he didn’t have any food yet. “Eat,” Parker insisted.
“Okay, okay,” Booth said as he separated his wooden chop sticks and then rubbed them together to remove the excess stray wood particles off. Booth dug into the chicken lo mein in the box in his hands.
“Hey Booth,” Hodgins spoke up. “We wanted to know if it’d be okay if Angela and I took Parker to the dinosaur exhibit later.”
“How much later?”
“Private tour later.”
Booth shook his head, “Aren’t you sick of being here all day, Hodgins?”
“Are you kidding?”
“Sorry, I forgot. This is like the squint paradise,” Booth teased.
“What’s a squint?” Parker asked curiously.
“Bones and Hodgins are squints sometimes Cam and Angela too,” Booth told his son.
“What does that mean?” Parker pushed.
“Squints are…geeks, nerds, scientists, people who squint at things.”
“Am I a squint?”
“No, you’re too cool for that,” Booth said quickly.
“But I like school…and I like dinosaurs,” Parker told his dad.
“A squint is actually someone of high intelligence that has basic reasoning skills,” Brennan argued.
“So,” Parker said.
“Someone who’s smart, Honey,” Angela explained.
“Like my dad.”
“Whoa! I am not a squint,” Booth exclaimed. “I’m an agent of the F.B.I.”
Angela and Hodgins just laughed. “No need to get so defensive when lumped with us, Booth,” Hodgins told him.
“We help you catch the bad guys, remember,” Cam told him.
“Is being a squint bad?” Parker asked.
“No,” Booth told him.
“Then why can’t I be a squint?”
“He was waiting for Brennan this morning,” Angela told Booth.
“Face it, man,” Hodgins said. “Your kid’s destined to be one of us.”
*~*~*
TBC…