July – Booth

He wiped his brow, the sweat drenching his sleeve. The heat in the Afghan desert was intense and scorching. The short time he had been in the desert was like he was in hell. He wasn't the other soldiers' friend. He was their superior, their teacher. He barely talked to anyone. But when he did, he was barking out commands and making these young soldiers they had their mommies.

But what he did do all day was think. About Bones.

He missed her like crazy. He wanted to know if she was safe. He knew the jungle could be dangerous, especially to someone who wasn't used to living in a place like that. She begged him to be a hero and he was trying like crazy to stay away from situations that would put him in too much danger. But, he was in a warzone. That in itself was dangerous. His students were green and didn't know anything about being a Ranger. They were wearing on his nerves and their year-long deployment had barely started.

Was she even eating? He knew on a case he had to make her eat or she would skip meals. It would be worse in this case. She had been so excited that Booth knew she probably wasn't eating as much as she should. She was a healthy eater so she was probably having issues eating what she wanted.

What about Parker? How was he doing without his dad? Booth was barely holding it together without him. He loved Parker more than anything in the world. It made his heart and soul ache to be away from him for so long. Booth realized why she didn't want him to be a hero, for Parker. He still hadn't taught Parker that slider pitch his Pops had taught him or how to throw a spiral.

His day was nearly over and he was tired of yelling at kids all day. The soldiers may have been in their twenties but to him, they were kids. He wiped the sweat from his head, his hair buzzed off to keep him cool in the desert. He had to share a computer with the other soldiers so who knows how many times he'd get to actually use it. He turned it on and checked his email. After reading Bones' message, he replied.

XXXXXXXXXX

Bones,

I'm fine. We have a computer but we all have to share it. But since I am the boss, maybe I can kick some kids off of it when I wanna talk to you. Although, we are supposed to go on missions soon so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to reply to you.

The phrase is driving me up the wall, not ceiling. Nice try though. I'm not surprised she keeps talking about Sweets. They were engaged and he practically broke it off without warning. Who knows what's going to happen when you two get back to D.C.

I don't really like it here. But, no one does. Parker emails me on occasion but he's really busy with school so I don't really get to talk to him all that much. Rebecca sends me pictures of him playing soccer and things like that. It's nice to see he's doing okay without me. You would hate it here. There's only sand here. I'm not sure even you would be able to find some ancient remains or something. I know Hodgins made you that bug thing but be careful still. And make sure you use the buddy system. I don't want you going places alone. That jungle is dangerous.

I'd tell you not to cut your hair but since I shaved mine off, I don't want to be a hypocrite. I'm practically bald now but it should grow back by the time I see you in May. I like your hair the way it is. But I guess it'll grow too so cut it if you want. You're right, it might be easier when you're digging. May really seems far away even though it's only about ten months. Okay, maybe that is pretty far.

I'll stay safe if you will.

Booth

XXXXXXXXX

A/N: Hey all, I just want you all to know that I have extremely limited access to the internet now that I've moved and we're working on getting that fixed. So, updates may be scarce but I have pre-loaded some of these chapters early so this will be the story updated most often. Thanks for reading and being patient with me! Let me know what you think!