"A good and wholesome thing is a little harmless fun in this world; it tones a body up and keeps him human and prevents him from souring." Mark Twain

Spontaneous

"Bo-ones," his voice boomed through her office as he burst through the doorway without knocking, "Come out, come out wherever you are!"

A quick glance at her desk showed she was not at her computer and the couch looked empty too from where he stood. He'd already ruled out the platform, Angela's office, and Limbo, so he knew she had to be in there somewhere.

Sure enough, as he rounded the couch he found her sitting on the floor; an island in a sea of paperwork.

"There you are," he grinned, flopping down on the floor beside her and earning a frown for his trouble.

"This is my office," she huffed, pulling her papers out from under him.

"Uh huh," he nodded, "And I'm here to liberate you."

She quirked a skeptical eyebrow at him, but he was already on his feet and hauling her to hers.

"Last day of summer, Bones," he told her as she realized what he was doing and started struggling, "Time to get out of the recycled air and live a little. We're gonna bust out of here and have some real fun!"

"Has it every occurred to you that this is fun to me?" she protested, all the while starting to clean up, "That I enjoy taking pride in a job well done? Not to mention it makes no sense to celebrate the end of summer, as we have been working all summer long and are not bound by an academic schedule. "

He ignored her as they finished cleaning the papers off of the floor and herded her out the door despite her subtle, and not-so-subtle, complaints.

"So where are we going?" she wanted to know as soon as they were on their way.

"Hmm?" he pretended not to know what she was talking about.

"You were the one who accosted me," she accused, "I presumed that you had some pre-arranged plans?"

"Yup."

"So are you going to tell me what they are?"

"Nope."

They rode in silence after that, the fumes all but coming out of her ears as she crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him. Eventually, she began to relax, moving her gaze to the passing scenery and away from him.

"Where are we?" she asked a half an hour later.

"Like I said, Bones, it's the last day of summer," he smiled, turning into a field full of parked cars, "And there's no better way to celebrate than a good ol' country fair!"

"A fair?" she gave him a skeptical look as they got out of the SUV and made their way to the entrance.

"Yeah, you know, cool games, fun rides, great food," he slung an arm over her shoulder, steering her.

"I should've known there'd be food involved," she shoved his arm off of her and rolled her eyes, giving just the barest hint of a smile.

"Gotta eat," he shrugged with a lopsided smile.

As they entered the fair, the scent of cotton candy and funnel cake, with just a hint of the axle grease that kept the rides going swept over them and Booth breathed deep, taking it all in. Beside him, he felt Bones relax; so far, so good.

Dinner, they both agreed, was the first order of business and they headed toward the twisting rows of food trailers. Two chilidogs, one limp Caesar salad, a huge cup of fries, and a shared funnel cake later, they emerged, full and ready to explore the rest of the fair.

Since neither one of them was up to riding the rides on a full stomach, they decided to walk around instead. Booth nearly regretted that decision when Bones dragged them over to the 4-H section, but she seemed to be enjoying herself, so he did his best to breathe through his mouth and listen as she went on about the summer that she and Max had spent breeding rabbits. He had to hustle her through the section full of cows when her lecture on the unhealthy nature of consuming red meat started drawing glares and he was the target of her glares when he slapped his hand across her mouth and apologized to a little girl's mom when Bones launched into a discussion on pony play in the horse stables. They both got a good laugh, though, when they saw that the blue ribbon pig's name was Jasper.

As they finally broke free of the animals, Booth headed for the ticket trailer. He had planned on just buying a book of tickets, but the line was just long enough for Bones to do a cost-analysis of ticket prices versus the cost of an all-inclusive wristband and she insisted that the wristband was the way to go. She also refused to let him pay for hers, pointing out that he had already paid for them to get in, and for dinner.

Much to his surprise, Bones proved to be a ride junkie. After the animals, he'd been afraid she'd spend all of their time on the rides lecturing him about the physics that were involved in making them run, or questioning whether or not the rides were safe; instead, she had eagerly gone on every ride he'd suggested, laughing and throwing her head back to let the wind whip around her face. For his own part, he couldn't deny enjoying the feel of her pressed up against him as they whipped around on the Scrambler and he had not complained one iota when she'd grabbed his hand partway through the haunted house, not letting go until long after the ride was over.

After they had ridden all but the kiddie rides, they bought ice cream and headed for the jungle of game trailers. Fierce competition ensued as the partners moved from one game to the next. He was slightly surprised when she beat him at the basketball shoot-out and downright shocked when she got a bulls-eye on her first shot with the air rifles. She was no match for him, though, when it came to throwing baseballs at milk cartons and she didn't even come close to swinging the mallet hard enough to ring the bell where he rang it easily.

In the end they agreed they'd had enough, not because they were out of games, but because they had run out of ways to hold all of the prizes they'd collected along the way. In high spirits they made their way back to the SUV; he wrestled the huge stuffed lion that he planned on giving to Parker into the back seat, while she tried to make a safe place for the three goldfish she'd won.

"Did you have fun, Bones?" he asked, as they walked back to the grounds for the fireworks finale.

"While I still do not understand why it is necessary to celebrate the end of summer," she began, then broke into a smile, "I will admit that this was highly enjoyable."

Their eyes met, electricity crackling between them in the night air. The only thing he was aware of was her, and the fact that the gap between them had narrowed to centimeters. His hand faltered for only a second as he reached out to tuck an errant strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers reveling in the softness of her skin.

A warning bell in the back of his head reminded him that this was Bones, his partner, and that there was a line. Always before he had held back, breaking the contact with some lame excuse or a corny joke, but this time he didn't want to.

"Screw the line," he muttered, closing the final gap between his lips and hers.

They never made it to the fireworks, but they made plenty of their own.