Disclaimer: recognizable characters and settings are not mine.

A.N.: If the ending sucks it's because I'm half asleep right now. Anyway I hope you enjoy reading it.

This Little Piggy

"Where's Bones?" Booth asked Angela casually as he strolled into her office. Brennan had called him to tell him that Angela had an ID on the victim but he had yet to see her anywhere around here. Angela looked up from whatever she was doing on her desk.

"I don't know, she didn't tell me where she was going, she left about an hour ago…" She said with a shrug. A shrug. Like it was nothing. Bones never leaves during the day unless…

"Does she have a date?" Booth asked.

"I don't know, Booth. Do you want the I.D.?" Booth nodded his mind still sort of elsewhere. He thanked Angela for the ID and headed back to the Hoover. Still wondering a little at when Bones would have gone. Even though it was no longer any business of his, he guessed. But he was still her friend, it was only healthy that he wonder, maybe worry a bit. Friends do that. He should have asked Angela if she seemed alright before she left. Angela would mention it if she hadn't. Right? God! He didn't even know his place in her world anymore. Since the Eames case, Brennan had returned to her usual self for the most part. Occasionally she'd do something that surprised him, though. "I should call her." He thought but what would be the reason? After that night it'd be leading her on to just call 'just because'. Wouldn't it?

Technically he already had a reason. He waited, weirdly nervous, as he waited for her to pick up. When she finally did, sounding normal albeit a little agitated, he let out a little sigh of relief. "Hey, I'm going to go question, are you at the Jeffersonian?" He asked, trying to get information out of her without seeming too overt.

"No, I'm at my place. I'll meet you at the FBI." She said, trying to make the conversation short.

"I'm right around the corner, Bones" He stated. He was going to get some answers, and what better place to do it than on the way to the victim's family's home?

"Booth…" She said on a huff, wanting to protest. Alpha male tendencies. Instead she just said a quick "I'll be right down."

He was waiting patiently. For about 5 of the 10 minutes he was waiting. When he finally saw her come out of her building he practically vibrating with boredom. "What took you so long? We're 2 seconds away from the Second Coming."

"If it were going to actually happen…" She contradicted looking at him from the corner of her eye. "And you caught me in the middle of something, I wasn't dressed properly, I had to change." Booth saw this as an opening and he was going to take it.

"What were you doing?" She was looking at him out of the corner of her eye again, sizing him up.

"Nothing." She said finally.

"You? Doing nothing?" He said, only half joking. He smiled at her at and she rolled her eyes. "You weren't at the Jeffersonian when I came by earlier to get the ID. Did you not feel good or something?"

She turned to him at the genuine concern but if she wanted to tell him why she had left the Jeffersonian so uncharacteristically early she wasn't letting on.

"I…" she said and smiled a bit "I was fine, I just… wanted to take some time…" I wasn't exactly a lie. She did want to take some time but her motives weren't innocent.

"You're such a lousy liar!"He accused, smiling. "Fine, you don't want to tell me that's fine." He said, a little dejectedly. She knew he wasn't really upset, he just wanted her to spill the… He just wanted her to tell him. But this was for her and she wanted to keep it that way for a while. Hopefully she wouldn't be late to her appointment.

Of course that hadn't happened. The interview with the family had run extremely long. The parents could barely talk through their crying, and the victim's younger siblings had guilty looks on their faces. It took Booth a while to get out that the girl had snuck out that night, as kids sometimes do, and swore them to secrecy. As they left the house and pulled onto the highway back to DC, Brennan looked at her watch. She knew she wouldn't have enough time to get home and finish prepping, or change her clothes as she had planned. She had two options. Ask Booth to take her or be late. She hated being tardy, no matter where to. She made her decision.

"Booth?" He gave a small noise of acknowledgment. "Are you busy tonight?" She asked trying to sound nonchalant as Booth turned to look at her a little surprised. She continued on "I know Hannah is probably waiting for you but I had an appointment to rendezvous with someone in about an hour and a half but the interview with the family ran longer than I anticipated and I will be late if you take me home first." She explained, curiously nervous.

"Uh, sure Bones." He hadn't spent quality time with her in a few weeks, it would be nice, he did miss her. He could tell she was being purposefully vague, but he wouldn't push her. Apparently he would find out soon enough.

"Sure… you're busy or sure you'll take me?" She asked, still unsure. Booth could be so confusing sometimes.

"I'll take you, Bones." He told her, clarifying.

"Great!" She practically yelled. "I need to go by some sort of supermarket first and… you'll probably need more gas." She said looking at the gas gage, wondering if he was planning on stopping before they hit DC before the change of plan. She wondered if she'd have been this happy about her decision before the Lauren Eames case.

Booth pulled off at the next exit he saw. There was always bound to be a Wal-Mart and gas station. She insisted he drop her at the Wal-Mart to do her shopping while he went to fill up the gas tank. He knew she could handle herself but the thought of her alone in a place neither of them knew was disconcerting. He moved as fast as he could finding gas and getting back to her. When she walked out of the store what she had in her hands suddenly peaked his interest again. When she got into the car decided staring pointedly at her was going to be his interrogation technique. She just stared right back.

"Booth? Is there any particular reason you're staring?"

"Where are we going, Bones?" He said in a tone that suggested a conspiracy.

"What's with the 4th degree today, Booth?" She asked feigning annoyance. She was sure it would take a lot more than Booth pestering her to ruin her mood today.

"3rd degree, Bones, and why won't you tell me? Are we going to commit a murder?" He asked incredulously. He really wanted to know now.

"We need to change direction. The meeting place is in a small town just outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia. It should be a 30 or 45 minute drive. And here, I got this for you." She said completely ignoring his questions, handing him a pouch of beef jerky. He huffed a thank you and turned back to the road. He wanted to mock her out of frustration but that would be extremely childish so he just turned on the radio instead.

The trip was almost exactly 45 minutes and Booth was happy to get his ass out of the car and move around.

"You weren't kidding when you said "small" I'm surprised the GPS even found this place."Booth said looking around "I didn't know BFE actually had coordinates." He said as he stretched his arm over his head popping his joints. Brennan cocked her head slightly to the side.

"I don't know what that means." She said the confusion damn near palpable.

"BFE. Bum fu-" Booth said but stopped when he noticed a man walking toward them with a purpose. Booth immediately turned rigid, ready to protect his partner. Brennan saw the change in him and turned around.

"Ray?" She said walking towards him with her hand out, waving off Booth's protests. "Hi, I'm Temperance. This is my partner, Seeley Booth. "She introduced. She was ecstatic. She hadn't been this excited for something (non work related) in so long. As Ray waved them over Brennan couldn't help her giddiness. Didn't want to really. When the got to the bed of his truck Booth was shocked to say the least, and Brennan squealed. Actually flat out, unapologetically, squealed.

"You'll have to calm down before you hold him. Animals are empathic and can pick up on your emotions. We don't want to over-excite him." Brennan took a moment to collect herself and sat on the truck of the bed as ray handed the tiny, pink nosed, blue eyed, spotted thing over to her. She just stared at him for a while then looked at Booth beaming. She looked so happy, so unlike herself. Beautiful. She had changed. She told him she couldn't, but wasn't change natural? Suddenly he was very glad to have brought her hear, to get to see her like this. Unadulterated and uninhibited. It was almost like a privilege. As she talked to Ray about the veterinary requirements, paper work, and care instructions he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Was it ok to stand in awe of the happiness on your partner's face when you have a woman waiting at home for you? Probably not but her was lost in the moment.

As they got back into the car after bidding Ray adieu, she asked him to hold it while she got the carrier ready. Apparently it had already decided it's mother because he became agitated and Brennan to him back settling him into her lap and they waited for him to calm down before they set off.

They got back on the highway and Booth set the cruise control and turned to her, smiling goofily. She finally noticed his staring after a few beats and turned to him developing a smile of her own.

"What?" she asked, trying to pretend like she had no idea why he was smiling.

"So this is what all the secrecy was about? You could have just told me you know?" He said in a joking, but serious tone.

"I just wanted… to keep him for myself for a while, and you found out quickly enough, so.." She said in defense. She didn't want him to feel like she didn't trust him, because she did. Absolutely.

"When did you decide on this?" his eyes glancing down to the sleeping baby pig in her lap.

"A while ago, actually, right after the murder of Dr. Caswell. As you know, I've always wanted a pig and teacup pigs only get about a foot high when fully grown, you can house break them. They are an ideal pet. "She told him.

"I bet they make for a decent, if not miniature sized, breakfast. Perfect for Parker." He said with his best charm smile. She looked at him sternly.

"That's not funny!" She cried, swatting his arm lightly, although he could hear the smile in her voice and could see her making an effort to hide the physical evidence of it.

"Ok, ok." He surrendered and she turned back to the road. "You look happy, Bones" He said quietly.

"I'm trying to be." She said in a moment of rare unfiltered honesty. "It's time to adapt. I want to make a life for myself outside of work, too. Like you, Cam, Angela… I want to not be living the life I expected. I want to change." Her saying these things to him, no prompting, was a testament to her change, Maybe she just didn't recognize it.

"You have changed, Bones. I think more than you give yourself credit for…" He said in a way of reassurance, realizing that this conversation could lead to a place neither of them wanted to go. But he had to tell her.

"Everything changes. Entropy… Evolution. Everything changes, but it takes time, sometimes you just have to wait for it." They both realized full well where this conversation meant. It was not to be taken at face value. He should have waited for her. He knew that.

"I know, ok? But we have to move past it now…" Move past it to where? This isn't where she, either of them, had intended for this conversation to go, but that's always where it seemed to end up. You run far enough away from something, you end up running right back to it. It didn't matter anymore. He was happy, she would be too. She smiled a smile, a touch of sad behind it. Sad was better than dead.

"I know. That's why I bought him." She said stroking the little guy in her lap. Looking back up at Booth she saw the sadness, but there was also a resolution in his face. She nodded slightly at him. She knew. And it was ok.

"Are you going to call him "Him" for the rest of his life? A pig like that… He should have a real name. A dignified name." Booth said. He was smiling at her again. And they felt normal again, the heavy air lifting off of them.

"No. I haven't thought about it yet." She said suddenly pondering a name.

"Well what about Jasper, that's what you always wanted to name your pig." He asked slightly surprised.

"Well, I already have a pig named Jasper. 2 is a little much don't you think?" She said with a teasing smile.

"What's something special to you?" You. Booth would not appreciate a pig named after him. Or maybe he would who knows? Bones. Bones were her life."Oh, you could name him Jupiter!" Brennan gave him a look. "Na, you're right. Well We can't name him Daffodil, and Daisy would just… not work."

"What about Phalange?" It was Booth's turn to look at her sidelong.

"Does the pig dance?" She looked at him like he was crazy and just as the words 'I don't know what that means' were about to come out of her mouth, she stopped and looked at him with wide eyes and a blush on her cheeks.

"How'd you know about that?"

"Former sniper, Bones. I have great hearing." He offered her an explanation but the look of horror on her face was too much and he chuckled a little bit, watching her cheeks flush more.

"It's a good name but what would you shorten it to?"

"What about Maxilla?" She asked hopefully

"That's a great name Bones! You know, Parker will freak out when he hears you have a pig!" He said emphatically.

"Freak out: Good or Freak out: Bad?"

"Good, Bones. Definitely good." Booth said smiling at her. One thing that had never changed with her is how much she loved his son.

"I'm glad." She said falling back against the seat with a contented smile.

AN: Please review =D

Love,

Adgie.