Letter 1

Dear Booth,

Hello. I hope this letter finds you well. From the movies that you have shown me, I have concluded that soldiers and their friends and loved ones communicate primarily through letters. I like this tradition. It helps me think, provides an activity for me on my off hours, and it helps distract me from Daisy. I hope it provides the same mental stimulation for you as well as a certain amount of entertainment. To make sure it is fun, I made a puzzle for you. I have 365 pieces, one for each day of the year; the first piece is affixed to the bottom of this letter. With each letter sent more pieces will arrive. By the time we meet at the reflecting pool, you will have an entire puzzle. Make sure to stay hydrated and watch out for poisonous animals.

Your friend,

Dr. Temperance Brennan (a.k.a. Bones)

B*B

"Booth."

Booth looked up from where he sat at his desk. "Yes?"

One of the clerical soldiers stood in the door of his office. He walked in and handed Booth a letter. "Mail for you."

Booth quickly caught the letter and flipped it to see the return address. It was from Bones. "Thank you," he said to the soldier, who nodded curtly and walked back out. Booth leaned back into his chair and tore into the letter. He read through the letter three times, laughing at the clinical tone that he had learned to love. Finally he removed the miniscule piece of paper taped to the bottom of the letter and looked at it carefully. From what he could tell, it was a piece of a photo, what the photo was of exactly, there was now way of knowing. The piece only had a perimeter of about ¾ of and inch. He read through the letter one more time, kissed the small piece and removed a small box of paperclips from his desk drawer. He emptied out the paperclips, popped in the piece and smiled widely; he couldn't wait for the rest.

Letter 2

Dear Bones,

Thank you so much for your letter and for the puzzle piece. It was nice to have an actual piece of mail from someone and not just a text message. I miss our work, but I was needed out here. By the time the year is up, I hope to be able to send our country's young men and women out to fight knowing that I have done my best in training them. How is your dig going? Did you find the key to civilization yet? Haha, just kidding. Be safe for me, make sure you don't fall in a hole. I can't wait to see you in DC again.

Your partner,

Sg. Seeley Booth (a.k.a. Booth)

B*B

Bones walked into her room and saw a letter sitting on her bed. She rushed to it, a wide smile forming on her face when she saw who it was from, and quickly opened it. She read through it and her smiled grew even wider. Booth's semi-illegible chicken scratch seemed to her to be the writing of angels. His voice seemed to ring in her ears as she read it and she could imagine him saying every word and the laugh that would emerge when he wrote the part about the key to civilization. She even recognized the friendly, mocking tone of his signature. She hugged the letter to her chest and then lay back on her pillows to read it again and again, as if trying to memorize every word.