"Booth! Stop. You're not supposed to lift anything heavy yet!" Brennan scolds, taking the filled suitcase her husband had just tried to lift off their bed out of his hands, setting it on the floor herself.
"Bones, it's fine. It's not even heavy!"
"I just don't want you to hurt yourself. You're still recovering."
"I know. But you gotta give me something! I'm going crazy just sitting around here all day!" He was whining now, head thrown back.
She smiles at his childish behavior, and after a moment relents. "Alright. Will you take this to the front door with the others so we can start putting them into the car?"
"You got it," Booth smiles, more than ready to help. Bag in hand, he starts for the pile of their other stuff but is stopped short at their bedroom door. Christine stands there, backpack over her shoulders, arms laden with her precious stuffed animals.
"Woah! You have enough there?" Booth chuckles.
"Christine! What did I tell you about your animals?"
"But they're going to get lonely!" Christine argues. "I can't leave them here all alone!"
"They're not gonna be lonely!" Booth starts, leaning down to look in his daughter's eyes. "They'll have each other and all your other toys and your brother's toys. They'll have lots of fun!"
"But they won't get to see the beach," Christine's face falls.
"You'll tell them all about it when you get home. And I'm sure we can bring back some shells to show them."
Christine smiles at that, perking up a bit. "Really?"
"Really. But your mom is right. We don't have enough room for all of them in the car. So go pick a couple real quick, okay? Everyone is going to be here soon."
"Okay," Christine says, turning back for her bedroom.
And by everyone, Booth almost truly meant everyone. Their entire family (minus Parker who had just gone back to school after term break), including Max, the Hodgins family, Wendell and his girlfriend Andi, even Daisy and her son would be coming for a few days; Cam had been invited to come (as Angela put it, a few weeks at the beach was the perfect post-break-up cure.), but had politely declined.
Brennan had rented them a house near the beach; The Jersey Shore to be exact. It was going to be two weeks of sun, fun, family, and relaxation. Just what the doctor had ordered.
Booth had just dropped the bag on the pile and was turning back to the bedroom to grab another when the doorbell rang.
"Hey!" Hodgins called, shaking Booth's hand and slapping him lightly on the back as he stepped inside, Angela and Michael Vincent right behind. "You guys ready?"
"Does it look like it?" Booth growled, gesturing around to the complete disarray of their home.
"Well, do you need some help?" Hodgins asks.
"Yeah, you can start loading the car," Booth says, tossing Jack his keys and turning down the hallway to the living room where his son sits, screaming for attention. While her husband heads back outside to start helping, Angela goes to check on her friend.
"Hey, sweetie! You almost ready to go?"
"I'm afraid this was a much bigger undertaking than I originally thought," Brennan says, putting her clothes just so into her suitcase.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Angela agrees. "Getting out of the house with one kid was hard enough. I can't imagine doing it with two."
"And it's not only the kids' things. It's all the other stuff. Food, beach chairs, toys."
"Well there are stores there, you remember that right? It's not like we're going out into the Boonies for a month. Whatever you forget we can just run to Walmart and pick it up," Angela smiles.
"Yes," Brennan breaths, nodding. "You are right. I shouldn't be worrying this much."
"No, you shouldn't. Vacation is supposed to be relaxing!"
"Yes, it is," Brennan smiles, zipping up her suitcase and sets it on the floor. She links arms with Angela and the two girls leave the bedroom together, smiling. She leaves her bag in the dwindling pile of their stuff and joins the kids in the living room.
Michael and Christine are making funny faces at Hank to keep him happy, and the infant giggles at them and tries to copy their expressions. The two moms laugh at their kids, and Angela secretly snaps a few pictures of them on her phone.
"Okay!" Booth announces. "The doors are locked, I'm going to set the alarm right before we leave. The key is in the mailbox, I left Hayden a note about what he needs to do, and I gave him the WiFi code in case he wants to stay and hang out," he recaps, talking about the neighborhood kid who was house sitting for them.
"I guess that's everything," Brennan nods.
"Alright," Angeal says, clapping her hands. "Let's head out!"
And ten minutes later, after finishing packing the car and loading everyone up, they were on the road.
[] []
Their trip down to the shore included to stops. One pretty early on to top off on gas, and another about ninety minutes in because poor Michael got car sick and needed to get cleaned up. And trying to find Children's Dramamine in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Maryland, was something none of the adults ever imagined they would have to do. But they made it, a little behind schedule, mostly all in one piece.
"Wow!" Angela gasps as Brennan turns the key in the lock and opens the front door to their rental house.
They are met with a long staircase that led upstairs, to the left, the living room took up the entire side. A desk and chair were tucked into a corner next to an armchair and ottoman. There was a long sectional sofa and an entertainment center that held a large television set. To the right of the stairs were the kitchen and dining area. And at the back of the house was a half bathroom, the laundry room, and the Master Bedroom, which Brennan and Booth quickly claim.
There are three more bedrooms upstairs: the one right at the top of the stairs holds two sets of bunk beds, where all the kids would be sleeping, down the hallway to the right was a bathroom and across from it was another bedroom with two double beds, and to the left of the kids' room, tucked away into a semi-quiet corner was the fourth bedroom, where Jack and Angela would be sleeping, with its own bathroom and access to the second story deck that wrapped around three sides of the house. And right next to the fourth bedroom was the main access to the deck where a ping-pong table, bar area, and lounge chairs and a couch and a fire pit all sat.
"Come on, if we all help, we can get unpacked faster and head down to the beach!" Angela says, steering her son and niece back outside to help unload the car their dads had so meticulously packed, and the rest of the adults were soon to follow.
