I'm writing this story for me; it's loosely based on personal experiences. Another reason I am writing this is because I want to take Booth and Brennan in a new direction, I love the happy roses and lollipops B&B family stories, but this time I wanted to not have them be happy off the bat I wanted them to struggle a bit.

On to the personal stuff, when I was born, they told my parents I had developmental delays, but I'd probably be able to lead as normal life as possible. This wasn't the case when I was about a year old they changed the diagnosis to moderate Cerebral Palsy. What this means is I cannot walk on my own and I cannot see that well. That isn't what the story is about, my junior year I helped out in the special education classroom. One of the kids had developmental delays and wouldn't interact or speak that much until I came in. Half way through my senior year I had enough credits to graduate after Christmas break. Doing that was hard just because I didn't know how to tell the student that I'd bonded with that I was going to be leaving. I told the teacher that I would be going before we left for the holidays and when got back she had all the kids sign a card for me and had the student I bonded with give it to me. I found the card the other day and thought about the kid and all the things we worked on, and of course my brain went to how I can make this into a fic lol! The way things are done in the fic won't be how they happened with the kid and the disabilities will be a tad different

My intention is not to offend anyone or make light of the disabilities, if that is what happens I am sorry. If people think I shouldn't write this or at any point that I should stop tell me and I'll do it.

Waiting is the hardest part

Temperance Brennan sat in a specialist's office with her husband of for years, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth and their almost three year old son, Michael sat on her lap, playing with her old ID that he got a hold of last year and wouldn't give back. Michael was the reason they were there, he was 3 weeks from his third birthday and he had yet to say anything. Brennan wasn't that concerned at first, she knew some children were slower than others to speak. But now she was concerned Michael seemed to be having difficulty concentrating Michael also had a temper, but Brennan was confident that that was caused by his inability to communicate with them. Brennan always knew they could be facing Michael having some type of disability; he was born ten weeks early and spent the first six weeks of his life in the NICU. Dr. Stevenson walked in to the office,"Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth, I have Michael's results. Michael has a severe speech delay and he also has very mild ADD." Doctor Stevenson waited a moment for the information to sink in. Brennan kissed the top of Michael's head and Booth took her hand. "Doctor Brennan, Agent Booth this doesn't mean that Michael is incapable of learning to speak or learning in general, it just means that he'll do it differently. Michael is not Deaf, he has perfect hearing, and his brain doesn't quite know what to make of the sounds its hearing."

"So, that means he'll use sign language and be in special classes in school?"

"Not necessarily, Mr. Booth Michael could overcome his speech delay in time and speak normally. He could use sign in combination with speech, or yes he could communicate using only sign. Right now it's too early to tell, I would suggest starting speech therapy as soon as possible. There are also many special programs for toddlers that act as a preschool for children with developmental delays. The ADD might require academic accommodations, but I have no doubt Michael will reach his full potential he is a very bright and inquisitive child once you engage him." Brennan smiled slightly. They talked to Doctor Stevenson some more and he assured them that like Brennan thought Michael's temper was because of his inability to communicate and would more than likely dissipate as he became more verbal. Armed with names of schools and numbers of speech therapists Booth and Brennan made their way to the SUV where Brennan strapped Michael into his car seat. Climbing into her seat Brennan looked at Booth and said, "What are we going to do?"

Booth squeezed her hand," right now we are going to go to Rebecca's and get Parker and then we're going to get some pizza and go home to watch movies or do whatever the boys want to do this weekend. Monday we'll deal with Michael's needs. Everything will be okay Bones, you heard Doctor Stevenson Michael is smart kid; we just have to figure out ways to help him. I bet by this time next year we won't be able to shut him up."

"You shouldn't do that."

"What?"

"Make bets, you're a degenerate gambler."

"Reformed besides this is a safe bet, just dinner for two with you."

Brennan couldn't help but smile, Booth had away to make her feel better no matter what was going on. "I'm scared, Booth. This is the first time in my life that I would prefer conjecture over the facts." Booth reached across the seats and pulled Brennan into a hug."Bones all we got is conjecture. The only things we know are that Michael has a severe speech delay and he also has very mild ADD. What happens after that is a crapshoot."Booth handed Brennan a tissue from the console and sat up, smiling at Michael in the rearview mirror,"Bud, are you ready to go get Parker?"

Michael smiled at his dad and went back to playing with Brennan's ID. Thirty minutes later Booth was waiting on Rebecca's porch with Michael in his arms when Rebecca opened the door."Hi Seeley. Hi Michael, Parker is in his room."

"Thanks Becca." Booth mounted the stairs and eased open the door to Parker's room noting that the teen was laying on his bed listening to his IPod, oblivious to everything smiling Booth put Michael down and watched him run headlong onto the bed. Five minutes later Parker came downstairs with his duffel bag slung over his shoulder and a giggling Michael in his arms.

"Seeley if you need to ever switch weekends or whatever it's fine."

"Thanks Becca."

Forty five minutes later Brennan was getting the plates when Michael reached for her, Brennan sat the plates on the counter and picked him up. Booth picked up the plates and nudged Parker, "Park, grab the pizza and go into the living room, Bones and Michael need a minute or two."

A few minutes later Brennan settled Michael at the coffee table with a piece of pizza and sat down next to Booth on the couch with her own plate. "Thank you." Booth kissed Brennan's forehead in reply.

Later that night when Michael had gone to bed, Booth, Brennan and Parker were watching a more teen friendly movie when it was over Parker looked at Booth, "Dad, can we go to the park in the morning? I need to work on my fielding."

"Sure."

Parker looked at the floor, "Park is there something else?"

Still looking at the floor, Parker replied,"Mikey will want to go with us and that's okay, but he can't play with us then he'll get bored and cranky and we'll have to come home in twenty minutes."

Brennan raised Parker's chin so he was looking at her, "Parker, there is nothing wrong with what you said, it's all true except for one thing; you don't have to come home when Michael has had enough. We'll take two cars , that way I can take Michael home and you can still spend time with your dad."

"Thanks Bones."

"You're welcome." Brennan glanced at Booth, he nodded."Parker we need to tell you something about Michael, remember when we took him for those tests three weeks ago?"

"Yeah."

"We got them back today, before we pickled you up. Your brother has a severe speech delay and he also has very mild ADD."

"Will he ever talk?"

"We don't know Park, we're going to start speech therapy soon and theirs special schools he can go to that will help. The doctor said Michael could overcome his speech delay in time and speak normally. He could use sign in combination with speech, or he could communicate using only sign. "

"Oh okay, I don't know what else to say."

"It's okay Parker, your dad and I don't know what to say about it either."

Parker hugged both of his parents and went to bed.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning Brennan made pancakes while Booth, Michael, and Parker watched cartoons, after everybody got ready Booth and Parker headed to the park in his SUV while Brennan followed with Michael in her car. At the park Booth pushed Michael on the swings for a few minutes while Parker got ready and then Brennan took over and twenty minutes later Brennan and Michael left, but not before Brennan suggested that Booth and Parker make a day of it and go to the movies and to the diner after. Brennan left the park happier than she had been in the last twenty four hours. Booth and Parker were happy to spend the day together and Michael was content with his twenty minutes on the swings and going home to scribble on the large piece of newsprint that Brennan was going to tape to the kitchen floor and let him go at it

Interesting. Brennan is very calm about all this. . Keep going!

wait for it she'll have a mini melt down in the chapter i'm woking on now

more please this is really good

That Monday Brennan sucked in a breath and called the speech therapist and found out they didn’t have an appointment until after Michael’s birthday. Brennan had better luck with the school, Michael couldn’t start until they came back from summer break, but Booth and Brennan could come in for a tour and consultation on Wednesday. Wednesday after they had lunch at the diner Booth and Brennan drove to the school, The New Horizons School. Booth parked in the parking lot facing the playground, “They have swings Michael will love that.”
“Yeah, I never thought I’d be doing this when I thought about having kids.”
“Doing what? You weren’t going to send our kids to preschool?”
“Not like this, I never pictured a baby being so early, not talking, and sending him to special schools or special class. Speech therapy, IEP’s evaluations…”Brennan’s voice cracked a little.
Booth cupped Brennan’s chin, “Bones, just relax we don’t know what Michael’s future will be like, all we know is what’s right now. We just need to take it one day at a time we’re gonna get through this.”
“I don’t know why this is so hard for me, it’s not like what’s wrong with Michael is life threatening.”
“It’s hard because you’re his mom and he’s hurting and you can’t make it better right now.”
“Yeah, I know it’s still hard.”
“It’s hard for me too.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I’m his dad and I should be able to fix this and I can’t do it. It kind of makes me mad. Sometimes when he wants something and we don’t know what he wants or it’s taking too long, the look of pure frustration in his eyes breaks my heart.”Brennan squeezed his hand and took a breath and nodded to Booth, he smiled slightly. Over the years he’d learned that the nod meant Brennan was going to wait for him to open her door and help her inside. An hour and a half later they were back in SUV, the meeting went well and Brennan was impressed with the program and the services they had in pace to help Michael, but something was nagging at her. Brennan said out loud; “let’s go to Sid’s, Michael loves to look at the fish tank.”
“You sure Bones? Tonight’s veggie meatloaf night.” Even though it didn’t have meat in it Booth still loved the meatloaf and mashed potatoes gravy, carrots or peas and sometimes rolls.
Brennan smiled at Booth, “tomorrow, I’ve got a lot of thinking to do tonight…”
“About Michael?”
“Yes. I have my reservations about sending him to that school.”
“We’ve got other schools to check out…”
“That are at least 45 minutes away, I’m not sending our three year old 45 minutes away from us. We’ll talk about it after I figure it all out, please Booth I need to do this.”
“Okay.” Booth kissed her cheek. “Am I getting him from your dad or are you?”
“Can you? Dad’ll want to talk and I-“
“I got it.” Booth smiled and Brennan returned it. Fifteen minutes later Max let Booth in his apartment and Michael dropped the truck in his hand and went to Booth, while looking for Brennan. “Mommy is waiting in the car. Tell grandpa goodbye and give him a hug, while I get your stuff and we’ll go.”
Michael complied and five minutes later they were on the way. Sid met them at the door and led them to a table across from the fish tank and returned a few minutes later with their food, Thai peanut noodles for Brennan, spicy shrimp for Booth and chicken nuggets cut in half for Michael. Everyone had a pleasant dinner, something that didn’t happen that often. After the quiet dinner Brennan decided to try taking Michael to the store to get a few things, something she didn’t do often because the store sometimes over stimulated him and a meltdown ensued. Michael did well at the store if you overlooked the squashed loaf of bread he dropped twice and squeezed before not carefully dropping into Brennan’s cart. By the time they got home Michael was sound asleep, Brennan changed him into pajamas and put him to bed before settling down in office with her laptop and working out a plan to help her son find his words.

It was almost midnight when Booth made his way into Brennan’s office; she had numerous websites up on her computer and was filling the pages of a legal pad quickly. Booth stood behind Brennan’s desk and began massaging her neck that he knew was cramping. Brennan flinched at the touch, and then relaxed as Booth’s warm hands worked the kinks out. “Bones come to bed, its midnight.” His voice was low in attempt to lull her in to complying with the request; Brennan leaned back and took Booth’s hand. “As soon as I tell you my plan.” Booth knew the look on Brennan’s face; it was her’ I -can–fix-this’ look. Booth hadn’t seen that look in weeks, “You can tell me over coco.” Booth gently pulled Brennan out of her chair. Brennan made herself comfortable on a stool as Booth pored milk into two mugs.” What would you say if I took a sabbatical?”
Booth turned around crossing his arms, “Why?”
“To help Michael. After we met with the school, I had visions of him being the forgotten kid, falling through the cracks. You know how he is; he doesn’t open up to anyone. They’re going to see him as incommunicative, he’s not he just can’t do it. I can tell wants to talk but something isn’t getting through.” Brennan had tears in her eyes, Booth forget the milk heating in the microwave and wrapped his arms around Brennan.”Bones, Michael isn’t going to fall through the cracks or be the forgotten kid; we’ll make sure of it. What are you going to do to help him?”
“There are lots of thing that can be done, but I think the best thing for Michael would be to do a little a day and not move on to the next thing until he gets it. If it takes him three months to make a sound then that’s what it takes. Another thing that I think will help him is to not get him upset; he’ll get frustrated and shut down. Teachers can’t devote one on one time to Michael and that’s what he needs.”
“I agree and I will support whatever you want to do, but will you at least take Michael to the speech therapist and see what they have to say and see if they have any suggestions?”
“Of course.” Brennan sipped the chocolate that Booth sat in front of her and they chatted about what they were going to do for Michael’s birthday on Saturday.
Saturday came quickly, Brennan got Michael up early and they went to pick up Parker and then the diner for breakfast and after some chocolate chip banana pancakes they all went to the zoo. After a good three hours of walking around, Booth carried a sleeping Michael into the apartment, Brennan and Parker following pulling out decorations. Two hours later Parker was trying to keep an excited Michael entertained while Booth and Brennan put the finishing touches on his birthday party and dinner. As soon as the squints, Max, Jared, and Padme arrived Michael turned shy and attached himself to Brennan. Brennan tried to engage Michael in the conversation hoping he’d at least wave when anyone said hi to him, but he just leaned into Brennan more. They didn’t have to wait long for Booth to tell them that dinner was ready. Everyone came into the dining room and served themselves spaghetti, salad and garlic cheese bread. As soon as Brennan sat Michael’s plate in front of him he pushed the plate to the side, Hodgins caught the plate before it hit the floor he ended up with an armful of spaghetti. Brennan couldn’t take it and went to the bedroom for the breakdown Booth feared was coming since they got Michael’s diagnosis.
Booth was torn, he needed to tell Michael that his behavior wasn’t acceptable, but he wanted to comfort Brennan, sighing he lifted Michael out of his chair and carried him to his timeout chair and sat him down. “Michael, look at me.”
Michael looked at his father, a look of remorse on his face.
Booth took his hand, “Bud, you can’t throw your food on the floor, if you want something different you need to tell mommy or me and we’ll get you something else, okay?”
Michael nodded, Booth gave him a hug.” Mommy and I aren’t mad at you, but you need to sit here for two minutes, while I go talk to Mommy, okay.” Booth gave Michael another hug to show him he wasn’t upset with him. Booth knew that the ‘temper tantrum’ was due to him not being verbal and nothing else. “Ange, if I’m not back in two minutes get Michael out of timeout.” The artist nodded. Booth went to the bedroom; Brennan was sitting on the bed with her face in her hands.”Bones?” Brennan looked up,” I’m fine, I forgot to ask if he wanted sauce or not, you know how he is never eats the same food the same way twice.” Brennan smiled. “Am I nuts because I want him actually yell at me and tell me no?”
Booth rubbed Brennan’s back. “No, and he will soon enough. I looked at your plan last night and I think it’ll work.”
“I know I overreacted, but I looked at his face…the frustration…I couldn’t take it.”
“I know it’s been a stressful few weeks for us, but we go to the speech therapist on Tuesday and I bet by this time next month we’ll be well on the way to having a somewhat verbal child before his fourth birthday. Let’s go get the birthday boy some plain spaghetti.” Booth pulled Brennan to her feet and they went to the kitchen to find Michael sitting on Angela’s lap, she whispered to him, “Michael, go tell mommy you’re sorry.” The toddler slid off Angela’s lap and want to Brennan giving her a hug. Brennan hugged him tight, “I know baby and I’m not mad at you, we’re going to work on getting you able to tell daddy and I what you need or want soon, okay?” Michael didn’t respond to Brennan’s words, but she knew he understood. “Go tell Uncle Jack you’re sorry for dumping spaghetti on him while I get you some without sauce. Brennan smiled as she saw Hodgins pull her son in to a hug and making him laugh at the same time. The rest of the dinner went smoothly and Brennan told everyone about her plan to take at least a year sabbatical, no one was that surprised. After dinner was over Brennan brought out the chocolate fire truck cake that Michael picked out at the bakery last week. Dessert went better than dinner, but Brennan had to give Michael a scrub before he could open his gifts!

A/N: when Michael first learns words they’ll be purposely spelled wrong until he gets the hang of it. Sentences will also be also grammatically incorrect in the beginning. I’m going to speed things up some.






It had been almost a week since Brennan and Booth had taken Michael to the speech therapist; the evaluation went as well as it could have given Michael didn’t say a word. The only reaction he gave was to whine twenty minutes into the evaluation. Brennan explained that the whining meant that Michael was uncomfortable or scared. The therapist, Patti let Michael finish the evaluation on Brennan’s lap, Michael pointed to the pictures on the flashcards when Patti slowly said the word, but made no attempt to speak. Patti assured the parents that she could get their son verbal in time, but was doubtful that Michael would only use speech to communicate. Brennan told Patti her plan and showed her what activities she planned. Patti agreed with Brennan that at this juncture Michael wouldn’t do well at a school, he would get too frustrated. Patti gave Brennan ideas on what supplies to get and whatnot and 40 minutes later the family was on their way home for a quiet night at home.



Saturday Booth and Brennan were enjoying breakfast together before Michael got up, something they did every few months.
Brennan put her coffee cup down,”Booth, I’m going to get Michael’s flashcards and other stuff today. I’m going to take him with me, maybe if he’s involved in all of it he’ll be more willing to participate.”
“Sounds good, while you’re gone I am going to get Parker’s old kiddy table and chairs from Rebecca and set it up in your office. I will also rearrange the furniture in accordance with the diagram you emailed to my phone at 3 AM this morning.” Booth chuckled.
Brennan blushed,” I was using my phone; I can’t save messages on it! Is it bad that I’m kind of excited to start this on Monday?”
“No, I’m excited too, and I think that once Michael sees what the both of you are gang to do he’ll like it. Like you said he wants to talk, but for whatever reason he can’t. The other day when I picked him up from daycare to bring him back to the lab and he noticed you weren’t with me, he made a very faint sound that sort of sounded like the beginning of mommy… I asked him if he said something and he just looked at me…I probably should’ve told you, I didn’t want you to be getting your hopes up wanting him to say something.”
Brennan took Booth’s hand, “I’m glad you didn’t, it would have been hard to handle knowing that he tried to say something if this doesn’t if this doesn’t work.”
“It’ll work Bones, it might take longer than you expect, but it’ll work in time.” Booth kissed her cheek and got up to clear their breakfast dishes.



An hour later Brennan was getting Michael ready for the day, as she was tying his second shoe she said, “Michael, do you remember when I told you we were going to work on getting you to talk?”
The little boy nodded, Brennan kissed the top of his head.”Well we’re going to start working on it Monday when Daddy goes back to work, but today you and I are going to get the things you are going to use to learn. It will be like you did with Patti-“Brennan felt Michael tense.” Michael relax most of the time it will be just you and working on things here, we’ll do the flashcards like you did with Patti and other things too that you’ll have fun with. Every Friday after lunch you’ll have to go see Patti, just to make sure you’re working on everything and to show her what you’ve learned.” Michael wasn’t as tense as he had been, but he wasn’t relaxed completely either. “Michael, after we go see Patti we can go do something fun if you do what she needs you too. Are you ready to go?” Michael nodded.
“Go tell Daddy bye and wait for me.” Michael slid off Brennan’s lap in search of Booth.


Three hours and four stores later Brennan and Michael had gotten everything on the list Patti had given them. When they had a choice of what to buy Brennan let Michael choose and she let him pick our most of the books they had just gotten. Brennan strapped Michael into his car seat and got in the car, she looked at him through the rearview mirror, he was wore out, but he hadn’t whined or threw a fit while they were shopping. “Michael do you want to go to the diner for lunch then home for a nap?”


Brennan got a sleepy nod. An hour later Brennan carried Michael in to the apartment and handed him to Booth, “Too much shopping?”
Brennan smiled, “Yeah, he did really well; no whining or fits. We went to the diner he had his usual mini burger and I got him a milkshake for a treat because he did so well. Booth slid Michael’s shoes and laid him on the couch.”Did you get everything you need?”
“Yes, and we got you your usual from the diner.”
“Thanks, I got everything arranged the way you wanted it.”
“Thank you, I’m going to go get stuff put away and organized. Don’t let him sleep too long; he’s been out about 20 minutes.”
“Got it”. Booth picked up the takeout box and took a bite of his burger.


A/N 2: I’ve decided to go farther in this chapter than I’d originally planned, so I am posting this part now and I’ll post the next part when it is done. Writing the speech parts that they’re working on is going to take time.

Monday morning came and Brennan tried to treat the day like any other, but it wasn’t it was the first day of a new adventure that if it went the way she hoped it would change hers, Michael’s, and Booth’s lives forever. Brennan got up and she and Booth did their normal 5AM workout in their expansive home gym in the basement. Booth was spotting her as she did her last rep on the weights.”Bones, are you nervous about today?”
“ A little, but I’m excited too.”
Booth grinned, “I’m gonna go take a shower and change while you get Mikey up.”
“Leave me with the hard part, he hates getting up.”Booth smirked and headed upstairs. Brennan went to Michael’s room, getting a shirt and a pair shorts out of his dresser before sitting on the edge of his bed to wake him up.


“Michael, it’s time to get up.” Brennan rubbed his back. Michael turned over and snuggled into the mattress. Brennan smiled at his sleepiness, “you can take a nap after lunch if you want to.” Brennan pulled the covers down and began tickling Michael’s foot, the toddler laughed and pulled his foot away and put his arms up signaling that he wanted Brennan to carry him to the kitchen, Brennan picked him up and headed to the kitchen.”Sweetie, you’re getting too big for this.” Michael shook his head. “You’re not? Okay, what do you want for breakfast? Rice chex or corn pops?”
Michael shook his head against Brennan’s shoulder, “rice chex it is then.”
Brennan sat Michael in a chair and tucked a napkin into his pajama top and went and got the box of cereal and a bowl, letting him pour his own cereal while she added the milk. Brennan looked up when she saw a jean clad Booth come into the kitchen,”Did the FBI implement casual Monday?”
“No, I’m staying home today.”
“Why?”
“Moral support.”
“While I don’t think that will be necessary thank you.” Brennan kissed his cheek.
“You’re welcome.”



After breakfast Brennan helped Michael get ready for the day, “you can go play or watch TV for a while then we’ll work on getting you to talk, okay?”
Michael sort of nodded, Brennan tipped his chin up. “We won’t work that long, an hour at the most and then you can have lunch, watch Sesame Street and take a nap then play with Daddy.”
Michael smiled and slid off the bed and went to his toy box and got out his trucks. Brennan’s daily plan was simple; get Michael up at the time she would to get him to daycare so that he could have breakfast with Booth. Then he could play for wile and then they’d work on Michael’s speech until lunch then the afternoon was free.



About two hours later Brennan went to Michael’s room and stood watching him ram a dump truck in to a block ‘tower’. Once everything was knocked down, Brennan knelt beside, put your blocks away and then we’ll go to my office and work with some of the stuff we got on Saturday.”
Michael sat playing with a block, Brennan tipped his chin up,” the sooner you put the blocks away the sooner we can finish what we have to do and the sooner you can play with Daddy.” Michael dumped the block he was holding into the bucket and went for the rest. A few minutes later Michael was seated at Parker’s old kiddy table in the corner of Brennan’s office, Brennan sat across from him and pulled out a set of flashcards.”Michael, I want you to try and say the word on the card as I say it, okay?”
Michael didn’t nod, but he didn’t shake his head either. Brennan took a breath and started, “Apple.”



Michael was silent, Brennan could tell he was paying attention, but felt no need to comment. Brennan tried again, “Apple.” This time Michael pointed to the card, “Yes, baby the card says apple, why don’t you try to say it?” Michael sat still. Brennan sighed and pulled out another set of flashcards, theses had the word and a picture on them. Brennan thought the pictures might make it easier for Michael to say the word by visualizing the object.”Apple.” Michael was still silent, Brennan moved on to the next card. “Let’s try this one, Ball.” Michael pointed to the picture Brennan smiled and said it again, “Ball.” Brennan tried for a third time and moved in the third flashcard, “Cat.” again Michael panted to the orange cat on the card and remained silent. After saying the word three times and getting no response, Brennan got an idea. “Sit here Michael, I’ll be right back.” Brennan kissed his forehead and went to the kitchen, passing Booth on the way.



“How is it going Bones?”
“It’s not, he’s just sitting there, but I have an idea.” Brennan grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and went back to her office. Brennan turned Michael’s chair away from the table and knelt down. “Michael, what is this?” Brennan held the apple in her hand.
Michael shook his head, Brennan took his hand, and “do you know what this is?”
Michael nodded.
“Can you try to tell me? I think you can…I won’t be mad if you can’t or it doesn’t sound right. Michael sort of shook his head. “Just try once then you can go play with Daddy.” Brennan held the apple in her hand, “Michael what is this?”
Michael scrunched up his face,”ap.”
Brennan smiled, “very good, Michael can you say the rest of it?”



Michael shook his head; Brennan smiled and kissed his forehead. “That’s okay, sweetie we’ll work on it tomorrow. Before you go play with Daddy you can pick out a sticker and we’ll put on the chart I made you. When we get done every day, if you’ve tried your best you can put a sticker on the chart. After five stickers, you’ll get a prize, extra bedtime stories, candy, and one on one time with me or daddy and other things.” Michael pealed a SpongeBob sticker off the sheet and put it in the square that Brennan pointed to and went to find Booth.



Booth was a bit surprised when Michael crashed into him with a bucket of blocks and two trucks.
Booth smiled, “Bud, are you done working with Mommy? “
Michael nodded.
“Did you like it?”
Michael shrugged.
Booth smiled, “start building a tower and I’ll be back to play after I go talk to Mommy, okay?”
Michael nodded, and Booth went to Brennan’s office. Brennan was hunched over her desk writing.
“Bones?”
Brennan looked up, “Michael tried to say apple, it came out as app but at least it’s a start. He didn’t say anything until I showed him an apple, so I am going through the flashcards and writing down each picture so I can go try and find it. I think he’ll do better with the actual object to look at.”
Booth was grinning like a fool, “that’s great Bones, I’m happy that your plan is working.”
“Me too, will you watch him while I go out and find all this stuff?”
“Sure, we’re going to play with his blocks.



Two hours later Brennan opened the door and was met with the smell of baking cookies and Michael sitting at the table putting the crosshatch pattern on balls of peanut butter cookie dough. “What are the two of you up to?”
Booth looked up, “he got bored with blocks and trucks, so I figured we’d bake something. Michael is doing a good job flatting out the dough balls, sometimes he gets them a little too thin and I have to reshape them. What do you think Bud should we let Mommy help us?”
Michael nodded and Brennan put her bags down and went to wash her hands, then she helped Booth make dough balls. A half hour later Brennan sat a semi warm cookie and a glass of milk in front of Michael, He picked up the cookie and looked at Brennan,”ot.”
Brennan couldn’t help her smile,” yeah, sweetie it’s a little hot, but you can eat it now if you want or you can wait until it cools.”
Michael grinned and shoved the cookie in his mouth.

You’re Perfect the Way You Are

They had been working for a week and Michael had about a handful of words he could half way say. he had gotten apple down pat in three days. That’s what it took every three days they moved on to a new letter and a set of words. Booth would review with him when he came home at night and he had his own chart that Michael earned stickers for.


It was Monday and Brennan and Michael had just sat down to work, something Michael looked forward to, when Brennan’s phone rang. After listening to the call she closed her phone and looked at Michael. “Michael, we’re going to have to work later, we need to get Parker.” Michael lit up, Brennan smiled despite the circumstances Parker had got in a fight and was suspended. Since Rebecca was out of town on business Parker was staying with them and as a surprise they were going to take him out of school early on Friday and take both kids to a hockey game in Philadelphia, but now Brennan supposed that she’d be home with him while Booth and Michael went.


Brennan got to the school and saw Parker sitting in the office with an icepack on his face.
Brennan knelt down in front of him and carefully removed the ice and winced at the purple bruise forming around his eye, gently touching it. “Does it hurt?”
“Not much. Bones I-“
“We’ll talk about it at home. Sit with your brother while I go talk to your principal.”
Parker nodded and pulled Michael onto his lap, the three year old stared at the icepack. Fifteen minutes later Brennan pickled up Michael and put an arm around Parker and hugged him to her and left the school. The drive home was silent when they got home Brennan asked Michael to go play for a while she talked to Parker in his room.


Brennan sat on Parker’s bed, “Why’d you get in a fight with Andrew?”
“Because he was making fun of the way Mikey talks, he heard him at the game on Saturday.”Brennan put an arm around Parker. In the last week Michael had started to babble much like a toddler did when they first learned to speak and throw in some fragments of normal words “I told him to stop, but he got worse, said it was ironic that a genius would have a retarded kid. I told him Mike isn’t retarded, he just can’t talk. He hit me and I hit him back it was self defense.”
“I understand, but you have to understand people are going to treat your brother differently because of the way he talks. Even if he learns to speak normally people still may treat him differently if he does have a learning disability.”
“Why?”
“Well most of the time it’s because people don’t understand what is wrong and why Michael is the way he is. It’s going to happen more the older Michael gets, you are just going to have to let it go. Except if someone gets physical with him, I don’t think Michael is going to be one to defend himself.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“Yes, in addition to your weeks suspension from school you will be helping me with Michael’s speech therapy and I’m sure your father will take away your electronics usage. I got some of your assignments for the week since you were provoked and it was self defense. start on that and you can help me with Michael tomorrow, he’ll be upset today because we’re starting late.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine, Michael needs to learn to adjust to changing routines. Do you need anything?”
“More ice.” The icepack Parker had at school went back to the nurse before they left. Brennan nodded; kissing Parker’s head Brennan got up and left the room.


A few minutes later Michael ran into Parker’s room with an icepack wrapped in a towel and stood on tiptoe to reach Parker and hand him the icepack.
“Thanks Mikey.” The three year old nodded, “Lay?”
Parker grinned, “Not right now, we’ll play after you work on your words with mommy and I do my history homework, okay?”
Michael nodded and left to find Brennan. An hour later Brennan stuck her head in Parker’s doorway,
“Parker comes play memory with Michael while I go fix lunch.”
“Okay, after lunch can I take Mikey outside to play on the swings?”
“For a little while, he needs a nap. Try to get him to say what is on the card, he may not be able to but he needs to try.”
Parker nodded and headed to Brennan's office to do Michael’s last speech activity for the day. Forty-five minutes later the boys were sitting at the table eating homemade pizza bagels. After ;lunch Parker took Michael outside for his twenty minutes on the swings, Booth and Brennan had purchased a huge swing set for Michael’s second birthday, but so far Michael hadn’t used anything other than the swings. While Michael was swinging Brennan called Booth and filled him in and asked that he go easy on Parker, after all his heart was in the right place.



That night before dinner Booth went into Parker’s room, the boy looked up and Booth winced at the magnificent shiner he now sported.”Does it hurt, Park?”
“Only if I touch it. How much more trouble am I in?”
“You’re grounded for the next two weeks; you’re going help Bones with Michael as much as he’ll let you. No videogames, TV, Moves or computer in less it’s for school and Bones supervises. I’m also taking your phone.” The year before Booth Brennan and Rebecca decided to give Parker a cell phone for emergencies. He was allowed to call Booth, Brennan, and Rebecca’s cell phones and their offices plus both houses and his best friend Jacob who had moved and it was cheaper to let him call on the cell phone. Also no one was allowed to call him on it other than the aforementioned people. “But mom is supposed to call me tonight and every night until she gets back after dinner.” Booth smiled, he had already spoken to Rebecca about that. “Tell you what, Bones and I will keep he phone all day, but you can have it after dinner for your moms call then you have to give it back when you hang up.”
“Okay. Does mom know?.”
“Yes, but she understands and isn’t going to add anything to your punishment. Wash your hands and ‘help’ Michael set the table, he’s too short to reach the table and hold onto the plates.”
Parker started to walk away, Booth put a hand on Parker’s shoulder to stop him,”Bub, Bones and I aren’t that mad you got in a fight. We’re mad you got in the fight and got suspended, but we understand why you did it. But you can’t hit people every time they say something against Michael. God knows every time Bones and I take him out and somebody points at him or whispers about him not taking and being three I want to deck them, but I don’t I just walk away.”
“I wanted to; I started to, but the teasing got worse he said I was messed up too because Mikey is retarded.”
Booth held in his anger and pulled Parker to him,”Parker you and Michael are not messed up, both of you are perfect the way you are. You know that right?”
“Yep.”
“I love you, Parker.”
“I love you too, dad.”
The rest of the night was spent together, after dinner Michael was a little confused because when Parker was over that meant movies after dinner. Michael got over it when Brennan got out the play-doh, something he wasn’t allowed to play with without being supervised. Parker and Michael made animals and by bedtime a mass extinction occurred and the animals were flattened and put into their containers.


The next morning the four of them had breakfast and after Booth left for work Brennan filled Parker in on what they needed to do that day, if Michael would cooperate with them. After Michael had played for a few hours Brennan called him into her office, “Michael, Parker is going to work on your words with you today, okay?”
Michael shook his head and grabbed Brennan’s hand, a sign that he wanted her and no one else would do. Brennan smiled, “I’ll be helping you if you need it while I work on my book.”
Michael shook his head harder this time.”Okay, I’ll help you with the new words and yesterdays, but can Parker help you with your worksheets and play a game at the end?”
Michael nodded, Brennan smiled and got out the flashcards and began the process. a half-hour later Parker took over and Michael sort of balked, but Brennan got him with the promise of playing Candyand instead of something ‘educational ‘ that he could practice speech with when he was done. By Thursday Parker could do almost everything, but Brennan couldn’t leave the room or work on her book. By Friday morning Booth had decided to ungrounded Parker for the day so they could go to the hockey game for some family time.


A/N: this one is really long and I cut a lot out lol hope you liked it. Up next a Booth and Michael centric chapter and we’re skipping a few months.