Why We Fight
By Ralkana

Disclaimer ~ Bones is owned by Josephson Entertainment and Far Field Productions, in association with 20th Century Fox Television, based on the novels by Kathy Reichs. I own none of it, but if someone wants to give me Agent Booth for Christmas, I think I could be persuaded.

Comments and feedback to Ralkana47@yahoo.com would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Timeline ~ Set in season 2. Written for Veterans Day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I spoke with the victim's sister, and she says he never had a broken bone in his life." Tucking his cell phone tightly against his shoulder, Special Agent Seeley Booth leaned back in his desk chair.

"Well, that's inconsistent with what the skeleton shows. This boy had multiple fractures over several years, varying in intensity." Bones sounded irritated -- but then, she usually did when she was talking to him, he thought with a hint of pride.

"I know. You said that. Which means, either the sister is lying, or... you sure you identified the body correctly?"

"Of course we did, and the bones don't lie."

"Okay -- "

"And I don't appreciate you questioning my competence -- "

"I'm not questioning your competence, Bones!" The phone on his desk bleated for his attention, but he ignored it. "I know that the sister's probably lying."

"She's obviously trying to protect his abuser -- probably her abuser as well."

"Obviously? Probably?" The phone bleated again, and he cast it a dark look. "Is that intuition speaking, Bones?"

"Agent Booth?" His intercom cut in, his unit's receptionist.

"I'm on my cell phone."

"It's your son's school."

Booth instantly sat up, stifling a curse when he cracked his knee on the desk. "Gotta go, Bones."

He snapped his cell phone shut on her protest, feeling no regret. He could apologize later. Please, God, let Parker be okay.

Picking up his desk phone, he tried to ignore the tremor in his hands. "Seeley Booth."

Immediately, he could hear his son's voice in the background, and his breath rushed out in a sigh of relief. Wincing, he reached down to rub his knee.

"Mr. Booth, this is Amelia Dohring."

Booth's eyes widened. The principal? "Of course, Mrs. Dohring, is everything all right? I'm surprised to hear from you -- usually I hear about school happenings from Parker's mother." He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but it was a losing battle.

"We felt in this situation that it would be more beneficial to discuss the matter with you."

Please, God, don't let him have beat up a classmate. Rebecca will kill me. "I see."

"Perhaps it would be best if I let your son's instructor explain the situation to you."

Before he could respond, there was a new voice. "Mr. Booth?"

"Yes, Miss -- I'm sorry, I know the kids call you Miss Lorraine..."

"Conrad. Lorraine Conrad."

"That's right. Is Parker in trouble?"

"Well, no, not in trouble, but he has caused a little bit of a disruption."

Parker was still talking in the background, probably trying to plead his case to whoever would listen. Booth attempted to be stern, in principle, but he couldn't help his smile at the sound of his son's voice. "What kind of a disruption?"

"Well, in honor of Veterans Day, the children are coloring pictures and writing short messages on them, in order to send them to the troops overseas."

"That's... a nice thought." Inwardly, he thought that there were many things the troops overseas could use instead of children's pictures, but he'd never say it out loud. It was a thoughtful gesture.

"Yes, well, Parker refuses to turn his in."

"He... refuses?"

"Yes. I tried to explain the idea behind the assignment to him, to tell him they're for the soldiers and veterans, but he insists that he made it for you."

"Miss Conrad," he said quietly, touched by the thought behind his son's rebellion, "I am a veteran."

There was a small pause. "Oh. Oh, right, of course you are, I'd forgotten, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay -- "

"Nevertheless, I can't just allow Parker not to turn in his work when it suits him. I understand this is a special case, but -- "

"Miss Conrad, I think I might have an idea that'll work. Can I speak to my son?"

"Of course." She turned away from the phone, but the conversation was still audible to Booth. "Parker? Your dad wants to speak with you."

"'m I in trouble?"

"No, honey." Her voice was soft and soothing as she reassured the boy.

"Daddy?"

Booth smiled into the phone. "Hey, bub, what's going on?"

"Daddy, I drawed you a picture and I stayed in the lines and everything and Miss Lorraine wants to take it away! She says it's for the other soldiers, but I told her you were a soldier too, and I writed your name on it and it's for you and I don't want some other soldier to have it."

"Thank you, son, that was very nice of you! But the picture is supposed to be for the soldiers far away."

His son was silent for a moment. "Why?" he finally asked, his voice deeply suspicious.

"Well, because they're very far away from home, and they miss their mommies and daddies and their own little boys and girls, just like I'd miss you if I were very far away from you." Booth didn't even want to imagine that scenario. He thanked God every day that he'd left the Rangers before Parker came into his life. "I think a very nice picture drawn by you that's colored perfectly in the lines might cheer them up and make them not miss home so much, don't you think so?"

The boy's silence was even longer this time. "Maybe," he eventually conceded.

"If your teacher says you have to turn in your work, Parker, then you have to turn it in."

"But Daddy, I drawed this one for you, and I don't wanna give it to anyone else! It even has your name on it!"

"Don't whine, Parker. Do you could think you could color another one just as nice as that one?"

"I don't know, Daddy, this one's pretty good."

Booth stifled a laugh. Modesty was not his son's strong suit. "Okay, ask Miss Lorraine if you can keep that one to give to me and color another one for the other soldiers, can you do that?"

"Yeah!"

"Parker."

"Huh?"

"Don't say 'huh', it's not polite. You have to color it just as nice for them as the one you did for me, though. Can you do that? The other soldier who gets your picture might be some other little boy's daddy or mommy, and they deserve a nice picture too."

"There's mommies too?"

His son's voice sounded so small and awed and scared, and Booth's heart ached. There was still so much rough stuff Parker had to learn about the world, and Seeley wished that he could wrap his arms around the boy and shelter him from all of it. It was a futile wish, he knew, but that didn't stop him from wishing it.

"Yes, Parker. Remember, we talked about this? Some of the soldiers are mommies too. Ask Miss Lorraine if you can do another picture, okay?"

"'Kay. Miss Lorraine, Daddy says to ask you if I can keep this picture for him, since it's got his name and everything and then I can do another picture for the other soldiers, and I promise I can do it just as nice and stay in the lines and not mess up."

"I think that's a wonderful idea, Parker. What a thoughtful little boy you are."

"Daddy, Miss Lorraine says yes!"

"Good, I'm glad. You be good and you listen to Miss Lorraine and your other teachers, okay, son?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, and then you can have your picture, but it's not a surprise anymore."

Booth smiled. "I'll love it just as much, son. Bye, kiddo."

"Bye, Daddy, I love you!"

"Love you too, Parker," he said, but his son was already chattering excitedly to someone else.

"Thank you, Mr. Booth," Lorraine said into his ear. "For helping, and well, just... thank you."

Her tone of voice changed at the end, and Booth could tell he was being thanked for his military service. Before he could figure out how to respond, the principal was back on the phone, thanking him and saying her goodbyes. He managed to respond in kind, but he wasn't really paying attention. His mind was still on his son.

He had no idea what he and Parker would do the next day, but he knew they'd both enjoy it, as they both enjoyed all of the time they spent with each other. It was one of Rebecca's few acknowledgements of Seeley's time in the military -- and life before her -- that she allowed Parker to spend every Veterans Day with his father. They'd never really discussed it; it had just happened the first year and continued happening every year after that.

Seeley's gaze wandered to the flag that stood in the corner of his office and then slid back to the picture of Parker that rested on his desk.

He'd served his country in the military, and though he hoped his son never learned of the ugliness he'd seen and done, he was proud of his time in the Army, and -- when he admitted it to himself, which was rarely -- mostly proud of his time as a Ranger, too. He served his country now as a federal agent, and he was proud of that as well. But nothing -- nothing -- touched the pride he felt when he looked at that smiling little boy.