Celia Joy - By Ana G (posted 10/09/2007)

Too cute...glad that Parker was coming home... and I understand why there is no smut in this but that woulda been a great place! lol....anywho...great job as always Ana

CaRiNeSs

Awww this is great. I finally made a user here because the fox site once again! deleted my user and ONCE AGAIN! i dont know why. i want to move my story over on this site but i dont know how to start a new page. Can someone tell me? Please

oxLaceyxo

Good gracious, I can't believe this is the 12th chapter to this story. Never imagined that when I wrote the first one-shot that it would go this long. And that is due in no small part to your reviews and the way that you enjoy little Cee-Cee's adventures! Thanks so much....and hope you enjoy! -AnaG


With a final adjustment to a sparkly, purple butterfly barrette, and the last pigtail…tenner…in place, Brennan stepped back to take in the total effect of her daughter’s chosen ensemble.

A bright orange t-shirt paired with green shorts with ladybugs embroidered over the pockets. The pink cowboy boots had been non-negotiable, as had the yellow happy face socks peeking over their tops. The entire outfit was completed by the little blue lab coat that Cee-Cee had insisted on wearing.

All of the books…and Angela…had said that this sort of thing was perfectly normal for children her age. Something about developing individual personality and encouraging creative interaction with the world. Yet, she could not help but wonder if this was really a good thing.

“Celia, are you sure about this?”

Cee-Cee nodded her head as she smoothed down her t-shirt with her hands, pigtails bouncing to emphasize her point.

“Mm-hm, Mama. I wanna wear the big colors so Parker’ll see us right away.”

“I see. Well, I certainly think that this will work.”

“Good."

Cee-Cee reached for her mama’s hand and began to lead her from the room.

“Now, let’s go get my brother….”

***

Brennan pulled into the packed-dirt parking lot, her eyes darting to the rearview mirror when she heard a suspicious click from the back seat.

“Celia, don’t unbuckle until…”

“I know, Mama…until we are all the way stopped.”

Brennan shook her head and hid a smile when she heard the heavy sigh from the backseat. Patience wasn’t always considered a virtue in the Brennan-Booth household.

She finally located a parking space between the crowd of mini-vans, SUVs and station wagons. By the time she gathered her purse and stepped out of the car, Cee-Cee had already freed herself from the confines of her car seat and was waiting for her to open the child-proof lock on the back door. When the door finally opened, the little girl practically flew out of the car, pausing only to reach for her mother’s hand as she chattered away.

The pair made their way across the lot and through the open gates to the common area. Both stopped short at the chaos that greeted them. Kids and parents milled around, weaving around clusters of backpacks, duffel bags and trunks scattered over the ground, while harried camp counselors tried in vain to rein them all in.

“Mama, how’re we gonna find our Parker?”

“Don’t worry, I am sure we can find him. Or he’ll see your big colors, right?”

“That’s right! I forgot. The big colors’ll work.”

Brennan looked up from the relieved look on her daughter’s face, her eyes immediately falling on a familiar figure. Parker stood a few yards away, talking to a girl his own age. She was taken by surprise to see how much he had changed in the few weeks since she had seen him. His hair was a little longer, skin tanned by the sun. But there was something else too. She watched as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, scuffed a shoe against a clump of grass as he quickly looked at the girl and then away again. Her eyes traveled to the girl, observing the way that she fidgeted with the end of her long ponytail and then reached out to put a hand on Parker’s arm and smiled shyly. Brennan’s eyes narrowed. Typical preening behavior, flirtation. But wasn’t he too young for that? Her mind flashed back to the little boy placing a paper crown on her head, the one that got excited over a frog on a sidewalk and chasing imaginary pirates. She knew he was getting older, but she wasn’t ready for….

“Parker! Marco! Marco! Marco!”

She was startled from her thoughts by Cee-Cee’s shout of delight and the feel of the little hand slipping from hers. Focus immediately returning, she hurried after her daughter, who was already running toward her brother. By the time that she caught up, Cee-Cee had already wrapped her arms around her brother’s legs, tightly squeezing as she talked a mile a minute.

“….missed you sooo much playing tea party isn’t as much fun without you and I’m not as good at pirates as you are cause Barnabus keeps gettin’ away and you shoulda seeeeen the new bugs Hodgie got at the lab and I almost lost Zachaddy….”

Brennan noticed Parker’s face turning a deep shade of red as he glanced nervously from the little girl looking at him with hero worship on her face to the older girl standing at his side. When he looked at her beseechingly, she nodded once and managed to gently pry Cee-Cee away.

“Celia, let’s give Parker a chance to say goodbye to his friend.”

Surprised to find that there was another person in the vicinity, Cee-Cee looked at the other girl standing very close to her brother. Eyes narrowing, she crossed her arms over her chest as the girl waggled her fingers in Cee-Cee’s direction. She immediately looked back at her brother.

“Why dinnit you say Polo back, Parker? I say Marco and you say Polo. Marco Polo. That’s our deal. ‘member?”

“Umm…"
“Celia Joy…"

Both Parker and Brennan were almost saved as the other girl spoke.

“Marco Polo? Isn’t that a little kid’s pool game?”

The girl’s giggle sent Cee-Cee marching towards the girl, hands on her hips.

“It’s our secret code. And yoooou don’t get to know it. So there!”

“Boooones! Make her stop.”

“Parker, she’s just…”

“Please?”

Torn between the plea from Parker and the confusion in Cee-Cee’s eyes, she finally came up with a compromise. Maybe it would give her a chance to explain.

“Celia. Let’s give Parker a chance to say goodbye to his friend. We can take some of his things to the car…”

Still suspicious over this new presence in her brother’s life, Cee-Cee shook her head.

“I don’t wanna.”

After whispered negotiations and promises that they would be home soon, she was finally able to convince Cee-Cee to walk back towards the car. After a couple trips, the backpack and duffle were carefully stowed in the trunk, and a reluctant Parker had said his goodbyes. They were all walking back to the car, a reinvigorated Cee-Cee chasing a now sullen Parker with an endless series of questions.

“Who was that girl? Did she go to camp too? Is she your girrrrlfriend?”

Still caught up in the perceived humiliation of having tea parties and pirates games revealed at the worse possible moment, Parker turned to his sister.

“No. Yes. No. Probably never thanks to you and your crazy stories.”

“Parker!”

“Sorry, Bones. I just…nevermind.”

Parker stomped off ahead of them, the tears welling in Cee-Cee’s eyes causing a confusing tug of guilt in his chest.

***

Sitting silently in her car seat, Cee-Cee couldn’t take her eyes off of her pretty pink cowboy boots, but she really didn’t see them. Parker was mad at her. Mama had made him say sorry, but Cee-Cee knew he didn’t really mean it. She could tell cause he still wouldn’t talk to her even though she tried. She didn’t know what she had done wrong. She had been really, really happy to see him after all this long time and wanted him to know so he wouldn’t go away from her for so long anymore. So she had tried to tell him about all the reasons she missed him. But that girl had been there. She knew for sure she didn’t like that girl. She was a big girl and what if Parker liked his friend better than he liked her? She was just a little girl and didn’t like video games and hockey and football and stuff like Parker did. And her ponytail was long and really pretty. She probably didn’t have to have her mama help her make it either. Cee-Cee didn’t like the idea that someone else would be specialer than her to Parker. It wasn’t fair. Plus that girl had laughed at Marco Polo. That had made Cee-Cee really mad.

She sighed heavily. Being mad hadn’t made it any better. Cause Parker still hadn’t said Polo back to her.


***

Cee-Cee walked down the hallway on her tippy-toes, carefully holding a large square of paper in both hands. She had made her brother a picture to show him that she was sorry she had talked about the tea party in front of his friend. Mama had explained it all to her. She had used a lot of big words that Cee-Cee didn’t understand, but some of the words did. But mostly, she just didn’t like her brother being mad at her. So she made him a present. Presents always made her feel better.

She was close to Parker’s room and ready to surprise him, when she heard his voice on the other side of the door. She started to turn away because her daddy had told her it was not nice to ear-drop on somebody’s per-son-al talks. Then she heard him say her name. It had to be okay to listen if he was talking about her.

“…crazy clothes with that didn’t match. And her hair in those stupid pigtails that she thinks look like a bug…..

***

Parker paced the room, phone to his ear.

“…it was so embarrassing...”

He paused as his dad said something on the other end of the line.

“…..yeah, Dad, but….”

“I know she’s just a little girl….”

“I know I used to play pirates and……but….”

“Really? I’m like her hero? I guess that she wasn’t that bad….”

“Yessir. I will…I promise.”

Parker pressed the button to end the call and sat on his bed. When Bones had said that his dad wanted to talk to him, he thought he was gonna be in big trouble. He knew that he had been mean to Cee-Cee, but he had been so mad because of what she had said in front of Jenna. He always felt like he was a dork around her and Cee-Cee had made it worse. But his dad hadn’t yelled or anything. He had just talked real quiet. And somehow, that made Parker feel worse than if he had yelled or grounded him. Instead, he had talked about how much Cee-Cee loved him and how she just got carried away because of that and it was wrong to make her feel bad because of it. So, now Parker had to go make it better and say he was sorry for real. Man, this big brother thing was a lot of work. Why couldn’t he have a normal sister like everyone else?

He rummaged in his duffel bag for something that he had brought for Cee-Cee. With everything that had happened, he had forgotten about it. But maybe this would make everything okay.

As he walked out of the door, he heard the sound of paper crumpling. He looked down to find his shoe resting on a drawing. He picked it up, his heart sinking as he studied the crayon stick figures inside a lopsided heart. The one with pigtails was holding hands with the bigger one with curly brown hair. Both of them had crooked smiles drawn in the middle of their circle faces. Definitely a Cee-Cee drawing. But why had she left it on the floor?

He looked from the drawing his sister had left on the floor back to the phone still visible on his bedspread. The things that he had said came roaring back.

Aw, man. How much had she heard?

***

Parker tapped his knuckles against the open door to Cee-Cee’s room.

“Marco?”

There was complete silence in response. He looked around the room for Cee-Cee. He knew she was in here somewhere, but didn’t see her.

“C’mon, Ceec, don’t be mad.”

He heard a sniffle and then spotted the edge of a pink cowboy boot peeking from beneath the white bed ruffle. He walked over and kneeled on the other side of the bed, placing the jar he’d been holding on the floor next to him.

“Marco?”

When there was no answer, he took a deep breath and lifted the white fabric and found a tear-stained face staring back at him.

“Go ‘way, Parker. I’m bein’ sad”

“Ohh-kay, then. I guess you don’t want the surprise I brought for you.”

“A surprise? For me?”

“Mm-hm. It’s very cool, too.”

“But you don’t like me. I heard. I ‘mbarrass you.”

“Ah, man. Cee, you don’t embarrass me. It’s just that…”

Parker sat down on the floor, resting his back against the bed as he tried to figure out the words to explain how it was. He wasn’t sure he knew how it was.

“Its just that I’m a big kid now. And sometimes it is hard for big kids to know what to say around little kids. Especially when other big kids are around. We can say stupid stuff.”

“Yeah, you can.”

“Hey, ….you didn’t have to agree with me.”

“Un-huh. Mama and Daddy say to always tell the truth.”

“But…” Parker took a deep breath, trying to remember the other things his father had told him.

“Oh-kay. It was dumb. And since we are supposed to tell the truth….you are pretty cool for a little sister. At least you don’t pick your nose like Cody’s little brother…”

“[Only admins are allowed to see this link] That’s gross, Parker.”

“Yeah, it is. And you know what else?”

“What?”

“I really missed you while I was gone.”

“You did?”

“Yep. Sooo….are you gonna come out now and see your surprise? Or do I have to throw it away?”

Parker waited a second, worried when she didn’t appear. Then suddenly, she was sliding from beneath the bed, a big smile on her face as she turned to him.

“What is it?”

“Here.” He picked up the jar and placed it in her hands.

She turned, confused by the logo on the lid and the label that covered the jar.

“You brought me peanut butter. That’s not a good surprise, Parker.”

“No, silly. Look inside." He carefully unscrewed the lid and tilted the jar for her to peek inside.

He smiled as her eyes widened in delight.

“Beeeetles! You brought me beeeetles!”

“Shhhhh. You are gonna scare ‘em to….”

His words were cut off as she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, hugging him with all of her might before placing a kiss on his cheek.

“You are the bestest brother in the whole en-tire world!”

She finally released him, eager to get back to watching her ‘presents’ scurry over the grass and twigs he had placed in the jar. As he listened to her try to name them all, he couldn’t help but smile.

She might be a pain in the neck sometimes, but still….there wasn’t another little sister like her in the world. He guessed that made him pretty lucky.

***

“Gumdrop. Cinderella. Joe...”

“Hey, Ceec?”

“Yeah, Parker?”

Cee-Cee responded without looking up from the insects.

“Marco.”

She sighed heavily.

“That’s my part.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is!”

“Fine then. Go ahead.’

“Marco.’

“Polo.”

Brennan watched them unseen from the open doorway, smiling at the two heads bent over the open jar of insect specimens. Things had gotten off to a rocky start today, and she was sure that there would be more bumps along the road as they continued to grow up. But for now at least, they were back on track.


“Parker?”

“Yeah, Cee-Cee?”

“Love you.”

"Love you back."

ahhhhhhhh thats just so cute and true ...

poor big brother parker and ceecee....

LOVED it ana ....


polygirl

Okay, I'm offically crying! That was so damned adorable, and geez!

First of all, I agree with Bones. Parker is too little to be flirting with girls!

And Cee Cee getting upset and trying to make the picture for him and then getting sad. And he brought her beetles.

I don't even have words to describe how fantastically brillant this chapter was! I loved the whole thing!

willgirl

Oh, ana, that was simply adorable!!! Once again, u leave me speechless!!

Haha, he brought her beetles!!! That's wonderful, ana!!! I love this freaking story!

flyersfan35

Aahhh, well, you made me teary eye and then smile really big!! I love these stories, I hope you keep writing them!!

luli27

The fact that I have to supress a grin from my face doesn't help at all.. but that was just the cuetest thing EVER... such sweet and tender moments between brother and sister!!!

How do you do it AnaG?!!?!? ... how does that pretty head comes up with such wonderful and sweet stories!!
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!

Turi ray of sunshine

omg ana..........how do you do it.......i am sooooooooooo crying like a little girl right now.........that was sooooo beautiful and sweet.......i started crying when you described what she was wearing to go and pick him up.........ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

you keep outdoing yourself woman......this is so fantastic....please say there will be many many more.....cause i am sure cee-cee can think of more adventures.......wonderful...love it

a2b

That was Awsome! I almost cried when Parker wouldn't walk with Cee-Cee.But im glad everything worked out.

oxLaceyxo

*squees happily* more more more!

DBAngelfan

Another little Cee-Cee adventure...my sister sent me a packet of my niece's artwork (and I have to say..I think she is the most talented 3 year old artiste in the world...completely without bias, of course!)...but anyway, it inspired the beginning of this story, and things just sort of went from there. Hope you enjoy! -AnaG


It was play time, and Miss Jessie let them pick out what they wanted to play. As long as they were nice to each other, they could play kitchen or read some books or build something tall out of the blocks and knock it over. That is what the boys liked to do. A lot.

Cee-Cee’s favorite thing was the dress-up box. Miss Jessie put lots of grown-ups things in there for them to pretend with. Big hats and necklaces with pretty colors. Big girl shoes that clip-clopped almost as loud as her mama’s when she walked in them. Lots of other things too. She could be a doctor or a fireman or a fairy princess. Whatever she wanted to be. It was like practicing for when she finally got to be a grown-up. There was so much stuff, that sometimes Cee-Cee had a hard time deciding what she wanted to do.

But not today. Today, she knew exactly what she wanted to do during playtime.

She went over to the art corner and looked at the stuff Miss Jessie’s helper was putting on the table. Big pieces of white paper. The good kind, not the kind that looked kinda yellow and felt a little scratchy when she touched it. And the green plastic box with all of the crayons in it. This was perfect.

Cee-Cee sat down in the blue chair at the table and pulled the box closer. She put her face near the box and took a deep breath. The smell of crayons always made her feel like using her imagination. She turned the container in a circle, looking at all of the color marks the crayons had made on the inside the box. It was like a cut up rainbow had been sprinkled around. Cee-Cee knew it was really because the crayons were all jumbled up and moved around. But sometimes, she liked to pretend it was because the crayons were getting a chance to color all on their own without little kids using them. That would be fair, she thought. Because even crayons should get to use their imagination.

There were so many colors, it took her a long time to pick out the one that she wanted to use first. She just couldn’t make up her mind at all. Finally, she closed her eyes and put her hand in the big pile of crayons and picked one out. When she opened her eyes and saw that it was red, she was very excited. Cause now she knew exactly what she wanted to draw on the big piece of white paper. She could make the story of the magic red ant that made wishes come true.

She picked at piece of paper and drew two C’s at the bottom. So people would know it was her picture and not take it by accident. Plus, she really liked that she could write her own name by herself. Her mama had showed her how to do it. Then she bent over the paper and began to draw, trying hard to remember the parts of the ants. Hodgie had taught her those. Tenners. The head and the thorask and the abamen. That was a big word for tummy.

Her little fingers gripped the red crayon tightly and she held the tip of her tongue between her lips as she fell into deep concentration. She was completely focused on making the most perfect ant she could. However, that didn’t stop the sounds of a disagreement from reaching her.

She looked up, trying to find out who was not following the rules. It sounded like someone was being mean, and if Miss Jessie found out then playtime would be over and they would have to clean up and then go sit in the big circle and listen to how you were supposed to be nice to everyone.

Out of habit, she looked for Jeremy first. Jeremy was always the one that was being mean to someone else. He liked to take away toys and say they were his even if he didn’t want to play with them. Or he would knock over the big blocks before they were tall enough and make somebody have to build it all the way up again. He thought that was very funny, but Cee-Cee thought it was just plain mean.

It was not a big surprise when she saw it was Jeremy was the one causing the problem again. But this time he was trying to take a book away from Simon. Cee-Cee let out a big breath and shook her head. Poor Simon. He never ever played with the other kids and always got a book to read for playtime. He even sat on the same blue and red and orange carpet square. Cee-Cee liked that carpet square too. It had lots of big colors, but she didn’t understand why Simon always wanted the same one all the time. It wasn’t fun to do the same thing all the time. She had tried to ask him, because she really wanted to know. But he just looked at her funny. When he did that, Cee-Cee thought he looked just like Zachaddy. Which didn’t make any sense because they had different eyes and different hair and Zachaddy was a grown-up. But he did seem like Zachaddy, so she decided she would be his friend. Even if he didn’t want to talk to her.

Her eyes widened and then narrowed when she saw Jeremy pinch Simon on the arm and finally take away the book. That was wrong! She looked around for Miss Jessie, but she was busy getting a necklace out of Daisy’s hair. Daisy was crying so it must be really stuck good. And Miss Jessie’s helper musta gone to the office or to the bathroom or something because Cee-Cee couldn’t see her anywhere.

She turned back to the two boys, unsure of what she was supposed to do now. Simon wasn’t crying. He was just looking at Jeremy. Simon never cried no matter how mean someone was. Then Jeremy pinched him again, real hard on the arm. Cee-Cee decided right then that she couldn’t wait for the grown-ups to be not busy. She was going to make Jeremy stop hurting her friend.

***

Booth looked at his daughter’s downcast face. She hadn’t said a word since he had walked out of the daycare director’s office.

“So, are you ready to talk about what happened?”

“No, Daddy.”

“Well, I think we need to.”

“But, Daddy…”

“No, buts, Celia Joy…”

“Oh-kay. Promise you won’t be real mad?”

“C.J., Daddy doesn’t want to be mad, but what you did was…”

“But, Daddy…Jeremy was being a stinker.”

“A stinker?”

“Yeah, Daddy. He was trying to take the book from Simon and Simon is like Zachaddy so he is my friend and no one else could help him and Jeremy just kept pinching him. Jeremy is a real meanie. So I helped him. I helped my friend, Daddy. That’s all I did.”

“Well, Cee, I am glad you were helping your friend. But can you tell me how Jeremy ended up locked in the supply closet?”

“Umm…”

“Cee-Cee?”

“Well, he was being bad. And I couldn’t pinch him back for Simon, because that would be wrong.”

“Yes, that’s right, but why…?”

“So, I thought about what you would do, Daddy.”

“Really? Well, that was…”

“So, I put him in jail. Kinda.”

“What?”

“I put him in jail. Isn’t that what you do to bad people, Daddy? Put ‘em in jail?”

“Yeah, Cee, but little girls can’t put people in jail…”

“I know, Daddy. That’s why I had to put him in the closet.”

“Celia, that is not what Daddy meant. Grown-ups are the only people that are supposed to put people in jails….or um, closets.”

“Oh. But why do grown-ups get to do all the important stuff?”

“Sometimes those are the rules. But you get to do something really, really important.”

“I do?”

“Mm-hmm. You can be Simon’s friend. Sounds like he needs one.”

“He sure does.”

“Well, that can be your job. That’ll be more help that pushing Jeremy in the closet.”

“Okay, Daddy. I can be a good friend.”

“Yeah, baby. I know you can. So no more jail for Jeremy, okay?”

“Even when he is being a stinker again?”

“Yes, Cee…even when he is being a stinker.”

“That’ll be hard, Daddy. Cause it felt good to put him in jail for being bad. Do you feel like that when you put the bad guy in jail?”

“Well, sure, but…”

“Then I wanna do that when I get big. Put bad people in jail just like you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mm-hm. But I promise. I won’t put Jeremy in jail again until we are all grown-up.”

Cee-Cee felt better when she saw the smile on her daddy’s face. She liked it when he did that. He had a really pretty smile. But more important, it meant that he really wasn’t mad at her any more. It was gonna be hard, but she wouldn’t put Jeremy in jail any more. Cause she didn’t want her Daddy to be mad at her. But there was one more thing that made her worried.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Do we have to tell Mama what I did?”

OMG ana that was freaking fantantasic loved it

omg "put him in jail" & "do we have to tell mama?" !!!!

always have and continue to love this story!

Poly/Polo

OMG, ana, once again, u just amaze me!!! I loved what u wrote about the crayons, the smell of them, and them using their own imaginations! That was just awesome!!

Oh, and then of course, she wants to be like her daddy, and put bad guys in jail....and I loved when she said her daddy has a really pretty smile.....lol, of course he does!!

Another wonderful chapter ana!!

flyersfan35

Okay, that was frickin adorable! So cute! I love the last line. I love Cee Cee and Booth together, they are my absolute favourite. And how she stuck up for the boy because he was like Zach? That was too damn cute!
I hope you never stop writing this story!

willgirl

Ana that was superb! and i loved the whole crayons making their own rainbow in the box! and the putting jeremy in jail! awesome! god i have had to deal with that before and i tell ya, that was wonderful!!!!

he is a wee little puppet man

Ana that was truly amazing. Your a true writer. I love CeeCee's "do we have to tell mama" line. I also laughed at the put Jeremy in the closet thing. That was so cute but then when has it not been?

Glug Glug Woohoo

absolutely precious! you totally captured how a little sister can embarrass you...so sweet that Booth talked to Parker and made him see that he needed to make it right with CeeCee...wonderful job, ana

redrider6612

The head and the thorask and the abamen......and simon.......being like zachaddy....except for his hair and eyes..etc....ana.....how freaking adorable and precious.....you cant imagine how excitied i was when i logged on and saw that you posted......ahhhhhh i so love every post and they just keep getting better and better.....i love this fic soooooooooooo much.....please NEVER stop.......just like willi says.......thank you ana so much for cee cee....love it and love you man

a2b

oh, i can't believe i had missed a chappie! so absolutely priceless! ana, the whole convo with her daddy was just perfect, i can remember having talks similar to that with my daughter, trying not to laugh, trying to be stern and tell her what she did was wrong even if it was cute...awesome, ana

redrider6612

Oh Ana - LOL at little CeeCee putting that stinker Jeremy in the closet because it's like jail! Too cute! I LOVE these stories!

hifi22

awwwww that is so darn cute

DBAngelfan

Haha....too cute! I am glad she didn't get into too much trouble...she was just helping Simon out....please post more soon...this is just too cute!

CaRiNeSs

Oh, it's SOOOOO sweet! Loved it very much!

mereva

I love this story. please keep on writing it

pretty_green_eyes