Title: What About Love

Author: Megan Faye

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own Bones.

Please read A Time to Grow, or none of this will make ANY sense. Hell, it may not make any sense even if you have read A Time to Grow.

This is rated M for a reason. However, it is not just smut. There is a fair amount of smut, but there is this nifty little thing in here called a plot. It is nothing my mother will read...I hope. ANYWAY, there is a time and a place for no-plot smut. Those are great. This just isn't one of those. That being said, I hope ya like it.

It had only been half an hour since Parker had gone to sleep, but the throbbing in his leg made it impossible to actually sleep well. Something seemed off, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He rubbed at his knee, and remembered the dream. That was it, he'd had another vivid dream. He was beginning to hate those.

Parker blinked at the light from the hall, shaking the dream from his head. He dreamed of his dad coming home almost every time he slept. Nothing was out of place. Even the hall light was on as it normally was this time of day. If it was on, that means Brennan was up, either eating an early lunch, feeding Joseph, or reading. He groaned as he rolled out of bed. He didn't put the heat wrap on his knee and it hurt like hell.

"Mom," he called sitting back down. There were a few hushed words from the living room before his father poked his head in. Parker smiled, tearing up again. It hadn't been another wonderful dream; his dad was home, alive, and well. "Dad, could you get my pain medicine?" he asked.

"Pain killers?"

"Forgot the heat pad?" Brennan asked from behind Booth, Joseph in her arms. Parker nodded. "Can you get to the living room?" Parker shook his head. She's mentally kicked herself for not checking, since the air conditioner was on high that day. "I'm going to put Joe in his swing, and I'll come back to help."

"Come here, bub." Booth leaned down and lifted his son carefully. He grunted, as Parker had gotten much bigger in the last year, and he wasn't as strong as he had been once. "Couch?"

"Thanks, Dad." Brennan grabbed his pillow and popped up a foot rest on one end of the couch. She and Booth arranged him there, and Brennan gently touched his leg, just below his knee.

"It is pretty swollen. Where is it right now?"

"About a 7," he said.

"Okay. You need to eat with the new pain medicine. Chinese okay?"

"Beef and broccoli, steamed rice, and sweet and sour pork?" Parker asked. Brennan roughed his hair and nodded.

"I have to be back at the hospital by 8," Booth said. "I wasn't exactly released. My doctor gave me a pass, sort of. I wasn't really doing too well until last night. Something just...clicked, I guess, and I was able to finally speak." Brennan looked worried.

"Blood clots. Are you on any sort of blood thinner?"

"I have no idea what they have me on."

"Give me your doctor's name and hospital. I'll call in and see what you are on, why and how often. Booth, I swear if you missed an important drug, I'll-"

"Love me exactly how I am and glare at me until I take my medicine, like a good boy?" Brennan narrowed her eyes at him. "Did you keep any of my non-uniforms?"

"I have one of your shirts," Parker offered. "But we donated most of everything to Goodwill. Booth moaned and stared up.

"The belt buckle?"

"It wasn't something I thought was important to keep. I kept pictures, and your football that you and Parker played with. Was that wrong?" she asked, honestly worried that he'd be angry. Booth put his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "I am sorry," she offered.

"Its okay, Bones. You got me, and I can get more stuff." She nodded and allowed herself to soak in the comfort. "I'll call in dinner, while you get Joseph ready to go. We'll eat at the lab, with everyone, and you can bring me back to the hospital." Parker yawned and closed his eyes, letting the heat calm the pain away.

It took a little while to get Parker to wake up enough to walk to the car, leaning heavily on his dad, but they managed. Brennan made him a small roast beef sandwich so he could take his pain meds before they left. The swelling had gone down significantly, but he was still hurting with the heat on it. Brennan decided to call in for another appointment, as it wasn't getting better, and she didn't like the idea of a 12-year-old living on Vicodin.

Parker and Joseph slept in the car the whole way to the lab. Booth picked the sleeping baby up from the car seat and Parker leaned on him sleepily, but with a happy little smile that Brennan hadn't seen in a very long time. Booth hung back as his son and Brennan stepped up to the platform, leaving the bags of food on the floor , far away from the dead body.

"What do we have here?" Brennan asked. No one looked up when Brennan and Parker stepped up to the body.

"I dunno, Bones, but maybe we could do something about that smell!" Booth said, grinning. "Seriously, that is the worst one yet!" Angela screamed, and threw her arms around Booth and the baby. Cam stared in disbelief. Hodgins laughed. Sweets felt tears in his eyes, watching the scene unfold. Brennan and Parker were still pretending to study the body, passing grins and winks to each other. "Okay, Angela, don't squish the baby."

"We want the details, Booth," Hodgins said, shaking his hand. "It is really good to have you back."

Before anyone could say another word, Cam fainted.

"How's your head, Cam?" Angela asked as she passed the rice across the table on the deck above the lab.

"Embarrassed. My head is somewhat embarrassed."

"How are the two of you?" Sweets asked Booth and Brennan. They'd been nudging, passing grins, making eyes at, and leaning on each other most of the last two hours they'd been at the lab. Sweets had a big grin on his face.

"We are fantastic, Sweets. Pass the pork?" Sweets passed the container, trading for the chicken fried rice. "I can't wait to come back. What's the deal with the guy down there?"

"He was found in a basement after a fire in a house, still being built, behind a cinder block wall. Buried there during the construction, less than 2 weeks ago," Cam said, taking a bite of her lunch. "We're working on an ID, but we know he was still alive when the fire started."

"How was he still alive?" Parker asked. "Two weeks in a wall doesn't seem like something one could live through."

"There was olive-drab plastic melted to his hip."

"Canteen?" Both asked. "Army issues one that color. If he spread out how much he drank, and had anything to eat on him, he could live for at least a week. The basement was cool, he was well trained, I think its possible. And Parker, until you have hair under your arms-"

"I do, actually. And I've been in the lab quite a bit in the last year. A guy in a wall isn't the worst I've seen. The guy boiled in acid...that was...that was gross." He yawned again.

"Still not sleeping?" Cam asked.

"Its not as bad as it has been in the past. Just a rough not last night," Parker said, sipping his lemonade. "The new pain killers make me either sleep like the dead, or hyper. Its a shot in the dark which one will happen and when."

"When is your next surgery scheduled?"

"Two weeks from Friday, actually. They are removing the pins. It wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't growing so fast."

"How many surgeries have you had!" Booth asked.

"October was the break. It was messy, multiple fractures right below the knee cap, and there was one from knee to ankle. Right after my birthday, they found that the bones were fractured again, from playing Dance Dance Revolution at the arcade. I got the pins put in then, and after 2 months, the second set. Tomorrow is just to remove the pins. I should be able to heal in 6 or 8 weeks from there. No cast, just a brace this time." Parker looked relieved. "Next fall, I can play some sports again. Nothing contact, but I can swim and ride horses. It opens up a few teams."

"Man, no football, no soccer, no baseball," Booth said.

"I'm not all that interested in playing those any more. None of my friends play. The Neanderthals on the sports teams I used to play on are extremely condescending toward my new school and friends, while my new friends at school are accepting of change and different opinions. I choose not to associate with my old friends."

"English, buddy."

"Dad, they are bullies. They pantsed me when I told them about the lab." Booth felt his eye-brows raised.

"Who? I'll go have a man-to-man with their fathers, and that'll be the end of that," Booth grunted.

"Actually, I sat down with their fathers already, and I believe they had their hides tanned, whatever that means." Booth snorted a laugh.

"It means they were whipped. I don't condone it, but if my kid had yanked the pants off another kid, I'd have spanked him, too." Brennan's eyes bugged out.

"You are not striking either one of our children, Seeley Joseph Booth! If you even consider it an option, this relationship will not work, and you can take a cab back to the hospital." Her jaw was set, eyes narrowed. She was in "Mother Lion" mode as Angela had called it. Booth put his free hand up in a surrendering motion. Brennan took Joseph from him and moved toward her office.

"Bones, I'd never-" She whipped around to face him

"You just said-"

"I was wrong. I would never hurt Parker or Joseph. Parker has pushed every single one of my buttons and has never, ever been hit, spanked, or even yelled at. When he was 6, he kept running into the street, after I told him not to, and stared at me. Know what we did? We got in the car and went home. He was sent to his room, no TV, no games, no phone, no music, no books, and no toys the rest of the weekend. He was allowed out for bathroom, food, and to go home when Rebeca got there. My dad would have broken my arm if I had done that. I would never hurt my son. I'm not my dad." Brennan sighed and looked into Booth's eyes. He hadn't meant to worry her, and she knew what kind of dad he was. She let herself be hugged over the baby, who was starting to grump from being passed around, hugged over, and not just left to be comfortable for long.

"I'm going to feed him, and put him down in my office."

Booth slowly opened his eyes. He was back in the hospital, as he promised the doctor, but it was different. Brennan was asleep in the chair next to his bed, with a 6-week old baby in her arms, and Parker was on the little pull-out couch. He smiled to himself. He had a cute little family.

"Hey, Bones," he said. "Bones?"

"Parker, too early," she mumbled. Booth knew there was a story there.

"I'm not Parker, babe." Brennan opened her eyes and smiled sleepily at him. "You look beautiful."

"My hair is a mess, my clothes are not pressed, and I believe Joseph spit up on me."

"Still beautiful."

"Booth, we should talk."

"Okay. Let's talk."

"I am not letting you go. I'm not letting Parker or Joseph know a life without you again. So, either you move in, or risk us living in the hall outside of your apartment," she said, reasonably. "I'm in-love with you. I am aware that I never believed in such a thing until forced to face it, but I am, and I'm not letting you go without a fight like you have never seen."

"Bones," he said, taking her hand. "I'm not going anywhere. As soon as I am officially released, I'll follow you anywhere." Brennan put the sleeping baby down in his stroller and moved to Booth'd bed. She leaned in and kissed him. It was just as she'd imagined it would be.

"Hey, 12-year-old in the room," Parker said, still covered and back facing them.

"Cover your eyes, I'm kissing my favorite girl."

"Gross Dad."

Later that morning, after Jared was called, Brennan talked to Booth's doctors and understood what had happened to him, she decided that recovering another few nights in the hospital was a good idea, no matter how much Booth hated it. She showed him the x-rays, the pictures of what he looked like going into surgery when he was found. He shouldn't be alive, let alone arguing about being in a hospital. After three days of testing, retesting, looking, poking, prodding, and annoying Booth, they were ready to release him, with occupational and physical therapy in his near future.

Before he knew it, the day of Parker's knee surgery came. Booth did not handle his kid in the hospital very well. He paced for the hour and half, asking about the doctor's education, knowing full well that this hospital was the best in pediatrics. Brennan never did anything half way.

Everything went well for Parker, and he was able to start the first camp the following week. Since it was the first in a series of science camps through the school at the Jeffersonian, Max picked him up in the morning, to bring him to the school to check in. As soon as he was gone the first day, Brennan decided it was a good time to talk to Booth about what would happen to Parker, now that Booth was home, and living on her couch.

"Thanks, Bones," he said, grinning.

"We should talk."

"I know."

"Parker is your son," she said, softly. "And since you aren't deceased, the adoption can be contested, and it won't hold-"

"He's your son, too, Temperance." She looked up at him. "I'm not going to take him away from you. Rebeca is gone, and you stepped in, and gave him a family. He feels safe with you, and feels loved. What more could a guy want for his kid?" Brennan sniffled and looked into her mug. Joseph began to fuss from the mat on the floor where he'd been playing previously. Brennan knelt down next to the infant.

"Have you grown bored with flashing lights and random computer generated music, Joseph?" The baby looked at her and grinned. "Booth! Booth, he's smiling!"

"Oh, wow!" Booth got down on the floor next to Brennan and looked at the baby. "Hiya, Buddy! Is Mommy just so funny?" The baby smiled again and kicked. Booth laughed and tickled the baby's belly. He fussed again. "What's wrong?"

"Hungry. I'll be back in about 15 minutes." She picked the baby up and disappeared into the nursery. Booth finished his drink and rinsed the mug while he waited.

"How'd it happen, Bones?" he asked about 10 minutes or so later. "How'd he become a squint?"

"When I became his foster parent, I had him tested for school. I hadn't picked one particular school, yet. He tests at levels as high as I did, higher than half the lab. He's far more brilliant than his old school properly understood. The school that had the best programs for him was the one I chose. It would help him raise his math scores, and build onto the high science and reading. He's very advanced. The public schools he started in gave him a social foundation that most of the students missed out on. He's extremely popular on top of having incredible scores."

"You're telling me that Parker is a genius, and nobody noticed?"

"Well, you noticed. You frequently reminded me how smart he is. Now there is documented proof." Brennan unlatched the baby from her breast, covered and put the now sleeping 3-month-old in his crib, in his own room. As soon as she closed the door to the nursery and turned on the moniter, she turned to Booth. "I've been cleared medically to engage in sexual intercourse." Booth gagged. She always had a way of surprising him.

"You really know how to make a guy feel special."

"What I am saying," she said, straddling him where he sat on the couch, and surprising him again. "Is that I want you." Brennan leaned down and kissed him, as she'd only kissed him once before, many, many years earlier. She felt him harden against her as they kissed. He moaned into her lips. He played with the hem of her shirt, touching the soft skin. She rocked against him, eliciting a gasp from her own lips, and a grunt from his.

He pushed her back onto the couch and laid on top of her, pinning her as he kissed her neck. They were hurried and eager to please each other, pulling at clothing, and eventually, rolling onto the floor. He removed her pants and pushed inside of her. She gasped and lifted her hips to deepen his thrusts. They cried out as he slammed into her, pleading for more. He bit down on her shoulder, enough to mark, but not bruise, and she came hard, spasming around him, bringing him to his climax.

As the trembling subsided, Booth kissed her and removed himself. He carefully stood, and took her hand.

"Temperance," he said, leading her to her bedroom. "We've had sex. Now, I'm going to make love to you."