Chapter 1

"Happy Birthday, dear Sadie! Happy Birthday to you," chorused the small crowd.

At the head of the table, the little girl blew with all of her might, sending five small puffs of smoke into the air to mix with the scent of cheap candle wax and processed sugar. The moment of silence erupted into boisterous applause and the birthday girl's grin widened with the approval.

"What'd you wish for, Squirt?" Seeley Booth asked, whisking her out of the way as his wife swooped in to cut the cake.

"Daddy," the little girl wagged her head, eyeing him as if he should know better, "I can't tell, 'r else it won't come true."

He grinned and nodded, then gave her a quick hug before releasing her to her friends with a sigh. It didn't seem possible that she was five already. She was growing up too quickly on him. Leaning up against the dining room wall, he contented himself with watching Sadie's pre-k class devour the cake and ice cream, and once again was thankful he'd gone for faux hardwood floors over carpet for this room.

"I don't know why you continue to perpetuate such myths with her," his wife joined him after she had finished satisfying the mini mob with sweets.

He shrugged, swiping her fork from her and stealing a bite of cake from her plate, "It's fun, Bones, and besides, Sadie knows it isn't real."

"Like Santa Claus?" she scowled, reclaiming the fork for a bite of her own.

"Yup," the fork changed hands a third time.

"So in other words, the two of you have reached a tacit agreement to forgo the truism that wishes made on confectionary treats cannot, indeed, be granted, in an attempt to indulge in childlike whimsy?" she asked, finishing the rest of the cake with a triumphant smirk.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Bones," he winked, encircling her waist with his hands and dropping a brief kiss on her sugar-coated lips.

"Seriously!" a voice sounded from behind them, "Do you two have to do that in public?"

Booth pulled back and eyed his ten year old son from over Bones' shoulder, "Hey, last I checked this house was private property, Park-o, and you and the giggle brigade there," he waved a finger at Parker's companions, "weren't much more than squatters."

"What's a squadder?" seven year old Joey piped up.

Ten year old Maddie hushed her brother just as Bones opened her mouth, no doubt to give the Joey the unabridged dictionary definition.

"On second thought, Dad," Parker cut his step-mother off, "maybe you should kiss her after all."

At that, the three party-crashers turned, running down the hall and skidding upstairs as fast as they could.

Bones got a puzzled look on her face, "Did he mean-"

Booth was saved from having to explain what Parker meant by a loud ringing from his pocket. He plucked out the phone, threw his wife a charm smile, and flipped it open.

"Hello?" he answered, dodging kids left and right as he moved through the dining room and into the kitchen to escape the noise.

The response was garbled, so Booth repeated himself as he stepped out onto the back porch, sliding the glass door closed behind him.

"Are your girls safe, Agent Booth?" the scrambled voice on the other end asked, sending a chill down Booth's spine.

He unconsciously reached for his sidearm; the one that was missing because Bones didn't think he needed to wear a gun to their daughter's fifth birthday party. He knelt down for the one hidden on his calf.

"Who is this?" he asked calmly as his senses heightened and his eyes sought visual confirmation that Sadie and Maddie were okay.

"It's a horrible thing when little girls go missing," the caller ignored the question.

Through the glass door Booth spotted Sadie moving to the living room to open her presents just as Maddie bounded down the steps with Joey and Parker on her heels.

"Who are you?" Booth demanded again, putting an edge on his voice, eyes sweeping the perimeter of the property for anything out of place.

"They need justice, Agent Booth," the voice intoned, "And time is running out."

"Who needs justice?" Booth asked.

"Check your mail," was the only response.

"What does that even mean?" Booth was getting frustrated.

"Ask your wife," the reply came.

And the line went dead.

On the other side of the door, Bones caught sight of him, arched a questioning eyebrow at the palm-sized gun he was clutching, all the while drawing the kids' attention to the front of the room so that they wouldn't see it. Quickly, he shoved the gun in his waistband, covering it with his shirt. Tracing a circle in the air with his finger, he mimed that he was going to have a look around. Bones nodded, though her look said she expected answers later.

With one last look from the higher vantage point, he took the porch steps two at a time down to the back yard. He set out toward the back of the property at a steady pace, hand ready to snatch the gun if he needed to. The only things out of place were some of the kids' toys, but there were no signs in the soft ground that anyone had been lurking in the back hedges.

He was regretting owning a full acre of property by the time he made it to the front yard, but again, nothing was out of place, and he was starting to wonder if he was overreacting. Returning the hand gun to his calf holster, he turned back to the house just as kids began spilling out the front door, making a bee-line for the inflatable moon-bounce he'd set up earlier that morning.

"I still don't get why Max thought we needed one of these things," he groused, meeting up with Bones, and praying as hard as he could that she didn't bring up the gun or his impromptu inspection right now.

"We're fortunate," she shrugged, obviously getting the message that now wasn't the time, "Russ and Amy were the recipients of a large, inflatable water slide. It seems he enjoys being an over-indulgent grandparent."

"Yeah well," Booth smirked, sending a mock salute across the yard to Max, "That's why he's in charge of crowd control today."

A water balloon whizzed past Booth's head and he turned sharply to see who the assailant was. From the other side of the yard, Parker and Joey waved and beside them, Jack Hodgins blushed.

"Angela said he's been working on that launcher for quite some time," Bones commented, "and he was apparently very excited to test its capabilities."

"It's March," Booth complained, "Couldn't he have waited until summer or something?"

Another near-miss curtailed any response and Bones announced that she was going to go monitor them personally. Booth stayed by the moon-bounce, keeping track of where each and every kid was at all times. The call had rattled him, and more than anything he needed to make sure that those under his care remained safe.

He was never more relieved when parents started pulling up the long driveway for their kids, leaving him with one less charge that he was responsible for. The party, it seemed, was a huge success, and Sadie was already making grand plans for next year's event. Booth chuckled, reminding her that next year was a long way off.

"Daddy," she yawned as he tucked her in that night, "Can Maddie and Joey stay for good now?"

He shook his head sadly and kissed her lightly on the forehead, "No, kiddo, they have to go back to their school on Monday."

"B'cause Easter's over tomorrow?" she asked.

He nodded, "But at least they got to come for your birthday this year since it was the same week as Easter break, and summer's not too far away."

"I like summer," she murmured, snuggling deeper under her covers and clutching her worn dolphin to her chest, "That's when my big family comes back."

"I like that too," he told her, "Now get some sleep, little girl, we've got another big day tomorrow."

"Daddy," she called out again just before he closed the door, "Can I always be your little girl, even when I'm six next year?"

"Always," he promised.

"G'Night, Daddy."

"Good night, Sadie-girl."